How to get out of your comfort zone
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[00:00:00] If you are going into business for yourself, for sure, 100 percent that is stepping out of your comfort zone. Hey, my name is Huang. I'm an occupational therapist and certified hand therapist. And over 10 years ago, I started my own business. It was wild and crazy. It still is. I can't believe I'm still in business.
And five years ago, I decided to, Hey, I'm not busy enough. Let me just open another one. Um, And everything about what I've done has been about getting out of my comfort zone. And I really want to share with you a little bit about what I did so that maybe you can get out of your comfort zone and start your own occupational therapy business.
I believe very strongly that there needs to be more OTs and more female OTs in business for yourselves. And I think there's just something really amazing about, um, like some of the freedoms that you are working towards, you know, freedom of time, of flexibility. I am someone who, when I started, my kids were smaller and, and I just knew that as they got [00:01:00] older, I wanted to have some, some flexibility in my schedule and be able to do certain things with them that I knew that if I was working for someone else, it just wasn't going to be possible for me.
The other thing that I really wanted was. The ability to be able to earn more than I was like wherever I was working. I worked in a hospital base and, you know, those, raises were not cutting it. And then I went and got a huge jump in my salary only to then, um, see their business starting to fail. And I just knew like, Hey, I needed to get out and do my own thing.
Finally, it was something that I had wanted to do, but I'll tell you what, when you're comfortable, it is so hard to do something different because you just, you want to be comfortable. And that, that's the thing. That's human nature. This human nature is to be and want to be comfortable. But when you want to run your own business, you have to be willing to step out of your comfort zone.
And that, that willingness is [00:02:00] to be willing to live in a certain amount of uncertainty. And that uncertainty is like, You know, you have to go out and get your own patients. You have to go and learn new skill sets and you're constantly learning. I'm constantly learning. If I'm not learning about business, I'm actually learning clinical skills because for hand therapy secrets.
I teach other therapists. And so I always want to keep up my clinical skills as much as possible. And I like watching other people teach because I'm like, how did they do it? And do I like that style? And can I somehow incorporate it into like the way I do things that could benefit how I like to teach and how I like to deliver things.
So get out of your comfort zone. If you're looking for permission, Okay. This is it. You know, get out of your comfort zone. And one of the most important ways to really get out of your comfort zone is to surround yourself with people who are doing the [00:03:00] same. thing. Um, and it does take a little time to find and you got to research and you got to find those groups.
And sometimes you have to pay to be a part of those groups and you gotta do the thing that you've never yet done before because you're about to start your business and it's a new thing. And if you are have been in business for a while, I'm going to challenge you to step out of your comfort zone and do something that you haven't yet done that you know 100 percent you need to do.
One of the biggest things that I keep telling people is that you've got to share your perspective. You've got to share what you really, really want to do. You know, want people to know about what you're capable of doing. I'll use a real example. Um, my manager, I don't think she watches these videos. So I'm going to talk about her.
Um, because she has very much that entrepreneurial spirit, but [00:04:00] every time she's like, she knows, and she's done it. you know, over and over before she met me. Um, but the one thing that she has a really hard time doing is sharing her perspective privately. She will, but publicly she has a really hard time.
And when you cannot share your perspective in public, Oh, like you're going to be the best kept secret. Nobody's going to know about you. Right? So I'm constantly encouraging her to step out of her comfort zone and to do the one thing that she knows she needs to do. And she's not doing, she's just not. So you got to surround yourself with people who are going to push you to do the thing that you say you want to do, that you want to do, but you're having a really hard time doing.
And again, it might require you to go out and network. Um, and if networking isn't your thing, sometimes you just got to go and pay for it. Right? So networking is definitely not [00:05:00] something that I would say I'm really good at. I'm. Actually, I'm not really good at networking, even though, um, people would be like, well, I'm really surprised that you're not really good at networking.
Yeah. I don't know why. I don't know. It, it kind of drains me a little bit, even though I'm very extroverted, even though I love talking to people. Um, and I can talk to every single stranger who comes my way. Like I really can't, I can really talk to just about anybody and often do. So, um, I don't know why networking isn't necessarily something I love doing, but I would rather just You know, make money and pay for, um, mastermind groups or to be in a certain environment that will help me get me out of my comfort zone.
And maybe the comfort, getting myself out of that comfort zone is the, the willingness to, to pay for things that I wouldn't normally be willing to pay for. Um, that actually was a very much of a stepping stone from. For me, my business journey, just paying for something that I [00:06:00] never imagined I would ever pay for.
And it helped launch me, um, doing the things that I now do. So just, you know, be surrounded by people who, who can challenge you. And I think that's the, that's one of the biggest ways to get. You know, out of your comfort zone, but you have to do the steps that like put yourself into those situations. And that alone is stepping out of your comfort zone, right?
The other thing that I think is really important when it comes to stepping out of your comfort zone is really understanding your personality, understanding who you are and understanding what you want out of your business. And I think that, um, a lot of times we, we don't know, We don't know. I, I used to get this question a lot.
My best friend would ask me like, well, you know, what do you, how do you define success for yourself? And I'm like, I don't know. Like I just, you know, I want to make more money. I want to be around longer. I just want to be considered the best, right? [00:07:00] Like I want. I want my clinic to be full of people who are truly wanting to get help.
And I want to work with, with a therapist who really want to, you know, to get better and, um, and be able to serve people in their community. Right. So like I could not define it and it took me a really long time to, to figure that out. And I, I think that there's a lot of, internal work in terms of finding out like what it is that you want in your life.
Um, because if you don't know what you want, it's really hard to work towards it. Uh, I always knew I wanted a certain amount of time freedom. I wanted a certain amount of flexibility in my life and I got it, you know, but then it was like all of a sudden, it's not good enough anymore. I wanted financial success.
I'm not like, I got it. And I still, it wasn't good enough anymore. So, um, that is my personality. [00:08:00] Dear Lord, have mercy. Um, it is, it's my personality to, to, you know, constantly be striving. I, I just need, I guess some form or fashion of excitement in my life apparently. Um, but learning about who I am and how I operate in the world has been been a game changer for me in business.
And I encourage you to, um, to do the same in order to step out of your comfort zone. I've been in business for over 10 years. I'm constantly stepping out of my comfort zone and I'm constantly doing things and challenging myself because I am surrounded by people who challenge me, even if I don't want it.
Right. Sometimes I'm like, enough, can I, can it be comfortable? And then I'm comfortable for like all of 10 minutes. I'm like, okay, like, let's go. What's what's happening. So if you are struggling inside your business, like really think about what is it that you want, right? But what [00:09:00] is, you know, you know, I know, you know, cause I knew, you know, what you need to do.
You just need push to get out of your comfort zone and do the thing that you know needs to get done. It's in your head, you gotta say it out loud, and you gotta write it down, you gotta tell someone, you gotta get someone to hold you accountable to doing the thing that gets you out of your comfort zone.
And some of you, it might be getting on camera. Some of you might need to share your perspective more in different ways. Some of you might need to, you know, up your sales skills, you know, as Step up your conversation skills in order to charge higher prices. Some of you might need to, um, take a course, join a program, do something that's going to uplevel your business skills.
Some of you might have really great business skills. And may need more leadership skills. [00:10:00] Some, some of you shit, some of you might need to up your clinical skills in order to be very competitive in the market. There's always something to do in business. I mean, you chose this life. I'm speaking to myself, Hoang.
You chose this life. Uh, get out of your comfort zone and let's challenge yourself to do something that you know, needs to be done. Um, so that you can keep getting into the next level and the next level of being in business and being in a successful, in a profitable business. I'm probably talking to myself more than I'm talking to you, but if any of this resonates with you, leave me a comment below.
And if you want more tips, that are in depth, join my email list. The link is below and I'll send you a video every Wednesday on business skills and some of my insights and um, I appreciate you being here and listening. All right, so thanks for [00:11:00] watching until next time. See you later.
