Welcome to the latest episode of The Simply Smart Business Show. In this show, I’m sharing the top 10 things I’ve learned in 2017, and the things I’ll be taking with me as we head into 2018.
Listen to this episode here:
Ditch the perfectionism
As a procrastinator and a perfectionist, I can spend months just mulling something over before I take action. And the one thing that I really, really learned this year in terms of creating a profitable business and in terms of increasing my income is that money loves speed.
Some of my most profitable income streams over the last of year were those that I got scrappy with and I just got out there and did them. I ditched the perfection and I just got it out, so that I could try it and test it and then perfect it later.
There is no one right way to success.
There is a lot of advice out there. There are lots of different methods. There are lots of different theories. There are lots of different frameworks. I have my own that I share with you. Mine is right. It works for me. Other people’s are right. They work for them. There is not one right way to succeed. There is no one secret that’s going to unlock it all for you. All of these things work in lots of different ways.
My advice really is to not get bogged down in the “right” way. Listen to the advice out there, digest it, really think about it and then feel what feels right for you. Try it, fail fast, go again, and create the right framework that best suits you.
Be open to alternative methods, theories, and thinking.
I’ve always erred on the side of the spirit world. I’m a little bit woo-woo. I like to think of myself as highly practical in terms of business methodology, but also I do have quite a strong woo-woo side where I’ve really kind of opened myself up to it this year. I’ve always been a very, very good manifestor, without realizing that that was what I was doing.
I’ve been on this journey the last sort of three years where I’ve been really diving into that side of things a lot more. I’ve opened myself up more to the universe. I believe in the law of attraction and I believe in abundance, that we are all abundant beings and we can attract whatever we want into our lives. I have daily habits that keep me hooked into those kinds of spiritual laws of attraction, while also focusing on my more logical and traditional methods of business.
The one thing that I noticed was once I fully surrendered to this stuff and stopped trying to work it out, I felt like I opened up a whole new door to success.
If you’re stuck, don’t repeat.
If you’re in a constant cycle of reaching a certain level before taking a nosedive, don’t keep on doing what you’ve been doing. It’s clearly not working for you. You need to stop and work out what keeps you stuck and fix that before you move on.
More often than not, it’s a mindset block. This stuff can go really deep. Find what that cause is and find the right help to get you through it.
I see so many people just trying to push through it all, but if you don’t fix it first, it’s going to keep on coming back.
Create a simple marketing system.
Put together a simple marketing system that just focuses on one thing in all the core marketing areas. I created a new system for my business this year that I have just been able to put on rinse and repeat. It’s worked so efficiently – I love it!
Listen to this episode to help you put together your own version of my simple marketing system.
Creating consistent income is imperative to any business owner.
This was one of my big focuses in 2017. I came into the year wanting to create a certain level of consistent income because I don’t like the feast and famine feeling. I mean, who wants to be constantly having to push for sales and push for sales and push for sales? I don’t. I’m all about ease and flow and making it easy because that’s where I want to be in my life.
I did this through my Masterminds; I had people pay monthly, and it’s worked a treat. I get a nice chunk of money into my business every month, so I don’t worry. I have all of my running costs covered. I have my salary covered. I have a nice pot of profit covered.
All of my other time is spent on coming up with new ideas, creating new products and services, just thinking about how I can evolve the business.
Work out what you need to outsource and do it as soon as you are able.
I have a real mantra around this of, “If you don’t love doing it, then outsource it.” We should be working in our zone of genius. We should just be working on the stuff that only we can do, that we love doing because that is a much nicer space to be in, creating a business that you love, and doing the things that you love.
Once you’ve got your consistent income, you can start thinking about what you hate doing or what you’re no good at. Then find someone who loves doing that thing; hire them to manage it for you. This is the key thing. There’s a big difference between hiring someone, having them do a job and you micromanage them and hiring someone that’s better at something than you at something and letting them manage that area.
Having the right systems in your business so that it can run without you is when you really step into being a CEO rather than a business manager.
Getting the right systems really is imperative if your choice is to grow your business and become more of a CEO, so you are able to take a step back later.
I’m still getting there. I’m not there yet. I’m still very much in the business, but I started to understand the true value of this in 2017. It’s become a core goal of me for 2018 to set up those right systems so that I can take a step back. It’s something that I need to do pretty quickly because one of my goals for 2017 was to redesign my business and create enough consistent income so that I can take summers off.
Everyone else is suffering from the same doubts and fears as you are.
Even the really, really, really successful people that you see making it. I’m blessed to be in some amazing inner circles with some fantastic online entrepreneurs and rock stars that are in the kind of multi-million, multi-billion mark, and they’re hugely successful.
When I first kind of started moving around in those circles, this was my biggest discovery. They were talking about the same stuff as me and you, and they have the same doubts. Even though they’re successful, they still have the same fears. What we need to understand is we’re all humans. We all suffer the same old shit. As you get that, you’ll start to feel better and to compare less.
Find your soul’s work.
This is about finding the stuff that truly lights you up. The stuff that gives you goosebumps. The stuff that gives you butterflies. Not everyone will get this straight away in their business. It can take a while to get there, but once you do, jump on that and do more of it. This is when my business really took off and took me into multiple six figures with no forcing, no fear, no hustle. I found it by accident. I wasn’t pushing.
I was three years into my business before I found that mine was working with female entrepreneurs to make a fricking difference in their lives – my masterminds have enabled me to do that.Even thinking about it now, I have butterflies. I have goosebumps. I love it. I love the change that I can help create.
Be aware of this but don’t force it. Just keep trying things.
Listen to this episode here:
Subscribe to The Simply Smart Business Show on iTunes here and on Podbean here.
...........................................
THINKING ABOUT WORKING WITH US? THEN CHECK OUT OUR LATEST OFFERS, FROM FREE TO HIGH-LEVEL SUPPORT.
For those conscious souls ready to step up and serve. Suitable for established or new coaches.
>> CHECK US OUT <<
