Six Figure Businesses: Goal or Sabotage?

(00:00):

Hello and welcome to episode number 11. Today I have a hot, hot topic that I want to talk about. We're going to be talking about money, specifically I want to talk about six figures. I want to have an honest and transparent conversation about six figure businesses. So buckle up because I have a lot to say!

Welcome to Entrepreneurial Outlaws, a podcast for creatives, introverts, and paths and spiritual folks who want to grow a sustainable and impactful business on their own terms. Together we are paving the way for a new normal in online marketing and business. When that allows you to lean into what makes you and your business unique. And I'm your host, Melanie Knights storyteller, Pinterest strategist visibility, coach and CEO of content are, can be marketing or non-traditional marketing agency for creative business owners who don't want to compromise the creative integrity to make money, get ready because each week we're having the messy, honest, and transparent conversations about entrepreneurship, the kind that's missing from the highlight rails of our social media feeds. And you'll learn how to create intention and connection behind your content marketing so that you can sell without selling out. We're uncovering the real stories behind what it takes to run a sustainable online business, the highs, the lows and everything in between, ready to break the rules and become an entrepreneurial outlaw. Let's do this.

(01:43):

Okay. So about a year or so ago, I wrote a post for Instagram and I was honestly so scared to share openly, publicly. I had not made six figures in my business looking back. I'm like, that's a little like that is a whole lot of weight to be carrying on my shoulders. The shame, the discomfort, the fact that I apparently I'm not there yet, wherever there is. And I shared that post. So reluctantly, but the response was so incredibly powerful because the amount of other people who showed up in the comments and said, Oh my gosh, me neither. Yeah. I feel like if I Leah too, because I haven't done it. Thank you for sharing this. And I don't tell you this to say how incredible the post was. I share this with you because I am. So our businesses comparing our journey and our growth, our experiences to, Oh, tired of all of us compared to the people we are literally being fed.

(03:23):

This idea that entrepreneurship and online business is about making six figures, seven figures. Now it's eight figures. We're told that it's multiple five figure months, a six figure launch. So much of what we see when people are talking about money is not transparent. There is no context. It is smoke and mirrors. And the reason I know this to be true is because I have experienced a number of coaches course creators who have talked about making five figure months or having six figure launches. And then they sell a program that talks about this, how you can do it too. And over the years I have been intrigued and I have signed up for more than one of these things. And what I have discovered is there is always something else. There is always something else. One of the biggest things that me off is when you discover you need to have a very large advertising budget.

(04:49):

Most small business owners do not have a large advertising budget. Most small business owners scrappy. They are signing up for the free stuff because the free stuff is what they can afford, right? Because we are told at the very beginning about Johnny, Hey, you can build a business from nothing. You don't need any money to start your business. Great. Within promised to financial freedom, we're promised, we're promised that we can make five figures, six figures working from home. I currently have Pinterest open and fruit, just a little bit of research, and to see what was going on in the online space. I typed in six figure online business. And I have got hundreds of thousands of pins, how to start an online business that makes multiple six figures, 12 home business ideas that have six figure income, potential. The four types of content that made me millions in my online business. Let for the record, I am not turning down a five figure a month or a six figure business. And I don't think any of you would be either, but I have grown my business this year in 2020 in ways that I had dreamt of for four or five years. Now, I'm very self-aware and know where I've held myself back and which things I've stumbled over time and time. Again, I haven't made six figures this year. I may not even make six, six figures. Next year.

(06:26):

I have made five figures so far this year. I have exceeded my previous corporate income, but who the hell cares? Great. It looks great to me. When I sign into my Stripe account, I'm like, cool. This is great. I'm making consistent money. I have worked my off. Like, let's just be really transparent about what it is to be an online business owner. Let's have the honest conversation about making a six figure month or having a six-figure launch. Right? Let's have the conversation about how hard you're working. Let's have the conversation about how did you really get here? What was your story? Because when I look around the online space and I see six figure coach seven figure coach eight figure coach. I help people scale to six figures and beyond. I see a lot of noise. I see a lot of regurgitation. I also feel zero connection to that because for me, I don't want to know how successful you are.

(07:41):

I want to hear the that you struggled with. I want to know how hard it was. I want to know what you've learned. I want to know what is it you think I need to be aware of as I grow and scale my business, I don't want to just hear the good stuff and look, this is the way M paths work, right? We come from a place of feeling and human connection. And that is how I make most of my purchases and investments, not just in my professional life, but in my personal life. So the reason I love country music, you go to story I'm here. I'm all ears. And I believe all of us have stories that we need to share. So when I see a lot of noise, a lot of repetitive talk about six figure businesses and beyond, and everyone seems to be jumping on the bandwagon.

(08:37):

Like my hand is raised. I have done this. I dabbled in some business coaching a few years ago. And I was so stuck because I wasn't even making four figures a month, like not consistently. And I was like, who the hell am I to be talking about making this kind of money? And I don't mean that in a self-deprecating kind of way, who am I, if I haven't done it, how can I teach it? Who am I to teach something I don't know anything about at all? And I haven't experienced it and let's have that conversation because I remember doing market research, speaking to a number of women about the businesses and the information I got was like, it wasn't about money. It wasn't about making more money. It was about time and feeling like they actually knew what they were doing from one day to the next. And I came back to my business coach and said, this is the information they've given me.

(09:54):

And I said, look, I'm happy to just say, look, I'll help you get to full figure months. And I was basically told that's not what they want. That's what they're telling you. They want, but that's not what they want. They don't want four figure months. They want five figure months. They want a six figure business. That's what everyone wants. And I left that cool feeling. So misaligned, so disconnected so far from my truth and my honesty and my humility and integrity. Who the hell, who the hell am I? How would I know more about what these women want? Then my six figure business coach. And that was how I was functioning and running my business. I was so disconnected from everything I was doing and wondering why everything felt like I was trying to work through like 10 feet of mud.

(10:52):

But the reason this happened was because this wasn't my truth. This wasn't my vision. This wasn't where I wanted to be. And I'm not willing to teach or create or share anything that I don't know about. If I don't know the answer, I'll go and find out. But I'm also not willing to write a sales page, talking about how I can help somebody reach five figure months when I haven't had a five figure a year. And if you've been hanging around with me for a while, whether it's here on the podcast or on Instagram or wherever, you probably know that transparency is hugely important to me in my own business. And look, I've, I've said this before. I feel like 2020 has allowed many of us to kind of really clean and shine and buff up a. Like my lens is crystal clear. I can smell it. I can see it. I'm not interested.

(12:02):

Yeah.

(12:05):

This whole concept of six-figure businesses really bothers me because I haven't made six figures in my business, as I've already said, and About money this year and income goals and all that stuff. Because when you start to make more money, New fears come up, right? So when you're not making the money, maybe you want to make, or you want to make more consistent money. That's kind of the thing that we're focused on with it. I really want to, you know, I'd really love to build a sustainable income. I'd really love to be able to afford to hire this person or get some help or invest in this tool or whatever it might be.

(12:50):

Here's

(12:51):

The thing. When you make more money in your business, then there starts to be these new things that come up, right? Maybe it's a new fear, a new roadblock, this whole idea that if we just heal money blocks, then we're great. We're free. We'll make all the money in the world. I'm just like, I don't think that's true because I think, you know, our mindsets, our fears, our struggles, the roadblocks, the stories that we have kind of had built into our psyche, that stuff is the sneaky, right? They just suddenly appear from nowhere. And you know, we think we're kind of just, we're on, we're on the path that we're supposed to be on and something comes up and Oh, now I need to navigate this. I need to look at this. I need to address this. So the idea that you can just heal this stuff and it's just going to go away or you're just going to suddenly start making millions. It's just not true.

(13:49):

And over the years, there's been such a focus on manifesting. Look, I believe in manifestation. I do, but none of us are going to make six figures, seven figures, eight figures on that. We're not gonna make $10 just by putting out into the world and the saying and the wishing for it, there has to be some action. And this seems to be the thing that most of these people will forget to tell everyone is that manifestation comes from basically saying, Hey, this is what I want. Now let's create the, the, the roadmap or the, the things that I need to do to get there, right? It doesn't come from saying, Hey, I want this. I'm just gonna sit and think about all day. Like it's just not likely to happen

(14:37):

As we go

(14:38):

Grow our businesses. As we look at the evolution of an online business, one of the things that stands out to me is wealth over income, being able to invest instead of spend, right? In my experience, I have spent money in my business. Like I've thrown money at certain things because I'm like, Oh, this is the solution. This is going to solve all my problems. This is the answer. She has the answer. He has the outset, whatever is courses that I've never even looked at. I've spent money when we can come away from this like six figure business concept. And we're able to actually say, how much money do I want to make? How much money do I need to make? And then, you know, what would be really nice. In addition to that, we start to look at it from the point of view of wealth and investing.

(15:49):

And I'm not talking about investing in like the stock market. I'm talking about investing in our own development, investing in our business, investing in other people, investing in better tools that we can support our clients, our customers, our students with there is a big difference between spending money in your business and investing money back into your business. And I would say this year, that's a lesson that I've really had to learn. And it's a lesson that kind of appeared out of nowhere because I very quickly got to the point where I wasn't going to be able to cope with this growing business homeschooling during a pandemic, the general anxiety, you know, from this year I needed support. And so very early on, like in early summer, I started to make investments into people.

(16:53):

Let me tell you it is most the most empowering. And it's the most empowered. Let me just go through. It's the most empowering investment I have made because when I sit on zoom and I've got these five incredible people on there with me, I just like looking at them like you will also brilliant. You all in your own rate, have these incredible businesses. You all have your own zone of genius. And I am so grateful that I get to be a part of that and that we can work together and that I get to invest in you.

(17:46):

So to me, whether I make $20,000 a year or a hundred thousand dollars a year, I'm going to be looking at how can I invest in people? How can I invest in B's people? How can I invest in my students, my clients, customers, whomever, because giving back and being able to invest in other small businesses, in other people who are doing incredible things. That is the that we don't talk about. That is the stuff that no one is talking about. When they're talking about making six figure businesses. I mean, I'm looking at it right now on Pinterest. And it's just talking about it from a numbers point of view. It's just talking about it from a money to me as my business grows, as my income grows, the opportunity for me to invest back into my business, invest back into other people that grows.

(18:54):

When I look around and I see my team having their fast $3,000 a month, I get to be a part of that. I get to be there. That's incredible. When I see someone saying incredible goals for 2021, when I have someone who on my team has been able to get their first office space, like knowing what that means to her, that she is powerful. And look, I'm not the only one involved in that process, but I'm your biggest cheerleader. And I I'm just I'm. So I'm so aware that we need to normalize what making money in our business means to us as individuals.

(19:42):

I'm not turning down a six figure a month. And I don't think any of you are either, but what does it mean? Right? Is six figures the goal, or is this focus just sabotaging you? Because we focus so much on getting there wherever there is that we forget that the joy and the fun comes from the journey, right? Not that everything comes back to weight loss, but look, this is one of the things I think people forget is we have this vision of like, Oh, I need to wait this, or I need to look like this will be this size, but look, if you not present during that journey, if you aren't aware of the things that you do and the habits and the, the the, if you're not aware of the habits and the tools that you need to get, wherever it is, if you just looking at the end result, we're either not going to get that, or it's just going to be father. It's just going to keep moving farther away from you. Right? When we try to chase something, it keeps moving either because we move the goalposts because we're never satisfied. Oh, because we're chasing the wrong stuff.

(21:08):

So when we can start to look at our businesses from the point of view of what we want, what we need as business owners,

(21:21):

If we can start to look financially from the point from the points of view of how much money do I need to pay my bills, like that's a really good place to start, right? It's a really good place to start. How much money do I need to make each month or each quarter or every year to actually pay my bills, pay my mortgage, have groceries, you know, how much money do I need? And then how much money would be really nice on top of that, to be able to do some extra things. And what are those things we need to be better at really looking at our goals from our intuition in tonally, what do we want to feel? Right? This is a big question that I'm using this month in December. And as I head into 2021 and looking at not just my personal, sorry, not into my professional life, but my personal life. How do I want to feel? What do I want my business to do for me? How do I want to feel when I mentoring incredible people? How do I want to feel each day? When I open up my laptop and start my whack, how do I want to feel when I record this podcast?

(22:41):

So bogged down and look it's because we see it. It's not your fault. It's because it's not, my fault is what we see. The narrative is you should do this, you have to do this. This is the onset. This is the solution. I'm here to say, if it doesn't feel right, if it disconnects you from your truth, if it takes you away from your vision, if it just doesn't feel good, there's a good chance. You shouldn't be doing it.

(23:08):

Okay.

(23:12):

It just seems to have been this consistent message for a number of years. And the online business space that has blood off vision has taken so many of us away from our truth. And what I see is so many people who and paths, they focused on creative integrity. They want to make high impact in that business. What I see is too many of these people being left to feel like it's their fault, that they don't have a place to fit. They don't, they're an outsider. Well, online, isn't for you. If you don't look this way, or you don't want to make this money and you don't want these things, but I know, just know we're allowed to make however, the much money we want to, right? You were allowed to make however much money you want to make, and you're allowed to do it for those reasons. It doesn't have to look a certain way. I say, I felt like I say that a lot on this show. I feel like every episode, like it doesn't have to look a certain way, but it doesn't. We get to decide. We get to design it. We get to create it. We get to change. Our mind is a big message for me right now is normalizing, changing our minds.

(24:41):

Right? I don't know about you, but for most of my entrepreneurial journey, I have been very afraid to change my mind. Very afraid with myths. Now, I'm not sure this is right afraid to let people down afraid of what people might think of me, afraid that if I change my mind, it could be the wrong decision, but we always know the right decision. We just have to eventually get there. And sometimes it takes time. So six figure businesses. Like if you're making six figures, that's great. If you want to make six figures, that's also cool. If you're not yet, if you're not there yet, like me, Hey, join the club. But at the end of the day, does it really matter? Like, I'm so tired of seeing this like click of people who are connected because of how much money they make.

(25:59):

And instead like let's stop building relationships, communities and connections based on honesty, transparency, the hardship, the stuff that is not talked about, like let's facilitate those conversations. And like, that's what I want to do here, because I've just spent so much of my business feeling like the only one, right? If you're not the only one, you're not the only one you are not the only one. Who's not making six figures. If it were that easy, we would all be doing it. But don't get me started on the people who say that making money is easy. That's a whole conversation for another day. Anyway, I told you I had a lot to say. I told you I had a lot to say, so I want to kind of bring this full cycle. Cause I feel like I got very passionate on this episode. It's just been really bothering me. But I want to bring it back. And I just want to say, when it comes to making money in our business, let's remember that we get to decide how much money we want to make, why we want to make it, what it looks like. Yes. I want you to, I don't want you to undercharge. Of course, I don't want you to be giving away stuff for free.

(27:28):

However, sometimes that's the right decision to make sometimes in our businesses, that just happens to be the right thing.

(27:38):

Right?

(27:40):

What is so, so, so important is that we start to look at business and making money from this place of building wealth and investing instead of spending, right? How can we invest back into our businesses? How can we invest into people? Because investing in people this year has been so much more freeing than just having money sitting in the bank. And that's my personal, that's my personal feeling. That's my personal, you know, that's my journey.

(28:21):

But being able to support other people, being able to see them then make big decisions in that business. Being able to hit that goals and support their goals. That is a huge part of why I do. I do not just within my team, but with everyone that comes into my business and works with me, like I'm your biggest cheerleader. And what I want you to take away from this is the idea that is focused on six figure businesses or seven figure businesses or bigger. I don't like wherever we're at right now, the focus on this and that being the only goal, it is sabotaging more and more of us because it is not our vision. It is not our truth is what we see in the online space. So this is the season of planning and goal setting and all of that stuff. And look, yeah, I've got goals and I will probably do a whole episode later this month on what it is I'm planning for next year.

(29:37):

But the money that I make, it's not, it's not a marketing tool, right? The money I make is not a marketing tool. It is not going to be on my sales pages or my website or my posts because it doesn't matter. It gives zero context. And I want y'all to just know that as you're seeing over the coming weeks and planning out your year, if your business plan says, I want to make $2,000 a month, that is amazing. Go do that. Let's slay the out a bit. And then like, like that's, that's it right? Whether it's 2,200, it does. It's none of my business and he isn't actually anybody else's business either. So do you make sure you ask yourself how you want to feel as you make that money? Because like, I don't want to be burnt out ever again and anything.

(30:56):

I do any growth I experience. I want to make sure that I'm taking care of me. And that's a huge feeling that I'm trying to carry into my business and into next year. And as always, if you want to have this conversation off of the podcast, come over to Instagram come and hang out with me there. I, I love facilitating and having conversations that honestly, when I was sick for the last couple of weeks, or I guess a few weeks ago now I realized that was the one thing I missed. So, so much besides not being able to actually send the voice messages because I couldn't talk the regular conversations I have with people, the daily interactions, I so missed that. And that was really powerful. Also reminded me that I'm heading in the right direction. So thank you so much for tuning in for this episode.

(31:58):

Thank you for being here. Thank you for being a part of this conversation. Thank you for all that you do to support the show. I so, so appreciate it. And next week, we're going to be having a big conversation as a ways next week, I'm going to be sharing with you all about the entrepreneurial outlaw mentorship. If I had some kind of sound effect that could like be like a crowd sharing, I would have just input that right then. But next week, we're going to be talking about the entrepreneurial outward mentorship. And I have mentioned this a few weeks ago, then I got sick. So I do anything with it. But this mentorship has been kind of on my heart for a while. I've been asking you all for feedback on Instagram. It's been very useful. Thank you. And I'm just ready to, I'm ready to share it with the world.

(32:58):

Like it's not going to be perfect. They probably wouldn't even be a sales page. But I'm going to share all about it next week's episode. So whether or not you are wanting to join the mentorship tune in, because we're going to be talking about some of the key, the key elements of the mentorship, and there is going to be some really useful and incredible tools that you can take away, even if the mentorship is not for you. So stay tuned next week's episode all about the mentorship, all about being an entrepreneurial outlaw. What I really think that means in 2021 for my business owners, what we need to be carrying the feelings and what it really looks like. So I will see you next week for that episode. I hope you have an incredible week in your business and come and say hi on Instagram.

(33:55):

Thank you so much for tuning in to today's episode of entrepreneurial Outlaws. If you see yourself as an entrepreneurial outlaw and enjoyed this episode with you do me a small favor, it would mean the absolute world to me. If you could take a moment to subscribe to the show and leave a rating and review by leaving a review, you are helping me to grow out little community and together we can show other entrepreneurs that breaking the rules can actually be good for business. Don't forget. You can find the show notes for today's episode, along with any of the links that I mentioned on my website@melanienights.com forward slash podcast. And if we're not already virtual busters, you can come and hang out with me on Instagram. I am the one with the country music playing the lukewarm coffee in my hand, and I'm dishing the doubt on how we can make entrepreneurship more inclusive and transparent. Plus I'll probably send you some fun gifts. So until next time Outlaws