Hard Truths Every Soulpreneur Must Face (And Why They’re a Gift)
Kc Rossi, PCC 00:00:02 Welcome to Heart Glow CE®, where high achievers evolve into purpose-driven powerhouses. I'm Kc Rossi, your Integrative Leadership Coach. Join us to break free from people pleasing and burnout. Exploring mindset, embodiment, and soul alignment. Discover expert insights, success stories, and actionable tips for wholistic wealth on your terms. This is where transformation meets the modern female leader. Let's go!
Hey beautiful soul.
Today we're getting real. We're talking about hard truths, the kind that make you shift a little in your seat. The kind that, if you let them, will change the trajectory of your life and business. And I get it. Hard truths aren't easy to hear. They poke at our comfort zones and shine a light in the dusty corners we'd rather keep dim.
But here's the thing—growth lives there. And today we're going to explore why these truths are a gift and how, as a solopreneur, you can use them to your advantage.
Why Hard Truths Hit Different For Solopreneurs
Honestly, I think because we're a team of one, we have a unique set of circumstances, and when you are a team of one, it's easy to romanticize your freedom.
Kc Rossi, PCC 00:01:30 And trust me, that's a part of the joy of this path. We can set our own hours, take a Tuesday off just because the lake is calling, or say yes to a spontaneous trip without begging HR for the time. We have creative freedom. No red tape, no waiting for 12 signatures to move forward on an idea. No soul sucking board meetings that could have been an email.
And financially, we can set our prices, change them at will, and diversify our offers on our terms. Sounds dreamy. Right?
And it is. But here comes the hard truth. That same freedom can be a double-edged sword. Because without built-in accountability, structure or outside pressure, it's easy to coast. It's easy to fill our days with busywork instead of needle-moving work. It's easy to say I'll get to it and never quite get to it.
A 2022 Small Business Trends report showed that 42% of solopreneurs work more than 50 hours a week, and I actually think that that's probably a smaller number than it is.
Kc Rossi, PCC 00:02:45 But here's the key part of that report. The majority admitted they weren't using their time efficiently.
The freedom was there, but so was the trap of unstructured hustle.
To me, that's the worst kind because you can be spinning out, ruminating, and going over and over again with creative avoidance and never really see progress. But you're exhausted. Sometimes you're so exhausted you're actually resentful, but you're the one that's actually spinning out in this unstructured hustle.
This isn't about shame. It's about awareness.
It's really being able to look at it with a clear lens, like taking off your glasses and using a nice little alcohol wipe and clearing out all of the clutter and the cobwebs.
So we get to do the thing that we started our business for in the first place.
The messy middle is what nobody tells you about. Every journey has a honeymoon phase. That rush when you start your business and you're brimming with ideas and momentum and big dreams. And then reality sets in, and the messy middle arrives, and it arrives for all of us.
Kc Rossi, PCC 00:03:58 If you're relating to this, if you're already starting to shake your head like, wow, you see me? I also want you to know that you're not alone. It's not IF the messy middle is going to arrive, it's that the messy middle will arrive. So part of this is just being really proactive and a visionary. And so I really just want to normalize that.
We all need to hear hard truths, and we all go through peaks and valleys in our business, in our life. It is just the human experience. This messy middle. It happens to all of us multiple times. Like it's not just a story where there's a beginning, middle, and end. It's almost like beginning in the middle, middle, middle, middle, middle. Like there are a lot of messy middles. When you are an entrepreneur, clients goes to you, launches flop, your bank account, gives you the side eye, and then suddenly your passion project can start to feel like a heavy backpack that you can't put down.
Kc Rossi, PCC 00:05:05 But here's the second hard truth, You can love your work and still feel exhausted by it. Both can be true. If you're not careful, you'll start comparing your rough day to someone's highlight reel on Instagram, thinking that you've chosen the wrong path. But this isn't failure. This is growth trying to happen, and growth is rarely comfortable. You already know that. I am not telling you something that you don't already know, that you haven't already experienced.
Now, would we be better off without hard truths? Let's play devil's advocate for just a second. Would life be easier if we could just float along, hearing only what makes us feel good? Maybe.
But here's the catch. Without friction, there's no spark without challenge, there's no evolution.
Psychologist Carol Dweck research on the growth mindset found that people who embrace challenges and learn from criticism are more resilient, adaptable, and ultimately more successful.
Shielding ourselves from hard truths might feel safe in the short term, but it keeps us small. For SOULpreneurs, staying small isn't an option.
Kc Rossi, PCC 00:06:31 When I say that, I don't mean that you have to reach for celebrity status and speak on stages and write a bestselling book. Although, if you're called to by all means. But I just want to say that sometimes I think people feel like, oh man, like, why do I have to grow to seven plus figures? You don't. You get to determine what success is for you. But I just wanted to clarify that when I'm talking about “staying small.” I don't look at small as a label or as the numbers in your bank account. When I say for SOULpreneurs, staying small isn't an option. I visualize your big, beautiful heart; your mission, your purpose, your people. They need you at your fullest expression, and that requires the willingness to hear what's not working.
The three hard truths I see most often. And let me just clarify, I coach spiritual entrepreneurs and mission-driven CEOs. And here's what I've noticed that comes up over and over again.
Hard truth #1 — Freedom requires discipline
Kc Rossi, PCC 00:07:51 Without structure, freedom turns into chaos. If you want a business that lasts, you need rhythms and boundaries. [Even if you work in yoga pants.]
A Harvard Business Review study found that entrepreneurs who implemented daily rituals and time blocking increased productivity by up to 30%.
Discipline is the invisible scaffolding that lets your creative genius flourish.
If you would like an episode dedicated to some daily rituals and time blocking, just let me know.
Hard truth #2 — Your pricing is a mirror of your self-worth.
Many women under price out of fear. Fear of scaring clients away. Fear of being too much. Fear of hearing NO. But if you don't value your work and your time and your expertise, neither will they.
Remember, you are not just charging for time. And if you are, we need to have a conversation. You are charging for your expertise, your energy, your experience. Like all the blood, sweat, and tears that you have gone through to get where you are now. Because let's face it, we have all invested time, money, and energy to know what we know.
Kc Rossi, PCC 00:09:17 And this is part of how the transformation happens, that you facilitate
Hard Truth #3 — You are the bottleneck.
This one stings. But the truth is, in a team of one, you are the visionary and the bottleneck. If something is stuck, it's likely stuck with you. That's why outsourcing, even in microwaves, isn't a luxury. It's a necessity. So I just want you to think about that.
The other thing is, sometimes we're stuck emotionally because a belief is just a thought that we've kept thinking. And so now our patterns and habits are running off of that belief. And so that stuckness could be something that is unconscious for you. And so that's one of the things that when we shine a light and we look at a hard truth, we can also give ourselves a lot of breathing space and grace. To be like, oh, wow, what is under that? I'm procrastinating. What's under that? I am struggling to delegate. What's under that? There's usually something that is the root cause, and sometimes we're not even aware of it because it is just the way the car knows how to drive, right? It is just our default mode. It's something to just really look at.
Kc Rossi, PCC 00:10:41 So again, to recap the three hard truths I see more often.
1. Freedom requires discipline.
2. Your pricing is a mirror of your self-worth.
3. You are the bottleneck.
And of course, you know I walk this path right with you. I don't ask you to do something that I'm not willing to do or have done myself. So in full transparency, I'll share one of my hard truths. I have never been good at having a lead system in place. I've tried. I've made the spreadsheets, done the LinkedIn outreach, networked with the best of them, and somehow it all fades away. Can you relate? When I reflect, I think of it like I'm just not that into it. Like, it doesn't feel authentic to me, and I don't want to make excuses yet. Most of us do when we're faced with hard truths.
One of the things I've noticed for myself is that when it's a game, I tend to play. I remember when I was in a women's mastermind a couple of years ago.
Kc Rossi, PCC 00:11:43 The facilitator was big into challenges to motivate us. One was for the person who grew their list the most in 30 days. The reward was that she would give them a shout-out on her platform, which was huge. So it was like exposure to the targeted audience. Amazing.
The other was whoever could make the most money in 30 days; she'd give them $500 in cash. That was the one that I'd bit on. And that month I hit 10K. I love the pressure of like, positive performance in competition. But in reality, as a solopreneur, we don't often have that on a regular basis. We have to create our own positive pressure.
The eustress E-U-S-T-R-E-S-S, the kind of stress that creates momentum and positive emotions and that sense of accomplishment.
I'm also a manifesting generator, so reacting to something works best for my system, which means as a manifesting generator, a Taurus who's known to love routine, and can easily get stuck, and a solopreneur.
Kc Rossi, PCC 00:12:58 I've personally got to work harder at staying motivated and not resting on my laurels. I know this about myself. I've seen it. I've seen what happens when I rest on my laurels, and I see what happens when I have to react to something.
So part of this which, if you know my work at all, you know I'm a big fan of architecting your wholistic wealth in a way that works for you your personality, your strengths, your rooms for improvement, the way that your brain is wired, all the things! You get to architect, what works for you.
So assessments and labels, whether it's from Human Design or DISC or Mindset dimensions or your sun sign, all these kind of labels and reports — their data points, their data points to understand yourself at a little bit of a deeper level.
Sometimes what's in those assessments can be hard truths to write when we see certain numbers, especially if you've been hard on yourself and you're like, oh my gosh, I can't believe I'm scoring blah blah blah, I'm this emotional intelligence.
Kc Rossi, PCC 00:14:05 Like, sometimes assessments can be a hard truth as well. But the point is to illuminate areas that are a room for growth and looking at those as a gift, even though they can sting sometimes.
So how about you? If someone you cared about and knew they cared about you and your success peered into your private business, what would they see?
What hard truth do you know is there, and maybe even secretly wish it could stay in the closet?
That's the one that's calling your name to rise. Go slow, but go towards that. We can do this together!
So how to receive hard truths without shutting down? Hearing something that challenges your worldview is like getting cold water thrown on your face. Not in a good way. The initial reaction might be defensive. Like that's not true, or they don't understand my situation. But if you pause, take a breath, and ask yourself, what if there's even a kernel of truth here. And give yourself the gift of perspective.
You don't have to agree with every critique, but staying open keeps you in the growth zone.
Kc Rossi, PCC 00:15:25 And the other thing is, what if instead of seeing hard truths as personal attacks, (which they can feel like) you saw them as breadcrumbs, leading you to your next level?
You know, I'm huge into mindset. So part of this is reframing hard truths as allies. As allies. Hard truths are uncomfortable because they press on the exact spots that need attention. It's kind of like when you're getting a massage, and the therapist kind of hits a knot and starts to work it, And man, you can feel like squirming, but that's the spot that's calling for attention.
Hard truths really act in that same way. They can make you squirm. They can be painful. You may want to avoid it, but once you go through it, it can smooth things out and kind of open up channels of healing.
And just like the personal trainer who pushes you past your comfort zone, they help you build strength that you didn't even know that you had.
So, SOULpreneur, I'll leave you with this. Your journey is yours alone, but you don't have to walk it blindfolded.
Kc Rossi, PCC 00:16:36 Let the hard truths in, let them sting for a minute, and let them sculpt you into the leader you were born to be.
In the words of activist and author Audre Lorde, she says, “The master's tools will never dismantle the master's house.”
Translation: You can't build a new paradigm with old patterns. Sometimes you have to burn down the lies that you've been telling yourself to make room for the truth.
So here's to the sting. Here's to the messy middle. And here's to the courage to keep going— eyes wide open. :-)
If you want to dive deeper into how to build a soul-aligned business with resilience and clarity, make sure you subscribe and don't miss next week's episode.
Until then… Keep shining. Keep breathing joy.
I'm your coach, Kc Rossi, and this has been Heart Glow CEO. Thanks for listening.
