Lessons

Lesson Info

How to Develop and Implement Your Business Strategy

So once you have some things only lester, all the things on your list you whenever you arrange it and I've given you a page on sixty one and now do you guys do not cause your long form writing this you do not have to rewrite everything you might number them if you put them in random order, you might remember them what I mean by rearrange, let me say that first is we're making a path, right? We're making a map that takes us from here to there so some things have to come first before we're over there some things on your to do list just like how your mile markers air now in order some things in that to do list to get to that mile marker now in order your brains might have given it to you in the right order you were writing it down like, ok, step one is a step too is this, but if your brain did not do that in your brain just gave you like five hundred things to dio going and rearrange it so that it makes sense from beginning to end because we are making a map an actual map step one step tw...

o step three all the way to step fifty of things you're going to mark off and if you leave it at this crazy list, you won't want to d'oh you might start working on one project and realize I actually need to do this to do before I do that it will save you tons of time if you get it in the order in which are actually going to do it so rearrange it by him by common sense what needs to come first before you can do something else so so the question to ask is what is closest to you right now when you look at your big list what is the very first a thing that you could do tomorrow you wake up you could do it you have all the skills you have all the ability bam do it maybe that thing is is to research the print sizes and cost you could do that you don't need anything else on then what would follow from that and what would follow from that and it's like we were saying it's um some people's brains just break down projects like this I have talked to other people about this often they're like editor types or systematic people that they just will do this naturally. But for most of the creatives that have gone through this process yes and if I found that it helps them it's because their brain was never doing this in the past they were never breaking big projects down into mile markers down into two duis whatever you call them that process is totally new so if you find yourself like I've never listed sony two days in my life, or I have no idea where to start rearranging it that's normal, and this process will really help you flesh out what's coming up in your business and what you want to be doing is ok. If this feels really odd that's justcause, you haven't done it in the past, but this will help you figure out what's coming next. I'm sorry, you know something, okay? And so what I've learned through doing this in the last four years with a huge variety of businesses at all different stages is like they said, some people's brain doesn't naturally for the people who this is the first time they've done it, it makes a massive change. It makes, like totally blow you out of the water. All new things were happening. Well, people tell me, as I've been stuck not accomplishing anything for months, I made a map. Maybe my life went totally off map, but I actually got things done and because I had mile marker existed. Even if all of the two duis were not like what I expected at all, just getting two out of ten mile markers in three months is better than having made no progress, one girl had no business when she started, she thought she wanted to start by reading or writing and speaking. What she discovered is she actually could make these really awesome products, so she started selling them. So her first map was just to get the first ten things in her shop in her shop set up. Of course, she gets there, and then she totally like onto, well, I haven't even sold anything yet. I was like, right, but your map was just a kid in the shop, so you've done that that's an amazing accomplishment for for years, she had been thinking, I really want to have a business, I really want to do it, but by laying out all the pieces, she got that shop open in the next time it was, I want to make one sale, and I think after at the end of that three months, she made two or three sales. So now her map is like I want to make three sales a month. I would make free sells a week. So she's slowly increasing, and that might sound if you have visions of self employed, crafty domination in your head that might sound like it's a really long process, but the fact is, it's going to take a long time anyhow? So you're just acknowledging that by setting a doable goal and then breaking it down into two duis, and you're actually giving yourself a path so that you know how to get there. And it's, not just a vague one day, I'd like to have a business, but, you know, you actually know the steps you're going to take, so it does take a while, especially when you're just starting, but even to increase sales. I mean, I find all the time I've made maps to get from, you know, one state of sales to another, and I will have that same goal for two or three maps that's ah, three, six, nine months, and I won't have reached it. Maybe because different seasons have different sales, different products bring different things, if it's all in experiment keeping that goal in my mind, though, and each month each quarter rather rewriting. Okay, I tried all of these things to increase my sales to that point, and this worked, but none of these other ones did, so now I have I have data I'm going to take this thing that worked at it to these other things I think are going to work and that's what you can do you can totally remake your map like he said people are afraid to write things down less they be wrong but I can assure you you will be wrong sometimes you write things down that you're like that was pointless didn't even need to do that you'll write other things down that completely change everything but you don't know which it's going to be until you try it so you've got to just try it have any questions about rearranging the list making get in order we have some great tips here from people who have been doing this and giving their suggestions to the chat room deanne frost says in a past map I wrote out my writing process so I know how I can write and I convert that into a list of two duis and they follow it up by saying what helps me put two duis in order is to start at the end and asked what do I do right before this so it kind of working backwards helps you to break out that list you know, kind of like he said with the math you start with your destination you're working backwards so sometimes if you help to visualize that it'll make the to do list a little bit easier for you absolutely for sure, and I know d has made some good maps about finishing her book in her book was about to be published, you should check it up s so the next step is the actual fund. So all of this was the really hard work and maybe the unpleasant part thinking about all that you have to do, but the next step is that you're going to actually make your math, and if you look, it doesn't have a page number, but it's after page sixty wanted the last page there's a beautiful map that you can put you can use this map in a couple ways I'm gonna give you an example. This was actually made by the person who's in the chat. Amy is not dead yet the name of her business, her name's amy cook she does custom illustrations she's amazing. So what? You can use this map, or you can draw your own on the back of it. If you want your map to look a certain way, basically, you're going to make yourself a visual map. I started using visual maps in this process because I'm talking to creative's people who think aa lot better and images color texture than they do in words, so if you found it super hard to list the things, you might find it easier to visualize it and to move it and so so the first thing you can do is add a and again you can use this one, or you can draw your own ad where you are right now and then add your destination where you're going. And then what I suggest with a map of this size is that you put in a few of your mile markers. You don't need to write in every single to do unless you really want tio but there's people use this and a few different ways that have been really exciting over the years. One is that one client actually use it, too. She made a little gain peace like a little christine, and she moved a little christine down the path, and so she would regularly check in on it, and it was a way of seeing progress as she went. Other people have drawn or illustrated their own insanely amazing map defrost in the chat. She is a fantasy writer, and so she makes these intense maps that, like, have all these different symbols and def for color coding because that's really how her brain works and she has a process of checking in, I hope she's okay, I'm sharing. This is a process of checking in with it every single week and marking off. Where she got every single week because she knows that her projects were big and scary and she wasn't accomplishing them when she just thought I should do that, but actually marking it off, seeing the progress inspired her to keep going, even when things go totally different than you think they're going to go. So picking in point right in your big goal, and then take your rearranged mile markers, the one that are all in order and write them onto the map. And if you want to get them evenly spaced, which I know a lot of artists wanted to be beautiful, you can start with the end and then go to number one and then go to number nine and the number two. So that way, it's, perfectly evenly spaced throughout your math that's important to you, and the other thing is you can make it pretty. You can do this however you want. I've done it in other rooms where you've had a big list of magazines, and we, like, cut the collage and you make it like, or you can paint and color, you know, whatever will inspire you to keep working on this so that it's actually a part of your life. Because none of this process even matters if you just walk away and like don't ever look at it again so you want to find a way that you convince realize it and keep it handy people put this up on their bulletin board, they keep it in their journals, they will put it people who are really into digital computerese stuff we'll put it on the background of their of their computer so that they see it you know they make the digital version and either their mark things off for the color it in and they move around it so you don't need to write in all the two duis you just want tio um get something so that as you make progress, you can see it because to go back to that idea of celebration you need some way of acknowledging that you've done stuff like no matter how little the stuff is or how inconsequential it seems is knowing that you've just moved from the first stage to the middle is going to be awesome for your confidence for your ability for your skills. You going to just know like I'm the kind of person who does this so and then I won't talk about making your map useful I like that you're doing a spiral though I'm just going to point that out and you're doing squares like that very much about kind of a virtual space s so I'm going to do it up kind of like an architectural drawings that I filed that I'm really filling my space I love it and so so your maps are also really useful to share with other people in your life if the other people in your life are going to be really encouraging of them big caveat right? So you can have it on your board and explain to your spouse your kids, your part, your business partner that you are working to this end point and hear the things that air come in between and you would be amazed at how other people in your life outside of your business can sometimes have some good insight even if the inside is you know you did that in the past, right? You could totally do that again because you've done it in the past that's my favorite thing is to be reminded totally do this again another thing that having it up we'll do it is ah research has shown that you are more likely to accomplish a goal the more people know about it but another big caveat the person has to be encouraging right? So you have to be careful about the people in your life that you let in and that you tell this especially personal stuff about how much you care about your business but letting them know even the mile markers helps them help you make it happen, it's just like if you were trying not to eat sugar anymore you'd want to tell the other person in the house they don't keep bringing cookies to you. All right? So on your map if you show them like you know, I'm trying to reach x amount of sales and so I need to be listing photographs then they can say, hey, babe, don't you want to finish listening? Those photographs maybe get yourself back to the computer? No, but they can definitely help you, um kind of focused your life and give you encouragement when you need it. And you can also say, like I often say, when I read a destination, even if it took me six months, nine months if I've told my husband about it, I'm like, look, when we get there, we're going out to dinner at the place I like and that's how we celebrate so you want to use both the mile markers and the destination as a reason to set a party and have a fun and be like, yes, I did this so that you can remember in the future I did that, yes, it's funny that this is the map because this is pretty much like the exact path I want going to like my little studio, so I think I'll definitely use this mapas like toe having my own studio separate from the home I love and then another map for other gold, right? Because I can have a bunch of different you can absolutely in general, I advise people if you want one goal toe happen quickly if you want to happen in three months, focus your attention on doing that one goal, but if you're working on something that's like so like having us a step separate studio and might be like a six month thing that you can work on in the side and then it will be take more and more work as it gets closer to happening. I don't know if you guys need to build a building or like movies, some land around, I don't how big of a project that will be, but but in general, if you really the thing, you really, really, really want to have happen, narrow your focus down to that. The reason why met making actually works is yes, it makes you list everything that makes you get super clear it systematize is how you're going to go about your life, but actually what it does is that it forces you to focus, right? Because many people have been saying I want to increase sales, I want tio increase. My influence or the number of people who are coming to my website but as long as that's just in the back of your mind thing, you're not going to be taking action dedicated to making it happen and I feel like I've said this so many times that your goals air only happened we're taking consistent action to making it happen and you're not getting distracted by anything else that is distracting so you absolutely have multiple maps and of course over your over the next year you're going toe in theory how for if you do this every three months and so, um but getting it's like something if it's super important you to finally have that second day off, I would say focus wholeheartedly on that yeah, because you can kind of see how something like building studio costs out of money so you might be tempted to scale back on the I want to get back my hours and instead you be tempted to work more hours so you can get to miss school first so the lot of times our goals tell us to take different actions that's why it's so great to just have one in mind because you can always then move on to the next one after you get your extra day off, then you can figure out how to pay for a new space if that's one of the issues does it make sense so by picking one you're really really focusing on that one so let's talk about how to make your map useful now that you have won or once you have one once you finish it the first thing is to revise it revisited rather go back and check out your math that's why I want to make it visual for you is that you actually have something pretty to look at if you just had to go back and look at that scary list of fifty things you might never look at it again so we visited regularly check capture my markers celebrate when you've got into them and rewrite some of it say you know the last half of my to do list makes no sense anymore rewrite it come up with twenty five more today's visit regularly you can also make it a game like I said christine had a little person she moved along it amy when she does her own she does like dragons and like rocks in the path and like and like bridges that go across the rocks that she conceal like no matter what comes up I'll make it across right so make it fun on dh then of course experiment experiment with how this is going to work best for you like we talked about some people are free form and some people are scheduled some people are map checker offers every single step some people are it hangs in my studio when I look at it I remember I'm working towards that goal and that just being in my mind guides me towards it. That's really? More high am I set the goal, I figure it all out and then I will revisit it when I wonder wait, what am I so it's me working on? But in general, just knowing that goal like I kind of know what to do to get it so it keeps me motivated. Other people mean to revisit it every day. Every week you can also use it weekly as a monday check in what am I working on this week or friday or end of your week check in what did I get done? How far did I get? What I need to change for next week so experiment on how to make it work with your day in your business best any questions? The chat room now the chat room is doing well. I think everybody's just sharing their maps and talking about the way that they put these together. It's been really supportive. Everybody is sharing some of their their pages. Indian frost is getting all of the love from the chat room for being mentioned, so okay, so the next step of this process is that you need to dedicate yourself to this you need my friend leonys has become a monk to your goals like make it so that your whole life your whole and when I say life I mean working life all of the decisions you're making are really focused in on what it is that you want accomplish when you dedicate yourself to this it forces you to prioritize enforces you to say this fits into what I want and this doesn't or this will actually get me there faster so I'm going to go with this all of those questions that people have asked this entire three days can be answered by but how does it work with your goal does it work? Is it a priority in order to get you there? Maybe it would get you there but not as fast as something else it also you learn by doing when I say dedicate yourself yes it's going to change yes you need to be flexible but if you don't first commit that you're really gonna work on it you're not gonna learn anything it goes back to that commitment breeding clarity the more you work on it the more you're like I'm going to get myself to that goal you will learn what things for example drive sales what things get you press mint oceans you will figure out what action you can take that will actually get you where you want to go which you can then apply to a lot of other things so it's not about the destination it's about identifying what you want and finding the possibilities for how you can get there. So what I mean by that is that right? Like I just told yourself told you to dedicate yourself to the goal and to be totally committed to making it happen. But the fact is it's in not it's, not about the one specific destination because in three months it's going to seem like no big deal to you if you met the goal, you'll be over it, you'll be ready to move on to the next thing, but it's really about identifying what you truly want out of your business and then looking before all of the options and continuing to look for all of the options so that you remember that creating the business you really want is about finding options being dedicated and making a plan for getting there. One of my favorite quotes about this is from firstly ah goal is not always it meant to be reached it often serve simply as something to aim at. So that's why I was saying the destination doesn't matter nearly as much that you committed yourself to something and then she worked so so hard it getting there and as a red daniel report put it, won it with all your heart but don't be attached to getting it in other words, let yourself get really, really into it and then let it go if you don't get there or if it takes longer or if it's not what you thought, because a lot of things in life we think we really, really, really want it, we do all the work to get there, and then we're like, oh, this isn't actually that this isn't actually what I was hoping, right, but by giving yourself something to aim at, you've taken dedicated action and you've learned a bunch of stuff also, no one should forget celebration actually, one of the last questions not sure if it's in your workbook, but go on and answer it, uh, on one of the last pages is how you're going to celebrate when you actually get there, because by putting in your mind what it's going to be like when you're finished, you are going to be that much more likely to follow through with it and of course, celebration. Like I said earlier, it reminds you in hard times, is that you were the kind of person who does get stuff done. So a few examples I like to celebrate, I told you by deciding to go out to eat where I really want to eat today, we're going to celebrate completing the class but having a little party, um a lot of times people will celebrate finishing a particularly rough map by going to the spa by taking a day off by taking a nap. I mean, depending on the size of your goal and nap, it might be just exactly what you needed to celebrate being done with it. Cupcakes or my personal favorite way of celebrating anything. So these air, like fifty cupcakes, had made for a friend's wedding. So now that you wrote down how you want to celebrate, why don't you guys tell me, how do you plan on celebrating when you reach your goal? We'll start over here and goalref takes sundays off. I love it so so after you reach a school of sales, you'll start taking sunday's always start taking the day off. Awesome got to hear it. Well, if I get published in a holiday gift guide, I am going to throw a party and then show everybody do that probably ten. Can you tell us on course? Oh, yeah, yeah, I'll tell everyone but specifically reach out oh, yes. Ok, good, because I was sure for sure they're my own party. Yeah, ok, you can have a party there's a steak place like an hour away that I just love so I love it that's good, take a family trip I overnight ok so then this is the goal of if you've taken off any goal for anything I really want to take a family oh ok well so I challenge you to get more specific about the goal of taking two days off decide how long you have to do that before you earn your trip because hey you'll have two days off in which to take it right yeah two days in a row and then to specify the trip like I want us to go she's the yosemite or however your family and go how about in the chapman yeah we have some people charming in about celebrations chris with cases when my workshop is done I will celebrate by paying off my visa card and buying a new couch thanks what's going to make you happy then yeah absolutely absolutely yeah and I just wrote down I'm going to do a jill day because I am always making other people's lives perfect all right so I don't even know what a perfect day is anymore but that's what I'm going to dio well that will be one of your things you're working on is like what is a perfect day for me yeah I like it so I wanted you guys to know that you are ready we have gone through so much in your business we have made him out you guys are like exhausted right but you'll wake up refreshed tomorrow finally, with all of that overwhelmed that you were feeling about all the possibilities with a filter on you know how to choose your tasks your tools you know who to speak teo you know how to speak to them so we're totally ready to take action you have everything you need to make your own map that will take you towards the business you want when I say you're ready you're ready to take a little action but you're also ready to start following a path that will take you where you want to go now maybe for the first time ever you to find your own definition of a successful business so you actually stand a chance of getting there because now you know where it is you also you're ready because your success is not about learning more or the newest tool about taking dedicated action I cannot say this enough more learning doesn't actually get you closer to anything it's taking the action that's why I made you apply it in sixty pages to your own business because if you just learned theory if you just read books if you just hear classes but you don't take action, you're not going to get anything from it so if you haven't filled out the work burke go back and do everything you can do it too gay clear on this and then turn it into an action plan promise me you won't just leave it at knowing who you're right person is that you'll start actually speaking to her promise me that you won't just know what a customer path is but that she'll actually be building yours and you'll everything that comes across your plate will say does this get me closer to my customer? Does this get me closer to my goal so that's what you're ready to d'oh and then I just have one more reminder because what my dad told me when I very first quit my day job and that's that you haven't failed until you've quit because I was on the phone and I have no idea what I did and you know this is my car exploded my husband lost his job our house got broken into and ah, I was like, you know, I just I just I'm so afraid that I'm going to be a big failure at this and he was like but but what is failure? You haven't failed until you've quit, so that could mean you haven't failed into you've quit this business or till you've quit and you've stopped being self employed and I took it to mean just until I've quit trying until I give up and say I'm not doing any of this anymore I'll just be some corporate kagen hate wearing black socks every day like that would be failure for me so everything up until that point everything having so sales months, having no one by a class that I spent two months on having books be rejected by publishers having people say, you know, I didn't get my money's worth, I'd like a re a fund. None of that is failure because I'm going to keep going from it. It might suck, I might cry. It might be awful, but it still isn't failure. So when you get to the end of the three months and you haven't reached her goal, it's not failure, it's not even close to failure because you have another three months ahead of you, like until you're dead, you can keep doing this until you just feel done with your business. You haven't failed, and if you decide that having your own coffee business after you put all this work into it just isn't for you and you want to go to something else with your life, you still haven't failed if you're paying attention to what you really want and you follow through with it. No failure so you haven't felt endure quit. I want you to remember that and repeated to yourself. Whenever you feel like you messed up, you didn't build your customer path, you've got distracted by something totally haven't failed.