As an entrepreneur, are you making these mistakes?

Two weeks ago I wrote a blog that in a way reintroduced myself to everyone and to our new followers. In that blog, if you noticed I dropped a lot of value about being an entrepreneur and showing you some of the ways I stay productive.

This week I want to take things a step further and talk about some mistakes we as entrepreneurs make and how we can fix them.

When I started Russtek, that was my first true experience being an entrepreneur full time. From my side hustle building computers in high school to the side projects I had while at the Beer Store I always had that entrepreneurial spirit but starting Russtek was my first true experience.

I quickly fell into the hustle mentality that most entrepreneurs talk about, including Gary Vaynerchuck. The mindset that entrepreneurs need to hustle all the time, 24/7.

This was something I did for the first year of my business, getting up early, working late into the night and attending every function and event I possibly could. The nights I attended an event, I felt I was behind and had to hustle even harder, working later to get things done.

Knowing what it was like to burn out from my days as a University medic and EMT, I should have seen it coming but I kept pushing myself harder and eventually I did burn out.

I was exhausted, couldn’t think straight as I finally burnt out from pushing myself too hard. I had crushing anxiety thinking about how far behind I was getting and how bad it would be if I didn’t push through. As you can imagine, this only made things worse.

That’s one mistake that entrepreneurs often make and I see it time and time again, they feel that in order to be seen as a “successful entrepreneur” it’s all about the hustle and the grind. In reality, that is the furthest from the truth.

In order to be a successful entrepreneur, it’s all about balance and it’s funny as this blog topic came up to write, a friend Rachel Pedersen just posted about rest saying, “Rest isn’t lazy, it’s necessary.”

Something I have been doing a lot since the beginning of pandemic was switching gears and starting coaching entrepreneurs.

Knowing clients and businesses were closing temporarily and the funds weren’t there I wanted a way to help and keep my clients active on social media as well as help them to find ways to grow during this tough time. I started by teaching and coaching what I have learned over the past 4 years as an entrepreneur.

Something I talk about with clients is how important it is to have routines and how that can have a ripple effect in how productive we are. Creating routines and habits in not only your business but in your daily lives has a huge impact on how productive we are.

One of the biggest steps into starting is to not only plan out your week but each morning and evening write out your goals and tasks in a journal/planner.

If you’ve been following me for some time you know I’m currently using 2 planners for the time being. One is the Rocketbook Panda planner and the other is Alex Charfen’s Momentum Planner. 

Both have their own purpose and I’m not saying you need to do both but take the concept and use this in your own way, if that’s in a notebook, journal or another planner.

With the Panda Planner I love that it has an agenda so that as I plan out my day’s and my week’s meetings, calls and appointments they don’t get lost in a crowded Google Calendar. With the Momentum Planner it let’s me get into the right mindset for the day and a chance to review my week. 

Something I love about the Momentum Planner is that it asks you to talk about the areas you were uncomfortable with the previous day and write down the areas from the past week you could have used help with.

These 2 functions in the planner alone help to create a ton of momentum in your life and in your business as it will hold you accountable and get you out of your comfort zone so you’re honest with yourself.

Another big mistake that entrepreneurs often make is that they feel they need to do it alone. Often entrepreneurs hunker down at their desk and shy away from the world as they dive deep in what they are working on.

That’s why we created a Facebook Group called Entrepreneur Momentum. This is a group where entrepreneurs can network and help each other grow. A place where no one has to worry about being judged and don’t have to worry about being in a group that is flooded with offers that spam the group.

We’ve also started accountability calls via zoom. These are calls that are not mandatory and you can jump in at any point if you feel you need to be held accountable for a task or project you’re working on.

To find out more I’ll be talking about that in our Facebook group, just click below and hit the join button!