Hello and welcome to today's episode of the OBM Educator. Today is going to be a little bit of a different episode in the sense that normally I'm kind of teaching things. Obviously educator part of that, you know, I'm bringing three tips and kind of wrapping it up all nicely, but today I'm just talking. I don't have notes. I normally write pretty much everything out. Today I'm just kind of talking about something that I'm seeing In addition to teaching and the education portion of this podcast. I do want to bring more of the topics that I see going on with new OBMs, the struggles, so it's not just teaching. So if you like this format, let me know, send me a DM or an email, would love to know. But today we are going to be talking about the idea of being okay with not being great in the beginning. So let's get into it.
01:10
Welcome to the OBM Educator. I'm your host, Amanda McVicker, a veteran OBM who serves six and seven figure entrepreneurs as well as educates new OBMs with the skills and confidence they need to start and grow their own successful online business management business. Follow along as I share valuable insights, behind-the-scenes sneak peeks and proven strategies to help you build a better OBM business. Today's topic has come from a couple things. First, obviously, as with like anything I talk about, it's because I see it right. I see it with people. I mentor people who ask me questions. I kind of just see it out on Instagram or in stories, like in general. I just see it around. That's the first place. When I bring something that's like people are struggling with, this is because I'm seeing it. But the second place that this topic has kind of come from, I heard this be okay with not being great at the beginning in a training that I was a part of or in a couple weeks ago, and they were just kind of talking about it in general. But I think that, for OBMs especially, it's super important to remember that Something that I have been working on creating is I'm going to be relaunching my course in July and I'm going to be doing a webinar with it too, and so part of you know, whenever I'm teaching about becoming an OBM, like skills come into play, of course, because a big part of being an OBM is being able to do work on that higher level.
02:42
But it's hard as the mentor to say like you got to know all the things, because obviously you don't. No one is going to know every single thing. Before becoming an OBM, like before doing anything. If you started as a VA, chances are you didn't know anything about the online space or whatever industry or niche that you're doing. You didn't know about launching, you didn't know about email marketing, all the different things that we do. You learned it. So it doesn't make sense that in the beginning, you should know everything.
03:15
Now, as an OBM, you should know the basics of the more advanced things, but the truth is you're not going to be good at it when you first start, and that can be like really harsh to hear and you might be like thinking like, because I'm sure this was me when I was first starting as an OBM, where I knew the theory of things but I had never done it. And so me going through my first launch with a client was, if you asked me in the moment, then I'd be like, yeah, sure, no, that was great. But if you ask me now, four years later, I would be like, no, no, it wasn't great, we got through it, it was fine. But there are so many more things that I would do now. I would do things differently, I would make different suggestions. Just a side note launching in 2020 used to be exhausting, doing a five-day conversion event, then a two-week launch. Nowadays I would be like we can cut that at least in half, because I've been through it. And then also it would have taken me a couple months to put that together back then because I had to research everything and I had to make a lot of analyses on things like what is going to work best and should we try this or we should we try this? And now you know, I can put it together in a week because I know what works. But I had to go through that first part In order to get to that second part. I had to go through constant researching, constantly second guessing myself, not always making the right decision, so that now not saying I always make the right decision now, but now I can crank things out.
05:05
I don't have to meticulously prepare for strategy session. I still have like a questionnaire, but it used to be that if you were on a strategy session with me, you had to fill out a very, very comprehensive questionnaire going through each detail of your business. That probably would have been a lot easier to just talk it out, but I needed to know ahead of time what was going on so that if I didn't know something I could research it. If I was confused on something I could look it up. If there was a program I wasn't aware of, I could go look at what their features were. I had to have that prep time so that I could be on the call and actually give good feedback. And actually give good feedback Nowadays one I know a lot more and so I'm a lot quicker and I can think more solutions on my feet. But also I am not afraid now again with time, with experience, to say I don't know, I don't know that program, I don't know that method. I'll look it up, I'll get back to you.
06:12
Before I felt like it was a negative reflection on me if I was not able to, on the spot, say something, even though on the spot came from hours of pre-work, research, and prepping answers, all of that stuff. But looking at it now I could see that there was a lot of insecurity wrapped up into it. There was a lot of. I don't want people to think I'm not good enough. I don't want people questioning their investment. I don't want to come across as stupid. All of these things that were true back then, but I could never have seen it, because I did not accept the fact that it was okay to not be good, to not like be great at what I was doing, even though, like, I obviously had never been an OBM before. How would I have known how to do all of that without going through it? So I can look back on it now with grace for myself, with understanding, but also a little bit of sadness, that I thought I had to be so perfect all the time and that I couldn't let any weakness, any I don't knows, show through, even though they were there.
07:38
And so when I now am mentoring new OBMs or VAs who want to become OBMs and their stuck point is, well, I don't know everything, I'm like you don't have to. The biggest thing that is going to help you as an OBM is the willingness to learn, the willingness to say I don't know and then figure it out, because that trial and error is actually what's going to be helpful to you later down the road, as I grew as an OBM and I was able to try different things, make mistakes, whether or not they were intentional, but actually just kind of being open for, not perfection. Those are the places I learned the most. Those are the places that now, when a client asks me, hey, what do you think of XYZ? I can say, well, actually, I tried XYZ before and this is what happened. And because of that, I actually recommend ABC, because any experience that you have is going to be something helpful for you in the future, whether you think that in the moment or not, it is true. And so, as a new OBM or an aspiring OBM, the biggest mindset shift that you can have for your sanity, but also for your longevity in the online space as an OBM is to be open to the fact that you're not going to be great at everything when you first start. You're always going to be growing.
09:30
A year ago, I was a three-year OBM. There are still things I did a year ago that I'm like, oh, I really would not have done it like that, and I'm sure a year from now there are still going to be things that I do now that a year from now, me would be like why, why did you do that? And so we are constantly growing and learning and evolving and coming up with better ways to do things, but everything again, everything is going to be experience that helps you later on. I hope this was helpful. Again, I wanted to just kind of share the thoughts that I am seeing to give you a little bit of encouragement in especially if you are thinking about the transition from VA to OBM, or maybe you're a new OBM thinking there's just so much to learn and there is, but you're going to learn it and you're going to learn it in the time that you need to.
10:37
If you are thinking about making that transition from VA to OBM but you are not sure if you're ready or not, I do have a new quiz that will answer that question. It's called VA to OBM are you ready to take the leap? You can find it in my show notes or you can go to amandamcvickercom slash quiz. It's a really quick 10 question quiz that will give you some good insight on what your next step might be. So I encourage you to take it and if you enjoyed this episode, I would love for you to leave a review.
11:10
Share it with a friend, fellow OBM. All the shares and ratings and all of that stuff are really helpful to get this message out to other OBMs and aspiring OBMs who need it. Thank you so much for listening to this week's episode. I will talk with you guys soon. Bye, thanks for joining me for this episode of the OBM Educator. I hope what you heard today is helpful for you on your OBM journey. If you loved today's episode, I would so appreciate you sharing it and leaving a review on your favorite podcast platform. Want to be a guest on the OBM Educator? Fill out the form in the show notes and I'll be in touch. Join us next time on the OBM Educator.