Overcoming the Entrepreneurial Bottleneck

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Speaker B: The Mind of Business Success podcast is the place for high growth business owners to fill their mind with game changing strategies and principles for success in life and business. I'm m. Your host Alicia Kramer. Enjoy today's show. Welcome to the Mind of Business Success podcast. I'm your host, Alicia Kramer. We're going to talk about your bottleneck in your business with our guest Lauren today. Welcome to the show.

Speaker C: Thank you, Alicia. Thank you very much for having me.

Speaker B: All right, so now I gave you a little bit of a disclaimer that I am not the best. One of my weaknesses is name pronunciation.

Speaker C: Yes.

Speaker B: So since I sort of didn't do your name entirely correct, let's have you because it rolls off your tongue in your native French. Uh, acc.

Speaker C: Yes.

Speaker B: Share with us. Uh, what is the correct pronunciation? First and last name.

Speaker C: You did a good job. Actually, uh, my name, my, my name is, uh, Laurent Notan.

Speaker B: Okay, and now for everybody listening and those of you who may be reaching out because this is going to be a great episode and, and you're going to deliver so much value. He's so good about the fact that individuals like myself and possibly some of you listening who will want to reach out. Um, we are not that great all the time at pronounce pronunciation. And so, um, it's a mindset thing which we're going to get into. Right? It's a mindset thing. People are afraid. In fact, there's actually, um, research that I've read where people will choose to do business in some cases with someone or even work with a salesperson based on how comfortable they feel with somebody's name.

Speaker C: Really?

Speaker B: So interesting.

Speaker C: Oh, wow. I didn't know, I didn't know that.

Speaker B: Because we are creatures of like, avoiding uncomfortable stuff. You know, we don't like rejection, we don't want to hurt anybody's feelings. And so, you know, hey, I'll just avoid that. And that's why I'm putting out a little disclaimer for you in advance. Same, same with me.

Speaker C: So you did not avoid the conversation.

Speaker B: Yeah, right, exactly. Same with me. Um, my, My, uh, what was it? My first grade teacher was still m. Mispronouncing my first name. The last day of school.

Speaker C: Wow.

Speaker B: I remember thinking to myself as a little kid, it's the last day of school and she still doesn't know how to say my name. And then you just learn. Let it, let it roll. Just get, don't take it personal.

Speaker C: Yeah, yeah. You know, you know, I was, uh. We have a dog, an Australian, an Australian shepherd. And you know, every time we go back, we go back home is like, he's so happy to see us. Like, it's, it's the first time that he saw us and then, you know, he spent his time doing nothing, you know. But it is, is a good reminder of how we spend as human beings. Time. We, we take life too seriously. If you look at your dog, if you have a dog, even if you have cats, you know, or if you don't have a dog, look at other dogs or they behave. They take life as, as, uh, it is, you know. Oh, granted, they don't have, they don't have the same, they don't have the same conscience of themselves that like, like we do. But we take our life so seriously sometimes it's just unbelievable. We put ourselves into situations just because, yeah, like you said, we don't want, we don't want, uh, to, to deal with that person because I, uh, cannot pronounce the name or I don't want to deal with that person because, you know, 10 years ago that person did something to me that was really, really, really bad. You know, and, and, and it's all about being on. Because we're going to talk about entrepreneurship, we're going to talk about, we're going to talk about, uh, uh, mindset, but it's all about being an entrepreneur. It's all about accepting that it's going to be, it's going to be painful. But that's part of the, that's part of a process. So get out of your comfort zone. Don't take it too seriously because there are things that are more serious than, you know, than building, uh, a company. Uh, even though it's, it is very serious, it's your baby, but it's not, it's not necessarily a question of life or death every time. Uh, just accept the pain because you're going to progress through the pain.

Speaker B: Let's use this as the perfect jumping off point to talk a bit about how the entrepreneur is oftentimes the bottleneck.

Speaker C: Absolutely.

Speaker B: Their own business. And yes, sometimes it's even cliche, but there's so much truth to it. Let's get into that. Why, why do we do this?

Speaker C: Ah, this is, this is a great question. I think part of the answers is because you know, as an entrepreneur you want it to be perfect. It's your thing. You put your sweat, your tears. Because I know a lot of entrepreneurs myself, including who have, who have cried at some times. Uh, and you put your blood into it, you know, so you want, you want to make sure that it is great. And so it's very difficult sometimes to let go. Uh, and also as an entrepreneur, you build, there's different stages, right. Uh, at the beginning you do everything yourself because you don't have, your resources are limited. Maybe you have a couple of co founders with you, maybe not. Uh, but you certainly cannot afford, for most businesses, you can't afford to hire someone and start delete, start delegating, right? So you do everything, you do everything yourself and you grind, you grind, you grind, you grind. And a lot of entrepreneurs, they keep that mentality throughout the journey and as, as a result they become, they become the bottleneck because one, they cannot let go. As I was mentioning. Two, uh, they might, they might want to control everything. Um, because at the beginning they were controlling everything. So if they lose control, you know, they feel like maybe the, it won't go, it won't go into the right, it won't go into the right direction. Um, three, they might tell themselves some, some lies like ah, uh, I'm the only one to do it. Nobody can can do it better than me. So hey, I'm just going to keep, keep doing it. Uh, and all the things that I see, for instance, they might also, uh, another thing that I see is that their role don't evolve as the company grows. But you cannot run a company of, at the beginning of one to two, three staff the same way you run a business of fifty hundred to invest stuff. So you constantly have to question yourself and the way you, and the way, and the way you do things.

Speaker B: So this evolution, yeah, uh, is oftentimes stagnated by fears and insecurities and limiting beliefs and all, uh, those things that you've touched on. What, what can someone do when they maybe don't know what their blind spots are? They don't know what they're doing that's creating the stagnation. But they, they're very acutely aware that they are the bottleneck, they are the problem. There Is something going on internally that is manifesting externally in their business, in their company. Where do you guide someone to begin this process of getting unstuck, getting out of their own way?

Speaker C: Yeah, the first thing is like you, like you said, you have to, you have to be acutely aware. So that's, that's a starting point. If you're not aware, if you refuse to look at the truth, then there's nothing I can do, I can do for you, you know, so it all starts with self awareness. Realizing that there is a problem and that you might be, you might be the problem. In most of the cases, you, you, you are, uh, and then ask and telling yourself, okay, let's imagine I am the problem. It's, it's me. The reason why my business is not going where I want it to be, it's because of me. Then what can I, what can I do? What can I do about it? But that's really the, the base, it's that, it's that awareness. Now of course I would say you can reach out to a coach, like obviously, but there's also something else that is easier to do. So reach out to people. It's unbelievable. The number of entrepreneurs that I know who are never have, like, uh, are never, um, would never get their performance assessed by their staff. It's what I call a reverse performance review. So many entrepreneurs, actually a lot of leaders in companies are the same at the end of the year, most of the time, sometimes twice a year. There's always like uh, a performance review for the staff. Right. Everybody finds that normal. It's part of the process. But hold on, what about reviewing you leader? What about reviewing the person at the top of the pyramid, the funder? Because if you cannot see, you cannot see your blind spot. You can't see them. So who can identify the blind spots for you? Right again, a coach, of course. But before that, people, you know, people you work with all the time, your staff, stakeholders, you know, shareholders, maybe some, some of your clients, uh, maybe other peers. Right. So reach out to people, don't stay alone, uh, and really ask for genuine feedback. But that requires to be open to such feedback. That also could be quite difficult for entrepreneurs because, you know, the ego with entrepreneurs can be quite strong. It can be quite, you know, but that's, that's okay. That's, that's, that's, that's good to have, to have a strong ego because it's also something that helps you moving forward. But sometimes it's really important you sit on your ego and you learn, you listen to what other people have to say about, about you. So this is where, this is where I would start.

Speaker B: I recently put out an article that was talking about the value of desensitizing ourself to rejection is so important as we are out there doing sales, but it's also incredibly important for this very reason that you just spoke about. We are unwilling to have our ego hurt. Uh, and that unwillingness because we don't want to accept the pain, we don't want to feel the pain. We don't want to acknowledge. Hey, I suck at that. Yeah, you know, hey, I'm. I'm really, um, emotionally immature in that area. Um, as though by avoiding it, it's not there. And that's no different than the addict who is in denial because things can't get better if we don't address them correctly. And so that article, um, I'm, you know, walking through different techniques and, and tools that are scientifically proven to help you to desensitize that. And I think that this is one of those areas where sometimes we just need to sit down and we need to have a little bit of a heart to heart with ourself and get really honest. What are we afraid of? What are we afraid that we're going to find out about ourself and process out some of that fear so that we can be open to, to that constructive feedback which can only help us and our business.

Speaker C: Y.

Speaker B: Now I'm curious. Maybe, maybe you've got some different tools and techniques that you use with your clients that help them overcome that resistance.

Speaker C: While you were, while you were talking, I was thinking about, uh, my favorite question. One of my favorite questions is what are you waiting for? And so, you know, in the process, in the process of coaching, first you explore the issue, then you, you talk about potential options, then you make a plan, right? And then at the end, I, uh, always have a question which is, okay, when do you start? What are you waiting for? Every time, Every time, the answer is, huh, Nothing. There is nothing in their way. Like when you, when you start, when you start really going deep and you have really analyzed what's, what's really going on and you have gone through those, uh, limited beliefs or whatever it is that was blocking those bottlenecks. There's nothing, you know, in, in the way. The thing is this, that we always, we all have the answers inside us. I just, that's what my job, my job is to simply. I don't give the answers. I just simply guide my clients to find the answers by themselves because I know they have the answers in them. What they need is a shift in perspective. That's what I bring as a coach. Uh, I bring uh, opportunities, uh, to think differently, to look at a situation from a different, from a different angle. And that is really, really important as an, for entrepreneurs to do that because, you know, we're so much close to operations all the time. We are like, uh, you know, our head against, against, against the wall. So it's, it's, it's really important to take a step back, to elevate yourself and look, and look at the big, and look at the big picture, especially at the top, because the top is the only, um, place where you have a 360 degree view on what's going on. Everybody who is under you has a narrower picture than you, a narrower perspective.

Speaker B: Now for that individual who is listening, who is thinking to themselves, I probably have some bottlenecks, but I don't feel like it's that big of an issue right now. I'd like to address that because that's a, uh, trick that the mind plays in every area of our life. It's not that bad yet, or it's not that bad now. And so let's just put it off because that seems like work and that seems like stuff I don't really want to have to look at or deal with or whatever. And then it has that tendency to get far worse until we reach that point where we can't tolerate it anymore. I'm curious if you have any advice for someone who's listened this far into our interview and they're sitting right there on that fine line. Um, what guidance would you give to someone who is in that place right now?

Speaker C: It reminds me, one time an entrepreneur told me, I think, I think it was on a, on LinkedIn. I brought a post about delegating because I, I write a lot about delegating. That person wrote to me and said, I'm really good, I'm already really good at delegating. Oh, okay. I wanted to say, you know, challenge accepted. She can, you can, we can always, we can always do better. But the, the, the thing is we are humans and it takes a bit of self experimentation before being in a place where you are able to accept that you need external help. You know, people will try things, they might start reading books, they might attend, they might attend conferences. Uh, they might, they might reach out to consultants. Ah, you know, different, different, different things. Um, but at one point it is, it's nothing, Nothing is helping, nothing. Is helping anymore, right? And this is. This is where you need to realize that you need to be able to accept help. I need to realize that it. Perhaps it is time to try something new. Now. How do you get there? You know, that's. That's really. That I think this is like, uh, for everybody is a bit. Is a bit different, I would say it's like a very personal. It's like a very personal, uh, journey. If I take. If I take the example of. Of myself, uh, in my previous. In my previous work, um, I had a very bad experience when I was. When I was working after nine years in a company, um, I reach. And I reached a point where I was not thinking clearly anymore. I was so tired, I was so exhausted that I had to resign. That was the only way forward. When I resigned, I felt relief, you know. But now when I think about it, When I think about it is. I think about it and I'm like, damn, I should have done it before. But I was so much in the grind. I was. I was so much trying to achieve something with what I had. I was trying so much to solve the situation with the tools that I had that I was not ready to listen to anybody. You know, and that's really the. That's really the tricky part. And again, I think it all comes down to self. To self, to self awareness, it all. And also, if I may add something, it's also about having the right priority in your life. All entrepreneurs that I know, they would put, um, work above everything else. I used to do the same. And when you're young, it's easy. Yo. Like all these answers. Yes, I'm, um, very energetic. Bam, bam, bam. Work, work, work, work, work. But that's not the right approach. You should never jeopardize your health, mental health and physical health for work. Even though it's your company, it's not worth it. It's never worth it. I know, I know a client of mine who, you know, had, was very successful, sold his comp, sold his company, uh, for a lot of money. Doesn't have to worry about money anymore. But he went into all sort of health issues right after I asked him the question one day. I said, was it worth it? And he said, no, he's lost. He's lost so much of his time. You know, he hasn't seen his kids, uh, growing up. So now he's making up time for it. But now also he has. He's gonna have to be extra careful about his health, both mental and physical, for the rest for the rest of his Life and he's 50, 55 or something, or something like that. So I think if you prioritize health first you will reach a point where you know it has to go, you have, you have to, you have to pull the, you have to pull the plug before you go to the uh, to the, to the uh, to the other side. That's what happened to me. I did a burnout after. I didn't know it was a burnout but I, I realized it was a burnout when I read about, but when I read about it, it was not, it was not worth it. Honestly. What, what did that bring to me? The situation I was in? It brought nothing to me. It brought um, too much because I had to compensate. I, I, you know, my family life was crap, uh, work life was crap. Uh, yeah, I had a lot of money, but I was not using it. So you know, what's, what's, what's the point? So look at your health, look at your, look at your health. Look, be, be, be aware of what's going on and then don't hesitate to pull the plug because it's not worth it.

Speaker B: This is the perfect time for me to ask how can our listeners connect with you? And go deeper of course, uh, so

Speaker C: they can um, uh, connect. Well, uh, I have a website, uh, lan.com. uh, they can reach out to me on uh, LinkedIn on my website, uh, they will be uh, able to find uh, an ebook, uh, that is about uh, tactics to help thrive as an entrepreneur. Very practical. Everything I do is really, really practical. I hope you get you got that from what I was uh, uh, when I was talking today. And I also offer uh, uh, discovery coaching discovery sessions if they ask by by email on, on LinkedIn.

Speaker B: Excellent. This has been a powerful episode. I'm sincerely hoping that some people are inspired to be more self aware so that they can get themselves out of this bottleneck situation before it escalates into something much bigger. So thank you so much for being with us today, sharing your story and sharing your wisdom.

Speaker C: Well, you're very welcome. Thank you Alicia.

Speaker B: And thank you to everyone who has joined us today. You know we're doing this for you. If you haven't already subscribed, make sure you do so. And until next time, we will see you in the next episode. You've just listened to the Mind of Business Success podcast. Connect with me on social media. You can find all of my links on my website@aliciacramer.com.

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