Choosing to Spin your Wheels?

Hello, everyone. I'm Katie McManus, business strategist and leadership coach. It feels so good to be back live. I was taken down for about four days total with the. The COVID booster shot. Holy smokes. That thing is no joke. If you haven't gotten boosted. I know it's really scary to hear, but if that's a taste of COVID I don't want it. I don't want you to have it. So please, go get vaccinated, go get boosted. All the things. Take care of yourself, take care of your family. It's a little, little psa, but that's not what I'm actually talking about today. I had intended to go live for the rest of 2021, which was 10 days. And this is knockdown. We're at. We're at three till 2022. So I'm really happy to be joining these evening. And I'd love to be this to be interactive. So if you find yourself sp spinning your wheels and I'm speaking to you and you have any questions or thoughts or whatever, please do pop them in the comments. I love this to be interactive. Also, sometimes the technology does fail us and I don't actually get to see all comments. So if you comment and I don't call you out or answer your question, know that it's just Streamyard. It's not you. I'm not mad at you, I promise. Okay, so I want to time travel just a little bit. Okay. So I think we all pretty much know how to drive, unless you're one of those New Yorkers. But I want to time travel back to when we all got our driver's licenses or maybe our driver's permits, whatever your laws are in your local area. And I don't know if you did this, but in my town, the big thing was, like, when you were learning to drive, your parents would take you to a parking lot nearby that didn't have any of those, like, bumps, one of those, those raised edges, you know, for the parking. So people don't, like, go into other spots. So it's just like a flat surface. And we'd go there specifically when it was snowing so that we could learn how to handle our cars like when we lost control on ice. And so what. What would end up happening is we do all these figure eights, you know, trying to make the car slide so that we could learn to turn into the slide. Right. Well, what would start off as like a safety precaution thing would very, very quickly turn into, hey, we can. We can, like, lay rubber when there's no snow on the ground, and we can spin our wheels and we can have this be super fun and irresponsible. Hi, Juan. Nice to see you. Happy New Year to you as well. And so you'd get all these teenagers in parking lots after the snow had cleared, you know, after having done this with their parents, to learn safety. They'd be in these parking lots, like, trying to lay rubber, trying to spin their wheels. And I was thinking about this metaphor today of, like, spinning your wheels. And I want you to imagine if instead of doing this in a parking lot, we'd go to, like, a muddy swamp that was really deep and, like, had sinkholes and gave no opportunity for any traction to actually happen. So instead of laying rubber, instead of learning how to handle snow, you're literally just spewing up, like, splashing mud, you know, towards the back, and you're just digging yourself deeper and deeper into the sludge. Okay, I've painted that picture well enough, I hope, because, like, I'm already feeling like I need a shower from digging that car out anyway, so. So many of us. And I'm guilty of this as well. I'm calling myself out here. There are ways in which I do this at my level. But it's so easy, specifically when you're starting a business, to spend all your time in that swamp. Okay? It's so easy. And here, here are some of the ways in which, when you're starting out, it's so easy to spin your wheels. So the first symptom on the list is freebies. Okay? You know who you are. Okay, so you have downloaded every freebie PDF on how to do X, Y, and Z on social media, or the freebie on how to do a webinar. Or maybe you've taken a free webinar on how to do webinars. All of this stuff is meant to sell you something, just FYI. It's not actually geared to be completely useful. It's supposed to give you a taste of what is useful about the ultimate product, but it's not actually supposed to get you anywhere. And so what happens when you're starting out and you're relying on all these freebies to tell you what you should be doing is you're not getting the full picture of the strategy. And because you're not getting the full picture of the strategy, you're only getting a hint of the groundwork that will ultimately play into it. You're given a bunch of busy work, you're making lists, and you're making plans, and you're following people on social media, and you're doing this, and you're doing that. You're getting a Zoom account. And meanwhile, you know what's not happening is you're not getting paying clients because you're making yourself busy with background busy work that isn't actually putting you in front of anyone. And that sucks. I think I can pretty quant, you know, definitively say that that sucks. Okay, so that is one way in which new business owners are famous for spinning their wheels. Another way is planning sessions. Planning sessions. So tell me if this sounds familiar, because I used to do this all the time. You. You find, like, a nice piece of graph paper, kind of like. Like this dot paper, and you. You draw out, like, all the lines and. And you section out the months, and you kind of lay out, like, how you're gonna get client. Well, not how you're gonna get clients, but how many clients you're gonna get per month until you're full time. I recently stumbled upon an old journal of mine where I did this, and I had, like, plan plotted out exactly. My. My rate increases, like, by a hundred dollars, like, every three months, because I felt like three months would be enough for me to feel like I was worth that extra 100 bucks, right? And I figured out that, like, you know, If I got five clients in January and five clients in February and five clients in March, that'll be 15 clients, and I'll make X amount of money from them at this point. And then in. In April, I'd raise my rates. I'd get another five clients, and then I get another five clients in May, and I get another five clients in June, and that's how much I'd be making at the end of it. And then in July, I'd finally have the ovaries to raise my rates again, another 100 bucks. Hi, Andy. It's the equivalent of overthinking. Yes. Yes, it is. Absolutely. But when you're starting a business and you don't know any better and you don't really know what you're doing, this at least feels like you're doing something. Okay? It feels like you're setting a plan in motion. It feels like you're playing that whole manifestation game. The problem with this is that a plan without a strategy to make the plan real is not a plan. It's just. It's not a plan. It's just a dream that your friends are going to get sick of hearing about About. After a while, I ran out of breath on that one. So if you have like a plan of how your is going to grow, but you don't have actual clear methodologies and strategies for actual living, breathing humans in the world who have the problems that you solve to come across you in some way, shape or form, either on social media, through ads, maybe you stand on the corner of a street and wave while they drive by. And if you don't have a way for them to get in touch with you to book a call with you to potentially buy your thing. And if you don't have a thing for them to buy, it's very hard for you to get to that point where you're signing five clients a month, every single month, consistently. Okay, this is called the. The planning wheel spin. Okay? Because you're planning, but you're not really planning. You're spending time and energy and. And creativity. Because it does take creativity to think of this stuff to keep yourself small. That's essentially it. You're just keeping yourself small and you're dreaming within parameters of what you think is realistic. Okay? Dreams are not for reality, by the way. A plan requires a strategy and an ultimate goal, but the strategy has to be the thing that gets you there. Okay? A plan, A plan without any of those things just doesn't work. Okay? So that is symptom number two of spinning your wheels. So the third one is near and dear to my heart because I have so many friends and so many colleagues who got stuck in this trap for a really long time. And I almost did too. I had a really wise mentor who talked me out of it early on. It's going for that next certification and that next certification, getting certified in that other thing and getting trained in this new thing and the other thing and blah, blah, blah. In the coaching world, you could get certified up the bum every single year and spend tens of thousands of dollars each year doing that. If you really like learning and that's your hobby, great, go, go for it. If you're independently wealthy and this is not something that you want to have a be a business, then please go get certified in everything and anything that you want to be certified in, be my guest. But here's the thing, like, if you actually want to have a business, you need to stop learning for a moment. Okay, I know I'm going to get some pushback on that. You need to stop learning and you have to start doing. Because here's the thing, you're going to get certified in one modality of doing the thing. And let's just Use coaching. Because I'm in the coaching world, right? So say you got co. You got trained as a one on one coach. So you work with people one on one. That is a service in of itself, okay? If you then go and get certified as a group coach, that is a separate service, okay? It confuses the market when you do too much, okay? So confused buyer never buys. So if you're going out there and saying, I work with people one on one and I work with couples and I work with groups, okay, so what do you specialize in? You're actually hurting your chances of getting a business up and running by having too much that you do. Now. If you started off with one on one coaching, you're like, this isn't really what I want to do. And then you wanted to get certified in group coaching and you're like this, this is what I want to do, then that's absolutely fine. You have to find what is good for you, what is the business you want to build. But getting extra certifications and just piling them on actually hurts you in the eyes of your clients because they don't understand how you're useful to them. Because I guarantee you, you're gonna go and build a website, right? You're gonna hire someone or maybe you'll do it yourself on, On Square or, or Wix and not hitting on that. I did my own website. You know, it's a great way to save some money and also have a lot of control over it. But because you have all these certifications and you're using them like armor to make sure that people see you as credible, this website is just going to be all about your credit, your credit, I'm sorry, certifications, all about your credibility. It's not actually going to be about your ideal clients and the struggles that they have and the problems that they have and what they want and how you help them get there. Okay? Because you're going to be leading with, I'm certified in this and I'm certified in this, and I'm certified in this. If they knew what those certifications meant, they wouldn't need you to begin with. Okay? What drives me crazy, Absolutely nuts. And I did this too when I first started out. I get it. It's like training wheels is when you're on LinkedIn and you have all those, those letters after your name and it's like no one fucking knows what those mean unless you're a doctor. Okay? Unless it's really specific to your industry, but your clients don't know what that Means, okay, so just drop it. Don't stop going for more and more certifications. You do not need them. If you're certified, if you're trained, that is good enough. You are good enough just the way you are. You have an amazing service to offer. Just go and offer that, okay? Stop spinning your wheels, wasting time and money and energy, and just go and start your business already. Okay? So that is symptom number three of how people spin their wheels. Now, number four, I want to say with a caveat, okay? So there are some of these that are actually good, but for the most part, when people starting a business, they tend to partner up. They tend to partner up. And I did this with my friend Kelsey Letko. She's an amazing life coach out of San Diego. And our partnership was built out of insecurity. And we've talked about this. It didn't ruin our friendship or anything. So we decided that we were going to partner up and do, like, a group program for 12 people. And we started designing it, and it was so much fun to design it, and it was so creative. Creative. And it never got off the ground like that was it. Like, we did some promotional stuff and. And no one signed up and all the things. And that is normal. That is normal. But if you're thinking about creating a partnership with someone, I need you to question long and hard. Is this because I'm feeling insecure about doing it on my own, or can we create something really special together that we wouldn't be able to create on our own? And are we both 150% bought into this thing that we are creating together more so than the things that we could create apart? And if you are serious about doing a partnership with someone, and that latter bit is true, and you are completely in love with your idea and it is the thing that you are committed to, you need to draw up proper paperwork. Because I know you love this person and I know you trust them. And also, you could have a very different understanding of what your responsibilities are and what their responsibilities are. And when those aren't clear to everyone or when those expectations are different, that is when things fall apart. Okay? So before you have a thriving business, I don't recommend partnerships unless that partnership is creating something in the world that you know you couldn't do on your own. Okay? So that is number four. Now, the biggest symptom of all of all of this is if you are spinning your wheels, I guarantee you, you're not making any money. You're not making any money. You're not signing on high paying clients. You, you may be signing on some like really cheap clients, some freebie clients, or some $20 an hour clients. You cannot make a livable income from that though, okay? So it is not worth your time that is also spinning your wheels. Okay? Now there are two, two and a half reasons why. Two and a half. Really? Two and a half reasons why people spend their time building their business and instead of actually doing stuff that will build their business, they spend their time spending their wheels in these ways. One is you're just being a weenie. That's it. You're scared. You're scared. You don't actually want to put yourself out there because it's outside your comfort zone and it feels freaks you the out. Honey, that's okay. It's okay. We've all been there. It's scary AF to put yourself out there. And also if you want this to happen, you're just gonna have to bite the bullet and do it. That's it. Gotta stop being a weenie about it. Okay, so that's reason number one. Reason number two is you actually don't know what else you should be doing. Because I'll hazard a guess, you've never started a business before. Okay? If you did, you wouldn't, you wouldn't be watching this live right now, right? You wouldn't be paying attention to me. I would not be relevant in your world. Unless you just like videos and pictures of my dog. Then I understand why you're, you're here, but you just don't know what to do. And that's okay. Like imagine, imagine if we went through high school and at like you went through all your classes and chemistry was not a class that you took. But at the end of the year they gave you a chemistry test and they expected you to know all the things on that test and it was pass, fail. Would you know everything on the test unless you had studied it outside of school? Unless you've gotten like mentors and tutors and maybe talk to someone who is a couple grades above you, who took the class before they cut it. Would you expect yourself to pass that test? I bet you notice because you, you have a full class load already. They filled up the, the chemistry lab with something else and you took a class there instead. It's the same thing when you're starting a business, okay? You cannot expect yourself to know how to market yourself, how to create an offer, what to charge, how to set up systems, how to run a sales call. I don't know if I already said that. And all the other things that you need to know in order to have a business. You can't expect yourself to just naturally have that. No, that's unreasonable. Okay, so. And sometimes, and this is the half bit, this is the half bet, sometimes it's both. Most of the time it's both. You're being a fucking weenie. And you also just don't know what to do next. You don't understand. And so if you're in this camp, you have a choice. You have a choice. So it's the end of the year. This, these next three days, I've decided it is all about choice that we're going to be talking about. So here's the choice you get to make. You get to choose that for 2022. You're going to continue to spin your wheels. You're going to continue wasting time and money and energy and creativity, and you're going to be at your wit's end forever and ever and ever because you're never going to figure this out. You can choose that. And if that's what makes you happy, I hope you choose that. Because I want you to be happy, ultimately. But if you don't want that, if you're sick and tired of downloading freebies and watching bullshit webinars and planning things that you know are never going to happen the way you're planning them, and if you're tired of going after each and every certification, hoping it's going to give you that, that final little boost of confidence that's going to get you out there and doing the thing, then you really need to invest in some help. You need to figure out what is the thing that you need to be doing. And if you don't know, there's people like me out here who offer programs that show you exactly what you need to be doing, you can invest in a coach who will do this one on one with you. And if you've been keeping an eye on me and you've been wanting to work with me one on one, I do have to disclose. So I have two spots left in January for one on one work. I have one in February and I have one in March. This is, this is, this may change. But for right now, this is what I have available. And my rates do go up January 1, 2022. So if you've been wanting to work with me and holding off for whatever reason because you're not ready and you think you can get ready and you're going to prepare and you're going to Spin some wheels some more before you're ready to really invest in this. Isn't this time already? And if you're not wanting to work with me one on one, I do have byob, which is build your own business. Okay? It's a group program. It starts January 6th. Okay? We already have some amazing humans in there who are starting their own businesses. They are badass. I'm going to be talking about the importance of surrounding yourself with the right people tomorrow. But this is the choice you get to make today is am I going to continue to spin my wheels? Am I going to continue to do work that isn't actually moving me towards my goal? Like I said, if you really like spinning your wheels and doing work that doesn't get results, be my guest. Do that. Do what makes you happy, baby. But if you're ready to stop being a weenie, and if you're ready to finally have a clear action plan that makes sense for you, that's customized to you, your personality, your business, and your goals, then this is absolutely the call you need to make. And so my invitation to you is to just shoot me a dm and what we'll do is we will schedule time to talk either tomorrow or on Friday. Yes. New Year's Eve. I'm working New Year's Eve because this matters that much to me. I don't want any one of you spinning your wheels when you don't want to be spinning your wheels anymore. David Fryman, the hero. I choose not to be spinning my wheels. This. Sorry, I'm misreading what you're saying. I choose the not spinning my wheels option. I love that. I feel like this is a game show anyway. So if you're tired of that, if you're with David, shoot me a dm. Let's hop on the phone, and I will give you my very honest opinion about what is going to be the best option for you, even if it means not working with me and working with someone else. Okay? I'm here because I want for everyone to get their businesses up and running so that they can do work that. That they love and make an actual honest to God income from it. Okay? I hold no ego here. I want the right coach for you, just like I want the right clients for me. So there's no pushiness about this. Except you should be sick and tired of spinning your wheels, and I'm sick and tired of you spinning your wheels, and you need to stop that already. Anyway, regardless if you're being a weenie or if you don't know how. Whatever. Those are all bad reasons to continue with do the brave stuff in 2022. Anyway, I'm getting text messages from my mom because I'm late for dinner, so I have to go now. I hope you all have a great night and I will be going. Oh, she's calling now. She's. Oh man. So anyway, I have to go. I will be going live tomorrow and on Friday, and I can't wait to be talking to you more about the different choices that you have to be making for 2,022. Anyway, happy Wednesday and I'll talk to you soon. Bye.