Ep. 82 The Stern Truth on What's Holding Your Business Back

Back in November, when I was planning my 2026, I set a personal theme for the year: become comfortable being uncomfortable. If something felt a little scary, a little outside my comfort zone, I committed to doing it anyway. One particular area I wanted to grow was in-person speaking.

I do this all the time on Zoom, on my podcast, in my own house to my family, but getting in front of live groups took intentional effort. I’m happy to say that, recently, I had the privilege of speaking at a business owner networking event in Nanaimo, British Columbia.

The room was filled with entrepreneurs at all stages of their journey. My talk was on the Stern Truth on Growth, what’s really holding your business back, and how to fix it. I introduced the ONtrepreneur Method and walked through five key shifts that will change everything in your business.

The feedback I received in the week that followed was overwhelmingly positive, and it lit a fire under me. So, I am bringing that workshop online.

On June 11th at 11AM PDT, I’m hosting a live, interactive Zoom workshop called “The Stern Truth on What’s Really Holding Your Business Back.” I’ll be asking questions, looking for feedback, and working through these five shifts together with you.
 

Becoming comfortable being uncomfortable is something every entrepreneur needs to work on. That discomfort is usually where the growth is.

Register for the June 11th workshop. If you can’t make the live, we’ll send out a replay. Grab a spot for The Stern Truth on What’s Really Holding Your Business Back here: https://marshallstern.net/landing/what-s-really-holding-your-business-back-

And if you want to connect with other business owners in the meantime, join us for our monthly Connect and Collaborate Zoom on June 18th at 11AM PDT: https://marshallstern.net/landing/connect-collaborate-2026

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Join my Business Inner Circle Community for free here: https://www.facebook.com/groups/thebusinessinnercirclegroup

Book your complimentary business blindspot assessment with me here: https://attractwell.com/MarshallStern/landing/breakthrough-session

I encourage you to reach out with feedback, topic suggestions, and share your own entrepreneurial challenges.

Get in touch in the comments or head to...
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Email: marshall@marshallstern.net

Transcript

[00:00:00] Marshall Stern: Hi, I'm Marshall Stern and I've spent over 35 years leading and growing multiple small businesses. I know firsthand the struggles of entrepreneurship, feeling isolated, lonely, overwhelmed, and feeling like you have to do it all by yourself. I've been through multiple recessions, and I have felt the highs and the lows.

[00:00:24] I've been there, and I get it. This podcast is here to change that. Every week I will bring you straight talking advice, real world strategies, and honest conversations about what it takes to succeed in business without the fluff, the gimmicks, or the sugar-coated. If you're ready to stop spinning your wheels and start making real progress, then you are in the right place.

[00:00:47] This is the Stern Truth. 

[00:00:52] All right. Welcome back everyone to another episode of The Stern Truth Business Unfiltered. And yeah, you're getting me this week, and actually, this is going to be a bit of a shorter episode than I, I personally... than I normally do, just, just solo episode, unless I ramble on, then it will be the same.

[00:01:08] But I am going to get right to the point here. So, as I record this, last week I spoke at a business owner networking event in Nanaimo, British Columbia. Now, that's all well and good. It was an amazing event. There was a group filled with business owners of all walks of life, all stages in their business, and my talk was on the Stern Truth on growth.

[00:01:38] What is really holding your business back, and how to fix it? And we talked about, and I introduced to them, introduced to them the ONtrepreneur Method, and we went through five of the shifts that I believe when we make them as business owners, everything will change for our business. And the reason I mention this is I am going to be doing an online event on Zoom on June 11th.

[00:02:06] I wasn't planning on it, but as I was on the ferry coming back, I was so pumped up from this experience, speaking in front of this group, and the interaction that we had, and the questions that we had, and the people that I met, that I really... And even since then, the past week, the feedback I have received has been overwhelmingly positive, overwhelmingly positive.

[00:02:26] And so I figured I'm going to do an online training, an online... But it's a workshop training. It's going to be interactive. It's on June 11th. Details will be here in the show notes. And if you're driving, if you forget about that, just reach out to me, marshall@marshallstern.net and I will send you the link. But here's the thing.

[00:02:45] This is why, one of the reasons why for me this event was so impactful. Back in November as I was planning my 2026 year, the year ahead, one of my goals was to, and it ended up becoming my motto for the year, my theme for the year, was to become more comfortable being uncomfortable. Be more comfortable being uncomfortable.

[00:03:11] So if there was something that I could do that is a little bit uncomfortable, my commitment to myself was to be comfortable being uncomfortable and to do it. And one of the big areas was speaking more in groups, speaking more in public. I do this all the time on Zoom. I can speak to you gang all the time, every day, no problem on Zoom.

[00:03:35] I can do workshops on Zoom. In person, I haven't been doing a lot of it. So, this year my goal was to become comfortable being uncomfortable, and I've done that, and I've been speaking in front of groups, and I'm going to continue to do that. So, and just a little bit of a giveaway, that is one of the shifts in the training, is to become comfortable being uncomfortable.

[00:03:56] I'll give that one away right now. So, for you, it might be public speaking, it might be going to more networking events that'll help your business grow It might be hiring that first employee. I don't want to give away the entire training, because there's four other very powerful shifts that will make a massive difference for, not just your business, but your life as well.

[00:04:15] So this is what I want you to do. If you... I want you to think about this for a second, okay? If you are feeling a little bit stuck in your business, a little bit overwhelmed, you're not sure about the way forward, maybe you're overwhelmed, you're just stuck wearing all the hats of the business and you're the chief marketing officer, the chief operating officer, the chief executive officer, chief bottle washer, chief janitor, chief client delivery person, all of that, I want you to, to grab a spot in this upcoming workshop.

[00:04:48] If you can't make it live, no problem, you will get a link to the replay. So it is on June 11th, 11 o'clock Pacific Time, okay? Link, again, is below in the show notes here. My friends, if you're listening to this or watching this, now if you're on YouTube, go over, listen to this- listen to podcast as well, go over to marshallstern.net.

[00:05:15] Send me an email. I want you to sign up for this workshop, because it will make a massive difference for your business if you take these strategies, these shifts that I will be explaining, and will be interactive. So, I want you, like I always say here, grab a pad of paper and pen. And maybe, maybe, just maybe I'll turn that into a podcast at some point, or I'll break it up into multiple.

[00:05:38] I've talked about some of them over time, but this is going to be all in one. We're going to be on for an hour, maybe block off a little more. I tend to be maybe five, 10 minutes over if there's a good interaction, but I will get the training in, done in that hour, plus some Q&A. But it's interactive. Here's the thing, so we're going to...

[00:05:56] I'm going to ask questions; I'm going to look for feedback. That's the way I like to do things. You just don't want to sit and hear me speak for one hour. You don't. So, I'm going to end this just in a second. So, June 11th, 11 o'clock Pacific, go register. Information link is in the show notes. Click on it, register for it.

[00:06:16] I will see you on the June 11th. If you're not able to make that, there will be the replay. Don't worry about it, I've got you on that. But I want to see you on June 11th. One other thing while I have you, I'll mention this to you, if you want to just connect with other business owners, on June the 18th, we have our monthly business owner get-together on Zoom as well, called Connect and Collaborate.

[00:06:35] Again, I'll put the show, the link in the show... Actually, I'm not going to put the link in the show notes. I don't want to confuse... Okay, I will put the link in the show notes. But so, if you're going to scroll down to the show notes, be sure you know what you're registering for. It's also at 11, 11 o'clock on Thursday, June 18th.

[00:06:50] But this time, I want you to for sure click on the June 11th, The Stern Truth on What's Really Holding Your Business Back. And I will see you then. Have a great week. See you again next week in another episode of the Stern Truth Business Unfiltered. 

[00:07:08] Thank you so much for tuning in to the Stern Truth. If you found today's episode helpful, we would love to hear from you. Please like, share, and leave us a review. Also, if you'd like to be a guest in an upcoming episode or join us in one of our momentum accountability group sessions, simply email me to marshall@marshallstern.net. 

[00:07:28] That's marshall@marshallstern.net. And don't forget to hit the subscribe button so you never miss an episode. Until next time, keep pushing forward and leading with confidence.