Limiting beliefs. We all have ‘em. And if you’re like what-the-what are limiting beliefs and how does this have anything to do with business, stick with me here.

Ever wonder why that dreamy list of ‘projects I’ll launch someday’ tucked away in your notebook never sees the light of day? 

Or how many times you’ve promised yourself that you’ll hire help…as soon as you get through just one more season? 

What about that sinking-stomach-feeling that nags at you whenever you’re creeping on your competition on the ‘gram?

Yup, these are just a few of the many sneaky ways that limiting beliefs affect us entrepreneurial peeps every time we’re trying to next level ourselves (and obvs, our biz). We’ve ALL got our own brainy stories on replay, whether they’re positively productive or negatively debilitating.

In this blog, I’ll be shedding some light on four limiting beliefs that are getting in the way of your beauty business growth (BOO!)…and how you can overcome them (YAY!)

 

 

First thing’s first…what the heck are limiting beliefs, anyway?!

 

Think about it like this: We walk around with our own personal swishy record player inside our noggin that plays a subconscious loop of all the stories we tell ourselves (the good, the bad, and the sometimes ugly). On repeat, on the daily. 

According to experts, we experience between 60,000 to 80,000 thoughts a day. That translates to 2,500 to 3,300 thoughts an hour. Which means we can be thinking anywhere between 42 and 55 thoughts a minute. Whoa, mind trip!

These subconscious story tracks (aka thoughts) become beliefs – about who we are, the world around us, and what it all means.  These thoughts tend to show up as true-as-hell statements like, “I do/I don’t”, “I can/I can’t”, “I am/I’m not”, “They are/will”, you get the picture.

Your thoughts become beliefs, which influence how you feel…and ergo, how you act (the mind is a tricky bugger, ain’t it?!) Which means that limiting beliefs are what get in the way of achieving awesomeness. Like these four mental woes that commonly come up for so many of my clients:

 

Limiting Belief 1: “It’s gotta be perfect”

 

Ooof. Perfectionism can be a bitch…and a limiting belief that, to be totes honest, I’m still learning to break up with as well (any other Type A’s in the house?!)

Yes, you wanna impress the pants off of your peeps. 

Yes, you wanna provide uber amazing results through your products and services. 

Yes, you wanna walk your talk and be proud of what you create. 

But constantly tweaking until the cows come home = failure to launch. And how can you attract those dreamy customers if you don’t put your stuff out into the world?

While striving for greatness is awesome, waiting until something’s perfect keeps us spinning our wheels in analysis paralysis and stalling your business growth. That shit’s exhausting!

And truth is, you ain’t gonna know how something will land with your audience until you get it in front of their faces. That helpful feedback is golden – and the only way you’ll really know what works and what doesn’t.

When you find yourself stuck on the perfectionism train, ask yourself:

What’s really holding me back from launching?

Do I know for sure it’ll flop?

If I launch before it’s perfect, will it still help the people I’m trying to serve?

 

Limiting Belief 2: “I’m not good enough/It’s not as good as…” 

 

After attending a beauty industry event, one of my clients expressed to me how she felt more deflated than ever. “I just kept looking around and had that sinking feeling that I’ll never be as good as all these other brands.”

Obviously this broke my heart because not only was my client a total rockstar, but had a killer brand that was steadily growing year over year. The proof was definitely in the pudding! And yet, she felt like what she offered wasn’t good enough.

How often do we feel this way?! Like we’ll never measure up to the big wigs in our industry? Like it’s all been done before? Like there’s no room for us?

Comparison in the biggest cockblock to owning our awesome. And I’m damn sick of seeing remarkable beautypreneurs get stopped in their tracks when they have a gift to share.

In a saturated market, your unique special sauce is exactly the missing ingredient that the beauty industry needs. While there may be oodles of other organic skin care brands, or makeup artists, or clean beauty shops out there, you are a one-and-only. You’ve got a special somethin’ somethin’ that only you can share. As a beauty brand strategist, I’m obvs uber-passionate about extracting that kinda magic so you can confidently stand out with your brand out.

Discovering the juicy potential of your business starts with defining how you’re different and how you can use that point of differentiation to provide value to your audience in the way that only you can.

Some introspective  q’s to ponder whenever comparisonitis clouds your pretty head:

What magic do I bring to the table?

Where’s my spot in the market?

What’s the soapbox that I stand on to express the change I wanna make in the world?

 

Limiting Belief 3: “I can’t…”

 

“I can’t afford it”

“I can’t charge that”

“I can’t plan my day”

“I can’t focus on anything”

Alllll the itty bitty excuses we tell ourselves, amiright?! It’s like we’re basically throwing a big ol’ hand up to The Universe like, “Nah! I’d rather things stay exactly as they are.”

“I can’t” is a finite statement that shuts down opportunity and possibility. And the more you repeat this statement, the more you’ll believe it. Where’s the fun – and growth potential – in that?!

Sure, there’s a lot of stuff I can’t do (play the ukulele, master Beyoncé’s Single Ladies dance, watch Die Hard with a straight face), but I certainly could choose to learn ‘em!

Queen Bey may have natural-born talent and all (#bless), but I betchur bottom dollar she had to learn how to overcome her ‘can’ts’ just like the rest of us.

We always have a choice. And reframing our beliefs about our “I can’ts” can be uber empowering – and mega liberating! Cheers to THAT!

Next time you feel a major case of the “can’ts” coming up for ya, imagine what you can do instead (choices, remember?):

“I can’t afford it” – “I’m choosing not to invest in this right now”

“I can’t charge that” – “I bring a helluva lot of value to the table and am totally worth charging for that value”

“I can’t plan my day” – “What if I experimented with planning 2 days out of my week? What could that look like?

“I can’t focus on anything” – “What boundaries do I need to put into place to fuel my focus?”

I know it may sound like some airy fairy fluff, but from my own personal experience, flipping this mental script has been game-changing in how I combat this limiting belief head on…and I challenge you to try it on for size!

 

Limiting Belief 4: “I don’t have time”

 

We’ve got full lives. Busy lives. We’re overwhelmed, overstretched, stressed out like mofos.

“I don’t have time” is prob the #1 excuse we tell ourselves that keeps us putting our big dreams on the backburner…and a habitual tactic we use to give ourselves permission to stay stuck.

Truthbomb comin’ in hot: We don’t have time, we make time. 

And if you keep telling yourself “I don’t have time”, you’ll never start making time for the things that matter.

Unlike money, time isn’t a renewable resource. We can’t make more of it. So how we spend our time is kindddd of a big deal. It’s totally your choice if you’d rather spend hours binge-watching cute cat videos on YouTube (hey, no shame) or working on that new business idea you’ve had swirlin’ around that gorgeous head of yours for like ever.

You need to prioritize what actually matters to you (and your bottom line) instead of doing the crap that doesn’t move you forward. ‘Cause you DO have the time, you’re just choosing to spend it on other things.

Wanna take control over your time?

Analyze where you’re spending it. Like, actually. 

Track your life for a week, jotting down all the activities you do each day and how much time you spend on each activity. See what kind of patterns come up. 

With some simple tweaks, new habits and beautiful boundaries in place, you can discover creative ways to carve out time for your most important (and meaningful) projects and priorities.

 

The Bottom Line

 

Taking your beautiful biz to the next level requires a whole ‘nutha mental game. That deep-seated stuff that goes wayyyyy beyond marketing strategies, industry network, or your pocketbook.

Entrepreneurship is definitely an inside job…and getting real with ourselves is the first step towards radical change.

Limiting beliefs are repetitive thoughts. And thoughts can be changed. YAY!

Shifting into a growth mindset is a daily mental practice that builds your resilience muscle. You’ve got the power to break up with the beliefs that are holding you back from the sparkly success that you deserve.

I wanna hear from YOU – which of these limiting beliefs have been holding you back? 

Lemme know if the comments below!