Reflection: The Journey to Creating a Business You Love

Send Dan a Text

In this episode of Deep Dive Dialogues, I take a moment to reflect on the journey of building a business I truly love. While I enjoy creating and sharing, I sometimes get caught in the comparison trap—wondering if the effort is worth it when the results aren’t immediate.

Doubt creeps in. I ask myself, Why am I doing this? But then, a simple message from a listener reminds me why consistency and showing up matter.

If you've ever questioned your path or felt discouraged by slow progress, this episode is for you. Let’s talk about the highs and lows of entrepreneurship, the importance of documenting the journey, and why your message matters—even when you think no one is listening.

Tune in now and let’s keep showing up together.

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
Do you ever feel like you're putting in all this work
but the results just aren'tshowing up as fast as you'd like
them to?
Do you ever feel like you'repouring your heart into
something and wondering doesthis even matter?
If so, you're not alone.
Welcome back to Deep DiveDialogues.
I'm your host, dan Warheide.

(00:21):
Let's get things started withthis week's Mindset Minute.
If you're just joining me, I'vejust added this new segment to
the podcast last week at thetime of this recording, but we
talk about different mindsetchallenges.
We'll take a moment to shiftperspective and unlock new
possibilities by talking aboutturning negativity into

(00:46):
opportunity.
Today, every complaint, failureor setback, no matter how
frustrating, can be a steppingstone, if you choose to see it
that way.
Too often we tend to react withdefensiveness when faced with
criticism, but what if thatfeedback was a hidden advantage?

(01:06):
A process was recentlycriticized Let me characterize
this that I got a question froma good friend of mine.
In their organization, theywere having a particular
challenge.
That's sort of how thisparticular mindset challenge
came about, and I decided to dosome homework and provide some
insights that they foundextremely helpful for their

(01:30):
organization and have theleadership sharing great things
with others in the organizationto improve the way they're doing
business and handling feedback.
So you know, they had created aprocess that was criticized by
their team members and at firstthe feedback had felt unfair.

(01:51):
But by stepping back, it beganto come clearer that this was
actually an opportunity torefine and improve what they
were doing.
What started as a complaintturned into a significant
catalyst for growth.
The same applies to anychallenge you face if you

(02:11):
examine it.
Instead of dwelling on thethings that went wrong, you can
ask yourself questions like whatcan I learn from this?
How can I use this to improve?
What action can I take to makethings better?
And probably my favoritequestion this was not included
in my newsletter or directfeedback, but one of the things

(02:33):
that one of my mentors, the lateDan Miller, used to ask is what
does this make possible?
The most successful leadersdon't avoid criticism.
Rather, they embrace it.
They try to learn from it anduse it to grow.
So here is your challenge fortoday.
Think about a recent event orchallenge or piece of feedback

(02:57):
that you've received.
Instead of trying to resist itand looking at all of the things
that went wrong.
What if you reframed that as anopportunity?
What lesson is hidden in thatexperience?
Thanks for joining me for theMindset Minute.
If this resonated with you, Ihope that you'll share it with

(03:17):
someone who needs to hear it,and I want to say I encourage
you to keep challenging yourmindset and stepping into your
growth.
Now let's get into the maincontent for today's podcast
episode.
I want to reflect for a momenton something that was on my mind
just this morning, so I wasn'tsure yet what I was going to

(03:38):
talk about for this particularepisode, and this morning I was
reflecting on lots of things.
No-transcript because, let'sface it, the creative process
has its challenges.
I'm consistently challengedwhen I'm working on creating

(04:05):
content, and I want to talk alittle bit about what that looks
like for me.
So one of the things that Irealized is, while I enjoy
creating and sharing the contentcreation for this podcast in
particular this is what I'mtalking about right now and what
I was reflecting on thismorning it tends to stump me.

(04:26):
I set out to create this podcastbecause I love the process.
I wanted to love the processand because I want to be able to
share it so that it couldpotentially benefit other people
, to be able to share it so thatit could potentially benefit
other people.
I'm not in the podcastingcreativity because I want to
grow my audience size or I wantto be able to sell to more

(04:48):
people or because I want to gainsponsors.
I'm not in it for any of that.
But if you benefit fromsomething I've shared here on
the podcast, that is definitelylike the golden nugget.
It's a bonus for me and I lovethat.
I love being able to sharethese things and having an
outlet in order to share them.
But really, I started thispodcast.

(05:09):
You've probably heard me say itif you've been around.
If you haven't, here it is.
I started this podcast because Iwanted to enjoy the process of
consistently creating thiscontent, mostly because I was
faced with a challenge of what Irefer to as writer's block.
Every time I sat down to say Iwant to write a newsletter or I

(05:31):
want to create a podcast orwhatever it may be, when it came
to that creative side of things, I continued to run into this
block of blank screen or whitepaper and it was frustrating.
So I said, well, what can I doto challenge myself, to improve
in this area?
And here we are.
Here I am talking to you, hereyou are listening to my voice,

(05:54):
and if that's you, I'm going topause right here and just say I
am so grateful that you're here,thank you.
Sometimes, though, I getdistracted by the other things.
What could be?
I get distracted by the numbers.
I get distracted by everyoneelse that's looking at the
growth of their podcast or theirtrajectory of their podcast.

(06:17):
It's easy to get caught up anddistracted in those things.
I get distracted when I seesome of the metrics.
I don't go in and intentionallylook for them, but it's an easy
distraction and maybe they'renot quite where I would love
them to be.
I have to remember where I amand what I truly want from this

(06:40):
content creation, but I getdistracted because I don't
always see the results thatmaybe I had a glimmer of hope
for, and I've caught myselfcomparing my progress to others
who seem to be miles ahead inthat world.
You know they might be talkingabout greater numbers of

(07:01):
downloads, greater numbers ofengagement, the audience that
they have been able to attract,so to speak, and in those
moments I have to catch myselfas I fall into the same
comparison trap that I oftenwarn others about.

(07:21):
And so, with all of that right,doubt sometimes has a tendency
to creep in.
I gain momentum, I push forwardand suddenly that sneaky
feeling comes about, the thoughtof why am I doing all of this,
that self-doubt, the questioningwhether I'm on the right path
or not.
And it's frustrating becausedeep down I know I love what I'm

(07:46):
doing, I love the business, I'mbuilding, the impact that I'm
making, the impact that I wantto make.
But this journey isn't aboutthe highs.
It's also about the lows.
We have to take the good withthe bad, and those are the
moments that have us questioningeverything.

(08:07):
What matters most in thosetimes isn't the immediate result
, it's our consistency, ourdedication and our ability to
just keep showing up.
I've always believed it'simportant to share these moments
, not just wins, but thechallenges as well.

(08:29):
I'd heard something and I can'tpinpoint who I originally heard
it from, but it could have beenGary Vaynerchuk.
But I know Gary Vaynerchuktalked about documenting the
journey, because no one else isdocumenting the journey, because
no one else is.
But the real thing that standsout to me, that I've heard said

(08:49):
and I've shared myself, is thatif we don't do the work to share
our message, whatever mediumyou choose to do that in maybe
you create videos, maybe you'recreating podcast yourself, maybe
it's a blog or some other means, but if we're not doing the
work to share our message, we'redepriving someone else of

(09:12):
something that they desperatelyneeded to hear today, and that
is a powerful reminder for me.
Today I was reflecting on all ofthese things, evaluating what I
needed to focus on for thisweek, thinking about what I was
reflecting on all of thesethings, evaluating what I needed
to focus on for this week,thinking about what I was going
to do for this podcast episode,thinking about the fears, the

(09:32):
doubts, the emotions that weface as entrepreneurs that I
face as an entrepreneur.
And I got a reply from myMindset Minute newsletter and it
was simple but it was profoundand it served as a tremendous
reminder to me that, even whenwe think that no one's listening
, someone always is.
Someone is always watching, andthe message was this it said

(09:57):
wow, thank you for this.
This is so timely, like Ireally needed to hear this this
morning, thank you.
That was a powerful statement,powerful sentiment, and I'm
grateful for the individual whochose to send me that to let me
know that what I shared in thatmoment meant something to them

(10:20):
and that gave me all the energyI needed to pick up this morning
, to feel better this morning,to eliminate those doubts and
worries and continue in thatmomentum that I have created.
It reminded me of why I do allof this anyway, why we do this
because someone, somewhere,needed to hear what we had to

(10:42):
say.
Even if we don't always see theimpact right away, it doesn't
mean that our work is in vain.
It's about being consistent,pushing past those doubts and
trusting that our voice and thatour message truly matters.
So if you're in this placewondering if what you're doing
is making a difference, Iencourage you this way and say

(11:06):
know that it is K-N-O-W, knowthat your work is making a
difference, keep showing up,keep sharing your message,
because someone, even if youdon't see them, is watching,
they're listening, they arebeing impacted by what you do.
Thank you so much again fortuning in today, for staying

(11:30):
this long and listening to myvoice.
I would love to hear yourthoughts on anything that I've
shared.
You ever struggled with any ofthese doubts?
How do you push through?
I'd love to continue theconversation with you.
If you have a comment, send mean email, dan, at danwus.
I'd love to hear from you.
You can leave me a voicemail byvisiting my podcast page,

(11:54):
podcastdanwus, and you can alsosend me a text directly.
If you look at the episode thatyou're listening to right now
in your favorite podcast player,towards the top of that episode
you should see a hyperlink thatsays send a text to Dan.
Shoot me a note, tell me whatyou think, tell me your name,

(12:15):
tell me your podcast name, tellme your business, what you do,
whatever you want to share withme that I could potentially
share on this show, or say you'drather not have any of it
shared.
Either way is fine, but feelfree to reach out to me via one
of those.
Thanks again for tuning in andI look forward to being with you

(12:36):
next week.