Maybe It’s All Already There

Even at the best of times, making decisions around where to spend or invest your money is challenging for most business owners. When things get a little rocky or uncertain, those decisions get exponentially more difficult. In this episode, we are exploring Stephanie’s 3-Part Spending Confidence Strategy, and how to identify who you are as a buyer, and how to approach buying decisions based on your own Spender Profile.

As business owners, we are perpetually in a state of change. Change can either be very disruptive or energizing and transformational. When we are faced with change, and a shift in our business model, it’s important to make that change personalized, and intentional rather than looking for cookie cutter, “proven” models that worked for one person (that isn’t you). In this episode, I’ll take you through the three steps that are necessary to ensure your next phase of growth is the right one.

One of the most pervasive tensions I see with all of these business owners is that they are often engaged in a push-and-pull dance between their “thinking” work and their “doing” work. They are never quite sure which they should be focusing on, which is more valuable, which comes first and which comes second, and how they reconcile their desires to do both (or neither). In this episode, we'll dive into what each of these types of work means for entrepreneurs, and how we can shift our thinking to eliminate the friction between thinking and doing in our businesses.

Money is a tough subject for business owners, for so many difficult-to-navigate reasons. And while changing the source of our money patterns requires some deep work, if we can start to believe and understand the relationship between our thoughts and our results, and take some practical steps towards new patterns and outcomes, money becomes less sticky, and starts to flow. In this episode, I will give you the three most effective shifts I have made myself and with my clients to un-stick the money issues in their businesses.

When we are facing growth or change in our business, we often look for new ideas or innovations that will propel us forward. But what’s usually true is that we need to identify how and why all the work we have done already comes together and was created from our own intuition. Growth isn’t about creating something new but rather reframing or evolving your own understanding of what you’ve created already.

Many creative entrepreneurs resist the idea of structure because they think it will limit their creativity, feel too rigid, change their lifestyle, or zap their energy. But what they don’t realize is that structure does not mean strict schedules and time blocking, but rather it means that we get to maintain our freedom to choose while creating “containers” for the work they need to do. The result is a much more realistic and spacious work life where you can be much more thoughtful and intentional about your work. Listen as I break down the system I have created for my clients and myself.

When you first start out building a business, chances are you have been advised to start building from your customer out. So you create the avatar and follow the trail to their needs and choose something that sort of fits with what you do. But what if that’s not really what suits you? What if that makes you shiver with discomfort? In this episode, I’m going to take you through the first exercise I do with my clients before we ever talk about customers. The Four Pillars of Passion have helped hundreds of my clients finally create a business that works for them, first. (Also, baby goats!)

When things aren’t working as well as you’d like in your business, it’s really tempting to look outside, and examine your sales and marketing tactics. This is when business owners start using templates and frameworks that have worked for others, out of fear and anxiety. But ironically, what is usually happening is that they are fighting against themselves. Listen for strategies on how to uncover what’s really going on and where to start looking for answers.