Finding Proof with Dr Tess Crawley

When you feel like setting goals is putting too much pressure on yourself to “achieve”, it tells me you’re already overwhelmed by all that you have to do in your business. I know, because I’ve been there.  

You feel pressured from all sides. You feel there are a thousand decisions (big and small) to be made. You feel isolated within your own team, because no one else quite “gets” the pressure you’re under. 

You feel like you’re always chasing your tail. You feel hamstrung financially, trying to be wise for the future while knowing you need to meet the needs of today. 

You feel guilty because you want to offer more to your team, but you just can’t. You feel guilty because you want to offer more time to your family.  And on and on and on the list goes.  

But here’s the thing. Taking time to nut out a bit of a forward plan will help you with the overwhelm. It will help you become more strategic in a number of ways.

Know the difference between what is your role and what to delegate. Know what can wait.  Know what is strategically aligned to your goals. Know how to recognise someone else’s distracting priority (so you can say no). Know in advance the general structure for your days, weeks, and months.  Know that you can take time out for your family.  Know that you can have a holiday. Know that your business will survive if you turn your phone of while you do strategic planning.  Know that your inbox can wait.

Treat goal-setting as a navigational mission. Your big picture goal is your ultimate destination. Your medium and shorter-term goals are your navigational aids.  

And don’t worry about whether or not you’re ultimate goal changes in the future, I’d expect it to as you grow and learn.  

Take an hour today with a coffee and your phone switched off to set yourself some goals that can act as your guide, your scaffolding, your structure to help you reach you bigger picture vision.  

Much love, Tess x

This is the official first episode of our podcast, cheekily entitled "Everything That Shits Me About Being in Business, and One Thing That I Love" - or The G&T Sessions for short (that's G for Gerda and T for Tess, by the way!) 

In this episode we discuss the excuses that business owners and other professionals use to not become more visible online (and yes, they are excuses that drive us CRAZY!). 

And of course, we also talk about how this feeds into what we love about what we do. 

We hope you'll enjoy this episode. Keep your eyes (on Facebook, YouTube, and Instagram) and ears (on my podcast and Gerda's) peeled for more episodes as we aim for weekly episodes! 

Much love, 

Tess & Gerda (G&T)

#businessowner #entrepreneur #psychologist #businesscoach #businessmentor #privatepractice #findingproof #quietconfidence #firestarters #likeaboss #mentor #business #businesswoman #burnout #overwhelm #businesswoman

LA-based Texan, Amberly Lago, is an amazing woman. She is a former professional dancer and athlete, and the survivor of a significant motorbike accident that saw her almost lose her leg. It has taken dedication and strength to recover from serious injury and live with chronic pain, but Amberly's sheer generosity of spirit has also led to a daily gratitude practice and a career as a motivational speaker. The title of her book "True Grit and Grace" pretty much sums her up.

I consider Amberly, to be a friend, and I hope this conversation for both of our podcasts will be the first of many. Here we talk about the realities of business ownership and keeping it real on social media, living with gratitude, and a host of other things.

If you'd like to know more about Amberly, you'll find her on Instagram @amberlylagomotivation or via her website https://amberlylago.com/  (make sure you download her daily gratitude journal).

p.s. If you’re struggling with self-doubt, you’re welcome to download my latest free resource, How to Slay Your Own Bullshit!

Here’s the link: http://www.tesscrawleyglobal.com/bsslayer

#businessowner #entrepreneur #psychologist #businesscoach #businessmentor #privatepractice #findingproof #quietconfidence #firestarters #likeaboss #mentor #business #businesswoman #burnout #overwhelm #businesswoman #motivation #amberlylago #truegritandgrace

Episode 2 - Origins of Business We're talking about the ups and downs faced by businesses in their very beginnings. The things that draw you into owning your own business, the things you don't see coming, and setting yourself up to charge a sustainable fee.

I’ve been away from Melbourne for 25 years. Even so, I like to think of myself as a local. But the reality is that so much has changed, and I find myself an alien among humans.  

This is true of business too. It’s easy to feel like we know what we’re doing, that we are old hands. But the reality is that things move pretty quickly. Before you know it you’re out of your depth, feeling left behind, or worse, burnt out. . I’m always impressed when inexperienced staff know the limits of their knowledge and know when to ask questions.  

So why do we more experienced business owners find it so hard to do the same? . Fear of looking incompetent? Fear of embarrassing ourselves  Fear of letting slip that we’re not actually all-knowing? 

We need to take on the same humility we expect of our juniors and recognise our limits. We need to know when to ask questions. And we absolutely must know when to ask for help.  

Meanwhile ... Wish me luck as I figure out the Myki system for Melbourne’s trams!

Much love, Tess x

Day 2 of the Like a Boss retreat dawns. What did my peeps achieve yesterday? And what’s on for today? 

p.s. It’s your last chance THIS DECADE to get your business in order with my help. Firestarters, my 30-Day mentoring program with DAILY accountability kicks off for the final time this year on 18th November. ONLY THREE PLACES LEFT! Find out more here … https://findingproof.com/firestarters.... 

p.p.s. You’re welcome to download my latest free resource, How to Slay Your Own Bullshit!  Here’s the link: http://www.tesscrawleyglobal.com/bssl... 

#businessowner #entrepreneur #psychologist #privatepractice #findingproof #quietconfidence #firestarters #likeaboss #mentor #business #businesswoman #socialmedia #australia #bullshitslayer #mentalhealth #burnout #mindset #marketing #idealclient #mentoring #overwhelm #ceotime #ceolab #untouchabletime #2020vision #growth #nyc #melbourne

What happens when you’re mentored by me? Well I’m glad you asked! 😉  

Here’s a sneak peek into my inner circle Like a Boss retreat. ❤️ 

. p.s. It’s your last chance THIS DECADE to get your business in order with my help. Firestarters, my 30-Day mentoring program with DAILY accountability kicks off for the final time this year on 18th November. ONLY THREE PLACES LEFT! Find out more here … https://findingproof.com/firestarters.... 

p.p.s. You’re welcome to download my latest free resource, How to Slay Your Own Bullshit!  Here’s the link: http://www.tesscrawleyglobal.com/bssl... 

#businessowner #entrepreneur #psychologist #privatepractice #findingproof #quietconfidence #firestarters #likeaboss #mentor #business #businesswoman #socialmedia #australia #bullshitslayer #mentalhealth #burnout #mindset #marketing #idealclient #mentoring #overwhelm #ceotime #ceolab #untouchabletime #2020vision #growth #nyc #melbourne

How are you with setting boundaries with others? What about setting boundaries with yourself?? In our most recent conversation, Evan and I talked about setting boundaries, self-care, sleep hygiene, and Baileys Irish Creme! This is perhaps one of our more "psychological" conversations, but there are still plenty of laughs and lots of irreverence (mostly at my expense #eyeroll). I hope you'll enjoy this conversation, I know I did.

p.s. It’s your last chance THIS DECADE to get your business in order with my help. Firestarters, my 30-Day mentoring program with DAILY accountability kicks off for the final time this year on 18th November. ONLY THREE PLACES LEFT! Find out more here … https://findingproof.com/firestarters-30-day-mentoring/

p.p.s. You’re welcome to download my latest free resource, How to Slay Your Own Bullshit! 

Here’s the link: http://www.tesscrawleyglobal.com/bsslayer

#businessowner #entrepreneur #psychologist #privatepractice #findingproof #quietconfidence #firestarters #likeaboss #mentor #business #businesswoman #socialmedia #australia #bullshitslayer #mentalhealth #burnout #mindset #marketing #idealclient #mentoring #overwhelm #ceotime #ceolab #untouchabletime #2020vision #growth #nyc #melbourne

When you are thinking about starting a business, the choices can be overwhelming. Do I go it alone or bring in a partner? Should I start as a company or a sole trader?  

You’re so scared to get it wrong that you hesitate starting. You’re so worried about making the wrong choice that you do nothing. Or you lie awake at night losing sleep over what might happen in the future.  

Stop it!  There is no set structure to how a business startup looks.  

Sole trader. Solopreneur.

Small group business Partnership Co-operative World-dominating conglomerate 😉 

 The choice is yours. And what you choose today doesn’t have to be your choice forever.  

Ask yourself this question ... 

How do I feel about the idea of managing other people? This is one simple way of choosing your starting point.  

Here’s another question ... What can I delegate? Get the stuff you hate off your plate so you can focus on the bits you love. This will help you maintain your energy, avoid burnout, and let you focus on the right kind of growth.  

You can start your business in one guise and grow into another. Or your can go full boar to start with and then decide to downsize. You can start as a sole trader and then become a company (that’s what I did). You can do everything yourself or you can hire team. Or you can start with team and then decide to go it alone.  

No one is going to take your first born child if you change your mind.  

No one is going to put you in the stockade for trying one option then choosing another.  

This is my point about business growth ... Growth is not just about how big your business gets, it’s also how you grow as a business owner. How you learn what works best for you.  

It takes time to grow into your business ownership role. It takes time to learn what works for you and what doesn’t.  It takes time to try things out, make mistakes, learn from those, incorporate that learning, and try something else.  

Above all, there is not one-size-fits-all perfect model of business. It doesn’t exist. So stop looking for it and get out there and try. Something. Anything. Just try!

Much love,

Tess x

I’ve been reflecting on some of the things I’m grateful for. As I embark on the next phase of my professional and family life, ready to return to living in Melbourne, I’ve been thinking about what I’ve sacrificed, survived, and received over the past 25 years in Hobart.  

And this morning I had a realisation … I am honestly grateful for the shitty times, as well as the amazing opportunities life in Tasmania afforded me.  Why? Because those shitty times (and let’s face it, some pretty shitty people) taught me so much. I’ve grown through these experiences. And I’ve learned more and more about just what I’m capable of overcoming.  

It can be hard to see how to be grateful when shitty stuff happens, I know.  But here’s something I realised as a kid (with plenty of shitty stuff going down on the regular).

 If I could wish away the shitty stuff, I would have also miss out on some of the good stuff that followed. As an adult I realised that would have meant never meeting my husband and never having my children (unless you ask my kids, who subscribe to the multi-universe theory of time travel, but we won’t go into that here!).  

So what’s my point?

It’s simply this … after even the darkest times, we learn and grow. Even with the experience of traumatic events, which of course I wish we could all avoid, we humans are capable of post-traumatic growth (google it).  

So here’s a little activity for you.  

I challenge you to spend some time not only creating a gratitude list of the easy stuff (I’m grateful for my husband, my comfortable home, my kids, my blah blah blah) … I want you to really drill down into what you a grateful for having received as the result of surviving shitty stuff in your personal or business life.  

We all have to deal with shitty times. And sometimes it takes a good while to be able to see what you’ve learned about yourself as a result. But it’s there.  

Perhaps you just need to spend a moment of reflection. And gratitude.  

Much love, Tess x