Before we get into today's episode, I want to invite you to a brand new free masterclass. I'll be teaching live next week. It's called how to close clients and win investors. I often hear from my clients, Caro, I'm all in, I'm giving it my best, but getting to my goal feels out of my control because I depend on others.
I need people to invest in my project, or I need X number of clients to break even. And they're saying no. In this masterclass, I'm going to share with you the most critical skills I teach my clients who are founders, writers, award winning artists to get financed, close clients, or form strategic partnerships.
I've designed this class for anyone who's taken the leap to pursue their vision. Whether you're building a business, starting a nonprofit, or bringing your art to the world in a big way, this class is for you. For details and to save your spot, click on the link in the description of this episode, or go to carozuleta.
com forward slash win, that is C A R O Z U L E T A dot com forward slash W I N. Now I leave you with the episode.
Hello, hello, and welcome to episode seven of the Visionaries Pursuit Podcast. I am so grateful to get to be with all of you here. Today, what I want us to talk about is the transition some of us have gone through or going through or plan to go through from a more traditional job to creating our own project, our own business, launching an idea that we've had.
Since I was little, I was just following what I call the Yellow Brick Road, right? Graduated from high school, went to college, studied economics and finance, then moved to New York because I wanted to get a job in Wall Street, and thankfully I was hired by Morgan Stanley. And when I got in Morgan Stanley, they also had a very private office.
clear structure. You start as an associate, then you move as an analyst and you can become a vice president and an executive director. There are these steps you're taking within the company and you're growing. Someone has already decided for all of us, what are those steps? What does positions look like?
What are the responsibilities? What are the competencies that you need to have in order to progress? And I kept going, went and got an MBA at the University of Chicago. They also had established, first year you learn these things, you have a summer internship, then the second year, this is what you do.
People were telling me, here are the steps, and here's what you have to do in order to be successful here. Let me tell you, the scariest thing I've done in my life was leaving my full time job to go start my own coaching practice. When I look back, the reason why I was so scared is because of the thoughts I was having.
Probably as many of you, I had been taught that having a full time job was a way to have safety and security. A paycheck that I got every two weeks, health insurance was covered, vacation days were established. Promise of a promotion after accomplishing certain objectives and an amount of time inside a company.
And this is what life Is right or for many people is, is we look to others who have already walked down that path, who have created the yellow brick road and we just look for instructions so we can keep moving forward. The thing is that when you decide to live as a visionary, there's not a yellow brick road.
I remember those first days after leaving my job and being at home, trying to make up this business, trying to figure out what I was going to do first. How do I get clients? How do I market myself? What is my brand? It seemed that instead of having a yellow brick road in front of me, I had an open field with no clear path.
And I was so lost. Do I take the left path, the center path? Where do I go? I remember having this feeling of like, I just want to have a boss that tells me, here's what you have to do. And if you do That's the way to get it right. Eight years after having my own business and now working with so many people that are leaving their traditional careers, starting their own businesses, I realized that my story is not unique.
That when we leave what we've known, What's known to us, what's already pre established for us, and we start creating from nothing, it's a pretty scary experience. And also I've noticed that there's some common thoughts that we all have when we're going through that transition that I call them thought errors, because I think they stop us from actually doing what we want.
So what I want to do today with all of you is share some of these thoughts, these thought errors, and give you alternatives, ways of thinking about it that are different than what you're primitive brain is going to tell you trying to get you back to safety. So one of these thought errors occurs when we start comparing ourselves to other people who have walked the journey that we are starting to walk or we want to walk, and we don't see how we are similar to them.
For example, let's say you want to start investing in small businesses, But when you look at people who have invested in small businesses, they're all venture capitalists with an investment banking background. And then you're like, see, but I don't have investment banking. I don't have access to that amount of capital.
Then I won't be able to invest in small businesses. Or maybe you're a film director and you're looking at other directors saying, well, they made their first movie at 25. They want their first Oscar at 27 and here I am 36 and how would that happen? Or I don't have the connections they had in Hollywood.
I'm. New in the industry, and this is common, right? We're coming from a yellow brick road that we're looking at other people to tell us where to go. So when we're again in this open field, we're trying to find who else has walked this field so we can do the same thing. But the problem is that nobody has the exact same path as you.
And sometimes comparing yourself to others might make you think that you don't have what's required to be able to accomplish what you want. Or the other problem is we start looking for others who have done what we want to do and we don't find any examples. So we come to the conclusion that maybe it's impossible to do what we want.
But what we have to remember is that being a visionary is creating something new. Something that hasn't existed, even if you're an investor or a film director, which there are many of them, but no one has done it exactly like you. So being different from people who have done it or not finding examples is not a reason.
to tell yourself that you can't do it. Be careful with that thought error. Another very common thing I see us do when we're starting to become visionaries is to ask for advice. And we typically ask for advice to people who haven't done something like we're wanting or aiming to do. So their response is no.
This is why you can't do it. Imagine you're thinking, I want to invest in small companies and you ask for advice to venture capitalists and they're like, you don't have the background, you don't have the training, so no, you can't do it. Or you're wanting to do your own film and you go ask people who are in the film industry, but who haven't made their own film.
So they're going to tell you all the reasons why you can't do it. So when you're a visionary, you have to stop looking outside for the answers and start looking inside. Because what's going to guide you through that field of possibilities is not a pre established set of rules. It's going to be your own imagination, creativity, your ability to fail and get back up.
Okay, here's another thing I see a lot of us do. We think we need more education. Oh, first I'm going to have to do this certificate. Oh, I need this degree. Oh, I need to finish this course so I know exactly how to do my marketing strategy. And the reason why I see a lot of visionaries. Wanting more and more education, it's because there's a thought error that tells them that what they know is not enough.
Who they are is not enough. Or another reason why we sometimes want more education is because there's a belief that there is a right way of doing things. And we're trying to find that perfect formula. And you know what? The internet knows this. So they're selling us exactly that. My experience of being a coach and growing this business has been fascinating because I get so many ads of other coaches and companies telling me, here's what you have to do to grow your revenue 10 times.
I'm bombarded by LinkedIn people trying to tell me that their way of growing my business is the right way. Thank goodness by now, I'm doing it. I've purchased some of those courses, I've gotten some of those certifications, but now I know that inside myself are the answers and that really growing a business and executing on an idea is a trial and error.
So if you find yourself thinking, I need another certification, I need to learn something else in order to go for what I really want, that is launching my own business or pursuing this idea. I want you to tell yourself, I am good enough with what I know and what I have, I can do this. And the only way I'm going to find the right way is by trial and error, because there's no one out there that knows how you will be able to be successful with your project.
The only That you will know what was the right way is when you get to the success you want, and you look back and you tell us all your story. Here's what I did. Here's the person I met. Here's the conversation I had. But when we look towards the future, we have to make it up. Another behavior I see us all doing when we're starting our own endeavors is spending time on things that are actually not going to move the needle.
but make us feel like we're doing something while keeping us in the safety zone. For example, I spend so much time redesigning and redesigning my website, hiring the best designer, really thinking about the copy. Because at the end of the day, I was like, God, I'm working on my website. It's looking so great.
But the truth is, I don't need a website to grow my business. The truth is that I'm not going to get a coaching client from having a beautiful website. The truth is that the way I get clients is by putting myself out there, finding people, telling them I'm a coach, and making offers to work with me. And that is so risky and scary because we are facing rejection.
We are facing people saying they disapprove of us, or they disapprove of our pricing, or they disapprove of our method. And as we all know, rejection and disapproval hurt. So, we'd rather stay fixing the website, creating a beautiful Instagram page, than going out there and taking risks, exposing ourselves in order to truly grow our idea, our business, our project.
Here's the bottom line. When we leave the safety of the yellow brick road, we have to start thinking in a different way. One of my favorite things to say is, if you want to upgrade your life, you You have to upgrade your self concept. You have to upgrade your internal software, the way you think about. On the yellow brick road, the way you're thinking is looking at others, following instructions, and asking for guidance.
When you're a visionary, you have to look within to find the answers. And you have to take risks without knowing if it's the right way, fail, and do it better. And when I say this, I don't mean you have to do it alone. There are people who can be your sounding boards, who can be your thought partners that are gonna help you Find your own way.
One of the ways is obviously hiring a coach. That's what I do for many of my clients. I fall in love with their projects, their ideas. I believe that the dream they have is absolutely possible. And I hold that vision for them. But another way is finding other creatives, entrepreneurs, people who have walked their own paths, because what I have found is that people who have done it will believe that you are capable of doing it.
When I was at the University of Chicago. I knew I wanted to be an entrepreneur. I was already a coach. I knew I wanted to have my own business, but I got sucked into the culture of the business school where everyone was looking for a corporate job in the biggest consulting companies, banks, and it was the opportunity.
You're graduating from a very well known university. The doors to all these huge companies are open. So I got sucked into that until one day I was at a networking event for a company that sold chemicals for farming, the furthest thing of my desires. And I asked myself, why am I here? And why I was there is because I was surrounded with people who were going to a destination that was different than mine.
Thank God I found the Polsky Center, which is the entrepreneur center at the University of Chicago. And I remember stepping there and starting to talk to other people who were entrepreneurs and I thought, this is my home. The ideas I shared with them, the visions I had, nobody said, why are you doing that when you have the opportunity to work for McKinsey?
They were saying, that's amazing. Tell me more. So, find your tribe, surround yourself with creators, people who have visions, who are pursuing them or who have pursued them, because I know they will believe in you. In fact, I believe so much in the power of surrounding yourself with people who are also dreaming big, that as part of my coaching program, I created the Visionary Collective.
Everyone who's coaching with me privately gets access to a monthly call with all the other visionaries that work with me. And what happens in those calls when we all get together is magic. Our ideas are elevated to a new level. We are inspired by each other and we feel less alone because we reflect to each other our own fears, the struggles, and we know that it's just part of the journey.
So, if you're going to take anything from this podcast, it's the following. Every time you're looking at others to tell you the right way to go, remember that the answers are within yourself. Every time you're seeking another education, title, or perfect formula to do the right thing, remember that the only way you will know what the right thing was is because you've done it, you've failed, you've made it better, and you're on the other side.
And learn to manage your emotions and your thoughts so you can take the risks that are necessary for your idea to flourish. And of course, the most important, don't go on this journey by yourself. Surround yourself with people who are your cheerleaders, thought partners, and who are gonna hold the vision in their hearts for what you truly want.
Thank you so much for tuning in. I'll see you next week. If you're currently pursuing a big, bold idea and would love some support, let's talk. In my coaching program, I'll teach you how to manage yourself, your own thoughts and emotions, as well as your team and your money, so you can turn your beautiful idea into a reality.
Go now to carozuleta. com slash consult. That is C A R O Z U L E T A dot com slash consult. And complete the form to book a complimentary call with me. See you there!
