We celebrate our 50th episode with 5 key learnings of successful entrepreneurship (3:50), becoming an expert by being a beginner first (14:00) and how being an entrepreneur is a lifestyle (16:40).
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Audio Transcript
0:00 – The Wanderlover podcast was created with a mission to enable travel and freedom through entrepreneurship. I’m your host, Danielle Hu business mentor, content creator, and founder of the wander lover tune in every week for episodes about travel online business, social media, and mindset that will inspire you to take massive action towards living the life of your dreams. Hi everyone. Welcome back to The Wanderlover podcast.
0:37 – This week, we are celebrating our 50th episode – woo! I’m literally beaming with excitement. This means that I’ve released a new episode every single Monday for the past 50 weeks. And if you’re in any of my programs, if you’ve privately coached with me, you’ll know that every single week we celebrate our successes, no matter how big or small and all of the small ones contribute to your overall big success. So looking back on this, you know, every single week when I first started, no one was listening and I had three episodes and six episodes, then 12 episodes, and they were all little wins, but ultimately they contributed to what I am celebrating today, which is 50 episodes released for every single one of you to tune into.
1:31 – I’ve obviously learned so much from this process and I hope that you guys have too, if you would like to celebrate with me, it would mean so much. If you could leave a podcast review on apple podcasts, it helps us rank higher in the charts so that we can reach more people around the world who need to hear our message. So I had somewhat of a difficult time naming this episode, I think because I put so much pressure on it. I was like, it’s my 50th one. It has to be good. It has to be something that sticks. And originally I really wanted to play off the fact that it’s been four years since I quit my corporate job in 2017.
2:21 – And I was like, well, it’s 50 and I really want to do five takeaways, but how does four years into corporate fit into that? We’ve also been celebrating five figure weeks at the wander lover, which I’m so, so grateful to be able to say. And also it sounds so crazy to say out loud, but ultimately this is a by-product of committing to entrepreneurship, 50 podcast episodes and everything that goes on behind the scenes of running an online business. One of the main things I learned, it’s not a takeaway that I’ve included today, but it’s more of a habit where if you’re stuck on something, like I was, what the name try your hardest to just pick one and move forward.
2:52 – Right? Like had I spent more than a couple of minutes, I think in total I maybe spent like 20, 30 minutes and I thought that was way long to think of a name for a podcast episode, like a single episode, right? Like had I spent more time had I spent a few days at one of probably delayed the launch of this and I wouldn’t have gotten it out there in time. And so a recurring theme of doing things, the moment inspiration hits is just stick with it and trust your gut and get it out there. Like that’s the most important thing to get it out there because you’re not going to have your 50th if you can’t have your first.
3:32 – So obviously in the end, I scrapped the four year anniversary since quitting my corporate job idea. And I just stuck with top five takeaways from five figure weeks and 50 episodes. I’m so excited to share all of these with you. It’s another one of my fields that I give my private clients and mastermind members, but it’s obviously always from the bottom of my heart. The first takeaway is what you focus on grows, whatever it is in life, what you direct your attention to, whether that is, you know, your mental health and you hire a therapist, you’re obviously trying to improve your mental health. If you get a piano teacher, you want to improve your piano, right?
4:14 – So you are getting the help you need to improve because you’re directing energy to it. So wherever your attention goes, energy flows and results show. This was my biggest lesson that I applied to my business because when you want a successful business and you want to be a successful entrepreneur, you need to be focusing on making money and growing your online business. And in the beginning, when I first quit my corporate job, I was so hesitant to get help. I thought I could do it all myself and looking back, it was all ego and coming from a place of fear that I might fail, which is counterintuitive, because if you actually got help where you needed it, you wouldn’t be failing.
4:59 – This applies to surfing or any activity. You know, when you want to get better at something, you direct your attention to it and you get help. So I hired a surf coach and now my surfing is significantly better. If you want to enter a fitness competition, you’ll probably get a fitness coach or a personal trainer to teach you what you don’t know and hold you accountable. So you can get there. Same thing with an online business. If you want a successful business, hire a business coach. So you can get there faster. This was also a concept that I learned from one of my favorite books, secrets of a millionaire mind by T Harv Eker. He basically states all of these wealth files that rich people have, and they’re not ingrained or programs in everyone, right?
5:47 – Like everyone’s experiences growing up their environments. They affect how they view money. But what he did was he did a study of all the richest people in the world. And he realized all these rich people had the same quote unquote wealth files. And one of these files that really spoke to me was that rich people focus on their net worth and poor people focus on their income. So their working income or their salary. And I noticed that I was like so many people around me, who I used to work in finance with. Like a lot of people are so hung up on their salary and their working income, but no one’s really paying attention to their net worth.
6:28 – And that might just be the people, you know, who I’m surrounded with. But after I read this book, I was like, oh my God, this is so true. And what he recommended everyone reading to do is to focus on your net worth. So really get out a piece of pen and paper, get out Excel and really see what your net worth is and get that number. He says, the more you track it, the more, or it will grow. The more attention you give it, it will inevitably grow. And lo and behold, ever since I read that book, my net worth has been increasing month after month. And I’m not going to get too off topic about this. I might do an entire episode on this book because it really has changed my mindset around money so much, but he says, in order to increase your net worth, the fourth things you should really be focused on are one your income, which has only one fourth of the equation to your savings three year investments and for simplifying your life.
7:28 – So getting rid of those unnecessary expenses and really tracking how money is entering and leaving and being invested in your life and your business, the more you put attention to this, I promise you guys, it sounds so weird because when he said it, he was like, yeah, just track it and it’ll increase. And in my head, I was like, really, all I have to do is track it and it’ll increase. It happens like, so guys, if this is sparking some kind of curiosity within you as a business coach, this is something I would really encourage you to think about and apply to your own life. So the first takeaway it’s very general, but applying it to entrepreneurship, what you focus on will grow.
8:10 – So if you really want to grow your business, focus on it, learn about it, direct all of your attention to it. And it will grow. This is one of the most powerful realizations I’ve had because it applies to anything in life. It applies to your relationships. It applies to your health. It applies to your abilities. Like when I made my vision board and I had surfing on there, I was like, whoa, all I needed to do is focus on this. And then all the actions around it will help me reach the level of surfing that I want to be at. This includes surrounding myself with people who go surfing, right? Like getting instructors and mentors and following people on Instagram who are great surfers and learning about different surf boards.
8:54 – And when you surround yourself with all of them energy, there’s no way for you to fail at something. It’s only when you’re kind of looking at this distant goal from a far when you’re like, oh, I can’t do that. But ultimately, as soon as you place your focus on it, it will grow. The second one takeaway is direction is more important than speed. So I’ve heard this over and over in my journey with entrepreneurship. I think I first heard it when I was in corporate, but it didn’t click until recently where I can look back and be like, holy shit, this was so important, right?
9:34 – Because for example, you know, if you wanted to go to Florida from New York, you could fly. You could drive, you could bike, you could walk. It doesn’t matter are so many different means of getting there. But as long as you are going in the direction to Florida, which is south, you will get there. But imagine, right? Imagine if you took a plane and the complete opposite direction, and someone else was walking to Florida, but the plane went off and flew to like Alaska. Even if you wanted to get to Florida, it doesn’t matter how fast you got there.
10:15 – You’re still not there. And looking back, had I not quit my corporate job and had I continued working my way up the corporate ladder, it doesn’t matter how many promotions I got. It doesn’t matter how much money I made. I still wouldn’t be an entrepreneur working for myself. If I stuck to that original path, I could have been CEO of a company, but deep down, if I knew I wanted to travel and have the flexibility to work from anywhere, no matter how high I got up that ladder, I still would not have what I wanted. And so back then the decision to quit, my job was so scary and it was really confusing. But looking back four years later, after having 50 episodes of this podcast, after reaching five figure weeks with my business, it’s so clear that that was such a critical moment.
11:05 – And I wouldn’t be enjoying all of these successes today. Had I not made that initial scary decision to change my direction, right? So even if you quit and you start this new thing and it takes you years and years and years, you’re still going to be on that path with the destination that you want to reach rather than going a completely different direction. And to expand on that example, do not compare how fast you’re going with anyone else’s journey do not do not go south. You’re heading south.
11:45 – You’re going to make it to Florida. And when you reach like North Carolina, you look around at you and everyone else is like further south in south. And you’re like, oh my gosh, no, I need to go back to New York. I need to just give up and go back to where I started because this isn’t working out. That’s not what entrepreneurship is about. There is absolutely no timeline. And I talked about this in last week’s episode, trust the timing of your life. But when you have committed that you are going, going to go to Florida, we need you to not stop until you get to Florida. And this is so important because a lot of times people get imposter syndrome, they get scared.
12:30 – They’re looking around them and nothing looks familiar and they think they have failed without knowing that it’s just simply a part of the path. You’re in a new city, you’re in a new environment and it’s going to be unfamiliar. But trust that when you’ve made the decision to go a certain way, you will get there. You just need to be patient and keep walking, keep taking action every single day, which brings me to my third takeaway, which is consistency is key consistency. As in podcast episodes, week after week, it looks like new blog posts week after week, it looks like constantly nurturing your audience, building out your offers, learning like whatever it is that your business is about.
13:21 – You need to be consistent that entrepreneurship, isn’t just, you make it, the product you launch it and hope that it makes you a millionaire. You need to constantly be updating your tool, kit, learning new things and doing whatever it takes to get your message out, to as many people in the world as possible. And what really helps with this is trusting your gut and just having fun with the whole process. If you’re in a business where you’re not passionate about it, you’re not having fun. And you don’t believe in yourself or your vision, then most likely you’re going to burn out. You’re not going to be consistent and you’re not going to find a reason to be consistent.
14:03 – Right? The other thing is, don’t put the pressure on yourself to need to know everything. At the time beginning, you will never be an expert when you’re just starting. This is also a catch 22, because I’ll see clients who feel like they should already have an audience in order to launch their first YouTube video, or they feel like they need to already have thousands of people on their email list before they can sell anything. And a lot of times it’s like everyone starts zero followers. Everyone starts with zero at something, and you need to get over that mental block that you need to be at a certain level in order to do something because people only have thousands and millions of followers after creating, right?
14:48 – Like after sharing those videos to zero people watching that email with two people on your email is it’s like your boyfriend and your mom, everyone starts fair. And you are the only person holding yourself back. If you’re not starting and not being consistent with whatever it is you’re working on. So once you found something that your gut is saying, try this, like, you’ll be good at it. This will be so fun. Once you find something that speaks to you like that and take the pressure off to need to be at a certain level before you start. And before you start sharing consistently, then it gets to be a part of the process.
15:28 – Then you can just share freely. Like when I launched this podcast episode, like I said, I started off with zero followers and my first episode was recorded with like this makeshift microphone cameras set up in our little Airbnb in Brazil. And it was just a fun process. I didn’t look at the people with giant studios and be like, oh, I can’t do a weekly podcast episodes. My audio isn’t good enough. Like, I don’t have the right script template. I don’t have this. I don’t have that. Like, I didn’t have any of that pressure because I knew after I got my first one out there, my 50th one would be so much better. And so many people would be listening to my 50th episode than my first, which surprise is the case.
16:15 – Right? So many of you are listening to this compared to my first ever one. So don’t compare your chapter one to someone else’s chapter 20 and just do it, do it consistently. And if you need someone to hold you accountable, just DME on Instagram and I will be so happy to help. The fourth takeaway from five figure weeks and 50 episodes is that entrepreneurship is a lifestyle. You are responsible for your own success. You are responsible for every single thing that is happening in your business right now.
16:55 – So if it’s going really well, then yay, that is on you. But also if it’s not going as well as you imagined, then that is also on you. Maybe you’re not learning enough. Maybe you’re not taking enough action, but whatever it is, you are responsible for everything that’s happening in your business right now. So what I mean by entrepreneurship as a lifestyle is that you are constantly, constantly learning and applying and taking action. So that means working on your mindset. If you have limiting beliefs, working on money mindset, if you have beliefs around money that aren’t serving you reading a lot of books, learning from a lot of mentors, taking a lot of classes and executing.
17:40 – So you know what works and what doesn’t work for you entrepreneurship doesn’t look like, you know, creating a product and then posting on that. You are selling a product and then being like, yay, I’m an entrepreneur. Like, that’s it. It’s not like that. It’s also, it also doesn’t look like creating a podcast episode, launching it and just being like, yay. My podcast episode will go viral. And I’m an entrepreneur. It doesn’t look like making a website and then hoping the internet just directs every single person who needs your service to your website. No, there is so much more to it.
18:20 – And your whole life has to be dedicated to making your business the best it can be or else you’re going to have this mindset. Like, all I need is another course to teach me this and then I’ll be successful. Or all I need is to do Facebook ads. And then I will be successful. Like maybe sometimes that is the case, but you need to figure it out for yourself and try so many new things to get your business to the next level. It’s been four years since I quit my corporate job. And there is still so much that I want to learn that I want to be implementing. I’m always reading a new book. I’m always working on my mindset.
19:00 – Also trying new things every week to try to expand my frame of reference of what is possible. So this journey of entrepreneurship becomes your life and you need to be obsessed with it or else you’re going to put so much pressure on like, I’m going to post this one, one post on Instagram and then I’m an entrepreneur. And that’s it. No, I’m sorry to break it to you. It rarely, if ever happens like that and you need to be committed for the long run. I promise you it is so, so rewarding. And I wouldn’t trade it for the world. I hope you can tell by my 50 episodes that it’s just something that we are so passionate about.
19:43 – There’s really no other alternative. Like, no, we’re not going to work for someone else. No, we’re not going back to New York where we’re working to make someone else richer, right? This new path we are on together. And we are going to make this, our lifestyle fifth. And last takeaway is that we are all people, every single person, every single personality, every single celebrity in this world is just a person. So I remember when I was working in finance, I would look at influencers and all of their lives and lifestyles. And I would almost like glorify them thinking that they were beyond me or better than me.
20:26 – I think it came from a place where I wanted to be them. Right. That’s what it was. But I kind of saw them as just being from a completely different world. And it wasn’t until that I quit my job. I started meeting up with influencers in New York city. I started meeting up with the people that I really admired and it humanizes everyone. It makes you like, whoa, they’re just people. And if they can do it, I can too. And then I started getting messages from people who kind of looked at me differently. They’re like, whoa, she has so many followers. And she has this business and I’m working in corporate. And I kind of sensed from their message that they see that I’m in a different world.
21:08 – And I always try to make it clear. Like we are all the same. I came from a corporate background. I created my website from scratch. I created my socials from scratch. I created this podcast from scratch. And as soon as you believe in yourself and take the actions necessary, you can emulate my success. And when I first looked into business coaching and wanted to hire a coach for myself, I remember thinking my coaches were so much more successful than me and that they had this secret ingredient, that they had something that I wasn’t born with. And they were again on a different level. And it wasn’t until I’ve worked with numerous coaches that showed me, I have what it takes.
21:53 – And they are just people. They’re like my closest friends now. And at one point, you know, I was intimidated by them. I think the same also goes for celebrities. I see people who like freak out when they see famous DJs, when they see actors and actresses, and it becomes so clear to me that they’re just people, they pursued a different path. They chose to start acting. And now they’re in Hollywood because that what’s, you know, that’s the route that they chose and it makes it more comforting for me because like I’ve told you guys, I have this lofty dreaming goal one day to be in Hollywood.
22:34 – And once I was on my first production set and everyone was freaking out over like the main actors and actresses, I was like, they’re just people like, you look at them and they’re just like you and me. And one day I’m going to be on the big screen on the red carpet. And you guys will know that I am just a person as well. Right. I grew up with the same group of friends since childhood. And everyone knows me as Danielle, like Danielle, who I’m quirky. I love travel. I’m just a regular human being. And there’s nothing to be intimidated by. It. It’s nothing to be like, oh my gosh, she can do something that I can’t really, you are capable of doing anything you set your mind to.
23:20 – Once you realize that. And once you really internalize that and act from a place where you are just so confident and so inspired, that’s how you create all of the success for yourself last but not least. I know that I only said five, but I’m going to add one more and it’s, you will always be a beginner at something like you’re never going to feel ready and you’re never going to feel like made it, like even now after 50 episodes, I still feel like I have so much to share and so much to learn. And I still have yet to get my own recording studio. So I never feel like you’ll reach a place where you’re like, oh my God, yes, I can stop.
24:00 – Now. Life is complete. Like, no I’m going to be working on my business for as long as I can see. Cause I fucking love it. And I hope you guys find the inspiration to get started yourself and start on a path that you are also wildly obsessed with. I hope these takeaways were helpful. I hope you celebrate with me as we launch our 50th episode with many, many more milestones to come. Thank you all so much for being on this journey. If you are struggling with your own direction and your own online business, my DMS are always open. I hope you all have an amazing week and I will see you next week. Bye loves.
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