852: From Health to Hiring: Ask Me Anything About Scaling, Criticism, and Energy

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2:01If you are getting negative feedback or criticism, congratulations. You're likely doing something that is hard or challenging. And I commend you for that. And you get to choose the role that it plays in your life and how you handle that. And so hopefully you got something out of this. I'm Jenna Kutcher. your host of the Goal 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.

2:39We 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. Come 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.

3:16This is the Gold Digger Podcast. Today's episode is extra special because it's all about you. That's right. This is an Ask Me Anything episode where I'm answering your questions straight from the voicemails you left me. Now, I love connecting with this community in new ways, and this format is such a fun way to do that. You all ask some amazing questions about everything from scaling your business and building a team to navigating work-life balance and health and dealing with criticism. Your curiosity and creativity blow me away every single time. And I'm so honored to dig into these topics with you today.

3:53So you're going to hear your fellow gold diggers voices throughout this episode and all tackle their questions one by one, whether you're a seasoned entrepreneur or just getting started. I promise there is something here for everyone. And I'm going to be answering these totally off the cuff, zero prep involved. Now, here's the best part about this. The fun is just beginning. My hope is to answer your questions every single month. So if you've got a question, dial 218-203-9660 and leave me a voicemail with your name, your title, and ask away with your question. Again, that's 218-203-9660. Your voice can be featured in an upcoming episode of the Gold Digger podcast.

4:37I've also included the number in the show notes and episode description for easy access. And honestly, I cannot wait to hear from you. So grab a cup of coffee, pop in those earbuds, and let's dive on into this super special Ask Me Anything edition of the Gold Digger podcast. Hey, marketers, a quick question. When was the last time you actually enjoyed marketing? If you're feeling overwhelmed juggling content creation, lead generation, campaign tracking, and analytics, let me introduce you to a game changer, HubSpot. HubSpot combines the power of Marketing Hub and Content Hub, and it's all enhanced by Breeze, their built-in AI.

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5:57That's hubspot.com forward slash marketers. Hi, this is Beck Metzbauer from Martinsburg, West Virginia. And I'm calling because I wanted to know, when you scale your business and you start growing your team, who is the best team member to hire first? Hey, Beck, I love this question. First off, congratulations on growing something that you are scaling. The thought of growing your team is very intimidating. I wrote an entire chapter about this in my book called How Are You Really? about how I was just straight up white-knuckling my business for so long. I was convinced that I had to and could do it all.

6:38And it works for a while until it just doesn't. And the first person that I think every entrepreneur should hire would be a virtual assistant. I think that it is the perfect position to hire because it allows you to start to see the spaces in your business where you can outsource, the things you can start to let go of, the ways that you can relinquish controlling every single thing. And it allows you to get back into the deep work. So a lot of the things that you can outsource to a virtual assistant is some of the busy work that is absolutely required in running a business. So things like email management, bookkeeping, data entry, appointment setting, management, whether it's like calendar management or helping manage with social media.

7:23And so one of the things, even if you're listening to this and you're like, I am not in a position to hire, I'm not even thinking about hiring. It's not even on your radar. Pay attention in your business to when you are doing something more than once. If you are doing something in a repeated way, that is a very good signifier that you could create a system or a process around it. And even if you're not in a position to hire yet, creating a system or a process around those repeated tasks, then we'll give you the ability to someday hand that off to somebody else or to just streamline and make your business more efficient.

8:00So I would absolutely say a virtual assistant. I know a ton of listeners who have found their virtual assistants or their Pinterest managers or their social media managers or their brand photographers inside of our Gold Digger podcast community, which is on Facebook. So if you need help, you can always go there. We do different hiring posts where people can share what they're hiring for or who they're looking to hire. But I would definitely start with a virtual assistant. I think it's the best way to have somebody part-time to start to feel the freedom of letting go of some of those things that you've been managing on your own and to start to understand how it looks like to manage somebody else, which I think is sometimes one of the harder things about hiring.

8:43Okay, let's dive in into the next question. Hi, Jenna. This is Karin Shpitko. I'm a Pilates instructor and the owner of Curated Pilates Movement in Stowe, Vermont. My question is how to stop only trading time for money when your secret ingredient is in the one-to-one relationship. Ooh, Karen, this is a juicy question. And I love that you're thinking about this. I think there are so many people in positions like you who are running service-based businesses who can't really see how there's any sort of possibility in creating something that allows you to create something once and to continue to drive revenue from it, especially when you are so focused on relationships.

9:27And guess what? I love one-to-one relationships. I think there's something super powerful. So if what you're doing is working for you, that's amazing. But one thing I want to remind you is at some point you're going to have a realization of like, if I don't show up, I don't get paid. And no matter who we are and where we are and what we do, there will be times in our lives where it's impossible to show up. And so that can be a really sobering reality of like, I've built something super successful, but it cannot run while I rest. And so as a Pilates instructor, I can think of a bunch of different things that you could do that would allow you to still have the powerful one-to-one relationships that you have, but also have a few other different pillars and ways to drive revenue.

10:18So you could do at-home Pilates videos where you could just do like a seven-day Pilates challenge that people could pay 30, 40, 50 bucks for where they could have those videos. They can do it all the time. You could create different guides. You could do different affiliate plays where you're sharing your favorite Pilates equipment or your favorite Pilates app or your favorite Pilates gear that people wear. And so you don't have to think in terms of like you need to end what you're doing and the magic that you have. But I would say that the one-to-one relationship piece of your business, that is the most premium offer you offer.

10:56And not everybody out there is going to be able to afford it. So how can you make what you do more accessible for people, whether they want to stay home and do Pilates, whether they don't live in Vermont. And so thinking through different ways. So easy ways would just be doing some online videos that people could join. You could do a membership site. You could do a course of like intro to Pilates. You could do a course on how you've created this secret sauce and what you do as a Pilates instructor that makes your business super successful. You can do affiliate links and codes to things that you love.

11:33So there are just a lot of different options for you. And again, it's not saying that you need to lose the magic of the one-to-one, but that should be your most premium offer. And how could we create almost a value ladder of other opportunities for people to learn from you, work with you, get inspired by you at different price points. Let's move on to the next question. Hey, Jenna, it's Brooke from St. Louis. My question is what, if anything, has changed about your health routine, anything new that you're trying or really loving or anything that you've gotten rid of? Oh, okay. I love a good juicy health question.

12:09And I am somebody who is obsessed with hearing about other people's health routines. I just, I love hearing what's working for other people. So what's been really interesting is, is I would say that I got very serious about my health about three years ago. So when Quinn was just a few months old, when I was really preparing for a book launch and nursing a baby and chasing a toddler. I just really recognize I need to have energy to live the type of life I want. And what's been really interesting is, is I went from somebody who was not at all consistent to being one of the most consistent people I know when it comes to health.

12:51And I often try to reverse engineer how that even happened because now I've become the type of person who my priority is like, I just need to get a workout in today. Like last weekend I was telling Drew, like, Hey, you will get your workout in. And then I'm going to go in and get mine in. And it was so weird to me because I did a flashback in my brain of like, I used to hate working out. It was the last thing I did. It was the last thing on my to do list. I was lucky if I worked out two days a week and now it's like nearly every day. And it's not at all obsessive. For me, most days when I'm working out, I'm walking on my treadmill.

13:31So I try to walk on my treadmill for 30 minutes a day. A lot of times I'll respond to voice messages. So my best friends will get me where I'm slightly winded. I'm on the treadmill, but I'm chatting with them. I'll watch trashy TV shows that Drew will not watch with me. So shout out to the Real Housewives. I love you. Or I'll get work done. So I have a little desk that goes on my treadmill. but every day I walk for about 30 minutes. I walk at an incline. I've been doing more weightlifting. I'm trying P-Volv. I'm not totally sold on it yet, but I kept getting ads for it. And I was like, you know what?

14:03I'll give it a try. It looks interesting. It looks like kind of a mix of Pilates. There's different tools. Trying that. I love Melissa Wood Health's app. I love her workouts. I feel really strong and tight after those. And then when it comes to just daily overall habits. Like even this morning, I'm looking on my desk right now. I have a 30 gram protein shake that I had this morning for breakfast. This one is Pioneer Pastures. They recently got stocked at Target and my friend Kelly Levesque, who's a nutritionist, sent me a text because I'm like, I just need easy protein. And so I have a protein shake every morning.

14:38I make sure I get in 30 grams of protein. I sauna every single day. I cold plunge every single day. I have literally been so consistent over the last two years. I haven't missed a day of getting into my cold plunge since we built our home, which is pretty impressive. I lay on my PMF mat. I use my red light. And so I've just kind of baked those things in throughout my day and I haven't stacked them so that it doesn't feel like it takes up a lot of time. In fact, I kind of just have it as a part of my routine. And as somebody with ADHD, I love to be moving throughout my house during the day. And so that is also super helpful.

15:15One thing that I've added as a new thing that I'm loving and I can't imagine my life without is mouth taping, which is so weird. I'm sure maybe you've seen it online where people literally tape their mouth shut at bedtime when they sleep to have them breathe through their nose. And it's interesting because I thought I would never be able to do it because I have a cyst on one of my sinuses and I've just never gotten it taken care of. And so when I first tried mouth taping, I literally felt like I was suffocating. Like it actually made me very claustrophobic and I couldn't do it. And then when I slowly learned how to regulate my nervous system and I would just put the tape on right before I was falling asleep as I was reading my Kindle, now it makes such a difference.

16:04I am sleeping so much better. I'm not waking up with dry mouth every 30 minutes and taking sips of water in the middle of the night. It has been such a game changer. And I just buy cheap mouth tape on Amazon. I don't have any fancy one. I don't have any affiliate link. I just buy this cheap one that it looks like an X so that you can still kind of breathe through the sides if you need to. And the reason I like that one is because my kids often will need me in the middle of the night. And it's really hard if you can't talk to them because your mouth is taped shut. So mouth taping has been an absolute game changer for me when it comes to health, anything I've gotten rid of.

16:39So unfortunately I need to get back on this habit. I used to be really, really, really consistent about meditating and I would use this meditation ball that would vibrate in my hands that would just help my brain not be going in a million directions. And I just got out of that habit. Truth be told, I think I lost the charger and it just kind of fell off of my habits, but it's something I want to get back on. So I feel like I haven't been great at meditating. And the only other thing I haven't been great at is we've been trying to eat dinner earlier. We got into this habit of putting our kids to bed and then us as adults eating dinner together.

17:18And I love it for certain reasons. Like I feel like it's a little less chaotic. We get to focus on the kids, the kids get to eat. We're like more available for conversations. We're not running around as much, but sometimes that makes us eat pretty late because our kids kind of can push their bedtime sometimes. And so we've been trying to eat earlier and that's kind of an area that we're working on as well. So I always love the health questions. I think it's great. One other thing that I'm loving is weighted vests. I've been wearing a weighted vest on the treadmill and I feel like that's a really easy way to get a little extra strength and get a little bit of extra weight on your bones.

17:53But otherwise I've just been really consistent. So if you want to listen to any past health episodes, 95 % of what I've talked about in the past is still very true in my life. And I'm just really consistent with it right now. And it feels really good for me. This podcast is brought to you by Mercury, banking that helps entrepreneurs do more with their money. Okay. I remember in the early days of my entrepreneurship journey, clients would literally mail me checks and then I would have to drive all the way to the bank to deposit them. It took me literal years to make things go digital. And I am ashamed to admit I still have a filing cabinet with paper contracts because I'm way too afraid to throw them away.

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19:53And if you ever feel stuck, their award-winning 24-7 support is always available. Turn those dreams into and give them the best shot at success with Shopify. Sign up for your$1 per month trial and start selling today at shopify.com slash gold digger. Go to shopify.com slash gold digger, shopify.com slash gold digger. Hi Jenna. My name is Melissa Henning Frank and I'm from Soxville, Wisconsin. My question for you is how do you handle negative feedback or criticism about your podcast? Okay. This is a fun question and not so fun. I recently saw something that said like, if you want to be on the fast track to healing yourself, start a business.

20:41And I kind of chuckled to myself because it's so true. Entrepreneurship just forces you to hold up a mirror to all of your insecurities. It forces you to work on the parts of you that are easily triggered. It makes you really start to see the younger versions of you who were broken or needed different support at different times in your life. And it's just hard, right? And negative feedback or criticism is hard. I definitely have gotten a tougher shell over the years, which is both beautiful and kind of sad at the same time. I think it's just the reality of being somebody that's doing the work on the internet where it's just open for interpretation and criticism.

21:26one thing that I've always tried to look for is, is there something constructive in the criticism that I could actually sit with, think about and apply? Or is it just straight up criticism? Like, where is that coming from? Because oftentimes you can learn a ton from feedback and criticism. And I have always been someone who is curious as to how I can do better, what I can do better, where I'm falling short. And so it's interesting because as the years go by, I can often see that person's perspective or that person's point of like, oh, I did say that wrong. I should have said that differently. Or, oh, that probably is really annoying.

22:07I'm really sorry about that. And so I feel like I've gotten to a place that is way less triggered by it. And I don't take it necessarily as personally, but I try to look for like, is there some truth in there or is there an opportunity to do better? And oftentimes there is. And sometimes it takes us a while to realize that once we get past the wounded part of us, that's really hurt from it. But what I think is beautiful is that we all have opinions. And when I think of my friend Mel Robbins and her let them theory, it's like, if it's just straight up criticism, like let them misunderstand you, like let them be upset about what you're doing.

22:46Let them think that you're doing something wrong. Just let them and let go of that stuff. But I also think there's so much ownership there as to what you want to do with that. Do you want to learn from it? Do you want to grow from it? Is there an ounce of truth in it? Now, the one thing I will caution is if you let negative feedback or criticism become the filter you put all of your work through, you're never going to put your work out there. Right. And so if you are so fixated on the critics that you just straight up, stop creating, stop posting, stop sharing, because you're paralyzed by it, then that is where it can get really dangerous and you're letting them win.

23:28And so you want to keep speaking to your fans. You want to keep speaking to the people who are supporting you. And then you also just want to see, is there an opportunity for improvement or consideration from that feedback or criticism. And so I am always paying attention. I know I don't get everything right. I know I've said things and changed my mind on them. I know I've tried out different ad formats and different partner formats on the podcast and I read the reviews. And so it matters to me to just have my ear to the ground and to understand how I'm being perceived or where I could work. And I think that over the years, it's helped me to get better at my job, but to also continue to learn and have empathy and understanding for where other people are coming from.

24:13So if you are getting negative feedback or criticism, congratulations. You're likely doing something that is hard or challenging and I commend you for that. And you get to choose the role that it plays in your life and how you handle that. And so hopefully you got something out of this. Hey Jenna, my name is Allison Caffrey. I am calling in from Colorado Springs, Colorado. So I help business owners plan maternity leave. And I've noticed that in this season, most business owners either over prepare or under prepare for the season. And I'm really wondering what key things you did to set boundaries when you had your girls and you wanted to make sure that you still were creative inside of your business and you really honored that time with your family.

24:59I absolutely love this question. And Allie, I've got to say, I always see you in my comment section and I just, I really appreciate you being a part of this community. So thank you so much for asking. And maternity leave is something that I think should be talked about more, especially in the space of just women in business, because I totally agree with you. I think people are either way overprepared and then they're like, you know, sitting there like, okay, what do I do now? Like I'm so bored or they're underprepared and they're incredibly stressed and they're working through what should be such a sacred time as a family.

25:36So when I did my maternity leaves, I basically worked all the way ahead so that I didn't have to show up for anything. So I helped prep content for the podcast for three months, for email, for the blog, like basically everything was set and ready to rock. And I did not need to come online or lift up my head or do anything I didn't want to do. And I loved that option because I think what was so beautiful about that is knowing that I didn't have to do anything really released the stress and pressure of feeling like I needed to perform or show up. But it also left space for me to do things that I wanted to do.