Life Conversations with a Twist
Join me once a week for a new interview with a local, badass woman who has an amazing story to tell. Join me in conversation so you too can gain inspiration and empowerment from these stories! If you love hearing about leadership, relationships, families, motherhood and navigating hard times, then tune into my podcast and share with others. If you love what you hear, share and tag me on Instagram at @heathernelson.life. You can also visit my website at heathernelson.life.
Life Conversations with a Twist
Entrepreneurship a.k.a Being a Boss: Proven Strategies to Fearlessly Build Your Dream Business
“As an entrepreneur, you feel like you need to know the exact plan. And honestly, you have to be okay with the unknown.” —Heather Nelson
To walk the path of entrepreneurship is to redefine success on your own terms, to carve out a legacy that is uniquely yours, and to inspire others with the power of your resilience.
For Heather Nelson, this entrepreneurial spirit has been the driving force behind her remarkable journey. After honing her skills in the hospitality and events industry, Heather made the bold decision to take the leap and start not one, but two thriving businesses of her own. To her, being a boss isn't just a career choice - it's a mindset of innovation, grit, and the courage to rewrite the rules, no matter the obstacles that stand in her way.
Grab a cup of coffee and get ready, because Heather is spilling all the juicy details on what it really takes to be your own boss. Tune in as she dishes on her incredible career journey, the must-have strategies that keep her business thriving, and the real-talk advice she has for anyone looking to start their own gig. Heather is also sharing the fun (and sometimes scary!) lessons she's learned along the way.
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Episode Highlights:
03:37 Career Journey and Network Building
08:00 Starting Set and Strike
12:36 Overcoming Business Challenges
25:00 Navigating the Unknown
38:37 Embracing Change
39:08 Balancing Personal and Professional Life
Heather Nelson: Hello everyone. Welcome to this week's Life Conversations With a Twist.
Today, I'm talking all about entrepreneurship. I hate that word, and so I am going to spin that concept into calling. I'm going to call it being a boss, because really, that's what it is. I recently just did a poll on social media because I was curious what people wanted to hear from me. Obviously, I interview amazing women. Sometimes, from time to time, I like to pop on and kind of talk about different things that are going on, things that I just went through, things that I think would resonate with the listeners. But I was curious what my listeners would want to hear from me. And hands down, everyone said that entrepreneurship, aka being a boss. And so I gave some thought to this, and I'm like, okay, I'm gonna roll with this. And I never thought that I would be speaking on this because I never thought that growing up, I would own my own business. I never thought in a million years that I would own two businesses. And here we are. So I want to back up a little bit and just kind of talk about how I even got here.
If you're a new listener, welcome. You are going to hear a little bit about my career journey. I will summarize it to be very short. Sometimes it's funny when you think back to all the jobs that you've had, you're like, oh, I forgot I did that. I forgot I did that, and kind of how I got to this point. And some of the things I've learned, some of the things that I kind of rely on to be successful. And so I hope that you walk away with some motivation, some inspiration to maybe if you are looking to start your own business, this might give you that little fire that you need. I'm hoping to break down some of the fears that most people have around starting a business, and just some fun things that I've learned along the way. So let's take it back.
I mean, I could literally go back to the very, very small jobs that I've had. But my big career started, or I would say my career journey started when I worked for cattlemens. And who would think working for a restaurant that I would be here where I am today, but I am very thankful about that journey. I started as a hostess and worked my way into serving, and then I discovered banquets and events, and so I became the banquet manager. We didn't do anything crazy, but we did holiday parties, birthday parties, retirement parties, and so that's kind of was my first dabble into events. And so I learned a lot through that. I also learned about sales. Obviously, I had to sell events, and also marketing. And so that's kind of where that background has come from and grown on. I worked there for about 12 years, and I had a really good friend of mine who I'm hoping to have on this podcast someday. She's the one who kind of pushed me to grow within the company, and I finally hit a wall where I'm like, okay, I need to do something more. I love the restaurant business. I met a lot of great connections through the years, but I needed something more, which is the story of my life, and you will learn that here through this story and journey.
But my girlfriend worked for a hotel, and she's like, you need to come work for the hotel, and you can do sales there. There's so many different jobs that you can do within the hotel business, but I started as a convention service manager. So I got to detail events. I got to work with groups that were staying inside the hotel. So I learned all about room blocks and hotel stays, and those kinds of things. And through my journey at the hotel, I obviously did events. I did some weddings, I did some conference work, but then also moved into sales. And so that's really where I pushed my sales limits. This is back in the day when we used to go knocking on doors for business, or going to office buildings and just handing out your business cards, or trying to get people to want to book events. So I did that probably on and off for about three to four years. I also did corporate sales and transient sales, which is basically like you work with a corporation, and you encourage them to put their travelers up in the hotel. So that's kind of my first kind of glimpse into the corporate world. And I love that job. I learned so much, again, made so many great connections.
And I want to say that through all of these pivots, or I don't want to say pivots, but career advancements, I really leaned on my network. And we're going to get to that in a little bit, but I just wanted to make notes through those jobs. Those last two jobs that I just mentioned, I met a lot of people. I met a lot of corporate people. I got my foot wet in the events industry here in Sonoma County, and I really leaned into growing that network. I think that's back when maybe it was like Facebook. I don't even remember social media back then, but kind of just like holding on to your network. And I was one of those people, and I still have them. A huge box of business cards, I love business cards. I love meeting people and throwing them in the box, and so I just hold on to all those people and connections that I've made through the years.
So after I left the hotel, through the hotel, I met the owner of a local rental company that was probably my longest at the end of a job. But obviously where I've learned the most. And so I did that for about 12 years, and I obviously learned more about events, tenting, and rentals, and all those things. But during that career, I did business development, and so that meant finding new clients, making sure our clients were happy, nurturing relationships with our venue partners. All of our partners, really, and I did a lot of networking. I was part of the association. I really was immersed in the events industry, but also in our local community. So I was very lucky enough that that job really has helped me be successful in the businesses that I have now because I was out networking. So I'm coming at you from, I already had a network, and I will touch on if you are somebody who doesn't have a network and wants to start a business where you can start, and where you can help grow that network. But that's primarily where mine came from is all of my career journeys.
So I worked there for about 12 years, again, and was part of that growth process. Near the end of my career was actually post pandemic working from home, working less hours than I had an idea. I saw a need, and I started a business. And I think this is one of the things that when you're sitting with this idea that you want to start a business, it's really understanding what that niche is, and where you see a demand. And I think that's where a lot of businesses have come up. And I love meeting people who I'm like, oh, you totally found that niche and you leaned into, and you started business. Because I think that's really what's cool. I mean, you can go and start a business because you're passionate about something, but you also have to understand that if it's a business, that it's really saturated. I think of event planners. Everybody wants to be an event planner. Well, there's so many of them, how do you start a business and be successful? That can be sometimes challenging. But again, it's all about your reputation, and we can get into that a little bit. But what I really love about small business owners that I get to work with in my community is they find that niche. And I found that niche after the pandemic.
There was a huge labor crisis in the events industry because they had to lay a bunch of people off. A lot of people labor wise went either into construction, or they took a different career because events were basically put on hold for almost three years. So there's a huge labor shortage, and I think we're probably back at the capacity that we were pre pandemic. But that took some time to rebuild, and I saw a need for labor, but more of a support for rental companies. I think rental companies were just trying to figure out a way that they can still grow their business, but maybe not necessarily take guys out of commission for all day. If they could just deliver a product, and then there was a company that would come in and do the setup after. And so that was kind of the brainchild behind Set & Strike.
So Set & Strike is owned by my husband and I. We both met at this rental company. I obviously was on the sales side, and he was on the operation side. And so we were like, well, let's just try this. None of us left our jobs for it. It was just this idea that we had that we were like, let's see if the market will take. This was just kind of a side project. And it's still a side business, I should say. It still is, but is definitely growing, which is great. So we started Set & Strike. And my role, obviously, because of all the people that I know, I'm obviously on the sales side. I know the booking process and the contract process, and what it takes to book an event like that. And so I really learned in my career, my experiences and my network to build that out. My husband, unfortunately, had back surgery, so he's very limited on what he can do, but he does support me in the operations side. So once we book an event or a job, we find a career. And that's kind of what his job is, to schedule and get them situated, and all the things.
So he was still working full time. I'm still working full time, and this was just this little idea that we had. And we're like, let's just see what happens. And we have been successful for about three years. And every year, we're doubling in size. And when I say in size, I'm meaning revenue. And we're definitely finding our niche. And this is the thing about when you start a business, you think you have an idea of what it is that you want to do, or you have this idea that you feel like you have to be very clear about what that is. And we'll get to that with my second business. But you'll learn after being in business, sometimes that it kind of changes a little bit. You find what you love and enjoy. You kind of find what the market is going to take, and you evolve it. And I think you have to be open to allowing for that to happen. And so what we thought our business would be is completely different. We actually do a lot more support with our venue and winery partners because they don't have staff to set up for events.
And so Set & Strike is literally just a labor company most of the time. Either tables and chairs are already on site, or they're rented through a rental company, and our team shows up and we set it up. And then we come back at the end of the night, and we break it down and pile it all up nicely for either the rental company, or we put it back for the venue. And a very simple concept. When we started the business, it was one of those things where there was no overhead, so there were no big costs up front. I'll get to the business side of it, but I want to finish this thought. So we have pivoted a little bit because we found that these venues and wineries really need support, and so that's actually most of what our business is now. And so it's been really cool to see that kind of grow, and then also strengthen our relationships with some of our venue partners. So that is Set & Strike in a nutshell.
When we first started, of course like any business, you feel like you have to have all the things. And what I mean by things, you have to have a website, you have to have a logo, have social media, you have all these things. And it can be very overwhelming. We discover Set & Strike just literally by sitting in our house one day and just going through names. And I'm like, what about Set & Strike? That's literally what we're doing. We're setting up, and we're striking. And then if anybody has met my husband, he's always wearing a bow tie. So anytime we go to an event, he's always wearing a bow tie, so that's how we tie it into our logo. And again, you do not, literally, do not need to start a business with a logo. But in our head, that we did, right? I come from marketing, and so that was just like one of those things that we needed to have at least a name, right? And we were very lucky enough to lean into your network of who might be able to support you in these things. We needed a graphic designer, and I had a good friend whose husband did this so we asked him to do it for us. And then our website is, honestly, very, very basic. I got the domain, I created it in GoDaddy as simple as it can get.
But I think the biggest thing that most people miss the mark on is knowing that you need to sign up for an S Corp or an LLC. You have to get a business license. There's all these documentations that you need to get, and so it's really been a huge learning opportunity. I love it. It can be very stressful. But I do have to say that one of the things with starting a business is, I think there's like two parts. It's either you're starting this business because it's like a side hustle and you want to test the market, which is what Set & Strike was. Or you start a business, and you take a leap, and you completely just start from scratch, and that is your only business. And that is my second business, which we'll get to. But with Set & Strike, we knew it was just kind of a side hustle. There was no pressure behind it. It was kind of like, let's just see as we go. And it's been super fun.
I do have to say, Sonoma County has some great business resources. We reached out to the Sonoma County small business totally slaughtering it. There's a group that has great resources, and they pull in different consultants, and you can hop on a call, and they kind of help. But if you're listening from Sonoma County, look into your local community and see what kind of business services there are. We were able to schedule a call, and they walked us through the process of figuring out, do we need an LLC? Do we need an S Corp? What process do we file in? How do we get a business license? All of those things. And they were super helpful, and it was free. I highly recommend that if you live in an area to find those resources to help support that. Also, if you are looking to start a business, find people who are doing the same thing. Find other small business owners, maybe even find somebody who's in the industry that you want to be in and reach out and ask for a call. Or ask for a coffee date or something. Everybody is so willing to help each other, and that's the thing.
I think people get so stuck in like, I don't want to ask my competitor. I don't want to ask for help. Ask for help. When people have reached out to me for podcasting or business ideas, I'm like, yes. Because, again,one, you're growing your network. Two, you're going to be able to get referrals from that. And three, you have somebody to talk to about things. Being a business owner is probably one of the loneliest places to be. You kind of sit on an island all by yourself, and there's so much that comes at you that you just wish you had some support. And I highly recommend finding a community to do that, whether that's joining a chamber that's joining a local networking group, an association that's associated in your industry, look for those things and get involved. Go to a networking event. Go listen to these calls. Do the work. Because I think once you can get into a room with people who are doing the same things, it's not as scary. You can share resources and you can learn from each other.
That's exactly what I've done through my whole entire life sentence track. I obviously used our local community to get the business started, and then I just leaned into my network of who I knew. I reached out to the partnerships that I've already had before, the relationships that I've already nurtured and really leaned into. Also, the people that I do know ask for intros to other places. I have clients that I work with that I have built a great reputation and rapport with, and I've asked them, hey, what other venues do you see our services in? And they're like, oh, this venue, this venue, this venue. I'm like, do you mind doing an introduction? And I've gotten so many referrals from that way. Because, again, we all are just trying to help each other out. And I think it's all about how you ask for help, and how you ask for support. So I highly recommend leaning into that if you can. That has been a very useful tool, at least for Set & Strike to how we can grow organically.
I'm not gonna lie, entrepreneurship being a boss is not always easy with Set & Strike. We do have employees. We have been very, very lucky enough to have a group of guys that we pull from. We have a group of guys that come from college, and they come in the summer, which is great, and they come to work for us. And it's very scary to have employees to learn payroll, to learn taxes, how you tax them, how you pay them, making sure they show up to your brand, making sure they have their uniforms. All of these things that I'm like, oh, I didn't realize that when you grow, these are the things you learn. But it's kind of been fun. And I think when we have built our business and our brand, we really leaned into the things that we've learned from being an employee that we loved and we didn't love, and that's one of the biggest things for us. How do we take care of our team? How do we make them feel appreciated? How do we create a culture where they're going to want to keep coming back and working for us? And that's really what we've done.
We make sure we pay them well, we make sure we pay them extra time. We want to make it worth their time. We want to have fun on site, we like to have a good time. We want them to show up and be excited to be there. We bring them drinks. We bring them food. We really have tried to create a culture where they want to continue to come back again. None of these guys are full time employees. Our goal for this year is to have some full time employees, but we want to take care of them, and we want them to come back and continue to support us. And also to tell other people or help us find other labor teams. We've asked them like, hey, do you know anybody else who would want to work with us? And so we've gotten a lot of referrals that way. So I think if you're starting as an entrepreneur and you want to have a team, really finding out what that culture is going to look like, and making it something that is positive and something that you would want as an employee to be a part of. And so that's something that we've really leaned into with Set & Strike, and I'm really excited to see where it comes. And so that's kind of Set & Strike. Again, a totally different business model. Because again, this was just the side hustle, and kind of how that's evolved.
Now, I'm going to lean into The Connection Hive, which is my consulting business, and how that has originated, and some of the things that I've learned. So when I left the rental company, I went and worked for an entertainment company doing business development. And during that process, I realized that not all businesses need a full time person, and I also was trying to find out, how do I make a bigger impact at a bigger level instead of just impacting one business? And so I took the leap. I literally had a moment where I was just like, I need to do this on my own. And again. I never grew up thinking I was gonna own my business. And honestly, until probably recently, I didn't even think that's what I wanted to do in a career. I enjoyed working for a company and not having to make the decisions, and being a part of a brand, and a team and all of that to just having this moment of, I'm just going to do it on my own. And I haven't looked back. I am so happy I did.. But I'm going to walk through some of the things that I've learned, some of the things that I've hit walls on, and I'm hoping this will inspire people.
I'm at a point now in my career that people who are wanting to have a bit to start a business are coming to me being like, I want to know what you did. They want advice, they want some inspiration. They want some accountability, and I'm here for it. So it's been really fun to now be on the other side of it, which is kind of like, I'm like, is this where my consulting business is going. So again, I took a leap. I am the premier. I bring in the most income for our family. And so having that stress of like, I'm just gonna go on my own. Can I make it financially? It was very, very scary. I think there's two parts. I think if you were gonna take that leap, have maybe some money saved up, or have a backup plan for six months as you're growing your business. I did not do that. I actually was lucky enough to partner with a really good friend of mine who is an event producer, and she had some projects that she could bring me in on while I was building my business. So I was very lucky enough to have that to lean on. But that's another option too.
I think if you had this idea of starting a business, but you're not really ready to take the full leap, is there something you can do on the side while you're growing and starting your business? So I think that's another key point. How do you find those resources to be able to do that? And whether that's like project work, or maybe it's like a job that you might not necessarily want to do forever, but just temporarily, I think leaning into that if you need to. So that's what I did. And basically, the goal for The Connection Hive, and why I called it The Connection Hive, finding a name for your business is literally the most stressful thing in the world. So many people are like, use your name. Don't use your name. All of these things. But I want it kind of like an overarching business name, because I also have my podcast, I do women's retreats.
There's some other parts of the business that I wanted to run through as an overarching business, and so I wanted something more general, instead of being Heather Nelson Consulting, or whatever that was. So I came up with The Connection Hive. And the word connection is probably the word. If anybody met me, they would probably describe me. I'm very much connected in our community. I'm very much connected in our industry. I'm very much connected with just women in general, which is why the podcast is so successful. Connection to me is super important. And so I'm like, how do I build that as a brand? And so that's how The Connection Hive started.
From the events industry, I'm from the hospitality industry, and so for me, I wanted to be able to help and be a resource for small businesses with business development strategies. And again, this can be anywhere from, what does your client relations strategy look like? Are you reaching out to your clients? What are you doing to take care of your clients? What are you doing for sales? How are you getting people to find out about you? That is truly my strong suit, and I love doing that so much. But it's just about meeting with a business and finding out what their goals are. What are their business goals? What are their personal goals? Where do they want to see their business go? And helping them develop a plan to get there, and then also holding them accountable. I think a lot of times, we build these strategies and we're so excited. We're like, we're gonna go do it, and then it just falls by the wayside. And so having somebody to be like, once a week, hey, you said you were gonna do X, Y, Z, did you do that? And so that is really kind of the main hub of what my business is. And I've been doing it for about a year and a half.
And I'm just going to be really honest, this is really what I want to do. Not that it is really what I want to do, but I feel like I do so many things that I can't be really good at one thing, and I have finally hit a wall of like, I need a little more clarity about where this business is going. However, I still gotta make money. I still have to bring an income. It's been very stressful to navigate the unknown and navigate the future, but I think I'm finally starting to realize what truly makes me happy. And I think as an entrepreneur going into a business, again, I talked earlier, you feel like you need to know the exact plan. You have to know exactly what your packages are going to be. You have to know the trajectory. You have to know what's going to happen. And honestly, you have to be okay with the unknown, and be okay to change paths if you need to.
I think you get into your business and you learn. You learn the clients you want to work with, the clients you don't want to work with. You learn about time management, how much time you want to give away. You learn about pricing and knowing your worth and your values. There's a lot that comes into it. But I think my biggest takeaway is to embrace the unknown and being willing to change the path if needed, and being okay with that. And knowing that at the end of the day, you're trying to find the right path that makes you happy. Being an entrepreneur and owning your own business is very, very stressful. And if you don't wake up every day excited to want to do the work, you are going to be miserable. So you really need to lean into making sure that, yeah, you might be really good at something, but is it truly what makes you happy? And that's something that I'm discovering.
I know I'm really good at building relationships. I know I'm really good at growing businesses organically through building relationships. I know that I still want to be able to give that away, but it is very time consuming, and it doesn't fill my cup anymore. And I think that you have to be okay with that. And yeah, you should have to be okay with it. And that's kind of where I'm sitting right now. So that's kind of where my business is going again. I still have clients that I am doing the work with, and I love it. I've also taken on projects that might not necessarily be financially big in my overall scheme of clients, but it gets my foot in the door. It gets my name out there. It gets me as a person out there. I've made so many great connections. So I think you need to be willing to take on some of those projects if you're going in the consulting world, or taking clients that you might not necessarily be your ideal but will kind of like help you see some truth, or get your foot in the door to other things. So I think that's another important takeaway as well, is that sometimes, you have to do things that you might not necessarily like to learn.
One of the biggest things that I get asked on the daily, or at least I have conversations with people who want to start a business, but guess what? They're scared. They're fearful. They fear that, are they going to be financially okay? They fear not having clients. They have a fear of failing. They have the fear of the unknown. And I'm here to tell you, it never goes away. You're always going to face fear. But I think sometimes, you just gotta do it. I just did it, and I am so glad that I did. And sometimes, you take risks and you fail. I've failed many times along this journey, and you just get back up and you figure it out. And that's the part of growth. I think that most people don't see that it is very scary. You learn so many things, though, and that's how you grow, that's how you learn, that's how you find new opportunities. That's really the best thing that you can face as an entrepreneur is fear.
So if you're listening to this and you have that business idea on your mind, I am here to tell you to just do it. Just go out and do it. Do your homework. If you have this idea on your mind, do some research. Are there other businesses doing it? Who are your competitors? Does the market want this? How do you price it? Is this something that you're going to enjoy? Do you have to have employees? I think you need to do the research. And again, that's going back to utilizing your network or your local resources. Joining networking groups, getting in the room with the people who are doing the things and asking them the questions.
Again, as a business owner and entrepreneur, we all want to help each other. We all want to see success in each other. We want to rely on our allies and just say, Hey, how do you do this? Hey, What program do you use? Hey, who do you use for your tax preparation? Hey, who do you use for social media? Use it. Ask people. Everybody is so willing to share what they've learned and what they do, or who they work with, or what they've learned. I wouldn't be where I am today without that. I'm constantly reaching for more, or finding a new networking group to be a part of, or getting in a room with people who are doing things bigger than me and asking the questions. So I think that's been something that a lot of people are scared of in navigating a business. Just got to do it.
The other thing that I tell people is, if the fear is financial, what I always tell people is, figure out what your minimum is. What do you minimally need to make each month to survive? And whether that's paying your bills, or groceries, daycare or whatever it is, what is the minimum amount of money you need to take? And then as you're flushing out your pricing, making sure that, one, it's attainable. And two, pricing yourself so you don't have to have multiple clients. An example that I'll use is, say you need to make 10 grand a month. And as you're figuring out your pricing, or you're figuring out your pricing structure, you're like, okay, I need to make 10 grand a month. And as a consultant, which is what I'm doing, how much do you think the market would take to pay you to do X amount of work? And then kind of work back from that. If you charge $3,000 for a monthly contract per client, then you only need three clients. To me, that sounds a little more manageable than saying, oh, I need to make a certain amount of money. I think it's like figuring out how many clients I need to take on, and that kind of helps set the tone.
And again, I'm talking about consulting because I think that's a lot of the people on my network that are wanting to move on. But I think of people who have business ideas that are like a brick and mortar, or a product based thing. Just do your research, figure out, are there other people doing your thing? How are they charging? How are they marketing? Do the research. It's all out there. You can find everything. And then YouTube. YouTube is your best friend. That's how I learned how to podcast. That's how I learned about S Corp. The amount of knowledge that is out at our fingertips right now is crazy. So do the research. Google it. I meet people all the time who are like, I have this idea. And I'm like, do the research. Google it. Figure out how to learn how to do it. And the resources are unlimited. And so I definitely think that you have to do the research beforehand. And then again, finding that niche.
I'm seeing so many successful businesses, at least here in Sonoma County, that they're finding that little niche in the market that will set them apart. And they're the only ones doing it at this point, and they're very successful at it. Especially with Set & Strike, that's something that I'm leaning into, like client relations. I don't think a lot of businesses are seeing the importance of what is your client strategy, and what are you doing to take care of your current clients, and your potential clients. And so again, finding the niche, and then using your network. I have been very lucky to have a great network, and I haven't had to do any ads. I haven't had to do a ton of marketing. It's literally been word of mouth. Because over the years, I've built a brand. If you are young and you're listening to this and still new in your career, your reputation is everything. How you show up to meetings, how you show up to clients, how you show up as a team member is so crucial. Because if down the line in your career you want to take the leap and start your own business, people remember who you are. Especially if you're in the same industry that you've worked your way up, your reputation is key, and people want to work with people they trust. You've got to keep that in mind. Even as simple as how you show up in your community, how do you show up in front of your kids as a parent because you never know where opportunities are going to come up. You never know when somebody might be a potential client, and you never know who people know.
Sometimes, you just have to put yourself out there and say, this is what I do, or this is what I'm looking for. And you will be surprised by how many people go, oh, my gosh. I know someone who did that. Let me connect you. Or I have a really good bookkeeper, connect. That is how I've utilized my network and my reputation to grow a successful business. And I also touched on just asking for help, asking people who are doing the same thing for help. If you follow someone on social media who you're like, God, I want to do what they're doing, but maybe here in my area. Reach out to them, ask them how they did it. What do they learn along the way? And then also, if you are going to start a business, and this is something that people have asked me quite a bit is how I manage it all, and I will kind of touch on that a little bit. But I want to say that I'm at a point in my business where I need help. And as an entrepreneur, you're expected to do a lot. You're expected to do all the bookkeeping. You're expected to do all the social media. You have to do all the sales. Sometimes, depending on what it is, you have to do the production. If you are a product and you have to make something like you're the laborer, you have to do all the things. So sometimes, entrepreneurship can feel very drowning. You put in a lot of time, and you put on a lot of effort, but you have to get to a point where you need help.
One of the things I quickly realized with both of the companies actually is I need bookkeeping help. Can I run numbers? Sure. Can I learn QuickBooks? Sure. Do I want to? Absolutely not. Is the time well spent in my life? Absolutely not. So that was something I quickly brought on was a bookkeeper and a CPA. Because again, this is all finances. This is how you file taxes, how you charge all the things. They have been a super huge help in my business. Something that I've learned with podcasting is I was editing everything. I would do the interviews, I would edit, and then I would release it and then market it. I got to a point where I'm like, I can't do this. Since I hired a team that does that, I just record and send it off, and they do everything else for me. And to me, that has been money well spent because that's time back that I am able to do other things.
And so again, one of the things that people have asked me is, how do I do it all? Well, I do most of it, but I've also outsourced a lot of it. I've found the things that I don't enjoy doing, and I outsource it. I ask for help, especially when it comes to things that I don't enjoy doing. I hate social media. That is my next thing that I would love to just give up. But right now, it's me doing all of it. But I think you have to get to a point you're like that. You need to assess the things that you put a lot of time in. Can you outsource that? Can you find somebody else to do that? There's so many great resources out there. There's Upwork and different platforms where you can hire people to do project work or hourly work, or you might have someone in your network that just wants some extra cash doing bookkeeping or whatever it might be. And really, leaning in and finding the help that you need will help give you a lot of time back. And honestly, a lot of stress back, or be less stressful.
Because I'm not going to lie and tell you that entrepreneurship is not stressful, because it is. But I want to end with this, it's really fun. It's so fun to create your content, to go to networking events and meet people, to pick and choose the people you work with, to create a product or service that is needed. It is so fun. It is so fun. And you learn so much. You learn so much about the business. You learn so much about your community. You learn so much about yourself. And it's really been a really cool journey to be a part of learning the things that I love doing, and the things that I don't like doing, and the things that fuel my soul, and the things that inspire others. I just have to say, make it fun. Find a couple people who are doing the same thing, and have a group text, or do a monthly meetup where you just just talk. Talk about the hard things, talk about the wins, talk about how you can support each other. I think that is the thing that most people miss,is finding that.
And if you're not somebody who has a huge network like myself, there are so many resources out there. Look in your county. Look at different networking events. Look at your chambers. All the local chambers do events. And just put yourself out there. You never know what you're going to find. Put yourself out there on social media, LinkedIn, just see what sticks. Reach out to people. Say hi, interact with them. Do the things. I've done the things and it's been a really fun ride. I also want to say that being an entrepreneur, you can put a ton of time into it, and you do. There's been long nights. You work on the weekends. While you're sitting on the couch watching a movie with your family, you're on your computer. It can be a lot. But the time, freedom of not having to go to an 8 to 5 or whatever the shifts are is so rewarding. To be able to go pick and choose what I want to do each day, to figure out my schedule, to take time off, to go pick up my kids from school, to go on that school field trip, all of it is so worth it. You just have to find those special things that make it all worth it to keep you going. I love what I'm doing. I cannot wait to see what happens.
And I think the other thing too that I want to touch on is how I do it all, time management is key. Time management is the key. There's so many great tools out there as an entrepreneur, whether that's your Google Tasks. Yes, if you're not into social media, you enjoy doing it, doing an app that posts automatically for you. I have a lot of tools in my life that I swear by, and that can be literally its own episode, because I can talk about each one. I feel I have in the past, but I really rely on the tools because I do so much with podcasting and the two businesses. Then I have clients, and I have kids, and I do all of that. Guess what? You have to have personal time and all of those things. I really prioritize it by day. So certain days of the week are certain things I focus on.
Mondays are my business day and my personal day. That's when I do a lot of branding or marketing, or those kinds of things. I do a lot of that on Mondays. That's my self care day. If I want to go take a pedicure, or get my lashes on or whatnot, I really savor Mondays for those things. And then Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursdays are packed with client meetings, and those can be interacted with. But I really try to stay focused on certain tasks or certain projects that day. Because, one, it's helpful for the brain, especially if you're doing creative work, or if you have to send out a bunch of quotes. I'm doing that all in a batch, and it seems to be very helpful as well. And I swear by my task list, if you're one of those people that your brain is going like five miles an hour, like mine is, I literally put notes for everything. And I remind myself if I'm like, oh, I need to schedule this. I will put it on for the day, but then I'll move it. And so I'm really big about task management, using a to-do list and moving that around as my schedule fits for each day.
I know I kind of talked about everything. I hope this all made sense. I literally didn't think I could talk this long about being a boss, but I did. And I feel like there's so much more to talk about, but I'm glad I had this conversation because it's actually been very great for me to see the process, see where I've come, and I've learned so much. I'm so thankful for all the support from my family to my husband, to my network, to my friends. It's a wild ride. It truly is, but you got to just buckle in, and just be ready for whatever path it takes you on. And again, it's so fun. It's such a great thing. So if you are thinking about it or want to pursue it, I'm here. If you ever want to grab coffee and chat about it, if you need any resources or any referrals to anybody, I'm here for it. I think we all as bosses need to stick together and support each other, and help each other out so I'm here for it. I hope you gained one little nugget out of this conversation.
And yeah, please reach out if you have any questions, or share this with somebody who might be struggling with this. I hope you have a great day, and we'll see you here next week.