Business Built With Strategy

Confidence Isn't A Business Plan

• With Victoria E Strange • Season 1 • Episode 4

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Confidence alone won't build a sustainable business. Systems, automation, and strategic infrastructure are what truly create scalable success and prevent burnout.

• Confidence helps with visibility and selling but cannot replace systems, structure, or strategy
• A business that only works when you're working is actually just a demanding job
• Four essential strategy components: clear problem-solving offer, profitable pricing, client acquisition system, and automation
• Five key areas to automate: lead capture, client onboarding, email sequences, scheduling/payment, and content scheduling
• Automation doesn't make your business cold—it makes it functional and prevents burnout
• Systems free you to focus on what you're good at and make your business work even when you're offline
• Batch content creation saves significant time compared to daily posting

Please rate my podcast and follow if you enjoyed this episode. It means so much to me and I'll see you next week on Monday.


Speaker 1:

Hello everyone. It's Victoria here and welcome back to another episode of Business Built With Strategy. So let's get one thing straight Confidence is not a business plan. You can be the most confident person in the room loud, visible, magnetic and still be flat broke, and still be flat broke. Why? Because confidence doesn't replace clarity, it doesn't replace systems, it doesn't replace strategy and it sure as hell does not replace structure. So today we're going to be getting really honest about what confidence can do in business and what it absolutely can't. We're going to be talking about something probably far less interesting but 10 times more powerful, and that is automated systems. Don't switch off yet. I'll make it interesting, because confidence it might open the door, but it's the systems that you know keep the lights on.

Speaker 1:

So you've probably been told you just need to back yourself, be more visible. Of course you have to be more visible. You have to be visible. You have to have that audience, that email list. You've probably also been told. Put yourself out there. And yes, confidence is useful, you need it, but let's not confuse energy with infrastructure. You can show up all over socials and still not be building anything solid. You can have the most stunning charisma, but no conversion, you can feel empowered and still be completely unclear on how to make that consistent income that everyone wants. Confidence without systems is like shouting into a storm it feels so powerful but nothing actually does land. So I'm going to break it down for you. You knew what I was going to do.

Speaker 1:

What can confidence do? What confidence can do for you Help you speak up about what you do, which is obviously is needed. Help you to sell more easily. Help you charge more if you've got that clear offer behind it to back it up. What it can't do replace client onboarding. Manage your diary. Replace client onboarding. Manage your diary. Send payment reminders. Keep your leads warm. Handle admin when you're offline.

Speaker 1:

You cannot scale a business that only works when you're working. That's not a business. That's, oh, a very demanding job, and, of course, there is a lot more of what it can do and what it can't do, but I would be here until next year if I was to list everything. So, instead of banking on confidence, here's some of the things that you do need. So, of course, you.

Speaker 1:

So encompassing all of this before I tell you what they are is, of course, a strategy, and a bloody good one. That is what you need. But obviously, to build a strategy, you need everything that goes under that umbrella, and I'm going to give you four things. So the first one is a clear offer that solves a real problem, a price point that makes profit it doesn't just cover your nerves. A system for how you find people that you want to buy from you and also stay in touch.

Speaker 1:

And automation so it doesn't all fall apart. When you take that day off, you know, go for lunch or do whatever you want to do, or you just need a break. You know you want to know that you can take that time without everything falling apart, because that's not a break, that's just a worry. That's what gives you peace of mind, that's what lets you stop checking your phone like your life depended on it. You know, let's be honest, confidence can can actually lead you off track, because if you've got the energy, the motivation, the visibility, it feels like you're doing something right. I mean, it really, really, really does.

Speaker 1:

But I've seen people burn out, chasing energy instead of building systems, and that's when business starts to feel just really heavy, messy, chaotic. Confidence without automation means everything relies on you, and that is a recipe for burnout. I am not getting this from a textbook, I am talking from experience. I have had burnout once and I don't recommend it. It really wasn't very nice, it was bloody awful. So automation, it's just, it's paramount. So here is where we flip the script. You don't need more energy, you need better systems, and when I say better systems, I mean automated systems, not more to-do lists. I love a list, don't get me wrong, I have lists for everything, but in this, in this um instance, you need more automated systems. So let me give you the five areas where you can automate right now.

Speaker 1:

So number one is lead capture. Stop relying on the oh, dm me, dm me on this, dm me on that. I tend to veer off things or say dm me, um, unless it's written in a certain way, and you're also relying on memory. Use a lead form on your site or a link in your bio. It collects name, email, what they want, and automatically sends a follow up email or a booking link. And the tools that you can get to do this are Google Forms, typeforms, mailerlite, do it ConverterKit. It runs 24 seven so that you don't have to. So when you are asleep it is working for you.

Speaker 1:

So number two client onboarding. Someone says yes, fantastic. Now let a system handle the rest. An automatic welcome email, a contract via HelloSign or Dubsado one of them, a payment link, a calendar link for booking, what happens next, pdf. It's all set up for you. You set it up once. You don't have to do it a million times for every customer. I mean it would be good if we had a million customers, but you get the gist. You set it up once. You don't have to do it a million times for every customer. I mean it would be good if we had a million customers, but you get the gist. You set it up once. It runs every time. That time and brain space back, you've got it back instantly.

Speaker 1:

Number three email sequences. Create a five email welcome or nurture sequence. It can introduce you, share what you offer, include testimonials and invite people to the hook. You don't again have to write it every time. You don't have to remember to follow up. You write it once and let it build trust while you get on with your actual work. And again, mailchimp, convertkit, mailerlite doesn't need to be fancy, it just needs to be done.

Speaker 1:

And what I will say on this? I kind of get a bit of a kick out that I've got to. I only have to do it once. I like it because when it comes to say the email sequences, I really put my heart and soul into each of those emails because actually I know that I haven't got to do them again. So each of those emails is special. I put everything into it because I kind of think, well, this has to be the best that I can get it, not just for me but for my potential client, because I don't want, you know, look, we all have a load of emails coming to our email boxes. I spend a lot of time just going through, you know, sometimes going through and just unsubscribe. Unsubscribe because they're boring. So it's really important that when you do say that five you know five email sequence, make them interesting, put your heart and soul into them because you're not going to have to do them again. Of course you'll have to do them again if you're doing a different type of sequence, but that particular sequence you're only going to have to do it once. So make it count, make it count.

Speaker 1:

So number four scheduling and payment. Still going back and forth with clients trying to find a time, use something like Calendly or Acuity. I can never say that. They book, they pay, it's in your diary Done, no awkward invoice chases, no missed calls. You set the boundaries, the system holds them for you. Love it, just perfect. Love it, just perfect.

Speaker 1:

Content scheduling oh, this is a big one. We have all been there. We set up the um, the socials, and then we begin posting every day. I mean, oh it's, it's exciting. First of all because you're like, oh, what can I post today? No, no, no, no, no, no, no. You need a visibility strategy. That's the first thing, so that everything aligns. You know your messaging, your tertiary messaging, everything needs to align. Stop posting in the moment. Batch your content, schedule it, move on. Done literally. Is that literally? Is that might take you a day, might take you two days, but that is two days out of I don't know how often you want to do your batch scheduling.

Speaker 1:

I used to do it, oh god, I used to do it two monthly. Then actually I did do it three monthly. That was, it was too difficult. So I sometimes do it monthly, sometimes do it every two weekly, but I batch it. It takes me one day, maybe one and a half, it's done. I don't need to think about it, it's, it's, it's, it's done? Um, obviously, with stories, then I do them per day. But the anything that goes out onto insta, your posts, anything like that, it's all done and it's the same, you know, with your emails again, it's done. And with your uh posting, you can use metrical latter buffer plan alloy what else is there? Oh, um, oh, I can't remember what it's called, but anyway, I use um facebook, I use the meta scheduler. I love it. I tell you, I love it. It's easy to use. I did a bit of umming there, didn't I Never normally do that?

Speaker 1:

Bottom line automation doesn't make your business cold or robotic. It makes it functional and that is what you need. You just need that. It frees you up to focus on what you're good at and it makes your business work Even when you're tired, unwell or just simply offline. Having a little break is so important. So confidence may make you visible. So confidence may make you visible. But systems make you viable. If you want to feel calm in your business, build in automation. If you want to feel in control, stop holding everything in your head, because you will suffer burnout and your head will just metaphorically explode. If you want to grow, start acting like you don't need to be in five places at once Because you don't. So next time someone tells you to just be more confident, tell them oh, I've got something better, I've got systems, and that is how real businesses are built.

Speaker 1:

I hope that you've enjoyed this episode. If you have, please rate my podcast. Please give me a little follow. It means so much to me and I will see you next week on Monday. Take care everyone. Have a fantastic week.