144. How to Reignite Your Momentum and Finish the Year 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, good morning. Good morning, ladies. How's it going? Happy Wednesday. Hump day. How are you? I hope you're doing great. It's getting my windows set here. Say hello once you join. I know it takes a few minutes for everybody to get on, but here we are, it's Wednesday. It's a time for another marketing mini master class with Melissa. If you love alliteration like Melissa. Thank you so much for being with me today. Whether you're coming on here live or in replay, hashtag replay, say hello. I'm really excited for the teaching I have for you today. We're going to be talking all about setting a growth target for Q4. And I, I know we're already in Q4, but for those that might feel like they're just kind of wandering a little bit and don't have a good focus, a good, you know, a clear target, we're going to talk about that today. And I have been learning something about setting targets and how uncertainty and how to really kind of hack our natural goal setting and goal achievement desire and to, to really help us stay motivated and keep going. And so, so yeah, that's what we're talking about today. Last week we talked about, I came with a power up type talk. I really wanted to just really encourage you and power you up and talked about how to build stamina and resilience and grit to keep showing up in your business and your marketing. And that's what this entrepreneurial journey is always asking of us. Right. And so, and before we get too far in, I want to just introduce myself in case we haven't met before. My name is Melissa Kellogg Luick and I am a marketing coach and consultant for women entrepreneurs. I basically teach women entrepreneurs how that, that maybe are not feeling that confident. You know, they're great at the work that they do, but not great at marketing it. I help them to learn the skills, skill and the mindset behind marketing to go out and spread their impact and create revenue and build their business. So that's what I absolutely love doing. So that's what we're up to here. So why are we here today? So I want to encourage you and the reason why I'm doing this series of mini master classes. And by the way, All. All of these are being broadcast. You know, we're broadcasting. We're live. All of these are going to be also repurposed on my podcast. So if you want to go back and listen to the one that I did last week, that's going to be up on the podcast, because I know if you're joining me on a social media platform that doesn't keep videos like Facebook, you might. Or, you know, sometimes scrolling back is a pain in the butt. You can just go to the podcast and find it right there. Okay. And the podcast is doing business like a woman. So that's me. That's where you can find last week's. And why are we here today? So we are here because I want you to know that it is not too late to create a great year for yourself and your business, no matter where you are right now. The past is the past. We can't change that, but we know we can change what's coming up the rest of this year. Right. And I was thinking about, you know, coming up and. And writing this teaching today, and the Denver Broncos, if you're in Colorado, say hello, but I'm in Colorado. And so the Bronco Denver Broncos are a football team. I'm not a huge football fan, but I went down the street. My sister lives down the street, and she's a big football fan, Big Bronco fan. And I went over there to see my niece and my baby nephew and my sister, of course, and she happened to be watching the Bronco game on Sunday. And at the beginning of the fourth quarter of that game, the Broncos had a big goose egg. They had zero points. They were losing. What I have it in my notes, like, 19 to 0 or something like that. And so many. Yeah, they were behind 19 to 0 at the beginning of the fourth quarter. So they had 0. And they actually came back and won the game. And so if it's not too late for the Broncos, it's not too late for me, and it's not too late for you. Right. So I want to. That's why I'm coming to you every Wednesday this entire fourth quarter, to teach you everything I know about building a sustainable, lasting, profitable business and doing so even under the pressure. And we can handle pressure Right. Of the fourth quarter, of the end of the year coming and of wanting to achieve the goal that you set out for the year or even setting a new one. Right. My intention here today is that you receive something in this mini masterclass that you can take with you that gives you hope and inspires you and it energizes you and is practical that you can take action on. Right? And I have a really simple four steps for you today that you can go and implement and, and keep going and finish this year strong. So I want to teach you today a really revolutionary method for setting a target and hitting it. And I, I love studying this kind of stuff. So I'm going to share with you all the latest that I've been learning and using in my own life and my own business. So the only way you'll know if you created what you want this year is if you set a specific target or goal. You can call it a goal, call it a target, but it's not too late to set a target. And I hardly, hardly, and I highly encourage you to set a goal this year, have a target between now and the end of the year. Because it's part of our nature as humans to set the goals. We have a prefrontal cortex, which is a part of our brain that animals don't have. Animals like my dog sleeping over here on the couch, can't see her, but she can't set a, she doesn't set goals, she doesn't plan for things. She is reactionary. She is acting based on her urges and reacting to what's coming, you know, what's happening in her present moment. And, but we as humans have a whole additional area of our brain called our prefrontal cortex. And that is the higher thinking, planning, visionary, goal setting part of our brain. It's natural for us to set goals. That's why we can make plans for dinner. That's why we can book vacations that aren't happening till next year because we are goal setters. And so you are naturally a goal setter. And you're the highest part of yourself. Your nature wants to, to have a target and wants to hit it. So, so that's what we're going to talk about today. Because when you do, you really are activating your higher self. You are connecting with that future self and becoming more of who you are meant to be with and have the impact that you're meant to have. So, and this is what I help my clients do, right? One of the first things we always do together is we're setting targets. And so if you want this kind of support from me personally, I am available to help you. We're gonna, I'll have a link in the, in the comments later on if you want to schedule some one on one time with me to talk through this and apply what we're gonna learn today exact specifically to you and your business because I really wanna help you complete. Create complete clarity on how you can end this year achieving what you most want. Right. And help you implement what I'm going to teach you today. So I want you to know that is completely on the table. It's an option for you. Okay? So I want to start out with a story. Another story. So, yes, the Broncos. The Denver Broncos. So, yeah, at the beginning of the fourth quarter of their game on Sunday against the New York giants, it was 19 0. And that's when I went to my sisters to hang out and see my babies because I really wanted to see them and hang out with them. Football was kind of there, but it was very exciting once. I mean, it was great to just get to watch the fourth quarter. And so they start the fourth quarter, it's 19, 0. How many fans turned that game off? How many of the people on the New York Giants thought, oh, we've got this game in the bag. We're, you know, just going to sail through this fourth quarter. But what I want you to think about, what I want you to remember is that in the course of that game, it was the exact same team, it was the exact same players, they had the exact same skill level, the exact same coaches that they did at from the, you know, the first three quarters of that game, right? And so they made adjustments. They must have. Right, they must have made some adjustments and went out into that fourth quarter, maybe changed the way they were thinking because their behavior was completely different in the fourth quarter. And they came back from zero to win that game 33 to 32 is what I think the score ended up to be. And so I want you to just think about that, right? Because what I've learned from sports, from that, in my own experience of playing women's ice hockey, is that. That think about how is it back from that, Right. I recently read a book called Masters of Uncertainty with Rich Diviney, which I think is how you say his last name. He's a former Navy seal and he is an author and a leadership trainer. And, and so he talks about, and I'm going to teach this to you today, what I learned from him is that you can't think about winning the whole game, Right? Like for the Broncos, at the beginning of the fourth quarter, when they're looking at, you know, staring down the barrel of zero, they have created zero points for the entire game and they can't think about coming back from a 19, you know, to 19 point deficit. Right. You have to think about what I'm going to teach you today. Right. And so you can't think about that 19 point deficit or for Rich Diviney in his surviving hell week during Navy SEAL training is you're not thinking about surviving the entire week, you're thinking about surviving the next five minutes or the next, you know, it's just the next a little bit. And I'm going to show you how you can apply this in your business. So how do we do that? So the simple solution really is to set a target that is specific and measurable. How do you want to finish the year? And then we're going to break up your target into manageable chunks that activate your dopamine. Right, Your dopamine stores, which is really that internal motivation that that keeps you going and keeps you wanting to achieve the goal. Right. A lot of people don't set goals because of, you know, the fear of how they're going to feel if they don't hit it or it just doesn't motivate them or whatever. Well, we are natural goal setters as humans and we are natural goal achievers because of our biochemistry. We know that those dopamine stores, you know, wanting to go for that to hit with us, that is our navigation. We're naturally motivated to be hitters, but you have to know how to set the goal. And it Rich Diveny in his book talks about setting the duration, figuring out the pathway that leads to the outcome. Right. So I'm going to teach you how to do that today. So, so step one of our process, the first thing we need to do is think about how would you love to end this year? What do you most desire? Is it a financial goal? Is it the number of clients or people you're impacting? Goal. Is it how you want to feel in your business or feel about yourself and the work you're doing at the end of the year? Right. Think about what you most desire and you can think about it right now. What is it? Something specific and measurable? It can't be, oh, I just want to be successful this year. No, that's part of it. Like you start there. But what does successful exactly mean? How do you define it? In a way that's specific and measurable and so set a goal, set a target for yourself. That is a little scary, but. But also sounds fun and exciting. Right? And my goal is not going to be the same as your goal because what sounds fun and exciting to me might not be fun and exciting to you. What is terrifying and scary to me, might not be something that is scary at all to you, might be easy for you. So we could each have different goals and targets and the way that we set them. So let's just say for the sake of argument, you want to set a financial goal and you want to end the year at 100k. Let's say you're at just for round Numbers, you're at 50k now. So you want to create an additional $50,000 by the end of this year. Right? Okay, so that's very specific and it's very measurable. Right? So step two. Now we're going to break it down. How does this all come together, Case, how many clients do you need in your offers? What is the revenue you already know that's coming in? Maybe from payment plans or other, you know, other revenue sources that are already coming in. Like how does it come together, how many? And then think about, okay, well maybe it's I want to sign 10 new clients just for round numbers. This doesn't mean it's exactly you. But say you want to send sign 10 new clients at $5,000 each, that's 50 grand, right? So, okay, if that's the case, then how many consultations or how many sales conversations do you need to have based on what you know about your closing percentage? Like, you know, I love to teach my clients and work with my clients on how we get to at least 50% of closing. So say for example, your closing rate is 50% and you want to create 10 clients. Well, you know you're going to have to have 20 consultations, right? Okay, so then we have, that's very specific, very measurable, right? So how is it possible, or is it possible that all of those 20 folks that are going to schedule a sales conversation with you are already in your or are already around you? And because of the short time frame, so I know it's exactly 10 weeks from today is December 31st, right? So from today we have exactly 10 weeks left in this year. Right? So I want you to, because of that shorter time frame for most service based businesses that, that I work with, this is not the kind of time frame where you're going to create a whole bunch of new offers or products or whatever, and you really are going to be selling what you're already selling to the people that are already around you, because that's the easiest, fastest path to creating those clients. Right? So if you're focused on the people already around you, already in your orbit, how you know, is it possible? Is it Possible that there are those 20 people in this example that are already here. Yes. For the longer term, you also want to think about growing your list and all those things. But for our purposes today, what I'm teaching you today, I want you to think about this next 10 weeks, right? So who is where in your client journey? How many folks you know do you already have kind of in the pipeline, so to speak? Think about that, right? And then, so that's like your business case, right? We're going for 20 consultations, 50k, made up of 10 clients, right? So we know those basic numbers. So then we want to break it up into smaller chunks of certainty, right? So what Rich Diviney teaches in his book is that as a Navy seal, they were sent on missions, right? And every single mission they had an objective. They knew what the outcome needed to be. However, all along, the way of getting to that outcome was unpredictable, as you can imagine, right? In that kind of work, it would be very unpredictable. And so the way that they always dealt with, with that unpredictability and that uncertainty and the things that come up is they would stop when something unpredictable happened. They would pause and they would adjust, right? And they would define the duration. So, you know, maybe the duration was, oh, we're going to drive a mile down this road and then, you know, we're going to meet up with someone and that's going to lead to this. Well, that all changes and so maybe it's okay. Well, you know, that thing isn't going to happen that way now. But the duration is we're going to wait here for five minutes and when we do that, we're going to expect a phone call. And, you know, and the outcome is going to be this. So for us in our businesses, you get to decide what your duration is going to be. So we know the long, the big picture duration right now is the next 10 weeks till the end of the year. But if you're thinking about creating 20 consultations and 10 clients in the next 10 weeks, that's kind of a big, lots of big numbers and big time frames, right? So we need to bring that horizon back closer to us and think about, what about this week, what about today? So if I only have today and I want to, you know, how do I need to show up today in order to, what is my pathway in order to create the outcome of a consultation or a sales conversation? What are the things I can do today to create that outcome? And then you go out and you do them and then you assess, did it work? Did it not work. What could I do better tomorrow? Right? So Rich Diviney, he talks about how he survived Hell Week, which is this part of SEAL training that is, you know, as hell. You know, it's not over dramatized either because if you've ever heard the stories of what goes on during Hell Week, it's really hard. And so he says in that book he never thought about how am I going to survive Hell Week. He always brought the horizon back and it's like, okay, how am I going to survive this next five minutes? Or in the. This was a very vivid part of the book. You know, he talks about the part of the training where they have to be in the cold water for a long period of time and survive that. And so he was never thinking, how am I going to survive this period of time in the water? He had to bring the horizon back closer and say, how am I going to just survive this? These next five waves that are washing over me as I'm in this freezing cold water. And so he just focused on a smaller and smaller chunk. And so we each have to know what is that small chunk that we can create certainty within, right? So I am certain today I can, you know, maybe make some phone calls or send emails or reach out, have conversations with people, do the activities that I know, create sales conversations, right? So it takes mental management. And so he gives this idea or this story of a man that, that came up to him after one of his speaking engagements that was an ultra runner. And ultra runners, you know, these are the folks that do like fifty mile, hundred mile races, they do double marathons, like crazy crap like that, right? And the guy said he used to be, I, I don't know if it was 350, 400 pounds, like a really heavily obese individual, unhealthy, not moving his body. And so how did he didn't get up off the couch one day and say, I'm going to go be an ultra runner. No, he, he had to bring. Because that would be way too overwhelming, right? So he had to bring the horizon back. And so the first day he bought a pair of shoes, running shoes or sneakers, whatever, right. The second day he walked out of his house down to the sidewalk. The third day he walked down the sidewalk to the end of the street. And the fourth day he walked, you know, down the street to the mailbox. And the fifth day, and so, you know, little by little he began to, he knew to bring that horizon back. And little by little, little chunk by chunk, he built win upon win upon Win upon win, right? And he did that for so long, he ended up an ultra runner. Isn't that cool? So for him, you know, saying he's going to become an ultra runner, telling him to go out and, you know, jog for 30 minutes would be way overwhelming. But for me, like, you know, I have been a runner all my life, I could go and jog for 30 minutes. So my horizon is different than his and your horizon is going to be different than mine. So it's all about understanding what is that small chunk and what is the size of that small chunk that gives us, allows us to have that motivation, that internal achievement. And it's really. And when you have that sense of achievement, that's really. That's the dopamine hit, right? You get a biochemical response in your body when you achieve that, when you check that thing off and you're like, yes, I did it. And that's the dopamine hit. And you want to break up your goals in chunks that are small enough to give you that dopamine hit regularly. So. Because what that does is it creates a greater motivation, internal motivation, like a naturally driven motivation. So if we know our duration as of now to the end of the year's 10 weeks, and we've done our math, I also. So the next thing is just to think about what is your level of beliefs. 20 people you have consultations with are already in your orbit, right? And if you have in the Bible it says a mustard seed of, of faith will move mountains, right? So if you have just a mustard seed size, if you've ever seen a mustard seed, it's like the size of a poppy seed, right? Teeny tiny. Think about how would I, if, if you just had that little inkling of belief, think about how would you need to show up today to increase that possibility of bringing those folks in, right? Of one person, break the goal even down, bring that horizon back closer. What can you do this week to bring in that one interested person, right? Or connect with that one person? Maybe it's following up with people that you've talked to in the past or reaching out to that person that you met at the networking thing last night or that one person that's been on your mind. Maybe it's asking a current client if there's additional support they could use from you, maybe let them know what you're seeing in their business. Like, how can you really think about all of the different ways to. If you believe those, those 10, those 10 clients, those 10 opportunities are out there. You Know, what are all the things, what are all the ways you need to show up to increase the possibility of them coming in, Right? So I'll give an example of breaking down goals with hockey, another sports metaphor, but this is from my experience in playing hockey. We had our first games of the season. Let's see, weekend before last, we were up in Steamboat playing hockey. And our second game, we played two games up there. The second game was a really rough game. We were behind like seven goals, which is a lot in hockey. And, and it just seemed like a deficit too big to overcome. Right. So our coach was like, okay, for this, you know, third period, which is the final period in a hockey game, I want you just to focus on your game, right? Break it down to this one shift. Don't think about making up seven goals. Think about what am I going to contribute on this next shift, which is my next turnout on the ice, which is 45 to 60 minute seconds, right? So focusing on that one aspect of your game and whether it's catching a pass or giving a good pass or getting a shot off faster, you know, I know all the little pieces that. And we as players, we each know all the little pieces that add up to winning a game, right? Or having a good game, a quality game. So, and doing that, even though we didn't win the game, we actually ended up winning that period. They didn't score any additional goals. So our defense played great, right. And we scored a goal, right? So we actually won that period. And that was because we broke it down into smaller pieces. So all the actions that you take in this next 10 weeks must be taken from a place of believing that all the clients you want to bring in are already around you and already want what you have to offer. Right? So it's not thinking about how am I going to create 20 consultations? That's too overwhelming, too big. Instead, I want you to think about today. What are all the actions I can take today that leads to or this week that lead to deepening a connection, moving one relationship forward, one business relationship forward. Understanding getting a deeper understanding of what one of your best fit clients wants and making one stronger offer to help them, Right? So think about that for a moment. How can you have one meaningful conversation connection? Who's one person you can serve and learn from? Or what is one high value activity you can do today? And if that's how you go through these next 10 weeks, you will not only expand your capacity, but you will also achieve and bring in many more clients, much more business then you would have had you not done that, right? Think about, how can I create an offer? You know, if you're, you know, in our example, you're going to bring in 10 clients at 5k each to make 50k. So how could you create that 5k of value just today for someone? Right? And so once you have chunked up, split up your goal into smaller manageable pieces and brought that horizon closer to you, step four is to get into action, right? Clarity comes from action, not just thinking about it. People ask me all the time, should I, you know, do this action or what about this tactic? Will that work for me? I don't know, right. I mean, I have 20 years of experience in marketing, so I know some things that work and don't work. Right. But for you and the way you do it for your best fit clients and with your energy, all of those factors is what adds up and makes it successful or not, not the actual tactic. Because we know all marketing works, right? All the marketing things, they all work, but they work because of you and what you bring to them. So if you have an idea, go ahead and try it. Make it simple. How can, what's the simplest way you can execute on it and then go in, go out and execute on it. All right, so that's what I wanted to teach you today. So I want to just recap. So number one is setting your big target, right? How do you want to end 2025 from right now today? We can't change what happened in the other three quarters of the year. So maybe you have a goose egg like the Broncos did for the first three quarters of the year, and you want to end this year at 50k or 100k, whatever it is, it doesn't matter. You get to set your big target that is energizing and a little bit scary and sounds fun, right? What is that? So set that specific measurable target number two, then break it down and have the know what the business case is, how it all comes together, you know, how many clients, what are your offers, what are they priced at? Like, how's that all going to, you know, work out? And it's, it's a hypothesis, right? But based on the business you have now, how could you make what you want to make? And then step three is you're going to break that big goal into smaller chunks that you know, that you feel certain of, right? You can, you feel certain that today, which is your duration, what is the pathway to creating a consultation today? Right? That's the outcome you want, is that Consultation how, what are all the ways you could show up today based on the time you have to create a consultation and then go out in action on it. And then you're going to assess it and see what worked, what didn't and go again. And then that step four then is getting into action. Right. And so if you want to go through this process with me personally, like I said at the beginning, I am open to that. I would love to help you and work with you personally on putting together this plan for the next three months. And I've gotten really good throughout this year. I've done a lot of I'm a premier success coach for E Women Network and I've done a ton of sessions with clients this year that are members of the organization. So I've gotten really good at helping clients from all walks of business to create amazing results in just one session. So I want to offer offer that one session to you where we can get together and we I can go through this process with you personally, help keep you motivated and help you set this goal for Q4. You can schedule a call with me now and I'm going to put that link in the, in the comments right now and you can get that scheduled and in one hour we can get you on the path to creating what you really would love to create in 2025, even with 10 weeks left. So what does that look like? We get on a zoom call. I have a bunch of or not a bunch. I have a few questions I will ask you and to see where you're at, where you want to end up the year and then we can work through together how you get there and I can help you do all these steps together in in this one one session. So that's what we have for you today and I hope this helpful. Thank you so much for being here. And next our next installment, October 29, Wednesday, same time, same place. We're going to talk about simplifying for success and how to declutter your Q4 marketing plan and focus on what actually creates clients. So you can just do those things and go out and create the clients with a focused, simple marketing plan that works for you. So I'm going to teach you all about that next week. In the meantime, I hope you have a fabulous rest the of of your Wednesday rest of your week that you're enjoying a beautiful fall and I am on social media, I create on all the channel and I will see you again next time if not before you guys. Hey, if you like this podcast, I want to invite you to become part of my community. The link is in the show Notes. Each Friday, I'm going to deliver to your inbox my weekly celebration as well as my thoughts on the latest in business and marketing. I want to keep you in the know about my upcoming events, free trainings, book clubs, all the fun things, even some free gifts. And of course, I'm going to let you know about these new podcast episodes. I'll see you there.