Working on Your Business

In today's episode, we dive into the essential, yet often overlooked, concept of "working on your business" versus "working in your business." We share our personal experiences and insights on how taking intentional time to strategize can transform your entrepreneurial journey. If you've ever felt like you're just spinning your wheels, constantly reacting to the demands of your business, this episode is for you! We discuss the importance of stepping back, assessing your goals, and making those scary but necessary decisions that can lead to greater profitability and joy in your work.

You’ll hear us chat about the value of business planning retreats and how they can help you align your offerings with your strengths. Whether you’ve been in the game, are building a side hustle, or are still dreaming of the entrepreneurial life, it’s imperative to pause, reflect, and create a roadmap for success. So pull up a chair, settle in, and get ready to be inspired to take that much-needed time for yourself and your business!

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Work With Us!

BREA Roper Communication | Woo | Activator | Futuristic | Connectedness

If you need a Strengths Hype Girl, for yourself or your team, connect with Brea at brearoper.com. She’s ready to deliver an inspirational keynote, empowering training, or transformational workshop. If you’re looking for an expert guide to support your internal Strengths efforts, reach out today!

LISA Cummings

Strategic | Maximizer | Positivity | Individualization | Woo

 

To work with Lisa, check out team workshops and retreats at the Lead Through Strengths site. For 1:1 strengths or life coaching, check out the Get Coached link. For independent coaches, trainers, and speakers, get business tools support with our Tools for Coaches membership.

 

 

Takeaways

●      The Importance of Working on Your Business: Taking time to strategize and plan is crucial for long-term success. It helps you shift from a reactive mindset to a proactive one, allowing you to set clear goals and work with intention.

●      Align Your Business With Your Strengths: When you’re the business owner, you get to choose how you run your business. YOU’re the boss now! Make sure you practice what you preach and choose a business model that fits your strengths.

●      Business Planning Retreats: Dedicating a day or more to work on your business, instead of in your business, can lead to significant breakthroughs. These retreats provide the space to assess your offerings, refine your messaging, and make strategic decisions that align with your desired lifestyle.

●      Customization vs. Standardization: While creating custom solutions for clients can be appealing, it’s essential to find a balance. Standardizing certain offerings can save time and energy, and bring clarity to your customer.

●      Understanding Profitability: Knowing where your revenue comes from is vital. By identifying your most profitable offerings, you can make informed decisions about where to invest your time and resources, ensuring that your business remains sustainable and enjoyable.

●      Embracing Scary Decisions: Making bold choices can feel limiting, but they are often necessary for growth. By stepping back and evaluating your business strategy, you can confidently embrace changes that lead to greater fulfillment and success.

Take Action

●      Schedule a Business Planning Retreat: Set aside a full day to work on your business strategically. Use this time to assess your current offerings, define your target audience, and outline your business goals.

●      Identify Your Core Focus: Determine the one big thing you want to focus on for the upcoming quarter or year. This will help filter your decisions and keep you from getting distracted by new opportunities that may not align with your primary goals.

●      Evaluate Your Offerings: Analyze where your revenue is coming from and identify your most profitable offerings. Decide if you want to double down on these or pivot to new opportunities that align better with your strengths and interests.

●      Create a Customization Strategy: If you offer customized solutions, establish a clear pricing structure for these services. Consider implementing tailoring fees or premium pricing for highly customized work to ensure it is profitable.

●      Reflect on Your Business Alignment: Take time to assess whether your current business model aligns with your strengths and desired lifestyle. Make adjustments as necessary to ensure that your business empowers you to live the life you want.

 

If you're ready to stop being heads down all the time and start working on your business with intention, I invite you to listen to this episode! 🎧

👉 Listen now and let us know your thoughts! What strategies do you use to work on your business? Share in the comments below!

#Entrepreneurship #BusinessPlanning #Coaching #Podcast #Leadership #IntentionalLiving

 

 

Let’s Connect!

●      LISA: Website | LinkedIn | Facebook

●      BREA: Website | LinkedIn | Instagram

 

AI-Generated Transcript

Brea: Lisa Cummings

 

Lisa:

Brea Roper. Hi, I'm Lisa.

 

Brea:

And I'm Brea.

 

Lisa:

And today we're talking about working on your business.

 

Brea:

Working on your business. Yes, because let me tell you, working in your business is so fun. working on your business, not always, but gosh, when we do it, it makes working in the business so much easier and smoother and more profitable and all the things, right?

 

Lisa:

Right. I remember first learning about this concept from the book E-Myth and E-Myth revisited way back. I mean, it must have been the nineties. I wasn't an entrepreneur at the time, but I served them. They were our customers and I think the example in the book was something about a frame shop. And it was like, imagine the person who is framing stuff all day long. Frame, frame, frame, frame, frame.

 

You’re so busy. But then what about bringing in customers? What about taking a vacation? What about having a break? And we have these dreams of starting a business and what our life might be like as an entrepreneur. It definitely kind of looks sexy to people who aren't doing it. often. And then you get in and you're like, Oh my gosh, I'm just working like a dog. What am I doing? I don't have a single break to even think or eat lunch. So I'm curious for you, have you gotten in that place in your business before where you were just working yourself to the bone? You seem like you would be a person who never let yourself do it because you're so good at intention.

 

Brea:

Okay, well, thank you for saying that. But no, it happens all the time. It happens all the time because even with the best of intentions, it's so easy to get blown off course, especially for people like me who, you know, I love to plan and I'm very adaptable. I'm very like emotional, you know? So if I'm not feeling it, I'm like, Oh, I'm just going to go take care of myself, you know, go for a walk, go eat my feelings, you know, whatever.

 

And that's not the best way to, to set yourself up for success. Right. So we have to find that blend that works for you. And sometimes it is working yourself to the bone. Right now, I'm actually setting up for a big speaking tour. So there's just a ton of work that has to be done on the business so that when the tour starts, you know, that first domino falls and I'm not working on the business at all. For several months, I'm working in the business, right?

 

So However the rhythm works for you, it's just so important to make sure that you're doing both and that it's intentional and focused instead of just reacting to everything. That's the worst way to to run your business, you know? Yeah. And I have definitely, definitely fallen into that, that trap for sure.

 

Lisa:

Yeah. Brea Roper is a mortal.

 

Brea:

Yes.

 

Lisa:

I could see that where you're like, I'm over self caring. I could, I could definitely see that. I also think in talking to coaches and trainers very specifically in this episode, a lot of times we're talking about, Hey, you're a CliftonStrengths practitioner, that sort of thing. And that could be internal in a company that could be a coach who does this full time. And there are a lot of listeners who are either independent coaches, or trainers, or they're doing it at a company internally, they're doing something else, and they want to start a business like the one we have.

 

And we know they exist and they're all over the place because we typically get one to five of these people hanging out after every workshop saying, how do I live this life? How do I do this thing that you do? This is so cool. So how valuable would it be to work on your business from the beginning? I'm thinking of that person who is starting up a side hustle. They're interested in this and they've never done a business planning retreat. They've never worked on their business in a way that they take a day off. and they really figure out what they want their lifestyle to be, what they have as a profitable business model, you know?

 

Have they even tested out their idea for their product and their messaging? Do they feel solid on it? And I love this episode for the corporates who are going to leave someday out on their own, or the coaches who are already on their own, independent, and they just have a tough time taking off a full day or a big chunk of a day to work on their business strategically. So what is it for you? Tell me about the why. Why do you do this on regular intervals?

 

Brea:

Yeah, well, because I have to for my sanity, you know, because I've seen how beneficial it is. I've experienced being an entrepreneur without it. and running a business from that place of reacting, you know, as leads come in or as opportunities arise or don't arise, you know, then all of a sudden you're like, oh crap, I have nothing on the calendar. And then any sales conversation you're in is from a place of desperation.

 

So if you can make sure that you're setting yourself up for success by giving yourself that intentional time to find who do I really want to work with, right? Who's the customer that I really want to serve and how do I want to serve them? That takes time, you know, and shaping your business is, I think one of the greatest things about being an entrepreneur is that we get to choose.

 

And I've seen in myself and I've seen in coaches that I've coached, when we don't take that step back and do that intentional planning, how working for yourself can feel just like working for the man, you know? The place that you left, the stress that you were trying to get away from, it just actually becomes more, you know, if you don't take the time to put the thought and the planning in.

 

Lisa:

Yeah, you just got yourself a bad boss and it's you!

 

Brea:

It's you! I know, I know.

 

Lisa:

Yeah, I love this also for stopping the squirrel. So you know, people are like, oh, squirrel, squirrel. We are like this quite often as coaches, as trainers, as course creators, as speakers. we get a lead on a thing and someone is like, Oh, okay, what's next? What about this? Do you have any content on this? Do you have any content on that? Do you have any content on this? And sometimes strategically, it is a great idea to do it.

 

Other times, it ends up taking you a month of work to create a new program, roll it out to their people, and maybe you're doing it one or two times. And when you sit back and look at whether there was a return on that effort, yes, can you reuse it? Can you resell it? Will you? Those are all strategic decisions you could make up front. But I've seen a lot of coaches get really distracted by the squirrel opportunity, the potential squirrel opportunity, and also the kind of squirrel thoughts on learning, like, oh, this is cool.

 

Oh, I should be doing AI.

Oh, I should be doing more on this element.

Oh, I should make some content over here.

Oh, I like learning on this topic.

So I'm going to go take some more training.

[[Instead of really focusing on one big thing for that year in front of you or that quarter in front of you.]]

 

So I love having a business planning retreat. or a business planning day to work on your business and get your brain reset and get it really focused on what is the one big thing you're working on right now so that you can keep filtering your decisions through that? Like, is this a good use of my time? Should I be, even though there are a lot of fun things we could do, are they going to make money? Are they taking the business in the direction I want it to go in? It gives you the moment to get a big breath and assess.

 

Brea:

So I love this and I hate this at the exact same time. Well, here's the thing is because it's so true. So if you're listening to Lisa and feeling like me on the inside, like I don't want to just do one thing. I don't want to focus on, you know, I don't want to create something and then rinse and repeat. I don't want to, right? Like, I've been there, I am there every day, and that is not, almost always, not the way to profitability, not the way to ease.

 

But if you have high individualization like I do, and like I know you do, Lisa, so I want to hear how you balance that. But my individualization was killing me in the way that you're describing, where if anyone said, do you have content on this? I'm like, sure. Do I? No. But can I make it? Yes. Will I? Yes. And all of a sudden, all my talents are engaged. I'm like, yes, I get to do this for this person or this company. But like you said, it takes so much time, right? So for me, I have to honor my talents. And what I've learned is that when someone comes and they ask for that custom solution that I don't have, I have to charge for it. Like this is a premium offering.

 

These are my talents. giving them something that has never existed before ever. This is not an out-of-the-box solution. If what they want is an off-the-shelf, out-of-the-box, you know, press play and go, like, they can get that anywhere. If they want something that is customized to them, to their values that they have hanging on the wall.

 

If we want to learn how to use the strengths of their team and the strengths of the individuals on their team to live these values at work in their interactions with their customers every day, then they're going to pay for that. And I'm happy to create it. But it's it's not pennies on the dollar like I was doing, you know, before.

 

Lisa:

Yeah. I definitely agree that individualization can create a monkey wrench in this way. It does for me. Similarly, I love customization. It's a thing with individualization. I started off trying to solve that problem with tailoring fees. I would be like, okay, if it's a really customized thing, there would be a tailoring fee and make sure that they know it's super premium. I found over time that what really worked out better for both of us was, Look, I have a standard deck for a half-day program and a full-day program, if we're talking CliftonStrengths. And I have a handful of exercises in there.

 

Say there are 5 exercises. that if I just get a little bit of information from them on their values, the programs they're implementing right now, a couple of hot-button topics, what challenges are going on, I can integrate those into the exercises as examples. I could change in literally 15 minutes. I can change some words on the screen to customize the exercise, and then they're having whole conversations on things that matter to their team, and it feels very customized.

 

I got really good over time at making it feel like customization to both of us, to them and to me, but very minimal time because I standardized what I was customizing. And then I also, if I take Maximizer and Strategic and I said, all right, now if I am going to do mega customization, I'm going to make sure that if I do it, they're going to pay a mega premium or they're going to offer at least six of these programs so that if it's in volume, it makes it worth it doing it. And I can offer it to other clients.

 

I ask: is it something that could then become a standard program? And then I could go out and sell that. So strategically, I'm looking at that would be one of that would be a great topic that you could come with in a business planning retreat. Like, here's how I'm getting myself in trouble. Here's where I'm finding a time suck, even though I love how that time is going by. It's not a profitable use of my time. So then how can I get rested and rejuvenated in a day away while I'm simultaneously working on the strategy of my business, the direction of my business, the most profitable decisions.

 

And it's just like any tough decision in your life. If you make these decisions in advance before the situation comes up. you can handle it in a way that you're proud of. And it's easier for you to make the decision you need to make. Because I'll tell you, like relationship wise, and in a great conversation with a prospect, I've been swept up in the moment where I'm like, yes, this sounds great. And then I make them feel like I'm totally going to do that customization thing.

 

But if I had decided in advance, here's what customization means to us. and be able to explain it. Because I already came up with that strategically in my business planning retreat day. It feels great. I know how to present it to them so that it feels great to them. I know how to present it to me so it feels great to me. And I didn't get swept up in the moment and get excited and then promise something that takes my business off course for a whole quarter or two, which could really tank your revenue for the year.

 

Brea:

Totally.

 

Lisa:

Because something sounded fun. And look, if we have our own businesses and coaching and training, for most of us, all this stuff is fun. It's just what is the most fun? And or of the fun things, what are the most profitable decisions? And if they're not fun or profitable for you, you know, we have dozens of amazing coaches we can refer it out to because we're all so different in what we want to do.

 

And we could pass that work along to one of our colleagues. And then that kind of good vibe comes back to us, but it feels so good to be solid in your decisions because you took a business planning day to really be working on your business and what you want out of it. Big picture.

 

Brea:

Totally. Yes. I wish that people could see, like, I'm just nodding up and down because, you know, Brea from seven years ago, you know, I wish I had known these things then, you know, I wish I had seen how, how much of a difference it makes and what that looks like. Because otherwise it's not only confusing for you as the entrepreneur, but it's confusing for your client. No, if someone comes to you and says, Hey, what, what's it like to work with you, Brea?

 

And I say, well, I can do whatever you want. What do you need? They might say, who is this girl? No one can do everything. Like, you know, she's just hungry for a sale. Or they say, well, I don't know. That's why I'm asking you. What does it look like to work with you?

 

Lisa:

I want you to consult me. Oh, I have an example of my very favorite outcome from a business planning retreat. I decided to work on my business and get really focused and make some scary choices. Because I think what we're talking about here is making scary choices because it feels like if you're saying no to business that is sort of in your realm, are you being foolish?

 

Are you turning away business that you should have taken? What if you don't get any more this year? There are all kinds of things that come up in people's minds. So I had something similar coming up. This was a few years into my business. I was doing a lot of virtual training for very large companies who at the time were saying, no vendors like doing virtual training. None of our vendors want to. We just make them put it in the lineup.

 

I was like, Pick me, pick me. I love virtual training. Now, of course, post-COVID life,