What if we could step back and evaluate our practices for efficiency? (Doesn’t that sound like a fun Friday night?) Seriously though, it’s an exercise we all need to apply once in a while - both personally and professionally - to see what’s working, what we can do differently and what we can stop altogether. I’ve come up with a list of seven items for you to have a think about, to free up some more of that valuable time, energy and money.
Key Points:
- Stop spending on the frills and unnecessary items (2:31)
- Stop doing what you hate or feel you should (5:16)
- Stop second guessing yourself (7:01)
- Stop working for today (9:42.5)
- Stop not taking care of yourself (12:52.5)
- Stop avoiding networking (13:54)
- Stop denying your skills (16:43)
Also mentioned:
- E36: https://shows.acast.com/connections-coffee-confidence/episodes/take-the-weight-off-your-sales-process
- E52: https://shows.acast.com/connections-coffee-confidence/episodes/not-living-the-cookie-cutter-life
- Blink: The Power of Thinking Without Thinking by Malcolm Gladwell (https://amzn.to/3vX5L5s) (Please note that this is my affiliate link and should you choose to buy this book, or anything else using this link, I will receive a small commission at no extra cost to you. Thank you for supporting my small business.)
- Connections Coffee Confidence Community on Facebook, my group
My Products:
- Don't Waste Your Breath guide on messaging (https://janicefogarty.podia.com/dont-waste-your-breath-get-your-best-message-across)
- How to be an Amazing Podcast Guest checklist (https://www.janicefogarty.com/how-to-be-an-amazing-podcast-guest)
- 10 Places to get Publicity, Even with Zero Budget (https://www.janicefogarty.com/discover-10-places-to-get-free-publicity-even-though-you-have-zero-budget)
I love Landish products because I appreciate a natural approach to my well-being and love to support Canadian. We drink 5 Mushroom Hot Chocolate every night - except when we feel like it's a Golden Latte kind of night! (And Pure Canadian Marine Collagen is a staple in my morning smoothie.) By using my referral link, you can get 20% off of your first order --> https://bit.ly/2SEOqzl
✔Join me on Pinterest 😀
✔Let's connect on LinkedIn
✔And Instagram!
Transcript:
As female entrepreneurs, we have a lot of stuff going on. Heck, as people, we have a lot of stuff going on. Some days there aren’t enough hours, enough energy and from time to time, enough money to go around.
What if we were able to step back and evaluate our practices for efficiency? (Doesn’t that sound like what you should do with a choice beverage on a Friday night?) Seriously though, it’s an exercise we all need to apply once in a while - both personally and professionally, to see what’s working, what we can do differently and what we can stop altogether. I’ve come up with a list of seven items for you to have a think about, see if they apply to your business or your life, to free up some more of that valuable time, energy and money.
INTRO
This episode came about from a series of conversations I’ve been having with fellow entrepreneurs and a few of my clients. They were all just one-off things I noticed and questioned the validity of in the particular circumstances of those conversations but they stuck with me because they really are universal. And, full disclosure, some of them have cropped up in my personal life and business so I’m including those as well. Ready?
I’ll start with the admission that I’m frugal. I keep an eye on my incomings and outgoings and rarely spend where I don’t need to. It annoys my kids, sometimes my husband, but whatever. This is not to say that I don’t spend where there is value, check out Episode 36 Take the Weight off Your Sales Process where I advocate the idea of creating and explaining value. I believe in spend when you need to, the amount should fit within your budget and the return should offer enough value to justify the spend. I also believe in future-proofing your business. Investing in tools and equipment to enable and support your growth.
However.
There are things we think we need, or we tell ourselves we need because really, we know we don’t need it but we just want it, or it’s on sale and we might need it and it’s better off to buy it now… you know what I mean. Or it’s the technology. I know I just said you should invest in future-proofing your business but do you need the email service provider that will carry you up to 10,000 subscribers when you only have 50? Do you need to pay for the platform that enables you to have a membership when you have no plans to create one in the next, well, ever but you like having the option?
I had a woman contact me and want my help creating a website. She wanted to pay my rates for crafting messaging, editing copy, and a referral for a web designer. Which I would have been very happy to do except for two things. First, she couldn’t afford me. We both knew that. I’m not expensive by most standards, I like to remain reasonable, but I am not in her budget. And for that matter, neither is a web designer. But second, and more importantly, she doesn’t need a website right now. If ever. I couldn’t take her money and set her up and still sleep at night knowing she got something that most likely wasn’t going to bring her a reasonable return on the investment and that was going to be more than what she was able to maintain on her own, causing her to have to pay more for web maintenance.
A website is a lovely thing to have and splash around. But there are other, more cost effective ways to run a business. She’s getting set up with a different system that suits her business and more importantly, that money that she was going to invest is going into equipment upgrades and paying herself a little bit extra. And that’s the bonus of reviewing what you’re paying for. The money you can potentially save can be used to invest in what you actually need or to pay yourself a bit more, even just a bonus would be lovely. Or it can be used to pay someone else which leads me ever so nicely to my second item: doing what you don’t like.
Why are you doing what you don’t like? And sometimes yes, you absolutely have to roll up your sleeves and get dirty up to your elbows. But what about doing things you feel like you should because it’s expected? First, why? Second, who is expecting what from you? If it’s your customer or client, that leads me to third, do you have to be the one who does it? Does it have to be done in the conventional way or can you get creative?
I had a client, bright and sunny and driven and so intelligent. And she wanted to start a blog. But actually she didn’t. When she brought it up her entire body language, right down to her tone of voice, drooped. If there is something in your business you feel you should be doing, well, that word ‘should’ can be your trigger to stop and re-evaluate. Why and says who? If it’s something that you can’t get out of doing or providing, see if there is a way to worm around the practicalities. My client is an amazing speaker. Like, you want to bottle her and pour her into crowds of people. So we worked with her strengths and the answer is to record her thoughts and have a VA transcribe them. If you can’t afford a VA, then perhaps you get busy learning to type quickly; don’t stifle your creativity and don’t hold yourself back over the things you can work around. You need to be aware of the things holding you back and either drop them or work around them.
The third item on my list is second guessing. We all do it at some point, we all hesitate before hitting publish or post or send. We re-think before we open our mouth to contribute or straight up slam the delete button. It’s normal and sometimes it’s a good thing. A bit of thought before we jump can save ourselves and nobody needs more hassle.
What I'm talking about here is second guessing if your new product is good enough or ready for purchase. If that picture is too dorky to post. If your copy isn’t perfect. If your email sequence is long enough or timed right or including the right messages at the right time. (I can help with that by the way.) Are you ready to talk on a podcast about your business? Should you hire someone on a part time or even full time basis? Should you let someone go? Should you accept that offer to partner or make an offer of your own?
Or worse, if you’ve made a sound decision and last minute start allowing that niggle of fear in the back of your mind to speak more strongly, more loudly. If it is around a significant move or investment, you be the judge of how much weight to give it. If it’s a post or a product or course, hit publish. Do what you need to do to move your business forward, get it in play, give it some time then review what you did. Make your tweaks if necessary and move on. It’ll be okay. Malcolm Gladwell is a brilliant author and one of my favorite books of his is called Blink: The Power of Thinking Without Thinking. I’ll link to it in the show notes. But he breaks down what happens in the mind in those few seconds before making a decision, what’s knows as the adaptive unconscious: mental processes that work rapidly and automatically from relatively little information. Lots of studies and real world examples, written in a conversational tone and so easy to burn through. I’m a compulsive over-thinker by nature and this book helped me understand what happens behind the scenes in my head and that, combined with the work I’ve done on my own self-confidence has helped me stop second guessing myself so much. If you read it, I’d love to hear your thoughts so pop me an email at [email protected] or tag me on Instagram at janiceefogarty.
The fourth item to re-evaluate is if you’re working for today. Remember a few minutes ago when I brought up future-proofing your business? Well, this is it. I don’t know your business but what I do know is that you don’t plan to work forever. At some point you want to make enough money to keep you in your desired lifestyle without the stress and effort you currently put in. And in order to do that, you need to be actively setting things up in your business to run without you.
That might feel scary. As entrepreneurs we sometimes feel highly attached to our business, maybe you have a personal brand business and sure, the attachment makes complete sense, but at some point you won’t want to do the same things anymore. And you should prepare for that now. Depending on your revenue and growth, your personal goals, your talents, you should be thinking about what it will take to achieve your future.
Maybe you need to invest in better equipment or technology that will allow you to take your business to the next stage. I’m not saying to go back into that 10,000 email subscriber package, but evaluate if your plans are to grow your list by 1,000 and maybe add in a product that would justify upgrading your programming. Or you want to be able to build more bath bombs, train more dogs, but your current operations aren’t built for that. That’s when you need to upgrade your equipment to enable you to grow.
Many of us don’t want to grow to have a staff of 30 but it would be nice to have someone to run the business side of things will you do what you are so good at, whatever that is that gives your business your sparkle, or you hire someone to do the stuff that sucks the joy from your heart. If you can see yourself hiring a virtual assistant or an online business manager in the near future, you should be thinking about what you do right now that you’ll want them to take over and create a manual, or a standard operating procedure around that. This ensures consistency in your brand, in your operations, and enables someone you hire to immediately start working to your standards and methodology - as long as they can follow your directions.
If you have a staff already and are looking at handing over the day-to-day operations, it goes without saying you should have a significant amount of standard operating procedures in place but you should also be devising a schedule to ease yourself out, to gradually hand over responsibilities and get your employees used to the idea of taking on more or different responsibilities or reporting to a different person. If you want to sell your business as a growing concern, the ability to hand over a well-trained staff and a set of current standard procedures is an excellent selling feature.
And, let’s be honest, you’ll need time to adjust to all of this as well. Future proofing your business includes ensuring your graceful exit and transition into a different life. Which nicely segways into taking care of yourself.
Is this new advice? No. But it is important enough to repeat. You are the only one of you. You are valuable, you’re worthy, you’re loved and you’re needed. So please, take care of yourself. Eat. Sleep. Exercise. Read or listen to more podcasts. Have a hobby or something outside of whatever your work is, that’ll give you something to look forward to and help you with creativity, relaxation, and provide you with something to occupy your time while you transition out of your business when the time comes. And know people, be with people, who know who you are, who you enjoy being with, who keep you honest and true and inspire you to be better. That’s advice close to item six.
Networking. I love to connect people. If I know you are doing something and can help someone else out, if I hear of someone looking for someone like you, I will always create the connection where possible. Until it comes to myself. As an introvert, it’s way safer and easier to stay in my bubble. Even online, to just stay in my online bubble. It's so snuggly and delightful in my bubble. But it’s not helping my business. It’s not helping my personal or professional development. So I’ve had to make a decision to network. Sometimes I speak in other groups, on facebook or Zoom; I leave comments cheering random strangers on or answering their questions, helping where I can. When someone introduces me to someone else, I stay open and curious instead of retreating into my head and ducking the intro. And so can you. These are not revolutionary ideas but they can be hard, harder than engaging. But when you don’t engage, you don’t network, you shut yourself off to opportunities, to support, to creative synergy, to extra ideas and income. For the sake of what? Staying safe inside your head? Is it worth it?
I’m going to guess you’re in a few facebook groups. You're welcome to join mine, the Connections, Coffee & Confidence Community, but whatever groups you're in, engage! Same with Instagram or TikTok or Clubhouse, wherever you’re hanging out. Engage. There are networking groups set up across every country and if you can’t find one that suits your needs, start one. You’re an entrepreneur. You create and problem solve, so do it. Maybe you’re in a part of the world that is open by the time you listen to this; and that might make things easier for you to attend in-person events. Easier meaning they are happening, you might still need to push yourself to attend. But I don’t think that online meet ups are ever going to be a thing of the past so hit the old Google and find one that’s of interest to you. Maybe you don’t focus on what exactly you aim to get out of the networking beyond meeting new people; as Heather McGregor said in episode 52, you block the magic when you control the how. Maybe it’s enough for you to decide to meet new people and stay open to possibilities. Try it. The worst thing that can happen is you have a story to tell about the horrible time you tried to network and the cast of characters or events that you encountered.
The last item on my list is a deep one that is holding you back. It’s about not claiming your status. Owning it. You are magnificent at something, somewhere in your heart you know I’m right. But maybe you don’t feel safe admitting it even to yourself let alone proclaiming it to the world. Or maybe you just aren’t sure what it is yet. Or maybe you know and you downplay it.
We say those things, you know? Oh, I just kinda fell into this thing… I don’t know how it happened but all of a sudden I had to hire an assistant to help out. I’m not really an expert but I get by. Or some version. No more. Stop doing that. If you are doing something and it is working, then that isn’t by chance or magic, you’ve done something and are someone real and deserving of credit. Claim that credit. Feel it in your bones. Write it on your mirror so you see it every day. Make it your screen saver. And knock out using that word ‘just’ to modify your accomplishments. Stand proudly beside what you’ve done. Even if you failed, be proud that you tried and rest in the knowledge that you gained through the experience.
When you don’t own your expertise, your skills, you close yourself off to external recognition. I’m not saying you need that external recognition for yourself, far from it, but others need it to help them justify their decision to spend their money and time on you. It’s psychology, social proof. If you bat away compliments or acknowledgements, you will teach people to stop giving them to you making your marketing harder.
When you don’t own your success, or you refuse to hold it as truth, you place limits on yourself. If you don’t acknowledge your strengths and skills, you won’t be confident enough to take the beating every entrepreneur inevitably gets. And actually, you won’t be confident enough to actually get into the ring. You limit your possibilities when you don’t claim what you have, who you are.
This can be really hard, particularly for women. I hope that it changes for the coming generations but right now, women are still not really encouraged to own their status. And I can’t imagine the challenges faced by women who are Black, Indigenous or People of Colour, non-binary or identifying as female. There are layers of societal norms that I want to believe are being worn away but right now, we have to take a deep breath and accept our strength, our skill.
If you struggle to know what you’re good at, ask someone you trust and respect. Hire a coach. Step back and examine what has worked for you and what felt good while you were doing it, does that give you a clue? And do a gut check. When you have an answer, does it sit well in your gut? Not the fear of having to own it and claim it and proclaim it, but in your heart of hearts, is this true and accurate? If it passes the gut test, go with it. Remember it and hold on to the knowledge so you can bypass the fear that will inevitably bubble up in the future.
So there you have it. In no particular order my list of seven items to re-evaluate to ensure you aren’t wasting time, energy or money, that you aren’t holding yourself back from being the most magnificent version of your entrepreneurial self. Stop paying for what you don’t need. Stop doing what sucks the joy from your heart. Stop second guessing yourself. Stop working for today. Stop not prioritizing self care. Stop avoiding networking. Stop denying your skills and expertise. And once you’ve stopped all of those things, take note of how you feel with your newfound clarity and direction.
Thanks for listening and I’ll talk to you next week.
Support this show http://supporter.acast.com/connections-coffee-confidence.
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
