058 The grind of entrepreneurship is over-rated and NOT necessary. Yup, you heard me! It doesn't have to be so hard.
Learn how to keep it simple in your business with Kim Carson-Richards. Kim and her biz partner Kat run the Profitable Impact Academy - where they help entrepreneurs make a big impact by keeping things simple - which is, of course, an over simplification in the expertise she’s bringing to the podcast today. She has started 3 successful businesses, become a best-selling author and spoken on over 200 stages - finding a way to combine doing what she loves and still having time for her family.
In this episode you will learn:
More info <<HERE>>
Connect with Kim here: Profitable Impact Academy <<HERE>>
058 The grind of entrepreneurship is over-rated and NOT necessary. Yup, you heard me! It doesn't have to be so hard.
Learn how to keep it simple in your business with Kim Carson-Richards. Kim and her biz partner Kat run the Profitable Impact Academy - where they help entrepreneurs make a big impact by keeping things simple - which is, of course, an over simplification in the expertise she’s bringing to the podcast today. She has started 3 successful businesses, become a best-selling author and spoken on over 200 stages - finding a way to combine doing what she loves and still having time for her family.
In this episode you will learn:
More info <<HERE>>
Connect with Kim here: Profitable Impact Academy <<HERE>>
I have been so excited to be getting so many positive reviews for the podcast. And I thought it'd be fun to start off the show by sharing one of them with you and trying to share more of these in the future. But I thought I'd read it in like a really soothing podcast voice. So here we go. It's like a meditation for my business, says, Ray Ban friend from the United States. I swear, every time I put on Ellen's podcast, I feel like I'm slipping into a meditation practice. It just so happens to help me get clarity on my business, and lifestyle. I love her approach and take on entrepreneurship, how it's possible to be successful with your business, as well as your personal life and health. keep on keepin on, Ellen. So if you would like your review, thank you very much Ray Ban Fran Ray Ban fan from the US. We'd like your review to be read on another episode of the podcast Be sure to click the love the podcast link so that you can leave a review or if you're an apple podcast, you can just click right now and leave your very own review inside the app. Hello, and welcome to the healthy, happy and mostly sane entrepreneur podcast. I'm your host national board certified health and wellness coach and Ayurvedic practitioner and mostly sane entrepreneur Ellen Leonard. Each week, I share my obsession with helping you build a healthy life that works for you, your family, and your business. Because I don't think you have to sacrifice your own health and well being to be successful. So please stay tuned. For today's episode full of ideas to make staying healthy just a little bit easier. Don't forget to hit subscribe, so you don't miss out on future episodes. As an entrepreneur as a business owner, Do you ever wonder if you're making things too hard? Do you ever wonder if you are over complicating things. And it can be so easy to do even sometimes the simplest tasks can become really complex. In today's episode, I found us an expert in to help us keep it simple. Kim Carson Richards and her business partner Kat run something the profitable impact Academy. And that's exactly what it sounds like. It is built to help entrepreneurs make a big impact by keeping things simple, which is of course in and of itself, an oversimplification of the expertise that she's bringing me to the podcast today. So Kim has started three successful businesses become a best selling author and spoken on over 200 stages, including this one, all while finding a way to combine doing what she loves and still having time for her family. In today's episode, you are going to learn how to ditch the hustle and grind and replace it with something Kim calls hustle and flow. Number two, why the grind is not a necessary part of entrepreneurship, despite what you might have read or, you know, be experiencing currently. Number three, how chasing what you love actually makes everything easier and more simple, which was so lovely to hear. Number four, one thing you can do right now, to keep it simple and grow your impact. And number five, why being clear on your values can help keep you healthy, happy and sane while running your business. As always, the podcast is designed to help you take action and is packed with him info. So just so you know the show notes will have you covered. So if you're driving, or on a walk, I've got you. Let's get started. So Kim, thank you so much for being here today. I'm so excited to have you on the podcast.
Kim Carson Richards:I am I am pumped. I'm so excited. I know this is gonna turn into a passionate conversation. I just know it.
Ellen Leonard:Yeah, we both discovered we're kind of excited about our topic today. So let's dive in because it was so funny. You know, before we started recording, we were talking about her and her business partner how they're kind of the dynamic duo. That's how they're they're referred to by some people. And then we started talking about Batman and Robin. And so I'm gonna lead off with, you know, what is your entrepreneurial origin story? Like, how did you get started in all of this?
Kim Carson Richards:This is so funny. This synergy is so crazy. So in my previous life before I became an entrepreneur, I was actually featured in a TV commercial for so my previous role I was actually in a corporate job and I was a furniture buyer and the organization made a cartoon TV commercial to promote furniture and I was a cartoon so this is so funny. We were talking about Batman it just like clicks Okay, so I have actually been a cartoon. I'm so my my origin story. So I'm I was I had a really great corporate job that I had, I had been on that ladder, right? I came out of university and I did all those things yours, you're told you're supposed to do, right? Like I went and got a degree. I was actually really young mom, I was a teen mom, I had my my oldest when I was 14. And so I went to university did all those things. And I got into retail. And actually, I loved retail love the challenges. To me everyday going to work was like doing a puzzle, I had all these puzzle pieces to put together and there was sales and there was marketing. And I worked my way up from part time salesperson into management. And then from management, I moved into corporate roles. And so I had been in that kind of that path for 16 or 17 years. And then what happened is I encountered this situation, right? Sometimes in life, you just have this, you're like, you always feel like you see the road straight ahead and you're like following it and following it. And then all of a sudden, you hit like the biggest speed bump you've ever hit. And that's what happened to me my corporate role is all of a sudden the path straight ahead took this like hard 90 degree turn and, and I was told that they needed me to go problem solve for someone else. They I had to move roles, I had to go help this other person. And it was just so far out of like the vision that I had seen for myself for the next five years, that suddenly I had this like epiphany moment where it's like, what if this is not what I've been meant to be doing? Like I've been doing it because I was chasing the raises and the stability of having like revenue coming because as a teen mom, I didn't have financial security, right? And so that was something I was always striving and trying to create. And so I kept I remember for about three weeks, every Friday, my boss would come in and say, What's your answer? And my answer would be it's No. And he's like, well, if it's a no, there's nothing else for you. Like this is your only option here. And one day I just this little voice inside my head said every time a door closes a window has opened somewhere, it's time to look for the window. And so I came home that night and I said to my husband I really I'm so I'm so unhappy. I have so much discord and disconnect over what they're telling me is next and I have no control. Like if it's not a yes, then they they're saying they don't have another job for me and like what the heck am I supposed to do? And he said, I just want you to be happy. And so I said, Okay, I'm gonna hand in my notice. So at that point, I didn't even know yet that entrepreneurship was like on the table. It was just like, I'm gonna quit my job, and I'm gonna find another job.
Ellen Leonard:And I feel like at this point, you actually like our real life superhero. Like you were describing? What so many people, probably people who are listening have like fantasize about literally what you're saying. You're like, he told her just to be happy? Oh, that's, that's amazing. Let's do that.
Kim Carson Richards:I know. Right? He is I'm very fortunate. I've been with my spouse for 20 years. And he is such an awesome supportive human being even when he does understand what the heck I'm doing and in building my business, right, so yeah, so I What happened was I gave them a month's notice I gave him a lot of time, build myself a bit of a buffer. And I started looking at courses because I'm a course junkie, I love collecting diplomas and degrees and certifications. And I found this coaching program. And I thought, you know what, this is great, it's going to help me with my communication skills. But the more I started thinking about it, the more I realized I had actually been coaching my entire life. Like I can remember at a time when I had a job as an order desk, and I'd be communicating with someone at an order desk like Whirlpool in a different city. And I'm like, oh, how's your relationship going with your boyfriend and like giving her coaching advice, even though it was like not my thing at that point. And so I started to really think seriously about, you know, looking at it and how it really aligned with my goals and how it really aligned with, you know, this feeling that I had always had that there was something missing as much as I actually really loved my job. I would have these long conversations with my husband, when we were out walking the dog saying I just feel like something's missing. I feel like there's a piece of the puzzle like I'm meant for more, but I don't see yet. Like there's no clarity on what that's supposed to be. And so in hindsight, that scenario really just pushed me into my purpose, right? Like a lot of people go looking for purpose, my purpose found me. And so I took this coaching certification, and I started my first business that was three years ago. And I have to say, here's the thing, I had a lot of preparation and experience in marketing and sales from a large corporate background. But doing it as an entrepreneur, I had no idea what I was getting into. I was just like, I'm gonna lay down. So if you're new in your business, right, like if you're not your one, and it's nothing like you're like you expected it to be like I was there with you. But I promise you, it gets better. And it gets easier. As you start to build, build your skills because the skills of being an entrepreneur are there. We're not taught that. We're just not really legal, our entire school career being taught how to be an employee. And so when you make that decision, it's huge and it takes a tremendous amount of courage after you make the decision to then stick stick to it. and execute on it right
Ellen Leonard:now, do you think that there's like an element of bravery that we don't really talk about? And that adds another layer to the superhero ness of it, right? Like, it does take a lot of courage to be so into something passionate, or about something that you're like, yeah, that's do that. I'm gonna do that. And there's that, you know, that's actually where the mostly sane is in the podcast title, because I think all entrepreneurs are a little bit crazy for leaving, you know, something that is kind of planned out and predictable, to to really step into something else.
Kim Carson Richards:Yeah, absolutely. So here's the thing for a lot of people, when they make the decision to become an entrepreneur, and they start taking action on it, it's the first time in their life that they're really truly stepping out of their comfort zone. Like really, because we're raised from from a very young age, think about this. So you're born and your parents are there steering you and telling you what to do. And then you start kindergarten or grade wind, depending on where you live. And you have a teacher, they're telling you what to do and, and then you go to high school or secondary school, and there's, you know, teachers and professors telling you what to do. And then if you decide to go to college university, there's someone else telling you what to do, then you go to a job. And you generally have a boss even like, even if you have a management role, you typically have a boss, right, like a boss has a boss has a boss. And then one day you wake up and you have the epiphany of like, I am going to start helping Holly, I'm going to start my own business. And suddenly, for the first time of your life, there's no one there telling you what to do. And that's why I always say to people, the best decision you will make that will ease the transition and ease your struggle is find someone who is already achieving success and just pay them to show you what to do. Right? Like you will spend so many hours like this is me I've had in the air, you don't see that Honey, I spent so many hours on Google, right? Like trying to figure out how to do all the things that you think you should do not really, truly knowing what were the ones that were actually going to generate revenue for me and help me fulfill my mission of working with the people I knew I wanted to work with. And it was like that for getting in and starting working with mentors who were already achieving success. Just saying, okay, like, let's do it the easy way, do this instead of all these other zillion things you've been doing that aren't getting you any results, right? And so like, don't be afraid to put your hand up and say I need help. That's something else. It's really hard, right? It's just saying, Okay, I need help. I would like someone to show me the easiest path to success. Because believe me, there are no like metals anyone's gonna give you for just trying to figure it out on your own when you're an entrepreneur.
Ellen Leonard:You know, it's so interesting, because I think that sometimes entrepreneurs, we make things too hard. We overcomplicate things, yes, using Google is over complicating it. I have, I've also been guilty of that. But I don't think it has to be this way. And I know you help business owners, like really simplify things. So that things can be easier, but still powerful and profitable. Tell me more about like your thinking behind that. Like how you how you got to that, that idea and that model for your own business?
Kim Carson Richards:Yeah, for sure. So, so the model that my business partner and I, we teach entrepreneurs, so we love working with like, coaches, consultants, because the model we teach is so simple, and it's so powerful. And it's speaking, right. So like, even doing something like this getting on a podcast, because the biggest thing that a lot of people struggle with in their business at the beginning is exposure, right? How do you get in front of a new enough people that a certain percentage of them are going to end up wanting to work with you? Right? If you know anything about marketing, they talk about sometimes it can take up to 16 points of contact. So the model, the profitable speaker model we'd like to teach the people that work with us is how do you get in front of more people faster, and have like less than those touch points so that they make the decision to work with you sooner, so that you're not having to hustle and grind? I hate the word grind. Right? I just I don't adhere to it. And I do
Ellen Leonard:too.
Kim Carson Richards:I don't like it right. I like the term hustle and flow because business should be fun, right? Like make it simple. I heard this somewhere like make it simple, stupid. Like, we tend to like overcomplicate things or feel like success won't happen unless we're working hard. And that's what happened to me. So in our first year of business, when cat and I started working together, I was delaying things. I was delaying gratification. So I was delaying spending time with my family because I thought I needed to grind. Like the harder I thought the harder I thought there was like a direct correlation between grinding and like results in the business. So the harder I worked, the more of my personal time I sacrifice the sooner we would see results and I would justify it in the back of my mind by saying well I know once the business is successful without having a clear parameter of what did I define success to be once the business is successful, I will have more money or more time right or more resources to be with my family and and what I ended up doing is I was sacrificing my number one core value. My number one core value is family and so it was creating this constant discipline. Kord within myself where I had this tremendous amount of guilt, that I was working to grow my business and not getting the results that we wanted, and then continually putting off anytime with my family and leaving a lot of the things to fall to my husband, because I was working weekends and evenings and all of that stuff. And so I actually ended up getting sick, I suffered a brain bleed, and there is no medical or scientific reason why and I truly believe it was because I was so creating so much discourse within myself, right, creating so much sacrifice of my my core values, my core values, and not and not getting the results that I was expecting. And since then reevaluating and being like okay, no, like I one of the things that I am unwilling to sacrifice anymore is my evenings and weekends, we have been working more and more towards not working weekends. In fact, my business partner and I take three weeks of vacation every year, we both just took two weeks off for Christmas, our business did not fall apart. Right. And that then allows me to spend time with my family. But it took making the decision that sacrifice was not necessary, the grind was not necessary, and to start finding the simplest solutions to any problems that were coming up in the business. So so for us once we went all in on this profitable speaker model, like our business quickly flipped into six figures. As soon as we started looking and asking, what's the creative solution to this problem, we stopped feeling like everything was a grind. And we started finding the fun again in business.
Ellen Leonard:And I love that you're bringing up the fun and so many things about balance because they bet when you thought like when when you started this, you know, you weren't imagining yourself working every weekend, and not spending time with your kids and having severe health issues that are a result of it. And like, I think a lot of entrepreneurs go into this and they have this vision, my own vision was like I totally imagined myself, like sitting in a coffee shop. Like with my coffee, and I had a hat and a scarf on like those, I feel like the accessories are very important in this scenario. And I was like journaling. I was like writing about my hopes and dreams. And like, that's how I was like, What is that? That is never once happened. Like never. But I think it's so important that you brought up that things can get out of balance so quickly for entrepreneurs, but that there is a correlation between finding balance with business and the realities of your life, and success and profits. That, that that's the path to success and profits is to, to, you know, be realistic about what's possible and to find an easier way.
Kim Carson Richards:Absolutely. Well, and and so and it's interesting, because so what I've found, right that that whole mindset that kind of underlies this entrepreneurial kind of space in the world of is that, you know, well you have to create, you have to work really, really hard to get results or even that your results are only directly correlated to the effort you put in now i'm i'm a hardcore like believer in action taking but there's also like this space of you know, if you're into the EU a little bit and manifesting that the more you tap into the joy and, and the fun of being an entrepreneur and finding the aspects of building your business that really light you up, right, like get you really excited, I was just talking about how cat and I were planning a sales mastery bootcamp for our mastermind members. And I got really excited with her like planning the agenda and talking about all the things that we're going to teach them, right, to help them fill in the gaps. When you find those things that That to me is the equivalent of sitting in journaling, right? But it might be for you maybe create some space, right? Like take the if that was your vision of being an entrepreneur, create time and space where that's what you get to do. And so for a lot of entrepreneurs, when they're in that first 123 years, they don't create those pockets of time where you just get to tap into, like the vision and, and thinking about what is it what like how do you envision your business to be like, what does it look like? What does it feel like, you know, in three to five years from now, when when things are when you are creating the revenue that you want to create. And it's funny because what happens is often we we create goals, right? We have all these goal posts, and you hit the goal post and then you don't take time to celebrate the fact that you actually got there. And it's in that celebration where some of that balance starts to return right. Some of the the feeling of sanity and the feeling of fun and the feeling of like it's actually working right like this is working for me. And that it didn't. Wouldn't you look back in hindsight, it wasn't actually as hard as you thought it would
Ellen Leonard:be. You know, it's so funny you bring up celebrating so when we're recording this Not when it's released last week, I celebrated one year of the podcast. And I almost blew right past it cam like I almost was like, oh, what am I doing for Episode Number 50 to check like the typical entrepreneur stuff, and then I was like, hold on. It's a big deal. And it was fine. You're absolutely right. It like totally lit me up, it connected me back to my values that connected me back to why I started doing the podcast in the first place. And so I'm so glad you brought up like this idea of of celebrating and connecting back to our wins, because so often as entrepreneurs, and it's such an IT, I love that everything you're offering is so simple. Like, it's to be like, Oh, I did do that I achieved that I should really, like enjoy that. That's nice.
Kim Carson Richards:Yes, yes, absolutely. And I love it too, because it's interesting, when you find the simplest path to the solution, you seek these real, you get to do more of what you love, right. So every single person that's listening to this later, you have a reason why you started your business, right? Probably because there's some type of freedom you wanted to create for yourself. But also, because there's some way you want to help other people, because at its core, most businesses in some way help someone else, whether it's through the delivery of a product or service. And so when you find the simple solutions, and you start hitting more of those goal posts, what you're doing is you're helping more of the people you want to help. and that in turn, gives you this really amazing thing called helpers high, right? There's nothing like there's not a drug in the world that feels as good as the helpers high, when you get to see the success of a person that you work with. So for example, we have someone in our mastermind, and she was just celebrating that she launched her first online course in under 30 days, right, and how excited she was in the fact that she was helping people and they were getting results. And then I in return also got to feel amazing that I helped her do this thing. And that's what we talked about ripples of impact. We love working with impact makers, people who know that they have a mission, a mission, a vision and purpose to put out into the world, we get to create ripples of impact, we show them how they can do it, how they can move online, how they can get in front of more people and generate revenue. In return, we get to fulfill our mission, right. And so it's so amazing. It creates this, this ripple of paying it forward. And I think really, like let's be real. That's what a lot of people need right now. Like we're in a really weird time and space, like 2020 was crazy. And so the more you're putting yourself out there, particularly because I love speaking. So the more you're getting in front of audiences and sharing your mission, and showing them how they can solve their problems, faster, simpler, easier, the more you're creating those ripples of impact where more people get to, they get to stop tolerating the problems they've been tolerating, right? Because that's at its core what most people are doing. So
Ellen Leonard:yeah, and it you know, when you ask most entrepreneurs, why they started doing what they're doing, or what they want to offer out into the world. It's almost always some version of, Oh, I wanted to help people, and then whatever it is, like whatever it is, it's always like they wanted to serve. They wanted to help they wanted to, like contribute and and have impact exactly what you're saying. Yes,
Kim Carson Richards:absolutely. Well, my favorite questions when I meet someone for the first time is not what do you do, but why do you do your business? Like, like, what drove you to start it because people that's when they light up and they get paid? It's not like I'm a coach helping XYZ solve XYZ problem. No, like, when you talk about why they do what they do, they like, they light up like a Christmas tree or like fireworks, right? And and they really show you the core of the change that they're on a mission to create for other people. And often it's because they discovered or got to encounter the modality or the thing that they want to teach forward to other people. And so like, truly the transformation happens to transaction. But if you're not getting in front of enough people, if you're not getting the opportunity to share your message and share your why. What happens is you become the world's best kept secret. And that's when you do really encounter that hustle and grind. You're like you're trying to grind I need to find clients, I need to get clients to get clients. And suddenly business doesn't feel so fun anymore. Right? And so just like getting yourself out there sharing like share with people your story, your vision, why you do it, like what drove you to this business that you're so passionate about? That's why people are like, tell me more. Tell me how can we work together? Like this is amazing. I love the one of the the number one email I get from people all the time is I love your energy. Tell me more like how do we how do we do this together? I'm ready to solve my problems. I'm tired of doing it the hard way. Right. And that comes from just showing up showing up and speaking to people about the things that I'm really passionate about. So it's one of the simplest ways if you're not convinced yet. It works and it works way faster. There's so many people that are like I'm just gonna show up on social media every day. No, no, like getting in front of an audience, whether it's through a podcast, a summit. There's so many webinar opportunities out there like on the online world. has exploded for entrepreneurs, you may think, well, live events are happening. No, no. Like, there has been an explosion of opportunities to speak as an entrepreneur online with everything going virtual. And when you start harnessing and tapping into those, that is the fastest way to market and grow your business. I'm telling you, I we see the results with all of our clients. We see it like this overnight.
Ellen Leonard:I just want to clarify because I was about to ask you before you started into that for an action step. Like just one thing that people could do. So am I correct in assuming that you're just telling us to go out into the world? find someplace to talk, whether it's on social media or on another podcast, or whatever? And talk about something you're really excited about and passionate about?
Unknown:Absolutely. And that's it. That's your action step, every
Kim Carson Richards:action step? Yes. Absolutely. Like find, you know, so the easiest way to start is just show up on your own business page. Once a week do a Facebook Live, I know that somebody has just like slapped their heads. But I hate life. No, every time you overcome that little bit of fear of like showing up, it's the most exhilarating thing and it starts to create results unlike any other. It was a great way to practice while you're looking for pockets. There's so many options. networking events have gone virtual Chamber of Commerce events have gone virtual, they're like, look at your local area, right? Like look for those types of events. A quick search on meetup will show you exactly how to find Archie's, you reach out to the organizer, you say, Hey, are you looking for guest speakers, here's what the topic I'm passionate about speaking about, I would love to come talk to your group. People are always looking for speakers to come into their Facebook groups to do add on value and content, right? There's so many ways that you can start putting yourself in front of other people. So think think about this, the fastest way to build your audience is to put yourself in front of someone's someone else's audience, someone else has already built up an audience can help you build your audience faster, instead of like just posting on Facebook every day to a cold market. And when you're speaking just like this, and they get to hear how excited you are about the topic that you that you teach or that you coach or that you sell whatever it is, suddenly, they're like, I like this person, I trust this person, and you take the easy path to having them make the decision that they want to buy from you, whatever it is that you sell, right, that's like that's something that big. So as someone coming from a corporation, that's something a big corporations would die to have that type of access to their ideal clients. That's why so many of them work with influencers. They're tapping into their ready built market, right. And they're tapping into a segment of the market that already has trust built. So but you can do it even faster than they can you have like this magic secret sauce that large companies don't have. So embrace that. And that's you. Like, you bring unique experiences, points of view, information, knowledge teaching, and when you wrap it all up and you get in front of an audience, it creates this amazing energy and magic where they're just like, Okay, let's do this, like, how can we work together? And then if you throw in an amazing call to action where they can that they can connect with you or buy from you, then all of a sudden you're just like, Holy smokes, Why wasn't I doing this sooner? Right? Oh, my gosh, any?
Ellen Leonard:Does anybody else feel that energy? Is You guys are listening you like Yes, yes. So she's literally demonstrating how effective the techniques she just told us about his and she's gonna roll on out of here in a few minutes with a with a call to action. But before we get there, I want to really ask you because I always ask everybody I'm so curious about what other entrepreneurs do to stay healthy, happy and sane while running their business. So what's going on?
Kim Carson Richards:Love it. So for me, so I think first of all, is having an understanding of your core values. So if you've never done it, because here's the thing, happiness derives out of your core values. And if you're feeling unhappy a lot of the time you're probably at odds with one of those values right like I said, I was spending too much time away from my family. Too much time focus on business because here's the thing you can't do both. I noticed from experience when my daughter just did add homeschooling last week and if I'm here teaching and she hops up like stage left on my zoom cameras suddenly my focus is divided right like you can't do both. So it's finding those pockets where you're dedicating like time to your business and in time to whatever else is important to you. For me for you may not be family for cat. She has a new puppy so for her she's not married so her dog Stella is like her other core value right now. So when she's focused on Sally, she's focused on selling when we're doing business she does her best to be focused on business, right? And so understanding that if if you're feeling unhappy a lot of time there's probably some type of disconnect and those values and carving out deciding what's really important and then prioritizing it in your calendar. Right so for me, I know after about 430 or five o'clock, I'm not going to look at work, even when I just want to check, or you have this urge to like, I just check, I'm just gonna
Ellen Leonard:check.
Kim Carson Richards:No, like you have to kind of work and create the habit of letting that go. Because the balance comes from staying focused in one lane. It's really hard imbalance comes when you're trying to I don't really love the idea of balance, because it makes us think that we have to be like perfectly if you imagine like the, the scales of justice in this perfect like middle ground, because it's not like that. But if what you find is all of your time is going to business, there is going to be an imbalance, you will feel less happy. So finding that balance of time of And not only that, but finding those those times to celebrate and the your successes and your wins and creating time to tap into the vision of where you want to be going. So you don't feel like you're so stuck in the slog. But I think the best I cannot remember who I heard talking about this, but they gave this really beautiful visual that I love so much. And so if you imagine, you have all these juggling balls, and some of them are made of plastic, and some of them are made of glass,
Ellen Leonard:I've seen that one too.
Unknown:Yeah, I love it. I
Kim Carson Richards:was like, Ah, that's exactly what it's like. And so you know, you have activities related to business and motherhood or sisterhood or you know, being a child, because your parents still have expectations, even when you're adult, you're juggling all these balls, and some of them at some time are gonna fall. But if you do your best to make sure it's only the plastic ones falling so that you're not going to break, right. And you're focusing and carving out time for those glass ones. So for me, I have a nine year old at home, right. So she's one of my glass ones, I need to make sure that she gets the love and attention and nurturing she needs from me, that makes me feel balanced. It makes me feel less guilty. I don't get the mom yelled, right. And it's I think for my spouse, like he would be one of my glass balls. But when it comes to business things if you know I dropped a plastic ball because I forget to send an email, it's not going to be the end of the world. And I'm not going to like guilt trip my myself over it. And so I think if you think of it that way, instead of creating this expectation that everything has to be perfect all the time, right. And when you create the expectation, it has to be perfect all the time, you will create stagnation, because a lot of times you won't take action because you're waiting for perfection.
Ellen Leonard:Right? So you're viewed as failure when perfection isn't actually possible.
Kim Carson Richards:Yes, my new favorite word that our operations business manager taught me is optimization. Like, go for imperfection the first time and then optimize, right? Like every go round gives you the opportunity to make it better and better. And so if you think of your business, even in so we do quarterly planning if you start to think of your business in quarters, right? So break your year into chunks of four, and you give yourself the opportunity to optimize through each quarter, right, like do an assessment. Where did I feel like the balls were dropping? Where did I start to feel like there was an imbalance? So for me, you know, health is a big thing. And I like I dropped that ball over Christmas. And so like this week, I'm getting back into refocusing and, and creating that is one of my priorities, right. So my priorities are not only business, not only family, but my health, because my business and my family will be affected if I'm not looking after myself. And and also when you do that, then some of your sanity returns, right. And so looking for simple solutions, to create feelings of more joy, more happiness, I think, for me is more important than worrying about is it all perfectly balanced. Because I know it won't be all the time right there. There are seasons in my business, where I will be more committed to it than my family. And I have a great backup plan and that my husband is amazingly supportive. And there are times when my family requires more of my attention. And so then some of the balance in the business will go down, right. But that's why we're building a team, and why we communicate with our clients and set expectations, right. So when we were going on vacation, we let them know, but we also teach them that that's what we want for them to do. It's amazing how many entrepreneurs we start working with that haven't set times in their schedule to take time off. Yeah, right. Whether it's a weekend or a week, or they do a big launch and they don't take any time off after to recover and for rest and rest and rejuvenation is as important to your business as the hassle and the and the activities right so like that's where a lot of the sanity and the happiness comes back. And and when you're giving your your brain that space to think and enjoy often. That's where the new visions of what you want to create next come from. Because when you're so busy just stuck in your to do list. It doesn't leave anytime for creativity and creativity comes from the rest and relaxation and those those activities that you do that help you create the feeling of sanity. Even though you're slightly insane as an entrepreneur,
Ellen Leonard:and I couldn't agree more and thank you so much for sharing just so many different ideas about how we can stay healthy, happy and sane. I feel like we just got everybody's got a little cheat sheet on on just how to roll into 2021 so thank you for that Kim. So um how can people get in touch with you if they want to connect with you further.
Kim Carson Richards:Yeah, absolutely. So our website is profitable impact academy.com. And there's two things you could do there. One, if you just want to have a coffee, you're like, ah, Kim was amazing. I would love to know more about speaking, we have a discovery call tab there. So book a call, I would love to have a conversation with you. I don't have a lot of openings typically. So like jump on that, if you want to talk to me sooner rather than later. Or if you're like, Okay, Kim has piqued my interest. I want to know more about how I can leverage speaking to grow my business to get more clients. Check out profitable speaker bootcamp comm so tickets are going to be available right away, we have another event coming up. And it's a three day accelerator where we show you exactly how to start incorporating speaking into your business and build a profitable signature talk. So that is a talk that just connects with the people that you were meant to work with. And that's where it really starts to get easy, right? When you haven't convinced at the end of 30 or 60 minutes that they're like, this is the person I've been looking for. That is so much more fun, like hustling on social media every day, or at least so many of these other activities that a lot of people do that aren't creating the results they've been looking for. So those would be the two best ways.
Ellen Leonard:And I will of course be linking to those in the show notes so that you guys can find her and all of this awesome. So thank you so much for being here today. I learned so much. I feel like I'm gonna be processing for like several weeks in my brain, everything that you share it. So thank you again.
Kim Carson Richards:Thank you, Ellen, for having me. This has been so much I feel like I couldn't we couldn't just like went on forever.
Ellen Leonard:I actually felt that too. I was just like, Oh, wait, no, wait, we have
Unknown:I need to kind of do.
Ellen Leonard:We have to end at some point. So thank you. I
Kim Carson Richards:appreciate you inviting me to be on your show. So thank you.
Ellen Leonard:Thank you so much for listening today. I really appreciate it and hope that you found today's episode. as valuable and informative as I did. Kim shared so many different awesome, informative things that I will be processing that in my brain for a while. Be sure to check out the show notes, so you can find all of her details if you'd like to connect. And if you're loving today's episode, be sure to leave a review so that Kim can know how much you valued her episode. And maybe I will read it on an upcoming episode. And don't forget to hit subscribe so you don't miss out on future episodes full of actionable tips to help you stay healthy, insane while running your business. I wish you a healthy, happy and mostly sane week. I'll see you next time. Thanks