Ask Christina First

How do you know when there is a change in your industry? Do you read up on it or do you watch videos? Do you ask others in your field or do you attend conferences and workshops? Spotting trends in your business is a very effective way to remain an expert in your field. Being knowledgeable about the current changes and state of your industry can help you stay ahead of the game. In this episode Christina helps us understand the many different ways that you can spot trends in your field. A great way to start is by reading twenty minutes a day on topics related to your industry. Believe it or not, most people in your field dont do this. Most people don't actually take the time to study the current state of affairs in their field and because of this, they can miss where to redirect next within their own business.

How is your purpose connected to your business? Although this may seem like a heavy question, its without a doubt the reason you started your business and it probably has something to do with your purpose. Even if you never thought that deep into it, your business is indeed a part of your purpose and with that, transformation is required. That transformation is your responsibility and can be found in researching what is happening in your industry. Challenge yourself to do an industry review by taking 20 minutes out of your day to research what is changing in your field. Where is your industry moving? Is it stagnate or is it introducing new technologies and ideologies that is causing it to move rapidly into the future? Every industry is different and trends will always change, but where do you fit into all of this? Do you know what of your industry is changing, how fast, where, and why? We can look at Amazon and see how much they’ve altered the retail industry by providing a service most shops are and did not provide causing a massive shift in an industry that was once at a point in time, and industry standard. If one company can change an entire rhythm of business and set a new trend, it’s almost mandatory that you find out who the Amazon of your industry is. Start by doing an industry review every 6 months. What you are looking for is trends, what your competitors are doing,pricing points, what products are coming out, where your industry is moving and so forth. This can be used as a guide to see where you stand in your industry and what you need to do in order to keep up, if that is of course a part of your purpose and your mission statement.

Do you ever ask yourself who you are in your industry or how you differentiate yourself from your competitors? No matter the industry you're in, it's important to understand who you are up against, who you can learn from, and where your particular market is heading. The amount of effort and resources you put into your overall brand, will determine where you stand in your market. Do you provide high end services and products or are you offering lower end services and products? Do your due diligence and find what you can about people who you feel provide the level of business you wish to aspire to. What does their website look like and what is the quality of the content they provide? Where are they marketing and to who? Who are their clients and what type of services and products do their clients pay for. Are they regional, national or international and if so what are they doing to maintain interaction? Who you are in your industry is determined by how you compare to those who are also in the same field. In this episode of Who Are You In Your Industry, Christina will walk us through multiple strategies to use when contemplating where we stand in our market and how to get to the next level.

Are you stressed? Is your business causing you this stress or are you unsure of where it’s coming from? Stress is a very generic emotion that is derived from a cause or situation and in order to fix what is, the problem at its core needs to be revealed and then dismantled. If your business has bought you some kind of stress, it usually comes from finances, employees, productivity, etc… The biggest stress builder in business is reaching your bottom line. That bottom line rolls over into your personal life making stress from your business also the stress you can experience in your everyday life. You can begin this process by tracking all that is associated with your bottom line. Does the income from your business pay for your personal life, your mortgage, your groceries, kids education, and health expenses? Can you cut down some of your personal expenses? Are there things you can do in your personal life that will relieve some tension from your business? Most likely yes. There are things you can begin to do today that will help lower the stress you are experiencing by finding out what is causing you the most stress, finding ways to eliminate it, and getting to the bottom line of how to improve your situation.

As a small business owner there are times when you experience stress or at least sense a feeling of urgency when it comes to your business. Symptoms of stress can be anything from feeling anxious, not sleeping well, snapping at others, to screaming, overeating or overspending.
Stress is an indicator, it's not a problem solving tool and it's not a resolution, so the question is, what's causing your stress. Stress indicates that something is off course either within your personal life or within your business, something is off. Stress isn't just for times when things are going bad, you can experience stress when things are going well, too. If you're a small business owner who is experiencing stress, start with your bottom line. If your business is not accumulating debt for longer than a month at a time, your business is cash flowing, if it's not, you now know where to focus your attention and that will help you reduce your stress. If you as the business owner are bringing home income that is allowing you to feed yourself and take care of your family, then you are doing well. If your business isn't doing well and you aren't able to bring money home or pay yourself, eliminating stress will mean taking a long, hard look at your numbers and making adjustments.

What do you know about systemic systems? Do you have systems in place for every aspect of your business and if so how do these systems help? What we all need to know as small business owners is that we all have systems in place that regulate how we want our business to run. However, over time your nature which is implemented into these systems may not always work. With that, it is your job to make sure those systems are being revitalized to fit the overall brand and functionally of your business. The systems you set in place give you your power as a business owner because those systems are very individualized to fit your vision and what you want your company to be. The best way to understand how this works is to write down all of the systems you use in your business. That can be anything from how you handle orders, what you direct your employees to do when a customer is unsatisfied, how you want the cleaning people to place the plants in your office all the way to what CRM system you use for tracking. Anything that helps you run your business is a systemic system that you somehow gave life to. For this show Christina wants you to take some time to find out what your systems are and grade them. What needs to be improved? What can you do to make sure those systems are effectively working and that you are not being stuck in your nature? Systemic systems lays the foundation for how our customers see us as business owners. This is where you create what you want from your business by understanding and implementing the systems that will get you where you want to go.

Finding the balance between work and life, we could say is the ultimate dream. How come finding this balance can be so difficult especially when you are a business owner juggling a family, a marriage, a business, school, accounting, life and everything in between? Where is that silver lining that makes doing what you do all that more important? In this episode Christina helps us explore the possibilities of making a work life balance a reality. What keeps you excited everyday about being an entrepreneur? Think of the reasons you choose this lifestyle and what keeps you waking up everyday to complete your work. What does work life balance mean? It means having both a fulfilling amount of work as well as a fulfilling amount of personal time. For starters, creating your own definition of what work life balance is will help you figure out what’s important to you and where you should be putting your energy, time and resources. Your instincts are a good indicator for helping you determine where you should be spending your time. For example, Christina loves spending time with her family, but she also truly loves being a consultant. When the time comes where she no longer wants to indulge in work, that’s a sign to her that it’s time to shift gears and be with her family. There are so many indicators and everyone is different. What ways do you sense it’s time for you to make a shift in your work life balance? Do you have a balance at all and if not what are some of the habits that stop you from making it a reality?

How many sides can one person take on when it comes to running a business and are these sides necessary for the type of business you are running? Christina helps us figure out the three main types of small business owners and which are love and connection, discipline and punishment, and lastly avoidance and neglect. Do you fall under one of these categories or are you a mixture of a few? It’s very important you solidify what type of business owner you are as it will transpire into how you handle your employees and everything in between. In this episode Christina breaks down each category and gives examples as to the different ways each of these affects how you run your business. We can assume that most people have never questioned what type of business owner they are, not knowing that they have over time indeed developed a style that has created an overall structure. This episode will help you discover what type of small business owner you are and what you can do to improve and or stop some of the habits that come along with it.

How does being a good hearted business owner affect how you treat your employees? Are you too soft in how you handle task distribution or do your frustrations get tangled up in how you delegate? Being a small business owner comes with a slew of challenges, but also it comes with great fulfillment and purpose. In this, how do you manage your team and are the results of that reciprocated so that you are aware of what's going on? Managing a team requires you, the leader to wear many hats. A big factor in team management is time management and how well you juggle the two so that the business is running smoothly and effectively. In this episode of Good Hearted Business Owner & Team Management, Christina shares ways on how to effectively manage a team without feeling overwhelmed or frustrated. It is not to say that these things don't come with managing a team, however there are tactics that can be set in place to help make sure you and your team are always on the same page working towards the same goals.

In this episode of Ask Christina 1st, she interviews Bruce Norris of The Norris Group on how he got started in real estate. Bruce who has three plus decades in the real estate business and shares who, what, when, where and why he was able to create his expansive real estate career. Dealing with the recession in 2008, Bruce was one of the first people to figure out that the recession was going to take place. It was his memo that allowed people to pull out before the big crash. Unfortunately at the time, Christina didn't know Bruce so she was one of the investors that didn't get the memo and lost everything. Bruce, in the real estate community is considered one of the best and brightest in his field. Bruce’s knowledge and skill has granted him the term guru to many people who look up to him and rely on his updates in order to stay safe and educated in the real estate market. Bruce shares his story and well as stories he has encountered along the way. Bruce is very well known for holding a great deal of integrity which you understand by the end of the show.

https://www.thenorrisgroup.com