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Declare Your Chief Initiative

Oh, okay. We are heading into one of my personal favorite lessons. Our goal for today. Should you choose to accept it? Actually, you don't have a choice. Eyes to choose the one goal that will focus your business for the next 12 months. You will choose today one goal to focus your business on for the next 12 months. Don't worry, there's a system. All right. In the last lesson, we figured out how we were gonna pay attention to what really matters so that other people pay attention to what really matters as well. That's how key performance and indicators relate to your stand out style. So you created a system for regularly checking in with those. KP is both how to track them. And what story that they're telling the story that they're telling you so that you can direct your action day by day by day. Thio make those numbers grow to make them move in the direction that you want to move. You're reacting to what's happening around you. You have difficulty prioritizing tasks, and your focus wav...

ers on a regular basis. What I say about this is that you are in the weeds. You are constantly in reaction mode instead of pro action mode. And if there is one thing I want for you, it is to be in pro action mode. It is to be in the driver's seat of your business. It's to feel and act like a CEO like a leader, because if you're not going to be a leader, who is going to lead your customers, probably gonna be someone else's business. You're having problems standing out. It may be because you haven't taken on that mantle of leadership in your business yet, and it's probably because you're stuck in the weeds. Our goal for today, other than choosing that one goal is to get out of the weeds and give you a much bigger picture. Look at your business. It's not that you're not driven. It's not that you're not productive. It's not that you don't know where to invest your and it's that you don't know where to invest your energy, and that's hurting your business. Do you wonder about where to invest your energy? You are willing to work hard. I mean, look at all of you. You've worked hard just to get here. But do you ever wonder if that hard work is being put on the right? Put into the right things? Yes, there's lots of nodding here. Yes. So what challenges do you face trying to find? Focus in your business. Let's hear from some of you guys. What challenges do you face when you're trying to find focus? Shelly The newest gadget. The shiny object syndrome? Yeah. Newest gadget, Shiny object syndrome. Absolutely. We're all idea people here. I think. I'm sure you're all idea People out there a swell and that shiny object syndrome can just mean it could be a deal breaker. It could take your focus off of what's working and put it on something new. And then that what's working stops working. Yeah, your chief initiative is a great way to figure out whether that shiny object you have in your in your head is actually the next mile marker or something that's going to take you off track. What's another challenge you face in trying to find? Focus, Melissa. So many ideas of things I wanna do in projects I wanna I wanna do and figuring out which one makes the most sense to do now. So timing timing. Absolutely, Bridget. Money, money. I need to make money now. And some of my ideas are things that are going to take a longer time to develop. So I'm caught between having this thing that I want to create and focus on, uh, every day, all the time and also the need to make money. Like now yesterday? Yeah. Yes, Absolutely. So your chief initiative can help with that, too? Because we're gonna look at how all the different priorities in your business stand up under that one big goal that's gonna keep you motivated so that you know how you can what you can do now, what smaller goals you can use what sub goals you can use to make money Now that are actually going to get you closer to where you wanna be. Wouldn't that be? Would that be good? Yeah. Cool. What other challenges Patrice Trying to find the right path to achieve whatever that goal is at that time. Yeah. Yeah. What is what is the right path? One thing I'd like to do with the chief initiative is kind of plot out a couple different paths give you some options. Maybe you don't meet all of those sub goals. Maybe only meet a few of them. But those few are enough to get you over the hump to that much bigger goal. Right? Cool. Anything else? Yeah. Brian Translate. I love living in the level of strategy and translating that back down Thio the daily and weekly stuff that needs to happen to make sure that it all adds up to that big goal. Absolutely. And trend. Yeah. So translating the big picture focus into, like, a day to day focus. Yes, absolutely. So in, um, um, session four and five, we're gonna look at what Mila for Merchant calls the air sandwich. The difference between strategic vision and day to day execution and all the stuff that happens in between. But our chief initiatives are what put us on that right track to begin with. So thanks for bringing that up. Well, one mawr, what's one more challenge? Lisa, Finishing finishes so good at starting. Tell me where you don't finish because I've got so many projects going on and they're all fun and they're all good and they're all creating something, but it's like there's a couple of them that I know, if I finished them, it would create so much more. And I just never quite get to the finishing bit. Yeah, eh, So I need to say no. Basically, yeah. So let me tell you something about me, which is that I used to carry around a lot of shame around, not finishing everything that I started. And then one day I realized that the reason that I start so many things and don't finish so many things is because I realize halfway through starting one that it's not getting me to where I ultimately want to go and that if I got my eye on that prize, if I know my destination, if I know my destination, then it doesn't matter if I don't finish everything. It only matters if I finish the stuff that's getting me closer to there. I used to really wrestle with the fact that people that I have this reputation for being highly productive and all I could think about was the stuff that wasn't getting done, the stuff that wasn't finishing, the brilliant ideas that I had that I just was not bringing to fruition, because I'll get a new idea and I'll spend a half a day the whole day, like building the website for it. Like on that Was that That was such a source of shame. Um, but you know what? Sometimes those projects work out. Sometimes those projects are the next big thing. And sometimes you just gotta let it go. So I'm going to challenge you in this, uh, in this activity to be thinking about what things you're working on right now. That would actually be better for you to just let go. And which of the things that you'd like to finish are gonna get you closer to your ultimate goal. Okay. Is that a common problem? Yeah, I find that a lot. Absolutely. So let's remember how knowing our destination helps us stand out when you know your destination. Your super focused and focused doesn't just change the way you work. It changes the way your business is perceived. When you know your destination, people know what they're supposed to remember you for. They know what you're known for because you're already working on that direction. You're already working toward that reputation and that kind of intense focus. That goal oriented, intense focus helps your business stand out. In fact, I would say it's probably one of the biggest things that you can dio to stand out because people really respond to that intensity. They respond to you knowing where you're going and doing the things that are going to get you there. So having a clear vision gives you something to be known for. And we started this session with with vision and having a chief initiative gives you something to direct your actions. Part of the problem and this kind of alludes to what Brian was saying is that vision visions too far out like it's very important to have, but it's also slightly intangible. Your chief initiative gives you something toe work on right now that directs your actions. One thing we talked about many lessons ago was that something that a lot of us are looking for in our micro to small businesses is a manager. We're actually looking for a boss. We're so accustomed Thio having that outside direction that we go looking for it in our businesses. Today we go looking for the guru, the expert bleeder that's gonna tell us what to dio. I don't want you to have to rely on those people anymore. It's not that you may not still read. Their blogged may not be that you're still not a part of their programs or, you know, go hear them speak. I don't want you to feel that dependency, because your chief initiative and the control that you wield over it can be your own personal sense of leadership. You can be finally your own boss. We've tricked ourselves into thinking that I've got my own business. I'm my own boss now. How many of you guys actually feel like you're your own boss? Okay. Thank you, Tiffany. I always appreciate your honesty. Yes. What if you could take back that control? Yeah. And it's not about, like, not serving your customers. They're not being in relationship with them, But it's about being the leader. And all of us have a capacity toe lead, just like we were talking about fascination. Languages. Some of us lead in different ways. Some of us lead through trust and loyalty and dependability. Some of us lead with strength. Others of us lead through listening. But we all have a capacity toe lead. So I've been saying this a lot, but I want to say it again. Focus looks good on you. How many times have you seen? And maybe it's your friends. Maybe it's your colleagues. Maybe it's you. How many times have you seen people putting out 10 different unrelated messages on Facebook in a week or in a month? And you don't know exactly from week to week, month to month what their business is actually about what they actually stand for, what their difference is. I see this all the time. When you can create focus, you may sound sound. You might feel like you're saying the same things over and over again. But what everyone else hears is clarity. What everyone else sees is focus. It's one of the reasons I haven't minded telling you 15 times that focus looks good on you. I want you to know me for encouraging you to find focus. That's one of my key messages. Focus, perception, discernment. So the three touch points of quiet power strategy and so focus is super important to me. So, as I've been saying today, you'll declare your chief initiative. Your chief initiative is the one goal that your work towards for the next six months, we choose one goal that feels like a stretch that feels like something that's going to regularly inspire you and motivate you That that goal that's going to keep you waking up in the morning. Hopefully, lots of things are keeping you, you know, getting you up in the morning. But this is the thing that you wake out of bed toe work on. That's your chief initiative. So having one goal adds up thio relief from the tireless hustle of just trying to keep up. Actually, you know, 11 challenge you guys didn't mention with your inbox. You know, your inbox is not just a new overwhelming place of communication for most of us because we're doing it wrong myself included. It is a source of people telling you what they need from you. What to dio. And so we wake up in the morning, we check our inbox, and it dictates our day. How many of you does your inbox dictate your day? Yeah, well, some of you have much better habits than I do. I'm very impressed. I've much better at it than I used to be. But that's one place that kind of personifies this idea of always just trying to keep up. One goal also adds up to having confidence in your plan, because the plan is all lined up. You know, you might not know day today what it looks like, but week to week, month, the month you know what that plan is? You know what mile markers you need to be shooting for having one goal adds up to a sense of purpose, a greater sense of purpose. You know why you're doing what you're doing on a daily basis. It also adds up to the ability to quickly make decisions, prioritize and act on the right opportunities. And one goal adds up to getting attention from the right prospects. If you've had trouble pinpointing the right clients for you, you know who they are. You know who you wanna be attracting, but sometimes you get them, and sometimes you don't focus is probably one of the core problems. And so when you have that clear focus, when you know what you're working toward, when you know what your chief initiative is, you're going to get more attention from or of the right people. So as I've been saying focus doesn't just transform the way you work, it transforms the way people perceive your business. You're gonna start by choosing one big thing you'd like to accomplish over the next to 12 months. Start by choosing one big thing you'd like to accomplish in the next 6 to 12 months. It may not come to you right away. Don't worry. You've got 24 hours to work on this. So start by choosing one big thing you'd like to accomplish in the next 6 to 12 months. Here's how you Lisa some examples like, what is a big thing? Because that's very variable for May. Sure, and it's very variable for everyone. Um, one of my first chief initiatives Waas landing a, uh, finishing a book proposal. Right. Okay, so that was the one thing that was, like, was keeping me going every single day, and it directed all of my actions. Even when I wasn't working specifically on the book proposal, it changed my strategy. It changed my business model. It changed my marketing and to my actions were dictated by that. And eventually I got to that point where I could finish the book proposal hadn't have my agent shop it to publishers. Okay, Another one that I worked on last year was launching my business coach training program. And so I was working up to that for quite a while, trying to figure that out building, uh, my building, my base so that it made sense. And again it was dictating all of my actions. And also, if I didn't get it done like, I wasn't gonna be able to move onto the next thing like it had to get done. So whether it was by the deadline I had chosen arbitrarily or another deadline, it had to get done because I couldn't move on in my business until that happened. Okay? Eso How do you know if this is the right goal? First of all, it should make you uncomfortable. It should not feel like something you could accomplish tomorrow. If you could accomplish it tomorrow. It is not. Your chief initiative should make you feel uncomfortable. It requires a lot of different things to fall in line. This is not a If I follow this 123 step plan, then this thing will happen. That's not a chief initiative. your chief initiative has a lot of moving parts. This goal requires you to accomplish a lot of other things to make a lot of other things happen. It excites you. You know, it's it's that feeling of discomfort that is half on half who that's your chief initiative. And it's also highly unlikely that you could make it happen in the next six months. I really want you to think beyond the six month mark. Um, you know, part of this problem with the constant hustle and constantly being in the weeds is that you're not looking much further than next week. Or maybe you're not looking much further than the next mortgage payment, and you will find there is a huge shift in your business when you start setting goals even just six months out, when you could start to see that far ahead on the horizon. I'm not asking you to create a five year plan. All I'm asking you is to look out six months ahead, so your chief initiative should be something that you could not make happen in the next 6 to 6 months. Now, if you happen to make it happen, please, I would love to celebrate with you. That would make me very happy. Now, once you've pinpointed that one goal, you need to think about the conditions for your success. Consider the conditions of success. Now you want to think about what it's like to have reached that goal. What's your environment like? How has your environment around you changed? Has your Is your office different? Is your home different? Maybe you're living someplace completely different. What relationships are in your life or work? Did you have to meet new people or strengthen relationships or hire people to make that chief initiative happen? What new relationships or changes in relationships are going on in your life and work? Maybe you need to go home and have a conversation with your partner about how he or she is going to be involved in making this chief initiative happen. How is your day to day schedule different when you've achieved your chief initiative? How will you? How will your day today schedule be different? So to lease this question about, uh, you know what's an example of a chief initiative? And I gave the book proposal. One of the things I knew is that I couldn't spend nearly as much time on the phone every day when I had achieved my goal because ideally, my book proposal would be done and I would be onto writing the book. And so I needed to create that space in my schedule. So that was what led me then to reworking my business model. And how How will you work differently? How do you work differently in this success? So same example. Doing more groups instead of more, one on one selling more books, e books instead of doing one on one. So replacing streams of revenue. How would you work differently if you're if you made your chief initiative happened now the next question with this one is how can you start making these changes now? How can you start making these changes now? Like I said, I needed to clear space in my calendar. So what did I dio? I cleared space in my calendar. I said no to new clients, and I said no to new clients before I had completely replaced that revenue because sometimes you have to do that. Sometimes we make little sacrifices in honor of a much bigger goal And so I changed some things around. So I didn't have to make so much money for a while. And I started saying no to one on one clients, and I started, you know, putting them, channeling them into other offers so I could still serve them in one way or another, just not with my our devoted to them on the phone. So what changes could you start making now? One of my chief finish it or not, one of there's only one. My chief initiative for this year is to do a lot. Mawr speaking. I would like to be a nationally recognized speaker on business and entrepreneurship by the end of the year. One thing I've done or one of my conditions for success is that I've got a wardrobe of clothes ready to go so that at a moments notice I could do the keynote at a Fortune 500 business, right? Yes. So I've got a wardrobe that reflects that I don't have gigs booked to the out for the rest of the year, have a lot of gigs booked, but not, you know, not clear out there. I don't need maybe all of the clothes that I have. But you know what? Those clothes make me feel confident that when that opportunity comes along, I don't have to do anything. All I have to do is show up. It's a pretty good feeling, kind of law of attraction, and I don't even do that. All right. So then identify what else you'll need to accomplish to make your chief initiative closer to reality. Those are your sub goals. What else do you need to accomplish to make your chief initiative closer to reality? Let's go back to the book proposal example for for me to not only finish the book proposal, but to make sure that when I finish the book proposal, a publishing house would be willing to look at it. I knew I needed to grow my email list, and I don't know if there's a different magic number now. But the magic number a few years ago was about 5000 I That was my sub goal. I wanted 5000 people on my email list so that when we, you know, did the marketing section on the proposal, I could say there are people that I can reach with one email that may be willing to purchase this book because publishers want to know whether you can actually sell the book that you wrote. They don't care so much whether it's a great book or not, they dio. But, you know, marketing is extremely important. So that was one sub goal that I had. That was something I needed to accomplish to make the much bigger goal happen. If if I didn't do that, the bigger goal wouldn't happen. Alright, so here's how you find your sub goals, your sub goals or the mile markers for your journey. Maybe you need to build your email list. Maybe you need to land an agent. Maybe you need to complete a big program. Maybe you need to develop some software. What are the small things that you need to accomplish, or small and big things that you need to accomplish in order to achieve your chief initiative? Those air sub goals. Now I want you to look for opportunities to create systems to make achieving your sub goals. Mawr efficient. The thing about sub goals is that they could take a lot of our time and energy a lot of time and energy that could be better spent elsewhere. And so we wanna look at how we can build systems to make those sub goals happen. So if one of my sub goals is to build my list, then I need a system for list building. So I need to schedule into my calendar. I'm going to do a webinar every month where I'm gonna partner with 10 different people and work their audiences through a certain ah, certain exercise with me. Uh, maybe I'm going to do a certain number of guest posts, and I create a system for doing those guest posts. Or maybe my system is actually hiring a PR firm and getting some big major media placements so that I'm list building that way. But just look and see what opportunities there might be to create systems hard or soft, that allow you to reach those sub goals mawr efficiently. Systems essentially helped automate your progress toward that big goal. What tools could you use? Maybe, instead of you spending your hard earned time or your hard your time and energy, you can swap it out for some tools and better software. Maybe you could just look at how you could optimize your current workflow. We waste lots of time doing things we don't need to dio. What could you edit out of your current work flow to just make it work more easily for you? What busywork could you eliminate and maybe you eliminate? Maybe it's busy work that has to get done. And so you eliminate that busy work by outsourcing it to someone else. Maybe you just say, you know what? This is just not important. You look at your key performance indicators. You look at the rest of your chief initiative. You say this stuff doesn't have to get done and you stop doing it. Finally, this is the last piece of the chief initiative. Get support from your team and we all have teams whether you are working in your business alone or whether you pay people to work with you. We all have a team. Business is social. So for you guys, you might ask the help of the other people in the audience. You guys are all like best friends now, so you could ask these people for help. You can ask me for help. You could ask the communities that you're a part of. You could ask your colleagues for help. You might ask your influencers for help. There are all sorts of different ways that you could build up a team around your business so that even if you're not paying anyone, there are people that you could go to for support. For information for a leg up, build your team and ask for help because you won't do this alone. So do you need to hire contractors or employees? Do you need someone who could be that front line customer support person, which is often the first contractor? I recommend people higher. Do you need a customer support person? Do you need a virtual assistant? Do you need someone to do your scheduling for you? Do you need someone to do your website updates for you? Those air, all contractors you can hire really easily or employees? Can you enlist your friends or colleagues? And can you? What can your existing community or customer base dio to help you achieve your conditions, sub goals or your chief initiative? And this is one thing that we forget about a lot is that our customers love to do work for us and that they love to help us get the word out about something cool that you're doing. They love to give you feedback. They love thio. Just be in relationship with you or cheerlead. You ask your community for what you need. They're not the best people to maybe update your website. But they could be that cheerleader that you really, really need to make one of your conditions, sub goals or your chief initiative happen. So don't forget about your customer base.