086. Second Half Momentum and How to Finish Strong

Welcome. I am marketing expert and business coach Melissa Kellogg Lueck. And this is the Doing Business Like a Woman podcast, where we are exploring and teaching you how women are reinventing the way business is done and money is made to help you create greater impact and financial freedom one business at a time. Well, hello, hello, hello, my friends. How's it going? You're having a fabulous day. It's one of those kind of weird weeks where we had a holiday in the middle of the week. And so some people worked on Monday, some people didn't. I thought I wasn't going to work on Monday, I ended up working on Monday. And then we had our holiday on Tuesday. And then Wednesday is like, is this Monday? Is it Wednesday? It was just kind of weird. But this week, I feel like, is one of the most important weeks of the year because it is the first week in the second half of the year. And so it's a really great time, I feel like, to assess where we're at, look at what we've created, what we want to be creating, and think about how we want the second half of the year to go. And even if you're listening or watching this, when it's not the second half of the year, I mean, think about whether it's the second half of a launch or the second half of a month or the second half of a week even, we can be thinking about how we want the second half to go. And so I've been thinking a lot about this and thinking about the things that I want to be changing in my business so that I can create what I want to create in the second half of the year. Because the first half of the year, I have not created what I wanted to by this point in the year. And I'm fine with that. Like, it's okay. I'm not upset about it. I've grown and learned a lot that. But there's still a lot left to go. A lot of the year left, a lot of things I want to accomplish, a lot of lessons that I learned that I want to. Things I want to do differently in the second half of the year. So I want to just share with you how you can finish the year strong, how I'm planning to finish the year strong, and the process that I have gone through that I really feel like it's going to set me up for success for the second half of the year and get me closer to achieving what I want to achieve. And that's really what business is all about. Right? We rarely are going to hit the mark, the first time out of the gate, the first time we try something, the first time that we, you know, the first. Even the first half of the year. Right. It's, it's. It doesn't have to. We don't have to make it mean something bad about us or our, you know, inability to run a business or whatever. It has nothing to do with that. It's that we start the year with a goal. We start the year with a plan of how we're going to achieve that goal. We go out and we try a bunch of things, and most of the things aren't going to work, and that is completely fine. That's how it goes. But then we learn from those things, we make changes, and then we try again, and things are going to work and things are not going to work, and we keep learning, doing, trying, failing, learning, you know, and that's how the cycle goes. And so it is entrepreneurs that realize that, that are okay with that sort of the way things work that actually are much more successful and much happier in the process. Right, right. Because if you are intolerant to failure or intolerant to things not working out, you can have a really hard time with entrepreneurship. But if you can keep that open mind, like, oh, this is just a fun, you know, experiment, yes, we've got to make money and pay the bills and things like that, but we can also find joy and enjoyment in the journey of trying new things out. Right. So that's kind of what I want to talk about. So what I have done and that I wanted to just offer for you in thinking about the second half of the year is I have three suggestions that I would. Three things that I am focusing on to create new things, different things, and finish the year strong. Number one is evaluation. And I went over this process in depth in my live last week, last Friday. But it's basically a process where you answer three questions. You answer, what worked, where did I see my growth for the first half of the year? Number two, you look at what didn't work and where you see opportunities to improve. And then number three, what you want to. What do I want to do differently? And what are the lessons I'm taking with me from the first half of the year. So once you've spent a little time answered those three questions, you have a good idea. That is a really great way to understand and learn from everything that you've been through. But in addition to that, I want you to have a good idea and a good handle on your numbers. So often myself and with clients I talk to, we are guessing at how we're doing financially and not really knowing. And I would highly suggest that you know how you're doing. And if you don't know, you need to book an appointment with me and I can walk you through. I have tools to help you really get a good handle on what your numbers look like and the numbers you want to be following and looking at. I mean, obviously we need to know how much money we're bringing in. We need to know how much money is going out and know those trends. But then we also want to know numbers around, you know, like what is our growth from month to month, quarter to quarter or non growth, what is the cycle of our business each year? Because our businesses aren't always going to be having revenue flat. You know, we have, I see that as something that can be really difficult for entrepreneurs. If you're thinking, oh, it's going to always be 10k every month and then one month is seven, the next month is five, the next month is 17, the next month is 10. You know, that's just the flow, ebb and flow of business. And so understanding that and being okay with that comes from watching the trends in your business and knowing which months are higher, months, which months and quarters are lower and so that you can adjust for that in your spending, that you can plan for that and not make it mean something awful and horrible about you and your business. So, so know your numbers, know your trends. Also numbers that I think are important to know are some of your marketing and sales numbers, like how many sales conversations do you need to have to create a client? And, and so if you say, okay, I want to create 10 clients this quarter, well, that means maybe you've got to have 20 sales calls or whatever your ratio is, right? So you kind of have that broken down and you can choose if you want to be changing or improving those numbers, right? Like maybe your close rate right now is 25% and you would love to get better at sales. So that can be 50% or 75% and that makes you more efficient, right? So those are things I can help you with. So feel free to reach out to me. But I can also walk you through what are some of the numbers that I should be tracking as far as marketing and sales go. So for me, I love tracking, you know, my close percentage. I love tracking how many consultations I'm having. I love tracking the marketing activities that I do, whether it's networking and posting on social media, you know, all the, the activities that I'm doing that are bringing in new people, the activities that I'm doing that are nurturing and tracking how many of those I'm doing and seeing how that filters down into my sales numbers. So those are some really fun numbers to keep track of and to watch. And I'm happy to share tools with you that I have created, spreadsheets and so forth. I know some people aren't spreadsheet people, and that's totally fine, but just have a good idea of what's going on inside your business, because when you do that, it helps you to make decisions and helps you to know what you need to improve. You can't just say, oh, I need to. I need to be making more money, more sales without having a plan. Oh, of how you want to do that. For example, oh, I need to be having more sales conversations. And in order to have more sales conversations, I need to be doing, you know, more marketing activities or more valuable marketing activities. And really, our business has so much wisdom in it already if you've been in operation for a little while. So I'm happy to help you take a look at your business and what it's trying to tell you and that in making this plan to create this momentum or keep this momentum going for the second half of the year. So that's number one. And then also, always be thinking about, in terms of evaluating things, thinking about your 80 20. Right. So we all have 8020 going on in our businesses. So there's 20% of the clients that are bringing in 80% of the revenue, or there's 80% of the difficulty or hardness or things we don't like about our business that's only creating 20% of the revenue. Right? So start thinking about what are your 80 20, and in terms of evaluating, where is your zone of genius? Where is the 20% in your business that's creating 80% of the revenue or the value, Right. The wealth of knowledge and expertise in your business. And think about who are your best clients, the 20% that are your best clients, and what are your most profitable products or services that 20% that is the most profitable, and how can we focus on those 20% that you know, the zone of genius, the most profitable services and the most joyful and enjoyable clients and work. Right. How can we instead blow that 20% up into the 100% of our business? Right. And let the 80% that we're not enjoying and that is not profitable fall away? So doing some evaluating like that, I think is extremely important. And it's what I've been doing in my business and how I am moving forward in Q2 or Q3 in the second half of the year. I've been messing that up all week. So next, so that's number one is evaluation, number two is time and finishing the year strong by taking back your time. And as you know, time is a non renewable resource. We can't create more of it. We all have the same amount of it in a day. So how are we going to use that time to be the most impactful, the most productive, the most intentional? Right. So it's not just about working all 24 hours, it's about having intention for each one of those moments, minutes in the day, right? So if the intention is non work time, then let's be all non work time. And in our work time, let's intentionally be productive and create what we want to create during our work time. And so thinking back to that 8020 rule, right. Like we all, I know for myself even want to be doing this, but thinking about how and where are the places in my business where I'm spending time that is not creating the value that I want to be creating, Serving the clients, getting better. And how can I take that 20% that I really want to be working on and again, blow that up right into the 80% or. Yeah, into the 100%. Really? Or the rest of the. Yeah, 80%. Math, numbers people. That's funny. One thing, one way you can do this is to keep a time journal for a few days during the week or even an entire work week. Just print out a spreadsheet for yourself of like 15 minute increments and just make a little note in each one of the squares as to what you were doing during that 15 minutes and really see where you are spending your precious time, right? And are you spending it on the things that you want to be spending it on? And it's only from a point of curiosity. It's not something to beat ourselves up about or to be critical about, but it's like, huh, this is so interesting. I wonder, you know, what is going on with my time. And I am going to be doing this myself as well because I, as I'm going through my, my days, I'm thinking, you know, am I spending 80% of my time on those things that are in my zone of genius that are really creating value and growing the business? And so if I'm not, then I want to be making some adjustments, right? Let's see. And then when you are making those Adjustments and you having this awareness, think about what can I eliminate that I'm doing, what can I delegate and what can I automate, right. So that you are spending more of your time on the things that are going to be moving the business forward and bringing in that revenue and bringing you the joy. Right. And enjoyment of your business. And so really what I encourage you to do is to consider questioning everything. And I think a lot of times I do this myself. We get into this groove and we're just like doing the same thing every week, week in week, week out, day in, day out. We're checking off the to do list, right? I love checking things off a list. So if you give me a list, I'm going to do it. But really what I want to be doing is questioning everything on that list. Is this something I need to be doing? Is it something only I can do? And is it something that is going to move my business forward and bring in the revenue and so really constraining ourselves in those areas? Okay. And then number three in finishing the year strong, number three is to think about who do you need to be, want to be to achieve that goal that you have for this year? Who do you need to step into? What is the self concept? What do you want to be thinking? What is the energy that you want to be in? What do you want to be feeling that is going to really help you get across that finish line, Right. And finish the year strong and do it in a way that is enjoyable at the same time. So if we go back to thinking about the 80, 20 of our thoughts, right? So think about and you can kind of do your own little assessment on this is like, where are the majority of my thoughts? What are the series of thoughts or the thinking that is, is moving you forward? And what is the series of thoughts, the thinking that is keeping you stuck? And what percentage would you give to each one of these, right? Where's the 80% and where's the 20%? And do we need to be making some changes there, right? Because wouldn't that be fun to be spending 80% of our time and our thinking, our thinking time in thoughts that, that are motivating, helping us to stay committed and determined and purposeful and especially in our work time, right? Like I'm not talking about you have to be all fired up 24 hours a day. That's not really what it is. So thinking about what, what is your future self, that at the end of 2023 here, that you have achieved that big goal that you set for yourself at the beginning of the year, you've achieved it, it's completely done. And how are you feeling and thinking about yourself? Right. And I was thinking about this and it's like I was thinking, I would be so very proud of myself. I'd be so very proud of the commitment, the energy I created and that I stuck with it, I remained committed and I created what I set out to create. And so I can begin or practice thinking and feeling and being in that energy right now. Right. Even even though it hasn't happened yet, or it's in the process of happening, really. I mean, hasn't happened yet maybe isn't a thought that would serve me, but it's like I'm in the process of creating that. No, I haven't created it yet, but I'm going to. And I'm in. It's in the works, right? So thinking about stepping every day, every moment of the day into that self concept of the person, the woman that achieves that goal, stepping into the embodying and becoming the person that achieves that goal. And so, and doing that and practicing that more and more throughout my workday, every day. So you can practice expanding that little by little throughout your days, throughout your weeks, and then celebrating, right? So at first, maybe you're embodying that future self 1% of the time or 5% of your day, or, you know, just a small fraction of your work day. But as you do that, you create so much more, more value. You show up in a whole different way. Right? Your vibe is completely different. It's much more attractive. And so I really just ask you to consider and encourage you that that is how we're going to create that momentum going forward, that it's much less important what we're actually doing than coming at it with this approach and really approaching our business and our work from an energy of purpose and determination and willingness to learn and willingness to figure it out. And when we do that, it's going to happen and it's going to happen so much easier with more flow, a lot less force, right? And so just celebrate your progress right now and have grace for yourself and think about how far you've already come this year, even if you're not where you want to be. I'm not where I want to be yet, but I'm exactly where I'm supposed to be, right? I'm learning the lessons I need to be learning. And I see how much I have created and I see how much I've gained in this first half of the year and I'm going to stand upon that and believe that I can create exponentially more in the coming months. And so this is the type of work that I do with my clients that I would love to do with you as well. If it's something that you feel like would be valuable to you, I would love to have a conversation and we can talk more about how I can help you, coach you, be your advisor and help you get to that goal that you have set for yourself for the year and create that momentum. I'm so excited that for the rest of this year I feel like it's going to be great and I just appreciate you being here today. I'm so glad that you joined me and I hope you have a fabulous rest of your day and weekend and I know this is going to be a great third and fourth quarter, second half of this year and I wish you all the best and I hope to see you and speak with you soon. See you next time, you guys. Bye. If you like this podcast then you have got to sign up for my free on demand video training Grow youw Sales Doing what yout Love Where I teach you in depth my simple process that you can implement right away to harness your mindset and your skills to grow your sales sales to whatever level you want. So go grab that now. The link is in the show notes and I'll see you next time.