So my son, Graham, is 9 years old. And every time I ask him what he wants to be when he grows up, he talks about being an NFL football player. He wants to be a professional football player and he doesn't budge from that. But as his mom, there have been times where I felt like, okay. What's the likelihood that he's going to go on to play professional football. And so I've asked him, okay. So what's your backup plan? Like, if that doesn't work out, what would you wanna do? What's something else that you're interested in, and he's like, there's nothing else, mom. Like, that's all I wanna do.

 

And there's a part of me that wants to continue to prepare him to explore other options. Right? There's a part of me that wants to help him, like, reset some expectations, and come up with some other alternatives that might actually work out. But then I listened to myself and the thoughts that were running through my mind, and what kind of mom am I to have those kinds of thoughts? I mean, what if he can be successful as an NFL football player. I don't know what the likelihood is, but there are people who make it to the, you know, to professional football, there are people who make it all the way. And why can't he be one of them? Why do I have to sit here and push him towards a plan b. As that really processed, I realized that it goes against everything that I teach the women that I work with in my business. Everything. Absolutely everything.

 

And so I caught myself. And tonight, I wanna talk about the business side. So I have a question for you. What are you gonna do if your business doesn't work out? Really. Answer that. As you listen to this right now, I'd love for you to answer that. What would you do if your business doesn't work out? Are you gonna go back to a 9 to 5? Are you already browsing job openings from time to time when you start to doubt yourself a little bit? Are you gonna close-up shop but then pivot and launch a different business? Have you already done that? What would you do? Now I'm curious what came up for you when I asked that question? Because it was a little bit of a trick question. If you answered anything, but that is not going to happen, Katherine, then you are already open to the option of a plan b.

 

Maybe you already had a plan b or maybe it was just something that you were thinking about. If you didn't have 100% certainty, when I asked that question that your business not working out wasn't even an option, then you were open to failure and quitting and had this plan b mentality. So first thing that you have to do is kill your plan b. You have to kill it. Completely get rid of it. Now you can do this ceremoniously if you'd like. Sometimes thought about all these options for plan b, and here's a couple of things you can do. This is more just ceremoniously, as I said.

 

So you can write down all of your plan b's on a sheet of paper and go burn them, you can literally go slam the door in your house. Your family might think that you're crazy. You'll literally go slam a door just to represent the fact that you're closing the door on anything but success. Now those are a little silly. Maybe. Maybe. Or maybe that's just what you need. Maybe you need to do something like that.

 

Or maybe you actually need to do something a little bit more literal to kill your plan b. As I said earlier, maybe you're browsing job openings. You gotta stop. Every time something doesn't go your way, stop looking for the alternatives. Keep yourself focused on your business. Maybe there's someone who means well in your family. Could be, you know, your mom, a sibling, a spouse, even a a good friend. And every time they hear about a job opening that seems like a good fit, again, they mean well, but they give you a call or text or whatever.

 

And they say, hey. I saw this job opening. If you ever decide that you're done trying this kind of business thing, you're done testing this out and you want something more serious, then here's something that might work out. You know, here's an option. And you probably don't shut them down completely. You're probably polite and you probably say something along the lines of, thank you so much. I'll keep that in mind. Maybe there's a colleague of yours who you worked with in the past.

 

And you have in the back of your mind that you could always go work for them because they tell you. They call you up every once in a while and they say, how's this whole business thing going? Are you ready to put that behind you? You wanna come back to work? I've got an opening. You know, I always do. And, again, you probably are so polite and nice and say something along the lines of, thank you so much. I'm gonna keep that in mind. But what you really need to say is, I have something full time, I have something that I'm committed to. I have a job already for the the spouse or the family member who's like, if you really want a real job, you should check this out. You might need to shut them down.

 

This is a little bit of an interesting story, a little bit of a funny story. It wasn't at the time. I assure you it wasn't at the time. I had my husband's support to go full time in my business, and so I did. But when you're in business, as you fully know, there are ups and downs. Every month isn't the same. I wasn't on salary anymore, so I didn't have the same exact amount of income coming in every month. We had decided what I needed to be able to pay us for me to go full time, and I was consistently doing that.

 

But it wasn't always the same amount of revenue coming into my business each month. And so my husband one day, bless his heart. He survived this, you guys. Bless his heart. He said to me, maybe you should file for unemployment. You have no idea the fury, the rage that I felt for so many reasons. First of all, I resigned from my job. I wasn't fired.

 

I wasn't let go. I resigned. Second of all, I was bringing in more than enough income than the threshold would even be to qualify for unemployment. And the fact that he would mention that just showed me where his mindset was. Now things have come so far since then. Thank goodness. My goodness, I gave him that chance. I let him live to see another day and to actually experience what success would look like in my business as I progressed.

 

But my goodness, I know that there are family members and friends and colleagues who aren't gonna treat this like the real thing? And they are gonna come up with plan b's for you. Some of them so extreme. Some of them that make no sense. But they're just a reflection of their own thoughts, their own mindset around entrepreneurship. It's not what's safe to them. And so they project those beliefs onto you. And, again, they mean well, and that's what you need to know. So okay.

 

I've got a few steps for you to help you kill plan b. A few things to keep in mind. 1st and foremost, you have to get certain about the future that you want. Absolutely certain. There can't be an ounce of uncertainty inside of you at all. You need to know without a shadow of a doubt what your future is going to look like. There are a lot of ways to get there, but you need to be clear on what you want that future to look like. Get clear and certain about your vision for your future.

 

Then you need to evaluate the different options and decide on one path. All this comes down to making a decision. Decide on that one path. If you're weighing a couple of different options and you think both could get you to this desired future and one might be your business or a certain kind of business and one might be something else, then I really encourage you to compare the best case scenario for both as you evaluate. Now why do I say that? Because oftentimes, we compare the best case scenario of 1 option against the worst case of another. With entrepreneurship, yes, it can be risky. And so we tend to look at all the things that could go wrong and compare that to all of the things that could go perfectly right if we just had a 9 to 5. But when you really compare the best case scenario of the 2 options, you're in a better position to make the right decision for you.

 

And some people need the 9 to 5, and some people need to pursue a business, and neither is right or wrong. It's only what's right for you. But evaluate and decide. And then number 3, commit to your plan and follow through. Whichever you choose, choose it and keep going. No matter what, continue to follow through. Do not give up. Because number 4, stop entertaining any other options.

 

There are no other options. There's no plan b anymore. Your only option is to succeed because you won't stop until you do. That's the thing. Failing really isn't failing unless you let it stop you. Failing is only failing if you let that mean that you're giving up. But as long as you get back up and keep trying and keep working, you'll be fine. You'll eventually reach that success.

 

Now if you listen to all of this, and maybe you pass that test right up front in the beginning. When I said, what are you gonna do if your business doesn't work out? If he thought, oh, no, Katherine. My business is going to work out. That is not an option for me to fail. 1st of all, good job. But second of all, let me rephrase it. What are you gonna do if your launch isn't working out. Here's the thing.

 

Maybe you've committed to your business, but you give up in the middle of a launch. You don't even make it through an entire launch before you decide to call it quits or to blow up and think that there's nothing going right, and this is just gonna be awful, oh, and no one's buying and no one's signing up and launching doesn't work for me, and that maybe I need to change my target audience, and maybe I need to change my offer, and all of these things come up. It's the same thing inside of your business. When you decide on a strategy, you have to be certain that you're gonna succeed because you're not gonna give up. You're gonna keep trying. Even if no one buys in one launch, you have to know that there are lessons that you learned. And the next time, you're going to apply what you learn and improve. And as long as you don't give up, eventually, you will have a successful launch.

 

Now there are times that you need to pivot. But, typically, that's not right in the middle of a launch because you haven't actually followed through yet. You haven't actually seen whether it works or not. The thing about launches is that most of the time, the success comes towards the end. So many people will sign up at the end of the launch. So you have to continue. You have to persevere until the end and then debrief. So if you pass that earlier test about the entire business, maybe there is just an aspect.

 

Maybe it was launching or maybe it was something else. But I want you to make sure that you have no plan b's in your business at all. You decide and you commit and you follow through. And then your success will be inevitable. And I want you to tell yourself that. Say it out loud. My success is inevitable. And don't forget that.

 

Alright. Have an incredible week, and I will see you right back here next week. Bye for now.