ep. 037 • The Only Real Way to Success In Your Business

Chelsea:  How often do you find yourself feeling overwhelmed, stuck, unsure, or otherwise on the fence about what to do next inside of your business? 

In today's episode, I'm breaking down the importance of differentiating between what is theory and what is practice, ideation versus execution, and why being very clear about that distinction is everything that you need to start building momentum towards securing the BAG, those big audacious goals that you've got for your life and your henna business right now.

Welcome to the Hennapreneur podcast – the exclusive podcast of its kind dedicated to giving you an honest look at the realities of making a living as a henna professional.

I'm your host, Chelsea Stevenson, a tea-loving, shoe-collecting mother of three in constant search for the most popping pair of earrings and the perfect shade of red lipstick.

I'm also a professional henna artist and business strategist who went from barely being able to piece together a fluid design to being the owner of the most celebrated henna boutique in my city.

I'm on a mission to help henna professionals, to harness their skills and grow vibrant, profitable businesses that they absolutely love.

If you want to make more money with your art, you are definitely in the right place. Let's get to it!

Hey, hennapreneurs! Welcome back to another episode of the Hennapreneur Podcast. I am stoked to be with you today! And today, I want to talk to you about something that comes up super frequently and, basically, I'm tired of the BS. 

So here I am diving all the way in, and I'm going to give you guys a little bit of, basically, a coaching experience around why we are in our own freaking way, okay? 

Some of y'all are not going to like me after this, but that's okay. I love you. And you know that it's my job to show up as the friend who gives you what you need and not just tells you what you want, because baby, I'm here to see you succeed. That's it, okay? 

Today, I want to talk to you guys about the importance of taking action. And I know, I know, I know, I know, I know, if you've been around Hennapreneur at all, you know that I always talk about action. You know that I value implementation. I value action. I value taking actual, tangible measures towards your big audacious goals, right? When I tell you, and when I encourage you to secure the bag, like that's not me just running game.

I want to see you taking the actions necessary in order for you to have the success and have the business and have, ultimately, the life that you want, right? And so, so often what comes up for people is that they, they kind of get caught up in the idea space, okay. And instead of taking action, they get so caught up in like, this circle of like, just our thoughts and then our questions, and then we have our beliefs and a lot of those beliefs are limiting beliefs, which is not to our benefit, right? 

And so, all of these thoughts and things come up and then we enter the space of overwhelm. And from that space of overwhelm, we then say, "Forget it. I'm not doing any of this." And we don't take the actions necessary to move us towards those big audacious goals, right? 

And so, I want to talk to you today about this because we need to be mindful of the fact that ideas are only perfect in our mind's eye, all right? 

So, when we're undertaking a project of any type it's so common, it's so frequent, for us to get caught up in perfectionism. So whether that's you sitting down to plan out social media content, maybe that's you planning out a photo shoot, you're doing like a styled shoot with henna and whatnot. Like you're planning that. Maybe it's that you need to set up your online booking system. Maybe it's that you need to set up your pricing. Maybe it's that you need to build your website. Maybe it's that you need to reach out to collaborators in your area. Like, who knows? 

I don't know where you're at in your business right now. What I do know is, wherever you are, there's a project that is on your to-do list that you know–I'm looking at you–you know you need to have done already, or you know you need to be prioritizing if you want to move your business forward and you're sitting on it because you're caught up with perfectionism. 

And it's really that simple. And I say that and I say that with no judgment, please understand that this comes from complete love and respect and humility, and even the acknowledgement that there are things inside of my own business that I sit on as well for that same reason. 

Perfectionism gets in the way. And why is that? We want to do the things "just so", right? We want to have things be "just right", because when we have perfection, then it leaves no space for failure, right? We want to get things just right, because then we know that we'll be secure. We're looking for that entire certainty that we will not fail. And the only way that we can actually ascertain that is by getting everything perfectly right. 

And friends, I need you to hear me when I say perfectionism is procrastination dressed up as productivity. That's it. Okay? It's the perfect disguise for people like us as business owners. Perfectionism makes it really easy for us to justify not actually doing the things that are going to yield us the results that we want.

And what's interesting about perfectionism is that it, because we will, we will go so far and lean so far into "I just want this to be right", that we'll never launch the thing that we knew we needed to do. We'll never complete the project that we knew we needed to do. We'll never serve the clients that we know we're here to serve.

We have to get over it. We have to get over it. This is literally us standing in our own way. Perfectionism is procrastination dressed up as productivity. That's it. 

That's why, instead of putting up your website, instead of putting up your booking site, instead of going and creating your social content plan, instead of reaching out to these people that you need to, instead of sending out the invoice, instead of doing the things that you need to do, you're caught up in the minutia. You're caught up in the little details. 

"Is the font, right? I can't launch my website."

Oh my God! I cannot tell you how many times I've heard this, hennapreneurs. And if you're one of the guilty parties listening, you know who you are.

"I can't launch my website because I'm looking for the perfect font."

 "I can't launch my website because I'm looking for the perfect font." 

My friends, I have never known-. And please understand, I understand that there is some value in having a well curated website. There is definitely-. You know, you want to have an online space that feels really good where you can send people. This is your digital home, you know, storefront, essentially. And I know that you want to represent yourself and your business well, and also, there is value in having like, a very clean aesthetic there. Like, there are, there are things there that exist, absolutely, in terms of brand positioning and so forth, but I'll tell you what if you don't have the site up at all, in general, then you're definitely not making bookings. You're definitely not visible in the marketplace. You're definitely not coming up in the Google search. 

And so, guess what? You're definitely stepping on your own toes. You are definitely cutting yourself out of the picture. 

Why do we do this? Over a font? Please, my friends, let's get our lives, okay?

So this is the thing, there are two ways that we approach life. There are two ways that we approach business. There is theory and there is practice, right? Theory assumes an outcome. Practice allows for you to test and validate, or not, that same thing, okay? 

One of my favorite quotes is Albert Einstein. And he said, in theory, there is no difference between theory and practice, and in practice, there is. 

So what's that mean, right? In theory, as we're ideating, right? We've got all these ideas and it's perfect in our mind's eye. It assumes an outcome.. And in theory, what we're ideating is exactly how things are going to go. But once you move from theory to practice, you very quickly realize that there is a major difference between ideating and executing, okay?

Ideation and execution are two wildly in different spaces. And so, often we stick to ideation. We stick to theorizing. We stick to being in that one little space where we can control all of the different barriers, because as soon as you moved to practice, as soon as you move to execution, that, THAT is where you lose control. And that is where you have to be vulnerable. And that is where you have to be open to learning. And that is where you have to be flexible, right? That is where you grow. 

As an example, I'll give you this example because I think that this is something that's super relative. As an example, I teach having the artists to charge for their time, not for their work.

So, if you have been around Hennapreneur for any amount of time, you know that I don't prefer a pricing model that's based per piece, per design. I think that-. Well, that's a whole 'nother thing for a whole 'nother day. 

Bottom line, I think that you leave money on the table when you do that.

And so I teach, this is part of my framework, right? It's part of my sustainable and profit-driven philosophy. I teach henna artists to charge for their time, not for the piece. 

And so, one of the challenges that people often experience is knowing, you know, what to charge for this or for that amount of time.

Now, this is always interesting because in theory, and this is, this is a prime example. In theory, we work out all of the details, right? And we build out this, this service suite and everything is great. 

"Okay. I'm going to charge for time. And this is one of the charge for, you know, 15 minutes or for 30 minutes or for an hour. This is what I'm going to charge for 20 minutes. This is what I'm charged for 45 minutes," whatever is your cup of tea, right? And it's great, because you and your mind, you're like, "Yes! Okay, now I know. I've set my rates. I feel really good about it. Let's go out there and let's, let's book the clients," and then you see your first client with this model and you realize: whoop! I've got to make some adjustments. 

You see, in theory, as you're planning from this like, anticipatory vantage point, everything works out. Your client arrives on time. You move really quickly. There's no, you know, flukes that happened. That person doesn't show up with, you know, body hair, or they don't show up with a change in the design from when they actually book. Now they decided they want something else. And ooh, now you gotta figure it out again. They don't show up, you know, having, "Oh, I need to have a bathroom break first." 

Like, there are no variables. We don't think about those. 

In theory, the client arrives. They sit down. We do the henna. That's that. They dry. They get up. They leave. Whatever. 

And that's not how this works. And so, what happens when you're actually sitting in front of another human being, enjoying their company as you're working with them, or you know, if you're designing on a challenging body part, or maybe you're doing something more intricate? 

Well, now that's a different experience. It's not the same as what you ideated. It's not the same as what you had in mind when you created your pricing model, your service suite, in theory. You understand? 

So, when you place your system into practice, you realize that there are more things to factor in. There are things that you couldn't truly weigh in unless, and until, you move from theory to practice. Unless, and until you move from ideation to execution.

So why do I bring this all up? Well, oftentimes, what I'll hear is, "You know, Chelsea, I'm feeling really overwhelmed in my business. I'm feeling stuck. I'm feeling unsure. I don't know what to do next." 

First of all, I think that this is honestly one of the biggest lies that we like to tell ourselves is "I don't know." And I'll call myself, I'll like, I'll call myself out on that. I'll raise my hand here. 

When I am in a place where I feel overwhelmed. Or when I am in a place where I feel, uh, you know, unsure about something, I'll say, "Well, I don't know. I don't-. I don't know." And I'll catch myself saying that. And that is like a very obvious cue, obvious signal, for me, for myself that: uh-uh, Chelsea. Uh-uh, you're playing games. When you start saying, I don't know. Go ahead and just go ahead and say it, just go ahead and accept it. Just go ahead and acknowledge it, right? 

So, I do, I really feel like this is one of the biggest lies that we tell ourselves. Well, I don't know what I need to do. I am going to call BS. I think that you do know what you need to do, and if it's a matter of, like, a technical, "No, I legitimately don't know what steps to take," well, my friends, there are things available at your fingertips. Like, oh, I don't know? Your smartphone and Google. You can literally learn anything on YouTube. And if you're wanting something specific to your industry: hello! Welcome to Hennapreneur, right? 

Like, there are resources available to us if we really want to know how to do a thing. You can figure out how. You have access to figure those things out. You have access to learn those things. But are you going to do it, right?

So this is where- this is where I dish out a little tough love. You have to take action if you want to see results. Action is what yields clarity, okay? So as pieces start to move, you'll begin to get clear on what you actually want. And this is very interesting, because sometimes what you discover you want is actually different from what you imagined you'd wanted when you were in the theory stage.

And this is why, when you work with me,  I don't like to hang out in theory. I like for you to tell me what you want, how you plan to do it, and then you start to do it, because once you start to get things moving, you're going to. Realize very quickly, whether, "ooh yeah, I do want to do this" or "no, I don't want to do this" or "yeah, I want to do this, but I want to do it in a different way". And there's nothing wrong with that, but you won't get that clarity if you're looking at it through this lens of perfection that exists in the space of ideation, in the space of theory, okay? 

And I want to really kind of double back to what I first started with here, because often we are so afraid to move from ideation and theory into practice and execution because we're so afraid to fail. And I need you to also understand that failure is a state of mind, right? 

Whenever you take action, you are yielded one of two things. Either there's an accomplishment of what you set off to do, or there's a lesson that provides clues to what to do differently next time.

In my book, both of those things are valuable. In my book, both of those things are wins. So we have to release the need for control, and we have to release that underlying desire to avoid failure. You have to be open to the idea, the fact really, that failure, quote/unquote "failure" is inevitable, but also, so is your success, okay? 

So what does that even mean? This is why when I work with my students, when I work with, you know, consulting clients, when I work with people in their virtual VIP days, when we work together inside of Hennapreneur PRO, like, I prioritize implementation. 

I don't want you to just tune in, learn some things, and then sit on the knowledge, take that knowledge and set it on a shelf somewhere and just theorize about it. Or worse, regurgitate it to someone else. Like, come on! You're doing no one, any favors, friends, if you have all of this knowledge just sitting on the shelf, but you're not applying any of it. 

And there are people who do this. There are people who do this. And I say this, and again, this is not with any judgment. I say this with no judgment. And I am saying this from, from a place of respect and with love towards you, but like there are members of the Hennapreneur Community who could probably recite to you almost verbatim things that I've been saying for literal years to our community. And yet, they aren't implementing those things in their own business. They'll know the answer to the question, but they haven't actually applied that knowledge to their business. And you know what? For the same reason, they're not advancing. 

This is something that exists and I don't want you to fall trap to that. That's why I'm calling this out. I don't want you to just tune in and learn some things. It's not by chance that even at the end of every single episode of the podcast, what do I do? I invite you to come back to the community and have a conversation, engage in the conversation. Why? Because when you start asking questions, your subconscious mind goes to work to put answers for those questions at your fingertips.

And so, when you start to dig into the why's, and the what's, and the how's, and the "what does this look like?" of it all, you begin to form clarity. And even if you start with the smallest action, acknowledging aloud, or acknowledging to other people what it is that you're thinking or what it is that you're considering, that is just the tiniest action, but it also is an action. And with each action comes momentum, right?

I want you to take what you learn. I want you to take the things that you know, and I want you to apply them to your life and business. I want you to apply it because that's where you will see real and meaningful transformation. 

And if you are in the space where all you're doing is sitting in theory, sitting in ideation, and daydreaming about the life and the business that you're trying to build, and you're not taking actions that are aligned with those dreams, that are aligned with those goals, that are aligned with what you say that you want, then, my friend, how bad do you really want it? If you want it at all. Okay? 

Action is the only thing that brings clarity. 

So, with that said, I'm going to get that off of my soapbox. 

And I'm going to leave you with this really quick question. And, of course, I'm going to invite you to come back over to the Hennapreneur community on Facebook and have this conversation with us. Talk to me about it. I'd love to hear from you where you fall in this, right? 

So, I'd love to know what's one goal that you've been theorizing about right now for your business? And what's the first action step that you can take right now to move towards that goal? Big, small, doesn't matter. What's the first action step that you could take to move towards that goal? 

So this is two parts. I want you to identify what the goal is. And what's one thing that you could do to get some motion, to get some movement, to get some action towards that goal, all right? 

So I will keep an eye out for your answers 'cause I know that you are one motivated hennapreneur. I will keep an eye out for your answers inside of the Hennapreneur Community over on Facebook.

If you're not already a member, be sure to join. We have a great time over there. And I will talk to you all next time. Bye for now!

Hey friend! I just want to give you a quick thank you for tuning into this episode of the Hennapreneur Podcast. And I hope that you're really enjoying connecting with me in this way. You can find links to all of the content shared today in the show notes, located at Hennapreneur.com/podcast.

If you enjoyed the show and would like to stay in the loop with Hennapreneur, be sure to subscribe to the podcast, too! You'll get access to all of the new episodes and to surprise bonus episodes as soon as they're released. I'd be so grateful to you if you'd take a moment to rate and leave a review on Apple podcasts, as well. This helps me to reach more artists like you, who would love and benefit from the show.

For more ways to connect and work with me or to join me inside of the Hennapreneur Community, pop over to Hennapreneur.com. I can't wait to support you as you chase your big audacious goals one henna design at a time.