Are you facing challenges in your life or business that have got you down or discouraged? Do you wonder how you can overcome obstacles you are facing to meet the goals you set for yourself?
If you need to be encouraged that overcoming obstacles is something you can do then you’re going to love today’s episode.
IE 148: Overcoming Obstacles as an Entrepreneur with Nesha Pai
My guest today is Nesha Pai. Nesha is the founder of Pai CPA, which is an outsourced accounting department for small businesses.
Unlike most of my guests on the podcast, Nesha actually lives in Charlotte and we have been able to meet in person.
Overcoming Ordinary Obstacles
Nesha’s first book “Overcoming Ordinary Obstacles: Boldly Claiming the Facets of an Extraordinary Life”, which is available for presale now, came out of a place of wanting to talk about the obstacles that everyone is facing, but that we don’t typically discuss.
Overcoming can mean a lot of different things.
Nesha defines it as “facing any challenge that comes into your life (physical, mental, emotional, spiritual) and finding a way to get around the obstacles and continue on to your destination.” It’s all about not letting a challenge stop you from reaching your goals.
Overcoming Personal Obstacles
Nesha starts her book by talking about her parents’ immigration to the United States. She is a first-generation Indian woman, who was raised in the South. If that doesn’t pique your curiosity, I don’t know what will!
Nesha wants her readers to understand how she grew up and about her search for identity; these things were major obstacles for her. Racism, divorce, and postpartum depression are all topics she shares about.
She was fired twice, once from the number one accounting firm in the world. She passed her exam the first time as a senior in college and thought she had her whole life planned out.
She shares how she started her business, which, as she puts it, she “Jerry Maguired out of the company she was working for.”
The last chapter of the book shares her story of converting from Hinduism to Christianity, and about all the struggles of being born into a religion and then converting to something else.
All of these experiences and obstacles are things that we can see bits of ourselves in. Many of us have struggled with depression, divorce, and family issues. But these are things that are not often discussed.
The Steps to Overcoming Your Obstacles
There are certain steps you have to take in order to overcome these obstacles in life.
The major step you have to take is accepting the issue or challenge you face. Whether it’s internal or external, you have to have awareness and acceptance of it. Accepting it will allow you to actually figure out how to work around it.
Ignoring it or shoving it under the rug doesn’t make it go away, it just makes it harder to deal with later when it comes back up. And it will come back up.
You have to feel your way through your obstacles and get through them.
Nesha has reflection questions at the end of her chapter to help the reader go through their own journey. We might have the same obstacles but we may need to navigate them differently.
These questions will allow you to zoom out and see what you can do to help yourself overcome it.
Daily Practices to Develop Resilience
Now that Nesha has converted to Christianity, prayer is one of the things she does every day to help her with the obstacles she is facing. She practices daily affirmations and checks in with a close friend as well.
It’s easy to feel alone, especially as an entrepreneur. It’s important to have someone you can check in with on a daily basis to help you keep the balance and stay on the right path.
I personally have a brain that functions like a ping pong ball, always bouncing. I started meditating recently, and it was hard in the beginning, but it really helps me focus on just breathing and getting rest for my mind.
Find Your Group
Nesha mentioned checking in with a support person and we all need somebody that we can call or talk to when things get tough.
It’s important that your person understands your business and supports you in the way you need it. In the 8 years since Nesha started as an entrepreneur, her friend circle has shifted drastically.
There are so many networking groups on Facebook that you can get involved in to find that group of women who will support you. Nesha’s group is co-ed, as a salute to her son and to the male entrepreneurs who also need that support.
Know Tribe is a great organization that has groups that meet in different cities throughout the United State and Canada.
There are so many different groups and events you can be apart of but you have to find the place where you will personally be inspired.
As bloggers and online entrepreneurs, we all have relationships that we’ve developed online over the years and I am no exception but I’m here to tell you that there is nothing like in-person relationships.
It is so important to meet people in your own geographical area that get what you do and can support you.
If you don’t have that group of people and you’re ready, I hope you’ll consider attending IEA here in Charlotte., NC in the spring of 2020. There are a few tickets left but they’re going quickly, so be sure to grab yours today!
Action Steps:
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