Building a business is no joke, and we're not about to sugarcoat it. We're getting raw and real about the sacrifices, financial hurdles, and the often untold stories of the entrepreneurial journey. This conversation is an open book on the true cost of chasing those dreams. We stand with you, fellow entrepreneurs, in the trenches of this wild ride.
It's a heartfelt reminder that while the path of entrepreneurship can be solitary, there's a community out there ready to share in both the struggles and the triumphs.
Join us for an episode that's as much about finding your tribe as it is about building your empire.
As we near our 100th episode—yeah, you heard right, 100! we'd love to hear from you. Please give us a rating or share a review.
Join The Ascension Circle @alannabankscoaching.
Join Ryan's The Simple Social Sanctuary.
You can support us by subscribing to the podcast on iTunes, Google Play, and Spotify.
Joining the community on Instagram @itsthenoexcusespodcast and learning more about what we offer @alannabankscoaching and www.alannabanks.com and @ryanmontisnlp and www.ryanmontis.com
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Want to sponsor an episode and promote your business and social media profiles? Send SPONSOR to @itsthenoexcusespodcast, and we'll get back with the information. Investment is under $20 per episode.
Building a business is no joke, and we're not about to sugarcoat it. We're getting raw and real about the sacrifices, financial hurdles, and the often untold stories of the entrepreneurial journey. This conversation is an open book on the true cost of chasing those dreams. We stand with you, fellow entrepreneurs, in the trenches of this wild ride.
It's a heartfelt reminder that while the path of entrepreneurship can be solitary, there's a community out there ready to share in both the struggles and the triumphs.
Join us for an episode that's as much about finding your tribe as it is about building your empire.
As we near our 100th episode—yeah, you heard right, 100! we'd love to hear from you. Please give us a rating or share a review.
Join The Ascension Circle @alannabankscoaching.
Join Ryan's The Simple Social Sanctuary.
You can support us by subscribing to the podcast on iTunes, Google Play, and Spotify.
Joining the community on Instagram @itsthenoexcusespodcast and learning more about what we offer @alannabankscoaching and www.alannabanks.com and @ryanmontisnlp and www.ryanmontis.com
BUY A MUG! Visit our merch store, No Excuses Outfitters.
Want to sponsor an episode and promote your business and social media profiles? Send SPONSOR to @itsthenoexcusespodcast, and we'll get back with the information. Investment is under $20 per episode.
Hey, what's happening.
Speaker 2:You were going to tell me a story about something, and then I was like, hold on, let's talk about this on the podcast.
Speaker 1:Yeah, let's just hit record, and then the great thing about that is like easy content yeah. Just take our actual conversation. Hit record Boom Podcast, episode Boom.
Speaker 2:Yeah, so tell me Now. I'm very interested in what you're going to tell me.
Speaker 1:Well, prepare to be, I don't know, maybe disappointed, because it's not that interesting.
Speaker 2:No, it's interesting.
Speaker 1:Let's see. So I found this website today. I don't know if you know this person. There's this person that I know, simona Constantini. She's a delightful person. She's actually a podcast coach, so she helps people start and grow podcasts right, and so I follow her. We follow each other on Instagram and the other day she posted that her podcast had reached this. It was like number 13 in this ranking of like self-love podcasts or something and I was like looking at this post and that's great for her. Simona, if you're listening, congratulations, that's awesome, well deserved, um. And I was looking at this post and like the. The ranking was on this website called good podss. Have you heard of it, alana?
Speaker 2:I haven't.
Speaker 1:I hadn't heard of it either, and so I was like I wonder if the no Excuses coaching podcast is ranked on this website. And it's not. It is listed on this website, but it is not ranked on this website. But that's not the interesting thing. What I discovered when I went to Good Pods and I found our podcast is there's an FAQ about our podcast on Good Pods Frequently Asked Questions and Answers, and I'm like 99% sure that you didn't write this and I'm 100% sure that I didn't write it, so I thought it would be fun to look at this Q&A. That's about us, that neither of us wrote.
Speaker 2:That's hilarious, are you sure it's about our podcast?
Speaker 1:Oh, I'm sure, because it shows our graphics and it has a list of all our episodes and everything.
Speaker 2:Oh, wow.
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 2:That's so cool.
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 2:It doesn't show our ranking at all not on this website.
Speaker 1:I'm guessing that, like, you need to like do an additional step as a podcast owner, maybe to be in their rankings or something. I'm not sure exactly how it works. It seems like a lovely enough website, but we are listed on. Like we're not ranked on this website, but we're listed on the website right um, the no excuses coaching podcast with ryan montes and alana banks, and so they've got this little faq about us and it has one, two, three, four, five questions. What?
Speaker 2:are people asking well, what are these frequently asked questions?
Speaker 1:I don't know how frequently anybody's asking these questions, because all of these questions represent um information that no one has ever requested from me, right? But it is interesting information nonetheless, so let's just let's break it down before we talk about today's topic, which is inflation and car theft in the great nation of canada. No, that's not today's topic, which is inflation and car theft in the great nation of Canada. No, that's not today's topic. That's just what's on my mind. Anyways, question number one in this mythical FAQ that somebody or something created about us without our knowledge, how many episodes does no Excuses ryan montes and alana banks have?
Speaker 1:nice and when I read that I was like I wonder if this information is even going to be correct yeah and according to this faq, we have 98 episodes yeah, that's correct which makes sense, because right now we're recording the 99th episode.
Speaker 2:Yeah.
Speaker 1:Question number next is what topics does no Excuses Coaching with Ryan Montes and Alana Banks cover, and can you guess the answer?
Speaker 2:Coaching.
Speaker 1:The answer is the podcast is about entrepreneurship, life coaching, personal development, podcasts, self-improvement, education, business coaching and, apparently, awareness.
Speaker 2:I would say that's accurate.
Speaker 1:I don't think awareness is a topic of discussion on this podcast. I would argue with that one. The rest are pretty much on point.
Speaker 2:Well, I guess you could say that we're making people aware of things.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I mean, but you could say that about every podcast ever. Yeah, Every piece of information makes somebody aware of something. That is the purpose of it. Anyways, yeah, number next, number three on this faq about us yeah is what is the average episode length on the podcast? And it says the average length is 31 minutes sounds reasonable, sounds plausible, sounds about right now here's where it gets kind of scary okay because, do they list like our address or something?
Speaker 1:it's like if I want to visit some one of these guys at home, how do I do um? How? How often are episodes of the no excuses coaching podcast released?
Speaker 1:so to answer that question, either manually or via software, some degree of analysis would be required yes right and again, I'm not saying there's anything sinister, because it's like this is a podcast website, so they probably just have some algorithm that automatically figures out this stuff. It's just funny that it exists, um, and according to this faq we release we typically release an episode every seven days that's correct.
Speaker 2:Yeah, which is correct.
Speaker 1:Which is correct, do they say?
Speaker 2:the time. They say the time they say the time.
Speaker 1:They say the time, they say the IP address of the computer. They actually have a screenshot from your webcam from the moment you click upload.
Speaker 2:Yeah, it's all there.
Speaker 1:All there.
Speaker 2:Because I auto schedule it to post at 3am on the Monday morning. That's just like a hot tip for people if you're really keen.
Speaker 1:And that's why I'm awake at 2.45 am on the Monday brewing a pot of coffee and waiting next to my phone for 3 am to strike so. I can listen to our episode. And then the last question there is when was the first episode of the no Excuses Coaching with Ryan Montes and Alana Banks? Do you know the answer to that, alana Banks? When was the first episode?
Speaker 2:The first episode, I think, was on March 29th, is that correct?
Speaker 1:Of what year 2023.
Speaker 2:No 2020. Yeah, 2023. Right.
Speaker 1:I mean according to this FAQ, which we had no say in. So I don't know, and I would have had no idea If you would have said, Ryan, what day was the first day of the podcast. My very honest answer would be I have no idea. Yeah, According to this, March 30th 2022.
Speaker 2:OK, yeah, cool.
Speaker 1:Yeah, so oh, although there's not a little, we're not ranked on this site.
Speaker 2:There is a list of our 10 best episodes oh best episodes ranked by good pods users most listened yeah, I well, I already know this info from our analytics, but so I should just not well, I think I know our number one episode is the like the powerful, the most powerful ways to like have success, or something like that. I think it is not according to this.
Speaker 1:Oh but remember this is the best episodes ranked by good pods users most listened. This is not general download.
Speaker 2:I mean, and we're not ranked.
Speaker 1:So I don't like does anyone on good pods even listen to our podcast? And that's a great question, because I have never heard of good pods until whenever you this morning or yesterday, when it, whenever it was, yeah, um, so I don't know. Anyways, and also it. There's just a list of 10 episodes and it doesn't specify which one is number one and which one is number 10. It's just a list.
Speaker 2:Yeah, like. According to our analytics, the most popular is the two criteria. That makes you wildly successful. And that's actually like our second episode ever.
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 2:And that's not on this list Interesting. So on this list.
Speaker 1:I'm not going to go through all 10, but at one end of the list and I don't know if this is number one or number 10 is dispelling social media misconceptions for success, and on the other end of the list is overcome the fear of being seen.
Speaker 2:Interesting. Yeah, those are not in our top 10 most downloaded, according to our hard data analytics, but anyway, this is not what we're talking about today.
Speaker 1:by the way, people um what we're going to talk about today we talked a lot about it yeah, we did okay what are we going to talk about today?
Speaker 2:but I think this is going to be more interesting for people. We're talking about the hard truths about being an entrepreneur that no one is talking about, and this is a bit of tough love too. I would say Probably some tough love in here, hard truths and tough love. On the no Excuses Coaching Podcast today.
Speaker 1:Yeah, hard truths.
Speaker 2:Episode 99.
Speaker 1:Episode 99. All right, we got six. We got three from Banks, three from Montas.
Speaker 2:Yeah.
Speaker 1:What are they? What is it?
Speaker 2:Hard truths, hard truths about being an entrepreneur that no one is talking about, being an entrepreneur that no one is talking about.
Speaker 2:So what spurred this for me was I was like scrolling Instagram and I saw someone kind of use this hook and I was like, oh, that's interesting. And so then it made me think, like what are some things that I know are very true that I don't really talk about, like with anybody outside my immediate circle? And, um, and I know that these are true for many, many, many other people out there, but nobody really seems to like go deep or talk about it or like make it super public knowledge. Um, because we all want to look successful, right, like we all. We all want to look like we've got it all perfect and like we all know that that's a big fat lie, right, and I think the uh, the the post that I was reading was something like social media is so fake, or something like that. And then this woman goes on to talk about, like, all these hard truths about what it's been, what her journey has been, like it actually, right now, in this moment, yeah so I was like ryan, let's talk about this.
Speaker 2:I think it would be good for our listeners to hear you know the hard facts, the hard truth about what it's like, and validate, like you know what you might be going through as well not you, ryan, but you, the listener, might be experienced too, so that you recognize that it's totally normal yeah and that there's nothing wrong with you and that you're doing it and we're all doing it right yeah yeah.
Speaker 2:So in my opinion, this is like validation uplifting we can do this, you got this. If you're feeling anxious or you're feeling low, or you're feeling like you want to throw in the towel, listen to this episode and don't give up.
Speaker 1:Don't give up yeah, cool, so you want me to go first, let's, I like, to do the alternation, the alternating the alternation. Uh, alter the nation. Yeah, yeah, you um you go.
Speaker 2:I can go first you go first so my first one is actually something that no one talks about and I know a lot of people are leaning on this and that is, if it weren't for the safety net of having some personal savings and having the reliability of a partner's salary, like income from a traditional nine to five job, I wouldn't be able to do what I'm doing right now sustainably, like I would probably have to go out and get some type of like reliable bit of income, working part-time or doing something like that. And so I'm very grateful to say that I've had the, you know, ability to pursue my dream and pursue my passion of being an entrepreneur for many years. You know, build, especially building this business, and that's all come because I have that safety net, you know, keeping me afloat and, you know, allowing me the ability to contribute when I can, and you know, not have to be so stressed out all the time about making the next sale or getting the next client or having that you know big revenue generating month, and that takes off a lot of pressure. And, um, you know, I know I'm not the only one out there in entrepreneur land. Who, who is, you know, doing this or has this like ability Right.
Speaker 2:So you know, and I think it's a like, a conversation more people should be having to like um, well, when I did my solo episode solo episode a couple of weeks ago, I was talking, talking about how I'd been at a conference and, um, one of the speakers was putting out some like pretty incredible facts and like numbers about like finances among women.
Speaker 2:And in Canada, 3% of women make more than $100,000 a year. Right, which means 97% of women in Canada are making less than $100,000 a year. So I think, like that's an important statistic to like understand, especially for women entrepreneurs out there. Like if you're, if you're feeling the pinch or you're, you know, leaning on your partner for income, that is like the like more than for most people. Like it is what it is in Canada like, and I think that's a really sad statistic that hopefully we can move right, because, because the wage gap is very real and a lot of the time, and the other thing that was so cool about this and I think I brought it up was that most women leave their career when they have children. Or they take like a like they'll go into entrepreneurship or they'll, you know, take a a different type of job that gives them more flexibility to be, you know, the primary caregiver for their children.
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 2:So, um, I think that's, like you know, important conversation to have Cause it. I know that happened for me, Like I exited the workforce when I had kids and became an entrepreneur just because it made more sense financially and it was easier. Yeah, and I'm sure there's a lot of women listening to this podcast right now who are going through the exact same situation.
Speaker 1:Do you know what percentage of men make over a hundred K? Cause I don't know, like I don't. I just don't know if that number I mean based on the context, I think we're to assume that it's low. But what I like, is it 10% of men make over a hundred K? Is it four? Like I don't know.
Speaker 2:I don't know. Let's look at that.
Speaker 1:It's hard for me to like conceptualize how alarming that is without the comparison. You know what I mean.
Speaker 2:Yeah.
Speaker 1:Like I would guess, just based on historical facts, that the number must be lower for women, but I don't know.
Speaker 2:Yeah. What does it say here? 17% of American men make over 100K annually, compared to only 8.4% of women. So men are twice as likely to make over 100K a year difference.
Speaker 1:That's a big difference, right, cool, okay, but just to summarize your number one, it was you feel like it would have been much harder to be a successful entrepreneur if you didn't have the safety net of personal savings and reliable income of your partner. Right, yeah, cool. I think a lot of people can relate to that and first of all, I want to just say that I don't think there's anything wrong with having a personal savings or having a supportive partner right.
Speaker 1:Um, and also I don't think it's mandatory, right? I think there's a lot of women entrepreneurs and entrepreneurs in general who have become successful without the benefit of those things, right? So I don't think we're saying this because, you know, we want to discourage anybody who doesn't have a lot of money saved up or a partner that can give them an influx of cash for their business. We're not trying to discourage those people. We're just saying that some people who are successful, part of their journey to success was the support of others around them, right, and that may be something to factor in, especially if we're like comparing ourselves to others, right?
Speaker 2:A hundred percent. Yeah, you know, and and there's all kinds of different levels too. Like I became an entrepreneur when I was, I had a two-year-old and I was pregnant, right. And so would I have done that without the safety net of like a maternity leave and the reliability of like a partner? Probably not. I would not have taken that risk, right. But I was able to do that because it kind of made sense.
Speaker 2:So it's just like, and I think it's just, you know, when we're doing that comparison game and seeing all kinds of people on social media who are entrepreneurs, right, it's just like you have to see, like where are they at in their life journey, and you know what I mean All those things too, for like a single person with no responsibilities, maybe no mortgage, no kids, to be like going after a dream, versus, like you know, a woman who has maybe three kids and a mortgage and all kinds of stuff, right. So it's just like I think there needs to be more. It would be nice if there was more conversation about it, like where's everybody at? Cause, like it would be nice if there was more conversation about it, like where is everybody at, because, like, we don't really share that a lot in the entrepreneur space.
Speaker 1:I don't feel yeah.
Speaker 2:Like it's kind of kept secret, like how is she doing this, how is she affording this lifestyle? Like you know what I mean, yeah, or how is he doing it? Like there's a lot of assuming, I think too, and sometimes you go to the assumption what's your, what's your next on the list?
Speaker 1:Let's see my, so my first on the list.
Speaker 2:Your first on the list. Yeah, the next on the next thing on the list.
Speaker 1:My first on the list is for an entrepreneur. It's it can be lonely at the top. Right, it's lonely at the top. We've heard this expression. It's very much true.
Speaker 1:I remember years ago being in like long before I was really an entrepreneur being in a. It was a Toastmasters meeting, but it was, which is a public speaking club. Of course we talk about it all the time, but within this public speaking organization of Toastmasters there's advanced clubs and so I was at this advanced Toastmasters club in downtown Toronto and it was a pretty like high level crowd and I think either on one of the breaks or before or after the meeting started, there was just a few of us standing around and there was this like millionaire dude there, like really successful white collar business dude, and I can't remember how it came up in conversation, but I remember him saying you know, oh, he was talking about some mastermind that he was in. And I remember him saying it's know, oh, he was talking about some mastermind that he was in. And I remember him saying it's lonely at the top, like describing, like the owner of a successful company, and he wasn't a coach or anything like that, he was a very much like traditional business person and I just remember like looking at him and really being able to tell, when he said it's lonely at the top, like he really meant it, like it was not a metaphor or or um, you know hyperbole.
Speaker 1:He was describing this pain in his life of of like achieving this level of success, only to find that it's like not always that fun once you get to the top, right. And now, being an entrepreneur, I totally understand what he means, right, I totally know what it's like to be like sitting here alone in my office and like the bills are paid and there's lots of happy customers and all that stuff, but at the end of the day, like I'm here alone in my office with my challenges and my triumphs and it's you know to some degree, and you know I have great people surrounding me all the time, like Atlanta Banks, and you know my clients and so on and so forth. But to a degree you know, when you're a company owner, you're an entrepreneur, you're a solopreneur, there is some loneliness that you were inevitably going to face and have to have to endure.
Speaker 2:Yeah, totally, because nobody, at the end of the day, nobody cares as much as you do, right, about your business and what you're up to and cares as much as you do, right, about your business and what you're up to and you know, and often people don't really even know what you're up to too, which can feel lonely because you know you're just doing your thing. So that's why it's important to celebrate as an entrepreneur too. I think that's why it's because you can just kind of like go through the motions and keep going and like not celebrate. But I think that's you know why. It's because you can just kind of like go through the motions and keep going and like not celebrate. But I think that's you know, why it's important to like really celebrate some of the achievements that you have and, like you know, milestones in your business, to celebrate connected right.
Speaker 1:Celebrate and connect as much as you can with other people who are on the same journey, right like yeah um, uh, you know, be in masterminds with other people, other business owners, other entrepreneurs, right and join totally whatever suits you.
Speaker 1:Um, collaborate too, because that also helps and and, like you know, I've I've made a lot of effort in the last four years to connect with my counterparts in this industry right, like even people who technically are maybe my competitors and the idea of competition, okay, I think is an outdated one in many ways, but like, connect with the other people in your industry that are doing similar stuff and make friends, right yeah yeah it makes it more fun that way yeah like I've made such great friends throughout this journey, and it's just made it so much more fun, you know yeah, yeah and
Speaker 1:then you have people to talk to like when you are feeling lonely, you know Cool.
Speaker 2:Cool.
Speaker 2:Second one for me is sometimes it's not fun, is the hard truth that I'm going to share.
Speaker 2:Sometimes it's not fun and when I say this I specifically mean sometimes it's not fun being like a mom, which I am, and being an entrepreneur at the exact same time, because it's kind of like you have these two different parts of yourself that have priorities right One being like your children, the other one being your business, and sometimes you can be like working lots and thriving and like feeling brilliant flow, but then you have to.
Speaker 2:You know you also have the responsibility of like being a mom and being there for your kids and everything, and like you feel like you're letting things slide in your business, but then, when you're spending too much time with your business, then you feel like you're letting things slide with your kids, and so it's this constant juggle of like for me personally, of kind of feeling like I'm letting people down or I'm, you know, not being enough and that's not a fun place to be sometimes, because sometimes I'm like I just want to like spend all my time on my business, but I can't because I have, like you know, my children to look after. Like I have like very, I can't just let that slide Right, whereas like some other things in your life, it's easier to let things slide. So that's a that's like a hard truth for me when it comes to to be an entrepreneur, it's like sometimes it's not fun Because you almost can't be completely present all the time in one or the other, because you're always kind of thinking about the other thing.
Speaker 1:Mm-hmm, yeah, I think even you know that's a really good example. And there's other kind of parallels, like, you know, entrepreneur versus family person, you know entrepreneur versus community member. Um, we wear as human beings and like, as soon as one of those hats is entrepreneur, if you're not careful it can compromise some of the others.
Speaker 2:Right yeah.
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 2:And we've talked about it before, like when it comes to just like balance, right, like we've had a few conversations about balance and it's. You know, I don't believe that there is such a thing as balance. I think it's priorities, right, and yeah, right. Sometimes for me it's just as like it's my kids and my business, and you can only fill so much of that tie yeah so um, yeah and I mean with a like with a traditional job, it's very easy to draw those lines.
Speaker 1:It's like you know when your start time is. You know when your end time is right.
Speaker 2:Yeah.
Speaker 1:But when?
Speaker 2:you're an entrepreneur, you know it's different. Yeah, and even with even with that, like those lines have become very blurry, right Like now that we're in the post COVID world and people are working from home and working in all kinds different things, like even working a nine to five job. It's it's becoming more and more challenging, I think, for people in general like to balance all the things, because everyone thinks you're available all the time yeah so, but it's easier when you're.
Speaker 2:it's actually kind of easier when you're an entrepreneur because you get to call the shots, whereas if you're an employee and your boss is emailing you at nine o'clock at night, you have to kind of respond.
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 2:So I mean, I guess there's two sides to this one, but it is a challenge and sometimes not very, very fun. Or sometimes you've got a really great week planned and then your kid comes down with the flu and like you're like crap.
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 2:And it's all on you too, right, like it's just like. Well, this is my at least. With a salary job, you're getting paid, no matter what. But the entrepreneur life is a bit different.
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 2:Cool.
Speaker 1:All right, what's the next?
Speaker 2:one.
Speaker 1:I don't know. I've lost track. Now Is it my turn.
Speaker 2:Yeah, it's your turn.
Speaker 1:I can tell you what it is. No, I know what. It is Nice to hear it. The next hard truth about being an entrepreneur that no one is talking about although I shouldn't say no one is talking about, um, although I shouldn't say no one, because this topic came up in a mastermind that I'm in very recently but, um, we live as an entrepreneur. We live in near constant uncertainty. Um, at times there's very little certainty with, like, what's gonna work, what, what's not going to work, what sales are going to be like.
Speaker 1:You know, over time things become a little bit more predictable and you know yeah but really there's always looming uncertainty when you're an entrepreneur with every action you take, like you can almost never say with a hundred percent I will do this action and it will produce this result.
Speaker 1:It's like it's almost like after a while you realize everything is just a test and like there's this undefeatable element of randomness to everything in life. But you really see it in entrepreneurship and in business ownership and I guess the lesson is you need to be okay with that and if you're not okay with that, you're going to be constantly uncomfortable which, again, maybe you're okay with that or you need to not be an entrepreneur. Like ultimately, if you can't accept the risk and the uncertainty of being an entrepreneur, like, ultimately, if you can't accept the risk and the uncertainty of being an entrepreneur, it gets really hard to take action Right, like you know. Think about spending money on advertisements. If you need 100 percent certainty that you're going to spend X on ads and get Y in return, that can almost be debilitating debilitating especially if you start to see returns that are not what you were certain was going to happen right, yeah, totally yeah.
Speaker 2:Constant uncertainty is definitely like a big one, but then there's also sometimes lots of certainty, lots of amazing certainty too.
Speaker 1:So there can be. There can be, or I mean like success in business can give you certainty in other contexts. Yeah, yeah, that's kind of what I meant when I or I mean like success in business can give you certainty in other contexts.
Speaker 2:Yeah, yeah, that's kind of what I meant when I when I said that yeah yeah, that's a good one. And the other thing, too, is like, especially more now, more now than ever, we're also living in very uncertain times, just like globally. I would say so, like being an entrepreneur right now is kind of like a scary endeavor, just because of like just I feel like there's a lot of uncertainty everywhere. Right, okay, now this one is my next one is a little bit of it like a different one than where I was going before, but this one is around social media and just like recognizing that there is never one thing that's going to be the thing that makes or breaks your business or like your success as an entrepreneur.
Speaker 2:I don't think and you know, I was always of this belief that if I got a big enough community on Instagram or like social media, then it was going to be good for me. You know what I mean. Then I was going to have the community and then the sales would happen. And that happened for me, right, and I don't even know when it happened now, but like over I november and december, I gained 65 000 followers on instagram, which is a lot like that's a lot to get over.
Speaker 2:Like a three week period, my engagement was through the roof. I was getting like tens of thousands of views on my instagram reels, dms, you know all kinds stuff, and it did like increase my business and stuff like that. But now where are we End of March and I'm losing hundreds of followers a day and my engagement is like it's more variable. I would say now, right, and so it. It just kind of left me sort of confused too. So, um, I'm kind of like WTF, right, how did this happen? How did how? How does it happen? How does it work? I don't get it. Like it's. It's so confusing and like I think a hard truth in entrepreneurship is like nothing makes sense ever. Like it's just like you don't know when the next thing or the cool thing is going to happen and when it can just be gone in a minute yeah right.
Speaker 2:So I guess, be expect to the unexpected and be okay with that and like, ride the wave while you're in it and then when you're not in anymore. I don't even know if you can figure it out. I probably won't be able to figure out what happened there, um, but it happened right yeah so, however I'm you know, I I am left with a pretty still, even though I'm losing hundreds of followers a day, I still have a pretty great new community of people.
Speaker 1:So you gained 65,000. Is that how many? It was 65,000 followers.
Speaker 2:Yeah. And now you're losing like 100 a day yeah, yeah, like I dropped from, I was at like almost 70,000 and now I'm at 68, 68, 68,000. 68.2 thousand.
Speaker 1:So 70 minus 68.2 is 1.8. Divided by 70 is 2.5% shrink. I think that. I don't know, but I feel like it's not huge. I feel like that could just be explained by like fake accounts getting deleted. Okay, yeah, I don't, that's fair like I mean certainly it's some people being like oh, why did I follow this lady? She's nuts. Like definitely it's. No, I'm just kidding, it's not that.
Speaker 1:Um, although like, maybe, like you know, because not obviously not that, but like people being like oh yeah, you know I remember following her, but like I'm not really into the content, yeah um, or you know what, like some people are just like weird and just like not weird, but like a lot of people go through this, I'm unfollowing everyone today, kind of.
Speaker 2:Thing like.
Speaker 1:I see that a lot on social media, not just not even in my own followers, but like you know, well, I mean, I did it.
Speaker 2:I've been doing it this week.
Speaker 1:I've just been unfollowing people that I'm just like yeah, yeah so like inspiring yeah anyways, but I get your point, like you know yeah, like, just like things are just, things are so unexpected.
Speaker 2:Like you're just there's no like well, that falls into your point around the uncertainty too. Right, it's just like there was no certainty that I was gonna like increase my instagram following by 65,000. Right, but I did and I rolled with it. And then now I'm seeing this like shrinkage and kind of trying to figure out okay, what is it that I need to do now to like bring that back?
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 2:You know, I feel like there's always something that you're like what do I need to have to figure this out now? Yeah, I thought I hacked this.
Speaker 1:Or just let it be. Let it be or let it be yeah. The last one on the list hard truths about being an entrepreneur that no one is talking about. This one, I think maybe people are talking a little bit about. When you are an entrepreneur, no one understands you yeah right, particularly like the people closest to you may not understand you, right like, when you do something radically different to what most people do.
Speaker 1:Um, you gotta like understand that a lot of people are not gonna understand, right like yeah when I joined the military being, you know, the first person in my family since the draft and the first person ever to voluntarily join the military in my family like that was weird and, like you know, people can be supportive even if they don't understand you, and luckily that's been the case with you know, the people around me, um, and you know, there's been a few things in my life where it's like no one's going to understand this.
Speaker 1:Um, and being an entrepreneur, I'm not the first entrepreneur in my family, definitely the first like NLP, trained hypnotherapist entrepreneur family, um and like, like you know, I don't expect everybody to understand and and they don't all the time, right, they're still supportive.
Speaker 2:but yeah, I get it right and I think it's part of like the the industry that we're in is a little bit more difficult to understand. Like, if you're like, oh, I'm gonna a widget seller, you know what I mean Then people kind of get it more. But when you're talking about, oh yeah, like I'm helping people get unstuck in their life, or I'm helping people get to the root cause of their problems, or you know, I'm running this program about, I don't know, overcoming self-doubt, people are just like what do you do exactly? Like what is your product like? Is this sustainable? Like, are you actually making money doing this right? Like? I think that's kind of the thing that people don't understand, and often it's just like they don't understand because they just can't imagine themselves doing it too Right.
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 2:And, um, I think this is a big hurdle that that new um coaches or, like you know, people in the service industry who are becoming entrepreneurs, have to get over like right away. Cause I remember this was like a big, big, big thing for me for a while, was like I just wanted everyone in my immediate like circle to understand what I was up to and I wasted so much energy worrying about that and wanting them to get it. And now, like in hindsight, I'm like, oh, why did you care so much? Like cause, now I honestly don't care that people don't understand what I'm doing. I'm just doing what I'm doing and I love it and I've let go of that thing too, to like make them understand. I just I just honestly really don't care anymore.
Speaker 2:I think it's kind of cool actually, cause I'm kind of like this mystery woman that people are like what does she do?
Speaker 1:yeah, yeah, I mean um, just because people don't understand you doesn't mean you know they don't like you, right?
Speaker 2:but yeah or that.
Speaker 1:What you're doing is wrong yeah yeah right, people just want to understand, or just like like for me, it's like where I feel it. I think is there's like random things that an entrepreneur just feels like are totally normal, that are totally not normal for anyone who's not an entrepreneur. Like like you know, like I'll be in the middle of like a random task and be like I need to drop what I'm doing and record a voice memo into my phone before this thought leaves my head. It's hyper important. It's more important than anything in the world right now. If I don't do, it, all will be lost.
Speaker 1:Like entrepreneurs, have these moments right yeah um and like to the entrepreneurs, just like. This is totally normal. I have to do this, but to like a regular person like you know, yeah, like can't that wait until? Yeah, can't you do that after we finish these burritos or whatever, like when you?
Speaker 2:know. So that's the list. Those are hard truths, I know for sure. People are like yes, thank you for validating me, so you're welcome and, uh, that's it. That's our 99th episode. What?
Speaker 1:are we going to talk? About on the 100th episode we should just like release an episode. That's just like silence. Just prank the audience for the 100th episode yeah, yeah, I was gonna say yeah. Yeah, I was going to say everybody should join my free group, Mission improvement, finding attractive secrets for hypnosis. Business owners, coaches, NLP folks check it out. It's a good time.
Speaker 2:Yes, do that and book a breakthrough with me. If you're, if you're feeling like you're feeling stuck, or you're feeling overwhelmed with self doubt, or you're feeling like something's missing, like there's more for you, but you just can't access it um, my breakthrough. Clients are crushing it. They're loving life right now yeah, so sign up for that.
Speaker 2:I'm, I'm, I'm offering. My breakthrough is still at 650 um. I actually just decided to do like a flash thing until sunday, but you're not going to be listening to this until monday. But if you hear this on the podcast, I will. I will give you the discount. So let me know.
Speaker 1:Cool, love it.
Speaker 2:Yeah, so follow me at AlanaBingsCoaching. Follow Ryan at RyanMontesNLP. Follow the no Excuses Coaching Podcast at it's. I don't know what it is no Excuses Coaching.
Speaker 1:Whatever it is, find it and follow it.
Speaker 2:Yeah, just search it, you'll see it. Yeah, all right, that's it.
Speaker 1:Or shoot us a DM. Yeah, okay, bye, everyone.
Speaker 2:Bye.