009: The key reflection questions that can make or break your fall growth season!

The Modern CEO Podcast episode nine. You no longer need permission to wait for success. You no longer need to work long hours for a glimpse of that corner office in someone else's business or your own. You no longer need to suffer through an unfulfilling job you hate, whether you created it or someone else created it for you. Because you're better than that. You deserve more. And there's a new way to do business. It's your time. Your time to be happier, to impact more people, and to design a life on your terms. The world has been waiting for you, and the time has never been better. Because you see there is a new style of CEO on the block, the modern CEO. And she is changing the way businesses are run. She's setting her own hours and her own salary. She's creating a business around what matters most to her. Freedom, family, impact. Your business, your way. The modern CEO is here to stay. Hey. Hey. Welcome back. I'm your host, Amber McHugh, and from the jump, I have to tell you, I am feeling a mad case of the summer vibes right now. You know what I'm talking about. More time for the big beach, more time for flip flops, extra trips to the ice cream store, enjoying that sunshine day in and day out. Also fully enjoying the random summer thunderstorm which we had just last night. I'm trying to ignore that crazy hair that comes for me with the summer humidity in Maryland. And of course, our summer. Our summer routine is totally different than the school year routine. So schedules are totally thrown out the window, which absolutely forces me to slow down and breathe and enjoy summer a little bit extra. In fact, it's not just enjoying summer, but it's enjoying life a little bit extra. And for those of you that are on the other side of the world in the middle of winter right now, I am so sorry and know I am going to be envious of you because your summer is coming. We are over halfway through summer where I am, and that's also reminding me that I need to sit down and reflect and make sure I make time to pause. Because we only have five weeks left to supercharge our business and our soul for the fall. So we are ready for that next level of growth in the fall and beyond. And this is the perfect time to pause and reflect and make sure you're operating in alignment with. With who you wanna be in the world. You're operating in alignment with your vision and your goals for your life and your business. And I find that there are two times of year that are so important. And really the best times of year to stop and slow down and reflect and pause and get yourself set up for the busy seasons. And that's July and that's December. There isn't as much noise out there, so you don't have as much to distract you and pull you in different directions. And these are just times to block on your calendar, to do some cleanup, to make some extra time to write, set yourself up for success. Now, these two times of year come every year for the past a whole lot of years. For me, I mean, I've been carving out time in December and July to plan and reflect and supercharge, right? Set myself up for success for the other times of the year and really power, power my soul for that growth. But I am feeling a little bit of ext. Extra resistance this year, right? There's a change that's brewing for me. And I've noticed this for a lot of people out there, right? There's change in the air. And to be honest with you, I don't even know what the change that's coming for me is yet. Have you ever experienced that, where you can feel something internally, you know that there's a change brewing, but you can't put your finger on it just yet? I have to remind myself over and over and over again to trust that process, right? Because change can be uncomfortable, even if it's a good kind of change, right? Even if you're looking forward to it and you're excited about it. But I've got that little bit of anxiety, a little bit of nervous energy around what's this going to be for me? So part of me trusting the process is taking time to reflect, taking time to just sit in that space of knowing. Cause I know it's gonna be good. I know it's the right thing, but also unknowing, because I don't know exactly what it is yet, right? Sometimes I'll set a vision, and I know I'm gonna get there, but I don't know exactly how, right? At this point in time, I don't even know what exactly the change is. And I don't know how. I don't know how. So there are a lot of levels of unknowing for me right now, of not knowing for me. And that creates a little extra resistance to sitting down to plan and process and reflect. But it is such an important thing for us to do because it brings clarity, it brings comfort with the unknowing, and it helps us identify what we're going to do or what we need to do, even when we don't know exactly what the bigger change is yet. So it's so nice to have that roadmap and that plan and to get comfortable in the unknowing. And reflection helps bring that out for us. Now, reflection is something I hear oftentimes that is a very important thing. And reflection looks like journaling. It looks like just processing thoughts. And this is such an important thing that I worked with an executive coach in my MBA program and we actually got a grade to just journal and get our thoughts out once a week throughout that MBA program. So it was so important that this executive coach would tie a grade to it. We didn't have to reflect on anything specific. There was no actual homework or no assignment. Step by step that we had to hit these rubric or these metrics as we were going through it. We just had to do it. We just had to take time to sit with ourselves and be in our thoughts and get them out, get them out on paper. And we got a grade for that. So now that I don't actually get a grade for it, I have to build it in and make sure I carve out these times where I do it. So again, that's July for me and that's December for me. I commit to that and I feel so much better after I do it. I also block out times to do it at a lighter level at the quarterly mark. Right. Every time I wrap up a quarterly plan, a 90 day plan, which I love working my 90 day plans, that is when I also take time to do a mini reflection. But my deep reflections are reserved for July and December. And for some reason in these periods of quiet in the summer and in December, I see things a little bit more clearly. It's so important to pause when we've got that space around us and the voids of extra information coming at us because everyone else is also taking some breaks in the summer. So ensure you're making the right steps to get where you want to go. And you can pause and do that reflection and do that check for yourself in the summer. And I'm gonna walk you through some of that reflection and some of those questions in today's episode. So I hope that you will take the time to do this with me. Because knowing we are in this together, growing our businesses and. And not just our businesses, but our lives and we're growing personally together, oh my gosh, that makes it so much easier for me to step into it. We are totally in this together, creating a Better business. And by way of that, a better life. Because a better business means a better life. Sing it loud, sing it proud. A better business means a better life. And it's not just for you. It's for the people around us. It's for the babysitter that you engage to take care of your, your kids while you are doing such important work. It's for the small businesses that you support when you create your business and you invest in others who will help you. It's for the small businesses you will support when your business takes off and you will invest in others and support others and pay it back, right? It is for the ice cream shops that I'm walking to in the middle of summer, right? Creating that better life through the work we are doing. That's why it is so important that we pause and reflect. Because it is so easy to get caught up in just the business and for things to that train to take off, flying, flying down. And if you don't pause to reflect, if you don't pause at the stations to check in throughout the way, those wheels could just totally fall off the tracks and you won't even know it because you're not pausing to check in, you're not pausing for maintenance, you're not pausing to, to engage with people and pick up other people along the way along that train journey. So we are taking this time, in this episode to pause and reflect to ensure we are operating in alignment with our values, to ensure we are showing up as who we want to be, to ensure we know how we want to show up, that we're not just operating aimlessly and blindly and just doing what we think we should be doing, right? But we want to get really intentional in how we're showing up. And this check along the way is a space where you can identify am I showing up as that person I want to be showing up as? If not, what changes do I need to make? What action steps do I want to take to ensure I show up as that person I want my kids to see me as, to ensure I show up as that person that I want my clients to see me as, and to ensure I show up as that person that I want to be a role model for? Right? I want to be a role model for the generations to come. Am I showing up as the person I want to be? Am I proud of this person? So the details of what I really go through in my December, the annual reflection and the July, the mid year reflection are all outlined in my Fresh Start workbook. But we're gonna pull out some of those things today, right? We're not gonna be able to go through it all. There are things like revenue plans and sales plans and marketing strategies and implementation roadmaps, because a plan without implementation, right. Is not very helpful, let's face it. But like I said, I've pulled out some things that we're gonna walk through today. Some key questions to help me slow down and reflect, slow down, to speed up. And I ask these questions to myself every single summer, right? And they help ground me. They help remind me of, oh, no, that's not the way you want to be going. Those aren't the things you need to be doing. And as I get into the year, because I pause and do these reflections, I can operate and move and pivot and make decisions a little bit faster. So this supercharges your growth and. And the action steps that you take, because you know what you need to be doing, you know what you want to be doing, and everything else. You can just keep on driving, keep on driving, keep moving right past those things because you have focus and you have clarity. So this is definitely a guided podcast. So come along for the ride and do some of your own reflection at the same time while you're listening. So first up, where do you want to go? What do you want to feel? Years ago, I said I wanted to feel ease and grace. So once I felt like I was getting that on a regular basis, I layered in this word of the year this year, which is joy. So I'm working toward joy, ease, grace, and joy. And then ask yourself, as you've identified, you know that feeling that you want, Are you showing up in a way that's in alignment with that? Yes. No. What do you need to shift right now? What's working? What's not working? And those two questions that I just added, what's working and what's not working? That's where I start when I feel discontent, even when I'm in the middle of a project and things aren't, I feel like something's off. Okay, what's working? What do we know? What can we point to that is really working well? And what can we point to that's not working so well? So we can sort of pinpoint what we need to focus on and what we may need to just delete because it's not working or. No, this is important. We need to improve this. You know, if it's something, for example, like family, there's an off family vibe. Like, that's not working for me. I need to invest more time in my family. What do I need to do to nurture my family? Do I need to change a thought or an attitude that I have to improve my relationship with my family right now? So where do you wanna go? What's working, what's not working and what are your values? Right, Family is a core value of mine. So of course that came up for me when I was thinking about an example of what's not working. Intimacy is a core value of mine. Results for myself, for my clients, for my family are a core value of mine. So. And I've got a few other core values, right, but those are a few examples. What are you doing to operate in alignment with your values? And then by the converse it brings, begs the question, what are you not doing? And what do you need to change and pivot and adjust on? So taking another direction and another look, think about where the market is headed. I feel in my industry like there's a change in the market happening. What am I going to do to support my clients better in this new market? Is there a new opportunity for me to serve my clients better and differently in this changing market, in this landscape? So think about where the market is headed for your business. And this of course will, will play into our plans for the fall. This will play into our plans for next year. Right. But think about that and explore where's the market headed and what can I do to serve in this changing market? What weaknesses does my business have right now? A few years ago in my photography business, three boudoir, we identified the weakness our business had was that all of our leads, and you know, not all, but let's say 99% of our leads of our buyers were coming from, from Groupon and Living Social deals. Not a bad thing. It was actually a great thing for our business, but it was also a weakness or a threat to our business. Because if that was our primary source of leads, if Groupon and Living Social changed their model, if they changed their algorithms, if they decided they didn't want to work with us for some reason, we were up a creek without a paddle. You know how it goes. And we did not want to be in that position. So we identified that weakness well in advance of when it actually became a problem. And we started different lead generation models, we set up different sales models just to give you the behind the scenes. That was very specifically getting our Facebook ads model worked out for our photography business. And we've got that in place. It took us some time though. It took us six to Nine months to really refine that model and feel good about it. And so you want to identify some weaknesses that your business may have, identify some threats for your business in advance so you can get ahead of the game. Because sure enough, Groupon and Living Social changed their algorithm and we saw sales were declining, but we had proactively planned for and it didn't impact us as much. So get ahead of those things. Get ahead of the market changes, get ahead of the threats to your business, get ahead of your weaknesses and plan for them. So what do you want to do to offset those weaknesses? For us, we wanted to identify a different lead source and sales channel. So what's that for you? Do you need to show up differently in your business? Do you need to hire a team member to cover up on something? Because that's a weakness for you and you're not gonna do it? And why am I focused so much on weaknesses right now? Because I want you to identify them for your business and get ahead of them. Combat them. Right. Those threats to your business, cut them off right before they become detrimental to your business and for you personally. I want you to focus on your strengths. I want you to truly operate in that place of where you shine and offset those weaknesses in a different way. Get someone else to help you with those things. Get someone else to step in, set up a different model so that you don't have to worry about your weaknesses. Right. Focus on your strengths. What do you want to do more of? What do you want to do more of? I know that I want to do more. I want to reach more people. I want to connect with more female entrepreneurs and more. More business owners so I can help them scale and grow and have a better business. Because a better business means a better life. I want more people's lives. I want people to feel more fulfilled in their lives. I want more people's lives to be improved. I want them to know that there is more potential and more that they can do if they're feeling angst and discomfort about where they are now. So with that in mind, if you know female entrepreneurs, if you know small business owners who want some change, please feel free to share this episode. Thank you for that. I wasn't planning on throwing that ask in there, but, like, you are my people. So if they're in great people. No great people. So I'd love for you to share this, if this will resonate with someone. But we're not done with our reflections. That wasn't me. Leading up to an ending. What do you want More of. And what do you want less of? I want less of people buying my programs and not taking advantage of them. Right. So how can I get more people to take advantage? I know that this is a big thing in the online, in the course industry right now. Right. A lot of people are identifying that people aren't finishing their courses. People aren't going all the way through. So so many people are looking at how we know. We know when people go through and do this work, it has impact. So how can we get more people to move through these programs? And so by identifying what you want less of, you'll identify things that you can do and changes that you want to make or things that you want to delete from your to do list because it doesn't align with your bigger vision. And then after you go through some of these reflective questions and you identify where you want to go, what's working, how do you want to feel, what's not working, what are your values? What are you doing in alignment with your values? And conversely, what do you need to change so you're operating in more alignment with your values? Where's the market headed? What weaknesses does your business have right now? What threats does your business have right now? How do you want to offset those threats and those weaknesses? What do you want more of and what do you want less of? Now it's time to identify a couple of key action steps that you can take to power up for the rest of the year and beyond. And I'm telling you, if you do this reflection, it's cumulative. Every year, you will grow and you will expand and you will identify more about yourself and you will experience growth consistently and steadily, not only in your business, but personally. You will identify and experience growth. So I'm really excited to see the growth that you have and the changes that you experience because you go through this process. But most importantly, not most importantly, it's also equally as important that you take and identify the action steps that you're going to make. Right. And for me, the action step that I identified after I went through this reflection, the biggest action step that I identified is that it is time for me to declutter a little bit. You know, I know it is very, very, very common for us as entrepreneurs, whether we are running small businesses or large businesses as entrepreneurs, because I've had the opportunity to speak to entrepreneurs who grew from, you know, I think it's $87. I'm gonna have to double check that step. But the life is good company started in a van. It was not down by the river, but it was a van. They had $87 that they started their T shirt business with and they've grown to hundreds of millions. And they say the same thing. They have to focus. They have overwhelm of ideas and that is our blessing and our curse as entrepreneurs. So boil it down right when these things come up, when you start to feel that overwhelm which I have experienced, I go to my toolbox and the number one thing that I have identified that I need to do in terms of taking action right now so I can be ready to power up after this season of rest is that I need to declutter. I've let a few extra things cop onto my plate. No, they didn't just hop on. I put them there. Okay, okay, I admit it. I put them there. But I have identified that I put some extra things on my plate and it is time for me to identify what really needs to be on my plate so that I can serve best, so that I can operate in that space of ease, grace and joy and so that I can best operate in alignment with my values and so I can be of the most service to the people that I love and that I want to support in their growth. They so what is your action step? It could be one, could be three. Don't make this a laundry list of things to do. Just identify one theme or one area of focus that you need to tune into to power up for the fall. So I hope that does bring us to the end of our reflection and I hope that you got some value out of that and you've identified some ways that you can supercharge your business and your soul in the next five weeks before fall rolls around and before 2018 is here. Because it is coming and this will power you up for short and long term success. Thank you so much for listening to the Modern CEO podcast. I will catch you next time. It.