How Long Should You Prep Before Holding 1:1 Client Appointments/Group Work

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Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:53

Hey cheekers, coming in today with one of the most niche topics I could ever have chosen. But you know some of those things in your own work where you just see it so much and it's such a blind spot in your client's day-to-day operation. One of those things that they like don't even fucking realise is a problem, and you're like, Okay, that's what this is. Okay, I don't know, this may apply to you, it may not apply to you. If it applies to you, you're gonna feel so seen right now, and you're gonna be like, get out of my bedroom, stop fucking looking at me. Um, but I have to get this message out so loud and clear to just save yourselves because I see it so much. Now, I would say this is a topic that um is seen much more in clients of mine that come and work in rebirth, and rebirth is like slightly a new-ish addition to my business. I don't know, there's been so much evolution. Actually, I say there's been so much evolution. That's actually a lie because my business is so fucking simple. I literally have two programs. But anyway, it evolved last year, it was a bit of an accident, it's been fucking wonderful, and here we are, and there's loads of women in it, and it's just going so well, and we love it. But rebirth is more for women who basically are earning less than three grand a month in their business. So I find businesses that are wanting to get to consistent three to five grand, and I have people in there that are like pre-startup, so not earning anything, and they don't want to fuck about, they don't want to make the mistakes the hard way, they want the direction. Um, I would say my more kind of typical client in rebirth is um she's got some clients. Um, she may be anything up to like five years into business or this business. Um, and she's amazing at what she does, and she's extremely passionate about what she does, but she just wants more direction. So the focus is usually wants to make more money, um, wants to understand how to get more leads, so how to attract more clients, um, doesn't want to keep guessing in her marketing, and really wants to nail like those core pieces of the business, time structure, and then of course the inner work that I'm obviously obsessed with. So we do all of that without inconsistency, without overthinking, um, without second guessing yourself, without really wobbling in your self-belief, without caring about what people think. So, anyway, that's just to set the stage a little bit for what we're going to talk about. So, usually these guys are doing one-to-one work and group work. So, that might be like um breath work practitioners that are doing like group breath work um sessions, healers. Um, I've got a hypnotherapist, I've got someone that does human design, I've got so much stuff in there. Um, so people that I tend to find that are doing work a bit like that, like maybe still the fitness people, but like just earlier on in their journey. So, this one of the first times I ever really saw this problem happening was actually with someone who was in social media. So she was in like content creation and stuff, um, and someone else that I worked with in marketing as well was massively doing this. Are you ready? Drum roll. The problem is when people are massively disproportionately over-preparing and over giving on time for tasks. And as much as I'm talking here uh dominantly, just because I saw it again this week with a new client in sessions, like planning for sessions, basically. And the problem is, is it's one of those problems that people don't realise are problems, so it's hard to even fucking call it because sometimes people don't even come to you, like, whoa, this is a problem. They're just like doing it, and then I'm like, What do you mean? You're what why why are you doing that? No, no, obviously, I'm much nicer than that, but you know what I mean. So, as much as I'm talking about over-preparing for one-to-one sessions, and I'm gonna really break this down for you. I've also seen this even in my higher-level clients who are, you know, bigger earners and maybe have more time in the game, with things like their podcasts, right? So basically, the brand new client I realized was uh so she's in breathwork and she was making a brand new playlist for every single um one-to-one session that she would have for the breathwork, and spending longer prepping the session than actually hosting it, and then that same kind of theme was happening for like group sessions that she would run, but she's not alone. I've seen this everywhere. So the social media uh client that I was working with was doing the same, so she would spend hours and hours like prepping the sessions and prepping the content or like redoing it or like a fresh session each time, or you know, I see it with people when they're doing like free masterclasses, you know, spending like a day prepping this fucking masterclass, or like whatever, or you know, I had someone that was spending an hour, an hour like putting together the podcast episode, so not like just recording the podcast episode, but like an hour from recording the podcast episode to it being out, you know, on like the editing or the sorting. Guys, I fucking love you so much, right? I really do, but what the fuck? What the fuck? It has to stop, and you're so amazing because all of these kind of actions, and I really need anyone listening to this to just audit your day quickly, audit your week, audit your month. Like, are you doing this anywhere? In maybe in another realm that I've not called, maybe content. Are you spending like two hours making a piece of content? Like, please find anywhere that you're doing this. If this conversation doesn't apply to you, just listen to another episode, okay? Just scroll on by, go and listen to something else that I've recorded, it will be amazing and apply to you. But if you are, stay seated. We need to talk, we need to continue this conversation, okay? This is all coming from a great place, and I totally get it. But I need to hold your hand when I tell you that this is a huge problem, it is a money block, it is perfectionism, it is a block, it is a problem, it has to go, it's an energy drain, and it's costing you a fortune, and it is so fucking unnecessary. Now, you don't have to run your business like me or anyone else, and if you want to be more polished in certain areas, more power to you, my friend. But there's one skill that's really seen me through to earning the money that I do in the hours that I do with three kids, and that's just the fucking reality, okay? And that is there's an amazing book called Essentialism, actually highly recommend because I think that that really made a change for me years ago. But it's really just seeing life like a pyramid and getting real about what is at the top of that pyramid, i.e. ultimately, what is the priority? And like I've said in so many different episodes in so many different ways, I get it. In an ideal world, everything would be highly produced and super polished, and you'd be on video as well as audio on your podcast, and you'd have the perfect fucking landing page for everything, and okay, that's not the reality that you're living in. I'm assuming you probably have a family if you're listening to this. If you don't, you have a life, you have commitments, you maybe have a partner, okay. I don't know, you have other shit going on, right? You have to let go of this. And if you aren't making six to multiple six figures in what you're doing at the moment, you really, really have to let go of this. And what will happen to kind of like support us to call ourselves out in this kind of thing, is you'll reflect on your business and you'll be like, I'm actually working for like less than minimum wage. And so, where one of the cool parts is ultimately that I do for people is help them make more money in less time, that's only gonna fucking happen when number one, you start to change your identity to drop and be okay with this kind of thing not happening, like becoming the person initially who absolutely does not over-prepare for one-to-one sessions or spend hours putting notes together for them, or you know, preparing for 45 minutes before you do something, or over-editing your podcast, or like, oh my god, it you just it has to start with the identity shift, it has to start with with you getting over it and pointing the finger back in and being like, It's me, the pattern lives in me. If we're not willing to admit that, nothing's gonna change. So, again, probably just scroll on by. So, it's a really good time to be like, Fuck yeah, I am doing that, and it really stems from several things like a lack of self-trust, and I think arguably one of the most important parts behind our business, which is actually the understanding of what earns you money and earns you success in the fucking first place, and that is you and your engine, and you being excited, and you responding to your surroundings. And I appreciate if you're a human design girl, that everyone's a human, a different human design, so different people function differently in this, like, some people naturally have the ingredient in them to you know respond on the fly more than others, but I know projectors that are phenomenal on the spot, so don't use your human design excuses in this arena, okay? Like, ultimately, as an entrepreneur, as a business owner, one of the most important skills for you to develop, and it's just a muscle, guys, it's just the reps, it's not like either in you from birth or not. I'm sorry, it's not, it's a it's a practiced skill, same as anything. So you've got to get doing the reps, and that is you being able to respond, you being able to sit down on a Zoom with a new client, and you've spent five minutes having a quick look through their application form and closing that sales call, or serving that one-off one-to-one and doing a fucking phenomenal job. And I know so many people are gonna want to argue with this, but that's the truth. Such an important part of your career is gonna need to be you pressing record on a podcast, knowing what your point is, riffing having a fucking valuable conversation, pressing done, drag and dropping it into Buzz Sprout and uploading it and titling it and going on about your day. And if I wasn't earning any money and I was working 50 hours a week, then I would be like, argue with me. I'm sorry, but it's just true. And it's like when people want the like the secret to the time management piece, which is what everyone wants. They're like, but I just but just give me the time management. That there, there, there, there it is. It's just not in the uniform that you think time management is going to or needs to come in because you were conditioned to believe that productivity and time management only resemble a colour-coded Google Calendar, which I do have a colour-coded Google Calendar. Um, although I am the most type B human being in the whole world, so anyway, but it's not your time management, babe, lives in you, it lives in your soul, it lives in you starting to trust yourself, it lives in you throwing that shit away, in just stopping this unbelievable over-delivery because you're just never gonna earn the money that you want to earn, and you're certainly never gonna earn it in the hours that you really actually want to work. Like, I don't want my business to need me to work any more than two hours a day. I'm happy to work more than two hours a day, a lot of the days of the week, more than happy, up for it, want to, but I don't want a business that needs me to. There's a fucking difference because I threw my superhero cape away years ago. I'm done. I'm done proving a point that I can do it all. I'm unstoppable. I actually remember like I was the ultimate epitome of like I'll sleep when I'm dead. I've definitely said that so many times in the past. And I remember being like, I'm unbreakable, like I just go and go and go and go and go. Well, do you know what? Eventually you will be ground to a halt, and it's humbling. And I don't want that. I don't want I want to go and live my life. I want to be a great mum, I want to go and be a great partner, I want to have energy, I want to do other shit, I want to be replenished, I don't want to be that crusty coach that's like I'm working till 11 pm, love what you do, and you never work a day in your life, shut the fuck up, and then wakes up in the morning. Don't tell me that you are the best version of yourself as a mum and as a coach and as a service provider and as a partner, if that's how you're working. Like, just don't even fucking bullshit a bullshitter. I've been there, okay? And the only way that you're ever going to progress your business model, even if now isn't the time to go hire ticket or scale, and that's what I see in rebirth. It's not the time, maybe a bit of a price price increase, maybe progressive steps towards that place. Like, yeah, absolutely. But either way, you're never going to have that progression without this changing. So, to wrap up this conversation, I hope this has called out anything that needs to be called out, but with so much love. Okay. What to do from here is to audit and assess where I am ultimately doing so much unpaid for work. What is the perspective shift that I need when it comes to where I'm pouring my time into in my business? Just even the smallest example. Like, I offer one-off, one-to-one uh like strategy sessions, right? That might be for like a particular topic that I'm really talking into in the time, which is often positioning, so making sure that you're positioned to the right person. Example, okay. Someone will pay a one-off fee and book me one-to-one for that. It makes it very clear in there. So once they've purchased it, I ask them three questions. This is probably not hugely dissimilar to how you may or may not work, okay? I make it really clear in there. Answer these questions, chuck them to me on a Google document if you want, or voice note them if that's your jam. That's totally cool, okay? But to be clear, I will not be spending time before our session going through that because I'm not being paid for it. It's not inclusive of it's obviously put across in a really nice way, but this session does not include that prep. Now, if you do a service where you're like, but I need to do that list, then that's fine. But is your pricing reflecting that? You know what I mean? So if someone's paying me for a one-off hour and I'm doing some kind of service, maybe I need to read their blood levels, right? And that requires me to look or put a plan together or reflect for half an hour before, absolutely fine. Is your pricing reflective of that? And have you made that clear to your client as well? Do you know what I mean? Like, this is inclusive of half an hour of private review on my my part, and you know what I mean? So that's the first part is review and order in your business. Like, where am I doing unpaid work? I am actually, even as someone that doesn't technically work time for money, really, like barely any of my business requires that, like, or none of it relies on it. But I am a big fan of still knowing your hourly rate, and I think that's because I'm someone who had a bricks and mortar business um in my makeup artist days when I had my studio for eight years, so I always based my pricing off my hourly rate. Um, and because I did bridal packages, even when I shot my bridal package price up through the fucking roof, it was still like okay, that is there for my hourly rate, and then that's how I would charge my travel and so on and so forth. So it was like I got to a point where I was very fortunate and I could be super fussy with the work that I took on because of where my career and reputation and stuff were. So I didn't really want any more weddings. So it was like I got to be a fussy bitch and be like, you know, I want all of them to be within 20 miles of where I live, and if it was more, I'm gonna charge you fuel, but I'm also gonna charge you time because anything out of that vicinity is physical time that I can't be working or can't be with my family, or you know what I'm saying? So I feel like that might give a light bulb piece to some people, but even now I still have a very clear understanding of where my hourly rate is. It doesn't mean to say, and this is a good point, it doesn't mean to say that that's what I would charge clients on a one-off session, because if a lot of those times those one-off sessions end up turning into someone coming to work with you longer time, longer term, then that is something that I would take into account. But I'm just saying you want to have some kind of understanding because again, that might fucking humble you. You may be like, I am literally working for£20 an hour and no, and it's gonna, you know, really align you there. The next one is consider this pyramid thing, okay? Like, or a target board. Like, you need a North Star. It's like, what is my ultimate priority? Because when I see this happening, it's with people who all of the priorities are the priorities, being uh, you know, perfectly polished, perfectionist and earning money and serving clients, and like, bitch, you gotta have like uh what's the priority? You know what I mean? And for me, it's building and scaling my business in a way that serves my clients really highly, okay? And so, you know, and is low on my time. So I have to get ruthless, like something has to go. And if you are a mum, if you're a mum of three, you're really fucking good at this, okay? So make sure that's reflecting in your business, right? Is it's like you've got to start getting ruthless everywhere with like listen, it would be beautiful for this to all be polished and my podcast episodes to be this like a fucking five-star movie production. But you know what? I just can't okay at the end. It's like getting real with your load, you know. Another one to consider there, if you are also a mum of three, stop comparing yourself to people who are in different situations like that. You know, maybe you're building a business alongside a job. Stop comparing yourself to people who aren't working a full-time job and building their business. It's like that is the real thief of joy, right? Is when people are doing things in their business and they're trying to, you know, they're doing the do and they're taking the actions. So maybe they have got a podcast, maybe they are showing up on their social media, they're they're doing the stuff, but they're holding themselves to a standard of someone who is just in a different scenario. You know, they have an edit team and a big budget and no kids or like, you know, no other job, or a partner that, you know, like a lot of these women who are are really high up guys, their partners are like massively supporting them. And I don't mean financially, I mean physically, you know. I I've heard a lot of these women's stories and kudos to their relationships and their partners and them. But you know, they've been quite open. I've heard them on their own podcast where they're like, my partner does the food shopping and the cooking and takes the bins out and the dog and stuff. So it's like stop fucking comparing yourself to someone who's in a different scenario, yet trying to maintain their standard is just a stupid thing to do, and it's just an impossible standard to hold yourself to. Like somewhere a part of your ego has to not attach its worth or its value to being perfectly prepared or perfectly delivering or perfectly polished. Okay. So those are my core pieces of advice. Um and just allow yourself to take the messier action. And the last golden rule is don't allow yourself to sort of worm out of any kind of excuse to prevent you understanding that basically acting on the fly or pressing record. And riffing or serving your client without being three and a half hours prepared, or reusing a playlist, or rinsing and repeating some content, or whatever, is a skill that you can't develop. That is a self-trust piece. That is a really important part of what help people with is knowing how to activate themselves, how to actually do that, how to actually be like, I've got 20 minutes to post some content, I know exactly who I'm talking to, and I'm just gonna get myself in the vibe, get myself fired up, record the fucking thing, edit it, know what to say in my caption, and be done, for example, is is knowing how to activate yourself behind it. And really starting to approach your you know, time management and income increase from this place of looking at your business from this lens.