157. Confidence, Consistency, & Cash Flow

We can make a lot of money but then spend a lot of money. And so our confidence might have been high when we created the products or services. Our consistency might be what's helped us deliver them. But if our cash flow is lacking, we're not managing our expenses well. We can feel like we're on a treadmill going nowhere, which is most important?

Confidence, consistency or cash Flow? When I first started my entrepreneurial journey, I had a lot of confidence, borderline cockiness. Some people might even say unjustified confidence that I could make things happen. And maybe when you started your entrepreneurial journey or if you're thinking of starting up, you've been very excited and inspired, and you might listen to an author or a speaker or a coach and really feel like you're going to take the world by storm. So you might say, well, you know what?

Confidence comes first, because that's what's going to make things happen. Now, if you've listened to people who have been in the game a long time, people like Pat Flynn, Brendon Burchard, Gary Vaynerchuk, you'll hear them talk about consistency, and we'll talk about how they started years ago, and they were making content long before people were really paying attention to it. And their consistency is the key to their success. One of my mentors, Mary Miller, who I met through the Strategic Coach Program, she was my coach then. She is the cofounder of a large company in Cincinnati called Jancoa and a brilliant entrepreneur shared the idea of how cash flow creates confidence.

And at that time in my business, I was noticing that she was right. There were certain things I would do, and I'd have a lot of belief in what I was doing. And then sometimes things wouldn't go so well in some way. Of course, I needed feedback from the marketplace to make sure my ideas were working, but it wasn't specifically whether the idea sold or not. It really was about my cash flow.

And so what a lot of people can do and I've done this is sometimes we can make a lot of money, but then spend a lot of money. And so our confidence might have been high when we created the products or services. Our consistency might be what's helped us deliver them. But if our cash flow is lacking, if we're not managing our expenses well, we can feel like we're on a treadmill going nowhere. So I don't really have a vote to say.

And I'm not wise enough perhaps to say that any one of the three is more important than the other. But I do know that the three feed off each other, and it's a lot like a cycle. So if we're confident and we start something new, it inspires us to be consistent. It inspires us to keep doing something, knowing that we might not get the result right away. But we believe in the long run.

This is something as a parent that we have that we know we're going to put some effort into our children, and it might be years until we see the payoff in either the growth or the ability of a child to walk or to play a sport or to play piano or whatever it might be. And yet, when we go to our entrepreneurial situation, we also have to make sure that there's that cash flow, not just sales, not just income, but there's positive cash flow, because money in the bank, it's not everything, but as an entrepreneur, it allows us to know we have choices, we have options on how we can implement, how we can serve people and how we can get the support we need to expand our business, to impact more people, to create more positivity and more positive results in the world. We know if we've been at this for any period of time, that we cannot do this alone. And so I'm going to suggest to you that if you feel confident or at one point felt confident about your business and at different times, if you've been consistent, if you've delivered for three months, six months, twelve months, a few years at a time, and you know that you're consistent and you're predictable and people can count on you, that if those two things are solid and maybe things aren't where they need to be for you, that you look at your cash flow, you look at how you're managing things and see if that consistent cash flow is there for you, Because again, that loops right back around in that sort of circle, if you will, right back to building your confidence.

Not that your confidence comes from money, but again, confidence of knowing you have the ability to run your business in a way that perpetuates.

So it's not the money per se, it's that knowing that I'm running the business in a way that I've made enough money, I'm managing my expenses, and I get to play this game called entrepreneurialism another day. So I encourage, if you haven't already, to really look at your cash flow and see how that might be impacting your results in your business, not just your sales and your income, but your actual cash flow, and see what sort of a story that tells you about your business and your work. So I hope you find this helpful. As always, I look forward to helping you impact more people and make more money and keep more money and to do that in less time, do what you do best so you can reach more people, share your message, have a greater impact in the world, and also have the time to fully enjoy your family, your friends, and your life. Thanks for listening, as always.

If I can help in any way, Please reach out to me and let me know.