Latest / WOC and Allies: Business and Career Realtalk with Elaine Lou Cartas / 26. Simplify Your Business by Knowing More + Doing Less

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26. Simplify Your Business by Knowing More + Doing Less · WOC and Allies: Business and Career Realtalk with Elaine Lou Cartas

• 0:00
  SPEAKER_00: Legacy maker, I want to celebrate with you because I'm cutting out, doing the most and simplifying it, doing less.
• 0:12
  SPEAKER_00: And if you're like Elaine, what are you doing?
• 0:14
  SPEAKER_00: What are you taking out?
• 0:15
  SPEAKER_00: What are you doing?
• 0:15
  SPEAKER_00: Well, you have to listen to the whole episode.
• 0:17
  SPEAKER_00: And guess what?
• 0:17
  SPEAKER_00: It's not all about me.
• 0:18
  SPEAKER_00: I'm just using myself as a case study that I usually do at the Color Your Dreams podcast.
• 0:24
  SPEAKER_00: And here's what I promise you you will have four action items and questions.
• 0:31
  SPEAKER_00: So you can also simplify your business by knowing more and doing less.
• 0:37
  SPEAKER_00: Because we often think in order to make more, we need to do more.
• 0:41
  SPEAKER_00: And this episode's actually inspired by my marketing strategist, Monica Schrock, where we looked at our numbers to see what's working, what's not.
• 0:48
  SPEAKER_00: And so we started deleting stuff.
• 0:50
  SPEAKER_00: And I am so happy because I got four trips planned.
• 0:53
  SPEAKER_00: Going to Tahoe, Mammoth, Scotland, and Hawaii for the next two months.
• 0:58
  SPEAKER_00: I know.
• 0:59
  SPEAKER_00: Very blessed.
• 1:00
  SPEAKER_00: All right.
• 1:00
  SPEAKER_00: Let's stop talking.
• 1:01
  SPEAKER_00: We're going to drop the beat, and you're going to want to take a pen and paper take notes.
• 1:06
  SPEAKER_00: All right, let's drop the beat.
• 1:12
  SPEAKER_00: Hey legacy maker.
• 1:14
  SPEAKER_00: I'm your host and MC, Elaine Lucartis, business and career coach for Women of Color and Allies.
• 1:21
  SPEAKER_00: And welcome to the Call Your Dreams Podcast, where we have conscious conversations to help you create a business or career that is sustainable, abundant, and equitable to the lifestyle you deserve.
• 1:37
  SPEAKER_00: Because our ancestors sacrificed so much so we could have this life of choice.
• 1:42
  SPEAKER_00: Now, grab your coffee, tea, andor boba, and let's call your dreams to create your legacy.
• 2:04
  SPEAKER_00: Or maybe I should stop doing less of this.
• 2:08
  SPEAKER_00: And you're not sure.
• 2:10
  SPEAKER_00: So in today's episode, we're talking about how one your intuition knows what they're talking about.
• 2:18
  SPEAKER_00: And the importance of looking at data, why you should track things.
• 2:23
  SPEAKER_00: I know we'll be talking about numbers, data, and analyzing, but where are all my intuitive and spiritual people at?
• 2:33
  SPEAKER_00: I want to just let you know why it's important to do both.
• 2:36
  SPEAKER_00: Like I'm spiritual, I'm Reiki certified.
• 2:40
  SPEAKER_00: And here's what I want to share with you.
• 2:42
  SPEAKER_00: When you have that intuitive hit, data actually validates that intuition.
• 2:47
  SPEAKER_00: So you have more confidence to take action to create change that needs to happen.
• 2:53
  SPEAKER_00: Like, simple example.
• 2:55
  SPEAKER_00: And I don't mean to go to extreme, but let's say you go to the doctor's office and find out your blood pressure is high, right?
• 3:02
  SPEAKER_00: Based off of numbers.
• 3:03
  SPEAKER_00: And then you realize, okay, well, I need to work on having a healthier lifestyle.
• 3:07
  SPEAKER_00: All right.
• 3:08
  SPEAKER_00: So how can you simplify your business by knowing more and doing less?
• 3:15
  SPEAKER_00: Well, I have four questions and action items for you.
• 3:19
  SPEAKER_00: So grab a pen and paper because you're going to want to take notes.
• 3:22
  SPEAKER_00: This is a very actionable and simple podcast episode.
• 3:26
  SPEAKER_00: Hence, that's why it's called simplify your business by knowing more and doing less.
• 3:30
  SPEAKER_00: All right.
• 3:31
  SPEAKER_00: First step, are you tracking everything?
• 3:34
  SPEAKER_00: And I'm not just saying what's in your bank account, but do you know how you are getting clients?
• 3:41
  SPEAKER_00: Or aka you've heard the term like lead generation.
• 3:45
  SPEAKER_00: Or maybe it's not social media, it's referrals.
• 3:48
  SPEAKER_00: But are you tracking?
• 3:50
  SPEAKER_00: And if you're doing more than one social media platform, I even suggest tracking that.
• 3:55
  SPEAKER_00: You know, I know Gary V went or a lot of big names say be everywhere, do everything.
• 4:00
  SPEAKER_00: But remember, they have big teams.
• 4:02
  SPEAKER_00: You may be like me, where there is a team of like three to five people, and you can't do all the things, and you have to be smart about your time.
• 4:11
  SPEAKER_00: So if you're testing different social media platforms, it's important to track things, right?
• 4:15
  SPEAKER_00: Like I have a marketing template.
• 4:18
  SPEAKER_00: I'm actually working on creating a template for my own clients to track things like Instagram, Facebook, TikTok, Twitter, emails, whatever you're using.
• 4:25
  SPEAKER_00: For me, it's Instagram, do a little bit Facebook.
• 4:28
  SPEAKER_00: I'm doing LinkedIn and emails and obviously podcasting.
• 4:32
  SPEAKER_00: I track everything.
• 4:33
  SPEAKER_00: And what I mean by tracking everything in the content that you've created, do you even know what your top three to five posts or reels or videos are?
• 4:42
  SPEAKER_00: It's important to know that stuff.
• 4:45
  SPEAKER_00: And like, for example, I was talking to a client, she has a million followers, a million followers, which is amazing.
• 4:53
  SPEAKER_00: And she came to me and asked me, I need to work on my marketing and social media plan.
• 4:57
  SPEAKER_00: I'm like, okay, before we even create any plan, not just for her, but even for you listening and for me, we need to figure out what's working and what's not working.
• 5:05
  SPEAKER_00: But realized for her, it was certain reels that were showing up.
• 5:08
  SPEAKER_00: I'm like, okay, do you know which reels brings in the most sales?
• 5:13
  SPEAKER_00: And then she responded back, no, I'm like, okay, I want you to go back.
• 5:16
  SPEAKER_00: And sure, Instagram may not share with you when make sales, but it's putting the data together, you know, looking at when she gets the notifications when she's getting clients, you know, what day did she put a reel and when did she realize she was getting more sales?
• 5:29
  SPEAKER_00: Because obviously it was that IG reel that created traction.
• 5:32
  SPEAKER_00: That's what I mean by the importance of tracking everything.
• 5:35
  SPEAKER_00: And then when you start seeing the specific content that is working, it's reusing it.
• 5:40
  SPEAKER_00: And I have a lot of clients, including myself, about 85% of my business comes from referrals and renewals.
• 5:47
  SPEAKER_00: It's not so much social media.
• 5:49
  SPEAKER_00: So it's even just keeping track of the relationships that I am creating and that I am having and nurturing.
• 5:55
  SPEAKER_00: That's why it's important to track everything.
• 5:58
  SPEAKER_00: So the second question/slash action item.
• 6:01
  SPEAKER_00: Are you looking at what is working for you?
• 6:05
  SPEAKER_00: When you look at your data, this helps because Goldy Shiny Object Syndrome is real.
• 6:11
  SPEAKER_00: Like, oh my gosh, I have to do this or that.
• 6:13
  SPEAKER_00: I just finished doing a one-day retreat with my inner circle clients.
• 6:17
  SPEAKER_00: And what we were realizing with one of my clients, she had this pressure of, I need to create the sales page for my new one-to-one program.
• 6:25
  SPEAKER_00: And I'm like, okay, well, let's look back at what has worked for you.
• 6:30
  SPEAKER_00: So, how have you gotten clients before through referrals, through relationships, speaking gigs, when I share things on Instagram, inspiration, like educational pieces?
• 6:40
  SPEAKER_00: Did any of it come from your website or sales page?
• 6:42
  SPEAKER_00: And she was like, No.
• 6:44
  SPEAKER_00: Then focus on what continues to still work.
• 6:46
  SPEAKER_00: So often we think it's we need to do more.
• 6:48
  SPEAKER_00: But here's what I want you to hear.
• 6:50
  SPEAKER_00: When you're looking at your data, you're figuring out what is working and focusing on that.
• 6:55
  SPEAKER_00: Even for me in my business, I did this is why this episode was inspired to be created.
• 7:00
  SPEAKER_00: I did a marketing analysis with Monica Schock, who is my marketing strategist and also one of my clients.
• 7:07
  SPEAKER_00: You could check out an episode we did on how to be less dependent on social media, episode four of the Color Dreams podcast.
• 7:14
  SPEAKER_00: And we were even realizing no one, so I just said, I have I work two ways with clients, right?
• 7:20
  SPEAKER_00: It's one-to-one or my color dreams inner circle for folks who are already making consistent income, are seasoned in their business and career.
• 7:30
  SPEAKER_00: And no one goes through my inner circle page website page to work with me.
• 7:35
  SPEAKER_00: People just book calls.
• 7:37
  SPEAKER_00: All that needs to happen is for people to book a call with me.
• 7:42
  SPEAKER_00: And the calls are where the magic happens for me.
• 7:45
  SPEAKER_00: And by the way, if you want to book a call with me, you can go to ElaineLew.com slash call.
• 7:50
  SPEAKER_00: And the reason being is because I don't treat it like a, oh, I need to convert this person, right?
• 7:56
  SPEAKER_00: It's literally like a review and audit call.
• 7:58
  SPEAKER_00: It's a legacy business and career review call where for 30 minutes people get to experience my coaching style.
• 8:06
  SPEAKER_00: I let them know in the beginning of that call, my intention is for you to experience my coaching and for you to get three action items and understand what your goals are, what your challenges are.
• 8:20
  SPEAKER_00: And by the end of it, if it's a good fit to work together, great.
• 8:22
  SPEAKER_00: We could continue talking about how it looks like to work together.
• 8:24
  SPEAKER_00: If it's not a great fit, great.
• 8:26
  SPEAKER_00: I can refer you to other people.
• 8:28
  SPEAKER_00: And those calls really work well for me.
• 8:31
  SPEAKER_00: And knowing that, if you haven't noticed, even in my own podcast, like at the end for some podcasts, if it's if it matches the content, I share, hey, if you want to work with me, schedule a complimentary legacy business and career review call at elanelew.com forward slash call.
• 8:51
  SPEAKER_00: You know, it's not bringing people like to these other web pages explaining things.
• 8:56
  SPEAKER_00: It's it's so simple, like literally, regardless if you want to do a call with me or not, go to that webpage.
• 9:02
  SPEAKER_00: It is the simplest web page on my website because it's a button and times and dates that I'm available to do a call, as opposed to my other web pages where it's longer.
• 9:12
  SPEAKER_00: And actually, that's what I mean by even doing less.
• 9:15
  SPEAKER_00: We realize, oh, there's probably too much content on my own website that I need to simplify more.
• 9:19
  SPEAKER_00: So, do you know what's working for you and how you can even simplify even more?
• 9:26
  SPEAKER_00: And I will share in this podcast now, like what else I'm simplifying.
• 9:31
  SPEAKER_00: It's we know the podcasts are working, but I'm also going on vacation in August and September.
• 9:36
  SPEAKER_00: So I'm doing two podcasts for those months, and I'll test it and see how that works.
• 9:42
  SPEAKER_00: And it also feels so good, right?
• 9:44
  SPEAKER_00: Like I'm still doing what I'm doing, serving all of you as you're listening to my podcasts, but I'm doing less.
• 9:50
  SPEAKER_00: And guess what?
• 9:51
  SPEAKER_00: There's like about 20 plus episodes to listen to.
• 9:54
  SPEAKER_00: I'm pretty sure not every single one has listened to every single one of my episodes.
• 9:57
  SPEAKER_00: And another thing we noticed, oh, I don't need to do newsletters every week.
• 10:02
  SPEAKER_00: I could do it every other week.
• 10:04
  SPEAKER_00: So that's what I'm doing to simplify my business.
• 10:06
  SPEAKER_00: Every other week, newsletters, every other week, podcast episodes.
• 10:11
  SPEAKER_00: And you know what helped me figure that out?
• 10:13
  SPEAKER_00: One, my intuition was kind of telling me, girl, you are doing too much.
• 10:17
  SPEAKER_00: Second is looking at the data, I'm realizing I don't have to do it all the time.
• 10:23
  SPEAKER_00: So I'm telling you, you don't have to do more.
• 10:26
  SPEAKER_00: You don't have to do the most.
• 10:27
  SPEAKER_00: How can we save your time and energy?
• 10:29
  SPEAKER_00: And also, I will share the reason why I'm also lessening my podcast and my newsletter, my clientele base like doubled right now, which is a great problem to have.
• 10:39
  SPEAKER_00: So we're even looking this summer on how we could create more efficient systems.
• 10:44
  SPEAKER_00: And we're looking at how that directly correlates with the success of my clients.
• 10:49
  SPEAKER_00: That's super important.
• 10:50
  SPEAKER_00: I'll do another podcast episode on that, on how like I'm analyzing things, really asking the tough question is this fluff or is this what's needed for my client?
• 10:59
  SPEAKER_00: Because so often we think, oh, we need like a really pretty tiara to add on top to our services when you don't.
• 11:05
  SPEAKER_00: Your clients simply need you to be present.
• 11:08
  SPEAKER_00: All right, third question, which is what's being alluded to.
• 11:12
  SPEAKER_00: We so it's like first, it's like looking at your data, right?
• 11:15
  SPEAKER_00: Second is what is working for you.
• 11:17
  SPEAKER_00: Here's the tough part.
• 11:18
  SPEAKER_00: Are you looking at what is it working for you?
• 11:22
  SPEAKER_00: And maybe you've been doing it for the past year or two years in your business, or maybe you tried something new this past quarter or year.
• 11:30
  SPEAKER_00: And intuitively you're like, this is not working, and you're having your numbers validated.
• 11:35
  SPEAKER_00: For example, I've shared before, I was doing events every month for I think like two years straight.
• 11:41
  SPEAKER_00: And I was like, oh, my intuition, not liking this, not enjoying it, data, it's not working as well as I did it.
• 11:49
  SPEAKER_00: So I scrapped it.
• 11:50
  SPEAKER_00: I know that's an example for me, but I'll give another example for a client.
• 11:55
  SPEAKER_00: She does copywriting, and she was thinking, oh, I need to write it on social media, but that, oh, the thought of creating all this copy.
• 12:04
  SPEAKER_00: But as I was talking to her at my one-day retreat I do with my inner circle clients, realized, well, for copywriters, it's not posting on social media that gets her clients and other copywriters that she's friends with, it's referrals.
• 12:17
  SPEAKER_00: So we identified referral partners for her to go get clients, right?
• 12:22
  SPEAKER_00: So what wasn't working is the social media part.
• 12:25
  SPEAKER_00: What is working is building relationships and referrals, right?
• 12:29
  SPEAKER_00: For another client of mine, he is in his late 50s and his target market are professionals 40 and up.
• 12:38
  SPEAKER_00: There was this pressure for him to like always be on social media.
• 12:41
  SPEAKER_00: And I was reminding him, your clientele is 40 and up.
• 12:45
  SPEAKER_00: Are they really using social media?
• 12:47
  SPEAKER_00: What he realizes is oh, I don't need to be on social media.
• 12:52
  SPEAKER_00: He gets such a high off of meeting people in person.
• 12:55
  SPEAKER_00: So we have a goal for him to meet with one to two folks a month, and he's getting clients and working on proposals and opportunities right now.
• 13:05
  SPEAKER_00: This is what I mean by like we get caught up in Goldie, shiny object syndrome when we need a look under the hood in our own business of what is working and not working.
• 13:15
  SPEAKER_00: It's fascinating because, like I said, I'm very blessed.
• 13:19
  SPEAKER_00: It's a July 20th when I'm doing this podcast recording, and I'm getting clients like wanting to work with me.
• 13:25
  SPEAKER_00: The demand is great.
• 13:27
  SPEAKER_00: And they ask, I need a business and marketing plan.
• 13:30
  SPEAKER_00: And every single time there's not every single conversation I've had.
• 13:35
  SPEAKER_00: It's not about putting just putting the plan together.
• 13:38
  SPEAKER_00: We need to see what is working, what's not, by using both intuition and data.
• 13:43
  SPEAKER_00: And by the way, if you want to know how to do that, like I said earlier, schedule a review call with me to review your business, go to elanelu.com forward slash call.
• 13:52
  SPEAKER_00: See what I did there, by the way.
• 13:54
  SPEAKER_00: Like, I didn't even have this in my little notes as I was recording.
• 13:58
  SPEAKER_00: I kept this simple.
• 13:59
  SPEAKER_00: I'm like, hey, you want to know how it looks like to work with me?
• 14:01
  SPEAKER_00: Schedule a call.
• 14:02
  SPEAKER_00: It wasn't like, go to this website and read like 20 pages worth of content.
• 14:07
  SPEAKER_00: Oh my god, that sounds even exhausting.
• 14:10
  SPEAKER_00: All right, the fourth thing to ask yourself, how often can you do this?
• 14:16
  SPEAKER_00: How often can you look at your numbers and your data?
• 14:20
  SPEAKER_00: So with me and my marketing strategist, we look at our data um once a quarter.
• 14:24
  SPEAKER_00: So obviously Q2 ended, it's now Q3.
• 14:27
  SPEAKER_00: So that's why you were on a call.
• 14:29
  SPEAKER_00: So maybe it's once a quarter, maybe it's monthly, weekly.
• 14:33
  SPEAKER_00: You get to define that.
• 14:35
  SPEAKER_00: But what I want you to hear is do that as a routine.
• 14:39
  SPEAKER_00: It's similar to how I look at my own numbers in my own business.
• 14:44
  SPEAKER_00: So I kind of want to just sum it up, right?
• 14:49
  SPEAKER_00: The four questions and things you should do to simplify your business by knowing more so you can do less.
• 14:57
  SPEAKER_00: One, are you tracking everything?
• 14:59
  SPEAKER_00: Two, are you looking at what's working?
• 15:02
  SPEAKER_00: Three, are you looking at what's not working and what action you can take?
• 15:07
  SPEAKER_00: And four, how often are you going to look at your numbers?
• 15:12
  SPEAKER_00: Business is about rinsing, repeating, and refining what's working.
• 15:19
  SPEAKER_00: I think so often we do know it's like rinsing and repeating, but what we forget is the refining, making it better.
• 15:25
  SPEAKER_00: Like cooking, right?
• 15:26
  SPEAKER_00: I was eating pasta yesterday.
• 15:28
  SPEAKER_00: My boyfriend makes like the sauce out of scratch, like constantly talking about like how you're how he's refining whatever ingredient it is.
• 15:36
  SPEAKER_00: And it's important to refine things because we get our life back and we get to see, oh, we don't have to do all the things, right?
• 15:45
  SPEAKER_00: So even when I look at things that are not working or things that are working, right?
• 15:51
  SPEAKER_00: There might be things that are working for you.
• 15:53
  SPEAKER_00: Like, I don't know, I'm having so much clients coming in.
• 15:56
  SPEAKER_00: I don't know if I can continue doing it.
• 15:58
  SPEAKER_00: Then the question becomes like, well, how can I delegate this?
• 16:00
  SPEAKER_00: What do I need to do?
• 16:02
  SPEAKER_00: So, as you all know, I love doing a reflective question and one action.
• 16:09
  SPEAKER_00: So, here's a question for you.
• 16:12
  SPEAKER_00: I want you to feel into your feelings.
• 16:15
  SPEAKER_00: What has your intuition told you about your business that may feel a little bit uncomfortable?
• 16:20
  SPEAKER_00: We're like, oh, this is probably not working, or you should try this, or you should lessen doing this.
• 16:27
  SPEAKER_00: What's your intuition telling you?
• 16:29
  SPEAKER_00: Pen to paper.
• 16:30
  SPEAKER_00: I don't want this in your head.
• 16:31
  SPEAKER_00: Get it out.
• 16:32
  SPEAKER_00: Pen to paper.
• 16:33
  SPEAKER_00: And second is with those things that gut feeling, set a date and time in your calendar.
• 16:41
  SPEAKER_00: So go pull up your calendar, Google calendar if you're old school, bring your planner out.
• 16:45
  SPEAKER_00: Set a date and time, I want to say two hours, for you to look at the data so it could validate your intuition.
• 16:53
  SPEAKER_00: Because so often when we're not looking at the data, we're not gaining confidence to make that action.
• 16:58
  SPEAKER_00: So remember, intuition's like, okay, something's a data, it's validating that something needs to change.
• 17:04
  SPEAKER_00: Then that allows you to create aligned action to do less.
• 17:07
  SPEAKER_00: Because like I said, legacymaker, don't you want to do less?
• 17:12
  SPEAKER_00: So the big lesson I want you to get from this podcast episode is you can do less by listening to your intuition and understanding your data.
• 17:24
  SPEAKER_00: Legacy maker, if you have big goals in your business, but you are feeling overwhelmed and unaligned, and you want to know that it's possible to do two things, right?
• 17:36
  SPEAKER_00: Which we talked about in this episode one, listen to your intuition, two, understand your data so you can create aligned decisions in your business.
• 17:46
  SPEAKER_00: So your business revolves around your life.
• 17:49
  SPEAKER_00: Well, if you want to see how it looks like to work together, schedule a complimentary 30-minute legacy business review call.
• 17:57
  SPEAKER_00: You go to ElaineLou forward slash call, where we'll identify your personal and professional goals that you're going to create.
• 18:06
  SPEAKER_00: We're going to review your current pricing and packages and see what needs to be edited to fit your dream lifestyle.
• 18:12
  SPEAKER_00: And you'll receive three action items.
• 18:14
  SPEAKER_00: So go to ElainLou.com forward slash call.
• 18:18
  SPEAKER_00: And if you're not on my email list, get on it.
• 18:21
  SPEAKER_00: You can go to elanelu.com forward slash join, where every other Monday you receive a wonderful newsletter from me.
• 18:41
  SPEAKER_00: So more women of color and allies can benefit too.
• 18:47
  SPEAKER_00: And if you have one or two friends that would get so much from this particular episode, please share.
• 18:54
  SPEAKER_00: The intention behind the Call Your Dreams podcast was to contribute and give back to our people.
• 19:01
  SPEAKER_00: All right.