What every business owner wishes they could skip

Jessica T: 00:00:17

Hello and welcome to the eavesdrop on us podcast.

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I'm your host, Jessica.

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And this week you have just me.

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I am hosting my first solo

episode here on the podcast.

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Normally it is me and my co host and

business partner, Susan, but this

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week she is out on a trip to Savannah,

Georgia with my younger sister.

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Rachel.

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So one of our values here in the business

and in our family is spending time, you

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know, outside of the business, doing

things that are enriching and fun.

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And so she is often Savannah and

that's why I'm recording solo.

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So.

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This week, what I'm going to be bringing

to the table is a topic that has come

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up pretty consistently with a lot of

our business consulting clients, as well

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as in some of the business masterminds

that we're in, and one of the big

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conversation points, so many business

owners are coming to us with even the

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more successful business owners, those

with teams, those who are grossing, um,

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You know, significant amounts of revenue.

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It's a matter of how

can I continue to grow?

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How can I get more?

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And I think as many business owners

are feeling the pressures of the

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economy and thinking about how they

can continue to grow their business

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and find more customers and clients

and do more marketing and just gain

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more visibility online and in person.

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that has been a very interesting topic.

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So what I want to unpack and dissect a

little bit here is I think an important

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lesson for you, the listener to be

thinking about, because one of the

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things that we were noticing, Susan and

I, as we were reflecting on our clients

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and thinking about the conversations

in some of the masterminds that were.

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Part of is that no matter how far you get

in your business, no matter how advanced

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you get, no matter how big your team gets,

no matter how much revenue you're bringing

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in, there are some core fundamentals, some

core foundational pieces in your business

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that you always have to have clear.

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And so it's interesting because.

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Sometimes we'll be interacting

with business owners who are

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much newer in their business.

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And we interact with the, you know,

the vast majority of our clients

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are very successful and established.

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And the thing that both

have in common is this.

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So when I talk about the business one

on one, the business fundamentals,

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the business foundations, you know,

all of those are pretty much saying

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the same thing, which is, you know,

you have to be clear on who it is that

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you're serving, your ideal client.

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You have to be clear on the

problem that you solve with

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your products, services, offers.

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And you have to have clarity about

your, your goals, where you want to

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go, what you want to do with your

business, who you want to work with.

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And those are just kind of three examples

of those core foundational pieces that

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we often talk about with our clients.

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And the thing that newer business

owners and experienced business

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owners seem to have in common is.

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I don't want to say resistance, but this

frustration, exasperation, eye rolling

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energy around like, uh, the ideal client

conversation again, or the messaging

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conversation or like sales goals.

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It's all the stuff that you

think like, Oh, well, I already.

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You know, I did it once.

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I don't have to, I don't

have to get back to it.

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And I think newer business owners get

frustrated with, with some of those

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conversation points, because what is

first it's frustrating, you know, it's

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one of those things where a lot of those

foundational pieces get fleshed out and

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ironed out and clear with experience.

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And so there's this, like, I

just want to get that part done.

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Cause it's hard.

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And I want to be bringing revenue in,

I think experienced business owners

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get frustrated with it because it.

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It seems like it's such a basic.

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It's such a fundamental that

they're like, I'm beyond that.

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I don't want to go back to this.

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Like I figured it out and what I want to

share with all of you today is a really

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interesting lesson that actually I.

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brought from one of the

mastermind calls that I was on.

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And, before I get into that story, I

think what prompted this was, you know,

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Susan and I were reflecting on like, why

is it that, people are so resistant to

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these fundamentals and these foundational

pieces, the business 101 part of business.

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And no matter sort of

what stage they're in.

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And I think a lot of

it is because it just.

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Feels like hard work.

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It feels like, you know, I've already

done this and I want to get to the

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good part, which is help me figure

out how to market better or get more

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leads in, or like tweak this email.

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And what's funny is that no matter

what, no matter how skilled you get,

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you have to have those pieces in place.

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And as Susan and I were talking about

that, we were called one of the.

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I think one of our very first mentors

shared this lesson with us, and it

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was from legendary basketball coach

john wooden wooden, which I hope

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I'm pronouncing that correctly.

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You could tell I'm clearly not.

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I'm clearly not a someone who knows a lot

about sports, but he was really, I think.

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He was so successful as a coach, not

just because of his strategy, um, but

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because of one of the techniques he,

he taught his players very early on.

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And I want to read this to you.

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it's a quote that Jon Wooten

was relaying to an interviewer.

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And it's titled how to put on your socks.

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And I just want to read this.

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It's like a short little paragraph here.

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And he says, I think it's the

little things that really count.

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The first thing I would show our

players at our first meeting was how

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to put a little extra time putting

on their shoes and socks properly.

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The most important part of your

equipment is your shoes and socks.

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You plan a hard floor, so you

must have shoes that fit right.

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And you must not permit your

socks to have wrinkles around the

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little toe, where you generally

get blisters or around the heels.

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It took just a few minutes, but I did show

my players how I wanted them to do it.

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Hold up the sock, work it around

the little toe area and the heel

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area so that there are no wrinkles.

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Smooth it out.

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Good.

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Then hold the sock up while you put the

shoe on and the shoe must be spread apart,

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not just pulled on top on the top laces.

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You tighten it up snugly by each eyelet.

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Then you tie it and then you double

tie it so it won't come undone because

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I don't want shoes coming untied

during practice or during the game.

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I don't want that to happen.

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I'm sure that once I started

teaching that many years ago,

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it did cut down on blisters.

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It definitely helped, but that's

just a little detail that coaches

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must take advantage of because

it's the little details that

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make the big things come about.

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And so if you think about it.

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Now I'm not going to get into explaining

the intricacies of a basketball game, but

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we could all kind of imagine basketball

players on the court in the middle of

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a game, you know, trying to do, uh,

advanced plays or trying to, you know,

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score during a really important game.

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And what happens when they are

sort of slowed down by a blister.

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We've all probably had

a blister at one point.

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We know how painful that is and how that

slows us down and how it distracts us.

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And we all have sort of felt like, you

know, we've all had a shoelace come

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untied and you're in the middle of

something and you don't want to get

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slowed down or delayed by having to stop,

interrupt what you were doing, tie your

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shoelace or worse trip on it and fall.

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And so you could see the

metaphor sort of building.

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Right now, which is if you think

about this, how it applies to your

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business, so many business owners

knew and also experienced as I just

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talked about are, in the middle of

like, how do I get more customers?

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How do I get more clients?

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How do I, you know, bring

on this team member?

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How do I do this?

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How do I do that?

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Sort of these, the, the impulse

is to jump to, I want to try this

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sophisticated advanced thing.

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I want to move up to the next level.

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I want to, you know.

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do this and that in my business.

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But when the foundation is shaky,

when the socks are not put on

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correctly, when the shoelaces are

not tied properly, you could already

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see the challenges in front of you.

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So let me show you what this looks like

in terms of how it shows up in business.

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So I was on a mastermind call.

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And what I love about this

particular mastermind group that

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we're in is that it's a variety

of different business industries.

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So, I mean, my gosh, there's like

a pet stain, product, you know,

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they have like different sprays and

cleaners that help, pet owners clean

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up, you know, pet stains there's.

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People who do like, um,

custom made gift boxes.

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There's people who are in, you

know, the legal field, there's,

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um, someone who's an architect.

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So it's a really cool,

diverse group of people.

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And some of whom have achieved massive

amounts of traditional success.

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You know, the, the revenue, the, you

know, they've, they've skyrocketed

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in terms of following online.

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And so by all markers, you're like,

oh my gosh, they are so advanced.

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They're so they've got it together.

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And what fascinated me.

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Was one of the members today

was working on a web page to put

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online to attract more people, to

attract new people into his world.

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So it was a marketing challenge.

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And one of the questions he brought to

the table was, he was like, I don't know

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how to make this page more attractive.

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I don't know how to get people to

once they land on this page to want

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to sign up for something or want

to have a conversation with me.

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And one of the key things that the

mastermind leaders pointed out was

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like, well, okay, we could get into

the, into the weeds of like, okay,

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you need this section, or you need

this color instead, or you need to

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use this word instead of that word.

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You know, all the stuff we think is going

to really make a radical difference.

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And I think in many cases, those

elements do, but you'll never

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guess the question that they asked

this person, you'll never guess.

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Who is your ideal client?

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Who are you trying to target?

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Now, you could feel sort of the, the

frustration and, and I don't want

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to say he visibly eye rolled, but

he probably did internally, this

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person, because he was like, Oh my

God, this question again, you know?

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And so you could see, Very clearly,

he kept asking all these questions to,

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you know, not necessarily dodging the

question, but you could see him being

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like, okay, so, but what if I tried,

um, you know, this, this lead magnet

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instead of this lead magnet, or what if

I tried reorganizing the page this way?

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And it kept coming back to the same thing,

which was, well, who are you trying?

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To serve, who are you trying to help?

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And until you have clarity around

that question, they were saying

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to him, you know, it's, it's

not going to become any easier.

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We're still going to, to have these

challenges because one of the things

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that he was coming to the table with was,

I just want to get more, more people.

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I just, you know, I haven't had

to market before cause we had such

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a solid referral based business.

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And here I am needing to really, you

know, beef up my, my online marketing.

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And so he's like, well, I just

want to target, you know, anyone

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who needs like this kind of

frantic, very reactive energy.

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Like, I just want to find anyone

who needs, you know, a house.

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And the, the question again, came back

to like, who are you trying to serve?

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Who do you want to work with those

fundamental questions that so many of

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us tackled at the very beginning of

our entrepreneurial journey and think

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that like, well, I figured it out.

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I know what I'm doing.

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Like, I don't have to come

back to this conversation.

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And so I'm sharing

these examples with you.

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I'm sharing the metaphor from John Wooten.

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I'm sharing the example from this

mastermind, because no matter how

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far along you get in your business,

you have to have these things clear.

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And I think this is a And I think that's

especially important when we think

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about the decisions that many business

owners are going to be making as we wrap

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up 2023 thinking about the next year.

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if you don't know who you are trying to

work with right now if things are shifting

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in your business and you're trying to,

evolve into your next phase or whatever

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that looks like in your business or

you're trying to find more you're trying

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to do a new thing in your business, like

doing some online marketing strategies,

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you got to have those things clear.

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Right.

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So as you're thinking about your

own business, are things feeling

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a bit challenging because you are

trying to do things without having

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the foundational clarity, right?

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Have you been trying to, I don't know,

try, I'm trying to think of all the things

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that so many of our clients have, have

said that they want to do, are you trying

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to create more content on social media?

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Are you trying to get

more visible in that area?

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Are you trying to create

a new product or service?

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Are you trying to trim and, and remove

a product or service from your business?

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Are you thinking of hiring a team member?

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You know, all of that goes back to,

you got to have those pieces in place.

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So I, I would encourage you to.

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Just resist the eye rolling and really

think about how can I, over the next,

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what today is November 10th, as I'm

recording this over the next couple

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of weeks, as I am preparing for the

end of the year, really thinking

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about 2024 for my business, have

I been skipping the foundational

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business one on one elements because.

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I want to get to the good stuff and I

want to kind of skip the pieces that are

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going to, get me to my desired outcome.

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Am I resisting those because I really

don't have clarity and you know, if

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someone could just give me a perfectly

packaged, answer through a marketing

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strategy or a team member that who

just magically appears at my door,

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you know, that would be wonderful,

but that's just not how it works.

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And so funny enough.

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Right.

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Of all the things Susan and I thought we

would be talking about with our clients.

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It's, it's all of those basic pieces

in your business, really creating, you

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know, if we, if I go back to the John

Gooden metaphor, it's really making sure

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you've got the socks on, so they're not

wrinkled and are going to cause blisters.

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It's really making sure those

shoes are on tied properly.

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So you don't trip yourself or have to

stop in the middle of doing something, tie

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your shoes and then try and recalibrate

and get back into the zone of things.

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So really get clear on those things.

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And what you want to achieve more

of in: 2024

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finding more clients, which is

probably having offers and services

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and products that are profitable.

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It is freeing up more

time in your business.

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You got to have clarity

around those things.

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So with that in mind, I'm

going to wrap up this episode.

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This is a short one, just solo, just me.

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I hope this has been helpful.

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I hope that if nothing else, this has

given you that light bulb moment to

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remember that no matter how far you

get in your business, there are certain

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questions that you can never really escape

from never really, polish and finish one

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time and then never have to revisit it.

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Okay.

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So with that in mind, have a great rest

of your day, your week tune in next time.

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And we'll have another exciting topic.