4 Business Hurdles Preventing Growth, and How to Overcome Them

You're listening to The Jewish Entrepreneur Podcast with Debbie Sassen, Episode 142.

Welcome to The Jewish Entrepreneur Podcast. I'm your host, Debbie Sassen. I went from being a financial adviser, author and chronic under earner to building my business to six figures as a financial planner and money mindset coach. And then, on to multiple six figures as a fulltime money and business coach.

I help entrepreneurs create money making businesses and build wealth, using sales and money mindset strategies in alignment with authentic Jewish values. Now, let's dive into today's show.

Hello, my friends, and welcome back to the podcast. It is the middle of August. It is hot in Israel. I know that so many people are on holiday at the moment. This podcast is going to drop right after the saddest day, the most mournful day in the Jewish year, Tisha B'Av, and is going to drop on the 10th of Av.

I know that many people will be going on vacation, but for those of you who are still at home, still working, maybe your kids are out at summer camp… Or you're not going, maybe you're sneaking in a podcast episode while your kids are out playing or while your kids are doing other things, and you've got a few minutes on your hands and you really want to focus on your business.

Because I know you. Even when I'm on vacation, I have a hard time keeping my mind off of business. I just love business so much. So today, we're going to talk about four hurdles that stop you from growing your business.

By the way, I know that some people who listen to my podcast also have back to school happening right now, so they may have already been on vacation, and now they're coming back to routine. So, whether you are on vacation listening, whether you are coming back from vacation listening, whether you're listening to this and it's not summer, thank you so much for being here.

And while we're at it, the way we grow a reach with this podcast, when you comment, like, offer your reviews of this podcast, is to go into iTunes, go into Spotify, and please leave me a five-star review, if you're very happy and you love this. And of course, leave me your comments. Because I just want to spread the word so that more women and men can grow their businesses.

All right, let's talk about four things that are getting in your way, four hurdles, four obstacles that are stopping you from growing your business as big as it can. And it's stopping you from having a bigger influence, a bigger impact in the world, really changing people's lives.

And of course, the energetic exchange for you going out into the world and doing your work is that you receive money and you make more money. You have a consistent $5,000, $10,000, $15,000, $16,000, $20,000 a month. You grow a $100,000, $150,000, $200,000 business or beyond, and it can really be solved. It's very, very simple.

I think the way I want to preface all of these hurdles is by saying it does require courage. And I'm going to do another podcast in the next few weeks all about courage and the importance of courage. So I'm just dropping that for today, that a lot of what stops us from going out and doing our work in the world is the fear.

The fear that people are going to judge us, they're going to criticize us, they might think we're desperate, or they might think that we're not successful, and that's why we're always talking about our business. But I really want to suggest that those of us who are more successful and we're already creating $100,000 and $200,000 and $300,000, etc. and beyond in our businesses, we talk because we have more experience and we have what to say.

So just think about that. One of these days, I'm also going to do a podcast episode… I've been thinking for a few weeks already, or months already, because I have, in the last five, six years, I have created cumulatively a million dollars in my business. And I do want to talk about what that takes and the mindset behind that.

But for today, we're going to talk about the four hurdles. So, the number one hurdle that I have been seeing recently in a lot of conversations that I've been having with potential clients, coffee chats, my clients in my Wired for Wealth program, my one-on-one clients, the number one hurdle that I see is marketing.

And what do I mean by marketing? When you have a business, you have to let people know that your business exists. When you are a solopreneur or you are running a small business, you might have one or two or three people on your team, but you are the face of the business. And I know so many solopreneurs want to just do the work that they do. They love the work that they do.

The reason why they do the work that they do is because they themselves have had a transformation. They've seen that the work they're doing is changing things in their life. Or they're gifted, they're creative entrepreneurs, and they want to put their skillset to use; whether it's writing or designing, could be graphics, websites, copywriting, photography, videography.

All these are clients of mine who have all of these creative businesses, and they just want to do the thing, they don't want to be involved in the business side. The thing is, if you have this passion bubbling up inside of you, it's so important to put your business hat on. Because you can't reach as many people as you could possibly reach unless you're doing some marketing.

And marketing is really… Let's just break it down. Marketing is just you creating a relationship with people out there in the world. It's creating desire for the right people. And I like to give this metaphor. Imagine that you are walking down the street, and you've been shopping all day long. If you're a good woman like I am, I don't like to go shopping very often. I actually don't really enjoy shopping, and I try to do it so quickly.

But if you go out… and sometimes you might go with a friend, and you might stop for a coffee here, or maybe you're going out with your kids, and you're doing some shopping… Anyway, if it's been a long day, you might start feeling a little bit niggly in your stomach.

You might be like, “Oh, we've been on our feet for a long time,” an hour, two hours, three hours, whatever it is. And if you're in a mall, let's say… whether it's an indoor, outdoor… there's a food court, and there are restaurants or snack bars or something. And all of a sudden, this waft, these aromas start coming towards you as you start moving and going towards them.

And let's just imagine that if you're in a food court and there's a pizza shop, and that smell of pizza… There is just something about pizza, that melted cheese. I don't know what they do that makes it so enticing. But when you get close to that pizza shop, all of a sudden you start salivating. And you just want to go in there and buy a piece of pizza. Unless, of course, you're gluten free or you're dairy free or something like that. And then pizza is not going to be your thing.

But the reason why there is that smell, they usually have their pizza ovens in a way that will draw you into the shop. I just want you to think about that as marketing.

And of course, the people who are, as I said, gluten free or dairy free, lactose intolerant, they might smell the pizza, but it's not going to have the same impact on them as somebody who will sit down and buy a piece or two, a slice or two of pizza. Maybe you'll add some olives, you'll add some mushrooms, some peppers.

That's really all marketing is, it is awakening that desire in the right people. If somebody wants to eat a hamburger, then… and if they really, really enjoy hamburgers so much more than pizza… then they're going to be like, “Oh, that's nice. I smell pizza.” But it's not going to draw them in the same way as pizza just draws me in. In fact, I had some kids and grandkids over today as I'm recording this podcast, and they were making little, mini pizzas in our sandwich makers.

And I came downstairs after speaking with one of my clients… I had a couple of client sessions back-to-back… I was like, “Wow, somebody's using the sandwich maker. Somebody is making… It was a pita pizza, but that melted cheese smell, there's just something about it. Wouldn't you agree with me?

That's what your marketing is. It's for you to arouse the desire in the right people. And here's an exercise that you can do to really connect you with why you want to be bigger, why you want to be more visible, why you want to be bolder about your marketing, and really go out there and reach your people.

And you don't want to make it about you, but really sit down and write an exercise for yourself about why you're doing the work you are doing. What is your mission in the world? What is your purpose in the world? Are you a healer, and your goal is to really help people to heal from trauma? Is it to heal from sports injuries? To heal from pain?

If you're that type of person, or if you're a health coach and you know that people are eating very poorly… they're not taking care of themselves, they're eating too much sugar… and maybe you don't believe that people should be eating dairy. Or you really hold by a Keto regimen, and you don't think people should be eating so much gluten. You think that people in general are not eating enough protein; whether they do or don't eat breads and pastas and things like that.

But really sit down and write what is your mission in the world? And when I sat down and did this very recently, “It's really important to me,” I wrote this as my mission statement, “that I help 1,000 women make $150,000 in their business.”

Because women are gifted. We are talented. We have so much to offer. We care, really from our deepest places inside of us. We have so much compassion and so much caring about other people. We want other people to heal, to grow, to rise, to thrive, to succeed, and we want to make money doing it.

But for so many centuries really, women have been underearning. We're not used to charging for what we're worth. It's really only in about the last 100 years that women have been in numbers and growing and growing all the time in the workforce. There are thousands of years of women just doing the beautiful things that we do for no money at all, so we're just not used to charging.

And some of us are getting bolder about it and bigger about it. But when you can go out there and feel confident and feel brave and courageous that you get to get paid for the work that you do, and there's this beautiful symbiotic relationship where you give your skills, your creative entrepreneurship skills, your healing skills, your coaching skills, whatever it is that you do, other services that you provide, you get to get paid for that.

My mission is really to help those 1,000 women make that money. And just think about it, 1,000 x $150,000, that is women creating $150 million of value in the world. Now, that is my mission and that really lights me up. And that keeps me going with my podcast, with my emails, with my social media, with all of the ways that I reach my potential clients.

And of course, some of them will be my free content who are going to absorb my podcasts, read my emails, and they won't ever work with me and pay me money, and that's fine. And some of them will take it to the next level. But if you're not marketing, my friend, less people are just going to know about you.

You're going to be relying on word of mouth, your business will just grow slowly, and you will have less impact in the world. You've got to take the focus off of you because it's not about you. And when people say, “Oh, there are not enough people, there are other people doing it,” I really want you to believe that your gift, the gift that you bring to the world with your life experience and your work experience and everything that you pack into your gift, it is unique to you.

Nobody in this world can do it quite like you. And even if there are people, if there are lots of other business coaches, there are lots of other money coaches in the world, but nobody will do it exactly like me. There are a thousand people waiting to do this work with Debbie Sassen, and I am so sure of it.

And you too can be sure that… There are eight billion people on the planet. Your 1,000 people... Just focus on the next 10 people, the next 50 people, the next 100 people. Your people are in the world, and they want to work with you. So go out, talk to them, find different ways of working with them.

And there are ways of reaching them. It can be giving workshops. It can be giving webinars. It can be having a podcast. It's definitely sending emails; that's going to be the hurdle number two. If you're showing up on social media or one-on-one conversations, networking events, make your day count by reaching more people through your marketing.

All right, hurdle number two. You're going to do the marketing, you're going to meet people, you're going to get leads, now you have to manage those leads. And the way you do that is with your email marketing. Now, my dear friend and listener, I love you very much, but you and I just have a platonic relationship.

Unless, of course, you're on my email list. Because on your email list we have a deeper connection. Because I send out emails weekly, even more frequently to my people. I have different resources on my website, like my Money Mindset Workbook. And by the way, that is the way, if you're going out there and you're meeting people in coffee chats or networking events, it's very important for you to have a “lead magnet”, something that you can offer people for free so that you will get them into a deeper relationship.

You move from platonic friendship, friend zone, into you start “dating” each other. They sign up for your email list, and they stay with you for longer periods of time.

Now, I've signed up for email lists, I will get what I need, and I will unsubscribe right away. In fact, today I unsubscribed from three different email lists because I realized that I didn't need the information.

One of them I just wanted to download. And of course, like most things, I didn't even look at that download. I was like, “Oh, what is this person? I can't believe I'm on this email list. And the other one was because I couldn't get into the website without signing up for the thing, so I just signed up for the thing and now I unsubscribed.

But if there are people in the world who will sign up for your email list and they will stay and they will be in a deeper, closer relationship. This is what we call a “sales funnel”. There are people, there are lots and lots of people, who will meet you, they'll talk to you, they'll network with you, they might refer people to you, but it's all on a very, very surface, superficial level.

And then we draw them into our funnel, it's called a “sales funnel”, and that is the path, the journey that your potential clients take from your free content to now getting regular content from you week by week by week, and then you give them offers.

For example, I'm going to be doing a webinar in September. So, if you are not yet on my email list, go to the show notes, Debbiesassen.com/newsletter, and you will get announcements for when I am running the webinar in September. Actually, I think I'm doing two webinars.

So I'm just putting that out there. If you're not on my email list yet, go do that. Or you can also sign up for my Money Mindset Workbook, which is at Debbiesassen.com/mindset, and then you will also have a free resource. And you and I will get to know each other better, and then I will let you know when I'm running those free webinars.

So you want to be able to manage your leads. Because it's all well and good if you're talking to a lot of people, but you want to be able to take those people who really might be interested in getting the results… Again, it's not about you... There are people in the world who want what you're doing so bring them into your network.

Manage your leads, right? So you can offer a workbook, like I do. You can have a quiz. You can have a checklist. These are all called “lead magnets”. That's how people exchange their email address for your free thingy, your freebie, or a webinar or workshop.

And then you can communicate with them regularly. I really do recommend that you send emails to your list weekly, because that is how you develop the relationship. That is how you continue to provide very valuable content to your people.

You really want to make sure that that is one of your weekly goals, is managing your leads, and that is managing your emails, talking to your people, having a relationship with them, even asking them what kind of content they would like to read in your emails so that you can be more valuable to them and you can help them. Because that's what you're here to do in the world, is to help your people.

Hurdle number three is sales. Let's talk a little bit about sales. You know that I love to talk about sales. And we really do have to just delete… Can we press the delete button on sales being sleazy? If you believe that there are people in the world who need, want, and desire what you're offering, the way to get them to get the results that they want is to offer them to work with you in exchange for money.

Just this week I hired two new, different, personal trainers. I think I've spoken on the podcast about my personal trainer of four years who moved away. It was a very sad day for me, but I had to go and find different trainers. So I'm currently trying out two different trainers. One of them is in a group class, one of them is one-on-one on a stability ball.

These are new types of exercise for me, and I'm going to see. I really went in search of people, and I wanted people to sell to me because they had something that I wanted, something that I was looking for, something that I was desiring.

And when you can really put that idea into your head, that your people are also looking for you, show up with your marketing. And then get on a sales call and tell them how much it costs to work with you, so that they can actually change their health, change their weight, change their physique, change their business, get the copywriting they need, get the website they need.

There really are people who want what you offer, but you have to be willing to show up in service and sell to them. There are different podcast episodes, I'll put some in the show notes, about you selling and my process, which I really strongly believe in, which is my Sacred Sales Conversation process.

It’s clearing your mind of all your limiting beliefs. Clearing your mind of making it about you and your needs. And really showing up 100% in service of your ideal client. So that's hurdle number three.

Hurdle number four, which is connected to the marketing, and it's connected to the selling, is money. We have to talk about money, the reason that you're not making as much money in your business as you want. So often I find it's because you're undercharging.

And when you're undercharging, you're underearning. And I'm just going to put this out there, some people will be really thrilled, because they will recognize the value in what you're offering, and they're really going to realize that they got a great deal.

Like, all of a sudden, if Elon Musk was selling Tesla’s for $5,000, there would be probably 8 billion people on the planet lining up to buy a $5,000 Tesla. Because we'd be like, “He is definitely undercharging for this valuable car.” But since he's not doing that, let's just talk about your offer.

Many of my clients, when we start working together, we really look at the value and the transformation that their clients are getting. Again, look at everything we've spoken about so far on this podcast. Your clients want a transformation. They want a solution to their problems. They want different results from what they currently have, and there is an economic value.

There's also a time value, right? And so, when you really look at the impact that your service has on your client's business, and the long-term value of it, it's not just the exchange that you're going to have in a month, or two months, or three months, but it's going to be out there for a very long time.

My husband, for example, and his partner, they're writing a book. I connected them up with a copywriter and a website designer, because these are some of my clients, former clients, people in my circle. And that website that is being designed for them, that's going to be there out there on the internet, not just for the 30 days or the 45 days that they're working together, but it's going to be out there.

That book is going to sell for weeks and months and years, and that website where they're going to be able to sell their book, it's called The Science Behind the Mishnah. By the way, just letting you guys know, look out for it when it comes out. I don't know when it's going to be available, hopefully in September. Maybe one day I'll drop a link for it, but just so you know.

Anyway, that website where that book can be purchased will be available for a very long time, so there's going to be a long-term impact for that website and the copy.

And you just have to look at your offer, the thing that you're selling, and the impact it's having for your clients. Is it an impact for a month? Or is it going to be something where the impact is going to last for a year, two years?

Especially when I think about my business, where I'm helping women build businesses, once they've increased their income from, let's say you're making $20,000 a year, and then you grow it to $40,000 a year. Once you know how to have a $40,000 a year in your business, you never go back to $20,000.

So now we've made $20,000 extra for years and years and years. Let's say that I can help you go from $40,000 to $60,000. Ah, now you've increased your income by $40,000 for years and years and years and years. And let's say we can go from $60,000 to $100,000, and so on and so on. You see what I'm saying?

When people pay you a small sum, even if they're thinking it's a lot of money… and I don't want to dismiss it and say it's not a lot of money… but the impact, the long-term value for my clients, the way I see it is they will be able to create more business and more money for decades because of the work that we do together.

So I never, ever think that I'm overcharging for my offer. And I want you to have that same mindset when you're looking at the thing that you're selling. That there will be a year, two, five, 10 years of impact, or maybe even more. Maybe it's a generational impact.

When I think about my clients who are relationship coaches and how they're changing marriages, and then the marriage will have an impact on the children and the grandchildren and all sorts of different relationships. And maybe how the kids, if there's an unhealthy marriage, how the kids are, it's going to impact their education in school. There is a multigenerational impact for my clients who are doing marriage coaching.

And I also think about any sort of business coaching. Because when you make more money, that changes the financial stress in the family. It changes the financial future that you have in your retirement. So there is tons and tons of impact for what I really look at as a very small fee.

You have to look at the money that you're charging, the investment that your clients are making in themselves, their solution and their result, and you have to ask yourself, “Is there really a way that I can increase my prices? Because what I'm offering is so valuable.”

All right, my friends, those are the four hurdles that you really want to look at in your business. Because when you overcome these hurdles; marketing, managing your leads, selling and raising your prices; you can make more money. And that income that you're bringing into your life will be able to change your family today, and it will be able to change your financial future forever.

Thank you so much for tuning into today's podcast and I will see you next week on The Jewish Entrepreneur Podcast. Bye, for now.

Thanks for listening to The Jewish Entrepreneur Podcast. If you want to stop underselling and underearning and close more sales, you need to clear the limiting money beliefs that are sabotaging your business growth.

Head on over to DebbieSassen.com/mindset and download my free Money Mindset Workbook. Uncover and dissolve money blocks, like hundreds of other entrepreneurs who are now building six-, multi-six-, and seven-figure businesses and creating true financial freedom.