"It's my first day of being an entrepreneur." ~ Karen

Karen joined us for our Implementation Call on the very first day of her new venture in starting her coaching business. 

Her website under construction, she is just starting to map out her journey and already feels overwhelmed by all it's going to take to get everything into place. 

Mark and I helped her to understand the foundational elements and how she can design the type of business she truly wants and how she can make an impact and help more people.

Listen to discover:

• Clarity components for where you want your business to go 
• Designing a business model that fulfills what you truly want
• The keys to building your business on a solid foundation
• The first steps you need to take on your path to success
• The primary assets to get in place right away

Recorded 12/16/20.

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Transcript

Mark Kanty  0:22  
Karen, how did you come across the call? Did you join the upskill success strategies group through info stack? or How did you come to be here? 

Karen R.  0:41  
I'm glad you said that. I'm guessing that's the answer. Otherwise, I didn't remember.

Mark Kanty  0:49  
There's a couple of different ways people come to the group here. But one of the ones that's been very active lately as info stack has been bundling and putting out our program. So that's probably where you came to join us. So Pleasure to meet you. Likewise. Yeah. So um, tell us like when you invested in infosec, what were you thinking? Like, where are you at in your business planning process? And what are your goals?

Karen R.  1:23  
And well, yesterday was my last day at a full time, six-figure leadership position in a military hospital. So today is my very first day as an entrepreneur. I'm not sure how I'm gonna do without a paycheck. But in so I've been dabbling in the startup for a little bit. And my niche is helping career moms who are trauma survivors overcome their histories of childhood abuse? Hmm. Okay. My ultimate goal is to have a virtual membership. 

Mark Kanty  2:17  
That's great. Um, I, I want to affirm you and applaud you for having already started to kind of think about some specifics. And that's great because so many people just come, you know, they think they're entrepreneurs. They have what Michael Gerber calls an entrepreneurial seizure, like, well, I don't have work now. So I'm just going to become my own business, but they don't think through some of those things that you just mentioned, which are critical. So that's, that's fantastic. So congratulations on thinking that way. 

Jaimie Skultety  2:50  
Where are you based? Karen?

Karen R.  2:52  
I live in Alexandria, Virginia.

Jaimie Skultety  2:56  
Yeah, so Was this something like a long time that you've been kind of planning or is kind of like a, you know, out of necessity, I'm going to, I'm going to, you know, jump into a new entrepreneurial venture.

Karen R.  3:12  
I'm gonna say it's both of those. COVID certainly helped me to decide to maybe I'm making Okay, money. But there were a lot of costs involved. Like it was a lot of extra hours. The hospital I work in wasn't keeping up very well, with the CDC protocols and COVID. We have a lot of people with COVID that work in our hospital. So it was like, Yeah, I've been dabbling and thinking about, well, I've been a therapist for 22 years. So it's, it's been on my heart to try to figure out how to be helpful to more people. Mm-hmm. Instead of like one person therapy, or, like, small groups like to have a larger impact, basically. Yes, yeah. No, no, you it more of an impact in, in the world and society than just like you're saying, just, you know, for a paycheck, and just whatever is put in front of you, so to speak. So it's more about you attracting those who can really help. That's great.

Mark Kanty  4:29  
I think what's interesting for me and what you just said there, Karen is, is that I'm observing with some people, not all is that there's kind of growth if you will happening or a consciousness-raising where people are starting to examine life. It takes a crisis, sometimes life and work and everything else, and in terms that what's it costing them, and also what's the return that they're getting on their investment of time, money and energy. On that career or what they're doing, as opposed to strictly finance. So, so many people just, you know, kind of look at the dollars and cents. So I really appreciate how you just laid out, you know, there are different costs associated with me sticking around in this job, yes, I'm getting this money as a paycheck, but hey, my health is at risk. Um, there are people that are not following guidelines or doing things, you know, in a way that I would want them done. So these are, I think that's wonderful to hear you articulate that there are monetary costs and non-monetary costs, and there are monetary returns.

I call it, there's financial income, and there's psychic income. And a lot of people kind of look at the kind of exclusively mutually exclusively, and say, Well, once I have the money, then I'll worry about the psychic income. But the fact is, the two really do, you know, relate to each other, don't they? Sure do. Yeah. Yeah. And, and designing life the way you want. As opposed to, you know, one of the things Jaimie and I plotting you on joining, joining us in this entrepreneurial world that we live in, and also, you know, really acknowledging the fact that you're stepping into a new space of independence. And, and that can be very fulfilling, and also very scary at the same time. Because, yeah, it's all about you now. And, you know, and it's easy, sometimes it's easy just to be dependent on somebody else. Um, you know, sometimes it's, it's easy to just collect that paycheck and let somebody else do all the worry. But what's that costing us in terms of our ability to grow in terms of our ability to become the most that we can become, to self actualize? If you will, and I think I have a personal philosophy, but I believe one, just one, I'm not saying it's the only but I think, I think the way to grow as a human being and to really explore your potential and become more and to self actualize, is having your own business, I think that's really big. Because it means that you, you've thrown away the safety net, it's up to you. And that's where real growth happens. That's when we're able to kind of cut the umbilical cord and say, No, I'm gonna do it. You know, I'm gonna go out there and be this.

Karen R.  7:28  
Well, you guys are very reassuring today.

Jaimie Skultety  7:32  
I think we both been in your position, I was just thinking back to when I started my business in 2009. And it was out of complete necessity, and, ironically, working with my parents and family on business, and it was during the last recession. So kind of, you know, where we're at right now financially in our country here. marks in Canada, by the way, in the US, but, but I have one parent in each country.

Karen R.  8:02  
Okay, my dad's Canadian, my mom's American. Oh, well, isn't that ironic.

Jaimie Skultety  8:08  
Um, but so I worked for my parents, and I thought, you know, I'd have job security the rest of my life, but they ended up having to close their business. So I found myself, sadly out of work. And it's not like I was fired or anything like that, just the way it went. And so really, for me, starting my business was completely out of necessity. But I was really, you know, looking back, I'm so grateful for that. It was scary for about a minute. And then it was like, okay, you know, pull up your boots. Let's do this thing. And I was really excited. And, you know, I, the one thing I will say is I had this, you know, thought that it would be easy. And it wasn't that so I don't, I don't want to scare you. But it's, you know, it's a lot of work to build a business. And yes, yes. So there's a lot of fear, I'm sure. You know, that's, that's why I held on to my last job. So long as Yum, I've been doing this, like putting my toe in for nine months or so. And I was like, holy crap, every little piece of it is a ton of work. Yeah, you know, especially if your business is like, therapy and helping people and not like with tech or marketing. Mm-hmm. Yes, the list goes on. 

Mark Kanty  9:20  
For sure. Yeah. And I think, you know, understand just bringing something up here, I think one of the things that's important to realize is a no, I don't know, we'll try and give you a kind of the yin and the yang here of this is that we, we often idolize and look at people who are in business or have created something for themselves and think oh, man, they make it look so easy. Um, or we think you know, the boys take them took them no time at all. And you know, they were there. So, therefore, you know, I'm going to go at night and create this business, and it's going to be great, you know, I'm going to replace my income in the first six months. And then I'm going to make profits and everything else. And we get these distorted views of how things really work. And the first thing is to realize you're building something, you're creating something. So just like building a house or creating anything, if you build it very in a very short period of time, these chances are, you're going to cut corners, and it could be very shoddy and amazed all fall down. And therefore, you know, you're you need to have legs, if you will, you need to be willing to go the distance. And that means, you know, really committing to what you want, and going for it and not giving up with the first. You know, the other thing is you're going to experience particularly in the early stage of your business, 90% of your time is going to be in failure 90% of your time, things aren't going to work. And you need to be willing to accept that and we're giving tough love. So this is the other side of the coin. Karen, you said, We sided. Give me the tough love, the reality check side of it is that, you know, it's just like a child learning to walk, we have to think that I think that's the greatest metaphor, we could probably use our lives. So designing a business is we have to pretend that we're that child learning to walk. And you look at that child, and they get up and they stand up and they wobble. And they might take half a step and then they fall flat on their face. 

And that happens when you go into business. Now the question is, do you do what the child does, which is kind of shake it off, and giggle and then get back up on those wobbly legs again, and then take half a step more. And do that again. And again. And again. And the reality is the vast majority, you know, I would probably say 90% plus of the people that Jaimie I come across aren't willing to do that 

90% plus of people say I'm going into business for myself, they get up there on wobbly legs, well, 80% of them just sit back down because they're afraid because they wobbled a little, the other 10 to 15% take that half step and fall down and go, Oh, that was too painful, I'm not going to do that.

And these are, this is the reality check. But the key to all of this is learning to embrace that to be like the child to be so committed and determined to walk that you get into the process and that you actually don't even judge it as a failure. You don't, you know, when a child falls down, they don't go, darn I fell down, I'm not going to try that, again. They don't judge it in any way whatsoever. They just get up and try again. And they keep doing that and doing that until we grow into adults. And we're walking, and we're walking properly. So recognize that this is the pathway, you know, I was gonna say like, for me it was and sounds like for you to parent that, you know, you take your hat and you cannot throw it over the wall. And then you've got no choice but to forget it, you know, like, So, if you look at it that way, and you just go and if you don't think like I've got a safety net, I can always go back. You know, it's kind of like, you know, make you, your dream, you know, and you're and you're right, it's complex because as you're already discovering, it's a lot like we were talking about hats, we were all different hats and business owners, right? So you have to be your, your sales department, your IT department, your bookkeeping department, you know, you're doing everything but being, you know, being a coach for other people, which is what you ultimately want to do. So that's where I fell into and I went, Wow, I can just do the thing that I came here to do. So yes, right, there's a lot that needs to be done that probably you might not be the one to do it or the one to even know how to do it or should. 

Karen, Did you have there are a couple other things I'd love to share with you based on this topic. But I'd love to know if you have you know, a burning question or something that's coming to mind where you're looking for advice on how to implement and how to move forward.

Karen R.  14:18  
I'm, honestly, I'm so exhausted from wrapping up my full-time job yesterday, I had to pull a couple of really late nights to get my projects done. So today's my first day as an entrepreneur and it's been a good day like I have. I talked to someone and about branding and getting assets ready in terms of you to know, images and I'm launching a podcast in a week. I have my intro outro and my cover photo. I have a website that's about 90% done. So I don't think I have any burning questions. I was basically thought I was going to be eavesdropping on other people to cut to see what kind of questions I should be asking.

Mark Kanty  15:09  
Yes, yeah, well, we never know who's gonna turn up. And sometimes you're fortunate enough to be the first person to pop in and out and do the eavesdropping, but so great, and it's meant to be. So That's right. That's right. Well, thank you for sharing where you're at. And let, let me if, with your permission, I'd like to share a couple of thoughts with you, as you begin on this journey that might be able to help, I'd love that, I would love that. So, like, we just and I'm going to share a couple of screens here with you.

Um, but a couple of things come to mind. This is one of my favorite quotes, by the way. And this relates back to what Jaimie and I were talking about is that you know, you're going to find that there's going to be ups and downs and that's what makes it fun. learning to love that when you learn to love the ups and the downs, then you know, you really get there when you wake up and you go, oh my god, I don't have a client or my bank accounts were overdrawn or I need to go get another line of credit or whatever, and you learn to smile and go, this is fantastic. I'm experiencing this when you learn to know that the tougher the nuts that you're in, the higher the gains that you're going to achieve.

And that's what business is all about. Nobody goes into business. And it's all flatline. And learning to enjoy the rhythm of that and really get into it. So the first thing is committing to your business. So this is one of my favorite quotes until one is committed there is hesitancy, the chance to draw back always ineffectiveness. Concerning all acts of initiative and creation. There is one elementary truth, the ignorance of which kills countless ideas and splendid plans. That the moment one definitely commits oneself, then Providence moves to a whole stream of events, issues from the decision raising in one's favor all manner of unforeseen incidents, meetings, and material assistance, which no man no one will edit that could have dreamt would have come his way. I learned a deep respect for one of Gupta's couplets. Whatever you can do, or dream, you can begin it. boldness has genius power and magic in it.

So that idea of really committing to your dream and your vision. So that if everybody you talked to in a week, and everybody that loves you and everybody that that is part of your life and your family and everything else says you're a fool. And you should just give up and go and get a job to let that roll over you like water off a duck's back because you're totally committed to making it happen. And having that level of commitment, um, is really key is really, really, really important and reminding yourself of that. So I share that with you that that's, that's really a critical part of designing a business that you know that you want to work and then it's going to be all about you, it's going to come down to you, you can't rely on anybody else to, to make it work on Now that said there are thought processes. So first one just checking in, when that resonates with you.

Karen R.  18:35  
It's it definitely does look, the name of my business is Heal Thrive Dream. I really believe in the power of dreams and taking those baby steps towards them. 

Mark Kanty  18:49  
Yes. And you, you know, you've made that huge first step of commitment, which is leaving your job. Yeah, that's big. You know, that's, that's really being committed. So embrace them, you know, and applaud yourself for that they acknowledge that and that you've been already in action, like to hear that you've already got a website going and that you've got a podcast going and like you kind of have, you're putting the ingredients in to make this really awesome pie. And you're gathering ingredients, you're learning what they are, what they're used for. And, you know, good for you. Because a lot of people really, you know, the kind of we actually, we know a few people who don't even have a website, like who are just not, you know, not even serious about the business. So, so good. You're taking action?

Yeah. Which again, is something to be congratulated. And yeah, I'm not sure if you can see this very well. Not that you. You have to see it in great detail because I don't want you don't need to make notes on this or anything. And there'll be more of this, and you'll get more of this from us, particularly in the skill group. But I want to, I want to give you a hand, I want to give you kind of the secret sauce. And the cheat sheet, if you will, of growing your business is, what happens is you're at the center, and you're This is natural, by the way, we've all gone through this, we all do this, is we start our business, and we start to do things, right, we start to identify things that need to get done. So you mentioned a website. So somewhere in here, I'm sure I have a website and other things that are out here in the periphery. And we start to pick away at different things that need to we think need to get done. So what happens is, we, we, in a sense, jump, we jump to Well, let's just start doing stuff. And anything we can think of or somebody tells us we'll do it. So Oh, I got a business, I need a website.

So we jump in, we get a website, oh, you know, I need to have a logo, I need to have my branding and everything in place, I can do that. So I'll go and get my logo made.

And we'll run around and we'll do all these things. And then we'll a couple of things will happen to us. One is, we'll start to get a little nervous because we're doing nothing but pouring money into all of us and getting these things done. And the other thing is we'll go I've got one client, I've made one penny, I don't have any money, when's this stuff going to produce for me, let me look at my website, here's my website, the customers aren't jumping out of the screen happy for my website, what's going on?

And we start to look at these things. And we realize that there's something missing. The other thing that often happens is we end up with Now, again, I want to acknowledge the fact that you've gone out and gotten some help. But a lot of people go this route.

So they start to design a business, and it becomes this. We call this the DIY trap.

Because if you look at all of these things that need to be done, and these are just some of the things that need to be done in your business, they probably add up to, you know, a few 1000 hours a week.

And if you do this, then you have to basically clone yourself, or figure out how your body can now operate on 1000 hours a week, and no sleep, and how and no sleep and how somehow miraculously, and I'm being facetious here, but somehow you figure out, I know how to get 80 hours a day instead of 24. I'm genetically altered, you know, alternating the universe to do that. In other words, the picture I'm painting is it's impossible. Right? You'll never get there if you do it if you try and do it this way. Because there are just too many tasks that need to be done.

Now the other challenge with running out and just going well, I think this needs to be done. And that needs to be done. And somebody told me to do that is that before you know it, you very often end up with 80% of what you've created is useless. It's of no importance and of no use to you and you've run out of money and you run into time, and you're frustrated because you're not getting any results. So what happens is, there's a big step before this.

And that is stopping and doing what we call clarity, getting real clarity on what the business needs, where it's going to go, what the vision for the business is, all of these things need to be done. First. I'm going to give you an example of this. Somebody in I don't know if it was our group, Jaimie, or might have been another group sent out a logo and said, What do you think of my logo? Yeah. And I said I don't know. What do you do? Who you who you're trying to appeal to? And they explained it? And I said, Okay, well, here's what comes across to me from your logo. One is your target market is women, you're going after women because you're using soft hues of pink and you're using colors, you know that that appeal to that segment of the marketplace. The other thing is the font that you're using is coming across this very feminine. So that's your whole picture here. does that fit with your audiences? Well? No, actually it doesn't because I'm going after men. Where'd you pick the color from? Well, it's my favorite color?

Where did you get the font from? Oh, the graphic artist said it was her favorite font. had nothing to do with the audience and even the name and the slogan and the logo everything that you used was kind of useless because it was all about them was all about what they liked and what they thought was pretty and everything else but had nothing to do with their customer.

So we need to often back up, and we need to say, wait a minute, what are we doing? Where are we going? What's the plan before we start to put tactic what we call tactics into place. Because once you know exactly where you're going, what you're doing, then the tactics emerge from that. So what I'm talking about, you should develop strategies, first, vision, planning, clarity, and then strategy. And then strategy leads to tactics. So I'll give you another example. One of our clients came to us and said, somebody, told me he's killing it on Instagram. You need to help me get on Instagram, I don't even have an account, set me up an account there, give me the graphics in place, I need you to start cranking out some content. And I said, Okay, fine. Hold on a sec, let's have a meeting about this. So we discussed it. And I said, well, let's talk about your target market, what you're doing. This gentleman happens to be in his 60s. And he happens to be marketing to insurance, people who have achieved a certain level of success and want to go to the next level. So its target market was around the age of 45 to 55 years old. And I said, let's look at Instagram for a minute. How many 45 to 55-year-olds, do you think you're hanging around on Instagram?

Karen R.  26:34  
Almost none. Yeah,

Mark Kanty  26:37  
over 80% of Instagram traffic is between the ages of 18 and 23.

So, once again, you know, you could very easily go, Oh, I gotta be on Instagram, I got to get all my graphics in place, I got to spend all the spinning to get all this content on Instagram. 

Jaimie Skultety  26:53  
But first, if you don't know who you're appealing to, you don't even know if that's the right place to hang out in here is that you've already identified, like who you want to attract. And I wrote it down here career moms, and actually, you know, like, so you've got to think about how will you be attracting those people? You know, what tools are you going to use, what tactics, and all of that. So you've kind of got half of that like input. I mean, I wasn't happy, but you bet your idea of exactly who you'd be best to serve. So then, of course, you know, once you kind of have all of your accessories of like the thing I want to say, you know, for your, your tools, your platforms, your podcast, your website, you know, those kinds of things, then it's about attracting people, but also that your platforms have that they're designed to take people to the next step. So there's no, there's a strategy around all of that. So I always say to people, you know, half the solution is getting people to your website, that, you know, you could probably check out in Google Analytics and see if you're getting the traffic there. And I would venture to say, because we do know, from people that we've worked within the past, they're getting traffic, but the people aren't staying on their site. And so there's a lot of, you know, ways that we kind of lose people, even by getting into your site. 

Mark Kanty  28:15  
And even in, believe me, and we won't be labored this, this is what we could spend the next five months talking to you. Because that's, that's, you know that and that's just to build the initial foundation of your business. But things like for example, you know, what we call a purpose-built website, a website has to have before you even begin to design for a website, you have to say, Well, first of all, how am I going to get people to it? And then once I get them there, what specific steps do I want them to take? So from the first nanosecond of me arriving on your website, you need to be communicating exactly what my next step is. And then taking me on a journey, so that the end of that journey needs to be me booking a call with you.

And if your website isn't specifically designed to achieve that, then what's it, therefore? So this is the problem, again, with jumping ahead is people for example, and this is classic, people will say, Well, I need a website. They haven't really fleshed out their business plan yet, but I need a website. So what do they do? They go to a webmaster, a web designer. And they say, can you build me a website? And they say, yeah, I'll build you a beautiful website. Here's my favorite font, what's your favorite color? And they'll build you what they think is a work of art.

The problem is, they're web designers. And they typically know absolutely nothing about marketing strategy, not strategists. They have no concept of developing an avatar and audience. They don't even know anything about these things. All they know is they want to create something that looks beautiful. They really could care less what it does, as far as they're concerned, the sole goal

When somebody looks at it, they go, Wow, that's beautiful. So do you want something that somebody looks at and goes, Well, that's beautiful? Or do you want something that produces clients, and, and generates business for you? And this, again, is where we, you know, we run into challenges, the same thing with graphics and logo and everything else is no, the number one purpose of a logo is to grab attention, and to entice somebody to take action.

Have we done the thought process and the strategy behind that so that when somebody lands on the logo, they go, Wow, that's incredible! I've got to find out more about this business. Where do I click? Where do I go next? And, and the same thing with the website. So these are all things that kind of map out for you. So I know, we're probably overwhelming you, I want to know not.

But I just want to give you and I want to kind of summarize this and kind of back it up for you a little bit in terms of the starting point. And you're at a great point, because you're at your starting point, your first day. Yeah. So what I want to encourage you to do is not do any of that stuff that was on that busy slide right now. Take the next hat Christmas is coming up, you know, we do not far take the next week, take the next couple of weeks, and take some time to really get clarity to start to think about things that you want moving forward in your business. And the first thing is, what exactly do you want from your business? So take out, get yourself a journal, if you don't already have one? I haven't read it yet. Answer this question and spend time meditating on it, thinking about it, brainstorming it, what exactly do I want from my business? So that comes from that thing gives you a definition of what success is. So when you have your business, now you've got a benchmark, you can say, Well, this is what I want from my business. Is it producing this? Yes or no? Now I've got a benchmark I can start to move forward on. There's one step before this, by the way, which is what do I want from life? What do I want my life to look like? Because very often people end up designing a business that's in heading in the wrong direction, what they really wanted a life. But let's talk about business sense. For a moment here, though, the next step is what's the absolute minimum necessary that I need to do to achieve that. And this, again, is where a lot of people make their businesses way more complex than they need to coming back to that social media example, a lot of people think, oh, I've got to be everywhere. I've got to be everything to everybody. And I've got to build all this out, instead of stopping and saying, Well, wait a minute, maybe just this one channel would do it for me. Maybe just this one particular way of doing things will get me what I want. And if that's the case, that's great. So it's not about doing more and piling more on, it's actually about doing less, and getting really good at what you do.

So this is where we come into designing a business model, the ideal business model that's perfectly designed to achieve your goal, which is getting what you want for your business.

So we don't have to make this journey complex, we can, we can actually simplify it, make it very straightforward. And then the third ties into that as well as what is the fastest and easiest path to get that done.

So again, sometimes we make things way too complicated. And when we build in all of these pieces, and we invest all this time and money and energy into things, when really we didn't need to we could have just gone from A to B, right? So, you know, like, maybe maybe we need to, we want to go to the store and we get all this stuff in our mind. And we say, well, I've got to have the car and I've got to drive here. And then I've got to know where parking is. And I need directions. And we go through all of this, then we say well, wait a minute, I don't even have a car. Okay, well, I gotta get a bus schedule and figure out where the buses are and everything else. And we get all of that we get all complex with that.

When in fact, we realize that you know what, the store is only two blocks away, I could just walk there.

So this is the same kind of journey that we're on with our businesses, what can we do to get there in the fastest and easiest way possible? Because often it's very difficult to get in the mindset when we haven't been in business for ourselves to realize that. Maybe it doesn't have to be that complicated.

Okay, so the first two are really important. It's important to go through these kinds of sequentially. But this is the beginning is clarity. Everything has to be clear, because if you know what you want, and you know how to get it, then it's not gonna be too difficult to get it is it?

Karen R.  34:51  
I hope

Mark Kanty  34:53  
so, this is where people break down is they don't they get confused and they don't know what questions. To ask because they haven't really clearly defined what it is that they want. And once you define what it is that you want, and you know what it takes to get it, then you can start to build the business. Because then you say, Well, I know that I need this, this, this and this, then you can say, where do I get that? How do we start to prioritize? What are those things? And? And how can I get that? And one of the most important questions that you ask when you start to list out those things that need to be done is does this require me? Am I the one that needs to be doing this? Right? Am I good at it? am I passionate about it? Do I even want to be doing it?

Karen R.  35:39  
Your zone of genius, right? Exactly.

Mark Kanty  35:45  
Yeah. So. So I hope these bits of information have helped, you know, give you some kind of direction, and some ideas to move forward with. So we started by overwhelming you with thoughts and ideas and all of that. And then I love how Mark kind of tied it and brought it down to like, here's the simplicity of it. And then once you've got that foundation, then all those other kinds of components start to come into play. So that shouldn't feel so overwhelming, because I know how you feel right now. It's a lot of work it is. And it always will be having a business. It's not it's never just as simple. You know, it's rare that you find a business that people are just kind of getting this passive income rolling in, you know, that's it's kind of a rarity. So, yeah, but it's really hoping that was helpful.

Karen R.  36:36  
 It was really helpful. Because my personality is to overcomplicate and do all the things instead of focusing, getting really clear, and doing my best on one or two things. Yes. So for example, I've already taken 85 million courses and had and had lots of coaching over the past year.

Mark Kanty  37:03  
And you know, what happens when you do that? Do you get conflicting advice? Yes. It gets more complicated. Yes. Yes, yes, I've done all that already. Yeah, I've done the complicated stuff. And we, and we all do, you know, we all go through that process. So it's important to allow yourself, give yourself permission to stumble. And, you know, the to allow for the fact that Oh, that's okay. And just to basically acknowledge that what's happening there in your mind is you can say to yourself to reframe it and say, I'm learning.

So when you find when you catch yourself and to say, I'm learning, you know, and so it's not about getting more information. This is where we often get into this graphic that I use. And you may have seen it where it says Since when is more the solution to having too much.

Right. So this comes back to that clarity piece, you know, is it's not a matter of having more, it's a matter of having the right, it's a matter of having the clarity and the clear direction on exactly the right information. I need that more information. In fact, what Jaimie and I find most of our time has done is helping people unlearn and let go of things because they already know too much. So it's a matter of Yeah, yeah. And focusing on to be the end goal, again, a really simple way for to me of looking at particularly when it comes to coaching and consulting, the type of work that you want to do.

Management guru, Peter Drucker wrote this years ago, he said, do what you do best and outsource the rest. This is pre-internet days. And what he was referring to is that when we look at models of excellence in the world, that really, really achieved that level of mastery and excellence, there, they have a very clearly defined and narrow focus, and they do it really, really well. And then they get other people to do all the rest.

So when you're a coach or consultant, the ultimate goal would be Hey, if I've identified that I want to work with five clients a week.

Then if all I'm doing is working with five clients a week and everything else is getting done, then I have a successful business. So all my other pieces are being taken care of for me so that I can do nothing but what I do best.

And then when you do that, then you develop this not only do you develop mastery, but you also develop a certain calm and a certain piece because you're becoming that that person that's undeniably the go-to person in your field.

And you're able to focus on your passion. So to me, that's the ultimate goal is as we  Start to parcel off. So it's a matter of, of not figuring out, we get caught up, many people jump again, this is that jumping, they jump into the house, I need to know how to do this, I need to know how to build a website or I need to know how to create an ad or I need to know how to create a marketing campaign, it's the wrong question to ask, the question asked is what needs to get done?

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