Latest / Ambitious Podcast / EP. 23: Mastering the Non-Negotiable Skills Every Entrepreneur Needs

Transcript

EP. 23: Mastering the Non-Negotiable Skills Every Entrepreneur Needs · Ambitious Podcast

0:08
Hello and welcome back to Ambitious.
0:10
I am so excited for today's topic because this is something
0:14
that I feel like I really needed when I was starting my business.
0:18
I feel like everyone on the Internet tells you what to do.
0:20
Everyone on the Internet tells you that you need to do this
0:23
funnel or do this offer or do this marketing or do XYZ.
0:28
And frankly, nobody tells you who to be.
0:31
And you and I both know that when you become an entrepreneur,
0:34
it is like the most intense personal development journey
0:36
that basically anybody can go through.
0:38
And there's like no manual as to how to navigate it.
0:42
What kind of qualities or skills do I need to develop outside of
0:46
the classic things of like marketing and selling and, you
0:49
know, branding and things like that?
0:51
Like I want to know how do I become the person that I need to
0:55
be in order to become a successful entrepreneur?
0:58
And so it kind of got me thinking about this quote that I
1:01
heard, which was that you don't have the business that you want
1:04
to have because you haven't become the person to run it yet.
1:06
And it was a quote that I heard from my mentor and that he I
1:09
think heard from somebody else. And when it got passed along to
1:13
me, it was really something that was helpful for me as a reframe
1:16
because I remember and you guys have heard me talk about this on
1:18
other episodes, that I was told by a mentor that I didn't have a
1:22
7 figure business because I wasn't operating like a 7 figure
1:25
entrepreneur yet. And that hit home for me.
1:28
And then hearing it as another kind of like reminder recently
1:31
from my mentor, I was like, OK, like there's just a lot of
1:34
conversation around like who you need to become in order to be
1:37
successful, but no one says what that is.
1:40
Like it's always like, there's, you know, the mindset things and
1:43
then there's the skills that you have to have.
1:45
But like there's not really any consents like, hey, these are
1:47
qualities you're going to want to develop if you want to
1:49
succeed long term. So then got me thinking, well,
1:52
what are those skills? Are there really non negotiable
1:55
skills for an entrepreneur to be successful?
1:57
And I would argue that there are.
1:59
And you know, we probably will do like a Part 2 to this
2:01
episode, frankly, because there's a lot of what skills and
2:05
aspects you need to have mastered are in order to be
2:08
successful long term. But I want to start with some of
2:10
the first couple that you're going to want to consider.
2:13
If you are somebody who feels like you are either new to
2:15
entrepreneurship and you kind of want to know how to start to put
2:18
in the reps to really be successful, or whether you're
2:21
somebody who's been in this for a long time and you want to
2:24
sharpen some of your skills. So today we're going to be going
2:26
through some of the non negotiable skills that you need
2:28
to have to be a successful entrepreneur.
2:31
And you know, I want to also give you a stat because 50 to
2:34
70% of entrepreneurs and entrepreneurship type ventures
2:38
will fail within the first five years.
2:40
And so, you know, it really puts in context that and it's not to
2:44
be cynical, but not all of us are going to succeed in this.
2:48
Not all of us are going to soar in anything that we create and
2:52
that we develop. And so if we really want to be
2:54
the people who end up on top, we want to be the people who end up
2:57
successful, we have to train as such and we have to develop as
3:00
such. And so I want to give you some
3:02
clear skills to develop and listen, I have talk about the
3:07
fact that I think everyone, if they should desire to develop,
3:11
can become an entrepreneur. I don't think that there's like
3:14
this innate, you know, the nature versus nurture.
3:17
If you well, like, I don't think that that it's a matter of like
3:19
you're born to be an entrepreneur.
3:21
I think that there are skills that lend themselves very nicely
3:24
to being an entrepreneur, but what I will also say is that you
3:27
can develop those skills. You can decide that you're going
3:30
to choose to put in the reps to develop those.
3:34
And so the question really becomes, do we know what those
3:36
are in order to take some action on them?
3:38
So today we're gonna be going through a couple of the
3:39
different skills that, you know, upon reflection, I think are
3:42
really, really important for myself that I've really drove
3:45
into and also for my clients of the people who've been very
3:48
successful, some of the traits that have made them that way.
3:51
And so the first one that I really I think is the natural
3:54
one is the aspect to be able to take like calculated risks.
3:59
Because I think a lot of the time being an entrepreneur, even
4:01
starting a business, frankly, is a risk.
4:04
You don't know if it's going to work.
4:05
You don't know if this is something that you know is going
4:08
to last a long time. You don't know how the market
4:10
will respond. You maybe don't even know what
4:12
you're doing. You could be going in completely
4:15
blind to what it takes to be able to run a business.
4:18
And I think the word calculated is important because often
4:22
entrepreneurs get this bad rap, right, of the fact that they're
4:25
just like really risky and they're just throwing it all on
4:27
the line. And listen, there are those
4:28
segments of entrepreneurs that do that.
4:30
There are people that will not see the signs that something is
4:32
not working and they will just keep working it and going and
4:35
going and going and going. Even though it's going under,
4:37
they will just keep going because they have such passion
4:40
and they have such connection to their mission that they refuse
4:43
to see otherwise. So some people will just
4:45
naturally take risks. They're not calculated.
4:47
They are just risks. But I think the ability to take
4:50
calculated risks is a really big thing in entrepreneurship.
4:53
Because if you are somebody who feels that you have to have
4:56
safety, that you have to have everything figured out in order
5:00
to make a move in any shape or form, you are going to struggle
5:04
in entrepreneurship Because it is something that requires you
5:08
to challenge yourself to move with often times not all of the
5:13
information in front of you. And kind of my perspective on
5:16
this is that I always try to have like 70% of the information
5:19
that I need to be able to make a decision.
5:21
And when going into things, there's often times that I see a
5:25
lot of what won't work or might not work, and yet I have to act
5:28
anyways. And so even like when I first
5:30
started the business, it was very much a risk for me to go
5:34
into this. I didn't have necessarily a
5:37
massive savings behind me if it didn't work out.
5:39
I didn't have anybody in my family who was an entrepreneur,
5:42
which we talked about in earlier episodes of my story.
5:44
I didn't necessarily have anything behind me.
5:47
And going into this, it was absolutely a risk because I
5:50
didn't know what was going to happen.
5:52
But for me, I did know that if I was to pour myself into this and
5:58
really, really work my butt off, I had examples of people around
6:02
me who were successful at this. And I was like, I know for a
6:05
fact that if I execute on what they're executing on and I work
6:09
even twice or three times as hard, I will see momentum if I
6:13
just don't take my eye off the prize.
6:15
And so I think, you know, starting entrepreneurship for me
6:17
was such a big risk. And I think also, you know, in
6:22
any instance in the business as you're working through it,
6:24
you're going to have situations where you don't have everything
6:27
you need. And it's this aspect to like
6:28
trust. I think the calculated risk
6:31
aspect of that skill is also kind of slash or coincides with
6:35
trusting yourself. Because when you are presented
6:39
with an opportunity and you don't have everything you need
6:41
to feel like it's a safe decision and you're kind of
6:43
like, oof, this is a little bit risky.
6:45
It really does stem down to how much trust you have in yourself
6:48
to take that move. And if it's to make a big
6:51
investment, if it's to make a big decision in the business, if
6:54
it's to really take any type of action, your ability to take
6:58
those calculated risks as an entrepreneur stems back to you.
7:01
And so I think it's also really important if you are somebody
7:04
who wants to succeed in this long term, that you have the
7:07
ability to trust yourself and you have the ability to know
7:10
that you keep your word and that you will be resourceful and, and
7:13
do what it takes. But it all still comes down to
7:16
being comfortable with taking risk.
7:19
And so it's interesting to me when I see entrepreneurs who
7:21
feel that, you know, anything risky, they're like, oh, I can't
7:24
do it. And I'm like, Susan, this is
7:26
what you signed up for. This is what you signed up for.
7:30
This is what the journey in the process is going to be.
7:33
This entire thing every day as an entrepreneur is risky.
7:37
It's risky to try something in marketing.
7:39
It can be a calculated risk to try a sales approach.
7:41
It can be a calculated risk for a hire that you're kind of have
7:44
this gut instinct you need to hire, but maybe there's no
7:47
logistical or kind of fundamental aspect to it.
7:49
You just feel like this is the person you need to bring onto
7:52
your team, things in business, regardless of all the different
7:56
logistics, you just have to at some point jump.
7:59
And so I think it really is, you know, this aspect of jumping and
8:03
just trusting that the parachute is going to happen at some
8:07
point, right? And really allowing that to be
8:11
the basis of how you make decisions.
8:12
Because I've seen people, I have seen this time and time again, I
8:17
have seen people who get stuck in entrepreneurship and they get
8:20
stuck in their development and growth because they refuse to
8:23
act or to move if they feel that it's at any point or at all,
8:28
even .5% risky. And that's why I go back to the
8:32
70% because if you have 70% of the information, you've got
8:35
enough to move. And you know, the thing that I
8:37
often will tell people is at the end of the day, which is
8:40
something that I actually learned in my journey as well as
8:42
there's only 50% of what's going to happen.
8:44
It's going to be option A or it's going to be option B.
8:47
And so even in entrepreneurship, 9 times out of 10, even though
8:50
you've planned everything to a tee, there's still the option or
8:53
the room for error that something can go a different
8:55
way. And so you do the best with the
8:58
information that you have at the time.
8:59
But if you want to succeed long term, you have to be comfortable
9:03
being uncomfortable and sitting in risk and realizing that if
9:09
you want the big reward, if you want the big outcome, you cannot
9:13
have the big outcomes without any aspect of risk.
9:17
And so for myself, when I try to go for these big outcomes, let's
9:20
even just like really simplify it, right?
9:22
If I'm going for the big outcome of wanting to be an entrepreneur
9:24
and wanting to make multiple 7 figures using the Internet and
9:27
social media, I might have to take the risk on starting to
9:30
post, leaving my job and starting to go all in on social.
9:34
I have to at some point get uncomfortable.
9:36
And I have realized that the people who stay in the comfort
9:39
are the people who stay stuck. And so if you are in a place
9:43
where you're like, OK, I, I need to grow this business.
9:46
I want to grow this business. Ask yourself, are you actually
9:48
taking risks or are you playing it safe?
9:51
And like, listen, I want to be honest with you.
9:52
I have played it safe at times in my business too.
9:55
I have had moments where I recognize that I was playing in
9:58
the safe zone because it felt more comfortable for me.
10:01
But I also in those moments realize like, Oh, no, Kate,
10:04
you're, you're not growing at the rate that you could be
10:06
because you're not putting it all on the line.
10:08
And so I want you to ask yourself, are you taking
10:10
calculated risks? Are you really looking at the
10:13
information in front of you and realizing that you don't need
10:15
more and that you have everything you need to move, but
10:17
you just have to take action? And so I think taking calculated
10:21
risks is one of the key essential non negotiable skills.
10:25
Now the next non negotiable skills to me is the ability to
10:27
handle feedback and criticism and most importantly to be able
10:32
to have feedback or criticism or you know, data basically
10:36
presented to you and that not necessarily become your entire
10:41
story. Feedback and criticism is a
10:43
natural part of it. And it's when someone comes into
10:46
entrepreneurship and they're super comfortable.
10:48
I see this all the time. People are super comfortable
10:50
around praise and positive feedback.
10:54
They love when a post does well. They love when their team
10:56
praises them. They love when clients are
10:58
killing it and saying you're amazing, but when the post
11:02
doesn't do well or the marketing doesn't do well or the clients
11:04
say, hey, you know what? I didn't feel supported in that
11:07
moment or your team says, hey, I'm not feeling it fulfilled
11:10
right now. It's like the shock and awe
11:12
factor of, Oh my gosh, you know, this person said this or this
11:16
situation happened. And I'm like, yes, because both
11:19
are needed for your development. And it's your ability to not put
11:23
too much weight into the positive and also not too much
11:26
weight into the negative that allows you to stay balanced as
11:29
an entrepreneur. But the key essential element in
11:32
my opinion is not only being able to accept criticism or
11:35
feedback, but honestly, the comma to that would be the fact
11:38
that you seek it. You seek feedback and you seek
11:42
criticism because you are in a mindset or a perspective that
11:46
you actually desire to develop. And that you recognize that your
11:51
development is often times not going to come from your positive
11:54
words of affirmation, but in the areas that you don't know or
11:58
that you haven't been diving into.
12:00
So your relationship with the desire to get feedback and
12:05
criticism is an essential skill for you long term, especially if
12:10
you want to grow and scale quickly.
12:13
And it's hard, It's a muscle. It's the ability to really be
12:17
able to sit and humble yourself, realizing that you don't know
12:20
everything and that people in your world and your community.
12:23
This can be your clients, it can be your team, it can be your
12:25
audience, it can be people in your life, family, friends,
12:29
whatever it may be. You need to be open to having
12:32
feedback because you can't see everything from your
12:35
perspective. And so then when we go into
12:38
building a business and we're like, Oh no, no, it's my way.
12:40
You've got your blinders on. And if you are not open to
12:43
feedback and criticism, it means that you only see your
12:46
perspective and your path when there could be tons more other
12:49
information that you could be taking in right now.
12:51
But because you're not open to it, you're only operating and
12:54
making decisions from your perspective in your view.
12:57
And so not only do it to be open to feedback and criticism, but
13:00
also the stories that we tell ourselves from it.
13:03
Because when someone gets criticism or someone gets any
13:06
aspect of, I should say, quote UN quote, negative feedback,
13:09
right? The important thing to me is
13:11
what story do you take from it? Because if someone gives you
13:15
feedback and somebody gives you criticism and the first thing
13:18
that you do is spiral into, Oh my gosh, this is it.
13:21
This is coming down. What does this mean about me?
13:23
Right? You're instantly pulling a story
13:26
from it instead of saying what is the invitation here?
13:29
What facts were presented to me? And with this information, what
13:33
do I want to do about it? And sometimes you will get
13:37
feedback and criticism that you don't need to act on because
13:39
it's just someone voicing their emotions or voicing their
13:42
opinions. But sometimes in getting
13:45
feedback, there is validity to it and there is information and
13:49
that that you can use as an asset.
13:51
But if you have a story in receiving that, it blocks your
13:55
ability to see that as a potential solution for you.
13:58
And I actually see this often times when it comes to the
14:00
client experience for people. I have clients who come to me
14:03
and say, you know, Kate, this client is not happy and I don't
14:06
know what to do. And they said this, this and
14:08
this. And so I'm like, OK, well, first
14:09
of all, there's, you know, managing the feeling around it,
14:12
which is the fact that it can feel very jolting to have
14:14
negative feedback. But we also want to remember
14:17
that there might be validity to this.
14:18
So like, seek to understand what was the person going through?
14:22
What did they express to you? And is there any factual aspect
14:26
to what they're explaining? So like if they say, for
14:28
example, to a business owner that I worked with, hey, I feel
14:31
like you dropped the ball. My question is, well, did you
14:33
drop the ball, right? Because if you did, let's own
14:36
it. Let's use this as an opportunity
14:39
for you to develop and for you to expand.
14:41
And so when people often as business owners are frankly
14:45
insecure, it ends up leading to them closing themselves off to
14:50
conversations. And when you close yourself off
14:52
to conversations, you're closing yourself off to feedback.
14:54
And when you don't have feedback, you're living in your
14:57
own echo chamber. And so your ideas and solutions
15:01
and problems are only those that you see, which are very, very
15:05
segmented view of the whole. And so if you want to grow and
15:10
succeed long term, it really becomes, how do I not only have
15:13
the ability to hold space for feedback and criticism, but how
15:18
do I also potentially seek feedback and criticism?
15:22
And I want to know what people are thinking, feeling, saying,
15:27
and what's coming up for them. How I can understand it better.
15:30
Because if I understand that, I'll know how to fix it.
15:32
If I only know my perspective, I'm only fixing it based off the
15:35
information I have, which again, may be 20% of the 100% that's
15:39
actually out there. So asking yourself, where are
15:42
you asking for feedback right now?
15:44
Do you ask for feedback from your team, from your clients,
15:47
from your community? Are you open to criticism?
15:49
Or as soon as you hear it, do you shut down and say, no, no,
15:51
no, that's just so and so's opinion?
15:53
That's not me, right? How open are we to creating
15:56
space to really understand and unpack it and how can we make
16:01
this in more of a consistent fashion?
16:03
How can we structure this into the business?
16:06
For example, for team, it can be having a form that is an
16:10
anonymous form where people can send in feedback.
16:12
It can be asking for feedback on a team meeting.
16:14
It can be asking for feedback from your clients on your office
16:17
hours or AQ and a call that you have or a group call.
16:20
Like it can be structuring this into the structure of the
16:23
business that allows you to constantly get that, but making
16:27
sure that you have that door open.
16:29
And most importantly, to recognize that the way in which
16:32
you respond to the feedback will determine the amount of feedback
16:34
that you get. Because if every time that you
16:36
get feedback, the way in which you reply to it is, well, that's
16:40
not true, or that's not what I did, or that's not how it was
16:42
supposed to be. And you're kind of instantly
16:44
closed off to it. And it's very clear that you're
16:46
not receptive to it. You will not get feedback.
16:49
People will not feel safe to come to you.
16:52
And so if you create a safe space to say, hey, I want to
16:55
know, I'm curious, I desire to understand what's coming up for
16:59
you, you create an environment where people want to reach out
17:02
and it will actually benefit you long term in the business to do
17:05
so. So the other non negotiable
17:08
skill that I think is essential is adaptability.
17:11
You need to be somebody who is comfortable with pivoting.
17:16
And I actually talked with this actually this morning on my
17:18
stories on Instagram because I think so many business owners
17:22
have this preconceived idea of what it's going to look like in
17:26
their head. They have this idea of what
17:28
their launch is going to look like.
17:29
Their team is going to look like their vacations are going to
17:31
look like, like everything has a certain vision and a certain
17:33
plan of it's going to look like AB and C and it's all going to
17:37
work out this way. And the tricky part with that is
17:40
when you're rigid and something happens and you're not
17:44
adaptable, it completely throws you off.
17:46
The analogy that I used today when I was talking about this on
17:49
stories was that, you know, I explained to a client that when
17:52
things are happening in your world, it's kind of like the
17:56
wind and the storm that you're in, right?
17:57
It's like the wind increases and decreases in speed.
18:00
It might be blowing from the left, blowing from the right,
18:02
right. Like there's many different
18:04
experiences you're going to have with the wind or the ecosystem
18:06
in your business. You cannot and should not be
18:09
blaming the wind. Instead, adapt your sales.
18:13
And it really does correlate to business because when you're
18:17
going into business and you're not adaptable, what it means is
18:21
that you basically are going to feel the impact of everything
18:26
because you're so rigid in the plan and what it's supposed to
18:28
be or how it was supposed to go or the timeline of it or the
18:31
speed of it or the results of it.
18:33
Instead, I look to see, OK, what is the opportunity?
18:37
And so the opposition is the opportunity is kind of the main
18:41
thing that I would typically say to clients.
18:43
Your opposition is your opportunity.
18:44
So if you're in a situation right now where you have a
18:48
pathway presented in front of you, you have two options, which
18:52
is to say, well, this wasn't part of my plan.
18:53
This is not what it was supposed to be.
18:55
And, you know, I didn't think it would happen in this timeline or
18:56
thought it would happen faster, slower, easier, you know,
18:59
whatever it might be, you can look at that or you can also
19:02
say, is there an invitation here for me to develop?
19:06
Is this an opportunity or a pathway that I could go down
19:09
that could actually benefit me long term?
19:11
And a lot of my journey has been this.
19:14
It's been adapting. It's been adapting to
19:16
invitations for certain speaking opportunities and saying, well,
19:19
I've never spoken on stage before, but I guess I could.
19:23
And so then it became a speaking opportunity or marketing, it
19:26
could be, you know, this marketing feature that we used
19:28
daily got deleted and was no longer a feature.
19:31
And we were like, OK, well, we could just not do that.
19:33
Or we could take that concept we did and maybe reinvent that in
19:37
some way. And so it was the ability to
19:38
adapt the plan. And the thing that I think slows
19:42
so many down is the fact that when they have to adapt, they
19:47
get into the story of this is not how it was supposed to go.
19:49
And that process of the processing or the death of the
19:53
plan, if you will, is something that causes a lot of delay.
19:58
And so instead, what I like to do rather than have this really
20:03
rigid plan is instead go with the mindset of here's my
20:06
intention, here's the vision of where the end place is that I
20:10
want to get to, and I open myself up to the fluidity of how
20:14
I'm going to get there. And so even in entrepreneurship,
20:17
there has been so many pivots in my journey that I've had.
20:21
That I knew I wanted financial freedom, I knew that I wanted to
20:24
have time freedom, I wanted location freedom, but I didn't
20:28
necessarily know exactly what it was going to look like.
20:31
And so I didn't tell myself it had to be this box or that box.
20:34
Even going from, you know, the fitness space to the business
20:36
space, that was not something that I ever pictured myself
20:39
doing. It wasn't part of my plan, but
20:41
it was kind of all the pieces were aligning in front of me.
20:44
It was almost like the the stones of the path were being
20:47
placed as I was walking. And I think the ability to feel
20:51
comfort and feel at peace in those moments is what really
20:56
allows entrepreneurship for you to be an easier experience.
20:59
It's a skill you have to develop.
21:01
You have to be comfortable with allowing those stones to be
21:04
placed as you walk. And too many business owners
21:07
need the entire pathway for the next 15 yards to be seen in
21:10
front of them, for them to keep moving their feet.
21:13
And so the adaptability to be able to adjust to your
21:17
environment and also to realize that you can't control your
21:21
environment is a skill that you have to have.
21:24
Because if you don't, you will constantly get stuck in this
21:28
cycle of ruminating on what is not going the way that you want
21:32
instead of you actually seeing the invitations or the
21:35
opportunities in your environment of what could really
21:38
serve you right now. And so being adaptable is like
21:42
one of the key elements because you are going to get hit every
21:46
way, every way in business and your ability to respond to that
21:50
and what minds that you have when those situations occur is
21:53
really the difference maker of your success.
21:56
Now, another one that I think is really, really important is
21:59
vision and really having a vision and tuning into that
22:03
vision consistently and also sharing that vision with other
22:06
people because vision to me is different than destination.
22:12
A lot of business owners have outcomes.
22:14
They have. I want to achieve this number.
22:16
I want to achieve this amount of followers.
22:18
I want to have as many enrollments.
22:20
I want to have this thing. I want to get to this
22:22
destination. But I think instead a vision is
22:26
something that is more of a full picture.
22:29
It's something that really is a larger why.
22:32
It's giving detail and color to what you would like something to
22:36
look like when you're going after it and it's bigger than
22:40
you. It's not this, you know, one
22:42
milestone, it's something that has fluidity to it.
22:45
And so when you're looking at vision, vision is so important
22:49
because if you are somebody who doesn't have vision, you are
22:52
only in your tiny little frame of perspective.
22:57
And when you do that and you have a resistance that happens
23:00
in business, you have a situation that happens.
23:03
All you see is the situation in front of you because there's
23:06
nothing larger to tap into. And so vision is really the
23:10
basis, in my opinion, of what grounds us in our perspective as
23:14
we go through this crazy roller coaster called entrepreneurship.
23:18
Because your vision is what you're going to tune into when
23:20
you are trying to communicate that to other people, to get
23:24
other people on board. You need to know before you can
23:26
ever lead somebody else to come with you.
23:29
Vision is what you need when you are having these doubts of like,
23:33
is this the way and is this the decision and is this the move
23:37
and trusting yourself and where it is that you're going?
23:40
And the thing that I see often when it comes to, you know, even
23:43
for a personal lives, right, we have vision of what we want.
23:46
We have the vision of the family we want, the partner we want the
23:49
life that we want. And you know, your partner, you
23:53
didn't say he had to have dark hair and had to have green eyes,
23:57
right? Like you just said, this is the
23:59
kind of essence of the person that I want to be with and the
24:02
same thing needs to be applied to your business.
24:05
So many are saying the equivalent of he has to look
24:09
this way, she has to look this way.
24:11
I need to have specifically three kids, two of which are
24:13
girls, 1 is a boy, right? Like the nuances of the
24:16
specifics are not really vision. And that's what's happening with
24:20
business is that people are talking about, I want the 10
24:22
came on through the 20 came on. That's not vision.
24:24
Vision is the essence and the emotion and the principle around
24:28
what it is that you're looking to achieve and realizing that
24:31
you also have to be open to the process of how that presents
24:34
itself. And so when we're looking at
24:37
vision, we need to also remember that vision is something that
24:40
you need to adapt as you grow. The vision that I had when I
24:45
first started the business years ago is not the vision that I
24:48
have today. That vision has developed as I
24:51
have developed and it's been my invitation to constantly develop
24:56
that vision so I can really tune into look what is it now, what
25:00
is it now, what is it now, and painting it and giving it more
25:02
color. And so vision to me is what
25:06
allows people to really create something truly great, truly
25:12
great. Because if you were focused on
25:15
the milestone in front of you, we're not really creating
25:18
anything bigger. People often talk about impact,
25:20
right? Like I want to make an impact.
25:21
I want to make an impact. Well, can you even really give
25:24
description to what that impact is?
25:27
How would you describe that impact?
25:29
What does it look like? What are you actually going to
25:31
do to create change in the world?
25:33
What are you going to do to create change with this
25:35
business? Where is this business going?
25:36
And if you couldn't describe where your business was going
25:40
based on revenue, how would you describe it?
25:43
And that question rocks people, by the way, because many of us
25:47
when we're going into business, I'm like, so what's the vision
25:49
like? You know, I want like a 7 figure
25:51
business where I want to have this offer or I want to have
25:54
this. I'm like, but if you couldn't
25:55
describe it based off of just the amount of money that you're
25:59
creating, what is the vision? If you wanted to describe the
26:02
vision for the business without making it revenue focused, how
26:05
would you describe that? And that is an exercise that I
26:10
really suggest to people because I basically look at going
26:13
through almost like the wheel of life.
26:15
If you really look this up on Google, you can look up like the
26:17
wheel of life. And the wheel of life basically
26:19
is the core prongs of all the things that we master or lean
26:23
into when we're building out our vision for our life.
26:26
We have our social, we have our health, we have our, you know,
26:29
personal development goals. You need to have a vision that's
26:32
multi dimensional other than just revenue.
26:35
And so having a vision that is rooted in something that is
26:39
fluid and that is also not just segmented on a number is so
26:44
essential not only for your success, but for your client
26:47
success, for your team success, for everybody that is influenced
26:50
by you and also your business. And it's kind of segues as well
26:54
into the next that I think is really the difference maker of
26:58
the people that are the most successful in my world.
27:01
And it is personal development. I have mentioned in other
27:05
episodes, I've mentioned in other episodes the fact that,
27:08
you know, I wasn't always into mindset work in particular, but
27:12
I'm somebody who has always really put emphasis on personal
27:15
development because I'm the firm believer that we really are
27:18
never done. Like your work on yourself is
27:22
never done. You always have areas that you
27:26
need to refine, that you need to develop, that you have limiting
27:29
beliefs that you're not aware of.
27:30
You have reservations that need to be unpacked.
27:33
You have habits that maybe could be adjusted.
27:35
You have areas that you can refine right now and it's your
27:40
desire to actually investigate those areas and not push them
27:44
under the rug. That is the difference for you
27:47
in your business. And frankly, I've seen it time
27:49
and time again with business owners in our world, which is
27:52
that people think strategy is the way.
27:54
And listen, I'm a type A girl, OK?
27:57
I am just as type A as they get. And I will tell you I love
28:00
strategy. I love structure, I love
28:02
systems, I love processes, I love frameworks.
28:05
I love all that stuff. I nerd out on it.
28:08
However, there's this other aspect, which is you as the
28:12
person and this idea that your business is only going to grow
28:18
because of the things that you're executing or the
28:20
strategies that you're integrating is just not the
28:22
case. You may very well be the lid of
28:26
your business. Your business is never going to
28:29
surpass your level of development.
28:32
And so if you're wanting to have a big business, say you want to
28:35
have a multiple 6A7A, multiple 7 figure business, your business
28:39
will never surpass the level of development that you are
28:42
currently at. And so when someone comes to me
28:45
and they're trying to figure out like why is it that my business
28:47
is not growing? I just don't understand why
28:49
we're not getting past this place.
28:52
Truthfully, often times I'm not even looking at the business,
28:56
I'm looking at the owner. Because if something is not
28:59
clicking, it is very likely and very possible that it actually
29:04
has nothing to do with the strategy alone, but that it's
29:06
more a matter of who's operating it.
29:09
And so that's actually often times where I start.
29:12
So if you are somebody who wants to grow in your business and
29:15
grow significantly, one of the most important things that you
29:18
can do as a skill is constantly see where can I change?
29:23
Where can I develop? How can I be better?
29:26
How can I develop my habits, my mindset, the way that I
29:30
communicate? How can I develop the way in
29:32
which I approach problems in the business?
29:34
How can I develop my own internal dialogue that I'm
29:39
having? How can I, you know, develop the
29:41
way that I connect and interact with other people?
29:45
All of these are areas that you want to consciously decide to
29:49
dive into. And by the way, not only when
29:52
problems occur preventatively, I am constantly looking at where
29:57
is it that I need to change? What am I not focused on?
30:00
What language am I using that's not serving me?
30:03
And even one of the things that came up for me recently when it
30:05
came to personal development was realizing that I was constantly
30:08
using the word could or I would do this, or I might do this, or
30:14
maybe it was always this aspect of like lack of certainty around
30:18
things. And I had somebody in my world
30:21
who was like, no, no, you will. And I'm like, what?
30:24
They're like you will your language, you have to be very
30:26
careful about your language. And they were a mirror for me.
30:29
And now I'm hyper aware of it and I actually catch myself in
30:32
it. So I had said, you know, oh,
30:34
like I might do this. They go, no, you will.
30:36
So I started to be like, you're right, I will, I will do blank
30:41
instead of I might do blank. I could do blank.
30:43
And it's like, no, you will. And so that was a small area
30:47
just in the last week that I've become aware of.
30:50
And so now I'm very conscious, OK, like what language am I
30:52
using? And I find myself deleting text
30:54
messages now to people because I want to change my language
30:58
because I recognize that my language is programming my
31:01
subconscious. And if it's programming my
31:02
subconscious, that's going to determine what I'm consciously
31:05
experiencing day-to-day. So again, this is something that
31:09
wasn't like a massive problem. It's not like I had fires
31:12
happening day-to-day because of the could versus would versus
31:15
will in my language. It's not that that was
31:18
consciously happening to me everyday.
31:20
And I'm like, I got to fix this. It's a skill that I recognize
31:23
that if I don't consciously look to develop this and be aware of
31:27
it and make change in it, it is going to change me whether I
31:30
realize it or not. And so I am always looking at
31:34
how can I be better? And for you, there may be areas
31:38
right now where you're like, I really want to refine blank.
31:41
Or are there maybe even areas that you're kind of, you know,
31:45
internally you have this voice that you almost know you need to
31:48
develop it, but you've been shoving it under the rug or
31:51
you've been postponing it for a later date when things, quote UN
31:53
quote, calm down. And I've been there.
31:56
I've had the moments where I tell myself like, oh, this is
31:59
just not a right now thing. It's not that big of a deal,
32:01
right? Personal development is seeing
32:03
it, honoring it, and doing something about it before it
32:07
becomes a problem. Personal development can happen
32:10
absolutely when a problem happens and you have to be able
32:12
to respond to it. But I think the really
32:15
successful entrepreneurs are the people who are preventative.
32:19
They seek to develop before the problem occurs because it allows
32:23
them to constantly be ahead of the game and have this edge on
32:27
this process that we're all going through now.
32:30
In connection to personal development, there's also the
32:32
aspect of people skills. And I will say that I think the
32:37
ability to connect with people and network and build
32:41
relationships is probably one of the most influential skills that
32:46
you can have. Because relationships, by the
32:48
way, are like, we're not talking about this in the sense of like
32:50
followers. I'm talking about this in the
32:51
sense of when you meet somebody and how you handle that
32:56
relationship after you guys are done with your meeting and
33:00
interacting, how do you really develop relationships?
33:04
And this is also, by the way, with team, it can be with peers,
33:06
it can be with clients. And really looking at are you
33:09
somebody who, number one, does actively seek to create
33:13
relationships? And two, do you have the skills
33:15
to consistently facilitate those and deepen those relationships
33:19
ongoing? And when I see somebody who kind
33:23
of has this belief of like they're going to lock themselves
33:26
almost like in a little box and go build their business, it's
33:28
like, oh, it's me, my headphones and my laptop, and it's just
33:31
going to be me, you know, over here.
33:32
Head down building the business. Well, truthfully, you're not
33:36
going to do this alone. You can do quite a bit in your
33:39
little office at home, but frankly, the ability to have a
33:43
network of entrepreneurs is truly profound when it becomes
33:48
the moments when you're scaling and you really need that support
33:51
system around you. I could not do what I'm doing
33:55
today if I didn't have the people that I have around me.
33:59
And so I think one of the best things you can do to support
34:01
your journey as an entrepreneur and one of the best skills you
34:04
can have that's going to serve you is the ability to create
34:07
relationships and also make sure that you have depth and
34:10
nurturing of those relationships.
34:13
And this is going to look different in different
34:15
instances, right? Like I have some entrepreneurs
34:17
that I talk to basically every single week and I have other
34:20
people in my circle that I talk to once a month or once 1/4.
34:23
And the relationships may vary in the sense of the levels of
34:26
intensity or depth that you have with them.
34:29
But the thing that I think is really important is that you
34:31
actually seek to develop that skill because you can be
34:35
introvert in the sense of the fact you don't have to be like a
34:37
constant, you know, life of the party by any means, but you do
34:41
have to put yourself out there. And it's when I see business
34:44
owners who think that they're never going to leave their home,
34:47
they're never going to speak to a soul, and they're going to
34:49
build this massive empire. Technically could you from your
34:53
laptop? Sure.
34:54
But it's going to be 10 * 1520 times harder because a lot of
34:58
what I've been able to achieve is because of people who support
35:01
me and also me being a support for other people in the exact
35:04
same situation. And I honestly, going into
35:08
entrepreneurship thought I was introvert.
35:10
Like I was like I was so and when I say so nervous.
35:12
I was so nervous going to events.
35:16
I hated networking. I hated connecting with people.
35:19
I did not like conferences. Like I was somebody who was
35:22
like, I want to hide in the washroom.
35:24
This is not for me. And I found it really drained
35:26
me. And now when I go to events, I'm
35:29
so excited to meet new people because I recognize that those
35:33
relationships and those dynamics, not only am I going to
35:35
learn so much from them, but I also have met some of the
35:39
closest friends that I have today through events, through
35:42
social media, through business. And that was because I opened
35:44
myself up to creating those connections.
35:48
And I think so many business owners isolate themselves in the
35:52
belief that either they don't feel safe to share with other
35:54
people. There's this aspect of, like,
35:56
competition. I can't kind of let people know
35:58
that I'm struggling or let people know that I'm, you know,
36:00
thinking you're feeling XYZ. And my biggest suggestion to you
36:04
is to please let people in. Please let some people in
36:10
because the people in my world have been such a catalyst for my
36:14
growth. And not even necessarily in the
36:16
sense that I need them to do something for me, but just the
36:18
fact that they're there, they're emotionally and mentally there
36:21
for me. And that creates space for me
36:23
that in turn allows me to know what I need to do next and what
36:27
I want to act on. So when it comes to this kind of
36:32
softer skills, communication and relationship building and all
36:37
these aspects, we need to know how to create relationships.
36:41
We need to know how to put ourselves out there and get to
36:44
those events and create those connections.
36:46
We need to know how to have those conversations that are
36:49
intentional and build our network and build the people
36:52
that are going to be our little community of support as we go
36:56
through this journey. You should not be going through
36:59
this entrepreneur journey alone. It's your ability to build your
37:02
network that's actually going to be your net worth.
37:04
And I know it's that classic saying, right?
37:07
But it really is so much about who you know.
37:11
So many focus on what we know and what is the information that
37:15
I need to know in order to grow? And it's like, but also, who do
37:17
you need to know? And This is why I'm such a big
37:20
advocate for networking and for business mentorship as well, is
37:24
because the people I've surrounded myself with have been
37:27
a massive catalyst for my success because they also have
37:30
networks of their own that I'm able to tap into.
37:34
And so really asking yourself, are you putting yourself out
37:36
there? Are you building relationships
37:38
or are you laptop lifestyle, you and your headphones in your
37:41
office and potentially haven't made a real genuine authentic
37:45
connection in a little while. And so maybe this can be your
37:47
invitation to go and message somebody that you saw at an
37:51
event, go message somebody that you met through the Internet.
37:53
Go actually create an intentional authentic connection
37:57
with somebody. The other thing that is also a
37:59
massive skill as an entrepreneur that I think truly is an
38:02
absolute non negotiable is emotional regulation because Oh
38:09
my goodness, this journey is a lot emotionally.
38:14
OK, I'll be the first to say it. I'm going to call it what it is.
38:16
It is, it's a lot, it's a lot of it's a lot of highs and it's a
38:21
lot of celebration and it's a lot of, you know, incredible
38:25
ecstasy when it comes to the winds and all of the things that
38:28
are possible through this beautiful online space.
38:31
But there's also a lot of lows. And so I think it's the ability
38:35
to be able to regulate our emotions, to be able to work the
38:37
middle. That is really where most
38:40
entrepreneurs are going to be the most successful.
38:42
I had moments, I remember in business where something would
38:45
happen and I would get rocked, and I mean rocked emotionally
38:50
for like probably anywhere between three to seven days,
38:53
sometimes 10 days. When something would happen, it
38:55
would just ruminate in me. And that was because frankly, I
38:59
didn't have tools to actually emotionally regulate.
39:02
I didn't have any tools to process.
39:04
I didn't have any tools to deescalate anything that I was
39:07
feeling. I just sat in it.
39:09
It just stayed stuck. And one of the best quotes that
39:12
I heard recently was that if it's coming up, it's coming out.
39:16
And if something was feeling that it needed to be processed
39:20
through me, it was this intention of actually releasing
39:23
that and also giving myself tools to intentionally release
39:27
that. Because your emotions cannot run
39:30
the show in your business. Your emotions are going to be
39:33
high and low. And we can't have your results
39:36
and your experience in your business, not only for your
39:38
team, your clients, everybody. We can't have your experience in
39:41
the business be high and low based off your emotions being
39:44
high and low. Because frankly, if we did that,
39:47
it would be quite a ride for everybody who's on it because
39:50
our emotions are so up and down, which is normal, which is
39:55
normal. And so the best thing that
39:58
helped me in business. And really has been such a great
40:01
reminder recently was the fact that the emotions that we have
40:04
are just simply emotions. Typically emotions last for
40:06
about 90 seconds in an actual instance when they occur, how
40:11
long they last after that is really our choice of how long we
40:14
decide to keep them around, IE what story we're giving to those
40:17
emotions that allow them to persist.
40:19
And so when I think about emotional regulation as a skill,
40:22
as an entrepreneur, it really is the difference when you have an
40:27
issue with the team or an issue with a client or even, you know,
40:31
frankly, overwhelm, right? When you're going and you're
40:34
doing all these things and you have this list of all these
40:36
things, you're working on, the overwhelm that you have and
40:38
being able to process that. Too many business owners let
40:42
their emotions stay stuck inside, and because of that,
40:46
they build up and they build up and they build up and one day it
40:49
just completely releases. Oftentimes, frankly, at times
40:53
that you don't want it to release.
40:55
The best tool you can give yourself is the skill of being
40:58
able to not only understand and identify emotions that you're
41:02
feeling, but 2. Giving yourself tools, methods,
41:05
and processes and practices that allow you to effectively release
41:09
those as part of a schedule and a habit, not as something that
41:13
you feel you need to completely blow up in order for these to
41:16
come out. And I used to have a negative
41:19
connotation, frankly, with emotion because I was like, if
41:22
I'm crying, something must be wrong.
41:24
Or if I feel this way, there's something that's a disconnect.
41:27
Something's wrong here. Something's wrong here.
41:29
And what was so helpful for me was realizing that emotions are
41:33
literally just a release. If you weren't feeling the need
41:36
to cry or you're feeling antsy or you're feeling anxious, right
41:40
asking yourself, OK, is there a story to this or is this just
41:43
literally a feeling I need to get through my body?
41:47
Just the same feeling as adrenaline or nerves for a first
41:50
date. It doesn't mean anything is
41:52
wrong. It's just a feeling that your
41:54
body is having. And so the ability and tools
41:57
that you have the skill to understand your emotions and
42:00
also be able to have practices to regulate them, either if
42:03
you're high to be able to neutralize them or if you're low
42:06
to be able to increase them, both are essential skills you
42:10
need to have because this is a very emotional process, I will
42:14
be the first to say. And it's your tools that you
42:18
have in your toolbox to navigate it that are the difference of
42:21
how you're going to be able to handle it.
42:23
And I often tell people this, you and I don't have different
42:27
problems or emotions. I get sad, you get sad, I get
42:29
angry, you get angry, I get frustrated, you get frustrated,
42:32
right? But the difference of how we
42:34
handle those emotions could be the difference of the solutions
42:36
or the next steps that we take. If I'm feeling overwhelmed, I
42:41
might have one client, A, who ends up putting Netflix on in
42:45
bed and sits in bed for four days to use that as the tool
42:49
that helps them to overcome it. Then I have person B who takes
42:53
that and says, OK, I'm overwhelmed.
42:55
I'm going to journal about it and I'm going to go for a walk.
42:58
I'm going to get it out of my brain, number one with a
43:00
journal. Two, I'm going to go for a walk
43:02
to change my state and move my body to create a physical state
43:05
change. And then third, I'm going to go
43:09
back to that journal when I'm neutral and when I'm non
43:12
emotional to be able to understand where my mindset was
43:14
at so I can make a decision for moving forward.
43:18
And maybe you might already have predetermined who your support
43:21
system is. And so you're going to call in
43:22
on your support system to help you in those instances.
43:26
So do you see how laying in bed watching Netflix may not be the
43:29
same as someone who has tools or a structure or a process to help
43:33
them to navigate it? And so then we ask ourselves,
43:36
well, wait a second, person A, watching Netflix in bed took
43:40
three or four days, whereas person B may have taken 3 or 4
43:44
hours. Who do you think is going to win
43:47
in business? And this is the softer aspects
43:51
that are really important as we scale.
43:53
You know, not a lot of people are going to say like, hey, you
43:55
want to scale, let's regulate your emotions, right?
43:58
It's not something a lot of us necessarily find sexy, but it is
44:02
truly at the basic core of it, what we need to really be able
44:06
to sustain in this journey. Now with that also is the aspect
44:11
of another core skill being discipline.
44:14
And I think it really is the ability for an entrepreneur and
44:18
a business owner to be able to do what's necessary and not only
44:22
what they want to do. And discipline also connects
44:25
that earlier aspect that we talked about of confidence,
44:27
because confidence doesn't come from the ease of something.
44:31
It comes from the doing and building the evidence that when
44:34
you do it, what happens. And therefore building that
44:36
trust in yourself. Discipline is something that is
44:41
a muscle that needs to be constantly trained and you have
44:46
to put in the reps non-stop. Any time that I hear I don't
44:50
want to or I don't like to write.
44:54
A lot of business is discipline, IE doing things and executing on
44:59
what we know to be necessary, regardless of the emotional
45:04
state that may for 90 seconds come up at a given moment.
45:08
I don't necessarily show up and jump out of bed every single day
45:13
because I don't want to sleep. There may be many mornings that
45:17
I feel like I could sleep until 12:00 if I wanted to.
45:20
But the discipline in me knows that there are things that I
45:22
value and there's a vision that I am building and that there are
45:26
certain requirements of who I need to be and how I need to
45:28
show up in order to be able to make that happen.
45:31
And that vision happening is not, frankly, going to happen
45:34
with me sleeping until 12 noon every single day.
45:37
The habits of the person that I need to become are, are not
45:40
correlated to that vision with that type of behavior.
45:43
And so discipline is really a matter of doing what is
45:46
necessary, not only what doing what we desire.
45:50
And I think truthfully in the online world right now, we're in
45:54
a really mixed message around this because there's a lot of,
45:57
if you don't vibe with it, don't do it like it's your business.
46:01
Do whatever you want, do whatever you feel and listen,
46:04
you are in the driver's seat. So you're right.
46:06
You have full independence to do whatever it is you want to do.
46:09
But what I also know about you is that you have really big
46:12
goals and that you are not somebody who's willing to
46:16
compromise on what you know you have in you as potential.
46:22
And every time that you succumb to doing the easier thing, you
46:27
basically are setting yourself back one step and another step
46:32
and another step from where it is that you want to be.
46:36
You're not someone who has done this because you want the easy
46:39
route and it's the path of least resistance.
46:42
You're tough, you have a work ethic, you have persistence in
46:47
what you're doing. You've already been putting in
46:50
the reps. And so because of that, you need
46:53
to realize that this is yes, this is work, this is
46:57
discipline. This is going to the gym when
46:59
you don't feel like going. It is selling everyday when you
47:03
don't maybe feel like showing up.
47:05
It's getting on the call that you really wish you maybe didn't
47:08
have today. It's the ability to show up in
47:10
those moments that are the real reason that you're going to have
47:14
the future that you're going to have.
47:15
If it was easy, everyone would do it.
47:19
This is your invitation to really say, how do I, as Rachel
47:24
Hollis would say, embrace the suck?
47:26
How do I really embrace that? This is the way I can tell you
47:31
Discipline to me, at its basic definition, is realizing there's
47:35
no way around it but through. There's no way around eating
47:39
healthy and going to the gym to change your physique.
47:41
You just got to do it. There's no way around having
47:45
that tough conversation with that client that you may have
47:48
right now. It's just getting on the Zoom
47:50
call and doing it. There's no way around having to
47:54
not make content and not show up and not film and not this.
47:58
You just got to do it. And the reason you do it is
48:02
because you and I both know that that's required of the type of
48:06
person and the type of business that you want to have.
48:08
And so the best skill you can have is to not take your actions
48:12
entirely from desires and feeling all of the time.
48:15
We need to honor how we're feeling.
48:16
And if you need a break and if you need something from your
48:19
business, be aware of that. We don't ever want you to
48:22
completely ignore your feelings, but we also don't want every
48:24
decision that you make being based off of that.
48:26
Because if so, what's really and who is really in the driver's
48:30
seat? So the other skill that we're
48:35
going to also dive into is anticipating problems and how to
48:38
really look at problem solving in general, because you need to
48:42
be somebody who is solution oriented.
48:45
If you come to me and you're having an issue in your business
48:48
and the first thing that I hear is, well, that's not going to
48:50
work and that's not going to work.
48:51
And I can't do that and that's not working and that's not
48:53
working. Let's press pause and we're
48:56
going to come back to it. And what I want you to do is I
48:59
want you to tell me all the ways or solutions that you have in
49:03
your mind of what you might want to try or to test that could
49:07
work. Because if all you see is
49:10
roadblocks, then great. We're not going to get a lot of
49:13
movement. We're not going to be solving a
49:14
lot of problems. Instead, if we can look to the
49:18
different situations that we have and seek to solve as our
49:23
main mindset, it allows us to see the different pathways.
49:28
And so the thing that I think at moments we can go in, if we are
49:32
setting the frame with a problem, let's just say you have
49:35
a situation that comes up and you say yourself, listen, I want
49:37
to pick this apart and I want to find all the things that might
49:40
not work with this. I'm trying to consciously do
49:42
this because I want to be aware when they happen, that's fine.
49:46
But if you are going to go into every problem only seeing what's
49:49
not working, you're not going to find a lot of solutions.
49:52
And so your perspective when problems happen is really a key
49:57
indicator of your success long term.
49:59
Because if I get on a call with a client and they are really
50:04
ruminating on a problem, so they're telling me this didn't
50:08
work and that didn't work, I would say, OK, seek the
50:10
solution. What would you recommend?
50:13
And so if you could only try to find the positive, if you could
50:16
only try to find what could work, what would you say if you
50:20
couldn't mention anything negative?
50:23
And so that already in itself, because of the mindset of the
50:26
perspective or state change will already change the answer that
50:29
you're going to get. But the other thing that's
50:31
important when it comes to problem solving is also
50:33
specifically, what do you believe to be true about the
50:35
word problem? Because the word problem to me,
50:40
again, going back to the classic motto, if it's an obstacle, it's
50:43
an opportunity, is a perspective around problems.
50:46
I don't not acknowledge that roadblocks occur.
50:49
Roadblocks occur. They're everywhere in business,
50:53
but how you see the problem is really the difference of your
50:57
experience around it. And the difference of your
50:59
experience around it determines the different outcome that
51:01
you're going to see or the solutions or pathways that will
51:04
be presented. So, you know, for example,
51:07
another quote can be the problem is the path, right?
51:11
So for me, I recognize that the problems that happen in our
51:14
business are all invitations for my development.
51:17
The only way that I create a process for a team member is
51:21
when they didn't have a process and made a mistake because one
51:24
didn't exist. That mistake happening is such a
51:27
beautiful invitation for me to be like, great, let's get a
51:29
process around this perfect instead of, well, why did this
51:33
happen and this didn't happen the way it was supposed to and
51:35
that didn't go the way that I wanted.
51:37
You can ruminate on the problem or you can find the path that it
51:40
was designed to solve for you. It created a path.
51:43
The question is more a matter of whether you want to see it or
51:45
not. And so when we're going into
51:48
problems, we need to look at two things.
51:50
Number one, what do we believe to be true about problems when
51:53
they occur? What do they mean to you?
51:55
What do they represent? What is a symbol of a problem to
51:58
you? What is that?
51:59
When you experience and someone says hey problem, what do you
52:02
feel when I say that? And 2nd, when you go into
52:05
solving a problem, what is your perspective when you solve it?
52:08
Do you go in with the mindset of solutions and invitations and
52:12
opportunities or you going into this won't work?
52:15
See, this is evidence that it's not going to happen.
52:17
See, this is what always goes on in the business.
52:20
How you believe the definition of problems to be and the
52:24
perspective you have when they occur are two skills that are
52:27
really, really important for you to harness.
52:30
Because the growing of a business is not the absence of
52:32
problems. If anything, the problems are
52:33
going to get more frequent and they're going to get bigger as
52:36
you get bigger. And so instead, we need to start
52:39
to train you on how you're going to understand problems and also
52:43
how you respond to them. Now the last two, this one is
52:47
extremely important. If I could say of this list,
52:51
this is probably one of the top that I would, I would say you're
52:55
going to want to harness that you're going to focus on and it
52:57
is communication because communication is integrated in
53:01
everything in the business. It's in copy, it's in video,
53:03
it's with your team, it's in sales.
53:06
It's both verbal communication and it's also non verbal
53:10
communication. Non verbal.
53:12
You can have, you know, for example, it can be written copy,
53:14
it could be video and you speaking, and it can also be
53:16
your body language and your eye contact and the way in which you
53:20
communicate with your body language.
53:22
I was actually just last week watching someone's sales call
53:25
and they said, you know, we feel like we're making really great
53:27
progress with the way that we do our sales.
53:29
Like they're closing, things are feeling more flow.
53:31
And I'm like, absolutely. But everything you're saying is
53:36
great. Your body language is telling a
53:39
very different story. And so it's important for us to
53:42
realize that we're on a meeting with a client or we're on a
53:44
meeting with a team member, or we're even just in our
53:47
marketing, our body language and the way that we show up, it does
53:52
create a totally separate different narrative than
53:55
whatever it is that's coming out of our mouth.
53:58
And so there's two aspects of communication that I would love
54:01
for you to really dive into, which is non verbal and verbal.
54:05
Most people focus on the verbal, which is how I write, how I
54:09
speak, how I communicate with my audience, my team, my clients.
54:14
But the other aspect is the non verbal.
54:17
And so for example, one of the aspects that I really, and it's
54:20
going to sound a little quirky, but one of the things that I'm
54:22
really diving into right now is eye contact.
54:25
I had an experience through coaching myself, like I was on
54:28
the client side and I realized the impact of eye contact.
54:32
This was not anything that was being said.
54:33
It wasn't anything that was being taught.
54:35
It had nothing to do with that. It had to be with the fact that
54:38
there was two things that really were landing for me was space,
54:41
IE not speaking, and the ability for space to really allow things
54:46
to land. And two was eye contact.
54:49
And I started to ask myself, well, how am I with eye contact?
54:52
Am I looking at the camera as much as I should when I'm
54:55
filming? So you can really say, hey,
54:57
she's like speaking right to me. Am I looking you in the eye or
55:00
am I looking away when I'm on a Zoom call?
55:02
Am I looking you right in the eye when I'm in person with you?
55:05
Add an event and we're connecting.
55:07
And so it was small little pieces like that though that I
55:10
realized by being on the client side were so impactful for me to
55:13
really allow the verbal message to land.
55:17
And so again, the verbal message was already being effectively
55:21
communicated, but then when being complemented by the non
55:24
verbal landed at such a deep level.
55:28
And so for myself, my current skill that I'm sharpening right
55:31
now is actually my non verbal communication, my body language,
55:34
my eye contact, the ability to have space and not speak.
55:37
Those are aspects that I'm really diving into.
55:40
But the communication side of what you say is essential.
55:44
It is your copy and your captions.
55:45
It's you on video, it's you on sales calls, it's you coaching
55:48
clients, it's you coaching and developing your team.
55:52
You and your ability to communicate is the main way of
55:55
which you're going to create the impact that you desire in this
55:57
business. And so it really is also
56:00
ensuring that when you're delivering a message, do we
56:03
actually know and can we have confidence that that message is
56:06
being received in the way in which we intended it.
56:09
And so that really all stems down to communication.
56:12
And so it's one thing to say, do I know how to communicate?
56:17
So learning the skills on how to effectively communicate
56:20
messages. But then two, ensuring when I
56:23
communicate, is my audience receiving it, the team, the
56:27
clients, your social media audience, are they actually
56:29
receiving it and integrating that message?
56:31
And if they're not, going back to those skills and sharpening
56:33
those. And so I think communication is
56:35
absolutely essential. And I think the last being time
56:40
management, because so many are like, I don't have time, I don't
56:44
have time, I don't have time, I don't have time.
56:46
And in business, the one thing that I can tell you is none of
56:49
us get more time. You have the same amount of time
56:52
as someone who has four times the size of business as you.
56:54
And if you even have a peer right now that has a certain
56:57
type of business or a style that you want, you and I both have
57:01
the same amount of hours in a day as other people do in their
57:04
business. And you might say to yourself,
57:06
well, Kate, that's easy to say. They have big teams now.
57:09
Great, but they didn't always. They didn't always.
57:13
You and I have the same amount of time in a day and the person
57:18
you look up to also has the same amount of hours in a day.
57:22
The only difference is how they use them.
57:25
And so if you are in a place right now where you feel like
57:28
you're not where you want to be, it is not a matter of you
57:30
needing more hours. You don't necessarily need a
57:35
longer day. You need to be able to
57:37
understand how to manage the time of the current day that you
57:40
have and to be able to navigate the hours you're already putting
57:44
in to get different outcomes. And so truthfully, I used to
57:48
believe for a long time I was like, I just need more time.
57:51
I just need more time. But it's like when you really
57:53
think about it, it actually is a broken model for your business
57:57
because if you need more time and we have capped amount of
58:00
time, naturally that means that your business is always capped.
58:04
So scaling is really not about having more time.
58:08
Scaling is a matter of understanding how do we take the
58:10
same 8 hours and have those same 8 hours of work at stage 1
58:14
generate 6 figures and those same 8 hours generate multiple
58:17
6, and those same 8 hours generate 7 and those same 8
58:20
hours generate multiple 7? And that's what happened in my
58:23
journey. I had the exact same amount of
58:25
hours. It was understanding how to
58:27
really triage my business, IE looking at what was going on and
58:31
saying, OK, that's kind of like a priority one, priority two,
58:34
priority three. And by going through all of
58:36
this, I started to realize how I could really break it down to be
58:41
able to see what was actually important because I wasn't going
58:44
to get more hours. And truthfully, if you don't
58:47
have the skill of being able to break down those hours, you
58:50
can't tap into the next level because simply just burning the
58:54
midnight oil for your business is not going to be the thing
58:57
that helps you to really 345 X your business.
59:01
So it's really about optimization, refinement of the
59:04
hours that you have that I think is really the essential aspect
59:07
for people who want to be successful long term.
59:10
So we're going to do a quick summary here, OK.
59:12
And I think as I'm going through this, I'm like, I'm going to
59:13
need a Part 2 on this because there's more.
59:15
There's definitely more skills that we did not get to today.
59:18
Number one, skills for non negotiable skills.
59:20
As an entrepreneur taking calculated risks, you then have
59:24
to have the ability to handle feedback and criticism. 3, The
59:27
ability to be adaptable. 4. Vision focused and having a long
59:32
term vision that you're constantly tapping into. 5,
59:35
ongoing personal and professional development. 6
59:38
having the ability to generate relationships and nurture and
59:41
deepen those relationships. Seven, having the ability to
59:45
regulate your emotions consistently. 8 discipline and
59:48
being able to do things when you don't want to do them.
59:52
Nine, the ability to anticipate problems and also be able to
59:56
effectively understand what a problem is and how your emotions
59:59
or perspective is when you're experiencing them. 10 the
1:00:03
ability to have good written and verbal communication and non
1:00:07
verbal communication. And lastly, the ability to be a
1:00:11
time management expert. So as I said, these are just
1:00:14
some of the different skills that I know that I myself have
1:00:18
tried to work really, really hard on.
1:00:20
And still I'm very much in practice of and sharpening my
1:00:22
skills to this moment. And we probably will have a Part
1:00:24
2 at this at some point cuz there's definitely more to dive
1:00:27
into. But I hope today was helpful for
1:00:29
you. And I would be really curious
1:00:30
for you. And again, like I would love to
1:00:32
hear from you if you want to shoot me a message on Instagram,
1:00:34
What was the skill that really resonated with you?
1:00:36
Was there one that you're feeling like, you know what,
1:00:38
that's one that I've been neglecting or that's one that I
1:00:40
haven't spent as much time on and I really kind of want to
1:00:42
circle back to. I would love to hear from you as
1:00:44
to in hearing these different non negotiable entrepreneur
1:00:47
skills today, which one do you feel is the area that you're
1:00:50
really excited to dive into most?
1:00:52
And again, I really want to remind you that this isn't a
1:00:55
finished practice, OK? This is something that is always
1:00:59
ongoing. It is an ongoing development.
1:01:00
You are never going to be quote UN quote done.
1:01:03
And so this is something that if you're going through and you're
1:01:05
like, man, I feel like I got to adjust on some of these or if
1:01:08
not potentially most of these, that's OK.
1:01:11
That's exciting. That means that you have tons of
1:01:14
opportunity for development and that when you start to integrate
1:01:17
these, your business is only going to be bigger than it is
1:01:19
today. And so I would love to hear from
1:01:22
this list today what resonated with you and which skill you're
1:01:24
going to be implementing. And on that note, we will see
1:01:26
you next week. And, as always, stay ambitious.