#81: How to Start a Business When You’re Afraid to Put Yourself Out There - Nicole's Story

Want to start a business or leave your 9-to-5, but feel terrified of putting yourself out there?

You might already have valuable skills, years of professional experience, and an idea of the work you want to do—but starting a business requires you to do something that can feel incredibly vulnerable: let people see you.

In this episode of Wealth Para Todos, I’m talking with Nicole Valenzuela, a queer Latina foster mom and money coach who helps queer and BIPOC folks navigate financial anxiety.

Before becoming an entrepreneur, Nicole spent 14 years working in corporate finance. She knew how to manage money and had already created significant financial security for herself. But turning her skills into a coaching business required an entirely different set of skills.

She had to learn how to create and price an offer, market herself, become more visible, sell her services, onboard clients, and trust that she was capable of helping the people who paid her.

And that brought up a lot of fear.

Nicole and I talk about how she went from wanting to stay behind the scenes—and accepting tamales as payment for her first financial coaching—to confidently marketing her business, getting on sales calls, signing paying clients, and working for herself.

We also talk about the mindset work behind entrepreneurship: overcoming feelings of inadequacy, becoming more comfortable with visibility, building self-trust, and learning to focus on the problems your business actually has today instead of trying to prepare for every problem you might have in the future.

If you want to start a business using the skills you already have but keep thinking, Who am I to do this? What if I'm not good enough? What if people judge me?—this conversation is for you.

In this episode, we discuss:

  • How to turn the skills you already have into a business
  • Leaving a corporate career to pursue entrepreneurship
  • Why visibility and marketing can feel so vulnerable
  • Overcoming imposter syndrome and feelings of inadequacy
  • How to become more comfortable putting yourself out there
  • Creating, pricing, and selling your first offer
  • Building confidence on sales calls and signing paying clients
  • How mindset work and journaling can support entrepreneurs
  • The difference between present problems and possible problems
  • How Nicole evaluated the ROI of investing in business coaching
  • Building a business that creates more freedom, flexibility, passion, and purpose

Wealth Para Todos Academy opens for enrollment September 15. If you want me as your money and self-care coach for the next 12 months, sign up for my free webinar, How to Stop Starting Over, right here.

Timestamps

00:00 Wealth Para Todos Academy Enrollment
00:39 Meet Nicole Valenzuela
02:03 Leaving Corporate Finance to Start a Business
03:49 Overcoming Fear of Visibility and Marketing
06:12 From Tamales to Paying Coaching Clients
06:49 Overcoming Inadequacy and Building Self-Trust
09:11 How to Feel Safer Putting Yourself Out There
12:25 Making Marketing Easier as an Entrepreneur
14:38 Mindset Work and Recognizing Thought Patterns
17:48 Building Confidence on Sales Calls
20:06 Present Problems vs. Possible Problems in Business
23:08 Investing in Business Coaching and Evaluating ROI
25:26 Nicole's Advice for Aspiring Entrepreneurs
27:41 Disclaimer and Closing

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