Quote: Have you envisioned wild success lately? - David Allen

What does wild success look like for you?

Last week I shared this quote on my Facebook Page:

Have you envisioned wild success lately? - David Allen

I was at a retreat last month with my business coach, where one thing became clear. Success looks different for the different people in the room. And that’s WONDERFUL.

Some people want to speak on BIG stages, while others prefer staying behind the scenes. Everyone has big dreams. They all just look a little different. One way isn’t “better” than the other.

Each version of wild success has two things in common: it requires clear intention and action.

Knowing all the steps isn’t required, but knowing what you want to accomplish over the next couple of months is essential.

So, what does wild success look like for you? And what’s your plan over the next couple of months to bring you there or closer to it?

I’d love to know!

What’s your plan to end the year strong?

I don’t know about you, but this year has seemed to go by incredibly quickly for me!

I can hardly believe we’re already in the last quarter of the year.

Many business owners are looking at their goals for the year and determining what they need to do to meet them.

How about you? What’s your plan to end the year strong? What actions will you be taking?

If you don’t have a clear plan that includes your action steps, set some time aside this week and create it!

In the words of Philip DeFranco, “It’s never too late and it’s rarely too soon to try to achieve your goals.”

Here’s to a wonderful Fourth Quarter!

frustrated woman with hands on head looking at laptop, text overtop of image reading "Feeling stuck doing everything yourself?"

Feeling stuck doing everything yourself?

I was talking to someone recently that was so stuck in running the day-to-day of her business that it didn’t even seem possible for her NOT to be the one doing everything.

When she contemplated someone else managing her projects, she got excited.

  • What if she could send someone else the ideas and new projects she’s contemplating and they figure out how it fits with the current plans/goals?
  • What if when plans need to be adjusted, someone else does the adjusting and she can focus on what needs to be done now (and not later)?
  • What if that person understands the technology (the CRMs and email management programs) and will set things up for her, so there’s LESS to do?

What if YOU had that right-hand person in your business?

What would that free you up for? If you want to chat about that, let me know.

AND I also know that some of you aren’t ready for that yet.

I have some ideas about how to do some of this on your own.

Have a weekly business meeting with yourself.
In this weekly meeting, you’ll do three things. First, you’ll review how the week went.

Second, you’ll look at your new ideas and decide whether they’re NOW or LATER things. Review your goals, projects, and ideas you’ve already committed to, and be honest with yourself about whether it’s a now or a later idea. If it’s later, then add it to your LATER list.

Third, you’ll create your plan for the upcoming week. Block out time for your projects and tasks, so you don’t schedule something over it.

What can you document to make your life and business easier?
In every business, there are some things we do over and over and over again.

Where can you write out the steps, draft the emails, or save the website links to save you time and energy?

To find these places think about:

  • Where are you looking at emails you previously sent to draft a new email?
  • What website are you always looking for links for?
  • What links/URLs are you always looking for to share?
  • What tasks/projects that you do regularly are you always trying to remember the next step or going back to do something you forgot?

If you have any questions or want some ideas/help, comment below or send me an email and we’ll have a chat!

Background of a white board with lots of messy math on it and with text on top "WHY things don't get done: Making things too complicated"

WHY things don’t get done: Making things too complicated

Welcome to Part Five in the WHY things don’t get done series. (Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, Part 4)

Last week we talked about constantly reworking.

This week we’re talking about a similar topic: Making things too complicated.

One way we make things too complicated is by putting overly complex solutions together. The question is: Do you really need it to be that complicated and elaborate? You can always add layers to it after you know the basics work.

An example of this is a very long sales pipeline (they by this, then I’ll sell them this, and then this and then this, and THEN they’ll become private clients). If each piece is tested and converts for you, great. The problem comes in when everything’s new. Then if anything goes wrong in the process, everything breaks down.

In this example, start with what you ultimately want to be selling and work out the messaging and marketing for it. After you have that down, you can begin adding other layers.

Or your solutions might be overly complicated because you don’t have enough of the pre-work done. For example, don’t create a system that relies on you having an appointment scheduler and prevents you from adding appointments to your calendar until you do. 

I’ve seen clients not set up 1-1’s or sales calls with people because they were researching scheduling tools. Or they’d picked one and were lost in the details of getting it set up. Their time would have better been spent reaching out personally to people to get appointments on their calendar and creating a simple system around doing it manually. There are two main benefits of this.

  1. They start getting appointments/meetings on their calendar
  2. They learn what’s important to them in this process which makes choosing and setting up a scheduling tool easier

When we overcomplicate things and spend too much time putting together the perfect system, it feels like we’re being proactive and productive in our business. But instead, we’re avoiding the things that move us closer to the results (aka clients and income) we want in our business. 

The last example of this is overthinking an email or conversation. Perhaps it’s a follow-up email or call. Or maybe it’s asking someone to have a 1-1 with you. Or something else. Whatever it is, we can get lost in trying to find the perfect wording or feel like we’re being a bother, or create any other story in our head that stops us from moving forward because we’re overthinking it. 

So, take a step back this week and do a quick review for where you’re making something too complicated instead of doing a more straightforward task and moving forward.

If you prefer listening/watching, you can catch this on YouTube or in my free FB group.

Picture of planner/journal with text over it "'Tis the season of new planners"

‘Tis the season of new planners!

Planners for next year EVERYWHERE and there are so many to choose from.

There isn’t one planner that’s perfect for everyone (that’s why there are so many out there). 

To pick one that’s right for you, you need to know how you work best.

I don’t use a planner because how I plan my day tends to change based on what’s going on.

My more personal reason is I feel like I’m wasting the planner if I don’t use it EVERY day… But that’s an Evie quirk. Know your quirks and work with them!

Also, I love the idea of planners, but I know I work better with a spiral-bound 6.5×9.5 narrow-ruled notebook (or slightly smaller) on my desk. I like spiral bound because I can leave it open on my desk without it trying to close itself.

In the past, I’ve taken the ideas I liked from other planners and created my own. Or I used some of those ideas in my notebook.

When I was creating the first version of my system, I went to a couple of stores and just looked at all their planners. I made mental notes of the things I didn’t like and took pictures of the features I really liked.

When deciding how you’re going to manage your daily todo list, here are three things to consider:

  1. Do you want your list to be open next to you or closed?
  2. What are some of your favorite planner features?
  3. What are some planner features that you don’t like/want?

Also, trial and error are to be expected. You learn about what works and doesn’t work for you in every iteration.

If you’d like some help with this, reach out, and we can talk about your situation.

If you prefer listening/watching, you can catch this on Facebook or YouTube.