The 3 Wellness Business Mistakes I’m Still Making
It’s safe to say that I’ve learned a thing or nine since I made the transition from an offline to an online nutrition business.
Then a year later when I transitioned from being a Holistic Nutritionist, who exclusively served women health seekers – to a Business Mentor, Holistic Brand Strategist & Copywriter, who now serves other Health Practitioners!
And I’m here to say… don’t make the same business mistakes, that I’m, umm, still sometimes making. Even now!
That’s why I wanted to share my top tips for women wellness entrepreneurs (based on those mistakes, which have become lessons), and some that will surprise you 😮
The lessons I’ve learned from my biggest biz mistakes — that I still make sometimes!
>> THE MISTAKE: Trying to do it ALL yourself and keeping up the appearance of a one-woman flying monkeys circus act.
To all of my fellow “wonder women”… I get it!!!!
Thinking you can do everything yourself and that if you just watch this webinar, and that YouTube video, and if you just buy this course and download that free guide that you’ll have it all figured out in no time and your business will be booming within a few short months.
Well, I’m here to tell you that the “I can do it my damn self” mentality only spells burn out.
And sometimes even throwing in the towel altogether – which I’ve quite nearly done a number of times.
WELLNESS BUSINESS LESSON #1: Get the help you require. Not every business task is going to be in your wheelhouse. In fact, learning how to run a business may seem like a different language to you at first. #languageofbusiness Click To Tweet
I urge you to find a business mentor who understands your industry and who’s been where you are. That’s always a good starting point!
Then, once you’ve got a solid business plan in place, and have started to build the foundations of your business, consider hiring support people to take on the tasks that are not in your zone of genius.
For me – that is most definitely social media + content management as well as some of the more “techy” behind-the-scenes stuff that goes on in my business in order for it to run smoothly on a day-to-day basis.
I’ll also add that learning about digital & content marketing, or finding someone who knows about it and can help you develop and execute a strategy that works for your particular business – and not just a strategy that seems to work for someone with a lot of followers on Instagram. (because appearances can be deceiving!)
‘Nuff said. Don’t go it alone. Just because you are a kickin’ ass, takin’ names kinda solopreneur doesn’t mean you need to do it alone.
Yes, outsourcing is going to feel like just one more thing that you have to budget in your business. But, from my experience, it’s worth every penny when you connect with the right support person. It’s an investment today – in your success tomorrow. Cheesy, but true.
Find your people, connect with your tribe, collaborate with other business owners — and love ’em all up. Your business will love you back in return.
I also wrote about this lesson in another article:
The 5 Roadblocks (Nearly) Every Wellness Entrepreneur Faces
>> THE MISTAKE: Trying to compete with, instead of collaborating with my peers – or those who I would have deemed as my “competition” under normal circumstances in the wellness business space.
WELLNESS BUSINESS LESSON #2: I learned that by just taking a calculated risk (which often felt more like a giant cliff jump) and connecting with more people in my industry – even those who were doing very similar work to me, and who I had thought of as mentors, I could actually create leverage in my own business.
This came in the form of:
- Connecting both on and offline, which lead to being connected with and referred to other people – some of whom became clients
- List-building or list-sharing opportunities, such as some of the events listed HERE.
- Guest posting, interviews & podcasts – this allowed me to broaden my content, reach an expanded and engaged audience, which, in turn, built my authority in my area of expertise (women’s hormones!) and got my name out there
My advice is to collaborate with other like-minded online business owners… with a similar or “copy cat” audience to yours.
In fact, I’m so over-the-moon about this idea that I did a whole expert round-up blog post with 10 of my health & wellness industry “woman crushes”.
>> THE MISTAKE: Please don’t compare your Year One with someone else’s Year Two, Three, Four, and so on.
This was one of my biggest sticking points when I first started ALL four of my businesses – and that is that I was constantly playing the comparison game with my peers! (notice how I didn’t say competition?)
WELLNESS BUSINESS LESSON #3: There is some seriously massive learning, change, and growth that happens from one year to the next and even happens from one month to the next. Click To Tweet
For example, I am now going into Year Four of my current business and it’s virtually unrecognizable from my fledgling business in year one, and from my first client who was another health practitioner, rather than a health seeker, as I had been accustomed to for the 5 previous years as a Holistic Nutritionist.
It was nerve-wracking at first to start writing for and mentoring my peers and colleagues. But, now it just feels good – like I was meant to do this kind of work, and that I’m finally fulfilling my purpose!
So, those were the TOP 3 WELLNESS BUSINESS MISTAKES, that if I could go back to the very beginning of all of my businesses (but especially in this current one) that I would have done differently right out of the gate.
On the other hand, the big needle movers for me were the things that “blossomed” from my failures, and these are the things that gave me palpable forward movement.
But, as I mentioned, I do still struggle with each of these by times, but hey, that’s the human in me I guess. However, I do now see how much each of those things held me back as if I was trying to build a business while functioning purely in a state of fear! No bueno.
Have you made any of the same mistakes that I sometimes still make, even after all these years?
Well, hello there fellow human!
The real lesson is perpetuating the forward motion of your mistakes such that they become powerful lessons… if you let them.
Turn your business mistakes into lessons in personal + business growth
How about doing an “audit” of your business and your brand (that’s your vibe!)
This will help you get a sense of whether your business & branding foundations are in place.