Walking away from a full-time job and pursuing entrepreneurship is far from easy. Alex Davis and I have had our fair share of struggles during our time working in corporate America, but in today's episode, we get to discuss what the path towards career freedom looked like for us both. From big four accountant to financially conscious life and business coach, we learn about the steps Alex Davis took to get where she’s at today -- happy, fulfilled, and thriving.

Join Alex Davis and me as we discuss how to survive comfortably through vision boards, understanding expenses, utilizing therapy, creating a savings pool, not waiting for retirement, and knowing when to rest to prevent burnout.

What is the importance of investing in yourself? It's a question business coach Kae Whitaker tackles with me this episode. Going on nine years of coaching entrepreneurs, Kae was my first ever coach, and we're talking everything coaching, mindset, and yes, the importance of investing in you. 

On September 17th, we hosted our virtual Lost to Launched retreat, and y'all, it was a HUGE success. And now we're bringing the best of our panel to you! Guest panelists Ashley Ross, Pamela Rosario, & Lexi Jay are all six figure side hustlers turned full-time entrepreneurs. Hear what they have to say on everything from changing your mindset to finding your community. Wanna listen to the full episode? Grab it on Spotify and Apple Podcasts.   Looking for entrepreneurial tips and biz advice? Follow us @sidebizsmart.   Want to follow the host? Find Janelle here: @heyjnicole on Tik Tok or Instagram   Interested in programs and pivot advice, take a look at our website https://sidebizsmart.com/. 

Marketing is so consuming, you get swept away. Even for me, I’ve been finding that marketing efforts take the largest and most consistent hours in my schedule. 

A mistake a lot of new entrepreneurs make is letting marketing be the primary goal and getting swept away in the pursuit of new clients. Your number one priority should be the extreme and utmost delight of the clients in front of you. 

I'll be honest with you, providing quality service/product isn’t enough. That’s the bare minimum. 

More often than not, people are displeased when they invest too much time in products, services, and coaching programs because the marketing was fantastic but the actual product and service didn't give the expectations they had for the day. We are looking not just to be a good service provider or offer products, we want to delight people and want them to walk away feeling so glad they made the investment with us.

When there's growth from marketing, you can see that past and former clients have done the work and shouted us out on their large platforms. When those clients do that we get the most followers, engagements, and applications to our program.

Delighting clients will be your greatest source of income, growth, and fulfillment in your business. Focus on them. 

I used to think that once I pushed past a certain point or the first time I experienced perfectionism and imposter syndrome that that would be it. I'd be good to go and never feel those feelings again

But the reality is that entrepreneurs and truthfully just people in general experience perfectionism constantly. As entrepreneurs, we are putting ourselves out there time and time again in uncomfortable situations. And when we put ourselves in uncomfortable situations or something new, it's only natural that impostor syndrome comes up.

The real solution is having the tools to build resilience. In our program, we have a licensed psychologist who runs group therapy once a month and we recently covered a framework for imposter syndrome that we love.

This episode will cover the 5 steps to help you overcome the feeling of imposter syndrome. 

Wanna listen to the full episode? Grab it on Spotify and Apple Podcasts.

Looking for entrepreneurial tips and biz advice? Follow us @sidebizsmart.

Want to follow the host? Find Janelle here: @heyjnicole on Tik Tok or Instagram

Interested in programs and pivot advice, take a look at our website https://sidebizsmart.com/. 

Dr. Zoe Johnson has a master's in social work and a Ph.D. in education. Zoe had thoughts about running away from entrepreneurship because she didn't want to have to focus on marketing. However, she eventually realized that she wanted to invest more in children's education. In order to provide that, Zoe had to become an entrepreneur.