E2: Are you really ready to start your Business?

In this episode, we’re talking about the myth of being 'ready' to start a business and why waiting until everything is perfect can actually hold you back.

From Leanne’s all-singing, all-dancing website (that no one saw), to Emma’s reflections on breaking free from corporate conditioning, we’re sharing the messy, honest truth about what it actually takes to get started.

You’ll hear:

• Why visibility and mindset matter more than a polished website
• The moment Leanne nearly didn’t launch because she didn’t know what to name her business
• The habits we carry from corporate - and how to unlearn them
• How different working styles can lead to success
• Why our START Framework was born (and how to use it)
• The power of 'done is better than perfect' - and why we keep reminding ourselves of it

This one’s for anyone who feels stuck, is overthinking every step, or believes they need to have it all figured out to start. Spoiler alert: you don’t.

🎁 Free Resource Mentioned:
Grab your copy of Your Business Builder - our free step-by-step guide that follows the START Framework.
Use it to map out your business idea or do a quick mini audit of what’s working (and what’s missing).
👉 https://subscribepage.io/business-builder

🔗 Links & Resources:

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Final Thought:

Hit Follow now and join us each week for the strategies, stories, and sanity-savers you actually need...served with a side of laughter and cake.

Transcript

Welcome to the Real Talk and a Slice of Cake Podcast with your favourite business besties, Emma & Leanne

No fluff. No jargon. Just straight-talking advice, smart strategies and a dash of mischief to keep things interesting.

If you’re starting or growing a business and feeling a bit overwhelmed don’t worry, we’ve got you.

Between us, we’ve built four successful businesses - and learned a lot the hard way.  Now we’re sharing what actually works… PLUS the stuff we wish someone had told us sooner.

From hobby to hustle, side gig to full-time business…you’ll get honest conversations, practical tips, and lots of laughs along the way.

So grab a brew, cut yourself a slice of your favourite cake, and let’s dive in!

Hello, and welcome to Real Talk and a Slice of Cake with me, Emma, and my business bestie, Leanne. Now today, we wanna talk to you about what it really means to start a business. Do you need to be ready to start a business? Do you need to have lots of things in place to start a business? Well, let's dive in and let's see what we think.

Leanne, question. Were you ready when you started your first business?

Are we ever ready, Emma? Um, I thought I was ready, actually. I'd spent a lot of time mapping out, you know, the devil's in the detail with me, mapping out what that was gonna look like, the name, my website. And for me, my website was probably the most important thing for starting my business. Whereas, actually, now with all this new knowledge, I would say your website comes a lot, lot later down the line.

But I think my learning from that was, especially coming out of corporate, that I didn't I didn't so I thought I was I didn't want to be visible, but I'd I'd never been kind of front and center. And ta da. Here I am. So I didn't want to use my name. I, um, had a different different business name.

And I remember you saying to me, Emma, but you are. You are the brand. You are the business. So why not call it Leanne Lorains strategy? And it seems really obvious now, but I that that almost stopped me from from moving forward.

What was I gonna call my business? And I needed my website to be all singing, all dancing. It's funny, isn't it?

It is funny. And do you know what? I think I think we see that a lot, don't we, miss? Especially, I think, with people who have come from corporate. Because when you're working in corporate, and we've both done that, me nowhere near as long as you did it, but we have both worked in corporate.

And you sort of become you become I don't know what the word is. You know me. I can never find the right words, but you sort of become trained to do things a certain way, to behave a certain way, to show up a certain way, to follow certain procedures because you have to because it's a big organization. It wouldn't work if it was just every man doing his own thing. So it's quite an adaptation, isn't it, to go from doing it one way and just being part of a bigger picture to suddenly it's actually all about you.

You are all of the you are all of the departments. You are the face of that business and everything else. But it's just about keeping it simple, isn't it?

Absolutely. And, you know, at one point, it almost felt like I was running down the street naked. Obviously, I wasn't because I don't do that. But that's how it felt, you say, about about coming out. Oh, I can picture this now. No.

You don't want to. But, you know, it's like peeling back the the layers of an onion if you like. And like you say, keeping it completely, completely simple. And that's what I actually thought I was keeping it simple. I thought I'll create, uh, go back to the website.

I'll create a website that people can just come on and they can see what my services are and they can click through and they can book and they don't need to be dealing with me. And that couldn't have been further from the truth. You know, we all know people buy from people. And I think in terms of actually being ready to start a business, which is what we're talking about today, actually, it's definitely mindset as well as being visible and talking to people and growing that audience.

Yeah. Absolutely. That, you know, just coming back to what you were talking about, your focus being having this amazing website, and you did have an amazing website on launch. There's no doubt about that. Your website was amazing.

But if you've got nobody looking at it, it's almost like it was the wrong use at that time on your time and money. And that's learning, isn't it? And that's something that hopefully we can help other people to see, you know, what is priority. Obviously, if you're running an ecommerce business, the website is your priority. Um, but if it's a service based business, then it's just about putting yourself out there, isn't it, and being seen and doing all of those things.

So we've created, haven't we, Leanne, um, a framework. We call it the start framework. And this framework really is it's your checklist. It's your guide. It's your tick boxes.

It's all of the things that will enable you to really understand what you need to be thinking about in order to get going with your business. And I think even with that, it's not saying that you need to do all of these things on day one. You know, if you just wanna launch a business, get out there and start talking. Tell people that you've got this business coming because a phrase we have used so much whilst we've been launching this podcast specifically, done is better than perfect. Just getting something out there.

And we're gonna share loads more over the course of this podcast around our start framework. And I'm gonna just throw this in right now before I forget. Um, we've got a business builder. You can grab it for free. I'm gonna pop the link in the show notes.

That gives you that checklist. That takes you through all of the things that you need to consider when you are launching your business. I got it in. Are you impressed?

I'm very impressed. Very, very impressed. And just to add to that as well, I think if you're listening and you've already launched your business, the checklist is absolutely perfect for doing almost a little mini audit. So, you know, looking at it with a different looking at your business with a different lens and just running through the checklist and seeing if there are any things that are missing or that you want to make a little bit stronger. So it's not just for launching a business. Absolutely. Well pointed out there. Well pointed out there. Do you know we're good at this? We do things without realizing we're doing it.

So impressive. Impressive. And I think for me, what was the hardest bit for me when I launched my very first business? Oh gosh, I think it was the whole shaboodle of what am I supposed to be doing, um, versus what I actually needed to do. And I think, again, because I'd come out of corporate, there was, like, a natural instinct for me to do none of the things that I did in corporate, so to just do everything completely the opposite.

Um, and that probably was my biggest learning because there's some things you do in corporate, even though at the time they may feel a bit red tapey, um, that actually are really important things that you can bring into your business. You don't have to do it with this much red tape. You don't have to do it structured or anything else. You can do it your way. But there's lots of things you bring from there that you can, you know, you can carry forward into a new business.

So if you're in corporate and thinking of moving into your own business, you have got a lot of skills already. You just need to learn how to use them differently. I think is that a fair phrase? Use them differently?

Absolutely. Definitely. Differently. And I think it's also to acknowledge that everybody does things differently. And, you know, you and I, Emma, we're very similar in some ways, but we're very different in other ways.

And we've definitely seen that as we've launched our joint venture together. So I am a very much, let's get all the ideas together and almost it's all got to all the i's dotted no? Yes. Our i's dotted, t's crossed, um, and try and get things looking I wouldn't say I don't wanna say perfect, but to a point whereas you will you'll almost cast your net and this is what's coming. And I don't mean then you'll you'll think about that, but I I guess I do a lot of things behind the scenes, whereas you're more front and center.

And there's no right right or wrong way, but I do know that a lesson for me is that that could have held me back massively because I used to have this, oh, I can't do it now because somebody's gone out and and and done it before I've actually started to talk about it. And I know you've really pulled that out of me, Emma, to actually but they'll be doing something different to what you're gonna be offering. And I do think that is that's really important to keep in your mind. Stay in your own lane, and don't don't be looking left and right at what other people are doing.

No. Absolutely. Although just to add to that, it is good to know what other people are doing, but not from a comparison point, which interestingly is the second second step, isn't it, in our framework? So that's the test step. So that that is where you will do your market research.

You will have to go and find out what other people are doing, what your potential customers' clients are gonna want, but not for comparison reasons. Never for comparison reasons. Purely for reasons about you wanna make sure that you are doing the best for you and your clients within your business. So, yeah, well well segued there into another step in our in our framework. Love that.

Absolutely love that. And I think I think it also the fact that we are so different in so many ways, so alike in so many ways to our values and all of that type of stuff are completely aligned, but in in the way that we do things is so different. I think it also shows that it doesn't matter how you do things, you can still make a business successful. You know, we both have two or three successful businesses under three three or two successful, one brand new, but it's gonna be damn successful. We promise you that.

Um, and we've worked differently, and we still got there.

We have. Yeah. That that doesn't make a right or wrong way.

No. No. So I think whatever you are, however you like to work, there is a way. You just have to make sure that you find that way and and do it. But today's lesson, really, what we really wanted to to get across, and I hope we're getting this across here, is that done is better than perfect, isn't it?

Hundred % done is better than perfect. And I I touched on the fact a little bit earlier that, you know, we have exchanged so many voice notes, so many messages, so many conversations on Zoom over the course of the last month or two, but specifically this week where we've had to keep reminding ourselves that, actually, just get it done. This podcast is a prime example of that, isn't it?

Oh, absolutely. And I think for me, it's, you know, you you you've got your way and you know how you like to do things. I've got my way. Um, we're just finding our feet as well, aren't we? So, um I know I'm definitely overthinking when I'm creating graphics in in in Canva.

Whereas for mine I would just like just get it get it done. And the amount of times we've said to each other done is better than perfect.

So there you go. That's your learning for this week. Right. We're gonna love you and leave you for week. We have cake to eat.

We will see you next time. Thank you for listening.

That’s it for today’s slice of real talk…we hope you’re walking away with something you can actually use.

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Thanks for tuning in and remember, no fluff, no jargon…just real talk.

See you next time!