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Celebrating 100 Episodes of Small Changes for Big Entrepreneurial Success · The One Small Change Podcast

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Welcome to the One Small Change. I'm thrilled to embark on this journey
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of explanation, exploration, and transformation with you.
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I'm your host, Yvonne McCoy, and I bring almost 30 years of
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entrepreneurial experience. And I have a passion for
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discovering growth through the power of seemingly small change.
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I want to thank you for spending your time here, because I know there's lots
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of places you could be. So I want to make sure that this is
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worth your time and your effort. And this week is a little bit different.
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And this is our 100th
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episode, so we've got a little celebrating to do.
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And the first thing is I am totally amazed by
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the fact of how fast it went. So a hundred
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conversations later, I want to share some things
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that I learned from this. And so I thought
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that the podcast would be a really small business
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change, that it would be, you know, it wouldn't become that much
0:59
bigger, that it was just a way for me to have some
1:03
continuity, to be curious about other people, to
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connect with other people. Right. Maybe get a little
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recognition, a little visibility as well. But like I said,
1:15
we. This is our 100th episode. I actually went and looked at the
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date. It's been almost two years. I can't believe that.
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And I know that as entrepreneurs, it is hard for us to
1:26
do anything consistently. So the fact that I've
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actually put out a hundred episodes, I think
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reinforces the idea that if you're doing
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something that you like to do, it's so much easier to be
1:40
consistent. And one of the things that I
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had hoped was that, you know,
1:47
during this, that I would bring you people
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and ideas that would change you as well.
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So there's a lot of reflecting to do. And, you know, one
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of the things that. That happened during the course of this, because lots of things
2:03
happen, I changed the name of my workshop several times.
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I changed platforms for my business and
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my newsletters. You know,
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I started speaking, I think more.
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There were just a lot of things that happened, but I thought
2:23
I was just interviewing guests, but really I
2:27
was connecting patterns. I was seeing about all the things that happen to
2:30
people who are successful. So
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over the hundred episodes, there were a couple of
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things that. That came out that I
2:42
think are worth sharing. It taught me to
2:45
stop over complicating things. It taught
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me to, you know, not to try to fix myself
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or, you know, that nobody else needs to be fixed either
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to streamline and not
3:00
chase every squirrel that I saw. Probably one of the
3:04
biggest things was that I realized that
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I wasn't really tracking results. I wasn't really doing the numbers because I was
3:11
having so much fun that I wasn't looking at the results.
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And that's. That's a bad mistake to make, I gotta tell you.
3:20
You know, and. And part of that comes from the, you know, the shiny
3:24
object syndrome, because you don't stay with anything long enough
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to really get to see what the results are.
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I think the other thing was over preparing the things that
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we're good at, the things that we talk about. We know we got our
3:39
content down. And so you don't need to over prepare. You do need to
3:43
prepare someone. And probably like every other
3:47
human, I don't follow my own advice. And so,
3:50
you know, I had a concussion this year. And one of the things that it
3:54
definitely taught me was to streamline my business
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and get some help and put some systems in place.
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And it's something I should have done a long time ago,
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but I didn't. Right.
4:09
Some of the funny things that happened is, you know, how many times during the
4:13
course of this 100 episodes, I, you know, I said to
4:16
myself, I should have known better. Right?
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There were some awkward interviews, there were some tech moments,
4:24
there were some weird things that happened, but we kept pushing
4:28
through. And so I think that's one of the things that makes it fun, is
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that it's really authentic. It's not really
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polished and very professional. So
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the overall takeaway, I think, is that
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most entrepreneurs don't need more information. They just need
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be much clearer about what's already working and what their strengths are.
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So one of the ways I like to describe that is,
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you know, as entrepreneurs, we have a tendency to keep, you know,
4:59
changing directions and doing all kinds of things. Right. And
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so what I want you to say, one of the things that I've seen from
5:05
people that I've interviewed is that once they found
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their sweet spot, they stuck with it.
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And all of us have this thing about, this is going to be boring. I
5:16
can't doing this. But here's the thing.
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When you do something, one thing, you
5:24
have to get it out there. Somebody has to see it at least 12 times.
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So if you do two things, then you have to get it out there 24.
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And if you do five things and you have to get it out there 60.
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And by that time, your clients don't have a clue what you're
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doing, right? So for me, it's like having a mobile
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story. You set up shop on Monday on a corner, somebody
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walks by, they see what you're selling, they go, oh, that's. I want that
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I'm going to come back later this week, right? But on Tuesday, you
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move to another place, you're selling something else. Wednesday, you move someplace else,
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and by the time the person comes back on Thursday, you're not there anymore,
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and they have no idea where you are or what you're selling. So
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the problem isn't that people don't need what you do, it's just
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that they can't find you consistently, right?
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So visibility compounds when people
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repeatedly recognize you.
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So, again, this is live. I don't know if you heard my dog.
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So I want you to think about that, right?
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People need. Already need what you
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do. The problem is that they can't
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find you, right? And we all have
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this problem. Sometimes we all have this problem of visibility. I mean, we're taught
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not to toot our own horns. And so, you know,
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it's funny, because I'm as guilty of some of the things
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as everybody else. I mean, there was a point when I wrote a
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post about authenticity and was looking for a photo to put up, and I'm
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like, this is about authenticity. You need to put up your own photo,
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right? And so learning to take, you know, to be our
7:07
own best client can be one of the best things that happens.
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And so for me, the podcast is one of those things. One of my strengths
7:15
is apparently I like to talk.
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And so, you know, it's easy for me to have
7:22
somebody on a podcast, and I find people interesting, and I find
7:26
what they do in the. You know, you can have so many things in common
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and do it in such a different way. Right.
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That it's not a surprise that
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there can be a bunch of people in the same area that you're in.
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And yet you're all different, right? And
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so that's one of the things that I want you to take away
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is the things that come easily to you
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are the things that you will be able to constantly project.
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And that's one of the things that I got from interviewing people
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on the podcast. You know, authenticity is not about
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Polish. Authenticity is giving yourself the permission to be
8:07
yourself and not, you know, and just say, those that
8:10
like me, like me, and those that don't, won't. And here's
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a weird story. When I was an exchange student, I.
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I used to bike 100, 100 miles a week. And, you
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know, I put my hair up in rollers, and then, you know, I would bike
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to school and it would be all fuzzy, right? And so the
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family I was living with decided that they were going to take me to the
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beauty parlor. And let me get some kind of a, you know, straightening thing.
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And it was pretty new. It was a chemical thing. And
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after two or three days, my hair started falling out and I had a
8:44
huge bald spot. Right. And I made the decision.
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It was like, from now on, you're gonna like me regardless what my hair
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looks like, because I'm not going through this again. Right.
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So authenticity is not about polish. It's about being who you really
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are and, and, and being. Having some grace with yourself.
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I think to be vulnerable and to go out and talk about
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the things that you do well and the things that you don't.
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So for me, there are
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lots of things that you probably don't know about me that I never shared.
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But if you've been to my workshop, you, you've done the three word exercise.
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And that started because
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I weighed 440 pounds
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and I knew I didn't want to live my life like that. And with anything,
9:35
it is, it isn't knowing how to do it, how to lose weight.
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I mean, it's a pretty simple formula. You know, you take in less
9:42
calories than you burn. Right. So it wasn't about knowing how
9:46
to do it. It was about knowing why I really
9:49
wanted to do it and being able to do it in a way
9:53
that I liked and that I could, you know, I could
9:57
make it go continuously. So a really simple
10:01
thing was, you know, eating vegetables is really easy in the
10:05
summer because you have salads and all that kind of stuff. But I don't really
10:08
like salads in the winter that much. Right. And so one of
10:12
the things that I learned was I didn't mind a salad if it was
10:16
kale because iceberg lets seems
10:19
cold and kind of slimy to me in the winter. But another way to get
10:23
my vegetables was in soups. And so learning
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the concepts and learning how you can use them
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personally will get you consistency
10:33
as you go along. The you will have your dead reckoning. Right? You
10:37
have your purpose, your reckoning and your clarity.
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And so you can have consistent growth. It may not be a
10:45
straight line, but it will be consistent. You will keep going in
10:49
the direction that you need to go. And that's one of the things that you
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see in these interviews is people talk about something that happened
10:56
to them and they pick themselves up and they learn
10:59
something from it. And that's when they actually started to grow.
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So I referenced the fact that, that, you know, I used to
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be £440.
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One of the things that made me change was because My first grandchild was
11:16
coming, and I didn't. I wanted to be an active grandmother. But
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here's some other things that you might not know. I am
11:24
now 77 years old. I'm a wife, I'm a mother, I'm an
11:28
entrepreneur, I'm a podcaster, and I'm somebody
11:31
who just started doing Pilates. So you may have seen my post
11:35
about the baby elephant. That was very awkward. You
11:39
know, when you learn something new, you're awkward and it's okay. You're going to
11:43
feel uncomfortable. And it's. It's like if a baby's starting
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to walk and it falls down, you don't say, oh, you fell
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down once. Don't. Don't get up and try it again. It's a n. We expect
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that. It's a natural part of the process. And so that's
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what we see with the one small change. You fall down, and then
12:01
you get back up again. You know, growth
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doesn't stop. Right. And what
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I've learned is, as I've gotten older is I've gotten even more
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curious and a whole lot less judgmental, which is a
12:16
good thing. And I'm evolving. I am doing
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more and seeing more and seeing more opportunities than
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I ever had. So I'm hoping
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that the podcast has changed you as much as
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it's changed me. And, and. And here are some of the things
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that it changed for me.
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One is that
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I guess the first part was just visibility. You know, visibility
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became more trusted visibility, because I showed up every week, and
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hopefully you download it. Maybe not every week, but you download it,
12:57
you know, a couple episodes a month. The other thing that
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happened was, you know, collaboration started
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growing. You know, it's a great way to collaborate with people,
13:08
and those collaborations keep growing. The people that are on my podcast
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are then on my summit, and we're now doing kind of like the,
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you know, the. The experts. Experts panel, right?
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And relationships grow. You get to know things about people that you
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normally would not know, especially just in a networking setting.
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And so I have to say, the collaboration
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accelerated my growth faster than anything
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else when I spent all my time by
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myself trying to figure out how to do it right and
13:44
getting ready to be ready to be ready to be ready.
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Hardly anything happened when I started networking. I started
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getting affiliates. I started collaborating in all kinds of different
13:55
ways. My business took off. And I have
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to tell you, I did a post in April that was
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the April, the Aligned
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Accelerated Action Month. And I did talks.
14:10
I did, you know, the four podcasts I had My
14:13
own summit, you know, it was just like, amazing. I was in a
14:17
magazine, so I worked with, you know, three or four
14:21
different people in addition to the people in the podcast.
14:24
So collaboration, if you take away nothing else,
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collaboration will accelerate your growth.
14:33
The other thing is, I
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want you to know that you have a superpower, and that
14:41
superpower is something that you undervalue.
14:45
Right. And, you know, one of the strengths that I have
14:48
is I consider myself kind of a translator. Right. I
14:52
think in Venn diagrams, you know, if you take this and this
14:56
and this, and then, you know, they don't seem like they connect. Where's the
14:59
sweet spot in the middle? I mean, I was always very good at this. That.
15:03
You know, when I was in the adult education space and we had
15:06
grants for businesses, nobody else could get them to take these
15:10
grants because they would come in and say, we're going to raise your reading level.
15:13
And they're like, you want me to. You know, this is going to cost me
15:16
money because I have to take the guys off the line and stuff like that.
15:19
But I could go in because I had business background and say,
15:23
if you, you know, if we come in and we teach your guys to
15:27
read better, you will have less rework and
15:30
less mistakes, and it's going to save you money. And so I had no
15:34
problems getting businesses to take the grants. I
15:38
mean, I had one business that actually saved a half a million
15:41
dollars because of our other problem solving class that I taught
15:45
at the factory. So I think
15:49
it's important for me
15:53
to recognize patterns. And, you know, the more people I interview, the
15:57
more patterns I see in the way people operate
16:00
to simplify complexity, right? And
16:05
connect those unrelated things and translate ideas.
16:08
And that's what I do for my clients. So I want you
16:12
to know that the thing that comes naturally to you is usually the thing that
16:16
you undervalue. And yet,
16:19
ironically, that's often the thing that most clients value the
16:23
most, right? Clients don't pay
16:27
for a seven step process. They pay
16:32
for simplifying complex ideas and how to use them.
16:36
Right? And I think that that's one of the things
16:40
that with all the gifts and the
16:44
ideas and the stories that you can get out of this,
16:47
all the get. All the guests that have come have had
16:51
amazing gifts that they've given you. And even if you don't
16:54
listen to the episode, you really need to go in
16:58
and say, oh, I want to know about this, I want to know about this.
17:01
I want to know. And download the gifts. I mean, there is a gold
17:04
mine there Right. And I think
17:08
that one of the things that does is that gives you a chance. You know,
17:12
the. The podcast gives you a chance. It's like an appetizer. You
17:16
get to sample the guests, and you get to sample me a little bit more.
17:19
And so you can pick the people that you're aligned with and the people that
17:23
you trust. The
17:26
other thing that I think is really important that we see is
17:30
entrepreneurship is an experiment. You
17:34
know, can you change judgment and get out of your own way
17:37
and say, you know, I not we always
17:41
do it this way, or I'm never going to do this and say, tell me
17:45
more. Just the sentence of saying
17:49
tell me more and being
17:52
somewhat curious will open an
17:55
incredible amount of information and implementation
17:59
to you. And taking a look at why did it work and why
18:03
did it work well, why did it fail and why did it
18:07
fail miserably? I mean, there are some things that are just
18:10
amazing when, you know, I used to think that
18:14
failure was, like, just the worst thing possible. I now know that failure is
18:18
part of success and growth. And so it's really easy
18:21
for us to say, this
18:24
succeeded. I'm going to use this again every single time. But if
18:28
you don't stop and take a look at why it succeeded,
18:32
it's probably not going to work every single time, because the
18:36
circumstances are going to be different. So
18:40
we tend to forget that. And then when we try it again, it doesn't work.
18:43
We're like, you know, totally
18:46
flabbergasted. Why did it fail
18:50
again? If you take a look at it, you can go, oh,
18:55
this is why this failed. You know, And. And I will say, this is how
18:58
I came up with this stupid phrase. What's your refrigerator question?
19:03
When I gave people gifts and they didn't, a gift that I really loved
19:06
and they didn't use it, I had to take a step back and say,
19:11
ask. How would you know? How did your circumstance differ from
19:15
my circumstances that I love this so much? So
19:18
curiosity creates growth so much
19:22
faster than criticism or judgment.
19:27
And then I think the last thing
19:30
is asking for help.
19:34
The stronger you are, the harder it is to ask for help. And so, like
19:38
I said, when I got my concussion, I really had to slow down
19:44
and I got a va. And I have to tell you,
19:48
people that were on my podcast that were on my summit,
19:52
you know, I said to them, I'm not a hundred percent, you know, and they
19:56
were like, we've got you. We're going to help you. And. And that's when you
20:00
know, you've got the right people around you that they're going to support you
20:03
when you're down. Right. And so
20:07
sometimes slowing down is not a bad thing. You know, I've learned some
20:11
very valuable lessons. I've learned that I really need
20:14
to, to listen to my body and, and what I need,
20:19
I need to realize what's not working. And I'm. When I'm working too much,
20:23
I need to ask for help. And believe it or not, I might
20:27
be growing faster. Because
20:31
part of slowing down is prioritizing. It doesn't mean that you're
20:35
not giving a hundred percent to the things that you want to do. It
20:38
simply means that you're not doing a hundred things. So
20:42
strength is not about having to do everything alone.
20:49
It's about how do you do what's important the best.
20:57
So if you've been around me at all, you know, I have this thing,
21:01
make your learning last. And so I would be remiss if I
21:05
didn't talk about this. What did I learn,
21:10
and why is the podcast working? One of the
21:13
reasons it works is because, like I said, I like to talk.
21:18
And apparently talking comes naturally to me. So that would be one question
21:22
that you probably need to ask yourself. What's already working
21:26
naturally for me? Right.
21:30
The other thing is, how would I like it to be?
21:35
Well, I think if I were to do it over again,
21:45
I now know that in order for people to be, that this is
21:49
part of a collaboration. And so I have certain
21:52
criteria now for people to be on my
21:56
podcast. So that's interesting.
21:59
The other thing that happened is, you know, when I got a
22:03
va, I realized from the Sunday scoop, if you've seen that,
22:07
that I was actually promoting people and they didn't know it.
22:11
And so now that responsibility, they have to submit a form.
22:14
And I have put that responsibility on them, which is good
22:18
because it means that it's important enough for them that they want
22:22
to participate, not for me to go chasing. And that,
22:25
that's a, that's an important lesson because
22:29
collaboration requires that, you know
22:32
that there's a give and take and that we're equally willing to
22:36
put. Put into the, the situation. So
22:40
what's working naturally for you? Podcast works for me because I like to
22:44
talk. I love the fact that it comes out every week. It gives me content,
22:47
you know, consistency, which I love.
22:52
The other thing that you may want to think about is what is it that
22:56
people are repeatedly coming to you for? Because
22:59
that's one of your hidden values, right?
23:05
What is it? What are the strengths that you're undervaluing. I think
23:09
that is really important because the things
23:13
that you do well, you figure everybody else does,
23:16
and that's not true. So
23:20
those are just some things to think about. The
23:24
other part to that is
23:28
I want to thank all of you who have listened to one,
23:32
some, or all 100 episodes. Right.
23:36
I want to continue to bring
23:40
you value. I want to continue to connect
23:43
with you. I want to continue giving you ways
23:47
that you can connect with me and that we can support each other.
23:52
Because entrepreneurs, they that are growing the fastest are not always
23:56
the loudest, but they are the people that are the
23:59
clearest on what they're doing and the value that they bring.
24:08
That was a lot. So
24:13
to bring this back, there are just a couple of
24:17
key things. I realized that
24:21
once you start moving, the momentum keeps going.
24:25
Curiosity makes the momentum go faster.
24:29
When you're visible, your momentum is
24:33
faster. And the thing that I learned this year is you
24:36
don't need to be fixed. If you've already got some clients,
24:40
you know, paid clients, and you're good at what you do and your
24:44
clients love the results, you don't need to be fixed. You do not have a
24:47
client service delivery issue.
24:51
You have a recognition issue. You just need to be found. You
24:55
need more people to see what it is that you do. And
24:59
so that has to do with recognition and the fact
25:03
that you can clearly say what it is that you do
25:08
so people can recognize you. And the people that need you
25:12
already know that they need what you have. They
25:16
just, you know, just can't put the pieces together. So after a
25:20
hundred conversations, here's what I know for sure. You
25:24
don't need to be somebody else. That who you are is absolutely
25:27
perfect for the time where you are. You're going
25:31
to evolve and get be somewhat different. And so that person may
25:35
not be the person that the client that you have
25:39
right now needs, but your clients will also grow with you as well,
25:42
which is a wonderful thing. You don't need to be somebody
25:46
else. You just need leverage. And you need
25:50
more of who you already are to come out so people can
25:53
recognize who you are and what it is that you do.
25:59
You don't need to be fixed. You just need to be
26:03
found. And with that, I want to
26:06
thank you again for being part of this. I
26:10
would love to have any suggestions and feedback to help
26:14
make this better for the next 100 episodes. But
26:18
before that, it's commercial time. So
26:22
I hope you will subscribe and share and engage on social media
26:26
about the podcast, because I do it so I can help you supercharge
26:29
your. Your business through connection. And it's my way of
26:33
giving back to this vibrant community and fueling your quest for growth
26:37
and impact. And, you know, one of the things that.
26:41
That I try to help people with is to have a bold vision
26:44
and see the innovative possibilities that are there.
26:49
If I had any last words, I think I. What I would say. And
26:53
it's gonna. You've heard it before. It's not new, is it doesn't matter
26:57
how fast you're going if you're going in the wrong direction. And
27:01
so clarity is the thing that keeps
27:05
you going in the right direction, at least for
27:08
me. So remember that change
27:12
can be simple, but it's not always easy. It requires
27:16
comfort. Sorry. It requires courage, resilience,
27:20
and a willingness to step outside your comfort zone. It's the.
27:24
It's the concussion kicking in. So join me on the one small
27:27
change as we embark on this journey of. Of innovative possibilities.
27:32
And until then, I hope you will stay very,
27:36
very curious. Here's
27:40
to you. And here's to me on the 100th episode.
27:43
Bye.