The 3 Deadly Sins of Entrepreneurship

00:00:00 - Courtney Elmer
If you're listening to my voice right now, then chances are you're an entrepreneur who has the desire to make a lasting impact. And chances are you're also someone who might be unknowingly sabotaging your own success with one or more of three deadly sins that keep most entrepreneurs stuck. What are these sins, and are you guilty of them? I know have been. We're going to break all of this down in this three-part episode series ahead. So stay tuned.
Globally ranked among the top shows in business and education, we're known for helping overworked online business owners navigate the ups and downs on the way to seven figures each week. You're going to learn how to get the right systems, structure, and support in place so you can build a self-sustaining business that thrives in a rapidly changing digital environment and grow through what you go through to create the greater income, influence, and impact you deserve. This is AntiFragile Entrepreneurship™. I have a confession to make, and no, that is not a pun because of the title of this episode.

00:01:09 - Courtney Elmer
It's the truth. Each and every one of the deadly sins that we're talking about here today and in the episodes ahead is something that I have been guilty of at one point or another on my journey of entrepreneurship. The problem was, most of the time, I had no idea I was making these business mistakes. In fact, just the other day, I was catching up with an old friend of mine on a Zoom call, rambling on about how for the past two years, I had struggled to narrow down my focus because I was afraid of becoming known for something that I didn't want to be known for. You see, for the longest time in my business, I've always leaned into my systems expertise.

00:01:52 - Courtney Elmer
And if you've listened to the show for a while, then you know this show used to be called Systems Made Simple, and for a long time, Systems was the vehicle that I talked about to bring about the desired transformation that we helped entrepreneurs achieve. And we helped a lot of people find freedom in their business mistakes again, find joy in their business again, find the purpose and meaning for which they got into business in the first place, and have the systems in place to help them grow and scale and create that impact that they wanted to make. And if you've listened to the podcast for any length of time, then chances are you also know that for the past three-plus years now, we've also been teaching entrepreneurs how to expand their thought leadership by launching and leveraging a top-ranked podcast as a marketing system within their business mistakes. And so, for the past year and a half or so, I have really struggled to know which of these programs to pour our resources into because both of them provide value, both of them deliver incredible results for the clients that we serve, and earlier this year. I decided to go all in this year on scaling our Pod launch program and pour 100% of our resources into it.

00:03:19 - Courtney Elmer
But immediately, I was faced with all sorts of questions about the best way to do it. What's the best way to shift from a live launch model to an evergreen one? What's the best sales mechanism to use as we shift to this evergreen model so that we can get revenue in the door consistently? What's the best way to get the word out about the live workshops that I've been teaching? Or is the best way to communicate how this program is totally and completely different from all other podcasting programs on the market today?

00:03:52 - Courtney Elmer
Pretty much any question you can imagine as it relates to growing and scaling an offer were questions that I was immediately faced with. And the ironic part about this conversation with my friend Catherine was that I was recounting all of this to her and, at the same time, reflecting on so much of my own behavior for the past year and a half, where I essentially straddled the boat with 1ft in one offer and 1ft in the other offer, not knowing which one to run with, which one to focus on, thinking I could do both at once. But really, that just created so much chaos within my own business mistakes and within our messaging, within our marketing. But most of this behavior and my dragging my feet on making a decision on where to pour our resources was completely unconscious. And it cost me so much time, it cost me so much money, and it cost me a lot of sleep.

00:04:54 - Courtney Elmer
And one of the reasons that I was resisting going all in with the podcasting offer. And when I say all in, I mean pouring our resources into that offer for an extended period of time and really focusing on helping people and serving people with that specific vehicle because I didn't want to become known as the podcast girl. I have always had such a greater and deeper ethos and mission to what I do, the deeper purpose for which I'm here, which has a lot to do with owning your voice, with growing through what you go through, with antifragility, with everything that we talk about on the show. So truly, I can think of no better offer to pour our resources into helping entrepreneurs use their voices to catalyze positive change in the world. But I didn't want to be put into a box.

00:05:50 - Courtney Elmer
And so I thought about this from every possible angle, and it was agonizing. The other thing that I was afraid of was letting go of an offer that I had spent years creating, an offer that accounted for half of the revenue that we brought into our company last year. And so this personal experience of mine truly is the inspiration for this episode series, revealing to you the three deadly business mistakes that I guarantee will cost you your success if you're not careful. And I know this because last year, I reached an all-time low where these business mistakes almost cost me my business. I was this close to either taking an extended sabbatical or quitting altogether. I'm not being dramatic. This is serious. And at the same time as I was observing my own behavior, noticing my own fears coming up, noticing what this dark season was teaching me, was preparing me for, I was reminded of the work that I'm here to do, the reason this podcast exists, helping you embrace failure on your journey of entrepreneurship in order to succeed. To me, that's what Antifragility is all about. It's about growing through whatever it is that you're going through so that you can come out on the other side stronger and better equipped and better prepared with a deeper knowing of yourself with a deeper trust in yourself and in who you are and in who you're called to be and in the work that you're called to do.

00:07:50 - Courtney Elmer
So I couldn't quit. Of course, I couldn't quit. But I did take my foot off the gas a bit longer than I probably should have because there were a lot of fears at play that were preventing me from moving forward. And right now, the world is shifting. It is changing before our eyes, and opportunities that never existed before are opening up. But if you're making any one of these three business mistakes, then I guarantee you, you are going to miss these opportunities, and you're going to get left behind. So today, we're going to cover mistake or deadly sin number one. And then, in the episodes ahead, we'll cover deadly sins two and three. And not only am I going to reveal how these business mistakes are causing problems for you, very real problems for you in your life and in your business, especially right now as we speak, but I'm also going to show you how to overcome them, how to conquer these so that it doesn't become an issue for you. It's a non-issue.

00:08:53 - Courtney Elmer
It doesn't affect you going forward. And the first step to all of this, and my number one goal in releasing this three-part episode series for you, is to help you deepen and cultivate your own awareness. Awareness is so key. I know you know this. But so often, we're stuck in our patterns, we're stuck in our habits, and we are moving through our day unaware.
Unaware of what we're thinking, unaware of the feelings that are driving our behavior, unaware of the beliefs under the surface that are causing us to act one way versus another. So let's get right into it. Deadly sin number one is overthinking. Now, here's how this one usually manifests itself. You'll find yourself faced with some kind of decision, and it will take you weeks to decide how to take action.

00:09:56 - Courtney Elmer
Maybe even months. Maybe you even have an idea. Right now, right this second, that's been in your head for months, for years, that you haven't taken action on at all. I'd be willing to bet you probably have an idea for a book or a podcast right now that you haven't taken action on yet. And as I said, about a year and a half ago, I was faced with this decision to pour all of our resources into scaling our podcast launch program or continue to focus on growing both our business systems program and Pod launch simultaneously. And I let this decision drag on for over a year. It wasn't until about six months ago that I was finally like, okay folks, team rally round. Here's what we're doing. And just moved forward with it. I was tired of agonizing over it, but I lost a lot of steam the previous year because I was so stuck in indecision.

00:10:55 - Courtney Elmer
Now, when I did decide to move forward, fully investing all of our resources into scaling the Pod launch, this required a ton of work on our end because it required a podcast rebrand. It required a website update, which is still in the works. It required more updates to our program, which we did a full rebrand of last year. It required going deeper into our messaging and doing a lot of messaging work. It required an ad strategy. It required an update to our entire marketing strategy. There was a lot tied into this decision. But guess what? Once I finally decided, it was a huge weight lifted. All of that work has been fun. Yeah, it's been a lot of work, but it has been enjoyable. I have been loving working on this program and working on the messaging and tweaking things behind the scenes, things that you will never know that we've been working on, but all to help you have an exceptional experience should you come into our world and work with us inside of that program.

00:11:59 - Courtney Elmer
But here's the problem. Most entrepreneurs don't even realize that overthinking is sabotaging them. They might know that they're overthinkers. They might be self-proclaimed overthinkers. They might say, oh, I'm a chronic overthinker. But overthinking is a completely unconscious habit. And because, for most of us, it's our norm, we don't even notice when it's happening. And when you're stuck on an idea, your first thought might be, okay, let me ask my friends, let me ask my mentors, let me ask my audience. What do you guys think I should do? What do you want? But what you don't realize is that you're giving all of your power away to other people's opinions. And then, guess what? They give you all of their opinions, and you feel more confused than ever before. It makes it harder to make a decision. Overthinking can also show up as information gathering. For example, let's just say you want to start a podcast. Even though you know that it's something you want to do, you stay stuck in information-gathering mode. Googling the best way to start a podcast? Watching YouTube videos. Following people online who teach podcasting.

00:13:13 - Courtney Elmer
Downloading free lead magnets or resources on how to get started with a podcast. Listening to podcasts on how to start a podcast but never taking any action. Take a look around you. People like Brene Brown, Alex Hormosi, and Amy Porterfield didn't get to where they are by taking a year or more to gather information before making up their minds about something. None of them let the fear of making the wrong decision stop them. What they do is that they look at the decision with the information that they have, and they choose the best path forward at that moment. What else do they do? They reserve the right to change their mind. And this allows them to move freely, move nimbly, move quickly, and not let overthinking prevent them from creating the impact that they're here in the world to create.

00:14:20 - Courtney Elmer
But the real reason that most of us delay making any kind of decision is because we're usually afraid of making the wrong one, and we don't want to waste our time. And I get it. But aren't you wasting your time right now by delaying the decision you want to make? So how do we overcome this habit of overthinking? Well, the first thing is to simply realize that the deeper reason so many of us delay decision-making is because you don't trust your own intuition enough.

00:14:58 - Courtney Elmer
And to reach the next level of growth, you're going to have to remedy that. You're going to have to learn how to trust yourself fully. It doesn't mean you'll always have the right answer, doesn't mean you'll always have the right approach. What is right anyway? And I get it.
I get why this might feel difficult because most of us are so conditioned to following other experts' advice. Because that's how we started out in business mistakes. We started listening to other people who had walked the path before we did and assuming that if the steps that they took helped them become successful, well, those steps will logically help me achieve the same success. But here's the reality. When you have other people's voices crowding your head, and you are constantly gathering information and filling your head with what other people are telling you you should do, you can't even begin to hear your own thoughts and real thought leaders in demand.

00:16:13 - Courtney Elmer
Thought leaders, I guarantee you, they're not out there consuming other people's information. They're spending time in silence. They're listening. They're letting the ideas come through, and they're acting on the ones that make sense. I can remember back in the early days of my business mistakes. I would spend hours, hours listening to podcasts. I had some hosts that I really loved and really respected and admired for all that they had achieved. Seven-figure earners, eight-figure earners. Some of these people would go out there, and they'd talk about the launches that they would have.

00:17:01 - Courtney Elmer
And they'd say, oh, I had this eight-figure launch. Let me break it down for you. Here's what we did. Here's what you need to do to have the same results. And I would get so caught up in doing it their way because that's what worked for them that it prevented me from thinking for myself.
And I get it. You might push back on me a little bit and say, Well, Courtney, depending on the stage of business mistakes that you're in, if you're brand new, you don't know what you don't know. True. But isn't it also true that someone who knows a lot but takes no action on it doesn't have the one thing that we all need to excel in this world of business mistakes, which is experience? And how else are you going to get the experience unless you're out there taking action?

00:17:55 - Courtney Elmer
So how do we fix this habit of overthinking? The first step, which we've talked about, is learning how to trust your own intuition. But how do you practically do that? Here's what's worked for me. You go on information fast for the next seven days; I want you to stop scrolling your social media. Stop listening to podcasts, even if it means not hearing my voice for a whole week. Stop reading books, for heaven's sake. Stop downloading lead magnets and signing up for people's webinars and online events. Just stop. Stop. Get quiet and listen and notice what you notice. Don't go into it with the expectation that you're suddenly going to get all of these insights from the heavens, like flooding your brain. Just notice what you notice. Notice how it feels to be quiet, to be still. Notice if it's uncomfortable. Notice what you notice. Maybe you've noticed that I haven't posted a thing to my Instagram for the past eight weeks, at least at the time of this recording. And I can tell you one thing by getting quiet. It's allowed my own thoughts to come through again. I have made more progress behind the scenes over the past eight weeks than I had in the eight months prior to that. I'm not exaggerating.

00:19:31 - Courtney Elmer
And in the past, maybe, like me, you've also diluted yourself into thinking that some level of overthinking is actually prudent, slowing down to make decisions. But at the end of the day, let's call it what it is. Overthinking is a procrastination strategy. I'm not saying to be rash, but I am saying to make a choice so that you can move forward. Do you want to start a podcast?
Great. Are you going to start it now or later? Simple choice. Start it now. Take the action, and start it later. Put it out of your mind and focus on what you need to focus on. Because here's the other piece of this. No matter what you wind up deciding, you can always reserve the right to change your mind at any point. Nobody will think less of you for it. In fact, I have followed a health influencer online.

00:20:30 - Courtney Elmer
I'll call him an influencer. He wouldn't call himself that. But he is someone who is very influential in the health and wellness space. And one of the reasons that he's so influential is because not only does he test everything that he recommends on himself, and he's not pushing all these supplements and fad things; he's legitimately doing these crazy health tests and experimenting and having the courage to experiment and then reporting his findings for people to take or leave. And what I respect and admire the most about him is that there have been multiple times where he's come out, and he has publicly admitted to his over 100,000 plus followers that he's been wrong and that he's changed his mind on something.

00:21:25 - Courtney Elmer
He had previously taken a very strong stance for Matt Blackburn if you want to follow him, and I respect the guy for that because, at the end of the day, influence is not as much about influencing others or persuading others as it is about being true to yourself. Look at anyone that you deeply respect and admire. I'd be willing to bet it's because they have strong principles. It's because they have clear values. It's because they're willing to admit that they don't know it all, and they're willing to admit when they're wrong. There is strength in that. So, yeah, here I am, narrowing our focus down to helping thought leaders create massive leverage and massive visibility in their businesses with the top 100 podcasts. Is it the only thing I want to be known for? Absolutely not. But I've also come to the realization that this just simply happens to be the vehicle that we're utilizing right now to help achieve my deeper purpose, which is helping entrepreneurs use their voice to make an impact, to own their voice, to develop mental toughness, mental antifragility, to grow through what they go through.

00:23:08 - Courtney Elmer
Because this is what lights me up, this is what excites me. The actual vehicle doesn't matter. It doesn't matter whether it's systems or podcasting or social media or messaging or wherever it is. The vehicle doesn't matter. And the same is true for you. No matter what it is that you do or that you teach, whatever you teach is just the vehicle for the transformation that you're helping people achieve. You've got to realize this. The vehicle can change at any point. I used to run a live retreat pre-COVID, and we had this segment in the retreat where we would talk about values and we'd work with people to help them identify their true core values. Because a lot of times, what happens is we're operating by a value system that's not actually ours. It's a value system that belongs to our parents, our peers, and maybe our colleagues. Maybe we've borrowed the value system from people that we look up to because we want to achieve the same kind of success, but what we did was we helped people uncover their true values. And I would often tell this story to explain the difference between means values and end values. End values are the actual thing that you value, and mean is the way to achieve or the path to those actual values.

00:24:36 - Courtney Elmer
And so, let's imagine that you are a runner. You love to run. Maybe you're listening right now, and you're like, that is me. I love to run. Right? I don't like to run. I have very short legs. I'm five foot two, and I am not built for running. Weightlifting, yes. Running, not so much.
But stick with me with this analogy. Let's imagine you're a runner. You love it. It gives you such a sense of aliveness, such a sense of freedom. When you are running, you feel the most connected to yourself that you have ever felt, ever.

00:25:13 - Courtney Elmer
And let's say that you get into a car accident and you lose your legs; you lose your ability to run. Then what? How are you going to achieve that sense of aliveness and connection and freedom? These things that you value, the reasons that you ran, you got a choice. You could become depressed. Woe is me being the victim. And it's okay to feel upset about it. I would be, absolutely. I'm not saying to feel what you feel, but the danger is in staying there because your other option is to find another means to achieve that connection, that freedom, that feeling of aliveness that you value. This is why we have Paralympics didn't stop them, so don't let it stop you. So this is to illustrate the difference between a means and an end.

00:26:22 - Courtney Elmer
And it's no different when it comes to your business mistakes and the vehicle that you're using to create the transformation that you're here to create. And for me, reminding myself of this is that the vehicle is just the vehicle. The vehicle can change at any time, and I can reserve the right to change that at any time. And understanding the difference between means and end, when it comes to values, when it comes to your business mistakes, when it comes to the transformation you provide when it comes to the vehicle that you're using to help people achieve the transformation makes it easier to move forward when you're faced with moments of indecision when you find yourself overthinking and procrastinating deciding because you can always change your mind. And when I remind myself of this, it's like the clouds part and the angels saying, and suddenly I can just walk forward. There's the past. The past that I've been looking for appears.

00:27:18 - Courtney Elmer
Because in that moment of deciding and actually making that choice to move forward, I recognize that, number one, I trust myself no matter what. Number two, everything always has been and will be okay. And number three, business mistakes are rich in information. They're not something to be feared. And if, at some point, I realize maybe this is not the path that I thought it was going to be, then I can change my mind whenever I need to.
So you have a choice to make now. Do you want to continue focusing all of your time and mental capacity on overthinking your next move? Are you ready to break free from other people's opinions of you and do the work that you're here to do to move forward, make progress, and claim what's yours? So if you're ready to make a change, if you're ready to get back in momentum, to take action, to make the deeper impact that you're here to make, then over the next seven days, you're going to implement the challenge that I gave you in this episode information fast. I want you to get quiet, and I want you to practice listening to yourself.

00:28:40 - Courtney Elmer
And if you want, I am happy to help hold you accountable. Just DM me on Instagram. I'm at @thecourtneyelmer. Let me know that you're taking me up on this challenge because regardless of whether I'm on a social media break or not, I check my DMs pretty much every day. So reach out to me there, and if this episode was helpful for you, do me a favor.
Scroll down in your Apple app and write me a one-sentence review and let me know because this helps new listeners know that this show is worth their time and that they're going to get something valuable out of it. Join me back here next week because we're going to continue this three-part series, and we're going to dive into the second deadly sin of entrepreneurship. I got to warn you. This is one you won't see coming. And until then, let's get out there and grow through what we go through together.