by Tina | Jul 9, 2021 | Systems & Productivity
I remember a mentor of mine saying this during a mastermind meeting years ago:
“Show me anyone’s calendar and I call tell you exactly how successful that person is”
It was a real HMMMM moment for me… what was my calendar saying about my success?
Put simply – what he was really saying is:
Where you are spending your time will determine how successful you are.
Do you want to find more clients? –> How many hours a week are you spending on client finding activities and having sales calls?
Do you want to delegate more? –> How many hours a week do you spend just ‘doing the work cause it’s easier in the moment’ vs. prepping to delegate? (creating SOPs, training folks, etc)
Do you want to become a stronger leader? –> How much time are you investing each week in expanding your leadership? (training, reading, working with a coach)
Likewise, your calendar will show you where your activities are at odds with what you really want.
You say you want to find more clients, but you just spent a week trying to figure out how to update your own website.
You want to get admin stuff off your plate, but you keep jumping into all the odds and ends that need to be done each day.
You want to get out of client facing work, but you keep setting the expectation with clients that you will be the one to do everything (even though you have a team on board to help.)
If you aren’t making progress towards your goals, take a moment to ask yourself:
Where is my calendar at odds with what I want?
Get real with yourself. Be honest about where your time is going each day. How often are you distracted or diving into the little things. Or going down a rabbit hole of TikTok videos for 2 hours (which I just did last night… is it just me? 😉
Ask yourself with everything on your plate, is this thing I’m doing taking me closer to my goals or further away? <– because it will always be one or the other
We only have so many hours a day to commit to our work. Let’s make sure we are making the most of that time, so we can move as quickly and gracefully as possible toward our goals.
by Tina | Jun 18, 2021 | Leadership, Systems & Productivity, Team & Hiring
If you take time off and still have to work… is it really a vacation?
I daresay it’s not!
And yet I get it… as business owners this is easier said than done. We have clients who rely on us. Stuff to be done. The business needs to keep on running even when we want to step away for a few days, a week or more. (We might even be just a *little* bit addicted to our work, but hey… that’s a convo for another time.)
So does this mean we never get to take time off? Heck no!
What it means is that we need to be PURPOSEFUL and PLAN for how we are going to take time off… unplugged, no checking in with clients or team kind of time.
It all starts with asking yourself one question:
“If I was to take this week off [INSERT DATE HERE], what could fall apart while I’m away?”
What is on my to-do list for the week? What are my ongoing tasks that need to be completed?
What could happen with clients? With team? With projects?
What could stall? Or fall apart?
Take a few minutes and make a list… go ahead, I’ll wait here for you.
…
Now let’s look at your list and run it through the following filters…
- Which of these things could I get done ahead of time?
- Which of these things could wait until I’m back?
- Which of these things could I ask someone else to take care of for me?
Mark each item on your list accordingly, and then it’s time to make some decisions.
- For those things that could be done ahead of time, set aside some extra time to do so (I get that this isn’t 100% ideal as it means working more before you take time off, but that can still be worth it to enjoy some for real unplugged time)
- For those things that could wait until you are back, go ahead and reschedule them (we often think things *need* to be done when in fact it could be OK to postpone them for a week or so)
- For those things that other folks can take care of in your absence, this is where we need to create solid, documented processes so that others can do the work while we are away (and that we work together to train and empower them to feel confident to take care of things during this time.)
This is exactly what we are doing in my business right now. Each of us on the team has chosen a week off this summer, and then each person is responsible to ask themselves this question and plan/prep accordingly (with a focus on updating/documenting our processes so that as a team we can take care of each others work.)
Whether it’s a stay-cation or a ‘travel again now that the world is opening up’ style vacation – my wish for you is to be able to fully unplug, rest and enjoy some time just for YOU. (Because we all need it!)
I’m curious – what are your plans for taking time off this summer? Pop a comment below and let me know…
by Tina | Jul 26, 2019 | General Biz, Leadership, Systems & Productivity
I’m curious for your thoughts on this…
I got to thinking about something the other day while walking my dog. About how we represent ourselves in marketing, and are we doing a disservice by not being ‘real’ about things?
by Tina | Jun 25, 2019 | General Biz, Systems & Productivity
Ahhhh yes… summer. This is the last week of school for my girls so our summer ‘season’ officially starts this Friday.
There are 3 things I like to focus on during this time of year as I juggle family time and down time with the ongoing needs of the business.
1) Catch Up – this is a great time to year to catch up on all the little (and sometimes big!) things that have been hanging out on our to-do lists. I like to start with the oldest stuff on my list and work my way backwards…. I either get it done, or let it go. My goal is to start September with a clean slate so I am ready to rock the busy fall season.
2) Clean Up – every summer we choose one or two clean up projects. It could be updating an old website, or clearing out all of our old contacts out of Infusionsoft (which we just did this week and it feels SOOO nice!) Talk to your team about getting their help here – chances are they have a list of things that they want to tackle already!
3) Charge-Up – what are you doing to take care of YOU? To recharge your batteries this summer so you are able to dive into the fall busy season with a full tank? This could be as simple as a daily walk, or weekly dinner out with a friend. Or how about a legit ‘no work allowed’ vacation? Maybe even a ‘no kids allowed’ trip? (I’m going to Sedona in August WITHOUT my kids… can’t wait 😉
What is your favorite thing to do in the summer?
Tina
by Tina | May 17, 2019 | General Biz, Systems & Productivity, Team & Hiring
Let me ask you this – what happens to your business when a member of your team goes away on vacation?
In today’s NEW video I share 3 tips to make sure that vacation time doesn’t have to be “AHHH! It’s all falling apart without them!” time 😉
by Tina | Apr 11, 2019 | General Biz, Success Mindset, Systems & Productivity
I wouldn’t call it a secret per se, but it certainly is true.
If you want to be successful in your marketing efforts you need one thing:
CONSISTENCY
Consistency in how often you show up – successful marketing starts with showing up on a regular basis. Be it a weekly podcast. Thrice weekly articles. Daily posts or whatever you decide. If you are sporadic in your marketing efforts, you will get sporadic results.
Consistency in what you say – know your ideal client and how you can serve them, and build all of your marketing around this ONE thing. Confusing messages send mixed signals to the point where people may not know exactly what you do.
When we lack consistency it will show in our results. I know this because I’ve made these mistakes myself, more times than I care to admit. 😉
If you struggle with consistency in your marketing, let me ask you:
- What ACTION can you commit to taking daily for the next 90 days?
- What MESSAGE are you willing to focus on during this time?
I’m curious what would be possible if you gave it 90 days… give it a try and let me know.
Tina
