Ask Me Anything with Bernadette Boas on Shedding the Bitch Radio

Good day, good day, good day everyone! Welcome to Shedding the Bitch Radio, our Ask Me Anything episode. I am so excited that you are here because we have some great powerful questions. However, if you still have some questions that you need asked, if you have challenges that you're having You can always— first, you can dial into me directly at 1-818-572-2910. I am live, so you can always do that. You can also go to our Facebook Shedding the Bitch page, and I am streaming there. Now, I am using StreamYard into our Facebook page, so you might need to give them permission for me to be able to see any comments or anything that you might be putting out there. So please be sure to do that, and I'll do my best without Deborah here today. I'll do my best to go between those two things in order to get all of your questions and stories and challenges addressed. All right, so I am going to take one quick look as we get started just to ensure That all is good with the world. And, um, like I said, we have some great, great challenges— or I'm sorry, great, great questions to go over today. But before we get into that, um, I want to thank our new listeners. I, um, our new listeners and viewers, whether you're finding us on BlogTalkRadio or any one of the, um, podcast streaming services. You might also have found us on Facebook on our Shedding the Bitch page where we livestream, and then at the same time on our Shed the Bitch YouTube channel, which I am also streaming there today. So we have it all covered, we have it all covered. So thank you for— to the new viewers and listeners who have provided us comments, provided us feedback, provided us ideas for topics and even for guests on the program. And of course, it is with the help of our ongoing current listeners and viewers that our new listeners and viewers are finding us, because you continue to rate us and follow us, subscribe to us. Uh, you continue to give us feedback and recommendations on topics and guests, and we love the fact that you've been with us, um, for as long as we've been broadcasting. So thank you very much for that. And, and continue to do so. The feedback, the ratings, the subscriptions, the follows help us to continue to expand our reach, uh, to individuals, especially powerhouse female maverick business owners who can really use some tips and strategies and sometimes, sometimes tough love to really get the most out of all of the hard work, um, that they are doing and that you're doing. And so why not, as a community, create riches in your lives as, um, as a group? So thank you so much for that. And of course, we need to thank our, um, we need to thank our sponsor, uh, North Georgia Tax Solutions, who continues to support us and everything that we do here within both the Ball of Fire coaching and Shedding the Bitch communities. And they are a full-service financial and tax services company that services the country, not just North Georgia. And Debbie Snelling and her team are fabulous, fabulous, and they'll really take care of your personal and business, uh, financial and tax services needs. So please reach out to her at ngtaxsolutions.com and tell her I said hi. All right, okay, we want to get into your questions and your, um and, uh, your challenges that you've been having that, uh, I have some, some tips and advice for. And let me recap exactly what we're going to go over, what those questions are, and then I'm going to break down into each one of them and get very specific about what you could be doing to, to move on. Now, if you didn't provide the question or the, or the challenge or the story that was sent to me, you know, you still listen. This still is going to probably be very relevant to you because I typically get very, um, they're specific to the individual who's asking it because it's very personal, it's very emotional, right? You can understand that. At the same time, uh, their challenges, the questions they have, whether it's in their business, in their life, is probably something that you've also dealt with. And if you haven't dealt with it, then at some point in time you just may.. So we want to be sure that you are also, uh, taking advantage of those tips and those strategies and pieces of advice, uh, for your own use. Okay. All right. So let's get into the first one and, well, let me recap. I'm sorry. Let me recap. So we're going to be discussing, um, a concern someone has in regards to the fact that there are so many people in her space. How does she compete? Now, we— this was a question addressed also several months ago. And, you know, as we continue to have more and more people go online, as more and more people are getting in our space, we're needing to find ways— you're needing to find creative, out-of-the-box, new and different strategies for being able to compete. And that's what the key difference is in this question and challenge versus what we've discussed in the past. This person's really looking at it as competition, and I want to definitely provide some insights in regards to that. Um, then the other next question is all around, um, how does one get what they need in their business when they're limited in funds? And again, this is going to be very mindset-oriented and business strategy-oriented when we get into that. Okay, the next one is about, um, feeling absolutely exhausted. And, um, they're nowhere near what they had planned for April. So through April is what I read into that, and they're at a complete loss, so they want suggestions as to what to do. So can you relate to that? You know, maybe it's not January through April, but maybe you're even in the month— we are at the beginning— but maybe you're 2, 3 weeks into the month and you're like, oh my gosh, you know, the month's almost over, I had planned to do X, Y, and Z, especially from an income perspective, maybe from a client acquisition perspective, a product development perspective, and yet you're like, where did the, the days and the months go? So we'll be addressing that. And then lastly is something, um, that, uh, I think we could all agree that we might have dealt with, uh, and that is, when will it end? Is, is the opening statement, not necessarily the actual virus, but the stress of it all. And what can I do now? In order to kind of move on from it. So those are the questions we're going to be addressing one by one. And again, if you have specific ones yourself— and yes, we have 4 of them— but if you have a specific question, story, or challenge that you want to address, please go to our Facebook Shedding the Bitch page, or right here if you're seeing it in the stream. And if you give permission to StreamYard for me to see your comments, I'll be keeping an eye out for those. Okay. So don't go alone, don't go it alone, don't be silent though, though you might need help. Be sure that you're getting the assistance, okay? And I'm just going to move this light a little bit, okay? So, um, let me just take one more last look over here. Everything looks good. All right, all right, so let's dive into, um, into these questions and into what I have for you. What— how I'm going to do this is I'm going to present the question in detail. I'm going to give you the 3 tips we're going to discuss because I want you to be writing them down or making note of them, and then we're going to drill into each one of them. Okay, I find that in the past you have voiced that sometimes our conversations are so fluid and, and kind of quick that you're not capturing it all. Of course, you can watch or listen multiple times, but I want to make it easy for you. That's what this is all about, right? Okay, so the question in detail is, there are so many people out there doing what I'm doing, how do I compete with that? And again, like I mentioned, the word I'm stuck on, uh, in order to help is compete. So obviously this individual is considering all of the— this noise, all these other people that are in the same space as she is, as noise. So what do you need to do to address the noise. So here are your 3 summary tips first, and then I'll get— I'll work into each one of them. So you need to compete with you, not with them. You need to learn from so-called competition, and you need to create a blue ocean. All right, um, and let's drill into each one of them. So what do I mean by You need to compete with you. Um, you looking at all of this noise and all this, this, uh, all these other people doing what you're doing as competition is automatically setting you up mentally, emotionally, even spiritually, let alone the actions you're going to take from it, as in a place of desperation, in a place of lack. Because you're looking at it as competition, you're looking at it as, you know, someone that you have to go into battle with in order to, you know, win, in order to conquer that competition. I prefer you looking at that competition as just research, learnings, opportunities for you to kind of understand what's going on in your space, in your industry, in your, you know, competency, in your skill. As opposed to competition. So, you know, looking at it as, um, as a learning opportunity, which we'll dive into in just a second. Um, so I really want you to look at the fact that you just need to compete with you. Now, what do I mean by that? What I mean by that is you just need to constantly be looking at what you could be doing differently what you could be doing better, what you could be doing more efficiently, what you could be doing more uniquely than other— than the other people, than everything else that's going on around you. As opposed to focusing on, oh my God, well, they're doing this, maybe I should do that. Oh well, you know, they're, they're going, you know, they're putting out ads and they're getting on radio and they're doing podcasts and they're writing a book and they're speaking and they're creating products on a regular basis and so forth and so on. And all of a sudden you're just like, I gotta keep up, I gotta keep up. Oh my gosh, I gotta be doing all of these things in order to be able to compete with, with those people, uh, and those— let's look at it as businesses. And that's not a— that's not— first off, it's not an efficient, let alone healthy, um, platform. It's not a good place to be, uh, especially if you're new. And most likely the person asking this, if I were to guess, um, they've been in business maybe for a month to maybe 3 to 5 years. 3 to 5 years. Because I have even found people that have been in business 7, 10, and 12 years who still are struggling to break through, um, to break through the $100,000, break through the $500,000, to break through the the million, to really build a business, as opposed to— they won't call it necessarily a hobby or a job, but that's really what it is if they are still acting in this competitive lack or desperation state. And yes, that's tough love. You may not want to hear that. So, but if you are in that, you know, 1 to 3, 1 to 5, you're very concerned about all the noise. Heck, I even had, you know, commented multiple times right here on the program about, you know, that there's a lot of, of people, you know, that have pivoted online that are in now in, in my space. And therefore, what do I do? And, and that's really the question that you need to ask, not the victim of, uh, of lack or desperation or confusion or uncertainty or insecurity. You just need to ask an empowering question that around, all right, so there's all this noise. There are all these individuals that are coming into my space offering the same exact product or service that you're offering it. They may even be doing it in a very similar, if not exact way on the same platforms, so forth and so on. And what you now need to do is be that CEO that you science, you know, that you committed to be when you went into your own business, and say and ask those questions, those strategic empowering questions that will differentiate you from anybody else. And those are: what, what can I be doing differently? How can I be improving what I'm doing? Um, uh, what is unique and special about what I'm doing and what I'm offering and what I'm saying and how I'm serving and the processes and procedures that I've put into place so far forth and so on. And you asking those more strategic, empowering questions is more of an advanced— what I'll call an advanced entrepreneur or business owner, as opposed to someone still kind of acting as if it's a part-time hobby flex type of, of role or job, as opposed to that it's a, you know, a a CEO, business owner, entrepreneurial, um, lifestyle that you— a career that you've chose for yourself. And that's where I want you to be, in that CEO, strategic, entrepreneurial mindset, uh, as opposed to— even if you're in business for a week, I don't want you to look at it as you're a newbie. I want you to look at it as, all right, I've been in business for a week, however, I'm going to operate in this more, you know, strategic, abundant, um, place and mindset. And I'm going to create a business that is unique, that is better, different, um, streamlined, efficient, effective, whatever the case might be. So I want you to compete with you. I want you to figure out how you can be better, how your products and services can be better, how your business. Um, you know, your, your— maybe you're at your ideal client, maybe it's your marketing and messaging, maybe it's the processes and procedures, maybe it's your sales process, maybe it's your, um, onboarding, maybe it's the way you fulfill and deliver. Whatever the case might be, your first, you know, tip, um, that I want you to be really thinking about is how can I compete with myself and make myself and my business better? Okay. And then, like I said, I want you to be looking at competition as people and places to learn from, because you should be evaluating and assessing kind of what are other people doing, what, you know, by looking at it in a very constructive, positive, uh, purposeful way, as opposed to a desperate or lacking or feeling, you know, insecure and doubting yourself that someone's doing it better and faster and different than you are. You want to look at your competition as places to learn from and people to learn from. So you go and you, you know, you evaluate them, you study them, you look at what they're doing, you, you know, even join or buy their products and services so you can kind of see, you know, from start to finish what, you know, what they're doing and how they're doing it differently and maybe better than you are. Okay. Uh, so I will really want you to use it as a learning. What are those products? What are their products and services? Who are their ideal clients? Um, how do they market a message? Where are they from a social media, uh, visibility perspective? What platforms are they on? Uh, are they using certain media, um, or medium in order to, you know, in order to, um, attract their ideal client, um, you know, and then go even deeper. How are they serving? How are they fulfilling? How are they, you know, X, Y, and Z-ing? So start to finish, use it, um, use competition as just a source for research and a source for improving your business and improving on that number one, which is Just compete with yourself. Make your business, make yourself better, uh, through the work that other people are doing. You make yourself better, more unique, different, and you will— you won't have to worry about competition. Okay. And then, um, lastly is, which I touched on already, but I want you to create the blue ocean. So if you don't know the book The Blue Ocean, please go in and look it up, but it's very simple. In that it, it's differentiation, differentiating, it's uniqueness, it's new, it's, it's everything that we've talked about already. But specifically, um, it talks about the fact that there's red oceans and blue oceans. There's two communities of people which this question actually, um, I would say touches on, and that is there's the red ocean, which is where all the noise is, where all your like companies are and all your like experts are, and they're all kind of fighting it, fighting it out to find their, you know, business and find their client and find that income and revenue and whatnot. Um, and therefore it's red in my view. It's therefore it's red because there's a lot of blood being shed in that ocean. Okay, but the only way you win in that ocean— think about it, you're a business person How would you win in that ocean? You only would win in that ocean by being at a better price. And I shouldn't use the word better there— at a different price. And it's going to be most likely a lower price, because if everyone in this ocean is doing the same thing, offering the same products and services, serving the same customer, um, in the same industry, so forth and so on, the only thing that's going to differentiate them from amongst the others is their price. And therefore, the next thing you know, you're commoditizing your products and services and your overall business and your brand because you're cutting the price in order to stay competitive with everyone in that ocean. And that is not a business, okay? So the blue ocean— picture it, the blue ocean, it's blue. It's cut, you know, it's uncovered by any of that blood. Um, and you know, there's very few in that blue ocean. There's very few that are differentiating themselves, making them stand out, creating different messages, uh, pivoting to a place that you never considered before and yet is still aligned to what it is that your business stands for. Um, and therefore you can define yourself, your products and services, your ideal client in especially your price at anything you want it to be, because you've created this, you know, this ocean of, of high value, of high delivery, of high quality, of high impact to your customer base. And therefore you can demand whatever it is that you want. So I want you to be focusing on creating a blue ocean. And again, that is a book. Um, the Blue Ocean Strategy. So be sure to, uh, go and look that up. And I would suggest to any— and I suggest it to my clients, uh, to go and get it and read it and, um, and, uh, leverage it and take advantage of it. Okay. Um, all right, so that is that question. All right, our next one is, how do I get it done Without money. And basically what she really got into is, I am so overwhelmed. Forget that I have so much to do, but a lot of it costs money, which I don't have. How can I do what's needed when I have very limited funds? Can I get a loan? Um, now I'm going to touch on that last question first before we get into actually some tips and strategies in regards to How can I do what's needed, uh, with very little funds? Um, so around how do you get a loan, or can you get a loan? I'm not in that space, so I'm not going to say yes or no to it. I do know, uh, in the times that we are in, there's been a lot of, um, government programs for small business owners. So you might want to pick up the phone, call your accountant, call someone that's an expert, uh, in that space and get their input and advice in regards to that. Um, and then of course there's the Small Business Association that you can be reaching out to, and I'm sure there's some local to, to you. And, and I would suggest to any business owner, uh, you know, 1 year or 12, 15, 20 years in business, depending upon your size, obviously Small Business Association, get to know them, get to know the SBA, get to know your local bank, get to know where you have accounts. Uh, get to know those people from a business perspective, not just your, your personal banking needs. Uh, so that would be my first tip when it comes to her question about can I get a loan. Um, okay, so then I want to expand on how can I do what's needed when I have very limited funds. So here are your tips, the summary tips I want you to make a note of. I want you to shift your mindset. Okay, I want you to shift your mindset. I want you to audit and get real. We'll talk about that. And I want you to partner, barter, or use a concept that I'll talk about around intern. Okay, so those are your 3 overall tips when it comes to what can you do when you have very little funds to do it. So the first one being, um, you know, shifting your mindset. That, you know, this goes back to having an abundant mindset versus a desperate lacking mindset. Mindset is everything. And you know me, that I talk about this often, is that businesses— and actually life, um, is anywhere from 80 to 90% mindset and 10 to 20% skill set. So, uh, you know, in my practice and what I do with my clients is I ensure that, you know, everything that they're doing is really focused on empowering their mindset. Because you can have the best resume, the, the, the most powerful, you know, LinkedIn profile. You can have, you know, all these accomplishments and awards and accreditations and certifications, and you have gone to the best schools. But if you don't believe in yourself, if you don't have confidence in what it is that you are doing, what you want to be doing, what you deserve to be doing, if you don't have the belief in yourself, if you don't have the tools and the strategies to overcome struggles and, and obstacles, then that beautiful resume or LinkedIn profile is going to mean squat. Okay? Even that beautiful Instagram account or those funny TikTok videos that you have, or that full Facebook group that you have, You can have all of these things from a skill perspective or a functional perspective, but if you don't believe in yourself enough to leverage those things— and I'll, I'll go on to say optimize and even exploit those things— then, then they're all for naught. And you might have paid a lot of money for a school or college. You know, a lot of investment in, you know, the applications or technologies and infrastructure you've put into place in your business. And yet, if you can't pick up the phone and, you know, and, and make that cold call, or if you can't get on a stage, or if you can't go and, you know, do what's needed to create that product, manufacture it, fulfill it, whatever the case might be. If you don't have the confidence to go and ask an investor for money or a bank for money, let alone a potential customer for money, then you're going to struggle. You're going to struggle. It's also why, and I continue to say this because I really want it to hit home, it's also why 90% of businesses out there, business owners and businesses out there, only generate $100,000 or less in revenue. $100,000 or less. 90% of businesses. Okay, so I really want that to kind of seep in and kind of cause a little bit of discomfort, um, because our job here in our community is to ensure that you're letting all of that go, let it— shedding that mindset, creating the space and what it is that you need in order to break through those ceilings, whether that is 5 to 6 figures, um, 6 to 7 and beyond. Okay. And trust me when I say, cause I get this and actually I got this just a couple of days ago. Trust me when I say someone, someone said to me, well, people that are making more than a million dollars in their business don't have these issues. And I'm like, yeah, they do actually. It, you know, they have even like bigger, wider, deeper issues. Um, because, you know, think about it. The imposter syndrome all of a sudden is coming into play. The overwhelm of having to do it all and managing people and, you know, handling the money and being, you know, smart with it. I mean, they're— the, the problems may be different, but trust me when I say a good amount of them are the same, and they just might have their own new nuances because of, you know, the, the capacity of which it's required to run a business under $100,000 versus under $5 million. Okay, I don't want you to compare, you know, again, that's lack, that's desperation. I don't want you to be comparing, competing. I want you to be just focused on what it is that you want to accomplish and what you need to accomplish it, accomplish it. And the first one would be, when it comes to what— how do I run a business without any monies or limited monies— is I want you to focus on your mindset. Okay. And then I want you to audit. I want you to audit and get real. And what I mean by that is I will sit down with many business, business owners, and initially, beyond some other onboarding self-assessments, leadership assessment work that I do, I actually do an audit, an inventory of how— what is it that, you know, that— what is that platform, that infrastructure that they've built around their business in order to support, uh, what it is they need to do each and every day. And a lot of it has to do with the, the money's going out versus what's going to be coming in. So even before I, I work with them on how do we get the money to come in, I work on, okay, so where is the money going out and how is it being spent? And not only— and this is where this get real comes in— not only in the space of, um, not only in the space of business but more so personal. Because again, I find on a regular basis business owners that have been in business anywhere from 1 to even 12 to 15 years, um, they are often struggling on a regular basis with cash flow, let alone with income that they can take home. Uh, let alone with monies they can reinvest in their business. And so the first thing I will— and they will often raise the complaint, I don't have any monies to, to put into the business, to invest in the business. So I'll say, okay, so then let me look at every one of your business expenses, and I want to look at every one of your personal expenses. So this is what I want you to do for yourself. Um, and so oftentimes The business expenses, there could be some like, you know, strange ones that, you know, we need to work on and we need to kind of minimize and or even delete. Some we even need to add. So then it's a matter of, okay, where do I find that money? But when I get to the business, the, uh, personal side of where they're spending money personally, a good 40 to 60% of those monies could be used in their business. So here they're complaining they have no, no monies, but they are spending a good amount of money on coffee on a daily basis. They're spending a good amount of money on eating out. They're spending a good amount of money on, you know, Amazon, you know, buying personal items that they need for themselves. They're spending, you know, even money on supporting their family, meaning the kids and the partner and whomever else is in the house, including the pet. Um, including the maintenance of their house. And so then we have to get into a conversation about, okay, so how badly do you want to be able to invest in your business? And therefore, what are you willing to sacrifice and compromise on, on, you know, on both your personal and business side? Because you can't have both. If you're complaining and struggling with not having monies to do what you need to do in your business and yet you have all of this, this, you know, um, monies— I, I wanted to call it wasteful monies— but you have all this money that is, you know, kind of going down the drain and not supporting your revenue-generating, income-generating, uh, goals that you have for yourself, even your savings goals that you might have for yourself, then yes, it is wasted money. And what you need to be able to do is say, okay, so I'm going to sacrifice sacrifice, you know, having coffee out. I'll, you know, I'll make it at home. I'm gonna sacrifice eating out, and maybe, you know, not all the eating out I do, but maybe only eat out once a week. And I'm going to sacrifice, you know, buying all these niceties for the family, whatever the case might be. And we find a great amount of money on a monthly basis that then can get reinvested. So that's what I want you to do. I want you to be sure that you're taking an audit personally and professionally and getting real about it, um, before you continue to play victim to not having monies to put into your business. Okay, um, all right. And, um, and I want to— well, I had a note here. I want you to get down to having, you know, the bare minimum in your business and in your personal life. So in your business, ask the hard questions about, do I really need to be doing this? And we're going to get to that with another question. Do I really need to be doing this, uh, and spending that money, or can I hold off and do that 6 months, a year down the road? Because a good majority of the businesses, the 90% that are only earning $100,000 or less, they are still fighting the 'I need to be everywhere, to everybody, to everything.' And they're fighting, you know, and feeling as if they need to be doing every strategy that's offered out there. And you're not in the business yet. To be able to expand beyond just sales generation. Okay, and we're going to get to that in a minute. So the last one, when it comes to how do I find money or how do I, you know, get what I need to get done when I have limited funds, the next one is find partners, find ways to barter, or find interns. So the partnering is you could have someone who has the same the same need in a product or service, app, technology, service provider, whatever the case might be. And therefore you can actually split or share that expense. So consider those conversations with people, um, as you're meeting and greeting and getting to know and building relationships, is that if all of a sudden you're hearing that, oh, this person's, you know, uh, website's a great example and I've done this multiple times for people, is all of a sudden they're like, oh, I need to get a website, but it's so costly. Oh, I need to get a website, but it's so costly. I'm like, hey, come together and offer someone, you know, offer this service provider, this website developer, 2 people instead of 1, and ask them for a discount. You save money right there. So just get creative when it comes to partnering. Bartering— I did this for probably the first 5 or 6 years of my business. I built a team of 20, 21 people purely on bartering. So I have this service— at the time I was a business coach and consultant, and therefore, and I needed marketing, social media, branding. I even needed a lawyer at one point. And therefore I bartered my services because who wouldn't want a business consultant or a business coach on their team, or even a mindset coach like I am, um, you know, on their team free? And all they need to do is give me whatever product or service they have. So barter, okay? Get creative when it comes to bartering. And then interning, um, you know, people take it for granted that there are people out there that will intern for you or with you. You know, they want to learn a skill, they want to get a certain, you know, type of, of, um, of a job on their resume. Or maybe they are young and they're out of college, or maybe they're still in college. And, you know, they're willing to do it for very little, little, little in order to, in order to get that, that experience, in order to get that credential, that skill set, whatever the case might be. So even reach out to individuals and ask them about internships, posts that you want, you know, that you're looking for an intern, and therefore, you know, who's, who's got, you know, particular skills that you're looking for. For. Okay, but consider that. Um, and then of course there's the Fiverr and there's the Upwork and these other, um, online, uh, what I would call, I guess, expert portals, expert platforms where you can find, you know, contract resources very inexpensively for very short term that you don't have to make the, you know, the big investment in. So get creative when it comes to you know, how you can build your business on very little funds. Okay, all right, so that was that. All right, now the next question is all about, uh, someone— it is, you know, the first Monday— no, I guess it's Tuesday, um, of a new month, and now 3 or 4 months have gone in the year and they're nowhere near the goal that they laid out for themselves for the full year. Can you relate? Whether it's the 3 or 4 months or whether it's the month like I mentioned earlier, you know, all of a sudden you find yourself a week in, 2 weeks in, you know, 28 days in, and you're like, oh my gosh, I'm nowhere near the goal that I laid out for myself. Where'd the month go? Um, so I want you to be focused on these, these things when it comes to just feeling like you're at a complete loss. Because what she says is, I'm absolutely exhausted and I'm nowhere near where I expected it to be. And it's April already. I'm at a complete loss. Help. So here are your summary tips. Breathe, goals, actions, and sales mastery. Okay, breathe, goals, actions, and sales mastery. Let's dig into them. I want you to breathe. I want you to breathe. Being overwhelmed, being exhausted, being Being in your head, let's just leave it at that, is exhausting, and it will prevent you from actually getting very, you know, focused, very clear on what it is that you need to do to get out of the situation that you're in. Do you ever have that kind of that gerbil on a, on a durable wheel? You know, you just are constantly exhausted, overwhelmed, anxious, and you just feel like you're just unconscious, or I'm just anxious, overwhelmed. Stressed, you know, anxious, overwhelmed, stressed. Because until you quiet that noise, until you kind of calm yourself down and bring yourself down, can you really see through the fog and see the, the openings and see the space where you can start getting creative and start getting logical and start, start getting unemotional about what it is you need to do in order to catch up on what you feel you haven't accomplished yet. And trust me when I say I'm a big believer that every day is an opportunity to hit that reset button. You know, look at what happened in January through April, but hit that reset button, let it go, and just simply move forward. Because you need that clarity, you need that, that space in your heart and your head in order to figure out what it is that you need to do. And even what I would want you to do is you're not going to let go of what you planned in January to April, okay? You need to move that plan into now May through the rest of the year. So you're not— you don't— do not give up on that because that's giving up on you and your dreams. So don't give up on that. Just simply reconfigure now what you need to do going forward. And yes, it does mean that all of a sudden your revenue projections for, you know, the months going forward have to get, you know, get added to, even doubled in some cases. But you know what? You can do it. You can do it. Get clear, get focused, get creative and innovative like we talked about earlier, and you will be able to make that, make that up. Do not give up on it, okay? Because that's just simply giving up on yourself. So I want you to breathe, okay? I just want you to find the space where you can now say, all right, I need to get clear on a few things. So the first thing would be— and don't worry, when it comes to goals, you know, I'm the, the goal setting and goal, um, accountability, you know, master. I love talking about it. But we're not going to talk about SMART goals. All I want to— want you to focus on when it comes to your goals is, were your goals set realistically from the beginning? That's the only question I want you to ask when it comes to your goals, because many of us have very, you know, rosy eyes. You know, we, we just feel really good when we're sitting down and we're laying out our plans that we're, you know, really ambitious and just, and we're feeling confident, which is awesome. But then when we go to lay out our goals, and especially when it comes to the revenue or number of new clients or number, uh, how big of a group you're going to be building or the number of products you're going to be putting out and, you know, in a given year, or the fact that you want to write that book or create that podcast. It sounds really good when we're sitting down and laying it out on paper, and it sounds like we have a lot of time. 12 months sounds like a lot of time. And obviously she felt that way as well. But yet all of a sudden is realizing, oh my gosh, it's— we're going into May, 4 months have passed, and I'm nowhere near what I've laid out. For myself. And so, you know, time is a tricky, tricky, tricky thing, and it could drive you crazy because you think that, you know, you think 24 hours in a day is a lot of time, but then think about it, you know, how often do we go home, you know, sit on the couch or finish our day, sit on the couch, and we're like, what did I do today? What got done today? So I want you to look at your goal and all your goals And all I want you to do is ask the question, were— are they realistic? Are they realistic based on— especially now you have, in this case, she has 3 to 4 months to look at, and we all do. So look at the 3 to 4 months. What did I lay out? What did I plan? What did I get done? What didn't I get done? And not only just your revenue or income objective, but even just the projects that you laid out for yourself, the tasks and the action plan you laid out. And then really, you know, look at, you know, not only, you know, is it realistic that I could have gotten all that done and accomplished what I wanted to get accomplished in that 4 months? Or did I just kind of, you know, layer on and layer on and just overwhelmed myself and set myself up for disappointment? Because that is one of the major stressors for— and I'll say entrepreneurs. Is they set such high expectations for themselves because they think everybody else has such high expectations of them, and they don't want to fail or disappoint. And therefore they do. They build these, you know, huge plans, um, as opposed to just keeping it narrow and, and, uh, you know, kind of narrow and clean, 1 to 3. They want to go to 5 to 8, and then the next thing you know, they're kind of feeling overwhelmed and stressed, like she is. Okay, uh, so I want you to look at your goals and simply ask, are, you know, are they realistic? And if they are not, then just make adjustments. That's all it is, make adjustments. All right, now I'm gonna sound like I'm contradicting myself when I say do not, like, give up on the last 5 months, you know, as you go forward. But if your goal was realistic, don't all of a sudden say Okay, it's not realistic. So I'm going to take that 5 or 4 months of whether it's revenue, whether it's number of clients, whether it's, you know, growth. And I'm just going to kind of like, you know, I'm going to minimize, I'm going to, you know, bring down my, my yearly goal and my yearly objective. Don't do that. I don't want you to do that. But if it was unrealistic from the beginning, say you said you're going to break through that $100,000, right? Or that million. And say you put a 20, 25, 30%, you know, bump on that number, and yet you're, you know, you weren't even anywhere close going into the year. You weren't in anywhere close to that number. So it's not really a 30% bump, it's actually a 50, 60% bump. Well, that may not have been realistic from the beginning. I at least would have shared that with you and coached you on that. So you bring it down to what is, you know, realistic. And that could be not the bringing it down all the way from the 60% down to the, you know, 5%, but maybe it is that you have a stretch goal to 30% or 40%. Just be realistic is the bottom line there. Then I want you to look at your actions, and I kind of touched on that. I really want you to look at that action plan. And this is again where, um, there are so, there are so many strategies out there right now. And there's so much noise around it. Spend 5 minutes on LinkedIn or 5 minutes on Facebook and, you know, you could get totally overwhelmed by what everybody else is doing. Okay, so again, I'll repeat that, you know, even from a, let's say, a services industry, uh, individual business owner, you know, there's blogging, there's podcasting, there's writing books everybody's talking about right now, there's the all the social media platforms. Forget Facebook and Twitter. Or even LinkedIn, but now there's TikTok, and I don't know if Snapchat's still around, but there's Snapchat. Um, but there's so many places. There's YouTube videos that you could be— that someone could be doing, you know, let alone doing those videos and creating evergreen programs, you know, that you could be putting up on, on webinar portals. Um, there's challenges, there's launches, there's 3-day events, there's some— I mean, there's so much. Do I need to go on? There's so much. And yet, yet, if you are— and I have something behind me, um, but I won't pull it out right now, um, because it's not— you're not going to be able to see it— but if you are anywhere in the 1 to 5 years, let alone, you know, under $100,000, and yet I'll even say under a million dollars in, in revenue, All of those strategies— blogging, podcasting, launches, challenges— they are really growth-oriented, um, projects people should be working on, strategies people should be using, not what I'll call, um, new businesses, um, uh, pre-growth, pre-growth. Um, because pre-growth, it, you know, even to the million-dollar point, pre-growth really should strictly be focused on sales mastery. But before we get there, because that's number 4, the action. So I really want you to be— and if you need, you know, support in this, just schedule 15 minutes with me and let me help you. But I want you to be looking at your actions, what you've laid— what are those strategies you've laid out for yourself? Uh, what are you trying to do that is just exhausting and taking up too much of your time? Um, because what I want you to be thinking about is this, and I'm not going to go deep into it today, but we will have a conversation about it on Thursday, um, in our, um, Powerhouse Maverick Facebook group page. But I want you to be thinking the fact that 9 to 5 in your job, where whenever your customer is alive and awake and available to sell to, and get money from needs to be revenue-generating activity. Okay, writing a book is not revenue-generating. Podcasting is not revenue-generating. Even, um, uh, blogging is not revenue-generating. Yes, is it branding? Is it marketing? Is it creating an identity out there, an influence out there, building your credibility and your expertise? Yeah, yeah, yep, yep, yep, yep, it is. But those are strategies that until you are, are comfortable with a, a steady cash flow that you can live on and invest in your business to where you can take the time to go off and blog and create a podcast and do Clubhouse and TikTok and, you know, write, um, write a book, you need to ensure that you're focusing on revenue-generating activities. And I always tell my clients, 9 to 5 or whatever those hours are that is best for you to get a hold of a customer, whether it's e-commerce, whether it's on the phone, whether it's in a meeting, whether it's on an enrollment call, but wherever, um, those need to be focused on revenue-generating activities. That which brings me to my final tip on this is sales mastery. If you're in the zero to a million from a revenue perspective. But I would even say if you're in the 0 to— and wait for it— 7 to 10 years in business and you have not mastered sales, that should be your number one focus, is what do I need to do to first become the sales master myself as the CEO of my business? And then what do I need to do to make— to either build a team or contract a team to be a sales master in my business, because sales is sales. However, sales in your business, supporting your brand, your identity, your way of delivering, you know, your services or products, you know, your values, the qualities of your company, your mission statement, your vision is yours and only yours. So it's also why I ensure that even when I go into businesses that have been in business 10, 12, 20 years, even businesses that are $5 million, $10 million, $20 million, even corporate. Um, but I will talk with them a lot about the fact that they shouldn't be turning over sales, um, to anyone else until that CEO or that leadership really understands the sales process themselves, because the You know, those other people, even an employee, they're representing you. And trust me when I say a lot of damage can be done if it's not done based on how you envision your business to be. So, Salesman, forget about that longer-term strategy. We'll get you there. But right now, if you're looking to break through to $100,000 or even to the million and beyond, I want you focused on becoming a master at sales. All right. And that's sales is everything from how do I generate leads? How do I convert leads? How do I enroll, uh, present to leads? How do I convert leads? How do I onboard now clients? Um, how do I support them and serve them? How do I upsell them? You know, how do I bring them back around and, and offer them more based on now where they're at? So become a master at sales, uh, and trust me when I say all of this, um, kind of feeling lost will get very, uh, very clear and very powerful because now you'll have the infrastructure, the basics— this is basics— in place. And then you can get rosy-eyed to want to advance forward. Okay, all right. And then lastly, um, we have a question in regards to When will it end? She says, not necessarily the virus, the actual virus, but the stress of it all. I feel like I have PTSD and, and it's paralyzing. What can I do now? All right, here are your 3 summary tips: evaluate, minimize, automate, and streamline and control. So evaluate. I really want you to be thinking about how you've been responding to this all the way back to the beginning of last year. How— what has your response been? Have you gone into hiding? Have you, you know, kind of been paralyzed? Or in this case, she has been. Um, or did you take a pause? I took a pause. I was a bit— I, I'll call it overwhelmed, but there was so much noise. I, you know, there was a couple of months in there, it was around July and August, just because also I lost electricity for a, you know, a good amount of time due to another story. But, um, so I had to just take a pause, close my laptop, tell my clients, you know, I need to delay for a week or two. And I just went quiet for a couple weeks. So really think back on how, you know, you've responded to, you know, just not just what's gone on in the last year and a half, but any conflict that might come up. How do you respond to it? Do you forge forward and put out all the noise, ignore all the noise, and just get focused on you? How do you respond? It'll— it's a great— self-awareness is key. Knowing how you respond to situations, big or small, will help you tremendously. So the more time you can take to say, okay, you know, this is the way I'm interpreting this, this is how I'm responding to it, this is the impact it's having on me physically, mentally, spiritually, emotionally, financially, um, and therefore I, you know, now I want to move to the next tip, which is around minimize, automate, and streamline. When you are in overwhelm, even when you sense you're going into overwhelm, you need to strip away anything that is noise. So that, that to-do list, you need to get it down to, okay, if I just get one thing done today, I'm gonna be really excited. If I can just automate one thing, find a way to do it easier and, and, you know, more efficiently then that's going to be a huge accomplishment and I'm going to be able to breathe. If I can find a way to streamline just one thing, you know, that's why, like, last year— forget about the fact that even if last year we were able to go to stores, we were able to go to restaurants, we were able to go to the dry cleaners and feel safe— even if we didn't, the best thing you could be doing in your, in your life is finding what, what can I streamline to give myself breath, to give myself time back. So food services, laundry services, um, um, you know, mail services— there are so many things being automated and being like home delivered that, you know, you could be looking at your life and going, okay, so where can I minimize, streamline, and automate and take away a lot of the stress and burden you have on yourself? Yes. Could it cost more? Yes, it could cost more, but you have to look at, you know, is it worth it? Okay, is it worth it? So I want you to minimize, automate, or streamline so you can just find breath and find space. Okay, um, and then I want you to— and I've had multiple conversations on this just this week and it's only Tuesday— um, I really want you to just focus on what is in your control. A good amount of the stress that we're all feeling is what we can't control. We can't control the virus. We can't control the mandate on, on masks. We can't control, you know, what the government's telling us. We can't control what the community is doing. We can't control what our neighbor's doing. We can't control what our boss or our boss, but also our clients are doing, our customers are doing, our vendors are doing. We can, you know, there's things we can't control and we need to be able to go, Okay, I'm just going to deal with this differently. I'm going to handle it differently, calmly, logically, unemotionally, because I can't control it. Okay, as hard as that is, as hard as that is, you know, you like I did, you turn over money to somebody, a good amount of money to somebody, expecting something to be done in a reasonable amount of time, and it's not. You know, and, you know, you're like, okay, so he, you know, he has my money. So it's, yes, I can go over here and go to somebody else, but he— so it's just, okay, what can I do to make this, make this work out the way I needed to work out? And what can I do to, to manage what parts of that I can control? Because after that, it's not like I can go to somebody's house and pull them out. I can't control it. So look at your life, look at everything going on in your life, and ask yourself, what can I control? And therefore, what can I be doing? And then, what can't I control? And just let it go. Let it go. Okay. Um, and you know, that is kind of where you want to find yourself so you don't feel so paralyzed and you don't feel so lost. And you gain some control back, you gain some ownership back, you gain some breath back. All right. Um, so those were great, great, great, great, great powerful questions and challenges that, um, that you've stepped up and you've offered up, um, to want to get help on. And I so appreciate that. And I hope that these tips and pieces of advice— and sometimes we had some tough love earlier on, um, that will just help you and help you create and accelerate anything and everything that you want in your life. And then be sure to come back next Tuesday at noon Eastern time. We are having a conversation with Louise Bartlett, and it's all about vision boards. Love them. Have one right there. So come back next Tuesday at noon Eastern time for another episode of Shedding the Bitch Radio. Thanks everybody. Bye.