Get out your journals for this one, because we are going deep and I’m asking you some questions that will require you to reflect and really think about your business and what you see for the future. The question of the day is: are you supposed to feel happy/passionate/excited every single day of your business? In this episode I help you not only address this question for yourself but also provide maybe a more controversial approach — one that will keep you in business for the long run.
I’ll be sharing:
- How feeling passionate every single day isn’t sustainable and that the entrepreneurial journey has its ups and downs.
- Why experiencing contrast between what we want and don’t want is essential for growth and gaining clarity about our purpose.
- The concept around your purpose being bigger than just making money and that it should inspire you to keep pushing forward, even when times get tough.
… and so much more.
2024 could potentially cause a mass exodus in the digital space because a lot of people got into this to make some quick money. Now that times are tough and they’re losing clients and not making as many sales, they’re realizing that there’s no sense of purpose tethering them to their business.
Tune in for a conversation about what it truly means to be an entrepreneur and how you can strengthen your values to help you not just love your business day-to-day, but use your experiences to design the company of your dreams.
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READ THE EPISODE TRANSCRIPT
Emily Hirsh:
Hello my friends, welcome back to the podcast. I hope you guys are having a great week, man last week I was at like max capacity. It’s been a while since I’ve had a week like that. Especially since taking February off and. It’s just this kind of sprint season that I’m in right now as I get ready for my in-person may fourth event. The ultimate entrepreneur experience and also just life like a lot happening in my life right now. Both of my kids my two oldest kids have birthdays that are two days apart so they’re 2 years and two days and so it’s just like the craziest time because they both have birthdays. We have their birthday party. We were able to convince them this year to do a joint party. Usually they can’t agree on a theme so we have to do two separate parties not have to, we choose to, we get to do that for them we want to do that for them but this year we did we went a little more all out on a Harry Potter themed birthday party for both of them. We started homeschooling that same week like it’s just it’s just all amazing. Incredible up levels honestly in my life. And things I get to do and like facilitate and just see these incredible things come to life like homeschooling was one of those things that I worked on for months and then to see it kind of come to life and my nanny is supporting me in homeschooling but then just happened that the week that we started she was gone for a day and a half on a vacation.
And so I got to kind of fill in and do the teaching and I taught the science experiment with the kids and I was like you know this? This is what life’s about, like being able to be present with my kids and do this is why I do what I do so. Anyways I was max last week like I went days where I had so many unread text messages so many unread Dms hadn’t touched my email in two days like I was just only doing the most important thing and I am looking forward to a little bit more space this week my biggest focus is on. The event. The May 4th event I mean the details, the experience, the value, the connections. The event itself has the potential of being life changing and I’m honored to get to put it on and. Meet so many of you in person. So with that said I was inspired to do this podcast episode. It might be a little bit deeper of one like get you to think. I heard this question asked in a panel that I was listening to with other entrepreneurs. And I wanted to answer the question so bad because I had stuff to say that wasn’t being said in the panel not that the answer was bad I just I had an opinion I had something I wanted to share and so I was like I’ll turn it into a podcast episode and the question that somebody asked these entrepreneurs was.
Are you supposed to feel excited every day that you wake up and you know you get to work in your business and does that mean that you’re doing something right? And if that if you don’t feel that way when you wake up every day does that mean you’re doing something wrong or you’re missing something that was. Basically essentially the question was I think this individual didn’t feel excited every day when she woke up to work on her business and she was asking these other successful entrepreneurs What they thought how they felt about that and I do think that there are a lot of talk out there from other entrepreneurs and even myself included about the fact that you know you want to be having fun in your business. You want to have it fulfill you and fulfill your purpose and be in momentum and be excited and you know have have that energy of like. I love what I’m doing. I love this. I do believe that about business. However, does that mean that you will and should wake up every single day excited to work in your business and you know another piece to this was. You know what are you doing? What are you actually doing to make sure you’re doing what you love and working on what you love and the reality is too as you grow a business What you do has to change to grow a legitimate business. So The question of you know if I have this craft like for me I have this marketing craft.
If I’m not doing marketing every single day am I working in my purpose or if you’re an artist or a photographer or a coach or whatever if you’re not actually doing that thing every day are you working in your purpose and if you’re not excited sometimes about what you’re doing. Are you doing something wrong and that was essentially the question and so my answer is no that is normal and it made me realize something it made me realize like yes we want to have more often than not like more than 50% of the time. That we are excited. We are passionate. We are lit up. We cannot wait to go to work and do what we get to do that day and wake up and get out of bed and all those things but are you going to have seasons whether that is. A week or a month or a quarter maybe even a year where you don’t feel excited and lit up and even like you get to be in your purpose. Yes, that is absolutely normal and this concept that I have been. Thinking and sitting with two things in this for months now. 1 thing that has come up as a theme for me repeatedly is you can’t know when something is good or in alignment or.
How you want it to feel if you don’t have the contrast of how you don’t want it to feel and I’ve been thinking about this a lot of you know when I have an expectation of how I want my business to run or how I want to be able to spend my time or you know, being able to homeschool my kids or. Anything in my life when I have a vision of how I want it to feel what I want it to be like what I want it to look like one of the only ways that I’m able to get to that point where I know what I want is I’ve also experienced the opposite and those things helped to get me to the place where I knew what I wanted. And so in business you sometimes go through a season where maybe you’re working on things that you don’t want to work on or you’re working too many hours and you feel like you know you’re working forty fifty hours a week and that’s not why you started your business or. You wake up every morning and the first thing you do is check your email and you’re overloaded and you’re in fight or flight or you know whatever you’re not going to realize that those that’s not what you want and that’s not how you want to run your business and run your life unless you actually experience that thing. It’s only when we experience those things that we get to say. This is not how I want it to be and therefore I’m going to make a change so that’s the first thing is really honoring and and being almost grateful for the opposite being grateful for the side where we realize oh this is actually not how I want it to be this is how I not how I want it to feel.
So now I get to take action to get a different result and we can’t have one side without the other. We can’t like that is the way it works. The second thing is if you have a purpose where you are clear. About your mission, what you’re here to do, what is driving you and that purpose is clear and it is bigger than just today and tomorrow then in the moments where things get challenging. It’s really easy to continue to move through those seasons when you know it’s for a bigger purpose and so I think that business owners really struggle. When they find themselves in a place of I’m operating my business I’m doing this long list of things every day. I’m going through the motions and whether I’m successful or not I think either side you run into this and you realize like why am I doing what I’m doing. Like what is the bigger thing whether that’s a mission, a goal that you have of I’m going to sell my company one day or I’m going to start this huge nonprofit with the money that I make or I’m going to change a million lives doing x y z like.
It sounds a little cliche but it’s like what is that big dream. What do you feel is the reason why you are put here on this earth in this lifetime like I told you we’re going to go deep. And I I think it’s fair that a lot of people don’t know the answer to that question right? like some of our life is probably spent figuring that out and figuring out like what lights me up. What comes really easy to me. What do I feel like so freaking excited when I when I do or when I get to lead or when I get to have this impact right? And so if you have this idea of what your bigger purpose is then in the moments where business gets hard. You have a challenge: you have to spend two weeks four weeks eight weeks doing something that you don’t want to do because the business requires it now. There’s a reason behind that right? because you know it’s for a bigger thing but when you’re just going through the motions and you don’t really know why you’re doing what you’re doing what your purpose is like what your mission is. And you don’t know what this is all feeding you haven’t dreamed that yet you haven’t defined that yet. Even if you don’t know exactly how you’re going to get there. We all don’t but you haven’t really thought about those things. Well then when there’s a challenge that comes up or a team member quits or you have an issue paying a bill or cash flow or whatever.
It’s not going to feel as easy or as much of a no brainer to move through those challenges and face those challenges when you don’t even know why you would. You don’t even have something bigger that you’re working towards and so this example I thought of throughout this. This question is are we as individuals get to have a purpose in our life. Whatever that is like we all I believe have unique purposes whether you know what it is or not. I Know that one of my purposes in my life is to inspire people to be able to have more demand more and and go after their dreams. I know that’s one of my purposes. I also know that one of my gifts is being able to take. A very big picture thing. Big picture goal and break it down into tangible actionable steps and I know that through my grit and my determination and my ambition and who I am my purpose is to inspire other people specifically women and and moms. To go after the life of their dreams to never settle to realize that they can have it all and so we individually get to have that purpose and then our business gets to be a tool to help that purpose come to life.
That doesn’t mean that every single day I’m spending all my time showing people that they can have it all right? It doesn’t mean that. The only thing I do all day to be able to be in my purpose is just that right is talk to people, do q and a, inspire people, make content. Like that’s not possible because I have to run a business I get to run a business and so within that comes things like team building operations product development sometimes jumping in and handling a business problem problem solving when there’s a cash flow issue. Like handling a legal problem finances, am I going to ever be like yes I get to wake up today and I get to handle this legal problem or I get to pay my taxes today like I’m just in my purpose. No, of course I’m not. Right? But those things I am fine doing them doing what I have to do moving through them even when like in the moment it might not be fun. There might be a week where it might be a month where I’m like man I’m humming them thick of it right now. But I know it’s temporary and I know that there’s a bigger thing at play. I’m doing it because I have this bigger mission and my business gets to be a mechanism. It gets to be a tool that helps me fulfill that purpose right? but directly helping people with their marketing and their funnels and their Facebook ads in their copy.
Yes, it will sort of help people with being able to have it all because it gives them freedom. It gives them abundance and helps them make more money and it’s not necessarily directly related to my purpose and so when this question was answered. 1 thing I thought of was I thought of Elon Musk because I just read his biography and I did those podcast episodes and. Thought about for him one of his lifelong dreams and what he thinks his mission in this lifetime is to do is to colonize Mars right? Like which is a crazy dream and so he shared in the book that everything they do. In Spacex the government contracts you know the decisions they make the rockets that they built like the government contracts that they’re making millions of dollars with are not because he wants to work with the government I’m sure that it’s actually pretty annoying to work with the government right? No his government contracts. Or to get the money to fund his mission to colonize Mars right? So when you have a mission when you know where you’re going, where you have a vision of where you can go, the decisions and the actions that you have to take that might not be fun in the moment. Or put you in a season of hustling or grinding or stress or overwhelmed like those things are temporary and you know it’s for a bigger thing right? your purpose and your missing mission has to be bigger than the obstacles you will face or the obstacles will win.
So the question is what is your bigger purpose admission like if I was to ask you that are you clear on that. I think it’s a really important question to sit with because I think that a business is a good business. A long-term healthy business that can weather the storms has to have a bigger mission and a bigger purpose and it has to be big enough that the team buys into it that you buy into it that it’s a no-brainer when there are tougher times. More stressful times. It’s like of course we’re going to do this thing because it’s going to lead us here right? We trust that So I think where people get really not messed up is where people get down or defeated. Is when you don’t know what your bigger purpose is and your bigger purpose can’t be I’m going to make a bunch of money like money is a byproduct it can be I’m going to make a bunch of money so I can do this with the money So I can start a nonprofit so I can travel the entire world like the the money has to serve a purpose because just having money in your bank like. You know that we all know that it’s not once your needs are met that it’s not going to bring the happiness. So what will keep you going in those tougher times and where entrepreneurs I think get defeated is they don’t have a purpose.
They they can’t really say why they’re doing what they’re doing besides maybe I want to make a lot of money I want to be like so and so like that is not going to keep you going in the tougher times and then they hit one of those times and this is actually happening a lot right now because of the economy. I’m seeing businesses who started in 2020 who are like we can’t keep going like I don’t want to keep going and so they come across. Okay, we don’t have a purpose. We don’t know what we’re Doing. We don’t know why we’re doing it. Besides, we just want to make money and then the economy gets shitty. They lose clients. They aren’t making sales. They don’t see as much money in the bank and they’re like Well, What’s the point? Why would I keep doing this if I don’t have a purpose right? And so if you don’t have something bigger to fight for and to believe in when you face the challenges. You’re not going to want to face them. You’re not going to have the determination to face them so back to this original question of should I feel excited every single day in waking up and working in my business if I’m in my purpose am I doing what I love all the time and my answer is no. Should you have moments and seasons where that’s happening absolutely but it can’t be every day right? because we can’t live in a reality where we can ignore everything that we don’t want to do and the you know quote not fun, negative parts of business taxes legal.
You know, payments, finances, upset clients, team members leaving, like you can’t ignore that and have a real business and so you have to have something bigger that allows facing those things a no-brainer and to be in your purpose. It’s that you are doing whatever it takes at this moment to move the business in the direction you see where it’s going. So when I have to face a team challenge, when I have to face a legal challenge. Whatever I know is me coming into that situation and me showing up in that situation. Even if I don’t want to, even if it means having a difficult conversation even if it means being stressed that week. Me coming into that situation is to serve the purpose for the business of getting it to where I want it to go and that’s going to be different for everybody where they are in their business and what they have to do right? and you’re going to have like I said you’re going to have Seasons. So The important part is that you have the mission, you have the purpose and that you understand your actions even if they are doing the nitty-gritty. Not fun things of business or facing a challenge. Your actions are feeding a bigger purpose.
They are helping and supporting this business that is serving something bigger than you on that note, the last thing I will say is there are sometimes where there is a lot of resistance and. I Think there’s as with everything like the answer is usually in the gray area and I do think if you wake up every day and you hate your business that could also be a sign of why do I hate my business like what would I have to do to get it back to where I love It. How do I want it to look when you are facing a lot of resistance and you don’t feel the confidence to move through that resistance? You don’t feel like it’s Temporary. You don’t feel like this is a part of the path, this discomfort and this resistance. I’m okay with it. Because I know what’s on the other side and I believe in that if you have the resistance and the discomfort and you’re like I think this is telling me something I think this is like a red flag Check Engine light. Well that’s assigned to pause and say okay, what is this trying to show me. Because as I said in the beginning we can’t understand what we want and what is good and the direction we want to go or when things feel good if we’ve never experienced the opposite. So when we have deep resistance.
When we feel like oh I just hate this every day and you don’t see the other side of it that could be like a check engine light. It doesn’t mean quit your business. It doesn’t mean you’re failing. We need those contrast things sometimes. So the successful entrepreneurs out there who are really loving their business have built their dream life, are in their purpose, are they spending their entire day doing what they absolutely love every minute. No. Do they feel that their actions are supporting. A bigger mission that does have to do with what they love and where they want to go in the world. Yes, and your business is a tool. It’s a mechanism you get to use it to get you where you want to go. But. Everything really starts with that bigger purpose and mission you know because if you don’t know what that is when times get hard. Why would you continue right? You’re like what’s the upside where are we even going so that’s kind of my deep philosophical thought for you guys today. What is that bigger purpose? What is that bigger mission and are you acting and making decisions and showing up as the person who is going to be able to to continue to move yourself forward in the direction of that mission.
And I think sometimes if we also don’t know what that is, we stay in the same place we choose not to make growth decisions, take risks, or do something hard because we don’t know where we’re going like when I have a reason why and it also holds us accountable for life. I got to do this scary thing, I got to do this uncomfortable thing, I got to make this investment, I got to take this risk but I know I’m doing it for something bigger. So those are my thoughts for you guys today. I hope that gave me something to think about, maybe sit in a journal. I also don’t think this is something that you come up with overnight. I think it’s also something that evolves. As your journey changes and as you figure out who you are and what you love doing and what you’re naturally good at and you know what? what you are put here to do. It’s a deep question but having more and more clarity around that will give you more and more resilience in your business which a lot of entrepreneurs need right now.
Alright everybody as a reminder I have my free May 4th event in Austin Texas and I hope as many of you as possible are coming. It’s going to be absolutely incredible. It has 2 parts. Part one is think amazing race. For entrepreneurs if you haven’t seen that show you can Google it. It’s going to have 5 different challenges in downtown Austin and just be like the best time ever and then we have a little break and we’ve got an after party with a fireside chat with some of my amazing friends deejay I’m going to announce something at dinner. Everything’s catered by me covered by me, you just have to get yourself to Austin and we can meet in person. There is nothing like in-person connection. It’s going to basically be a competition, fun connection, and play dance business strategy all in. Half of a day so you can go to notforlazymarketers.com/experience make sure to rsvp we’re going to cap out at some point because it’s free and so we’ve got a lot of people a lot of people in Austin coming a lot of entrepreneurs and the venue does have a limit. So alright everybody I will talk to you on Thursday!