[00:00:00] Welcome back to the Joyous Women Podcast and today I am sharing a topic that every entrepreneur faces and I am experiencing it myself. And the topic is dealing with the unknown. Starting and running an online kids activity center is an exciting journey but it also
[00:00:24] comes with uncertainties and I am sure you would have experienced it. In this episode today I am going to explore why embracing the unknown is crucial and I will also share few practical tips that can help you navigate this uncertainty with confidence.
[00:00:46] Lets see how we can do this. Now before we get into the main topic I would like to emphasize as to why even dealing with the unknown is important. To share an experience, last week I myself was dealing with this uncertainty and I gave
[00:01:07] myself a break of a weeks time and I purposefully intentionally took that break of not doing much when it comes to this aspect of my work life. Now why is it important to deal with this uncertainty? The one factor is it brings you growth opportunities.
[00:01:29] When you are navigating with these uncertainties you are definitely leading to a growth on your personal front and your professional front. Why now you must be wondering how come a growth in uncertainty? The growth lies in the fact that you are pushing yourself out of your comfort zone
[00:01:46] and you are learning new things and you are exploring. Second is it builds up your adaptability. When you are constantly dealing with the unknown you become adaptable and resilient and these qualities are quite essential for an entrepreneur. And third is innovation.
[00:02:03] Facing the unknown can spark your creativity and innovation which will definitely help you discover the new solutions and opportunities for your online kids activity center. Now practical tips as to how can you deal with the unknown?
[00:02:20] What I experienced during the last week when I was dealing with this uncertainty, the first thing that came to my mind was I became very restless. I lost my interest in doing things and after wasting some 2-3 days I said to myself
[00:02:37] if I am not in a mood of working on it at the moment let me give it a break and do what I enjoy doing. At that point of time I picked up things and purposefully did 4-5 things on a regular basis that I love doing.
[00:02:55] And gradually you get back to your work, you get back to your track. So now practical tips. The first one I would say is you should always have a growth mindset. Let's say if you see your challenges as an opportunity to learn and grow you will
[00:03:15] overcome any obstacle that is coming your way. Let's say you see a sudden dip in your class enrollments. Now it's up to you whether you look at it as a failure or as an opportunity to you
[00:03:26] know you can rethink on your marketing strategy, you can try new approaches so it all depends as to what mindset are you having when you are working towards any objective. Second practical tip I would say is break down the unknown.
[00:03:41] Let's say when you are facing an uncertainty break it down into smaller manageable parts. Focus on what you can control that's the very important one and take one step at a time. Let's say there are things which are out of your control and you keep working on
[00:03:57] them makes no point at all. So it is always important that you focus on what you can control, what is within your domain of work and then you take small manageable steps. Let's say if you are resuming, if you are unsure about launching a new class
[00:04:15] format what you can do is you can have a pilot program run with your current batch of students and then accordingly you can launch a new class format so that's a practical way of doing it. Third is you know you can always seek for support and guidance as
[00:04:32] entrepreneur or maybe you know as a start-up and all many of us have that fear many of us are afraid of asking help and more than that at times we feel that what if we are being judged. Oh this venture did not pick up or that venture failed.
[00:04:50] XYZ please give yourself permission to fail. Give yourself permission to ask for help when needed. Give yourself permission to seek guidance and you know when you're building this not only this particular online kids activity center it could be in
[00:05:11] any form of your work life, your professional work life, your entrepreneurial journey you have the right to fail and please do not be afraid to fail and when it comes to this third practical point is you can
[00:05:25] reach out to your peers, you can reach out to online communities that are there and you can ask for their experiences, you can ask for their feedbacks and then you can you know join those forums and media groups and
[00:05:38] you can share your challenges and seek advice from them and the fourth practical tip I would say is always be informed but be flexible. Keep yourself very much informed about the industry trends and the best practices that are there but remain flexible.
[00:05:56] Be ready to pivot and adopt your strategies as new information arises and you know one of my mentor of my digital journey he always said that don't marry your niche as in don't be so much engrossed in one particular
[00:06:14] niche that if you see that you're not able to contribute, if you see you're not getting results, you do not you know wish to leave that no no no I've put in so much of efforts how can I withdraw from that.
[00:06:27] Be open, be flexible and stay updated on the educational technology trends and be willing to switch between tools and methods. I'm sure it will going to this is going to help you and the fifth and you know the most important
[00:06:41] practical tip is practice self-compassion. Be kind on yourself, do not be harsh, do not be hard on yourself. You are a human being not a human doing. We are humans, we are not robots, we have the liberty to take a
[00:07:01] break, we have you know permission to excuse ourselves and you know when it comes to the creativity and innovation domain what I've experienced lately is work happens outside work. Quite often I have noticed myself that when
[00:07:21] I am in a relaxed free zone I get my idea. Somewhere or the other I get the idea and when I purposefully sit on my study table that no I have to bring an idea right now or I have to work on this concept right now, it doesn't
[00:07:35] come. And when I am in a casual you know high spirited energy level then somewhere or the other I will get some idea. So be compassionate to yourself, don't be hard, allow yourself to fail, embrace this journey and believe that
[00:07:53] you know you are learning and growing. Nobody is born successful, it is on the journey, it is on the process that gradually success comes into place. So dealing with the unknown is an integral part of your entrepreneurial
[00:08:10] journey. Embrace a growth mindset, break down your challenges, be willing to seek support, stay informed, practice self-compassion and by doing all this you can definitely navigate when the uncertainties with lots of confidence and resilience. And you know always remember that every step that you take
[00:08:32] even when you're facing the unknown it is bringing you closer to your goals women. Thank you for tuning into today's episode of joyous women podcast. I hope you have found this insightful and empowering. Until next Tuesday keep exploring, keep learning and growing your amazing kids activity
[00:08:52] center. And I always say do remember soching it to definitely go just to motherhood cheers to joyous living. God bless each one of you. Thank you.