What I wish I knew before starting my business (7 lessons from my mistakes😊)
If you are new to the online coaching business and digital product business world, I am sharing the little mistakes I have made since starting the business in 2020 so you can learn from them!
In this episode, I'll share 7 things I wish I knew before launching my digital product business - you know, the real mistakes, regrets, and lessons I have discovered.
If you are a coach, creator or someone in the digital product business, I hope this episode will help you start or run the business on the right foot, save money and avoid the mistakes I made :)
In this episode, you'll find out…
Whether I would recommend WordPress or Squarespace for your business website (I think the answer is obvious for more seasoned biz owners ;) )
My $200 rule when it comes to buying lifetime software deals
How to avoid FOMO-driven software purchases
Why I would choose to create consistent podcasting or YouTube content from early on
All the useful tools mentioned in this episode:
✅ Pay once, use forever course & memberships platform : Teachery
✅ (Shameless plug!) Pay once, use forever coaching and mindset tools : shikahanuar.shop
✅ Free mindset and coaching tools to use as lead magnets : https://shikahanuar.com/free-tools
✅ All-in-one platforms: Funnel Gorgeous, FEA Create, GoHighLevel
✅ Smaller all-in-one platforms : She Owns, Funnel Sketchers, Systeme
✅ Pay once pop-up boxes for your sites : Convertbox
✅ Highly-reviewed Wordpress hosting : Lyrical Host, Siteground
✅ Helpful courses : Pinteresting strategies , Kate Doster’s courses
Trancript below:
Hi everyone, welcome back to another episode of Feel Good Business. And in this podcast, I share tips on how we can create a business which feels good to us, which nourishes our soul, and at the same time leaves an impact to the world.
I'm Shikah, and in today's episode, I am going to be a little bit more personal, I would say. And we are going to be talking about the 7 things I wish I knew before launching my digital product business. So if you're new to me or my work, I have a business where I sell done-for-you mindset courses, mindset workshops, mindset workbooks to coaches and anybody who's in the personal development niche.
I have actually run this business since 2020, and I've learned quite a few lessons since then, and there have been many ups and downs. And I'm not going to sugarcoat it for you. There are some ups and downs, and especially in the more recent couple of years, there have been downs as well, especially when it comes to AI and competition and all that.
Anyway, I'm going to share some of the mistakes and lessons I've learned, which cost me time, cost me money, and the things that I would change or the things I would do differently if I have to start my business today.
If you are just starting out, you're new to the digital product business or new to coaching, perhaps you may find this episode helpful. And I hope that it's going to save you some headaches along the way, helps you with your decision-making, and helps you get started. in a smooth sailing manner. If you are someone who's already been in business for some time, you may be able to relate to some of the lessons that I'm sharing. So whatever it is, let's get started.
Lesson 1
Lesson number 1 is the debate between Squarespace and WordPress.
So my current blog, shikahanuar.com is under Squarespace.So when I first started out, I went with Squarespace because it's very easy to get started. The templates are very pretty. It's very sleek. You can get your blog running from day one. And I get why so many people love using Squarespace. It's very easy to get started, especially if you're not a technical or not a tech-oriented person like me. But here's the lesson I learned, and this is for me personally. I wish that I had gone with WordPress instead.
So Squarespace is beautiful, but it can— it has a lot of limits as well. And some people say, I'm not sure if this is true, but some people say that the SEO capabilities may not be as robust. And it doesn't have as much flexibility as WordPress does, especially when your business grows. That's when you need more customization, more flexibility. You want to add more things to your website and all that. So WordPress is something that I would go for if I were to start a business today. WordPress has a steeper learning curve.
I mean, I couldn't deny that it's more technical in my opinion, but I feel that the— I feel that the freedom that you get, especially with when it comes to content creation, makes the extra effort actually worth it. And like all things, you know, once we get the hang of something and we get used to it, it actually gets easier along the way.
So I think it's worth the effort to master WordPress or just get used to how it's run. And it can be really freeing when your business grows in future. Some things I like about WordPress is that - this is just from my viewpoint - is that there are some course platforms where you can just pay a lifetime price. I think it's called Fluent Communities, if I'm not wrong. And you can run your courses from your WordPress site, you know, just with a one-time payment and you can add plugins such as like communities, affiliate marketing, and, and many other things to your website, which can be a bit tricky with Squarespace. And also, many software out there play nice with WordPress.
For example, I have this social media management software which I'm currently testing out. It allows me to schedule posts to WordPress but not to Squarespace. So many software do ‘play nice’ with WordPress, so it makes your life much easier in that sense.
And the thing about Squarespace, from my understanding, is that I can't easily move my blog entries from Squarespace to WordPress. It's not that straightforward. So I can't exactly just move today if I want to. I think, I'm sure there are ways around it, but I feel that it's not worth my time and effort. So I'm just going to stay with Squarespace for now.
And I know there are many WordPress hosting out there, but there are 2 which I hear many people rave about. One is Lyrical Host and the other one is SiteGround. So I will just leave the links to all the software I've mentioned in the description box so you can refer to them later for your own reference.
And also one more thing which hurts a little bit is that hosting on WordPress is actually cheaper than Squarespace. Okay, even if I choose something like Lyrical Host, which is a little bit more costly than some of the other WordPress hosts, I believe it's still cheaper than what I'm paying for Squarespace.
If you're starting your website today, you— it's good to think long-term, long-term about your platform instead of what's easy right now, what looks nice right now. So that's just my opinion.
Lesson 2
So lesson number 2 is that lifetime deals can be a hit or miss.
So some lifetime deals can be really worth it. So I'm talking about tools like Heartbeat. Heartbeat, it's a community tool like Skool, S-K-O-O-L. Or encharge.io . It's an email marketing platform. So these 2 have had lifetime deals on AppSumo for a very short time in the past. So these are very good tools, which I think are really worth it because look at what they've become right now.
So they've really grown, the companies and the offerings have grown, and it's really worth the lifetime deal. And also there are some platforms like Teachery, which allows you to host courses, and in future, even communities and memberships as well within one platform. So that’s also a one-time price lifetime deal, which I think is worth it.
And there's also ConvertBox, which is like a marketing tool for your website, which is also a lifetime deal. So I've grabbed ConvertBox and Teachery because I think they are worth it. Like I mentioned, some lifetime deals can honestly be worth the money and I know that many of us have subscription fatigue. I mean, I'm sure many of us can relate to that. You know, everything costs money, everything is raising in prices.
So for me, I run my business in that way as well. So if you need like done-for-you coaching resources or mindset resources, you can go to shikahanuar.shop and whatever you buy there, like a done-for-you workshop or workbook, is lifetime access, no subscriptions ever, not at the moment anyway. So I love that model. And that's why I believe that lifetime deals, when they are done right, they can be very, very valuable to a business owner.
But however, not every lifetime deal is worth it because I've bought many, many lifetime deals in the past, especially when I was first starting out, because I thought they were good deals, but they can be a true waste of money sometimes.
Some of these companies just crash and burn within a year or 2, and suddenly your lifetime deal is just worth nothing because, well, the company is doesn't exist anymore. Some of them do not update their user interface. Some become very outdated.
Some companies will change their terms after 2 years or thereabouts, and then your lifetime deal suddenly becomes not usable anymore or not useful anymore. It's quite a pain, especially when you've paid a few hundred dollars and suddenly the terms are different and you can't use it anymore.
So here's my rule right now. If I were to buy lifetime deals, I'm very selective right now. So my personal filter is that if the cost is low enough, let's say about $200 thereabouts, I'm willing to take the risk of the company potentially closing down, especially if there are other alternatives out there that I can easily switch to. So recently I bought a social media management lifetime deal. I'm still trying it out. It's less than $200.
For me, it's not a big deal because I guess if it goes bust in a year, I can just switch to something else like Buffer or Publer or something easily. So I, that's why I bought it. But if it's a bigger investment, I will actually vet the company first. Like look at how long, how many years they've been around, reviews from real people.
And at the same time, you have to also be aware of the support. That is very important in my opinion. So before I buy a lifetime deal, what I would do is that I will email the software team a few questions back and forth to see how quickly they handle problems, how quickly they handle queries. Some will be just unhelpful and give you cut and paste AI answers.
And some of them will actually have real humans answering your questions. And some software have teams which don't work on weekends. So this is something that I would like to bear in mind before I buy a lifetime deal. I would check out their support, how many years they've been around, and also the cost. If it's something I can risk, then maybe I'll— I'll invest in it.
Lesson 3
Okay. Lesson number 3 is that I wish I had chosen an all-in-one platform from the start.
So when you are starting a business, you may be piecing together like 5 different tools for your email marketing, your courses, your booking calendar and all that. So it can get really messy. So if I were to look back, I would have gone for something like a GoHighLevel white label platform.
So in case you are new to this and it sounds gibberish to you, I will just explain briefly. GoHighLevel is actually a platform which allows you to do so many things. For example, email marketing, social media management, hosting of courses, calendar booking, blogging, all in one platform.
So the thing about GoHighLevel is that it's very technical, it's very tech-oriented. So if you are someone who is very good with tech, then maybe it's something you can consider. But if you are someone who prefers an easier interface, you can look at platforms such as FunnelGorgeous or FEA Create.
So these are white label platforms of GoHighLevel. They allow you to do like some of the things— email marketing, social media management, blogging, and a few other things for one price. I think FunnelGorgeous and FEA Create are about $97 or $100+ per month.
What they do is that they make this GoHighLevel platform easier for you to manage, more approachable, easier for you to use, and better support. So people pay for that. They cost, like I mentioned, about $97 to maybe $100+ a month, which sounds like quite a lot if you're starting out. I understand. But if you look at it properly, you need to pay for blogging, you need to pay for email marketing, you need to pay for course hosting and all that.
It all adds up in the end. And social media management as well- it does add up. So these are some of the more stable alternatives to GoHighLevel if you're not a tech-oriented person, but there are also smaller players out there such Funnel Sketches or SheOwns. I think they cost about $50 or so a month. They also have some, some all-in-one functionalities like email marketing and blogging and, and all that in one platform.
In the past, in 2020, when I was first starting out, only Kajabi and I think Kartra was available at that time. And they were quite costly for me.
So right now there are more all-in-one options for you. So if I were to start a business right now, maybe I'll choose an all-in-one option like these, one of these. You can have your funnels, your email automation, your booking calendars, your courses, your social media management, and blog all under one roof. It will save you a lot of time and also a lot of money as well. You don’t have to buy Zapier or something like that to connect the tools together. So it can be a bit complex.
By the way, if you want another platform, I think Systeme.io is also a good option. It's just that there are some limitations when it comes to product creation. I think it starts at $17 right now per month at the point of recording, but you can only create and sell a few products.
If you are early on in your journey, maybe you can consider an all-in-one system like the ones I mentioned earlier, rather than duct taping 5 different subscriptions together. So this is just my opinion.
Lesson 4
So lesson number 4 is that expensive courses do not always mean that they are better than cheaper courses.
Some of the most helpful courses that I have bought were under $100. And one of the examples that I can give you is Pinteresting Strategies. So that course helped me a lot when I was just starting out and when I was starting out with Pinterest marketing. And it was, if I'm not wrong, it's still $97.
I've also invested in Kate Doster's courses in the past and in her email marketing templates in the past. And if I'm not wrong, a few of them were also under $100, so quite reasonably priced, you know, and very practical to use.
So the lesson I've learned is that price is not always an indicator of, you know, of quality, of how much you will implement. You can pay like $2,000 for a course and if it just sits in your laptop collecting dust, and it's not useful. Whereas a $47 course, for example, can create changes in your business if you actually watched it and took action and implemented what is in there.
When I first started out, I bought a $997 all-in-one business course.
The course was quite basic, but the active community was very, very valuable. So I think there was a Slack community or a Discord community, and whenever you have questions, the coach and the assistant coach will be there to answer your questions like all day long. So that was very valuable.
The community was, you know, it was very active. So when I was starting out, that was incredibly helpful. The business is no longer active, I believe, but it was okay for me because I got so much value from the community whilst it was active, and I outgrew it after some time anyway.
Before you invest in something expensive, in an expensive course, you can just ask yourself, will you truly use it? Are you going to set up a timetable or some kind of schedule to make sure you use it?
Or are you buying it because you think that a higher price tag guarantees better results? Or are you buying this expensive course because it has a celebrity coach?
You know, so you have to ask yourself these questions.
Lesson 5
Lesson number 5 is that FOMO purchases are not encouraged at all.
Okay, so this one is a little bit painful for me because I have to be honest, nowadays I have to be very aware of not buying software because of FOMO, which is ‘fear of missing out’. So in the past I bought ThriveCart. In case you're new to this, ThriveCart is a sales checkout with a course platform, and a few years ago I bought it because people were talking about it.
I bought it because of FOMO, because it has a lifetime deal. And then it kept saying that the lifetime deal is ‘going away soon’. So I bought it because of FOMO. And basically it's just collecting dust in my tech stack right now.
I don't really have a clear use case for it. And that's my fault because I bought it due to FOMO. And when I went in, the whole setup was just too technical for me. I'm not a tech-oriented person. This is from the viewpoint of someone who's not excited about tech. I didn't really like the user interface.
It's just not pleasant for me to use. And I bought it because everybody bought it. And if I were to give some like suggestions to you, I would say don't buy things because of FOMO. And I know that many people have been complaining about the software. If you go to their Facebook page, their ThriveCart Facebook page, many people do have complaints about the software and the complaints have been going on for quite some time.
So that's why I would suggest that you do not buy things out of FOMO and to have a clear use case for it. This is what I would do differently right now. Before I buy any tool, I would write down exactly what I'm going to use it for.
Not a vague idea in my head - but an actual specific use case for the tool. So if I can't articulate clearly, if I can't write it down clearly what I'm going to use it for, then I will not buy it.
And if there is a free trial available, I will take it because the free trial will buy you some time— time for you to let the initial excitement and urgency-driven marketing to wear off, and time for you to try out the software to see whether you like it and whether you will actually use it before you make a decision to buy it.
So you are making a decision based on logic and your own practical use case and not because of FOMO or some other heightened emotions. If after the trial period, you find that it's useful and you really find it very beneficial for your business, then you can purchase it and invest in it. If not, you just saved yourself some money. So lesson number 6 is to have fewer, stronger lead magnets.
Lesson 6
So lesson number 6 is to have fewer, stronger lead magnets.
I have about, I think more than 20 free coaching tools and lead magnets on my blog, which is shikahanuar.com . And if I were to start a business today, I would have gone a different route. I would have created maybe a few or several very strategic lead magnets instead of creating 20 or 30 free lead magnets for people.
Specifically, I would have offered mini workshops instead of PDF downloads. So the thing about mini workshops or workshops in general is that they have a more personal touch. When someone joins you or watches your recorded workshop, they hear your voice, they see your face. They can feel your energy. They can get to know your worldview.
They can get a feel of what it's like to work with you. So it builds trust and community quite quickly. It builds trust much faster than someone just downloading a checklist or an ebook, and then they forget about it in the inbox.
So if I were to start over, I would have offered mini workshops, which is free lead magnet. And if you are looking for workshops as lead magnets, you can get some done-for-you workshops from my shop, shikahanuar.shop , and you can go and browse through some workshops that you can purchase, or even some other tools which you can purchase to use as lead magnets for yourself.
Lesson 7
This is the one that I think about the most, and this is one which I wish I had really started much, much earlier - which is to show up on podcasts and YouTube more consistently. So for example, I would have chosen to invest my time in podcasting or making YouTube videos at least once a week.
When we want to build a brand or a following, it does take time.But content platforms like podcasting or YouTube, for example, and even blogging, they compound in a way that not a lot of other marketing platforms do. For example, every episode or every video that you make, or even every blog post, can become a piece of evergreen content that keeps working for you years and years even after you've published them. And the thing about podcasting or YouTube videos is that you can turn the transcripts into blog posts. And I have blog posts with freebies from about 4 years ago, which people are still signing up for. So your video from 3 years ago can still get views and build trust now. And people can listen to your podcast episodes from last year and learn from you even now. So it's it's very worth your effort and your time. You invest your time in creating a podcast episode or video, and it can do your work for you years and years from now, provided that your content is of course evergreen, such as spirituality, mindset, motivation, well-being, something which is relevant regardless of time.
So podcasting and YouTube build trust, and they build familiarity, and they build like a genuine following. And I know some coaches who built some kind of ‘celebrity’ image because they've been showing up on podcasts and YouTube for so many years. And because they have this quote-unquote celebrity coach image, they can charge really premium prices for their products and services.
So if you're on the fence about starting a podcast or YouTube channel for your coaching business or for your digital product business, I would say you can start thinking about it now and being consistent is actually very important and it's going to pay off in ways which you can't see yet right now.
Also, it depends on your personality. If you are an introvert, maybe podcasting is more suitable for you. For example, I am an introvert, so I prefer podcasting because being on camera takes up too much of my energy for me personally.
So if you are an extrovert and you love being on camera, you have high energy, you're energized by interactions - maybe going live on YouTube, going live on Instagram is going to be an approach which is suitable for you and your personality.
So your personality also plays a part. Blogging is also still very relevant. However, I feel that in this era, people are really turning to videos and podcasts more than blogging. Blog posts can be a transcript of your video and your podcast episode. So if someone doesn't have the time to listen to you or watch you, they can read on your blog. These go hand-in-hand.
Which of these lessons resonate with you the most?
Let me know which of these 7 lessons resonate with you the most or gives you that aha moment, and you can email me and let me know.
And if you like this episode, you can give me a 5-star rating. Thank you very much. Or if you want to talk to me via email about this episode, you can email me. The link to my email is in the description box. And if you're a coach or in the personal development niche, you can get free lead magnets to use in your business from my blog, shikahanuar.com . So that's all for this episode. I will see you in my next episode.
Some of the links above may be affiliate links & I only recommend items which I genuinely think are value-for-money. 💛
Ep 59: How new business owners can use silence to make better decisions
Mentioned in this episode:
✨ A platform which lets you host your courses, sell digital products and have unlimited memberships and communities (this will be ready by end 2026!) at ONE LIFETIME price :
https://www.teachery.co/limited-time?a=HdLRHL3A
I'll have to admit that I wasn't sure if I wanted to record this episode at first - because I wasn't sure whether this is going to be relevant to business owners.
But... I am reminded that as business owners, our personal life, our mindset and business are pretty much intertwined.
Running a business means making dozens of decisions a day and not all of them come with a clear ‘right’ answer.
In this episode, we talk about using our intuition and how sitting in silence can help you avoid analysis paralysis when you're stuck making decisions as a business owner.
If you've ever spent hours researching for the 'perfect' platform, most value-for-money subscriptions - only to end up more confused and anxious than when you started, this episode is for you. ;)
I will also share a real example from my own business : a $550 decision which I went back and forth for weeks.
There's fun homework for you too ;)
I'll give you a simple challenge to start making decisions from your own inner voice instead of everyone else's opinions.
Hope you will find this episode inspiring in some way.
-Shikah
Prefer reading this episode? You can read the transcript below.
Welcome to another episode of Feel Good Business, and this is where we are going to discuss how we can create a business which feels good to us, which nourishes our soul, and also leaves a beautiful impact to the world. So whether you are a new business owner, an aspiring one, or maybe you've been in this business world for a while, I hope that I can share something which helps you to run a business in a way which feels really good and also profitable for you.
And today we are going to talk about something which is which sounds really simple to do, but not exactly very easy to do. And we are going to talk about how we can use silence to listen to our intuition and make better decisions in business.
And I'll have to say that at first I wasn't sure if I wanted to record this episode because I wasn't sure whether this is going to be relevant to business owners because I'm going to be talking about intuition, our inner voice, six sense, and all that, and I wasn't sure if this is something relevant to business. But then I am reminded that as business owners, our personal life, our mindset, and business all these things are pretty much intertwined. So if your life or your mindset is going well, it helps you a lot in your business as well. So that's why I think it's okay to share how you can use your intuition and your six sense to make good decisions in your business. Because sometimes when we look outside for answers, when we look outside of ourselves for answers, it can leave us even more confused instead of giving us clarity.
So anyway, with all that aside, I am going to start this episode, and I hope it's going to be helpful for you.
So if you're an aspiring business owner, or maybe you are in the early uncertain stages of entrepreneurship, where you feel that you have to make many decisions, and nobody can tell you which one is right, which one is wrong, and you have been tempted to buy many courses and many workshops from other experts to give you the answers. Well, the thing about starting a business is that there is no uh no manual for it, no guidebooks for it, nobody can give you a guaranteed answer to success, and you do not necessarily have to buy an expensive course or expensive program for you to succeed in business. I have bought some pretty reasonably priced causes which were really helpful, you know, courses which cost less than a hundred dollars, which are which were really helpful when I was starting my business.
So anyway, at some point, right, no amount of research can replace you trusting your own self and trusting your own gut feelings. And that's what today's episode is going to be about, how you can start sitting in silence, reconnect with your intuition and your sixth sense that's within you, and you can how you can use that to make good decisions for yourself.
Alright, if you are new in business, or maybe if you've been in business for a while, chances are your days are going to be fully packed and packed with decisions to be made, packed with things to be done, admin work to be done, and you may even have to do a lot of research because you have to lay the grounds for your business. That means finding the most value for money tools available, and you will be doing a lot of Google research, asking other business owners what their opinions are, and you may even be checking your competitors' pages and websites, scrolling through Facebook groups for some advice, watching YouTube, tutorials nonstop, the right way to do things, and all this can add to a lot of confusion and lack of mental clarity. This is something I've experienced on my side as well.
So when I say quote unquote sit in silence, I'm not just referring to us turning off our phones or turning off the internet, you know, what I mean is to actually be with ourselves and be aware of what's going on within our body, within our mind, and being hyper aware of what's going on around us. So this requires us to be very present with ourselves at the moment. And being aware of our breathing patterns, being aware with our uh nervous systems, being aware of our moods, being aware of how our bodies are how we are feeling at this moment.
And for many entrepreneurs, especially if you're doing this for the first time, it can feel uncomfortable because when we sit in silence, when we are with ourselves, that's when our thoughts and emotions will start to surface. All those emotions and thoughts that we've been trying to avoid, or those not so pleasant ones, will start to surface, and we have to face them. So that's why it can feel very comfortable if you are if you're new to this, or if you're someone who is just uh not used to doing this. But that discomfort is not a sign that you are doing something wrong, actually. It's actually a sign that you are probably probably not used to hearing yourself think, not used to hearing your own intuition, your own six sense.
Because many of us, have been trained to look outside, outside of ourselves for answers instead of looking inwards. And when we look inwards or consult our intuition to make decisions, some people can actually mock us for that. They can mock us and tell us you're not being logical, you are following your emotions too much, or or what have you. So some of us have been shamed when we use our intuition to make decisions.
However, when we look at other people, other experts or what have you for decisions, that does not always give us the right answers either. And you it can give you so much information, it can also lead you to analysis paralysis, and you'll be constantly consuming other people's like opinions, strategies, content, and it gets a lot harder to actually make decisions when you're consuming so much content from other people. And it gets really really hard to listen to your own intuition as well, if you keep consuming other people's content.
So in short, our intuition or our inner voice or six sense, quote unquote six sense refers to something which our subconscious mind already knows. And to get access to that, we need to be in silence and we need to be aware of the state of our minds and our bodies, and we have to have our nervous systems regulated.
This is where I'm going to differentiate between anxiety or fear driven decisions and your true intuitive decisions. So for many of us, business owners, whether you're new or you've been in this business world for a while. We may have this fear of missing out on missing out on a sale, missing out on a trend, or you know, FOMO, in other words, fear of missing out. For example, if you want to buy a particular software, and they tell you that oh, you only have a I don't know, 13 hours left to buy the software at this lifetime price, or lifetime price increases next month, or something along those lines, when we have that, sometimes we can feel this urgency to buy that software or that thing right here, right now. So the fear of missing out, the fear of spending money on the wrong tools, the fear of making the wrong decisions, so all these things are what we call fear-driven decisions. When we make decisions based on fear, this is usually I would say usually not exactly the best way to make business decisions.
And you may be wondering how does a fear-driven decision feel like? Fear to me it feels really loud. It there's an urgency to it. Fear wants answers right now. Fear is impatient. Whereas your intuition or your inner voice is different.
For me personally, I think intuition speaks to different people in different ways, but for me personally, intuition feels like a very neutral knowing feeling. It's a knowing feeling with no emotions attached, no charged emotions, no excitement, no fear, no anxiety, nothing. It's a very stable feeling with no emotions attached.
So that's how I feel that my intuition feels like - intuition may speak to different people differently, and there are people who can literally hear the inner voice speaking to them. So those are what we call clairaudient people. Anyway, so that's one way, another way is that some people can actually see images, and they can see signs or they can see images or some kind of visual representation of what the answer is supposed to be.
Some people actually feel it in their bodies. They may feel a tightening in their chest, if the decision is a wrong one, they feel the expensiveness in their heart area, if it's if the decision is the right one.
So intuition speaks to us in many different ways. However, in general, intuition does not have any emotions attached to it. There's no excitement, no urgency, like I mentioned, no anxiety, no fear, no anger, no impatience. It's just a knowing feeling. It's like that stable friend that you have. I'm sure most of us have at least one or two of those people who's always there for us, always supporting us, quietly supporting us, always there, always reliable. That's what intuition feels like for me.
And when you are making a decision and you have these answers in your mind, for example, you know:
"What if I if I don't buy this software and I miss my chance of getting it at this good price?"
"What if my competitor does this thing first, launches this item first?"
"What if this is the only opportunity I get to get this software at a very good deal?"
for example. So if you have this these questions and these urgent voices in your mind, it may not be your intuition speaking to you, it may be your fear speaking to you, and your fear pushing you to make a decision.
So being able to so being able to recognize or differentiate between our inner voice, intuition and fear, it can be a very very useful tool, very helpful skill to have as a business owner. And you can do this by practicing silence. That's the first step, being silent and just being hyper aware of yourself and your surroundings. That's the first step, because you can't really hear your inner self speaking to you if your mind is cluttered, or if your mind is full of thoughts and full of information.
So you may be wondering how can we practice silence if you've never done that before. So if you want to do this, you want to access or be in touch and reconnect with your intuition, but you have not done it before, or you have forgotten how to do it, you might be wondering "How can I restart this?" "How can I restart this process?"
What you can do is to start with about ten to fifteen minutes of silence. And it doesn't and it doesn't sound like much, I know. But if you are new to this, or if you have not done this for a long time, this can be quite challenging to do. In fact, I would challenge you and say that if possible, practice having 15 minutes of silence. That means you are on your own, preferably in a room on your own for 15 minutes with no phone, no screens, no distractions, no notifications. It's just you. It's just you and yourself. Literally that.
So start by doing this for 10 to 15 minutes, and what you're going to do is:
You are going to focus on the cycle of your breath, your breathing in, your breathing out
You're going to be hyper aware of what's going on in your body
You're going to be hyper aware of what's going on around you
You're going to be aware of the thoughts that are in your mind
So you are going to actually take an observer's point of view when you when it comes to your thoughts and observing your thoughts as clouds in the sky. So basically you're going to be imagining each thought as a cloud, and it's going to bob gently from right to left. That's how I view my thoughts when I'm in silence. So you may see many thoughts gently bobbing from right to left, especially if you are new to this. And this is how you're going to take an observer's position to your thoughts. And also be present and be aware of what's going on around you. Be aware of your breath, be aware of the cycles of your breath, be aware of how deep you are breathing in and how long your exhales are.
So this is what we are going to do for 10 or 15 minutes. And then what you can do next is you can ask your question to your inner voice. I would say stick to one question first. For example, if you are thinking whether you should buy a particular software. So you can ask yourself, "Should I buy the $600 software?" "Is it a good investment?" and you're going to see what answers come up.
You may not get an answer, especially if you are very emotionally attached to the answer. So the best thing you can do, and this is going to be another episode for another time, is to have a practice detachment to the outcome, practice detachment towards the answer.
And this is where the law of attraction related concept of detachment comes into play. It is best if we can be emotionally detached from the answer that our intuition is going to give us. This is going to be a little bit challenging because when we have questions for our intuition, we usually are emotionally invested in the answer. So practicing detachment is going to be another practice in itself.
So if we know that we are in a state where our where our nervous systems are regulated, where we are present, where we are calm. And once we know that we are in that good state, that's when we can engage our intuition in this little dialogue, asking it a question, you know, "Should I buy the software or not?" for example. If there is a part of you that desperately wants the answer to be a yes, then you are probably not going to get the quote unquote correct answer from your intuition. Or if there is a part of you which is very strongly opposed to the answer, very opposed to the idea, then it's going to temper or taint the answer that you think you are going to get. So it's best to be as neutral as possible.
And for some people like I mentioned earlier, they get a clear knowing feeling with no emotions attached. When the intuition speaks to them, some people can hear their intuition, some people can see their intuitive messages, some people can feel it. Usually for many people, if they ask a question and they feel a tightness in the heart space or the heart chakra area, or on the shoulders especially, most likely the message is a no. Or if you feel an expensiveness in the heart chakra area, most likely the answer is a yes from your intuition.
So you need to know your body really closely when it comes to this. If you're going to rely on your body's sensations to give you or indicate the answer to you, you have to have a very close relationship with your body and how it works. And one way to do it is to think of a time when your intuition gave you an answer and it works out well. If you can you try to recall the essence of the intuitive message that you got. Where do you feel an expansiveness in your body? What state were you in when you received a message? Was there any emotions felt at that time? So these are the questions that these are the things you bear in mind.
And one practice which works very well for me as a small business owner is to be in silence for 15 minutes before I do any business related things. So before writing an email to my subscribers.
Okay, I'm giving a shout out to my 7700 subscribers, email subscribers right now. So before writing an email to you, I will actually take about 15 minutes to be in silence, and it's going to be just me and maybe a cup of tea, a cup of coffee, or whatever it is, and it will just me and a cup of tea or coffee for 15 minutes in silence, sitting in silence. So that's what I do before I write any emails to my audience. That's what I do before I recorded this podcast episode. That's what I I usually do before I do something business related or answering emails or answering questions or whatever it is.
The reason why I do this is because I want to be in the right state of mind, in a right frame of mind. And I want to make sure my nervous system is regulated before I write something or before I create something or answer a customer's question. So that's the reason why I do this. And it helps a lot to keep my mind clear, and it helps a lot to ensure that I am listening to my intuition as a guide instead of just following my to-do list.
Because running a business in a way which feels good to me is quite important because following a rigid structure of I don't know what is it, funnels, sales cycles, customer avatars and all those things. Of course I'm aware of those in my business, but to follow those things really rigidly and you know tracking down every single thing gives me more stress and it makes running my business feel very stressful and unpleasant. So for me, I love to run my business in a way which feels good for me in my body and feels good for me as a person, as someone who is a creative person. I want to run my business in a way which is high vibe.
I don't want to run my business in a way that makes it feel like it's a very stressful job, you know. So that's why I do pause for about 15 minutes, just me and myself with no distractions and no screens around me, no internet around me, before I do any business related task.
Homework for you
Alright, so I have a homework for you right now, and it's something I've done myself. So I'm going to see and invite you to try this if you want to. Maybe you can think of a decision that you have to make in your business, which you've been procrastinating upon. Maybe:
"Should I buy that subscription or not?"
"Should I, invest in Squarespace or WordPress?"
"Should I pay for this platform or that platform?"
"Should I buy Buffer or Publer for my social media management?"
These kinds of decisions, or maybe even smaller decisions than that, such as "Should I launch a workbook for my clients, or should I launch a masterclass?"
So whatever it is, whatever decision you've been putting off for too long, maybe you can think of that, and what you're going to do is for 48 hours, I would say 48 hours, I want you to make a decision without any outside input. So that means:
You're not going to ask anybody for opinions
You're not going to search Reddit forums or any forums for answers
You're not going to Google for your answer
You're not going to look at Facebook groups for answers
You're not going to do research on it
You are just going to depend on yourself, your inner voice, and whatever your intuition tells you to do. And take action on it and see what happens.
For me, I had to make a decision recently. I wanted to buy this particular software. It's about $550. And I wasn't sure whether I needed it. I wasn't sure whether it was worth the investment. My mind was asking me all these questions. "Is it worth it?" "Do I need it?" And I went through Facebook groups, looking at other business owners' opinions about this software. I looked at Reddit forms, I did some Google research and all that to get answers for this question.
However, the more information I consumed the more confused I got because every person has a pros and cons list for the software. Some people say it's good, some people say it's not good enough. Some people say you need to invest in something more robust, some people say simplicity is good. So many opinions, so much information.
So what I did was I closed my laptop and all that, and I just allowed myself about 24 hours to make a decision without any outside input. And I and I felt an expansiveness in my heart space at the thought of buying that software, the 550 dollar software. I will link it in the description box in case you're curious. So I felt an expansiveness at the idea of buying that software, and somehow somewhere in myself, it's I have a feeling that it's going to be a good investment. Although they may be cheaper options out there, maybe I have a similar software which I'm paying for, you know. So if you're curious, this platform can host online courses and also sell digital products and all that. So I think it's a good value for money. I will link it in the description box if you want to check it out.
And in the end, I did buy it at some point. And it felt so good to buy it. I felt an expansiveness when I bought it. I guess it's a good decision. Sometimes your intuition will give you answers which may not make logical sense at that point of time. So it may not make sense at that point of time. But it may make sense maybe one year down the road, maybe one month down the road. We need to have trust that our intuition does have good answers for us. And it does take practice for us to be able to know and discern between fear-based decisions and intuition.
So if you are a new coach and an aspiring coach or content creator, or someone in the personal development niche, maybe you want to download my free Overcome Perfectionism lead magnet in the description box. It's free for use as a lead magnet and grow your email list.
So I will see you in my next episode. Goodbye.
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How to do ‘intentional admin’ as a coach and business owner
This blog post is an email I sent to my 7500 subscribers recently. If you want to have free idea-generating emails like this sent directly to your inbox, join my list here! - Shikah
I don't know about you but doing admin for my biz is the least fun thing to do.
I am planning to move platforms - from Shopify to Squarespace - for my coaching products and moving 70+ products and this idea is triggering a thousand versions of overwhelm. 😅
So I forced myself to make this whole admin thing intentional a few days ago.
Let me share 3 tips I've discovered to make your admin more intentional and less of a bore:
1. Avoid the autopilot. I know it's faster to just hurriedly copy and paste text from one place to another without thinking but it can make you feel worse afterwards. So, I deliberately slowed myself down to be present and hyper aware of what text/links/images I am copying from Shopify to Squarespace.
2. If switching on a podcast, a tv show, a Youtube video or upbeat music helps keep your mood up as you work on your admin, do that! If you are in danger of falling asleep as you are doing your repetitive admin work, this helps a little. 😄
3. Have a very,very clear end goal for your admin work. You may have to remind yourself many times of this clear end goal especially if your biz admin stretches for days or even weeks. If not, you may just give up half-way and stick to the current unhelpful platform you are using 😆
Which tip sounds the most helpful for you? Leave your comment below!
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Ep 58 : How your client's nervous system is sabotaging their goals
✨Free creative goal-setting coaching tool for you to use with your clients:✨
https://shikahanuar.com/blog/creative-goal-setting-coaching-tool
Ever notice your clients (or even yourself!) set completely different goals depending on their mood and mental state? In this episode, we’ll cover:
How the state of their nervous systems directly shape the goals your clients set
The difference between “avoidance goals” and “aligned goals”
Share this tip with your audience in your reels or IG captions :)
Free coaching tools: https://shikahanuar.com/free-coaching-tools
Coaching shop: https://shikahanuar.shop
Follow me on Substack for more coaching tips : https://shikahanuar.substack.com
Take care,
Shikah
Brain Dump Template and Workbook (PLR license included)
Hi there! If you are a coach or a creator and you've been wanting to create a new digital product to sell for months or even for years, then I have something for you.
Hi, I'm Shikah, I'm a former counsellor and now I create premium done for you coaching tools with PLR (private label rights) so that you can sell them to your audience.
And today, the reality is that your clients, your audience - and many people, actually - are likely to be very stressed out and overwhelmed, especially if they are juggling many responsibilities and I think that includes us as well.
We are all likely carrying this huge mental backlog of tasks, unmade decisions, worries and even ideas which we have not acted upon. And these can be draining our mental energy in a very quiet manner.
You may want to offer something to your audience or to the people you work with, a practical tool which can calm that overwhelm and also give them more mental clarity and be more present in their day to day life so that they can make better decisions and just feel good about life in general.
But of course to create a tool or a workbook or anything from scratch is very time consuming and also very energy consuming. And if you are running a business and you are juggling many things on your own, you may not have the energy or the time to create something new to sell or offer to your audience.
That’s exactly why I created this brain dump workbook which is a done for you fully editable 20 page workbook that helps clear their mental backlog in 10 minutes.
You can walk your audience or your clients through a quick mental check in with this workbook. There is also a timed brain dump exercise and also a four step sorting system for them to figure out what they should do, take action on, what they should decide on, what they can delegate or outsource, and also what they can release or let go.
The best part, in my opinion, is that this workbook comes with PLR or private label rights so you can put your name on it, your logo on it and sell it as your own.
So whether you want to sell this as a low ticket offer or you want to create it as a lead magnet to grow your email list, or even to include this in your current existing courses workshops, or if you have a membership for your coaching business or anything similar like that, or you can even conduct a live workshop with this - it's ready for you to use already and you can repurpose it in many ways.
You can check out the workbook HERE and of course you would want to see what's inside this workbook before you purchase it. You can see the FULL brain dump template and workbook in the video above.
Take care,
Shikah
