um i know everything i'm about to see it i added a little um skeleton because it's halloween when i'm filming this but um if you need to cut it off jim um that is perfectly okay just trying to work out while my shirt's fitting sideways oh i don't know this feels like i'm maybe it's just because it's on a curve All good. So I'm just waiting for it to tick over just so I don't get caught out. I was looking at changing over to Riverside, but there's heaps of updates that have come out on StreamYard. So I'm not sure what to do yet. I think the... Renewal is coming up shortly, so I will double check. I don't use a live streaming option, which I probably need to start doing. But, yeah, if you wanted a Riverside update, that is it. I haven't made my mind up. I haven't really looked into it either. But wait, wait, wait, just in case. All right. Okay, I am fired up today. I just literally saw another podcast pop up in my feed as I was preparing this week's episode. And it said, I built a nine-figure business while working full-time. And then before that, there were like all these other posts from other people about running all these multiple different businesses simultaneously. Like some of them were saying it was like over eighty businesses. And I am calling bullshit. Not because I don't believe that they're busy or that they don't have those eighty odd businesses like I believe that. But because when people say that, nobody's talking about the real numbers. Nobody's talking about net profit. Nobody's asking, are you actually making money or are you just really good at looking busy? Is it sparking joy? What is your so-called work-life balance? And if you've ever felt like a failure because you're only running one business, then buckle up because today I am going to get real and I'm probably a little bit more fired up than what I usually am. But for those that don't know me, I'm Stacey and welcome back to the Stacey M Show. I am a family lawyer. I'm a clinical hypnotherapist. I'm a mom. I do all the other things as well. And lately I'm kind of getting the shits a lot easier and I am refusing to sugarcoat the truth. So watch out. I'm a little bit fired up for some reason. But today I am talking about just being done with like the hustle porn culture that's making people making good people like us feel like fires because we don't have all these businesses maybe you don't even have a business because you don't want a business but you feel bad because they're telling you you should have one like um so it's applicable for you guys as well So as I said, we're talking about the multiple businesses myth, the nine-figure flex that's probably built on bad debt. So debt can be good, but I'm saying this is bad debt. One of the most profitable thing you can probably do right now is focus on one business and do that exceptional well. Now, this is clearly a do as I say, not as I do thing here, because if you know who I am, I do have more than one business, but it's not rainbows and unicorns. I can tell you that. So You're scrolling Instagram, LinkedIn, TikTok, whatever, and then it'll pop up. So it'll be things like day in the life of running my six businesses. Just launched my fourth company this year. I built a nine-figure business while working full-time. I am a serial entrepreneur. I'm a CEO of multiple ventures. Wank, wank. blah, blah, whatever. Again, if this is you, go for it. You're probably not listening to this podcast. If this is you, if you'd like to challenge me on it, I am more than happy to be challenged on it as well. But you might be, assuming you have a business, you might be looking at your one business, you're pouring everything into it and then suddenly it just feels small. It's inadequate and that you're not ambitious enough and that you should be doing more. Should I be starting another business? Why can't I juggle multiple ventures? Is there something wrong with me and I'm not cut out for business because I don't have these multiple ventures? What's wrong with me if I can't barely manage one? If that's the case, how are they building empires and working full time while I'm struggling to take a lunch break? Like there's so many different things that were probably popping into your head. But here's what they're not telling you. Most of those businesses are probably either failing they're neglected they might not even be trading there might just be companies sitting there doing nothing and they're casting that as owning these companies uh they might be counting a side hustle that made three thousand dollars um last year um as a business and amazing if you made three thousand dollars like that's cool there is nothing wrong with that but you just don't know behind the scenes i suppose and you know that nine figure business like let's do the math because they might not want you to do that depending on who you're following and what they're sharing so just because you have a nine figure revenue that doesn't mean you have a nine figure profit They probably have millions of dollars in expenses, in investors taking huge cuts, possibly. There could be a massive ass hand that you have wages. And if they have a bricks and mortar, they're paying rates, mortgage, electricity, whatever. Their net profit from all those multiple businesses might be less than your one focused business. Or, and here's the kicker, the nine-figure business is the course that they're trying to sell you about how they did it. So they're profiting off making you feel like a failure when you follow me and you buy my shit and you can be like me. They're flexing gross revenue while their net profit is probably shit. And let me get brutally honest. I'm going to turn a little bit fired up today. I'm not quite sure why, but it is Halloween too. So, you know, I should be happy, but so as I said, this is very much do as I say, not as I do. Yes, I do have a few businesses myself. I have Stacey M. I have two legal practices. I have a mortgage-broking business. So I have four in total. And most days I feel stretched so thin while trying to give them all the attention that they need whilst also trying to be present for my kids. what helps me through that is my team across everything is just absolutely amazing um but i yeah it definitely has not been rainbows and unicorns i mean my legal practice is nearly ten years old so i've been doing this for a while now but you know having that idea that i should add a third or a fourth or a fifth business or Building a nine-figure empire on top of everything, that's probably not ambition. It could be ego. And that can be bad business. So don't get me wrong. Again, if you want to go for it, go for it. You're probably not going to be listening to this. Or if you are, you might want to stop listening to me now. If you want to challenge me, all unhappy to do that as well. But here's the truth that usually nobody says out loud. one or four in my case, exceptional businesses with strong profit margins will probably always, I'm not an accountant, so I'm just trying to protect myself here, beat five mediocre businesses with terrible margins. So I'm not the best at math. If you have businesses, you need to know basics of math. I've learned to trust people and have been burnt in the past. So I at least have a basic understanding of what, you know, my P&L and balance sheets and all that stuff that Xero has. But let's look at the scenario A of multiple businesses. So there could be a business one with a hundred K revenue, twenty K profit. So that is after expenses, teams, et cetera. Business two has eighty K revenue, but there's only ten K profit. business three might be sixty k revenue and five k profit business four might be forty k revenue but it's a losing money there's nothing at the end of the day business five twenty k revenue break even so that's three hundred k in revenue which sounds impressive the net profit is thirty five k so you're spread across those five businesses constantly probably firefighting you're burnt out you're missing your kids lives and all the other things scenario b One, maybe four focused businesses. One business, two hundred K of revenue, hundred and twenty K profit. That is completely doable. Your time, it is focused, it's strategic, you have systems in place, you're present with your family, you are healthy, it's sustainable, it's sparking your joy. Which one would you choose? The five businesses or the one? Maybe four. like here's the thing they're posting about the three hundred k they're not posting about the thirty five k they're not posting about all the that goes on behind having businesses or having these atl businesses and stuff as well they're usually flexing the revenue not the profit They're showing you the highlight reel. They're not showing you the bank account. And that I built it, you know, while working full-time story. What they're probably not telling you is one, they could just be full of fucking shit to start with. Like it might not even be the case. It might be lying. Or they had a lot of money to put savings towards it. Or they had investors or maybe they had partners covering costs. They outsource their entire personal life, perhaps, or outsource absolutely everything, which, you know, that comes with a cost too, right? They could be sacrificing their health, their relationships, or both. They got incredibly lucky with timing, you know, or most likely it's exaggerated for marketing. And the real money came after they quit their job. And it's like a wonder so many people are sceptic these days. Like it really is. And It's really dangerous when this goes out there because there are people literally thinking that they suck because they're not this person that has these multiple businesses. And I have to say, usually it's from a male perspective. I don't think I've seen a female kind of flex this way. So happy to be proved wrong. But, you know, this multiple business thing, the nine figure flex culture, to me, it's really annoying and it's really harmful. To me, it creates toxic comparison. So you're comparing real numbers to their fake highlights. They're not showing you the failed businesses, the debt, the stress, or the fact that there's six businesses means one big real business and five domain names. They're not showing you anything behind the scenes. It destroys your focus building that one or that, you know, four businesses. one you know truly profitable business and it requires deep focus consistency and mastery and when you spread yourself too thin and I literally know this you do surface level work everywhere and there is no excellence there's only so much that you can do And excellence is where that profit is. It can also confuse revenue with profit. So this is the massive one. So revenue is vanity. Profit is sanity. Cashflow is reality. You can have a seven-figure business and be broke. Like literally seen it. Like, you know, people with all these impressive sounding businesses who can't pay their bills because their revenue might be amazing, but there is no profit because their expenses are too way, you know, too massively high. um it glorifies like burnout so working these eight hour days are amazing and you have to do this to grow those multiple businesses and while your kids grow up without you like you know that success or they don't have kids you know that can be another one um it's tragedy with good branding and calling four hours of sleep hustle isn't inspirational it's a health crisis waiting to happen and um it's also usually selling you something. That's just not true. So most of those stories are marketing. The struggle is the hook. The idea of the impossible claim is the credibility. And the course they're teaching you, their secret is the product. They're not successful because they built these multiple businesses. They're successful because they convinced you to buy their course. They've taken you at probably a vulnerable time. And they're amazing at their marketing to capture these people. But, you know... Let me maybe paint a different picture, one that's based on actual profit and not social media flexing. Successful business is different to everybody, but to me, it's building the one or the four businesses that has healthy profit margins, not just impressive revenue. You've got to take into account that profit. It runs with systems that don't require you, It supports your life instead of your business consuming your life. It gives you time. So it gives you that time back with your kids, time for your health, time to actually enjoy what you have built. Being in business carries a lot of risk. Like it's really, really risky and challenging. government lately i feel like doesn't give a about small business and that's probably a whole other podcast but like it's really hard to be in business especially small business and to me success is waking up knowing exactly where to focus because you're not scattered across five different ventures you don't have all these different hats on demanding all this different attention and possibly bleeding money success is having That one or those few different things that you are generally excellent at instead of five things that you're mediocre at. And you shouldn't be excellent at everything either. There are some times you need to outsource because it's not your skill level. And that's probably a different story as well. But it's saying no to the shiny objects and yes to depth, yes to mastery, and yes to actual profitability. One business or a few businesses done exceptionally well with clear, strong margins, sustainable systems, clear mission, amazing team if you have one, to me, that's the goal. Not all these different businesses that look good on your LinkedIn profile that keep you broke and burned out and you're not happy and you have no life and maybe your relationship has broken down because of it. So, but here's what I would like you to hear. You don't need those multiple businesses to be successful. You don't need a business to be successful. You might not even care about being in business. Like that is completely fine as well. Like you don't need to build this massive ass fucking empire while working all the time to prove you're ambitious and then your health goes to shit. You don't need to be this serial entrepreneur to be impressive. What you need is, sorry, I spoke too quick. What you need is clarity on what you're building and why you're building it. Focus to go deep instead of wide. Profit, not just revenue. Actual money in your pocket. Systems that let your business run without you burning out. There are boundaries to protect your health, your family, and your sanity. That is one that definitely took me quite some time to... get a hold of i'm still not over the top of it but um yeah it's better than what it was um and permission to define success on your terms not my terms instagram's terms not joe blog's terms what your terms are on success not based on somebody else if you're building that one business or those couple of businesses and you're doing it well and you have those strong margins you have happy clients and you have a life that you enjoy to me that's winning don't let somebody else's revenue flex make you feel like you were falling behind stop and ask yourself what's their net profit why are they not telling me what their net profit is what's their quality of life what are they not showing you because generally you won't see any of that So, yeah, just instead of going straight to the I feel shit, just stop and reflect what are they actually showing you. So if you would like an action plan, here are a couple of suggestions. Again, I'm not a business advisor. I'm an accountant. So this is just general advice, I suppose. But orderly actual numbers are. Stop looking at revenue. You need to look at net profit. How much are you actually taking home? If you spread yourself across multiple businesses, would your profit go up or down? Be honest. And if you don't know anything about the books, maybe chat to an amazing bookkeeper or an accountant so you can at least get the basics. Chat to a PT is pretty good at running numbers as well, depending on how you feel with putting your stuff into the internet. I figure it's all out there anyway, so I'm not too concerned. But calculate the cost of destruction every hour you spend on a side project. It could be that's an hour that you're probably not spending money on your main business. That's probably more profitable. So what's that costing you? And you probably should do this first. Define what your success is, not some influencer's success, not mine. What yours is. What does it look like? Write it down. Get specific. How do you know when you get there? Include the lifestyle, not just the numbers. Double down on what's working instead of starting something new. So ask, why do I think I need another business? How can I make my current business, maybe TEDx, more profitable? How can I get better margins? How can I get better systems? How can I get better clients? That's where the magic happens. Work out where that bottleneck is in your business and work out from there where you need to go. Question every success story next time you see it. So I kind of touched on this before, but I built X while doing Y post. Instead of going straight to the feeling guilty part, have a pause and think about what's their net profit? What are they selling? Why are they not showing me the net profit? What aren't they telling me? What aren't they showing me? Do I want their life, you know? Do I want to be that person? Or for it if you do, protect your focus like your life depends on it because your quality of life does depend on it. That time with your kids, your health, your sanity, you don't get that time back. It's not renewable. So if that's important to you, then you need to protect that. So look, I get it, I've rambled on a little bit today and a little bit feisty, but the whole business, multiple business flex, it's seductive and it sounds impressive. It looks ambitious. They're standing beside their jets. Do you know you can get your photo taken with a jet without actually having to get in it to fly in it? Like think about that stuff as well or extra Rolls Royces or something. Like they might not own it. They're just getting the photo taken with it. So that happens as well. But here's what I know from like being in the trenches. The people who actually thrive to me aren't the ones that are doing the most. They're the ones doing the right things themselves. things that they enjoy, the things that they're good at consistently with focus and intention. They're not spreading themselves thin across all these different businesses or different ventures. They're going deep on the one thing or the few different things, and they're making that excellent, and they're making that profitable, and more importantly, they're making that sustainable. You don't need those shit ton of businesses. You don't need to work eight hour weeks. You don't need to sacrifice your health and your family to prove that you are successful. You just need that one or those couple of businesses. I'm saying that because obviously I have four, but that light you up supports the life that you want and makes you actual profit that you can live off or invest back in the business if that's where you want that to go. So my challenge to you is probably stop putting yourself down. Stop feeling like shit. Stop chasing more. Just maybe try mastering one. Stop comparing yourself, your life, to somebody else's marketing campaign. because at the end of the day, they probably don't give a shit. They're just probably trying to make money and start building something that actually works for you. Give yourself permission to focus, to go deep, to build something meaningful to you instead of just something that's, you know, impressive looking. And then the next time you see one of those, I run seven businesses post, just scroll past it because you're too busy building something real. Or if you want to be a smart ass, you can probably post something cheeky and ask them to post their net profit or behind the scenes. If they do, they'll probably fake it anyway. But, you know, sometimes it's good to have a bit of a shit stir. So you have got this. If this episode fired you up or you want to challenge me on it, please do reach out. I want to hear from you. There's email. You can contact me from all different ways. It'll be in the show notes. If you want to contact me, I'm also curious to know, like, you know, if this has inspired you, what's that one business that you're committing to focus on or what's that one task or what are you saying no to, or what are you going to say yes to, to actually matters? I'd really like to know that. And just remember, I'm a little bit sidetracked, but if you are going through a separation or divorce, or you're feeling overwhelmed by all that noise and comparison out there, remember, I do have my amazing program, Empowered Separation. Details will be below, but it is designed to give you clarity, save you money and help you navigate this transition without losing yourself in the process. It's the one program, deep focus and real results. And yes, I'm working on other things based on feedback, but that is the one thing I have at the moment. That is the one thing I'm focusing on so I can get that right before I start something new. So look at me go. But thank you for listening. Go build something real if that's where you're at. And I will catch you next week on the Stacey M Show. Happy Halloween.
