Kia ora,

Today you’re going to read about arbitrary beliefs that could be sneakily keeping you stuck, an AI proof-reading hack and a little treats budget. 🍫🍫

Estimated Read time: 4 minutes 34 seconds

The Deep Dive: Are You Dying on Any Hills?

As humans, we often allow our lives to be dictated by arbitrary beliefs, timelines and pride (aka dying on a hill).

These beliefs are so insidious that we don’t even notice them holding us back.

For instance:

I used to have a massive chip on my shoulder that being a successful entrepreneur meant a few things:

1. Building my business to bricks and mortar with lots of employees = success

2. Pivoting in my business before it’s turning over 7 figures annually =  failure

3. Returning to employment = failure

These beliefs were dangerous and wrong.

I would have missed out on so many opportunities this year if I’d stayed dying on my hill of entrepreneurship having to “look” a certain way. 👇👇

Earlier this year, I went from having a team of 6 in an office in Christchurch, to living in Auckland operating my business independently for the first time ever.

I was feeling lost and completely lacking confidence in my abilities both as a marketer and an entrepreneur.

I had this intrusive thought that I was secretly rubbish at my job and nobody had ever been able to tell me because I was “the boss.” 🙄

An opportunity popped up at a professional services firm. It was a three month full-time marketing coordinator contract.

Pride nearly stopped me from applying because a marketing coordinator is relatively junior in the marketing world, and because of my mindset around returning to employment.

But then I thought that a bit of additional security in recession wouldn’t hurt, and it could be a good short-term life experiment on top of my client work.

I took the job and lemme tell you — when you’re used to running a start-up and then go into a corporate environment, you move fast. 🏃‍♀️‍➡️🏃‍♀️‍➡️

Within two months, I pioneered data infrastructure, overhauled processes, increased team efficiency, created a LinkedIn strategy and presented to the board — all on top of the BAU role. 

When my three month contract came to an end, they asked me to stay on.

I negotiated a Fractional Marketing Lead role to stay on 3 days per week, thus giving me two days per week for my business.

By taking a chance on this role, I ended up in a great position to grow my career and my business, and regained my confidence in my abilities.

And as a bonus, because of my increased income, I was able to save a heap very quickly AND JUST GOT PREAPPROVAL FOR A MORTGAGE OMG.

(For anyone who has ever tried to get preapproval as a business owner, you’ll know how hard this is).

Action of the Week:

Are there areas in your life where you’re dying on an arbitrary hill?

For example:

• You’re thinking of starting a business or changing career, but feel shame around taking a pay cut or making a sideways move in order to do so

• You currently own a business but are considering taking on a role on the side to provide financial security, but feel shame around your perceptions of success

• You’re wanting to pivot but feel shame around starting from scratch

Once you’ve identified the “hill”, imagine your life exactly one year from now

Ask yourself:

• How will I feel one year into doing the thing that this belief/pride/fear is currently holding me back from?

• How will life be different if do make the change I’m considering? Am I proud to have done it?

• Will the opinions of others matter 12 months from now?

Thinking about the state after the “uncomfortable beginning” puts the ridiculousness of arbitrary beliefs into perspective. This gets you one step closer to the starting block.

Inspo & Recommendations:

LinkedIn post: “You need to leave space for ideas and creativity” by Lizzie Davidson

Podcast ep: 7 Steps to Create the Future You Want and Change Your Mindset Forever by Working Hard, Hardly Working

Learning: Powrsuit newsletter. Targeted towards women striving for leadership, this newsletter is filled with great learning and actionable tips you can benefit from, regardless of gender identity.

Tech: Use AI to proof read! You can upload PDFs, word docs, or any other type of docs into ChatGPT and ask it to find all the mistakes. You can either ask it to supply the mistakes in a list format with page number, or to give you the copy back with no typos. Remember to input ‘use British English’ as part of your prompt so that it doesn’t correct everything to American spelling. If you’re uploading sensitive information, ensure you’re using the paid plan of any AI model.

Money: Feel like you’re overspending on random things? First allocate your essentials money (bills, savings/investments, entertainment, public transport ticket/petrol, groceries), and have some meals/snacks prepped. Then withdraw $20 - $40 in cash. This is your ‘little treats’ budget for the week. If you feel called to get an unplanned snack or coffee, only allow yourself to use the cash. Once the cash is used up, that’s it until next week. Having a tangible cash amount makes us much more mindful of impulse purchases.

Love from your business-minded friend,

Elise