Anchored Leadership: For Business Owners Ready to Lead and Not Just Manage

“How many times have you said to yourself, I just thought I’d be further by now?”

That’s the question that this episode examines. Maybe you thought you’d be at a different financial stage by now or maybe you imagined you’d have a much larger team. But somehow you’re not feeling that you’re at the place you want to be or getting the results you want to get. There’s something important I want you to do when those doubts take hold: pause and realize how much you’ve accomplished to get to this point.

I had this question rise for me when I reached my 250th workout. The gym I go to celebrates that, they take a picture and give you a prize, but the first thing I thought when I saw the picture was “I thought I’d look different by now”. As much as I hated having that thought, it happened. But the instructor taking the photo introduced me to the statistics that only 12% of people in Canada have a gym membership and only 1% use the membership to get to where I was that day. I was in an elite group. Now let’s apply that to your business.

I’ll share small business statistics with you that will show you exactly how much you’ve accomplished just by still being here, by being in business, by surviving the last four years with your business thriving. And I’ll ask you to pause right during the episode to write down how far you’ve come. To combat the feeling that you haven’t done enough, you need to give credit to the resilience you have that’s brought you this far. How much have you overcome? Then ask yourself, what keeps you going? What is it that drives you forward? What do you want to learn to help you progress into the future? These are the things we’ll tackle together today.

Key Moments

03:24 Statistics on how many small businesses fail in their first, second, and third years

06:04 How to pause, think about your accomplishments this far, and write them out

15:12 Questions to consider about what keeps you going and what drives you

• Consider the statistics on small businesses and how much they contribute to hiring overall
• Have you found a community, a camaraderie, in a group of people with similar goals?
• How the Anchored Leadership Program can take you through the next phase: leadership hurdles

__

Resources mentioned in this episode:

• WINTER PROGRAM ANCHORED LEADERSHIP ACADEMY
• Reference: Stats on how many businesses appear and disappear each year
• Reference: Small Business Statistics In Canada

__

Contact Kari Lotzien | Be the Anchor: 

• Website: BeTheAnchor.ca
• Facebook: BeTheAnchorLtd
• Instagram: BeTheAnchor.ca
• Linkedin: Be-The-Anchor-Ltd

__

Transcript:

Kari Lotzien: [00:00:01] Welcome to Be the Anchor, the podcast. I'm your host, business and leadership coach Kari Lotzien. When the seas of life get stormy, and they always will, it is not up to us to captain anyone else's ship or to try to calm the waters of the ocean. It's up to us to set our own destination for what we really want, and to learn how to navigate those waves of life together while finding that place of security and stability with others. I call this being an anchor.

Kari Lotzien: [00:00:38] Hello my friends. I'm so glad you're here. How many times have you said to yourself, I just thought I'd be further by now? Whether that's related to your business and thinking that you would be at a different stage of revenue by now, or that maybe you would have your team developed to a bigger place by now, or maybe it's related to that New Year's resolution that you made at the beginning of this year and now that we're getting closer to the end of February, you're feeling I just am not seeing the results that I thought I would have. Well, I'm with you, my friends. I just celebrated my 250th workout at my gym, and this is a big deal for a lot of people, that finding a place of consistency and showing up and doing that over an extended period of time.

Kari Lotzien: [00:01:25] But here's the thing. When my gym came to me and they give you a little prize and they take a picture and they do a social media post, at first glance, when I looked at that picture, my immediate thought was, I thought I'd look different by now. Now I'm all about body positivity and I'm all about being self-accepting. And I keep telling myself, you know, it's not about the way I look, it's just that I want to be stronger and I want to age better, and I don't want my joints to hurt, and I want to be able to enjoy my life for many more decades. But that little voice of I thought I'd be farther by now kicked in so fast, and it just immediately made me feel a bit ashamed and less than. But here's what's pretty cool. The instructor that was taking the picture that day, I don't know if she saw it on my face or what came over her, but she looked at me and she said, welcome to the 1%. Pause, and I'm like, what? She said, welcome to the 1%. She said, 12% of people in Canada have a gym membership. 1% actually use them consistently over time and are where you are right now. And that made me step back a bit and go, why are you being so nasty to yourself? Because suddenly I felt like the group of women that I was comparing myself with in that gym, who have also been consistent all the way through, I was comparing myself to a very elite group of people, that these were also the one percenters who were showing up consistently, who were taking control of their health and actually doing the work that it takes to change their health. And this is what I want to apply to your business and your life today.

Kari Lotzien: [00:03:17] Let's dive in. And I wanted to start off, I know you've heard these stats but I want to bring them back to you again. In Canada, which is where I'm living, in 2018, they did a study and 20.6% of businesses failed in their first year. Didn't get past that 365 days of business. This raised to 31% in their second year. And many of us have heard the statistic that 48% of businesses, almost half of businesses, don't make it past their fifth year. Here's another maybe not so great statistic. But between 2015 and 2019, in Canada, just over 100,000 businesses were started and in that same period - so that's 100,000 per year, just over 100,000 per year - and in that same time frame, about just over 90,000 per year disappeared. Now, this might make you feel like, my gosh, why do I even throw my hat in the world of business when it sounds like it's just so hard to succeed? But here's the thing.

Kari Lotzien: [00:04:26] Most of my clients have made it past those first few years in business. You found something that works. You have the grit. You've done the work. Just like me, showing up at the gym on those hard days where I didn't feel like it, where I was tired, where the voice was in my head, where I just didn't want to go anymore, and I thought it would be so much easier. I know that if you have been in business for more than that 365 days, you've thought at least 100 times it would just be easier to go work for someone else, to collect a paycheck, not have all the stress. But you've done it, you faced it, and you have overcome the challenges that most business or that many business owners don't in those first few years. And here's why it's important. Because I can almost hear you telling yourself, well, I'm a small business and I only employ a few people. Like I'm not really all the way into entrepreneur world. I don't have a big corporation with, you know, 700 employees. But here's what is also really interesting to me: did you know that 74%, 74% of Canadian businesses have under ten employees? And small business makes up in hiring 67% of our workforce. This is really important, the work that you're doing in your small business, if you have a couple of employees or you have under ten employees and you're telling yourself that this is really no big deal, I'm kind of a small fish in a big pond. No you're not.

Kari Lotzien: [00:06:04] I want you to just pause and say, if you have made it through that really challenging start up phase of business, if you have found the grit that it takes to have a few employees and to keep going, you have joined an elite group of people who are doing incredible work that is really important in feeding our communities, our overall performance in how we are surviving, how our economy is looking. This is really important work, and I want you to keep going. With a lot of my clients and myself included, I will tell you that high performers are often looking ahead. We're often looking for what's next. What challenge do I need to overcome? What problem do I need to solve? Where do I need to be ahead of the curve? And we're really terrible at pausing and just noticing how far we've come. I want you to take a minute right now, pause this podcast right now, if you're in a place where you can do it, I want you to grab a piece of paper or a journal, and I want you to look back from the time you started, whether this is your business or this is a goal that you set, I want you to talk about when you started, when this thing was just nothing more than a thought in your mind.

Kari Lotzien: [00:07:20] And I want you to list, brain dump, how far you've come. What are all of the things that you have accomplished in that amount of time, whether it's a couple of years or maybe it's a decade? List them out. And ideally, I want you to actually write these down because there is something that happens in the process of taking action. In writing something down it gives it more space in our minds, and it gives it that power to say this is important. We write down things that are important. I want you to write it down. How far have you come? What things have you accomplished since you started this journey? And then I want to go a little bit deeper, because I think that we all know when we start we have a vision, we have the passion, we have the grit, we have all the ideas. And then life happens. It happens to all of us. Whether that is we all of a sudden come up against a financial challenge that is just really hard and we have to really dig in. Maybe you cut into your personal finances to help fund your dream or your business. Maybe there was times where everyone around you was saying, this is crazy, you need to just, you know, admit your losses and move on. Maybe the voice in your own mind was so powerful that you had so much self-doubt and imposter syndrome and just not being sure if this was ever going to work.

Kari Lotzien: [00:08:47] And I think we've all been through that, myself included. There have been so many nights where I would lay awake thinking, am I crazy? Am I being egocentric, thinking that somehow my dream is going to work out? When other people were telling me, when I would look at other businesses struggling and I would think, is this ever going to work? I think about the times where the cash flow was tough, where I would have been making far more money if I was working for someone else. I think of how many things that I overcame when it came to knowledge, just not knowing what I'm even supposed to do and all the things I needed to learn in my business. So the second question I want to give back to you is, what are all of the things that you've overcome? What are the challenges that you faced as you progressed towards your dream? Was that, you know, did you go through a change in your family, a change in your marriage? Did you have kids? Did you move? Did the market change? I want you to list out what are all of the challenges that you faced, that you found a way through, or that you overcame?

Kari Lotzien: [00:09:57] Let's give credit to that. Let's give credit to the grit and the resilience that you have. Again, I think as high performers, we often start thinking ahead and we go, Okay, here's what I'm going to need. Here's the hutzpah that I'm going to need to try and find to move forward through the next challenge that we come up. But we don't sometimes pause and give ourselves credit for what we already went through. And if you are on this planet right now, you've gone through some really big things in the last four years. If your business survived that, that really difficult time in our economy, you are doing amazing things and give yourself credit for the fact that you stuck with it, that you likely pivoted more times than your head knew how to manage, that you felt like you were just spinning around. If you did that, give yourself some serious credit in how you made it through that time. Because there was no guidebook, there was no map to say here's how this could happen. Pause and give yourself some credit. What things have you learned? How have you overcome financial challenges? How did you overcome the naysayers and the doubters and the voices in your own mind that made you doubt? And then what were the situations or the circumstances that you overcame along the way? Pause. Write it down. Give yourself some credit.

Kari Lotzien: [00:11:15] And I would suggest like even set a timer for like five minutes, because the things that come to your mind first are going to be the things on the surface. But when you sit there long enough and you think, oh yeah, but there was also that time where a family member felt ill or fell ill, and I was able to kind of pivot and support them while I was going through this hard time or, oh yeah, there was that time where all of a sudden we needed to pivot and change because we had our team change or somebody moved or something happened. Let yourself kind of sit with it for a little bit and dig a little bit deeper than just what comes to the surface at the beginning.

[00:11:55] Gillian is an incredible entrepreneur who is going through a time of scaling her very successful business. When she offered to record a testimonial about her experience with the Anchored Leadership Academy to go on my podcast, I was so honored. Have a listen to what she had to say. My name is Gillian and I just finished the Anchored Leadership Program with Kari Lotzien. I'm a financial planner. I've owned a practice for eight years and I'd hit a space of exponential growth. Everything was going great, but I always struggled with, um, the management of team, how to hire, how to fire, how to have those yucky conversations. And that was a huge takeaway from the Anchored Leadership, where I got tools and practice as to how to implement those things into my business so I can continue to grow and continue to thrive. It was an exceptional experience that I would highly recommend to any business owner who is looking to push through their discomfort to that next level of success. In the Anchored Leadership Academy, we combine weekly live sessions for one hour that focus on a key area of leadership, and then participants have the ability to work through all of the content in the modules between sessions. This allows a nice balance between accountability for really busy entrepreneurs to keep moving forward with the program and get it done, while also having the ability to flex their time a little bit and make it work for them. An added bonus, all participants get lifetime access to the videos, the audio, all of the resources in the course so you can keep coming back to it again and again when it applies to that specific time in your business. If this sounds like an interesting thing to you, click the link in the show notes, book an inquiry call, and let's see if the Anchored Leadership Academy is right for you at this stage of business. Thanks so much. Back to the show.

Kari Lotzien: [00:13:56] Now I want to ask yourself what keeps you going? You've come through some of these challenges. You have accomplished so much since you started. But now is the time to kind of have a look and go, okay, so what keeps me going? I'll take it back to my experience with the gym. I will tell you that I've come a long way. I've gotten stronger. My knees don't hurt as much. I can do different movements at the gym that I couldn't have even dreamed of doing before. And I overcame a lot. I overcame a lot of self-doubt. I overcame that thought that I'm too old for this, this is for people who are young and strong and healthy, and it's just too difficult. There was times where I was really doing a sprint in my business, and I would've been so easy to make the excuse that, well, that's what needs my attention right now, so I just don't have time for this. And what really keeps me going is the camaraderie, the community. I've met a whole new group of people who are aspiring to live a similar life that I do. They want to also age well and they want to not have pain, and they want to be strong, and they want to be healthy as they move into these next years of their life.

Kari Lotzien: [00:15:11] It's the same in business. Think about what keeps you going right now. Have you found a new place in the business that maybe unfolded a new light for you and just gets you excited? Maybe you've moved into being more of a mentor. Or maybe, like me, your whole business pivoted, and you went from running your own business and being front line and doing all of that, and now you're moving into being more of a coach or a consultant and helping other people to grow and to do the things that you've already done. But you're at the stage, maybe in your life, of giving back and not being maybe as attached to the front line service. Or maybe you found a new market or a new business idea, whatever it is. What keeps you going now? What keeps you in the game? I think the other piece of this is give some credit to what is helping to keep you there. So like I said, with my gym people, a lot of the thing that keeps me there is the people that are there who are like-minded. I want you to give some credit to who have you met along the way that keeps you going? Are your clients or your customers inspiring you to push a little bit harder, or to find a little bit more from you, or from your team, or from your business? Are you pushing boundaries? Are you exploring new opportunities in business because you really want to provide something exceptional for these people that you just really care about? Have you met some people, maybe in different businesses, who are also running small businesses that are inspiration for you, or that you've been able to network or create collaborations with, and you're so appreciative of that opportunity because maybe that was something you didn't see at the beginning when you were just slugging your way through, and that what keeps you going now is recognizing that when we join together, there's just so much more to this. And that when you're feeling a time of doubt or you're uncertain or you don't know how to handle something, maybe now you have a network of people that you can go to and ask questions and build together that you feel really understand you.

Kari Lotzien: [00:17:16] So leaning into that, what keeps you going? What keeps you lit up and your foot on the gas? Because I want to get to the the next stage that just because you've made it to the stage of business where you know that you have something that works, most business startups fail for two reasons. It's so simple. Either they didn't do their market research and they're trying to sell a service or a product that people don't want. There's just not the market for it. Or they're charging too much for something that people don't want to pay that much for or maybe they could even get free somewhere else. Market research is one of the key reasons that small businesses that start don't make it past that first or second year. The second is cash flow. They are in a situation where they're spending more than they're bringing in, and it's just not sustainable. They've maybe funded from their personal accounts to try and get this business off the ground. Because, let's be honest, getting funding for small business is not always easy.

Kari Lotzien: [00:18:17] These are the two things that sink businesses early on. So when I'm thinking of mentoring early business owners, A) I always want them to focus on market research first, and B) I want them to be really cautious of their spending so that they are building on a foundation but it's not gambling. You're not taking a risk with things that are too big that you may not recover from if this doesn't work. I'd rather it be a slow, steady build than a big risk and then potentially a big fall. But now that you're here, you've made it past that spot. You know that people are willing to buy your product or service. You know that you have something sustainable. You can't stop. Because the other, maybe not great statistic that I want to share with you that's really important, is the other major reason that businesses fail. 70% of businesses fail because of poor management. This comes back to us. In those early startup phases, we got grit. We are showing up and often doing all of the jobs in the business, and that taking this next step to scaling your business, to employing people or outsourcing to others to help grow your business and maybe explore new opportunities, requires a different skill set than the one that you had when you started your business. You need to develop the skills of management. You need to know how to delegate well, how to give feedback, how to have a good onboarding or training program so that when you bring people on, it turns into a great investment that you get a return on over time.

Kari Lotzien: [00:19:53] These are skill sets that leaders need to move their business forward, and I think it's something that we often overlook when it comes to moving our business forward past that start up phase. I think sometimes we think that once we've been in it for a few years, that then we'll just hire people to help us and things get easier. I'd love to tell you that. There's one more step. There's one more piece where you got to dig deep and do the grit work so that you can develop the skills of leadership and management. Once you have those skills, that's when it gets easier. But there is one more step that you need to take. Now, this is my passion. I'll tell you that when I started my company and then I built it over 22 years, I hesitated. And I don't think that I moved into developing the skills of leadership and management early enough. I know now it actually hurt my business. We could have grown so much more smoothly and without quite as much turmoil if I would have gotten real with myself and recognized that there was a shift that I needed to make, I needed to shift from being really frontline, customer driven, and really revenue generating in the business, to having at least a dedicated time where I was focusing on supporting my team and building my team and having systems in place to move that forward.

Kari Lotzien: [00:21:16] I've done it, and this is where my passion is right now, in building my coaching programs and working with other small businesses at this stage. It's a really critical piece of the puzzle to make it long term in your business, so that this becomes the flywheel that does get easier. The thing that you're craving right now, that's my tagline: create the life you crave. But you can't take your foot off the gas too early, or you'll lose that momentum. And it's developing a new skill set. You got to do it. I think when you can do it by joining with other business owners who are at the same phase of business that you are, they're facing some of the similar challenges, they're having a hard time maybe letting go of some of the tasks in their business that they're good at or that they enjoy doing. And it's sometimes hard to admit the things that you just don't want to do anymore or that you're really not good at. And maybe you're the bottleneck in the business and you're preventing the growth, just like I was.

Kari Lotzien: [00:22:17] This is where I'm moving towards the Anchored Leadership programing that I've created an incredible program. I'm not going to be shy about this because it really is amazing. I took ten key topics that are critical to becoming an effective leader, so that you don't become the 70% that say, Well, difficulty with management skills was the thing that took my business under after we had overcome this really difficult time of startup, and we made it through those hard pieces, I dropped the ball and I didn't do it. I took ten key parts that are critical. And then I created a group of small business owners, just like you, who are past that initial start up phase, who are looking to develop their leadership skills. I made it a combination because I know you're busy, and I know that it is difficult to find time to do all of this, so I've balanced it out. There's online modules that you work through in your own time, so you have time and space to really apply it to your business and to be flexible about working through the program when the timing is right for you. And then I added in weekly one hour meetings where we get to meet as a group, you get to ask your questions, you get to share your challenges, we get to talk through it together. What I found when we went through this previously is this was the perfect balance. That my participants had freedom to explore those modules on their own, which they also have lifetime access to, so they can come back to those modules around giving feedback, delegating well, hiring and recruiting, how to build a strong team culture, strategic planning.

Kari Lotzien: [00:23:55] They can keep coming back to those again and again, but they also get the support in real time to keep moving through the program. Because let's be real, I know that you have bought leadership books that you never read. You have bought programs that you never completed. This program, I've set it up so that it's not like that for you. You can work through it in your own time and have the support to move through it together, and to get really good accountability during the time that we're together. The next module, the next cohort, is starting March 7th. I don't want you to miss it. If this feels right for you, just click on the link, book an inquiry call, we can chat through it together to see is this the right fit and is this the right time for you? And I'm going to be really honest. I don't want you to waste money on programs that you don't have time for, or are not a good fit for the stage of business that you're in right now. I will be very honest with you. If it's not the right time and you need to maybe do a couple of things in your business before you're ready, I will tell you, I promise. I will not talk you into something that I don't think is a good fit. But the feedback that has come from the people who were the right fit and who really invested and did the work in the program, the results have been incredible.

Kari Lotzien: [00:25:10] Thank you so much for being here. I want you to save this episode because when you go through times of doubt in your business, and you will, I want you to be able to come back to this and that quick little exercise that we did together to acknowledge how far you've come, the obstacles that you've faced along the way, and the resilience that you have demonstrated, that you have data for. To give yourself credit for that and to revisit what keeps you going right now? What are you excited about? This is something you can come back to again and again. And if you are inclined to share this episode with someone who you think might just need a little reminder or a little boost right now, please don't forget to like and share the podcast with a friend. Thanks so much my friends. I'll see you next week.

Kari Lotzien: [00:25:58] Please know that this podcast is meant for entertainment purposes only. It is not a substitution for medical or professional mental health advice. If you require support, please do reach out. Thanks so much.

Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

What I want to talk about today is empathy. Specifically, I want to talk about how your empathy may be hurting your business. Possibly in ways you’ve never considered before. There are ways you may be getting in your own way through empathy. Now I’m not saying that empathy is a bad trait or in any way wrong, that’s not it. I am saying there is a time and place for empathy and to ensure empathy doesn’t lead to business decisions in ways that are detrimental to your growth.

I’ve had experience, personal experience, in letting my empathy get in my way and my business suffered for it. There are three main ways that I see in which empathy can undermine your efforts for your business. One way is making scalability and how you’re going to transition to having employees more difficult. The second way is in struggling to hold others accountable and not making excuses for people. And the third way is to prevent you from charging what you’re worth. There is a lot to examine in these three issues. How do you identify if they’re problems for you? What do you do to fix them if they are?

I want to talk about how you can still lead with empathy and support as important parts of your business. But if you are allowing empathy to get in the way of, say, transitioning clients to your new capable team members, or if you’re so desperate to be liked as a leader that you can’t clarify and enforce the expectations of a job, then you’re setting yourself up for failure. How can you keep empathy in mind without giving it control? How can you continue to offer top-tier service to clients without doing it all yourself? That’s what I’m going to explain in this episode.

Key Moments

02:15 When empathy gets in the way of scaling your business and transitioning your clients

12:58 How empathy can prevent you from holding others accountable

16:39 Why do we need to charge what we’re worth and not let empathy hold us back?

• Ask yourself if certain clients would be better served by new team members in some areas
• Have you been clear in communicating expectations and productivity needs?
• Does what you charge allow you to appreciate your team well financially?

__

Resources mentioned in this episode:

• WINTER PROGRAM ANCHORED LEADERSHIP ACADEMY

__

Contact Kari Lotzien | Be the Anchor: 

• Website: BeTheAnchor.ca
• Facebook: BeTheAnchorLtd
• Instagram: BeTheAnchor.ca
• Linkedin: Be-The-Anchor-Ltd

__

Transcript:

Kari Lotzien: [00:00:01] Welcome to Be the Anchor, the podcast. I'm your host, business and leadership coach Kari Lotzien. When the seas of life get stormy, and they always will, it is not up to us to captain anyone else's ship or to try to calm the waters of the ocean. It's up to us to set our own destination for what we really want, and to learn how to navigate those waves of life together while finding that place of security and stability with others. I call this being an anchor.

Kari Lotzien: [00:00:38] Hello, my friends. I'm so glad you're here. Today I want to talk to you about how empathy might be hurting your business, and specifically, how empathy may be hurting your ability to scale or grow your business. This topic is coming from a place of real vulnerability because as I took my business, I was an occupational therapist for 22 years who grew a private rehab practice and eventually went on to sell that same business that I was so proud of. Now, in these last few years, as I've come into business and leadership coaching, and I've had the opportunity to work with so many entrepreneurs in service-based businesses. So I'm talking to the psychologists, the healthcare workers, massage therapists, chiropractors, SLPs, as well as financial planning accountants, bookkeepers, any space where your service has led your business. I'm seeing a theme through all of these practices as they grow and scale, and they are coming up against the same challenges that I did over and over and over again. And I just want to openly talk about it, because I don't think that this is something that you get in traditional sales and marketing books or how to create, you know, great offers for your clients when we think about scaling.

Kari Lotzien: [00:02:02] What I want to talk about today is where you might be getting in your own way. And I'm going to offer just a little bit of self-reflection because looking back I now see where my own empathy was really getting in my way. So I want to start off with like, let's just be so honest. If you are in a service-based business and if you've started off small, maybe as a solopreneur, you are hoping that maybe you could kind of get this business going as a side hustle and get some clients that would maybe pay you and pay you consistently for your services and the things that you were really interested in. Your ability to empathize, to understand what your clients needed, what their fears were, maybe where they were confused, or what information did they need? When you were able to connect with your clients or your customers in a place of empathy, it likely served your business very well because your customers felt understood. They knew this person really gets me, and they were willing to trade their time and money for your knowledge and service. And that relationship developed sometimes over years. And this is the foundation of, I think, every service-based industry. If you don't provide great service and if you can't empathize with your clients, odds are you didn't really get it off the ground. But if you've done the work and you're at a stage where your business is successful and you are scaling up, then your empathy has likely served you so well to this point. Your clients adore you. They feel so connected and they feel so grateful for the service that you provide to them, the time and the energy and the knowledge.

Kari Lotzien: [00:03:44] But what happens is, if you're the type of person that now you're ready to scale your company, maybe you've decided to specialize in a certain area of practice, or you are reaching a very particular demographic. Or maybe you've started to expand your team because your caseload is overwhelming and you've got so many clients, but now you really need to start filling up your other team members so that you can maybe open up to be more of a mentor, or to do the visionary planning in your company, or to start doing something else. In my own company what I saw was I absolutely started that way. I worked with clients directly and I was so passionate about it. I loved what I did, I loved the learning that came with it. And then over time, as I started to grow and change, I got really connected to doing training and I loved teaching. That's what was lighting me up. I had also developed my business to a point where I couldn't keep up with the demand for the customers that I had. My caseload was overflowing, and it was to the point where if I had one cancellation, it was throwing off my whole week because I didn't have any space or capacity to put that client that I really did care about, that I knew really did need my service.

Kari Lotzien: [00:05:00] So as I started to hire people, what I was finding is that it was really hard for my clients to want to transition to a new team member. My empathy kicked in and I thought, well, I don't want to let them down. I don't want that customer or client to potentially leave my business and my service. I didn't want them to feel like I didn't care about them because I really did. I felt like I could keep doing this. I had developed this over time, so maybe I just should. And that new clients, when they came on, could then go to my team members. Now, the hard thing with that is when we were getting referrals, they were also coming with a direct request for me as the owner. The way that I see this, I'm very recently working with a client of mine who is in the financial world, and over the decade that they've been in business, they've really started to niche their service. So the way that I was moving into training, this particular client of mine was working towards a very specific demographic. So they had learned a lot more about corporate tax planning and financial planning. They had learned a lot more about succession planning in multigenerational family businesses. Their specialty had really started to narrow down, and this is the thing that they were really passionate about, that they were spending their time engaging in learning around, and that was where they wanted their business to go.

Kari Lotzien: [00:06:24] Now what was happening is they had no space, just like I had no space in my calendar when I had a cancellation. They had no space to attract these new clients that they were really passionate and could serve very well, because they had a fairly large practice that included a demographic of clients who were not that type of person. They weren't business owners, they maybe had a small amount to invest over time into their tax savings or their retirement planning. But as this consultant had developed their practice over time, they were just finding that they couldn't let go and they didn't want to let those clients down. They didn't want those people to feel disappointed because that is what grew the foundation of their practice. But what happens is you will reach a plateau that if you continue trying to serve everyone that you were before and grow, there's no capacity, there's no space to do that.

Kari Lotzien: [00:07:21] The quote that I kept coming back to during this time as I was trying to transition my clients: Just because you can doesn't mean you should. I think that when we talk about boundaries and we talk about saying no, and we talk about there's this premise that we are completely good, of transitioning or sending our clients somewhere else when we don't have the information, when we feel like we can't provide that service or we don't have that knowledge. The truth is, in this situation, you do have the knowledge, you do have the relationship, and it's often something that you actually are very confident in and somewhat enjoy doing. But what I know for sure is that when you continue to serve clients that are not in the direction that your business is headed, or maybe you've decided that you're giving up that front line altogether and you're really moving into this place of mentorship with your team, and you really want to move into that, regardless, the longer you hang on to what you were before and the things that you were doing before, you will start to get resentful. And it shows up in such subtle ways but I know for myself and again, I'm just being really transparent with you, that when I held on to those clients that had been with me for years, that I felt I didn't want to let them down and I would keep doing those appointments, what was happening is I wasn't serving them to the best of my capacity, because I just wasn't as passionate about it anymore. My attention was somewhere else, and over time I was feeling like the service that they were getting was not what it should have been.

Kari Lotzien: [00:08:55] And I had to get really real with myself and say, you know what? They would be served so well by one of my other team members who is so passionate about this area of practice. For my financial planner friend, as they were building their team, they had team members who absolutely had full capacity to take on those clients who were not business owners and who were just really invested in slowly saving for their retirement. They were passionate about that. They were building their practice. And she could still serve those clients, probably with a higher level of capacity, by transitioning them to one of her team members. So I think that's a place where we just have to get really real with ourselves, that you got to say no to the things that you can do that sometimes you want to do and that you still love, but it's not aligned with the direction that you want your business to go. It's okay to say I don't do that anymore, and to still have real appreciation for what that client or customer was in the beginning of your journey, and changing the messaging to the reason you're transitioning them is so that they can still get that exceptional service.

Kari Lotzien: [00:10:03] Gillian is an incredible entrepreneur who is going through a time of scaling her very successful business. When she offered to record a testimonial about her experience with the Anchored Leadership Academy to go on my podcast, I was so honored. Have a listen to what she had to say. My name is Gillian and I just finished the Anchored Leadership Program with Kari Lotzien. I'm a financial planner, I've owned a practice for eight years, and I'd hit a space of exponential growth. Everything was going great, but I always struggled with, um, the management of team, how to hire, how to fire, how to have those yucky conversations. And that was a huge takeaway from the Anchored Leadership, where I got tools and practice as to how to implement those things into my business so I can continue to grow and continue to thrive. It was an exceptional experience that I would highly recommend to any business owner who is looking to push through their discomfort to that next level of success. In the Anchored Leadership Academy, we combine weekly live sessions for one hour that focus on a key area of leadership, and then participants have the ability to work through all of the content in the modules between sessions. This allows a nice balance between accountability for really busy entrepreneurs to keep moving forward with the program and get it done, while also having the ability to flex their time a little bit and make it work for them. An added bonus: all participants get lifetime access to the videos, the audio, all of the resources in the course so you can keep coming back to it again and again when it applies to that specific time in your business. If this sounds like an interesting thing to you, click the link in the show notes, book an inquiry call, and let's see if the Anchored Leadership Academy is right for you at this stage of business. Thanks so much. Back to the show.

Kari Lotzien: [00:12:07] I want to point out that knowing it and doing it are two very different things. I think that we look at our schedules, we look at our caseloads, we look at what we're doing in a day and we think, oh, I could probably just squeeze that in. This is a place that I work with clients really closely, and we actually develop sometimes a script or an email sequence or a system to transition clients to bring on someone else. Because I think first step is knowing that you need to but then being able to have a plan and a strategy for how you're going to do it is a whole other thing. So don't hesitate to get support in this, because it is not an easy process and your fears will kick in that those clients will leave or they're going to be disappointed. You're going to want some little support to get you through that.

Kari Lotzien: [00:12:58] Okay, the next one where I think empathy hurts your business, because I know it hurt mine, was in holding others accountable. Now, in being really honest, one of the mistakes that I see many service-based business owners make, especially if you are hiring someone to do a similar job that you were doing before - so if you are a service provider and you're hiring someone else to provide that same service - we will tend to way overextend our own schedules before we hire someone. And then when we do, we're almost desperate that we don't want that person to leave us. What I think happens in this is we hold back on being clear around what the expectations are, the things, the parameters, the KPIs -key point indicators - what are your goals? What are your outcomes when you take on this job? I know for myself, I focused way too much on I wanted my team members to like me. I wanted them to know that they were supported and that this job was going to be fun, and that they were going to have all of this flexibility. I was selling my job. But I wasn't trading that with accountability. I wasn't being clear on what I was expecting. And one of the other things I would do is that if someone fell short of expectations, and I'm going to be perfectly honest with you, sometimes they didn't even know what those expectations were. They were in my head of what I thought someone should know, the way I thought they should be motivated, or the productivity levels that I thought they should have, but I didn't actually say them out loud, or I didn't have them in a system or a process. When that happened, I would find myself making excuses for that person before I had even talked to them about it. So I would say things like, you know, I know you're really busy and I know that it's really overwhelming. And I would take the pressure off before I even said to them, but here's what I really need. I know you've got kids to drop off, and I know it's so hard getting little ones out the door in the morning, I totally get that, you know, it'd be great if you could be on time for work in the morning. Do you see how when I led with empathy, sometimes it was like, oh well, yeah, she understands. She knows it's not really a big deal.

Kari Lotzien: [00:15:14] But in the back of my mind I was resentful because I'm like, come on, we start at nine and I need someone here because I don't have space and capacity to cover your job when you're not here. I really need you to be on time. But by the time I would have the conversation, it was this really evasive, weird, I wasn't being clear, nobody really knew what I meant. I think this is where empathy got in the way. Now, I'm not saying that it's not okay to empathize and to understand where people are coming from and the challenges that they're facing. I think where this gets us into trouble is when we empathize too much, we make excuses for people, and then we don't hold them accountable on the other side. So my go to phrase with this is clear is kind. Do people know what I'm asking them to do? Do they know what the expectations are? And when they don't, am I able to just come back to those conversations? Again, I think having the awareness that you need to is the first step. Knowing like, oh yeah, I do do that and it's probably not working well for me is step one. And I think then having a strategy and a plan, sometimes even developing that script to say, here's how I'm going to have this conversation is the next step so that your empathy doesn't end up being a door that gets closed, that you then are not moving towards the direction that you really need this conversation or these behaviors or these outcomes to go.

Kari Lotzien: [00:16:39] Okay, the last one. This is another big one. I think there are times where we use empathy, particularly in terms of affordability, and we price ourselves too low. Now, I'm going to be really honest with you. This is one that I still struggle with sometimes because I know for myself. I want to be available to people. I don't have a multi five-figure coaching business. That is not what it costs to work with me. I've tried to price myself in the middle where I am working with business owners at what I call the teenager phase. I'm really interested in helping you to scale your business. I really want you to go to that next level. I want you to be an exceptional leader and I want you to make money doing it. Recently, I had someone come to me who was really struggling in their business, and they've been struggling for a long time. They are trying to hold all of the hats. They are the hub of the wheel. They are stretched and stretched and stretched beyond capacity. And they came to me to inquire about my services. But they had no space and no time to be able to even allow time for a coaching appointment. And if you want a little bit more information, last weeks, two weeks ago episode was Is Business Coaching Worth It? And that was a little bit of framework for this conversation that I had. Because this person said to me in anger, this is what makes me so angry about business coaches, is you have information that I need and I know I need it, and I know you could help me, but you are at a price that I can't afford because my business is barely scraping by. I'll tell you out of the gate this person had a seven-figure business. And as I said, my coaching services are not five-figure coaching services. I had to sit back because my first response was, I know how hard business is, and I know what it feels like to be stretched beyond your capacity and feel like you have no time. And this person wanted me to open up appointments on evenings or weekends. That's what they were asking for. I don't have time during my day to spend time on coaching. And I had to take a breath because my first thought was, oh, I could probably do this. If I only took one client like this, I could probably squeeze them in and I understand, and maybe I could, you know, lower my prices for this. Or maybe we could do a trade. And I had to come back to myself to the very first point to say, hang on a second.

Kari Lotzien: [00:19:20] If you are at a place where you have zero capacity to even give me an hour every couple of weeks within a 9 to 5 workday from Monday to Friday, you likely don't have capacity to implement the changes that I'm going to ask you to make in your business. You are better off to shift your focus and really look at your own business. But I'm not the coach for you. I am not going to be the one that is going to meet with you in the evenings. This person also was really adamant they needed to meet in person, because they said they were too distractible when things were online, because they had too many other things going on, and they would just go and return emails or do other things while we were in coaching. They were telling me so clearly. I am not your ideal client. They were putting it right out there. They were being beautifully honest with me. And my empathy was kicking in and saying, oh, but I could, I could do this for this person. So I had to sit back, I had to get real with myself and say, you know what? This is not my best client. I was able to refer that person on to someone who is a phenomenal fit for them, and I think they'll get great results. But what I know now is there's an investment that I expect my clients to make with me.

Kari Lotzien: [00:20:36] There is an investment that you expect your clients to make with you. And as you scale your business, if you have spent money on up-leveling your services and on getting different credentials or specializing in your industry, you are valuable. I want you to hear that again. When you have experience, when you have knowledge, when you have specialized, you have earned the right to increase your prices. Now, if that doesn't sit well with you and that still feels sticky or hard, then I'm going to come at this from a different way because I for years tried to price my services when I was a solopreneur, I thought, well, I'm working for myself, so if someone doesn't pay me or if I lower my price, the only real person that's hurting is me. Then when I went on to paying staff members and team members, the way that I kind of got through this undercharging was because I really valued my team, and I wanted to have an exceptional team to take over. I wanted them to feel really valued. I wanted to be able to pay them not only fairly, but I wanted to be able to pay them well so that they felt so appreciated and they didn't feel like they were barely scraping by, and they could take vacations and they could do fun things with their families, and they could buy that house of their dreams. That's what I wanted to be a part of, because I can tell you my team was incredible and they deserved it. The way that they showed up and the passion and the care that they gave to their clients, they deserved to be paid well. It was easier for me as a leader to think of it that way, that when I was charging a fair amount, when my business was not just barely scraping by, that I was able to attract really great staff, I was able to build my team, and they felt really valued and appreciated financially. That was huge.

Kari Lotzien: [00:22:27] I'm now at kind of at another stage of this, and I don't know if it's my age or just kind of now looking in different industries, because I think in service-based industries, we tend to think we don't want to overcharge because we want to be affordable for clients who really need it. And if you're working with people and helping them with their pain, or helping them with their children or helping them with taxes and finances, you know that your services are needed. And when we charge fairly it can feel sometimes like we're taking advantage. And what I now know is that when you've specialized, when you've done the work and you've got the experience and you've got the reputation to stand on and you increase your prices fairly, there's an alignment. You will attract the right type of clients to your business who are able to pay, but it will also give you the ability if you choose to give back in other ways. You can then do scholarships for your business, or you can offer maybe free trainings or workshops for people. You can give back to charities that you really believe in that are doing amazing things. I now know that if we want to build small community, if we want to build strong communities, the way that we can do this is financially. Maybe in the past you had time to give. You could volunteer to give back. There is still a need for our food banks, for mental health services. There's so many places where we can give back to our communities to help those resources build, and I think when we get really clear about how we want to give back and how we want to build communities that align with our core values of our business, this is the way that you can sometimes overcome that financial hurdle in charging what you're worth.

Kari Lotzien: [00:24:11] So. Thank you so much for being here. When you think about how empathy might be hurting your business, number one, I want you to think about who are you going to transition, who are you no longer going to work with and how you might do that? Number two, holding others accountable, not making excuses for people or letting them off the hook before they even know what the expectation is. And number three, charging what you're truly worth and being able to stand in that and feel confident. As you've talked through these, if you find that maybe you do want a little bit of support in okay, I understand yes, this is me, this sounds very familiar, and you're in a service-based industry that you are looking to scale, the Anchored Leadership Academy might be a great fit for you. I totally invite you to go to my website and check it out. Our next cohort will be going through in March. Our doors are open. We're going to have a small group where you work through modules week by week on the key elements of leadership, of scaling your business. And then we have an hour a week together where we get to talk as a group and really apply this to your business. If this sounds interesting, please do reach out. Let's book an inquiry call and we'll see where it goes from there. If you have not liked and subscribed yet, please make sure that you click on the three little dots and make sure you follow and subscribe so you don't miss an episode. We'll see you next week.

Kari Lotzien: [00:25:38] Please know that this podcast is meant for entertainment purposes only. It is not a substitution for medical or professional mental health advice. If you're requiring support, please do reach out. Thanks so much.

Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

A topic came up during our Anchored Leadership training that is a challenge faced by many small businesses. It’s something every business owner with a team will face sooner or later. What to do when a key member of your team leaves? Regardless of whether that person is going away temporarily, on an extended vacation or maternity leave, or they’ll be gone permanently, they got a new job or moved cities, losing a member of your team that you rely heavily on is a blow that’s difficult to overcome. So I’m going to talk about being proactive.

People are transitional, they follow opportunities, ideals, and family decisions. The days of choosing one job and staying there until retirement are long gone. But just because a phenomenal person indicates they may only be with you for a short while, never shy away from hiring them. Even a short time with a phenomenal person will benefit your business. Instead, get proactive about preparing for inevitable departures. Think ahead. There are choices you can make that set your business up to do well even when someone leaves.

Ask yourself if there is cross-coverage for every team member’s job. If somebody takes care of a vital aspect of your business and nobody else knows how to do it, that is a gap you need to fill. Cross-training is essential and that goes for your role as well. It’s the ability to assess what your business needs and will need in the future, and how best to alleviate client and customer concerns about team member departures that will set you up for client retention and behind-the-scenes success. How do you do that now, when things are going well? I’ll lay out key points to consider so you can think about the future needs of your business today.

Key Moments

02:06 Why you should hire that phenomenal talent even if their time in your business may be short

03:26 All the reasons for cross-training team members

07:49 Why you should encourage relationships between clients and other staff

• There are ways to prepare for client retention when providers leave healthcare jobs
• When you should introduce new hires to your team and clients
• How you deal with team member departures will be closely watched by the rest of the staff

__

Resources mentioned in this episode:

• WINTER PROGRAM ANCHORED LEADERSHIP ACADEMY

__

Contact Kari Lotzien | Be the Anchor: 

• Website: BeTheAnchor.ca
• Facebook: BeTheAnchorLtd
• Instagram: BeTheAnchor.ca
• Linkedin: Be-The-Anchor-Ltd

__

Transcript:

Kari Lotzien: [00:00:01] Welcome to Be the Anchor, the podcast. I'm your host, business and leadership coach Kari Lotzien. When the seas of life get stormy, and they always will, it is not up to us to captain anyone else's ship or to try to calm the waters of the ocean. It's up to us to set our own destination for what we really want, and to learn how to navigate those waves of life together while finding that place of security and stability with others. I call this being an anchor.

Kari Lotzien: [00:00:38] Hello my friends. I'm so glad you're here. Today, I want to share a topic that came up during our anchored leadership training, and I recognized pretty quickly that this is a challenge that is faced by many small businesses. It's when a key member of your team leaves. Now, this can come in so many different forms. It may be that someone is going on maternity leave or taking a leave of absence due to illness or to be a caregiver for a family member. Or maybe they're leaving permanently, they got transferred or they're moving to a new community. Regardless, having to deal with transitioning employees is an inevitable part of business. And I think that we aim or we hope that we will get to a point in our business where we have a really strong, solid team where everyone knows what they're doing, they're well connected and that we'll live happily ever after. But the truth is, this is a moving target, and people have lives that are always changing. And the days of staying in a job for decades and then retiring in that said job are really something we're seeing less and less of. People are more transitional, and they will follow new opportunities. And you might have a phenomenal employee who stays with you for a very short period of time.

Kari Lotzien: [00:02:05] Number one, I don't want you to ever shy away from hiring a phenomenal team member just because you think that they may not be with you that long. If they have a love of travelling or they mention that they may end up having a new opportunity, I don't think that it is ever worth not taking a chance on people, because I can tell you some of my best hires, and the people that really moved my business forward, were people that didn't stay with me long. The benefit they had to my business, I wouldn't take it back for anything. I think that there are ways that we can be proactive in how we manage this very real challenge that many small business owners face. We want to be proactive. Don't ever assume that by offering people more money, or by making them feel like they're irreplaceable, or that you're so dependent on them and you don't know what you would do without them, that is not the way to retain staff.

Kari Lotzien: [00:03:08] We want them to have freedom. And there's a way that you can love on people, ensure that they feel respected and valued in your business, while still really appreciating that they always have opportunities that may be available to them elsewhere and that you don't own them. I think we really need to consciously cross-train your team. If you have one team member that holds a key role in your company and no one else knows how to do that skill or that task, even to cover for a short period of time, say that person got sick, we need to make sure that every task in your business can be covered by someone else. If you have gaps, then you need to go in and be consciously filling those in and cross-training your team. Even if they don't do that skill or that task all the time, to make sure that you've got someone who could step in if needed. And I'm going to highlight, this goes for you too. Look at all of the roles you hold in your business and if you needed to step away, could you? And hopefully at least the majority of the tasks that you do in your business could be covered by someone else.

Kari Lotzien: [00:04:22] I think proactively another thing that we can do is encourage coverage. So I want to lean in and talk about specifically service-based businesses and maybe even leaning further into talking about healthcare businesses. Therapists. Whether you are a physiotherapist, speech therapist, chiropractor, psychologist, counselor, massage therapist, I think there are patterns that we hold in these types of industries, where a client will form a really solid, long term relationship with one single person in your team, and that puts you at risk. Because if that person leaves or goes even to your competitor, that client is at risk for following them, or they will start to look around at other businesses, at your competitors, and there is a chance that you can lose that customer. So to encourage that customer to develop a relationship with more people than just their one service provider on your team. So this could be a way of providing coverage. So if one of your employees is sick, maybe another one fills in for a couple of sessions or you consciously talk about specialty areas of practice. So if you're a massage therapist, but maybe one of your colleagues, a different member of your team, has a specialty in how they manage a certain type of injury or a certain type of pain. What you want to do is encourage your team to be referring to each other. So you might be the primary service provider, but if that person has a really specialized piece or you're getting feedback, you might have a team member that's really not open to going and having a service provided by that other professional. One way that you can kind of bridge this gap is to have your team members talk about each other. Hey, I was talking about you with my colleague because they went to this new course or they've really specialized in this certain technique and I had them consult about how I might approach this certain challenge. So what you're doing is you're giving credit to other members of your team. Your client is then hearing their name. They're getting to know them a little bit. They're getting a little bit familiar with what they do, which kind of creates a safety net that if this therapist left, they know that there's someone on your team who may be able to step in and provide this high level of care that they've heard about, or they know that that's a part of your system.

Kari Lotzien: [00:07:02] One of the best things I did last year was launch the Anchored Leadership Academy training program. We had our first group go through in the fall of this year, and let me tell you, it was incredible. We gathered a group of established entrepreneurs who really wanted to move forward in their leadership skills; developing their teams, being able to feel confident in giving great feedback, and delegating well to move to that next stage of their business. The next cohort will be starting in March 2024. The doors are open now for applications. All you need to do, if you want to check out the link in the show notes, have a read, and if it feels like a good fit, book an inquiry call. That's it. Hope to see you there. All right, back to the show.

Kari Lotzien: [00:07:49] The other thing is you want to consciously develop relationships with different members of your team. If you have, or every patient, every client, has a relationship with the receptionist, and far beyond just checking them in. But does that receptionist know their name? Do they ask how their trip was or do they make kind of light chit-chat? These things again, help to develop the relationship not just with the service provider, but also with your business as a whole. They have that relationship, they have that connection. And when the receptionist says, oh, you know, did you hear or I know that you've heard that your service provider is leaving, but I know that this other person is just going to be amazing, their clients just rave about them too. What happens is when the receptionist says that, there's already this sense of trust, there's already a sense of relationship, and they'll trust what they share and that they're being looked after in the business as an entirety. So you want to make sure that you're consciously developing those relationships across your practice.

Kari Lotzien: [00:09:03] Now. Let's talk about when you're in the situation. So you've heard that maybe someone is going on leave. I think there are best practices when it comes to how do we do this with our clients so that we minimize the risk of them losing the connection with our business and losing them as a customer? We don't want that. I feel that any time you have information to share where you anticipate that someone is not going to be happy with what you are telling them, so whether that is I'm moving away, I'm taking a leave, I'm changing my hours, I'm going part-time, any reason that someone is leaving and you anticipate that their customers aren't going to be thrilled about it, get closer. I do not think that people who have invested their time and their money with you, and as a service provider especially in the healthcare industry, sometimes these people, they have disclosed really difficult information to you, they've gone through hard times and they really do have that close, connected relationship. If they suddenly see on a website or they get a really impersonal email that announces your departure, it doesn't honor the relationship you have. So I think the closer you can get in letting people know that that's what's happening, ideally, the service provider themselves is telling that customer up front, this is what's happening, here's my plan and we've got some time to plan the transition.

Kari Lotzien: [00:10:37] I think it helps our clients, our patients, to feel like we truly care about their service and that we're invested in the transition with them. Ideally, we then want to give them an option. So you could talk to them that as you're coaching your team member, to then talk to their clients to introduce them to who's taking over their caseload for them, and then you plan. So I could introduce you to them, we can set up a joint visit. Now I'm actually a big fan of doing joint visits. And yes, I know that it costs the business owner significant money to pay two staff members to see one client. I personally feel the investment is worth it. When we would transition team members amongst our team, when we'd have maternity leaves or long holidays or people were leaving permanently, I would typically allow them 2 to 3 visits where they would overlap, even if it was maybe even for a portion of the visit, because I wanted the relationship to develop and transition from the person they knew to someone new. So that the likelihood of losing that client, they never felt like we dropped them. They never felt like they had to take it over and then the person leaves, they then have to decide, am I going to try again? Who am I going to reach out to? What is their schedule like? And they need to call the office.

Kari Lotzien: [00:12:02] Ideally, I want to keep that client on the same schedule, and I just want to transition them to a new team member, but I want it to be seamless. I want them to feel held as they are transitioning from one team member to the other. Then I want to get ahead of it. I want to ask or answer all of their questions for them. So if you anticipate that those clients, patients, customers are going to have questions about, well, what is this new team member's experience, do they know how to deal with my particular issue or my challenge? So you want to answer that ahead of time. You want to be able to speak to the credentials of the receiving team member, even if it's someone who's new to your team. I'm making sure that my front line team member ideally knows who's going to cover for them, they know who's going to take over, and I can pass them over seamlessly. If you're in a situation where maybe you don't have that, you have a team member that's leaving but maybe your new person that's taking over that caseload isn't starting for a certain amount of time. I'm still going to try and backfill it so that I'm talking about them as if I'm assuming that they're going to take over. I'm talking about when they're coming. I'm talking about, you know, when they will be in contact or when they'll reach out, or will the receptionist be reaching out once they're up and ready to take on that new client, that then we're creating that transition. So ideally you're doing the overlap. And if you can't, you're still speaking to how that transition is going to happen. And you're really speaking positively about the receiving team member and what's happening there.

Kari Lotzien: [00:13:41] Give them all of the information they need. So they might also wonder, well, how are they going to know all the things that we've done already? How are they going to know what I've already worked through so that, you know, if you tried a certain technique and it didn't work for that client or they really didn't like it, is this new person going to know that, or am I going to have to repeat all of my stuff all over again? So you might then tell them about this is our transition plan, here's how we communicate. If you know that you're going to plan to transition to this new team member, we will do a review. So I go through with my team members, they will have access to my files, whatever the idea is so that that patient feels held and cared for. If there's going to be a change in schedule, so will they still be available for my typical 8 p.m. appointment on a Thursday? Do I still get my time? Whether they do or they don't, don't make false promises, but lean in and if the schedule is going to change, you let them know.

Kari Lotzien: [00:14:43] Any place where you feel like there is a potential place where we could lose service. So whether it's credentials, whether it's background information, whether it's scheduling, anything that you can think of, that might be a reason why this customer that you've worked so hard to get into your business, we want to make sure that we're answering their questions ahead of time so that we don't risk losing them. And then we always want to close the door by making sure that your customers hear how grateful you were for that team member that they had the relationship with. Even if that team member leaves for reasons outside of maybe what you think was best service, you never want to be bringing team complaints or if there was issues in your team or that person left because they weren't satisfied, you don't bring that to the front line of your clients. You never want to highlight any sort of, oh, this person is so much better, or it was time for that person to go. You never want to give a sense of they left begrudgingly. You want to keep that cohesion in your business. If they had a great relationship with that person, you really want to honor that and you want to be speaking respectfully all through that engagement, especially as someone leaves.

Kari Lotzien: [00:16:06] We want people to, when they transition, we want to be giving them the message as well that we are grateful for the service that they've provided, no matter how long that was. I think sometimes it's difficult as an owner when especially a key team member leaves, or someone who's a really high performer who is just so good, we do feel grief and loss and anxiety when they leave our team. Own it. Own it yourself. Don't put it onto that person. Be really intentional about how you want them to be leaving your business. If you want to make sure that they're leaving feeling your gratitude, your respect, and your really good wishes that whatever they're choosing next in their life, they're going with support. I think sometimes inadvertently, we will share, Oh, I don't know what I'm going to do without you or this really leaves us in a difficult situation, we're in a hard hiring time and it's just really hard to find new people, with all due respect, that is not your team member's problem. That's yours. And it's kind of an expected part of business and a risk that we take as we go through these transitions. So today I just wanted to share with you a few ideas on what to do when you find out that a team member is leaving for any reason to really minimize the risk that you lose clients.

Kari Lotzien: [00:17:32] And I'm going to seal it up that when a team member leaves your business, never forget that the team members who are staying, who are on your team, they're watching to know how you deal with this departure. And this is a time where you really need to have high levels of integrity because you don't want someone to see a negative impression or, you know, that you're talking badly about someone or that, you know, you're really making them feel horrible about leaving your business because the people that are still there, they know that well, that's what might happen when I announce that I want an extended vacation, or when I've decided to start my family. You don't ever want your current team members to feel like them living their lives and doing what they want to do is jeopardizing how you feel about them. You always want to create that sense of safety and connection and all of that.

Kari Lotzien: [00:18:34] So, a few ideas today. I hope it helps as you transition into building your team, building strong, connected teams, and maintaining just phenomenal businesses that really look after clients well. Thanks so much for being here. We'll see you next week.

Kari Lotzien: [00:18:51] Please know that this podcast is meant for entertainment purposes only. It is not a substitution for medical or professional mental health advice. If you require support, please do reach out. Thanks so much.

Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

If you’ve done your strategic planning for 2024, you may have laid out some big goals, and you might be asking yourself “Is business coaching worth it?”. I’m going to be exceptionally candid with you in this episode. Business coaching is a great help but it’s not always the best investment for you and your business in certain situations. You want to ensure a return on your investment so I want to give you guidance in what to consider when thinking about a business coach and how to hire a good one when you’re ready.

I understand the hesitation in hiring a business coach, when I was growing my first business, I held off on hiring a coach past the point where I should have. I have also hired a coach who seemed like a good fit but I didn’t get good value out of the relationship. For a business coach to be beneficial to you, there is a lot to consider. I’ve come up with seven steps that guide you through the whole process from conception to hiring to ensure you find the right match for your goals.

The seven key points are designed to lead you on a journey of introspection to be sure you’re ready to benefit from what coaching can offer. First, ask yourself what you hope to get out of coaching. Before you try to narrow down the options in the field or interview a potential coach, know what you need. Also, do you have the time and energy to invest in coaching? Be honest. There are a lot of business coaches that charge big money and for you to get the results you want, you need to have the time to invest in what you learn from the coach. Then you have to ask yourself the hardest question: are you coachable? How do you assess that? How do you know you’ll be able to follow through on your plans? How do you narrow down the glut of options in the business coaching industry? Those questions, and more, are what this episode will help you answer.

Key Moments

03:30 What do you hope to get out of coaching? How can you answer this for your business?

09:45 You need to find a coach who understands you and what you want from your business.

14:44 How to dig in and ask a potential coach the right questions.

• Being coachable is a key component of the relationship, it’s a two-sided coin
• Will you be able to commit to putting into action the things you learn from your coach?
• Coaching will not save a floundering business if all your energy is devoted to keeping it afloat.

__

Resources mentioned in this episode:

• WINTER PROGRAM ANCHORED LEADERSHIP ACADEMY

__

Contact Kari Lotzien | Be the Anchor: 

• Website: BeTheAnchor.ca
• Facebook: BeTheAnchorLtd
• Instagram: BeTheAnchor.ca
• Linkedin: Be-The-Anchor-Ltd

__

Transcript:

Kari Lotzien: [00:00:01] Welcome to Be the Anchor, the podcast. I'm your host, business and leadership coach Kari Lotzien. When the seas of life get stormy, and they always will, it is not up to us to captain anyone else's ship or to try to calm the waters of the ocean. It's up to us to set our own destination for what we really want, and to learn how to navigate those waves of life together while finding that place of security and stability with others. I call this being an anchor.

Kari Lotzien: [00:00:37] Hello, my friends. I'm so glad you're here. You might have done your strategic planning for 2024, and you've got some big goals. And you might be wondering, is business coaching worth it? So whether you're looking at the Anchored Leadership Academy, the group training program, or maybe you're considering private coaching for your business, I want to be really clear. I do not always think that business coaching is the best investment. Today, I'm going to talk to you really openly about how I think you can use your resources with more clarity, and that if you choose to hire a coach this year or do a group training program, that you're really clear on what you want out of it, and that you're going through a process to make sure that what you're investing in is helping you to ensure that you're getting your return on your investment. I know that it's hard. As a small business owner myself, I started my business when I was in my early 20s, grew it for 22 years, and then sold.

Kari Lotzien: [00:01:36] And I know myself how reluctant, number one, I was to spend money on coaching, and I held on for a really long time and didn't seek coaching when I probably should have. And then I know there's times where I hired a coach and thought that I was going to get a lot of great value out of it and I was disappointed. And there was times where I found the right fit, where I was in a place where I knew what I needed. I was able to find the person or the program that was a great fit for me at that time, and I was able to move forward and get the results that I really needed. And I think too often when we look at the coaching industry, which is so saturated, we tend to be drawn towards the shiny things that people who have the most money and the private jet and the fancy cars, and we think that, well, if they have all of those things, they must be a great business coach and I should probably hire them. And then you find out how much it costs to actually work with them, and you think, oh, that's not available for me. I'll just have to accept much less or, worse off, you do spend the big money and you find that that person just really doesn't get your business and where you are, and they just have different resources or a different perspective. This doesn't work.

Kari Lotzien: [00:02:59] I think there's a process that we can go through together on helping you make the best decision on how you're going to move towards business coaching, or how you can decide with confidence that now is not the right time, and to do that and feel okay about it. So I'm going to give you seven steps today to just guide you through the whole process. Number one, I want you to ask yourself when you consider coaching, when you start to think about, oh, that's something that maybe I am interested in, I want you to just ask yourself, what do you hope to get out of it? What are you looking for in your business right now? Get clear. I think there's so many coaches out there that work in different areas. So there are coaches that work primarily with your strategic planning and they specialize in different industries. So you might have business coaches who specialize in the legal industry or in oil and gas or in product development. You might have business coaches who really look at efficiencies and time management or organization. Maybe that's one of your big struggles this year that you're wanting to improve on. I think one of the big mistakes that I see here is business owners mixing up getting help in your business, you need someone to do it for you, you need someone to just take over that task, versus spending time with a coach to allow you to really assess how are things working, to reflect or brainstorm ideas, and then to help create a plan together.

Kari Lotzien: [00:04:31] So let's take for example marketing. So maybe your challenge this year is you really want to grow your clientele, and you really want to grow your revenue in your business. You've identified the goal, but maybe you're not sure how and you're not quite sure where to move forward. What are your best ideas? Where are the gaps? Where could you grow? And you want someone to kind of bounce ideas off of and to be a sounding board who will ask the right questions to help you get clear, and then help you to lay out a plan to move forward. That can be a perfect fit for coaching. If you know exactly the product and service that you have already well established, you've got a great reputation, you know you've got the resources in place to handle the increased business, but you just need more people to know about it, then you might want to hire a marketing agency that can really focus on that specific challenge in your business and build you forward from there. So one is more of that kind of quick fix, or you're wanting the answer. The other is, I need someone to help me unpack the bigger picture. I think by just aligning what you're looking for specifically will help you with the next step when we talk about doing your research.

Kari Lotzien: [00:05:45] Okay. For number two, I want you to do your research to help you find the best fit for what you identified in number one. Once you know what you want to work on, now do your research and find out who might be the best fit. The coaching industry is really busy. It's really noisy. And I want to make sure that when you hire someone that you know you're getting what you're looking for. So you want to make sure, go to their social media, go to their website, listen to their podcasts such as this one. There's so many business coaches who have really great podcasts where you can go and kind of get to know them. It's like you're having a conversation with that person, and you get to know a little bit about what their values are, how they think, what they, how they attack different types of problems or challenges. What sorts of advice do they give? And I want you to ask yourself at that point, does this feel like a good fit for me? Do I feel like this is someone who would get me? You want to be looking at their social proof. So in their testimonials, are you seeing yourself? Are you seeing people who are facing similar challenges? You might just find that, yeah, they have similar challenges. So for example, I work with a lot of different business owners, but they face similar challenges. 

Kari Lotzien: [00:07:05] A lot of the clients that I work with are working towards what I call the teenager phase of business. They're wanting their business to start operating a little more independently from them. They're ready to start letting go of some of the front line, and they are really looking at improving their own skills of leadership. They want to know how to delegate better, how to hire better, how to really build a strong team. And they know that as a leader, they might be really, really good at providing customer service, they're really good at doing the job themselves, but they know that there's a different skill set they need to develop as they grow their business and move it forward. There's other businesses where a coach will work primarily with men who are startups, who are in a certain type of industry. Maybe they only work in real estate and they coach other real estate owners to build their businesses. Or maybe you have someone who specializes in working on mindset with speakers, and they're really helping them to develop their speaking business. Whatever your goal is, you want to make sure that this business coach ideally can align and you feel like they get you.

Kari Lotzien: [00:08:14] I think this was one of the big mistakes that I made early in my business when I first started looking at business coaching, I didn't really know what I was looking for. I didn't really know what I wanted. I knew that I wanted my business to operate more smoothly, because I knew I was tired, and I knew I wanted to make more money. So when I was looking, I went to people and looked for advice, who had lots of money and who I felt like knew how to do business because they were driving the fancy vehicle and they had the nice house. I looked locally, and what I found really quickly is that when I started asking them for advice, I felt like they didn't really understand me. They didn't really understand why I was in business. They didn't understand that when they told me, you need to be working on your business, you need to just walk away and delegate tasks to others so that you can move into a place of ownership where you look after the business, but it runs itself. 

Kari Lotzien: [00:09:07] I didn't understand how that would improve my business, and it didn't feel aligned with where my energy was coming from, because what I was so passionate about was the front line service. And I think there's a lot of business owners out there who are really passionate about what they do, about what they provide. They love mentorship, they love being with people. And maybe what they're looking for is, how do I support the back end? Because maybe you don't love doing the admin part of the job, the invoicing and the strategic planning and meeting with lawyers and accountants and all of that kind of stuff. Maybe that's not where your energy comes from in your business. So I think when you're talking to a business coach, you need to make sure that they understand you. A lot of the owners that I work with are parents, and one really big factor that I feel like a lot of my clients have is that they want to balance between having a life outside of their business and being really connected to their business. And I think early on, I know for myself, I was reaching out to business coaches who had no life balance themselves. That they had a value or a belief that you had to invest sometimes 80 hours a week in your business if you wanted to be successful and that the way that you did that was by hiring people to look after your family and by not attending some of those important events within your family, that it was just the price you paid.

Kari Lotzien: [00:10:35] And I remember feeling like, if that's the path to success, I don't think I want to be on it. It really had a negative effect and I felt really disconnected. And I will tell you, that's probably one of the key things that held me back from seeking a coach at the next stage, because I thought, they're going to tell me to do something like step away from my kids and not be there for family meals and not have family vacations. And those are the things that are most important to me, because that's kind of why I'm working. I love what I do, I believe in it, but I also want to have that balance. Those two things can't be mutually exclusive for me. So a lot of the people that I really love working with are in that same situation. They really value the time with their family. They do spend time volunteering and doing other things. They just feel they don't have enough time to do all of the things. And as we get a little bit older, many of my clients are in their 40s and we're starting to slow down. We don't have the energy that we did back in our 20s where, you know, we could stay up until midnight working on our business or finishing things up and cleaning things up. We need sleep and we're just tired. So we want to have more freedom and flexibility to do the things with the energy that we have.

Kari Lotzien: [00:11:49] This is something I want you to lean into, because you will be able to weed out a lot of people. And one additional step is I want you to ask yourself clearly when you look at a coach, would you trade their life for yours? So they might have the private jet, they might have the fancy car, but you might notice that they're on their third marriage or they have no relationship with their kids. You don't see that in their posts. Or you can see where maybe they talk about other people and kind of a negative way that they're using people to achieve that level of success. So I want you to just ask yourself, and if you do get that, oh, I'd really like that. Oh, that holiday looks really nice or I'd love to have that kind of vehicle, or I'd like to enjoy that really fancy vacation or that really great outfit, and then ask yourself, would I be willing to do what they're doing to get the results that they're getting? Because we can get a little bit enamored by the social media or the website, or the thing that looks really great on the outside. But dig into it. Do you feel that person could speak to where you are at in your business, and do you feel like you could have that mutual exchange? If not, they may not be the right fit for you and just know that from the get go.

Kari Lotzien: [00:13:09] One of the best things I did last year was launch the Anchored Leadership Academy group coaching program. We had our first group go through in the fall of this year, and let me tell you, it was incredible. We gathered a group of established entrepreneurs who really want to move forward in their leadership. So developing their teams, being able to give great feedback, delegating well to move to that next stage of business. The next cohort is going to start in February and doors are open now for applications. All you need to do is click on the link in the show notes, have a read, see if it feels like a good fit for you, and then book an inquiry call. That's it. Hope to see you there. All right, back to the show.

Kari Lotzien: [00:13:53] What I think you're doing in step two is you're narrowing it down. So now you might have narrowed it down to three different coaches that you think might be a good fit for you. You're doing your research to find out what am I looking for, who might be able to help me with this, and then narrowing it down even further to now where I'm going to take my next steps and maybe book an inquiry call or do a little bit more research to find out is this the right program for me as I move forward with this decision. Okay. At step three, you want to lean in a little bit further by booking that inquiry call or discovery call with that coach. This gives you a chance to ask your specific questions. Now, many of us are kind of turned off by an inquiry call because we're used to having the sales pitch or feeling pressured or coerced into buying a program. That's not what this is about.  An inquiry call gives you a chance as well, to ask your key questions and make sure that this is the right person for you.I want to know, do they have a framework or a process that they work through with their clients? Because a lot of what you're paying for as someone who's investing in that service is you want to know that by going through this process or this framework, that you are going to achieve a certain type of result. That you're either going to learn or get something from your business. You're going to be able to create a strategic plan. You're going to be able to know what you want to do next in your business by following that framework or process. You want to know. Directly ask them, who isn't a good fit for my coaching. If they are the type of coach who tells you that they can work with anyone, anywhere, in any industry and that everyone is a good fit, that is a huge red flag for me, because I think if you're a good fit for everyone, you're probably a good fit for no one.

Kari Lotzien: [00:15:46] I want to know where do you really shine and who are you not a good fit for? What I know for myself, I am a great fit for service-based industries, particularly health and wellness, that's an area I really understand well. I love working with people who have taken a business from a really small place, and then they've grown it and they're really invested in it. I don't do well with more of a corporate structure where maybe that business has operated for 50 years and then I'm working more with a management team than I am with an individual. I know that I do better with individuals. I do better with small companies. I do better with service-based companies. Product businesses where maybe if their primary concern is supply chain issues, or they're really working on a certain type of process related to production, that is not my jam. If their issue is related to their people, team building, wanting to develop a strong team then that's more aligned with what I want to do. You want to know how long am I expected to work with you? So we have a lot of coaches out there who might sell you a package for a certain number of months, or a certain number of sessions. You want to ask them, how long do your clients typically stay with you? Because if I don't ever want a client that feels like they have to invest that time for the next 5 or 10 years.

Kari Lotzien: [00:17:07] But I'm also very forthcoming with my clients that I do a solid break. So they sign on for a certain number of sessions, and then they decide if they want to continue for another period of time. We clearly set goals, and if they take a break, there's no pressure. It's always concerning to me when coaches are evasive, either they won't tell you how long most of their clients stay, or you feel like there's kind of this sense of pressure to stay long term. If people are saying, oh, you know, most of my clients stay for five years and they're just so happy with my service, and if they speak poorly about people who maybe didn't continue on, you want to know what results can I expect to see in this particular time that I have available? If you're willing to commit six months to business coaching, and these are the results you need to see, you want to know that what you're looking for aligns with the way that coach works. If most of their clients work with them for extended periods of time, but they don't get that traction, that might not be the coach for you. So you just want to make sure that there's a good match between those two things.

Kari Lotzien: [00:18:13] Okay. Now I'm going to flip a little bit to the side of the coach, because one thing that I've learned over the last few years as I've worked with more and more clients.  At step four, I want you to ask yourself before you invest one penny or one minute in coaching, I want you to get really clear with yourself. Do you have the time and energy to invest in coaching? When you go back to number three and you talk about, okay, how long are people expected to work with you? What is the time commitment involved? What is the financial investment that I'm going to make for this, and what are the results I can expect to achieve? Now I want you to ask yourself, do I have that time and the resources to truly make the investment to be a partner in this? I heard a beautiful quote the other day and it said the listener completes the song.

Kari Lotzien: [00:18:59] And I thought that was really beautiful because it's the same with coaching. Your coach can create the system and the process and the framework. But if the client doesn't come with their own experience and their own ability to apply that information to their business, the circle is incomplete, and no matter how great the system is, and no matter how great the training is and the framework and the process, if you don't have capacity to follow through on your side, no matter how much money you spend, I don't care if it's 29.99 for a one hour course or you're spending multiple five figures on a really complex highly committed framework, either one of those, if you don't have capacity to do it, is a waste of time and money. I'm going to say that again. If you don't have it, if you don't have the time or money, don't do it now. It's okay to delay it and then start to make a plan for how you are going to make that time available so that you can follow through. The thing that I now know in my practice is that when I have clients who are too busy and they are frequently canceling or moving appointments, they don't get the same result.

Kari Lotzien: [00:20:18] And even though they are paying for the service and they're valuing my time and energy, I don't like that. It makes me feel terrible because I feel like I'm taking advantage, and now I'm way clearer on just asking people flat out, I'm really clear on what they need to invest in terms of time and energy. And then I'm really clear that if they don't have that available to them or they're needing to cancel often, they can't expect to get the same results. And the best way for my clients to get results that they see on my website and they hear in my testimonials is by attending regular connection appointments with me, so that we maintain the traction on their goals and in their business, and that they are investing that time and energy into it. So that's a it's a bit of a tricky one. It can be a hard conversation, but I just want to be really open with you.

Kari Lotzien: [00:21:11] All right, now on to point five. I want you to ask yourself if you are in a state of crisis, or really, if it's time to be seeking qualified mental health support. I am a huge supporter of therapy, and I think sometimes we reluctantly hire a coach thinking that if we just get our business in place, that then the rest of our personal life or our challenges will work out. And I can tell you, this is not the best option. If you're in a place of crisis, if you're going through grief or trauma or loss, or you're dealing with incapacitating anxiety, this is the perfect place to reach out to a qualified mental health professional, to help you feel nurtured and get you back on track as a stepping stone, so that in the future you may be available for business coaching. But I never want to confuse coaching with qualified mental health supports. The other piece is, I want you to make sure that if your business is in a state of crisis, if you are thinking that business coaching is that last straw effort to try and save your sinking ship, that is your business. I also don't recommend coaching at this time, because this is the time you need to get really strategic around how are you going to save this? If you are in crisis and you're at that place where you feel like your business is sinking you, coaching is likely not your best investment. And here's why. I think that coaching works best when you have capacity to make the changes that you need to make. You need to be having space for vulnerability and being open and self-reflecting. And if you are spending your last resources, especially if it is big money, if it's multiple five figures that you're spending to achieve coaching, but your business is at a place where it is sinking fast, do not invest your resources on coaching. You're kind of setting yourself up for failure. At that place, you really need to get strategic about where are you going to be able to earn money to turn that around, or what supports do you need today to kind of stop that bleeding wound that is sinking your business, or you're plugging that hole in your ship as it's sinking. I don't want you to invest tens of thousands of dollars in coaching at that point. It will not save your business simply because you don't have capacity. At that time I think you need to really narrow down into where are the quick fixes? How can you save it? You're in crisis mode, right? So at that point, you really do need to narrow down and spend what resources you can honestly afford to spend. You need to get really clear on what capacity you have to save this and then move forward. But I think at that point, coaching is not your best option. 

Kari Lotzien: [00:24:09] This is a tricky one. Number six is being able to ask yourself, am I coachable? Am I open to self-reflecting, getting feedback, and working towards change? Now I want to point out that in a great coaching relationship, it can be difficult to be vulnerable and to open up and that can take time. So I don't want to give you the idea that you have to come into a coaching relationship just being ready to kind of lay it all out on the table. The process of being able to open up does take time, but I want you to ask yourself, when you look at the past, when you look at kind of how you're coming into this, really asking yourself if you have willingness to consider self-reflecting and changing. Any time that we are looking to change, there has to be a sense of being coachable to take the information that you're given, reflect on how it fits and then be willing to adjust course. There are many people out there, and for multitude of different reasons, that are just not coachable. They are really stuck in their ways. They aren't really invested in making a change long-term because, for whatever reason, they feel like this is working just fine. So if you hear yourself saying things like, I just need to motivate other people, I just need to learn how to fix other people because they are the problem, either, you know, my customers need to understand or my team needs to be more motivated or more inspired, but you're not willing to look at your side of the equation. If that's the case, I don't think the business coaching is your answer. I think in that situation, you're working through the day to day activities in your business and you're doing the best with what you've got. But if you're not in a place where you're willing to change, if you feel like when you do, maybe talk to someone about it. And that could be even in an introductory or inquiry call. If you notice yourself defending what you're already doing. That's a pattern that you are frequently just defending why things have to be the way they are, or why you can't change, why it's never going to be any different. So this can feel, from the coaching perspective, when you come up against a client that is really resistant to change and is just always defending their own action and giving you all kinds of reasons why that's not possible, why they're never going to have more time, they're never going to be able to let go of that task, they're never going to be able to create any more money, it feels like such a roadblock. And this can really deflate a relationship quickly. As a coach, these are the people that will then also say, well, I didn't get anything out of coaching. I don't feel like the value is there and they can be really detrimental to the business reputation of the coach. But it's not because the coach didn't have the framework or the coach didn't lay out the plan. It was simply because the relationship, both sides of that beautiful coin in the coaching relationship weren't there. So you have to have that openness and flexibility both ways.

Kari Lotzien: [00:27:29] All right. And in our final and seventh step, this is the time where you've gotten through all of this other steps and you think, okay, I know my priorities. I know what I want to work on. I've researched my options, I've interviewed a few candidates, and I think I've found a program or coach that will be a great fit. I have the resources, both financially and in my energy and my time, to invest in that process and now I'm in a place where I can say, okay, I'm ready to make the investment. But the key to wrap all of this up is to now plan for your success. Set aside time, put it in your calendar, not only for your coaching appointments, but giving yourself space and time within that coaching relationship to be able to reflect, do your homework, go back and implement those changes so that you can really get the most return on your investment. I'm going to set aside that time to do my follow through on what my coach and I discussed. I'm going to have time to spend on the business outside of the time I spend with my coach, or in that course, or in that training, so that I can start to implement some steps, whether those are really big things or small things, but you're creating a plan. You're taking your side of the coin to ensure that you're not just doing the course, you're not just listening to the training and having all of these great ideas at the beginning but then they never go anywhere because you didn't have the plan to follow through on it. You didn't have the resources. But you're setting yourself up so that when you do invest that time in paying for that coach, that this is where you're going to really optimize on your return.

Kari Lotzien: [00:29:13] So this is where I want to just highlight that when you're looking at the value of coaching and the range is so wide when it comes to how much you'll pay for a coach, number one, you want to make sure that this is something that is affordable, but I also don't want you to look for the cheapest coach out there, because what I want is that the value is there. You want to make sure that they've got the systems and the process and the framework that you can follow that allows you to predict that you are going to be successful in the goal that you had when you came into coaching. But you understand that you're also paying likely for their experience. You're paying for their knowledge. They've likely, hopefully, had a background of learning business, of being able to apply it to different situations. They have a background in knowing how to coach people, and they understand and get you so that you are able to apply it to your situation. That does have value, and you want to be able to ensure that when you're paying that money, when you're investing your time and energy, whatever amount that is, that you're getting the value. And I do believe that when you find the right coach who really gets you and who understands your business and can get excited with you in unpacking your challenges and in brainstorming opportunities and collaborating together, that relationship can be beautiful, and it can be so much fun as you start to really explore, where do I want to go next with my business? And I never want to, of course, I don't ever want to deter someone from working with a coach who is really great. But I want to make sure that we are setting ourselves up for the optimal level of success in business and in life, and making sure that when we come to this partnership between a client and a coach, that we're both looking after our sides of it, making sure that you're finding the right coach with the right credentials, but that you're also preparing yourself for what is it going to take for me to truly implement some of these strategies into my daily life so that I can get what I need out of it?

Kari Lotzien: [00:31:26] I hope that you have really enjoyed this episode. If this is something you want to explore more and you've gone through, you've listened to some podcasts, and you feel like this might be a good fit for you, reach out. Book an inquiry call with me. We can find out if we're a good fit and build from there. Thanks so much for being here. I'll see you next week.

Kari Lotzien: [00:31:49] Please know that this podcast is meant for entertainment purposes only. It is not a substitution for medical or professional mental health advice. If you require support, please do reach out. Thanks so much.

Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

We entrepreneurs tend to have big dreams, big ideas, and visionary goals. Sometimes we find ourselves at the right time to set those goals into something solid. Like in January, we might decide to finally write that book or launch that course. Or when we hit a certain financial goal. What often happens, though, is that we allow other people’s criticism or skepticism to hold us back from realizing those ideas. Or we don’t plan for the goals to be achieved and they eventually fade. So today I want to talk about the productivity needed to see our dreams come to life. 

Author Steven Pressfield believes that the greater a task is to our soul’s evolution, the more resistance we will face in coming to achieve it. That actually gives me a sense of relief, instead of seeming daunting, because it assures me that when I encounter resistance in realizing my goal, I’m on the right path. When we encounter that resistance, it’s time to dig in and really be of service to what we dream of doing. But how? What steps can we actually take to make that happen?

I’m sharing five points in a service model designed to get big dreams and big ideas out of our heads and into reality. The five steps I’ll dive deep into are clarity, self-discipline, self-regulation, narrow focus, and cluster energy tasks. These steps help define what the dream looks like in terms of moving forward and then creating habits and tasks that keep us self-motivated on the journey. We become our own best sources of discipline. We have all the steps laid out for ourselves so that we know what to accomplish daily which will bring us closer to the dream. Join me in this mini masterclass on the productivity needed to make goals a reality instead of just great ideas that we remember later and wish we’d acted on. 

Key Moments

07:47 Achieving clarity on our big dream

12:28: Self-discipline and self-regulation work hand-in-hand

24:33 Narrowing focus to get rid of distractions

• When we recognize we’re going to have to achieve our own dreams, we need to set ourselves up for success
• Forming habits, task breakdowns, and clear goals are some keys to daily productivity
• When I say “cluster energy tasks”, what does that mean and how can we structure that?

__

Resources mentioned in this episode:

• WINTER PROGRAM ANCHORED LEADERSHIP ACADEMY
• “The War of Art” by Steven Pressfield
• “Do the Work” by Steven Pressfield
• Asana

__

Contact Kari Lotzien | Be the Anchor: 

• Website: BeTheAnchor.ca
• Facebook: BeTheAnchorLtd
• Instagram: BeTheAnchor.ca
• Linkedin: Be-The-Anchor-Ltd

__

Transcript:

Kari Lotzien: [00:00:01] Welcome to Be the Anchor the Podcast. I'm your host, business and leadership coach Kari Lotzien. When the seas of life get stormy, and they always will, it is not up to us to captain anyone else's ship or to try to calm the waters of the ocean. It's up to us to set our own destination for what we really want, and to learn how to navigate those waves of life together while finding that place of security and stability with others. I call this being an anchor. If you are a dreamer, a visionary, an entrepreneur, whether you have an idea, big or small, that you think might just make the world a little bit better, kinder, gentler place, you are in the right spot my friend. We are going to talk about everything from big ideas to mindset and strategy, and sometimes just how to get through the day. I don't want you to miss an episode, so be sure to follow and subscribe to the podcast so that we can stay connected and keep doing this journey of life together. Thanks so much!

Kari Lotzien: [00:01:12] Hello my friends, I'm so glad you're here. Today I want to do a mini masterclass on productivity and moving forward to create the life that you crave. Now this is my tagline and I think that there are so many of us out there. I know that my listeners are high performers. We dream big, we have big visions and big ideas, but just like everyone else, we come up against resistance. We come into times where we set those big goals, maybe you did it early in January where you thought about maybe this is the year that I'm going to cross that 6, 7 or 8 figure mark in my business. Maybe this is the year that you decided I really want to write my book. I want to speak on stages. I want to launch that course. Or maybe this is the year you decided I want to do that marathon, or this is the year that I get into the best health of my life. I have had more crazy ideas and big dreams and big goals then probably anyone that I have known. And in the beginning I would hold back. I wouldn't tell people my big dreams because they would be met with criticism, with sometimes laughter, or a lot of questions, How are you going to do that? But I think that no matter who you are, no matter what age you are, no matter where you live, I believe that dreams and visions and ideas are gifted to us, and they come through our minds and our souls with an invitation, and it is only when we are willing to do the work and accept the invitation that we get the bonus of really creating an amazing and incredible life. I don't think that anyone gets ideas or visions, or those nagging little thoughts that keep you up at night just to be an irritation. I think they come to us for a reason, and I think it is our job to follow them, especially when they won't leave you alone. I also believe that ideas and dreams don't last forever, and if we don't latch on to them, sometimes they just keep moving on and they'll find the next person to bring them to life. I take my ideas and dreams pretty seriously.

Kari Lotzien: [00:03:45] Today I want to talk about, as you may have had that big dream or that big vision, how do you next take the step to bring it to life? When reality sinks in, when you've got kids to get to school and bills to pay, and all of the distractions, when you just get tired or you get sick, how do you stay on course even when things get hard? I'm a big fan of Steven Pressfield's work. He's written many books. Two of my favorites are The War of Art and Do the Work, and Steven Pressfield talks about the concept of a resistance, and that he believes that the greater a task or goal is to our soul's evolution, the more resistance we will face in coming to achieve it. This, although it sounds somewhat daunting, it gave me a feeling of ease and flow because I thought maybe if resistance is supposed to show up, if it's supposed to be a little bit scary, or maybe terrifying, maybe that's just part of it. And when I accepted that fear and anxiety and that sense of dread or terror sometimes is just part of the journey, I knew to expect it, and I didn't let it stop me in pursuit of my big goals. Now, I'll tell you in 2023 I set some really big goals. I launched the Anchored Leadership Academy, which was a thought that had been a seed in my mind for years. It was something I really wanted to do, but I needed to learn so much about online courses and how to set them up, and how to market and then create all the content. But the idea wouldn't leave me alone. And this past year, I decided I'm doing it, even though I don't know everything that I need to know, even though I don't have all of the places set out, even though I didn't have someone really close to me that I could call on to help be a mentor or a guide for that, I was willing to follow and find the courses that I need to bring that to action. I was able to follow it through because that sense of a calling or this idea needed to come to life. It felt bigger than me. And when I felt that I just needed to be of service to that idea, and I stayed in service to other people, to the participants that would be in that program that wanted to grow and establish their businesses and move towards greater senses of leadership themselves, when that calling became bigger than me, it felt so much easier to serve.

Kari Lotzien: [00:06:34] And then when the resistance came in that said, you don't know what you're doing and you don't know how to launch an online course, you don't know how to do all of these tech things. When the vision became bigger than me, I felt that I had a duty to figure it out no matter what. Even if it wasn't perfect, I had to push through, and it was something that I was the most proud of over this past year, including the podcast. That was another big learning thing for me. The reason I tell you this is not because I want you to think about your dreams need to look like mine. I know you have your own. I know that there are ideas that have been nagging at you, maybe for years, that aren't leaving you alone, that feel bigger than you. And I want you to just start to think about moving on them this year, because I know the power that this can hold when you start to achieve those things in your life, and you start to follow that service model where you're just using your time to create the life that you want, but it also serves other people. I think this changes our communities and I want you to be a part of it.

Kari Lotzien: [00:07:47] Okay. Number one. When I talk about moving forward, when I'm talking about productivity, I'm not talking about productivity for the sake of how many tasks can you get done in a day that maybe don't land. They don't feel like they're really contributing to your life. You don't feel like your life got any better, you just got more done. That's not the productivity I'm talking about. I'm talking about productivity in the direction of your dreams. I'm talking about bringing that thing to life. Here's the pieces that I think are required to do that. And I'm going to share these things with hopefully some inspiration, that feeling of, I'm going to go with you, I'm going to do it with you, I want to be excited with you. But I'm also going to share some tough love, because if you want to create the life you crave, you have to put some skin in the game. It's not going to come easily. Opportunities do not knock at your door. That you don't just get to put in time doing something and being available and showing up and that those things come up. You, I believe you have to meet it halfway. You have to be ready. You have to have your head up and be prepared and do the work so that when opportunity comes your way, you're ready for it. You have the energy, you have the systems, you have the knowledge in place that you need to take it to that next spot.

Kari Lotzien: [00:09:06] I don't think it just comes to you. No matter how many affirmations you've done, no matter how many meditations, I think you have to put action to those systems. So the first thing I think is critically important is creating clarity. I think we need to get really clear. My question that I came back to throughout 2023 was, what if it all works out? What if everything that I am dreaming about, everything that I'm working towards, everything that I'm trying to put into the world, what if it all just worked out exactly as I wanted it to? What would that look like? What would it feel like? Who would be there? How would I use that money, that time, that platform to reach to other people? And I got really clear on how that would feel and not only what my goal was, but I attached it to why do I want it? I think a lot of people have goals related to revenue, for example. So you want to close seven figures in business this year. My next question for you is how would those seven figures create the life you crave? What would you do with it? Who would you help? How would you spend it? Would you travel the world? Would you buy a fancy vehicle? Would you buy a vacation property? And then I would ask you again if you bought the car, if you bought the vacation property, if you took the holiday, why? What would that be in your life? How would that contribute? So if I am really destined that I want to make seven figures so that I can take beautiful holidays, the reason I want to take beautiful holidays is because I want to have invested time with friends and family that includes exploring a new place. I just think that is the perfect combination of novelty, excitement and connection. When I get clear and I keep following Why do you want that? Why do you want that? Why do you want that? When I land on the truth of what the clarity is for why I want that, what that desire, that goal is going to be in creating the life that I want, that's when I know that I've drilled down and I'm clear on what I truly want. And I don't think when we set goals, we go far enough. So if you can keep asking yourself, why do I want that? What would that mean in my life? What would that give to me? If you have an answer for that, every time you state what you want, go a little bit deeper and a little bit deeper and a little bit deeper until you feel this sense of release. That's it. That is a level of clarity that I'm looking for when you want to achieve the big dreams.

Kari Lotzien: [00:12:17] Okay now, next. Once you get that clarity, once you know what you want, why you want it, and what your life will look like when you get there, then we need to have self-discipline. I think the higher that we get in our companies when we are leading families, many of us as high performers are the leaders in our families. Other people look to us to be the planner, to be the organizer, to take the dream, the goal, whatever it is, and to lead the way for others. But often no one is leading us. No one is holding you accountable to say, did you get there? Did you do that? Did you check those boxes off your task list? Are you progressing towards that really big dream or goal? And I think the more of a leader or a driver that you are in your life, the less people you have that hold you accountable. A) I think because they don't think you need it. And then I'm actually going to push a little bit farther, because I think that when you are the driver, the planner, the leader, the one who's pushing the boundaries in your friend group, in your life, in your family, when you are that person - I almost want to whisper this - but I think there are some times where your friends or family won't hold you accountable. They don't want to push you because it makes them uncomfortable. There are times where your friends, your family, the people that you really love and care about, they might say things to you like, I don't know why you're getting up so early in the morning. I don't know why this is so important. You just need to put your feet up and take a break. Don't worry about it. You just need to rest, have some fun. And I'm not saying that any of those things are wrong, but what you want to know is that if you're pursuing something big, if you've got a big dream, you have to be disciplined in the pursuit of that because you can't rely on others to do it for you. And the way that we do that is we get really clear on our goals, we get clear on that bigger picture, and then we create solid routines with our time that put us in the direction of our goals. So every single week, you should know exactly what tasks you need to do to get you a step closer to your goal. Now, I'm not saying that has to be a big step. It could be something really small. It could be reaching out to someone. It could be learning a very specific task or skill that you need to move forward. It could be that you're just going to do one little part of writing that email or putting together that sales post or making that call that you've maybe been putting off.

Kari Lotzien: [00:15:12] But often if you don't do it, no one is going to ask you about it. No one is going to push you forward. So you have to be able and willing to hold yourself accountable. So personally, the way that I do this is you need to get it out in front of you. I think that when we have visual tasks listed out with a checkbox, it's like we make ourselves a to-do list, but our to-do list is designed to lead us toward our bigger goals. I actually also suggest writing it. I'm a big fan of old-school pencil and paper calendars and agendas. I automate a lot of things in my life, and I use technology for many, many things in my business, but when it comes to planning my time and doing this kind of work, I believe that pen and paper is the way to do it. Because I think when you write a goal in your handwriting and your voice, it slows you down and it just allows you to be that much more accountable. It's not as easy as saying, oh, I didn't get that done, so I'm just going to highlight it and delete it as if it was never there. When you've written it in pen in your agenda, it holds you to a greater standard that you'll stick to it. So that's how I like to do it. So self-discipline is number two. Clarity is number one, self-discipline is number two. And recognizing you're going to have to do it yourself and setting yourself up with systems that hold you to it.

Kari Lotzien: [00:16:48] The third is self-regulation. Now, I believe self-regulation is really the lifelong challenge as a human being. We know that there are going to be times where we come up against tough obstacles or that people will set us off or trigger us. We'll see a post that breaks our heart. Self-regulation is the ability to consciously adjust your reaction to whatever comes your way. And I'd love to tell you, when you look at people like the Dalai Lama or people who have spent multitudes of time in leadership, they almost seem unshakable, that it doesn't matter kind of what gets tossed their way, markets are crumbling, people are upset, customers are losing it, and they have this sense of a foundation. I call this being anchored. This is the central piece of everything that I do. It is this sense of not that we don't react, it's not a matter of not caring or non-reaction. This anchoring is a sense of deep caring. It's a sense of knowing that I have the power to change the way other people feel. I am aware of how my words and my actions can create a ripple effect on others, and I use that with intention. I know what I want to bring into the world. I know what I want to create and I know how I want to do that. I know that part of my gift is helping people to see the patterns in their life, to reveal or go through a process of reflection, and then giving them the steps where they start to feel like they can create the change in their life that they really want, that moves them in the direction of their dreams. And I do that by helping people feel like I believe in them, but also sharing some hard truths. I don't want to be this overly dramatic, everything is great, rose-colored glasses, unicorns, rainbows, all of that. That's not who I am. But I do want to be that place of safety. I want to anchor in that ability for people to come to me with whatever they are facing. And the number of times that people will say to me, I know this sounds terrible, what I'm really thinking is [blank]. When you can create that place of safety and stability for others, I think it's something we can be really proud of. Now, I'm not gonna, I'm not gonna lie to you and tell you that I never get upset or that I don't lose my cool sometimes over the simplest things.

Kari Lotzien: [00:19:44] I argue with my spouse. I get mad at the dog. I do things, I am impatient in traffic. Sometimes those things happen. But I am on a path where I really want to be more in control of intentionally using that energy in the path that I want. Now, the way I want to do this for my goals is that you need to be expected that when you have big goals and big dreams, there are going to be naysayers. There are going to be people that knock you off course, that tell you it's impossible or that you can't do it. There may be people who really deliberately try to block your success, or we get in our own mind where we think this is impossible. This is a crazy idea. It's too much work. I don't know what I'm doing, and we block ourselves. Self-regulation says expect the resistance, know that it's coming. And when you have big dreams and big goals, it's going to come with even more strength and power. Face it. You don't have to let your emotions and your behavior follow that temporary thought that came into your life. You can face it with this, Okay, I see that I'm feeling really anxious and overwhelmed right now, my thoughts are in a really negative place, so I'm just going to hit the pause button and I'll come back to it, maybe later on. The routines through your self-discipline are what allow you to overcome when the resistance gets to be too big. Many people who don't reach this level of tenacity in their lives will allow their emotion or the way that they feel to guide their behavior. So if they don't feel like it, if they're not feeling confident, if they don't feel like they've got the courage to do the thing that they need to get done, they just don't do it. They wait for the confidence to come. People who are self-disciplined say it doesn't matter actually how I feel. I'm going to get it done. And we know that there's maybe a multitude of things that we can do. So maybe if you're feeling really a lack of confidence, that's not the best day to write a marketing email or that's not the best day to make that sales call, but you have steps in place that you know are going to get you closer to your goal, and you are disciplined to say, even if I'm not aligned, my energy is not aligned with doing that task today, I know that there are three other things that I can do that will still move me forward on that trajectory to where I'm wanting to go. And the self-discipline in those routines get you in the habit. And here's a fun fact, when you start to do those things and you check those off your list, so you've done some of these other tasks that maybe didn't require you to feel as confident.

Kari Lotzien: [00:22:40] So if you are thinking, oh, I really need to do the speaking engagement, one of your steps is you need to find out when it is and what the deadline is for speaking applications. And if there is a theme to the conference. And you look that up and you separate that from actually writing it, or maybe you say, okay, I'm going to write out 80% of it, I'm going to fill in all the background, I'm going to give all my links, I'm going to do all of that. Inevitably, once you start to get traction on some of those just tasks, what happens is your body goes, oh, she's really serious about this. She actually does want to pursue. And your thoughts and your emotions change. And the next thing you know, you can take on that sales call. You can write that application to do the speaking engagement. You can take that next step because you've got action in place that drives the way you feel. So self-discipline and self-regulation are so closely connected, they do a dance with each other, but one does not exist without the other.

[00:23:50] One of the best things I did last year was launch the Anchored Leadership Academy group coaching program. We had our first group go through in the fall of this year, and let me tell you, it was incredible. We gathered a group of established entrepreneurs who really want to move forward in their leadership. So developing their teams, being able to give great feedback, delegating well to move to that next stage of business. The next cohort is going to start in February and doors are open now for applications. All you need to do is click on the link in the show notes, have a read, see if it feels like a good fit for you, and then book an inquiry call. That's it. Hope to see you there. All right, back to the show.

Kari Lotzien: [00:24:33] The next is, narrow your focus. When you have a big goal in place you want to imagine that you're limiting the distractions. It's like when a horse is racing and they put those little guides on their eyes. It's so that they can see where they're headed. I want you to think of it in the same way. I know that all of us have so many distractions. There are numerous things that are going to come into your life that are going to take your attention. Things not only that you will feel pulled to - my kid is sick, my parent needs, you know, me to drive them to a medical appointment, or maybe a friend calls you up and says, oh, I've got this really exciting thing planned, you should come. When you have clear goals, you need to know what is a clear no, what is just that is not aligning with where I want to be anymore.

Kari Lotzien: [00:25:31] Get solid on that. I want you to imagine it like a policy. This is a policy in my life. I don't do that anymore. So that might be related to a health goal. I don't drink alcohol anymore. Period. I don't stay out until 3:00 in the morning dancing in pubs anymore. So I developed things myself this year where I was able to say, I don't do that anymore. I don't do pick-your-brain meetings with people who I gut-know are wanting free advice. I no longer take meetings in person for coaching clients. The reason that I've done that is because I need to be so protective of my time, and investing it in moving some of these big things forward that I'm wanting to develop, that I really needed to be conscious of how much time I was spending traveling.

Kari Lotzien: [00:27:03] Now, you might do this for a short time. You might say, I'm not doing these types of appointments for this amount of time. I'm not taking meetings before a certain time of day, because I've got some really big projects that I need to move forward. And you create that boundary or that block on your time. We need to get really, really clear on that, because the hard truth is, I think when we think of boundaries and we think of saying no, we have this little voice in our head that thinks, oh, well, we're just saying no to the things that we don't really want to do anyway. Sometimes you are saying no or not right now to things that you do like, that you do feel are aligned or that you can actually do, but you're saying, not right now. So you have to be able to sit with that discomfort of a) letting other people down, but recognize you might let yourself down as well. You might really think, oh, that sounds fun, I'd really like to spend Thursday afternoon having lunch with a friend, but you know you've got this really big deadline coming up. And when you looked back at your self-discipline in the routine you created, you know that you've got some things that you need to get done so maybe you need to put that meeting off or ask if you can meet on a weekend or in an evening. I'm not saying that we go all in on one focus and all we do is work. That's not it at all. What I'm saying is you need to get really disciplined on how you're using your time and what you're saying yes to, and expect that some of those things are not going to be easy to put off or to delay.

Kari Lotzien: [00:28:43] Okay. The last little area in our little masterclass today is, this is my favorite tool when it comes to being productive: I cluster my energy tasks. Now what the heck does that mean? So I think of every task that I need to do in terms of three categories. Do I need physical energy, do I need mental energy or do I need social energy? And then I put all of the tasks that require that type of energy together in my daily routine. So what that looks like. So physical energy, these are things like I need physical energy to go and get things done, run errands, get groceries, be out in the community, do my exercising. Physical energy often has a lot of movement associated with it and can have a lot of distraction simply because as we're moving, we're encountering other people. Distractions are going to come up, but it doesn't tend to require the same level, sometimes, of mental focus. So I get really conscious that when I'm in a big crunch, when I'm moving forward on a big goal, I am solid on my errands. I do not go into town to run errands more than once a week, and there's times where I will even say, nope, I'll order online or I'm not even going to leave my house because I need to absorb that energy. Because once I get out there, it may take 3 or 4 hours to get the things done that I need to do, and I really need to preserve and protect that time. So I'll just cluster it so that I'm not trying to do a meeting and then run one errand, and then I try to return a phone call or do a sales call and then go, oh, now I can zip into the bank, or I can return that quick email. When you bounce back and forth between these types of energy, what happens is your system needs to reset. It needs to recalibrate for what you are asking it to do next. And every time there's a transition between these different types of energy, it's taxing your system and it's taking time to transition. So when you cluster, a) you're going to be faster. And when you take time to plan this, you will be able to look at not only your errands, but to say, okay, I actually, I have a system or a list. I like to use Asana or a project management tool to organize all parts of my life. So I will have a Costco list in my Asana. So any time during the two weeks, I will just add in what I need to remember to pick up so I'm more aware as I move throughout my day, Oh, this is getting low. But I try to prevent myself from those last minute, Oh, now I all of a sudden we've run out of toilet paper and I need to go and do that. So I try to get ahead of it, but then I think, oh, right now I need to also go to this other place. When I'm planning my time, when I'm doing errands, I'm also looking at a map and how things are laid out and how I could be most effective in using that time. So I cluster it together.

Kari Lotzien: [00:32:00] Mental energy. These are tasks that require you to focus in. So these are your big projects. This is when you need to get into flow state to be creative, to do analysis, to come up with a plan, to write that book, to plan that speech, to create that content for your new course. Mental energy requires often less physical energy. I'm going to say that again because if you're fitting your mental tasks, so if you are doing errands and you're running to meetings and you're very physically active, and then you take a half hour and you say, oh, I'm going to plan my content creation in this half hour, what you'll find is your mind and body are going too fast to be able to really focus in and slow your attention, to be able to get into that flow state, to be really creative. So you want to separate them. I realized this year that for me to get into flow state, if I left it too late in my week, so even if I planned my flow state time where maybe I did block out 2 or 3 hours, which I now know that is the time that it takes for my brain and body to slow down enough that I can start to be creative in my process. But when I put that too late in the week, what would happen is the tasks, all of the busyness, all of the distractions and things other people were asking me to do in those last minute meetings would creep into this time, and I would find it really hard to slow down. And I would find it hard to carve out that time and to protect it, because I would have more requests that have built up by that point in my week. So now I've shifted it and I start every week. My Mondays are my creative time. The great thing is, I've often had a bit of a slower pace on the weekend, I've had some time to connect socially with people, and my nervous system is in a state where I'm more easily reaching that flow state. When I know that I don't have a lot of appointments and things scheduled on Mondays, I don't get that Sunday anxiety that I used to before. When I have space and I come into my Monday knowing that I have space and time set aside for my creative content creation, podcast content, all of these types of things, it allows me to kind of set my intention for the rest of the week. So I use my content creation, and I use this creativity to think of how am I going to show up for my clients, how am I going to show up in meetings for the remainder of the week? And it almost sets my week ahead. So just think about for you how that works out. Where are your best pockets where you can focus in on your mental energy? Where maybe you don't have as many distractions? It's an easier time for you to kind of slow down and get into that state where your body can go into that creative mode or planning.

Kari Lotzien: [00:35:04] The other thing I use my mental time for is planning my activities. So I plan ahead. I get really conscious in thinking how am I going to set my schedule so that I'm meeting the demands of what I want to do to move that big goal or that big dream forward? I think when we are reactive and we just try to fit our big goals into our existing appointments, our existing demands that are often created by someone else, this is when we set ourselves up to fail, because then our dreams don't get space. They don't get literal space in our calendar. So take your mental time to plan out your schedule. And I tend to do this both a month ahead, so I can see the flow. Again, I come back to my paper calendar because I want to be able to see space. I use arrows, so if something is a half day, I can see visually that it's occupying a half day. We don't get this often in our other calendars, so I do tend to run two calendars, which I know maybe doesn't sound as efficient, but for me it allows me to see exactly what the flow and what things feel like when I write them into my calendar and I see how much space they take, and then I review it on a weekly basis. So I review it Monday morning. Are there things that I've committed to that I can't do or do I have additional space where I could maybe slot in some additional tasks? And then I look at it again on Friday and I move tasks that, if there's things that need to be moved to the next week or that I really reflect on what took my time this week, where did I maybe get off track, so that I learn and consciously write my lesson for the week ahead. So that I don't keep doing that same pattern over and over again and next thing you know, that big goal, or the big dream or the big project that I had, next thing you know, we're six months down the road and I haven't made any progress. So I take control of my calendar.

Kari Lotzien: [00:37:01] And then the last type of energy is social. So I have physical energy, mental energy, social energy. Social energy is what fills me back up through connection. Now I feel really blessed this way because I get to have that social connection as well with clients. When I get to meet with someone and we plan ahead and we start talking strategy, and I give them some tools and strategies on how to have a hard conversation or how to implement a hiring process into their business. Or we talk about what they want to do with their time next, and we brainstorm around a project and then we break it down together so it starts to feel really doable. And they can see that progress. When I get to do that, it fills my energy up. It doesn't matter how I feel sometimes at the beginning of the day if I haven't slept well. When I have these types of engagements with my clients, I always leave with more energy than what I started with. So I feel like that's a bonus. And when I think about social, you want your social time to feel like it's building your energy. You want to make sure that you're connecting with people who are raising you up, who are challenging you, and who are in a state where they're also really creating their own lives. They're the types of people who show up for life. They love to plan things. They like adventure, or they like reaching goals and pushing themselves. When we merely put ourselves in the same space, you will find that your energy comes up. You know that there are people who maybe you love, but who deplete your energy a little bit. When you're moving forward, you just, I'm not saying cut them out of your life, but I'm saying you might want to limit your time and you might want to just get really solid on when do I have space and time? So when we talked about narrowing your focus and saying no to certain things you might be really conscious of when you spend time with people, or you limit the amount of time you spend with the people who kind of draw your energy down. So just getting solid and clear on that.

Kari Lotzien: [00:39:09] My hope is that this episode has given you some ideas on productivity with a twist that when you have that big dream or that vision that just keeps nagging at you, I want this to be the year that you get some traction on it, that you start to bring it to life. Because I think that when we sit back and we wait for those opportunities to come to us, we might just be so busy in the day-to-day existence, in getting our errands done and getting our tasks done, that we don't raise our heads long enough to see the opportunity. But what I know is that when we meet those opportunities halfway, when we do our part, when it comes to getting crystal clear on what you want and why you want it, what is it going to mean for your life, then you add the self-discipline and getting those routines in place. You know the structure on how to get there. You work through your self-regulation and your resistance. You know how to regulate your own nervous system so that when those challenges come up, when you don't feel confident, you still make progress. You narrow your focus. You know what you're giving your time to, and then you cluster your energy into those three areas of physical, mental, and social tasks. This sets you up. It creates the foundation so that then when those opportunities come up, your head is up, you're ready for them, and you know, you end up with this feeling of, I'm ready, I've got it. I'm ready to meet you where you are.

Kari Lotzien: [00:40:49] I love working with high performers and visionaries. If this episode resonated with you and you've got some big goals in your business this year, and maybe you've heard yourself saying things like, oh, I don't know. I don't know if I can just keep doing all of the things anymore. I've got so many things on my to-do list that this big goal of writing a book, launching a course, or taking that big opportunity just seem a little bit out of reach. And I know that I need to do something different in my business so that I have space to do this, check out the Anchored Leadership Academy. It might be a great fit for you. We go through week by week ten modules on how to set your business up so that you're ready for the next step. It really focuses in on being anchored leader so that we're building our teams. We're creating communities to help support moving this vision forward. And we do it through empowering others, through building together. If it sounds like something that's interesting to you, click on the link in the show notes and just let's hop on a call, we can chat about if it feels like it would be the right thing for you this year. Thanks so much for being here. Remember to like and subscribe. I'll see you next week.

Kari Lotzien: [00:42:05] Please know that this podcast is meant for entertainment purposes only. It is not a substitution for medical or professional mental health advice. If you require support, please do reach out. Thanks so much.

Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Something really successful people often do, when telling their stories of rags to riches or hardship to success, is they sort of gloss over the decade or so in between difficult struggle and amazing achievements. But it’s in that between time where the work is really done. And I think we need to hear how to actually navigate that decade or so when our business goes from brand new to an established organization. That’s what I’m talking about today. About the growth years of business. About the stages that are necessary for every business to move through.

I like to think of these phases as similar to human development. We start in the infant stage, move through to childhood, then to teenage years, and finally to young adulthood. Our businesses are not that different. They start in infancy, take steps in childhood growth, become independent teens, and finally are fully grown, young adults. When we think about our businesses in this manner, it’s easy to define the stages that we need to take our business through. But how do we realize success in each stage? What are the right things to do when?

Do we start right off with strong marketing and an omnipresent social media presence when we’re just in the infant phase? Or is that the time for market research and developing our customer service? When should we hire? When should our focus simply be on client experience? When should we expand our offerings? What feedback do we allow to shape our business? These are the things I talk about in today’s episode: the strategies we need to employ in each phase of business. Some things can be left until the teen phase. Some things can’t wait and need to be taken care of in infancy. Knowing when to do which thing in business, and how, is half of the journey to success. Let’s start looking at how businesses flourish like little children with the right parenting.

Key Moments

05:00 First step: infant phase

14:24 Second step: child phase

23:33 Third step: teen phase

• How do we know if we’re taking on the wrong feedback and expanding too fast?
• Has the ideal client for our business been identified? Who do we serve?
• Do we want to constantly be attracting new clients or focus on repeat business?

__

Resources mentioned in this episode:

• WINTER PROGRAM ANCHORED LEADERSHIP ACADEMY
• John Maxwell

__

Contact Kari Lotzien | Be the Anchor: 

• Website: BeTheAnchor.ca
• Facebook: BeTheAnchorLtd
• Instagram: BeTheAnchor.ca
• Linkedin: Be-The-Anchor-Ltd

__

Transcript:

Kari Lotzien: [00:00:01] Welcome to Be the Anchor the Podcast. I'm your host, business and leadership coach Kari Lotzien. When the seas of life get stormy, and they always will, it is not up to us to captain anyone else's ship or to try to calm the waters of the ocean. It's up to us to set our own destination for what we really want, and to learn how to navigate those waves of life together while finding that place of security and stability with others. I call this being an anchor. If you are a dreamer, a visionary, an entrepreneur, whether you have an idea, big or small, that you think might just make the world a little bit better, kinder, gentler place, you are in the right spot my friend. We are going to talk about everything from big ideas to mindset and strategy, and sometimes just how to get through the day. I don't want you to miss an episode, so be sure to follow and subscribe to the podcast so that we can stay connected and keep doing this journey of life together. Thanks so much!

Kari Lotzien: [00:01:13] Hello my friends. Thanks so much for being here. I love a good rags to riches story as much as the next person. I really can get so enthralled with a great novel or book or biography or podcast where someone is showcased who has gone from hardship, whether that is coming from absolutely nothing, and then building this empire of, you know, multiple 7 or 8 figures and have gone on to leave a legacy or to change their communities or give back. I can get completely enticed by a story of someone who is living on their sister's couch or battling the throes of addiction, who has then gone on to develop their own small business and then grown it to multiple seven figures and have really created a life that is sustainable and also does great things for the world. But I'm noticing that so many of these really successful people, and I say that in quotations because we're all human, and I think when we listen to the intricacies of those podcasts, you'll start to see that people are more similar, even if they have multiple 7 or 8 figures. Their fears are the same, their challenges are similar. They just come with a different package. But I think that piece that I feel is missing in a lot of these interviews, I think they give it lip service, they'll talk about, you know, I didn't get to this level of success in the last year or two. It's taken me a decade or longer. But I feel like they fast forward through what happens in those ten years to help get that traction, to build over time. And I think that there's this image out there that if we just have the right marketing, if we have the right hashtag, if we have a beautiful website, that that is the key that unlocks success, that that's how people, customers, will find us, give us their money and then the rest is history.

Kari Lotzien: [00:03:23] And I feel that this pattern is hurting a lot of small business owners, because I think that what's happening is we do all these things, we market, but then we don't see the results that we want to see, and it feels like something is wrong. And we feel like if we try harder, if we put in more hours, that we should be getting ahead. I want to talk today about strategies for small business during those ten years, and I like to compare it to human development. Thinking of your business at an infant stage, a child stage, a teen phase, and then a young adult phase where your business needs different things from you at different times. And I want to share with you the common mistakes that I see, some of the myths that are out there, and give you some ideas on defining first what stage your business is at, and then giving you some tips and tricks on where do you focus your attention? Where do you give your energy? Because no matter who you are, no matter where you live, no matter what supplements you are taking to develop your neurotropic health or look after your protein or your sleep, you are still human and you need to look after and really nurture your own energy. That's how you're going to be in this game long term.

Kari Lotzien: [00:04:52] So let's start off by just talking about the phase of business that you're at and kind of see where it goes from there. The first stage is that infant phase. I think of these businesses at a start up phase where the owner or the founder has an idea, they have found a product or a service that they feel the world needs. And they often have incredible passion and excitement behind it. We've all seen these startups. Maybe you were one. I know I was one back in the day where I was so excited about what I was going to offer. And I just felt like I needed to let people know about it. And that's all it would take to open the doors to fame and fortune. At the infant stage, like a very small child, your business will keep you up at night. It demands so much of your energy, your attention, your time, your focus, your bank account. Right? This is the stage where you put it all out on the floor and you go all in. Now, if you've started as a side hustle, that's fine too. It's not that much different. But you know that even as a side hustle, that might mean that you're doing your 9 to 5 job and paying your bills through that. But your business at a startup phase or an infant stage is taking up your evenings and your nights and your weekends as you try to make it viable, as you see it, is this thing going to survive? And it takes so much of us at that point.

Kari Lotzien: [00:06:29] Now, for a lot of us at this early stage, it doesn't feel awful because we do have that passion. We have the belief, we have the goal, we have the drive, we have the energy. It feels amazing to think and dream ahead of what this business might be. And I compare it to being the parent of an infant, where all of a sudden you start to imagine who is this little person going to be as they grow up and you feel so responsible for feeding them and making sure that they look cute and they're clean and they're looked after, it's that similar type of engagement where you're just all in. You're so attached to the outcome because you feel like for this business to survive, it needs you. It needs so much of you. And many of the time we're willing to give it because of that passion and that excitement. The mistake that I think I see a lot of business owners make at that startup or early phase, is that we invest our time and energy in the wrong things. We have a product or a service, an idea, and we focus our our time and our energy on marketing. We spend too much money on a fancy website, or you focus on getting your Facebook page up and running and doing marketing campaigns and having all kinds of fancy things to build a clientele. And the mistake that I think we make here is that when you focus on marketing or the fancy website too soon and you don't have clientele that are drawn to the idea of what you're actually selling, the product or the service itself, I think we fall short and it's putting the cart before the horse.

Kari Lotzien: [00:08:23] My advice to anyone at this stage of development when you're in the startup phase, I think our primary attention and energy needs to be on market research. I think you have an initial idea of who your client is going to be and what they're going to want, and that they will pay for it. And too often I think that we don't always address does your client want what you're selling? Do they see a need for it in their own life? Too often with startups, and I say this with love and compassion because I can tell you, this is the hardest part for me as a business and leadership coach when I see someone and they have such an amazing idea, and then I think, okay, but if you're having to sell the idea that someone needs what you're offering and they don't see the need for it, you're almost creating a mountain for them to climb before you sell the product or service. It just makes it that much harder. So making sure that the client that you're identifying or that you think will need your product is actually interested.

Kari Lotzien: [00:09:33] Number two, will they pay for it? They might think you have a really great idea, but they don't want to pay for it. Or there might be something out there that's already available to them for free or for really low low cost. It is hard to build a business off of something that people can get elsewhere for free. Now, you might tell me that your product is better, or that your service is that much greater that people will pay for it. If that is your theory, test it. Make sure that the customers that you've identified feel the same way and they're willing to invest in it. And then you want to ask flat out how much are they willing to pay? Because you might have this incredible idea that you think people are going to pay a lot of money for, and then you find out very quickly into it after you've spent all the money on the fancy website and the great marketing, and you've got all of the social media out there, and then you recognize that actually people do think it's a great idea, but they're not willing to pay for it. Or they're not willing to pay what you need it to be worth for your time and energy. So I think you do need to have a way to let people know what you're doing. But a very basic business page on social media and a very basic website can do that. It holds a space for you without investing a lot of time and energy in showcasing all of your fancy products or services, because I feel like the more complex something is from the outset, the more attached we get to it. So when you create something simple that just merely lets people know what you're doing, and then you focus your energy and attention on developing your ideal client, developing your product or service. So if people are interested, have them test it out for you.

Kari Lotzien: [00:11:25] I'm a huge fan of beta testing at this stage. It doesn't matter what you're doing. Offer a discount for people to try out your product or service in exchange for getting their feedback. You want their honest input. Now with all, again, love and respect, we want to make sure that we're getting feedback from the people who we perceive are going to be your customers, or from mentors who have gone before you. If your partner, who adores you and loves you, thinks this is a great idea, that's wonderful. That is not market research. If your mom or your very best friend thinks this is a great idea and that people are going to pay you so much for it, again, wonderful to have that support and that nest where you can feel supported, but that is not market research. Market research is the hard truth from people who you think are going to be your customers. Have them evaluate your product or service. How is this experience for you? What is one thing that I could do to make it even better? Or what is one thing that you would suggest we change to make this more attractive to you? This is the place where you want to hold loosely. Don't get so stuck on your idea. You want to get feedback so that you can hone in on what your product or service is. I think at that infant stage where you really want to be focusing in is make sure you've got something that is viable, make sure that you have a product or service that people are willing to pay for, and it's good. And have someone look at that through beta testing or something like that. So the number one, keep it simple. At this stage, you are really focusing 100% of your energy on building your reputation. If you're selling a product, you want to make sure it's a good product and that the value is there. It doesn't matter what the price point is, if it has a really high price point, then it needs to have really significant value. If it is a low price point, you still want it to reflect the value that people are paying. Keep it simple.

[00:13:38] One of the best things I did last year was launch the Anchored Leadership Academy Group Coaching program. We had our first group go through in the fall of this year, and let me tell you, it was incredible. We gathered a group of established entrepreneurs who really want to move forward in their leadership. So developing their teams, being able to give great feedback, delegating well to move to that next stage of business. The next cohort is going to start in February and doors are open now for applications. All you need to do is click on the link in the show notes, have a read, see if it feels like a good fit for you, and then book an inquiry call. That's it. Hope to see you there. All right, back to the show.

Kari Lotzien: [00:14:24] The next step is that child phase. So this stage of business is when you know that your product or service is something that people are interested in. It's something that they're willing to pay for. And it starts to now have some leverage where you've got money coming in, you've got revenue, clients are paying. At this stage, we can really start to stretch. At the child phase I always say this is when we need to be cautious of your business becoming a monster, where it overtakes your time and your energy. Because when we're at an infant stage and we're trying so hard to just develop this business and develop this idea and put it out into the world, we get so excited when people actually get on board and they pay us for that.

Kari Lotzien: [00:15:17] But very quickly it can morph. And now your clients or your customers, whoever is buying, can decide now well, you should also offer this. Or what about this other product or service or oh, here's a really cool idea. And I see a lot of business owners at this phase start to follow shiny things. And we try, especially if you have a background as people pleaser, which many of us do, we'll start to stretch farther and farther and farther by offering too many products or services. We have too many offerings, we have too much inventory, and we're trying to do too many things or sell too many products to a single customer. What happens at this phase is that you can start to feel too stretched, stretched way too thin. When I was at a child phase in my business, and I've had it happen now more than once, where I would create an exceptional service that people really did want.

Kari Lotzien: [00:16:54] So I focused on the right thing at the infant stage. But then when I moved to the child phase, people were attracted to it. This is a good sign. If you've got something great, people will want it. But when they share with you but I can't afford it, you might start to feel like, oh, then you need to lower your price. This is when you need to really get real with yourself and decide who do you serve? Who is your ideal client? If your ideal client that you really want your product or service to reach, if that person can't afford it or they don't see the value in it, you absolutely need to either increase the value, change your product or service so that it meets a higher standard, or you need to lower your price. But if you have the value in your product, if you have the standard and people want it and are willing to pay for it, and then you have a different group of people who just can't afford it and don't see the value, you don't want to lower your price to meet that. You might have a different offering or something, or you decide those are not your ideal clients and that can be difficult.

Kari Lotzien: [00:18:07] At the child phase this is really where you need to decide solidly, who do I serve? Who is my ideal client? What are they willing to pay? And you narrow it because if you go the other way and you start to try to develop something for this price point, and then you develop something different for another price point, and then you develop a third thing for a different price point, or different people want different things from you, you start to dilute your offering and it loses its strength. And I see in a lot of businesses that do this, when they start to diversify or have too many products or services, the quality and the standard of the service or product they offer drops. And this is where your reputation can take a really big hit. I think this is the demise of a lot of small businesses who hit that phase of This was viable, people wanted it, but then they start to try and go too broad too quickly and it fails. So I think in this stage of business, the focus is really defining who is my customer, who is my client, and do they see the value in my product? And then you narrow again to developing excellence. Because no matter what phase of business you're at, I am old school, I feel that still the number one best marketing strategy out there is word of mouth referrals. That when your customers and clients love what you're doing and they rave about your product or service, they're going to tell others, and those people will then grow exponentially to want to deal with you.

Kari Lotzien: [00:19:43] This is where you want to stay focused in on your customer service and developing a reputation of excellence. I always think we need to be service forward. Instead of focusing on your website and your marketing and your copywriting and worrying about your social media, focus on your service. When customers come to you, do they rave about the experience? Do they love what you're providing? And are they telling other people? If they're not, if you are not getting a substantial number of your customers or clients coming to you from raving fans, then you need to go back and look at your service delivery model, and you need to come back to that infant phase to go back to doing beta testing, to get feedback from customers who you think are your ideal and say, let me have it. What could I be doing better? Where are my gaps? Where are my holes? Where do I need to change? Hold on to it loosely. Don't go into defense mode. We're not trying to sell something to people that they don't need. Business gets really easy when we align what we do with what people want, and then you just rinse and repeat and you just keep adjusting to make it fit for what they're looking for. This is also the place where now we want to really start looking at efficiencies.

Kari Lotzien: [00:21:04] So I think one of the other mistakes that people make is they think that they don't need to look at their systems and their procedures and their efficiencies until they're at a certain size of business or a certain revenue amount. That is not true. Focus on your efficiencies once you've recognized you have a viable product that people are willing to pay for. Now look at how can I make this more efficient? Are there pieces of my business that I can automate? Are there places that I need to maybe delegate or outsource some of my tasks to, so that I can really focus on providing an exceptional experience for my customers and driving that referral relationship? Come back to that. And then the cherry on top at this phase is your marketing. This is now where you know you have a viable product or service. You know people are willing to pay for it. You know that they're seeing the value. So hopefully you've got some social proof where you can be sharing testimonials in your marketing to attract new customers into your business, because now you know that once they come in that funnel, once they've purchased your product or service, you know you can deliver on the other side. There is nothing worse and nothing harder in a business when you're constantly having to attract new customers but they don't return and they don't refer others. Then all of your energy has to come into drawing in new customers all the time.

Kari Lotzien: [00:22:32] I think that's a weak business model. If you notice that most of your customers are new and you should have a business that people are returning back to and purchasing again, you need to look at your back end. You need to look at your product or service and your delivery and your customer experience. Come right back to beta testing. By this time, you should start to be developing that flywheel where your customers are starting to refer back to you, where you're starting to get some return business. And that is the place where we want to keep that operational and keep that experience for your customer top notch. And then your marketing merely becomes sharing that, sharing what your customers are already saying about you, sharing some of the results that they're getting, and then letting people know, here's what we do. It is so much easier at this place to now start to lean into the marketing. This is what you share on your website. This is where your social media goes.

Kari Lotzien: [00:23:34] Okay and now we move into that teen phase of business. So at the teen phase, this is where your business has gotten to a point where maybe you've identified opportunities, or maybe there's something looming on the horizon that's a threat to your business, and you don't have the skill set currently to overcome that or to move through it. This is where I think at the teen phase, we start to build in other people, other resources. I think one of the mistakes that we make at this phase is that people keep stretching. They just keep trying to do more and be more and reach more people without employing help. I think at this phase, I hear a lot of my clients tell me I just need to hire. I just need to get some help. I need to duplicate myself. But what happens at this phase is even if people hire, if you haven't developed exceptional customer service when you were at the child phase of business, or you haven't fully beta tested your current products or services. If you don't have efficiency, adding more people will add to the overhead of your business, and it often amplifies your issues. So the time to really do the hard work, just like raising kids, the time where we really focus on developing great morals and values and teaching work ethic, it's not when kids get their first job when they're 16 years old. It's way back at that infant and child phase. Now, the great thing about business is that we can go back. We can employ some of those strategies in the infant and child phase by just shifting our focus and going back to establishing that different routine. We don't get that in parenthood. But at the teen phase, what we want is you already want to have really clean systems, you want to have great efficiency and you want to have a solid product or service.

Kari Lotzien: [00:25:36] Having more people to help you deliver something that's not already efficient will not get you the results that you're looking for. So once you've done that work, once you've dialed in your efficiencies, you've got solid systems in place. You know your product or service is exceptional. Now your focus shifts. This is where I specialize with my clients. So I would say 90% of my clients or more are in this phase between the child and teen phase of business. I love taking businesses from that child to teen phase. And then eventually, if they choose to, to the adult phase where they sell, they retire, or they move to the next phase of their business in succession planning or legacy planning. Now when we shift to teen phase, the business starts to step ahead and it starts to speak for itself, and we train others to take more of that frontline role in the business if we choose to.

Kari Lotzien: [00:27:23] Now, some businesses may not do that. In some businesses, you may continue to have a frontline role, but you're getting more support. You're developing a team for your business. So you might have an operations manager, you may have a CFO, you might have someone who really looks after a lot of that frontline in your business and even maybe some of your strategic planning. At the teen phase of business we really need to shift on developing people's skills. And as passionate as you've been, as much as you have a phenomenal product or a great service, if you don't spend time developing the skills of leadership, the skills of delegation, giving feedback, knowing how to teach or train or mentor someone, if you don't develop those skills, you hold back the success of your business. And I think this is a myth in a lot of places. When we look at business growth, there tends to be an image out there that people are self-made and that they've done it all themselves. And by just being good people or kind people that others like, they develop success.

Kari Lotzien: [00:28:34] And I know that it is so much more than that. I know it from experience. I know it from my clients. I know that it crosses all different industries, that if you don't develop the skill of good leadership, your business will not do as well as it could. Now, I say it that way because I know that there's a lot of business owners that maybe are not really great leaders. They're not great at giving feedback, maybe they're not very emotionally regulated. And we think, oh, but they're earning multiple six figures. This must not be true. And in every one of those situations, I look and think, what could their business be doing? What are they leaving on the table when it comes to revenue by not developing their leadership skills and not spending time really being that CEO of their business, having clear planning, being able to develop mentorship programs. Even if you're a very small business, even if you only have a few employees, developing the skills around leading people will absolutely take you to that next level. Because at a teen phase of business, you can no longer do it all yourself. And if you do, you will hold back the success of your business, I guarantee it. So at this phase, you're focusing on leadership skills. You're continuing to dial in those efficiencies and you're really looking at empowering others. For me, I think this phase is as exciting as that startup and the people who do it well, I think there's a shift that the passion that you had at that very beginning, where you took on this business and you wanted to start to develop something more than yourself and give back to your community, something happens.

Kari Lotzien: [00:30:20] John Maxwell would refer to it almost like a calling where it feels bigger than you, where suddenly you realize that one day your business is going to not need you, where you might retire or move on to something else, or you're going to sell it. When you recognize that we look ahead and we think, okay, what is this going to be when I'm no longer there? And you start to invest your energy and your time and all of the knowledge and the experience that you have in your business, and you start to share it with others, I believe this is how we grow that next generation and how things evolve over time to get better and better and better in business. Because as we keep feeding this forward, our business strengthens. And people bring in new ideas and new perspectives. And when we combine the experience that we've had and the knowledge that we had from the past with new ideas, this is how we move into new trajectories. This is where I can get really excited, because this is where I guide a lot of my clients in having those conversations, developing leadership skills because they're really good at doing it all themselves. They know how to do that. They're good at their business, they've had a certain level of success, but now they start to feel a bit like a newbie again, and they feel a bit like a fish out of water.

Kari Lotzien: [00:31:57] I hope these strategies, and this concept of thinking of your business at different phases and putting the right things in the right order, what you're focusing on right now, has been helpful for you because I have a real passion for small business. I think these are people who are just so genuine in wanting to make the world a better place. I want to see you succeed this year. I want you to have that dream where you feel like things don't have to be hard or don't have to be hard as often, but that you can start to find the fun and the passion in your business again. And I think helping to focus on the right things at the right time and the right phase of your business really does help make those things easier. Thank you so much for being here. If you have not already liked and subscribed to the podcast, please go ahead and share this episode. I'll see you next week.

Kari Lotzien: [00:32:50] Please know that this podcast is meant for entertainment purposes only. It is not a substitution for medical or professional mental health advice. If you're requiring support, please do reach out. Thanks so much.

Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

A piece of advice my grandma gave to me before my wedding is what inspired this episode. I asked her, What do you think the key is to a long-lasting marriage? And she said, Well, I think that it’s sometimes you need to not say what you’re thinking. This got me thinking about how much focus we place on speaking well, on communicating our own thoughts in speech and in writing, and on being heard. But just how much do we invest into learning how to listen well? I think listening is a key foundation in building relationships and business, and it’s what I talk about today.

There are many ways we undermine what other people are communicating to us without even meaning to. Some of the ways in which we fail at listening are obvious. Interrupting is one of those obvious rude behaviors. So is talking too much, monopolizing the conversation. We understand those aren’t ideal behaviors yet we still struggle with them. And what about the less obvious ways in which we aren’t listening? Rushing people, hurrying to give advice, overtaking their story with our own. 

How can we truly enter into a conversation in which we speak and listen in equal measure? How do we become good listeners? Are there ways to train ourselves out of the bad habits we have that damage our listening skills? There are ways. I’m guilty of all of these things myself but I have found ways to teach myself to listen. Little things I picture or questions I ask that open people up for me to listen to. That’s what I share with you today because listening is just as important in communication as speaking. Are you ready to work on it together?

Key Moments

04:46 Interrupting and speaking too much

07:44 Rushing someone else’s story

13:02 Jumping into somebody else’s story with our own

• What is a conversation pizza and how can it help?
• How do we redirect a conversation we’ve hijacked back to the original speaker?
• What is the objective of a conversation?

__

Resources mentioned in this episode:

• WINTER PROGRAM ANCHORED LEADERSHIP ACADEMY

__

Contact Kari Lotzien | Be the Anchor: 

• Website: BeTheAnchor.ca
• Facebook: BeTheAnchorLtd
• Instagram: BeTheAnchor.ca
• Linkedin: Be-The-Anchor-Ltd

__

Transcript:

Kari Lotzien: [00:00:01] Welcome to Be the Anchor the podcast. I'm your host, business and leadership coach Kari Lotzien. When the seas of life get stormy, and they always will, it is not up to us to captain anyone else's ship or to try to calm the waters of the ocean. It's up to us to set our own destination for what we really want, and to learn how to navigate those waves of life together while finding that place of security and stability with others. I call this being an anchor. If you are a dreamer, a visionary, an entrepreneur, whether you have an idea, big or small, that you think might just make the world a little bit better, kinder, gentler place, you are in the right spot my friend. We are going to talk about everything from big ideas to mindset and strategy, and sometimes just how to get through the day. I don't want you to miss an episode, so be sure to follow and subscribe to the podcast so that we can stay connected and keep doing this journey of life together. Thanks so much!

Kari Lotzien: [00:01:12] Hello my friends, I'm so glad you're here. Today I am sharing an episode with you that was inspired by my grandma. She is going to be 99 years old this year and was married for over 60 years. She is a long standing decades of volunteering and leadership, so I think she might know a thing or two when it comes to communication. And I remember the advice that she gave to me before my wedding. And when I asked her, what do you think the key is to a long lasting marriage? She said, Well, I think it's that sometimes you need to not say what you're thinking. And I kind of laughed. And yet here I am, more than 25 years later, and I still struggle to not always say what I'm thinking. And I'm thinking maybe this is something you struggle with too. And we could chat about it today. Because what I have noticed is that we focus a lot of energy on speaking well, on leading meetings, on public speaking, sharing our ideas in different formats, we spend so much time learning how to communicate our thoughts in writing, writing newsletters, writing ads and marketing. But how much time and investment have you given to really developing your listening skills? I have not read much about it when it comes to leadership books and management and training, and yet I think this is something that we need to come back to. I think it's one of the key foundations in building relationships and business. And it's not one that comes naturally to many of us.

Kari Lotzien: [00:02:56] Something that I noticed for myself is that I tend to be a better listener with strangers or people that I don't know very well. I think this is because simply, I just don't know much about them. So there's more things that I can learn that I'm naturally interested in so it's easier for me to stay engaged, to ask more questions, and to be more of an observer and a listener. I've also noticed that I tend to be a worse listener when it comes to either people that I know really well, my own super close family, friends, my husband, but it's also worse when there's a power differential. So when I'm talking to my own kids, I find sometimes I'm not as good of a listener. Or there were probably times when I wasn't as good when I was speaking with my own team and when I was in a management or an ownership position, and I felt that it was my job to tell people what to do, or to give them advice, or to share my thoughts and almost insert my ideas into their mind. Now, I mean, that sounds terrible, but that's why we're here. Self-reflection, safe spaces, I'm going to lead, we're going to do this together. That's just kind of what it's all about here. You might not even recognize that you struggle in terms of listening. I think most people, if we were to ask, are you a good listener, would say, oh, yeah, I'm a pretty good listener, I don't interrupt. But there's more subtle cues to that. So I'm going to share a couple of the things that I'm really working on in noticing myself, and then some tips and strategies on how I'm working through that that might be helpful for you too.

Kari Lotzien: [00:04:46] Now, as I referred, interrupting was something that I was terrible at, and it's honestly something that I can tell you with my husband and I, we both do it and we're both trying to be more aware of it. I don't think it's because we don't respect the other person. I do not think that it's because we feel that our ideas are better. Often we just get going and we get excited and there's this interrupting over top of one another as we share more ideas, or we reflect back on a story, or we apply it to a situation. But the bottom line is, when you're interrupting someone else, you're not allowing them to finish their own thought and to get their space in the conversation. No matter how you look at it, no matter who you're with, interrupting is rude. And it's something I've been working really, really hard on. The analogy that has helped me when it comes to interrupting or talking too much, which, if you listen to the episode on networking for the socially awkward, I am one of those people. Sometimes when I get anxious or I get nervous, I talk too much and I will overtake a conversation and it's like anxiety that takes over and it just comes out of my mouth and I'm not really sharing anything of value, I'm just talking. So now I imagine that when I go into a social situation, whether it is a meeting, whether I'm having a one-on-one conversation with someone or I'm in a large group setting, I imagine that there is a pizza in the middle of the table, and I imagine that this pizza is for everyone in the group. So I'm conscious when I speak, it's like I'm taking a piece of that pizza from the pizza of conversation in the group. When I take a piece, that was my turn to share a story, a thought, an idea, and now I should share the rest of the conversation pizza with everyone else.

Kari Lotzien: [00:06:50] We've all been in situations where one person takes over the whole conversation and no one else talks. If you can imagine it like a pizza, which to me is a very tangible thing, it would be rude to eat eight pieces of pizza if there was only ten, and then someone else takes one, one other person takes one, and maybe four other people at the table don't get any at all. For me, when I make it tangible like that, I think, okay, that was my piece of pizza. Now, I imagine handing pieces of pizza to everyone else and encouraging them to share, either asking them a question to get them to share in the conversation, or I'm just inviting that feedback. I think interrupting and talking too much, those ones are a little more obvious. These next ones, I think are more subtle and where I want to lean in a little bit.

Kari Lotzien: [00:07:44] Something I notice for myself is rushing. That non-verbally when someone is sharing a story, whether it is my kids or my spouse or a colleague, that sometimes I find myself rushing them. And the way this shows up is you might give someone words. So if they get stuck on a word and you notice that and you immediately fill it in, or you finish their sentences for them, or non-verbally you notice yourself doing this yep yep yep. You might think that you're encouraging them, that you're, Oh, yeah, I understand. But when you reflect back on it, there may be a tone of hurry it up, I want you to be finished so that I can have a turn to talk. So even things when you're listening back to yourself, if you see that yep, yep - and it's even worse if it comes with you've diverted your eye gaze or you're looking somewhere else - what that says is hurry up and finish talking, because I have something else that needs my attention, whether that is an email or your phone's going off, or you're noticing something else that's taking your attention, what that says to the other person is that whatever they're saying isn't holding your interest, and you want them to just hurry up and finish.

[00:09:10] One of the best things I did last year was launch the Anchored Leadership Academy Group coaching program. We had our first group go through in the fall of this year, and let me tell you, it was incredible. We gathered a group of established entrepreneurs who really want to move forward in their leadership. So developing their teams, being able to give great feedback, delegating well to move to that next stage of business. The next cohort is going to start in February and doors are open now for applications. All you need to do is click on the link in the show notes, have a read, see if it feels like a good fit for you, and then book an inquiry call. That's it. Hope to see you there. All right, back to the show.

Kari Lotzien: [00:09:56] The next one is rushing to give advice. And I have to tell you this one I am terrible for. I think it's all the years that I spent, uh, working in the therapy world where people would come to me and they would pay for me to give them advice. Now, that's maybe just an excuse, but what I notice, especially with my own kids or with people that I am supervising or kind of giving advice to, is that I will rush too quickly to share my own thoughts instead of allowing space. So imagine that one of my kids is bringing me a challenge that they're going through. So maybe it's with a friend, or maybe it's with one of their bosses and they're feeling frustrated and they've shared the situation. How many times I let them share the situation, and then I jump in to tell them what they should do. Or I give them my analogy, or my thoughts, or my ideas of what's going on. What I'm really focusing on, and I think the important thing with all of these strategies is it's really difficult to change a habit unless you have something else in mind to replace that with. Right? It's way harder to just stop interrupting someone or to stop finishing words. Whereas if you say okay, instead of saying yep, yep, yep, or giving words or finishing sentences, I'm going to consciously just slowly nod my head to encourage them to keep talking without feeling rushed. When I rush to give advice, and I noticed that in myself, I will now intersect and say, Okay, what are you thinking? What do you think you're going to do about that? Or I'll ask, How are you feeling about that? What this does is it allows them to go deeper. And more than nine times out of ten, they actually don't want my advice at all and they've already got a great solution, they're just wanting to share their thoughts and their ideas, and sometimes what they need is just that sounding board the same way that I do and that you do. We just sometimes need to talk it out to be able to reflect on what we're already thinking and to kind of sort out our ideas.

Kari Lotzien: [00:12:13] We really don't want the input of the other person because, you know, you know there's nothing worse than when someone gives you advice and you're like, yeah, I already did that. Or yep, that's already what I was thinking. It feels like they've taken your power away and they're not giving you credit for the idea you already had. So make sure that we're not doing that to anyone else. Because when we insert our own ideas, it's like we take their power away and we show that we don't value the thoughts that they already had. So substitute that by staying curious. The two questions that are my go to are, What are you thinking about that? And, How are you feeling about that? And it often just allows to go one step past describing the situation and just reflecting on their own piece.

Kari Lotzien: [00:13:02] The next is someone is talking, they're sharing a story, and that little voice inside of your head goes, oh, that reminds me of a situation in your own life. And we naturally will go and start sharing our own story. We might interrupt the other person, or we just interject our ideas, and the next thing you know, we're telling our own story and taking that piece of pizza. I imagine in this situation, I imagine that that person is holding the piece of pizza, they're telling their story, and then I literally grab it out of their hand and I take it back, and then I start sharing my own. It is that rude. It is as rude as pulling the pizza out of someone else's hands. Now, I don't think that anyone does this because they're trying to be a jerk, or they're egocentric, or they're trying to be the center of attention. I really think that in most situations, it's because we want to relate and we feel like we have this common experience or a similar thing that's happened to us and by telling that story, we feel a sense of connection. But I don't think that's how this always feels for the person that is originally telling their story. So when I notice myself doing this, when I've taken the story or I've taken that conversation pizza out of that person's hand, what I will then do is say, I'm sorry, I didn't mean to take over the conversation, and then I'll ask a question, I'll just say, oh, but it reminded me of this situation, and I know that that made me feel really frustrated. Or, you know, I was so excited when that happened too. I give the common thread, the common emotion, I connect it, and then I ask them a question back. And I imagine, like apologizing and giving their pizza back to them. This is probably one of the hardest ones, and it's taken me a long, long time to stop doing it. It irritates me when I do it, and I think it's just developed over so many decades that it's something that I have to consciously stop myself. And sometimes the train has already left the station by the time I've realized, oh shoot, I did it again. So I have to stop, say, oh, it just reminded me I was so excited when that happened as well. And then ask a question and imagine giving that back. So I do, I do try to apologize when I do it.

Kari Lotzien: [00:15:30] The other piece that I think is kind of next level when it comes to listening, that I think really allows people to feel heard at a deeper level, and I think that once you've mastered not rushing people when they're sharing, not rushing to give them advice or sharing your own story when they share, once you've got through those foundations that I think are critical to having better conversations and better relationships, then I think the next piece of this is when you spend time starting to notice non-verbal cues. When someone tells you a story, or they make a comment and you notice that what they say and their body language don't quite match. So, for example, they might say, yeah, you know, I'm really excited about this. When that excitement doesn't come through in their tone of voice or in how their breathing or their body language, when you comment on that and say, oh, you said you were excited, but it doesn't really sound like it. What's going on? What that does for the person that you're talking to is now they feel so much more seen and heard because now, not only did you hear what they said, now you've also observed how they said it. You've observed their body language. You've observed maybe the story behind it. This will create a much deeper connection every single time. So just noticing that and then commenting, not in judgment, but in a place of curiosity, I think all listening is a matter of not going to judgment, not going to advice, not going to decision making, but holding back in a place where you can stay curious and pause and just reflect back.

Kari Lotzien: [00:17:35] The big picture in all of this, as we develop listening skills, is to understand that the objective of a conversation is to learn and to clarify. Someone's telling you a story. What else can you learn? What could you learn about them, how they're thinking, how they're processing that, how they feel about that? Or did that have an impact on another area of their life? That is the objective of a conversation. The objective of a conversation is not to share as many thoughts and ideas as you can. That is public speaking. When we are just demanding our attention or time, that is standing at the front of the room teaching. But most people are not your students. Most people are not sitting back and just wanting to learn from you. And even a good teacher is exceptional at asking questions. A true leader has exceptional listening skills. We coach people to that next level of understanding and moving forward, but they already hold the key to their own story and their own success. They're not looking for advice, and when they are, they generally will ask for it. Or they'll directly ask, do you have any advice for me? Then by all means share your own experience. Share your own advice. But I do think it's better to wait until you're asked until you share it, no matter what position you're in.

Kari Lotzien: [00:19:34] I hope you've really enjoyed this episode that was inspired by my grandma giving me advice on not telling my spouse what I'm thinking, and I can tell you I still struggle with that some days, still working at it. I know that this is something that has improved my relationships, and I hope it does for you too. If you have not liked and subscribed to the podcast yet, I would love for you to just go click on those three dots at the top. Follow along so that you don't miss an episode, and if it inspires you, please take a screenshot and share this link with a friend or someone that you care about that you want to improve your relationship with. And if you notice that maybe one of these things is something that you do, you could ask them that, you know, I noticed that I do this when I'm in conversation with you, and it's something I want to get better at. I just want to let you know I'm listening. All right. Thanks so much for being here. Love you lots. See you next week.

Kari Lotzien: [00:20:50] Please know that this podcast is meant for entertainment purposes only. It is not a substitution for medical or professional mental health advice. If you require support, please do reach out. Thanks so much.

Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

I’m putting a twist on goal setting for the new year in this episode. We are always looking for the payoff or the reward or what the destination is and we often forget to have fun in the moment of living. So while you’re setting intentions and planning for the new year, I want to set out this challenge: what goals can you set that aren’t about achievement but are simply about fun? What can you learn that’s brand new and gives you a sense of excitement?

It’s the toddler or puppy sense of joy that I want you to reach for. That utterly new experience that is absolutely thrilling, full of learning, and entirely about awe. Like a toddler playing in the snow for the first time. You know exactly what I mean. We forget about experiences like that when we become adults and I want to challenge you, and myself, to find something to pour yourself into for sheer joy this year.

There are three areas to consider. What can you learn that you know nothing about? What can you try that you’ve never tried before? And who can you meet that opens your world to new possibilities and ideas? It’s not about big ground-breaking things like parachuting or scuba diving. It can be something simple like taking an art class, trying a new restaurant, or inviting someone you just met to accompany you to a show. Branch out and see what you can learn, do, and see that’s brand new, just for the fun of it. Are you willing to give it a try?

Key Moments

04:12 The challenge: to learn something for fun with no external reward or purpose

10:06 Feeling a gap in your life and intentionally finding something new to fill it

13:56 Who do you want to meet? And how can you meet them?

• Do something you’re not entirely comfortable with but that you’re curious about
• Combat loneliness by reaching out to new people
• Find that brand new puppy joy experience

__

Resources mentioned in this episode:

• NEED LINK FOR WINTER PROGRAM ANCHORED LEADERSHIP ACADEMY

__

Contact Kari Lotzien | Be the Anchor: 

• Website: BeTheAnchor.ca
• Facebook: BeTheAnchorLtd
• Instagram: BeTheAnchor.ca
• Linkedin: Be-The-Anchor-Ltd

__

Transcript:

Kari Lotzien: [00:00:01] Welcome to Be the Anchor the podcast. I am your host, business and leadership coach Kari Lotzien. When the seas of life get stormy, and they always will, it is not up to us to captain anyone else's ship or to try to calm the waters of the ocean. It's up to us to set our own destination for what we really want, and to learn how to navigate those waves of life together while finding that place of security and stability with others. I call this being an anchor. If you are a dreamer, a visionary, an entrepreneur, whether you have an idea, big or small, that you think might just make the world a little bit better, kinder, gentler place, you are in the right spot my friend. We are going to talk about everything, from big ideas to mindset and strategy, and sometimes just how to get through the day. I don't want you to miss an episode, so be sure to follow and subscribe to the podcast so that we can stay connected and keep doing this journey of life together. Thanks so much!

Kari Lotzien: [00:01:10] Hello my friends! Happy New Year! I hope that you had some time over the last few days or the last week to just kind of cozy up, sit back, reflect on the past year and hopefully take a pause. As we come into the new year, many of us start thinking about goals and what we want to accomplish in 2024.

Kari Lotzien: [00:01:31] Whether you're the type of person that is a resolution setter, or you do your analysis and your business planning early in the new year, whatever that looks like for you, many of us who are high performers in business and in life tend to set goals, and we are constantly looking forward into I'm going to go through struggle or hardship, I'm going to focus my energy and my attention now so that I can achieve something. I can get to a reward. Whether that's in health and wellness, we're going to lose 10 pounds, we're going to run a marathon, we're going to achieve better health, eat better, lower our blood pressure, whatever that is. Or maybe you're setting big goals in your business that you want to achieve a certain revenue milestone, or you want to expand or go into a new market. All of those things are great, and I don't want to ever lose sight of the importance of setting goals and having forward motion in your life. But I want to put a little bit of a twist on it today because many of us who are that personality, myself included, we're always looking for What's the payoff? What's the reward? Where are we going? What's the destination? And sometimes we forget to have fun in the moment. So as you start to think about planning for the new year, I want to invite you along with me to set some goals around where am I going to be a beginner this year? What am I going to learn or explore? Where am I going to go? Who am I going to meet just for the fun of it? I think we get to maybe an age in our lives where we haven't been in a place of being the newbie for a very long time.

Kari Lotzien: [00:03:19] We are pretty comfortable in a lot of areas of our life. We have connections. We have people that we do things with that we feel comfortable doing. We are likely pretty confident in our businesses where we know what we do, we know how to serve, we know how to move forward. And we get into a place where things just start to feel a little bit maybe boring and it's not, it's not a bad thing. It can feel comforting. But one way that I think we challenge and push ourselves so that life doesn't feel boring is we set goals, we think about what's next, and we move forward on those things in a place of achievement. For some of us, you achieve those goals. But if you're a high achiever, you're pretty used to having that experience of reaching your goals and then setting new ones. So I want to invite a different way to look at this. What is something that you could do this year for fun? That has no external reward or purpose or destination, but you just want to do it for the sake of doing it, that it's something you're curious about, something you want to learn, something you want to explore just for the joy of it. To introduce yourself again to that beginner mindset.

Kari Lotzien: [00:04:44] Now, I want to give you a little bit of a frame of reference for this. If you had the ability or the experience to spend time with someone over the holidays who is a toddler, or maybe this is the first time that someone has experienced your holiday traditions or the first time that they've ever seen snow. You know what this feels like with toddlers, right? Where they're just, they're in awe of maybe the lights or the decorations, or they're experiencing a new food for the first time, and you get to see their reaction to that. I think we also get this with puppies, right? When they're just exploring, and they have such visible reactions to new things around them, whether that is, you know, playing with something new or hearing the vacuum for the first time, or, you know, finding something outside that they haven't found before and the joy that overtakes them. This is the feeling that I'm looking for. Is that idea of just somewhere you've never been, something that you've never experienced, and being able to be completely present in that moment and just absorbing yourself into it. Now, what might that look like? You know, for those of us who maybe have pretty routine lives and do a lot of the similar things that we're comfortable with over time, or maybe you've actually gotten to a position where you're more of a mentor or a leader, you might teach other people your hobbies or in business, whatever that is, but you're in a position of leadership.

Kari Lotzien: [00:06:23] I want you to completely go to the other end, and I want you to be a student. Whether that's taking a watercolors class, learning how to paint, learning how to do pottery. Maybe you've never golfed before, and that's something you've been kind of curious about. Or you want to explore hiking or pickleball. Anything. This past year, I was talking about doing this podcast, and a friend of mine asked me flat out, you know, what would  this be like for you that you would feel like it was valuable, that it was a good way to spend your time? And I said, well, really, I just want it to be a value to my audience. This is why I love incredible friends. She said, Well, does it have to be? I was like, Well, like I think so, right? If nobody likes it and it's not worth... And she said, Well, why are you doing it? Like what's your reason, what's your purpose? And I said to her, I don't know. It's just, it's always been something I'm curious about. It sounds fun. Um, I remember when I was a little kid, I used to practice, you know, being a radio announcer. And I used to, you know, hit - remember when we used to hit record and play at the same time and record our cassettes - I used to do that all the time, and I'd practice telling you about the weather or the latest news. It was fun for me, and I said, there's a piece of podcasting that I think will just bring that out in me. And she said, well, what if you were just to do it because it's something that lights you up and it sounds fun and it doesn't matter all of the rest of it. Could that be enough?

Kari Lotzien: [00:07:58] And it wasn't until she faced that question to me that I thought, yeah, you know what? It is enough. And the truth is, I have thoroughly enjoyed doing this because you know what, it does, it lights me up just like I was a little kid sitting in front of my cassette recorder with my little microphone and telling no one and everyone about the weather and imagining what that would be like. I am having such a good time doing this. It's just bringing me joy.

[00:08:29] One of the best things I did last year was launch the Anchored Leadership Academy Group coaching program. We had our first group go through in the fall of this year, and let me tell you, it was incredible. We gathered a group of established entrepreneurs who really want to move forward in their leadership, so developing their teams, being able to give great feedback, delegating well to move to that next stage of business. The next cohort is going to start in February and doors are open now for applications. All you need to do is click on the link in the show notes, have a read, see if it feels like a good fit for you and then book an inquiry call. That's it. Hope to see you there. All right, back to the show.

Kari Lotzien: [00:09:14] I've done other things this year for the exact same reason that it just kind of sounded fun. Something that I wanted to see if I could do. I did some hiking this year and it felt amazing. I took some hikes that I thought, I don't really know if I have any business doing this. I don't know if I actually have the physical ability to do it, but I thought, you know what? If I don't, I can always turn around and come back down. But I took the chance and it opened up a piece of me where I thought, oh, I actually really do enjoy this. I like the type of person that I feel like when I'm in this moment, and I think we get into these habits and these routines, and for a lot of us that are at places in our lives where maybe you've undergone some change.

Kari Lotzien: [00:10:06] I think of myself, my kids are, they're in their early 20s, and I was recognizing how many of my social connections were linked to their life. It was linked to their school, their sports, other families that their kids were involved in the same thing and that's who we hung out with. And when my kids moved out, I kind of felt this void. Where I thought that some of those friendships would continue long after our kids were done, but they kind of just fizzled. Not because they're bad people, not because, you know, we don't like each other, but simply because we just weren't engaging in the same types of activities on a regular basis. I've heard people who went through the same thing if they went through a change in their relationship. So if they've gone through a divorce or things have changed, they've moved to a new community and those relationships that they had before and the activities that they enjoyed doing just aren't a part of their life anymore. And we can have this sense of kind of mourning and grief and loss about it, or feeling a little bit confused, or we can take responsibility to create the life we want and to see that, you know what, there's a gap here. I'm feeling a gap. What can I do intentionally to fill it? Who do I want to hang out with now? What are some of the things I want to do now? What do I want to explore? Who do I want to meet? What could I do? Could I take a line dancing class? Because I want to learn how to dance and I enjoy music.

Kari Lotzien: [00:11:39] Could I sign up for that local art class? Could I sign up for a group that you learn how to crochet? It doesn't matter what it is. But what if you could come at it from that beginner mindset to say, okay, I don't know anything about this. I'm not comfortable at all, but I just want to do it to get that same sensation that the infant who's experiencing something for the first time, and they're not expecting anything of themselves, they know that they're probably going to be terrible at it because they're learning. It's just where they're at. They're a beginner. Bring yourself back to that idea of beginner. So when you're going through your your list of resolutions and all of the things that are going to make you a better, stronger, healthier, richer person this year, add in a goal on where am I going to be a beginner? What am I going to learn?

Kari Lotzien: [00:12:29] I like to divide it into three areas. So one being what am I going to learn that I know nothing about right now? So this year I learned a ton about podcasting that I had no idea about last year. But I enjoyed it and I was such a newbie. There was times where I had to google what certain words meant because I didn't even understand the language. If there's something that you're curious about and you want to learn, where are you going to be a beginner? New activities or adventures. Now, you might think that this sounds like, oh, I need to travel all over the world, and I need to go scuba diving off the coast of Hawaii, or I need to go bungee jumping. It's not like that. You can have new adventures and new experiences 15 minutes from your home. Some of the best things that I've done sometimes are just going to neighboring communities and exploring something very basic. A new type of food that I've never tasted before or go to, like I said, an art class. Go to a community that's maybe within an hour of your home that you've never been to before, and just explore, see what's there. Go to the new stores. Go tour around the neighborhoods. Just giving yourself the experience of what would it be like to live here? Strike up a conversation with someone in the coffee shop because they're probably, especially if it's a small town, they might be curious about why you're there or what you're doing.

Kari Lotzien: [00:13:54] Which leads me to my third. Who do you want to meet this year? Who can you invite into your life that you don't know now? Is it someone that you're curious about? Is it an acquaintance that maybe you want to think, I wonder if this person could be a friend? Remember when you were like five years old, you could walk up to a random kid on the playground and be like, hey, you want to be my friend? Next thing you know, you're my new best friend. But as we get older and we get more ingrained and we get more comfortable with the people that we spend time with on a regular basis, doing the activities that we always do, there's a comfort in that and that definitely has a place. But where are we stretching? And I'm hearing so many people talk about how lonely they are. It's sincerely breaking my heart. And I think it can't be like that, because if there's so many people that are feeling this sense of kind of loneliness and disconnect, why are we not connecting with each other? And it can be as simple as saying to someone that you've met as an acquaintance, hey, I was planning on attending this event. I was planning to go to this show. I was planning to go see a movie. Like you can, whatever it is, would you like to join me? Right? It can be as simple as that.

Kari Lotzien: [00:15:15] You could ask someone who's an acquaintance, you know, would you like to get together and go for a walk? Would you like to come and have coffee and just take that next step, see how it goes? I don't think we're putting ourselves out there because all of that fear that we're going to be rejected, right? You hit about probably grade 3 or 4, and you stopped asking kids on the playground if they wanted to be your friend, because suddenly the fear of being rejected kicked in. And for many of us, that lasted another 40 or 50 years. Well, guess what? They're not like that anymore. They might be feeling the exact same way you are that maybe they want to do something new, but the group of friends that they currently have aren't really into that. Sign up. Go introduce yourself to someone, put yourself out there and meet new people. I guarantee you'll be surprised at what comes back. I had a couple of situations this year where I took that initiative and I said to someone, I don't really know how to do this, and it seems kind of awkward, but I like you and I'm just wondering if you want to be my friend. Both times, actually, we erupted into laughter and said, I know, isn't it weird making friends as adults? It's like we don't know how to do it anymore. And both of those relationships have turned into some of my closest friendships this year. And we're able to do things because I'm exploring new territory and new adventures and trying new things that I hadn't done before. But when I partnered with these new people, they had that connection. So it was kind of like a double bonus that I got to make a new friend and I got to do new activities together.

Kari Lotzien: [00:16:54] So these are just like three easy ways. Learn something new, go to a new place, or have a new adventure. Try something new, and meet new people. Just introduce yourself. I think this is how we grow. We've all heard that term you don't grow from your comfort zone. This is the way to do that. And one of the bonuses that I think that can happen in this is that if you are a mentor, a manager, if you're someone who's teaching others, the farther away that we get from that experience of being a beginner, the less likely we are to be able to truly connect with those people and understand what they're feeling in that moment. This will keep you humble. This will give you that experience again of feeling a little bit anxious, a little bit uncertain, but also excited and thinking about the possibilities that will then allow you to connect more easily with the people that you're teaching or the people that you're leading. So it has that flip side. I don't want you to do it for that reason. I really don't, because that starts to sound like a goal or an objective to get to a reward. I want you to just have the experience of what it feels like to be a beginner, to have that joy of a brand new puppy experiencing snow for the first time, and just to feel it.

Kari Lotzien: [00:18:14] Thank you so much for being here. I'm going to share with you throughout the year different things that I decide to choose to be new at. I'd love for you to do the same. Pop me a message in the DM if you need some ideas, or you want to share what you're considering, and maybe you just need a little bit of a accountability partner or someone that you're actually sharing it with. Like, I really want to do this and you just want that little bit of a boost. So join the community. Feel free to send me a DM. I'm so glad you're here. Happy New Year! Let's make this one the best yet and continue to just create that life that you crave. This is how it's done, my friends. If you haven't liked and subscribed to the podcast yet, please make sure you do. And if you feel that this message would resonate with your friends or family, take a screenshot. Share it on your social media. This is how we grow the community together, and I am just eternally grateful because that is my mission here is to create community. Thanks so much. See you next week.

Kari Lotzien: [00:19:15] Please know that this podcast is meant for entertainment purposes only. It is not a substitution for medical or professional mental health advice. If you require support, please do reach out. Thanks so much.

Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

No, this episode has not come out a week late. I want to talk about what I believe is the most magical week of the year: the last week, between the 26th and January. I take this week to slow down, to spend time in pyjamas, being cozy and drinking tea. I put together a puzzle and read a book or watch a movie. I let go of the chaos. But I also do something else. I reflect. And that’s what I want to share with you. How you can look back and appreciate everything you accomplished.

At some point during this week of rest, I turn to a ritual I developed that I love. I go through all the photos on my phone from the last year. I go right back to this day last year and look through every single photo. And while I do that, I make a list of all my favorite memories, maybe with a sentence or two about what I remember. It’s not all big flashy things, either. It’s simple things like walking my dog, my garden, a great sunset, somebody I love making a face. And I reflect on the year through the photos.

We often don’t take the time, while intention setting for the new year, to actually spend time with the things that shaped us in the last year. The things that brought us joy, the fears that we conquered, the achievements we made, even the losses and grief, just the messages that life gave us. That’s the advice I have for you: to reflect. Look at what held your attention this year and what you want to give more of your attention to next year. Soak it all in. And see what you come up with.

Key Moments

03:44 Your past year in photos

05: 44 What life really is, looking back

11:06 What do you want more of next year?

• How looking back helps set intentions for next year
• What words defined your last year?
• Cultivating gratitude for what you have before stepping into the future  

__

Resources mentioned in this episode:

• Gift Guide for Small Business Owners

__

Contact Kari Lotzien | Be the Anchor: 

• Website: BeTheAnchor.ca
• Facebook: BeTheAnchorLtd
• Instagram: BeTheAnchor.ca
• Linkedin: Be-The-Anchor-Ltd

__

Transcript:

Kari Lotzien: [00:00:01] Welcome to Be the Anchor the podcast. I am your host, business and leadership coach Kari Lotzien. When the seas of life get stormy, and they always will, it is not up to us to captain anyone else's ship or to try to calm the waters of the ocean. It's up to us to set our own destination for what we really want, and to learn how to navigate those waves of life together while finding that place of security and stability with others. I call this being an anchor. If you are a dreamer, a visionary, an entrepreneur, whether you have an idea, big or small, that you think might just make the world a little bit better, kinder, gentler place, you are in the right spot my friend. We are going to talk about everything from big ideas to mindset and strategy, and sometimes just how to get through the day. I don't want you to miss an episode, so be sure to follow and subscribe to the podcast so that we can stay connected and keep doing this journey of life together. Thanks so much!

Kari Lotzien: [00:01:10] It's the most wonderful time of the year. Okay, I'm not going to sing to you anymore. Some of you might be thinking that this podcast has come out a week too late. It absolutely has not. I fully believe that the last week of the year is magical. For many of us things slow down, we don't have the chaos of holidays and family and cleaning our house and doing all the things, it just slows.

Kari Lotzien: [00:01:37] For a lot of us the kids are off school and we have this just space where the world just doesn't expect much of us, and I love it. My week, between kind of the 26th and early January, I spend the vast majority of my time in my pajamas, in comfy clothes, snuggled under a blanket watching movies or reading a book, drinking a cup of tea, or working on a puzzle. It's like the best thing ever. And I wanted to give you just a little, a slower podcast today. This podcast isn't about a bunch of strategies and moving forward and setting goals. We're going to get to that next week. Today I want you to just like, melt in to what this week is. This slowing down, giving yourself a space to just chill out, take a beat. I'm going to share a little bit about kind of what I do this week, because I developed this ritual a few years ago that I just think is one of the best parts of my year, to be honest with you. And I just want to share it. Maybe you want to do it too.

Kari Lotzien: [00:02:51] I buy one of those 1000 piece puzzles. I only do one a year. It takes me most of the week. I'm not very good at puzzles. But it gives me something to do. Because to just sit and not have something to engage my brain and my body a little bit, I just get too distractible and fidgety. So a puzzle helps kind of keep me in one space for an extended period of time, and somehow I feel like I'm really accomplishing something when I put together a puzzle. If there's any puzzle fans out there, let me know. I put on my PJs and my slippers, I drink way too much coffee, and then I transition to sometimes a glass of wine or something in the evening. I stay in my pajamas all day. It's like the best thing ever. And one of the favorite things that I do at some point during the week is I go through the photos on my phone. I go back to this day last year and I go through every single photo, and then I write down what my highlights of the year were. Because, here's the cool thing: we take pictures of things that catch our attention. It's either something beautiful, something we love, a person that we love, a favorite memory, the things that catch our attention and are photo worthy are like the best parts of our life. But how often do we never look at them again? We take the photo, sometimes we maybe post it on social media, but we never really go back and look at it like a story or a chapter of our life. And this is what I like to do during this week. So I go back and I just start making a list of all my favorite memories, and I might fill in a sentence or two about little pieces of that that I remember, or what made it so special or what was great about that day.

Kari Lotzien: [00:04:45] And I'm telling you, these are not big things. Like, I'm not talking about flying all over the world or having great holidays or having really lavish trips. Now most of my pictures are about spending time in my garden, I have a ridiculous number of pictures of my dog when she's just joyful, or we're going on a nature walk and I notice the color of the trees is just exceptionally beautiful against the sky. Like so many of the pictures are just simple. They're pictures of water, lakes, puddles, streams, all kinds of water. They're not big things. Pictures of people that I love doing funny things or funny moments. And then I create this journal entry of all the best parts. Now after you've done that, like feel great, you feel good, and you might notice, maybe there's some kind of sad moments that sneak in or, you know, maybe you have a hard memory or associates with something else that maybe wasn't that great. And that's okay, you just let that happen. That's what life is. It's not a story of, you know, all the number one favorite things. It's not a top ten list. It's just life. It's just noticing it. And if there's some hard things in there, you throw that in and you recognize it's all part of the story. And all of it can be beautiful. All of it.

Kari Lotzien: [00:06:05] Then when I'm finished and I get up to my current day, I pause and I go back. And I read through all of these things throughout the course of the year in one sitting. And then I ask myself what might have got in the way of these memories? So what's really cool about this is it's not about intention setting. It's not about saying, oh, I would have done this if, these things actually did happen. I did take action on it. I did take that chance. I did have that memory or that experience. But I want to acknowledge what are some things that might have intruded on that? My list last year, number one, the thing that would have gotten in the way of the best parts were fear. That was my number one, of just being too afraid. Afraid of being judged. Afraid of making the wrong decision. Afraid of hurting someone's feelings or not doing the right thing. Like just list it. The list of fears can be crazy. But I acted on it. I came through it. I didn't let the fear take center stage and stop me from what I wanted to do. The other one is if I would have thought it wasn't worth it financially, if I would have thought, oh, you know, I should be saving this money I shouldn't spend on these types of things.

Kari Lotzien: [00:07:30] Okay, my friends, we're well in the season of gift giving. And if you know of someone who's a small business owner in your life and you want to get them the perfect thing that you know will be so valued and appreciated and it'll just make them feel cared for, click on the link in the show notes. I've put together a guide of my favorite gift ideas for small business owners, and there is everything from absolutely free to a lot of options that are less than the price of a gift basket with lotions and candles. But it's really what people want. If you are a business owner, and maybe you just need some ideas of ways that people could support you, this might give you some good ideas of what to ask for. I'm sending you so much love this holiday season. Click on the link in the show notes. I'll send you the list. Back to the show.

Kari Lotzien: [00:08:23] I had bought tickets to a poetry reading of all things, and at the time I kind of thought, oh, this is a lot of money to spend for a poetry reading, and I took my daughter, and that evening was actually unbelievably powerful. I've never been to a poetry reading, and it was kind of a whimsical idea. And that night, the conversation that it led to and some of the topics that we discussed afterwards, and the feeling in that room of just appreciating someone's thoughts and ideas and and witnessing the beauty of how words can come together, it was so cool. But if I would have let my thought be, oh, that's too expensive to spend on somebody just standing on stage reading poetry, I would not have had that experience. It wouldn't, and it was absolutely one of the highlights.

Kari Lotzien: [00:09:17] Not planning it. How many times do we see something and think, oh yeah, that looks really cool, I should do that. And then the next time you look at it, it's gone. It's already past and you didn't get to it. I realized that when I don't make the plan, when I don't set aside the time and book it, it passes, and that those really cool things that happened in my year and those highlights happened because I set a date, because I put a time on it. Whether that was I was going to go visit a friend, I was going to host a barbecue, right, it doesn't, again, doesn't have to be big things, but I planned it. I put a date on it. Another big one was a fear of letting people down. Um, there was lots of times where I felt like if I did something that I would disappoint people, especially when I chose to not work, to take a holiday, to take some time off, to have more space, that wouldn't have happened if I would have been so fearful of telling clients that I am taking a holiday, I'm taking a break, or I'm reducing my hours during the summer so that I can spend time in my garden, so that I can spend time kayaking, so that I can do those things during this short season. None of those amazing things would have happened if I would have been too afraid to disappoint people.

Kari Lotzien: [00:10:38] So this is like, you're just kind of getting some realness with yourself, but it's not that hard because you actually did overcome these things. So you're kind of like celebrating yourself to say, hey, I did it. I actually didn't let those fears stand in my way. I didn't let that fear of disappointing people or saving money or x x x, whatever it is, stand in my way of these amazing things.

Kari Lotzien: [00:11:04] And then I look at that list again and I go, what do I want more of next year? And I feel like this kind of dials it in. Like when we start talking about setting goals, or we start talking about the things we want to achieve, we can get this kind of like forward motion that feels like, you know, it needs to be hard and we need to be hustling, we need to be stretching and pushing. This week, it's not like this. It's like, what do I want to experience more of in my life? I want to have more of these things that were so amazing already. And I want to just, I want to put a light on that before I go to what can sometimes be those first weeks in the new year where we start to think about, okay, what don't I have now that I want to achieve next year? I love taking time to just go, what's already amazing, what's already working really well, that I just want more of, or I want to make sure that I'm continuing to have this. I'm wanting to continue to nurture those relationships, to spend time walking my dog and spending time in nature and growing a garden like the most simple, basic things that maybe don't feel that extravagant. They don't feel like you're really accomplishing much. But they're building a life.

Kari Lotzien: [00:12:26] That's what I want to dial in on. That's what I want to get comfy and cozy with. And then the last thing that I do is I just reflect and I go, okay, was there any like, key messages that I want to take away from this year? Are there things that I just want to kind of absorb or set as my mantra or my focus as I go forward? These can become kind of like your word of next year. Last year my words were 'brave' and 'consciously investing'. That not only did I consciously invest my time, right, where do I want to give my attention, my energy, my focus, and what matters when it comes to money? And how do I want to spend that? And the idea of investment is I want to get more of it so when I spend my time and my energy, my money, on these things, they grow. And they make my life better. That was kind of my dialed in focus for last year.

Kari Lotzien: [00:13:32] And then the other big one was take the chances and the opportunities that are in front of you. Because when I looked back and I saw all of these things that could have so easily been stopped by fear or doubt or being unsure, the times when I looked at that and just went for it anyways, and really cool things happened. When I felt like I wasn't, I didn't have enough knowledge, that I wasn't smart enough, that I didn't have the skill set, or that I didn't have the right credentials. That I didn't have the right knowledge, that I didn't have the right amount of money, that I didn't insert anything. But when I went, you know what, if somebody believes in me and they're giving me this opportunity and it makes me a little bit nervous, I don't feel like I'm completely a fish out of water, but I have that sense of doubt or imposter syndrome, and I show up anyway, and I do the best I can, how many times it works out so much better than I thought it would. So that's it.

Kari Lotzien: [00:14:31] I want to just get cozy with you this week. In your pajamas with a cup of tea or glass of wine, whatever you choose. And sit back and absorb all of the best parts of your life over this last year. Big, small and otherwise. And what's really amazing about this is when you do it over time, and now this has been several years for me that I've done this exact same activity, that I love going back because it's like I'm writing chapters of my own biography that are based in the best parts of my life and the lessons that I've learned along the way. And you know what did I learn, what were the themes of this year, what really stood out for me? When you get to read, you know, 5 or 6 of those in a row, the feeling that you will have, it's pretty incredible. I also think this helps by having gratitude for what you have now, and sinking into that before you go into goal setting and intentions in the new year and and going after what you want next. I think this is the essence of gratitude. It's just noticing what is and taking time and space to soak that all in. So I hope that this episode has just made you reflect and notice. I hope that you are taking time this week or in the near future to spend some time with yourself. Put your feet up, relax, do a puzzle if you choose to. If you're a puzzle person, please feel free to post those or send me pictures of the puzzles that you're doing, because if you're not a puzzle person, you don't understand how much time and effort it takes to really get all those thousand pieces in the right spot and feel this great sense of accomplishment. But people who don't do puzzles, they don't understand that same feeling. So you can send them to me and I will be proud of you. And, uh, I'll message you back.

Kari Lotzien: [00:16:30] I'd love for your thoughts on this episode. Feel free to send me a DM. Let me know how this was for you and just how it landed, what happened, and let's continue to build the community. Again, I really appreciate all of my listeners. I love you all, and I want the world to be just a kinder, gentler, more connected place. It's what I want to commit my whole heart, all of my energy and my time to. And I really appreciate you being here. So if you're inclined to share this episode, send a snapshot or a link to a friend who might just really enjoy having this message before we get back to the chaos of what the New Year can bring, please do. I'd appreciate it so much. Thank you so much. We'll see you next week.

Kari Lotzien: [00:17:20] Please know that this podcast is meant for entertainment purposes only. It is not a substitution for medical or professional mental health advice. If you require support, please do reach out. Thanks so much.

Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

I have an amazing guest to share with you, someone who will inspire your marketing journey and make you feel empowered to embrace your uniqueness. Cheryl Floris is a mother and a lifelong creative who founded Hey Sunny Studio to specifically help women in business build a thriving brand. Cheryl worked in the health and fitness industry and through being involved in bettering her own wellness, she came to understand the transformation a coach or healer could provide. But she also saw a gap in how those people were presenting themselves. So I’m talking with Cheryl all about how to market and brand your business to align with what you really want.

Cheryl explains exactly why the brand identity of your business is such a key part of marketing and appealing to the clients that you want. It’s easy to just lean into what everyone else in the health and wellness industry, or in any industry, is doing but that’s not how to stand out and be noticed for who you truly are. We talk about that, about getting noticed, about what holds you back from outsourcing branding and leaning into your individuality.

There are a lot of lessons to learn from my conversation with Cheryl. She shares her Three S Cycle of brand awareness, how to appeal to your ideal client, how she approaches teaching content creation, and the importance of leveraging your time. This is an inspirational and educational revelation from someone with clear passion and integrity. You need to learn how to embrace your business and brand with the passion Cheryl has, so soak up the discussion we have in this episode. 

Key Moments

16:54  What a great designer does when developing a brand identity

21:16  Why you need to always have a hand in your marketing content

32:45  When fear of not wanting to alienate all potential clients keeps you from reaching your ideal clients 

• Story, specificity, and spice - how they are the key to marketing success
• Why building trust with your potential ideal clients matters
• How do you actually create 30 days of marketing content and still have a life?

__

About Cheryl Floris:

As a mother of 2 young kids and lifelong creative, I craved a career that would allow me to have freedom in my schedule, but also fulfill the purpose I was set here to - to help women in business build a thriving brand that aligned with their lifestyle and their soul’s mission. 

After working in the health & fitness industry, and being involved in bettering my own wellness for over 10 years, I knew the deep transformation that a coach, healer or counsellor could provide. But there were always gaps in the businesses I worked for or with, and most of them falling under the umbrella of their brand. Whether that's connection to their visual identity, being able to pinpoint their uniqueness and leverage it, or uncovering their dream client - the gaps they had were causing friction in both their personal life and in their business. 

While on maternity leave with my son, I decided it was time to leverage my own strengths - creativity, systems and connection development, and my 8 years in social media marketing. Hey Sunny Studio was born and took off immediately. Since then we've been able to work with over 40 businesses to create visual identity systems, brand strategy and websites that have allowed them to grow and step into their own power as a health & wellness brand. 

Hey Sunny Studio Note:
We will be launching our own podcast in spring 2024, and will be introducing an aligned marketing mentorship program as well! Sign up to our newsletter to be the first to know and snag a spot at beta pricing. 

__

Resources mentioned in this episode:

• Gift Guide for Small Business Owners

__

Contact Cheryl Floris | Hey Sunny Studio:

• Website: HeySunnyStudio.com
• Instagram

__

Contact Kari Lotzien | Be the Anchor: 

• Website: BeTheAnchor.ca
• Facebook: BeTheAnchorLtd
• Instagram: BeTheAnchor.ca
• Linkedin: Be-The-Anchor-Ltd

__

Transcript:

Kari Lotzien: [00:00:01] Welcome to Be the Anchor the Podcast. I'm your host, business and leadership coach Kari Lotzien. When the seas of life get stormy, and they always will, it is not up to us, to captain anyone else's ship or to try to calm the waters of the ocean. It's up to us to set our own destination for what we really want, and to learn how to navigate those waves of life together while finding that place of security and stability with others. I call this being an anchor. If you are a dreamer, a visionary, an entrepreneur, whether you have an idea, big or small, that you think might just make the world a little bit better, kinder, gentler place, you are in the right spot, my friend. We are going to talk about everything from big ideas to mindset and strategy, and sometimes just how to get through the day. I don't want you to miss an episode, so be sure to follow and subscribe to the podcast so that we can stay connected and keep doing this journey of life together. Thanks so much.

Kari Lotzien: [00:01:10] All right, welcome to the podcast. I am thrilled today to introduce you to a amazing entrepreneur. Cheryl Floris is the mother of two young kids and a lifelong creative. Cheryl created a career that would allow her the freedom in her schedule, but also fulfill the purpose she feels she was set here to, to help women in business build a thriving brand that aligned their lifestyle and their soul's mission. After working in the health and fitness industry and being involved in bettering her own wellness for over ten years, she knew that deep transformation that a coach, a healer or a counselor could provide. But there was always gaps in the businesses that she worked for or with, and many of them fell under the umbrella of their brand. Whether that was connecting their visual identity, being able to pinpoint their uniqueness and really leverage it, or uncovering their dream client, the gaps that they had were causing friction in both their personal life and in their business. While on maternity leave with her son, she decided it was time to leverage her own strengths, her creativity and connection development, and her eight years in social media marketing. Hey Sunny Studio was born and took off immediately. Since then, they have worked with over 40 businesses to create visual identity systems, brand strategy and websites that allowed them to grow and step into their own power as a health and wellness brand. Welcome, Cheryl. I'm so excited to have you here.

Cheryl Floris: [00:02:44] Oh, I'm so excited to be here. It's gonna be so fun.

Kari Lotzien: [00:02:47] It is going to be so fun. I'm just thrilled because every time we have a chat together, it seems like we just uncover more and more need in this industry. And I think a lot of our clients overlap. Our backgrounds overlap. Where I think both of us have clients who really believe in that customer service, they want to focus on what they do in their business, and they do it really well. But they don't always know how to leverage and get the right clients in and keep that consistent funnel happening so that it doesn't feel like such a roller coaster.

Cheryl Floris: [00:03:29] Yes. Yes, 100%.

Kari Lotzien: [00:03:32] Talk to me a bit about the transition and kind of what was the factor that moved you, or the personal story that got you into this industry and kind of took you from that health and wellness place into going it on your own?

Cheryl Floris: [00:03:46] How far do you go back when you share a personal story like that? Truthfully, like I've been in health and wellness for ten years now. I started exercising, working out in high school, and that was kind of the kicker to my health journey. And I really just spent the next eight years focusing on bettering myself in every capacity that I could, whether that was personal development, taking online courses, reading about new nutrition plans, different styles of nutrition we should be focusing on, different things like that. And throughout that time, I actually had started in a network marketing business, and that was my first piece of social media marketing. And that was when Instagram had no stories, there was no reels. And to stay relevant, there was also no algorithm. You had to be posting three times a day because it was based on timeline, right? So during that time we really started to, or I started to understand how to share my story specifically and start to relate to the individuals that I wanted to be working with. Did that for quite a few years, went on a little bit of a roller coaster with moving and careers, and ended up working at a gym for four years. And during that time I learned even more about health and wellness, but also a lot about business and running the back end of a business, connecting with your members and what to do to keep your members coming month after month, especially when you are offering a membership that is a higher ticket price.

Cheryl Floris: [00:05:28] And during the time at the gym, I was able to be there for the height and the peak, but also for the fall. And that was a really big indicator to me of where gaps started to happen. Before that, my husband and I, we also owned a restaurant and there were gaps there too, that we were noticing whether that was physical with location and what was happening with the economy or in our social media, and how we were showing up for that business. And so, yeah, during all of that time, we were able to just gain so many skills with running a successful business that, yeah, when I went on maternity leave with my son, I just, I hit that point of, I can't go back to where I was working based on the economy and scheduling. It just wasn't conducive to raising kids. So I needed to create something that was going to, yeah, allow me to stay home, be present with the kids, but also something that would financially benefit us in the long run, especially now. You kind of need to have two incomes in a household, you know. So what is going to allow me as a mother and a creative woman to thrive, utilize my skills so I feel like I can fulfill my purpose as a woman, but also be present with my kids and be able to spend as much time as I possibly could. So yeah, that's kind of how Hey Sunny Studio was built.

Kari Lotzien: [00:06:55] I've been talking to a few of my guests about the evolution of business. I love this time. I think we're in such a time of opportunity because when I think back, you know, it hasn't been that long that even women being able to be in the working world, you know, we look through timelines and think, okay, then we came into we've got the 9 to 5 job, we've got all the expectations, we're still doing everything at home. And I talked about being in the 'yes, but' generation like yes, you can have a job, but don't forget you still need to make sure that the kids are looked after, that the meals are made, that the house is clean, everybody's eating well, and then we kind of instead of going, okay, we're going to outsource raising our children and looking after our families and our relationships, this time in business, I see so many women saying, okay, how can I make this all work together and utilizing that creative flair? I love meeting people who say, you know what? I didn't just try to retrofit myself or stretch myself even further to meet all of these different demands on my time, but that I really am designing, I call it creating the life that you crave.

Kari Lotzien: [00:08:08] And we have to be an active participant in that. And I think it's wild to me that I believe you went into two of probably the most challenging industries, like restaurant. It, I mean it's stressful. You talk about, I mean, your overhead, your inventory literally rots if you don't have your accurate predictions on what sales are going to be. And then in the gym world, right? It is, it's so competitive. It's so demanding. There's so many seasonal impacts to what happens there in that industry. And I talk to a lot of my clients about that difference between being in your business and operating as a service-based professional and then working on your business. And it sounds like really early on you recognize that, hey, wait, there's two sides to this pancake that have to work together, and one can't operate just because you have a great reputation and you provide great service, and people love being there, doesn't mean that that is the ticket to long term success in your business. If people don't know you're there or they don't know how to connect.

Cheryl Floris: [00:09:16] Yes, exactly. And that's where really a big passion and a big mission of Hey Sunny Studio is, is helping women be able to build a successful business at home with their kids, so marrying the two, and contribute to their household and truthfully provide opportunity for their family and their kids as they grow older. And a lot of the times, what I see with these businesses, especially in the health and wellness space, is we get so caught up in being in it that we don't know how to work on it, and the on it piece is what allows you to grow. It's what allows you to raise your prices, to book more clients, to expand from one-on-one to group training so you can help even more people. But also you can provide yourself with even more opportunity too, because you're able to get that extra financial security, which ultimately is what we need right now.

Kari Lotzien: [00:10:14] Right. And I think I want to highlight too, that when you do that well, it's not the side hustle. It doesn't mean that just because you're working from home, or that you're raising kids at the same time, that this has to be a smaller business, that there's a lower income ratio. It doesn't have to be like that. What do you think are some of the other misconceptions in your industry when you start talking about brand identity or what that looks like?

Cheryl Floris: [00:10:41] Yeah. So I think a really big misperception is that brand identity is just surface level. Right? So when we talk about the newer businesses and you think like, I'll do a logo on Canva or get one for cheap off of Fiver or throw some colors together, like whatever, it doesn't matter that much. But truthfully, it makes a huge, huge impact because we are biologically, like going back to caveman era, we are designed to tune out the white noise. So when we see the same thing, when we hear the same thing over and over and over again, we start to tune it out. I can tune in to the clock, clicking behind me and listen to that and only hear that. But when I'm washing the dishes, I'm not going to pay attention to that. Same thing when people are scrolling on social media. If they see the same thing over and over and over again, then it's really, really easy for them to just get overlooked and to fade into the mass amount of coaches and healers and therapists and counselors that are online right now. So truly, your brand identity does make a massive, massive impact in your business. Having something with colors, logos, graphics, fonts, everything that stands out from your industry, that's going to be the very first thing that catches somebody when they are flipping through their phone, when they are going through their emails, when they are looking at Facebook, when they are googling programs, that's going to be the very, very first thing.

Cheryl Floris: [00:12:19] And you have literally as long as a blink to be able to catch that person, right? Think about how fast you can scroll on your phone nowadays, and if social media is your main platform, then you need to have something that's going to catch somebody's attention and turn on the alarm of that's different. Why is that different? Is this a good difference? Does this mean there's opportunity, or does this mean that it's like it's different, but it's not attractive to me. And that's the second piece to it, is you need to have differentiating factors, but you also need to have attractive factors to your ideal clients and to your market. And that attractive piece is, again, what's going to speak to your audience. It's as easy as saying like, you are a retro esthetic brand in a sea of nutrition coaches who use fancy script fonts and neutral tones, right? The individual that loves retro, loves vintage, loves old cars, whatever. They are going to be attracted to you and they're going to start paying attention to you and what you post and what you share. So there's two key pieces that come from brand identity. And really like when you're in a position where you're wanting to grow, yes DIY that in the beginning, but you're going to hit a spot where that is going to be the snag to attracting more clients, to being able to raise your prices and to be able to stand out in your industry.

Kari Lotzien: [00:13:53] Let's dive into that. So when you think about your client who has done the DIY, they've created their logo, or they've had a friend of a friend create something for them.

Cheryl Floris: [00:14:04] Yeah.

Kari Lotzien: [00:14:05] What do you see that they're telling themselves? Like, what are we listening for when we think, okay, is this just that my business is not succeeding, that people just don't really resonate with what I'm offering? Because I think there's this point where we don't necessarily know, is it our brand? How do we know that we should be questioning or we should be looking into getting some support? Talk to me about that.

Cheryl Floris: [00:14:28] Yeah, I think that ultimately comes down to clarity, really. When we are starting out and we first DIY'd our logos and our website, we're kind of piecing together what we like that everybody else is doing, and we don't exactly know what it is that resonates with us or where we are positioned in our industry. What makes us different, what makes us unique? We're piecing everything together.

Kari Lotzien: [00:14:52] I think with my clients, like when when someone's new in business, we tend to kind of, we create our own identity based on what we see other people in the industry doing. We mirror that, we mimic it, and then over time we start to feel like, okay, but that's not really me. And then as you work with more clients, you realize, okay, these are the people that I really love working with. These are the types of jobs that I really like doing. And then there's also this piece where we go, you know what? But I don't really love this part. That phrasing, that service, that product doesn't really resonate with me anymore. And I think it takes some time. I think putting some skin in the game and just allowing yourself some time and space to say, okay, I've tried these things out and now this doesn't feel like me. And it sounds it's the same with brand, is that we start off by replicating those neutral tones and the fancy fonts and then say, you know what? I look at my website, I look at my social media and I go, I don't know who that is.

Kari Lotzien: [00:15:48] It looks just like everyone else that's out there. So it sounds like that's one of the first pieces that you connect with to go, it doesn't really feel like me anymore. As I ask the question, I thought, I think there's a spot where we say, you know what? My clients that are working with me love me. That I'm getting great reviews. I'm getting great testimonials. The clients are coming back. They're referring their friends and family. But I'm not attracting new clients, and I feel like I'm growing this one piece of my business and often, like the word of mouth referrals are fantastic because people who already know and love and are working with you will bring other people that are similar. But we want to make sure that our brand identity and what we're putting out as that public image is aligning with that. And sometimes I feel like one, especially our brand identity, can lag behind, that we don't come to that realization or that recognition soon enough.

Cheryl Floris: [00:16:43] Yeah. And that's usually one of the harder things to outsource, because we're still stuck in that mindset of why would I pay someone to just choose colors for me? Why would I pay someone to just choose fonts and make some logo that I'm going to use in the corner of all of my graphics? But what we do is so much more than that. And like I mentioned, your brand identity is so much more than that, right? When you are working with us on your brand identity, as for a lot of brand designers out there, we are diving into who your ideal client is, what they are attracted to, what problems they're experiencing, and then we're also taking a look at who you are as a whole. We want to know, you know, what your hobbies are, what you grew up doing. We want to know, like, what the color palette is in your closet. And if you would paint your fingernails bright red, or if you're someone who maybe doesn't even pay your fingernails, maybe you go for a green or a clear because you're just not flashy like that, right? And we take those pieces into consideration when building your brand identity, because that's when we start to uncover who exactly you are as an individual. Do you fall into the category of, yeah, cool and calm and neutral, like what the norm is, but what's the edge that we can utilize that's going to help you stand out? That's when we're going to tap into the further details of how you were raised and the music you like to listen to, so that we can bring in a font that's going to align with who you are and who your client is, and it's going to be that snazzy piece that makes people go, oh, that's a little different.

Cheryl Floris: [00:18:26] So yeah. So that's the outsourcing piece that a lot of people get hung up on is, well, it's just colors and fonts. But at the end of the day, it is the essence of who you are. And if you don't feel like your brand identity represents you, then your audience is going to feel that too. And you're going to start to attract clients who aren't aligned. So when you finally get to that point, when you say, this is who I want to work with, they see the value and what I have to offer. They are more than willing to pay the prices of my coaching, my healing, my sessions, whatever, then you're finally able to be in a position of this is exactly what it should look like and how my business needs to move forward. And that brand identity is the first piece of that.

Kari Lotzien: [00:19:15] Something I want to pull out from what you said, because I think, you know, you get the freebies online that say, oh, here's what you need to do. That allows those people to sound just like everybody else in their business. And like you said, gets buried in the sea of social media, websites, emails, all of it. And then I think a lot of us have, we've taken the course, we've done the initial work to talk about our ideal client and who we want, and, you know, are they a Starbucks or a Tim Hortons person, and what's their average family income and all of these kind of things? What I love about what you talked about, when you talk about nail color and what you did as a kid, and the type of music that you enjoy, what I hear in this, especially with a service based business, is that it's a bridge between two people, that you're not just selling your product or service and advertising what you do and who you do it for, but you're also advertising these are the types of people that resonate with me and the work that I want to do and what lights me up.

Kari Lotzien: [00:20:16] And then I also think of a third kind of piece to that. So with some of my clients, I'm actually working towards them moving away from if your business was an entity separate from you. So say you're growing your team and you've got some people, now, instead of you doing it all yourself and identifying that, but now we're starting to think about outsourcing, sharing that wisdom with someone else, and having maybe somebody else do our social media content creation, that kind of thing. How can we communicate that more effectively to say like, if your business was a person, would it be dressed in all sequins? Would it be wearing flashy colors and feathers, or would it be wearing hiking boots and, you know, packing a backpack and out in the wilderness? Like, I love how you've differentiated that it's a relationship in the brand voice. And I think that's such a key piece that we're not seeing in a lot of marketing materials.

Cheryl Floris: [00:21:14] There's a couple of different layers to that. One, my spicy opinion, and this is going to jump ahead of my second point, is that whatever platform you are utilizing as your main marketing platform - so if that's social media, if that's LinkedIn, if that's email marketing, whatever - I strongly believe that you still need to have a hand in it and a role in it. So if you have a virtual assistant or a social media manager and they are doing all of your posts, yes, that's great. You still need to be showing up on stories. You still need to be in your DMs. You still need to be connecting with your audience, especially especially in the health and wellness space, because there are so many coaches, healers, helpers, counselors, everybody out there that most of the clients you're working with have tried a million things already. They have done the quick fixes, they have tried the longer programs, they have gone to the seven sessions of the EFT tapping to whatever, they need to know that the person they are working with is the right person. It doesn't matter necessarily what the tools are at this point if they've tried so many things. They need to know that the person is going to do the work to also get them there, because in the health and wellness space, you're not just helping somebody lose 20 pounds, you're helping them overcome limiting beliefs, break habits, break influences from outside sources, like, you know, maybe a parent that bullied you when you were a kid, right? You are helping them in so much more than just losing 20 pounds.

Cheryl Floris: [00:22:57] And this wraps into my next point of specificity. You have to have to have to be specific with the person you are working with. And I'm not talking about their demographics anymore. Yes, that has a role, but I'm talking about what they think on a day to day basis when it's, you know, 5 p.m., they're trying to get dinner ready, they are overwhelmed and they're thinking about the one thing that went wrong today that if they just had a solution for, it would have been a game changer and made everything better. What is the list of all the things they've tried in the past? Why didn't they work and how are your solutions, how are your offers the solution for that? And how can you then relate to them in a specific way? Just talking about 20 pounds like, yeah, everybody talks about that, losing the last 5 pounds, everybody talks about that, but nobody talks about how uncomfortable it feels to be sitting out in the grass with your kids in the middle of summer, and they just want you to run around and play with them. But you know you're going to get winded and it's going to be embarrassing. So you're just going to say, no, I'll just, I'll sit and watch, you go continue to play. That's a story that's going to relate to somebody, and that's a story that's going to make someone say, oh, she gets me. I know that's me, that is exactly how I feel.

Cheryl Floris: [00:24:22] When you're outsourcing to a team, when you are growing a team, you need to be crystal clear on those points. You need to have a guide. Truthfully, brand strategy guide, brand messaging guide, ideal client, analysis, story that you can be talking about with your team on a regular basis so that you can make sure your voice is the same across all platforms. You are touching on what needs to be touched on in the actual awareness framework of attracting clients, of getting clients, of creating community. And you need to be consistently looking at your ideal clients as well, because things are going to shift and change as the world shifts and changes. So you also have to be able to roll with the punches, so to speak. And you know, what's something that your ideal clients are sharing and talking about regularly now as opposed to three months ago. Right? And how can you start to provide value on that subject?

Kari Lotzien: [00:25:25] Yeah, that was a few minutes of gold right there. Again, I want to take it back because we hear these things, right? You need to niche down. You need to be specific. You need to share stories. I feel like you're drilling even deeper into that. And I feel that a lot of our brand awareness that gets scrolled past is the stuff that it doesn't resonate because it doesn't hit our hearts. It feels very flat. It feels like we don't have an emotional connection to it. And let's be honest, like a lot of people who have chosen to work in this space do it because they really do care and they do have a personal story, and they have opinions about a lot of different things. And so we've talked about the stories. We've talked about specificity. Let's talk about the third, because this is one of my favorites. And I'm not even going to set it up for you because I love your take on this next S in the in the three S cycle. Because this is big and I want to, I really want to launch that with you. So I'm going to let you take the third S from here.

Cheryl Floris: [00:26:28] Okay. So the third S, and we break all three of these down even more in our content code, which is going to be a do it yourself workshop coming in the new year, the third S is Spice. Spicy content that is going to disrupt the norm. So again, relating back to that differentiating factor like you need to stand out now. And we are so scared of it. We have a fear of it, of even showing our face online. Like for me, you will never catch me doing a dancing reel. But maybe I need to, you know, because it's different and it's going to catch people's attention. They're going to say, wow, Cheryl needs to not dance ever again. But with all that being said, adding spice and disrupting the norm comes with sharing your particular points of view, your unpopular opinions. What makes your methods different from the thousands of other nutrition coaches out there or hormone coaches out there? Therapists, counselors, everybody, what is different about your mindset in your industry? Because it's those things that, again, are going to start filling the gaps for your ideal clients who have tried a million things in the past, it's going to start filling in the the needs that they have been missing. I cannot tell you in my ten years of being in the fitness, 11 years, actually, of being in the health and fitness industry, how many nutrition plans I did. I calorie counted, I cut out all carbs, I did keto, I did this and that and the other thing. So many, so, so many.

Cheryl Floris: [00:28:15] And it wasn't until this year when I actually found the right person, the right coach, to lead me through a program and reassure me and give me the tough love that I need, that I've been able to make progress in my goals. I've macro tracked in the past, yes, but I've never done it with somebody who has led me through in the way that she has. Right? So this again comes back to finding the person, finding the different person that is going to give you exactly what you need. Because like I said, like if social media is your main marketing right now, you are competing with hundreds of thousands of online coaches, healers, trainers. And in a world where somebody, anybody can go online and sign up for a quick weekend course and all of a sudden be an expert in hormone health, how do you, somebody who has gone to school for 4 or 5, 7 years and has taken countless certifications, has a degree, has done, you know, an astronomical amount of clinical research, how do you stand out against that person? Right? And it is going to be your unique points of views, your spicy hot takes, your unpopular opinions, and the things that go against the grain.

Kari Lotzien: [00:29:39] I'm going to push it one step further, because I think there's going to be people that you connect with based on having a similar unpopular opinion, right? I did one on my issue with challenge culture. I despise it and how we sign up for these 30 day challenges and you have to do this pushing your body to the limits. And then when your body actually just naturally needs to go into a rest state, you feel like you failed. And there's a lot of businesses that, consciously or not, have designed their whole premise around when your body needs to rest, you're going to think that you failed, and then you'll come back to us for the solution. It was a really hot topic for me, and I was just so tired of that mentality. So I can push on that button, that hot topic, and people will say, oh my gosh, that's just like me. I'm sick and tired of doing these challenges, and I do challenge after challenge after challenge, and I fail and I fail and I fail, there must be something wrong with me. Instead of looking at is this system actually optimizing this rhythm or this cycle where people fall down and then feel like they need help to get back up again over and over and over again? So there's going to be people that go, that frustrates me too. But then you have to acknowledge that there's going to be people that are die hards on the other side who are going to lash out to you, and they're going to send you messages in the DMs, and they're going to tell you how you're insane and you have no idea, and that sometimes it's also really great to just call that ahead of time.

Kari Lotzien: [00:31:21] Because there's nothing worse than being in that relationship with someone, getting into working engagement, and then recognizing that you have really different core values and beliefs, and the way that you work is not aligned with this client or this person. And now you're at a place where you're trying to repair it because they've paid you. But if you can get ahead of that and just say, these are my values and beliefs, this is how I show up, this is my unpopular opinion, it's okay to drive some of those people away and get them out of your funnel, because you're protecting yourself from the headache that may follow. And there's other people, I'm not saying right, wrong or otherwise, you can have different opinions than I do, and there will be someone else who completely disagrees with me and will be a great fit for you. But we're protecting ourselves. So I think that's a tough one, because so many of us in this industry are people pleasers. We don't want to make people upset. We don't want to tell them they're wrong. We don't want to stand on the edges. It's uncomfortable. And I think this is a big move from that, you know, early stages in this industry where we're just trying to get clients, get somebody in the door to pay. And coming into this, as you called it, stage two, I think, of now I know who I am, I know who I want to work with, and I can stand on a bit of my spice to help me attract and repel the right clients.

Cheryl Floris: [00:32:45] At the base of it really is kind of this underlying fear that we have, right? It's this fear of, okay, I know who I want to work with and who I don't want to work with, but financially, can I afford to cut out all of these people who aren't really my ideal clients? And the fear of what if I do ruffle feathers out there, right? And this is where like your personal development has to mesh with your professional development too. And you know, you are always going to place the ceilings on yourself. And if you can continue to work to bust through those ceilings, you are going to continue to succeed and being able to get to that position of, yeah financially, maybe I might not fill my client roster this month if I'm saying no to all these people, but that is energetically opening up the space for these clients that I know are out there and who want to work with me and see the value in what I have to offer and are willing to maybe pay your new prices. Right? And it's also those clients too, a reframe of the picture, it's those clients who are also willing to do the work. You know, it's the clients like, I've worked with a macro coach before and I completely fell off tracking, I ghosted, I was that client that I hated having when I worked at the gym.

Cheryl Floris: [00:34:15] But this coach, you know, I'm finally like, okay, I know her process. I know this works. I just need to trust it and I need to do the hard thing. So I am tracking my food when I don't want to. I am eating protein when I don't want to. And I've reaped the benefits of that already, right? So being able to open yourself up to these clients who want to work with you, see the value in working with you, are also going to do the work in working with you because they trust you, and thus are going to get the results from working with you. It's this full, it's this full circle effect of being able to work with somebody, and they commit to it because you open yourself up, you got specific in that person, and then getting the transformation out of it. And in the marketing world, that's fantastic because now you are regularly getting transformations. That's building trust. That's building authority with your audience. Right? But if you're constantly saying, yeah, I'm booked up, but I have no testimonials to show for it, I have zero results, I have no progress, nothing to actually give you, that's just telling people, yeah, she's filling up with clients, that's great, but where is the result? Like, is this actually going to work for me? Because I have no idea.

Kari Lotzien: [00:35:36] I want to flip this back because I also want to highlight this isn't just the health and wellness space. We've talked about gyms. We've talked about nutrition coaches. This works in every industry. I know for myself, you talk about as a coach, it's a really interesting industry because I'm really clear on the type of business owner that I work with best. I work with people primarily at what I call the teenager phase of business, where you're in a place where you're really done doing it all yourself, and you recognize that your business needs things that you can't offer. So you're looking to kind of build the strength in your business separate from you. That's my place. But you're absolutely right. I now lead with here's what I can do for you, and here's what you need to be able to give me in terms of your energy, your investment, your time. And you have to be coachable. And I think a lot of times we don't want to say that. We don't want to directly tell someone like, are you willing to change? Are you willing to consider another way of thinking about things? Because you can spend a lot of money and just justify the way you're already doing something, and tell me why you don't have time, and you don't have energy, and you don't have the resources to be able to do it, then you're not my client. And being able to let that go.

Kari Lotzien: [00:36:53] And I think it's the exact same thing in your industry, where I've been able to watch your progress over even the last couple of years, where you've done that within your business to say, okay, you know what, if you're a do it yourselfer, that's fine. Here's where you can go. But if you really want to dive into developing your brand, really thinking about what your content pillars are, but then pulling it into what are your stories, where's your spice, where is your specificity in your brand? That's going to take time and you have to show up. Yes, you can hire a web designer and say, yep, I like these colors, here's my logo, here's what I do, and then do something for me. You do all the work and then when I don't get visitors to my website and I don't get clients, I'm going to blame you for it. I think we're both in this space where we're saying, no, no, this is a partnership, and we need to both come to the table and do the work together. And to highlight that, take some, take some hutzpah to say, hey, listen, I'm not going to do all the work for you. I can, I can go to the gym five days a week, I can do all of these things, but that's not going to change what's showing up in your life. You have to come to it together. Yeah.

Cheryl Floris: [00:38:05] Yes 100%. Yep.

Kari Lotzien: [00:38:09] Okay my friends, we are well in the season of gift giving. And if you know of someone who's a small business owner in your life and you want to get them the perfect thing that you know will be so valued and appreciated and it'll just make them feel cared for, click on the link in the show notes. I've put together a guide of my favorite gift ideas for small business owners, and there is everything from absolutely free to a lot of options that are less than the price of a gift basket with lotions and candles. But it's really what people want. If you are a business owner, and maybe you just need some ideas of ways that people could support you, this might give you some good ideas of what to ask for. I'm sending you so much love this holiday season. Click on the link in the show notes. I'll send you the list. Back to the show.

Kari Lotzien: [00:39:02] You've got a course called the Content Code that is phenomenal. I want the listeners to hear, like, Cheryl is so much more than just here's some, you know, unique ideas on how to post content. And I can tell you right away, her stuff is absolutely not that content that you're going to scroll by. Like, I get hooked in, I get hooked into your stories, I get hooked into your Instagram. I get hooked into all of it because you're really living exactly what you're talking about. This isn't just what you do, it's not a service you provide, you are absolutely emulating it in your own business. So listeners, like, go check out Cheryl's stuff because you're going to be able to see this in action in her business and how she does it, and then how she can also support you. Talk to us about, like, this content code course, because I'm excited about it.

Cheryl Floris: [00:39:55] Okay. So well, first off, thank you for that. I really appreciate that. I'm glad that it's resonating with you. So the Content Code, now essentially over the last eight months, I'd say like a big bulk of this year, I was just getting so fed up with content and with marketing and trying to figure out what the heck to say that would resonate with my audience, how to, you know, strategize like an actual month of content. I was seeing all of these posts from, you know, so many social media gurus on batching your content, batch a month's worth of content, but when you have nothing to go off of, how the heck do you write 30 captions and make 30 graphics and 30 posts in like a couple days, you know? It feels impossible, right? Especially when you have young kids running around and you have a life to live on top of that. And so I found myself downloading all of these freebies. I was on Pinterest downloading freebies, social media managers downloading freebies, reels gurus, all the freebies, signing up for workshops and classes and courses. And I can't even tell you how much money I spent on flipping Instagram content anything this year. Too much. Finally, I got to the point where I was downloading a freebie and I'd open it up and it'd be the exact same thing that I learned in the last five. People are telling me to use your content pillars of education and inspiration and value, and then post five days a week and do three reels and blah, blah, blah, and, you know, make a viral statement on your reel and all of a sudden you get 40,000 views and you're going to make $1 million in a year just from that.

Cheryl Floris: [00:41:40] Right? But nobody was telling me what to say and how to get there specifically for my audience and who I was talking to. I can post five days a week. I've been doing that for eight years at this point. I can make reels, you know, in less than, well now in less than an hour. Um, and like, I can have conversation in my DMs. Like, I can relate to people, yes, but tell me what to say. Tell me what to write and how to gain that information. And so I finally just got to a point where I said, you know what? I am not going to gatekeep anymore on how to do this. I am going to learn how to gain the skills to make content relevant, to be able to make it quickly and easily, and I just want to share that with everybody, because it is a prevalent struggle in so, so many business owners, and especially when you're a mom, when you're a parent. I remember one day in the summer telling the kids, yep, I just have to sit down and write this post out for work, and then we'll go down to the beach. And it was 2, 2.5 hours, 3 hours later. Right.? Like and at that point I was like, well, now it's nap time. So I guess we're not going to the beach today because of one post, you know?

Cheryl Floris: [00:43:01] Like we need to be able to leverage our time. And when it comes to social media, we need the skills to actually be able to craft a message that is going to stand out amongst all of the noise. So here's your next layer too, of creating something that's different visually, now in your message. So in the Content Code we go so much deeper than here's 30 content ideas and here's your four content pillars. We are going to help you break apart your ideal client so that you can, relating back to what I was saying earlier, figure out what's keeping them up at night. What is their thought stream at 6:00 in the morning where they're pouring their coffee and they're thinking about, oh, if only I could whatever, then my life would be so much better. It would be so much easier. Right? And being able to uncover, again, like all of the things they've tried, why it didn't work, and what they actually need now to provide the solution and how your offer then ties into that. We provide content pillars that are specific to you and your offers and your audience. We don't go with the educate, inspire, values, we relate this specifically to you and your offers so that you can continue to create content that's going to be relevant, and that's going to help take your audience through our awareness framework, which, at the top of it, if we picture it like a funnel, is awareness. So your first piece is getting views, building your audience, gaining followers.

Cheryl Floris: [00:44:38] And the second piece to your awareness, too, is shedding light on your audience's struggles. So that's the first piece that makes them go, oh, I've felt that before, I've experienced that. And then being able to move them down the funnel of building your community and connecting with them, making them stop and say, oh my gosh, she gets me. That is exactly what I'm going through right now. How is she in my head? That is what starts to build desire for your message and for what you're saying. Then being able to shift them down the funnel into value. Sharing your spicy points of view, sharing your stories, providing methods, tips, techniques, education. And once all 3, 4 of those layers are in, then offering up your solution and saying, hey, I have these coaching spots, here's how you can work with me, and them immediately thinking, oh, I like her, she gets me, I've done a couple of the tips she's given me and they've worked, so I'm going to book in with a call for her because I feel like she's the one, right? And a lot of the times that's the layer that we're missing, is being able to develop the content and shape the message in a way that connects with your ideal client soul. And that sounds heavy and weighty. But truthfully, if you have the know-how and you have the bank of information you can be pulling from, then creating content that is relevant, that's specific, and that actually converts your audience into clients, that is what's going to move your business along and make marketing easier.

Cheryl Floris: [00:46:19] You have a obligation to market your business, especially if you're in the health and wellness space. Your mission is to help people and to transform lives, right? And if you know that what you have is special and it will transform people's lives, you have an obligation to market it. Because there are people out there who are looking for you and your solution. And so we have to stop being in this mindset of, well, I don't know how to market, the algorithm hates me, social media oh, I'm so over it, whatever. And we have to move into actually getting the skills and the knowledge to be able to market what you have. Because you know, it's your right. You have to, you know? So that's what we really drive home in the Content Code is teaching you the skills to be able to uncover all these aspects and taking that, being able to build out 30 days worth of content topic. And on a weekly basis, like I've tried to make 30 days of captions. It does not work for me or my brain or my lifestyle. So I sit down on a weekly basis and I'll write out all my captions for five days. And I've been able to do that consistently. And it's done wonders for my mental health, for my time, and being able to do the work that actually needs to be done within my business, which is hands-on client work.

Kari Lotzien: [00:47:44] Beautiful. So the link will be in the show notes, because I know people are going to be excited and go, oh my gosh, like how do I get this? Because you can hear Cheryl's passion. You know that she's the real deal. Which is exactly why I brought her on. I hear so many things that you're saying, you know? I don't know what to say. I don't know what to write. I feel like I'm selling myself. This doesn't feel like me. And what I hope that you've heard in this podcast, in this episode, is just how this isn't about a generic plan. It's really about aligning it with your personality, your vision, your business. So I know that you're going to want to check that out. We are getting to a point of wrapping it up here. I want to kind of just dive a little bit into the backstory. So you've kind of referred to your kids and building a business with young kids and kind of what that's been like. When you think about the future direction of Hey Sunny Studio and what, where you want to go, what you want this to be, kind of how you're creating the life that you crave. What either advice would you give to people who are in this place where there may be questioning, is this worth it? Is this something that I want to move forward with? Talk to us about just what your dreams are. Where do you want to go?

Cheryl Floris: [00:48:56] Oh gosh, how do I not get emotional when talking about this? Truthfully, it's about providing opportunity for like for my kids and building out. When we first started, I had this vision of having this team of moms and we're all able to contribute financially to our household, maybe bring our husbands home from work and just be able to, again, like bring this opportunity for adventure and cup filling activities and just opening the doors to possibilities for our families. And ultimately, that is, that's the dream. That is the dream. And the mission to get there is helping business owners. It's kind of Matrix-y. It's helping business owners essentially build their business to be able to do the same. Right? It's providing women in business the opportunity, the tools, the knowledge, the know-how, the visuals, so they can grow their business to a point where, yeah, maybe they can bring their husbands home from work, or maybe they can start saving for a down payment for a house, or build the house of their dreams or, you know, go on holidays once a year with their family or whatever that looks like. Yeah. So that's the dream. That is the dream.

Kari Lotzien: [00:50:16] I am so passionate about, and now I'm going to get emotional, but building business together, this is absolutely one of my pillars. I want to create community. I see too many business owners feeling like they have to do it all themselves, that it's competitive, that they need to be ahead of the game, getting up at 4 a.m., you know, eating the frog, slaying the dragon, whatever the heck we're doing. And I just, t the women that are slaying it in business, I see over and over again, are the ones who want to lift each other up. Who are just like, I get it, I see you, I have something that I believe in that I feel has value and I'm willing to share it. And we're doing that not by giving it away, not by just giving a bunch of freebies, but that we're really valuing ourselves because we're pairing this idea of nurturing others with feeding our own families, building our own bank accounts, building financial abundance. And we can do this together. But we're shifting perspective, coming all the way back to the beginning of this episode when I talked about how women in business has changed over the last few decades. You know, this is a very short amount of time that we're making substantial changes in the way business operates, and we can't do it alone. We can't. It just, it has to be together. It has to be by utilizing each other's resources and just those words of encouragement. So thank you just so much for sharing that beautiful message because I think it so connects with my audience. I know it well. I love to ask in closing, when you think about your life, what helps you to stay anchored? That idea of just a point of stability and security, feeling like you've got your feet on the ground. How do you do that?

Cheryl Floris: [00:52:08] Some people call it faith, trust, prayer. Whatever floats your boat and fits into your world. But for me, it's just, it's trusting that everything is going to work out. So meditation practice, walks, reading, journaling, brainstorming, and leaning on my circle, that is what helps me stay grounded, especially when we are living in a time where, yes, we have so much opportunity, but there's also a lot of noise out there, there is a lot of different information, there's a lot of different techniques and what you should do and what you should invest in, and it's really easy to get clouded by so much information out there and being able to come back to you, your trust in yourself, your intuition and being able to to just listen to what you need and what is going to drive your business to the next stage. That is what helps keep me grounded. Because all of this, again, at the end of the day, I'm doing it for my kids, I'm doing it for my husband, and I'm doing it for my future. You know, failure is not an option. Setbacks, yes, because we always learn from setbacks. I have had my fair share. But failure is not an option, and you have to be willing to pivot and grow and have some tenacity in that.

Kari Lotzien: [00:53:31] So good. Oh, thank you so much for your time today. I know that the audience is just going to eat this up, and I just, I really want to thank you for your passion, your integrity, just how real you are and how how you let us have a back glimpse into your personal stories and and sharing that with us today. So all the very best. Thank you so much for being here. And--

Cheryl Floris: [00:53:59] Thank you!

Kari Lotzien: [00:54:00] Just a reminder, if you have not liked and subscribed to the podcast yet, please make sure that you do. And let's be honest, navigating the world of marketing is not easy, especially for small business owners trying to do it all themselves. So if you know of someone who's on this journey, take a screenshot and make sure that you link and share this episode with them. It's how we build community together and help support others on this journey of business. Thanks so much for being here.

Kari Lotzien: [00:54:31] Please know that this podcast is meant for entertainment purposes only. It is not a substitution for medical or professional mental health advice. If you require support, please do reach out. Thanks so much.

Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.