What I Would Do If I was Starting Over

You're listening to the PT Profit podcast, episode number 141. Today I'm sharing everything I would do if I was starting my business over. Are you ready? Let's get started.

Hi, I'm Beverly Simpson, former fitness manager turned online personal training business owner. And this podcast is where smart fitness professionals, including trainers and clinicians, discover how to increase client performance and movement, package and position their products and services and get out of their own way so that they can increase their revenue to live a life that they love without sleazy sales. Welcome to the PT Profit Podcast.

What's up, coach? Thank you so much for pushing play on another episode of the PT Profit Podcast. I'm your host, Beverly Simpson, and today I'm sitting down and sharing everything inside of my business that I would do. I was gonna say do differently, but really, if I was just starting my business over, here are some of the tangible strategic takeaways that I would do. And honestly, this episode is coming to you at the perfect time because the truth of the matter is that I kind of feel like I'm doing that right now inside of my business, to be honest. And I'll share with you why, and I'll also share with you why that's a good thing and how it prompted this episode. Now, the truth. It's currently 7am in on Sunday and I'm just about to leave for LA for my Mastermind event for the first time and oh my gosh, I don't know, some of these people I haven't seen in years and so I'm really looking forward to it. We're going to, we're going to talk about that too because I just think that after I was part of one of my clients live event last weekend, I just think the live in person events are just so, so important. It really just cultivates connection and, and conversations. And the truth is that your conversions, so your sales, your lead gen, come from conversations, whether it's conversations with your customers, whether it's conversation with clients or conversations with your colleagues. Because honestly, some of the best ideas that I've ever come and implemented came from conversations with my colleagues. So the live events are so important. But anyway, that's a kind of a side te tangent. So if you're new around here, welcome to the show where we. I just share what's on my heart and I give you strategic advice, but not without tangents. So anyway, so I really was going to skip this episode and I know that we took a break last week and it was truly an unexpected break. And I have some really awesome interviews that are in the pipeline. I've got Doctors at couples, Dr. Andy Chen. I've got Enrique, who's sharing with us about how to Quantum leap, and, and Dr. Tim DeFrancesco. I just have some really amazing interviews that are in the pipeline and already recorded. So I knew that I just needed to rip off the band aid and share this episode. So honestly, I've hit stop and record at least three times. So we're not going to do that now because it is Sunday morning and I am committed to at least taking one day off. But I'm also, I'm actually not more than one day, two days off. I like to not work on the weekends. But because I know that I'm traveling, I wanted to just make sure I have some things buttoned up. And also because we just had some really unexpected changes happen inside of B. Simpson Fitness, which can be stressful, but also really, really a really good thing because it really did inspire this, this episode. Because the truth is that no matter what level you're at, whether you're at 100k trying to get to your first 100k, your next 100k or your first 1 million, is that the principles and the process remain. You as the CEO, make decisions, you experience the outcomes and then you evaluate the outcomes and make more decisions. That's literally the process of business decide, see the outcome, experience the outcome, and then evaluate, make decisions. And so it gets all mucky because we're human beings and having a human experience, no matter how much personal development you may or may not have done, we're still human beings and we're still going to have human experiences and things are going to come up that are going to make us feel bad and it's going to be our job to manage our state. And so what I mean by that is what is the emotional meaning that we make that we experience and go through based on outcomes that happen? Because the truth is that no matter where you are, no matter what level you're at, nothing truly is linear. Sure, we're going to have some experiences behind our belt that are going to give us evidence and help us with confidence in our decision making based on the strategy and the systems that we have in place. However, they're going to be extending circumstances that are outside of our control that, that are going to happen at every level and to the degree that you can handle those curveballs is going to be the degree in which you are successful. They have a direct relationship. And so the faster and the better that you can experience and move through the feelings, the signals, the emotional, the emotional meanings we make to the said outcomes, the better off you're going to be. And so I just want to clarify that I don't mean that you're going to push down or not experience or not process. This isn't that relentless positivity podcast where we're sitting here saying you need to be positive, don't ever have a bad day. We're human beings, we have or having a human experience. And honestly, when I was first introduced to the personal development world, and make no mistake, if you are running a business, you are into personal development. And so I had this fear that if I just had one bad thought, this means I was going to bring more bad thoughts and that I wasn't going to be able to have the dreams and success that I want. And that's just not true. And in fact, the more you push it down, the more you, you pretend it's not there. It's like that elephant that's in the room, the larger it grows. Because while it might seem like you don't have your attention on it, the truth is all of your attention is on it. So what we really want to do is notice it, name it, experience it, process it, and then, and then learn the lesson and go from there. So that's a little bit about what I was doing last week is just really processing some of these circumst that came up that were just a little bit unexpected. And I shouldn't say unexpected, they were expected. I guess it's more that I was unprepared for the change. And so in many ways I feel a little bit as we go into Q2 that I'm starting over. But the truth is I'm not. And no matter what level you're at, whether you're just starting out, whether you are been in the game for a while and struggling, you're not either because you have years of experience, skill acquisition study that you have under your belt. And I think for if you are anything like me, high achievers, it is easy for us to continuously move the goalpost and keep looking for the next thing. It is honestly a human condition. We never just arrive. Those mountain peaks, they are so fleeting. You get to that first summit feels so amazing. And then sometimes you get to the top of the mountain and you almost miss the excitement and joy you had getting to that first summit. There's a, you know, I did an episode a long time ago, we should pull it up called Beginner's luck explained because it's part of the reason why beginners are so magnetized, because they don't have evidence, they don't have experience jading them. And the truth of the matter is that that's our choice. We get to decide how the experience leaves a mark on us. And so because the process and the principles remain the same, there's so much that will oftentimes feel repetitive. And that's why they say new level, new devil, because the challenges and the experience that you face, no matter what level you're at, are still going to be there. The problems, they might be different, but how you handle them, that is the same. This is why your internal state success is a direct reflection of your internal state, no matter what level you're at. This is why you hear so many people talking about mindset is I take my PT Profit formula students through this really powerful exercise to demonstrate and show you the importance of keeping your mind right. So I suppose this leads me to the first point in terms of what I would do if I was starting my business over is number one, get your mind right. It sounds so direct and harsh, but all that means is manage your internal state, meaning that nothing means anything except the meaning that you give it. And that is a really good thing. It's a really good thing once you really embrace that and live by that. And listen is one. And this has been a practice of mine that I've been working on for years. So don't go into that shame spiral, or if you're feeling at all like, oh, why haven't I gotten this yet? I've known this for so long. I get that, right? But don't forget, you're a human having a human experience. And it never just goes away. It's just your triggers never go away. It's just how fast you can move through them and process them. And so I think that I spent a lot of time agonizing over the gap, over the struggle, why I wasn't there yet. I spent a lot, a lot of time. And the truth is that when things go sideways, and what I mean by sideways is that I don't get the outcome that I expected or external circumstances that were unplanned. Send, you know, throw me a curveball, then it's easy for me to fall into that, into that trap one more time of just looking at the gap, looking at how far the peak is. And it's easy to do that and forget how far you've come. And so this is a neural pathway in My brain that I tend to go down, I spiral down a lot. And it's not necessarily a bad thing. It's you. I'm not, I'm not trying to change it. I'm not trying to become perfect. It's just something that. A pattern of mine that I know that I need to be aware of. So number one is just honestly get your mind right. What you focus on grows. And if you spend any time around me, you know, I say things like, but I'm a six and I'm a six. And it's easy to take those, those personality tests and let those be. Let those be the reasons. And the truth is that, and whatever the reason is, it's so awesome to get to know yourself better. It doesn't matter the reason. It matters that you continue to make new decisions that move you forward. So that's. Number one is just. And if you feel, you know, and I'm going to dive deeper into what I mean by that in number two, because the truth is I really just live by that. Every decision that I make, every single one is, is moving me forward. So that's going to lead to number two and also a number. Number three, is that one of the biggest mistakes I think people make when it comes to starting and growing your business is how much time is spent in the. In decision. Because your job as a CEO is to decide. So, and here's the rub. The rub is even if you're in indecision, that's still a decision. And honestly, it is just preventing you from take getting the lesson that you need faster. So that's the second thing I would do. The second thing I would do was. Would be to make decisions and own them and know that it's going to be okay. Which is going to lead to number three. The third thing that I would do is just really get clear on my personal policies. So I was really torn about whether, you know, what's, what comes first. 1, 2, 3. The truth is that these all work synergistically together. But I really want you, and this was a powerful exercise I got from one of my coaches. But I really want you to get clear on what are your personal policies, what are the principles that you must live by. I'll give you a couple of examples of mine that I've implemented. And honestly, this has been something that I am now implementing. And it's been hard. It's been really, really hard for me. And it comes, you know, it all stems from things I've said before, and it's all Things that we, we know. If you've read the four agreements and chances are if you're here, you're a high, you, you are high level, you read. And I know that you might have even read the. And one of the thing is keep your word. He says keep your word to yourself. It all comes down to self integrity right? Now I've said that it's a great Instagram quote that we all double tap, but the question is, do you really live by it? And what I mean by that is what are the personal policies that you have in place that you that are non negotiables. So one of mine, which is recent and it's honestly been how I'm able to make decisions faster because it is hard for me to make decisions. I know that sounds weird, I make them all day long. And your job as a CEO is to decide, but decide means to stop, right? And so for me and the way my brain works, and this is part of the reason why I'm so good at marketing, because I can see all sides. I can make an argument, I can make a case for any side that's given to me. And so that will often put me in a perpetual state of thinking about it and thinking about it and trying to mitigate risk and trying to maximize my ROIs and return on investment in my time and my money. And that can sometimes slow me down. It's a great skill. I'm not trying to put it down by any means. But you want to decide and you want to decide faster. And having these personal policies in place for me has actually really helped me because one of my personal policies is that I always make the right decision. Always. Doesn't mean I'm not going to feel pain. It doesn't mean that there aren't going to be things I wish I hand I handled better, faster, more efficiently, kinder. I have feel, I have those feelings. I'm a human, I have human experiences. However, I make decisions faster when I trust and fully trust myself to know that whatever decision I make, it is the right decision that helps me make decisions faster. It's a personal policy. Another personal policy of mine is that to always do what the heart says. Soul led. And this has been hard, this has actually been the hardest one because for me, if I'm being honest, because your heart, your heart's desire, whatever is inside of your heart right now is safe guidance. Period. Period. There is absolutely nothing inside of me right now that wants to just quit my job traveling to say, travel the world. But that's Actually, not true. I do want to travel the world, but I mean, like, go and sit in cafes, write a book. There's zero desire or inclination inside of me to do that. That's a good thing, because the world needs authors. The world needs writers. And quite frankly, if everyone had to be a writer, that would. I would hate that. So whatever it is that you want to do, that is safe guidance. So you must do what soul and what your heart tells you to do. So if you're sitting here listening to this and thinking, I just. I don't want to go to that gym anymore. I just don't want to work for anybody. I want to build my own Dre. Your heart's desire is safe guidance. So I always do what Soul says. And then here's another one that's been really hard to implement, which is as soon as you know, you make the decision. And honestly, this policy, and when I say make the decision is that you make the decision to follow soul as soon as you know. And this has been hard for me. This. This one right here, this personal policy has been hard for me because it's easy to get into that state. Well, as soon as I do this, then if this, then that. And for higher achievers who are always moving the goalpost, this happens a lot. And for your clients, I just need to lose those last 10 pounds. This happens a lot. So it can be hard to do this, especially when you're making decisions that are risky and business is. Is risky. It doesn't matter what level you're at. So put your personal policies in place. And then, you know, sometimes it's scary to hear that that business is risky, but the truth is that life is risky because we have this illusion of safety that, oh, well, I just go to the job, my job every day, but nothing is promised. No moment is promised. So many unforeseen circumstances that we. That we take for granted or that we don't anticipate coming is possible. Now, I don't want to bring that to our conscious, all of our conscious minds, but the point is, is that if you are feeling those nudge, the nudge and not making the decision, it's. It's coming from your heart's desire. And your fear is just keeping you, keeping you stuck. And that's normal. We all. We're supposed to have fear. Fear keeps us safe. But your heart's desire is safe guidance. Another personal policy of mine is that I trust. And this one's hard. This one's really hard because there's so Much evidence, right. I trust that I am always on the right path. This is hard. It sounds so easy. Oh, I'm going to put my personal policies in place. I'm going to put my policies in place. But it gets really, it starts to become a little mucky and a little gray, right? Live in the gray, live in the ant I said this a lot is that we for high performers especially science based high performance its performers it's really easy for us to get a really linear and hard for us to live in in the gray. But you can live in the end. In fact you must because we have to be self integral. We have to put these personal policies in place and then we have to know the difference between rigidity and at all cost and, and then moving through the uncomfortable and staying committed and disciplined. It's just like fitness, right? It's just like fitness. Chances are you guys have all you've been in the zone when you just like I just didn't really feel like working out. But then you got there and you started and you were just so happy that you did it right. There is a difference between commitment and discipline and rigidity and at all costs. So you have to know and start getting really present to where you are on the spectrum. The fourth thing that I would do after I put my personal policies in place, the fourth thing that I would do is answer any and all of my unanswered how to questions. And so this is where strategy comes into play. This is when we get to look at the business systems. What? And this is where I do that. I have that whole training on the six S's of a successful business, right. And you know, study the ideal client, serve them, solve their problems. Then we get to, then we get to put the strategy. So now here a lot of people spend a lot of time here thinking that it's the strategy that's the issue. Oh, I need to get off of Instagram, move to TikTok. I need to get in front of more people. I need to do all of this, this get my message out there, right Put get in front of more people. I've fallen into this trap too. But if you are putting, if you're spending all of your time in the strategy without any of the systems without any of the support in backed up and ready to just go to that next level then that's like trying to fill a colander up with water. And you and I both know that that's not going to work. So so strategy is important but not at the expect not at the expense of systems, right? So that leads to that next system. You want to have a steady stream of leads consistently coming in and then a way to convert them into clients or customers, depending on, you know, what, what it is that your business model is. And again, it goes back to knowing what, what is in alignment with you. I mean, honestly, it all starts with you. And it comes down to that. To number one, decide. Because the truth is, all roads lead to Rome. There is no right way, There is no one way. There is your way. This is what makes you unique, your way. But you do have to answer the unanswered how to question. And then next up comes the skill acquisition. So it's interesting. This has come up for me a lot, right? It's come up for me a lot. Like when I, my Instagram account got shut down, I just keep seeing over and over this pattern of, oh, I need to, you know, this is what I'm going to do if I'm starting over. I just have this perpetual feeling of I'm starting over. And I realized that every day is the opportunity to start over, Every moment is the opportunity to start over. Because the truth is that it all comes down to, to you, your decisions. And every moment you get the opportunity to make a new choice. And if you're anything like me, we spend so much time in the what if it doesn't work? Imagine what would happen if we just change that question to what if it works? It would have such a profound effect on your day to day life. And this is a big shift that I've been making inside of my business and then, and it's been challenging. And not only is that happening, I'm going back to my personal policies. No matter what, I'm always on the right path. This is how I can have 100% trust in myself. And so ultimately, the question I'm going to leave you with, I'm going to leave you with multiple questions, but here's one that's really powerful and I really want you to think about this is what would it take for you to fully step into yourself and trust yourself? Faster, harder, deeper, whatever it is, trust yourself. Because what I was going to say, you know, one of the, and one of my S's in, in the successes of being successful is skill, skill acquisition. And it's easier for me to trust myself because I know I have all these skills behind me. So if I had to start my Instagram account over, if I had to, to completely just burn the business to the ground and completely come up with a. And do all of those things. Then I. There's part of me that feels less fear because I have years of experience underneath me and I know that I have skill. And the skill comes from knowing. The skill comes from taking inspired action, trusting myself, knowing that I'm always on the right path, looking at the, at the experience of the outcomes, and then evaluating and making a new decision. Again, the principles and process, it's the, the same. And that should give you comfort because if you've been in the game for any amount of time, whether it's corporate, whether it's in person and you're just now moving to online or you've been in the online space before, the principles and the process is the same. We just got to help you get out of your own way. And honestly, I say that to you in love and I say that to myself. And honestly, it's one of the biggest differences I see and hear from the millionaires that I spend time with is that they make these decisions based on their own personal policies and then there is no other option. It is already done. They don't live in that mitigating of risk of what if it doesn't work and arguing all those sides. No, they make the decision and then they get committed and disciplined and make it happen. And then the last thing that I would do faster is get support. Get support. Support. Support. There is not a single million dollar business that is out there today that, that, that got there without support, without help, without getting those unanswered how to questions answered. There's not a single business out there today. So get help. You're not meant to do this alone. And help looks. Get the, get the conversations with the community, with your colleagues. Know that you're not alone. Get a coach. The coach will help remove your roadblocks, identify blind spots. And honestly, my coach, when I go back and when I look at it, you know, I think that it was, it is, it is in my nature to look at the gap. It is in my nature to look at the struggle and to look at the problems and, and I probably was such a pain to work with. And so I'm so grateful to my coaches that really stayed in the trenches with me and didn't give up on me. When, when, when, when I look back, oftentimes I feel like I probably didn't deserve it, but I know that's not true. And my friends listening to this podcast would be like, what? Beverly, that doesn't, that's not true. But when I was challenging, I was challenging. And so I'm so grateful to the people that hung in there with me. So I'm so grateful to them. But lean on your support. Lean on your support. And honestly, support, too, from your colleagues, from your coach, but also from yourself. Trust yourself. That is support. And honestly, when you trust yourself and remember who you are, all of the rest of this, the strategy that we talk about here, rubber meets the road, where I give you the plan. And honestly, it's one of the first things I'll say to the formula clients and accelerator clients is that none of the plan works if it's not in alignment with you, full stop. It starts and ends with you. So if you're here and you made it all the way till the end, it'd be a huge favor to me if you would go ahead and just screenshot this this episode, share it with me on the Instagram @Be SimpsonFitness. And I'd love for you to just tell me what your biggest takeaway is and what you're gonna actually start implementing in all of the. In all of the steps that we went over. And honestly, I'm not gonna lie to you, I push play, I push record. I ripped off the band aid because I'm committed and I'm disciplined to getting my message out there. And that is this. Probably, that nuance could probably be a whole separate conversation, but there is a nuance. There is a difference between letting yourself off the hook and also not being rigid. So it's a nuanced conversation. But for me, I recognize and realize, because all of these unforeseen circumstances came my way, and I. It was easy for me to. To put my head in the sand and say, oh, I'm so busy. I got up, I'm working on the client load. I'm just going to. To skip this week, and I'm traveling and I'm going to skip this week. Inevitably, I'm going to be inspired when I'm in. When I'm with my colleagues and my. In my mastermind. And so I'll just wait. But no, I'm committed. We took last week off, and I'm here for you. And so my challenge for you at the end of this episode is to what is. I'm going to give you two. And I said it earlier, but one, something for you to contemplate is how can you fully trust yourself faster step into who you are faster, more deeply, harder, whatever the word is that you want to use so that it. So that you can fully show up for your clients. Who need you at your current level. And then the second thing I'm going to give you and ask you is what is one thing that you can do inside of your business right now that you have that nudge? And knowing that, oh, I need to do this, but you haven't done it yet for whatever reason, what is one thing that you can do this week to show up for yourself and for your clients and for your business? Thanks so much for hanging out with me today. I'll catch you on the next episode. Thank you for listening to the PT Profit Podcast.

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