Episode 009: The Fearless Entrepreneur: Sharon Hadden

Hey there, Fearless Family! This is Will checking in with you with the Fearless Entrepreneur Podcast, where I interview some of the most influential people who have conquered their fears to pursue their passion in entrepreneurship. So kick back, relax, and let's unleash your fearlessness. So hey there, Fearless Family! Will here, and welcome to the Fearless Entrepreneur Podcast, where I have some of the the most successful entrepreneurs share how they've been able to overcome their fears and challenges in starting their business, and now they're rocking it out to create the life they want with no fear. Today we're speaking with Sharon. Sharon, are you prepared to show people how you became a fearless entrepreneur?

Absolutely, Will.

Good. So we'll dive in with Sharon in one moment, but right now we'll take a second to thank our sponsors. Hey, Fearless Family, go and check out Phone.com, your business phone service in the cloud. With dozens of included features, tons of phone options, all starting at $9.99 per month. This is a great phone system if you're trying to grow your business and is trusted by over 25,000 businesses every day. Go and check out Phone.com. And right now you can get a free 30-day trial by going to our link, thefearless.co/phone. Again, that's thefearless.co/phone. /phone. So what's up, Fearless Family? Today we're chatting it up with Sharon Hadden. Sharon is the CEO of Social Savvy Consulting Group, LLC. She helps businesses gain the clarity they need to make smart marketing decisions. Sharon, before we dive all the way into your business, uh, tell us a little bit about who you were as a kid and what was your biggest fear back then.

Absolutely, Will. Um, so So as a kid, I think I was a very curious, curious child. I've always been an entrepreneur at heart. And my biggest fear was not making something of myself. I've got, you know, tons of siblings. I'm the youngest of— youngest girl of 7. I have a younger brother. Yeah. So my biggest fear really was not making something of myself and being an example for those that were coming after me.

Good, good. And how did you get over that fear?

Well, just by going after it. You know, I think the biggest thing— the fear is absolutely fear itself. So really keeping focused on the things that I wanted to achieve, whether that was, you know, completing a college degree or whether that was earning a cosmetology license. I just, I really hunkered down on being focused on the things that I wanted to achieve and got over fear by literally overcoming fear itself.

Awesome, awesome. Fearless family, you'll continue to hear this word from multiple entrepreneurs, is focus. Figure out what your focus is and then go pursue that deal without any, any hesitation. So thank you for sharing that incredible story with us. Let's talk a little bit about your business today? How do you make money in your business?

Sure. Well, I consider myself a writer first. My career kind of started out as managing editor of a healthy living magazine. And that's kind of spiraled into offering a variety of consulting services. So for marketing and social media consulting, my primary audience, audience is small businesses. And I'm just moving into things like creating ebooks, eCourses and instant download products.

Good, good. How did you get started in your business?

Well, it comes full circle again, that experience at the magazine. I started as an intern there while I was in school working on my degree in communications. We had a capstone project and it was supposed to be focused on just public relations, you know, traditional media pitching knocking down on reporters' doors. But since I was already working with this magazine, kind of on that editorial news perspective, I wanted to build a social media campaign for them and really figure out how traditional media complemented digital media and, you know, everything that was social. And before I knew it, I was getting referrals from other magazines that just said, you know, hey, this might be an actual viable business for me. And my business was literally created through kind of that one-off experience of things going really well in a school project. And my business name spawned out of that, of being, being a social savvy person.

Billers family, take advantage of the opportunities that are set before you and not always looking to get permission. but go out there and create your own lane. And in that, you can see how Sharon was able to come up with a viable business and able to make it scalable to go and repeat that with other magazines.

Absolutely. Yeah, I definitely think the key to getting started in business is just what are you already good at? What are some of the things that people are already looking to you for? And then figuring out how to monetize it from there. No sense in recreating the wheel. Really taking advantage of some of the things you already enjoy or a current skill set is, is kind of the tried and true formula that I use to get started in business.

Good, good. So tell us, how old were you when you realized that you wanted to be an entrepreneur and this is something that you really, really wanted to do?

Sure. Well, I think I mentioned as a kid I was very entrepreneur-minded. Again, being in a very large family, there were things that parents said, no, you can't have, for making sure to spread the wealth around all the siblings. So I always knew I wanted to be an entrepreneur. I was the kid in kindergarten selling my Halloween candy. Yeah, I was selling my Halloween candy, or, you know, I was asking my parents for a $10 investment to buy a box of Airheads from Sam's Club, so that I can like sell that and really just built upon that skill set. I had no idea I was going to be a successful entrepreneur kind of doing a consulting or offering service. I always thought it was going to be like a product that I sold or some type of product business. But consulting really stuck with me throughout the years. I really found that I had a knack for kind of providing advice and expertise and really making a difference in businesses by providing that advice on marketing and social media.

What did you have to figure out once you started your consulting business?

Oh man, that's a, that's a loaded question. I think for most business owners, and especially for myself, we know how to, you know, get the work done. But we lack a skill set of running the business, you know, being the person that wears all the hats, being the accountant for your business, being the receptionist for your business. So I think what I had to figure out most when I started was just kind of that administrative side, like, how do I work on my business and grow it while also working in my business and making sure my clients are happy. Being a one-woman show, that was, that was really hard to get started and overcome. But really building relationships, outsourcing some of those tasks, really making strategic investments in some things that I couldn't do on my own was what helped me go from just starting to successful entrepreneurship.

That makes so much sense. That makes so much sense. A lot of entrepreneurs, you know, are used to trading their 9-to-5 for another 9-to-5 when they jump into the entrepreneurial realm and never look for that growth opportunity. And the only way you can do it is when you start to outsource some of your work, get some people behind you, start to delegate some of the tasks that aren't as needed for you to be a part of. I definitely can understand that. That makes so much sense, and I'm pretty sure it makes so much sense to other solo entrepreneurs, solopreneurs that are doing it on a day-to-day and wearing all the hats right now. So great advice in that aspect. So we here at The Fearless Entrepreneur talk a lot about taking the leap into pursuing your dreams. So that's basically taking that leap of faith into pursuing your entrepreneur journey. Take us to a moment when you first started your entrepreneurial journey, that point in your life where you realize, "Hey, this is really what I want to do in consulting." What was the biggest fear you had to confront? When taking that leap and explain what that felt like for you at that time?

Oh man, Will, you, you're knocking them out the park today. I'd say first moment, again, I was very young when I knew I wanted to be an entrepreneur. I think probably the exact moment was wanting to join like an educational science club in school and my parents like saying no, they couldn't afford it. That was when I said, you know, I've, I've got to make something of myself. Like, there's— I've kind of got this mindset that I can make something from nothing. I really knew then that that's when I wanted to start kind of my journey to entrepreneurship. And as I got older and got into consulting, My biggest fear was having the money to really get started, you know, to let go of a full-time job, to let go of health insurance and benefits. That was the absolute biggest fear you had to confront because, you know, you're not a kid anymore. When you get to, to the stage that you're paying bills, you know, you got rent, you got phone bill or whatever else, that entrepreneurial journey really shifts to not only being, I've got to take care of myself and make something of myself, but it's, I got to make sure I'm not becoming a burden to others around me by pursuing this dream that I have. So definitely some steps to take toward it were just smart investments in both time and the capital that I was bringing in with like small consulting clients. I mean, like $200 a month kind of small is what I mean. Kind of just getting into practice that yes, I could do it. I could run a consulting business. I could make it a viable secondary income was my very first goal. And then a couple years ago when I left the government, left a full-time job with the government, it was just a feeling of relief. Not having to do the 2-hour commute anymore, you know, not having to deal with the nuances and politics of a corporate work setting. I just felt a sense of relief when I finally got entrepreneurship right, if for lack of a better word.

Good. What are some tips you can give to those that are having some of those same hesitations or those same fears, you know, like money and leaving that cushy 9 to 5, what would be some takeaways that you would give them to say, hey, if you're going to do it, start this way?

Huh, just do it. Don't overthink it. Just do it. Get it done. Don't wait for perfection in order to get started. Don't wait until you have it all figured out before you get started. Literally just do it. Because the worst that can happen is that you 100% regret not taking that chance. An activity that I like to do it— do for myself when I'm looking at kind of new opportunities for projects, evaluating a new client, you know, investing in a new business venture, is I think about the worst that could happen? Like, what are the long-term consequences if I don't take a chance on my dream? And then what's the likelihood that I'll succeed if I go ahead and go for it? Like, when I do that activity, again, having that self-confidence, having that network of people who support you, 9 times out of 10, like, long-term consequences if you don't take a chance really outweigh the fear, that fear or hesitation that you might have of kind of missing the ship of that opportunity that you have. And then the probability of success, again, we think very deep into it. So, you know, it might be a very small window that you could fail. And I think that also helps us to boost confidence when we think of things in a realistic perspective. So some easy tips in terms of overcoming those hesitations or fears, whether it's money, whether it's going ahead and leaving that full-time job, whether it's, you know, going against kind of support of your family or, you know, what they think might be best for you, is literally just do it in whatever capacity, even if it's a baby step, just get it done.

One of the things I've added as a key phrase of mine is taking that imperfect action to just get it done. To jump out there on faith and faith in self to actually make things happen. So that was one of my hurdles personally, just taking that imperfect action. Everything has to be perfect before it goes out, but you're solving problems that probably don't even exist in your world.

Oh my God, yeah.

So it was— it's a crazy journey, but when you start to learn to learn in the midst of things rather than trying to make it perfect before you try it, Exactly.

I love that. You're like, take the imperfect action. My parents, everybody says, like, analysis paralysis. Like, you stop yourself in your tracks when you overanalyze things, and then suddenly you're never moving forward. Those imperfect actions, as you said, Will, are 100% necessary. Like, life is a learning experience. If business fails, then you can start a new business. Like, you can decide never to be in business again, but you just never know until you go through the learning experience.

Yes, yes. Tell your parents thank you. I'm stealing that. Analysis paralysis. I love that. We'll put that on a shirt or something. Good stuff. So how did you get your business from just open and, you know, part-time taking on a few clients where you're only taking you know, $200 per month on the low end, to where it was actually thriving?

Oh my goodness. Um, it, it's like playing chess. I'll say it took a series of very strategic moves. I think, again, I was with the government probably about 4 years. And every year, kind of having my business as like a side gig, the new businesses that I work with, the nonprofits that I help raise funds to keep their doors open, like, that passion really pushed me to think about things in kind of a strategic fashion where if I've got 5 years to be a full-time entrepreneur, what am I doing every single year? So I started with things like, you know, software investments, or again, investing in a new contractor or outsourcing a task so that it was one more thing off my plate. Really honing in on my menu of services where, again, I kind of started doing everything. Like, if you needed writing, I was the person who would write it for you. If you needed media pitching, I would do that. So really honing in on what was my sweet spot in, in my business and kind of what I had to offer, things that were really of value. But it was just one strategic decision after another. And I think as business owners, we often think big picture and then kind of get lost in the fine details.. But those fine details to make it happen do become that strategy, that platform to say, you know, you should be different than you were yesterday. You're only competing against yourself. So every day building on that skill set, every day building on that path toward entrepreneurship. And then before you know it, you know, boom, you're able to go ahead and and take that leap of faith and really, really capture and hold on to the dreams that you have as an entrepreneur.

That journey, actually, the journey of entrepreneurship takes you to that sweet spot. I heard you say, you know, you finally found your sweet spot as you're in the midst of it, you know, doing a little bit of everything, but then eventually, you know, you start to hone in on what you're doing and what you're best at. And the only way to get to that spot is by just staying in the journey. So yeah, you may take on a lot of hats, but slowly it'll start to dwindle down to one set of things that you are perfect at, that you are excellent at doing and providing for your clients. So good, good. Um, tell us what's been the most successful story you had as an entrepreneur thus far.

Oh, definitely being able to leave my full-time job. Good. Um, Yeah, yeah, being able to leave. I am a classic case of burnout. I hate to share my age because sometimes you lose credibility, but quarter-century life crisis, complete burnout of just giving my all to both trying to achieve my entrepreneur dream, both trying to perform well and excel at work. Pursuing a master's degree, like complete, complete burnout. And most successful story was being able to say, I have a plan to go ahead and leave my full-time job. I think that sweet spot, as, as I was mentioning before, was really just my saving grace because I found out I had a niche in women-owned businesses. I really rebranded my consulting business so that I could be proud of the businesses that I work with, but also just proud of the success that I've achieved. So really, the most successful place that I've been in as an entrepreneur is leaving a full-time job to now help women in business find their sweet spot. Spot, you know, between content marketing, social media, um, so that they can become successful business owners as well.

Good deal. Did you find your sweet spot while you were in the midst of working as well? So you're still on your 9 to 5 and you're like, okay, this is where I'm really good at. Did you find out that during that time or after you left your job?

I did not find it while working 9 to 5. It was literally a span of a year after leaving that I was able to find what that sweet spot was, like really taking, having that 100% focus on your business opens up a new world of opportunities. So I was unable to find that sweet spot until I actually left my job, and that's, I see that being pretty true among most entrepreneurs that, you know, you get complacent when you already have a paycheck coming in, you know, you don't really have the drive to make your business a success, it is like, you know, vacation money or some additional savings money, but just as soon as you're able to fully commit, a new world of opportunities come there. And for me, it took that, it took leaving my full-time job to figure out, you know, what my business really was, what I was good at, and, you know, who I could help through the services that I offered.

That makes so much sense. When you invest in yourself and you're out there in the midst of it, it's a whole different world. You see things totally different when you're in the midst of it and you know that there's no cushy check coming, there's no free money. That's the way I put it.

Free money.

Free money just sitting there, man, without any work. You just got to show up to your job and do whatever it is for your job. But yeah, it makes so much sense. What are you most excited about in your business today?

Well, again, I've always been very curious. So I love that I get to learn new things, like day in and day out, I'm learning about a new industry. My kind of my expertise has been in beauty, has been in health. I'm kind of moving over into the tech space and kind of becoming an expert on subscription boxes and like new startups. So every day I learn new things, and that's what I'm most excited about. And then, you know, marketing and social media changes every day, like Snapchat's new IPO, all the new features on Instagram, you know, Facebook's ever-changing algorithm. Between the conferences that I attend, you know, courses that I take, certifications that I pursue, I'm most excited that I get to learn new things every day.

Fearless family, You've heard this over and over again, but always be learning. You have to, especially in the time and age of social media, online businesses, online marketing. It's ever-changing, so you have to be ever-changing with it, and you can't get stuck in your ways because by tomorrow it'll be a whole nother set of things that you'll have to learn over again. So Always be learning, and you'll continue to hear that throughout every interview. Everyone says that, so appreciate that. So adversity happens no matter the amount of achievements and success that you may have in life. It's usually when you're able to get through those adversities that you become, you know, that different person, that you shed that skin, and now you're a totally different mindset that you've learned through that fear, that adversity, so on and so on. Take us to a moment that you consider to be that pivotal moment where, you know, it was very stressful, it was just difficult, and you were able to change that in your business to go from stress to success.

Hmm. Um, so I'm from South Carolina originally, and that's kind of where I started my career as managing editor. But when I got my my job with the government, I moved to Washington, D.C. So this is like still right out of college. I'm doing a little bit of freelance work, but really interested in ramping that up because quite frankly, my government salary didn't allow me to live favorably in Washington, D.C. So, so therein lies the stress, kind of the adversity of I want to take this new opportunity, uh, being in, you know, a mega media hub across the states, um, but very stressful and trying to figure out how do I make connections and, and really build toward that success in business, um, while, while trying to keep my full-time job. So I think the, that kind of pivotal moment was moving to DC. I just took every free project. I built as many connections as I could. I was— heck, I was a radio producer for an internet radio show. Again, complete skill set that I can do if I put my mind to it, but everything to build connections and just really get my foot in the door so that business became easy— could become easy for me. So About, after about a year of doing business in the DC area, it moved to a successful realm because now I had referrals. You know, people could vouch for my work. They knew that I was easy to work with. I mean, I've been described as like a fun experience as being a consultant. So that was definitely the pivotal moment of moving my business from stress to success. Was just digging in and really just doing it, doing the work to make connections, doing the work to build a pipeline of business leads so that I could enjoy the fruits of that labor on the back end.

A lot of people fail to realize that sometimes you do have to take those freebie jobs, you do have to volunteer, you do have to put yourself in the environment that you want to be in to be paid to do so. So Uh, that is some great advice and, and great moment when you were able to take that moment from stress and not being able to get to that point immediately, but able to see the success after you've invested time in yourself and, and volunteered your time as well. So we have the Fearless Five questions coming up, but before we do that, we want to take a moment out to thank our sponsors. Fearless Family, if you're looking to start a business One of the things that you need to have is an online presence. Well, I have a secret for you. Right now you can go and purchase your first domain for 99 cents at GoDaddy.com. Just visit our link www.thefearless.co/godaddy and you'll have the opportunity to purchase your first .com for 99 cents. Again, that's thefearless.co/godaddy. What's the best piece of advice you've ever received?

Um, so, okay, I have a twofold if that's okay.

Certainly okay.

All right, so I think number one best advice is do it and correct course later. And then two, kind of if you're ever in a rut, like do nothing. If you know, don't, don't make decisions based on emotions. Literally do nothing until you calm those emotions down.

Awesome. The one book that kind of opened my eyes to entrepreneurship, to life, the journey, was The Alchemist by Paulo Coelho. If you could recommend one book that opened your eyes as well, what would that be and why?

The Alchemist is a good one. Hopefully you have The 4-Hour Workweek on your reading list. That particular book really taught me like how to value my time spent and the money earned kind of on the same plane, not just how much more money I could get, but the less time I could spend so, so I could enjoy life. Really makes kind of shows, shares the principles of being more efficient in life and business.

Name one app resource you use the most as an entrepreneur.

Oh my goodness, Buffer app is a social media scheduling tool. I love it because it connects to so many social networks, but also content curation tools. It's like, I swear by it. So invest in Buffer app. Don't go Hootsuite. Sorry.

Okay, this is the last question. Imagine you woke up one morning Except you were your younger self. Um, at that pivotal moment where you realized that you really wanted to be an entrepreneur. All the bills are paid and you have food and shelter. Now you still have all the knowledge you have now. You have a laptop, you have all the experiences of overcoming your fears thus far, and you have $400. What would you do in the next 10 days?

Oh my God, I've got $400 free?

$400 free dollars?

And my bills are paid.

Okay, all the bills are paid.

Okay, um, huh, my younger self, I would have started— okay, I am my younger self. Let me stop talking past tense. Let's say I'm my younger self. Throughout this 10 days, I'm gonna create a business plan first. I'm gonna dedicate the time to writing out what I want to do in business. What things I'm going to invest in with that $400, and then I'll just adjust from there. Perfect book that I would be reading in order to create this plan and set myself up for success is The Right Brain Business Plan, and author Jennifer Lee, and it's like a visual outlook on building a business plan. It's not just all numbers, you literally get to draw, you can kind of vision board it. I'm spending my 10 days to really get creative and create a giant wall, big picture of what my business is, who my business serves, what problem my business solves, and how I'm going to spend that $400 to really make my dreams come true.

Awesome. Well, Sharon, let's end this killer interview with a piece of advice you'd like to give to the Fearless Family. The best way we can connect with you, and then we'll say goodbye.

Okay. I think the best piece of advice, and we spent a little bit of time on this, Will, was that, you know, taking that imperfect action. So just go ahead and go for it, like soft launch your product. Get that customer feedback so you aren't solving for problems that don't exist. Get proof of concept of your business. So yeah, definitely my advice to everyone in the Fearless family is just start before it's perfect. You know, that's the best way to overcome your fears. It's the best way to nurture success in your business. So I look forward to, you know, seeing the many fearless entrepreneurs that are there. If you guys want to connect with me, my social media handle, just about on every social network, is Social Savvy CG, and that's Savvy with two Vs as in Victor. Instagram is very popular for me. I'm always sharing branding advice. I'm always giving away free stuff, free consulting sessions, and if you want to find me anywhere else, Always feel free to email. My email address is staysocial@imsocialsavvy.com. I've got freebies on my website, so I look forward to connecting with everyone.

Well, the fear of the unknown is one of the biggest fears that a lot of entrepreneurs have, and they don't take action because they don't know. We've been replacing fear With Knowledge today with Sharon and Will. You can head over to thefearless.co and type in Sharon Hadden in the search bar. Her show notes will be in the page and pop up everything that we talked about today. Sharon, I want to thank you for sharing your journey with the Fearless Family today, and we look forward to seeing you continue to create with no fear.

Thank you so much, Will. I've really enjoyed being on the show, and I hope you'll have me back soon.

Fearless Family, thank you for joining me for another episode of the Fearless Entrepreneur Podcast. Take a moment to visit thefearless.co/podcast. Like, share, and comment on our channel.