Dear Business Owner, Stop Showing Up and Winging It

Whether it’s because you have no clue what to do or feel like you can muscle through it, stop winging your weeks. You started your business because you wanted freedom and flexibility, do you have it? 

Once your are intentional about time, energy, and priorities, the freedom will come.

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Transcript

0:00

I'm Jada Willis and this is the Back to Business podcast made for business owners, CEOs and high achievers that are ready to leave their BS excuses behind, get more out of life and see business growth like never before. Let's take the road less traveled and tackle the hard. Are you ready to get back to business? Hey B2Bers, thank you for joining me. Let's get back to business. This message is coming out of a couple of different places. I've been spending some time with my clients, some new CEOs, some of the CEOs that have been in the business for you know 10 plus years now and they kind of all have something in common and Definitely from different industries different backgrounds They're they're showing up and winging it and and really Trying to hope that everything works out whether it's life and whether it's business. It doesn't mean that their business isn't doing quote unquote well. So from those CEOs that I just spoke of, there are some that are doing extremely well, but want to do better. And you have to define extremely well. So extremely well is not having a problem with sales coming in, definitely having strong cash flow, but maybe they're also spinning their wheels in how they're managing their people, how they are getting customer feedback and taking care of their customers. You have to define what well is, but in this case it's definitely strong sales, definitely strong cash flow. And then the other side of the CEOs that are winging it, these business owners are not doing so well. They're in survival mode and that means maybe they don't have a strong cash flow and it's really starting to worry them and it feels as if the business is out of their control and it's kind of the business and the fires to put out are guiding them and not the other way around. It's like not even having a to-do list, but really, you know, hey, I know I'm going to walk into a storm of fire, so I'm letting those guide my day, my week, my month. And I'm here to tell you, I really want you to stop winging it. I know that you're showing up. First off, I respect that. I respect not running away from the problem. not having an intentional plan and not even getting the right partners to help you out of the situation or help you grow the situation and then just really just like hoping it will all work out and and we all know this if you have a dream but you do not have a plan it is it's just a wish you're just you're hanging on to that wish and and listen this is this is hundreds of thousands of dollars, this is millions of dollars at stake, your employees' lives. If it feels like shots fired right now, it means that this is a call to action of gaining some control and intentionality over your life and over your business. And it's because of what I'm repeatedly seeing. It doesn't mean that there's anything bad about the CEOs. They're really, really good humans and really smart and really talented. It just means that your business has, in some way, outgrown you. That's why there are experts in their field. Whether that's in payroll, HR, accounting, strategists like myself, executive consulting like myself. So it doesn't, there's an expert in everything that can help out, and if you don't even know where to start first off, this is now a plug for me, definitely reach out, bare minimum. Even if I'm not able to help, or if I'm just not the right person, I'm gonna guide you in the right direction. You have to have someone that's going to identify what are the gaps in your business if you just have no idea. But that's an action step. That's going to get progress and momentum. Even in saying, hey listen, I'm going to admit, I have no idea what's going on, I'm just fighting fires every day, or I have no idea how to grow this business, let me just get some help. And I really encourage those that do not have some sort of structured routine in the morning or how you're preparing for your week ahead, how you're honestly looking at your to-do list, are you setting up in the way of you have these priorities for the week and maybe you set up three for each day that you're like absolutely I know I'll be making progress if I accomplish these three things. And it will help you with progress in actually with the momentum of what your brain needs, so it will release that dopamine, and also just you end the day in saying, okay, I did do something. I did accomplish something. And listen, I've been there. I know exactly how that feels to feel like you're on this treadmill and I worked so hard today, but I didn't get very far. So I feel that on a deep level for you and that's why I don't want business centers going through this. They don't have to because there are so many partners out there and we always go through these rubber holes and making excuses. I can't afford it or if I'm already struggling with cash flow, what in the world? What are they gonna do? Well, I'll tell you this. I'm working with a few different CEOs right now that cash flow is definitely an issue and we're definitely going to get them the help they need to pull them out of the sand and start making... Now it's survival mode action planning and there are very specific things that we have to work on to get them to the place where they are able to even think about growth, think about scaling, but it can't start unless you're willing to admit and be open to exploring what would it take. What would it take for this to be better? What would it take for my business to be profitable? And there's no harm in asking that because I think it's because business business owners feel like either they feel ashamed about where they are or They feel as if they should be able to fix the problems themselves And if you're listening to this and you feel that way that's just not the case Usually someone starts a business because they're really good at one thing. They're really good at this craft and You want to have freedom you want to have you want the opportunity to provide a better life for your family. You want flexibility. Whatever it is that you want, you're building this business off of your craft. So you do that really, really well. It doesn't mean that you actually know how to run a business. We all figure it out as we go. That's just know if you walk into a room of business owners, all figuring it out as we go. And if you can't admit that, then that's a concern from an ego perspective. You may have an inclination towards the financials, and that's great. Or you may be more people-focused, like myself, and that's great as well. And that will help you in each part of the business. But there's so many variations of the functions of the business, especially for whatever stage your business is in, how many employees that you have. And there's going to be a time where you need help. Your customers need your help. So of course, you're going to need a CPA. You're going to need a bookkeeper. You're going to need HR support and HR guidance. You're gonna need an executive coach. And you're also going to need someone to help you with strategic planning. You're gonna have someone help you from a recruiting perspective. The list goes on and on because there are experts in their field for a reason. It doesn't mean that you use all these partners all at one time, but that's the beauty of outsourcing. It's the beauty of also working with someone that's going to help you to identify when do I hire, when do I hire next, and what do I hire for? Really looking at the flow and the structure of your business. I'm just telling you that you have options and it's okay. Don't feel stupid. Don't feel embarrassed. We all have been there, but it's a time to take control of your life and of your business. So getting back to even your to-do list and focusing on how you're going to be a bit more productive in your day is that you have to also have intentionality with your calendar. You can't be everywhere to everyone. So it's doubling down on prioritizing and what's the one thing today that's going to add the most value? Either to my people, my family, or myself. And start thinking about time blocking. There are going to be constant interruptions and I don't care if you have to hide in the closet and work. And you can't do it at home, maybe your family's at home, but you need to get out of the place of this is just what life is and getting out of your own way to say, you know what, by any means necessary, I'm going to make this happen, even if I have to hide in a closet and work to get some peace and quiet, even if I have to block off two hours in my day and get away from the office. It depends on whatever the problem is, and that's going to depend on the solution. But it's focused on being thoughtful about your time and thoughtful about your output. I want to give you these simple steps so that you can at least gain some immediate traction on feeling as if you're making progress, feeling as if you're grabbing control of your day, of your week. But it's not a one-size-fits-all, it's just a band-aid approach because there's so much more to do with your schedule and with your business and with the planning of your business. But it is going to help you, and it's going to help you in the immediate. I was talking to one of my clients today, and I loved what she said to me, is, I mean, first off we did an entire exercise around a brain dump of schedule, how to organize what meetings go where based off of energy level. And she happens to be a new mom, and if you know anything about that, that comes with a lot less sleep, a lot more responsibility. and so you got to be really creative with your schedule and also with your energy, right? but she has a very very big job and that means and also manages people and that means that we had to get creative with the blocks of hours that she has available in her day and what day is used for what because I'm sure that you're really tired by Friday. She really is as well. So what we did was a complete brain dump of her day, her tasks, her priorities, the requirements of her schedule, where does she have to be and where and when. And we actually plugged it into ideal work week and then did blocking off depending on what the task was and blocking off depending on what energy level was. It sounds complicated, it was actually took about an hour, hour and a half to do the whole thing, so that was just one small small part of it. And it was also looking at if she does have, you know how you get those blocks of time where it's, I mean it could be 30 minutes, but it's 30 minutes you're like, oh, I could do something right now, and I don't want to, I've already taken like a walk, right, I've already taken a break. I have 30 minutes and I can be super, super productive. What would I work on? Well, A, you need to have an up-to-date to-do list to know even what you could do to kind of chip away at your overall task list, but the second thing is that's not a deep focus time. So, what is it that you could do or delegate during that time, but it's not, that's not the energy piece of it. That's something that's going to be mindless time. The email you need to send that you've been putting off. And maybe it's one thing you need to delegate that's probably going to take about 30 seconds, but again, you had to put brain power to it and just stop for a few minutes. Those are things you do in those small, really small pieces of time that come up, come available for you, for you to feel as if you are making progress and you do have control over your schedule. I just want you to stop weighing it, because you just don't have to. Start looking at prioritizing your to-do list and fitting it into the the week, but even if I had to talk to you right now, whoever you are, if you're a business owner, if you're a leader, I would say why is it a priority? Why is it a priority? Is this something that really should be done by you? Is this something that you really have to do? Is it something that really adds value to your life, to your business, to your family, and can it be delayed? Is this something that can be delayed a week, a month, and not because you're procrastinating and you don't want to do it, that's a different story, but delayed because there are other pieces, there's other tasks on your to-do list that take precedent, that honestly are going to move your business forward, going to move your position forward. So I would urge you to do that to-do list, of course, I am passionate about a to-do list. My to-do list is my best friend, okay? So sorry to my best friends out there listening, but that's my best friend. It's ever-evolving, we go everywhere together, and constantly, constantly talking to me. So that being the case, it's gonna dictate, well, it can let it control, it can control what I'm doing for the week if I am being responsible with organizing it in a way that is urgent, so that's the now, that's the urgently now category, or should it be delegated, should it be delayed, or due later. Like those are those are simple things and simple hacks on how to categorize even your to-do list. All right, so I'm a big goal person. If you know me and you know that I love to set goals, I set goals in every area of my life, please tell me that you are setting business goals. And like even if they are just so outlandish and they're crazy. I don't care. I really appreciate the fact that you even are thinking about where do I want to go next, even if you don't know how to get there, because most of us don't know how to get there. We're just putting together action plans and hopes that we'll get there. And there are ways to fine-tune that. There are ways to, you know, if you want to categorize this as SMART goals, which I'm so-so. You know, I'm thinking those are overall helpful, but it's a really good framework to get started. So when you're thinking about your goals, do you set goals for the week? Think about setting three goals that you wanna hit for the week. Then take it side by side with your to-do list. And then determine, is your task list actually getting you to your goals? You'll find that whenever you compare the two, they may not match up. And if they don't match up, ask yourself why. Do I have the right goals? Do I have the right tasks? Let's make sure that we get into alignment. Your goals should be then working backwards to your task list. Can you guys tell I absolutely love this stuff? Like, it's just, man, I love a good action plan. I love getting organized. I love doing the brain dump into the to-do list and then prioritizing from there. It's just fun. It's just fun. But here's the thing, even if you don't like doing it, it's so important because you have intentionality in your day. You know what's expected of you, of yourself, right? Or no one else is asking you to do this to-do list unless you are an employee. And then in that case, yeah, that's sometimes driven by your position or your boss. But in thinking about it from a business center perspective or CEO perspective, listen, that's the best part. You get all this autonomy to dictate your schedule. And if you just scoffed at that, you said, what, no, my team pulls at me, my significant other is actually my real boss, I have all these other priorities. Of course you do, yes, but you have your time, right? You only have 24 hours in your day, listen. And there are a lot of really successful people that are also parents, that are also growing their businesses. It's about how you approach your time. It's about how you approach your week and getting the most out of it. That doesn't mean doing the most. It means how are you using and how are you crafting and how are you maximizing all this time that's been given to you. And I do recommend getting some sleep, setting the morning routines, making sure that you're drinking enough water, exercising, but because in all seriousness, even though it sounds, you know, maybe cliche, but it really does fuel the person that needs to show up every day to hit these goals, if you hit the goals, or if we hit this goal, what will the business impact be? What value does hitting this goal produce? When you start being reflective and thinking through, the output of doing X will impact X. Game changer. Game changer. You're going to start thinking, how am I even doing this right though? I promise you, even if you're doing this and it's all over the map, it's some sort of progress. It's moving your business forward in some way and even yourself forward where it's maybe you don't have the best approach, but it's way better than head in the sand. It's way better than showing up and just hoping you make some progress, whatever that means. It's way better than really not having vision or any kind of structure to your day, to your week, to your business. I want you to stop winging it, even if you're consistently showing up in your business, and if you're not, come on, it's time to show up, time to get up. Stop winging it, hoping it all just works out, because guess what? It doesn't. In order for your business to reach the results that you really want them to, and what are those results? Let's think about it. You want more money. You want to increase sales and cash flow, you want more profitability, you want to be able to pay your employees more pay yourself more, you want to be able to actually make a difference and an impact in the business that you have developed, you have crafted and created. And it's not too late. And you're you definitely are able to. So what is stopping you? Look at your why. Start doing these steps, do an instant replay of this podcast, but you gotta show up, you gotta take some control, you gotta look yourself in the mirror and be like, am I fully showing up right now to my business and to my employees? And whatever answer that is, you gotta live with that. So it is time to show up, be intentional, create action steps, create action plans, and start hitting some of those goals. It's your time. I'm going to end this podcast just like I end every podcast, and I'm going to really tell you, yeah, I'm really telling you, choose your heart. Everything you want is on the other side of heart. Choose your heart.