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Embracing Pacing Transforming Passion into Sustainable Success · The One Small Change Podcast

• 0:00
  Welcome to the One Small Change. I can't believe it's another week. And I am
• 0:04
  thrilled to embark on this journey of exploration and
• 0:07
  transformation with you. I'm your host, Yvonne McCoy, and I bring almost
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  30 years of entrepreneurial experience. And I have a passion
• 0:14
  for discovering growth through the power of seemingly small change.
• 0:18
  So I'm glad you came. With me this week we have another wonderful guest
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  who's going to share how a small, unexpected or significant,
• 0:26
  insignificant decision sparked a
• 0:30
  transformation in either their personal or their professional
• 0:33
  or both. So today I am happy to
• 0:37
  share with you, introduce you to Debra Russell. Debra,
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  thank you for being here. Thank you for having me, Yvonne. I'm
• 0:45
  thrilled to be here. So tell us what you do
• 0:48
  and what was it that made you start to do it and makes
• 0:52
  you really good at what you do? Okay, so I
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  am a certified business coach. I'm an mba,
• 1:00
  and I also am certified in
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  NLP and hypnosis. What
• 1:08
  got me into coaching was a very long,
• 1:11
  winding road, so I won't bore you with that. But I
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  was very, very sick and knew I could not go back to
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  my previous life, which was in film and television
• 1:23
  production. And I just kept saying, well, what am I supposed
• 1:27
  to do next? And coaching sort of found
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  me. So I decided to investigate it. I
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  hired a coach, and then I went ahead and
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  did my coach training and opened my coaching business because it
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  was the most perfect match
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  for who I am, for my core competencies.
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  Like, I never even. Like, coaching didn't exist back
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  then. That was, you know, the early aughts. No one had ever heard of
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  coaching. When I told people I was a coach, they would say Lamaze
• 2:01
  and I'd say, no.
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  Right? No. So
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  that, you know, just kind of following, just kept asking what
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  was supposed to be next and then following wherever that led
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  me took me to coaching through a lot of
• 2:20
  very interesting serendipities, which of course, you don't see
• 2:24
  while they're happening, but in hindsight become
• 2:27
  very clear. But I will say that when I was
• 2:31
  very ill, the one small change
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  that changed everything for me, that I got a lot of
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  pushback, frankly, for my family about. So I was very
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  ill. I was bedridden. I was working with a
• 2:45
  therapist because I had lost everything.
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  And something she said to me, which was, you chose
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  an illness that you could not
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  fight against, that the more you fight it, the
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  sicker you get. You chose an illness
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  that you have to surrender to.
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  And she was right. And I'm a fighter,
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  Yvonne. I am. I'm an a Type. Go get them.
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  Hustle and grind fighter. That's my personality.
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  And I couldn't fight this. The more I fought, the sicker
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  I got. So I surrendered
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  and I learned a key skill. Skill
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  called pacing.
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  Pacing. I know, I know.
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  Pacing basically means you stop before you get
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  tired. You don't do more than.
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  Than you can. And if you. You're tired, it's
• 3:55
  already too late. You've done too much. Yeah, right.
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  And so I kept having to do less and then do less
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  until I found my baseline for what
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  I could do on any given day and not get sicker.
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  And that's where I started, and I built from there.
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  I'm laughing because this sounds so
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  familiar. I mean, you know, I can think about different points
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  in my life when I just was like,
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  I'm pushing, I'm pushing. And they're like, you know,
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  this doesn't work. You know, you. You know, I. There was a time when
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  my daughter was very sick, and I was like a
• 4:36
  maniac. And the therapist said
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  to me, the child that you knew is no longer
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  there. And I was. I was ready to physically assault her.
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  I was like, how dare you say that to me? Right?
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  You know, and. And I was not willing to accept her the way
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  that she was. I mean, it was like, this is, you know, and, you
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  know, and I. And I think back also, I just started Pilates,
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  and the first session went really well. And the second session I was like, I
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  can do more, right? And she was like. She was
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  like, no. And the next day,
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  I said to my husband, even my lips hurt. I. I mean, I.
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  I almost couldn't get out of bed. I was like, so, yes, I
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  absolutely do understand what you're talking about. And, And
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  I think that one of the things that.
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  That you said that, That I found
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  interesting is you said you bring business savvy,
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  you know, so tell me about that a little bit. Tell me about,
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  you know, what it is that you actually do and, And. And where
• 5:46
  the pacing comes in. Right. So I
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  specialize in working with people who are pursuing their
• 5:53
  passion as a business. So that started
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  with working in the arts and entertainment industry. That's my
• 6:00
  background, working with artists, with musicians.
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  I also work with athletes who are
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  absolutely pursuing their passion, and it's a business.
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  And I also work with people like you and me that. On. Who are
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  doing what we do because we love it. The
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  common through line is that we spend all this time, energy
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  and money learning our craft, our skill, our game.
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  But for most people, and yeah, there are exceptions to
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  this Rule. But for most people, no time learning
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  business. And so I
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  was raised by a cpa. I've been in business
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  for myself since I was a kid. I've always run my
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  own business. Business is kind of a core part of who
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  I am. And so. And I love
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  the arts and I love hanging out with artists, I love hanging out with
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  athletes. I love hanging out with people who are passionate
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  because I should not be more passionate about your goals than
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  you are. Right. That's boring to me.
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  I could get you successful, but I'm not having fun. So.
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  So I help you who
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  love what you do, who know about what you do.
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  I help you create the foundation of a business
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  to support it. I help you create the systems, the
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  strategies, build the team, understand,
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  like what experts do you need on your team, what
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  assistance do you need, how to hire and fire, how to
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  describe the job, and how to
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  delegate and give away the things you're doing
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  yourself that you should not be doing yourself.
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  And so that's how I bring the business savvy.
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  So that you don't just have a passion, you have a business
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  that is sustainable, that is profitable, that you
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  can take a vacation from, and that at
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  some point you might even be able to sell.
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  So one of the things that I love about what you say is
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  most people start their business from their passion. And
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  so one of the things that I find is interesting is.
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  In terms of the levels of leadership, it's kind of like
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  self leadership, Leadership of a project,
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  leadership of a team, the leadership of an organization.
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  Many people are very good at leadership of the
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  project, but they are not good at self leadership.
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  And so it makes it really difficult for them to scale their business.
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  And you know, one of the things that I say all the time is the
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  two things. The first one is.
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  Entrepreneurs are really good at spotting talent. And then they
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  micromanage them to mediocrity because.
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  Because they won't do it their way. It's so true.
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  You know, but the thing is, you hired them because you saw something
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  in them that was like exciting and now you totally
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  squelched it. Right? Well, people
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  micromanage because they don't know how to delegate. Right.
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  Delegation is a skill. But also because they have not
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  built out their system. Right. It's very hard to delegate
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  something that lives inside your head. Yes. That is
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  not documented and does not have an operations
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  manual. And I would think that for the people that you work that are in
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  the creative thing, it's like, you know, it just, it comes to
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  me. It just, you Know, it just oozes from my course
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  and they think that it will make them less creative. But actually
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  it's very freeing. I mean, I have a thing called, you know,
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  I have lots of acronyms and systems. But one is, you
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  know, when you're in a situation, first you want to look at the
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  procedural. Is there, you know, if somebody's not doing something right,
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  is there, you know, did they follow the procedure or is
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  there not a procedure or does the procedure need to be updated?
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  Then you look at the personal. Because where we start is, oh, Susie never does
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  this right. Or Bob is always, you know, whatever. But if
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  you haven't told them what it is you want them to do
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  in a way that they can duplicate, how can they get it right most of
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  the time? So, you know, and then the issue is, have you
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  actually trained them to do what it is that you want them to do?
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  And probably even before that is, did you
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  hire them for the role that you really needed them for? I mean, I had,
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  I had, I used to coach women executives of non profits.
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  And I cannot tell you how many times I heard this, this statement,
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  the universe brought me this person.
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  Oh dear. Yes. I would say, you know, how about
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  we try you ask the universe for what you need so
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  that when you, it brings you this person, it's the right person
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  instead of you being affixed to this person and now trying to
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  find a job for them. People find people
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  are attracted to other people because of their energetic
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  connection. That does not necessarily mean they have the skill
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  set that they need. And I love what you were saying
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  about understanding what you know, what is
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  the job? Have you documented the job? Have you
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  trained them on that documentation? But also
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  have you then let them use their core
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  genius to make your system
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  so much better? Yes, but. And here's the most important
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  piece. And then documented those changes. Yes. Because
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  if they don't document those changes, they're going to move on to
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  another job because people do. Right. And then
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  you're screwed and because all the things that they're doing,
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  gone. Yes, Right. And I have to say one other thing
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  about delegation, because this is like a hot button with me. You
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  know, typically people say you delegate, you automate, you eliminate. Right,
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  Right. And I would say that you do it just in reverse.
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  First of all, you have to have. My system is called Productivity
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  ahead. So first of all, not everything works in every situation.
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  So you have to be aware of what situation you're in and what it is
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  that you're trying to accomplish. Then you put things on hold,
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  then you eliminate stuff, then you automate, which is
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  not necessarily a system. It doesn't have to be a technology
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  thing. You know, it can just be, you know, you're the last person that drank
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  the last cup of coffee, you make the next pot, right? Or, you know, you
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  order the copy paper or whatever, right? And then
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  you delegate the stuff that's important that's going to grow your
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  business. Delegation is actually training. You are
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  actually training people to do important parts of your business.
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  If you start with delegation first, you are giving them the junk that's
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  on the top of your pile, right? And there is a place for that.
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  But what I. I have to leap on what you just said because
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  it's so important. Especially with small business
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  owners or solopreneurs, what happens is
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  that they market, they market, they market, they market. They get busy, they get busy,
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  they get busy. They're no longer busy because they stopped
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  marketing. And then they. Because they're too busy to market. So then they market, they
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  market to market. That is a roller coaster. That's the
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  feast. That is not growth. The growth line for
• 13:44
  that business is flat, right? That.
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  That is not growth. So what you've got to do
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  is before you're too busy, you need to build out
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  the marketing system and have someone
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  else trained to do it because you're
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  doing the thing that is your core genius,
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  right? And you're too busy to market because you're doing
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  your core genius. So you need someone else doing that.
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  I. I hate to cut you off because I would love to keep
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  talking, but we. I say this on every podcast,
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  but we are running out of time. So tell me if, if you
• 14:25
  have a gift for us, tell me what it is and you know
• 14:29
  how people can get the most out of it. So let's start with that before
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  we run out of time. You bet. You bet. So I have an
• 14:36
  ebook. I already sent you the short link for it.
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  It's called Move from Overwhelm into Action. A Guide
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  to Shift from Procrastination into Productivity.
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  Productivity is one of my core areas of focus
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  with clients. The first couple of chapters
• 14:55
  are absolutely the foundation from where you should
• 14:58
  start to deal with the basic
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  mindset issues around productivity. And there
• 15:06
  are exercises in every chapter, so there's stuff for you to
• 15:09
  do to really start to shift that for yourself. If
• 15:13
  you. If you grab that, you are going to be in my
• 15:17
  circle of influence. And
• 15:21
  you can also reach me my email. If you can spell my name,
• 15:24
  you can email me. My email is
• 15:27
  deborah@deborahrussellcoaching.com
• 15:31
  and so, Debra, no extra letters. Russell, two
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  S's, two L's. Okay, so, so here's the
• 15:39
  trick question. You bet. When was the last time you did something new for the
• 15:43
  first time? Gosh.
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  Well, actually I. I am
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  embarking on something new as we speak, which is
• 15:59
  really using Instagram to
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  market my business. I am Insta stupid and
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  I really don't understand Instagram. I don't know how it
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  works. So I am delving into
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  how to use, like, how Instagram really works. Like, I don't even
• 16:19
  know how to comment on people. Like, I'm so lost when it comes
• 16:23
  to Instagram. So I'm learning Instagram, I'm learning how to use
• 16:27
  it for my business and I'm a little terrified,
• 16:31
  but I'm doing it anyway, so. So stay tuned. I am
• 16:34
  @bizcoachdebra on Instagram, so you'll
• 16:38
  get to watch my growth. And my
• 16:41
  screw ups. Well, you know, that just makes you more
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  relatable. So. So here's the commercial, guys.
• 16:49
  I hope you'll take the time to subscribe and share
• 16:52
  and engage on social media. And the reason I did this is so
• 16:56
  I wanted to be able to expose other people to some of the fabulous people
• 17:00
  that I'm meeting and help grow this vibrant community
• 17:04
  and fuel your quest for growth and impact. And so I hope you will continue
• 17:08
  to join me for the one small change and find things that you
• 17:12
  can sm, the smallest shifts that can, you know, yield really
• 17:15
  monumental transformations for you. And you may want to take a minute and
• 17:19
  listen to the first episode, why I where I explain why I'm
• 17:23
  doing what I'm doing. And also I do a quarterly clarity
• 17:27
  check in so that at the beginning of each quarter you can take a look.
• 17:31
  So, Debra, what are your last words of wisdom for people?
• 17:35
  What do you want them to remember? The one small change
• 17:39
  is a critical concept for everything you
• 17:42
  do in your business, what you do with your time management and
• 17:46
  productivity. One small change at a time.
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  You know, slow and steady wins the race, as we all learned
• 17:54
  as kids. And if you try to change too much
• 17:58
  too fast, you will rebel against it or things will happen
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  that throw you off and you will revert to your default.
• 18:06
  So one small change. All right then.
• 18:10
  All right. So what I want to say is, remember, change
• 18:14
  can be simple, but it's not always easy. And it requires
• 18:17
  courage, resilience, and a willingness to step out of your comfort zone. If
• 18:21
  you are comfortable, you are not growing. And in
• 18:25
  fact, you're probably stagnating, because if you
• 18:29
  think you're standing still, the world is moving past you. So I
• 18:32
  want to make sure that you. Have a mindset
• 18:36
  where you're curious and you want to embark on these changes to grow your
• 18:40
  business and have the impact and the profit that you really deserve.
• 18:44
  So if you will join me again for the one small change,
• 18:47
  we can together build bold visions and innovative
• 18:51
  possibilities. And so I'm going to say to you,
• 18:54
  until we meet again, stay very curious. And, Debra, thank
• 18:58
  you so much for being here today. Absolutely. Thank you for having
• 19:02
  me. This was great.