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Strategy Hour | Online Marketing for Business Growth
991: How to Leverage Where You Are to Get Where You Want to Go [FAN FAVORITE]
00:35:48
Take action like you already have what you want.
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Sitting on all this information is not going to get you anywhere. You have to take messy action. It is what's going to lead you to progress and growth and it's going to take the uncertainty out of where you're going. Welcome to the Strategy Hour podcast brought to you by Boss Project. I'm your host Abigail Pumphrey and I'm dedicated to supporting online businesses. I don't believe in one right way to build a business. I'm here to help you build business your way. One that supports not only the life you have, but the life you want. I'm on a personal mission to help you become financially free. I'm taking all the lessons learned as I turned a layoff into a seven figure online business. I'm here to help you prioritize your life every step of the way. Whether you're creating your first digital product, growing an email list, or scaling an already profitable business. Settle in. It's time to talk strategy. The Jack Welch Management Institute at Strayer University helps you go from I know the way to I've arrived with our top 10 ranked online MBA. Gain skills you can learn today and apply tomorrow. Get ready to go from make it happen to made it happen and keep striving. Visit strayer.edu Jack WelchMBA to learn more. Strayer University is certified to operate in Virginia by Chevin as many campuses, including at 2121 15th Street north in Arlington, Virginia. Okay, quick question. When was the last time your bookkeeping made you smile? Yeah, I didn't think so. That's why FreshBooks is giving you 70% off your first three months. Yep, I said 7 0. Here's the catch. It is a super limited time deal. So if you've been waiting for a sign to finally ditch the spreadsheets and get back to doing more of what you love, this is it. Go grab 70% off for three whole months right now@bossproject.com freshbooks that's 70% off@bossproject.com freshbooks don't wait because missing out on this one is going to hurt more than tax season. There's a quote that really gets me every single time. You can't really know where you're going until you know where you've been. Maya Angelou now in today's episode, I want to dive into how you can really leverage where you are to get to where you want to go. And I know for many of you you may not be sure where you want to go. You've done a lot, accomplished a lot, checked a Lot of boxes. And what's in your future isn't quite in your view yet. You don't know where you're going. And that's okay. You don't have to know where you want to go for this episode to be relevant. But before we dive in, I did want to invite you. I have an upcoming event, Sales Flow, and this is going to be perfect for you. If you're interested in how you use the business you have today as a stepping off point, as a point to get you to where you want to be. Oh, then I know Sales Flow is going to help you navigate that with really tangible strategies that are going to talk about the things that you need to know inside your business. The finances, the sales process, the systems and how you can do that and build a business that really respects the life you want to live. So if that sounds interesting to you, then you need to head to bossproject.com flow, grab your ticket and I cannot wait to see you there. Now, if you've been paying attention for a while, then you know I have been taking on a lot of new roles in this business and ultimately been trying a lot of new things, experimenting with things and trying new social strategies, marketing, all of it. It's. If you want to know what I'm up to and how you can participate and what's really going on, all you nosy nellies, then you definitely need to be following me over on Instagram. You can head to. The easiest way to get there is to go to Boss Project and then you're going to tap the link in the bio to my handle at Abigail Says and follow me for all the insights and updates. I think it's really easy to overlook the value of your past experiences. The value, the things that made you who you are, the experiences that built you up to be the business owner, that impacts others, that serves people. The values that go into that, the things that you didn't like and the things that you loved. All of those things make up you. You are, in essence, accumulation of your past experiences. Positive, negative, neutral, all of the things, and they reflect who you are in your everyday life. And I think we often forget how valuable they can be in shaping where we want to go. So I know I've been laying it out along the line. I've been sharing a lot of behind the scenes. I've been sharing a lot of my personal life with you and I talked about some of this inside my episode on grief and grit. I recently lost a family member and she was living with us Full time. And it took a huge toll on my family with losing her and the struggles that ultimately made me face inside my business. The things that I wanted, the things I wanted to do differently, they came out of that season. The same thing was true for my most recent panic attack. I called it my existential crisis because it very much was that thing. Okay, Very much was that thing. And if you want to hear more about what that was like, you can listen to episode 767. But I know all of the things that I talked about in those episodes shaped the business I wanted to build. It shaped the business that I wanted to make sure was supporting the life that I was after. But I don't think if I had missed reflecting that I'd even know where I was going, that I'd even know what I wanted, that I'd even have a connection to it. And I talked about what that was like. I talked about the not knowing and the sitting in that for a long season. And I know for a lot of you, you may not know the answer, and that's okay. It's not about knowing the answer. It's about using this as an opportunity, as a jumping off point. In the same vein, I know my years in corporate, working in the financial industry and in the startup world and engineering, and all of those things helped me build the business I have today. Both the things I didn't want to do as a manager, or the kinds of benefits I wanted to offer my employees, or the way I wanted to serve people, or the kinds of people I didn't want to serve, all of those things helped inform that decision. I'm sure, much like your past hiring and firing and, you know, layoff, like all of the previous jobs you ever had, they shaped the business you have today. And, you know, some of you ran from a career to create a life that was completely different. Some of you took the expertise you built in college and you've been honing it for the last decade. Regardless, it informed where you are now. But how does that past inform where you're going? The same is true for every client. Interaction, conversation, bit of communication the next time I do the thing. Whether it was because a client drove me crazy or broke a boundary or I wasn't clear on my deliverables, it informed the next time I worked with the client in a similar process project, much like it has for you. You know what to watch out for. You know how to communicate differently. You know you need to tweak your deliverables or you need to protect yourself. By adding something to your contract, you simply aren't starting over from scratch. You know this, but I don't think you take time to realize what that does for you. These moments, these experiences, whether they're big or small, it doesn't really matter. It can be the smallest moment ever. But it can have a huge impact on what you want to do next. How do we leverage it? I talked about the reflection pieces specifically in episode 767. I asked you some questions to think about to really help you know where you've been today. I want to talk more about where you're going, whether you know what that looks like or not. How do we not just sit on these past experiences, but instead use them as an opportunity now? It's important to point out this isn't about speed. It's not about getting there super fast. It's not about, you know, getting to some sort of finish line or having this ultra sense of urgency or hustle or grind. It's not about that at all. It's about pace, which is why I came up with the PACE method. And I want to talk about how these facts ultimately help you inform and apply the findings into something that's really actionable. Okay, so we're going to go through PACE a little bit at a time and talk about what this looks like. This first step is about understanding a bunch of things about yourself and about your business and about the life you want. And then we're going to talk about practical application. So the first start is positioning the P and pace. I want you to understand your current position and your business and your life. This is a huge first step. Where are you at? What are your current life circumstances? How old are you? When do you want to retire? How much time do you have in your day to day life? Who do you know? Who's in your network? Who are your connections? What kind of money do you need to maintain the lifestyle you have? These are all really important things because ultimately they're the unique factors that make up the position you're currently in. And we have to continue to respect where you currently are to make sure we get to that next phase. The next part is specifically about aspiration. We have to have clear definitions of where we want to go. And I think if you don't have an aim, it can be really hard. And it's not about having exactness. Like, I think early in our career and early in our life, we have very specific, almost prescriptive things that we want to do and accomplish. I want to make X Amount of dollars. I want to buy this kind of house, I want to live in this neighborhood. And they become like something that we very clearly can see and that gives us direction. But I think in this next stage, at least for me personally, this next stage of life, it's less prescriptive and it's more loose. It's more heading towards something that is less specific and more of just a direction to go. And I think that's just as powerful. I think it's just as powerful to have something that's ultra like, I want to write a New York Times bestselling book and blah, blah, blah genre, and I want to make X number of dollars. I think that's just as powerful as saying I want to work less in my business and I want to retire early. I don't think those things have to be so definitive all the time. I think you can have a loose definition and that can still give you clear guidance on what to do next. Now, I have two little exercises for you that I think are going to help you figure out what you aspire towards, where you're going, what you want. Okay, so the first one is specifically the wave the magic wand kind of theory. If I were to wave a magic wand and you woke up tomorrow, what's the life that you would want? How much money would you be making? What kind of lifestyle would you have? How would you be acting? Where would you be? What does your surroundings look like? Are you still running the same business? Are you still offering the same things? What would you want if I could just give you anything? Time is not an issue. Money is not an issue. If there was nothing blocking you, if you didn't have any sort of circumstances holding you back from the thing, what would you want? I think that can help as a phase one for those of you who are like, I still have no idea to. Okay, it's totally fine. I have an exercise I do with clients that I do think is really helpful. And I call it big picture vision. Okay? Part of it is a bit of working backwards now. Instead of tomorrow, you wake up and you could have anything, the, you know, genie of sorts. Instead, I want you to pretend tomorrow that everything about your life goes away. Your business, your home, even your friends and family, all of your relationships. Before you freak out, I want you to ask yourself, when I go to rebuild my life, what would I bring back? What would I miss? What would I want to do differently? Now, I think it starts by saying, list it out. What would be missed? What would you want to bring back. Those are going to help you specifically identify your priorities. What are the things that are non negotiables for you in that way? What are the things that you need to keep top of mind as you move through this now? What if things were taken away from you would make your life absolutely unbearable. And why? This is specifically going to uncover what you may be taking for granted. What are the things that you're not appreciating enough or paying attention to enough and how can you go about reflecting on what it's already doing for you? This next question is a little bit deep and I think so often we get caught in the, you know, prescription of like, what is life like? I'm just doing the thing. I'm waking up every day, I'm running my business, I make sure my clients are taken care of and. And then by the end of it, I'm so exhausted I'm barely putting food on the table, trying to completely veg out and do nothing, go to bed, repeat. And the thought of thinking about your future can feel really unimportant. But I know over time you have seen that it's been helpful to have some aspirations. So I want you to consider what legacy or lessons you hope to pass down. This could be to current or future children. This could also be simply what you want to be remembered for. What is your impact? What is your legacy? This can be teachings, lessons. This can also be financial. This could be changes you want to see in your community. There's so many options, so many options. Next up should be the easiest question. Absolutely should be the easiest question. What makes you angry or frustrated? What just drives you nuts at work, at home, in your day to day life with your schedule? Any of it. Often if we can figure out what we don't want, it starts to become very clear what we do. Now at the end of this, I really think it's important that you write down your non negotiables. You have to have a set of rules. Does that make sense? You have to know, okay, I want to go here, I want to go here. But I will only go there as long as I don't have to do these things or as long as I don't break these rules. Now what do I mean by that? I want to make X number of dollars as long as it means I can be done by 2:00pm okay, great. So you're going to get really clear on your schedule, but you're going to try to make more money in less time. Awesome. That's still a goal. That's still an aspiration. That's still something you want. But what are the things that you do not want to do to get there? What are the things you do not want to do to get there? Okay, we have P, positioning. We have A, aspiration. Next up, C, Creativity. You are the most creative group of people I've ever met in my life. You do so many incredible things. And that creativity is essential. It is the thing that makes you who you are. It allows you to make. It allows you to generate. It's the thing that's refreshing to you. I know for the majority of you, being creative can feel like fuel. It can fill up your soul. The thing that makes you happy, the thing that makes you who you are. But I think to be creative, it's really important that we're willing to experiment. We have to be willing to think about everything we do as a hypothesis that we can test. How can we go into, like our little science lab and try all these things and then gather the data, regroup, and do the process over again? Over the years, I've called it a lot of different things. Tweak and repeat, experimental, mindset, all the things. But ultimately, doing it in that way allows you to be creative. It allows you to embrace the creativity. And ultimately, regardless of what you call it, having this mindset encourages innovation, adaptability and resilience. It makes you feel good. Right now I want you to really think about examples of how you've been willing to experiment and what wouldn't have happened if you didn't do the thing. If you hadn't tried X, what would you have not experienced? Make a list. If you hadn't tried X, what would you have not experienced? These are things, moments in time, projects, campaigns, launches, things you've sold, things you've offered. What are the things you've tried and what wouldn't have happened if you didn't try the thing. These can either be loosely related or not. It doesn't really matter. You just need to get it out of you. You need to write it down. Okay, the last part of PACE is ultimately execution. Sitting on all this information is not going to get you anywhere. You have to take messy action. It is what's going to lead you to progress and growth. And it's going to take the uncertainty out of where you're going. Because to get somewhere, movement is implied, right? When did making plans get this complicated? It's time to streamline with WhatsApp, the secure messaging app that brings the whole group together. Use polls to settle dinner plans, send event invites and pin messages so no one forgets mom 60th and never miss a meme or milestone. All protected with end to end encryption. It's to time time for WhatsApp message privately with everyone. Learn more@WhatsApp.com Butine adjective used to describe an individual whose spirit is unyielding, unconstrained, one who navigates life on their own terms, effortlessly. They do not always show up on time, but when they arrive you notice an individual confident in their contradictions. They know the rules but behave as if they do not exist. New Team the new fragrance by Miu Miu defined by you this episode is brought to you by State Farm. Checking off the boxes on your to do list is a great feeling. And when it comes to checking off coverage, a State Farm agent can help you choose an option that's right for you. 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That's a really dangerous one. I'll be happy when I don't like it. I really don't like it. It makes me so uncomfortable, you guys. You cannot be constantly thinking about your happiness as being on the other side of the success. Because ultimately, spoiler alert. The journey is the destination. We're simply talking about an aim so that you can get closer to something else that you want. But your life is what's happening every single day. All you have is the present. I want you to take action and appreciate what you already have in the moment. I also want you to. Instead of getting caught up in the I need to do this. Then I can unlock that or I'll be happy when I want you to Take action like you already have what you want. Now, of course, do this without making irreversible financial decisions that are going to bankrupt you. Like, we have to be smart about this. But ultimately act like who you want to become because you are closer to who she is than you realize. And if you just start acting like her, things get in alignment real quick. Real quick, real quick. Now if you were one of my close friends, you'd be like, sounds good, Abby, but what next? I hear you and I don't know what to do next. Yeah, I get it, I get it. Let's talk about it. I love practical steps. Okay? I want to help you leverage it. I want to help you generate where you want to go. So it does start with identifying your strengths and your weaknesses. This could be a specific skill that you have, a unique approach that you take, a personal trait that sets you apart from the rest. Like, what are the things you're already amazing at and what do you feel like are your challenges in your day to day life? There's not a right or wrong answer here. I just want you to know because that's going to help you take that next step. And if you feel like you're unfamiliar with what this even looks like and you just want some more guidance on it, I definitely recommend taking a strength finder test. It's worth the 50 bucks to really untangle from like a very pragmatic perspective. What are your natural strengths? It was so helpful to me to see it on paper. Like, it was definitely things I already knew, but to find out they were my top strengths or the things that ultimately positioned above everything else, I think really gave me some unique insight. The next step is alignment. We have to align your aspirations with your actions. The things you said you won't do, you're not going to do. But the things that you said you're going to prioritize. Those are the things you need to be keeping in mind as you figure out what's next. As you decide what tasks are yours versus what you're going to delegate versus what you're going to eliminate. You have to think about all of that when you're ultimately figuring out how to take action. What are the lifestyle changes you want? What are the business changes you want? It's not about tackling everything right now. That's not the goal. It's not to create a giant to do list. God, no. Like, please, no. This is way more general. Okay? These are the kinds of things that are about broad movement. Now. I think part of the things that is helpful here. If the goal is to act like you're already there, to take the messy action like you already are the person you want to be. I think it can be simpler than you think. Here's a couple of quick examples. And just because they're relatable, I'm not saying these are the examples you need, but I do think it's helpful to think about it as an illustration. If I want to be an athlete. How do athletes act? I mean, the first thing that came to mind for me was they fuel their body with nutritious food. They move their bodies regularly. They kind of have a schedule to everything. They're consistent. Right? Right. Okay. If that's true and I want to be an athlete, then I'm going to act like an athlete. Right. I'm going to fuel my body with nutritious food. What do you need to make happen to do that? I am going to move my body regularly and stay consistent. What do I need to do in my schedule to make that possible? Maybe one of your aspirations is I want to be a millionaire. Okay, well, how do millionaires act? Now, granted, this is a loaded question, and that's not the goal here, but if we were to generalize and not demonize money for a second, Millionaires align themselves with experts when they don't have the answer. They have advisors and planners and coaches. They're smart with their money, they save, they invest, and they also have nice things. I love it. Right? Okay, so I want X. What are the things you want? How does X act? Or I want to be X. How does X act? I think that is a helpful way to start to understand what sort of actions you could be taking. And again, this is loose. This is not about having something that is going to make your day harder. This is about simple things that you can tweak something you're already doing. Because I'm not about adding stuff to your plate. You have plenty to do. It's about a different approach to what you're already doing. Now, to get in that creative mindset and be experimental, you have to experiment and iterate, which is really just do the thing, reflect on the thing, do it again. Right. It's really as simple as that. You try different strategies, different approaches, apply different ideas to your business and your life. The goal is not to be perfect, but it's to learn and adapt. Along the way, you're going to track your results, you're going to learn from your failures, you're going to iterate on your successes. I am far Less worried about you taking the wrong action. And I'm way more concerned that you take the time to debrief. Whether that's a formal debrief about a client or a project or a campaign in your business or. Or you just saying, I had a bad day, all right, what am I going to do about that so that I can avoid more bad days in the future? P.S. bad days are okay, and you are going to still have them. Now, the last phase is way simpler to say than it is to do, but it's to take that messy action. It's to execute on the mindset you want to be in, on the kinds of things you want to try on, on the different ways you want to show up. This could mean launching a new product before it's perfect. It could mean reaching out to a potential client, even if you're nervous, or investing in a new opportunity, even if it's a bit of a risk. This is not about perfection. It's about progress. Now, before you say anything else, before you throw a I can't do that or I don't have the resources to do the thing. Don't come at me, okay? It's really easy to get stuck. You can get in this cycle. I don't have the money for that. I don't have the time for that. I don't have the connections for that. Stop it. First of all, stop it. Instead, I really want you to turn these things into questions. How much money does it take to do the thing? How do I need to realign my priorities to create the time? Who do I need to connect with that can introduce me to the right people instead of those I don't statements? Ask yourself questions. And when you're doing this all alone, it can feel really isolating. You don't have that person to bounce the things off of. But you've gotten this far. You've gotten so far, you've seen so much success to this point. Why stop now? I really do think having that positive mindset or that positive outlook or that abundance approach does make this easier. But I also think you need support and advice, and you need to be willing to be adaptable and flexible. I don't want you to marry these actions. I don't want you to decide, okay, I have to make this amount of money, so I better get there with doing this launch or selling this service. And if I don't do it, then I'm not going to be happy. Okay? That's a lot. That's a lot to put on your shoulders. I just simply want you moving in the general direction because ultimately, especially as you age, your aspirations change, the things you want change. And the seasons of life, in my opinion, happen faster and faster and faster. Our childhood is so long and our adulthood is this series of like all these micro stages. And every time that changes, everything about us changes. I don't know how long these things last. I feel like sometimes they're five years, sometimes they're 10, sometimes they're two weeks. Everything about your life can change in an instant. So you need to be adaptable and you need to not be so worried about getting quote, unquote there. Right? You need to enjoy right now. You need to be content in the present and. And you can still have a direction. Okay? I want you to view these challenges as opportunities for growth and learning. There's a million times where I looked at what I wanted to do or what I wanted to accomplish, and I'm like, well, I don't know anything about that, or I've never done that before, or I don't know anyone who's been successful at doing that, or I don't know anyone in that industry, or I don't have any connections here. I get it. I've been there. I definitely know. I know. And I have always thought about, what can I learn, what can I, like, dive into, deep dive into, what topic do I need to spend some time in and immerse myself in? I love learning and I know you do too. This is the way you're going to take everything that got you here to help you achieve what's next. This is how you leverage things for your future. Now. This is way more of the mindset approach and the vision and ultimately that loose perspective on where you're going. You're going to need more tangible steps. You're going to need more actionable steps, more prescriptive steps, too. I think you still need both, because some stuff you just don't know what you don't know, and that's fine. But that's definitely why I decided to put together sales flow. You know, it's not just about sales, but ultimately everything we want in life, every aspect of where we want to go, requires money. And I don't want to keep sugarcoating it and tell you that that's not true. It is. It's either going to require time or money, time or money. And as I get older, I value my time more and I need more money to have the kind of life I want. So that is definitely why sales flow exists. So that we can untap what you need to make the kind of money to align you with the life and lifestyle you're after. It's a process, it's a framework. There is steps, there's calculators, all of the things. Okay? And I need you to be there. You just need to go to bossproject.com flow and we're going to talk about it. We're going to get into it, okay? And it's going to be way more focused on just the business side. I feel like everything we talked about today can inform a lot of what you want personally. But how do you take that information and give yourself action steps inside the business? We're going to talk about it. Bossproject.com Flow Now, I'm not always this preachy. I don't know what else to call these kind of episodes. We get really passionate and I just want to, like, get on my soapbox and tell you what's next and give you some tangible advice. But I'm not always like that. I promise. I am way more fun on Instagram. If you want to see the Beagles or what I'm cooking for dinner or some of the behind the scenes stuff that hasn't made it to the newsletter or whatever, then you definitely should be following me on Instagram. You can go to Boss Project on Instagram. My handle, Abigail says is in the handle. My name's spelled weird. And you can go follow me over there. I'm gonna be sharing way more insights and updates and everyday life. It's gonna be good. I'd love to have you anyway. Plus, go say hi. The amount of you that said hi recently has been so nice. I really appreciate it. Plus, before I go, I did want to let you know that our fall core cohort of the incubator is coming up so fast. Fast and furious, my friends. And so if you have been thinking about it, have you been calling, questioning, is this right for me? Is this going to put me on the path that I want to go on? I would love to chat. You can book a call with me. All you have to do is go to bossproject.com incubator. You're going to fill out a short form, tell me a little bit about where you're at, where you think you might be going, what some of your roadblocks are, and you're going to book a time with me and we're going to see if the fall cohort is right for you. I so appreciate it. I can't wait to chat more Oof. I hope today was good for you. It was good for me. Chat soon. Hey, a few quick favors before you leave. I'd love if you'd share today's episode, send it to a friend who needs to hear it and post on social. You can show us where you're listening from, your favorite takeaway or why someone else should listen. Be sure to tag me at Abigail says and OSS Project so we can share it. Okay. Second favor to get podcast updates and all the behind the scenes news from bossproject. I'd love if you'd join my VIP list. Just head to bossproject.com signup to make sure I have all your contact details. Really love this show. It would mean so much to me if you'd leave a rating and review. It not only helps more listeners find the show but allows us to bring on quality sponsors so we can keep bringing you this valuable content for free. Thanks so much for listening. Until next time.