802: The Beginner's Playbook for Starting Something New

0:01This episode is supported by What Should I Do With My Money? From Morgan Stanley. Okay, can we just talk about how money is legitimately one of the hardest topics of money. up. Like even when you think you have your stuff together, there's always this really weird awkwardness around it. That's why I am obsessed with this podcast. It actually makes money conversations feel approachable. I recently listened to an episode about affording multiple big life things at once, like a wedding, a house, an IVF, if they were all happening at the same time. And honestly, it hit home. So many people are wondering, can we actually have it all without sacrificing our sanity or our savings.

0:42What I love is that they bring in real experts who help break down these massive costs into actual doable steps. It's like having a money mentor in your ear who gets it. Search for What Should I Do With My Money in your podcast player. We'll also include a link in the show notes. Many thanks to What Should I Do With My Money and Morgan Stanley for their support. And I think that for so many of you who are super ambitious and you want to try something new, you're skipping this step and you're telling yourself, I'm just going to figure it all out by myself. But chances are, if you haven't figured it out by yourself yet, you likely aren't going to without some extra help.

1:22I'm Jenna Kutcher, your host of the Gold Digger podcast. I escaped the corporate world at the age of 23 with nothing more than a$300 camera from Craigslist and a dream. Now I'm running a seven figure online business that feels even better than it looks all from my house in small town, Minnesota with my family. Here we value time as our currency. We mix the woo and the work, and we are in the pursuit of building businesses that give us the freedom to live lives that we love. I've always loved turning big goals into reality, and I'm here to help you do the same. This isn't just a peek behind the curtain.

1:58Come along with me and my guests as we tear the whole curtain down. Every week we tackle practical, no fluff marketing strategies and host honest discussions on what works and what doesn't. Join me and my expert guests for actionable insights to help you grow your dream business with confidence. Pull up a seat and get ready to be challenged, inspired, and empowered. This is the Gold Digger Podcast. When was the last time in your life that you started something totally new that you knew nothing about? It's been a while in my life that I've been a beginner at anything. In fact, the last thing that I was a beginner at was being a mom.

2:36And that whole journey started five and a half years ago. And this summer I found myself as a beginner, many different things and starting something brand new takes bravery, takes some guts. It's really funny how much can change in a year. I remember this time last year, we were taking our girls to the beach. We were driving down park point and I saw this huge white building and a sign on it that said the Duluth rowing club. And immediately I was like, I didn't know we had a rowing club. What is this rowing club? And I went to Google and I Googled it. I landed on their website and I signed up for their email list.

3:11I was so curious, what is this rowing club and how does somebody become a member of it? To be honest, I totally forgot that I joined their email list until I got an email in my inbox this year sharing that they were having these introductory classes, these learn to row classes. And without overthinking it too much, I signed up to join. I wanted to learn something new and I wanted to get out on Lake Superior. In the beginning of June, I got out on the water with 12 strangers turned friends, and I learned how to row. It honestly has been so amazing. It's been so life-giving. It's been fun. It's brought out the inner athlete in me.

3:46And every week this summer, I've been able to jump in a boat with strangers of all different ages, of all different experience levels, and get out on the water. And if I've learned anything about being a beginner, you learn by doing and not just watching. This was also my motto when my mom and I took a sourdough class earlier this year, when Drew and I decided to become beekeepers, and when we decided to try our hand at starting our very first garden. I have so much to learn in all of these hobbies, and honestly, it has been so much fun being so curious. Of course, those little imposter feelings can always strike.

4:24And then I remember, I am not an imposter. I'm simply a human brave enough to simply begin. So today I'm going to walk you through the lessons I'm learning while I find myself being a beginner too. And most importantly, how you can invite more joy, more curiosity and newness into your life too. You can take these major learnings and apply them, whether it is starting a business, starting a podcast, starting your email list, or finding a new hobby. Cheers to never being too old for learning something new, let's dive on into the beginner's playbook. It's no secret that starting a business is hard.

4:59Even if you have an amazing idea, bringing it to life can be super overwhelming. HubSpot's new entrepreneurship kit is designed to help you go from idea generator to full-fledged business owner. And let me tell you, I wish I had this when I was first starting my business. This all-inclusive kit takes the guesswork out of entrepreneurship with step-by-step guides, practical resources, and easy to use templates. It literally walks you through every stage of starting a business and even has freelance pricing worksheets and loads more to help you get up and running immediately. Now, the best part is that it's free at HubSpot.com slash ENT.

5:36With expert guidance from HubSpot, starting a business doesn't have to be hard. So don't wait to start yours. Head to HubSpot.com slash ENT to download the free entrepreneurship kit, all from a company who knows a thing or two about growing bigger and better. That's HubSpot.com slash ENT. Growing a business can feel really hard. And one of the toughest parts can be figuring out which platforms you should be on. Did you know that a podcast could be your next best platform? That's right. Whether you launch your own podcast or advertise your business on other shows, there are a lot of ways podcasting can contribute to growing your business.

6:13But where do you even start? And what's the best strategy? There's a recent episode of a great podcast called This is Small Business with Andrea Marquez that's all about this. You'll learn how to think strategically about podcasting as a marketing tool, how to grow an audience, and so much more. And Andrea is joined by none other than my friend Halataha, the host of the Young and Profiting Podcast and the founder and CEO of the Yap media podcast network. So you know this episode has some great advice. It's called How Podcasting Can Grow Your Business and Increase Revenue. And you can listen to it right now.

6:48This is Small Business answers so many of these kinds of questions like why you need an email list, how to accelerate your business growth, how good design can help increase sales and so much more. If you love Gold Digger, check out This is Small Business, an original podcast from Amazon on your favorite podcast app. And big thanks to This is Small Business for sponsoring this show. It's so interesting because people ask me like, what would you do if you were starting over today? And while I can give the best guesses what I would actually do if I were to be starting my business from scratch, it can be hard.

7:22I mean, I started my business 13 years ago. So much has changed. But I have found, especially this year, that there are five main things that we have to keep in mind and remember when we begin anything that is new. It's really interesting because when I look at my business, so much of my business has been intentionally built to give me the type of freedom that affords me the ability to even have hobbies. I mean, even a year ago, I would have come up short if somebody would have asked me, what do you do for fun? And I've been on this quest of really figuring out who am I beyond a business owner and a mother and a wife, figuring out like, what do I love?

8:02What lights me up? And it's been really amazing being able to try new things. Because when I look at my business, one of the biggest blessings of it is that I've kind of built it to be this repeatable system and this rhythm. And this rinse and repeat style business has afforded me this ability to kind of have time and energy and space outside of what I'm doing for work. And so while that is amazing, it also can mean that there isn't a ton of newness. And so this year, I really wanted to unlock this freedom and explore it in new ways. You know, I love the work that I do. I absolutely love being a mom.

8:42In fact, as I'm recording this, my daughter is in my office coloring because she didn't want to be too far away from me. and it has been so much fun getting to do both of those things. But as my kids are starting to get older, I've just found that there is this deeper desire in me to try new things, to stay super curious. And it's been so fun involving the kids in those curiosities and in those new ideas and projects. So while I'm a new beginner in a million different ways, here are the main ways that I've been kind of exploring this newness. So one, I learned how to bake sourdough. I know I am four years late to this trend while everyone was doing it during COVID.

9:23It took me a while to catch on. I now understand the obsession. We also planted a garden for the first time ever. I joined the local rowing club and we became beekeepers. And I noticed these trends in how I was approaching all the newness. And it was so interesting because it kind of struck me like, no matter what you're doing new, whether it is something with entrepreneurship or starting a business or writing a book or whatever that is, there are some key themes and key pillars that will help you no matter what you're about to begin. And so I wanted to walk through these and kind of explain how I'm leveraging them in this new season of life and have you explore what it would look like if you were to adopt these principles and theories into your own project and newness.

10:10So the first theme was seeking mentorship. Someone can turn decades into days for you. And if you are able to invest, whether it is time, money, or energy into learning from someone who has gone before you, it is going to save you so much frustration, so much wasted time, wasted effort. And so what's so interesting to me is that for every single thing I added into my life this year, I made sure that I had a mentor. So for sourdough, I joined this weekly community ed class with my mom. Oh my gosh, we had so much fun. We met in this church basement one night for many different weeks to learn the whole technique of creating sourdough.

10:53For beekeeping, we found a local mentor who was willing to come over and advise us. He was just over the other day with his daughter helping us out to make sure that we were doing everything right and that we were understanding exactly what was happening with our hive. For rowing, I joined a learn to row intro class at the local rowing club. For gardening, I took on a mentor in my friend, Nicole Burke, and I read her book and I had her on speed dial to ask her the questions that I had. If you are attempting something new, you don't have to do it alone or start from scratch. There are so many resources out there, both free and paid.

11:27What I want for you to understand is that you can find people who have gone before you and learn from them. Seek them out, leverage their experiences, make it easier upon yourself and have somebody who is kind of shining the light into the territory that you are entering. According to a study by the American Society of Training and Development, individuals who set goals and have accountability with a mentor or a teacher have a 65 % likelihood of completing their goals. When they regularly check in with their mentor, their success rate increases to 95%. I truly believe this is why I have been able to stay consistent with all of these new hobbies and to actually feel like I'm getting proficient in them.

12:11Having a mentor who is checking in with you and having that level of accountability and having that leadership is so life-changing. So make sure that whenever you are starting something new, look for the resources. Again, they can be totally free, like a podcast or a book or a YouTube channel or paid like an online course or hiring a local mentor to teach you. But I can honestly say like I would have never learned sourdough if I wouldn't have shown up to that class every single week to actually learn it and be able to ask questions and to have an expert guiding in that process. Same thing with rowing.

12:46If I didn't have somebody teaching me how to skull or what all the terminology was, I would have been so lost and confused. I would have never started. And I think that for so many of you who are super ambitious and you want to try something new, you're skipping this step and you're telling yourself, I'm just going to figure it all out by myself. But chances are, if you haven't figured it out by yourself yet, you likely aren't going to without some extra help. And so here's my encouragement to seek out mentorship in the things that you want to do and try no matter what they could be. Theme number two that I discovered is the power in being in community.

13:24Research shows that learning within a community can significantly improve your success rates. One relevant study conducted by Stanford University found that people who pursued a goal within a community, even if it was a virtual community, were 22 % more likely to achieve their goals compared to those who pursued them individually. The shared accountability, mutual support, and collective motivation within a community contribute to much higher success rates. So I was so excited to really notice like we were intentionally seeking out community in each and every single endeavor. Putting myself into these courses and settings naturally put me into communities from a free Facebook beekeeping group for Minnesota beekeepers to a group of people in my intro to row class who now text weekly to get out on the water together to meeting in that church basement to learn how to make sourdough bread with a bunch of local women of all ages.

14:19Community has been a huge factor in this. And it's been something I've been craving. It's something I've shared about many times on this podcast, how I am actively trying to pursue building our local community. And I can say we found so much success in doing so, but joining these really niche groups has been such an amazing way to be introduced to people. I probably wouldn't have met without them. What's so cool is, is that we celebrate each other's wins. I remember coming into our sourdough class each week and we would all bring in our little starters and we'd get so excited for each other. And when the bread came, we would look at them.

14:55We'd inspect them together, but we were together in this shared mission. We would answer each other's questions. There were so many different Facebook groups and text threads happening where we were all together so that we didn't feel alone. And the best part is that we get to hang out together. There are real friendships being formed as we're learning something new. I think it's amazing because being a beginner can feel so intimidating. It can often feel super isolating, like you are the only one going through this. And so when you are able to put yourself in a community of other people who are also beginners, it reminds you that you're not alone, but it also makes everything feel so much more relatable as you're working towards a goal.

15:34It creates this instant bond. I think about our learned road class. And I mean, there were men up in their seventies, all the way down to women who were moms. And like, it was just such an eclectic group of people who had this unique bond while we're in a boat together. I mean, you have to learn how to trust these people and rely on each other. And it's just so cool because I think about this group and this core group of people who wanted to just learn something new together. And that feels really special. And so I would encourage you if you're trying something new, seek out community, having more community and expanding your circle can put you into spaces that really elevate your way of thinking, that help you to reach your goals faster, and that give that community that make you not feel isolated, but make you feel integrated into something so much bigger than yourself.

16:25So find your people, whether it is a free Facebook community, whether it is part of a paid community, if you join an online course, whether it is a local community that you can join, I have just found so many benefits of being a beginner with other beginners. It's time for Black Friday, Dell Technologies' biggest sale of the year. That's right, you'll find huge savings on select Dell PCs like the Dell 16 Plus with Intel Core Ultra processors. And with built-in advanced AI features, it's the PC that helps you do more faster. From smarter multitasking to extended battery life, these PCs get the busy work done so you can focus on what matters most to you.

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17:42Okay, it is officially that time of year. And if you run a business, you know the holiday rush is no joke. I've done more Black Fridays than I can count at this point. And let me tell you, orders at 2 a.m., inventory updates, refreshing my site, hoping it can keep up. It never stops being intense. That is exactly why I use Shopify. It keeps everything running smoothly when things get their craziest. Shopify is the commerce platform behind millions of businesses around the world and 10 % of all e-commerce in the U.S., from household names to entrepreneurs who will be participating in their first Black Friday Cyber Monday this year.

18:20They've got ready-to-use templates, AI tools, and support available 24-7 so that selling stays simple even during the peak madness. And ShopPay's quick checkout, well, it's a game changer. it means way fewer abandoned carts and way more happy customers. This Black Friday, join the thousands of new entrepreneurs hearing for the first time with Shopify. Sign up for your free trial today at shopify.com slash gold digger. That's shopify.com slash gold digger. Go to shopify.com slash gold digger and make this Black Friday one to remember. theme number three is show up and do not quit if you want to do something new it requires commitment and keeping promises not only just to yourselves but to other people making space in my calendar to do these things and to take these things on was not always easy but I was committed I am someone who goes all in I remember when I signed up for the learn to row class I had to talk to Drew because we are together.

19:23We are parenting together. And the learn to row class was landing right around bedtime for my kids. And it was two weeks long. And once you finish those two weeks, then you can join the local rowing club. You can row anytime you want. You have a lot more flexibility. So I had to really commit for two weeks to being out on the water every night from five to seven. And it was a challenge. It wasn't easy. I didn't want to always leave my kids at dinnertime, my kids say, don't go rowing mom. And it was hard. But at the same point too, I knew once I made it through those two weeks, I was done and I could join the club and be a member for the end of time.

19:59And that was the ultimate goal. And so it was interesting figuring out, okay, what does this look like? How do we honor each other's hobbies? Drew this summer joined a bocce ball league with my dad and grandpa and brother and brother-in-law. And it has been so fun. It has taken some flexibility in our calendar to make time for that. And so we have both been encouraging one another to have time for hobbies and supporting each other in that in this kind of newer stage of life. I feel truly like we are getting out of the trenches of parenthood. As our kids are getting older, things are getting easier.

20:32We're starting to find a little bit more flexibility in time. And so it's been awesome as a partnership to really encourage each other to have some things that are just for ourselves. So regardless of that, the main point here is you've got to show up and you've got to not quit. Rowing is really hard. I remember before I joined the intro to row class, I was talking to one of my guy friends and he was like, rowing is really hard. Like it is super technical. It is super tricky. And there are so many aspects to it that even a few people in our intro to row class dropped out. They just stopped showing up.

21:07It was hard and it was confusing and it was challenging for a lot of us. But for me, I wanted to keep showing up even on days where it was a little bit harder than I was anticipating. Even on days when I was frustrated, I wanted to stick through and follow through on that commitment. Research has shown that you are two to three times more likely to stick with your habits if you make a specific plan with when and where and how you are going to perform the behavior. So for example, in one study, scientists asked people to fill out this sentence. During the next week, I will partake in at least 20 minutes of vigorous exercise on day, at time of day, and in place.

21:46And I've learned that research is so powerful. And so I have really had to map out time for all of these hobbies so that I know, okay, here's when I'm going to mix my bread dough. Here are the days that I'm going to bake. Here's when I'm going to get to spend time in the garden. Here's what this is going to look like. and I haven't gotten as formal as like literally scheduling it onto my Google calendar, but I know when I am planning to get out on the water, when I'm planning to get in the garden, when I'm planning to bake and I'm integrating it into my life. And so you have to learn how to commit.

22:17And one of the things we encourage people when they take our online courses is to literally map out the modules on your calendar so that you can see, okay, module one takes 20 minutes to complete. I'm going to do this on Monday. When you do this, you are so much more likely to follow through. And so figuring out how you can show up, not quit, stay consistent can be so, so powerful in whatever journey it is that you are planning to begin. Commitment leads to consistency, which leads to competence, which leads to confidence. And I have followed that path so many times in my journey. And I have really been leaning on that, especially as I've been learning new things.

22:56Okay. Theme number four is keep on practicing. I have realized how much we love immediate results. I mean, when you look at our world today, we can stream any song within a few seconds. We can go onto Netflix, watch basically any movie that we want. We can order things on Amazon or Instacart and get them almost immediately. And I think that we have gotten so used to such immediacy in our life that it can be really hard for us to continue to show up when we aren't getting the results we want right off the bat. So many people try to learn something new, but they don't stay consistent in their practice.

23:34And I remember when we were taking a sourdough class, the woman encouraged us to keep a journal. And she was like, keep a journal of what you do every single time you do it, because you're going to find that certain techniques work really well. and other times the timing might be different or things like that. And so I literally have this notebook and in it, I will write down what time I mixed it, what time I did my stretch and folds, all these different things to try to understand what is the perfect recipe for me to bake the bread. And in keeping that journal, I've realized that like it takes so much practice, right?

24:07There will be sometimes where I make the bread. I'm like, this is the best bread I've ever made. There'll be sometimes where I'm like, something is funky about this dough this time. And so keeping a journal and staying consistent and staying in the practice. I have baked every single week since I've taken that class. I bake two loaves every week. Our family eats one loaf. I bring one loaf to my grandpa or we give it away to a friend. And so it's just been so awesome. But in that practice, I've gotten really good. And it's interesting because I've kept in touch with people from that class and some of them barely bake.

24:36And then they're intimidated again. And all of a sudden they feel like a brand new beginner again, even though they know how to do it. when you stay in practice, you continue to refine your gifts. You don't lose those skills and you keep the confidence that keeps that momentum moving forward. Building a new hobby, sport, or activity into your rhythm and prioritizing it is the key to maintaining it and getting better. And so I've just found that staying in practice and staying consistent has been so huge. And just making sure that you are consistently driven to get better. Again, nothing is overnight.

25:10I often talked to so many entrepreneurs who look like they've had an overnight success and you learn that it's been over a decade. And I have learned that if you want to be good at something, you must be willing to practice it. So it has been just a really interesting thing to learn and to kind of see how am I integrating these things into my life? How am I staying consistent? And what does that practice look like? One of the things I'm going to put this out into the world so that I follow through on it. And this I'll share why this is important in just a minute. One of the things that I want to get back into practice is piano.