821. 7 Myths of Entrepreneurship and The Power of Saying No With Leadership Expert Shannan Monson

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It can be really scary when you put that pressure on yourself. Just because you did one thing well doesn't mean that everything you do is going to be amazing. And again, like take that pressure off yourself. Like you're allowed to fail. One failure doesn't make you a failure.

Welcome to the Earn your Happy podcast. I'm Lori Harder, Founder of Light Pink, best selling author, three time fitness world champion, and I'm a crazy, multi passionate entrepreneur. My journey has taken me everywhere from being a broke waitress, barista, retails associate and personal trainer with massive anxiety and no belief in myself to later becoming a multimillionaire in love with my life. In 2007, my husband and I lost everything. We found ourselves hundreds of thousands of dollars in debt at rock bottom. We had no ideas and I had no education to fall back on. This is when I found personal development and lear everything I could about business. Not by choice, but because I realized no one was coming to save me. The conversations on this podcast are going to let you know that you're not alone and that we all feel like we don't know what we're doing. We're going to give you the tools to help you face your fears, take action, start your business, and grow those massive dreams that are keeping you up at night. It's time to create a life that you can't hide from and put so much on the line that your higher self is forced to come out. You're going to stop waiting for someone to approve of you and you're going to anoint yourself. Because I'm obsessed about building businesses that give women a platform, I want to feature you. So if you text the word podcast to 310-496-8363, you can get your questions answered on our Q and A segment along with a shout out. And if you rate, review and subscribe to this podcast, we're choosing someone every month to get coached and featured on our show. It just might be you. So let's get started. Hey everyone, welcome back to the show. My guest today is Shannon Munson She's.

A writer, speaker, entrepreneur who is passionate about helping women speak up, own their worth and take back their power. I'm telling you, I love this woman.

She has serious girlfriend energy and if.

You'Ve never heard me say that, it is when you meet that person and you immediately drop in. You feel like you have been girlfriends forever. She's a self made serial entrepreneur and graduate of the University of Google, which I love. Shannon went from young stay at home mom to starting and scaling multiple seven figure businesses from her living room floor. With a monthly reach of over 5 million people, Shannon's mission is to close the gender gap, cancel traditional gender roles and help women choose themselves first. She has consulted for hundreds of female founded businesses, spoken at Harvard's Women in Business conference and been featured in Parents Entrepreneur and more named one of 12 female entrepreneurs. You need to follow her stories and advice regularly. Go viral on social media. With over 20 million views and a readership around the world. You guys, I have loved following her on social media. That is how I found her, fell in love, got her on the show, and now I just love the human that she is and I'm so glad that she's in my life. I think you're gonna feel that same energy that I felt. Not only that, but your life and business could change if you decide to implement some of this advice that she gives on here. All right, let's get started.

Shannon, I'm so excited to have you on the podcast. Thank you so much for coming on.

I'm so excited. We have so much good stuff to talk about.

Actually too much so I might need a part two and three with you. You're one of those people where I was stressing about what topic to pick and it's my favorite thing to have to stress over is I have too much to talk to this woman about. So we were just talking before, we were kind of like going back and forth and choosing topics and I was like, do I want to do this or this? And I was like, well, we're going to try to fit all of them in. So we are going to focus most on seven myths of entrepreneurship. But Shannon, if anyone is not familiar with you, could you give me a little bit about your background? I know that you've started so many different businesses from your living room floor. That is literally why I love your story. And I also love totally going to steal this that you went to the school of Google.

Yes, the University of Google. I got my entrepreneurship degree from the University of Google. I started my career kind of as an accidental entrepreneur. So I was a personal trainer. I played volleyball growing up and in college and just thought, wouldn't it be so cool if I could do the thing that I love and get paid to do it? And very quickly realized that actually, whoops, I'm an entrepreneur. Didn't really intend to become an entrepreneur, but when you're a person trainer, you only get paid when you're working with clients. And so that was kind of my entry into entrepreneurship. And I really enjoyed it and realized that I was, you know, kind of good at some of these skills. But I was also a new mom and recently married and really trying to figure out how to make everything work. And that was really around the time that social media started to boom. You know, like, this is so embarrassing to say out loud, but, like, Tinder didn't exist when I was dating.

Yep.

Instagram wasn't a thing until after I graduated from college. And I realized, oh, there's like an opportunity here, you know, if I could, okay, if I have five clients in the gym right now, if I could get 15 people around the world on this Instagram app paying me for meal plans and workout plans, that could really, I can have a really good job. You know, I can make $30,000 a year or $40,000 a year. And so that's kind of my entrance into entrepreneurship. Just really, I had to pay the bills. It was a way that I felt I could creatively do it and kind of work from home around nap times and schedules. And that was the beginning of my first wellness business, which turned into a multiple six figure business. And I realized, hey, we're onto something here. And really just became obsessed with entrepreneurship. I love building communities and building products. So that was the first four businesses that I have launched in the past decades that have all been six, multiple six, and I've done two, seven and multiple seven figure businesses more recently. So it's just something that entrepreneurship I didn't even know was a path and an option. Certainly serial entrepreneurship was a concept that I didn't hear about growing up. And I think there's just a really big opportunity, especially right now with the way the world is changing with COVID and the pandemic, and working from home for people and women especially, to create really flexible, cool jobs from home. So I am a serial entrepreneur. That's the best way to describe it.

I'm so resonating with you. I started as a personal trainer and then I went online and I found that there was this blueprint that you could apply to many other businesses. And I'm still finding that now I'm doing a product company where yes, it's drastically different, but at the end of the day it's kind of not. Like yes, it's different personalities and people that I need and different hiring and different things that I sourcing product. But at the end of the day, my skill sets that I am using the most and tapping into my zone of genius are all the same. So that is. I know that that's what you found as well, with that same kind of blueprint being applied to everything. Was that just an aha moment for you? Were you like, what was that moment when you realized that?

I think the biggest aha moment for me was realizing I went to a lot of years of school to become a registered dietitian and personal trainer. I mean, that was a lot of work. And as soon as I got out into the real world, I didn't have any of the skills that I needed.

Right, right, totally.

And so that's why I joke about being a graduate of the University of Google, because I learned everything on the Internet and mostly free. You know, how to market, sales, psychology, networking. I mean, I coded, custom coded my own checkout page for my first business. Oh my God, that's amazing. Like all of these Squarespace and Wix and these EasyCheck, they. I sound so old. They didn't exist. So if you wanted to accept money on the Internet, you had to figure out how to put a checkout page on your WordPress blog. And so I think that realizing that anything that we could want to do, there's someone out there that has already done it and can show you how, opened up a world of entrepreneurship to me that I didn't even realize was available. It felt so exclusive. People who are successful entrepreneurs, they didn't look like me at the time. I had baby on each hip. I never even expected to have a job, let alone run successful companies. And I think once you realize that people aren't smarter than you, they don't know more than you do. They don't. Maybe they had more access, but Internet has truly leveled the playing field for so many of us. That gets me really excited.

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Oh, my God, me too. And I mean, even if you feel you don't have access now, there are ways to get access to people, even getting in rooms later on. You know, I know so many people who have sold couches or refrigerators to get in rooms that have changed their life. And I know that was the case for me not selling co or furniture, but it truly was like, oh, my gosh, how do I hit this goal to get in the rooms, to have access or to pay for that certain thing? Or it's such a different world that we are living in. So we're gonna go through and we're gonna do a little bit of rapid fire, then we're gonna jump into the seven myths. So if you guys do not follow her Instagram yet, I am telling you, like, I go to your page just for inspo sometimes. Just I'm like, I need to talk about something. And I'm like, oh, she's got such good content that it will just spur your thought process. And they're just such good nuggets. Inspiration to make you want to speak up, want to use your voice. Like so many different. You are like pure girl power fire, like, just so powerful. I love it. Okay, all right.

So thank you. I put that in my fridge. Lori said, pure girl power.

I'm going to send. I'll just send it to you. I'll send you a little note. Like, it'll just be on, like, the most random notepad paper.

I think that's all any of us would ever want from you, honestly.

Oh, great. Great. It's going to be great. Okay, so saying no. Tell me about why saying no is so important for your dreams.

I think saying no is the most important thing you can do for your dreams because everybody wants something from you. Whether it is a child that wants time and attention, a friend that wants you to help them with something, someone that wants to network with you and pick your brain. Especially as you start to grow a business, you're going to realize that people want your time and energy and attention. And we all have limited options throughout the day. So everything that you say yes to means you automatically said no to 10 other things. Opportunity cost is real. So the more you can really prioritize yourself and say yes to yourself. And your dreams, the more opens up for you. So maybe that's saying no. I'm not watching the kids on Saturday morning. I've been with them all week. These three hours are really important to me. And it's so important to me that you support me in this, that when you say no to taking that extra stuff, it gives you that opportunity to say, say yes to yourself. Say yes to your dream. So whether it's your business or when you set those boundaries at work, hey, I'm not going to be answering emails after 6:00'. Clock. That's my time. If you need me, I'll get to it at 8am the next day, 9am the next day. And now you've just opened up your evenings to work on your side hustle. And so the more we can say no to other people's agenda, the more you can say yes to yourself.

Oh, so good. Okay, once you've set the boundary, how do you not go back and apologize or explain once it's done? What do you say to yourself to hold off of feeling bad about saying no and setting the boundary and not going back on your word?

There's so many affirmations. This is something that I've worked on really hard because setting boundaries in my life has been very difficult. I think we have similar backgrounds and I was raised to believe that you make everybody around you happy and you do the right thing. And, you know, whether it was in the name of religion or being a good girl or whatever, like you were supposed to just kind of put your head down and make everybody happy. And so there's some affirmations I love. Like, it's safe to say no. I trust my judgment. I'm not responsible for other people's happiness and keeping those reminders close by. I think when we want to say sorry, when we want to say, oh, I'm so sorry that I said no to this, it's because we're caretaking the other person's feelings instead of protecting the power that comes from saying no. It's not mean to say no. And the more you can remember that, hey, it's not mean to say, you know what? I can't do brunch this Friday morning. I would love to spend time with you another time. Thank you so much for the invite. And I'm actually really excited. I'm spending that time working on a book proposal I'm working on, and I would love your encouragement and feedback. It doesn't need to be an apology paired with the no. And you take away Your power when you do that.

Oh, my God. So good. I have a business idea for us. We're gonna make a T shirt that has every single, like, no objection. And when people ask us, we'll just kind of point to whichever one obsessed.

With you right now. Because I have T shirts. I have sweatshirts launching with this next month. Not even kidding. That is so funny. Okay, I'm gonna announce it anymore. But they literally just say, nope.

That is the best. I was literally like, we need to make some shirts.

Okay, I will send you all the boxes.

I literally cannot wait. Great. I'll help sell them.

Okay.

But how true is it that we're taught that if you say no, you're mean and we feel like you have to apologize and, like, how could you? And you're labeled a bitch and selfish, especially as women. And I don't know how big of a percentage of your audience as mothers, but especially as a mother, I can't tell you what times I've been like, oh, how so selfish of her to even want that. Or what a bitch for saying that she would do that. Can you believe that? And it comes from this belief that our role is to make everybody else around us happy. I can't reject that harder. Your role is to make yourself happy. And how can you show up for other people if you're not taking care of yourself first? That's why I think saying no is actually a blessing, a gift. It's a kindness you do to others because it allows you to show up in your highest, fullest power.

Preach, preach, preach. Oh, my gosh. I have a chapter in my book that I released a while back now, but it says boundaries, not just for bitches, because, oh, I love that I had to write all about that. Clearly, I needed to, like, clear myself, to let it be okay to be saying no. I literally remember. So when I was writing my book, I got a lot of my in laws are, like, the greatest people ever. I'm obsessed with them. But I got so much flack from both sets of parents about my priorities. And I was like, I don't know how I'm supposed to write this without saying no, like, for an extended period of time. And it taught me so much about my communication and my wording around them, like, bringing them into the picture of saying no. Like, how many you just said some beautiful examples of what you can say. Like, saying why it's important to you is so important, you know, and so it can bring people on that journey with you. I absolutely love that. Okay, how can we learn to speak up more like, okay, we're at a dinner, or we are at, you know, maybe we're in a room with people talking about a business idea, and we have great things to say, but we're so afraid to say them.

I think the most valuable advice that I could give you is try not to judge your thoughts before they come out of your mouth. So sometimes we'll do this. Well, maybe you want to pitch a business idea you have.

Right.

You're a table of people. There might be cool people in the room. You might say, oh, this might sound silly, but, like, this is an idea I have. Right. And when you do that because you're uncomfortable, you want to kind of protect yourself if it's a bad idea. Right? Yeah. You want to kind of separate yourself from it. But what you do is you automatically take away your power because you're telling people how to feel about it. Yeah. Oh, my gosh. Before it even comes out. So allow yourself the opportunity to just speak without making it a judgment about your thoughts and your ideas. So it's totally appropriate to say, I have an idea. I would love to hear your thoughts. Let them tell you it's stupid. Let them tell you it's silly. Like, we're allowed to have silly, stupid thoughts. Everything you say doesn't have to be wonderful and amazing and, you know, keynote worthy. Totally give yourself permission to just speak your thoughts. That your words and your voice matters. And honestly, the more you realize that the people that are starting successful businesses are doing cool things, they're not full of, like a million really incredible thoughts and ideas too. They have the exact same thoughts as you and I. They just speak them into existence. And so if you can take out that fear of judgment and failure, or, you know, someone shooting down your idea, if the worst thing that happens is someone shoots you down, oh, well, go take it somewhere else.

I love that. It's funny. I'm working on that right now. And something that I've kind of like come up with as a sentence for myself is like, I process verbally and I think, this could be a great idea. Tell me what you think. So then I'm actually telling myself, this could be a great idea. So get it out there. And like, sometimes even as I'm saying it, I'm like, now that I've said it, it's not a great idea.

That's okay.

We're done here and we're gonna come up with another one.

Moving on. Or you could say, you know, for example, if I wanted to share an idea with you. I could say you were so phenomenal at networking and really the creative brainstorming process. I'd love your feedback on this. So you actually kind of preface it with, hey, I know that you have this unique angle. Can you bring it to the idea that I have? And that's gonna make other people. Even if I said something terrible, you probably already feel kind of like proud of yourself right now. Right? I mean, you feel good, so you're gonna. I've already bought in.

You just got me bought in.

Yeah. Even if your feedback is like, well, that's not a great idea, and here's why. You're gonna deliver it with kindness. And so I remember the person sitting across from you is a human being with feelings and make everything about them. They're going to be so gentle in their responses. And you know what? Sometimes they won't be. And that's okay. Like, some people are just unkind. And you can take that and move on. And it's not. It's not a judgment against you as a human.

All right.

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I love that so much. And even just pointing that out and. And I love the way that you phrase that. And I also. I think it's important for everyone to realize there is a percentage of humans who are prickly pears. And that is.

Okay.

That's a great scent, you know, but it's not something that you want to rub all over your body. Like, it's just. I think it was. Dave Asprey did a podcast with me a long time ago, and he was saying, like, I think it's.4% of people are literally wired just to be assholes and poke holes and everything. And that really made me feel better when I bump into the 4% and I'm like, this is their job. Like, it's literally their job for maybe you as a human, Shannon, to, like, get more of a backbone or for me to get more of a backbone or to say, that's okay. It makes you stand, really. Sometimes the opinions that hurt the most are the ones that get you really firm and clear on what you actually believe in, because you're like, oh, my God. Someone really, you know, who I viewed as important just kind of poked a hole in this. And yet I still think it's a great idea. And I'm still moving forward 100%. Like, I'm not going to give that up just because they said this. So it's like knowing all of those. Those things that are just so vital. So I love that. Okay, are we ready? We could talk all day about all of these things. I told you this could be 75 podcasts. Okay? Seven Myths of Entrepreneurship. You have myth one. As you only do work that you love.

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Oh, man. Okay. I feel like there is a huge myth about entrepreneurship and the Internet perpetuates that. It's gotten worse in the decade that I've been entrepreneur because we see all the podcasts and the curated Instagram posts and you see, in my opinion, from the outside looking in, you only see the top 5% of entrepreneurship, which is best.5%, right? You see the champagne, the, you know, the flashy cars that I don't, I don't even know, the fulfilling stuff you see, the exciting stuff. If you want to get to a place where you only do work you love, right? Maybe you're leaving your corporate job because you want to do work you love. You have to be comfortable with the fact that you are always, always going to do at least 15% work you don't love. It just comes with the territory. And yes, it's way better than working for the man because it's the 15% that you choose. It's still the stuff that you don't want to do, that you choose to do. But getting past that notion of but I quit my job to do work I love, this was supposed to be some glamorized version that it's not. Listen, it is hard entrepreneurship. Most of the 95% behind the scenes you don't see is glued to a computer, blue light glasses, laptops, and especially the early days. Oh, man. All I remember is putting my kids to bed at 7 o' clock and working until 2 o' clock in the morning and then waking up with a baby in the middle of the night and then getting up and do it all over again. You don't see any glory for the first three years. I don't know anybody. I don't know anybody that's seen glory faster than that. Right. Like it's grind. It's burnt bridges and painful breakups and cash flow months. That stuff just sucks. And, you know, things aren't going the way that you want them to or expensive hires that didn't work out. Like, nobody talks about that. And honestly, it's embarrassing. Nobody wants to share their worst moments publicly. Everybody that's running a business that could tell you those things, like, there's all these legal things that you can and can't say too. It's like you just, you just don't know unless you're in it or in private circles with friends. But I think when you have that realization, it reminds you that, okay, you know what? Today's part of the 15% of the suck. That's a few months in a row. But I'm going to get through this and it's going to get me to the next stage. And I do this because I want to do work I love and the bad parts come with it too.

I am super in the 15% right now. Thankfully. There's a lot of great things. But yeah, it is. I mean, it is long processes of being. There are certain times you can't. Or I'm such in the logistics right now. And that's not obviously where I thrive. It's kind of where my soul dies. But in the beginning, I just don't have. I don't have the choice. If I want it set up in the way that I want, I have to be in that. And I have like, I am talking to myself so much throughout the day. Like, you can do this, you can do hard things. Like, we're just gonna get through this and of course there'll be more, but it goes in spur. So I don't know.

And it's.

So that's where we get to grow though. That truly is like, we don't grow through all the celebrations. You're just kind of like in that beautiful space during celebration. This is where you get to find out a lot about yourself and you know, can you make the mundane enjoyable? Can you learn from it? Can you grow from it? So I so feel that. And I think it's important.

And I would say too, if you're in that season right now, you're not doing it wrong. Yeah, a lot of people that will scroll Instagram and compare themselves to other more established entrepreneurs and feel so defeated because they're not making the sales, they're not having the launches, they aren't getting the big Press, features, same. You know what I mean? Like, every single person that you see that has something that you want, they've been through the situation you're in right now, or worse or, you know, and so I think if you give yourself permission, like, actually just because it's hard doesn't mean I'm doing it wrong.

Totally.

I'm just doing this stuff nobody sees.

Yeah. And it usually, majority of the time, and I don't want to plant the story for people, but it usually takes a lot longer than you think. And a lot of times why you haven't seen that is because during that long period of time, I'm not out on Instagram every day going, man, this is really long.

It's been another.

I know I said that was going to come out three months ago or six months ago, but we're still waiting. And you know, it's an interesting dance between wanting your audience to have faith in you, sharing what's real, and then not being a drag. It's a really interesting dance as an entrepreneur to like, how much of it do I share? And sometimes when you're in it, there are days, I gotta be honest, I can't share it. It's just too, it's too heavy. Like I need to, like, I wouldn't even know what to say about it other than like just swear words for paragraphs and like, good night, you know.

Yeah. And a very, like a very public entrepreneur too. So I want to add, you know, not every entrepreneur also has a public platform like I do. And so the expectation for someone like you or I to share everything and that you're seeing a full picture is, is not fair.

Right.

And so I think we can kind of take that pressure off of ourselves. You know, you think about like your. Most of my, you know, most of my friends that just have normal Instagram accounts, they don't have public profiles, they just share pictures like with their spouses and their kids and like the best parts. Right. Like you're not gonna see, we just had like an all out fight. We were up all night crying. Like, you're not gonna talk, you're just not going to share that. So when you realize there's so much behind the curtain you're not seeing, I would really encourage you if you're feeling like I'm doing it wrong, it's so much easier for everybody. I would encourage you to have these conversations behind closed doors with other people because I guarantee they've been through it. You know, I was talking to someone this weekend, I was like, oh, there's this, like, thing happening, and I don't know what to do. And I'm not allowed to talk to anybody about it. And four people like, oh, I've been through that too. Here's what happened. But you're not gonna find that on the Internet. Mm.

That's why we gotta find each other, truly. That's why you have to reach out and connect with other people who are going through it with you, is because sometimes publicly, you cannot, you can't, or you're not ready for it, or you're not, like, mentally capable of handling more eyes on what you're going through. Sometimes you really need to. You know, it depends on what type of processor you are too. You need to respect that as well. So I love all of those. Okay. Myth two. You do what you want when you want.

Yeah. Okay. I feel like this isn't as much a thing as it used to be, but in the early days of Instagram, I swear everybody was taking selfies with their laptops. Yes.

Oh, girl.

I come from network marketing. It was like, like, look at the beach all day. And then I go up to the hotel and work. Yeah.

Yes. So we all now work from home and work from anywhere. So it's like a little bit different. But I feel like there's kind of this myth of entrepreneurship. There's no strings attached. You can kind of do anything. But I think the truth is you're going to work whenever you have to in the most random places that you have to do. So when it's 10 o' clock on Saturday night and, like, something breaks on one of your pages, you're not going to call your coding to your developing team. If you want it fixed before Monday, you're going to do it yourself. Like, I can't tell you the number of times I've been on vacation, signed off. Don't contact me. I'm off the grid and like a fiery reps, and you're the only person that can put it out. And when you realize that, you know, this is. Yes, you get incredible freedom. And I can go wherever I want, whenever I want, but I also have to be to some degree on 24 7. And that's why boundaries are so important. So you don't become available to everybody all the time. But you have to appreciate that. Okay, there's going to be those 10 o' clock nights when you get the phone call and it's you. You're looking around. You are the team. I will never call my team at 2 o' clock in the morning when something's going wrong.

Right.

And when you realize that actually, okay, you're going to get great flexibility, but Instead of working 9 to 5, you're going to work 24, 7. Congrats.

Oh my God. My sister in law, we go home for a month every summer to Wisconsin and we still work there. But she had worked for a startup for years. She's freaking amazing. And she just took her HR business, became an entrepreneur. So it was the first summer where she was an entrepreneur during the summer and had this month and she was like so stressed out. She was like, I'm here but I'm so not present because I feel like I didn't take vacation and I'm still working. It was the first time she really was like, this isn't fun. Like, she was like, this isn't. Last time I was here, it was so much fun. I had all this space and no one was contacting me because I was off of work and these were the hours. And I was like, it's gonna be fun again, I promise. It's just the initial. She was struggling with the initial. How do you stop? Where do you put your own boundaries on? Cause nobody's telling you and nobody's helping you when your client needs you.

Yeah, and a lot of times boundaries means making less money. You know, I was talking, I was talking to my trainer about this. As your business gets bigger, you get more systems and teams and you know, when you're off, the business can continue to grow and scale, or at least that's the goal. But in the early stages of entrepreneurship, you know, my trainer was saying, when I go on vacation, like, I don't make, I don't make money. I'm not like training clients. And so especially those early days of entrepreneurship, I would say the first, like $250,000 in revenue. Those can feel so painful to set boundaries because it means losing out on money and opportunities. And you know what? I've been doing this for almost a decade and I still feel that way. I'm like, no, but a whole month off, like the things that I could do. And I, you know, I'm sure you find this too when you go vacation, you're like, okay, I've got an idea for this, I've got an idea for this. Like your brain just, it doesn't ever stop. And so it's kind of rewiring it to realize, like, okay, we're not going to do a 9 to 5. And listen, I know that nobody in corporate America really does a 9 to 5 either, but okay. It's going to kind of be all the time. So I need to figure out what's going to work for me so that when things hit the fan at 10 o' clock on Saturday night and I'm out with friends and I'm supposed to be having a good time, I can take a breather, escape for 20 minutes, get it solved, come back, and that can become kind of a part of your flow in your life instead of just like your sister in law. Why is this happening? It used to be so fun.

Totally.

Yes.

I love that. Okay, Myth three, once you make it, you're set for life. I know, I know. I really thought this was going to be done at 40, you know.

Did the long dramatic pause say enough? You know, I remember listening to a podcast with, I think it was D. David Chang of Momofuku. He's a chef restaurateur. I'm saying his name, his last name, right? In New York City, he has some amazing restaurants. And he was talking about how he had had tons of success with his first restaurant. And so he kind of felt like everything he touched turned to gold and then one of them failed miserably. And that's something that I can definitely relate to. You know, I've started, I have four successful businesses, but that's not my like full entrepreneurship track record. Like, I've definitely had failures even now, you know, I'm about to relaunching my personal brand and in 2022, launching my next business. And I gotta tell you, I'm like, what if it doesn't work?

Totally.

Like, what if nobody buys it and I'm not any good at this. And actually it was a terrible idea. And I've now spent more money because you take bigger and bigger risks each time. Right? Because you're like, no, I know how to do this.

Yep. Right.

We don't need a bootstrap this time, right? I can go get funding. I know how to do this. And it can be really scary when you put that pressure on yourself. Just because you did one thing well doesn't mean that everything you do is going to be amazing. And again, like, take that pressure off yourself. Like, you're allowed to fail. One failure doesn't make you a failure. And just because you had one success doesn't mean everything that you touch is going to be successful. And I think it keeps you humble. It's a good gut check to remember. Okay, all right, we're doing this again and here goes. But I definitely thought, oh, you know, those entrepreneurs, they've got so much money and they're so successful and all they do is brag about how much money they have. No, like, you make more money, you start a more successful business. Now you've got a bigger payroll, you've got bigger expenses. The risks are higher. You're going like, it just everything becomes more extreme. So if you can't handle it at the entry level of, you know, your first $100,000 in revenue and those risks and those cash flow problems just are too much for you. Don't scale it. Like, go get a job. That's the greatest thing that I wish I could have told myself or someone that wanted entrepreneur because it doesn't get easier. It actually gets more extreme. You just get better at handling it.

Okay, so I don't know if you guys listened to the recent episode episode about some guardrails that Chris and I are going to be putting into our lives. One of them was only choosing two days a week of drinking alcohol, unless of course, we're on a vacation. But the other was drinking no less than 60 ounces of water every single day. And you know how and who is gonna help me do that is Liquid iv. Because I definitely do not love drinking plenty plain water. One stick of liquid IV in 16 ounces of water hydrates faster and more efficiently than water alone. Liquid IV has incredible hydration flavors like watermelon, lemon, lime, strawberry, pina colada and more. You guys, I love how good it makes me feel. And when I am hydrated, I just notice, I think better. And my workouts are so much better. I love Liquid IV during the my workouts. So I have half of a packet during my workout and then I like to add the other half to another big bottle of water so that I'm getting so much of my water early in the day. So it contains five essential vitamins. B3, B5, B6, B12, and vitamin C. And it has three times the electrolytes of traditional sports drinks. So go grab your Liquid IV in bulk nationwide at Costco. Or you can get 25% off when you go to liquid IV.com and use code HAPPY at checkout. That's 25% off anything you order when you use Promo Code Happy at Liquid. I've come experience better hydration today@liquid IV.com promo code HAPPY.

You have to have these conversations with yourself where you get right with like either what's coming next or what could happen. And I think for me to start a company to raise $2 million to have that pressure, I had to have the get right conversations of what if this doesn't work? Will you still be okay? And that needs to come before you do that. Like, will you still be okay?

It has to always be, I'm going to be okay. I had the conversation with my husband this weekend. He was like, okay, Shannon, what's the worst case scenario here? I was like, here's the worst case scenario. Are you going to be okay? Yeah, you know what? I am. Would it suck? Yeah. Am I going to be okay? Yeah. And you have to always be comfortable with that. That doesn't mean you have to like it or like, you know, doesn't mean. But it's, it's a reality of, you know, all of the joys of entrepreneurship don't come without the lows too.

That is where you have to go. And I, it's just reassuring knowing so many people and you've had that conversation. I know when I ask people that they've all had that convers because there are times where you're like, am I just supposed to feel like this isn't going to fail and I shouldn't even talk about it? But that creates. That shit will wake you up at 2am and consume you whole if you don't look at it. So yeah, I think that's a really important conversation to have with your loved ones and other people to help support you through it.

Yeah, it's pretty narcissistic too to think that everything like, you know, of course it's going to work out like that. Eternal, like a toxic optimism, like, no, it's not going to all work out. Like things are going to go wrong. And so you need to be prepared with the best case scenario. Absolutely. That's the easy, fun thing to prepare for, but also the worst case scenario and everything in between. And listen, I'm not trying to be a pessimist. I'm just a realist who's done this for a long time. And I think if you can realize like, okay, things are going to go wrong and I am strong, I'm resilient, I'm prepared to handle this.

This is such a great convo because a lot of people are like, yeah, but what about prayer and the law of attraction and all of the things like, if I think about that then and prepare for it, that means maybe I don't have faith. I think it allows to let go of all of the negative things that you could think about. And once you have a plan for it, then you can actually now be Free to be like, okay, I'm set. If something happens now, I can actually free myself up to say, nope, you're good. Like, you, you thought of all the things, go back into faith mode.

Yeah. And whatever higher power you believe in, none of us have the answers. So if you're so set on it happening one way and looking one particular way, you're actually preventing yourself. So I think one of the greatest things you can do is stay open to, okay, this is what I want. And I'm flexible on how we get there. So when things go wrong, I'm going to take that. I'm like, okay, change of direction. Okay, pivot. Yep, I'm paying attention. We're going to get to where we want to go. And when you have that belief, you can't fail, because as long as you don't stop, you're not going to fail. Right. I think that truly the only failure is saying, like, I don't even want to say giving up, because sometimes that's the right answer too. But saying just quitting. Right. Like, if something doesn't work out, figure out a way around it, through it, below it, around it, whatever direction we're going, and then move on to the different direction for how you can get to that same goal.

Yes.

Okay.

Number four, it's Instagramable and sexy.

Af.

It is the ugliest thing. Literally, the reality is like messy hair, sitting in front of a laptop. Scream on a couch in a corner of like your kid's playground. I don't even know nothing about the actual day to day of running a business is pretty. The pretty stuff is the marketing.

Yeah.

Like the fun podcast, the cute photo shoots, the nice websites, the launch events, the poolside parties. Like that. Is that 5% I was telling you about. Like, the stuff that you are shown is curated marketing. The reality of it is kind of a hot mess. I've never seen a business with a playbook that's just impeccable. Every single business is kind of like trying to figure out their operating systems and figuring out their hire, like reorganizing their company structure all the time. It's a mess. And you have to be kind of excited about adaptability. Like you said earlier, all the businesses have similar blueprints, but I gotta figure out what's the way I tweak it. And having that flexibility actually makes it a lot of fun. But it's not pretty. Oh, man.

I can't tell you the amounts of time, like even during the pretty things that there's either been. Maybe it's events that people are like, oh, my God, those are so amazing. And you must love putting on the events.

And.

Yes. And during it, we're struggling to try to be present and to give the best info. And we just found out that. That somebody's pissed in the back and wants their money back at an event, and we have to deal with being, like, the best hosts ever while someone is, like, tromping off to their room upset. And you don't get the luxury of dealing with your emotions. You just have to be on. And while I sound like a brat saying that, it's at the same time, it's real. It's like when there's just so many things that we look at that we're not realizing. Once you hear the story, like, it's, yes, it's so cool that we get to do these different things. Or, you know, friends that, like, maybe they've gotten to walk runways or even do just, like, the most glamorous things ever. And then you hear the stories behind it, and while they're so grateful for the thing, it's just not what we think. It's just not what you think.

Yeah, I love that. Yes and yes. It's so cool. It's so fulfilling. It's so cool. Like, checking things off your bucket list. And it's the most emotionally draining thing you'll ever do. And it's going to require the highest level of EQ that you ever thought possible, and especially that event example. And again, I just go back to what people see on what you're running a business and what's happening behind the scenes. I was just at one of my friends events, and the same thing, like, as an attendee, I had the greatest experience ever. I loved it. It was so fun. It was impeccable. Wow. They worked so hard. She was so shiny, and everything was so good. And then after we go out and she tells me about the drama that happened behind the scenes and the person that was doing this and the vendor that didn't show up here, and you realize, oh, I didn't know any of that was happening. And it's the same thing that happens on Instagram, right? When you see the marketing and all the good stuff, it's just a level of awareness of, hey, if I want to get into this, I want to run my own event. I want to do these things. I want to be an entrepreneur like this. Just know there's going to be some surprises. And you're not alone. We all go through it.

You're not alone. You're not doing it wrong. And you're going to fast forward two months after the thing, or even a month, or if you're lucky. And you get real ninja at the emotional thing because some of us can. You are grateful for it. And it sounds so messed up, but it's like, wow, that taught me this, or wow, that this allowed me to do this, or wow, this allowed me to expand into a place where I can hold this much responsibility to now be able to have this business. It's the craziest, most emotional, most beautiful thing. And I love that we're just shedding light on you're not doing it wrong if you feel this way, which can then allow you to enjoy the rest. It's like, this is all a part of it. This is a part of it. That'd be like saying, I can't enjoy being married because of these crazy things effed up parts over here.

And it's like that's being married.

So how do you, you know, how do you work through it and get to enjoy the really good parts? Because those other parts, you're going to just work through it and learn from them. So, okay, so myth five, you make infinite amounts of money.

Don't you wish? Don't you wish?

I just feel like what I learned in the beginning or what I thought I was like, but they just said they had a ten figure launch and they just did multiple seven figure launch. And I'm like, how are these people doing this over and over? And then I learned they're not, or they're sharing it with 40 other people or they paid half of it in ads or more. And it's just like demystifying it to me would have probably let me enjoy my launch more.

Yes. So when I started with a wellness entrepreneur, being a six figure dietitian was like the epitome of career. We remember the first year business that I made six figures, I actually made, I think it was about $300,000. And I was like, I am the richest person alive. But at the end of the day, I actually paid myself less than $50,000. And these are very real conversations that I think if you want to be an entrepreneur, you should start having with other entrepreneurs great revenues, top line revenue. Love that number. Love hearing about how much you made. Video launch, what are the expenses, what's your payroll, how many people on your team, what's your take home, what's your profit share? And peeling back the layers, you know, even if you have a seven figure business, which is a big Business, most people will never reach that level. It's also still considered a small business because you still only have like three to five employees. But if you have a seven figure business, you're not making seven figures, maybe 250, which is a great, great, great job, right? Maybe it's more, maybe you've got a phenomenal profit margin. But I think realizing that actually it's not this infinite resource, you know, even if you are making $5 million a year in your business, you have finite expenses, you have variable expenses and you're always going to have to manage your money. And actually the more money you get, it's same thing, like just more complicated to manage.

The more people you have to hire to manage.

You have to. There's people you hire. And honestly, the more success I've had in business, the more I've realized that I am like barely even in business. Like there's always someone with a lot more than you. And so if you can take that perspective off of like when I hit six figures, when I hit seven figures, I will just have like all the money for all the things and I'll finally be happy. It's just not true. I was just as happy at, at $30,000 a year. I much prefer the luxuries of my life now. But if you can't find happiness, that money's always going to be a finite resource. You're always going to be running out of it. It's just the problems that you have with money now will just be magnified.

Gosh. We were just talking about this on a walk the other day about how it's a different set of problems. When we were maybe in our 30k jobs, it was like our problems were stress around money. And I guess now, I guess our problems now are stress around money.

It's just the magnitude, right?

It's, they're just diff. They're just different. And you know, we're all kind of just trading different problems because life without problems is nothing. You're not solving anything. And as humans, we like to solve, we like to grow, we like progress. So now I just have a different, you know, I think. And that's what you learn as you grow your business, right? You sometimes the middle's messy and you're like, I can't wait until when. Which brings me right into your next one. It's easier when, which is number six. It's easier when we have X. And now I'm like, that is so silly. I can't believe I kind of like put my Mental life on hold, waiting to get to this certain place, thinking it would solve these certain problems. And I. I guess growing and more money has taught me that being present is always your number one goal. Like, just trying to figure that out, like, enjoying what you do, and also somehow trying to be present in your life.

I firmly believe it doesn't get easier. You just get better at handling it. Yeah, you personally get better. And I think that's actually really encouraging. Because, listen, I don't want to sound insensitive. Like, I remember making $2,000 a month and wondering how I was ever going to afford a washer and dryer. I remember those days. It's not fun. But if you appreciate that, okay, this is going to be hard, and I'm going to get through it. And then as soon as I solve this problem, there's going to be a new one. You know, initially, it's sales. How do I even sell stuff and get things out there? And then once you solve that problem, then it's operations. Oh, we have all these sales. How do I package them? How do I support the customers? How do we do this? And then once you solve that, it's hiring your team. Wait, who do I need? Organizational design. Nobody taught me this. I guess I'm going back to Google. Right? And so your problems just get replaced with newer problems. And if you take away this, I'm going to be happy when I make $10,000 a month. It's going to be easy when if you pull that back, you realize that actually it's a huge journey of growth and opportunity for you.

So, okay, myth number seven. Everyone else is doing it better than you.

You. Doesn't it feel that way?

Oh, gosh. I mean, I can pull up Instagram right now and tell you all the women who are doing it better than me.

Yeah, I share that. Because, you know, even coming on this podcast, I was like, oh, she's so much better at business than me.

Oh, shit, that's so funny.

I told myself, like, what are the facts? Right? What are the facts? Because we do this, we're like, oh, they are, you know, better at xyz. What are the facts? The facts are, I don't even know. I have no idea what her business is, like, what it's like running it from the inside. You know, I don't know what her numbers are. Is she better at doing it? Where did that idea even come from? And when you start to kind of question, hold on, hold on. We're not in a competition against each other. I'm sure that she has things that she struggles with in entrepreneurship. I have things.

I'll send you a list right after this.

Yes, but I think that's such a normal feeling. I'm the only person who's ever struggled with this problem. I'm the only one who can't figure it out. Everybody else is just doing it so well. Like, oh, I can. Even when I say that, I can feel that in my gut, it feels so true. But the facts are everybody's struggling. Everybody's struggling in life, in business. The facts are there is no playbook for entrepreneurship. You figured out as you go. Every business is different. They all look different. The facts are we have to really give ourselves permission to show up and show up imperfectly.

Okay, what do you want to leave people with? What are you feeling on your heart right now?

I think if I could leave one thought, it would just be to truly give yourself permission to show up imperfectly. You don't have to have all the right words, all the best ideas. Feel like you belong in a room. Your ideas matter. You can absolutely be successful with things. You don't need somebody else to believe in you. I genuinely believe you can believe in yourself enough for the whole world. So if you can really tell yourself that actually I can do this and push out the outside voices, I promise that you're going to create growth beyond your wildest dreams.

So good. Well, I adore you. I was telling her. I'm like, she has just got the best girlfriend energy ever. How do we buy all the T shirts? How do we get on your email list?

I can't believe I told you first. I'm actually really excited now. Those sweatshirts. The best way to find me follows just to follow on Instagram @ShannonMonson. It's s h A N N A N U A. The best place to find me is on Instagram @ShannonMonson.

Amazing. Okay, you guys, I'm so grateful for you, Shannon. Thank you so much for your time. For real, she's one of my favorite accounts to follow, so definitely go check her out. And the biggest gift that we can do for our guest is when this comes out, give it a screenshot. Tell her what your biggest takeaway was. If there's something that you're like, oh, my God, I can, like, go do the thing, or I can't believe that I'm not alone in this. And it's always so much fun to see the impact that our guests made. So, you guys, I'm so grateful for you. And until next time. Earn your happy.

Bye, everyone.