Helping business owners, freelancers & other self-employed creatives succeed… and have fun doing it. It can be overwhelming at times, but there’s nothing like the privilege of working for yourself – making your own rules, owning your time, and trusting your instincts to make the right decisions. With short episodes that get straight to the point, this podcast is about the common issues we face in business, along with solutions that work for other creatives like you. Aardvark Girl is a producer, project manager & business specialist with 20+ years of experience managing companies & helping people in creative industries. She helps you get a handle on the business side of things so you can focus on your talent. Let's get to work!
Episodes
Monday Jan 25, 2021
A Healthy You is Important for a Healthy Business
Monday Jan 25, 2021
Monday Jan 25, 2021
Connect with me through your favorite platform: https://pods.link/aardvarkgirl
Is there a topic you want to hear about? Or do you have a question for me? Email info@aardvarkgirl.com and let me know!
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January is typically a time when people plan on changing their eating habits to be healthier. Sadly, many don’t stick with it for more than a few weeks. It can be hard to make big lifestyle changes for a number of reasons. When you’re a business owner, you might feel like you don’t have enough time to make healthy meals every day or get enough sleep at night. You might be so wrapped up in a project that you forget to drink enough water or exercise or any of those things that are good for you.
But what does diet have to do with running a business? Quite a bit. So much of how we feel mentally starts with how we are physically. And how we feel can have a great impact on our productivity and the quality of work we’re delivering. Taking care of ourselves helps us take care of our clients who help take care of our businesses.
I’m not talking about the extra self-care, the more luxurious things like getting massages and going on vacations. I’m talking about the day-to-day are you doing what you need to do to stay healthy things. Eat. Sleep. Exercise. Hydrate. The basics of life. It’s not about the number on a scale, how much weight you can lift, or how many reps you can do. It’s about what you can do to feel good inside so you can perform at your best no matter what you’re doing.
I’m sure it won’t surprise you to hear me say that the “right” way to do this depends on you. I think a big part of the issue, and why so many people don’t stick with any one diet or exercise regimen is because it’s formulated for someone else. There isn’t a one-size-fits all solution for it because we are all physiologically different in what we need. I know a ton of people right now doing the keto thing. That would never work for me. I’ve been a vegetarian for at least 25 years. But I don’t think it’s right for everyone. Some people love crossfit. I think that’s still a thing. It’s not a thing I’ll ever do. Nor would I recommend pilates to everyone (although I kind of do. It’s amazing). It all really depends on your genetics, your abilities, and your goals.
I am pretty sure, however, that if you’re listening to this podcast, one of your goals is to have a successful business. Successful as defined by you. So let’s start by building the foundation that will help keep you at your best so you can focus on what matters.
Eat. I have a bit of a love/hate relationship with food. I love to eat, but I hate having to decide what to eat 3 times a day every single day. It’s exhausting. Especially because I don’t get proper food cravings where something specific sounds good. But it must be done. Choosing the right food can affect how you feel throughout the day. And again, this is an individual thing.
I chose to become a vegetarian for a number of reasons when I was a teenager. Some rational, like the obvious health benefits and caring about animals. Some not so rational, like I didn’t want to eat the food my mom’s boyfriend at the time made for dinner. It started off as a rebellion of sorts, but I instantly found out how much better I felt all the time when I stopped eating meat. I didn’t get so much as a cold for nearly 9 years and I felt lighter - not weight-wise, but not that heavy and sluggish feeling after a meal. So I’ve stuck with it all this time. It helps me stay energized and focused throughout the workday, and every day .
I start every day with a glass of celery juice. About 15-30 minutes later, I have a smoothie – it’s usually a mix of coconut water, greens, frozen berries, orange, banana, ginger, cinnamon, and some superfood powders. I also take my vitamins and other supplements at the same time – a women’s multivitamin multimineral made from raw fruits & vegetables (I’m a big fan of the Garden of Life brand – it’s important to check the ingredient list to make sure there isn’t a bunch of stuff you don’t need to consume in there), Super B Complex, Vitamin D, a probiotic, and CBD oil. It helps me get the day started on the right foot with the right nutrients for me.
Lunch and dinner depend on the week, but I stick to clean ingredients with everything. I’m a big fan of making my own food, which helps a lot. I don’t eat at, or order from, restaurants unless it’s for a social situation. I know people love going out to eat, but for me, I like to know where my food came from and what is actually in what I’m consuming. I also rarely buy anything I can make at home – things like salad dressings and pasta sauces. They’re simple to make, I think they taste better, and they don’t have all those added ingredients when I do it.
Food prep is definitely my answer to those who think they don’t have time to make healthy meals every day. I don’t either, nor do I want to. But I do dedicate a few hours every Sunday to making and prepping all of my food for the week, at least Monday through Friday. That way I don’t have to wonder what I’m going to eat that day or get into that place of being too tired or not motivated to cook. That’s when the tendency is to just grab something quick and not necessarily the best option. It’s all about setting myself up for success, just like with my business.
Sleep. I don’t know about you, but if I don’t get 7-8 hours of sleep at night, I’m not at my best the next day. I can still get my work done, but my brain isn’t as clear and my energy level is lower, and that affects my productivity. I end up getting more easily distracted and am less motivated to get things done.
Part of ensuring I get a good night’s sleep means I have to stop working at least 2 hours before I go to bed, ideally more. My brain needs the time to reset. Otherwise it’s like my subconscious is still working when I’m trying to sleep. I swear sometimes my brain is its own person because it does things that the “I” I feel doesn’t do. Not sure if that makes sense at all, but there seems to be an internal disconnect at times. I also make it a point not to eat after 7pm because I find that eating later can affect my sleep as well. I know the common advice is to get 8 hours of sleep every night, but I find that it depends on the person. Some are perfectly fine on less sleep, some need more. 7-8 hours is my sweet spot. Much more than that and I actually feel just as bad as if I get less. I make it a priority to go to bed around the same time every night so I can stay on a regular routine because that’s what works for me. And I don’t want to be that person who’s yawning on a Zoom call with a client because I stayed up late watching a show.
Exercise. This can be a tough one during the day, especially if you’re working all day from home in a chair behind a desk. I make it a non-negotiable part of my schedule. It’s a priority to me, not only because I want to stay healthy, but because it is part of my pain management routine. I have a lot of issues with joints and inflammation. Some of it is genetic, like my migraines and sensitivity to barometric pressure changes (basically I’m allergic to the weather). Some is the result of a car accident when I was 17. Through many years of trying different things, I found that pilates is what works best for me. Pre-COVID I would go to the studio 4-5 days a week and that was fantastic. Now, I haven’t been able to go for almost a year, and that makes me sad. But, when the studio originally shut down, I invested in some equipment to use at home and I still make myself go to class, so to speak, at least 4 days a week. It’s not the same, but it’s something. O is that now I tend to do it in the morning before I get into my workday vs before when I’d go in the afternoon and use it as a way to separate my workday from my personal time. I’m still not entirely sure which I prefer. But I keep trying different things until I figure it out. With everything. That includes my business. They key thing is to do something to make sure you’re moving. I know I feel lousy if I don’t. And if I feel lousy, I’m not doing my best work.
I do weird little things, too, to force myself to get up and walk around throughout the day. I intentionally don’t have a trash can in my office. I know I can’t handle clutter, so it makes me get up and walk into another room if I need to throw something away. I also took a tip from my friend Melissa and started drinking out of a smaller water bottle. I was in this habit of having my giant water bottle with me at all times, because I drink a lot of water. I’ll get to that in a minute. But that started when I was working in an office. I recently had to tell myself hey, that’s not necessary anymore. You can get up and get more any time you feel like it. So I downgraded from my 32 ounce bottle to a 16 ounce one. That encourages me to get up twice as often. It doesn’t mean I’m going on an hour-long walk, but some movement is better than none.
Hydrate. Water. So important. It always surprises me whenever I hear someone say they don’t drink much water. And that seems to happen a lot. I average about a gallon a day. It’s pretty much all I drink. I don’t do coffee or soda or any drink with sugar. I do love my tea, but I’m a bit of a purist. I tend to stick with straight green, black or oolong loose-leaf tea. Sometimes I’ll add honey, but usually not. And I won’t drink any tea after 2pm because even though there isn’t a ton of caffeine in it, I am super sensitive to caffeine and if I have it too late, it’ll affect my sleep. And I already talked about how important sleep is to me.
Now, I live in a desert, so hydration is extra important to me, but it’s important to everyone. It helps keep you functioning properly as a human, which helps keep you functioning properly while running your business. It can help with your sleep, your mood, and your brain function, too – all of which are important parts of being at your best. If I sound repetitive, it’s because it’s true of all the things I’m talking about here.
It’s important to listen to what your body is telling you about everything. Your body, not your brain, because there is a huge psychological component to things like diet and exercise that doesn’t always align with what we actually need. But when we’re in tune with ourselves, we don’t really have to guess about what to do as much. Go to bed when you’re tired. Eat when you’re hungry. Rest when you’re feeling overworked. Simple. Right? I’m kidding – I know it’s not always that simple. I’m fortunate that I haven’t had to wake up to an alarm for several years. I’m a morning person, so I naturally wake up early, usually between 6-7am. I’m able to follow my natural rhythm and I schedule my day based on my energy levels, which are pretty predictable at this point. I really am a routine person. Not that I can’t veer from it but having that structure in place has been a huge benefit to me, and to my business.
If you’re not sure what is right for you, journaling is a great way to figure it out. You can do it with food. Keep a log of what you eat, when you eat, and how you feel each day. You might find that certain foods cause certain reactions, good or bad. You can do it with sleep. Write down when you go to bed, when you wake up, if it took you a long time to fall asleep or if you were out right away. You can do it with exercise. When and for how long did you work out each day? What did you do? How did you feel immediately after? How about the next day? And you can do it with hydration. How much water did you drink? What else did you drink? How did you feel that day?
You can’t form better habits if you don’t know what is and what isn’t working for you. So just like I talk about with time management and scheduling, the best place to start is to figure out how much time you’re actually spending on the things you’re doing. It’s the same advice here. Pay attention to yourself and you can figure out the best way to stay healthy as a person, and give your best to your business so it can stay healthy, too.
Monday Jan 18, 2021
Marcus Weiss: Expressing & Connecting
Monday Jan 18, 2021
Monday Jan 18, 2021
Marcus Weiss is an actor who's had an extensive career in theater, TV, film, and radio. You may have seen him in Blue Man Group, Le Reve, Hedwig & the Angry Inch, and Second City Improv & Comedy, to name a few. He's also a teaching artist for the Disney Musicals in Schools Program at the Smith Center for Performing Arts, and a performance coach with a Mastermind called “Express and Connect.”
In this episode, we talk about how growing up in Switzerland shaped his outlook on seeking "busyness," how formal training (he got his BA in drama from Dartmouth and a Masters in Acting at Temple University) gave him more tools for expression, which allows him more freedom.
We also discuss how the "Yes, and..." principle of Improv can be applied to your business or life outside of comedy, why mindset (or heartset, as he likes to call it) has become so meaningful, and the importance of getting out of your head and creating a path that feels good from the neck down.
Connect with Marcus:
Facebook: The Marcus Weiss Experience and Marcus Jacob Weiss
Twitter: @swissmarcus
Mastermind: "Express & Connect"
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Connect with me on your favorite platform: https://pods.link/aardvarkgirl or on Clubhouse @aardvarkgirl
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01:36 I have no sort of inherent, vague, foggy fears about communication or about expressing myself or about connecting with other people.
03:18 There are those who consider being out of your comfort zone to be like a negative thing. And then there's those, and you can sort of train yourself, who consider coming out of your comfort zone to be an exciting thing. Like, Ooh! I am out of my comfort zone! I'm going to be growing! I'm going to be learning something!
06:00 I suppose the way that I look at training is, I just have more tools of expression. For me, more training and more knowledge creates more freedom, because it gives me more room. It gives me more toys to play with.
09:36 Improv has that foundation of a “Yes, and” mindset, which means that things that you see, things that you experience, people that you meet, conversations, situations, there's always a “YES! I'm going to embrace that. AND I'm going to add to it.” In other words, I'm going to take what's happening, and I'm going to incorporate it. I'm going to welcome it. And I'm going to change what my idea was. YES! I'm going to be expanded by that. AND we're going to create something together that didn't exist before. So it's a technical thing, but it's also a mindset.
12:08 Being flexible and saying yes to the possibilities of any situation can be really important.
14:00 When things don’t meet what our expectations, we don't feel good. Things that ultimately don't feel good, don't make us happy, and therefore, don't make those around us happy. And we're ultimately not making the world a better place or a more uplifted place.
16:13 Things take work, but there's a lot that we can do in terms of how we sort of look at the world.
17:04 There was a certain philosophical, cultural, and political context that I grew up in (in Switzerland) that I perceived as very different when I came to the States. When I came back, I remember specifically that there was this, like, muscular, almost aggressive pursuit of like achievement, and happiness, and fulfillment.
19:36 What's important? I think whatever makes us feel alive. But some of us grab onto this notion of growing, and then we attach measurements to it, and that's where that sort of judgment comes in, like I gotta do more.
20:55 We're busy. But I think we have to be aware of the really underneath of that. What would you feel like if you stopped for an hour? Or an afternoon? Or a day or a week?
22:04 I think everybody wants to feel that we’re enough. It all starts with what you're saying to yourself, right? Feelings ultimately have to do with the story that you're telling yourself, and the way that you interpret situations.
24:54 90% of what I did up to the slowdown went away, because I was teaching in classrooms live and I was performing virtually full time. And I had a lot of day jobs. At first, because we were in such crisis mode, I didn't really register it as much. The reality of not being able to connect with people in that way live didn't really sink in for about two months. Then I realized that that is something that I feel really attached to in my life.
29:39 If we ask ourselves the right questions, or if we ask each other the right questions, we can get to the issues together. And if the intention of those questions is coming from a… I was gonna say a loving place, or a joyful place, but even if it's just coming from a constructive place, or from an objective place, or from a place where we intend to solve things together, I think we can really go far. As two people hanging out, or as groups, or as a culture, as a society and as a world.
37:08 I want to be able to unfold, and I think it's interesting that a lot of what I've done have been pieces that have allowed me to go to those different kinds of places.
41:14 If you're having a real moment with somebody, a real intimate moment with one person, or maybe with two people, an audience of 2000 people will zoom in on it. And I think the reason they're zooming in on it is not because there's a lot happening, it's because our hearts are discovering something that all of us would like to experience.
45:03 If I give you my time, I'm giving the most precious thing I have.
46:09 Life of a performer, it can be so uncertain. It can be filled with ups and downs, lefts and rights. It's completely nonlinear, but so is life a lot of time. And full of disappointment. It's like you work really hard, and there's a lot of stuff that doesn't seem like it's in your control, you know? So there can be a tendency to feel disappointed. So you're always working on that. If you graduated from medical school, you're not all of a sudden, like, hmmm, yeah, you're not gonna ever work. It's not like you’re like, oh, man, I did two operations this year! Oh, that was a good year for me! But with actors, it's kind of like, hey, man, I got a job this year!
47:59 I've noticed that every time I'm able to fully express myself with the intention of connecting with others, and sharing our hearts with each other, that's when life happens. And so whatever context that somebody might be in, whether it's a live Instagram video, or whether it's talking to your family, or whether it's being a being an actor in front of 2000 people, if somebody can find a way to express their voice, their story, their message, and connect with others so that they feel heard and seen and felt, then it will uplift everyone and it will give other people permission to do the same. And I think that will serve everybody.
55:36 I think we all just want the world to “Yes, and” us. But it takes it takes faith and courage. And then the experience that it might be happening. Your confidence will come from competence, but you have to take the action first, and then it becomes this loop. You just gotta find a way to say the right things to yourself and to your brain and to your heart. Take the action and do it. And then praise yourself, allow yourself to be kind to yourself, love yourself enough to take that in. That'll build your confidence.
56:55 Permit yourself to not give up. If you feel like doing it, even for a while, then do it. But keep on trying to check in with yourself and see if it's really where you want to head. And then there's always a way, no matter what. Keep finding a way to turn towards what feels good from the neck down. All the thoughts, that's great, and the analysis of things, that's great. But there's a lot of ways to live your life and to create your path anywhere, but particularly in the arts and creative professionals. But what's important is that it feels good in your in your whole self.
Monday Jan 11, 2021
When You Feel Like You Can't Catch Up, Prioritize!
Monday Jan 11, 2021
Monday Jan 11, 2021
When you're feeling overwhelmed with all the things you need to get done, take a few moments to prioritize and make sure you're working effectively.
Connect with me through your favorite platform: https://pods.link/aardvarkgirl
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Have you ever had one of those weeks where you feel like you just can’t catch up? Like every time you cross one thing off of your to do list, you’ve added three more? That’s the kind of week I had last week. I started off with what I considered to be a reasonable list of things to accomplish. Get all of the year-end reporting done for my business and for my clients. Send out all the 1099s. Produce a short video to kick off the new year. Get some podcast episodes finished so I can get ahead again. And all of my usual weekly client work.
Some of the things on that list, mostly related to the podcast, I had planned on doing the weekend before. New Year’s Day fell on a Friday so it felt like I had an extra day. I had every intention of being productive. I did get some things done around the house that I’d been wanting to do for a while. Remember back in March of 2020 when everyone was organizing their pantries? I took a bit longer to get around to it. But organizing my pantry turned into organizing every single thing in my kitchen. It took a bit longer than I was expecting. And there was a new season of Cobra Kai I had to watch, of course. That was very important.
Then Saturday I just wasn’t into it. I woke up with a headache and I knew I needed a day of rest. I always think it’s important to listen to your body when it’s telling you what you need. So even though I kept hearing in the back of my mind that I should get some stuff done, I knew I needed the break. Sunday is my food prep day and I got a bit ambitious with all of the recipes I wanted to make for the week. And then suddenly the long weekend was gone. Oops.
I wasn’t too concerned about it though. I only put things off when I know there’s enough time to put them off. So I often bargain with myself. For example, “I’m going to binge this show this weekend and then if I need to work later than usual next week, that’s fine.” Or “I am going to spend all day Saturday on my personal projects this weekend and next weekend I’m going to stay away from all screens.” When you run your own business, you get to do things like that because you really only have to answer to yourself. And maybe your clients, but I would never put off work that needs to be done for them.
I always say you have to put yourself first sometimes. Whether that means taking a day for self-care or turning down a client project because you have things you need to do for your own business. But sometimes the right move for you and your business is to delay your plan and focus on what they need. Within reason, of course. The level of service I give to my clients is why they’re so loyal to me. They know they can depend on me. And I never want to be the person that someone is waiting for. I get frustrated when I’m delayed on what I need to do because someone else hasn’t done their part yet. I know how many times I’ve been venting to someone that I’m at a standstill because I can’t do anything I need to do until someone else gets back to me with something. I don’t ever want to be the person someone is venting about.
I think it’s important when you’re running your business, or just in being a human in general, to keep in mind what it would feel like if the roles were reversed. If you were the client and were being held up because someone you were paying wasn’t getting their work done, would you want to keep working with them? Again, within reason. I’m not talking about those clients who don’t respect boundaries or expect you to drop everything any time they need you. That’s a separate topic. But being considerate of other people’s workflow is really important.
And when your workflow involves managing several clients who are all on their own schedules and timelines, you have to balance those with your own. That’s where prioritizing comes into play. Determining which tasks you need to do first and which can wait. There are a number of ways to do this, and the best way really depends on how you process information, because we’re all different. For me, I do best with good old-fashioned to do lists. Well, I guess not TOO old-fashioned because mine are digital, but every now and then I do go back to my trusty post-it note system. That’s where I actually write down things I need to do so I have something right in front of me (versus a to do list in my phone that I only see when I’m intentionally looking at it). When I’m done with it, the post-it note goes away. This is what I used to do when I worked in an office. It was simple and effective.
And don’t worry, I fill up both sides so I’m not just wasting paper. And I recycle.
But for the most part, I stick with my digital lists. I usually have a few – one for the day, one for the week, one for the bigger picture, one for a specific project, etc. I’ll start by listing everything I know I need to do. Once it’s all there, I start moving things around in order of priority. Anything with a hard deadline gets put to the top. Anything that’s going to take less than 30 minutes is next, mostly because I can knock those out and get them off the list - and the fewer things on the list means the fewer things my brain is thinking about, which means a lower possibility of feeling stressed.
Sometimes it’s best to take a few minutes, even when you feel you don’t have a few minutes to spare, to make sure you’re working effectively. Prioritizing is a huge part of that. Take a few deep breaths, and then make a plan. Look at your list and check in with yourself – are you stressing about things you can get done tomorrow? Stop. Focus on what you legitimately need to get done today. This isn’t about procrastinating, it’s about being realistic with how much time you have and making sure you aren’t burning yourself out trying to get it all done, especially if some of it doesn’t actually have to be done right away.
That’s where last week got a little tricky for me, though. While I know the importance of prioritizing, and I have my own systems in place for doing that, I wasn’t paying attention to them. Or I was, but my systems collided a little bit. I would be making progress on something, but then a client request would come in. I knew that it wouldn’t take me very long, so I’d get that done and then go back to my own stuff. But what seemed to happen, in a way that became almost comical, is that everyone needed something little at the same time. I also wasn’t expecting the final episode of the series I’m working on to get cast this week. So I was already managing one shoot, and then had to start prepping for another, so there was a lot added to my plate in the middle of the week.
And the silly thing is, one of the things that was bugging me was feeling like I had all this extra stuff to do. I’ve always spent the first week of January getting everything done for taxes – for myself and for my clients. Filing quarterly and annual reports, reviewing P&Ls and balance sheets, 1099s, making sure we all have what we need for our CPAs. I love getting that done early for two reasons. First, I just like to have it out of the way. I usually get my taxes done in February. I feel like I get more attention from my accountant because she gets busier and busier the closer it gets to April. Secondly, as I mentioned before, I don’t want anyone waiting for me.
But the thing is, none of that is actually due in the first week of January. I have 3 more weeks to get 1099s done. Even longer for the tax stuff. So there’s no reason to feel like I’m behind on that. Sometimes we just have to acknowledge when we’re not being rational, laugh about it, and move on.
So here’s what I did. Anything related to the show got done immediately. There are a lot of people involved and a lot of moving parts, so that always has to take top priority. Then I worked on any client requests that would take 30 minutes or less. I periodically checked all of my various client email addresses to make sure all questions were answered. Towards the end of the day, when it seemed everything pertinent had been addressed, I started working on my own projects. I worked later than usual, but stopped when I knew it was best for me, which is usually when I need to eat dinner. I rarely work after dinner unless something is truly urgent. That is my time to decompress and make sure I’m at my best for the next day.
I got the important things done by the end of the day Friday. Did I get to everything on my list? No. Will I have to take time on Saturday to make sure I have a podcast to publish on Monday? That’s what I’m doing right now. Will I get all that tax stuff done? Nope. That’s not weekend worthy this far ahead of the actual deadline. I’ll do my best to get to it next week. Because doing my best is all I can really do. And best can have different meanings. To me, my best is not working so many hours that I’m exhausted. My best is not beating myself up because I couldn’t get everything done in the amount of time I had hoped. My best is a balance of setting ambitious goals and accepting my limitations.
So if you’re feeling like you have too much to do, you can’t get caught up, there’s not enough time… we’ve all been there. We will all be there at various points in our lives. Take a break, give yourself a break, and do the best you can to prioritize and get back on track.
Monday Jan 04, 2021
Resolutions Aren't Just for the New Year
Monday Jan 04, 2021
Monday Jan 04, 2021
Connect with me through your favorite platform: https://pods.link/aardvarkgirl
I'm on Clubhouse @aardvarkgirl
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Because of everything that happened in 2020, I think a lot of people are putting a ton of pressure on 2021 to be better. But things don’t suddenly change overnight because the calendar says it’s a new year. So let’s not focus on the date so much as how we approach the current moment.
I’m not against New Year's resolutions as a concept. I think it’s important to set goals, intentions, and make plans. But I think those activities should be ongoing throughout the year. What usually happens is people get these grand ideas of all the positive changes they’re going to make in their lives. They get excited. They talk about the great things they’re going to do. Things they’ve been putting off or haven’t been focused enough to accomplish. And everything is instantly going to change when the ball drops.
But then what often happens, is they drop the ball. The resolutions weren’t realistic. Whatever the reason, that excitement that was building in December plummets, and they’re often left feeling worse about their situation than before. Why? Because they feel like they failed. They made a declaration and didn’t follow through. So now they not only have to deal with all those things they still want to change, but also an enhanced disappointment in themselves. It’s too much pressure, and it’s often not fair.
We should always be striving to improve the way we run our businesses, and there is no blueprint for what the “right” way is. Success is very personal because we all want different things, so goals are very personal, too.
The other tricky part about setting goals at the beginning of the year is that things change between January and December. As business owners, we always have to be prepared to pivot. To go in a completely different direction than what we initially expected.
I think about my role as a producer. So much of that work is about anticipating changes and expecting the unexpected. And then when something happens that wasn’t in any of your backup plans, you have to think quickly, take charge, and find a solution.
And that’s how life works a lot of the time, too. You may have spent a ton of time planning what you’re going to do and how you’re going to do it and what it’s going to be like when you reach that goal. But sometimes something out of your control is going to happen and totally throw you off course. When that happens, you basically have two choices. You let that change defeat you and give up, or you figure out a new plan and keep moving forward.
Changing course doesn’t mean you’ve failed. Changing your mind doesn’t mean you’ve failed. Sometimes that thing that happens, that thing that’s out of your control, is you. You change your mind. Somewhere along your journey, you decide that it’s not the right path for you after all. Your priorities shift. You find something new you’re more passionate about. No matter what happens, you have every right to change your mind. Don’t hold yourself hostage to an idea if it no longer resonates with you. You haven’t wasted your time if you’ve learned something, even if what you’ve learned is that you don’t actually want what you thought you did.
So how do you set goals, whether they’re for the new year or any other time, when the only constant is change? You’ve probably heard about SMART goals, and if you haven’t, do a quick Google search. The gist of it is to be specific, measurable, attainable, relevant, and time-bound.
Specific means detailed. You don’t want a vague resolution like “I want to lose weight.” Instead, be specific – “I want to lose 20lbs.”
Measurable means there is some kind of statistic you can reference. So instead of “I am going to do better at pitching my services,” you would say, “I am going to reach out to 10 potential clients every week.”
Attainable means to be realistic. Is your goal practical? If you made $50,000 dollars last year, is it reasonable to set a goal of making $500,000 this year? Maybe. I hope so, for your sake. But unless you have a really strong plan in motion to make that happen, maybe you should set the goal to make 10% more than you did last year. Aim to beat your goal, but don’t make it so far-fetched that you’re setting yourself up for potential disappointment.
Relevant means it’s significant and really matters to you. If you’re like me and don’t love social media, and it doesn’t really convert to business for you anyway, it probably doesn’t make sense to set a goal to post every day. You might have a goal to shift your mindset and try to embrace a platform to see if it does improve your business, but make sure the goal is relevant to what you’re doing, and not just because the experts out there say you “have” to.
Time-based means give yourself a deadline. Every goal should have a deadline, even if it feels arbitrary. Without it, it’s too easy to put things off for every reason in the world. So don’t just tell yourself you’re going to write 10 new blog posts. Tell yourself you’re going to write 10 blog posts by January 31st. It’s a way to keep yourself accountable.
I think it’s helpful to balance out short- and long- term goals. It’s great to have those big picture ideas for the entire year, but break those down into smaller pieces with checkpoints along the way.
So if your goal is to increase your income by 10% for the year, think about what you’re going to do to accomplish that.
Is it more client outreach? Email 5 potential clients a day.
A bigger investment in advertising? Create a new social media ad campaign in the first quarter and create one element of it every week.
Do you need to spend more time networking? Dedicate 2 hours every Wednesday to engaging in your Facebook groups or Clubhouse rooms.
Developing a new product or service? Plan out the different modules of your online course so you can complete one every two weeks.
Whatever it is, lay it all out there and keep breaking it down into smaller steps. Make it so detailed that all you have to do is start crossing things off your list.
And as you start working through the pieces, what do you do when things change? Update your plan! You want to find that balance between accountable and flexible. If one step doesn’t work out the way you intended, don’t give up on the whole thing. If you don’t accomplish one of your goals, don’t abandon the idea of setting them altogether. Instead, replace it with something new. Keep working towards something, whatever makes the most sense for you.
My goal with this episode is not to sway you against making New Year’s resolutions, or any other traditions you might have for this time of year. It’s only to encourage you ti think about the practicality of what you’re resolving to do. Be conscious of how you really feel. What is your motivation for that goal? Are you doing it because you really want to, or is it just because you think you should? Or if you’re almost there and it suddenly doesn’t feel right, is it because you’re not sure you want it anymore? Or could you actually be afraid of what happens when you get there? Fear of success is a real thing. When you spend so much time and energy working towards something, you often don’t know what to do when you get it. And then there’s a tendency to jump right into the next goal.
I think it’s great to be motivated and to strive for more. But I hope you at least take a little time to appreciate what you have accomplished. It’s okay to stay still for a bit to acknowledge your achievements and take a break from the hustle to honor yourself.
So go ahead and make your New Year’s resolutions, if that’s the right thing for you. But while you’re thinking about what you want to do differently, take a minute to remember what you want to stay the same. Make new goals, sure, but don’t only focus on the things you don’t have or that you don’t think you’re doing well. Balance that out with what you do have and what you are doing well, and keep that in mind as you work your way through this year.
You’ve already done so much, so give yourself some credit. And while you’re at it, give yourself permission. Permission to go after what you want. Permission to be proud of what you’ve accomplished. And permission to change your mind if what you’re thinking isn’t working for you. Whatever it is you want to do, you can start taking steps now, no matter what date is on the calendar. Happy new year!