Speaker 1: 0:03

Well, hello. This is Kimberly Brock, and for over 20 years I've been running my own businesses that have not only been profitable but personally fulfilling to me. So now I'm on a mission to help other new business owners, just like you, make money doing what you love to. Now we're going to have some fun, so let's get started Now we're going to have some fun, so let's get started.

Speaker 2: 0:26

Well, hello, this is Kimberly. It's episode 305, and I am so glad that you are here today because we are talking about three really good reasons why you should not start a business. Now, I know some of you are like what your whole podcast is about? Starting a business and making money doing what you love and making a difference in this world. That is very true. That's exactly what I do, but some of you have to make a decision on whether or not you really want to start a business or not. Today we're going to talk about it and you're going to know after this, like you know what, I don't think I should start a business. Or, yes, I know that this is for me. If you are new here, welcome. I'm so glad that you found this podcast.

Speaker 2: 1:12

I have no doubt it's going to help you along your business journey. Whether you're in the idea stage, starting or growing. This is for you. Whether you're starting a business or a podcast, whether you're trying to grow your business, whether you're trying to grow your podcast, whatever it is, I know that this is going to help you along that journey, to really get into the headspace that you need to be in to actually build a successful business. And since you're new, make sure you get plugged in. I have resources for you. I have free and paid resources that I know will help you along your journey. Make sure you scroll down in the show notes. It will take you to my website, which is KimberlyBrockcom, and you'll see at the top I have the free offerings and the paid offerings, but you can also see some of the links down below. For example, if you're just starting your business right now, I have a 16-step checklist to help get you going. I also have some paid workshops that you can do on your own time, like how to create your mini business plan. Okay, this is not like the 400-page business plan that your grandma did. I'm just kidding. Maybe grandma did not do a 400-page business plan, but this is not some corporate business plan. This is like a realistic, doable, actually fun way to map out your business. So if you kind of have an idea, you can run it through it, or if you have several ideas, you can print out the template and then you know, watch my video. There is some of the pay, some of the options. When you go to checkout will have the upgrade to the video Some of it already have included, so just make sure you look at that when you are figuring out your mini business plan option there to check out. I recommend it with the video because I talk you through everything to kind of see your business come to life. So make sure you check those out below.

Speaker 2: 2:55

And, if you've been listening a while, thank you so much to all my loyal listeners. Y'all are amazing. Y'all are awesome, you're wonderful, you're grateful and you know what. You're driven and you're making a difference in this role. That's what I'm most proud of, that all of you have set out to help people in some form or another, whether it's just bringing a smile to their face through your business. Maybe you just sell something fun, like games or something, or maybe you sell something really serious, like relationship coaching, life coaching, anything like that, divorce coaching. I've had all kinds of very important topics that my coaches teach on and help people with, and it's just so wonderful. So again, all of you span this spectrum from fun things to serious things, and all of it stems from your passion to help people and that's what I think is so awesome.

Speaker 2: 3:45

So congrats to all of you and, if you've been listening a while and you have never rated this podcast. Would you be so kind, just super quick, to hit the 5-star rating, like if you're an Apple podcast right now you can hit 5 stars, like, that's it and you're done. But if you have 30 seconds to write a written review, it would mean the world to me. I love it when I get feedback on the podcast, because I come up with these episodes on my own, I record on my own, I have no audience, I get no immediate feedback, and when I do get confirmation or when I do see the listens go really high, I know that that was an important topic for people. But I would love it if you would leave a review, because I can't help but think that it tells Apple and Spotify and all the players out there that this is a valuable podcast. Okay, that's it. On to the episode.

Speaker 2: 4:33

Well, hello friends, how are you? How is everything going with your business? I'm so excited to hear, I'm so proud of all of you. I really am Excuse me, my voice is acting weird. I really am, excuse me, my voice is acting weird. I'm just so proud of y'all and I'm just so amazed at the drive you have to help other people through your businesses and it's just. It's so wonderful to watch and I'm so happy that I get to have this career and I get to watch you. It's awesome.

Speaker 2: 5:04

Today we're talking about whether you should start a business or not, and today I'm going to give you three reasons, like really good reasons, why you should not start a business and you should actually just keep a hobby. I think so many that are thinking about starting a business sometimes are impulsive in starting their business or they think this sounds amazing, like it's just laptop life and they're just going to put their feet up in the sand and travel and like never have to be tied to anything. They're not going to have a bus, they can just work whenever they want 45 minutes a day, and it's just going to be amazing Y'all. No one is doing that. That I know. They're just not. They are working on their business.

Speaker 2: 5:50

Now I want to clarify something really quick for everyone too. Your business gets to be anything you want it to be. It can be anywhere from a big business where you're making multi six figures great. It can be anything down to a really small business or even a micro business. Have you ever heard of a micro business. Well, I basically threw that word out last week on the podcast and I love it because I think it allows people to start out with a really small business and not feel bad about it.

Speaker 2: 6:22

And I think sometimes getting ahead and if you have to start it as just like a really small business and not feel bad about it, and I think sometimes getting ahead and if you have to start it as just like a micro, small business at first, you don't have to tell anyone it's a micro business, but it's just kind of it kind of creates this like what is the word, I don't know. It's almost like giving yourself grace and saying you know what? I'm just going to start this small. I'm going to do things right because it's a business, but it's going to be really small because I don't have a lot of time and I don't have much to put into this business right now. But I need to get it rolling. I need to start getting the wheels turning, I need to start gaining momentum and figuring out if I actually like this, if this works, and then I can really really grow it.

Speaker 2: 7:00

And I want you to know that you have permission today from yourself and from me to start a business that's really small, because you may have a full-time career, you may be homeschooling, you may have volunteer work that you have to do, you may be doing all sorts of things and you don't have time, but you know that you want to try to fit this into your life right now and you only have a few hours a week. That's totally fine. Start it out like that. I think that that's amazing. That's totally fine. Start it out like that. I think that that's amazing. But I just want you to know that anyone here it doesn't matter what kind of goals you have right now for your business like right now. I'm not talking about future goals, I'm talking about right now, like your goals for business. Maybe for you it's to hit six figures or multi-six figures, and maybe for some of you it's just to like get this thing going and start making some money, and it's just like a micro business right now. But you're, you're, you're moving it along. That's totally okay. The good news is you're taking it seriously.

Speaker 2: 7:49

So somehow I got off on that tangent and now I don't remember how I got here, but today we're talking about business versus hobby. Oh, I know. What I was probably saying is that you have permission to start a really small business. So some of you, though, are kind of stuck like do I want to start a business? Or maybe I should, because I'm seeing that laptop life, I'm, I'm seeing that this is like super fun and I can be my own boss and do all this, but really there's more to it, and so, today, we're going to talk about these three things. I think it's going to help you kind of delineate this for yourself and to decide. I hope, by the end of this, you make a decision that's what I hope so that you don't sit here and dream about it for years and years and never do anything, or you don't sit here and try to build something that you don't actually want to build. Okay, I'm, I'm, I don't care what you want. I mean, I really don't. I want you to be happy, and if you just want another hobby, you can have another hobby, but if you want a business, you've got to do things right. So let's just talk about it today.

Speaker 2: 8:53

Three good reasons why you should not start a business. This is not to scare you. This is not to push you away from entrepreneurship. If I can talk today, this is keeping it real so that you make a smart decision for you in your life. No more wavering, no more straddling the line.

Speaker 2: 9:15

What is that saying? My husband says I forgot where he got it from Somewhere. He says it's an ancient Chinese proverb. I don't know that that's true. I should probably look it up, but it's like a man who walks two roads splits his pants. Thank you, david Brock, for that. A man who walks two roads splits his pants. So you cannot walk two roads. You cannot have a hobby and a business.

Speaker 2: 9:44

It's one or the other. Do you want a husband or not? Do you want a wife or not? Do you want to own a home or not? Do you want to own a car or not? There's no like. Either you own a car or you don't. You're either pregnant or you're not pregnant. That's probably the better example. You're pregnant or you're not pregnant. Not pregnant, that's probably the better example. You're pregnant or you're not pregnant. That's yeah, that's a much better example. Like. There's no like. You have to make it that start, because if you don't, you run the risk of this being a hobby, no matter what, even though you had good intention. So I want to make sure before you go into all this work, that if you actually just want a hobby, let's celebrate that.

Speaker 2: 10:27

Hobbies are amazing. They're good for the soul, they are a stress reliever, they're a way to use your gifts. That's what they are. They're awesome. They let you use, you know, your creative abilities. They're fun, they're cathartic, they're all these things. Y'all hobbies are awesome and we can all have many, many hobbies.

Speaker 2: 10:48

For businesses, on the other hand, you're probably going to only have one, maybe two businesses probably. I mean, you could do three. I did two businesses, but they're actually very similar businesses, just selling different things. I had them on the same platform. I had them on Shopify. I was selling cute boutique items. One was more niched than the other, but it was basically the exact same thing that I was doing. I just kind of duplicated it. So was it two businesses? Yes, but no, it was actually one big boutique business with two different websites with two different niches, but they were similar niches.

Speaker 2: 11:18

Okay, I won't go into that now, but my point is you're going to have to decide are you pregnant or not pregnant? Are you starting a business or are you starting a hobby? What are you doing? Okay, if you already have a business and you're listening to this. This is a good, just kind of for lack of a better term come to Jesus, meeting with yourself to say what am I actually doing? What am I actually doing? Am I building a hobby? Am I building a business? And remember, if you're building a business, stop thinking that you have to make six figures tomorrow. Maybe some of you do have to, but others of you are not doing it at all because of the pressure that is on you and that's a whole nother conversation too the unneeded pressure we put on ourselves, and a lot of it has to do with the marketing that's being thrown at us. I'm not going to go into that Right now. Some of you won't even start a business because you're scared or you know that you don't have the time to really build this awesome big business right now, and so you don't do it at all. And my point is, for some of you, starting really small could be an option for you, but still, making it a business instead of a hobby Okay, we're gonna, let's talk about it. Okay, again, pregnant, not pregnant, hobby or business. Today's the day we're doing this. Okay?

Speaker 2: 12:38

Number one one of the best reasons why you should not start a business is if you actually do want a hobby Like that's all you really want. You want stress-free living. You just want to go in your backyard and plant plants. You just want to go into your art studio and paint some art or make some pottery. You just want to make jewelry. You want to make candles for your friends. You want to console your friends and be there for people and help people with their relationships, but you don't want any of the drama of a business. More power to you. Do that, do that. But if you actually want a business, you are ready to do all that, plus wear a business hat. You have to wear a business hat and you have to be willing to do all the business things.

Speaker 2: 13:35

You have to be willing to put yourself out there, where you may be worried the whole time what people think, or you may be doing things that are really scary scary to you. You never put yourself out there you may be worried about. Are people talking about you? Are you qualified? You have to be willing to learn about marketing. You do. You have to be willing to have people maybe be upset with you or not happy Hopefully that doesn't happen very often but you have to be willing to handle that. You have to be willing to try to learn how to actually make money. But you have to do that. You have to be willing to build a business, to build something.

Speaker 2: 14:17

That is a career. What's a career? Well, it's a. I'm going to just put it in my own terms A career is a way for you to work and make money, doing something, I would hope, where you can make a difference for people. Now, some people have careers they don't love, but they are making a difference. But I think I think a business is a great way to have a fulfilling career where you can use your God-given gifts for something greater. And again, it's a career. It's not a hobby, it's not a philanthropy, it's not any of that. It is a career and you are allowed to have a career that you really enjoy, even if it's just part-time on the side. You're allowed to have one If you have time, if you have support from your family so that it doesn't cause a riff, and if you have some money to put into it.

Speaker 2: 15:11

A lot of you will need a little bit of money at least to put into it, to kind of get things going, to get supplies and all that you have to be willing to be a business owner, someone who just wants a hobby, just wants to do this for fun. Again, like I said, it's therapeutic, it's cathartic, there's no strings attached, you have no stress of actually trying to please people. You can just do it for your own good, it makes you feel good, it makes you happy, you're good at it. You can get skilled, more skilled at that specific thing that you're doing. Right, some of you just want that. You just want an escape. You don't difference in this world. If you do, then that's a great reason to start a business. But if you just want an escape with no stress, just go in a room, close your door, go outside, do whatever.

Speaker 2: 16:19

Your hobby could be hiking, it could be biking, it could be golfing, it could be pickleball, it could be pottery. It could be biking, it could be golfing, it could be pickleball, it could be pottery. It could be jewelry, it can be candles, it can be all these things that overlap with business. It could be birdwatching, it could be swimming, it could be anything traveling. But it doesn't mean it's a business, it's just something fun you're doing that is just exciting to you. Maybe you're a foodie, you like to go to restaurants, maybe you like to try coffee, everywhere, you can do that.

Speaker 2: 16:49

But it overlaps with business where you actually build a career, a career where you are going to make money. It has to make money and you will have that pressure. Do you want that pressure? Again, not to scare you, but that's part of this. It's a career, it's not an escape. I mean business you're running toward, I feel, like hobbies. You're kind of escaping into your own little world and there's nothing wrong with that and it's beautiful and amazing and you get to do that. But if you actually want a career that's fulfilling and allows you to use your God-given gifts for greater, then I think that business ownership is an amazing way to do that. Okay, so that's number one.

Speaker 2: 17:36

One good reason why not to have a business is that you actually do just want a hobby. Okay, that's number one. Number two one of the best reasons why you should not start a business is if you don't want to learn new skills, if you don't want to be bad at anything, then don't start a business, because you're going to be bad at certain things. You're going to be, like, bad at marketing in the beginning. You may be bad at the financials. You may be bad at taking inventory, you may be bad at anything, but you're going to get better and you're going to learn and you have to want that. You have to yearn for that expansion of who you are. You have to want to learn more things. You want to have to push yourself to the limits. You want to do things for the greater good.

Speaker 2: 18:26

You have to want this as a career. You have to want to learn about business ownership. You have to want to learn about marketing financials, all this stuff how to sell without selling. You have to want to learn how to talk to people about your business and know what to say. You're gonna have to learn how to like, package your offering, whether it's products or services, and what your pricing is. You're gonna have to learn how to show up regularly. Oh yeah, you're gonna have to show up regularly. You're gonna have to want to learn how to do that. You're gonna have to develop that skill when you show up even though you may feel a little weird. You're gonna have to want to get over it. You're gonna have to want to try for that. You're going to have to want to try to figure out how you actually kind of build an audience or turn people that are interested into buyers. You're going to have to want to do that. Like learning email marketing, you're going to have to want to do that. You're going to have to want to evaluate what you're doing and see if it's actually working and if it's profitable. You're going to have to want to evaluate your results. You're going to have to want to do all of that. If you do not want to do any of that even though some of this a lot of business owners don't like to do, I mean, let's face it, we like to do what we're offering. We like that service or product. That's what we wish we could do all the time.

Speaker 2: 19:33

The difference between a hobby and a business is more of the time now you're spending on business. I mean we'd like to get that down to very little and have a very streamlined, efficient business. But in the beginning you're working more on the business stuff than you are on the actual part that you love, and you have to be okay with that for a little while and then that will slowly diminish and you will have more time to be able to do what you want to do and you hire people, or you have better systems and structures, right, okay, so do you want to learn new things? If you really don't, if you just want to learn about what you're offering, like getting better at art or making something or creating something or what to say better to help people, then you can just stick with a hobby and use your brain for more things. The business ownership is amazing.

Speaker 2: 20:26

I told y'all before that my daughter and I are kind of resurrecting the online gift boutique called InThisVeryRoomcom that I had for 16 years and we are resurrecting it in a very micro way and I don't even know if that's real a micro business, but that's what I'm calling it because that term micro has been thrown around so much right now in the health industry and all that, but it's a micro business, very small. She's going to have a very select offering. She's already, like, picked out some stuff she wants to sell and I told her, because of the obliging mother that I am, that I would help her with the back end and like business side. But she's picking out products and she's already been telling me like. She went to a boutique the other day and was like, oh my gosh, my world has opened up, like I had no idea. She was looking at pricing, she was thinking about things, how they had it displayed, all the stuff. And I'm like, yeah, isn't it amazing what you're learning and how this? You have a different view now of like retail and and gifting and products and style and all that stuff. And she's like, yeah, that's what happens to you when you're a business owner.

Speaker 2: 21:31

It's kind of like, too, if you've become a Christian or maybe whatever faith you do have, where your world opens up and you start learning about something and you're like I had no idea, and how amazing is this? Right, that's what business ownership can mean to you. It's this whole world that opens up that. You're like it's like Narnia. You open up that door out of that bedroom and you're like, what just happened? I'm learning about all this. What a cool experience. You're just expanding who you are.

Speaker 2: 22:03

But if you don't want that, it's okay. Give yourself grace, give yourself permission to just have a hobby. But if you do want that, you want to build a career doing what you love. You want to use your creative brain, you want to expand your thinking and learn a whole new world and be bad at it. It's like when you ride a bike, you're bad at it. First time when you start cooking, you know you're bad at it. It you're bad at it. First time when you start cooking, you know you're bad at it.

Speaker 2: 22:24

It's like when my husband and I started playing pickleball, my husband had never played like a racket sport and so he was like, okay, you know he played baseball and so sometimes he would hit it like completely out of our entire court. I'm like that was a home run, like what is happening right now. And then I played tennis in high school, so I have tennis, you know strokes that I do, which do some of them do not translate to pickleball. So I'm having to hone my skills and learn the scoring and how it's different. And we were not great when we started and we had to play with people that were better than us and we were embarrassed and we would thank people for playing with us and helping us and teaching us. And now it's kind of flipped where now we're going along and there's new people coming in who don't know all that and they're thanking us and we can see how far we've come.

Speaker 2: 23:10

This is what will happen with you. A whole new world opens up, you're learning a new skill and it's amazing what your brain can do. I think it's awesome. It gives you a whole new purpose in your life, a whole new purpose. Okay, but if you don't want that, I don't blame you. You may just want to have this fun, therapeutic hobby, but you have to decide. You have to decide, okay. So number one was you have to.

Speaker 2: 23:36

The one good reason why not to have a business is if you actually really do just want a hobby. And number two you you know a good reason not to have a business you don't really want to learn new things. You don't have time to do that, you don't want to take that on, you don't want any more stress. You don't want that, it's okay. But but that would be a good reason to just have a hobby and not a business. And the third reason is you don't believe that what you want to offer a product or service actually makes a difference for people. Product or service actually makes a difference for people. If you do not believe that, you do not need to be in business Now, if you're in business right now and you're thinking, uh-oh, I have something that I offer and I don't know that it actually makes a difference, then I think you need to revisit that offer.

Speaker 2: 24:26

Maybe there's something within this realm that you could tweak and this is again for a whole nother conversation. But I just want to speak to those of you that are listening right now that already have businesses and you don't believe in it. Why don't you believe in it? Maybe you should do that for your homework today. Why don't you believe in it? Okay, and if you have something that you know can help people but it still doesn't settle right with you, like you don't feel totally proud of it and you're not like this is a slam dunk offer, let's talk about it in coaching. I think we can work on it, work on your pricing, how you're structuring it and like, let's get you proud of this offer so that you feel confident showing up. You can scroll down in the show notes, contact me in the form down below, tell me a little bit about your offer and what it is, and I can reply back and then see if something I can help you with or not, right.

Speaker 2: 25:13

But if you don't believe in it and you haven't started your business yet, you need to refine it so that you believe in it Again if it's a service product program in it. Again, if it's a service, product, program, coaching, consulting, I don't care what it is. You need to actually believe that it's good, because if you don't believe it's good, how are you ever going to get out there and, honestly and full of integrity, show up and try to get other people to pay their hard-earned money for what you offer? You have to believe in it wholeheartedly and this is a good reason not to start a business yet if you don't believe in it and maybe it's just a hobby and you could tweak it a little bit or you could begin the process of business ownership and get coaching or get a mentor and get help so that you feel solid in it.

Speaker 2: 26:06

Because my guess is that you actually do, because most of you have used or wanted to use the product or service that you offer and you made it a certain way on purpose, because you saw a gap somewhere, whether it be pricing, offering style, color, anything. You wanted it to be more accessible, a more bespoke approach, whatever. It is right, like you actually do believe in it, but maybe you just don't feel confident yet because it's not completely ready and if you've been stuck in that situation for a while where you don't feel it like you're not feeling aligned, because usually that's what it is Something's not aligned your pricing or like you're not feeling aligned because usually that's what it is, something's not aligned your pricing or how you're offering it. If that's you, again that's something I can help you with and you can contact me down below. But you need to have it to a point where you feel totally solid, like I know this will help the right person. If you know the right person came along, you'll be like yes, this 100%, this person will absolutely love this. Then that's a great reason to start a business.

Speaker 2: 27:14

Because if you don't believe it, then I think it needs to remain a hobby or it needs to be revisited, repackaged, all of that. Is this making sense? I think all of you do believe in what you offer. You just maybe have been scared to put yourself out there, whether it's to say I've started a business, or put yourself out there to try to quote, sell it or market it right. So that's kind of the line in the sand, like. If you do believe that it helps people, why would you be holding back? Why would you not be getting this into the hands of more people? And a business allows you to do that, to get it in the hands of people who will love it and be so thankful that you had the nerve to do this, that you showed up. You started a business out of your comfort zone, using your God-given gifts, because you had faith that you could be used for greater. And you did it. And you went through the bumps and you went through the struggles and you went through the hardships and you had to learn more and you had to stretch yourself, put yourself out there and all that. People will be so thankful that you did that and you showed up.

Speaker 2: 28:29

Okay, so let's recap this Three good reasons to have a hobby instead of a business. One you actually do, just want a hobby. You don't want all the stress of what comes with a business, because there is stress that comes with it. Number two you don't want to learn new things. You don't want to expand, you don't have time, you don't have any brain space left. You're like I just need to escape and I want to do this hobby. And number three you don't actually believe in what you want to offer. You don't actually believe in it. So let's reverse that For those of you that are sitting here going. Oh wait, maybe I do want to start a business. You actually do want a business. You want a career that is fulfilling, that allows you to use your God-given gifts for greater. That you do want to learn new things, you want to take on new skills. You want to expand your horizons, you want to become something more than you are today. You want to live a more purposeful life. And, number three, that you actually believe in what you sell and you know that people could benefit from it and if they knew that it was available, they'd happily pay for it.

Speaker 2: 29:24

If this is you, it's time to get moving. If you are in the early stage of your business, again I have free and paid offers to help you get your business going. I have a free 16-step checklist and that will help you get your business started. But I also have my Just Getting Started Bootcamp. Takes you through everything for getting your business launched, no matter what kind you have. It's the whole 10,000-foot view. It's a plan Get moving. A plan, get moving. Use it today. It will totally help you right, and if you are sitting here going, you know I could use some personal help. I've already started my business. I do have my program called Grow Getters, which is a course right now where you can go through the whole curriculum of how you're going to generate consistent sales. So check that out. And if you're starting a podcast and you want to grow your business, I do have my program for that and it's called Passion to Podcast and I have everything. I teach you everything that you need to know to go from podcast idea to using a podcast that's actually successful and grows your business.

Speaker 2: 30:20

Okay, and I have one-on-one coaching. So y'all are going. That's a lot. Well, it just depends on what stage you're in. I've created something for each stage, but if you just want one-on-one help, let's do it. It has been by far the best thing. That helps people move the fastest, because we'll spend an hour together like a power hour, just knock through stuff and just be done and just get moving right. So, anyways, that is it. I'm so excited for you. I'm so happy for you. I'm so glad you're here. If you need any help, have any questions again, you can contact me at KimberlyBrockcom or on Instagram. I'm at StartWithKimberlyBrock. Okay, that's it. Y'all have a great day Until next time. Bye now.

Speaker 3: 31:06

Now this episode may be over, but our relationship does not have to end here. Head on over to KimberlyBrockcom and, yes, you can get more valuable information for your journey and you know what. You don't need to go through this alone. I would love to help you. Thank you so much and have a great day. Bye.