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What do you do when a launch flops? The way you respond in those moments determines everything.

In this episode, I share the reality of running a 7-figure business and the daily decision I have to make: Am I all in or just testing the waters?

If you’ve daydreamed of “a business that just works” or simply shutting doors and going back to when things where simpler, this is for you.

Key Takeaways:

• What being a CEO really means in hard moments
• The one decision that determines your success
• What “no plan B” actually looks like in real life

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READ THE EPISODE TRANSCRIPT

Emily Hirsh:

If you think that any part of this journey at any level of achieving success is easy, and you are telling yourself that as an excuse as to why you aren’t where you wanna be, that’s the problem.

At no point. Success in any level of business, do you get to a place where it’s easy? That’s not the game. There is not another option. I don’t have a plan B. I want this life, I want this impact. I have a bigger purpose and so I’m not quitting. You look in the mirror and you’re like, I’m the only one. I’m the only one who can fully get us out of this challenge, who can make the next decisions, and that is why you’re a CEO.

Embodied CEOs don’t chase trends. They pave the way they lead from within. Move by purpose, unshaken by noise. When you are the source, you do not need permission.

Hello everybody. Welcome back to the podcast. We are in April when this podcast comes out. Wild time is so weird. Time is actually so weird because there are some times that I feel like time is actually going slow because I’m, I think being like really present and not overpacking myself, but then I’ll look back and be like, a month just went by.

I don’t know. Time is so weird. Anyways, I’m excited for today’s episode. I might get a little spicy. I did a post about this on Instagram. And it went, it did really well because it was just me like I was on fire after this. So I wanna share a recent conversation I had with a friend and kind of my response to that.

I wanna shine the light on some things that are just like so real about business that I don’t think enough people talk about and have this conversation. I was having a conversation with a friend, and you have to understand if you are my friend, we always have deep conversations and also I will call my friends out and I expect them to call me out.

Like I just don’t do surface level relationships. I’m also. Like one of my core values is growth. And so I expect when I tell my friends, Hey, here’s the situation I’m frustrated about, whether that be my team with my husband, with friends, whatever. I expect people to reflect back to me truth do not just tell me what I wanna hear, hold me accountable, give me a different perspective.

And be hard on me, right? Because sometimes I can’t see it. And so I have really great friends where that is our conversations. And so I do the same thing with friends in a loving way. But I don’t sugarcoat it. And I also don’t just tell people what they wanna hear, like I’m gonna be a super honest person.

That’s the only way I know how to interact. So anyways, I was having this conversation with a friend who was having a really hard time. They were having a hard time in their, with their business and just a feeling of defeat and I don’t care anymore. Something that they worked really hard on and put a lot of heart into.

They launched and it didn’t work how they expected. And I think the expectation was a lot of the reason for the struggle because they had this expectation that they were going to get all these sales because one, they were really excited about the offer, but they had conversations with people.

About the offer. They had people on a wait list, so it seemed like there was a lot of excitement and it was like, okay, it’s gonna be easy. I just launch it and then it’s gonna sell a bunch. And that’s not what happened. It did sell some, but it sold a lot less than they were expecting. And so they were disappointed, the feelings of rejection, of it’s not good enough.

And took that into some like real frustration and just like overall anger around their business. And I get it, but as they were talking I could tell that to not feel the pain of rejection and not feel the pain of defeat and not being good enough and not being as successful as they wanted to be.

They were putting a lot of the blame on other people, their community. They were giving away too much free stuff and people only wanted free things. They’re done with that, whatever. Instead of saying, what is this data telling me? And can we separate all this emotion and just look at the data?

But as they were talking, they also said something to me where, ’cause I was looking at it, as the data, like one, I was just trying to listen ’cause they obviously needed to vent. But then too, I was like, okay. What’s the data telling us? Like where are people dropping off? Are you having people get to your sales page?

Okay. You sent out an email. Are they clicking the email? I was being, I was trying to get that across. But throughout in the conversation they said something of. This is all just easy for you because you’re already successful. So it’s easy for you to say. And keep in mind, this person was in a place of anger.

They were not very happy with their life and their life situation at this time. And so they were actually feeling resentful. And again, these are my friendship con conversations. We’re all good. We weren’t in a fight, but we were like, let’s have a real conversation. And that’s where you grow, right?

So they said that to me. This is easy for you. You’re already successful. You don’t have to feel these things. You don’t have to feel this. The pressure that I feel and the defeat that I feel, and I was like, hold up, hold on. This is not easy for me. If you think that any part of this journey at any level of achieving success is easy, and you are telling yourself that as an excuse as to why you aren’t where you wanna be, that’s the problem.

That is the problem. And I said, let me explain something to you. After already having success, after already making a million dollars, my business has gotten harder than it used to be. Because I have a team, because I have massive responsibility, I have payroll, I have a large roster of clients, like there’s a big operation that I am responsible for 100% of it.

And I’ll tell you, if you go back when I didn’t have a team and I was a solopreneur and I got myself, to multi six figures at that level, it was way, it was easier. I didn’t know that at the time, right? I, at the time, it probably didn’t feel easier and my actual time freedom and the way that I spent my time and my life wasn’t easier, but the burden and responsibility that can be a business was 10, 10 times a hundred times easier.

And so I said at no point. Success in any level of business, do you get to a place where it’s easy? That’s not the game. That is not the game. And if you don’t wanna be signed up for that game, there’s other options, right? You don’t have to do this. No one is forcing you to build a business. Like truly.

If you are resentful of it and you don’t wanna do this, you don’t have to do this. You have to understand, I am choosing this. And with this path comes a lot of pressure at times. Failure defeat, feeling like everything’s on you overwhelm, right? And honestly, like that should be what comes in the human experience too.

But there’s ways that a lot of people can avoid that, but not as an entrepreneur. And so I wanna talk about this because, with so much of like content creation, you can’t, there’s things you just can’t share, right? Especially as they’re happening in real time. But I just wanna be real that in the last however many years, eight years, right?

Since I started building a team, there have been a handful of seasons in business that were so hard. So hard that nobody really knew how hard they were, and I couldn’t come on here and be like, here’s the reality of where I’m at. But at no point has it been easy. There’s times where it’s easier it know, but the pressure only grows the bigger the business you build.

And so I said, you know what? I’m really grateful for. I’m grateful for the fact that my business in particular has supported my family. And if I’m being really honest, there’s times where I start to become a victim of that. And I’m like, wouldn’t it be nice if I wasn’t responsible for everybody? But the reality is because I created a business that began to support our family and, Support the lifestyle that we have today. It leaves me with no other option, but success. There is not another option. I don’t have a plan B. And so in the seasons of business where it is hard, whatever’s happening, sales are down, expenses are high, payroll’s tight. Those seasons happen, and I’ve learned so much over the years of just being prepared for those, but also navigating them having things in place that you need so that if something happens, I didn’t know any of that, right?

I started my business at 20. I never run a business, never run a team. I did not know any of this, and I’m still learning. But whenever I found myself in those seasons, the reality is I, I. Had no other option but to figure it out. I didn’t have a plan B and As a CEO, this is why most people don’t do it.

This is why most people don’t wanna be a CEO of a big team and a big company and a big operation because you can build a business of your dreams where. I am so grateful for the life I have for the time freedom I have for the fact that I only work 20 hours a week for the fact I can train and be with my kids and travel the world and all the things.

But what’s, what is that? What is the sacrifice I make? Or what cost does that come at? And that cost is being the last line that when there is the inevitable. Challenges that we have in business, whether that be a legal issue, whether that be a team member fire or issue, whether that be a cash flow problem, a low sales problem, the Facebook ad account gets shut down.

Like all these things that can happen in business, who’s the last line to figure it out? The CEO and that is the game I choose to play for the freedom and the dream life that I have. But it doesn’t mean sometimes that the pressure isn’t intense. But I think, as I reflect, like the thing that has always kept me going is two things.

One, no other option. I don’t have another option. I don’t want, I don’t, I want this life, I want this impact. I have a bigger purpose and so I’m not quitting. So it’s get up the next day, figure out the next action. And get through it. And then the second thing is trust. It is such an immense trust that I know I’ll always figure it out.

And I think I’ve always had that to an extent. I think I’ve sometimes lost it and questioned it at times in business and wanted someone to come save it all, trust me. but deep down, I know I’ll always be okay. I know that I could lose everything. I could lose everything tomorrow, and if I did, I’d be okay.

Full 100% trust in that. And so I think those two things are the secret. And so as I was talking to this friend, I said, what would happen if it’s what you want, having a successful business, this business, and pursuing it, what would happen if there was no. Other option, but to create success, whatever that revenue number is right now for you and what would happen if no matter what happens, you trusted you were gonna be okay and it was happening for a reason, and then how would you show up?

It’s about understanding just what’s the next thing you have to do. And I think this is such an important piece to business and I think that as people grow their business, this is what unlocks big levels. Because as you grow, like I said, the operation that you are managing, it does not get easier.

It gets more complicated. I can tell you this conversation happened before this, but I started this week Monday morning and it was like, oh my gosh. Like just a fire hose of nothing crazy, but team member needed this, client this team member said they’re gonna probably leave. Like all these things that just came right at me before 10:00 AM Monday.

And I was just like, okay. We are here, and that’s just typical. I’m used to that now. And the other day too I witnessed my team love them, but one of my team members messaged me all panicked about something and I was in the car with my kids and I played, I was like, I gotta listen to this, I gotta respond to this.

I was driving them back from their CrossFit and I listened to the message and they were just like, there. And then I replied, and my reply was something like, it’s all good. It’s all good. We don’t have to worry about this. Here’s what we’re gonna do. I got you this. And I stopped it with my kids. And I go, people just get so stressed out.

And I think the more you handle a lot of problems, more challenges that are thrown your way, the less of a big deal they become. And that’s building capacity. And I have quite a high tolerance at this point for challenges thrown my way. There’s very little things you could honestly throw my way that would rock me.

Like very little things that would rock me to the point where my presence and my non-negotiables are impacted because of the two things I know we’ll figure it out. I immensely trust that no matter what I’ll be okay and then no other option. Like I’m on this path and I am all in no matter what.

And that means it’s gonna evolve. That doesn’t mean I’m forcing an outcome that I’m not aligned with. It’s gonna evolve what that looks like for sure, based on as I learn myself and as I learn the business. But there is no other option but to continue forward because I am all in and committed. And so this friend, as I was, talking to them, this is what I got to is if you think that I am any different than you.

Because I have achieved a level of success. That’s the problem. You need to see yourself as already successful and this is just part of the journey. And are you all in is this non-negotiable, not optional going to happen. You don’t know how it’s gonna happen, right? The win and the how. Dispenza says that the win and the how is not up to you.

The pursuit though is a hundred percent up to you. And how do you wanna show up in that pursuit? Do you wanna show up as a victim when something doesn’t work and blame everybody else and everything external? It’s not even about blame ’cause it’s not even blaming you, it’s just data. That didn’t work yet.

Okay. What is it telling us? Okay, what are the next actions that we need to take based on that? And so are you all in? Like you really have to have that conversation with yourself because your business will test this so often and the bigger you grow your business, the more it’s gonna test if you’re all in.

And the other, the thing is like nobody outside of you can do that. And even in the hardest of the hard seasons I have had seasons in business where I didn’t know how I was gonna make payroll in a few days, or pulling personal cash to pay payroll to cover payroll, which is the worst feeling, the payroll rat race of every two weeks.

It resets and you gotta rebuild the account. And any entrepreneur has a team knows this, knows that game, and it’s brutal. And you bet that there was times in that time period that I wanted to either be able to blame somebody or something external, or I would’ve given anything for somebody to come in and save the day and take the pressure from me.

take the stress. But the reality is you look in the mirror and you’re like, I’m the only one. I’m the only one who can fully get us out of this challenge, who can make the next decisions, and that is why you’re a CEO. And not to say I don’t have support, I have support in mentors and advisors and people who can gimme support and be there for me when things happen.

But no one can actually be all in for me. No one can actually take the actions. No one can actually show up When I don’t wanna show up or when I’m feeling defeated or manage my emotions or manage that capacity or manage the stress no one can do that for me. And so you really have to have that conversation with yourself of are you all in?

Because the next time you are hit with an obstacle or a challenge, something that doesn’t work, you’re going to really have to have that conviction. Of being all in no matter what, no other option, and trust that everything will always work out. Those two things are literally like the secret to navigating anything, because then anything that happens just becomes data.

And that’s where I got this friend is don’t take this as your whole business isn’t working and everything you’ve done is a waste. And that’s the mindset that they were in. And I think a lot of people can relate to that, right? When you start spiraling because you’re disappointed or something didn’t work how you want it and you get to everything you know is so terrible, just take it for what it is.

Take it for the data that it is, get really clear on where you wanna go. Is this still what you wanna do? Are you all in. No one’s forcing you to be all in, but you’ve gotta be all in if you are in. And then what’s your next action? And that’s it. The win and the how is not up to you. You gotta trust that.

That’s the journey. So I wanted to share that conversation. ’cause I think there’s so many entrepreneurs can that can relate. And I also really want you to understand it doesn’t matter the level, it doesn’t matter if you’re just starting out. It doesn’t matter if you have a six figure, seven figure, eight figure business.

Honestly, the bigger the business, the more that this amplifies. But you have the capacity for it. And I think that’s the thing is like you build this skill over time of trusting yourself. And of knowing, you’ll always figure it out. And of knowing that you can handle challenges and things that are thrown your way and curve balls because you’ve done it so many times that you’re like, there’s nothing that could be thrown my way that I wouldn’t be able to figure out.

And I truly believe that when I say that, because I also trust that anything thrown my way is I need it for whatever reason. All right guys. I hope you found this helpful. Sit with that question like, are you all in your business? And if you are, would you show up any differently than you are today?

How would you handle that next obstacle? How would you handle that next thing that doesn’t work how you wanted or the energy you put behind your business? All right, I’ll talk to you guys next time.