Well that didn't go to plan!

Hello, everyone. I'm Katie McManus, business strategist and leadership coach. I am just starting this week out with some real late night for me live streams for you guys. Full transparency. I actually wasn't planning on going live today. I have a ton of tick tocks to do for my marketing team, and I was getting everything set up, and then I looked at my phone. I realized I only had like 5% battery, and that's just not going to get you anywhere. And I knew that if I didn't do something in between charging my phone and actually doing the TikToks, that I would just fall asleep. So here I am just coming live to you on The Facebooks, on LinkedIn, YouTube and Twitter also, because that's the thing. I love these to be interactive. So as you log in, you know, if you have a question, if you have a comment, please throw them in the chat. If I don't call your name out. Because I love this to be interactive. It's not you. Sometimes the technology gets a little wonky and I don't get to see all the comments, but would love to hear your thoughts as I'm talking through this. Well, let me have a sip of my spin drift. Okay. Amazing. Okay, so I want to talk about when things don't go to plan, like my night till night. And granted, this is poor planning on my part. I absolutely should have looked at my phone earlier and been like, oh, this is gonna die before I can do all my TikToks. But I want to talk about how planning worked in a new business. Okay. This is one of the stickiest topics, usually for my clients who come from a sales background. Okay. So in sales, if you've never been in sales before, you're given a number every month or every quarter. Okay. And that number is the amount of money that you have to make for the business or the amount of new clients. And if you don't hit it, you get in trouble. And if you go over it, you usually get bonuses, you usually get more money. So there's a lot of incentives to do it. But businesses know that salespeople really like doing well. They're. They're really good at going after points. They're super competitive. So that number may be hard to reach, but it's usually not out of the realm of possibility. Okay. Because the business had been around for four years, right at that point. I used to work for Cisco and Equinox and Tesla, and they'd been around for a while. So when they gave me a number, it was because they had historical data and said that that number was attainable for someone in my position. Okay, so here's where that gets really sticky. And hi, whoever's watching, welcome. Here's where that gets really sticky when you're starting a business and you come from a sales background is that when you're starting a business, there's no historical data on what will work. Okay? You're really just guessing. You're throwing spaghetti at the wall. You are trying a million and one things and trying to see what will result in paying clients. There's no tried and true action plan that will get you those paying clients. You know, like a car dealership that's been around for 20 years. They generally know how many cars they're going to move. They know if they have a sale or they have an incentive, how many extra cars they're going to be able to move off the lot. They're able to set the goal for their salespeople really well. When you're starting a business, that's just not possible. So if you're in this. In this position right now and you're starting a business, you're really not sure how you can plan out your income and all that stuff. Let me just alleviate some pain here and give you some new pain. You can't plan. You can't plan. Stop trying. Stop trying to plan how much money you're going to make. Stop trying to plan how many clients you're going to get, okay? Because you do not have control over that. The things that you do have control over, however, when you start a business are your actions and. Hi, Harish, Nice to see you. I hope I'm pronouncing your name correctly. Most Innovative Live. I'm gonna put that on the screen just so everyone can see that I have the Most Innovative Live. Thank you so much. Yeah, I'm happy to do it. Anyway, so you have control over your actions, and that's it. You can plan your work and work your plan, and that is it. The results are outside of your control. Okay, so I'm gonna go through these three S's that I literally just came up with about five minutes ago because I was trying to come up with something to talk about while I keep my phone charged. I mean, go through these five S's of things that you absolutely need to be doing in your day every single day when you're starting a business. And I just said I made them up. These are actions that I prescribe to all of my clients. I just made them in a 3S format. So, yeah, anyway, yay for creativity. Okay, so number one, you need to specialize. Okay, so you're starting a business. Congratulations. New business owners are famously guilty of this mindset of I, I have this gift. I can do this thing. Maybe you're a lawyer or an accountant or copywriter. And I could do it for anyone. I could serve absolutely everyone. And actually it's selfish of me if I niche down or specialize in something because I'm not going to be able to help everyone. And this is actually one of the most dangerous beliefs for a new business owner because if you're trying to help everyone, like what does that marketing look like? It looks like, hi, I'm a copywriter, I can write words for you. That's not compelling. That doesn't talk about my specific problems. You know, if you want to be a copywriter for dentists who want to move from an age bracket into another age bracket. So maybe you have a dentist who works with children, who wants to start working with, with adults. You know, you could even specialize in something like that. There's. So you have to really like niche down on a problem that you solve. Okay, there's one problem that you solve and you need to get very specific and determine who, who is out there, who has this problem that you are uniquely set up to help. Okay. There's this great example. I wish I could remember her name. I saw this ad from her on Facebook or maybe it was just something that was shared by a friend, but she's a health coach for party people. A health coach for party people. She works with people who are in party industries. So bartenders, DJs, nightclub club owners, people who have a lifestyle around being out late, drinking alcohol, eating garbage food. You know, it's just the nature of the beast when you're in that industry. And she works with them to make healthier decisions in their day to day life. To have more energy, to be more responsive, to be more fit. She specializes with that, okay? She's not trying to help new moms who are trying to lose the baby weight. She's working with party people only. Okay? And she's uniquely set up for it because she is a former bartender, okay? She's in that world. She can, she can empathize and relate to that world like no one else. And the beautiful thing about her copy. And let me just, let me just do a shout out to this person who I can't remember their name, is that in there. She's not shaming them for their lifestyle. Like so many other life coaches might or health coaches might. No, she's just saying cool. Like, this is your life. Amazing. Let's make it better. Let's make you better able to stay out, out all night. Let's make you better able to go to work and make a ton of tips. How cool is that? Okay, so you need to specialize. That is the first of the three S's for this evening. And by the way, if you're not sure how to specialize, this is one of the things I cover in my group program, build your own business, AKA byob. And I am accepting applications for people starting in April. So if you're wanting to niche down and figure this out, that's the place for it. DM me. Okay. Okay. Finally, number two, Speak. You have to speak, baby. Okay? You cannot stay quiet about the work that you're doing. Okay? When I say speak, I don't just mean, like, alone in a room and yak at yourself, talking about all the things that you want to do, because I know you're good at that. I'm good at that too. Okay. We're really good at, like, running our tongues on all the, like, what ifs, and I'd love to do this and this could be cool and I don't know, like, maybe I should do that too. I'm not talking about that. When I say speak, you need to go and talk to real life, living, breathing humans about what you're up to. You need to go on social media and you need to share about what you're up to. You need to write posts, you need to do video, you need to share pictures behind the scenes. You need to make sure that everyone in your life is fully aware of what you're up to now and how exactly you are useful to them. Okay? In this new and brave way that you're doing. You need to be calling friends and just letting them know that you have this life change going on, that you're starting this business. You need to get out of your comfort zone also. And you need to network with new human beings who have never seen your face before. It's actually. Let me just share. You know, when I. When I was starting out, it was really vulnerable for me to inform my world, you know, friends and family members and former classmates that I was changing my career again because I'd done that, like, four times already. And I didn't want them to think that I was, like, a flake. But going to new people, people that I really didn't know at all and Telling. This is what I'm up to. This is what I do. It felt so much better. And that's actually where I practice before I talked to my friends and family and told them what I was up to. Okay, so figure out what works best for you. It may be flip for you. Okay. I have a hair in my eye, and it's driving me crazy. I'm thirsty. I just have a lot of problems today. Guy, guys. And I can't speak also, because I'm so thirsty. Hold on. Okay. Yay for being dehydrated. Anyway, because here's the point. Everyone has to know what you're up to, because no one can hire you for what you do if they don't know that that's what you do, okay? You can't keep it a secret, okay? You can't be a secret and a success at the same time. They do not go together. They are not like peas and carrots, okay? They are. They are like peas and armadillos, okay? They just do not go together. If you want to stay a secret, do not start a business, okay? You're not going to be able to be successful if you keep yourself a secret. You have to go out and you have to stay. Speak. You have to speak about what you do. You have to do what I'm doing right now. You don't necessarily have to do it live, but you have to get out there and you have to talk about what you're up to, okay? You can lean into whatever you want to call it, if you want to call it marketing, if you want to call it networking, if you want to call it thought leadership. I train all of these in my build your own business program again, by the way. But whatever this is for you, you have to find the voice that you're gonna speak in. You have to figure out the talk tracks that you're gonna speak about, okay? Usually this goes back to your specialty, by the way, so that's really, really important to figure out early on, okay? You going out and saying, well, I think I do this, and then changing it five minutes later is not helpful to anyone, okay? So you have to speak. That's number two. Finally, number three, I think this is one of my most favorite actions. My most favorite actions that you can take in your business even before you're making money from your business that will attract clients to you is you have to get out there and you have to serve. Okay? I'm not talking about serving tables. I'm not talking about volunteering at a soup kitchen. Or whatever, you know, that's great. You should also do that. But in your business, you need to show up in spaces where your ideal clients are and you need to pay it forward in some way. Shape. Way or shape. Shape or way. Yeah. Anyway, you know what I mean? Saying goes a different. There's like a. I like losing the word. There's a word in there that I'm missing. There usually has like a really nice rhythm to it. Anyway, I'm just getting hung up on semantics here. But you have to show up your ideal clients are and be open, open to helping them. Okay. And this can look like going to networking events and offering to moderate a discussion. Okay. This can look like going and like supporting some local organization that's related to what you do. Okay. It could be offering your services to a non profit for a discounted rate so that you can at least show something in your portfolio. Okay. During the pandemic, one of the things that I did just because I needed to be able to hold space for other people because it made me feel better and also like got me some visibility, is I volunteered for the women in revenue group and I did a support group call once a week and it was just so needed at the time and I got a couple clients out of it. It was just amazing. Way, shape or form? Daniel, you are my hero. You know what I mean? Oh, my God. Way, shape or form. I don't know why I lost the last word out of that. But you know when you have like a string of words that you normally say and you lose one and then it's almost like you've forgotten the words in a song. Oh, my God, I love you all so much. Juana speak is the toughest part for a lot of people. Okay? The fear of being seen is real. The fear of not saying the right thing is also real. I'm there with you, babe. Okay? Oh my God, Tanya, you had my back to way, shape or form. We got it. Okay. So serving. And I have a feeling if you're watching me, if you're in my world, this is going to be the easiest step for you, this serving bit, because you love helping people. There's a reason why you're starting a business is because you see how you are uniquely set up to help a certain kind of person out there and you are so excited for it. Okay? So this is like the most exciting part. This part does come after specializing and speaking, however. Okay? So you have to. You have to pay your dues with those two things. Now there's A fourth S that I did. A surprise. And it's really just a surprise because I hit publish and then I started mapping out what I was going to say. This is how I do my lives, people. It's pretty much just improv. Daniel, we've all been there. Katie, you're live. Well done. Thank you so much, Daniel. I appreciate that. There's a fourth S that I thought of after the fact, so we're just gonna add it in now. It's a bonus for those of you who've shown up and are hanging out with me. Said Adina. Thank you. You have to stay. You have to stay. After you specialize, after you start speaking about it and after you start serving, you have to stay with it, okay? Because those three steps, you're not going to do them for just a couple months and have it pay off as a successful business. No, it doesn't work that way, okay? Because. Because your timeline for success, the timeline that you have in mind for how this is going to go, the universe doesn't give a fuck, okay? The universe has its own timeline. It has nothing to do with your timeline, okay? If you want to have true success here, if you want to live this life of freedom and flexibility and have a good income and have incredible, impeccable impact with the people you want to work with, you have to stay with it, okay? Now, staying with it does not mean hitting your head against the wall trying to do the same thing over and over again when it's not working, okay? It does not mean that you're staying with something that's not working. That's not what I'm saying. But staying means listening for either redirection or confirmation. Okay, so I'll share. I think I've talked about this a million times. You guys must be bored of it already. When I started my business, I was not a business coach, okay? I had had a background in sales and marketing for a really long time, and I lived in San Francisco Bay Area, and I was single at the time. And I was like, you know what? I'm going to become a dating coach for men. Because dating here is miserable and I want to fix them. Probably not the most compelling reason for me to become a dating coach and probably wasn't compelling for them to hire me. It showed up, though, because I went out and I announced everywhere I was speaking, speaking everywhere about how as a dating coach for men and the problems that I solved, and I did this and I did that, and I got like eight female clients and one dude, okay? The universe did not want me being a dating coach for men. It just wasn't going to happen for me. But it did give me clients. The universe threw women at me, literally left, right and center. And it was funny because I'd be at a, at a dinner party or out to drinks, and someone would ask me, like, what do you do for work? And I'd say, oh, I'm a dating coach for men. And I kind of start explaining about it. And the women in the group would put their hands on their hips, literally, and say, well, what about me? I want a dating coach. And they kind of corner me. And I got some really kick ass clients that way. But. But the universe was very clearly redirecting me. The universe is saying, okay, cool, you're not going to be a dating coach for men. Not going to happen. You're going to work with all these women. Now another redirection happened. All but one of the women that I was working with decided that they needed more executive coaching from me because how they were showing up at work and how they were bad at setting boundaries was exactly why they weren't getting in a relationship. And so that had to be solved. And so I went and got trained as a leadership coach, which was so much fun. And I did that for a while. And then, you know, in the background, I had all these coaching friends that I'd gotten trained with and they were saying, how did, how did you do that? How did you, like, get the clients there? And how do you, how do they pay and like, how do you, how are you doing this? And so I started showing them and I realized how much I like that better. I liked it so much better because I was, I felt like I was teaching people alchemy, like how to turn this passion that they love doing into actual money in their bank accounts. Like, that's magic. That's magic, guys. I'm so lucky to do what I do. I love it. But if I hadn't stayed, if I had just like stayed with. No, I'm a dating coach for men. I wouldn't be here. I wouldn't have the incredible clients that I have. Like, I wouldn't have been able to have this impact that I've had. Okay, I'd probably still, you know, be working full time and announcing, you know, know, oddly at parties that I coach men to date better and that. I don't know, I'd be bored of that by now. I don't think I would have stuck with it anyway. So you have to stay with it. You have to Stay with it and you have to listen for redirection or confirmation that you're on the right track. Okay. Anyway, I think that's enough time. I think my phone should be charged so I can go and do some TikToks now. I want to thank Cittadeno. Daniel, Juana. Oh, I don't mean to be putting you up here. Tanya, Harish, everyone else, if you didn't put comments in, I don't know you're here. Thank you for joining me this evening. Thanks for like helping a girl out. I'm trying to stay awake while I do. I charge my phone so I can go and do some TikToks. I hope this was useful, this little impromptu live that I did on the 3/4s's that I came up with. Anyway, I'll be going live tomorrow talking about how to get over the fear of starting your business. I'm going to be going live on all of these platforms and also Instagram, so tune in for that. It's going to be about 6pm Eastern. Otherwise, I hope you have an amazing rest of the week. Tanya, thank you. Thank you for joining and any questions you have. And if you heard me say that any of these problems that I'm talking about are solved in build your own business my, my group program and you're at all curious about it, I want you to know something about me. I am not into the hard sell where I pressure you into things. I am into serving. Okay. So if you're at all curious about those programs, if you just want to get on the phone and talk or have a couple direct messages back and forth about it, please do not be shy. Okay. The last thing I ever want anyone to feel like is if they send me a direct message, like they're going to get hard sold. That is not my style. And you can ask anyone who works with me who may or may not be in the chat right now. Not my style at all. Anyway, Daniel. Oh, I just love this word for the year is listen. Thanks. The talk. Oh, I'm so glad you joined. And Juana, thank you. I have motivational talk. Thank you. Yes, that's. I'm here to motivate and create some momentum in my audience and with my people. So I'm glad it's coming across that way and not just a crazy lady who can't remember words. Anyway, with that, I'm going to go film some TikToks people. Have a great night and I will see you all tomorrow. Bye.