5 Most Common Roadblocks for New Entrepreneurs

In this episode, we cover shifting away from a “worst case scenario” mindset (4:40), paralysis analysis (7:30), and how to focus in on making money with your business (15:50).

Audio Transcript

Hi, everyone. Welcome back to The Wanderlover Podcast. I’m your host, Danielle Hu. I am currently recording this episode in our new house here in Bali.

(45s):
You guys know how much I stress how important it is to surround yourself in an environment with people, with everything in your surroundings, to motivate you and encourage you to be the best that you can be. And when we first saw this house, when we first had a look at it, I was like, this is it. Every single thing that I wrote down in my journal a few months ago about living near the beach about having fast wifi, just having a space where Ragz and I can be really inspired. This was it. And so if you go on my Instagram, I posted a house tour. It is a one bedroom, one bathroom with an extra giant office space for us to relax and work and the whole house is kind of a boho Mediterranean style.

(1m 34s):
It’s super open, perfect for entertaining. There’s a giant garden, a giant pole. It’s so close to the beach, like the exact beach that I surf at every single day. It’s perfect for a long boarding. And it’s just so convenient. There’s a bright, bright office space, a bright bathroom, super fast Wi-Fi. And it’s surrounded by plants, which is crazy because in my journal where I had written down all the descriptions of what I wanted my dream house to look like plants was on it. And here I am surrounded just by so much greenery and my favorite flowers. We have so many different colors of fringy panties.

(2m 16s):
We have birds of paradise. We have like these beautiful orange flowers that I don’t know the name of, but every time I step outside, I’m just like, this is mine. There’s so much space. And it’s just so crazy. How right after the four year anniversary of quitting my corporate job, I go from my cubicle office space and then in a tiny apartment, it’s like massive house. So beyond grateful. And I’m just spreading and sharing all the abundant vibes in this episode today. So in this episode, we are going to talk about the five most common roadblocks for new entrepreneurs and keep in mind guys.

(2m 55s):
I was a new entrepreneur once just over four years ago, I was in corporate America. I had worked all my life, trying to get where I thought would make me happy. It turns out it didn’t right. And so after four years of reflecting of working of learning and just trying new things and expanding my frame of reference of what is possible, I can now help other people and help all of my clients see what they need to do in order to build their dream reality. And through that, I have noticed so many patterns because I had gone through them, but now I see it in other new entrepreneurs.

(3m 37s):
And I’m here to tell you that if you are facing any of the following five most common roadblocks, you are not alone, like for it to have made it to this episode, it must mean that I’ve seen it over and over again. And so if you’re new to this community, if you’re new to my podcast and you listen to this and you’re like, Hey, that’s me. I’m going through that. It seems super difficult to get through. I thought I was the only one I’m here to tell you, no, you’re not honey. And you are on the road, right path. I promise it gets easier. So I have a second next week, start your hustle intensive.

(4m 18s):
And this is designed for entrepreneurs who know that they have the ability. And they’re really curious about a new route outside of corporate, outside of maybe a job that’s just not fulfilling and they want to talk it out with a coach. So I guess on discovery calls with people who are interested and usually they have a bunch of ideas, but they’re not executing on and on these calls. One thing that I noticed that is the same for every single new entrepreneur is they are constantly thinking about the worst case scenario. And there’s just this air of self doubt or the conversation ends up being super inspiring.

(4m 59s):
And they know exactly what to work on, what to focus on, but they enter the conversation with just lists and lists, fears, self doubts from their peers, not being in the community, that’s really supporting them. And so they come to me being like, but what if I fail? Right? What if this idea isn’t new enough? Or if the market is too saturated or I can’t afford to run ads, or I can’t afford healthcare. And it goes on and on and on entrepreneurship is not easy because if it wasn’t everyone would be doing it.

(5m 40s):
Right. And in that case, the same fears, the same doubts, the same struggles are the same for anyone who pursues his path. But what makes a successful entrepreneur versus one that isn’t successful is all about mindset. So in those moments, maybe you’re just out, maybe you’ve started your business for a year or two and not seeing the results that you want. What is your mindset like? Right? Like, are you giving up? Are you convincing yourself that you’re not worthy, that you can’t do it because of X, Y, and Z? Do you let those failures define you? And if you go into this trying to find something, not working so that you can validate your fear, that you’re not worthy enough, or you don’t have what it takes to do it.

(6m 28s):
Then as soon as the littlest problem arises, you’re going to misinterpret that as something that is detrimental to you and your business that is going to justify all of those problems that come up in entrepreneurship, they’re going to justify your core belief that you don’t have what it takes. So when you’re going through this, the new journey, it is so, so important to constantly work on your mindset. Be really aware of the thoughts that go through your mind, because your thoughts, pause is your feelings, which causes action, which causes results. You want the best results.

(7m 9s):
We need to have the best mindset and even listening to my podcast episodes, that is a step in the right direction. I think, do not ever, ever, ever Have any Room for self-doubt for negativity, for fears, for criticism or anything, the thing holding you back and keeping you small, these episodes and my community, I have cultivated or to be a place of inspiration, possibility. And any time you have any fear, just listen. And, and I’m here to tell you that you can do whatever it is that you set your mind to. The second, most common roadblock that I see new entrepreneurs face is paralysis by analysis.

(7m 55s):
This is most common in entrepreneurs who tell me that they have so many different ideas and they have no idea which ones to pursue, or those who make some progress with an idea and then talk themselves out of it. Or they do some market research and realize that the market is too quote, unquote saturated. And then they get imposter syndrome. And then they quit paralysis by analysis could also look like doing what is really comfortable for you. So maybe that’s posting on Instagram every other day and being really active with content creation and social media. But as soon as you think about trying to create your first product or your first service, or what on earth you could possibly, we offer you freeze and you either can’t think of anything or try to convince yourself that there is so much that you can offer that you don’t know which ones to create.

(8m 48s):
First. Every single one of these examples are rooted in fear and not being able to pick or move forward, because there are way many options in your mind. And you are just overthinking by nature. Paralysis by analysis is so, so common. So if this is something that you are currently going through, again, I am here to say, you are not alone recognizing it is the first step, because then we can actively change it. We can actively say to ourselves, look, there are so many different ideas in this world that I could choose to pursue because in reality There is right, and you can either Let this stop you from creating or inspire you to create why not create all of them.

(9m 35s):
Why not create a few this week and a few next week, and really practice your execution muscle and saying goodbye to all that fear, holding you back, fear of making the wrong decision, fear of doing something that’s not aligned fear of what other people might say. Like let’s leave that all behind and really practice on expressing your creativity, because that is what entrepreneurship is all about. When you do this, when you give yourself full permission to just try without thinking about possibility of failure, without thinking about anything, holding you back and just try so freely, you would be amazed at what comes out of it.

(10m 17s):
I forgot to mention in the beginning of this episode, that these five common roadblocks are kind of an order. So as you progress more and more in entrepreneurship, these are the ones that I see. So with my clients who are just starting the business with my clients who maybe have worked in their business for one or two years, and then my clients who have a few years under their belt, and they’re seeing really consistent income streams, but they still want someone to look from the top down. These are all really common. And please don’t think that, you know, you’re the only one who has these fears, or maybe because you have these fears, you’re not worthy of calling yourself X, Y, and Z.

(10m 58s):
Like that is not the case. Every single person has limiting beliefs has roadblocks and fears. And this episode is here to get you into the next level mindset and the next level you, so the third, most common roadblock that I see are entrepreneurs who try to figure it out all on their own. I am so guilty of this. I’ve gone months on my entrepreneurship journey, coming from finance, thinking that I knew it all and that I could just execute on idea after idea with no help. And then I realized that was not the case.

(11m 38s):
And when I started practicing investing in my business and in entrepreneurship, I realized that my old frame of reference that what I used to know was nowhere near what I learned and what I currently know now. So to really expand what you know about business and how to make money, he needs to be learning from people, learning from books that are focused on making money and being successful in entrepreneurship. Right? And so what I noticed when I was really working from the ground up instead of the top down was I was so into the day to day grind, the day-to-day tasks that looked like posting on Instagram, focusing on the most optimal hashtags, focusing on the perfect caption on the perfect time to post and doing everything, just to get a perfect Instagram post up without really seeing the big picture, seeing how my business was growing and putting so much time and effort into a post that wasn’t necessarily even going to make me money.

(12m 50s):
And it wasn’t until I reached out for help reached out for an audit. When I realized that the things I was focusing on, wasn’t the best use of my time and who was I to know, right? Like how was I supposed to know that when I was just so dedicated to my craft and so dedicated to my work, I now compare this to trying to learn how to play piano without a teacher. So I first started playing piano when I was four years old and I played until about high school and I had piano lessons every single week. And that’s how I got better. You could of course, like go onto YouTube and learn by yourself, but it’s never going to be as guided.

(13m 34s):
You’re never going to have that intuition as an experienced piano teacher has to know what it is that you need to focus on how to get you to the next level. So applying this current day, I am starting my first surf lesson. So I’ve been to surf camps in the past, but I signed up for surf lessons a month of surf lessons with arguably one of the best longboard nose riders in Chengdu. And that’s exactly what I want to do. Be able to nose ride on my longboard. And so who do I go to? Someone who teaches it and someone who basically walks the talk and applying this to business, why would anyone try to navigate this alone without any help?

(14m 24s):
And without any feedback, year after year, I’ve invested into courses and to books and to coaches and to master your mind, run by people who I aspire to be who have been there, done that. And these people expand what is possible for you. So if you are currently working on your business, but not seeing the results that you want, it doesn’t mean that you are a failure. It might just mean that you need a little help. Waitlist for Momentum mastermind is now open. If you are a new or aspiring entrepreneur, then listen up. Momentum is my four month group coaching program designed for entrepreneurs currently making less than $5,000 a month, where we give you clarity, guidance, strategies, and take action together to start and scale your online business.

(15m 17s):
You get personalized one-on-one guidance from me and a support system like no other alongside ambitious travel loving entrepreneurs. We start in September and the official launch is next week. If you want to learn more and get on the wait list for a thousand dollars off, sign up today in the episode description, we can not wait to welcome you into momentum. Okay? So the next most common roadblock that I see is not focusing on money-making activities in business as a content creator, as an influencer.

(16m 2s):
This is way too common, because for some reason, when you look at other Instagram pages, when you look at other Tik TOK pages or influencer accounts or photography accounts, it’s not entirely clear how much people are making per sponsored post or how much people are making in general and how they are making money. And so when you think that Instagram influencers make their income solely from posting pretty photos, and that’s why you spend all of your time trying to perfect the perfect photo. So that that brand is going to reach out to you with a hundred thousand dollars collaboration.

(16m 45s):
Maybe that is not the way to go about doing things. And I’m going to give you a reality check that that is not the way to go about doing things. When people are focusing on the wrong thing and not focusing on income, generating activities on a day-to-day basis, what ends up happening is you burn out, you end up not making money from your business, and it ends up just being a hobby. You have a lack of cash to reinvest into your business. Cashflow is what sustains a business. And so if you don’t come from an entrepreneurship background and that’s not something you’re focused on a lot of times, you really need to have a shift and a reframe of how to structure your day.

(17m 32s):
If you currently don’t have a product or service to sell, if you currently have no rate card, these are all things to really direct your attention to right now, because if you are not making money from your business, and I’m sorry to say, you don’t have a business similarly, but the other hand, if you do have a product or service, but you’re still not making money, then maybe it’s time to look at lead generation activities instead of the day to day grind that you’ve currently been so focused on. Cause a lot of times, too, what I see is people are so focused on what they are currently doing.

(18m 11s):
And it takes up so much time that they end up not really doing anything different. And so this could look like sending lots of emails to a list that isn’t going to buy from you, or hasn’t bought from you, right? It’s like beating a dead horse or posting consistently to an audience that isn’t growing. When you start looking at the top down, you start seeing where you can improve and you need to start changing what you are focusing on on a daily basis if it’s not working for you. So just to reiterate, if you are not making income, focus on the income generating activities, if you have income generating activities, but you’re still not making income than focus on lead generation activities.

(18m 55s):
These are business terms that will help you so tremendously because once you are making money and making money consistently, that’s how you are going to get the momentum to sustain, to quit your job, to be location independent and build your brand internationally. It all comes down to cashflow. And if you’re not focusing on that, then there is probably a high chance that the cash is not flowing because what you direct your attention to, the more it attracts and the more it multiplies. Okay. The last roadblock that I have for you guys today is not having the support system to really get you to where you want to be.

(19m 36s):
I first noticed this when I was in my corporate job and I would say my dreams, my visions, my goals, and I really didn’t get that much support from my immediate environment and peers and friend group. And this isn’t really necessarily their problem. It was more likely mine that I was just in the wrong community with the wrong people, for what I wanted to do. And that means I just needed to find a group of people who supported me. And because I was traveling all the time, because I knew what was out there. I had a glimpse into communities and digital nomad groups and online entrepreneurs who were already doing what I wanted to do.

(20m 22s):
So I knew that my people were out there and I just had to go find them support and accountability are so, so important because had I stayed in that environment, I probably would not have thrived. And when people hop on discovery calls with me, a lot of times they’re voicing to me their fears. And it’s only heightened by the people around them, by the people who don’t understand. And me being on the other side of the conversation and being from a place where I can look back on my old life, on other people’s lives and be like, you’re just in the wrong place at the wrong time. And it’s totally up to you to get yourself into the right frame of mind and the right communities.

(21m 8s):
Because when there are people checking in on you, when they are holding you accountable to what you voice that you really wanted to do, you become more motivated to work even harder at your dreams. They’re not saying things like, well, are you sure? Like, can you do that? Who are you to be doing that? And instead they’re saying, you got this, you can do even more. Why are you doing it like this? You could literally be making 10 times as much. If you did X, Y, and Z. Do you see how those conversations facilitate growth instead of holding you back and holding use fall, these are the types of people you need to be around.

(21m 48s):
And that’s also a reason why I came back to Bali because the first time that I visited, I was just so surrounded by online entrepreneurs and people who really understood me. And when I came back and moved here, it was a whole nother story because I learned so much more about myself and what I wanted to do with my business to help others, to make it international, to really grow it and impact even more or less. And now I came back because I just knew that this is where I have the most freedom and the most creativity to really thrive in what I’m doing. So I hope that this episode really opened some doors for you.

(22m 29s):
It made you think a different way. I am always spreading the most abundant vibes. And I know that if you have an idea that you even want to like, you know, just talk it out to someone, my DMS are always open and I know that you are capable. No one is you. And that is your power. If you are looking for a mastermind group of like-minded entrepreneurs, I’d love to invite you into my group. Coaching program. Weightless is now open for momentum. And if you’re even considering it, just send me A DM. I’ll add you onto the wait list and you’ll get notified when it officially launches. But if you put your name down, I’ll know that you’re interested and we can hop on a call to see if it’s the right fit for you.

(23m 14s):
If travel, if online entrepreneurship, if mindset is something that you’re feeling interested in, just shoot me. And I am so excited for what is to come. Have an amazing week guys!

✧ Momentum Mastermind Waitlist: https://thewanderlover.com/momentum-mastermind/
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