Real talk today. Let’s get down to the nitty-gritty.
I know it can feel like the whole internet is abuzz about B-School right now, and sometimes we do things that aren’t actually a good fit for our needs right now. As always, I want to encourage you to make the best choice for you and what YOU need right now.
Don’t feel pressure to do B-School if it’s not the right time or fit for you. Remember, it took me 4 years to do B-School, because I’m on the slow and steady train and I wasn’t racing to add more to my plate.
I will not encourage you to do a program like this if it’s not right for you. If you don’t have $2k to invest, if you don’t have any business ideas, or you aren’t serious about your work and projects—don’t do it. It’ll be another program thrown in the trash.
Also, don’t believe all the hype that you can change your whole life in six weeks. For most people it takes more than that. Six weeks is a great start, but you need to be all-in for this (and for so many other changes you want in your life).
Remember, it takes around two to four years to start a business. It just does.
Businesses take time and strategy to grow, and it takes consistent work and effort to create something that really works. If you want to build something that works, you need to:
Be willing to try and fail.
Be willing to put yourself, your work, and your ideas out there.
Show up and make offers.
Learn and iterate.
If you’re willing to do this, it takes bravery and risk. It also takes resilience, and I know it can be scary. SO.
If you’re reading this far and you want to know whether or not I think you should do something like this, here’s my take:
Let me know if you fit into one of the following:
- You have a business idea already (or a couple of them) and you’re trying to figure out the right path forward for the next few years, or
- You have some traction on a business idea but you’re overwhelmed by all there is to do (marketing, email, newsletters, ack!) and you want to grow your revenue this year, or
- You want to develop a better understanding of creating an online presence for your work and how to show up consistently, or
- You have a thing that’s sort of working, but you’re a little hazy on WHO your product is for and HOW exactly to talk to them about it, or
- You’re creative and have a hundred ideas and want to test some of them this year to see if they’ll actually work, or
- You love learning and you know how marketing and communications fits into your existing business or job description.
If any of those sound like you, AND you feel confident that spending $2k is a solid investment in your work because you have a business that you’d like to gain traction over the next couple of years…
Then definitely take a look at the program and see if it’s right for you.
When I took B-School, I decided to do one module per month, and focus on shipping one real thing each month. Over the course of the year, I refined my website, my podcast publishing schedule, my opt-ins, and my email newsletter. None of this was done in a shiny quick-and-dirty two weeks. No way.
Remember, progress is often non-linear and takes more time than we expect. If you want to join B-School, get on the steady train and commit to your learning for the next year—and you might surprise yourself with your results.
That’s why my B-School Bonus is focused on the slow and steady train. I want to work with people who are in it for the long haul, who want to make real progress on their businesses. In my bonus, you get 8 months of accountability and a live meet-up group on the first Friday of every month. Why? Because when we talk to real humans and make a small improvement every month, that’s how real steady growth happens.
Here’s my #1 tip for people who are taking B-School this year—pick one thing you want to focus on this year.
I took B-School while I was pregnant with my second kid and raising a toddler at home. I watched the videos and the courses while I was working on building out the foundation of @startuppregnant, my new company. Today, we have 150 episodes of a podcast, a weekly newsletter, an online community mastermind, a private Facebook group with 600+ parents and entrepreneurs, and four mini-books for working and expecting parents.
When I thought about becoming a parter with Marie Forleo and about all that B-School helped me with during the first year of building Startup Pregnant, I thought a lot about how I was able to use the program and what helps me learn.
The other important thing I recommend is that you don’t have to try to finish the program in six weeks.
The material covered is like taking a year-long masters’ program, it’s that good. So my biggest recommendation is to try to do one module per month, and then take action on what you learn and implement it in your business.
My story? I was pregnant, tired, and had a toddler home. So I didn’t try to race to complete the course in the first eight weeks. Instead, I exhaled, let go of the course timeline, and spread the courses out over a year to dig into and do super slowly. I listened to one video each week, and I set my pace at one module per month. Because being pregnant and running a company and chasing after toddlers can be exhausting!
If you’re in the ‘busy’ camp and you don’t know how to fit a program like B-School into your life, but you think it could support you, my bonuses are designed for people who want to take the slower train and stay like the tortoise, slow and steady, and do the course on your own terms.
When you join B-School, you also get my year-long accountability group, too.
Remember— you don’t have to do it all right away. You CAN but you don’t HAVE to.
When you buy B-School, you get lifetime access to the program, and you join a community of B-Schoolers around the web growing businesses and helping each other in our growth and learning. You also get to take the course each year, and get lifetime access to all of the bonus modules and lessons Marie shares.
You can get a lot of value out of doing a tiny part of the program. If you join the program and want to focus this year on improving your website and messaging, stick to just that. Next year can be about setting up a communications plan.
Think of ONE thing that would have the biggest impact on your business, learning, or progress, and this year, focus on doing just that one thing.
It’s okay to sign up to do a program and focus on one small aspect of it. You don’t have to do the whole thing to get a lot out of it.
That’s the way I do it, and an approach that I think works well. For a full year, I focused only on The Startup Pregnant Podcast. That’s really it! I didn’t do a ton more than that other than email sporadically. The next year I focused on the website and launching our first offering, our community mastermind. It wasn’t until two and a half years in that I finally landed on our lead magnets and our community opt-in.
Today, it may seem like I’m doing “all the things,” but I’m always in #turtlemode, just trying to stay slow and steady.
Progress might not be fast, but over time, a little adds up to a lot.
If you’re scared of joining B-School because it sounds like too much, then put your blinders on and focus on one little thing you can learn or improve. Wherever you are right now is where you are. Do the best you can.
If B-School can help you build a strong foundation, solidify your messaging, and get you super clear on who you serve and why—then I think it’s worth a hundred times what it’s priced at, easily.
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