For this week @ladiesofhive contest, I choose to answer the question - Where are you struggling in becoming an entrepreneur?
No one is an all rounder when it comes to any part of life, whether it is about managing a business or home or children, we all have some missing parts where we need support and assistance.
I quit my job way back in 2015, and since then I have been wanting to establish myself in my own skills that I have, one of them being Yoga and the other being a Soft skills trainer.
Thankfully with both the skills I am doing well but not that great where I can call myself a true Entrepreneur and the one very reason for it is I am very poor in my Marketing & Negotiation skills. I have very good knowledge on the subjects that I want to work on, but being an introvert I am very hesitant of reaching out to people and selling my work.
I know these days there are Marketing agents and we can easily take their services, and to an extent I do that, but somewhere I feel that I should be confident of selling my own work where I lack confidence. I just am very weak in doing any kind of selling, whether it is product or services. As such my communication is very good, but whenever I reach out to someone on talking about my services I fumble up on my words. May be it is the fear of being judged, yes I guess so, because I have too many thoughts of what people will think, how will they accept my work, what about my pricing, is it too high, too low....all these type of questions run on my mind.
Thankfully my husband steps in on this part of my work. He helps me a lot, he is excellent in his marketing skills and assist me in my work. He does the initial marketing part and sets me up and then I do the operational part. But sometimes I wish that I could do it all by myself. I have improved a lot then before but still I am not there 100% on my own, I keep needing his assistance on and off.
I have plans to start a new venture in the near future, and this is going to be again one concern for me. I am planning to start a Bed and Breakfast renting accommodation in an off grid way for weekend breaks away from the city in a rural environment. Now again for this I will need to advertise and market my concept in a manner that people get attracted to it. But I know it is not in my full capacity to do it, so I will need help. It is not a big thing, so not that I need some very professional help and I would not even want to spend that kind of money. Again my husband will have to step in and do the marketing part for me on this project.
For sure I do not lack confidence, overall I am a very confident and adamant person, but at the same time I am emotional also. The another drawback that I have is many times I do not charge for my work and just do it for free. This is one major lack in my, I feel very embarrassed to ask for money, then be it even if it is for my own work. I am poor in negotiations and bargains. If some one shows any kind of financial issues then I would do it free for them. In that bargain I realize that many people take advantage of me and some times under pay me or get it done free.
Last month I had a client who was coming to me for Yoga, she had some back problems so she needed 1 month assistance. She expressed to me that she has financial issues and is in trouble. Now since this was a matter of health, I offered to charge her half of my fees. But later I got to know from a friend that she had no such issues and it is just her habit of always squeezing the opposite person with money by showing she has issues. I was pissed off for my own stupidity, and it is not the first time I have gone through such a situation. It has happened many times.
At times hubby makes fun of me saying you spend more in your work then what you earn, and that I am better off in a job only. Business is not meant for me. And I too feel the same, but for sure I do not want to get back to a job and nor can I sit not doing anything. So I need to find solutions to my shortcomings and work on them.
I will like to invite @artemislives to participate in this contest
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Hello friend. I read you and it seems like you were talking about me.😅 I have the same fears and then any project is erased from mind.
Yes, we all have some or the other shortcomings.
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Great post. I too have struggled with running a business and even ended up quitting. I told myself that selling anything wasn’t my strongest suit. But I’ve realized that I was in my head a lot.
I hope to start something again soon and hopefully see it through. Good luck on your new venture. Rooting for you.
I do agree with it that it's all in the head that I cannot do and that takes away our confidence. I am trying to get out of that block. Thank you for your good wishes and wishing you too Good luck for your new projects.
"Marketing & Negotiation skills", you know your local market living in region, set your rate according to popular day, quiet days perhaps a little lower for those who wish to haggle pricing to fill the days.
Flyers and hand-outs still work well in our region, local newspapers sometimes, most are using FB of late, not a route I would pay for.
B&B possibility I know there are many Ladies on Hive that have shared content in their local market in setting up, possibly a little research.
Good luck and thanks for sharing, yes no one has all the skills, relying on each other perhaps some new ideas will come to mind.
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Thank you for sharing the tips, yes anything that does not have a direct face interaction works well with me, but when there is face to face interaction I freeze :-)
Thank you for your good wishes @joanstewart
Most of us prefer to avoid confrontation. In business I feel look the person directly in the eye and tell them how you run your business, if they don't like it, the decision is theirs to leave.
Life is strange, running a business is not a popularity contest, even though customer always comes first.
Greetings, every day we are having new experiences that help us to grow, we must always keep a positive mind and put our best effort because success is not obtained by chance. On the internet there are many options to train you in the area of marketing. Fortunately you have your husband to help you with that. I wish you much success!
Thank you for the good advice and tips, these days we get a lot of assistance from the internet and also now the social media is one tool which we can leverage, I am working on that part.
I have the same projected fears. I don't lack confidence I just seem to stumble. Heck, I can't even look them in the eye. I seem to underestimate myself a lot and worse, I get doubtful of my skills. Very very bad. I hope to work on these tho. I hope you work on yours too. Goodluck! ❤️
Thank you for your good wishes and I wish you too Good luck to overcome your blocks.
This publication really felt like I was the one being talked about.
I am a graphics designer and most times I find it very difficult to charge people for the worth of my services. It's either I charge less or charge nothing at all and this has really affected my business.
But I guess my new year resolution on my business this time will bring a change for good.
Thanks for sharing with us ma'am!
Yes, I have also decided to be adamant on the pricing part and not shy off to take the worth of my services. Thank you for your good wishes and I wish you Good Luck too @niglys
Thanks ma'am!
For me I will say you should gather more knowledge about the theory part of your business apart from the practical you are good at. When you know something in and out you won't be scared to tell someone about it and I also see that the reason you are scared of talking to people about what you do is Maybe because you're scared they might ask you what you might not have an answer to.
Just try to have full knowledge of what you are doing both practically and theory wise.
I wish you all the best @nainaztengra .
Hahaha... "I feel very embarrassed to ask for money"
I guess you cannot be in business!
You can work as a part-time yoga instructor, and be paid for your services!
Hehehe!
Though I want to grow on this part it still feels a challenge. Yes, as of now I am doing it on part time basis. Thank you :-)
Keep on plugging along, @mainaztengra.
That's key to earning money!
iShe expressed to me that she has financial issues and is in trouble. Now since this was a matter of health, I offered to charge her half of my fees. But later I got to know from a friend that she had no such issues and it is just her habit of always squeezing the opposite person with money by showing she has issues. I was pissed off for my own stupidity, and it is not the first time I have gone through such a situation. It has happened many times.Atimes we need to remove emotions while doing bussiness otherwise, it will crumble the bussiness.
However it's a good thing to help those in need but it hurts when lies is involved!
Absolutely and this is a block that I need to overcome. Thank you
Hello! it is unfortunate that there are people who take advantage of the kindness of others, it does not seem right to me. Don't worry that those things you do from your heart will be rewarded.
Little by little you are taking that confidence, your husband helps you and can teach you. Don't give up!
Thank you for the kind words. I too believe that people who do wrong to others and cheat others will get their share as well, so I should not bother on that part much and keep doing what I believe in.
Yes, there are people who take advantage of the good feelings of others. They make up a lie to cause pity so they don't have to pay the monthly payment.
But if you are good at yoga, you can learn the rest. After you have an idea of how to manage the economy of the business and you have enough money, you could hire someone to do all the economic relationship of your business. But you will always have to supervise. That is tedious.
Good luck in your venture @nainaztengra
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As of now I am moving between 2 countries regularly so I am not able to set up my permanent base, the day I get into one place, I will then get into proper professional help.
Thank you for the advice and good wishes @katleya
Marketing a business is really not easy, many fear rejection. But with persistence, you will find out that some may still accept. Take every NO to mean New opportunity to get better in your strategy. Thank God Hubby is assisting. One time, I was into networking, where I was marketing a product. I found Go-Pro by Eric Woore. You can become a professional marketer reading that book
I congratulate you for quitting your job, from difficult decisions we always get something good, if not everything. Let's fight for our dreams until we achieve them.
It is very commendable that you share your life experience with everyone. I feel identified with some of the things you say. You are a good person and you care about others and you are willing to help, that brings an emotional gain. The problem is that we are not sure when someone is telling the truth or trying to take advantage. That's a big dilemma. but even that is a learned skill, so I know you can do it. Success with your new venture 😉
Clients always try to fool we entrepreneurs when they notice we are kind. And it’s not fair, sorry about your experience.