Criticism, constant setbacks, limiting beliefs ….

These are all part of your solopreneur journey. You need to accept the fact that not all things always are meant to go your way. But that doesn’t mean you should let negativity get the best of you.

When you first enter into the competitive world of business, it’s going to be a tough ride. You’ll face new challenges, you’ll have to put yourself out there in ways that make you feel super uncomfortable, but you’ll learn and grow sooo much.

So how on earth do you counter these limiting beliefs while enjoying the journey?

Today, I’d like to share some of the most common limiting beliefs that you might or are experiencing and how to deal with them for good!

Related Reads:

• Overcoming Perfectionism: 7 Steps to Silence Your Inner Perfectionist
• How To Take Fridays Off, But Still Be Super Productive
• How To Set Goals You Actually Want To Accomplish
• How I Overcome My Fear Of Failure
• Small Business Tips: My Monthly Reset Routine

1. I’ll wait for the right moment

So how long has it been that you’ve thought of starting that business you’ve always dreamt of? Or maybe you wanted to implement those changes to take your business to the next level.

Let me break it to you and tell you that you will never feel 100% ready. The more you wait, the more new challenges will arise and you push your dreams ahead by 1000 more miles.

It took me years to come to my senses to finally take action. After daydreaming of what I wanted to become and realizing I could provide solutions to other entrepreneurs out there, I took that leap of faith (even though I wasn’t sure at alllll if I would be able to pull it off), and god, I am so glad I did. I would never be the person I am today if it wasn’t for that one small step, which seemed huuuge at that moment.

And yes, there were definitely times when I did want to quit. I wanted to go back to doing things that were easy and comfortable. So many times, when I was confronted with yet another obstacle, I couldn’t stop thinking ‘girl, what did I put myself into…’. But somehow, every time I found a way to find back that courage to soldier on.

So, don’t play small and set that first step (how small it might be) to create your dream future. And put systems in place that are doable, challenging, and push through hardships whenever they arise.

And when you do succeed, pop that bottle of champagne and celebrate!

2. Limiting beliefs of fear

So everything’s going smooth and you’re in this positive flow state and you just landed this new client. And even though you’re super excited and grateful, these negative thoughts of fear start creeping in.

‘What if my client’s expectations are too high?’

‘Will I be able to deliver on time?’

‘Are they going to love my work!?’

This is quite common being a solopreneur. To have this fear of starting something so big which eventually you think might fail. But there’s no failure, there’s only feedback! It’s all part of the process.

It’s this fear of the unknown. The fear of not so much the process, but putting so much thought and energy into these worst-case scenarios.

See, instead of on focusing on these negative scenarios like I used to, what I did was pausing for a sec, put my work aside, and take deeeeep breaths.

Another technique that definitely helped me is fear-setting as Tim Ferris calls it. Ask yourself: “what’s the worst thing that could possibly happen?” I mean, we made it this far in our journey and we can’t just give up right?

“What if this is the best decision I could make that will change my life for good?” Think about it! You’ve worked so hard to finally reach a point of making big ‘cahones’ decisions; you deserve to reap the rewards.

These are just some of the questions that I asked myself whenever I’m in such a dilemma or reached a breaking point. You can use it too…so take a breather, jot down the important questions on a notepad or your computer and question your fears, so they don’t seem that scary anymore.

3. I’m going to be the next ‘Sara Blakely’

‘Comparison is the thief of joy – Theodore Roosevelt’

We’ve all been there. Heck, I’ve been there more times than I can count!

I remember back in school as a little girl our teacher would hand out homework and the ones that stood out would receive shiny star stickers on their notebook for their work.

I always wanted to be one with the most stars. But you can’t always be the one to have it all, right?

Fast forward to today, and I still do want to be the best (minus the stickers of course!).

Little did I know I was sabotaging myself with constant limiting beliefs, and putting myself down.

Not only is comparison toxic for your self-esteem, but it also just doesn’t make any sense. Comparing your business results with others is like comparing apples with pears. That person you’re comparing with probably has a completely different life and context, different obstacles, different everything.

The only person you should compare yourself to is your past self. How are you different from yourself 6 months ago? Have you evolved? How have you grown? Are you less triggered by certain situations that you did before? And so on.

4. The ‘I am not good enough’ limiting belief

Do you hate it too when this self-doubt creeps in and messes you up internally? It becomes such an uphill battle to overcome. This comes from little mistakes along the way or usually feeling inadequate or incompetent when comparing ourselves to others.

It’s normal that we sometimes feel this way, but real confidence comes from within. Real confidence is knowing that you’re enough, just because of who you are as a human being, and you don’t need to have, do or achieve anything in order to become worthy.

It’s about detaching your worth from your business results. It doesn’t matter if you signed that new client or you had a lot of profit last month, this doesn’t say anything about you and your worth.

5. My way or the highway

Have you been there too where you go through those periods in your life as a CEO when you’re all amped up and feel like achieving anything and can handle them with ease?

What sometimes happens is that we fall into this victim mentality of ‘If anything needs to be done, I need to do it myself’

The reality is that you can’t be the jack of all trades. Just because you want to micromanage every single aspect of your business, doesn’t mean you can handle it all.

There are times when you need to let go and come to terms that it’s time to maybe hire or outsource some of your work to someone who can handle certain tasks better than you can. This will not only help your business grow and multiply your earnings but also you get to have more time for other areas in your life.

The point of being a solopreneur is to work for the business rather than in the business.

6. I am the CEO! I don’t need any advice

“Ego is its own worst enemy. It hurts the ones we love too. Our families and friends suffer for it. So do our customers, fans, and clients.’’ Ryan Holiday

There will come a point in time when your business is flourishing and everything is going according to plan. You’re securing new clients, the processes have been set in place, there are little to no setbacks. Now you feel like screaming “Damn, I’ve freakin’ made it!’

I feel like when we get caught up in all this success, we actually tend to forget how we got there in the first place. We tend to underestimate others, not take advice and be overconfident in our own judgment.

So, even though you might be super proud of your success and the progress you’ve made in your biz, stay grounded and humble. I’m not saying you have to apply all the advice you get from others, but at least listen to it and be open-minded to it.

7. All it takes is hard work

How many times in your life have you heard this phrase that all it takes to succeed is hard work? In today’s modern society, where we live in this hustle culture environment, it has a lot of toxicity surrounding what it means to work hard. As much as I appreciate Gary Vaynerchuk’s constant reminders, I believe it won’t really take you that far.

“Being busy is a form of laziness. Doing less is the path of the productive.” – Timothy Ferriss

You see, hard work is just a part of the equation. The most important thing isn’t getting a lot of things done, but getting the right things done. So in order to get that success you crave so much, you must assess your actions.

This is why I put so much emphasis on goal setting (click here to dig deep in goalsetting). You need to plan out your day in advance and make sure that the things on your to-do list are actually moving the nail forward towards your goals.

So, I would like you to look at your week and ask yourself these questions:

“Am I working on the wrong stuff?” (aka those fluffy to-do’s that aren’t really impactful at the end of the day)

‘Are there distractions in my workflow?’

‘Am I being consistent with the tasks I set on myself?’

And before you know it, you’ll figure out where you spend your time on unnecessary tasks or distractions, and where you’re supposed to be putting your time and effort instead.

8. Blocking your feedback-loop

Have you ever been annoyed, when you’ve put so much heart and soul into a project for it to finally hit you back with criticism? I know that feeling.

It’s like a smack in the face, and you start to doubt yourself. Or worse, you say to yourself ‘they don’t really appreciate my work and wasted my time’.

Ugh…it feels like the worst, doesn’t it? But that’s how you grow.

Taking constructive feedback from your clients and their experience with you as a brand is key to continuous growth. Don’t let negative feedback be a let-down for you and your business.

It was really hard for me to take these instances into account at first. But once I did, I felt more confident and knew that there are certain areas in my workflow that needed improvement.

So instead of seeking constant validation, welcome criticism. Learn from it so you can make subtle adjustments in your business.

9. They’re my friends, I need them in my life!

There was a point in my life where I LOVED those late night-outs with my girls, gossiping on who’s who, the totally unnecessary drama, and hearing these stories about people I never even talked to. I’m sure you know what I mean ;).

However, as I was growing my business, juggling so many responsibilities at the same time, I felt that I wasn’t enjoying those nights like I used to.

I noticed that I missed depth, I wanted interesting conversations about self-development and entrepreneurship, about how to make an impact on the world, about how our childhood traumas have defined us as the people we are today and how our journey is overcoming these.

I felt like I wasn’t myself and I was putting on a façade, whenever I was with them. Why? Because I was afraid that I wouldn’t fit in. That my “serious” talk would basically ruin the party. I felt they just didn’t understand me.

As much as I enjoyed their company, I knew deep down these aren’t the people I wanted to be around anymore, or in any case, not every single weekend as I used to.

See life in general, it’s important to surround yourself with positive people and energy that can help you become a better person.

And even though it’s maybe hard to admit, because you might still like those people, sometimes you have to admit to yourself that you have outgrown them… How harsh it may sound.

Maybe you have felt the same…

Try to look for the kind of people that have the same vibe, like the same stuff, and who you look up to. The ones that you appreciate and know for a fact they’ll be there for you when you’re at your lowest. Not the ones that are only there for fun.

Immerse yourself in an environment with like-minded individuals to help you and your business grow.

You might not meet them today, but one day you’ll come across some of the most awesome folks where you guys will click instantly.

10. Fixating or suppressing limiting beliefs

We all have that constant voice in our heads.

We tend to turn the other cheek and wish those limiting beliefs go away. Sometimes we do recognize it, but we push it down in order to hide it so much that it bottles up waiting to explode.

Let’s say one day your phone stops working all of a sudden, you take it to the service store and they say it’ll take a week to get it fixed. What happens then?….

No matter how good life’s been, the food’s been great or you come home to your cozy bed, you’ll still be frustrated because of your phone. You will allow the phone situation to dominate your thoughts and potentially end up having a shi**y week.

When you get angry or deeply frustrated with a tiny thing that happens to you, it means that there’s often more to it. You’re getting triggered and you should reflect on why that is.

What you resist persists.

Instead of resisting a thought/feeling you don’t like and shoving it away in your subconscious mind, do the following:

First, identify the thought.

Notice how you feel when thinking about this (is there any tension or heaviness in your body?)

Is this thought the absolute truth? Or is it just something you made yourself believe?

Analyze where it’s coming from – what event in your childhood could have triggered you to think this way?

Tell yourself that this limiting belief isn’t serving you while accepting that it’s ok that you feel this way.

Take a deep breath and let it go.

Why limiting beliefs will always be there to stick around

Limiting beliefs can have damaging effects on you and your business. Because success isn’t only achieved with some smart marketing tactics and business strategies, but also with your own mindset. A successful business grows from the inside out.

We as humans will always have this innate desire for things to run smoothly without any hiccups.

So accept that you’re having these limiting beliefs, and then replace them with some positive ones that do serve you. Deal with them rather than running away, so you can come out stronger in the end. 🙂

That’s it, folks! Hope you guys find the above tips useful.

Related Reads:

• Overcoming Perfectionism: 7 Steps to Silence Your Inner Perfectionist
• How To Take Fridays Off, But Still Be Super Productive
• How To Set Goals You Actually Want To Accomplish
• How I Overcome My Fear Of Failure
• Small Business Tips: My Monthly Reset Routine

Let’s Chat!

Do these thoughts resonate with you? How did you manage to cope with them? Let me know in the comments down below!