Inspiring Women in Business Podcast - Episode 2 - Finding the Business You Want

In this episode, I talk about one of the biggest and most crucial questions you have to ask yourself: What do you really want to do? Listen up and let’s take the first steps together in finding out what you want to do, make it an idea, and turn that idea into a business idea.

Key takeaways from this episode:

We are the ones that see 100% of us. Everyone else doesn’t.

There aren’t really any new unique ideas. You are what makes it unique.

Questions to ask yourself to know what you really want to do: (5:15) 

1. If money wasn’t an issue, what would you really want to do?
2. What job or project Have you worked on that you really loved?
3. Who have you loved working with during your career?
4. Can you work out this yourself? Or do you need to do a course or get some support from coping with the coach to work out these questions? 
5. What do you need to let go have to work out what you want?
6. What do you not like doing?
7. Who do you admire most in the world? Who do you admire? Who do you like following?
8. What do you love about what that person does? A
9. If your life had absolutely no limits? What would you choose to have? And what would you choose not to do? So what would you choose to do? And what would you choose not to do if there were no limitations?
10. What are your five to 10 greatest accomplishments in life so far?
11. What have you been putting off doing that could move your career or business forward?

More about Ruth:

Hi, I’m Ruth, a business coach specializing in helping freelancers and business owners adjust their mindset and their marketing so they can get fully booked with clients they LOVE to work with. I’ve helped hundreds of self-employed women achieve the time and money freedom they craved.

I’ve started this podcast because when I first went all in and left the corporate world to be a freelancer, I was grateful for any work that came my way. After over 20 years of freelancing and working for other people, I started to realize I’d created a glass ceiling for myself.

It was in 2017 when I finally started listening to that voice that had been telling me for a long time that I wasn’t doing what I loved and fulfilling my true potential.  It took a critical illness to give me that wake-up call.  I don’t want the same to happen to you.

You can expect practical advice, inspiring stories and a lot of aha moments as we uncover and kick to the curb all the obstacles you have been putting in your way.

I’m on a mission to inspire women to start and play bigger in business.

Connect and know more about Ruth Gilbey here:

Coaching: https://www.ruthgilbey.com/coaching

Free stuff: https://www.ruthgilbey.com/next-client

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/ruthgilbeymarketingandcoaching/

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/ruth_gilbey/

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ruthgilbey/

Transcription

INTRO

Hello and welcome to the inspiring women in business podcast. My name is Ruth Gilbey, and I'm a business and marketing coach. I'm on a mission to inspire women to start and play bigger in business. Now I started this podcast because when I first went all in and left the corporate world to be a freelancer, I was just grateful for any work that came my way. After over 20 years of freelancing and working for other people, I started to realize I created a glass ceiling myself. It was in 2017 when I finally started listening to that voice that had been telling me for a long time, that I wasn't doing what I loved, and I wasn't fulfilling my true potential. It took a critical illness to give me that wake-up call. And I don't want the same thing to happen to you. You can expect practical advice, interviews, inspiring stories, and a lot of aha moments as we uncover and kick to the curb all the obstacles you've been putting in your way.

Hello, and welcome to the inspiring women in business podcast. This is Episode Two. And we're going to be talking about what do you really want to do, another big question. So in this episode, I'm going to talk to you about how you can take the first steps to find out what you really want to do and how you can make it make the idea and turn it into a business idea.

Now perhaps you've already found what you love doing. Or perhaps you've been trying out different things and not found your thing. Or perhaps you've been too busy to spend time on what you see as a passion project. Or perhaps you've just got no idea where to start when it comes to thinking about what it is you'd love to do. Or perhaps you've no idea if actually what you're doing is what you love doing.

Do you remember being asked when you were a kid? What do you want to be when you grow up? I absolutely hated that question. I don't know if you did as well. I used to hate this question, mainly because I thought there was a right answer. I just used to sit there thinking, What's the right answer? What's going to please everybody around me? I didn't realize that actually, I held the answers. And I needed some help finding them. This question isn't easy for so many people. If you're one of these people who finds this easy, then I, you know, I really commend you for being able to really understand what it is that you really love doing because it took me quite a few years now.

I used to think it was luck. It was down to luck that people had discovered what they love doing. But I don't think it's down to luck. I think it's down to permission. Now, as a woman in our 40s, I spent most of my career working for others and freelancing, not understanding that I had options because I'd limited myself to thinking I had options. I thought my options were limited. I always thought I was either good at something or I wasn't good at something. And I thought because I'd done something for such a long time, or done a course in it. That was not what I should be doing. I wasn't giving myself permission to actually change my mind.

You have been brought up to get permission for everything. We are a permission-based society. And this is why coaching and asking yourself coaching questions is so powerful. Now my first coaching question to you is what would be giving yourself permission look like to you? If you removed all the reasons why you shouldn't do something, remove the comparisonitis as it doesn't matter what anyone else is doing. What would it look like? What would trying something out and giving yourself permission to change your mind look like as well? And what would allow yourself to run your business and let it change and evolve look like to you? Interesting questions, ones I want you to really think about.

Now, this isn't a decision you can make overnight. I want you to take the pressure off yourself right now. It doesn't matter also how old you are, you can change your mind and you can reinvent yourself. Now I think a lot of the time we get very self-conscious that we think I've announced the world I'm doing this and I'm changing it, and really I don't think people are noticing as much as you think they are. We're the ones that see 100% of us. Everyone else doesn't. I think, oh you know, because I've said I'm doing this now, everyone else is going to notice, and they aren't. So more coaching questions for you.

I want you to start thinking about you know how you can tap into finding out what it is you really love to do. Because I know for many of my clients, this can really stop them in their tracks because like me, where I had been working for other people and thinking that's what I did or thinking because I did a degree in there. Or a course in this or because I've always had a career in that I'm shackled to doing this, I think we allow ourselves to explore is quite a new thing. But we got to make a start. We're going to make a start today by start by asking yourself these questions.

Number one, if money wasn't an issue, what would you really want to do? Number two, what job or project Have you worked on, that you really loved? You know, the type of project where it really doesn't feel like work? Number three, who have you loved working with during your career? Could they be your ideal client? That's also really important as well, sort of tapping into who you've loved working for? Can you work out this yourself? Or do you need to do a course or get some support from coping with the coach to work out these questions? Number five, what do you need to let go have to work out what you want, really important? Again, letting go of might be letting go of beliefs that you should be doing something or beliefs that you can't do something because you believe so many other people are doing it that you can't do it. And that's what I would really challenge because we often live in an echo chamber where we think we can't do something because someone else is doing it. And it's not true. The thing is, there isn't really any new, unique ideas. You're what makes it unique. So you can if you allow the fact that someone else has a business or an idea similar to yours to stop you from taking action, then we end up taking no action, back to questions what you need to let go of what do you need to let go of to get what you want? What do you not like doing another really important question? Who do you admire most in the world? Who do you admire? Who do you like following? What do you love about what that person does? Also, spending some time getting clear on what your goals are in life, family, health, business they're important to you because they might help you identify what's really lighting you up. If your life had absolutely no limits? What would you choose to have? And what would you choose not to do? So what would you choose to do? And what would you choose not to do if there were no limitations? Now, question number 10 is, what are your five to 10 greatest accomplishments in life so far? Number 11. What have you been putting off doing that could move your career or business forward? So 11 really powerful questions there for you.

Many of us in our 30s, 40s, and 50s, have been conditioned to work for other people, entrepreneurship, and having our own business is a hard thing for many of us to comprehend. And we, as I said before, we see it as something other people do. However, millennials and generation said, have been brought up, hopefully, learning about it. Whereas a lot of us have to do a lot of work on challenging that mindset shift. And we also have to pave the way for our kids as well, if we have families as well. So this is really important work, not just for you, but also for your family as well for your peers, for the people that you influence around you.

I really believe you have to look after yourself to find the answers and really dig deep into what you're really passionate about. I'd like you to give yourself time and space to actually work out what it is you want to do. And explore it starting with these questions, reading some really good books like Gay Hendricks, the big leap is an amazing one to start with. And really try to enjoy finding out what it is that you're actually passionate about, and give yourself permission to change your mind.

Now, when it comes to when you actually get to that point where you've discovered what you really love doing, and you're like, but I've got a full-time job, or I'm already contracted for someone and it's just a bit too scary to actually go all-in is this is a really, really personal decision. There are some coaches that say go all in; you have to go all in. That's just not really an option for everybody. I know it wasn't an option for me. I know it wasn't an option for me to go completely all-in when it came to changing my business. So you can either run your dream business on the side, working out what you want to do alongside your job, or you can go all in so you can either, as I say habit, I don't like the word side hustle, but you could do part-time you could run it part-time alongside your bread and butter work and when it starts making some money, then start to phase it in. I know this isn't a really, really simple thing, and it's very much down to circumstance and very, very personal. There are merits to both. And I'll talk about this more in another episode. But the first step is allowing yourself to explore and ask yourself these questions. And I know that even asking yourself these questions is scary. So please be kind to yourself. There's no rush. But equally, what I don't want you to do is to get stuck in overwhelm and procrastinating about it. It's all again about giving yourself permission to try out an idea and be okay with changing your mind. 

OUTRO

Thanks for listening to the inspiring women in business podcast. I hope you found this episode helpful. If you did, I would love it if you would leave me a review. Also, I would love to connect with you on Instagram. That's where I hang out most of the time. I'm @Ruth_Gilbey. I'll put a link in the show notes for you as well come and connect with me. Tell me about your business. And also tell me what you'd like to hear next on the podcast. And lastly, go and check out the business building hub on my website. There you can find more amazing free resources to help you take the next step in your business. And you can also find out other ways that you can work with me. I'll see you soon.