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Startup Tip #9 | How to Master Yourself for Entrepreneurial Success | Antoinette Prophy

In this first episode of a three-part series on getting unstuck, the focus is on managing oneself, a crucial aspect of the entrepreneurial journey. Anto emphasises the importance of addressing past traumas and personal obstacles that may hinder business growth. Drawing from personal experiences, including overcoming an abusive relationship, Anto highlights the transformative power of self-management in achieving business success.

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[Music] hello hello hello mbb Community I am so excited  about this three part series that we've launched to help you get unstuck now these tips might seem  very simple and very basic but believe you me they are a game Cher so for our first episode we are  going to focus on you this one is called managing myself oh and it's so so important it is crucial  on your entrepreneurial journey I think it's Warren Buffett that said if you cannot manage  your emotions you cannot manage your money and so I
'm going to take it a step further and say if  you cannot manage your yourself you cannot manage your business well you can manage it but you're  probably not managing it well so how do you start managing yourself well okay number one our trauma  our past experiences can leave an indelible mark on our psyche and I've done an extensive talk on  the mbb channel around how trauma can get in the way of you growing your business so I'm going to  reiterate it here today because it is important it's im
portant for you to evaluate where you are  it's important for you to evaluate where you want to go and then it's important to evaluate what  is getting in the way of me getting there and I can guarantee you at the top of that list is you  okay so how do you do this right you're probably asking Anto okay then help me get out of my own  way I always encourage Founders and we've done this on our own program to get a coach to get a  business coach to get a life coach even take it as far as getting a
therapist so that you have a  sounding board for you you have a sounding board every week every month where you're just diving  into you right a safe space a space where you can be vulnerable and you can really let it all hang  out in a very safe space yeah I know and I said it in my talk as black people we don't believe in  therapy we'd rather rush to church um and get a a feel-good sermon but I'm going to encourage you  today as part of of your village mix cuz believe you me it takes a villag
e to grow a business it  does and as part of your village mix make sure that you have a sounding board for you someone  that you can sit across from every week be it a therapist be it a coach someone that you can  sit across from and just work on you and I can guarantee you once you start looking at yourself  once you start dealing once you start getting out of your own way the opportunities that it unlocks  just from a mindset perspective where you can go from hustling where you can go from bei
ng in  survival mode to really gearing your mind towards building an asset of value cuz that's that's what  we want to do right and whatever your exit plan might be you might decide to exit when you're  old and gray you might decide to exit through an acquisition you might decide to exit through an  IPO whatever your exit strategy is you want to get to a point where you're leaving or building an  asset of value that will leave a legacy beyond your exit Okay so number one get a sounding board  fo
r you and be that in the form of a coach or a therapist but just someone that you can sit  across from every week every month that can dive in to you okay number two as part of your  village mix make sure that you get an Advisory Board especially for early stage Founders solo  entrepreneurs where you haven't gotten to the stage of having a board of directors make sure  that you have have an Advisory Board and so this is a sounding board for the business listen  an Advisory Board just adds a fres
h level of accountability especially if you're running solo  especially if you're a solo founder it adds that additional layer of accountability so that you  are not out here for instance from a financial perspective swipe your card your business card  all over the place for your personal expenses yeah you don't want to be that person and so a  board of directors or a board of advisors will simply give you that level of accountability that  is needed in order for you to take things to that next
level okay so you've got your therapist  or your coach and you have an Advisory Board I can guarantee you simply adding these two very  very crucial elements early on in your journey in order to help you manage yourself is a game Cher  because the board of advisors that you account to on a monthly basis on a quarterly basis whatever  you decide that Cadence and rhythm is for you is crucial because they will hold you accountable  when it comes to the business your coach or your therapist will hol
d you accountable when it  comes to you okay so I cannot reiterate this and say this enough it is so important step number  one that you manage yourself you cannot manage your people well cannot manage your suppliers  well you canot manage your clients well if you haven't gotten to a place where you are managing  yourself well okay story time in my early 20s as some of you are on the mbb channel and as part of  the mbb community know by now I was in an abusive relationship and I started my busin
ess at 26  yeah can't believe leave um it's 20 years oh I just look at that 26y old me and I go oh baby  girl but anyway so started in my mother's Lounge at 26 and so the period between having been in the  abusive relationship to starting my first business wasn't that long and unfortunately it had left an  dable mark on me so much so that my relationship with my male counterparts my male peers my male  suppliers my male employees was messy it really was messy and so when I look back at that peri
od I  had to get to a point in order for me to scale in order for me to take things to that next level in  order for me to expand afro Fusion to East Africa and although that expansion wasn't as successful  as I'd hoped it would be but the experience from it was rich and it was filled with so many lessons  but I couldn't even have taken that step to expand afro Fusion to East Africa if I hadn't dealt and  so late 20s early 30s started generating revenues but also lost those revenues and so I had
to  take a step back and ask myself some crucial questions and here's the thing because of that  abusive relationship I didn't feel worthy I had a lot of self-doubt and impostor syndrome for  me was real and so I was self-sabotaging I was self sabotaging the growth of afusion because  of my own issues and I don't want want that for you so here's the thing it is crucial it is so  important for you to manage yourself okay so I'm going to leave it there for today and I'm hoping  that one of the ke
y takeaways from this episode for you will be let me get a coach let me get an  Advisory Board to help me get out of my own way [Music]

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