Business Tips – Lillith Elaina

The untold side of the entrepreneur journey.

When I first started my business, I was lost. I knew I wanted to be an entrepreneur, but I honestly had no idea what I wanted to do to be an entrepreneur.

Luckily, you really only need a skill, knowledge, or experience in an area that’s further along than someone else in the world. Past that, you can create value around it.

For me, that looked like coaching, guiding, mentoring, and helping people navigate the failures I’ve already encountered throughout my own life. And then I spoke as well about my own battle with not fitting in, depression, and feeling like there was no one else like me. So it was a mix of inspirational content, self-help experience, and knowledge sharing.

But even though I knew what I was sharing (which is a feat of it’s own if you’re a new entrepreneur), HOW I was to share it was completely baffling. And even to this day, I can’t say that I figured it out quickly — because I sit here with almost 3 years of entrepreneurship under my belt and I only figured it out after 2 to 2.5.

Quick? No. Painful? Yes. Worth it? You bet.

So here are 3 helpful tips I learned about how entrepreneurship isn’t just about what you do, but also how. And hopefully, I can help save you the time and energy needed to figure this all out.

1. Even when you know what you do, explaining it can be a different beast.

It’s not enough to know what you do, because if you’re on your way to monetizing it, others have to understand it too. So you have to explain it.

I’m not saying you need the perfect elevator pitch (which doesn’t exist in my book), but you do need a handful of ways to say it that make sense.

For instance, not everyone will need the details, and not everyone needs the broad sentence. The difference is who and when you say them.

When your friends and family ask you what you’re doing, be broader (unless you find they’re really interested). This can sound like “I write online about entrepreneurship,” or “I guide people to creating their online business.”

As you can see, those are two general statements that make sense to the general population.

But when you’re in front of your ideal audience, be more specific. Such as “I use Human Design to help new entrepreneurs build an aligned, sustainable business,” or “I help new entrepreneurs build an online business that doesn’t cause burnout using Human Design.”

Both of those help my target audience understand what I truly do. And even then, I’m curating those for this particular platform.

It doesn’t matter what you say, as long as it’s understood. And you can always tweak this when necessary, so don’t spend too much time thinking about it. Get into conversations with your friends and family and just say what resonates in the moment. Over time, you’ll find the words that better describe it and it’ll become a more clear and concise phrase.

2. Past explaining what you do, what way do you want people to find you

This one caused me the most inner turmoil. I didn’t understand what this meant.

I kept hearing other business coaches and gurus saying to “follow your audience.”

That never worked for me. In fact, it was much more draining, exhausting, and caused me burnout (which is why I create content that challenges these streamlined pieces of advice).

It wasn’t until I started listening to my own energy and following where I felt comfortable and free that I saw success. And that took me years to figure out.

So how do you know when you’ve found the place for you?

Ask yourself these questions:

How do I feel when creating for this platform?
How do I feel after creating for this platform?
Do I genuinely enjoy this platform or am I forcing myself to do it?
What decision is the more loving decision: to stay on this platform or to leave it?

Don’t just consult your mind on this, feel into your body. How does your energy feel when you think about those questions? (If you know your Human Design Authority, consult that).

The point is, if you don’t love the way you do your day-to-day business actions, you won’t create a business you love. And that’s not fluff, that’s fact.

Keeping the end goal in mind, what kind of business do you want to build? And what support do you want to help you in sustaining it?

I’m not saying to stop doing the things you need to right now, I’m simply bringing the different possibilities to awareness. And if it feels good, continue on with it! If not, consider checking other things out.

3. Where do you feel like you truly thrive?

I started on Youtube, then Instagram, then Facebook, then TikTok, then Medium, then Blogging, then Podcast… and I switched back and forth interchangeably through these at different times trying to figure out what fit me. More so where I felt like I was free to be me.

Don’t knock it until you try it out, because resistance is a great signpost for what to look into. But also, don’t force yourself into a box that you don’t even want to be in.

Youtube was nice, still is. I just don’t want to dedicate my time there right now, though I know I probably will add it in the future again.

TikTok wasn’t my cup of tea, but I don’t mind posting every once in a while when I feel called to.

Video isn’t bad for me, but it also requires more energy from me. And as a Self-Projector in Human Design, I need to conserve my energy more than most people.

Facebook and Instagram were time-zaps for me and made me feel more bitter than anything good. I still have them for when people decide to join my community, but that’s really all I use them for anymore — community.

Now we get into my zones: Podcast, Blogging, Medium. I’m a writer at heart, and I resisted it for many, many years. But as soon as I finally allowed myself to truly test it out, it’s rapidly become my favorite thing to do.

Podcasting is another because it’s my own platform to just speak about my ideas and experiences and find new people like me who are interested in what I’m interested in.

I love being able to share my thoughts both with the written word and the spoken word. And as a Self-Projector in Human Design, that’s very aligned for my energy. (Believe me, if I had known about Human Design sooner I would’ve saved myself some huge headaches!)

These are the places I’ve found that I thrive. And I had to test them all out to see what felt good and how I truly enjoyed sharing my knowledge.

And it will be the same for you.

Final thoughts

Not everything will work for you, but something will.

I constantly say that everyone could be an entrepreneur. And I 10000% believe that to be true. But I also know that not everyone wants to be an entrepreneur, and not everyone is willing to put in the work to become an entrepreneur.

Either way, if you have this dream and you’re willing to do it, fail, persevere, and keep going, you will find success with it. Anyone who tells you it isn’t possible to build a business you love hasn’t been able to do it for themselves yet. Don’t let their projections sway you.

People only truly believe what they’ve done themselves. So find small ways to win, take comfort in the small successes, and keep going. Be your own best cheerleader, and cultivate your content consumption like your life depends on it. Spend time reading inspiration, not demotivation. Then put your desire into action. Take the steps. Move forward.

And you’ll inevitably get there, no matter what anyone else says or believes.

Wouldn’t it be great if there were a one-time fix-all solution?

Unfortunately, since we live in a place called the 3D world, that just doesn’t exist… yet. (I’m not going to stop anyone from trying, by all means, invent away!)

But even though there isn’t some magic pill that fixes everything, there are clues to what fixes things. And the best ones I’ve found, are the clues that help me run my business successfully, without burning out, as a Projector.

If you’re not yet familiar with Human Design, you may want to grab this practical info packet below and start diving in first. But for those of you already acquainted, let’s look at this.

The basis

First, before we even talk about any rituals or practices that work, let’s just get a basis of what my business success looks like and feels like.

I run my business on, mainly, 3 different platforms. These are my own blog website, Youtube, and my Podcast. These are the 3 areas I focus on every day. Past that, I do have Instagram, Facebook, TikTok, and Twitter. But I hardly use those ones other than when I feel like it or when I cross-post other things (which again, is minimal).

So, 3 platforms.

Every week, it’s my intention to upload on a certain schedule for consistency. This consistency helps me stay on track as well as helps me to understand my real growth. And it definitely doesn’t hurt the algorithm.

In short: I support my energy the way it needs to be supported, I plan ahead to be consistent, and I only work when I feel the inspiration to. These things help me be a better writer, business owner, and person overall.

My 3 Ritual Must-Haves

If you’re not someone who has routines in their HD chart (here’s a podcast episode to know whether you do or not), don’t be too strict with the things I’m about to share. But for me, routines are the structures that give me more freedom. When I have routines, my brain is freed up to think about other things.

Here are the 3 I live and breathe by:

1. Stretch, coffee, sit down to work.

These are the first three things I do every single day (besides hitting the restroom, of course). But this is a routine that I truly enjoy.

When I consistently show up to this routine, I’ve already done some mindfulness through stretching and I prepare myself to get work done.

It’s not forced and I don’t have a to-do list every day. Because for the most part, I’ve minimized my tasks to the ones that actually matter. The ones that get the most progress. That’s efficiency – and it’s a small spike of dopamine to my brain.

I enjoy my work, so I set myself up to enjoy it. And every day without fail, I get done what I need to do.

But since I enjoy my work so much, and since I’m a 4 profile (4’s are prone to burnout), I have to do the opposite as well…

2. I stop myself from working at a certain time and set limits around when I can work again.

I do what I can, but never more than I have to.

I’ve frequently found myself in the past, (before I built this schedule), working long hours without knowing when to stop (open sacral not-self). And I used to barely get any sleep, feel drained, and the quality of my work suffered as well.

But after recognizing that pattern, I set this schedule in place and held myself to it. And now, I can confidently say that I do what I can, but never more than I have to. I’m mindfully aware of when enough is enough, and sometimes I go past it, but I always just bring myself back into alignment.

3. I followed my flow of energy to set this schedule up.

I’m not going to sit here and tell you that I knew how to do this right away – I didn’t. I had to be aware of my own energy, notice when I had spikes in energy and lulls in energy, and I had to watch it for a good amount of time before I could call it a pattern.

But this is why I work so well in my environment now. I noticed that I wanted to work in the morning right after I woke up – so that’s what I do. I noticed that I don’t really want to work any longer than 2 to 3 hours – so that’s what I do. I noticed that I liked having coffee next to me while I work (regardless of if I drink any or not) – so that’s what I do.

This schedule gives me the structure that my energy enjoys, with the freedom to flow where I need to. And it works for me.

So what’s the #1 thing?

After all of that, after figuring out what way I work best, how I can best support my natural energy, the places I need to keep an eye on, and what upload schedule I like best… What’s the #1 thing that brings success to Projectors in business?

Consistency.

Regardless of if you want that consistency to be daily, weekly, or monthly, it doesn’t matter. What matters is that you’re able to show up in some capacity and be findable, consistently.

It may take some time to figure out where you want to be, what niche you want to be in, what aspects of your genius you want to share, or what clients you want to have, but when you do, focus on being consistent with it.

Our brains love patterns. Our brains are always looking for ways to be more efficient, more effective, and find things that are similar. And it’ll be much, much easier for your people to find you if you’re consistent with it.

So find what structure of your business you want to have, what upload schedule feels good to you, and what rituals or routines can support you in keeping to it.

So, what about if you’re not able to use your energy consistently? What if it feels better to be inconsistent?

Check out this post here, because there’s something I haven’t yet said but that needs to be addressed: I’m consistently inconsistent. But it looks like consistency from the outside perspective!

Tag: Business Tips

Creating a Business You Love Isn’t Just About What You Do — It’s Also About How You Do It