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Do you feel stuck or unhappy in your business? Have you really taken the time to reflect on this feeling? In today’s episode, I take you on a brief journey of my career and business and fill you in on what I think is the #1 SECRET to finding joy in your business.

Doing things your way, doing things for yourself and being 100% authentic to YOU is what is going to bring you the most joy in your business. Don’t worry about what is working for others, you are unique and only you can determine what is going to bring you success. Let me fill you in on another little secret, as soon as you make the shift to being 100% you and only you, success will come! I promise you that you will find the most growth and success in your business when you have aligned with your passions, desires, beliefs, etc. Authenticity is KEY!

xo,

Stephanie

Let’s connect!

Business Minded Mama Facebook Community

Instagram: @stephanieparenza

 

full transcription below

Speaker 1 (00:00):

Hey, business-minded mama. I’m so grateful that you are here and that you are ready to grow enough, authentic community and scale your impact. Hi, I’m Stephanie. Parenza the voice behind business-minded mama podcast, local and small business advocate and entrepreneur. I’ve created this community because I want to help business-minded mamas. Like you build your dream business by finding your authentic community and gaining control and clarity on the financial aspects of your business by managing your own books. Now let’s tap into your own potential.

Speaker 2 (00:43):

Hey guys, I am really excited to talk about this today, um, because I have been through quite the journey and I’m still on it, honestly. Uh, you know, I’m still gonna have good days and bad days, but I think it’s important to share some of my story so that if you’re going through it, um, maybe this will help you, but uncovering the number one secret to join your business. Wow. Did it take me a long time to really understand what that number one secret was, but through, uh, mentors and friends I’ve I think that I now know that the number one secret is to do it your way, honestly, to stop ordering what everybody else is doing. What they’ll think about what you’re doing, do what’s best for you. What makes you feel good? What sounds right to you? It’s all about you and that’s not being selfish.

Speaker 2 (01:58):

You are the only one who can bring joy into your life, right? Like you are it, you get to decide what makes you happy. So I started this episode by giving the answer, but we’re going to kind of rewind here and just kind of let you know what I’ve been through in the past to really uncover this. And I think it’s helpful to know these facts. I, um, maybe you’ve already determined this and you’re way ahead of me, but looking back into my last, how, well, I can say eight years of entrepreneurship, but honestly, even just going back to starting my career, you know, right out of college, I started this great career with a public accounting firm. I thought it was awesome because I got a job offer before I’d even graduated. I was going to make great money. You know, all of these things, I was going to have a title, you know, just, I just felt so good about it, but what’s funny is while I will never take it back, I don’t want to say I regret doing this because I learned a lot.

Speaker 2 (03:16):

I met people, awesome people. I learned a lot and I don’t think I would be where I am today without, um, that job, but I wasn’t happy. I mean, really it wasn’t my dream to do that. I liked the paycheck. I liked the travel at the time cause I traveled a lot, but I wasn’t really fully happy. It was something I thought I needed to do. I thought I needed to have the public accounting experience with a big firm. I thought I needed, you know, to, to be that person. And it really wasn’t until I had my first kid that I realized that that is not what I was meant to do. And it took a lot of conversations with my husband and full disclosure. It took some therapy sessions, honestly, to work through it, to really understand that I was not happy that I was not where I was supposed to be in my career.

Speaker 2 (04:20):

And it wasn’t that I wanted to be a stay at home. Mom. Now don’t get me wrong. Pardon me has those moments where I want to be a completely stay at home mom. But I also know that I have a little part of me that wants to do something. And that is, um, ultimately how I ended up in this entrepreneurial role because I wanted that flexibility, but I wanted to keep my drive and I wanted to, uh, have these accomplishments in my life. And I wanted to have something that was my own. But at first that’s not where I jumped to. I actually jumped to a different company, a different career path where I thought I was going to have more of that balance. And I did in some ways, but I just, it still didn’t feel right. And I wasn’t allowing myself to really take the time to understand what I needed.

Speaker 2 (05:12):

I just kept reaching for something else that I, that seemed to be the right answer. So I was short, lived there once again, I learned a lot. I met awesome people, no regrets, but then I moved on to another company and this was another step for me. It was a little bit better. I worked flex time and that was awesome, but I just still didn’t feel right. And I just wasn’t listening to myself because I think honestly, because of fear, fear is captivating and it shouldn’t be. And so anyways, it wasn’t until I had a family member who knew somebody that needed help. And I decided to take that leap, but I was scared honestly, so scared, but I took that leap. And then from then it’s all, um, grown from there. Honestly, I think it’s that first initial step that kind of gets you over that hump.

Speaker 2 (06:10):

But I took that step and I figured out that having that balance is where I found my joy. I was listening to myself. I was doing things for myself and that is really where the joy started in my business. Now I’m telling you that it has not been all joy the last eight years. And honestly, over the last couple years, I’ve had some ups and downs again. So circling back, uh, uh, I don’t even know two or three years ago now. Uh, I was, again, even though I had my business and I was doing well with it, I was in a deep dark place again. And it’s, I just, once again, I was in a new stage of life and I wasn’t allowing myself to take the time to really reflect on where I was at that moment. Cause things change, things change and whatever you are doing today may not make sense a year from now.

Speaker 2 (07:12):

Right? So I wasn’t listening to myself. And so I was in this deep dark place. And so I thought that jumping into the world of Instagram would be the answer would be the escape I needed. It was something completely different. And I would find some joy there and I did find some joy, but I found myself falling into the trap of worrying about what people thought, um, wanting to not copy, but be like other people do similar things. And that does not make sense. That is not how you make a successful business. You are unique, you are different, you must do what makes sense for you. And so that was another journey. I finally figured it out that I am not going to be like all those other influencers or business owners out there and allowing myself to know that and allowing myself to really like make that known to others was so helpful for me.

Speaker 2 (08:14):

And so what the struggle is, I think with a lot of people as that, you may realize that you need to do it your way, but it’s hard because you’re not gonna have as much. Um, especially in the world of Instagram, you may not have as much feedback or traction or engagement as you would like to see at first because it you’ve may have confused people, uh, or maybe people just don’t understand what you’re doing yet. Business is a buildup. It takes time. And so I think we’re a lot of people get stumped as day one. They’re expecting everything to be the same once they finally figured out that they need to just do it on their own, do it their way, really focus in on what, um, passions and, and ideas that you have personally. And to let go of what you’re seeing around you to stop that, to stop looking, it’s scary because you may not have as much positive feedback or reinforcement that you need right away. But businesses, a journey business takes time. Business has a slow growth for most people. And so what I want you to take from this is that one take the time right now to make sure that you have complete joy in your business. And if you don’t, what do you need to do for me? It was

Speaker 1 (09:46):

The pivot. So I

Speaker 2 (09:48):

Pivoted in my business because I knew what I was doing in many different occasions, way back when I started in public accounting, even to, um, today in my business, I am pivoting I’m pivoting today because I know that my needs are different right now, my needs for me personally, but also for my family, which obviously affects me. So I’m pivoting in my business.

Speaker 1 (10:11):

Yes. The

Speaker 2 (10:13):

Third thing I want you to do, or to remember as you are on social media or connecting with other business owners, um, or even just looking around you locally here, don’t compare yourself to others, find ways to stay authentic to yourself. And, um, some ideas are maybe to stay off social media or don’t be on it as much, or, you know, just, I don’t know. I think that’s the biggest thing for me is really just mentally allowing yourself to know that whatever they’re doing is awesome, but it may not be the way for you. You know, whatever’s working for them is probably not gonna work for you unless it is authentic to you and less that is really, you are on the same page, but let’s face it. We’re all different. Even in the littlest ways, we’re all unique or different. And so the biggest thing is to allow yourself to stay true to yourself. And if that means you need to not look at anything else than do that, honestly do it. And you may not need to do it forever, but do it for a while until you have cleared your mind until you’ve allowed yourself to really find the joy in your business, by being authentic to you, which will then be authentic to your community. All right, guys, thank you for being here again today and um, yeah, I’ll be back later week.

Speaker 1 (11:55):

Did you write what you heard on today’s podcast or do you know a business minded mama that could benefit from hearing this, take a screenshot and share best with your community? And don’t forget to give me a review, want to chat more by me on Facebook and the business minded mama Facebook page or on Instagram at misses and SIS or through my website, www dot business-minded moma.com.