#1: Breaking Through to Freedom in Your Life and Business
This week, I covered how to break through to freedom while running a business.
Here are some topics I discussed:
1. A couple of years ago, my husband and I read the book Living Forwardby Daniel Harkavy and Michael Hyatt. In this book, Harvkavy and Hyatt ask readers to complete an exercise: write your own eulogy. While this exercise required a lot of deep thinking, it is an excellent exercise to do if you are interested in putting your life and business in perspective.
2. The Dash: a poem by Linda Ellis. The front of the dash is the year, date and time you were born and the year, date and time you pass is the end of the dash. What do you want the middle of your dash to hold for you and your business?
This week, I’m going to give you a little exercise. Write down a one-page vision of what you want for your business. Then, write down everything that is stopping you from getting there.
What is the secret to scaling with joy? It’s simple- making more profit with less stress. To find out how to make more profit and work less, visit https://tenprofitdrivers.com. Yes, it’s possible to grow your company without adding on complicated programs, products or divisions. These are the same simplified growth methods that I have used over and over with my own private consulting clients and national brands, in info products, retail e-commerce and service.
Listen to the Show:
Laura (00:00):
This is the Scale with Joy show, episode one on breaking through to freedom.
(00:08):
Welcome to the Scale with Joy show, a podcast about scaling your company while living your most purposeful life. Because here's the thing: there are no rules to say you can't grow a massively profitable empire and have joy in the everyday. My name is Laura Meyer and let's get started.
(00:32):
Hello, hello and welcome. Today's all about the number one thing that you can do that will create the biggest breakthrough in your life and business. It is the question I get all the time from my very successful national clients who are doing multiple six and seven and eight figures, and the conversation often begins because they want more freedom and more profits. Who doesn't, right? So they want to grow the business and spend less time in it. And even though they've maybe been in business for years like you and many of my clients, just can't seem to get out of that doing or control how much time they're putting into the business. They really just want more joy from what they have and less on their plate. And I can share with you that if you're in the later stages of entrepreneurship, where these things tend to come up, you are going to love this episode. And if you're in the beginning stages and you aspire to be there, this is a great episode because I am such a big fan of beginning with the end in mind.
(01:39):
The first question I'll often ask is, what is the actual outcome you want from the business objective? What is it that you want from this business and for your life? And it really helps them get out of this place of "oh my gosh, I just need to get back to this person, I need to get them the answer and I need to run the ad, and what was the last time I really looked at my P&L's anyways? Oh my gosh, it's almost tax time", and it gets them back into the headspace of, “oh right, like why did I start this all in the first place”? And if you're feeling that way or you've ever felt that way before, I've been there so many times. These are the questions that I honestly wish people had asked me when I was growing a total of six, six and seven figure businesses over the last 15 years.
(02:23):
A lot of times it can just feel like you're creating a life to support that business instead of a business to support your life. So, for those of you who, again just haven't been there yet, this is an awesome opportunity to build it right from the beginning and it's going to be really helpful for you because you can really think about how to grow something that fits your ideal life. And I can share from experience this is not something that I always thought about. If you know anything about the Enneagram, I am a three with a very strong two wing. I'm an achiever, helper. I'm a go getter. I love to win big and bring people with me. And if you're listening to a podcast about scaling, you might be a lot like me in that way. I always got the gold star and graduated top of my class and I got all the things and if I wanted something I would just go for it.
(03:14):
And then as I became a mother, I really just matured as an entrepreneur. I realized that what I wanted most was a business that fit my ideal life. There were so many times I was deep into a business and realized it wasn't going to give me the ideal lifestyle that I wanted. Sometimes I could shift and sometimes I had to walk and there was other businesses that gave me an incredible lifestyle for that season and maybe that company ran its course. So I started a new one and then I just ended up creating something new for the season I was in. So here's the thing, you may have spent five, ten years growing a business and if you're in the thick of it, I would encourage you to think about the dash. If you've never heard of The Dash before, it's a poem by Linda Ellis.
(03:55):
The challenges us around the idea of how we've lived our life on earth, otherwise known as the dash. The first moment in time, the moment you were born is the front of the dash and then the back is the year that we pass the date and time. The poem challenges us with what do we want most in between those two dates, otherwise known as the dash. And there's times where I'll watch a movie or listen to a podcast or I'll have a really meaningful work day and all of a sudden, I don't know if you've ever felt this way, but you get this feeling that you're starting to move into legacy work and more away from tactical work, what I call dash work. So if you've ever felt that shift, you know exactly what I'm talking about. And then all of a sudden you go back to the inbox and it's all the fires and it's, "oh my gosh, am I ever going to get to inbox zero or is that just something to dream about?"
(04:45):
And it's all the people that need all the questions answered. And so many times when we're running a business, we just forget to look at each inflection point and evaluate it against the dash to make sure it's fitting this ideal life that we really wanted. So the question I have for you today is what do you want most out of your life in the context of entrepreneurship? What is the thing you want most from your business to support this life? There was many times where I had a turning point in how I was thinking about this, but one of them was a few years ago when my husband and I read the book called Living Forward by Daniel Harkavy and Michael Hyatt. They give you the assignment of writing your own eulogy, which really felt really weird and it was a great exercise. Of course, my husband and I were both kind of teary as we did this together, but these types of exercises can give you a great perspective on the crazy that can happen when you are running a high growth business.
(05:39):
So again, just asking yourself, what do you want most out of your life? What do you want that dash to look like and then what would you need to change in your business in order to achieve it? Just as I was about to turn 40 I experienced this for myself. I was running an extremely busy and stressful operation. My youngest at the time was entering kindergarten and if any of you parents out there have had that experience, you know what it's like to see that school bus drive away for your last child or what we thought was going to be our last child at the time, on their first day of going out into the world. I was going through my own personal and spiritual transformation about what was most important to me and at that time I realized that the path I was on was not the path I wanted to be on for the next eight to ten years, which was what it was going to take to bring that company to the finish line and it was a very difficult decision, but I decided to walk away.
(06:35):
Ultimately, what I decided is it just wasn't consistent with what I really wanted in this season of my life. To get started, for you, maybe it's just looking at that and writing down even a one page vision for what you really want. And then the second piece of it is asking yourself what is getting in the way of what you really want? Maybe you're doing things out of obligation, responsibility, or things that are no longer important to you, but once were. Maybe you're doing it because of the stories in your head of what it takes to get to that next level or be successful, but when you really, really look at them, there are many things in your day that aren't even contributing to your business results or legacy. And in the next episode, I'm going to share my favorite way to find those inflection points and maximize them with the least effort possible.
(07:25):
Like you, I'm an entrepreneur, I love to invent, create; I'm a visionary and people like us can get distracted really easily. Over time, what I've realized is, it's the focus, the consistency and that constant eye on the dash that allows us to scale with joy. So my question to you is what would actually happen if you went all in on your time, effort, and energy with what's already in front of you and what would that do for your life in business? And I can share with you that I've just experienced my own transformation and I've watched other clients get more freedom and more profits just by focusing on what they want most and the easiest steps to get there. Recently one of my multiple seven figure clients came to me and she said, you know what Laura, I am done. I am done with the yes'.
(08:18):
I'm done with the obligations. I'm just at a point where I want to make the biggest impact; earn the most amount of income for the least amount of effort. I am burnt out and I am tired. And you may have felt that way in the past, particularly if you are in a high growth trajectory. And here's the thing, I actually think it's a good thing when we get to this breaking point because it causes us to ask some important questions. Sometimes in the early stages of business, we get very optimistic about all the things we can take on, which is a good thing because that's what allows us to jump off that ledge and into entrepreneurship. But as we mature and we grow and our business grows and payroll increases, and the questions continue to develop and we have more to lose and the stakes get higher, we can really start to feel the pressure of when things get too complicated, and again, when we lose sight of what's most important.
(09:09):
This is when it's really important to look at the dash and not tend to your to do list, which is the most likely temptation. Doing more things on your to do list will not get you closer to the ideal life that you want. So, the first step in scaling with joy is to find out what you really want. It's one of my favorite conversations to have with clients when I'm working with them for the first time. Then we begin to look at where they could actually earn more money with less effort and I'm going to share with you my exact steps for doing that in the next podcast episode. What's really amazing is when you think about what you could go deep on, what's already in front of you without adding on complicated program steps, team members or doing what all the cool kids are doing, which I totally know can look really good from the outside.
(09:56):
But when you really think about what is the opportunity that you have in front of you based on what you've already built, there is a different way to grow your business. The world really starts to open up and in A lot of ways, I've learned this the hard way. So if you're kind of feeling like you want to dump out the purse and see all the content scatter on the table and just look at what's there and put the pieces back in one at a time, I've been there too. You are not alone. What I like to do when I'm in this place, when I really know I need to be looking at where does it that I want to go and how I'm getting there, it's all about the power of deciding what you want most from your life and then making steps in your business to support it.
(10:40):
This is the ultimate simplicity exercise to break through all the noise and when applied the right way, it can create the biggest return in your life in business. So just for example, let's say you have a million dollar business and you can find anything extra that's in front of you to create a 5% swing, that could be $50,000 to your bottom line without any extra stress or strain on your life, family, business, relationships and faith and all the things that matter most. By getting clear on what's working and what's not working, taking a close look at the dash and starting with the end in mind, it is absolutely possible to scale a profitable multi seven and eight figure empire with joy, but it's honestly just the path less traveled, which is why I love helping clients with this conversation. So if this has been helpful to you, please let me know. You can find me on Instagram @Lauraemeyer or on Facebook @JoyBrandCreative. I check both inboxes and I'd love to hear from you. Thanks for joining me and make sure to tune into the next episode.
(11:51):
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The Scale with Joy podcast dives into the mindset and strategies of scaling your company to the million dollar mark and beyond. Each week, we follow the journeys of innovators, disruptors, experts and leaders - sharing behind the scenes stories of their most challenging moments and greatest lessons learned-all while building their multi-million dollar empires.