019: Want a Better Life? Build a Better Business!

The Modern CEO Podcast Episode 19 hey, have you heard? There's 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, and impact. And her corner office looks nothing like what you'd see on Wall Street. It's a kitchen table, your grandma's lake house, a spacious home office, the living room floor maybe surrounded by kids and crayons or the local coffee shop. Your business, your way. This modern CEO is here to stay. Because when you embrace your role as Modern CEO, you will have more freedom, more profit, and more fun. Most importantly, you'll fall in love with your life and a business in a way you've only dreamed. Trust. This isn't a pipe dream reserved for only a select few. You are the modern CEO. You are creating a business and life you love. Because a better business means a better life. Hey, hey, hey. Welcome back to the Modern CEO podcast. I am your host, Amber McHugh, and I am so happy to be here with you today, picking up on our virtual planning experience. So if you're just diving in, you are right on time. And if you want to catch the other episodes, please feel free to back it up a few episodes and join us at the beginning of our series this year where we are focused on building a plan and a strategy for your growth in the year ahead. Now, if you happen to be jumping into this episode mid year and you're just looking for a fresh start, you are absolutely right on time because you can create a fresh start at any time. Now, in the last few episodes of our virtual planning experience, we've been focused on the aspects of life that you want to build and that you want to grow and that you want to make better in the year ahead. And we've been focusing on life, not just business, here on the Modern CEO podcast because as a CEO, as an entrepreneur, as a small business owner, it is easy to to make it all about life. Am I right? Can you relate to this? So that's why we're focused a little bit on life as well. Because what you want for your life, what you want for those around you, what you want for your family happens through the business you create. Because a better business means a better life. So now, as we turn from those areas of life that you've been focused on, we're going to shift to the business. And the same questions and the same concepts apply what you focus on. In your business will grow just like your life. And last week I asked the not so trick question of how many cars can you drive at once? Can anybody relate to this, trying to drive multiple cars at once? It is very tricky to get to your destination, to get to your goal when you're hopping in and out of the car, switching cars all the time, making u turns, flipping all around. I get so frustrated when I am lost in my car or I have to make unexpected detours over and over and over again. Right. Because it slows me down on getting to where I want to go. If you want to accelerate where you're going in your business, it's time that we focus. Shiny object syndrome, anyone? What products should you focus on in the coming years? What marketing strategies are going to get you there? What content strategies are you going to employ in the year ahead? What social media channels are you going to focus on when you get stuck and when you're spinning? Come back to this question of how many cars can I drive at once? One car, one focus at any given time. Because where you pour in your attention, that's where your energy is going to go. This reminds me of a story about a famous tightrope walker, Carl Wallenda. In fact, he's got a family of famous tightrope walkers. His in laws, his children have all gone on to do incredible things. It's Carl's last day of tightrope walking that aligns with our subject of focus. It's said that Carl's wife reflected on that day and recalls that Carl approached this particular walk on his last day of tightrope walking a little bit more cautiously than usual. The weather was not great on this particular day and she shared that he was checking the ropes over and over and over again, even going so far as to install them himself. This particular day, Carl was very focused on not falling. In fact, it said that he worked without a net because he believed that a net would invite a fall. So this shift in focus of I'm going to focus and be confident and get across this tightrope to the other side was a total shift for him. And today this focus of not falling was in stark contrast to his usual style. When he'd walk the tightrope, the focus shifted from I'm gonna get across this line to I gotta make sure I do not fall today. How do you approach your business? Do you focus on getting to the other side of the tightrope walk or are you so focused on not falling that it becomes your fate? And sadly, on this particular day, Karl Wallenda fell from the tightrope walk, and that was the last time he walked the tightrope. Our focus, where we put our focus, where we put our intentions, where we prioritize in our life and our business, sets the course for where we will go. Now, again, if you are just starting off with us and you're like, I don't know what I'm focused on yet. I don't have clarity of focus focus yet. I'm still kind of hopping. Do not worry, I'm still fine tuning some of my focus and still reviewing my 2019 plans with my clients, with my team, so we can make sure that we are laser focused in on what we can and can't do and we are not stretched too thin. So often we fill our plates too full and it only leads to stress and burnout and comparison. Itis. So I'm making a shift with you in 2019 to go from overwhelmed and overloaded to you having a plan and knowing exactly what you need to do. When now I actually am, like I said, I am still refining these plans for myself. In fact, one of my focuses for 2018 was health and fitness and getting back into shape, generally just working out a little bit more. And so I'm carrying that over to 2019. But the first three weeks of the year, I didn't do a whole lot in terms of health and fitness. I ate well, but I was traveling. So I went all the way to LA from Africa. We just wrapped up our trip in Kenya prior to that. And then I had a wonderful time hanging out in LA with my clients, friends, family, and then came all the way back to Ethiopia. And it is a long haul, y'. All. So I was a little bit tired, I had a little bit of jet lag, so there was no way I was going to be able to jump right back up and start working out. So I gave myself time to recover, I gave myself time to rest, and I overcame jet lag. But, you know, as soon as my fresh start the following Monday rolled around, I was working out again. And yes, last week I worked out five times in a row. So I got all of my workouts in, my momentum is back and my action is aligned with my focus for the year ahead. So as you think about building your plans for the year and you join us on this virtual planning experience, we're going to take the next step and we are going to identify the priorities in your area of business. This is a very similar exercises to what we did in the last Episode your focus to Grow life Check. Now we're going to do the Focus to Grow Biz Check. So what you need to do is identify those areas of your business that are important to you. Financials, money, client satisfaction, Systems, tracking your KPIs, team culture, sales, marketing, operations, delivery of your services and products, or any number of areas of your business that you may want to drill down into more to draw energy and attention to. Because again, where your attention goes, energy flows. So make sure you make a note of those areas of your business that are important to you. For example, you may have a specific product line, a specific course, a specific product that you really want to make sure you get into the market this year or you really want to serve and support your clients with and increase revenue around that particular product line. You might call those things out separately. All right, so take a minute now to make a list of the areas of your business that are priority for you in the year ahead. Next up, you are going to prioritize those items. So let's say you've got 10 areas of business that you're going to focus on to grow in the year ahead. Now you're going to prioritize them from 1 to 10, 1 being the most important all the way down to 10 being the least important on that particular list. Still important because it's on this list, period. But we're going to rank them 1 to 10. And you cannot use any number twice. So you can't have two twos, two ones, two threes. No, no, no, no, no. One to ten here. Alright, so take a minute now and if you're driving or if you're listening to this on the go, just map those out in your head and make a note to come back and do this exercise later. And if you want the worksheet to go along with us, pop on over to ambermcugh.com bizcheck B I Z. Check again. That's ambermcchugh.com bizcheck okay, back to it. So you've listed the areas of your business that are important to you. You have prioritized them from 1 to 10. Now what you're going to do is you're going to grade those areas. I think it's so important to prioritize and then assess how we're performing in each of these different areas that are important to us. Years ago I realized the big focus of mine on the life check side was family. It was a high priority, but my grade was very low because I wasn't investing in My family, I wasn't giving them the time that they needed, and we weren't creating experiences where we could spend that time together and create new memories. So my grade was very low. And certainly because I brought attention to it, the energy around that started to shift and my grade has gone up. Okay, so now that you've got your area of business, you've got your priority levels and you've graded yourself, we're starting to zero in on the things that we need to focus on in the year ahead. So now where you've got a priority level that may be high, but you've got a low grade, let's identify some action to take. Or if you've got an area that has a low priority level, like a 10, but it's got a high grade, no action to take there, it's not a priority for you right now, and you're doing very well in that area already. Don't focus your attention and your energy there right now. You may circle back to it at some point. We always do. It's a cycle. Everything comes back around. But what I really want you to identify action steps around is the areas of business that are high priority and that don't have stellar grades. So let's say that you want to amp up your revenue this year around a particular product line, and it's a number one priority for you, but you scored yourself a D because you're not giving it the attention that it deserves. You've had the content ready to go for the last month, but you're just not putting it out there. Right. Your action may then be to start sharing that content with your clients, with your family, with your friends. Right? Whatever stage of business that you are at, start sharing and putting that content and letting people know that you've got this product out there. Right? So that's one example of an area of business, a priority, a grade, and an action you may want to take. Now, the action list should not be a mile long. Let's keep that action list nice and short so that we can give it the attention it deserves and we don't continue to stretch ourselves too thin. All right? You with me? Okay, so after you've completed your biz check, which you can get@ambermcehugh.com Bizarre BizCheck Definitely tag me on Instagram @amber McHugh ModernCEO to let me know what ahas you had and what your areas of focus are for the year ahead. And don't forget, whenever you are starting, you are right on time because anytime is a good time for a fresh start. And we'll be back in the next episode with the last episode in our virtual planning series. I cannot wait to see you there. And I cannot wait to hear about all the accomplishments and the success you have in 2019. Talk soon.