Episode 13: Biggest Mistakes I Made in 2021, and How You Can Avoid Them
What a crazy year it has been! There is so much to reflect on! Don’t you agree?
In this episode, I am doing just that. I am breaking down how my year has gone, and I’m getting really vulnerable with you to share the biggest lessons and mistakes that I made this year.
As you know, there are so many ups and downs in business, but most of the time, people only share their wins. I don’t want to do that. Those in my community who follow me and listen to me deserve to know the realities of my business - whether it is good or bad!
I’m sharing all of the things that took me the longest to learn as well as the things I am still learning. I am also sharing what went really well this year! I bet a lot of business owners will be able to relate to them too.
Topics We Cover in This Episode:
Why and how I started to delegate in 2021
The steps I took to feel more abundant
How developing systems and processes benefited my community, team, and I
Why I am not on all different platforms
How I worked on my money mindset in 2021
What went really well this year
What I am really proud of from this year
My hope is that this episode gives you a lot to think about! I also hope it inspires you and guides you as you make decisions for the new year.
I wish you all an incredible transition into the new year. Let's start it off with a renewed sense of purpose, vision, and inspiration!
Don't forget that you can always watch the #1 PR Masterclass for small businesses to help you get a media feature in 30 days. You can find it here: http://gloriachoupr.com/masterclass!
Resources Mentioned:
Additional Resources:
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Transcript
Speaker1: [00:00:00] Well, you guys, what a year it's been in this episode, I am breaking it down and getting real vulnerable with you to share the biggest lessons in mistakes I made this year in hopes that it can inspire you and guide you as you make decisions for the new year. Let's get started. Hey, friends, I'm Gloria Chou. Small business PR expert, award winning pitch writer and your unofficial hype woman. Nothing makes me happier than seeing people get the recognition they deserve, and that starts with feeling more confident to go bigger with your message. Because let's be honest, we simply cannot make the impact. We're here to make by hiding behind the scenes. So on this podcast, I will share with you the untraditional yet proven strategies for PR marketing and creating more opportunity in your business. If you are ready to take control of your narrative and be your most unapologetic and confident self, you're in the right place. This is a small business PR podcast. So, you know, they say in the world of entrepreneurship, one day could seem like a week and a week could seem like a month and so on. There's so much that happens in our business, right? So many failures, so many ups and downs. And I could not let this year go by without doing an episode about the biggest mistakes, the biggest lessons that I learned in Twenty Twenty One. I want to get real vulnerable with you.
Speaker1: [00:01:20] I'm going to share with you all the things that took me the longest to learn, and I'm still learning. And I'll tell you exactly why. It's because I want to make sure that you have not only clarity into how it could guide you in your decision making, but the realities of my business for my community who are following me, who are listening to me. I think so often we only share about the winds, whether it's my wins or the wins of the people in the PR Starter Pack. I want to be super honest with you. So no one. My biggest mistake is that I was not delegating earlier in my business. So a lot of times when we're starting to make money right, we want to hold on to that money. And so we want to do everything ourselves. So we are doing the customer service. The email is a damning the posting, the graphics, everything, and that is just not what a CEO who wants to scale the business should do. And in fact, what I learned from my coach is that everyone needs to be doing a time audit. So, for example, posting on Instagram scheduling at Instagram, that's kind of a 12 to 15 dollar an hour job, meaning that you can find someone to do that for 12 or 15 dollars. Now writing a sales page, giving a talk, doing a webinar, being on a podcast, that's only something you can do, and you can assign a dollar amount to that, for example, in the tune of five hundred dollars, right? That is something that only you can do that you cannot delegate, whether it's making a sale or speaking on a panel or doing an IG live.
Speaker1: [00:02:41] And so as you scale, as you become more of an optimized CEO, you realize that there's only so much time in a day. And I was getting so burnt out because I didn't realize this and I was acting like there was all the time in the world. But the money was scarce when in reality, it's the other way around, right? We have all the time in the world to make money. We can be creative. We have unlimited potential to make money. But time time, my friend is actual scarce commodity. And the moment I realized this as as a true fact in life is the moment I start to shift my thinking. So I started to delegate the things that cost twelve to fifteen dollars an hour to do, whether it's social media or customer service. And then I started to delegate more of it. So that was captioned, writing, email, writing, things like that, copywriting, fixing my website. And I wanted to focus the majority of time on the things that only I can do. For example, being on this podcast, for example, hosting my Facebook lives and answering questions in my Facebook group or mediating new ways to serve my customers or how I can build partnerships with people, right? And so that has allowed me to elevate to a whole new level because I'm no longer being stressed out and spread so thin, diming people for hours and hours in the day.
Speaker1: [00:03:58] I'll never forget I was having dinner with my boyfriend in Q1 of this year, and I was trying to get someone across the finish line. So I was trying to convert someone into my program, the PR starter pack, and I was literally in the DMs, sending testimonials, answering their questions as I was taking my bites of food and my boyfriend looked at me and he was like, You haven't stopped the entire day. This is our 30 minute window to spend time together. And yet you're still glued to your phone. You're not even like tasting your food. You're chewing like 3000 miles per hour, just just gulping down whatever you have, just so you can be in the DMs. Is it really worth it? And so that really made me realize that I was just spending my time in a very inexpensive way, and I started to look at the things that I did every day, and I started to section out what were the things that could be delegated. And so now, you know, at the end of Q4 of this year, I've come to a point where, you know, I'm not doing my social media postings, the caption writing, the posting, the content creation.
Speaker1: [00:05:00] I'm not the one doing outreach for my podcast. You know, I'm not the one that's getting me to speak on panels. I have someone else doing that for me, and I am focusing my time in my zone of genius, which is delivering content and strategizing and supporting people in the PR starter pack. And that has not only made me feel more abundant, it's allowed me to feel much less drudgery in my in my work because I'm no longer spending time doing the $12 or $5 an hour task that's really in my zone of drudgery. Right. I am thinking creatively, I'm thinking about the future. I'm thinking about planning for twenty twenty two and all the different offers and ways I can support people. And so that keeps my high level thinking in that high level space. Because again, time is the only thing that is scarce. Time is the only thing that's limited. So that's number one is the biggest mistake I made is not delegating earlier. I cannot tell you the wonders. Delegating has done for my business, for my work life balance, for the way that I show up for my team and the way that I actually listen, I'm not constantly in this rat race of trying to remember every little thing and opening my DMs and toggling between all the different things.
Speaker1: [00:06:12] I'm able to focus on one task at a time. So my friends, if you're not delegating it or if you're still unable to let go of control and you feel so stressed out, I really encourage you to think about where you can start to delegate because I assure you the amount of money you're spending to hire someone to do that. The dividends will be worth it. One hundred percent now. Number two, the biggest mistake that I made was not putting in systems and processes and SOPs earlier on. And so, you know, I was speaking to my money mindset coach, and she said that a lot of entrepreneurs go through kind of three phases, right? The first phase is, do you have like a valid product? Do you have something that the market wants and is viable? Now I've proven time and time again with the prior pack that there is a need for it because no one's really serving small businesses in this way. The second, the second phase is do you have a system to keep selling this offer, getting this offer in front of people and producing repeatable results for people? And as you can see in my Facebook group, there are PR starter pack members who are sharing their wins every single day and they are coming from every single industry.
Speaker1: [00:07:22] I just got a DM today saying that they use my methods and they landed on like a 40 40 under 40 list right for female entrepreneurs. So number two, I've definitely checked off a number three is do you have a system to automate that so that even if you take your hands off the wheel a little bit, the team still can function the day to day task and still function. And I'm at a point in my business where I was not putting in the systems and the SOPs and documenting everything. And that is why I'm doing this now. And that is why for so long, it was so exhausting for me because I had to basically give instruction to my team and basically tell them every single thing. That was pretty much a repeated task, right? But I have to remind them every single week and this was bad on a on a variety of levels. It's bad because it disempowers my teammates. It basically takes the accountability and responsibility and ownership away from them to do a complete project. And it kind of distills it down to tiny bite size tasks that they do. So they almost become robotic in a way, and they become disempowered because again, they're not taking ownership of that, right? So that's something I have learned. As well as without systems, it's really easy to micromanage people and disempower your team.
Speaker1: [00:08:36] Another reason why it's bad is that time, right? What I said for number one is the time that I'm spending to keep telling people the same things over and over again, which are repeated tasks that can be automated. That is time being spent, you know, away from the 500 or $1000 an hour tasks that I can be doing. And as you become a leveraged CEO, as we as you become an optimized CEO, this is something I learned from my coach who Rick Moradi, who is actually going to be on the podcast in the beginning of the new year, he'll tell you, is that unless you can start to leverage your time and mindset, you will never be able to scale your business the way you want to. Because let's face it, we only have twenty four hours in a day, right? But how are we spending that time? There are systems and tools and processes that can automate a lot of the tasks that you're keeping in your head, and my laziness of not being able to want to put it down and put it into systems and processes was keeping me from being able to completely let go. And so that is why even when I was on vacation, I was still pinging my team. I was still wondering if this got done, if that got done. And so for all of those reasons, I learned that part of the reason why it's been so difficult and stressful to build a business from the ground up is that without systems, you can never really take your hands off the wheel and your team can never learn to be truly accountable for their tasks.
Speaker1: [00:10:02] And remember, you're developing a team that can take you far right. You're not hiring a team of robots that are replaceable that can do menial tasks. You really want a team that can start to take more and more ownership and be completely bought into your vision so that you can be hands off and do some of the other things and know that you have the people who have the experience and that you trust that can do the day to day tasks for you. And in fact, if you look at all of the CEOs of Fortune 500 companies, they're not actually dictating what tasks are being done. And the most successful entrepreneurs I talked to you, they spend their whole time, not in the actual business of telling their team what to do, but actually focusing on how they can be a better leader, how they can build a team, how are they going to have better systems so that they can keep the people in the right seats and get the best workout of people? So that is really something that took me a while to learn, and I wish I really wish that I was.
Speaker1: [00:10:57] Able to learn this a little bit early on and start to document the little things, whether it's through through Loom videos or writing in a Google Doc, what something entails because right now I'm spending all of my time going back to the drawing board to write down every single step in a task, whether it's making a Facebook Live or producing a podcast episode. If I were to just document a little bit early on, it would have saved me all the time that I'm doing right now to rewrite all of those processes. So if you are someone who really wants to be in the business for a long term, I really encourage you to start documenting the little things that you do that you do every week because that eventually can be delegated and automated. Ok, so that's number two is not putting in the systems in place and the SOPs. Now the third thing that took me a long time to learn is that, you know, I wanted to be on all of the platforms I had as a founder hearing about Pinterest and YouTube and TikTok and all of the things. And you should make a low ticket funnel and attract people at this price point. And then you should do this. And there's just so many shiny objects and ways to get people into your world. There is no right path, right? There is nobody telling you for your business.
Speaker1: [00:12:10] You need to be on these two platforms and this is the way you sell it. You have to test it out. But I will tell you that trying to be simultaneously on all of the social media platforms is the quickest way to burn out, and it's going to cause you to slow down your growth. And so in Q1, I was maybe tinkering around with the possibility of being on platforms like Pinterest, Tik Tok and YouTube, and I made a conscious decision after again optimizing my time and really being intentional about how I spend my time to realize that I'd rather be on two platforms and do those really well than be on 10 different platforms and be all over the place and burnt out. So I made a decision to not be on Tik Tok or YouTube and Pinterest, and instead of really focus on the things that were working for me. In my case, it was Instagram, and now I have a podcast. You're listening to the first few episodes, but it's something I really, really enjoy doing and my audience really loves for me. So it's something I'm going to keep doing. It's just effortless for me to record here to interview people. So that's something that I decided that I want to do. And another thing is my Facebook group. It started off as a Facebook group for a five day PR challenge is now grown to two thousand five hundred founders who are getting results every single day using my CPR method and the PR starter pack.
Speaker1: [00:13:28] And by the way, if you don't know what my proprietary pitching method is, the CPR method I encourage you to go back to episode number two is going to tell you exactly how to pitch and get featured. It's how I cracked the code on PR without having any agency experience or network of journalists. So that's an episode number two. So that is mistake number three is my early desire to be on all the platforms, and I'm so glad that now in Q4, I'm at a place where I know exactly what my channels are and I'm able to devote systems, processes, resources and really go deep on those and have an area of expertize where I know exactly what I'm doing on Instagram. I know exactly what I want to do for my podcast, although I'm still learning, but I'm not spending my time tinkering around with TikTok or Pinterest or all of the other ones, right? Because again, as CEOs, we need to know that time is the one thing that is not infinite. Time is the most scarce thing. And so as you scale your business, you realize how you know, precious time is and you start making decisions from there because I want to get to my goals faster.
Speaker1: [00:14:36] Right. I know I don't have all the time in the world, so it's not worth it for me to save a couple of hundred bucks here and there. I'd rather delegate it to someone so that I can do the other things that only I can do. All right. So that's number three now number four. And probably the most important thing is my scarcity is around money that has kept me from investing in training and coaches and just being in groups of support from other people who have done it before. Right now, there's a reason why all of the automatic CEOs and the entrepreneurs who are doing so well, they always say this is that there should not be any kind of set budget for education. You should not put a limit on education because learning and testing and being in a supportive group with other people who have done it before, that is priceless. And so that is why in March of this year, I made the biggest single financial commitment and investment I've ever made in myself in my business, and that is a 12 month mastermind program. And for anyone that's listening. And if you know a little bit about me, I'm kind of a commitment vote, right? So committing to something for 12 months is like, Oh my God, that's a long time, right? But I knew I needed to be in a in a container with other.
Speaker1: [00:15:57] And yours who have done it before because I didn't grow up with a lot of entrepreneurs, right? I am new to this. Everything that I'm doing and everything that I'm innovating, I don't have a blueprint for. I'm not taking someone else's formula and copy it on my own. So I really need to be with other entrepreneurs who have done it before, who can offer support, who can lift me up when things go wrong and can kind of commiserate because entrepreneurship is hard, right? And so I think the community aspect of it and paying a premium to be in a coaching container is absolutely huge. And you know, that is why the people who also invest in the PR starter pack and who upgrade to a one on one session with me, they just understand that they want to get to those results quicker. They want to collapse time because time again is the most precious resource. So that is something I wish I did earlier last year is investing in a group coaching program or resources or training is that can definitely take me to the next level. So that is like the probably the biggest takeaway. And as I look at my budget for next year, I'm also looking at other ways that I can invest back into myself, whether it's training, whether it's coaching, whatever it is, right? Because for me, the money to be, you know, with other people who I've done it before, who are better than me, that is worth it.
Speaker1: [00:17:13] That's only going to take me to the next level. It's only going to make me feel more inspired. And if they say that you know you are the average of the five people you spend time with, who are those five people who are the people in your network that you are surrounding yourself with? So here is a cheer for you to always be leveling up and not treat time like it's infinite because time is so, so scarce. Now, I don't want to just say that these are the things that I wish I did. I don't want to live in a sea of regret, so I definitely want to end off with the things that I do think went well, right? Obviously, I still have a lot to learn. But I do think that, you know, from time to time, from the months of building my business, from the years, I did learn a couple of things. And so the things that did go well is this year is obviously welcoming amazing new founders in the PR starter pack and our Facebook group that has grown from zero to two thousand five hundred organically. It's a closed Facebook group, and we were able to attract amazing small business founders who are all bootstrapping but all want visibility and credibility and seeing their wins every single day about how they use the PR starter pack to get brand deals, to get speaking gigs to get into that editor's inbox to get into a 40 under 40.
Speaker1: [00:18:30] That has given me so much inspiration, and I know for a lot of the other people in my Facebook group has given them a lot of inspiration because even though they're not commenting, I know they're watching, right? I'm on other Facebook groups as well. And even though I don't comment, I'm watching. So that's something I'm really proud of is keeping that group free, but offering that community for people who need it, and that is something I'm very proud of. And if you haven't joined the Facebook group, you can join it right now by going to get featured and answer the questions and we will let you in. That is my way of giving back to the community. I'm always on there offering support and also going live in my Facebook group, so that's one thing that did well. Another thing that started to do to go really well is for the people who are in my PR SarahPAC. I started to offer these VIP calls. These are these bonus calls that give people an extra gift and a pat on the back of being like, Hey, I'm so glad you're here. And I started to offer these calls with actual journalists.
Speaker1: [00:19:26] So now I'm broadening my network of journalists and asking them if they would be willing to be in a small group setting and answer questions from new PR starter pack members. And this has been game changing because the calls were really good before, you know, I did pitch edits, but to be able to have an actual journalist on the call with me is absolutely game changing. So not only do I provide my insight, you can also hear it from an actual journalist and being able to be in a small group container and be in a supportive environment where you know, I'm guiding you and the journalist is supportive and receptive to feedback. You can actually ask them questions has given the founders who are in the PR starter pack so much inspiration momentum to actually say, You know what, I can do this. You know what? I'm going to send that pitch, and I thought my pitch was like this, but I actually think it's this, this and this and these journalists now. They're so awesome and amazing. You know, I have them on my podcast. The last time I had the VIP call, they actually gave away their personal contact information and said, You know what? Why not? You reach out directly to me. So just having that like connection with an actual journalist just takes away the veil of secrecy of it being some sort of thing where like, they belong to a secret group that's untouchable, right? So that's something that I think is going really well that I really want to keep doing for the years to come.
Speaker1: [00:20:49] Another thing that I'm really proud of is launching my podcast, What You're Listening To Right Now. You know, it's really daunting being. There's like millions of podcasts out there, right, and a lot of people are like, Oh, are you sure it's a little too late? Everyone has a podcast, but I was very steadfast in the fact that I wanted to podcast because I really loved interviewing people and I wanted to make it a platform to celebrate the wins of people in my starter pack, as well as bring on real journalists and experts from diverse backgrounds. I want to use this platform to reflect what I believe are my passions and values, which is to champion people who are experts and market leaders, but not your typical ones that you see online. So people from different backgrounds, different cultures, different races, ethnicities. So that is really why I love my podcast because I attract really diverse people and people who are expert, but again, not the typical people that maybe you see on Instagram, and I'm so glad that I create a place where their story can be amplified. Now, another thing that I'm really proud of is constantly updating the PR starter pack with new media lists, new bonuses, new action plans.
Speaker1: [00:22:00] And I love doing that because I'm able to think about new ways to support the founders in the PR starter pack to have them reach their goals faster and to give them that extra nudge to say You can do it. And I look forward to even updating even more and adding more media lists and more bonuses and hopefully doing even in-person events in the new year. Now, as we embark on this new year, I've given you a lot to think about. I've shown you the things that I made mistakes with earlier on and things that I'm still learning. I'm an imperfect person. I struggle with things every single day, but I'm not afraid to test and fail and test and learn. And so as we go into the new year. Think about where are the areas? Are you holding back? Because I promise you just doing things before you're ready and testing and maybe failing, but getting all that feedback so that you know what to do next time, that will allow you to get to the next level. There's a famous saying where, you know, I think Marie Faldo said this, which is success, comes to those who do things before they're ready. And just like I am with my business, with the fact that I am starting a podcast when there are so many podcasts, I'm doing it anyway.
Speaker1: [00:23:09] Hopefully that will give you inspiration to do the same. I wish you all an incredible transition into the new year. I hope that you have pat yourself on the back for everything that you've accomplished because it has been not the most easy of times and you're here anyways. So give yourself a pat on the back and let's start this new year with a renewed sense of purpose, vision and inspiration and know that I've got your back. Until next time. Hey, small business hero, did you know that you can get featured for free on outlets like Forbes, The New York Times, Marie Claire, PopSugar and so many more, even if you're not yet launched or if you don't have any connections? That's right. That's why I invite you to watch my PR secrets masterclass where I revealed the exact methods thousands of bootstrapping small businesses used to hack their own PR and go from unknown to being incredible and sought after industry expert. Now, if you want to land your first press feature, get on a podcast, secure a VIP speaking gig or just reach out to that very intimidating editor. This class will show you exactly how to do it. Register now at gloriachoupr.com/masterclass. That's Gloria Chou, C, H, O, U PR Masterclass, so you can get featured in 30 days without spending a penny on ads or agencies. Best of all, this is completely free, so get in there and let's get you featured.