Let me know if this sounds familiar to you. Have you ever said:
I’m not ready to take that step.
I’m not ready to sign up to work with a coach.
I’m not ready to put my website out there.
I’m not ready to do a Facebook Live.
I’m not ready to charge that much.
I’m not ready to attract that type of client.
I know I’ve had every single one of those thoughts. Here’s what I just want to share with you if you have been letting the “I’m not ready” run the show.
“I’m not ready” is just your brain trying to keep you playing small and safe.
Saying “I’m not ready, I’m not ready to charge. I’m not ready to do a huge rebrand of my website. I’m not ready to work with a business coach. I’m not ready to hire a virtual assistant”.
If that is the default that you’re going to is “I’m not ready yet”, that is a fear-based response.
That is something trying to hold you to playing small. A little story from my own history when I was just starting my business.
When I was just starting my business I left corporate consulting and had a little bit of a runway to figure out what my business was going to be and how it was going to work.
But, then, I got pregnant and I had twins, which meant I had a huge wrench thrown in all of the plans. Now, I will say I was not ready to get pregnant. I was not ready to have twins that is for sure.
All the “I’m not readies” in the world didn’t matter.
There was a looming deadline on the horizon. I had to figure out if I was going to take this business seriously, or if I was just going to go back and get a job.
I had these two babies and my husband was an English teacher. And I thought to myself over and over again that it would just be easier to go get a job.
I wouldn’t have as much stress, I could do that. On the other hand, I also knew that there was a big reason why I left my corporate job.
I dreamed of being able to work from home, being able to be with my babies, being able to raise my family.
Being able to have a flexible schedule where I could spend more time with them while they were little. As they got older I could pick them up from the bus stop. I could have the flexibility to take days off to be with them. I wanted that flexibility. So I knew that I had to commit.
I had to commit 100% to what I actually wanted to create.
And it was so scary because I wasn’t ready. I did not feel ready, I did not feel like I was going to be okay yet. I felt very scared, but I did it anyway.
I decided even though I wasn’t ready, I was going to commit 100% and do whatever it took to get my business to work for me.
The early days of my business, I was going from being in-person and working in-person to making the big decision to take my business online. I was so not ready for that.
I was not ready in January of 2011, a year after my twins were born.
I was not ready to take my business online. I didn’t know how to use my website, I broke it several times. I didn’t know much about running an online business.
I knew about running a business, but I didn’t know about things that are easy to me now. I didn’t know what to do with my email list, I didn’t know what a webinar was, all of those things.
I wasn’t ready to put myself out there.
Even something as simple as my first tele-seminar. We didn’t have webinars that were easy to use, so my first free masterclass I hosted on a conference call line.
I was so terrified and I kept telling myself “I’m not ready to do this, I’m gonna screw this up”. I mean, I was literally nauseous. And talk about not being ready, I had to move mountains in order to make that call happen.
Because remember, I had one-year-old twins at this point. I remember I was in my minivan in the driveway on my phone hosting this free call inviting people to my first program.
I was not ready, but I did it anyway.
I did it anyway, even though it was 1000 degrees in this minivan as I’m giving this free group call. I got off that call, and all I could feel was like was flattened, I was so exhausted. It was just like this huge sense of “ah, I did it. You felt like you got up the mountain”.
I remember the first time I had a client who paid me my initial fee for my new coaching program, my one-on-one coaching program. At the time it was $2500 to work with me one-on-one for six months.
I was terrified, I didn’t think I was ready to charge this.
Who am I to charge $2500 for six months? I thought they were going to think I was ridiculous. I wasn’t ready, but I charged that. I charged $2500, or $500 a month, for people to coach with me.
I got through saying the number the first time, and the second time, and the third time. And a month later I had filled my coaching program with amazing clients who were excited to work with me.
Y’all, I was scared every single time I told them what it was going to look like to work with me.
In fact, every part of me wanted to back down in that conversation with people, and say “if that’s too much, maybe we could do it for like $300..”. Every part of me wanted to do that because it was scary, it was way out of my comfort zone.
The next big step was taking my business to six figures so that I could replace my former salary.
And the biggest, scariest thing I did almost right away that first year was I joined a mastermind. I was coming off of maternity leave. I had basically neglected my business.
I had not sent an email, I had not written a blog post. I had not reached out to anybody, I had a couple of clients who I was basically their on retainer marketing department.
I realized there was a direction I could go, taking my consulting and coaching online instead of in-person, or instead of doing the marketing for people. And I found somebody who could support me in that. So I applied, I wrote a $10,000 check, and I joined a mastermind.
You know, here I am, I’m a new mom who struggled really hard first year with my twins. Struggled with post-partum depression. I didn’t have any family nearby who could help me with these kids, so I was still gonna be the primary caregiver.
I knew I was coming up on a timeline. I needed to get this business profitable.
Or else I wouldn’t have a choice, I would have to go get a job. And I realized very quickly there was a learning curve in front of me. And I needed someone to shorten that learning curve.
That’s why I spent that much on joining a mastermind. On working with a coach, on getting the training I needed. On getting the support I needed, the emotional support and the strategic support, right?
I knew it would be a heck of a lot easier if I had someone who could say this is what you need to do next.
I share all of this, all of these examples of I’m not ready yet because this is the biggest reason I see women holding themselves back in their business.
I remember something as simple as not too long ago rebranding my business from the Yogipreneur, which is the first brand I had to Racheal Cook. I wasn’t ready for that because suddenly I had to become the face of the business.
Suddenly, the business was more of a personal brand, that was terrifying to me. I remember investing what ended up being over $30,000 in rebranding my entire business, that was so scary.
It was terrifying, but it pushed me out of my comfort zone, and has brought me to the next level in my business.
[click_to_tweet tweet=”You’re going to have to learn to get over not being ready.” quote=”You’re going to have to learn to get over not being ready.” theme=”style2″]
You’re gonna have to learn how to push out of your comfort zone to do anything that will get you where you want to go in your business.
We are never going to be ready, and we’re gonna do it anyway.
We’re gonna do it scared. We’re gonna go into it, and maybe throw up before we do our first Facebook Live or our first webinar.
We’re gonna have conversations where afterwards your back is drenched in sweat because you’re pitching yourself and announcing that five figure price to a client. We are going to have those feelings.
But the good news is they’re just feelings.
I have re-framed it for myself as if I am feeling this way, like this is making me nervous, I don’t feel like I’m ready for that.
That means to me now that I’m on the right path. This is the next thing I need to do, the next obstacle I need to get through in order to get where I want to go in my business.
You’re not alone in this, we’re all gonna continue to do the things, and to do hard things, and make our dreams happen.