Confidence Classic: Start Before You Feel Ready, With Heather!

Creating Confidence with Heather Monahan

Heather Monahan shares powerful insights on overcoming hesitation and taking action before feeling ready. She emphasizes that 'done is better than perfect' and uses personal stories to illustrate the value of messy, cour

Key takeaways

• Start now—perfection is a trap

Transcript preview

How do you start a podcast or how do you start a business or how do you make a career change? Here's the reality and this is what the majority of people struggle with. Just do it. Waiting is not the answer. Done will always be better than perfect. Take messy action. I've just seen so many people wait so long. It's that analysis of paralysis, right? You just, you want it to be the perfect time, the perfect conditions. Oh, the marketplace isn't right? All of that. is BS excuses no matter what it is that you're thinking about in your life the answer is start now on this journey with me each week when you join me we are going to chase down our goals overcome adversity and set you up for a better tomorrow. Tell me have you been enjoying these new bonus confidence classics episodes we've been dropping on you every week we've literally hundreds of episodes for you to listen to so these bonuses are a great way to to help you find the ones you may have already missed. I hope you love this one as much as I do. Hi and welcome back. I'm so glad you're back here with me this week. Okay, so when I'm asked a question, a multitude of times, I take that as a sign. I should share the feedback, the answer with you on the podcast. So recently I've received so many diems asking me how to start a podcast, how to land big- How did you get Gary Vanerchuk? How did you get Sarah Blakely? So I keep getting these questions. First and foremost, this is sort of interesting. I don't really think of it like how do you start a podcast or how do you start a business or how do you make a career change? All those things are essentially the same, right? I mean there can be some nuances in regards to when you launch a podcast. Should you just do solo episodes? A. K. what we're doing right now. Or what category do you want to be in an apple? There are some nuances that are unique. It's same thing with starting your own business, you know, what product or service are you going to sell? What problem do you solve? Right, there are unique questions you're going to ask around it. But here's the reality. And this is what the majority of people struggle with. Just do it. Waiting is not the answer. Done will always be better than perfect. Take messy action. And I've just seen so many people wait so long. It's that analysis of right you want it to be the perfect time the perfect conditions oh the marketplace isn't right all of that is BS excuses and I get it listen for over a decade I was not happy not living my best life not living up to my potential in a job but I was afraid to leave I was afraid to pull the trigger I didn't I couldn't see what was on the other side of that that gap right if I'm gonna leap well what's out there I had no idea I had no idea and because I couldn't go. I was wrong. I think all the time now if I had left corporate America in that job where I was not treated well I wasn't respected and I allowed it to go on if I had taken that leap that I took five years ago now could you imagine if I had taken that five years earlier? I'd be light years ahead I can't even imagine. So no matter what it is that you're thinking about in your life if you're always questioning if you should leave the relationship if you're questioning if you should leave the job, if you're questioning if you should invest in yourself, start the podcast, start the business, whatever it may be, the answer is start now. There's never gonna be a perfect time. Take the messy action and go for it. Here's a quick story. When I first got fired, one of the things I wanted to do was partner with a massive brand to give me that brand cachet that I felt like I had lost because I no longer had a massive company behind me anymore, right. also that's just all ego and BS but it's what I needed at the time so anyhow I ended up partnering with Perry Ellis International which is a multi-billion dollar clothing brand and I felt like this is exactly the kind of partnership that I want that's gonna give me that swag and presence and you know the PR teams were announcing it everywhere and it made me feel really happy I felt like okay I'm back that was fast all right way to go Heather however to the point done is always better than perfect. I pitched Perry Ellis on this clothing line that I wanted to launch together in partnership with them because they already have the clothing factory set up. I didn't. I knew what I wanted the messaging to be, the marketing. I knew that I wanted to sell it on TV, on H.S.N. I mean I had so much of this business plan mapped out and I was ready to hit the ground running, but I needed someone who could actually manufacture the clothes and I wanted to bring great quality products to market. Okay so they new revenue streams. It seemed like a great partnership for months. About nine months we worked on the line, we worked on the messaging, we worked on some really unique strategies and we were ready to go to market. I went to H.S.N. I got us the meeting. Bottom line is this. We did not get the deal. And that was a really difficult know to take because we had worked so long on the product line, nine months when I had just lost my job, right. So I needed revenue, so I needed revenue, and I needed revenue and I was so fixated on this idea, hasn't come to fruition yet, or didn't come to fruition the way that I thought it would, right? No, can also be not right now. So what I learned from that situation, why I'm glad I still just jumped in and did it, is I learned so much about H.S.N. I learned so much about QVC, selling products and services online. I made so many contacts at KVC, at H.S.N. Right. And basically, here's where it led me. Again, again, it hasn't come to fruition yet. And I believe the best is yet to come. It's God's plan, not mine, right? I have these ideas, I have these senses in regards to, ooh, this is a great concept, marketplace is ripe for it. I love that it solves a problem, it's within my community, right? Like I get a feel for, okay, this could be amazing, it's right in line with my brand and what I live and believe. And I get excited about things. I go for them. They don't always come to fruition, So to that end I am continuing to work on different products and services I still have that vision for me I've made such great contacts that I know I could tap at any point in time and they've taught me the key that I was missing when I was with Perreelis is their products were too similar to stuff that they already had on the air it wasn't unique enough it wasn't special enough it wasn't different enough and so Perreelis didn't want to change who they were right they're a multi-billion dollar company that's cool that's cool I get it's cool I get it's company I can change and pivot fast right so take advantage of what's unique and different about you periels is a massive company they can't pivot quickly I'm a smaller company I can pivot really fast thinking your mind yeah you might not be the multi-billion dollar Goliath in your industry but what's unique and different about you that you can leverage to get yourself ahead the key is in my opinion done will always be better than perfect move fast and break things you'll figure out solutions along the way that will direct you to where you're really supposed to be going. Maybe Perreelis wasn't my partner, maybe somebody else is, and maybe these new relationships that I've been forming along the way are going to reveal who that right partner is. And when the timing's right, watch out, you know, you can't connect the dots, looking forward. You can only do it looking back and you've got to have faith and belief in yourself. Okay, done will always be better than perfect. Move fast and break things. Okay. these questions I kept getting asked and I'll start with the Gary Vainerchuck story if you haven't heard it before so people asked me how did you land Gary Vainerchuck for a guest that's incredible yeah it was incredible number one I got really clear on my intention I knew I was gonna do it and I did not know how story of my life right but I had faith and commitment I was getting him as my first guest on the show so you need get really clear what is your intention get clarity around the goal hold yourself accountable. I started DMing Gary Vainer Chuck and I actually demed him for a couple of years before I ever got a response back. Then I got a response back and got blown off. That's fine. Part of sales, right? Sales is a numbers game. So I knew I'd to keep pursuing and take a different angle or pursuit. That's when I took out a Google alert on Gary Vainerchuck's name. Now if you have a target or someone you're going after that you want to have as a business partner or want to pitch for an idea, out on that person. It is brilliant. Every morning when you wake up you're gonna have in your inbox what's going on in their life. And so within a couple of weeks I saw an announcement that Gary Vanerchuk was launching a wine company with a partner and so