I thought it would be my best interest not to be around a whole bunch of people. Why? Because I just feel like it's a good idea not to be around a whole bunch of people so, I haven't been to work since the middle of March when COVID first started and let me tell you something, I'm not going to lie. I miss being around people. I miss not so much talking or a whole bunch of interacting with people, but just being amongst people. I'm a person. I like to watch people. I like to go to the mall and just kind of watch people do whatever people are doing. But for real. I miss it. I feel like I'm by myself the other day I had gotten a little bit sick, but it could have just been heightened because it was just me by myself. I didn't have anyone there. It is just me out here. So I said all that to say there can be a lot of those experiences of lonely when you are starting a business, building a business, creating a business, going to one place to another.
This episode is about finding your business BFF or two or three. You need a business click, at least one good business bestie to help you as you go on this journey. Well, where do you find them? Where are they? Who are they? You may already have some of these awesome people in your network so if you're looking for a friend, look within your Facebook friends, your Instagram friends, and this is just when you're just kind of in the beginning and you just kind of trying to figure it out and you're looking for just someone to kind of bounce ideas a bit about your idea. You were looking to bounce ideas with them and you're not looking for someone that's going to tell you ‘Yes’ to everything but you're not looking for people to tell you know or tell you that things are impossible. You want someone that's kind of neutral and you know who this person is in your network. They're good at listening, but they're very honest so you might hate that part a little bit because there might be like a little bit brutally honest but they have a good mind on their head, a good head on their shoulders. Go to your network and find that person because they're there. It could be male or it could be female. They're in your network. Look at that person that could be trying to get you to join their MLM but you have to be clear that your business idea or goal is not to become a part of their network if that's not what you want to do. You have a role in this relationship to be clear as to what you're looking for. You're looking for someone to bounce ideas against and you're not trying to join necessarily their business opportunity and you just have to be clear about what you're looking for and what you want.
Join a mastermind or a group coaching for entrepreneurs. Maybe the Chamber of Commerce may be too big of a step, but go into Facebook or LinkedIn and look for groups around entrepreneurship because those are a gaggle of people that are looking to get started or have already started. Look for a group of entrepreneurs, the mindset is just kind of different and it may be that you just want to kind of spend some time looking for a group or group coaching. I actually have a group coaching. This wasn't going to be a pitch necessarily, but I have a group coaching coming up on the 2nd of August. So if you are looking for a group or a cohort where all of you would be looking to start a business, all of you would be kind of at that starting point looking to start a business or a side hustle, that's a good environment, that's a good ecosystem specifically because most of the people, all of the people already have a job and they're using their main job to be the sponsor for their side hustle. Does that make sense? But when you're within a group that's already trying to do the same things that you're doing, it just feels better and you don't have to cut back on the information you're talking about. You don't have to worry about someone trying to shoot your idea down because these people are already trying to build a business and the third thing is to do both of those things, because for me, it's important to have a business BFF. I actually started the opposite way, I actually ended up in a mastermind first and it was specifically for entrepreneurs. I was in the class with Gahmya Drummond Bay and from within that larger group, I end up finding my business bestie; shout out to Genie Dawkins over there, a confident parent but I actually found my business bestie from within a bigger group.
So one, find your business bestie. Two, find a group of business besties. Three, do both of those things because I feel like three is the best. Three was the best option for me because I didn't have a group or I didn't think that I had a group but you do. When there's people around you at least find someone to support you especially here, in the time of COVID. It can already be a little bit lonely because your schedules are different, you can't hang out the way that you used to, you can't even be around your family and entrepreneurship in itself is and can be lonely, but it doesn't have to be. You can have someone to support you and make this thing fine because entrepreneurship is also fun.
