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Grow Your Local Business
MVP: How To Stay Consistent in Your Local Business with a Minimum Baseline
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You are listening to the Grow youw Local Business podcast, where local marketing expert and life coach Leslie Presnell shares the strategies and the mindset to help you reach more people in your city and bring in a steady stream of clients. All right, let's dive in. Hey, welcome to episode 89. Today, I want to talk about creating consistency for yourself in your business and in your marketing using a concept and a coaching tool called the Minimum Baseline. And you will see that this concept can actually be applied to so many areas in your life in general, whether that's fitness or even, like, cleaning your house or doing laundry, which is how I like to do it. But I'm going to give you some examples in this podcast, but I want you to think right now, like, where are you struggling to be consistent in your business on a weekly basis? Maybe it is with posting on social media. Maybe it is sending emails, or maybe you have joined a program or you've bought a course, or maybe you've Even joined the LocalPreneur Academy and you have trainings and modules to take yourself through and you are struggling to be consistent to get yourself through the learning materials. You likely have some area in your business, whether it's marketing or learning, or maybe even something on the back end of your business where you're like, okay, like, this is the week. I'm gonna finally be consistent. I'm gonna get consistent and do this thing. I'm gonna finally get on track. And maybe you've been struggling with this thing for a really long time. I usually find when my clients come to me, they've been struggling with consistency in the same area or with the same thing for a really long time. So you probably have a good idea of something in your head right now that you would really like to create some consistency around. It's like you've just been struggling to do it for a while now. So when I was going through the Life Coach school certification a few years back, I learned a coaching concept called the Minimum Baseline. And it's a tool that I teach my clients inside the localpreneur Academy now to help them really get consistent with their social media or any piece of their local marketing plan that they're struggling to implement and really build discipline around. So. So I wanted to share it with you today because this is something that's been coming up a lot when I've been talking to you guys on consults or when people are requesting to join my free Facebook group. I will link that in the show notes. If you're not in there. But I ask everyone when they request to join the group what their current big biggest struggle is in their business. And so many of you say consistency, like struggling to be consistent with your marketing or on social media or in your business in. So I just wanted to share this concept today of the minimum baseline. And I've probably mentioned it in other episodes before. I feel like I have, but I just wanted to have its own episode for reference. But the idea behind the minimum baseline is it's the least amount of anything that you're willing to do. So here's how it was taught to me in an exercise example and then we'll bring it back to your business. So let's say you really want to start consistently working out, but right now you don't work out out at all. So maybe your minimum baseline to get started, the least amount you're willing to do is to go for a walk for five minutes a day. Like, nothing crazy, right? Like, you're not trying to start going to a spin class for an hour every day, or you're not trying to jump to training for a marathon. Like, you're just committing to a five minute walk every day. So this five minute walk means that you're going to have to put on some walking clothes, some exercise clothes, you're going to put on some sneakers, and then you're going to go walk for five minutes. Whether that's around the block or on the treadmill. Either way, it's just for five minutes. And the way this was taught to me at the life coach school is having a minimum baseline is really important because it's just as easy to not do it, to not follow through as it is to do it. Like, it is so easy to say, like, no, I'm not gonna do the five minute walk. Like, that's not really gonna do anything for me anyway. It's not gonna make that big of a difference. I'm not gonna build any muscle, I'm not gonna lose any weight just by walking for five minutes. But that's really not the point here. The point is, is that you start thinking about yourself in a different way by putting on your workout clothes every day and putting on your shoes and going for that five minute walk. Even if you don't lose any weight, you become the person who does what they said they would do. So it's not even really about doing the thing, but it's about who you're becoming. Like, you're becoming the person who follows through and who does what they say they're going to do. And it takes the emphasis off the thing because you're right, you're probably not going to lose a ton of weight going for a five minute walk every day. So you're actually going to stop looking for those instant results of weight loss. Like you won't need the result of weight loss or physical results to keep going. That won't be what motivates you. You'll be able to motivate yourself just by doing what you said you were going to do. And this is why I see so many people starting and stopping in their business, especially in their social media. And we talk about this so much inside the localpreneur academy. Like they want that instant result, that instant gratification. Like we want to put out one post and get a result. Like we want the, like the engagement the follows the client from that one post. So we're motivated to take action if we think there's a reward at the end of it. And if we do something and don't get that instant reward, it's harder for us to show back up and do it again so we don't stay consistent. It'd be so easy for us to show up every single day on social media if we knew we'd get a result from every post. Like, think about that for a second. If you knew every single post would result in a client, you would be out there posting every single day. Like, no question, consistency would not be a problem for you at all. You would be so motivated to post because there would be a reward after. But when we don't get that initial reward, we struggle with the consistency piece. It's harder for us to see that long term payoff. And this is why so many of us struggle. Because we don't know how to stick to our plan and how to do what we said we were going to do in our marketing and in our business. Even if we don't get that immediate reward, like we don't know how to feel the discomfort of going through that and honor our word anyway. So this is why you want to have a minimum baseline in that area where you're struggling. Because here's what will happen and we'll stick to our exercise example here. If you become the person who can commit to the minimum baseline and make it super easy, you will become the person who just honors their word. Like you'll learn how to follow through and then you can build on that minimum baseline. So your five minutes of exercise will then turn into 10 minutes and then 20 minutes and then an hour and at every new level of your minimum baseline, that's just who you become now. That's your new normal. Okay, so how do you do this in your business? So let's say you have a full time job. I hear this a lot. You have a full time job and you're really struggling to also find time to work in your business and to stay consistent in your business. So maybe your minimum baseline is that you can dedicate just one hour a week to your business. Or maybe that's too much. Maybe you dedicate just 10 minutes a day to your business and your brain is going to tell you, like, this isn't enough. It's going to say 10 minutes a day is not enough to be a business owner. But don't listen to it because 10 minutes, like, you can get your laptop out and you can brainstorm some ideas. Like you can draft a social media post, you can design something in Canva, you can do a little work on your website, you can make some connections with other local business owners on Instagram. Like, there is so much you can do in 10 minutes. I tell my people all the time who are coming into the localpreneur academy who are worried about time and not having enough time to dedicate the program. I'm always like, do you have 10 minutes a week? Like, not even 10 minutes a day. Like, do you have 10 minutes a week? Like, that's our minimum baseline to work inside the program. Because in 10 minutes you can watch a training, you can do a worksheet, you can take action from something I teach you. You can come post inside the Facebook group and ask a question or get feedback on something. You can ask for coaching. You can get edits on your social media or emails or website. Uh, you can watch 10 minutes of a coaching call replay. Or you can attend a live coaching call and get coached for 10 minutes. I like to think about how a pilot can change the coordinates in an airplane by like one degree or something and then end up in a totally different country. Like, the same goes for you, putting in just a little focus, time and effort in the right places. Like it can totally change where you end up with over the course of the next three months or by the end of the year and for sure by the end of next year. Like little changes or little time in your business might feel really small or like it's not working, but it is changing the total trajectory of where you end up and it's changing who you're being. So that's the big possibility. But even more than that within this concept of the minimum baseline, it's still just about honoring your word, becoming that person who does does what they say. I talk to so many people who are like, I really want to join the localpreneur academy, but I'm really scared that I'll join and I won't do anything. But this is how you do it. By implementing this concept, by becoming the person who gets the skill set and the mindset tools that they need in just 10 minutes a week, but also who learns to become the person who just follows through and honors their word. And just because you don't think you're that person now, doesn't mean that you can't become that person. Like I had to teach myself this too literally using this concept. I talked to someone the other day who said she had bought all these courses and she had just joined the local preneur academy and she was still working full time too. And she said that she was just going to watch the trainings every night before she went to bed. And I'm the same way. I'm in a mastermind and my coach just re released a bunch of new modules. And ever since I had Amelia, I just don't have all this extra time to just consume trainings either. I used to just go to coffee shops and just make a day out of it. I used to go on trips. I have an episode about this, about doing like work cation type things. Like I used to just, I love to consume but now it is harder. Like when I'm working, I'm working. So. So I just also created this minimum baseline for myself. Every night before I go to sleep, I'm going to watch a training or an old coaching call replay, even if it's only 10 minutes. And then if I'm so exhausted and I just want to go to sleep, or if I just want to then watch Netflix and zone out, that's fine. But I'm going to at least watch 10 minutes a day until I make it through it. So like, what else? Like let's say you're also struggling to post consistently on social media. I know our brain is usually like, I must post seven times a week, every single day on every single platform and then we get overwhelmed and we freeze. So what is your minimum baseline? If you're struggle, if you're struggling to be consistent on social media, like what is the least amount that you're willing to do? Maybe you know that 100% you can post one time a week on Instagram. Great. Like get really good at that one post, same day, same time, every week. Like, become that person and then you add on. Or maybe you've been saying something like, you really want to work on your website or start a website, but you haven't started it yet because it feels so big. Like, can you commit to just 15 minutes a week? Like, put it on your calendar and honor that time block every week. Become the person who works on their website or whatever project it is. Now, here is what I also learned. If you create your minimum baseline and it's on your calendar and you notice that you're still not doing it, then it's still too much. You've got to change it. You've got to lower it. Like, if walking five minutes a day is too much, maybe it turns into one minute. And that doesn't even require us to change clothes or shoes or anything. We just go for a walk. Literally one minute. Like, build that up, honor our word with that first. Then it becomes two minutes. Or like, if you're still not following through with your one social media post a week, maybe you start with just one story. Become that person who can do just one story. You have to pick your minimum. And remember, it's not about the results that you're creating here. It's about you becoming the person who honors their word, who follows through and commits and shows up when they say they will. You don't listen to your brain when it says, nah, let's not do that. Like, you become the person who does it no matter what. Like, think about that, though. Like, let's say you decide your minimum baseline is every Monday morning at 9am you're gonna post an Instagram post. And you do that every day for a year, 52 weeks in a row, like clockwork. No matter what, a new post every single week. Will you have, like, all the followers and clients or the business of your dreams in 52 weeks from one Instagram post? Probably not. But you will be a different person. You will know that you're gonna show up for that post. You will have a totally different relationship with yourself. You won't have the identity of, I'm not consistent or I struggle to be consistent. And then you just build on that. You build your trust in yourself to follow through with more posts and in other areas. And of course, I'm not saying that you can only do one post for a week, for a full year, but if you're struggling right now to post at all, you can start there and then you can add on once you have that consistency and you'll know it's too much. If you can't do it for a full week, you can bring it back down. And listen, as always, I want to offer, you don't have to learn how to create this consistency on your own either. This is where it can be so valuable to work with a coach because we can also look at so many different things, especially in your marketing. We can get to the root cause of it. Like why are you struggling to be consistent? What? Why does social media or any part of your marketing feel hard to stay consistent with? Is it hard for you to come up with ideas? Are you being perfectionistic? Are you worried about what people will think? Are you scared of coming off as salesy or not good enough? Or do you have imposter syndrome? Are you comparing yourself? There are so many things that we can dig into and question when we work together to really look at why specifically for you, are you struggling to be consistent? And we can solve for it from the root cause and get you really thinking and feeling in a different way, which will have you showing up in a different way. So definitely come join us inside the LocalPreneur Academy if you're not in there already and we can see what it is for you. And of course there are so many strategies and marketing concepts that I teach in the program as well. I always say it's either a skillset problem or a mindset problem and we solve for both inside so you never have to stay stuck. So click the link in the show notes and I will see you inside. Hey, if you enjoyed today's episode, I want to invite you to check out my program, the LocalPreneur Academy. This is the only program for small business owners who want to become the local go to in their industry with a steady stream of clients. You can find more information@lesleypressnell.com and I'll see you inside.