How to Release the Guilt of "Too Many Ideas" and Investing in Your Business with Ariel Kuhn
Episode 531: Show Notes
Today on our show, we have Ariel Kuhn, who started out as a photographer and has since grown her business to focus more on brand strategy, working with small business owners as they figure out how to grow online. She helps these businesses with everything from brand strategy to photography, copywriting, web design, and mentorship so they can take their business to the next level. Ariel has been around the Boss Project / TCC block for a while, and she is actually a current Strategy Academy student. She shares the evolution of her business, why she decided to invest in the program, the art of her pivot, what it means to her to feel good about what you’re doing in your business, and what to do with all the extra ideas you might have. We also discuss various things she has learned in the program that could help other small business owners who are in a similar position. So, if you have an existing business and have been stressing out about all of the brilliant ideas you have in your brain and what to do next, this episode will give you clarity.
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Ariel’s Journey So Far
We love that Ariel has been with us for such a long time, and we have seen her name in the community for ages. She has witnessed us grow, and we have watched her grow, and we promise we will try our best not to fangirl too hard. Every season of business is different, and perhaps when you are starting out, you are consuming information by reading blogs, listening to podcasts, and digesting everything you can. But eventually, there comes a time where you have to commit to spending some money on yourself to take your business to the next level, which is something Ariel has done quite recently. First, we hear about how she started her business five years ago, where she was doing all kinds of photography. It was incredibly overwhelming because she felt like she didn’t have anyone in her corner guiding her along the way. Luckily, she found this amazing podcast and finally felt like she was getting the help she longed for. After a while in the wedding photography game, she was under a great deal of physical strain and knew she had to make a pivot. It was not easy because weddings are a big payday, but she had to put her health first. She then found a way to move onto brand strategy, brand design, brand photography, and started offering services for small businesses to help them feel like someone is on their team.
You Are Allowed to Change Your Business
Even though it happens so often, people don’t often talk about the fact that your business is probably going to change over time. The company you start out with doesn’t have to be the one you end up with and guess what? That is absolutely fine. We are human beings, and life happens. Sometimes our interests change, sometimes the market changes, or sometimes we just change our minds. That does not mean you are flaky or not committed. When Ariel finally realized that this was normal, she found Strategy Academy. People had made her feel guilty about having so many ideas and encouraged her to niche down, but this just never felt like something that fit her brand. Of course, you should not do everything at once, but you should not be punished or made to feel guilty because you have more than one interest! There is obviously value in focusing on something for a set time, but this does not mean you have to be pinned down by it. Why did Ariel, who had been around the Boss Project community for so long, decide to do Strategy Academy at this point in time? Being an introvert and someone who likes to take her time making a decision, Ariel wanted to make sure that the investment would be something she would gain a lot from. Immediately after joining the course, she had a question, and the way it was answered made her feel safe and encouraged. If you have paid for a program, and you don’t feel like someone is in your corner, you have to re-evaluate if it was the right move for you.
Guess What? You Can Have More Than One Business Idea
So, what surprised Ariel most about the course? Seeing as she already had her own business, she didn’t have to implement a lot of what was covered. What she found most helpful were the sections about pivoting and the guidance on what to do if you have a lot of ideas. So many of us have all these ideas swimming around in our brains, but they can be more complex to execute than you might realize. This does not mean you have to discard them; you can give them space, let them simmer, and come back to them when you are ready once again. We have had ideas for a whole other business that we sometimes come back to, but it’s still something that we haven’t committed to. We have come to realize that in our community, we have a lot of be-ers, which is strange because we are definitely do-ers when it comes to Boss Project. So, as a be-er, you have to ask yourself what is motivating you to chase this new idea. Do you want more money, more fulfillment, or more time? Can you do that with what you already have, or do you have to make a pivot entirely? From a young age, we are taught to think about what we want to be, we often don’t know how we want to feel when we are working. We don’t know what we want our days to look like or what would make us feel fulfilled. Ariel felt guilty for having all of these seemingly disparate interests, but she did the work and realized that she just wanted to help small business owners and be there to answer any questions they had. This captured all of her interests, and she didn’t feel so stressed at not niching down conventionally.
Lessons Ariel Learned from Strategy Academy
So, when Ariel finally decided to invest in Strategy Academy, what happened? Not only did she have much more clarity in her messaging and in how she wanted to run the client-side of her business, but she finally feels like she has permission to go, after tip-toeing for so long. Like all of us, she was getting bogged down by advice, so having this renewed clarity has invigorated her. Doing the exercise with Emylee where she weighed up what she loved versus how much money it brought in was an eye-opener because she had not actually thought about prioritizing working on what she loves. This exercise can go one of two ways; either you find what you love brings in most of your money or that most of your money comes from what you don’t love. Whatever you learn, you will be able to make a strategic decision. Maybe you should just trim the fat and lean into what’s working, or perhaps you have to find a way to do something you don’t love that much more efficiently. The reality is that you probably aren’t going to love everything about your job, but that is ok. We have been conditioned into believing that all of our happiness, fulfillment, and money should come from our career, but that does not have to be the case at all. Your happiness, like your money, can come from multiple streams, so sometimes you are going to have to do something you don’t love.
Looking Forward: What’s Next for Ariel?
So, after shifting her business to focus on the things she loves, what’s next for Ariel? She has started altering her messaging to finally talk to the people she wants to work with. Luckily, in Strategy Academy, she took enough baby steps that she was finally able to take action. When we work for ourselves, we can forget that we don’t need permission to make the next move, but it is oftentimes a good wake-up call, like the one Ariel got from Strategy Academy. Going forward, Ariel wants to be able to help small business owners the best she can, which will probably mean further refining the packages she currently has and dropping what is taking up too much of her time. She also hopes to move into the mentoring space, so that she can give her clients as much one-on-one help as they need.
Highlights
Ariel’s Journey So Far. [0:04:05.1]
You Are Allowed to Change Your Business. [0:10:47.1]
Guess What? You Can Have More Than One Business Idea. [0:18:47.1]
Lessons Ariel Learned from Strategy Academy. [0:29:12.1]
Looking Forward: What’s Next for Ariel? [0:40:50.1]
#TalkStrategyToMe [0:45:30.6]
If you already have a business, you should revisit some of the foundations you have bypassed when you were getting things off the ground.
Do the Strategy Academy course in order, work through the course materials, and get the most out of the call.
Ask Abagail or Emylee any questions you might have if you are unsure about joining the course.
ON TODAY’S SHOW
Ariel Kuhn
Website | Instagram | Facebook
Ariel Kuhn is a photographer and brand strategist helping new-ish small business owners feel at home in their online space. She focuses on getting creative entrepreneurs off to a solid start in their business with brand strategy, photography, copywriting, website design, and mentorship all in a single process so they can stop second-guessing and find their groove a little quicker. She knows the weight of expectations and insecurity when launching a business and aims to shake that off her 1:1 clients as soon as humanly possible so they can do what they love with confidence, like soon. She’s a homebody at heart, favorites oversharer, and if she’s not chasing her girls around, she’s re-watching a favorite show and reciting the best lines.
KEY TOPICS
Strategy Academy, Pivots, Ideas, Brand Strategy, Small Business, Guilt, Second-Guessing, Growth, Education
