Are You Following Trends or Actually Moving Toward Success?

Subscriber-only episode

Are your business activities actually aligned with your goals? This crucial question sits at the heart of sustainable entrepreneurship, yet many find themselves caught in the endless cycle of following what everyone else is doing—launching podcasts, writing books, creating YouTube channels—without questioning if these strategies serve their unique vision.

Before investing precious time and resources into any business initiative, ask yourself what you're truly trying to accomplish. Take book publishing, for example. While many dream of writing bestsellers that generate millions, the reality is that only about 2% of published authors ever reach that financial milestone. However, a book might perfectly serve your goals if you're seeking to establish authority, create speaking opportunities, or leave a legacy—purposes entirely different from direct profit generation. Similarly, podcasts and video content make perfect sense for entrepreneurs building speaking careers, as they showcase communication skills and expertise to potential event organizers.

Success requires working backward from your vision. Define exactly what you want your business to look like in 2-5 years, then methodically identify the steps needed to get there. Remember that your definition of success might look entirely different from others in your field. Some prioritize influence while others value profitability or freedom. Your strategy must reflect your unique goals rather than following someone else's path. Take the time today to ensure every business activity genuinely moves you toward your vision, not someone else's.

Chapters

• 0:00 Questioning Business Goals
• 1:09 The Real Purpose of Books
• 2:14 Strategic Speaking Career
• 3:38 Planning Your Unique Path Forward

Transcript

Speaker 1: 0:02

Clients, repeatedly, have been asking me whether or not what they are doing is actually going to get them in line with their goals, that they have for their business, and you really have to take a look at what it is that you want.

Speaker 1: 0:17

I think too often we look at what everyone else is doing on social media. We see everyone is putting out a book. We see that everyone has started a podcast or a YouTube channel and we assume that those are the things that we should be doing. But are they in line with where you are trying to go with your business? Does it make sense for you to have a podcast? What is the goal of the podcast? What is the goal of the YouTube channel? What is the goal of your social media platform that you've decided that you have to have? Or what is the goal of creating a book? What are you ultimately looking to? Totally diverting everything that we're already doing to meet what we think we should be doing, based on other people? So I need you to sit back and really decide why are you doing what you're doing? If you were creating a book, is the purpose behind the book to have legacy, to be able to speak on stages, to have that level of expertise in your industry on stages, to have that level of expertise in your industry, or are you trying to make a million dollars from that book? Those are two very different things and we need to understand that, because you're not going to be able to likely make a million dollars from a book in profit if you self-publish. If you want to make a million dollars, you're likely going to need to get a book deal and even then the likelihood of you making a million dollars from your book is the percentage. I don't even know what the percentage is, but it's probably no higher than 2% of people that publish books that actually make a million dollars from it. So I really need you to understand why are you doing certain things? Is it in line with where you are trying to go?

Speaker 1: 2:10

I recently had a client tell me that she wanted to speak. She wanted to start getting paid to speak in her niche as the expert. Now, if that is the case, a podcast makes sense, a YouTube video makes sense and potentially a book would make sense. But again, the book is not meant to make her a ton of money. The book is to show her that level of expertise to the venues that, hey, I have this book that I have published. I am an expert, I am within this niche, I am the go-to that you want, and then your podcast and YouTube that could potentially be put out there is to showcase what you can do when you speak, to showcase how you are able to educate and articulate yourself so that they see you as someone that they want to have on their stage or in their classrooms or as part of their organization that they are putting their name behind.

Speaker 1: 3:04

So I want you to really sit down, take a look at your overall business idea. What is it that you see as successful for your business in the next two to five years? And then I want you to really take a look at working backwards. As far as, okay, this is what I see myself being able to do Speak on these stages, be able to take off two months.

Speaker 1: 3:27

What do you have to have in place in order for that to happen? How are people going to know that you are the go-to speaker in your industry? Is there a certain platform that you need to be on? For some, you may need to be on LinkedIn, making sure that you are showing your profile as a speaker and having these connections with other businesses that are likely to be looking to have you on their stages. So you really need to determine where it is that you are trying to go overall, rather than having this just random. I see this person doing this and this person doing this and I need to obviously be doing it if they're doing it because they're in my industry and I see them as successful. Here's the thing that person's level of success is likely very different than your experience and what you expect as a level of success.

Speaker 1: 4:22

So I really want you to sit down and look at what is it that you see for yourself in your business two to five years from now and then start to determine what you are going to do to get there.