0:36
Hey, I'm so glad you're here. Welcome, welcome. It feels so good to be back here recording, and having the energy to be recording and having so many ideas of what I want to come and talk to you about, which is one of the things that's been so hard over the last few weeks as I've had so much going on.

1:06
As a talker, as a sharer, when it's really difficult for me to come up with an idea of okay, what do I want to talk about at any given time. I mean, I could talk all the time. I have spent decades talking all the time about some things. And getting to a point where there's so much going on, that I can't even come up with an idea. I don't want to say it's scary, but it gets, it's really weird. And that's what I know that I've gotten to a point where it's like, you know what, we need to shut things down.

1:44
So, some of today's topic is about obviously, but if you're feeling out of sorts, and not being yourself, and when I say yourself, I mean the self that you want to be, take a second and just take a look at that. And go, "Okay, what's going on? Is this a time that I just need to just like, chill and walk away from stuff for a bit, or you know what's going on, just what's going on." And if you need help with that, hit me up. Hit me up. I get it. I get it. I might not get your specific. Things that are going on, but I hear you and I listen, and I'm an excellent listener along with me and a sharer, so, so just take a look at that. Take a look at that, if you're out of sorts, see how you can work through it right now.

2:38
So onto today's topic. Like I said, I feel like I'm back. I could squirrel at any moment. I feel more like me. So, I want to talk about – let's see if I can get the word out of my face – Comparisonitis. Oh, look at it flowed really easy. I was building it up in my head that I was gonna totally flub that word when it came out. I was out watering the flowers. And this is how I knew that. Yay, I'm starting to feel more like me, because I was out watering the flowers and all these ideas were going through my head and I'm like, Oh crap, I'm gonna forget half of the stuff. And comparisonitis was the one that was really coming up.

3:19
And specifically today, I want to talk to you if you are brand new to business. And when I say that you're brand new to business. I mean, you feel like you are brand new to business, okay? I am not going to come in here and say, if you've been in business for just a few months, or if you've been in business for under a year, or if you've been in business for under five years. I'm not talking about timeframes. I am talking about your mindset. So if I said you are new to business, and your brain just said, Oh yeah, I am. I don't care how long you've been thinking about your business, how long you've been doing your business? How long you've been not doing your business. In years, this is all I'm talking about. I'm just talking about the mindset. You believe you are new to business and comparing yourself to everybody else.

4:14
And specifically, this is coming up because I've been talking to so many new business owners or want to be business owners, especially those. I've had a lot of those coming into my world lately. And it does go in waves and I understand how I attract different business owners in different waves. We all do different things at different times. We all have the attraction that we put out there. 

4:40
I have always had — soft spot just doesn't even feel like the right words. I have always wanted to help the new business owner. That is how I got into services. That is how I got into coaching. That is how I have run every single business that I have had online for the 23 years, because I would learn something and I would pass it on.

5:10
That's my personality. I would learn something. And immediately there would be people coming into my world that would have questions. And even though I was super basic, and I am still super basic on so many different things, if you're in the group, you just saw that I posted a link to a program, which we can put in here. Cap. Is it Cap Show? No, not Cap Show. Cap Show something else. CapCut.

5:33
I don't do video. I don't edit videos. I don't edit my podcast. I don't like editing. Editing, to me, feels like work. I don't want to do work in that regard. I have plenty of other work that I do in my life. But I don't feel like there's certain areas that I need to do. Hence the reason I have the most beautiful and wonderful podcast manager to take care of this for me and take out some of the garbage and the things that need to be cleaned up.

6:03
That was one of the first things I worked towards making the money for: that videos. I'm doing a project. And here see me, squirrel. I'm doing a project and I went to a few different areas. You know, certain programs are supposed to work easier than others. And you're supposed to be able to do it all, and this and all of that. And I'm like, "bullshit." Because I am super basic Val. And I don't do video and I can't make this work. And it should work in five seconds, or I'm gonna be pissed off. So I was pissed off.

6:32
And luckily, I went to Google and found this one and we'll put it in the link. I'm not even an affiliate for it. I think I get free storage if people sign up. I think it's CapCut. And it'll be down in the show notes. It's so basic. I love it. I love it a lot. So I'm working on a volunteer project. And I just wanted to do the intro, outro for the video. And then the interview that I had done. And in the middle, I just wanted it super basic.

7:01
I already was in Vimeo and I took out a couple of the edits that needed to happen before and after. Just to clean it up. So you're not seeing me pushing the buttons. Like I said, super basic. I'm sharing that because I know that there are other people out there that are just as basic no matter how many years they've been on. And I'd like to share things when I have found an easy way or an easy platform. Or just an easier way around. So you're not beating yourself up, right?

7:32
That is my progression. And actually, I guess if we go through my entire life, that has been my progression. Because I can even remember back in valet at four and five years old and up. I'd be in class and somebody wouldn't get it. And I would have already gotten it. And so I would be helping them. It's just my nature, just my nature. So there's always been a soft spot for the newbies.

8:01
Because I won't say that I don't go through mindset issues. I do go through mindset issues. Comparisonitis. I'm going to talk about the intermediate and the advanced. Those are going to be on separate issues, or separate episodes coming up. But comparisonitis today with the newbie, if you're sitting there and the biggest thing is: are you even starting?

8:25
And here's what I am seeing lately with some newbies, there is so much information out there. And this might be you. And I'm seeing the stagnant, standing in one place, twirling in circles. And I feel that. I feel that. I feel that to my core. I'm really good at twirling in circle with overwhelm starts I'm like, "Oh my God, I don't even know what to do." Twirl, twirl, twirl, twirl. Shit, I'm gonna go watch Netflix, screw it, I'm out. "Oh, we haven't binge-watched these movies in a long time. Let's start the seven-movie series."

9:12
I am highly aware that I run away from things. I am highly aware. I'm not worried about changing it. I'm just aware. And you might be the same. Others, what happens is you go into educate mode. And you're gonna learn all of the things and then as I'm watching you're learning all of the things but you're not mastering all of the things. So you're beating yourself up because, "Well, I can't start now because I'm not perfect at this. I can't start now because mine doesn't look like this. I can't start now because I can't afford the platform that I want. I can't start now because I don't even know what mailing list provider I want to use." Gosh, there's so many choices. "Do I use WordPress to build my site? Do I do an all in one?" Then, "Oh my God," and you go into absolute overload, overwhelmed, and you don't do anything. 

10:07
Now, here's why I'm here to be Val Full Volume right now I am watching. And I will say specifically women, because those are the ones I'm usually attracting, attracting women for coaching. And I'm seeing that you're not doing a damn thing. And you're not doing a damn thing for years, years. And I guess for me, I feel this really heavy. Because I can look back and realize, over the decades that I've been online of the periods that I did the same, right?

10:44
And I do hold a soft spot, because I look at it and go, "thank goodness I was on before all of this stuff was even here." When I was coming on, these platforms weren't even a thing. When I started. When I started, we didn't even have WordPress yet. Yeah, dinosaur. I coded my sites. And I'm not saying that as in "Oh, my God, look at me, I've been on since the beginning of time, but but blah, blah, blah." No, I'm saying that as in that is lucky for me, because I can understand right now with my brain. And how many choices there are, right now. If I came in now, my brain would explode, my brain would absolutely explode.

11:40
There's too many choices. There's too many people coming out and showing you that this is the way and you need to do this. And you need to have that and grabbing a hold of you and putting that fear in you. That you have to start out perfect right away. And it's bullshit. So don't listen to your brain. Don't listen to anybody else. There isn't a single person online that started their business that can look back and say, "Oh, my God, my business was perfect when I launched. My business was perfect when I put that product out." And they've never changed a thing. There's not a single business out there. Any of them. Not a single, any business. Because everybody grows, every business grows.

12:41
So I want you as a newbie, to sit down and take a look at what you want to create. If you're not in the group need to be in the group. It's a free group. So we're talking collaborations all the time. And you can ask business questions, anything you want. I'm 100% in there, and it's free. So jump on in there, make some new friends make some connections, I was just looking at it. And there's some people in like, super niche, and they found each other and they're and my heart goes, "This is exactly what I'm talking about! They're connecting. Yes!"

13:16
So come on in the group, ask your questions. But I was in there. And we were talking about "Why aren't you getting into bundles?" was the specific question. So you'll see it in there in the various reasons. And they're all legit reasons. But they're all reasons that we can work through if we just do some basic steps. And that's what I want you to come away from this with, how can you set down the most basic steps for your business. And by basic, I do have rules for basic, I do want you to have a website. And I do want you to have legal pages on there. And I do want you to have a homepage. And I do want you to have a contact page. I don't care about your opt in. I don't care about your blog posts. I don't care about your social media. Those basics will really help you start moving forward. And also to figure out what mailing list you're going to use. How are you going to grab people and get their email. Now again, remember I said I don't care about your opt in or blog posts or that right away. I just, those basics and you can get those basics on anything. There's so many different platforms that you can use.

14:42
Um, you know, of course, I love WordPress. However, WordPress has changed a ton over the years and I actually have quite a few different plugins on there now that I pay for a lot of that to make it work like older WordPress sites. Because, because I don't want to learn blocks and bullshit and all that other stuff. I have Thrive suite that I've been using for a really long time. But you don't need that you can grab so many free themes and 3 page builders and get you can get the basics up.

15:22
Now for legal pages, I absolutely love Amira at A Self Guru. Links gonna be down below. I love her for the legal pages, super easy. They are templates, she updates them. She's in a core group with international attorneys and lawyers. And so when things change around the world, then she updates the templates. How amazing is that? Once you paid for 'em, you get the updates. So I absolutely love her. And we've had her in a summit and, I've talked to her multiple times personally as well, but I love her templates. We bought the big package here at BundleBash, so that we've got everything. So I absolutely love her for the legal pages, because that makes it super easy. And they're not free by any means. But they are very reasonable. Very, very reasonable, and especially for protecting your booty. 

16:17
What else is quick? Okay, so I said WordPress, but there's other options that aren't WordPress. There are all in one platforms. And that was one of the things that's going through my head as I was watering, watering the plants is I am interested now in grabbing one of my 14 million domains and going to one of these super affordable all in one platforms and kind of doing a case study for myself of "Okay, what do you get from them?"

16:44
They sound amazing. But old school me is just like, "Oh, my God is so limiting. Does it do this and this and this and this?" And it's like I won't know until I actually tried to use one, right? I've got that going through my head. I don't know if I'm going to do it right now. Because do I have any more time on my calendar somewhere that I don't know about? That'd be a silly thing for me to do right now. But it does sound like a fun project. See, I told you. I'm feeling back.

17:11
But comparisonitis. As a newbie, there's so many options out there. There's so many people that are five years in 10 years and 20 years in, and it's easy to look at them and go, "Oh my god, they have all of this." It's like, well, yeah, girl, they have all of that because they've been doing it for years, they didn't start with that. Something I would like you to pay attention to is you're never going to have a business if you don't create it and create it now. You can't improve on your business if you don't create it right now.

17:49
If you don't create it right now, then next year, you can't look back and go "Oh, okay, well, I can tweak this or look at how much this worked. Or look at I've got five opt ins now how to help with that happen." Believe me that something I ended up having another business, you know, when my brain was exploding about funnels. Oh, my God. The word funnel, for some reason, for some of us is mind blowing. I do not understand it anymore, why my brain shuts down. Because a funnel is just a word for how your business flows. That's all it is. It's not like all of a sudden, you've got this magic funnel that's just going to sit there. And it's like, yeah, oh, it's perfect. Look at I made it once and it's perfect forever. That's just not how business works, right?

18:46
So funnel is just a natural flow. And the only way you can get to a funnel is if you start your business. If you get started, if you create that first thing, if you start sending out those emails, and you start getting some engagement back, and people get back to you, if you decide that you want to have a community. And then you're engaging with your community online and a group maybe, and then you're getting feedback for what they need. And then all of a sudden you're creating another product.

19:17
And then that product goes well and then all of a sudden you're creating another product and then that product goes well and they're telling you that you need this. That's how a funnel builds. And that's how a funnel will work. A funnel does not work if you sit down and go take somebody else's idea of what you should create. And you go create the option and the tripwire and then you've got a product and another product and another product because you followed their funnel. You won't make money that way. You won't make money that way. Because that's not your community. That's what what's worked for their community. You have to listen to what your community wants, which means you have to get out there. And you have to get started comparisonitis keeps you from starting.

20:11
And I want you to have a business. So how can you get started? What is your goal? For your business? What do you want to create? Who do you want to be talking to? Who do you want to be helping? And how do you want to be helping them. And when you're writing all this down, don't even qualify of how, "Okay, but then I could do this, I could do that." Try not to go down that way. And try to relax into it. And know that you can write all of this stuff down, and you can be going in that direction. And later on down the road, it might not be the direction you continue. And that's going to be okay.

20:59
It's not going to be a waste of time. You're going to have a learning process along the way. And you're going to start talking to people and figure out what they want. And their questions. Because one of the things when you're helping people, when you're new, you don't quite know this yet, because you haven't connected with with your community yet is sometimes we forget the things that the people that might be a step below us in business, education wise, we might have forgotten some of the steps to get there. Because it could be a while since we've been there. Okay, that's more intermediate. So I'm not gonna go there.

21:41
Comparisonitis is keeping you from starting your business, and I want you to start. So I want you just to sit down and just write things out. Just word vomit, word vomit. Get it all out. What do you want to create? What are your needs for a platform to get started right now? Don't think a budget, don't think of what platform, just what are your needs for a platform right now. And, and soon. Like, if you know that you are going to start a membership right away, then your platform needs to be able to help you with that.

22:18
If you know that you are going to be selling memberships right away, then you're need to be looking for a platform that's going to help that. And there are so many options out there. So many options. And that is part of the overwhelm, right? Even a year ago, year ago, year and a half ago, when I was going to move my membership and other stuff and I was looking around and I got super overwhelmed with all of the different choices. And because I wanted bells and whistles, I really wanted bells and whistles. And then you know what happens with bells and whistles. A learning curve from hell.

22:53
And I finally decided, "Okay, the bells and whistles were not worth my learning curve." I didn't want to, this old dog did not wanna learn new tricks. So I squashed that and just went back to what I knew and how can I make all of that work within what I know. So write it out, and then start doing the research on "Okay, this is what I know I need. These are the basics that I know I need for my business in the next few months, within this year." And then ask around. You can come into the group even and ask for platforms options. 

23:31
What does this, this, this, and this is the best way to find things is to ask who's using them, ask the people that are using them. There's so many VAs out there that are in multiple different platforms. And they can give you the pros and the cons, you know, of "Okay, well, this one's going to do this. And this one's going to do that." Just know that you're never going to find a perfect platform. But that will help you narrow it down, and you can narrow it down in your price point too.

23:55
So, I want you to get started. I want you to get your business going now. I don't want you to continue to think of what you're going to do and get stuck in the overwhelm anymore. And comparing yourself – "Oh my god, I'll never be there." It's like, we won't ever be there because we're business owners and we're constantly tweaking, adapting, changing, and adding offers because our community has told us this is what they want. And we love our community. So just get started.

24:29
Let's leave it at that. I want you to get started. If you need help, reach out, okay? All right, comparisonitis – we all have it. As a newbie, stop looking at everybody else. And just know that we all started out somewhere, and the only way to grow your business is to start.