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Hey, do you want to know what's possible for you when we work together inside the LocalPreneur Academy? Before you dive into this episode, I wanted to invite you to book a complimentary consult call with me so we can talk about exactly how your business will grow. And listen, I know hopping on a call can feel really intimidating. I've been there. I know it can be scary, I know it can be awkward, and I don't want you to feel nervous or pressured at all. In fact, I want it to be a really fun conversation. Let's like, seriously, how often do we get an hour just to talk about ourselves and our business to someone who actually wants to listen? I'll 100% lead the conversation so you don't have to be worried about being prepared or even knowing what to say. We're going to look at everything you're doing now to market yourself locally. Even if you don't think you are doing enough or it's not working at all how you want it to. We're going to figure out what's working and what's not working and why, and exactly what I'll do to help you inside the LocalPreneur Academy and how it will apply specifically to your unique business. And I know you likely have a lot of questions like how do I reach more people who live in my city? And how do I get people to stop scrolling and actually engage with my post? How do I get people to take action and reach out to book or buy? And we can totally cover this for sure. And anything else you can think of that's keeping you stuck. And I'll share how I can make the process easier for you to grow your local business. I've been there and I have helped so many local business owners do this work too. So click the link in the show notes to schedule your complimentary consult. Call with me and I will talk to you soon. 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. Foreign welcome to episode 125. Today I want to talk about troubleshooting and problem solving in your business and getting really crystal clear on whether you have a knowledge gap or an execution gap so you can get better at solving the problems that you currently have in your business. And I think this is a really important topic because I know a lot of times when we aren't getting results. In our business, it is so easy for our brain to say, I don't know. Like, I don't know what to do, I don't know why it isn't working, or I don't know how. Just I don't know. And this is always a dead end. It doesn't require our brain to think. It doesn't require it to problem solve. Anytime we say I don't know, it's like it's this out that we give it. It doesn't have to think deeply and it doesn't have to do any work. It's just so much easier to say, I don't know why something isn't working or I don't know how this is outside of me. And I find that sometimes these two things get blurred together, like, I don't know why or I don't know how. And that's because usually we aren't really slowing down to figure out the root of the problem because our brain does want to avoid this. It wants to speed on and just go to the next thing and try something else because that feels easier. Our brain does not like to troubleshoot. It does not like to problem solve. It wants to just do anything else. It wants to pick up our phone and scroll. It wants to watch Netflix. It wants to even do laundry. It wants to do anything except for problem solve and troubleshoot, because that can feel really tedious. It can feel confusing, it can feel hard, and it. It can feel overwhelming. But you are capable of doing this. You are capable of taking one step at a time and figuring out why something isn't working or why you aren't getting the results you want. Um, and if you slow down and just ask yourself, why is this not working? And what is my best guess, it really will change your life. It really will change the results you start getting. It will change the way you show up and start getting better results in your business, Especially if you don't let yourself say, I don't know. So when it comes down to it, especially in marketing, which I know that's what you're here for. And as you're learning and growing in your business, as you're learning to reach more people in your city, as you're showing up in places, whether that's on different social media platforms or in email ads, your website, maybe even offline in person, networking, networking events, or you're hosting events, or maybe you're part of events, anything that you're doing, if you're not getting the results that you want and you're trying to figure out why. I think it's really important to look at and consider is this a knowledge gap or is it an execution gap? And once you can figure that out, you can get clearer on what the actual problem is. It's like a choose your own adventure. You know those charts where you start at the top of the page and you answer yes or no and then it sends you to a different question based on what you answer, Then it's yes or no again and it sends you to a different question until you get to the bottom of the PA and it gives you the actual solution. It's like that. And I wish I knew what those charts were called. Or are they just flow charts or decision trees? If you know what those are called, you'll have to send me a message and let me know. But it's like that when you're troubleshooting as to why something isn't working the way you want it to in your business, or why you aren't getting certain results. We want to figure out what the real problem is. And typically when I'm working with my students, I can usually narrow it down to one of these two categories and then we can coach on that. So it's like, is it a knowledge problem where you're just missing skill sets or information to be able to perform this marketing or business task better to get the results you want? Or is it an execution gap where it wasn't executed or it wasn't implemented fully or at all because you have a human brain that talked you out of taking action, or you didn't follow all the way through, or you abandoned your plan, or you didn't show up fully, you stopped posting, you didn't talk to the people at the networking event, you didn't play full out, you were being a perfectionist. There was fear, there was some resistance that stopped you from showing up. So it was an execution problem. Because these are two totally different problems or gaps that require different solutions. One requires you to go learn something new, and one requires you to just show up differently as a business owner. But I find that a lot of times people stay stuck and they aren't really sure why something isn't working and they don't get clear or on what problem they really have, if it's a skill set problem or if an ex or if it's an execution problem and they let themselves kind of blur the two together. But both are solvable, both have solutions. And you can learn new things, you can develop new skill sets. New marketing skill sets, new business skill sets and just rep it out and fail and learn and go again and improve your results and, and you can change how you're thinking and feeling and showing up. But we have to figure out first why you aren't getting the results you want in your marketing. Is it a skill set problem? Is it something you need to learn? Or is it an execution or an implementation problem? So getting results in your business really is a formula because you can just ask yourself why am I not getting the results? And start making a list. And everything you write down is going to be either skill sets you need to develop or better thoughts or beliefs you need to have or that you need to work on or identities or self concepts you need to step into. You hear people say that, you know when you have a goal, like to write it down and then write down what obstacles are going to get in your way. And what that really comes down to is here are the things that I don't know how to do yet, and so here are the things I need to learn and here are all the thoughts and beliefs in my way that are gonna stop me from taking the massive action that I need to take to play full out, to like really go after it and get the result. So let's talk about each one. When you aren't getting results you want in your business, or if you think about the current goal you're working towards, I would get clear on are there any skill sets or knowledge that, that I think I'm missing right now? Like what do I think I don't know how to do? Or what do I think I'm not good at or mastering right now? What do I think I need to go and learn to get better results? Maybe it's technology things, maybe it's marketing things, maybe it's step by step how to do something, Maybe it's how to write better, maybe it's certain things for social media, maybe it's how to design better graphics, maybe it's how to position yourself better, maybe it's how to just create a marketing plan or maybe it's how to identify who your customer is and where they are. I would just get really clear like what are the things that I don't know how to do right now, like skill sets or knowledge that I'm missing. And let me say this too, at every level of your business, there will always be things you want to learn. Some things may not be a priority right now, some things may not be essential to get your next client or to Hit the current client goal or next milestone that you're working towards. Like, maybe you don't need to know anything about the technology of running a Facebook ad right now in order to get your next client. Like, you could get a client without running a Facebook ad. Like, there might be enough people in your audience right now to get a next client. So running a Facebook ad or learning how to do that is a skill set that maybe you want to develop, but you could table it for now and you could could instead focus on developing the skill set of messaging and selling to your current audience, just for example. So make your list and then you can make a plan for how you will start to learn and develop these skill sets. Like, what will your action plan be for developing each one of these? Who do you know that you can learn from? Who can you follow? Who can you subscribe to their emails? Who can you talk to? Is there a course you can take? Are there YouTube videos? Is there a coach that you want to work with? Make an action plan for how you will start to develop each skill set. And again, you might want to not work on every single skill set. And that is a warning I want to give you here. Don't try to master them all at once, especially if you end up with a lengthy list. Maybe it's okay, like over the the next six months it's like, okay, here are the top one to three things that I want to focus on. I have a great podcast about constraining things down and how just focusing on a few priorities at a time really helped me grow my own business, especially when I was pregnant and after I had my baby. I will link that show, that podcast in the show notes. It's. It's about how I grew my business by 200% in one year. And that was one of the main reasons that I did that. It's because I constrained down to just one or one to three priorities. So it's really not about trying to master all of these new skill sets at one at once. It's which are the ones that are going to move the needle forward the most, which are the ones that are going to get you in front of more local people and bring in more local clients. Those are the ones that we want to focus on, the most essential ones that you need to develop right now. So for example, when you work with me inside the local Preneur Academy, I always say there are five essential skill sets that you need to get fully booked. So you need to know how to stand out locally and how to really, like, position yourself as that top choice for your people. Then you need to know how to reach people who live in your city when you're marketing so you're not putting stuff out there and reaching people all over the world. Like, it's essential that if you are marketing, you need to be reaching people in your city. And then I say you need to know how to grow your local following. Like how to build an audience. How then how to create content that builds demand and desire to work with you. So not just creating content and posting for the sake of creating content, but how to post content that really builds up that local demand and that desire for people to want to work with you and hire from hire you and to pay you. And then the fifth one is how to sell, like how to convert your followers or your audience into clients. So those are the five most essential skill sets to get you fully booked. So I tell my people, like, let's work on mastering those. And people will come to me at all different levels in each one. So maybe they want to work on one more than another. So maybe they need to work on creating content and they get better at that and then they can go spend more time on growing their audience. I give my students a very specific evaluation process so they always know exactly where they are in each category. So they know where they need to be spending their time and what they need to be working on to close that gap. But it's not about developing all these skill sets at once. Like, that would feel really overwhelming. Results happen by just focusing on one of these skill sets at a time. And then I tell them, once you've mastered these foundational skill sets, and then we get to go work on other things. In the academy, you know, there's the, the selling out local events module, there's the local branding module, there's the Facebook ads module, there's the websites module, there's the email list building module. But it's like, imagine trying to do all of these things at once. You would feel like you're getting nowhere because you're kind of spreading yourself thin. I see so many people doing that, and then they get frustrated because they're trying to do all the things versus focusing on the most important things that are going to bring in clients. So master that, focus on the things that are going to bring you clients, then move to the next thing. When you can start mastering skill sets like that one at a time, your business feels very calm. You feel calm. You don't feel so chaotic and all over the place like When I became a coach, I wasn't trying to learn how to launch a podcast and master email funnels and master running consults and master website SEO and sales pages and Facebook ads all at the same time. I would have gotten nowhere. I picked one thing at a time. Like, I launched my podcast, focused just on that for a while, and then I would focus on something else. So I focused on something, I figured it out, I implemented, I learned, I developed that skill set, and then I could move on to the next thing. It feels so calm when you do this. And you always know exactly what your work is. Okay? So that's getting clear on your skill sets and then solving for them. So let's talk about the execution gap, because sometimes people tell me that they know what to do, but they aren't doing it. So maybe there are specific things you do that you do have the skill set for, but you're not following through. It's like you physically know how to post on Instagram. Like, you know how to open up Instagram. You know how to type words, you know how to post a video or an image or a graphic or like, hit publish. You can take all of those steps, you know how, but you don't always do it. So a week or a month might go by and you haven't followed through. You didn't honor your word as far as showing up. So we have an execution gap at that point, not a skill set gap. But here's the tricky part. We might tell ourselves it's a skill set gap because we might say things to ourselves like, I don't know what to say. That's why I'm not showing up. I don't know what to say. So just be on to yourself. Because sometimes that isn't actually true. It's just your brain being a brain. You do know what to say. You just have thoughts about it. You think that you might sound salesy, or you don't think it will be good enough. You don't think it will be valuable enough. You think the other business owner down the street can say it better. So we may tell ourselves it's a skill set issue, but really we just have fear or we have doubt, or we have imposter syndrome, or we're spinning in confusion around it. We have resistance around the action, so we don't implement. This is why it's so important for you to be really on to yourself and ask, is this really a skill set problem? Is there something I am missing or that I need to learn? Or is it just an execution problem. Do I have thoughts and feelings in the way that are stopping me from implementing right now? So I want to leave you with an implementation tip using one of my favorite tools that I use with my clients called the model. And it just helps you break down why you aren't taking action and how to shift into action in the moment. Okay, so if you have identified that you do have the knowledge, you know what to do, but you're not doing it, just ask yourself, what am I thinking that's creating the feeling that's keeping me from following through. Like, what is that thought? And then what am I actually feeling? Is it doubt? Is it fear? Is it confusion? Is it perfectionism? And notice that when you're thinking and feeling this way, that is what is stopping you from taking the action. So then what would you need to believe instead to create a different feeling, one that drives you to take action? So, for example, you might be thinking, I don't know what to say on social media that will actually work. So you feel defeated. So then you end up avoid posting, you second guess your content, you end up scrolling instead. And so as a result, you end up, you know, not even giving your content a chance to work. So instead you can shift that to something more useful. Like, I am learning how to connect with my audience more powerfully every time I post. So then you feel committed or empowered. So then you post consistently and you evaluate, you know what's landing, what's not. And then you improve with each and every rep that you do, each and every post. So as a result, you get better, you connect with your audience, you grow your audience, you get closer and closer to getting fully booked. So this work, this ability to coach yourself through the resistance and to close your own execution gap is a huge part of growing your business and getting fully booked. And this is exactly what I help my clients do in the localpreneur academy. So in the academy, you not only learn these skill sets that matter the most, like standing out locally, reaching people in your city, growing your following, creating content that creates demand and selling, but I also give you the tools, the coaching, and the structure to follow through so you can become the person who closes that execution gap. So you know you will honor your word and follow through. Because learning what to do, learning how to market is really only half the battle. The real transformation happens when you learn how to show up consistently, no matter what, even when it's uncomfortable. So if you are ready to close the gap between the knowledge and the doing and finally get fully booked with local clients. Come join us inside the LocalPreneur Academy and we will do it together. I will link up to everything and I'll 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@lesleypresnell.com and I'll see you ins.