Episode 2: Getting Started!

Episode 2 Show Notes:

[00:00:00] Tori: Hello and welcome to the first full episode of the happier in business podcast. My name is Tori Cox, and in my business, I am a Squarespace designer and developer and I've been doing it for almost seven years now.  and during that time I've worked one on one with more than 200 business owners  I wanted to start this podcast to kind of fill the need.

[00:00:27] For a place to go for people who aren't new, do you have their own business and aren't looking for balance so much as more,  like, I don't think that I have reached my potential, but I also don't want to reach my potential by exhausting myself. You know, like I want more money and more happiness and I know that there are other people out there who feel the same way.

[00:00:54]. And I feel like a lot of people aren't talking about that cause it's, it's like either or. Right? Like either they will tell [00:01:00] you how to make more money or they'll try to tell you how to make more happiness, but it's never about how do you do both? Like how do you do both at the same time? That's what I want to know and that's why I started this podcast, to try to build a community of other humans who are also trying to be money making machines and so we can teach each other and help each other through.

[00:01:19]Everything that is the rollercoaster of being a small business owner. So first thing, why. Happier in business.  my goal for this is number one, to make sure that this is always a celebration of being able to start her own business where I don't want it to be a podcast pity party because just having the opportunity to start a business for ourselves is.

[00:01:48] Already a privilege.  you know, it's already something that so many people today and in the past  did not have the opportunity to do. And I want to stay grateful for [00:02:00] that opportunity, but also I'd like to be a little happier while I do it.  sometimes running a business sucks. And that's just, I mean, that's just the reality.

[00:02:09] Sometimes it sucks. If you've been doing it for a couple of years, at some point you will be having a day where you're like, man, I could just close all of this and go take a nap, and that would be great.  you don't live for all of it all the time. and what I really want to do with this podcast is capture the feeling.

[00:02:26] Of inspiration and momentum that I feel when I meet and connect with other entrepreneurs, like I want to be able to bottle it basically. And a podcast seemed like a really good way to do that. So in the future, these episodes will be me talking with another guest who is also a business owner who also has their own, you know, real life.

[00:02:50] and that I think is interesting. But today it's just me and you because it's the idea of going to happy hour with [00:03:00] a total strangers, I think is a little intimidating.

[00:03:03]So let's get to know each other a little better. Now I know that's a little weird cause this is a podcast. So it's a one sided conversation.  but that said, I do have a website and an Instagram profile where you can go and take a survey, send me a message. Um, I mean, share your thoughts. This is a passion project, and I am waiting to hear from people like you.

[00:03:29]Now the questions that I'll be asking people not only in the survey, but also the guests, is what do you love about working for yourself? What do you absolutely abhor about working for yourself and what do you wish people talked about? And I think those three questions will be a really. I mean, that's like foundational stuff, right?

[00:03:52] Like we all have our ups and our downs and things we wished people were talking about.

[00:03:56] So the first thing is, what do I [00:04:00] love about my business? I love that I get to choose who I work with. That is something that in my previous lives was not an option. and I had some crap jobs, you know, working retail, uh, as a receptionist at a bill collection agency. Like there were a lot of people I had to talk to you where I would much prefer.

[00:04:19] Not to   I also love the AA has made it so that I can be there for my friends and my family and all of my loved ones in a way that I never thought was possible. when they don't all live near each other, you know, that if I need to drop everything and rush to a hospital, I can, if my boyfriend gets a job in a different part of the country, I can do that too.

[00:04:40] You know, I can be there.  and I really, I really love and appreciate that fact that. That my business waits and works where I am, and I have that kind of flexibility and I don't need to ask somebody if I can have time off to go see somebody who's in the hospital.

[00:04:58]now [00:05:00] what do I absolutely abhor about my business?

[00:05:04] I would say the biggest thing is what I like to think of as the anxiety vacuum. So.

[00:05:14]I think most entrepreneurs are familiar with this feeling of thinking I'm trying a new thing and playing out all the potentials in your head. And getting stuck there and never moving on to the next step and just being stuck in that place where you feel like you're never going to move forward because you're too afraid of how terrible it's going to go.

[00:05:39] Um, and if you don't have anxiety problems, this probably isn't something you deal with. however, I do.  so that's probably my least favorite thing about my business.

[00:05:48]I wish people talked more about their entire journey. Uh, not just the good things and not just the bad things, [00:06:00] especially because I think most people only tell you about the bad things like years after the fact. But. I want to hear more about how they can be at the same time. I mean, I've had months where I blew away my goals on how much money I wanted to make, and that was awesome.

[00:06:17] Like looking at my bank account, I'm like, yeah, I am on top of the world. And then I look at my laundry and I looked at . All the things that I should probably have cleaned. And I realize that, you know, I haven't brushed my teeth yet today and it's like 3:00 PM and then you read online and people telling you like, Oh, you should just hire a maid so then you have more time to work on your business.

[00:06:36] And really you think that like well cleaning is the only exercise I do. And also if the maid's coming over, I probably need to shower for that anyway. So might as well do it myself. And no one's talking about that part. They can, they're not talking about when it sucks and. It's amazing.

[00:06:54]  So with that, my biggest tip for new business owners, existing business [00:07:00] owners, I don't care who you are, how long you've been doing it, is find something fun to do.

[00:07:05] That has nothing to do with your business. This one took me years to learn. I paid a lot of money to learn this one. and I can't express the value of it. Just getting outside your business for a little while,  that we. It's really easy to feel like every minute of your day should be optimized. And there's a lot of power in saying, this time is not optimized.

[00:07:31] It's just for fun. You know, this is what I'm going to do and this is going to be fun. And I always thought that the more that I worked, the more money I would make. And that was definitely incorrect, you know?

[00:07:45]And that brings us to the end of this very short first episode. I am so proud of myself for not turning this into something an hour long, but if you do want to hear more please, go to [00:08:00] www.happierbusiness.com and let me know what it is you want to know.

[00:08:02]I know it can be scary to reach out to strangers online. Um, cause I've had to do it a lot. And uh. I'd just like to say that this is a passion project for me, and if you do find me on Instagram or send thoughts on happier in business.com you know, I'm on the other end and I am waiting to hear from you.

[00:08:24]Until then.

[00:08:28]

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