The Scoop: moving, business tips, and more

Get ready because everything is about to change. There's a new way of living life and doing business that will blow your mind. This is a podcast all about the timing of life and the timing of success. It's what we call the Right on Time Life. And you are listening to the Right on Time podcast with Amber McHugh. Hey. Hey. Welcome to the Scoop. The Scoop is where I share a handful of things that are happening in my life and my business. Number one, just to share and connect with you. And number two, because if I have learned something, if I made a mistake and got something out of it that may help you, or if I uncovered a nugget that may also help you, I want to share that with you because I do not believe in recreating the wheel if we do not have to. So typically the Scoop goes out every other month, give or take, and I share about five things that are shaking in business or life. So this is our first video scoop and typically I send them out to my email. So if you are a member of our email community over@ambermcugh.com you may have seen the Scoop before, but we're testing out video. Let me know what you think of it. If you like this format, if you just want the email with the info. But either way, make sure you sign up over@ambermchugh.com to get our emails on an ongoing basis so I can regularly share the Scoop with you. The first scoop I have for you today is indeed personal. We are right now in the middle of a move. In fact, right after this recording, that camera is going in the box and it's getting packed up and shipped. We are moving overseas again to Ivory coast or Cote d'. Ivoire. This is super exciting for us. We've been here back in the States for a couple of years for reasons related to the global pandemic is how that all kicked off. Prior to that we were living in Ethiopia where we moved in 2018. That year we had 15 moves before we finally landed in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, which was our home for just under two years. And we've got some moves planned for this summer too, but I'm hoping we do not hit 15. That was like max move capacity. I would not recommend moving that many times in one year. We are moving out of our house by the end of the month. The movers actually come next week. I am going to camp out here with the kids for a few days without beds. We are going to borrow some air mattresses so they can just enjoy being close to their friends until the end of the month when we move out of this house. Then we're going to hop around a little bit this summer, hang out with my in laws, hang out with my sisters and just enjoy the summer. I will be while I am traveling and being nomadic this summer so you may see me popping in on social media from all locations. Definitely. Follow me over on Instagram Amber McHugh if you want to check out those adventures and connect on that. I would absolutely love to connect with you there. And then in mid August that is actually when we take our suitcases up to 12. I don't know if we'll actually need 12 but we're going to find out this weekend how many we actually need to take with us this summer. Summer and then we will fly in mid August with our 12 suitcases give or take to Cote d' Ivoire where we will be living for the next two years. I am so excited about this. From what I read we're going to get some year round summer in Cote d'. Ivoire. The pictures of Cote d' Ivoire look delightful. The people we've already connected with who are currently living in Cote d' Ivoire say the best things about their experiences there. So we are really pumped for this next adventure and I will let you know how it goes. I am this summer is going to be interesting. It is going to be a lot of fun and I know once we land in Cotevar it is going to be so joyful and so delightful. Scoop number two Scoop number two. I recently was talking with some friends about some things that are going on in their business and my business and we were comparing notes and something that came up was the idea of row. ROW stands for Results Oriented Work Environment and this concept was originally introduced to me in a book that I read years ago called Work Sucks and How to Fix It. This concept of RO is about I don't care how many hours you work, I don't care how you work. These are the results that we're going after. So as I think about working in my business as a business owner and I think about working with my team members and I think about the environments that I worked in in corporate as a professional, I thrived when someone said here's where we need to be going. How we get there is totally up to you. Right? So this idea of a results oriented work environment involves things like I'm not tracking hours. It involves things like maybe unlimited vacation. It involves adjusting meeting schedules and people working whenever, wherever, as long as the Work gets done and results are achieved. If this is a concept that appeals for you, I wanted to share it so you can check out the book Work Sucks and How to Fix it and check out the results oriented work environment concept. If you have a team, this would definitely be a read for you. If you are an individual who is in corporate, I would definitely check this out. And if you're an individual running a business, as a business owner, it helped reframe so many things for how I even show up for myself. I for a long time felt a lot of guilt about working anywhere, which I am going to be doing a whole lot of this summer. The first time I remember not having any guilt about where I was working, it was the summer of 2019. I was sitting on the emerald beaches in Florida near Destin and I was like, man, I am working outside, I am typing away on the beach. I am highly productive. And guilt was finally released and that was years after first reading this book Results about the results oriented work environment. So if you even are a business owner who still struggles with this idea that I can work from anywhere and we're getting results and my team can also do that as long as we have some checkpoints and ways to connect about things, you're definitely going to want to check this out. We also talk about this a lot inside the CEO systems in my group experience called the Modern CEO where we set up team meeting schedules and cadences and you may want to adjust and vary the meetings that you have to align with how you best work and how your team best work and work sucks and how to fix it is definitely going to give you some ideas. Scoop number three have you ever heard of a SWOT analysis? Essentially a SWOT analysis is where you break down some key elements of your business and how your business is operating based on four categories. It's a great strategic planning exercise. It's a great reflection exercise. It's great in times of change. And yes, we are in seasons of change right now. I I open up the news and I my eyeballs go big with all of the things that are happening that are impacting consumers, that are impacting individuals, that are impacting as a result of that, our clients, our team members and that are impacting us as business owners. And so now is a really great time to pause to get strategic, to get elevation in your business and to take a look at the SWOT analysis. So this is where you're going to break down s what are the strengths that you and your business have? And on the Flip side, what are the weaknesses that you and your business have? We want to be mindful of these things. We want to be mindful of our strengths and of our weaknesses, especially in times of change. How can we maximize our strengths and how can we minimize our weaknesses so they don't turn into something that becomes detrimental or negatively impacts our businesses? So S w o, what are the opportunities? You know, in big times of change like this, opportunities are plentiful, but you've got to watch for them. That's why I want to invite you now to get strategic and look proactively at the opportunities that are coming up for you, your business, your clients, your customers, so that you could serve them in a whole new way potentially, or just in a slightly modified way to align with what's happening now. The fourth category in the SWOT analysis are threats. What are the threats that your business may be facing as a result of the changes that are happening in the market right now or that have been building and are now becoming impactful on your business? So these are the four things you look at in a SWOT analysis. Strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, threats. This is very top of mind because I was just going through this for my businesses and I thought, oh, I have got to share this. It's not a new tool, it's not something I have created, but it is something that is very valuable to pause and leverage to use to reflect and redesign and reset. Especially as we are here at midyear, where you may want to be looking and focusing because of all the changes that are happening right now and as we head into the second half of 2022. But I also want to add two items to this SWOT analysis that are going to make it more well rounded for you as you, your business and you lead your business with the idea of freedom in mind and having joy in your business in mind. The two letters we are adding are A and R. So swatar. It works, right? Swatar. Strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, threats. A. Aspirations. What do you want your future to look like? What do you want the future of your business to look like? And are the operations and the opportunities that we actually pull through and act on in alignment with your aspirations? And R results. What results are we going after? These could be super tangible in terms of financial metrics, KPIs, but it could also be a result that's tied to a goal you have for your team or yourself as you run your business. So think if you want your team members to have a certain number of hours per quarter or per year that are paid to volunteer and give back. It could also be, hey, maybe you only want to work X number of hours a week and that could be a result that we work through. Yes, that's a little bit aspirational, but there's also a clear metric or measure tied to that when we move into the results category. So get innovative. Think big here. You don't have to think the traditional revenue target, profitability target. Yes, those things are important as we look at the health and the performance of your business, but you can also think outside of those traditional metrics and results as well. So if you give the swatar a go, definitely let me know what comes up for you and how it helps you. Scoop Number four Every year for the last nine years, we host the planning event of the year for entrepreneurs. And yes, we are doing it again this year. And that means it is our 10th annual planning event of the year. And because it is a big anniversary, because it will mark a decade of collaborating and planning and coming together with other entrepreneurs to stay, set yourself up for the success in the year ahead, you know it's going to be big. It is the 10th annual. I can hardly even believe it as I say these words. The 10th annual plan a thon is coming. The dates are October 3rd, 4th, 5th, 6th and 7th. So the week of October 3rd, mark your calendar for the planning event of the year and to get on the waitlist list to get some of the extra special extraordinary wait list gifts that we are going to have for you. Hey, it is the 10th annual Plan A Thon. So you know, we've got to make it good. We're trying to think of all the incredible special things that we can shower upon you as we celebrate the 10th annual Plan A Thon. Hop on over to theplanathon.com to get on that wait list. Register for the event early and so we can shower you with 10th annual plan A Thon gifts. Yeah, we are working on that now very actively, because we cannot wait until the last minute with the 10th annual Plan A Thon. Oh no. Oh no. The time is now. Hop on over to theplanathon.com to make sure you do not miss a beat or miss out on any of the specials that we're cooking up for you. Scoop number five. We finally did it. We finally did it. We have a TikTok account. It's a TikTok account. Amber McKeo, you can find me over on TikTok. My girls walked in the other day and said, oh mom, your TikTok it's a little cringe. Okay, yeah, I guess. I guess it's a little cringe. But let's just watch some of these. Oh, not too bad, mom. Phew. You know, I was so worried about my TikTok feeling a little cringe, but I am putting myself out there and now after creating a handful of TikToks and having just 36 followers as long as no one left me in the last 24 hours or so, we have just 36 followers. We are just starting out. We are having some fun with it. We're keeping it simple, as you can see. But if you have a TikTok account and want to come over and hang out with me on the TikTok, I welcome the followers. I will welcome and shamelessly ask for your follow over on TikTok. But we are on a journey there and I wanted to share that scoop because again, vulnerable. We're just starting from the beginning. We are all there at some point and then you hit a level in your business and sometimes you got to work the stairs and you are starting over again, but you've got more experience and you've got no shame. The shame starts to go, go down. But it is a lot of fun. I've been having a lot of fun making these TikToks. A little bit of scoop on how we're making them. For me to sit down and make these on my own probably just wouldn't happen. So what we are doing instead is a team member is getting on Zoom with me. I share my phone screen where I am recording the TikToks and we're virtually producing these Tic Tacs together. So my team member is keeping me accountable. My team member is guiding me. My team member is letting me know, oh, that didn't work. You got to rerecord that one. Something was off and this is allowing us to fly through them. We're only spending one hour a week recording Tic Tacs, but we are doing it and we have been consistent for quite a few weeks now, which you'll see when you get over there. Amber McHugh on TikTok. There is a little space there in the Amber McHugh. It's Amber underscore McHugh. One of the things I do when a new social media platform comes out is I try and get there early to get my name, just Amber McHugh, even if I'm not ready to use it yet. And I did that. I did that with TikTok. I was so happy I posted one image. I think it was 20182019 we were in Ethiopia so it was 18 or 19 and I posted one image of a tortoise that was hanging out at the girls school in Ethiopia and I left it there. And then in spring 2020 my girls got a hold of my phone and changed my TikTok username so I lost my handle. There is another Amber McHugh who seems to be fabulous who has the Amber McHugh handle full on as it is. So I am Amber underscore McHugh and I can't wait to see you there. This is our Scoop. Five things that are happening in my business and life right now with some nuggets for you. Let me know if this is helpful. Let me know what you think of this. Let me know what you implement and apply in your business and the results you get because of it, especially the Swatar. And if you've got a team, if you're rethinking how you show up in your business, you might also want to check out the book Orc Sucks and How to Fix it. That's it for now. This is the Scoop. Thanks for being here. You're right on time.