A lot of network marketers joined this industry so that they could earn money while living their life on their terms. That’s why it’s so attractive to moms and those who already have full-time jobs. It can easily fit into your schedule and help make ends meet. But if you’re getting frustrated because you expected more from this side gig while also continuing to treat it like a hobby – you might want to listen in.
Kristen is ready to take y’all to church today. She wants to have an honest conversation with you about running your business as a convenience versus running it out of commitment. And we’re not just talking about scheduling posts. Kristen is talking about the mindset changes that need to occur in order to break through to commitment and success.
Here are a few highlights:
- How to determine whether you’re running your business from a place of convenience or commitment
- Why it’s easier to maintain commitment than it is to rebuild after every break
- Importance of managing expectations if you’re running your business like a hobby
- How commitment (even on a small scale) can keep hustle from creeping up on you when life gets busy
We get it. Life is hard. And sometimes things come up that can get in the way. But the bottom line is that the decision to commit is entirely up to you. You can choose to ‘boss up’ and honor the promises you made to yourself, or you can continue being frustrated and feeling like you’ll never succeed.
We hope you’ll choose the path to commitment so that we can share in celebrating you soon.
If you’d like to join the launch party for Kristen’s new book, Pivot to Purpose: Leaving the Toxic Hustle Culture Behind, you can click here to get in on the celebration and order your copy today. And if you’ve already gotten your copy and you’d like to share your review with Kristen, you can reach out to us here.
Thanks for listening! Do you have a question about network marketing? Kristen can help! Drop your question here, and she just might answer it live on the podcast: https://kristenboss.com/question
Connect with Kristen:
If you’re ready to learn the simple process of running your social selling business online, you have to check out Kristen’s live group coaching program! The Social Selling Academy: www.thesocialsellingacademy.com
Interested in Kristen’s exclusive mastermind for six-figure earners in the network marketing industry? Get all the details and join the waitlist here.
Do you have a business full of customers and almost no builders? You’re in need of a reboot! Learn the three skills you can learn that will completely change your recruitment game. Check it out here.
Transcript for Episode #106 Committed vs Convenient:
Kristen Boss (00:05): Welcome to Purposeful Social Selling with Kristen Boss. I’m your host, Kristen Boss. I’m a mindset and business coach with more than 15 years experience in both the product and service based industries. I believe that social selling is the best business model for people wanting to make an impact while they make serious income. This is the podcast for the social seller, who is tired of feeling inauthentic in their business and desires to find a more purposeful and profitable way of growing their business in today’s social media landscape. In this podcast, you will learn what it takes to grow a sustainable business through impactful and social marketing. It’s time to ditch the hustle and lead from the heart. Let me show you the new way.
Kristen Boss (00:48): Hey bosses. Welcome to another episode of the podcast. I’m so glad to be here with you feeling like I’m fully sounding like myself. My voice is back. I’m not coughing up a lung. I’m not going to have to pause this episode every 30 seconds to cough. I feel like a whole new human I’m back and man, it feels great. I want to start off by saying that if you have not already ordered my book pivot to purpose, it is now in stores in Amazon. It’s also, you can get it on Kindle. It’s not audible yet. That is forthcoming later this year, but in its first week, it was already a bestseller on Amazon and it has been so meaningful and so precious to see how many takeaways people are having, and how it’s speaking to them. In many seasons of life. I actually had one of my readers in the book launch.
Kristen Boss (01:38): Her husband happened to snag the book from her and he read it all in one sitting. And he sent the most thoughtful, insightful review to my team. And I was so touched by it. It was so great. And I love how it spoke to him, even in a different setting than social selling or network marketing. And what’s so interesting is the number one people thing people are saying is they’re noticing how it speaks to all areas of their life. I mean, there are people that are like, oh, I, I could have applied this when I was a teacher, oh, this, this concept actually even applies to motherhood or parenting or corporate or this area of my life. And actually what a lot of people have said. They’re like, I just didn’t realize how hustle was permeating. Literally, every area of my life and the book is it brings to light how we, as humans are wired to hustle in all areas.
Kristen Boss (02:30): And you know, I think some people have a concept of what they think hustle is. And the book kind of just really does the deep dive. It’s broken into four parts. Its part one is about the harm of hustle. Part two is healing from the hustle. Part three is leaving the hustle. And then part four is what pivot to purpose looks like. What does it actually look like tangibly to work from purpose? I’m so proud of this book. I hope that you will pick it up and that you will read it. If you have read it, I would just be so thankful and so appreciative. If you could leave a review on Amazon or good reads that way, our friends on the internet that are looking for a book that speaks to them, your reviews matter, and it does help. So I would love a book review from you.
Kristen Boss (03:12): Also, if you send a book review, let my team know. Maybe we’ll send you a little something, but thank you so much for your support and sharing on Instagram. It’s just been so meaningful to me and it’s been so sweet to see how this book is speaking to you. All right. So let’s talk about the topic for today. I think it’s a really important topic because we are about to come into the summer months. And you likely, if you, you know, if you have kids or even if you don’t have kids or you’re in a career, there’s, there’s something about transitioning into the summer season where, you know, it’s light out longer. We want to have fun. We want to, you know, make the memories go on road trips, and do all these things. And I feel like there is a certain kind of tension that comes with the summer months, especially for business owners.
Kristen Boss (04:02): Even if you don’t have a business, I think people feel like there’s this tension between, you know, working their business and enjoying their summer and the kids are home and it doesn’t feel, you know, as simple or easy. You’re like, oh, you know, well, it’s easy when my, you know, kids are gone all day, but now, you know, they’re home and everyone’s, schedule’s different and we’re doing summer camps and you know, all these things and it can feel chaotic. And I just want to offer that summer is just a different kind of chaos. Life is always chaotic. And I was saying this to an academy member the other day I was, I was coaching her and she just, she, she said, you know, life happened. I was like, but when does life not happen? Life is always happening. And I think the favorite lie, I love to tell myself that I finally learned to acknowledge it.
Kristen Boss (04:55): It is a lie. See it as a lie and stop telling myself it and stop believing It. And I know many of you have probably said this to yourself as well. When you start a sentence with when life slows down, then I fill in the blank. When life slows down, then I fill in the blank, but here’s the thing. Life never slows down. And if it does, it does for a blink and it slows down in one area and speeds up and another area. And it’s just like, I just remember thinking when you know my kids, they’re not quite 16 months apart. And when they were like babies, I just remember that season was just so hard. I’m pretty sure that’s why we only have two children. Because it was just absolutely bonkers. And I just remember thinking like, oh, you know, when they’re older, it’ll, it’ll be better.
Kristen Boss (05:47): Like, and now they’re five and six and we just celebrated my daughter’s fifth birthday. And it’s just as chaotic. It’s just a different kind of chaos. So I want you to just pay attention to, if you’re telling yourself the story, like when this happens, then it’s going to be easier. Then it’s going to be slower, then it’s going to be better. But it, that rarely is the case. It’s not going to be you know, easier. It’s just going to be different. It’s a different kind of hard, it’s a different kind of chaos. It’s a different kind of challenge with that said you’re going to want to keep your eyes open because I have created a brand new two-day live training event. We are going to be doing it on June 6th and seventh. It’s going to be huge. I’m actually going to be giving you a game plan for the summer and a daily business plan to keep your business moving forward so that you aren’t choosing between summer and your business.
Kristen Boss (06:45): And you’re not thinking like, okay, crap, I don’t have time. I don’t know how I’m going to do this. You know, I only have, you know, X number of summers before my children leave. And I understand that precious tension that we parents can hold. And I empathize with that. Remember, I’m a mom too. So I, I totally get it. And I see that, but we have to be able to hold space for our present and the future we long for. But most people they can get caught up in the present and put the future on hold. And so I’m going to be teaching you in this training exactly how to do that. It’s going to be a $9 event. You guys know how it goes. I’m always going to over-deliver to you. It’s going to be value-packed. The tickets are not on sale yet. You’re going to see an email blast.
Kristen Boss (07:29): I’m going to talk about it on the podcast. We’ll link it on the show notes. When it goes live we’re going to be running ads to it. So you’re going to want to get your teams and your friends there. Don’t worry. We’re going to have replays. So if you’re like, well, crap, I’m on a road trip or I’m on a plane during the training. We got you. We keep the replays up in the Facebook group. So keep your eyes out. It’s not on sale yet, but probably in the next episode or so I’m going to drop a special episode just to announce that event, but you’re going to want to keep your eyes open for that. I’m also going to be sharing a pretty big announcement at that event. You’re not going to want to miss it super. It’s going to be super you’re going to feel like it’s super approachable. You’re going to leave and be like, yes, I have a plan.
Kristen Boss (08:14): This feels possible. I don’t feel like I’m choosing between making memories or making money. I get to have both. And I’m going to show you exactly how to do that. All right. Speaking of this, and I think this, I think this podcast topic kind of speaks to this tension really, really well. And some of you are going to feel. I think some of you say like, I, you feel like I slap you some weeks and you might feel a little, you might feel served, not in the sense of like, served like, oh, I have the warm and toast. You’re going to be like, dang, I just got served. I got slapped. I got, I got convicted. So I’m going to take you to church today in the sense of, we’re going to be doing an honest evaluation of your mindset around your business and just looking at your business and from an honest place and asking yourself, am I a business owner of convenience or commitment?
Kristen Boss (09:07): Do I have a business of convenience or a business of commitment, and I’m going to separate those two out. So if you have a business of convenience built on convenience, this is likely the kind of things that you might say or think when it comes to working your business, or planning for your business, you’re always waiting for life to slow down. You’re waiting for it to get less crazy. It’s I honestly think it’s a hobby mindset and a hobby mindset is, and I know we kind of throw that language around a lot in the entrepreneur online space, but a hobby is something where if you have extra time for it, it’s something you get around to. So it’s like, oh, I guess I finished all my work today, work around the house and these things, I feel like a hobby is something we do to entertain ourselves.
Kristen Boss (10:03): It’s a form of entertainment when we’re bored or we need mental stimulation. So it’s like, oh, okay, well I have time to entertain myself in this moment. So yeah, I could, I could make a boat post. I could batch a reel, I guess I could check in on my customers. I guess I can, you know, do a couple of things here and there, but the approach to it feels, feels casual. It feels, again, you’re going to it as a source of entertainment or it’s just an extra, you know when I get around to it. Okay. It’s if nothing better is going on. So if you have other commitments, it’s the thing that you’re always putting off. Like, and you know, it, you feel it, anytime something comes up, you’re like, well, you know, I’ll do, I’ll work on my business another day or, you know, I’ll, I’ll get to that.
Kristen Boss (10:53): I’ll get to that later. Ooh, I’ll, I’ll try and get to that later. And you find out coming to the end of the day, you’re going to bed. And you’re like, oh, I didn’t do that. Because, because it is about convenience. Like when it feels convenient to me, then I will do those tasks. Then I will do those things. Also when it’s a business of convenience, I will say that when you have a setback, minor, setbacks feel major when you have a business of convenience. And the reason for that being is because when you have a business of convenience, I’m actually going to say it takes a lot more work to keep your business profitable. And here’s, here’s why, because when you are, let’s say doing a burst of activity and then you’re like, oh crap. You know we got to travel, I’ve got a home remodel going.
Kristen Boss (11:47): I’ve got, you know, the kids are sick, I’m sick. This is happening like to quote life happens. And so what happens is the business gets put on the back burner and for how, for however long period of time, it could be two weeks. It could be a week. It could be a month and then you come back to it. But here’s the problem because you did a burst of activity. And then you had a, a long lull of time. Now what you have to do when you come back to your business is you have to wake it back up. You have to, you know, jumpstart. It, it’s kinda like if you’ve ever ran, if you’ve ever gone running, there’s been one season of my life where I ran and it’s still not my favorite cardio activity to do. But I do remember when I was consistently running, when I was in the habit of running every day, like 30 minutes a day.
Kristen Boss (12:38): And I actually remember it being it really serving my mental health at the time. It was when I was battling a bunch of miscarriages. And my way of coping at the time was running. And you know, for me, I noticed 30 minutes a day when I was running. And then when I took like three days off, I noticed a significant difference in my, what do I want to say? I noticed a difference in my endurance. That’s the word I was looking for. I noticed a huge difference in my endurance and my breathwork and my pace, like, and it always felt like I had to the first day back a actually I would say even the first three days back felt really painful, cause I had to get my conditioning back up. And so it’s no different with your business when you, you know, go for, you know, you have a burst of activity and then you, you know, take three weeks off.
Kristen Boss (13:32): Well now you’ve lost conditioning and your reentry to it is a lot more painful because you have to bring things back up to the status quo. You have to bring things back up and it takes a lot more energy to restart something than it does to keep things in motion. Are you hearing this? This is why a business of convenience actually takes you more work. Because every time you work, you feel like you have to like put a lot more energy in to get it back up and going. And this is when people like tire themselves out and then they feel like they need to take a break. And then they’re feeling like they’re never seeing results because they’re always putting the energy in waking the business back up, putting in the activity and then life happens and then they take a break and then they come back to their business.
Kristen Boss (14:20): And they’re wondering like, why don’t I have customers? Why am I not, you know, getting new clients? Why am I not? Why is my paycheck not growing? It’s because you have you’re you have this start and stop in your business. And a business is built on slow days. So daily consistent compounded activity. Now I don’t want you to have a bunch of drama. When you hear daily activity, I’m talking about this, like treating it like a job, taking your weekends off, working five days a week, even three days a week, like three consistent, solid days a week. If you are someone that’s, you know, juggling maybe a nine to five. But I, I like to think, you know, 30 minutes a day, five days a week, if you just stay, build that muscle memory in your business, you will actually get yourself so much further than someone who’s like, you know what?
Kristen Boss (15:12): I got time and I’m going to throw a full day at my work. And then the next day you’re exhausted. Right? So it actually takes more energy to have a business of convenience because you’re constantly having to wake the business back up. Right? And then your results reflect that you’ll see, you might get a burst of customers and then nothing for a long period of time. Even if you come back and you’re and you’re posting and you’re showing up, I see this happen all the time. People have a bunch of activities. They leave for three weeks. They leave for a month and then they come back and then they start posting. And they’re surprised when nobody’s buying immediately. They’re surprised when they don’t have customers just chomping at the bit, because you lost trust with your audience. You disappeared for three months. The algorithm like you.
Kristen Boss (15:59): If you’re posting on social media, the algorithm is like, Hey, you haven’t been around for a while. So we don’t even know what feeds to show you on who to show your content to. So now you have to not only wake up the algorithm, you have to wake up your audience, you have to nurture and you, and you have to rebuild trust because for them it’s like, oh, oh, you’re back. Like where, where were you? Is this still important to you? Is this still something like, like, if you are saying, this is the best thing ever in your posts and how much you love your business and how life-changing it is. But then you disappear for a year or not a year. That seems like really extreme. I meant to say, if you disappear for a month or like, and you do this consistently like you’re there to talk about it and then you’re gone.
Kristen Boss (16:43): You’re there to talk about it. And then you’re gone for me. If I were in the audience, I’d look at that and be like, is it really life-changing? Because you tend to pick it up off and on you, you tend to be hot and cold with it. Is it really as great as you say, whereas they are actually going to likely buy from somebody who talks about it consistently all the time? It’s just kind of like a low simmer, keeping it at a simmer or like a, a, a hum always humming in the background, keeping your business humming along. Right? Another sign of a business of convenience is the, the business owner is surprised by life and obstacles. Like I can keep my business going until something unexpected comes up and then I don’t have a plan and I’m spiraling and I’m freaking out and I’m texting my upline or texting my clients or texting my friends saying, Hey, you know, let me get back to you.
Kristen Boss (17:35): Let me revisit this. And it breaks trust, not just with them, but with yourself. Right? And when we lose trust in ourselves, then we also lose trust in our capacity to reach our goals and grow a business. Because you know, at the end of the day, you’re like, oh, well, Ooh. When you know, I’m good until life gets crazy. And then if it gets crazy and then, you know, I kind of put things off and then, oh, and then I come back and I’m, and of course, you can’t meet your goals when you have a business of convenience and it’s not even a business of convenience, it’s a hobby. It’s like, it’s something you just do for fun. Right? And listen, if you come to this business and you want it to be a hobby, there’s nothing wrong with that. If that’s what you want, do not expect to be paid like a business owner when you are running it and operating it as a hobby.
Kristen Boss (18:26): Right. I think of this, I think of this coffee shop. That’s here in town and I really like it. I really enjoy it, but I think their hours suck and they have inconsistent hours. Like sometimes I go there and like, Google will say what hours they’re open. And I will go there. And it is not open during the hours that they told me that they would be open. And here’s the thing, great product, great environment, good food. But they just can’t keep, see, seem to get their crap together. And so I’m like, so for me, what happens is every time I’m, I am thinking, oh, I really want a cup of coffee from them. And I want to enjoy that. And I walk up to the door and it’s locked. Now it’s eroded trust with me as their customer. And eventually, I just stopped going, cause it felt like they couldn’t get it together.
Kristen Boss (19:20): And it just felt like I, and I always am like, what, why even have a coffee shop? What are we doing here? And I took my business elsewhere. Even if the product wasn’t as good as I enjoyed it, I’m like, well, at least in this establishment, I know if it’s a two o’clock on a Tuesday and I’m feeling like I want a latte. I can go to that coffee shop and I can have that experience. Is the latte as good as the other place? No, but I trust this establishment more and I know it’s going to be there when I go there. Do you see how important it is to stay consistent? Just, just holding, holding steady. I’m not, I wasn’t even thinking like the other establishment that they need to like offer me discounts or specials or, or, you know, do an event like it doesn’t even need to be flashy.
Kristen Boss (20:07): I just want ’em to be consistent. That’s all it is. Right. So here’s another thing with a business of convenience is oftentimes that business can feel aimless and scattered and you don’t feel like you have an established what do I want to call modus opera Orum or daily operations. You don’t have like an established, this is the things I do on a day to day business to on a day to day basis, just to keep the business floating and humming along like these are the activities I do to just keep the business healthy and open. And then these are the activities I do to grow my business and attract new customers and bring people in most people when they are operating a business con from convenience, don’t see the difference between the two, and most of them end up only sticking with the activities that just kind of like keep the business status quo or they’re trying to just wake the business back up.
Kristen Boss (21:07): And they’re never with the business long enough to get it into a growth phase in order to get your business into a growth phase. Now I’m going to specifically talk to my network marketers because that’s the majority of my listenership. But even if, even if you’re doing affiliate marketing, even if you’re a coach, like, listen, if you’re selling a good or service online, here’s, here’s the bottom line. 90 days, it takes 90 days typically for a cold lead. When they have followed you a new follower for them to make some sort of decision about you. And roughly 90 days is on the short side, it takes roughly 90 days to six months for someone to make a purchase with you. Now, can you compress that timeline? You absolutely can. You can add more value in. I teach that in my academy, but the average person takes three to six months. Now think about that. Think about a new follower you get and they join you. And over their six months in following you, you’re only, you’re only showing up 20% of the time. Well, now what you’re doing is you’re drawing out the timeline of their potential of if they’re ever going to buy with you. Every time you take your foot off the gas, what you’re doing is you’re extending the timeline of their decision to eventually purchase with you.
Kristen Boss (22:30): If you want to shorten the timeline, be more consistent, but a convenient business owner is typically checking out or putting the business on the back burner before they’re ever able to experience the fruit and the reward of being in the growth phase of people cashing in and finally saying, you know what, I’m ready. I’m ready to make a purchase. I’m ready to make an investment. I’m ready to do this with you. It takes a while, but are you only playing the short game being like, well, if I, if I, if I make an offer, I want people to buy from me right away. I know, I know for me in my business that like my, my courses and my events, I know that most people will buy a few $9 courses for me. They’re really going to, like, they’re going to consume as much free content as possible.
Kristen Boss (23:17): They’re going to listen to every single podcast episode. And by the time they’ve listened to all the episodes and taken all the courses, they’re finally like, all right, I’m finally ready to invest in Kristen’s lifetime program. I’m ready to be in the academy. Some people are shorter than others, depending on the sense of urgency. They feel to have a transformation in their business. It is no different when people come to your platform. But for me, it’s not my business to know when someone’s going to buy it’s my business to stay consistent and consistently showing up for them so that the when they are ready to buy I’m there, my doors are open, kind of like with me and that latte. When I want that latte, the doors are open. You can expect it. And there’s a lot of trust w that comes with consumers when they know, Hey, I know when I’m ready, I can come and buy from you.
Kristen Boss (24:04): That’s also why I don’t have open and closed launches with my academy. I want people like they can join whenever they want, because I want someone the moment they say, yes, I’m ready. And today that might be you. I want the moment they decide, I am ready for a transformation that my door is open. They can immediately just go to Kristen boss.com or the social selling academy.com. And they can make a purchase and be on their way to transformation. I don’t want them to wait six months. I don’t want them to wait till the next, you know, car open cart closed because I know that everyone’s time. Timing is unique to them. It isn’t individual and they are going to purchase when they’re ready. Right. And I want, I want that to be available for them. Am I saying there’s anything wrong with, you know, if you’re a coach and you have car open cart close, actually, I don’t think there’s anything wrong with that.
Kristen Boss (24:55): You just have to decide what’s best for you and your audience and your offer. Okay? But let’s get back to the convenience. Business of convenience versus business of commitment. All right, let’s talk about, so if you have a business of convenience, you are already telling yourself stories about this summer. You’re already telling yourself I’m going to revisit my business in the fall. If you do that, you are going to create so much more work for yourself in the fall. And you’re not going to actually see the sales. I know you want to see and listen, the fall season is massive for sales. Quarter, quarter four is a huge year, or is a huge portion of the year for sales. Like I know many companies that do like 70% of all revenue in quarter four, which means, listen to me, if you want to crush your Q4 goals, you better be showing up in Q3.
Kristen Boss (25:54): You have to be consistent. You need to be there. It’s not. Listen. It is not about acquiring purchases in Q3. Hear this. It is not about acquiring purchases in Q3. It is about gaining new leads, nurturing those leads, preparing those leads so that when Q4 comes around and you are talking about your, you know, your holiday specials, your labor day weekend specials, your flash sales, your holiday sales. Now what you’ve ha, now what you have is you have this massive audience that is ready to buy from you because of all the work you did in Q3, when you felt like nothing was happening. But most people, when they see, oh, nothing’s happening in Q3 because they want the quick win, they quit and they’re, and then they come back Q4. They’re like, okay, last 90 days, I’m ready. And what they have to do is they have to work twice as hard to wake their audience up.
Kristen Boss (26:44): Whereas the person that was showing up consistently in Q3, even if they weren’t gaining sales is about to tap in to massive sales and revenue. Q4, are you following me? This is why you cannot be a convenient business owner. It’s costing you more money and more time and more effort and more energy. It takes you way more energy. When you are being a convenient business owner, instead of a committed one, let’s talk about a committed business owner. A committed business owner makes a plan for their business. I know that sounds so simple. But think about this. They have a daily plan for their business, a monthly plan for their business, a quarterly plan for their business and a yearly plan for their business. And they learn to plan their business in their life. The reason why people think I have to choose between my summer and a business is because they don’t know how to have a plan that fits in with their life.
Kristen Boss (27:45): I’m going to be teaching this at the live live event. You’re going to have a customized plan. You’re going to freaking love it. And it’s going to feel so approachable, approachable. You’re going to be like, oh my gosh, I’m going to be able to do the fireworks and the road trips and all these things. While also listen, Q3, listen to when Q3 is Q3 is July, August, and September. Those are the months when I see people dialing it in being like, oh, well, you know, the kids are starting back to school. We got 4th of July plans. We got labor day weekend. You know, we got to get into our summer routine, our summer plans. And that’s why everybody decides to wake up for the last 90 days. I don’t want the last 90 days to be a, well, let me wake up and reset. I want it to be like a let’s freaking go and harvest all the faithful committed, consistent work you did in Q3.
Kristen Boss (28:35): When you felt like no one was paying attention, you are going to have massive sales. If you can show up in Q3 and in my event, I’m going to teach you exactly how to do that. It’s going to feel simple, approachable, and sustainable. Remember, sustainability is everything. If you have a business of convenience, it tells me you do not have a sustainable approach in business. You have a burnout approach. You have a burst of activity, exhaust myself, disappear, and then feel guilty when my sales are plummeting. And then when my sales are plummeting, then I’m going to freak out and then I’m going to have a burst of activity. Then I’m going to exhaust myself. And it stays the same cycle over and over again. Right? That’s why a business of convenience takes a lot more work business of commitment. They make the time. It’s not about like, finding, like when I have time, they don’t, they know that free time.
Kristen Boss (29:28): Doesn’t just come outta nowhere and it doesn’t happen to them. You know what free time is? It’s kind of like, for me, it’s like reading a book for I love reading fictional books. It’s a form of self-care for me, freaking love it. And I love reading romance novels. That’s like, you want to know what Kristen reads when she’s not reading personal development, romance, novels. Why? Because I, I get a happy ending. But for me, when it comes to reading a book, I don’t sit down and plan the time in my day, I’m going to read a book. The book sits there and I pick it up when I’ve got nothing else to do or I’m ready to relax. And I think most people, when they don’t have a committed business, they look, they treat their business. Like the book that’s laying around that they pick up when, okay, I think maybe I’m ready for this.
Kristen Boss (30:16): Right? But with a committed business, you have a plan in your day. You’re you treat it like any other thing? Like, I know it, listen, if you can plan your laundry time, if you can plan your meal, prepping time, you 100% can plan your business time. And I think it’s important. You’re hearing this like woman to woman. I get it. Cause when we hear it from a man it’s like, well, what do you know? Like what, what do you know, dude? But as a, hear it from a woman, hear it from me. Like I understand what it takes to run a house and to raise kids. And also just remember, I also built my business while I had a full-time career. I, I completely understand. And I see you, but I also want you to hear, like, if you have a business that you are deeply committed to, you will make the time.
Kristen Boss (31:07): You don’t wait for the time to show up. It’s not like, oh, I guess I have some time. I’ll just pick it up. Now. It’s like, I make the time every day. And I move things around in my day to ensure that this happens no matter what. And even when life happens, this still happens. A committed business owner. They plan for life and obstacles to happen while they are working their business. They’re like, of course life is going to interrupt me. Of course my kid’s going to come in and interrupt me. Of course, if you, especially, if you have toddlers, you like, if you’re like me, you probably laugh at the idea of quote uninterrupted work time. And I would just offer to you ask yourself, cause I think some of you, when you’re planning your business hours, you’re planning it from this really idealistic romanticized place in your head. And you’re picturing like that the children are napping and they’re quiet and they’re, and they’re playing with their Play-Doh you and I both know that is like, that happens once in a blue moon, when all the planets align. I know for me, I had all these ambitions for when my kids, what I would accomplish during nap time.
Kristen Boss (32:15): And I think God laughed at me every single nap time. Because first of all, I thought, oh, both my kids will nap together. And you know, because God has a sense of humor. He gave me a daughter and we called her the no nap ninja. Like she was just like nap what’s that don’t want, that don’t need that. And I had to learn to improvise. I had to learn to be like, okay, how can I make this plan happen? And how do I want to solve for what if both kids aren’t napping? What if someone is, you know, crying a lot? What if there is a lot of tantrums? And I, I know for me, I did this thing. My mom told me about it and, and maybe this will, this will bless you. But my mom told me about this concept. She’s like, Kristen, just have your kids do room time.
Kristen Boss (33:04): I’m laughing so hard at this concept. Now have your kids do room time? And I was like, what room time? What’s that? She’s like, well, you put ’em in the room and they just entertain themselves. They just, they play, you know, they play on their own. You, you could put up, you put up a baby gate at the door and you set a timer and you just leave them to their own devices. and I did it. You guys, I did it. We, I put up a baby gate. I put both of my kids in, in the room and you guys, it looked like a bomb went off in the room after 45 minutes. I, I put on music and I put away anything that like, where they could potentially harm themselves. But I’m trying to remember how old they were when I was doing this.
Kristen Boss (33:48): I think they were two. And gosh, if they were 15 months apart. Okay. So maybe they were like two and a half and 15 months or something like that. Like toddlers, toddlers, I’ll try and find a video of it to share on my Instagram sometime. But like I had to be okay with the room getting completely destroyed and did sometimes they cry and be like, mommy, mommy don’t leave me. Yes. Were they fine? Yes. No. Was I no was I neglecting them? I was not. But also I understood the importance of my children learning to play with themselves and entertain themselves. And so like, I was like, okay, I’m going to make, do with what I can in this time. And sometimes I’d set them up with like, you know what? I decided not to judge myself with TV. I’m like, okay, my kids can have 30 minutes of screen time.
Kristen Boss (34:43): It’s not a problem while I’m also doing this. And they turned out just fine. But I just want to say like, in order to be a committed business owner, you plan for life and obstacles. You were not surprised by them and you do not use the obstacles and the things that tend to surprise you as a reason to not work your business instead of like, oh, the kids didn’t nap today. So my business didn’t happen. Okay. I get that. I literally, I had three years of a little girl who boycotted naps and it never seemed to work out, but I never used that as a reason to be like, oh, guess my business isn’t happening today. It was more like, okay, what do I need to solve for? What do I need to do differently? I need to get creative here if this is going to happen.
Kristen Boss (35:28): But I think sometimes when, especially in the non-glamorous parts of business, when you feel like the money isn’t rolling in and the cash isn’t everywhere, it can feel like, well, I mean, I cannot work my business today and it’s fine, but you’re not seeing the immediate repercussion of that decision. You’re not seeing. And, and I just want you to picture in your head. I want you to picture, you’re closing the coffee shop at one o’clock on a Tuesday, assuming that no one’s going to come up and knock on your door. And you’re assuming that it’s going to be okay, closing up shop. Now, listen, I get life happens and emergencies happen. I’m talking about just life, not talking about like someone’s bleeding and dying and sick. I’m not talking about those types of situations. I’m just talking about life friends. I’m talking about life. And if you haven’t listened to one of my earlier podcast episodes where I talk about my personal story of resistance and resilience, give it a listen because when I was getting ready to launch and start, start my coaching business and E I can just name time in multiple businesses that I’ve had.
Kristen Boss (36:41): But like everything in my personal life was going absolutely terribly. Like professionally, personally, and financially. It was like, literally it was just opposition from every single angle. I just could not even believe it. So know that it’s coming from that place. Okay. A committed bus business owner while they see themselves as the boss like I’m my own boss. They, and listen, you come to this business model for flexible in, for flexible hours so that you can be your own boss and name the time when you want to work. But I see so many people use that against themselves and they actually don’t boss themselves around in the way that they need to. They don’t boss up and say, okay, you know what? I know that you would so much rather do A, B, C, or D, or I know that laundry and tidy and decluttering feels more important to you right now.
Kristen Boss (37:37): But also like, this is your job. You said that you wanted to make, you know, X amount of dollars a month. You said that you wanted to, you know, replace your nine to five to income. You said you wanted to do those things. So can the laundry wait so that you can do the things you said you were going to do? Are you going to clock in on the, in this moment or are you going to check out that’s the language? This is the boss-up language. We need to have it with ourselves. It’s like, Hey, you going to clock in or check out. You got to clock in today. You got to do. What’s hard. Of course it may not feel gratifying. And this is, again, this is switching into the entrepreneur mentality. You cannot have a nine to five mindset when you are building your dreams as an online entrepreneur and a nine to five mindset is with you.
Kristen Boss (38:24): When you feel like the effort you’re putting in, isn’t worth it to you. You’re like, well, you know, you are, you’re almost expecting to be compensated like at an hourly rate for your efforts. But as an entrepreneur, you cannot play that game. You have to see like every action I take, I know is compounding in my favor in the future. I’m not going to see an immediate return for my efforts now, but I know in the future, I will. This is why most people check out because they’re not seeing an immediate return for their efforts. They put in today. They’re not seeing them in immediate return for when they put their kids in room time or when they’re letting the laundry go, or they’re making these hard decisions. And they’re like, where is my reward? It is coming. But so many people remember this concept of the convenient business owner, the convenient business owner is always looking for quick rewards, quick return.
Kristen Boss (39:15): And they have a nine to five mindset. They expect to be compensated by an hourly rate. Like if I work so many hours, I get so many dollars. It does not work that way as an entrepreneur, especially if you are an affiliate marketer, you’re a coach, a network marketer, a course creator. Everything online is leveraged, but in the beginning, it’s going to feel like your efforts far, far outweigh your pay. And most people think when that’s happening, that it’s not working, oh, my efforts don’t match my pay. This must not be working. This is frustrating. Maybe I need to try something else. I knew this wouldn’t work where I, but the reality is, I’m like, great. This is how it does feel in the beginning. This is how it should feel in the beginning. I actually think I put about a year of sweat equity before I landed my first client as a coach, a year of showing up online, coming up with workshops, making PDFs, making, making trainings, you know, making a little, you know, gosh, I mean so many things in Canva and trying to sell a $15 thing here, $20 thing here.
Kristen Boss (40:26): And, and I also have to, I have to remind people like for nearly a year, I was coaching people for free. Like I saw someone on, I, I, I saw someone on Instagram who was struggling to, to launch a program, struggling to launch a thing. And I’m like, oh, her marketing really needs help. I want to help her. And I volunteered my time to help that person. I was like, Hey, I’ll do weekly calls with you. I’ll help you. Right. And then I think when I was beyond that, and then after I did some, some free stuff, then I was, I did coaching for $99 an hour. I was like, okay, you know, you could just buy one call you know, a month for me, $99 an hour. I don’t, I don’t, was it even $99 an hour? I going to mean $60 an hour. But like, even then, like the amount of work it took me to show up on social media and listen, you want to have a fun time?
Kristen Boss (41:16): Just scroll back in my Instagram to 20 18, 20 19. When I was like posting to crickets, nobody seemed to care. It was awkward. I mean, you have to see, like, if you want to be encouraged, just go back to my chapter one and see like nobody was applauding. Nobody thought it was great. Nobody was saying, I can’t wait to work with you. Nobody was saying I’m saving up to work with you. It was none of that. Like literally a year of consistent effort while on top of my nine to five, while being the primary bride breadwinner, while having two kids under two at the time, I still was like, I know where I’m going. I’m still showing up because my future matters a year. Would you be willing to do a year of not seeing any fruit of your return? I want to say like my first year I made like maybe three or $4,000 all year, all year as a coach selling tiny little things here, $99 package here.
Kristen Boss (42:18): And most people would’ve quit. Most people would’ve said $3,000 in a year while you’re doing this nine to five while you’re balancing, you know, being a mom, pick something else. I can’t tell you how many people would’ve said pick something else. But I was not a business owner of convenience. I was a business owner of commitment and I knew where I was going. I’m like, it’s fine. I can do this thankless work. I can do this, this work. That’s not getting applauded or acknowledged. And I’m not seeing a ton of fruit for my return right now, because I know where I’m going. But most people are unwilling to play that game. Most people won’t play the long game. Most people want to make one post. And they’re like, where is my customer? Where is my client? Where is my recruit? Or even 30 days of post, where is my customer? Where is my client? Where is my recruit? 60 days of 60 days of it or that, you know, Hey, I’m doing a real every day. Why am I not viral yet? Listen, it doesn’t matter if you’re viral, you got to be valuable.
Kristen Boss (43:18): But if you’re asking myself, where is my reward? Where is my return? And this isn’t worth it. My friend, you have been working a business of convenience. The committed business owner says, I know I’m not seeing it yet, but I know it’s coming and I’m still going. If you have not picked up my book, you need to read it because I talk about the nitty gritty of this mindset. If you want an immediate return, if you want to put in, like, if you want to say, I want to put in X number of you know of hours and see X number of dollars, then pick a nine to five or be a contractor that charges per hour. But don’t be an entrepreneur. It ain’t for you. And maybe you weren’t expecting that today. And I think that is why some people try entrepreneurship and listen, listen, you’re going to have some people come to you that are going to be like, yeah, this sounds really good.
Kristen Boss (44:12): It sounds really good. But do you know what sounds really good is chapter 10. Sounds really good. But if I was to describe to you, chapter one, most people would be like, pass. I’ll find something else. Most people aren’t willing to do chapter one at chapter five of entrepreneurship, because it is thankless. It is gritty. It is hard. It’s humbling. It ain’t fun. And the money’s not rolling in, but most people think it should be rolling in because entrepreneurship and chapter 20 looks real nice. But unless you’re willing to do chapter one to chapter five or chapter one to chapter 20, maybe this isn’t for you. And some people do that. They, they do this preneur thing and they’re like, you know what? I want to go on a nine to five. I want to know, I want to know my career trajectory and I want to, you know, climb the corporate ladder and I want to go for promotions and I want to get that C-suite.
Kristen Boss (44:59): Listen, I applaud you. We need people in corporate. I love it. If you’re in corporate and you’re, and you’re debating between entrepreneurship and corporate, I’m pretty like now you understand the nuances. I think there’s amazing things in the corporate world. There, it has its own challenges just like entrepreneurship, right? So just like, know what you’re getting into, understand your mindset. Am I committed? Or is it convenient? I thought this was going to be a short episode today. But man, I had a lot to say, because this is when I see so many people quit. Every single person, you need to share this with people on your team. You should have a team meeting on this episode and just get honest with yourself and just say, all right, I’ve been a business owner of convenience and you can either decide here’s the thing you can decide to stay that way you can decide.
Kristen Boss (45:51): Yes, I have been a business owner of convenience and I’m choosing it. I’m choosing this and I’m not going to complain about my results choosing this. This is what I say I want, but I know if I want to change my results, I’m going to have to change how I show up in my business. But you can’t say I want to, I’m going to choose to be a convenient business owner. And I also want to choose to have a big paycheck to, you know, get all the, the awards and the incentives and the bonuses and the six figures a year. I’m going to be like, no, you, mm. You can’t be a convenient business owner and say, you want those things, your results, like the results you say, you want have to align with the business owner you are today. And some of you’ going to say, no, Kristen, I am committed, but I want to ask you really sift through it and say, okay, but where are some areas that I’m telling myself, I’m committed that I’m not that I’m phoning it in.
Kristen Boss (47:00): I’m microquitting. I’m negotiating with myself, telling myself another day. Another time, get honest with yourself. If you do this, everything in your business changes, you want to, you’re going to want to keep your eye out for my two day live event training that I’m going to be doing, because I’m going to be giving you everything. You need to rock Q3 so that you can have massive sales Q4. Like I want you to be able to feel like you can experience a different Christmas. You’re not stressing about, you know, filling up your car with gas to take that long road trip across country for Thanksgiving. I want you to have an amazing end of year and it starts with how we show up right now, my summer of success event, we’re going to be announcing it soon. Keep your eyes open. Can’t wait to see you. There have a great week serve well.
Kristen Boss (47:56): That wraps up today’s episode. Hey, if you loved today’s show, I would love for you to take a minute and give a rating with a review. If you desire to elevate the social selling industry, that means we need more people listening to this message so that they can know it can be done a different way. And if you are ready to join me, it’s time for you to step into the Social Selling Academy, where I give you all the tools, training, and support to help you realize your goals. In the Academy, you get weekly live coaching so that you are never lost or stuck in confusion. Whether you are new in the business or have been in the industry for a while, this is the premier coaching program for the modern network marketer. Go to www.thesocialsellingacademy.com to learn more.
