Episode 44: How Business Success Feels with Terra Bohlmann

Intro (00:01):
When you give smart women a five year plan, simple business strategies and a positive mindset, it's amazing how fast your business can grow. Welcome to the fast track woman podcast with your host and business strategist, Terra Bohlmann. She helps women business owners stop winging it and board the fast track to success. When she's not making high flying dreams, the reality you can find her traveling to random destinations, desperately tracking down Chanel, broaches, or sipping overpriced coffee drinks. Her purpose in life is to help you build a profitable first-class business, smooth out the bumpy ride, and finally have more time, energy and freedom. So buckle your seatbelt because this episode of the fast track woman takes off right now. Hello? Hello.

Terra Bohlmann (00:56):
I am Terra Bohlmann and we are talking about how success feels in your business. Super excited about this topic, because it's a really important thing for women business owners to understand that everybody's definition of business success looks completely different. I used to think, but a lot of business success was measured in money. And I think that comes from me personally, coming from a corporate background where everything was measured on, on money. It was either something was going to increase revenue or decrease your cost. And as a consultant for fortune 500 companies, that's how we were measured. You know, what work are you going to come in? And how's this gonna make me more money or save me cost, which then ultimately increases our profit. Of course you can have other somewhat in tangible things like, you know how is this going to help with employee retention?

Terra Bohlmann (02:09):
How is this going to save us time? How's this going to separate us from the competition and all that kind of stuff. But in reality, it all comes down to increasing revenue or decreasing cost, right? And so that was just drilled into my head as a consultant. And when I started my company, it was important. My first thing was, Oh, everyone talks about this, get to six figures. So I said, okay, so I need to have a six figure business. And to me that meant, okay, I've got to hit the over a hundred thousand dollars in sales. So when I started coaching, I did a lot of one on one coaching, lot, a lot of one on one coaching. And I was able to hit that number. But in reality, it was like I was working really hard and I wasn't even replacing my corporate salary because from revenue, right, we have to also pay our expenses and heaven forbid, if you want to invest in yourself and then pay yourself salary and whatever.

Terra Bohlmann (03:11):
So even at the hundred and $20,000 Mark, for me, even though someone told me, that's the first magical number you want to get to, I didn't feel successful because then you start thinking like, Oh, maybe I should just go back and beg for my corporate job back. You know, at least they'll give me three weeks. Paid vacation is what I had at the time. And I got my holidays off and, you know, whatnot. So, you know, for me, that was my first experience with what is success boast to feel like in your business. And then, you know, I I've continued to over time, get more and more in touch with my own feelings and whatnot and worthiness and everything that comes with opening a business, right? I've said it a million times on this podcast. I'll say it again. But if you ever want to know all your insecurities as a woman, open of business and all of them come to the surface and we have to deal with them one by one by one.

Terra Bohlmann (04:14):
That's why I think having a positive mindset is really important for us women business owners. So I decided what, how I measure success in money. Isn't my major motivator, contrary to what I've had many male business coaches or business people tell me it a hundred percent, should it should be part of your core values. Money is important. And it is, I a hundred percent believe making money is important in your business, but sometimes it's easier to go make money doing something else than it is actually building a business that is so in alignment with your heart, that it makes you wonder, you know, what is the definition of success? And what's it mean? So for me it means what is the money? Give me the money gives me freedom. The money gives me choices, the money. It gives me a way to be able to fulfill the passions and the things that I want in my life. Right. That's really what it is.

Speaker 3 (05:22):
And I've gotten, yeah,

Terra Bohlmann (05:24):
It's really, really clear in the last few years of what kind of business I don't want. I definitely don't want to have the big, huge company with the corner office and the real estate bills and the tons of employees and all that kind of stuff, which is what I thought. Having a successful businessman, you had to scale really big and add people and have the office and the expenses and the tools and the employee and the teams and the training and all those things, because I was referring it back to, I knew which was the corporate world.

Terra Bohlmann (06:01):
So then it's caused me to really think about things like money revenue, right? So really thinking about that and the more people that I come in contact with, the more I used to think, okay, if six figures was the initial goal, then it became about getting to 300,000 and then at 300,000, you want to scale bigger and it becomes the glorious 1 million Mark. Well then once you hit a million, it's not even about having a seven figure business anymore. It's about the eight and nine figure business. And I'm like, Whoa, like pull back the reigns here because it wasn't that, that was motivating me. What was motivating me was if I can help impact more women business owners and help them understand how having tools in their business actually helps them create a business model that they love, that they truly love. And that feels expansive for them, but yet doesn't feel like something that is going to put them on the path to burnout.

Terra Bohlmann (07:13):
And that was my story in the corporate world was, you know, the harder I worked, the more work you get, you know, and the more work I got and I just got to a point where it was just like, Whoa, wait a minute. You know, this isn't nothing what I had planned for my life. Right. And you have to get back to center of family and all that. The things that are important to you and to a point where to be a hundred percent authentic and transparent, like I always am on this podcast. I am just now learning how to have fun in my life. And I'm still working on it. Like I have fun. I can joke I can, whatever, but to sit down and really think what is fun, feel like, right. Cause all my fun and everything I've been so driven towards building my business and spending time with my family and doing all these things, which I feel like bring balance.

Terra Bohlmann (08:08):
And one of my things that I just keep coming up with is I gotta find a way to have more fun because fun to me honestly, is sometimes just reading my Kendall and watching the real Housewives and going shopping for Chanel broaches. Like that's what I do to decompress. And, you know, I know there's more fun in life to be had and definitely traveling and stuff like that. So I got to find ways to just have everyday fun and I'm working on that. So business success for me, it should feel fun. It should feel expansive. It should feel impactful and it should feel like you're making money to demonstrate the value that you're putting out there too. So I feel like it's all of it. And when I was sitting down to do this podcast, because again, I ask my clients and women that I meet now.

Terra Bohlmann (09:05):
And even when you come into the fast track club, which is my free Facebook group that I have right now, the two questions I asked two questions, and one of them is what does success feel like to you? What does it feel like actually feel? And what does it mean to you and your business? And then the second question, cause now that I said, there's two questions. I don't want to leave you hanging with the second question, which is, you know, where do, where do you wish in your business? Things would go faster. So that's the whole fast track thing. But the, an understanding how women define success has been astonishing for me to a point where it's really helping me relook at what success really means, because I don't want the multi multimillion dollar company and the stress that comes with that. I'm pretty cool with just like a boutique company with a handful of people, some contractors when I need them and waking up every day and knowing that I get to do and help and serve my clients, not in a way that necessarily is full passive income or anything like that, but more semi passive, right.

Terra Bohlmann (10:19):
Where I still get to be involved. Because what I've learned is when women work with me, you know, there's done for you. And that we do do that with the business maps. We'll, you know, there's a done for you option. And then there's this whole idea of done with you. And I used to have the DUI wire out, but I was finding when I was waking up in the ER and when I would go to look at my bank balance or whatever it is, it would be like, okay, that's cool. They get the transformation. And so many women didn't and that breaks my heart. So that's what I was like, you know what? I'm a done with you person. There's some, I do do some done for you for some clients, not tons of them, but will actually do their entire business map for them through an interview process.

Terra Bohlmann (11:12):
But my lane is done for you. So I know you're gonna get success in your business when you work with me, when you follow the system and then you have somebody there to support you and hold you accountable. That's my jam that feels successful to me. And I also had to get in touch with, and this may be something that come up, comes up for you too, but you can have your offer and have your thing that you do and the transformation you want for your customer. But if they don't do the work that needs to be done, that's not on you. And there was just so many days where I completely stressed out because clients weren't getting the results they told me they wanted. And so I would be like, okay, well maybe sure I'll just do it for you because I'm such a people pleaser.

Terra Bohlmann (12:02):
That's a constant thing. I have to always remind myself to, you know not live my life as a people pleaser all the time. And the more I would do for them. Yeah. They make it they may get a better result, but I wasn't helping them in the long run on all I was doing was stressing myself out. So then I was like, well, you know, me jumping in and doing it for them. That's the totally natural quote unquote consultant hat that I would wear all the time. I was like, no, I'm a business coach. I'm a strategist. This is my lane, you know, and I can help them push through it. So that next time they have tools and they're prepared for it. Right. So again, when I was sitting down, I was like, I'm going to talk about this important topic around what does business success mean to you?

Terra Bohlmann (12:54):
I can tell you what it means to me, but I can also tell you that not your, not, how do I want to phrase this, your success isn't measured by somebody else's expectations of you. So let me give you an example. When I was in the corporate world, you know, I, I thrived on people's expectations. I'm a people pleaser, I'm a high achiever. I'm like the perfect storm. I always say like, I am the perfect employee, right. And it's not that I'm anti-corporate, I just want my freedom. And you know, I liked the service that I get to do for women and, and whatnot, but I'm not against corporate. I think corporate's fantastic. If that's what feels really good to you. And I would, you know, someone would give me, my boss would give me a goal, let alone, if it was a woman, like, cause I really admired women who were high achieving and had it together.

Terra Bohlmann (13:52):
And if she worked hard, then I knew, Oh man, I must have to work hard too. And then she'd say, I want this for you. And then you can move up to this position. And then I would be like, yeah, yeah, yeah. To a point where the success she wanted or he wanted, I had some, obviously some male, a lot of male bosses, but it's like what they wanted for me. I couldn't, it was so such a gray area for me that I didn't even know what I wanted. I never took the time to sit down and go, what does success mean to me? And to be completely honest, I don't know why I always say that. But like I had this former friend who came up to me after I had an in vitro, I had in vitro to have my twins and you know, the babies were born.

Terra Bohlmann (14:37):
I was a consultant. And you know, I did my, I think it was eight weeks maternity or whatever. And then we were getting an AU pair from Germany and she said to me, and granted, this is a former friend, but she had said to me, why did you go through so much effort to have these babies? If you're never going to spend it time with them. And that was like a complete knife and the heart and then twist it. And you know, there is a part of me that is grateful for that, just because it did make me look at things. And you know, there were some other things that had happened in my corporate career that made me start transitioning to opening my own business and kind of doing my own thing. But, you know, Oh, that was, that was a hard pill to swallow and that wouldn't ever be something I would ever say to anyone, no matter how close I was. And you know, again, not friends with this person, there was a lot of toxicity there that, you know, just continue to come up after a few years. And at some point we've got to have those boundaries, right, where we just, you know, bless and release those people in our life.

Terra Bohlmann (15:48):
But it, it forced me to kind of look at well, what is success and what is terrible? Cause I've never stopped. I'm I was going so fast. I never stopped for five minutes to ever even consider the question. What does success look like for you, Tara? I always thought it was moving up the corporate ladder, making more money, you know getting that next promotion all that kind of stuff. And that's how I measured who I was as a, as a woman. And you know, and then the side stuff would be like, Oh yeah, I like to mentor the women consultants and do some of the stuff and whatnot. But that was even though I enjoyed it, I didn't think of it as something that was noted on the success report card. So anyway, so over the past few years, and I've been in my business for 10 years now, almost 10 years and it was just mind blowing and I had to sit down and say, okay, what does business success mean to you?

Terra Bohlmann (16:48):
I love to ask other women that and they'll tell me usually most women, if you ask them that question, they'll go. Hmm. Well it means I have really good balance. I have customers that I really enjoy working with. It means I have time to do yoga or go to the gym or eat healthy or spend time with my spouse and travel. And you know, there's all kinds of things that come up. And the more I, I asked this question, the more I think, wow, women are so cool. More so lucky to be able to be in a place with our, with our businesses, that way you get this choice, which I love. So I was sitting down, I was like, okay, what would three questions look like that you could ask yourself about what business success means to you? The first question that comes to mind is what do you want to accomplish?

Terra Bohlmann (17:44):
What do you want to accomplish? And for me, if I would have asked myself this 20 years ago, it would be a totally different thing. What do you wanna accomplish? All I was doing is what does he, or she want me to accomplish? You know, what is an external factor? What, you know, I needed somebody else to tell me what I was capable of doing instead of sitting down and going man, taro, what do you want to accomplish? And with your business. And when I sat down with that question, I was like, you know, I want to be able to give back in a bigger way, you know, and support some nonprofits with the revenue that comes from my company. I want to be able to help employ other really smart business woman who just want to do business. They don't want to have like, or they want to help support a business.

Terra Bohlmann (18:29):
They don't want to actually start there. I want to, you know, make revenue that allows me to have freedoms in my life and whatnot. What do I want to accomplish? I'm so much more clear on that now. So for you, what do you want to accomplish? Question number one, the second question. I know I skipped this question so much in my life, but the second one question is how do you want to feel? How do you want to feel with this business success? How do you want to feel? And I'll tell you, I turned off my feelings for many, many, many, many years. Most of my years, it wasn't even really, they weren't. I mean, it's not that I wasn't incapable of feeling, but I had such a tough exterior. And I, and I, you know, again, this all goes back to that mindset, work, all the things that come up when you open your business and whatnot, things that you didn't know had happened, whether it was something as putting an armor around you, because one of mine was my third grade teacher did not give me a good grade in handwriting.

Terra Bohlmann (19:39):
And so then it just was like, well, I'm going to show her. I'm going to like write beautifully. And it's like so silly to think, like I disappointed this third grade teacher who I was scared to death of anyway, and you know, but that starts building that exterior. So when it came to business, I was much more robotic and I never asked myself, how do you want to feel? So I asked you, how do you want to feel, I know how I want to feel now. I want to feel expansive. I want it to be fun, which is what I'm working on. I want it to feel impactful. I want to feel good about what I do. I want to feel excited about jumping out of bed every day to get to do what I do. I want to feel good. And I'm going to be a role model for my kids and other girls out there too.

Terra Bohlmann (20:29):
The third question is really important too, because it comes back to your why it is, why is my next level of success important to me, right? Why is my next level of success important to me? And this is what gives you that motivation to keep at it? Day after day after day, I often say we overcomplicate business a lot, a lot, and I think it's really important to keep things simple and understand our why, and when we can have, and run our business with what feels expansive and with ease and flow and all that kind of stuff then, and we understand our next level of success and why it's important to us. You have a magic formula. That's going to give you motivation to keep going every day, because sometimes the part of business that makes the consistent revenue is not always super sexy and fun.

Terra Bohlmann (21:39):
It's doing the same thing over and over and over again and improving, right? And I'm not saying you can't mix it up and add the creativity and stuff, but you know, this is why I'm psychotic about business maps and, and doing them because it takes what feels like a Frankenstein business model and puts it together. And so that it feels doable and simplistic. You're really clear on the core things that you sell. I call them your signature offers and you get really good at rinse and repeating them rinse and repeating them runs and repeating them. And yeah, you're going to fail a little bit at the beginning, but then you're going to just keep going. And then everything starts compounding, including your revenue, which is really cool. So why is your next level of success important to you? You know, for me, it's, it just goes down to my why.

Terra Bohlmann (22:28):
I want to know that I, I am capable of doing great things because, you know, so that's something I feel inside that I was put on this earth for a reason. And I don't want to disappoint that feeling I've had in my heart. Most of my life. I want to feel like what I'm doing mattered, and I want to do it to the best that I can and create something for others when I'm not here, including my family. Like, I think my next level of success is probably just similar to you. Yeah. You know, my family is important to me. I want to be able to do fun things and, and have the time and freedom to be able to make those choices. So I just ask you, why is your next level of success important to you? And no matter what that next level is, it's totally fine.

Terra Bohlmann (23:21):
So if your next level is to get to that six figures, if it's to get to that 300,000, if it's to run your business and keep the exact same revenue, but work half the time. Awesome. Just understand why it is. And then that's going to be your motivator. So to wrap up three questions, to ask yourself, to figure out what business success means to you, one, what do you want to accomplish? What do you want to accomplish too? How do you want to feel? How do you want to feel about it? And three, why is this next level of success important to you? Well, I hope this podcast episode was good for you. I know there's a lot of other women business owners out there that are struggling. Like they want to go faster in their business and maybe they don't even need to know why they want to go faster, but sometimes we have to stop figure out some of these core things, which is what does business success really mean to me so that you can be on the fast track.

Terra Bohlmann (24:27):
And that's what it's about. I have a free workbook called the destination success. So it's how to create your five year plan. And that really helps walk you through what success can look like for you. It's completely free. You just go to my website, Terra Bohlmann, T E R R A B O H L M A N N. [inaudible] Dot.Com/Workbook. And you can just download that workbook, work it through. And I know it will really serve you because it gives you a framework on how you can put together a five year plan that will really help you get on the right path to your success until next time, take care.

Outro (25:13):
And there you have it. Another jam packed episode of the fast track woman podcast, don't forget to visit terrible men.com, where you can get more business tips and strategies learn how we can work together to accelerate your business success or access this podcast. Episode show notes with a full transcript and links to resources mentioned today. And if you enjoyed this podcast, I invite you to leave a review so that we can help serve more women business owners to like you until next time here's to owning your time and valuing your word.