Monthly Archives:

August 2022

Business

Are Online Businesses Worth It?

We get asked this all the time….

Are online businesses worth it?

It’s a loaded question, but a good one. Is it worth it to start an online business?

In our option, YES!

Starting an online business and venturing into entrepreneurship can be incredibly rewarding, but like all things rewarding, it comes with a certain amount of sweat and effort.

In our podcast episode a few weeks ago we dug into “Is Now A Good Time To Be An Entrepreneur?” 

The answer to “is it worth it to start an online business?” is about the same.

Entrepreneurship can be an incredibly rewarding experience. Working from home has a ton of perks. You have the ability to flex your schedule. You can take off early to spend time with your kids. You have the ability to be flexible with childcare. You don’t have to answer to anyone. Your vacation time is seemingly unlimited.

But there is a trade off.

When you take the time off for your kids or vacation, no one is there to fill in for you (unless you enjoy the perks of a partnership). There is inherent risk with entrepreneurship. And if you don’t produce clients, you don’t produce a paycheck. Plain and simple: it all comes down to you.

So what makes a successful entrepreneur?

You need to know your purpose and reason for doing this.

And your purpose and reason needs to be more than a monetary value. Monetary goals are important – it’s what will keep you doors open. But you need a purpose bigger than a paycheck. That’s the thing that will get you out of bed in the morning and through the tough days as an entrepreneur (and there will be plenty of them).

You need to be real with what your strengths and weaknesses are.

This is no time to not be self aware. You really need to dig in to know what it is in business that you do well, and how are you going to outsource the rest. You will spend either time or money to make up for your weaknesses. Now is the time to decide which is more valuable.

You need a clear runway.

How long do you have before you need to make money? The shorter your runway, the faster you need to make money. A smart business owner understands what their cash flow is, how long they have before they need to pull it, and how they are going to spend their capital. Once the runway is out, (and ideally before) you need to be able to pivot.

Which leads me to….

You need to be able to pivot.

At a moments notice. As soon as there is a problem. You need to be able to course correct and make changes quickly and nimbly when something is no longer serving you as a business. The status quo and fear of change can be death to online business owners. Don’t fall prey to it. When there is a problem. When things are no longer serving you, it’s time to pivot. Not sure if now is a good time? Check out our free guide. 

 

 

Grab your free guide now to see if the universe is giving you signs that it’s time to pivot!  


Assessing Values & Strengths As An Entrepreneur
Business, Entrepreneur Life, Purposeful Pivoting, Uncategorized

Ep 16 Serendipitous Rebel Podcast: Assessing Your Values & Strengths As An Entrepreneur

Assessing Your Values & Strengths As An Entrepreneur

How much do you really know about yourself?

Scary thought sometimes, right?

As personality tests such as Myers-Briggs, and recently the Enneagram, have taken the world by storm – do you take the time to take them?

Are you *mildly* obsessed with personality assessments like we are?

Here’s something slightly controversial: We don’t think we really have weaknesses.

From here on out, we’re hereby calling them:  ‘lesser strengths’. 

Rather than looking at something as a weakness that will always be, why not have a growth mindset and look at it as a muscle that can be strengthened and that we can get better at if we put the work in?

And trust us, we doubt you’ve heard about it.

 

This tool differs from some of the other personality tests out there like Myers-Briggs and Enneagram in that instead of placing a label on your type and putting you into a box, this tool gives a list of universal human values and shows you which ones are your greatest strengths and which ones could use some improvement.

Here is a quick breakdown of our results from our work-cation a few months ago.

VIA Strengths Assessment for Wendy & Krystal

Listen to the podcast to learn more.

 

Curious to conduct your own VIA Strengths Assessment? Visit https://serendipitousrebel.com/viastrengths to access the VIA Strengths Assessment.

Listen on Apple Podcasts

Grab your free guide now to see if the universe is giving you signs that it’s time to pivot!  


Podcast Cover: Coaching VS Therapy
Podcast, Uncategorized

Ep. 15. Serendipitous Rebel Podcast: Coaching VS Therapy

Coaching VS Therapy:

What is the difference between a therapist and a business coach?

Another way to think about this could be: What are the red flags you should look at in your coaching relationship?

Mental health and conversations around it are incredibly important. And, dare we say, we are in a mental health crisis in this country. We encourage any one in distress or struggling to RUN, not walk, to book an appointment with a licensed therapist.

Likewise, a business coaching relationship can be incredibly rewarding as an entrepreneur. It can be the thing you need to push your business to the next level, hold you accountable, and give you clarity and a clear path forward.

At no time should a business coach tackle issues with mental health. Coaches do not handle mental health issues, or handle someone in stress. Unless they are also a licensed mental health professional, they are out of line. If you are in distress, or struggling with mental health, that’s work for a therapist.

We like to think of it in terms of having a baseline. A therapist works with you in distress to bring you back to baseline. A business coach works with you from baseline to thriving.

Baseline to Thriving

When you work with a business coach  you are forward focused. You are working together towards a goal. If at any time a coach senses that there is something from the past that is stress or trauma induced that needs to be addressed in order to move forward, they should then refer you to a therapist.

Therapists look at old wounds and works to help you heal things from the past that may hold you back. If a coach is working with you in that territory it may be a red flag. A therapist is licensed and credentialed to be able to handle different traumas and issues that can arise from picking at old scabs. A business coach is not trained to handle trauma. Period.

Personal VS Professional

There is a fine line to dance between the personal and professional as an entrepreneur. There are mindset blocks issues that need to be worked around often. There are things from our past that informs how we tackle our professional goals and problems moving forward.

So where is the line?

A coach may help identify blocks or issues that impact your ability to achieve goals, and then will work with you to take steps to move forward. But they do not pick that scab. They do not diagnose. They do not bring up past family dynamics.

If something comes up, they can say “I hear you” and see how we can move forward. But they don’t go backwards to try to figure out what happened in your childhood to bring you here.

Just like any profession, there are bad coaches out there. Buyer beware.

It is so important as a consumer to be aware of what we are buying into. While we at Serendipitous Rebel find coaching to be incredibly helpful and foundational to a being a small business owner (hello! We provide coaching!), we also firmly believe that you need to be aware of a persons credentials before you buy into their program, and know as a consumer where the line is.

We have both found ourselves in uncomfortable coaching situations where our coach has crossed a line. We’ve witnessed coaches cross the line and diagnose other peoples trauma. We’ve witnessed coaches try to tackle other peoples trauma without proper licensing or medical credentials. We’ve witnessed coaches liken themselves to therapist.

NO. NO. NO.

DISCLAIMER: A person’s personal experience with therapy does not make them a licensed therapist, nor does it give them the ability to diagnose other people’s mental health issues.

Just like we don’t seek business advice from our therapists, we don’t ask personal advice regarding our past traumas from our business coach.

It’s important to ask yourself, “What are the dynamics between the coach/client? in this room?”

While we all end up drinking the Kool-aid at some point or another, it’s important to ask yourself before entering in a coaching relationship “What do you notice about power dynamics between a coach and their clients/following?”

Coaching programs can often present themselves similar to cults. While we love the raving fans of Serendipitous Rebel, we would never encourage members to speak poorly about people that have left the program or who have decided to move on and do other things. Likewise, we would be wary of any blind followers in our community that would be afraid to question or push back on tactics that we were suggesting. Finally, we continue to keep in touch with people and cheer for their success even when they are no longer a part of our community. The idea that we would cut them off forever and never keep in touch goes agains why we do this in the first place. However, we have both sat in programs where this kind of behavior runs rampant.

Raving fans are awesome! Blind followers that aren’t allowed to question or leave without being totally ostracized are not.

In the end we are big fans of both coaching and therapy! Both can serve incredibly important functions in your life. Knowing the difference and being able to recognize healthy versus unhealthy relationships only helps you have a more successful outcome in both your personal and professional worlds.

Listen on Apple Podcasts

Grab your free guide now to see if the universe is giving you signs that it’s time to pivot!  


Partnerships in online business
Entrepreneur Life, Podcast, Purposeful Pivoting

Ep. 14 Serendipitous Rebel Podcast: Partnerships in Online Business

 

Did you start your business to get paid for doing that thing that really lights you up, only to discover that running the actual business doesn’t light you up at all?

It’s inevitable. There are going to be parts of running your business that

A. You aren’t very good at,

or B. You don’t enjoy.

So what can you do in this scenario?

You can form a partnership!

Wait, wait, wait. Hear us out.

We KNOW they often get a bad rap and can be scary, BUT ….

Partnerships are really amazing opportunities that allow you to play to your strengths instead of having to focus on your weaknesses.

On this week’s podcast, we’re sharing the many pros (and the cons) that come with forming a business partnership and giving our best tips on how to find the best possible partner for you and your business.

Plus, some things you definitely want to consider in the process… because we’ve had experience with awesome (and not awesome) partnerships, and how they can make or break your business.

Listen on Apple Podcasts

The Secret Life of Entrepreneur's Pets
Entrepreneur Life, Podcast, Purposeful Pivoting, Uncategorized

Ep. 13 Serendipitous Rebel Podcast: The Secret Life of Entrepreneur’s Pets

Have you ever thought about the role that your fur baby plays in your life as an entrepreneur?

Whether it’s a puppy running through the house like a toddler without a diaper, or a cat that simply must lay right on top of the computer while you’re trying to work, our pets are there with us as our constant companions as we work every day in this virtual world.

Our pets are also a great way to connect with others. They’re so much a part of our family and what’s more relatable than swapping stories about your snoring dog or how you came up with your pet’s name?

We love sharing pet photos and pet stories so come on over to our Facebook Group (https://www.facebook.com/groups/rebelonthego) to introduce yourself and drop a picture of your fur baby.

Entrepreneur Life, Podcast, Purposeful Pivoting

Ep. 12 Serendipitous Rebel Podcast: Coaching VS Consulting

Is there a difference between coaching and consulting?

YES – and it’s a big one. In this episode, we dig into the key differences between the two.

Have you noticed the latest phenomenon happening in the online space these days?

A lot of people in the online space are using the words coach and consultant interchangeably…. And we’re just gonna come right out and say it.

We. Don’t. Like. It. 

Why? Mostly because it’s misleading and disingenuous.

So what’s the difference between a consultant and a coach? And which one do I really need?

We get this question a lot so we recorded a short episode to clear up some common misconceptions.

This week on our podcast we’re talking about the difference between coaches and consultants and why it makes a big difference to you.

If you’re thinking about hiring a coach or consultant in your personal life or your business, we have some great tips that will help you make a more informed decision on hiring the right person for you.

You can listen to the episode at https://serendipitousrebelpodcast.comand then hop on over to continue this hot topic with us inside our Facebook Group: Rebel on the Go.

Listen on Apple Podcasts

Grab your free guide now to see if the universe is giving you signs that it’s time to pivot!