How about we all just stop shoulding on ourselves - and while we're at it, let's not believe all the hype!

It's time for the Becoming a Profitable CEO podcast, and it's all about providing you with the tools to succeed on this ever-evolving business journey. My mission is to make sure you know, you are not alone, that it is possible and that you yes, you can do this. You matter. The world is a better place for having you in it and your voice is needed.

I'm Teresa Cleveland and I believe that we can all make a difference and that having a successful online business is one of the best ways to do that. Let's get to it.

Hey, hey, hey! It is week 24 of 2021, and I'm feeling pretty damn good. Thanks are tuning in today, I'm Teresa Cleveland, your host here at the Becoming a Profitable CEO podcast.

Like I said, it's week 24 and the second half of the year is right around the corner. I am really thrilled to be finishing up this first half of the year, taking a look at where we started, what our goals were and how we're finishing it up. I hope you're doing the same. And if you're not, I encourage you to really start looking at these things and I hope you finish strong.

When it comes to reviews and end of quarter and things like that, if you're not sure where to get started, you'll want to go back and listen to Episode 28 of the podcast. I really get into quarterly reviews and the things that you want to include on there. Episode 24 has got some good information as well.

All right. On to today's topic, this whole thing about "shoulding" on yourself. I mean, it's kind of a silly question to say, "Are you?" because most of us do in some way, shape or form at different times in our life, our business, and it can affect, you know, all different facets of our lives. The way that we parent our appearance, our relationships, all the things. Right?

But today I'm talking specifically about business. And over the last few weeks, maybe a month or so now, I've had this realization that's been like bubbling to the top. It's been there. I've kind of been conscious of that, that something was coming, but not quite -- Anyway you probably know what I mean.

And that was it. I'd been shoulding on myself again. I wasn't even conscious that this unspoken driver was lurking there. Like beneath the surface. I can hear the Jaws thing, right? duunnn dunnn… duuuunnnn duun

Anyway, I can't imagine I'm the only one that this has happened to or that it is currently happening to. So I hope today is that you'll benefit from this as well.

So here it is. I've been working on my 3-day content workshop and as I was doing that, I was thinking about pricing and how the workshop fits into my business and other offerings, like my Profitable CEO Blueprint program, which then caused me to start thinking about the last almost thirteen years that I've been in the online business world full time.

And I've experienced what, to me, is a logical progression. I started out building websites and then I added to that teaching email marketing, and after that I added on how to build your business and eventually then managing other people's businesses. And along the way, each time I felt like I had upleveled my business and skills. And I also grew a network of fabulous business friends and associates. And then after reaching what I felt like at the time, was as far as I could go as a service provider in a support role, I found that I was being drawn to teaching again.

You may call that consulting, coaching, mentoring. But at the end of the day, for me, it comes down to teaching. And at my core, that's what I want to do. I want to teach female online business owners the foundation, the fundamentals of building a successful business quicker avoid a lot of the common pitfalls, and have fun doing it. So as I made this shift in my business from The Entrepreneur's Toolbox to The Purposeful CEO, I packaged up my knowledge of the backend of the business, nice and neat, into a six week program. Obviously, it wasn't everything, but it's a really solid foundation.

In addition to that, I created a few offers that I knew would be super beneficial to growing your business. And off I went. I followed all of the "rules", put some air quotes in there. I followed all of the "rules" of taking these offers to market. Something was missing, though. It felt like I was just going through the motions, checking the boxes, making sure that I was doing it "right".

Based on all of my knowledge and skills, they should have been a hit. They weren't, though. They were actually a bust.

Now, I knew the type of female online business owners I wanted to work with and I knew what they needed. I was going to ride in and save the day. Sound familiar?

I saw my friends and my colleagues doing it successfully and I have comparable expertise, so I should be able to pull it off too - effortlessly, even.

I've taken the courses, completed the certifications, been in the trenches doing the damn thing. You know, I should be able to charge premium prices.

Spoiler alert. What I hadn't done yet was built an audience in this new-to-me niche. The thing is, even though I knew who the audience was that I wanted to work with and actually even knew a couple of people who fit the bill, I hadn't rolled up my sleeves and really gotten to know that audience. Like up close and personal.

I'm not just talking about polls and random groups or tossing out that magic wand question. Blech! I feel like I just threw up in my mouth a little bit. I can't tell you the number of people that I've talked with who can't figure out why that's not working for them. Anyway, I'm talking about real conversations, not the ones that come about the way that, you know, is popularly being taught out there. I truly spent time in groups interacting and listening, also known as reading in groups about what people in this niche were actually struggling with from their perspective. You know, I did what I actually teach other people to do. Crazy concept, right.

Come to find out, here's the even crazier part. I'd been trying to find an audience who fit my solution rather than tailoring my solution to what this audience was ready for. Look, if you're trying to skip over market research, hit me up. Send me an email, pop over to the group, you can get there by going to ThePurposefulCEO.com/Facebook. Some way, somehow hit me up. Let's talk about it. There are no shortcuts on this part of the business. I wish I could tell you there was, but there's simply not.

Now, another thing that I started to tune into was my price point in relation to this audience. It was definitely out of their range. But hold up! Based on all of the hype we ingest without even noticing, that couldn't be true. If I was even thinking about lowering my price, then I was playing small and expecting my audience to play small, too. If they want to succeed by working through my program, then they would find a way to pay for it, by God.

For some reason, I really struggled with this one. I knew that if I was managing their businesses, I would not recommend that they would make that high of an investment at this point of their business. AND I knew what it would mean to their businesses if they had this information at this stage.

But the "rules", more air quotes the "rules", say I should disregard all of this and follow the plan or else I was playing small, not valuing myself, underestimating my audience's ability to come up with the money if they really wanted it, etc.

Now, mind you, much of this was playing out in the background without me even hearing it, right? Well, it was after I had done a good deal of market research that I came up with this idea of the 3-day workshop that I'm working on. And while I was working on putting it all together, that's when I really "heard" the struggle about pricing going on. Of course, saying it out loud sounds ludicrous.

Oh, wait, there's more. Along with that, I was also able to hear this obnoxious question that I had been asking myself subconsciously, "What will your peers think of you if you start offering what you really want at the price that you want instead of what they think you should offer?" I honestly had to LOL at that one, right? I highly doubt my peers have the time or energy to be bothered with critiquing my shit. Besides, those whose opinions I value would celebrate me utilizing all of my genius to help others.

It's kind of crazy, this conversation, this inner conversation that happens, right? And yet we all have it. And I think it just depends at the level that we hear it.

So to wrap up for today, I think I counted five "shoulds" in there that were lurking in my thoughts and keeping me from making a greater impact. And once I actually "heard" them or became aware of them, I'm happy to say that I was able to bring them out into the open and look at them. Like really look them over to see what, if any, truth laid inside them.

I've been doing mindset work for quite a while now. And, you know, it still comes up. It shows up in different ways. What's that saying "different level, different devil." I think that's it. Anyway, I honestly know that on some level, all those shoulds, all of that, it was me trying to protect myself from the unknown. Thankfully, I discarded what wasn't serving me and I'm moving forward confidently in a way that will serve me AND my audience.

So today my friend, I'm inviting you to listen a little closer to see where you may be shoulding on yourself, as well as any of that hype that you may have unconsciously fallen for hook, line and sinker. Take it out, look it over, keep whatever is going to serve you and toss the rest.

Remember, there are people out there waiting for you and your brilliance. Well, that's it for today. Until next time, let's go make a difference.

Thanks for tuning in to another episode of Becoming a Profitable CEO. I'll be back next week. But in the meantime, let's continue the conversation head on over to our Facebook group at ThePurposefulCEO.com/Facebook, and share your take on today's episode.