How to Go from Exhausted to Energized From Running Your Business

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I see newer entrepreneurs falling into this trap, all the stinking time. And the sad thing is they don't always get out right away. It can take years for these entrepreneurs to realize that they are stuck. They're stuck. That's the best way to put it, believing something that is holding them back in a massive way.
[00:00:20] And even more importantly, that's keeping them exhausted as they build their business instead of energized by building their business. So I want to talk today in the bright entrepreneur podcast about how you can go from being exhausted, lost it and overwhelmed and burned out. While growing your business to being energized and excited to show up each and every day.
[00:00:48] Just like, you've heard me say many episodes so far. This is another thing that I, I have personally struggled with early on when I was starting my business. The sense in my mind that I needed. To grow a business in the way that it was supposed to be done. So this was it's especially true in the photography industry.
[00:01:41] I just had this idea that clients expected things to be done a certain way. And so I needed to do it that way too. So sample, I thought, well, I've got to have consultations with my people in person so that I can sell my wedding packages or sell my portrait sessions and have them be more likely to buy well, You don't have to do that, but in my head, because I had decided that that's how things are supposed to be, then that's what I figured I needed to do.
[00:02:13] Like I was driven more by this external sense, how I was supposed to do it to be a good photographer. And if you could see me right now, you'd see me making the little air quotes. In the air as I talk about it. And that's how I operated. Like I operated so much, so, and I made so many decisions. Based on what I thought I should do or I was supposed to do.
[00:02:39] And this, you know, this is how we operate in life. When we're younger, we adopt labels. And this is part of why I get super geeky on this whole identity thing. So I'll try not to go on too much about this, but this is where I get really excited is that Seth Godin says people like us do things like this.
[00:02:58]So what that means is that when you adopt a label, so when I adopted the label of professional photographer, I made my decisions based on what I thought a professional photographer should do. Not based on what I thought was best for me and my clients. I did not break out of the mold. Right away. And I saw lots of photographers doing this.
[00:03:26] In fact, there was a whole ton of photographers back around like 2007, 2008. So we're going back a ways, but I started my business quite a long time ago. Back then, there is a huge shift from. Film cameras to digital cameras. They were finally getting to the point where digital cameras had a high enough quality where you could use them professionally.
[00:03:49] And there was this huge, huge shift from people doing studio work to working outside in parks and basically the whole digital camera revolution. Empowered many people to start taking photos who might not have done it in the past last, because they didn't have access to, uh, you know, developing it themselves.
[00:04:10] Or it was so cost prohibitive to buy all the film and then develop all the film that they just never did it. Digital cameras once he bought the camera, you could take. Thousands of photos with no extra costs. Once you had all the stuff, if you need it. It was a beautiful thing. It's literally, yeah, really why I finally got into photography because at the time I didn't have a lot of extra money, but I loved photography and I enjoyed it so much and I could finally go and play with it without feeling like I was wasting money with every shot I took.
[00:04:41] So the market flooded with photographers and there was this huge outcry from quote unquote, the old guard. And there I am doing my air quotes again for you who got really upset that these new photographers we're not doing it the way that it should be done, they were literally bitter and angry that.
[00:05:07] There is a disruption in the industry that they weren't doing it the way that they had done it in the past, and that they were undercutting them and they couldn't compete with that. And instead of using all of their experience and saying, huh, look at what these people are doing, how can I take my better understanding of the market and of photography and the people and adjust what I'm doing?
[00:05:33] And make that a benefit instead of getting bitter and going out of business. Cause that's ultimately what happened with them. You know, how they, they just got mad. They didn't go there. They, they chose to, you know, stake their tent on the, this is how it should be. And if it's not going to be this way, I'm not going to do it.
[00:05:50] Like they didn't want to give digital images to their clients. They refused. To do that. They insisted on selling overpriced prints to people who wanted images more and more to share on social media and all the different digital platforms. Right. And they refused to change what they thought should be done and what they were supposed to do.
[00:06:13] And it ultimately led to their demise. And I see this happening in other industries as well, but photography industry is an easy example for me because that's the one that I know best having come up through it for many years. And I saw the massive shifts that happened, that it happens in the online entrepreneur space as well.
[00:06:31] I see so many people who are running webinars or challenges or launches or whatever it is, or they're selling things a certain way. Because that's what they think they're supposed to, to do in their niche. Okay. That's what they think a bright entrepreneur does. They see people with larger audiences and successful businesses doing it one way.
[00:06:57] And so they say, Oh, I'm just going to copy that because that's obviously how it works, but they don't know the behind the scenes of what's really going on. They don't understand the deeper strategy. And so the tactics don't always work the same and sometimes people are so set on what they think they are supposed to do to be the person they want to be.
[00:07:21] That they never stop and say, is this really the best way for me and my clients to do my business. And sometimes those tactics are really out of alignment with who we are. It's people. For example, I love my friend, Susan Bradley she's in the eCommerce world. She's been wildly successful with eCommerce and I just adore her so much. I'm going to use her as an example because she's in the impact mastermind with me and she doesn't love doing big, crazy launches. She does this thing that I call stealth launching, which is kind of like a super low key.
[00:08:01] Lightweight series of Facebook posts and emails when she opens up her membership to her people. And it's so easy for her, she doesn't like the high pressure of a big launch. She doesn't like all the moving parts. She's brilliant to do it. Like she absolutely could. It's this, that she has the wisdom of having done this for so many years that she knows that that would be utterly exactly in draining to her.
[00:08:29] And that there's. Tons of different ways to do the same thing. And that the one that aligns best with who she is, is ultimately going to be the most successful for her. Because when we do things, because we feel like we should or are supposed to, but we don't really own them when there's a little bit of like hesitancy or, you know, like for example, I struggled, not struggled, but struggled.
[00:08:55] Yeah. We'll call it struggle. That's a fair word. I struggled to enjoy building an evergreen funnel. Not because I don't have the analytic skills to do it. Like my past actuary job totally set me up to do it well. But because even though I know the math stuff and I know all the different testing and I know all that, I know the whole system stuff, I know how to do evergreen and the things to watch.
[00:09:18] And I knew what to tweak and test. I knew I just had to find the right pieces to go together. And it's just a puzzle. It's really a big puzzle. And I knew it would come together and it did start to before covert hit. And, um, but I, it didn't bring life to my soul because I felt like I was always in the background setting up automations and technology.
[00:09:40] And I wasn't feeding off that one on one energy that I get when I launch and I'm doing things like Facebook lives and I can actually have conversation with people in person also. I'm a really great copywriter. But I hate copywriting. Like I hate doing it because it's not how I love to communicate. I love to communicate by voice, by video, even better.
[00:10:08] I love to communicate one on one with people. I am so. Fed and energized by being with other people and engaging with other people and connecting with them. That that's what appeals to me. So I was writing all this copy and setting up all this technology and then starting to run some of it, but not getting that direct feedback from people in the same way.
[00:10:31] Like I do with a launch where you could just feel the energy and I'm highly intuitive. So I feel it all. Impathics well intuitive too, but highly empathic. That's the word that I meant. Yeah. So I feel all of it, right. It felt empty. It drained the life from my soul and. This was just like this year. I mean, I was working on stuff and I'm not saying I'll never do an evergreen funnel again, but I, I realized that when I was starting this new business, I wanted to start it out based on feedback and have it be more community based and engagement based.
[00:11:08] Now I'll be honest. I've struggled a little bit. Would this podcast, even here, even though I love to talk and teach with talking like, this is my favorite way to do it. Love speaking on stages. I mean, I can be way more casual on my podcast with you because it's just a podcast, but I much prefer this to writing any day, any day, but it's been harder doing this than say Facebook lives because I don't get that direct feedback from you.
[00:11:36] So there's a few things I will do. Eventually I will have a Facebook group that goes along with this business, besides just my paid group. I will have a free Facebook group as well. I just have not had the capacity to start it yet. Cause I'm only like seven weeks in as I'm recording this episode. But. Uh, I'm realizing that I need some feedback from it.
[00:11:56] And I don't get that here in the same way that I do for Facebook lives. So one of the things that I've created, and if you really want to engage with me and get to know me, man now is the time because my audience is tiny. So you can bet that I am answering every comment I'm getting from people. If you want to get on my radar, there has never.
[00:12:18] Ever been a better time than now. And so I've started this telegram channel. So telegrams, a free app. You download it to your phone. It's kind of like a messenger app, except for then we don't have all of Facebook's crazy rules, which I really hate. And they're just getting stricter and stricter all the time.
[00:12:36] So I'm using. Telegram. And what I do is I can put posts there and then there's a comment section. So you can actually reply back and I can get some feedback from you. And this is not for everybody. Okay. So my telegram channel, please only join this. If you actually want to engage with me and you want to be one of my insiders, like if you're like, yes, I love everything you're doing Jamie, and I just want to be involved in it.
[00:13:00] And in your community, if you will, you are my people then absolutely join telegram if you're still on. Sorry. And just, wait, wait until you get there, because this is overwhelming and a little place for my insiders. And this is for the people who want, cause you do get a phone notification, you know, like you can turn them off, but if you're gonna turn them off, just don't.
[00:13:19] Join telegram, right? This is for people who want to be engaged and follow what I'm doing and be a part of my business. These are for my people, like I talked about in that last episode, who want to be a part of the community that I'm building, who care about in KA pact, who care about seeing their clients transformed and who want to build a simple business with purpose and intention and strategy behind it.
[00:13:41] If that's you go join right away, we'd love to have you a bright entrepreneur podcast.com/telegram. If you're. On a treadmill right now, or you're doing the dishes or you're driving a car or something where you can't use your hands, please do not text and drive or whatever else. Just pause this and verbally tell your phone, say, Hey Siri, remind me at whatever time to go and join the telegram channel.
[00:14:08] And then come back at that time when you get the reminder. So you don't forget. That's what I do. That's my hack. That's a bonus hack that you get in this podcast for how I do things. Um, When I can, when I'm afraid, I'm going to forget. I use my phone for all sorts of reminders like that. So do that if you can't do it right now, but if you're one of my people go join that, say hello over there.
[00:14:27]Here's the thing you can make your business aligned to who you are and when you do, then it energizes you when you are stuck living in the sheds, when you are stuck, living in the I'm supposed to that's when things get exhausting and there are so many different ways to grow a business, bright entrepreneurs know that it's less about the tactics because.
[00:14:54] Tons of 'em work. There are thousands of different ways to grow a successful business. It's more about finding a way that aligns with who you are that brings you energy and brings you life instead of keeping you sucked into this exhausted state. And so. I just want to encourage you today that you can do this any way you want to do this.
[00:15:18] And when you get real about what is it that you really love and how do you want to do it? Things go from being really heavy, to really light and easy. Now you might not know exactly how that alignment. Like what it is. You might not know what really resonates with you. You might not know what's gonna make you come alive or the best way to do it with you.
[00:15:41] And so one of the things that I like to do is as I'm going through my day and doing stuff in my business, or when I have stuff I need to do, and I'm procrastinating, I take note. I've got a bunch of admin stuff that I need to do this week, talking to my accountant and a bunch of other junk that frankly.
[00:15:58] I've been putting off too long and I need to get back to it. Things like worker's compensation and all of the stuff that actually has to be done to run a business. There's always those parts. And so one I'm recognizing that I hate those things. I don't want to be the one doing all of those things all the time.
[00:16:14] So noted. Those are not the kinds of things. Now I either can do them, myself, or I can hire somebody to help me handle them in the future. And that's generally what I do. But then too. The other thing I take note of when I feel that resistance to something is what are the activities that I do. Instead, he's like, I call it procrast a working.
[00:16:35] And this is when, like I will go into Facebook groups and engage on posts or I will connect with people for me. It's a connection thing. I love helping people. It makes me feel good. I love knowing that what I have learned can help. Other people grow their businesses and have a greater impact in the world.
[00:16:55] I love the appreciation and the validation that comes from it. And I've just, I've just had to own that without shame. And you can own your, the things you enjoy without shame as well. And so I take note of that and I go, huh. Okay. If this is what I'm going to do to procrastinate the stuff I hate doing, um, then this is probably something that I want to double down on and make bigger part of my business.
[00:17:18] It's okay for me to want to do more live launches, or to want to create something that has more personal touches or a deeper community in it, then. Not, and that's great, you know, like that is a totally valid way to do it. Maybe the whole idea of running a free Facebook group, like stresses you out in a big way.
[00:17:43] And even if you've learned how to do it well, so that it doesn't suck the life out of you. So there's a difference between I want to do it, but I'm afraid it's going to consume my life and not be worth the results, which is a very valid and very common fear. And, um, you know, just genuinely not enjoying doing all that one on one connection, or it doesn't even need to be one on one, but you get the picture right.
[00:18:05] Some people do not want, uh, the community aspect and would be really happy to have everything be passive income and all automated, and they don't have to touch hardly anything. They just need to show up, make their content and go, and they don't need that in person connection. That's on me. I need that connection.
[00:18:22] And there's nothing wrong with people who are more funnel focused who are more automation focused. In fact, Dear friend of mine is more in that camp, but for me, I love the touch. I love the connection. I love knowing the people that I've actually helped as much as possible now. I mean, I'm the geeky one.
[00:18:39] Who's like, how do I scale connection? Which is how this whole podcast. Right. So when you start looking at how you run your business and the things you love and the things you don't, you'll start to identify the things that are heavy and the things that you really love doing. And even as I was teaching the bright future method workshop for the first time as a beta, I was kinda surprised cause I I'd go through with curiosity and the lessons that I enjoyed teaching most were not the lessons that I thought I would enjoy most.
[00:19:10] And then the, the ones that I thought I would like geek out on that I almost built an entire business around, which was just like the tactics of growing a community. I love all of that. I've got all sorts of like hacks and tactics and things for making it grow and getting engagement. And that was where I was thinking about focusing first and foremost, um, I realized that, you know, I absolutely can do that, but it doesn't light me up in the same way as it does to help.
[00:19:39] Help. Honestly, what I love is helping entrepreneurs step in who they really were created to be, and to be the best version of themselves that they can and really empower them yeah. To empower their people. I'm so good with empowering people and inspiring people. And. I've grown a lot that I can even say that without feeling like I'm bragging or whatever, cause that's not it at all.
[00:20:03] Like I know that that's a strength of mine. I know that I can coach people and help them see the places where they're stuck and just need to make a little shift and then things will come together for them. I'm really good at helping people overcome their fear, fears and step forward in boldness and.
[00:20:22] Yeah, really align themselves with what they're doing so that it becomes easy, effective, and success. That's what, that was the stuff that lit me up. I was like, what? Teaching the lessons about how to empower your community to be leaders like helping you, help your people. That was what lit me up the most.
[00:20:39] And I was shocked because, you know, it's, it's almost like personal development, but with a huge business strategy bent, but. So much of that is based on growing a community and you need to know the tactics and I didn't hate teaching it. It was just an interesting thing to me because I really thought that all the engagement and community and culture stuff was where I was going to geek out most.
[00:21:01] And really it was in helping people become leaders. Like helping you become the bright entrepreneur leader, you can be so that your customers get real transformation and feel like they belong and want to be a part of the movement you're creating. Like that just lights me up in the biggest way. So, um, that is, you know, you can kind of discover where your alignments are as you.
[00:21:28] Kind of just keep your awareness open, notice your hesitations, notice your anxieties. Just be curious, be mindful when. You're procrastinating. What is it that you do? What is it that just really makes you feel like, yes, this is awesome.
[00:21:43] Like you get off of it. You're like, ah, like these podcasts, this is how I know I'm a podcaster because right now I am like fired up and I know I'm going to get off of recording this podcast and be like, I'll probably send some crazy messages to friends. Um, I've got my, a verbal lubrication going as my friend Levi calls it, which I think is the most ridiculous and weird and funny term ever.
[00:22:07] It cracks me up in a big way, but I know that this brings me energy. This is not hard for me because this is aligned with who I am. Now writing emails sucks the life from my soul. I absolutely can do it, but that exhausts me, podcasting energizes me. So as you become more and more aligned in your business, you're going to want to shed the stuff that sucks the life out of your soul and exhaust you.
[00:22:38] And really lean in to the stuff that energizes you. Now, there's a couple different ways you can get rid of the stuff that exhausts you. Some of it you might have to do, like I said, and I'm not going to go into all of that in this episode, because I'm sure at some point we can talk about team. We can talk about how to do that stuff.
[00:22:53] We can talk about race structuring, and that's actually what, uh, I. In some ways in the bright future method, we do talk about how there's lots of different ways to go about it. So if something really doesn't jive with you, you can go into your accountability groups and talk about what are some other possible ways you could do the same thing, or maybe you can shed that altogether.
[00:23:13] But what I know to be true, and this is big thing. So listen closely is that when you are operating out of your strengths, when you are doing the things that totally aligned with who you are. It's never a burden to show up in work. It's never a burden to work on your business. I had a conversation again with my friend Levi, several months back and we were talking about what do we really want?
[00:23:40]if we had all the money we needed, like when we get to that point, what do we want to be doing? And I had asked him that because his business has exploded. It's been really fun to watch and he's getting to the point where he doesn't need to be the one doing it anymore. And that's, it's just so cool.
[00:23:55] But I, you know, I asked him that and he flipped it around. He says, well, you tell me first, what would you do? And I sat and I thought about it for a moment and I'm like, I would do exactly what I'm doing right now. Like, I love what I'm doing. I get an immense amount of satisfaction and joy and just real deep meaning and purpose.
[00:24:21] From empowering other people to have successful businesses and helping them see that it is possible for them, and then equipping them with the strategies that they need to not only create a business that they love, but then. You know, bring greater purpose in change into the world. Like I want to see you build a movement around what you're doing.
[00:24:43] If that's where your heart is, not just a profit, they come hand in hand. You don't build a movement with it making profit. If you're doing it right, you will absolutely make profit too. But it was really awesome for me. Cause I hadn't asked myself that question in a long time, but it showed me that I am so aligned with what I'm doing and that's why I don't need to work 40, 50 hours a week.
[00:25:07] I can do 20 or 30 hours a week because when you're aligned. And you're doing the stuff that's really in your strengths, you do it more effectively. You do it faster and you do it better. You get way better results from it because you're not taking all day to write a stinking email. Right. I'm doing several podcast episodes in a row right now because I'm going to be traveling and I've got the law launch coming up and I'm just banging them up.
[00:25:28] Bam, bam, bam, bam. Bam. I'm all fired up for one, which is super fun, but also because this is aligned with who I am and I want to help you create the same thing. So if you want a business that's aligned with you. If you want to have this higher level strategy that can help you build a community around what you're doing, build a movement, not just a community, but.
[00:25:52] Full on movement around your business. So you can have your greatest impact in the world. If you truly care about seeing the transformation happen for your customers, and then wanting the greater world to have that transformation as well. And you don't know how to do it, cause you're stuck in the weeds, you're doing all this stuff that's heavy and you want to step back for a bit and really refocus.
[00:26:18] With strategy and a community of the right people around you to help. If you do that, I'd love to help. My bright future method workshop is launching again on September 21st, going to have some sort of free workshop or challenge leading into it. The doors will open a few days later, but class starts on September 28th and I would love to have you be a part of it.
[00:26:42] It's going to be eight weeks long. We're going to put you into accountability groups that are run by Richard Ralston and his team. He's amazing. And I've been using them. They're like the most effective way I've seen to make sure you continue getting things done, but also to have a group of people around you as you're going through the bright future method to bounce things off of.
[00:27:05] Because as you're developing your strategy and trying to figure out what's really aligned with who you are. Sometimes we need other people to be mirrors for us and to help us discover this in ourselves. So we're putting you into groups so that you can have a full experience, not just the content, but also have other people around you in that community supporting you.
[00:27:27] And you'll be able to support. Other people and helping them see what's going to be best for them as well in a way that is lightweight and life giving. If this appeals to you, I would love to have you in the course, you can sign up for the [email protected]. So go right there and sign up now.
[00:27:48] And if you just love learning from me and want to learn more, um, you can. Join my telegram. It's kind of the behind the scenes. That's the super casual, like if this podcast is casual, that's even more casual. Um, but join my telegram. Go to bright entrepreneur podcast.com/telegram. Do not join unless you really want to be one of my insiders.
[00:28:10] I'm letting you. Self select this, but if you love the messages you're hearing on the podcast, if you know that you are my people and you geek out about the same awesome things that I do, and you're committed to creating a business that is truly aligned with who you are, that is fun for you, that is not heavy, that energizes you and just gets you all excited.
[00:28:35] Then I'd love to have you, so go sign up for that can also get email reminders. All the links are in the show notes, you know where to look for them here's what I want to leave you with and remind you of, we are brighter together, my friend, and I know I say that at the end of every podcast, but I mean, it, we are truly brighter together and frankly, the world needs us.
[00:28:56] The world needs you. So let's go and let's make it brighter.

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