Latest / Hurdle with Emily Abbate / #HURDLEMOMENT: What It Really Means To Be An Entrepreneur

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#HURDLEMOMENT: What It Really Means To Be An Entrepreneur · Hurdle with Emily Abbate

• 0:02
  Speaker 1: You know what I think about when I refer to
• 0:04
  Speaker 1: these hurdle moment segments as snack size, like every amazing
• 0:09
  Speaker 1: snack that I wanted to have in the house as
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  Speaker 1: a kid.
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  Speaker 2: Anyway, here we are, Emily and Body here bringing you
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  Speaker 2: your Wednesday hurdle Moment, toting tips and tricks and exercises
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  Speaker 2: that can help us all get through the hurdles we face.
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  Speaker 1: On the regular.
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  Speaker 2: This week, I'm talking about what it really means to
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  Speaker 2: be an entrepreneur. From my understanding, there's a lot of
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  Speaker 2: unknown about what it takes to be your own boss
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  Speaker 2: and build something from the ground up.
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  Speaker 1: And well, I'm.
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  Speaker 2: Going to do my best to shat through the things
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  Speaker 2: that I've learned over the past couple of years here
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  Speaker 2: in New York City without clocking into somebody else's office
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  Speaker 2: every day and building a brand from scratch. I know
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  Speaker 2: I definitely don't have all the answers, and a lot
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  Speaker 2: of the time I feel like I am totally winging it.
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  Speaker 2: But hopefully my experience can help some of you out
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  Speaker 2: there figure out if maybe you want to do something
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  Speaker 2: like this, and if you do, all the power to you.
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  Speaker 2: As always feel free to reach out to me at
• 1:03
  Speaker 2: Emily Body at Hurdle Podcast hit me up over email
• 1:07
  Speaker 2: Emily at hurdle dot us. I have felt and this
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  Speaker 2: is just a total understatement, so so grateful to all
• 1:15
  Speaker 2: the listeners lately with your screen grabs and messages and
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  Speaker 2: all the things letting me know that you're turning your
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  Speaker 2: friends onto Hurdle. As you know, I'm not paying anyone
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  Speaker 2: anywhere for marketing of this thing, so every little bit
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  Speaker 2: of social sharing it really makes a difference. Lots of
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  Speaker 2: messages also this week over Instagram DM that literally brought
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  Speaker 2: me to tears, just making my heart the most, the most,
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  Speaker 2: most most full, telling me things like Hurdle is getting
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  Speaker 2: you through your own hurdles. A listener named Christy messaged
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  Speaker 2: me earlier this week telling me about the hurdle she
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  Speaker 2: conquered running her first five k this past Saturday, and
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  Speaker 2: that she's looking forward to seeing what else her body
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  Speaker 2: can do.
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  Speaker 1: How awesome is that.
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  Speaker 2: It's like I'm sitting here with this little white microphone
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  Speaker 2: recording this podcast in my living room in my fourth
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  Speaker 2: floor walk up in my apartment on the every East Side,
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  Speaker 2: and it's making a difference all over the place.
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  Speaker 1: So thanks.
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  Speaker 2: I'm done rambling with that, let's get to this week's
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  Speaker 2: hurdle moment. The definition of being an entrepreneur, as I
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  Speaker 2: see it, is someone who sees some sort of need
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  Speaker 2: or hole in the market and creates a product, or
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  Speaker 2: a business or a thing to fill that void. Hurdle
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  Speaker 2: makes me an entrepreneur, I would say, it's mine. It's
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  Speaker 2: this thing that I'm building that maybe one day will
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  Speaker 2: go in a dozen other different directions, but at the
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  Speaker 2: moment has us all right here with you, listening to
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  Speaker 2: this great voice. I also think it's important to distinguish
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  Speaker 2: between being a freelancer and being an entrepreneur. I am
• 3:03
  Speaker 2: both now. I went freelance after I was working at
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  Speaker 2: Self Magazine in twenty sixteen and it folded. At the time,
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  Speaker 2: I was thrust into this scary city without a regular paycheck,
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  Speaker 2: and it was really frightening. I ran at a bunch
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  Speaker 2: of other jobs, none of which really felt true to me,
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  Speaker 2: and came to this conclusion that maybe being a freelance
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  Speaker 2: journalist was just something that was right. I found that
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  Speaker 2: I was good at it. I found that I liked
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  Speaker 2: the hustle, and I liked being able to write for
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  Speaker 2: different brands, and I get so many questions all of
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  Speaker 2: the time on like how like how do you do this?
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  Speaker 2: How do you write for all these outlets? And you know,
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  Speaker 2: it's something that took a lot of time to get
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  Speaker 2: comfortable with. I'm not going to make this episode all
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  Speaker 2: about that, but I've spent years now, specifically in this
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  Speaker 2: health and wellness sector of journalism, building my clips, building
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  Speaker 2: my resume, meeting different editors, meeting different brands, studying to
• 4:03
  Speaker 2: become a certified personal trainer to create smarter content, a
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  Speaker 2: run coach, a spin instructor. You know, it's a lot
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  Speaker 2: of work. I'm able to make it work because I'm
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  Speaker 2: willing to put in the time. There's a lot of
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  Speaker 2: unknown questions and there's definitely not always answers. Being an
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  Speaker 2: entrepreneur means that you're willing to get comfortable with the uncomfortable,
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  Speaker 2: and you know there's no right way to do it.
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  Speaker 2: But I would say that there are some best practices
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  Speaker 2: and a whole lot of lessons I've learned over the
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  Speaker 2: past two years. So with that, let's get into some
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  Speaker 2: of them. First off, you have to set boundaries. Plainly put,
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  Speaker 2: boundaries are the basic guidelines that we create to establish
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  Speaker 2: how others are able to behave with us, so we
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  Speaker 2: all have input in that right. At any given time,
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  Speaker 2: the people interacting on a certain project or idea or whatever,
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  Speaker 2: they all have the opportunity to establish their own boundaries.
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  Speaker 2: It's funny, you know, I really didn't have many boundaries
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  Speaker 2: in place when I started solo.
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  Speaker 1: I remember so clearly.
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  Speaker 2: It was like two months into me being a freelance journalist,
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  Speaker 2: and I was so keen on just working constantly because
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  Speaker 2: I thought that the more that I worked, the more
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  Speaker 2: money that I could make and the happier that I
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  Speaker 2: would be. And when I wasn't running or sleeping, I
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  Speaker 2: was on my laptop just writing and editing and pitching
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  Speaker 2: and writing and editing, and god, it never stopped. The
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  Speaker 2: reality is is that if you have no boundaries, then
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  Speaker 2: there's no framework for me. Over the past couple of years,
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  Speaker 2: I've created a few stern boundaries, many of which have
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  Speaker 2: come from experiences lessons like this. For example, when you
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  Speaker 2: don't have a desk phone number for people to reach
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  Speaker 2: you on, you start giving out your cell phone number. Well,
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  Speaker 2: I learned pretty quickly that I actually really hate getting
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  Speaker 2: random calls and text messages about business stuff on my
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  Speaker 2: cell whenever people feel like reaching out to me. So
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  Speaker 2: I created a Google Voice account and it's free. Now
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  Speaker 2: I can stop giving my cell phone number out to
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  Speaker 2: anyone anywhere. I really really value my mornings another example,
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  Speaker 2: They're what make me feel like me. So I refuse
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  Speaker 2: to set meetings four nine am. And when it comes
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  Speaker 2: to working the weekends, well that's definitely a boundary that
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  Speaker 2: I'm still working on. But it's like, let me think,
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  Speaker 2: it's like making time for me, like making some self
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  Speaker 2: love time. Sometimes it doesn't feel all important in the
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  Speaker 2: grand scheme of things, but that I've learned that if
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  Speaker 2: I don't take the time to work on myself and breathe,
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  Speaker 2: then I'm not going to be good when I sit
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  Speaker 2: down in front of my laptop or take a meeting,
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  Speaker 2: or whatever the case may be. The next lesson I've learned,
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  Speaker 2: You've got to be a problem solver. Oh God, how
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  Speaker 2: often does it feel like everything is going wrong? I
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  Speaker 2: often find that usually it's like when one thing goes
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  Speaker 2: to shit, then it's like everything's going wrong and someone's
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  Speaker 2: mad about something, and you've upset your friend while also
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  Speaker 2: just disappointing your parents, and somehow you've managed to trip
• 7:03
  Speaker 2: during a workout and you hurt your ankle and it's
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  Speaker 2: just like this never ending cycle of mess ups. The
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  Speaker 2: thing that I learned building my own brand is that
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  Speaker 2: there are going to be times that things just aren't
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  Speaker 2: going to be as you hoped, period. And this means
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  Speaker 2: that you have to be open to different options. My
• 7:19
  Speaker 2: mentor Fred stand Tarbia, he's episode three I think of
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  Speaker 2: the podcast, and he always says to me that if
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  Speaker 2: you don't have a plan b that you don't have
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  Speaker 2: a plan, And the way that I interpret that, you
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  Speaker 2: have to think about what it is that you want,
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  Speaker 2: what's your desired outcome, and what are the different strategies
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  Speaker 2: that you can use to get there. If you go
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  Speaker 2: to use the first strategy and it doesn't work, then
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  Speaker 2: you can't sit there and get upset about the fact
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  Speaker 2: that what you wanted to happen isn't happening. That doesn't
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  Speaker 2: do you any favors. And I'll actually get into this
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  Speaker 2: a little bit more in a little bit. With that said,
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  Speaker 2: you have to be okay sometimes to backpedal, So what
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  Speaker 2: if it takes you a little longer to get there.
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  Speaker 2: To be honest, most of the time, you're the only
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  Speaker 2: person who's going to notice the next thing I've learned.
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  Speaker 2: You're going to feel alone. I know it's scary, right
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  Speaker 2: I honestly think it really just told's true for anyone,
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  Speaker 2: whether you've come up with some idea that's creating a
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  Speaker 2: business with a ton of other people involved, or you're
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  Speaker 2: doing it solo. I often find myself working unexpected long hours,
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  Speaker 2: like right now, to get everything done, and sometimes when
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  Speaker 2: life is a lot and you're doing things alone, you
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  Speaker 2: feel lonely. My best suggestion, and this is that you
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  Speaker 2: have to be smart about how you structure your time
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  Speaker 2: to incorporate things that remind you that this is not
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  Speaker 2: the case. Whether that's making plans with people that you
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  Speaker 2: care about or setting aside time to do the things
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  Speaker 2: that you enjoy. Both of those can be an important
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  Speaker 2: piece to the puzzle. But more importantly, if you're going
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  Speaker 2: to feel alone, which I'm telling you it happens, and
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  Speaker 2: you need to make sure that what you are working
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  Speaker 2: on as an entrepreneur, it is something you are so
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  Speaker 2: passionate about. For instance, if you and I were both
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  Speaker 2: sitting on the couch right now and I told you
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  Speaker 2: that I had an idea for this podcast that I
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  Speaker 2: was super passionate about. Based on my personal life experiences,
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  Speaker 2: you might think that, wow, that sounds like a great idea.
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  Speaker 2: But if you were to go and you were to
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  Speaker 2: make hurdle and you actually didn't have any passion for
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  Speaker 2: wellness or maybe even a hurdle moment of your own,
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  Speaker 2: then while this podcast would never feel right to you,
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  Speaker 2: you've got to run of the things that you are
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  Speaker 2: passionate about. Then long hours and maybe a little less sleep, well,
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  Speaker 2: it all feels worth it. Another lesson rejection happens. What's
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  Speaker 2: really important, though, is how you handle it. This is
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  Speaker 2: another one of those things that I think holds true
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  Speaker 2: for everyone everywhere. There are going to be people that
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  Speaker 2: say no to you and don't understand your vision. But
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  Speaker 2: for every one of those people, there's going to be
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  Speaker 2: someone else somewhere standing behind a different door, just waiting
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  Speaker 2: to be open. Granted, I will be the first to
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  Speaker 2: admit that it's really hard to understand that right when
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  Speaker 2: the rejection hits. None of us work hard for things
• 10:09
  Speaker 2: hoping that it doesn't pan out, that it crashes and burns.
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  Speaker 2: Let's be honest, but if you review rejection as failure,
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  Speaker 2: then you're not thinking bigger picture. You're just not Every
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  Speaker 2: failure that we go through, and I mean this is
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  Speaker 2: a constant theme on the podcast. Every failure happens to
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  Speaker 2: teach us something. I give myself a window rate. I mean,
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  Speaker 2: some rejections can be a lot bigger than others. Some
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  Speaker 2: rejections might have more money writing on it, or it
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  Speaker 2: could be something that you've been really strategizing for some
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  Speaker 2: long time. What happens then is you have the opportunity
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  Speaker 2: to sit down and really hash that. Okay, what happened here,
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  Speaker 2: Grab yourself a piece of paper, sit down, evaluate, then
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  Speaker 2: write down is there anything I could have done differently?
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  Speaker 2: And lastly, how would you approach a similar situation going
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  Speaker 2: forward this way the next time, when you're presented with
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  Speaker 2: an opportunity, you can take these learnings and run with it.
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  Speaker 2: My next lesson you have to truly believe that you've
• 11:06
  Speaker 2: got this. We are the conversation that's happening inside of
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  Speaker 2: our own head. So for example, if I tell myself, oh,
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  Speaker 2: this episode, no one's gonna care. They're gonna think it's
• 11:17
  Speaker 2: totally pointless. I feel like it's totally a waste of
• 11:20
  Speaker 2: my time. Then guess what, it's probably gonna be waste
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  Speaker 2: of my time. If you're not with someone in person,
• 11:25
  Speaker 2: you can't see that it's all over their face, then
• 11:27
  Speaker 2: it's gonna come out in the way that you write,
• 11:28
  Speaker 2: or the way that you speak, or the way that
• 11:30
  Speaker 2: you present yourself or whatever it is. Then you're gonna
• 11:33
  Speaker 2: be plagued with imposter syndrome. And that's exactly what it
• 11:37
  Speaker 2: sounds like. Imposter syndrome is when you don't actually feel
• 11:40
  Speaker 2: like you're qualified to be doing whatever it is that
• 11:43
  Speaker 2: you're doing. I remember I was sitting down to breakfast
• 11:46
  Speaker 2: with Joe Holder. He's episode fifty of Hurdle, and it
• 11:49
  Speaker 2: was a few years back, and I was the fitness
• 11:51
  Speaker 2: editor itself and we were strategizing for this live morning
• 11:54
  Speaker 2: workout segment that we were gonna do on Good Morning America.
• 11:58
  Speaker 2: And I looked at him and with so much sincerity,
• 12:00
  Speaker 2: I was like, I feel as though I'm not ready
• 12:04
  Speaker 2: for this, and I'll never forget what he said to me.
• 12:06
  Speaker 2: He said, you need to own your strengths and be realistic.
• 12:09
  Speaker 2: And so if I took a step back and was realistic,
• 12:12
  Speaker 2: the fact was at the time for this morning workout
• 12:15
  Speaker 2: segment that I was a certified trainer. I was a
• 12:17
  Speaker 2: fitness editor at one of the top woman's fitness publications
• 12:21
  Speaker 2: period and I was totally qualified to handle this. But
• 12:25
  Speaker 2: if I didn't own that, if I didn't believe that,
• 12:28
  Speaker 2: then that was what people were going to see the
• 12:30
  Speaker 2: next day. And as an entrepreneur and honestly in life,
• 12:35
  Speaker 2: you need to own up to the idea that you
• 12:37
  Speaker 2: are capable. You can be whoever you want to be
• 12:41
  Speaker 2: if you're willing to put in the work the next lesson.
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  Speaker 2: You've got to be self motivated, you know. I think
• 12:48
  Speaker 2: in today's world, a lot of people see the benefits
• 12:53
  Speaker 2: of being your own boss, of being an entrepreneur. For me,
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  Speaker 2: every day is different. I get to make my own hour.
• 13:00
  Speaker 2: I don't need to ask anyone if I can go
• 13:02
  Speaker 2: on vacation or take time off or for permission. With
• 13:05
  Speaker 2: that comes a lot of responsibility.
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  Speaker 1: You know.
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  Speaker 2: Sure, I could sleep in every day until nine. Actually,
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  Speaker 2: I mean, I don't actually think I'm capable of sleeping
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  Speaker 2: in until nine, But if I wanted to and felt
• 13:15
  Speaker 2: that I was capable, I could. And I don't because
• 13:19
  Speaker 2: I take responsibility for what I'm trying to do, for
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  Speaker 2: the things that I am passionate about, which means that
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  Speaker 2: I know how I need to set myself up for success.
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  Speaker 1: For me, that's an early morning workout.
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  Speaker 2: That's taking a shower and putting on real clothes and
• 13:35
  Speaker 2: showing up because the reality is is that when you're
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  Speaker 2: an entrepreneur, when you're building something on your own, no
• 13:41
  Speaker 2: one's going to show up for you. I think in
• 13:44
  Speaker 2: today's culture, a lot of people see the glamorous sides
• 13:46
  Speaker 2: of being an entrepreneur and they want to do it.
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  Speaker 2: They want to think about what it is that they
• 13:51
  Speaker 2: can build, how they can show up, and I think
• 13:53
  Speaker 2: that's really special because it's a really creative climate, it's
• 13:57
  Speaker 2: a really awesome environment. The reality is is that it's
• 14:01
  Speaker 2: not for everyone, and that's okay.
• 14:04
  Speaker 1: You know.
• 14:04
  Speaker 2: I definitely have had phases, especially in my freelance side
• 14:08
  Speaker 2: of things, where I would have killed to be at
• 14:11
  Speaker 2: a desk and for someone just to tell me what
• 14:12
  Speaker 2: to do because I was tired of constantly grinding and
• 14:17
  Speaker 2: pitching and I would have loved for someone else to
• 14:19
  Speaker 2: pay for my health insurance and God. But the reality
• 14:23
  Speaker 2: is is that personally, I feel so fulfilled running after
• 14:29
  Speaker 2: things every day, which sounds again so crazy. If you
• 14:34
  Speaker 2: are willing to show up. If you are willing to
• 14:36
  Speaker 2: step outside of your comfort zone and get comfortable with
• 14:39
  Speaker 2: the unknown, then maybe yeah, this is for you. But
• 14:43
  Speaker 2: if you're not, there's nothing wrong with that, absolutely nothing,
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  Speaker 2: And don't let anybody tell you any different. And my
• 14:51
  Speaker 2: last lesson to take it from Nike, sometimes you just
• 14:56
  Speaker 2: got to do it. Whether you're in the planning phase
• 14:58
  Speaker 2: or the strategizing or you been working on execution, there
• 15:02
  Speaker 2: just comes a point in time when you just have
• 15:04
  Speaker 2: to move forward. If you're stuck there analyzing every little thing,
• 15:09
  Speaker 2: then nothing's ever gonna get done. There's never gonna be
• 15:12
  Speaker 2: any amount of progress. I mean, I remember before I
• 15:15
  Speaker 2: released the first Hurtle Moment, I thought about these segments
• 15:18
  Speaker 2: for so many weeks and finally I just.
• 15:23
  Speaker 1: Said, why not? Now, why not give it a go?
• 15:27
  Speaker 2: Sometimes we're so stuck in our own way planning and
• 15:29
  Speaker 2: strategizing and over analyzing, and that's just paralyzing, right.
• 15:34
  Speaker 1: You won't know what's going to.
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  Speaker 2: Happen unless you give it a try, unless you take
• 15:38
  Speaker 2: a risk. Risks bring opportunity. You know, for me, if
• 15:42
  Speaker 2: I had never put myself out there and was willing
• 15:45
  Speaker 2: to jump over the hurdle, in the first place. Well,
• 15:47
  Speaker 2: we wouldn't be finishing up this episode right now, so
• 15:52
  Speaker 2: thanks thanks for giving me the motivation to be my
• 15:56
  Speaker 2: best entrepreneurial self.
• 15:57
  Speaker 1: You know the drill.
• 15:58
  Speaker 2: Share this with a friend, reach out to me, let
• 16:01
  Speaker 2: me know what you're building, let me know what you're doing,
• 16:04
  Speaker 2: and if you have just a few seconds right now
• 16:06
  Speaker 2: as you're finishing up, click the link with the description
• 16:09
  Speaker 2: of this episode and rate and review the podcast.
• 16:12
  Speaker 1: It makes all the difference.
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  Speaker 2: Remember, you are the person that has the opportunity to
• 16:17
  Speaker 2: create your own life and whether or not it as
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  Speaker 2: an entrepreneur. That's pretty rad Another hurdle conquered. Catch you
• 16:27
  Speaker 2: guys next time.