Transcript of Episode #11:
3 Mistakes That Held Me Back in Business!
Cristina: Hello, and welcome back to the Blissful Mompreneur podcast. I’m your host, Cristina Hall, and I am so grateful you are here today. I am on a mission to help mompreneurs or female entrepreneurs who hope to be moms in the future, systemize and scale their businesses to beat overwhelm and reclaim their time. Join me each week as I dive into actionable strategies and inspiring stories to support you on your journey to entrepreneurial success and work life balance.
Today I’m excited to share a deeply personal episode. I’m going to share my three biggest regrets and the invaluable lessons I’ve learned so far as an entrepreneur. My hope is that you may be able to learn from my mistakes so you can accelerate your growth as an entrepreneur.
Regret number one. I wish I thought bigger sooner. When I first opened my studio, I thought so small. So small that I initially called the business Cristina Music Studio. Clearly, I couldn’t even imagine a business that could run on its own without me. My business model was to teach as many lessons as possible, do all the administrative work, and not spend a dime on automation tools. This was all so I could keep overhead low and profit high. While it worked and I was profitable, it wasn’t sustainable, especially once I started a family. If I had continued on that trajectory, I would have worked my whole life as an employee of my business. And when it was time to retire, I would have nothing to show for all of my hard work. My business would be worth nothing. For a business to be a valuable asset, it must be profitable without the owner. If I had allowed myself to think bigger right from the start, I could have gotten to where I am now so much sooner. I could have had an easier first pregnancy and could have spent more time with my daughter in her first two years of life. Sadly,I cannot get that time back, but I am so grateful that I did have the wake-up call when I did, so that I’m able to enjoy my kids now when they were still young.
Regret number two. I wish I had learned how to market sooner. Learning how to effectively market was the most pivotal moment in my business. For years, I was so afraid to hire teachers, and when I took the leap and would hire them, I’d struggle to fill their schedules because I was relying on word of mouth. They would often leave after a few months because they did not have enough work to justify sticking around. At the time, I had no idea how many affordable resources were available to learn how to market. Books, podcasts, online courses. There is even more now than there used to be. I could have grown the business so much faster had I known the importance of marketing, learned the skills and invested in paid advertising. In the fall of 2020, I purchased a $3,500 online course that taught me how to market and build a Google Ads campaign. At the time, this kind of investment seemed ridiculous, but something in my gut told me that I needed to do it and boy did it pay off. Once I implemented everything, the number of leads we were getting exploded. And in the first two months of 2021, I hired three new teachers to keep up with the influx of new students. This opened up a whole new world for me and my business.
Regret number three. I wish I had viewed my failures as necessary steps in my entrepreneurial journey. Early on as an entrepreneur, I was easily discouraged. A class would flop or a new hire wouldn’t work out and I would beat myself up. I would think I didn’t have what it took to be successful and that no one in their right mind should want to work for me. In the early years of running my studio, every little failure or setback was a sign that I shouldn’t be doing this. And then I would wallow and not do anything for months. In these moments, I would say to my husband, maybe I should just give up and do something else. It wasn’t until I began following various entrepreneurs, reading their books and listening to their podcasts that I realized that every entrepreneur encounters failures and makes mistakes. It’s all a part of the journey. Each and every failure and mistake was helping me develop invaluable skills as an entrepreneur. I wasted so much time beating myself up instead of picking myself up and trying again. Now when something doesn’t work out, I try it again but a little differently. With every repetition, I get better and better. I still have moments when I get discouraged but instead of it lasting for months, it now lasts, maybe an hour.
As I wrap up today’s episode, I would like for you to consider which of my three regrets you resonate with. What is one action step that you could take to propel yourself forward? I invite you to DM me your thoughts on Instagram at the Blissful Mompreneur. I’d love to hear how this episode resonated with you.
Thank you so much for tuning in to today’s episode of the Blissful Mompreneur podcast. I hope you found the information valuable and inspiring. Remember, you have the power to step off that hamster wheel, reclaim your time, and find balance in your life. If you enjoyed today’s episode, please subscribe and leave us a review on your favorite podcast platform. Your feedback helps me continue to provide valuable content to mompreneurs like you. Until next time, keep pursuing your dreams, finding joy in the journey, and creating a life and business you love. Take care and I’ll see you in the next episode.