Ep 7: 4 Years in Business Brings a Few Lessons

Ever wondered how to ensure your business stays true to its core values while scaling effectively? Join me as we celebrate the 4 year milestone of Konnect and share transformative entrepreneurial insights that can redefine your journey.

I hope you enjoy this episode.

This is an episode you won't want to miss!! Watch the full episode here

Transcript

Lessons in Entrepreneurship

Speaker 1 0:00

Hi and welcome to the Connection Hub podcast . My name is Cassandra and I'm so happy that you're here . This is a space where we are having real conversations with real entrepreneurs . We aren't here to sugarcoat the realities of being your own CEO . We are all about raw , uncensored conversations that dive into the triumphs , struggles and secrets of real-life business owners . I'm so happy you're here and I hope you enjoy this episode . Hello everyone and welcome to the Connection Hub podcast . My name is Cassandra and I'm your host .

Speaker 1 0:41

Today we are drinking a little bit of lemonade out of a wine glass because why not ? Today is officially the four years that Connect has been in business . It is my four year anniversary and we are celebrating . I'm so , so excited and so honored to have served the clients that I have to , have made the connections that I have , truly so blessed to have the business that I've built today , and I literally can't do it without you guys . So cheers to us , thank you , thank you , thank you for four years . I am so honored .

Speaker 1 1:17

And today's episode we are going to talk about the four lessons that I have learned so far in business . Now , as business owners , I'm sure many of us have a million different lessons that we've learned so far in business . Now , as business owners , I'm sure many of us have a million different lessons that we've learned , but I'm just going to share four . That kind of came to my mind as I was thinking about this podcast episode . So the very first lesson that I learned very early on in my business , and continues to come up here and there throughout my years in business , is that not every client is going to be for you and that's okay . Now , as business owners , we think we come from a place of scarcity . Sometimes , right , we think , oh my gosh , if I don't take on this client , there's going to be no more clients , I'm not going to have enough clients , I'm not going to have enough income , I'm not going to make it , there's going to be nobody that wants to be my client . There's so many things that we tell ourselves right , and the reality is , is that not every client is going to be for you and it's probably for the best ? There are going to be many clients that you run into , that don't feel aligned with you , that don't have things that you want , that you can't provide them the services that you normally provide every other client . It's okay . You don't have to be a chameleon to fit in with what everybody else needs . Stop those people pleasing tendencies and come back to yourself .

Speaker 1 2:33

Right Focus in what are your core values as a human being ? How do those core values develop into your business ? If you are someone who loves to be authentic in yourself , you strive for authenticity in your personal life , but then you go into your business and you become fake and you take on out of scarcity . That's a misalignment . If you are somebody who is passionate and excited and loves , loves , loves to be outspoken , and that type of person who just loves to be at the forefront of things , and then in your business you hide in the background , that feels inauthentic , that feels like there's a disconnect there . So you get to decide where are your core values as a human being and how do those play out within your business and how can you make sure that your clients have those core values ? How can you assess each individual client that comes into your business , learn more about them , learn more about their business , who they are , what they stand for , and then decide from there if that feels like a good fit for you ?

Speaker 1 3:39

Over the years I have had many clients where I've taken them on and something inside of my gut said you know what , I don't know that this is going to be a good relationship , or I'm not sure if you should take this person on . And I said you know what , I'm going to push past it . Maybe I'm overthinking it and in the long run , it ended up being a poor relationship , or it ended in a way that I wouldn't have wished it to end , or the client didn't pay me , or they didn't deliver on their end . There's lots of different things that I have learned through experience , when I had that gut feeling and I didn't trust it . Remind yourself that your core values , who you're showing up to be , is an important part of this process . And as you develop your core values and as you change those , as you develop your core values and as you change those , your clientele is also going to change , and that's okay . You don't have to fit inside of their box . They are coming to you for your services , your business . They need your help . So be authentically who you are , true to yourself and , trust me , the clients will be attracted to you rather than feeling that scarcity piece .

Speaker 1 4:47

Now , the second lesson I wanted to talk about was time management . In my personal opinion , in my personal experience , time management can truly make or break a business . I really wholeheartedly believe that when I think about how I show up in my own business , when I think about how my clients show up in their businesses and just watch entrepreneurs , in general , time management is one of the biggest things that you have to master . And you don't have to master it right away , because sometimes things take time . But time management is important because once you've kind of got that on lock , the rest of the tasks will fall into line right . Kind of got that on lock , the rest of the tasks will fall into line right .

Speaker 1 5:27

Once you understand where you're spending your time , once you realize what takes the most time in your business , once you have good systems and processes in place on the back end , you can scale your business to million dollar months if you want to . But if you don't have that system to scale on , your business is going to fall apart from the underneath piece right . When you build that solid foundation , when you build those solid habits , those solid systems , processes , management pieces , that is what you build your base of your business off of . So if you get really good at time management , organization , delegation , communication , those pieces are really going to be a solid foundation for you then to hire a team , use different systems and programs , learn how , what takes your time and what doesn't take your time and what you can leave on the table for somebody else to do . See where your time versus money value is coming in . Are you spending more time on this than it's worth in your actual value of your hour time ?

Speaker 1 6:29

Once you kind of understand that in your business and you set yourself up for foundational success there , you can build a multi-million dollar company on top of that . Because you've set that foundation right , because you've laid out the groundwork to say , okay , I know how I use my time and this is how I can improve it and this is what I can delegate . I understand that communication is really really important when I delegate tasks and this is how I'm going to do that . I understand that my business making money is important to me as it is to everyone , and this is how I'm going to do that . I understand my core values and who I align with as clients , and that is what I'm going to project out . Once you start to understand those things , trust me , you can build a very , very successful business . So , number one not every client is for you , that's OK . Number two time management can truly make or break a business .

Speaker 1 7:20

My third lesson is social media is actually an amazing tool . It is an amazing tool . It is not the end all be all . It is not the hero of the world , and I , as a person who works in social media and has managed my business on social media , I know that to be true and I just want to share that message with you guys that social media is an amazing tool in your business to market , to advertise , to connect , to collaborate all of those pieces . I myself have built a business off of social media . I have helped my clients build 100,000 K months to $1 million months off of social media . I truly believe that there's so much potential when it comes to social media and it's not the only tool that you can use in your business . So , while social media is really , really good and I highly recommend it there's other tools and other pieces that you can put into play that will also help your business grow .

Building a Supportive Entrepreneurial Community

Speaker 1 8:21

Social media is a great place to connect with one another . I have met some of my great , great entrepreneur friends from all over the world on social media . I've never even hugged them in real life . I hope one day , but right now they world on social media . I've never even hugged them in real life . I hope one day , but right now they're on on social media . That's where I met them . We connect daily , weekly some of us , and we talk about entrepreneurship , where our business is going , what we love , what we hate , all of the things , and together we build a business that is successful . And we work off of each other . Instead of competing with one another , we work together to build a bigger business . We work together to collaborate and grow and develop with one another .

Speaker 1 8:59

Social media can be a great tool to get your message out there with the world and share who you are and how you're showing up . It can be a great tool for growing your business , and so I would love to just plug a little moment here that if you are struggling with social media , if you find it draining , if you find it difficult , if you don't have the time for it anymore in your business , those are all great things because it means that you need to offload that part of your business . Remember , we're going back to step two , that time management piece . How much time are you spending creating a piece of content that you're not necessarily proud of or excited about or lit up of ? If that's the case , hire me , hopefully , but hire a social media marketer , hire a social media manager . We come in and we create that content for you . We do all your hashtags , your captions , your copywriting , all of those sales things that you need to do on your social media . We take care of it all so that you don't have to look at social media if you don't want to . You can unplug , take some time away and really focus on your business growth , your business initiatives , your clients , how you're supporting them , and really plug into that part of your business . And then , if you feel inspired and excited which oftentimes my clients end up telling me that they do once they've offloaded it to someone , suddenly they have a bunch of ideas for social media . You can come back to it and you can post as you please , rather than feeling you need to post because someone else doesn't have that ball for you on your team . So if you need somebody to help you with social media , if you want to better understand it , show up confidently and comfortably on social media , or you just want somebody else to handle it for you . Send me a message . I would love to chat more .

Speaker 1 10:55

All right , ladies and gentlemen , our number four lesson that I have learned in business , number four , is have fun and celebrate the heck out of your business . Celebrate , celebrate , celebrate . I think sometimes we get really , really focused in on the grind . Right , we're hustling , we're moving , we are trying to get shit done , but we forget to celebrate the wins . Right Back when we first opened our business , it was a dream to have a website . And now we have a website . Did we celebrate that ? Probably not . It was a dream to have our first client . Did we celebrate them ? Probably not . It was a dream to have a first $1,000 signed , paid in full person , a dream to hit 100K a year , a million dollars a month , whatever it is . There was always a dream to hit 100K a year , a million dollars a month , whatever it is . There was always a dream . There still is a dream . That's why we have vision boards and goalposts and all of these things , right . We have so many dreams that we just forget to celebrate as we go along . We forget that it's important to take a step back and say , hey , I did that thing , that was me , I did that . I hired somebody , I fired that client . I made 100K , whatever it is . I got my HST number . Here . Us ladies in Canada , like , let's freaking go .

Speaker 1 12:04

You forget to celebrate and have fun in your business . You get so focused on the day-to-day grind , you get so focused on producing for your clients , but what about the successes that you're having in your own business ? Please , never , ever , forget to just make those a celebration . Here we are at four years and today I took the day off . Today I took the day off , and do you know what I'm doing today ?

Speaker 1 12:28

I've recorded this podcast . This is live . I've recorded this podcast and I'm going to upload it for you guys . Then I've booked this podcast . This is live . I've recorded this podcast and I'm going to upload it for you guys . Then I've booked myself a content day shoot , which sounds so exciting for me . Maybe not for everybody , but I'm going to go to a studio , set up my tripod and take video , shoot content . I am ecstatic about it . Then later on I'm just going to relax , maybe go for dinner , maybe cheers it up , I don't know .

Speaker 1 12:56

But what I'm saying is that we forget to just slow down and celebrate where we're at and what we're doing . So ? Number four celebrate the heck out of yourself and have so much fun in your business , because you deserve to have fun . The reason why you started your business is probably because you wanted to have fun , because you were sick of that corporate nine to five version of yourself and you wanted to just celebrate yourself a little bit more . Now I do have one bonus , bonus , bonus , bonus tip and this is showing up quite frequently in my life right in this moment and you know I was a big person , especially when I first started my business that the , the woo , woo quote unquote , the woo , woo version .

Speaker 1 13:42

I didn't know if I believed all the things , the manifesting , the , you know , all of that kind of stuff . I felt very reserved by it . I was a little like , oh , I don't know if that's really true Like how does that work , all of those things ? And then every once in a while , I started to see it happen inside of my life , inside of my clients lives , and I thought , okay , well , maybe , but I never really honed in on it . I don't have a manifestation practice that I do . You know , I have people in my circle that sometimes tell me hey , you know what , right now is a really good time to manifest . You should probably start doing that . I've written down lists . I've done . You know some speaking around . You know manifesting my dreams and all of these things , but I've never really like honed in on it .

Speaker 1 14:25

And my bonus tip for you is to you know , whatever you believe , whether it's manifesting in the traditional sense or if there's some other version of that for yourself , say what you want a little more often in your life , right ? We often focus , especially as women , on other people . Well , what do they want ? How do they want ? Where do you want to go for supper ? I don't know you pick . We focus in on what everybody else wants and we sometimes don't hone in on ourselves and ask ourselves well , what do I want ?

Speaker 1 14:54

Somebody asked me that last year and said you know , what do you want ? And I thought I don't know if I've ever been asked that question in such a you know , blatant and direct way . What do I want ? And it took me back a little bit because I didn't really know in that moment . I knew what I was doing . I knew my short-term goals . I knew you know where my business was heading . I knew what I was doing , I knew my short-term goals . I knew you know where my business was heading and where my life was heading , and I just well , what do I want ? What do I want ? What do I desire out of that ? Not just what do I have , but what do I want . And so I would love for you to think about that as you're growing and building your business . What do you want when you sit down in five years ? What do you want that to look like ? Like , what do you want to be celebrating in five years ? What do you want to be doing in five years , 10 years , 15 , 20 , tomorrow ? What do you want ?

Speaker 1 15:46

And so , when you start saying things that you want out loud , sometimes they happen in my head . I'm not going to lie to you , I've said things in my head and then the next day it's happened . But what do you want ? You know an example of this , and oftentimes , as I've told my partner , I get small , small hits of intuition . And when I say that , I mean we are driving on the highway and my brain , or my intuition , says , hey , you should probably switch lanes right now . And my brain says , oh , I don't know , we're moving pretty good , you know . And so I don't . And then in 10 seconds or 20 seconds down the road we hit a , we hit a traffic issue and that lane breezes on by and I think , dang it , I should have switched lanes when I had that hit . I should have just did it .

Speaker 1 16:29

The other day I was laying in bed and I had a lot of problem with my sciatica . I've been sitting at the computer quite often the last few weeks and I was just really struggling with that area and I was stretching and doing all the things and I thought you know it'd be really great is that my yoga teacher , trudy , who I have gone to yoga pretty much , you know , twice a week for a long time , and I , you know I was like , oh , I really wish I could tell Trudy that our class tomorrow I could really use the sciatica stretch , like that lower body stretch . And then , lo and behold , we get into class and she says grab a strap . And when she says grab a strap , that means we are doing legs and hips and all of that area . And I thought , weird I was just thinking about that last night there have been many instances of very small things that my brain , my energy , is permitting out , saying I want this , and then it's showing up on my doorstep and saying , huh , okay , well , love that . Thank you universe , thank you God , whatever you believe in . So say what you want just a little more often . Understand who you are and what you desire , not just what other people desire for you . Thank you , guys , so much for being here .

Speaker 1 17:40

I would love to recap our five lessons today . Four lessons and a bonus . Number one not every client is for you , and that is okay . Number two time management will make or break a business . Number three social media is a great tool for your business . Number four have fun and celebrate often . And number five say what you want more often .

Gratitude for Business Growth

Speaker 1 18:04

Thank you , guys , so much for tuning in . I so appreciate all of your support over the years . You have no idea how much it means to me . Truly , I'm so honored and so blessed that I get to do the thing that I love every single day and help people all over the world . I have had over 100 clients served and millions of dollars in revenue for their business , and I , every day , thank you guys , thank myself , thank God for what has been put in front of me and the opportunities that have been placed in front of me , and so I want to thank you guys again .

Speaker 1 18:35

Tune in . I'm going to be here more often . I think I'm loving this new podcast situation . I'm excited to be back and excited to see how your business grows in 2025 . Definitely check the links below for all of the updates , all of the things . If you want to watch the video on YouTube so you can see me and my new little space , please do and , as always , please like , subscribe , tell me all of the things , rate the podcast , share it on your social medias . That helps me , my business grow and , in turn , you guys as well . Thank you again so much . I look forward to hearing from all of you .