Are you planning or are you overthinking?

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Hello and good evening, everyone. I'm Katie McManus, your practical business coach coming to you live in lots of different places this evening. I'm over on my phone here on TikTok. Hello, TikTok folks. I'm on both of my Facebook pages, LinkedIn, YouTube, Instagram, and of course my brand new platform, Substack. If you are over there, then please go and follow me. I am trying to be a little more consistent. It's really hard when you're, you know, already showing up in a lot of places to be everywhere consistently. But I'm doing it so that I can show you that it's possible. Anyway, happy Tuesday evening. Happy election day. If you're living in, let's see, Virginia, Pennsylvania, New York, California, where else is having a big day today? Please remember to go and vote, okay? Please, please, please. Our future depends on you. And actually, if you're in Virginia, I think it's a little late because I think they're polling closes at 7, so get on it. You can watch this live on, on the road until you get there. Anyway, I was thinking about what my plan was for going live tonight and I realized the plan that I had made, I was just already feeling kind of stale with. So I wanted to, I wanted to talk a little bit about how to tell the difference between when you're planning on like something for your business versus when you're just overthinking it and creating like structure around the overthinking. Because I think we are all so guilty of this. This is something that is so easy to get sucked into when you're a business owner because you think that, okay, well, I, I want to do this thing. I might want to like launch a new service or a new product. I might want to start off on a new social media platform, for instance. And it's really easy in that mindset of okay, well, I want to do this. Well, that, that slips very easily into. I need to do it perfectly. And when we fall into the need to do it perfectly whole, that is when we start doing these elaborate, really well thought, thought out plans that are honestly so great except for the fact that they're completely in actionable. Because once you create the plan, it is too intimidating. There's too much work to Be done. Maybe you get intimidated by like, just how many different pieces of the puzzle there are to do. Or you start realizing, well, maybe I can't do this perfectly, I can't execute on this plan perfectly. So, ah, and then you freak yourself out and then you look at the plan again and you've kind of lost all of your juice for it. You know, there's. So I do a Friday call called Brave Biz Labs, the free group coaching call. And there's this Canadian woman, I think her name is Tracy, she shows up and she has this great saying, saying like it, like it juices your goose, right? Like it's like you've juiced your goose so well that there's no more juice left in the goose. And you have this beautiful plan that you're never going to fucking do. But, you know, you felt really productive doing it, right? You felt really productive. You have some, like, something beautiful to show for those hours and hours and hours that you spent kind of mapping out whatever it was that you were planning. But none of that actually matters, right? Because if you don't put yourself out there, if you don't actually take action or and do the things to promote your business, then no one is going to be able to hire you. Because people don't hire other people that they don't know exist, right? For someone to hire you, for someone to see you and be like you, you solve the problem that I have. I would love to give you my hard earned dollars in exchange for you doing this work for me. They have to know that you exist. Like, that is the base requirement for someone to give you their money, okay? No one just walks around with like a wad of cash just like, hoping that they bump into someone who can solve their problems that they trust, right? That's not how it goes, okay? If it went that way, then we'd all just be out on the street, like, hoping to bump into one of these people. Unfortunately, you're going to have to actually act on the plan, okay? So, like, I am very guilty of doing this. I am very guilty of doing this. And. Hi, Michelle. Hi. Salud and welcome. Um, I'm very guilty of doing this when it comes to social media. And I know I do this all the time. My clients do this all the time, okay? Even my clients who work in marketing, even my clients who are social media managers themselves, for their own clients, they get so wrapped up in these amazing ideas that they have for content that they make these super elaborate plans and they never actually act on them, right? And I love doing lives and videos where I'm talking about the stuff that I'm struggling with and that my clients are struggling with. Because I guarantee you there are going to be people who see this who are also struggling with this. Only the only problem is that they don't realize that they're not the only one, right? They think, okay, well, I must be the only person who is fucked up in this way who, like, gets so, you know, so strings myself along with this plan and this plan and this plan. Like, I just can't see myself through it, right? And I just want to remind you, you are not alone, okay? What you're struggling with in your business, when you get sucked down this hole of needing to plan to plan to plan to plan to plan to maybe do the thing someday. That's what everyone does in one stage or another in their business. And unfortunately, new level, new devil, like, you can do that in the very beginning of your business and get past it and get to the next level of your business and you start doing it again, okay? It is not something that you're doing wrong. It is just a program that starts getting activated when you are going beyond your comfort level or you're beyond your comfort zone. And it's totally natural. But, you know, here's the problem with it, or here's the thing that might make you feel a little better about this problem, is that your brain is really, really smart, right? Your brain is just as smart as you are. It is you, right? And so your brain and that part of your brain that wants to procrastinate so that you don't do the thing that's outside your comfort zone, it's going to come up with all these really great ideas and really great ways that you're going to plan the work out that'll keep you from actually doing the work. Because it wants to keep you safe. It wants to keep you in that comfort zone. But your brain knows all the trick to pull on you because it knows you better than anyone, okay? So if your brain knows that if, like, you're on the verge of launching a business, if you're on the verge of promoting something that you do, your brain is going to be like, wait, wait, like, we have to do this perfectly. We have to be like the best. We have to make the best content. We have to have the perfect plan. I know, let's come up with a plan right now. I have an idea. And that's when you start doing this, like, overthinking planning kind of thing where you regurgitate all of the ideas that you have in your head onto a piece of paper. You outline the whole thing and you get obsessed with it for, I don't know, a few days, a week, a month, who knows? But you never actually do anything with it because that's not what your brain actually cares about. Your brain doesn't care about you actually doing the thing. Your brain cares that you don't do it. Okay? Your brain wants to prevent you from doing it in a way that still makes you feel productive. Okay? Our brains can fuck us over big time when we're starting a business. Okay? And I share this because I want you to know if you're going through this right now, you're not alone, okay? I train people and coach people through this shit, and I still struggle with this. All right? The fact that you're going through it doesn't mean that there's anything inherently wrong with you. It doesn't mean that you're not meant to do a business. It just means that you have a bad program that's running in your brain. That's it. But the good news is that once you become aware of it, once you watch this video, once you start realizing that that's the programming that your brain is just running on constantly to keep you in your comfort zone, you have some options. Okay? And options. You can do a melange of them. You can mix and match, it doesn't really matter. But there are three main things that I want you to think about when you get into this phase. Like for instance, let's say you are about to launch your first offer. Let's say you just started a business. Maybe you're doing coaching or consulting and you're about to start marketing. Hi, Starla. Welcome. You're about to start marketing to push it out and start get clients right. And your brain is like, mayday, mayday. Like, our plan for rolling this out has to be perfect. We have to come up with a whole marketing campaign. I know. Let's come up with something really complex and really difficult and. And it'll be perfect right now when that happens, now that you're aware of it, now that you know, okay, my brain is going to do this because this thing I'm about to do is really scary and vulnerable. I'm about to put myself out there and people might reject me and my brain is going to want me to start planning, like the perfect rollout. You have three options. You can outsource, you can insource, or you can just stop planning and just Fucking do it already. What do all those things mean? Okay, so outsourcing is pretty straightforward. Okay? Outsourcing, you can hire someone to either. To make the plan, to execute the plan, and to, you know, kind of do everything from A to Z that is required for whatever this project is. Okay? You can basically say, I'm not carrying the fear on this. You're going to go outside the comfort zone for me, and I'm just going to, like, give you what you need to be successful. The only problem with outsourcing is that it gets incredibly expensive, right? To hire someone to do all of your social media and do all of the copywriting for email campaigns, to do your landing page, to do all the things that gets very, very expensive to have, like, let's say you have, like, a $10,000 program and you need a landing page written for that. That's going to be a very long landing page. And those landing pages can cost anywhere from like, five to $15,000 with a good copywriter who knows your ideal client and what you're selling. Likewise, if you're launching on social media, it's going to be a lot of money to hire someone to do something that's going to be efficient, effective on social media to promote your work. Not only that, like, you're hiring them to create the plan and execute the plan. You still have to pay for things like ads, right? Because if you're hiring someone, I. I bet you you don't have enough of a following to be able to promote it organically. Okay? So you can absolutely outsource it. That is an option for you, but it is expensive. So you need to be able to be able to source those funds or figure that part out. Now, the second thing that you can do to get out of this cycle of, like, overthinking, but tricking yourself that you're not overthinking by planning is you can insource it. Okay? And I don't know if this is actually a term. I just, like, came up with it while I was writing this. Insourcing is when you bring in someone like me, okay? You bring in a strategist. You bring in someone who knows how to create a plan that you'll actually see, stick to. Right? Someone who can do the thinking and who can say, okay, here is, like, your most simple plan that you can follow. Here are the bare bones you can do this time. And we're just gonna build on it for the next iteration. The next iteration. I will do this with my clients. Oh, hello. Welcome. Hi. Yes, I do with this with my clients all the time. Even my clients in marketing because they're amazing at doing marketing for their clients. It's really, it's really hard when you do something like that, however, to turn it around on yourself. Right. So what we'll do is we'll come up with like, what is the base amount of work that they can do for this iteration? And then we'll build on it. So after they've launched a few different times, they have like a complete plan that's all done. Hello, welcome. Hi, Ellie. Oh, thank you for the likes. That's so nice. Thank you. And insourcing can be, you know, working with a strategist, it can be working with a social media coach. It could be someone who basically is directing your energy, they're helping you make decisions, they're giving you some directions and they are basically coming up the plan so that you're not just going hog wild in your brain coming up with an elaborate plan that you're never going to act on. They're also a great accountability, right? Because if you're paying someone to tell you what to be doing and you don't do it, you do tend to feel pretty foolish, right? And I, I say that having spent a lot of money on telling, you know, hiring people to tell me what to do and I still don't do it sometimes. So it's, it's, it's effective when it's effective and sometimes it's not, but it's an option if you tend to overthink and get sucked into this like plan planning loop. And then the third thing, the thing that honestly is the most effective, especially when you're first starting out, especially when you like, you're just trying to break yourself of this cycle, is when you get into that mode of like, oh, I want to make a plan. Just go and do like fuck the plan. Fuck the plan. The plan does not matter, okay? The plan is actually never going to help you because if you're just going to sit there and plan and never actually do anything, it's a complete waste of time. So if you're sitting there and you're thinking, oh, I need a 20 step plan to be able to market my coaching services or my consulting offer and you know that you're never going to actually follow through on that plan, guess what? Don't do the plan. Sit down and just write a post. Sit down and create a video. Sit down and just go live, Write an email, do something. Do one little step. Don't worry about it being perfect. Because here's the thing. An imperfect action is always going to be better than the perfect thing. That never happens. That's it. If you come up with the most perfect plan, but you never do anything about it, you never do anything with it, you're never going to get a client. That's not how that works, okay? Clients can't read your mind. Clients can't, like, subliminally or, like, psychically just, like, tap into your. Your private notion board or your bullet journal and be like, oh, my God, I. I bet that person over there, they have everything that I need from a coach or a consultant, right? I know psychically that they can help me, right? That's not how this happens. You have to actually act on the plan. You can't just keep it in here. You have to put it out there. But if you're constantly in that, I'm going to plan, I'm going to plan, I'm in a plan mode, and you never actually put it out there. Guess what? Your clients are never going to know about you, right? They're never actually going to become your clients. They're just going to remain strangers on the Internet who don't know who you are. All right? Everything that I'm talking about, either outsourcing, insourcing, Just saying, fuck it with the plan and just doing it. The common theme is you have to just stop being such a weenie about it. You have to. You have to stop letting the fear you have around being perceived, around people judging you, around doing it wrong, around making a mistake. You have to let that go, okay? That fear is never going to serve you. That fear is never going to let you put yourself out there so that you can attract your ideal clients and start making money doing the work that you love. All right? It's never going to happen that way. So. So you have to make the conscious decision to just do it. Afraid, okay? Oftentimes, like when we're making a plan, we make the plan because we're worried, we're afraid, and we're thinking, okay, well, if at least I have a plan, then I'll be able to identify all the different parts and maybe my fear will go away. And that's not what happens. Like, when we make the plan to deal with the fear, sometimes it just exacerbates the fear, right? One of the best things that you can do to break yourself of this cycle is when you do get sucked into. I just need to make a plan to do this. Just go and create a TikTok Just go post something. Just go do something, okay? And I'm not saying that you're never going to create a social media plan. I'm not saying that you're never going to make a launch plan. You'll absolutely do those things. But what we need to do is we need to break your, your brain. We need to break this programming, this cycle that keeps you in that planning phase and keeps you from actually going out and executing on it, all right? Because you're never going to have a successful business if you just keep sitting there and planning, right? It's never going to happen. You have to put yourself out there right now. Of course, like each and every one of us, we have our own baggage. We have, you know, you know, our own trauma from school. We have things that have happened to us in our careers. We have, you know, family garbage that gets carried along. We have belief systems that really mess with us. So of course, like, this is kind of general advice that I'm giving you, but if you ever do want to look at it more seriously, if you want to look to see what are the things that are really holding you back and how can you, in your own unique way, move past them, then that is exactly what practical business coaching is about, right? It's not just, I'm gonna like, give you a laundry list of shit that, that you need to do. We're actually gonna look to see what are your limiting beliefs, what are the fears that you have that are keeping you from getting the life and the business that you want and how can we move you past them? Right? That is, and those fears, those limiting beliefs, while they're gonna be similar from person to person, they're going to be different from person to person. The things that hold you back from making the plan and actually doing the plan are going to be different from what holds, you know, the next entrepreneur back. Right? So if you're ready to actually build this business, if you're ready to actually put yourself out there and start attracting your ideal high paying clients by just being you, by just being brave and by taking action. Oh, I have a spammer in my TikTok. Gross. Anyway, if, if you're ready for that, then I invite you to book a generate income strategy call with me. You can do that by either commenting strategy call in the comments, or you can go to my bio wherever you see this and you can click on that or you can just DM me. But in that call, what we can talk about is what is the big dream that you have for this business? What is it that you want more than anything? You know, what kind of life do you want to live while you're running this business, if it's successful? And then we'll talk about what are the things that are. That are holding you back? What are the things that you keep bumping into, the obstacles that are unique to you, and how can we help you move those, move past those? And if it's a fit, and only if it's fit for both of us, then we talk about different ways to work together, okay? Hi, Felicia. Welcome. Hi, Terry. Hi, Lavita. Welcome. Anyway, but if you do nothing else, I want you just to remember that a plan isn't worth if you're not going to act on it, right? And so you can absolutely sit down for three hours and create a plan. But if you're not going to do anything with it, then that was a wasted three hours. You'd be far better served coming up with, I don't know, six pieces of content in those three hours. And just get up, get that out there. If you're not going to act on the plan, then stop planning. Just start doing, okay? You have a business. You have ideal clients out there. Start telling them that you exist. Start putting yourself out there. All right? And I say this to you. I'm also saying this to you and be like, well, shit, now I have to follow my own advice. I do this, too. It's. It's not. It's not a failing on your part or anyone's part if you get sucked into this, all right? I coach people on this stuff, and I still get sucked into this programming, okay? It's just the way our brains have evolved to protect us. Because, you know, putting yourselves out there and asking people to hire you to book sales calls with you is basically asking to be rejected. Okay? That's essentially what it is. And our brains do not like that. But you know what? The only way to get your brain on board with it and to tell your brain this is safe, it's okay, is to just do it a couple dozen times and show your brain that you won't be unalived by it. Anyway, I hope this is helpful. I hope whatever it is that you are wanting to do in your business that you're wanting to do to launch yourself, to attract your clients. I hope this is just that little nudge that you need to get out of your head and just start doing the things that you need to do. And again, if you have no idea what you need to be doing to get those first Five high paying clients to start the business, to grow the business to multiple six figures and you realize you want to start insourcing. You want to hire someone who can direct you and help you create a strategy and a plan that you will actually follow that will actually get your results. Then again, I invite you to book a generate income strategy call with me. Okay. Anyway, one more thing. Every Single Friday at 11:00am Eastern I host Brave Biz Labs BBL which is also Brazilian butt lifts. I love. I love acronyms that have multiple meanings. My group program is build your own business byob. Anyway, that's a little side tangent. Every single Friday I have Brave Biz Labs. It is a free group coaching call for business owners and entrepreneurs. It is one hour. You can come as many times as you'd like. How it works is I give all of my paying clients who show up first whack at asking questions. Once they are done, then anyone who is a guest can ask any question they have about their business. About doing sales, about doing marketing, about how to get clients, what have you. Everything's on the table. I don't gatekeep at all. I invite you to come to that if you want the length and again it's in my bio and just sign up for Brave Biz Labs. Anyway, it is just past seven and my dog is barking at something so I'm a little concerned I'm to go check that out. Felicia and Catherine and Dodge and Claudia and La and Ripping Lips and Mikey and Sophia and Sunshine and Katie Jo and everyone else, thank you so much for being here. I hope this is really useful. Everyone else, I. I can't see who's joining from other platforms, but I hope this is helpful to you. Thank you. I will be going live again tomorrow, so I hope to see you there. And I'm Katie McManus, you your practical business coach. Have a great evening everyone. Good night. Bye.