Kristy: [00:00:00] I love this time of year because it's really the start of a whole big 12 months. Well, it's not quite 12 months because this is now the beginning of February, but you have a whole 11 months to put in action and achieve the things that you want to achieve in your business. Now, here's the thing. I've seen a lot of content about what to do to have your most successful year yet. But as much as what to do is important to know what not to do. And so in this conversation I wanted to share with you some things to avoid this year in order for you to achieve your goals and have your best year yet. So with that said, are you ready?

Let's go. Hello boss and welcome back to the Run Your Business Like a Boss podcast. I'm so excited. This is my first official episode back from my six week holiday. I know I did a bonus episode last week, but that kind of doesn't exactly count cause this is like regular content. But yeah, I'm so excited for what's to come this year and what I'll be sharing here on the podcast.

Before I dive into today's conversation, I wanted to just remind you that we are opening the doors to the Run You Business Like a Boss Academy very soon. How soon? Next week, soon. I am so excited to formally open the doors to you [00:02:00] and invite you to be part of Cohort three of the Academy. The Academy is such a great place to come if you are feeling like you are learning all the things or you know what it is that you want to do, but you're not sure on how it is to achieve that. I know you get a lot of advice and a lot of information, and that can leave you feeling more confused than clear. And so inside of the Academy, I'm gonna step you through a very clear framework that is embedded in coaching so no one comes out with the same outcome. You are going to deep dive in your own business, but with my support to help you build a strategy so that you can redesign your business model so that it works for this stage of business and so that you can have success in your business as well as in your life.

So if you are keen to work together, if you are keen to be part of cohort three, or even if you're simply just curious, head down into the show notes, grab that link, take a look. I would love you to be part of this very next cohort. Okay, so onto today's conversation today, we are talking about the things to avoid in your business so that you can have a great year this year. As always, I know you are keen to dive straight into the topic, so let's get into it. The first thing is listening to all the people. Okay. Now, it might feel like the more you learn and the more people you learn from that you'll actually find the answer, but in fact, it's the opposite that is the truth.

If you are watching all the reels. If you're looking at all the posts on LinkedIn or reading all the articles, or listening to multiple podcasts a week within the same genre, you may find that you are actually hearing conflicting advice or the things that you are hearing are not actually relevant to you and your business, and that actually becomes a distraction rather than helping you to move forward.

[00:04:00] So what I encourage you to do this year is to stop listening to everyone and to get really laser focused on the people that you want to be listening to. You wanna find people that align with you, both from your value system, maybe people who have experienced the things that you want to experience in your business, and maybe voices that simply resonate with you. Rather than listening to all the things be it on socials or on podcasts. Really narrow that down into having a few voices in your ecosystem so that you are less confused and more clear about what it is that you are wanting to achieve. One thing I will say is that when you're listening to too much advice, this can actually detract you from your own inner knowing.

And I talk a lot about this on the podcast where I believe that you are not only the expert of your life, you are also the expert of your business. And when you consume too much, you actually stop trusting yourself. Get really clear on who it is that you wanna listen to this year and really narrow that list down.

And then one follow up piece to this is stop prioritizing inspiration over implementation. It's easy to feel like you are taking action when you are consuming content, but if you are not putting that into action, then that's not actually going to help you to make any real or lasting changes in your business.

So first thing is to get really clear on who it is that you're listening to. And second thing is to implement what you learn. Okay so the second thing is doing all the things yourself. When you first start your business, it makes perfect sense that you are wearing all the hats and you are doing all the things.

But there comes a point in your business where that is absolutely harmful for your future growth. The truth is, is that when you're in this stage of business, you have less time and more money rather than the other way around when you are first starting out. It can be harder to invest in getting real support in [00:06:00] those early days because you just don't have the cash flow to support it.

However, in the messy middle, you definitely have more income coming into your business. You can invest in getting support to free up your time to actually make real changes and get real traction in your business.

So this year I want you to really think about where do I need support? Now support comes in so many different ways, and I've talked about many of those here on the podcast in the past, but just a little summary of things that you could be considering. Firstly, I've mentioned before doing repeatable tasks over and over is a sunk cost, so investing in really good automation systems to help you to be able to ease up that process so that you are not doing the same thing over and over for each and every client. And that may also mean that you need to streamline your services and offerings so that you can actually implement good automations in your business.

The second thing is, is getting in support. You know what? This is one of the things that so many business owners get stuck on because you are so smart, you are so ambitious, and you have a knack for figuring things out yourself, and therefore you can do a lot. Really well. But just because you can do your bookkeeping, just because you can do all your marketing, just because you can, do all your admin, does it actually mean that you should? Or is your time better spent on actually growing your business, on actually taking your business to that next level and moving it forward and actually stepping into that role as boss.

So this year, If you are in that messy middle stage, maybe this is a year that you start investing in support because just because you can and I know you can, it most certainly doesn't mean that you should, and this is a time in your business no better than now to really stop doing all the things.

Another way that you can get support in your business is to hire a coach. Now, I know you're gonna think, oh, of course you're gonna say that Kristy you are a coach. But trust me, [00:08:00] having a designated person in your business to hold space for you is so powerful for helping you to move your business forward with intention.

The truth is, is that when you are on your own, A, it's lonely. B, it's confusing, and C, you can get stuck in a loop. Rather than actually solving a problem and figuring out a way forward, you can get stuck doing the same thing for months in a holding pattern that's actually not really going to move your business forward.

And so if you really want support to propel you forward, hiring a coach is one of the most effective ways that you can do with this. Doing it alone, it doesn't work, especially in this stage of business. So having that designated support to help you to grow your business is so important at this stage.

The third thing that I wanted to share with you to avoid doing this year is not having a plan. The truth is, is that it's so easy to set the goals and to know what it is that you want to achieve, but one of the things that lets so many people down is not knowing how they're going to get there.

And part of that is not having a plan, not setting aside time to actually work through the steps that you need to take in order to achieve those things. Now, I mentioned a moment ago about systems and you might say, okay, I wanna create more automations in my business. But the reality is, is that creating more automations actually starts with your business model.

It starts with what you are offering. It starts with your processes rather than just getting in a tool to bandaid up the problem. So when you have a goal, having a plan and breaking that down into the various different steps and phases of achieving that goal is so important. Otherwise, you're just gonna get lost in either the minutiae or in the overwhelm of all the things, or you'll start going down a path and realise you need to back it up and go somewhere else.

So having a clear plan [00:10:00] for what you need to do and how you're going to do it in order to be able to achieve your goal is what's actually going to help you make real changes in 2023. Okay. Moving on to the next one, and this is a big one, and I think this isn't gonna come as a surprise hearing this on my platform is stop deprioritizing you this year.

Okay? I know you're busy and if you have a family, you're probably even busier because you've got all the responsibilities of looking after them. So, I'm gonna put it on the table and let you know I see you and I know how hard you are working, and I know how much you have on your plate, and I know how many things you've got juggling in the air at any one time. But not prioritizing you is so problematic, not only for you. Okay? So that's one thing. I think we all are very clear on that. But also for your business, if you are not running optimally, you will ultimately harm your business because you can't do it all forever, You cannot do it all on half a tank forever.

And so I know you want your business to be around for the long haul, and that means you actually need to be really intentional about looking after yourself this year. That is your nutrition, your exercise. I'm not saying this all has to be perfect, but eating well, drinking water, getting enough sleep, moving your body.

Spending time on your inner self and your mindfulness. I wanna say the whole reason why I started my business was because over a decade ago with my first business, I had so much burnout and adrenal fatigue that it took me years. I'm not joking, years to recover fully from that experience. And I'm so motivated to help business owners with their business model to build sustainability so that

they don't experience what I experienced. And the truth is, is that I'm seeing a lot of people with severe [00:12:00] fatigue and overwhelm and burnout as a result of working so hard these past few years. Now, the truth is, is that when you start your business, you have to go all in. You have to do all the things.

And in some ways it's how you actually get your business off the ground. Like I totally get that but at this stage of business, you need to invest time in you. Invest time in doing things that you love. Watching what you're putting into your body. if you drink alcohol, how much are you drinking?

Being mindful of that and just really prioritizing self-care in an authentic way for you. So deprioritizing yourself is not going to do you any favors this year. So being really intentional about creating micro moments in your day, in your week, in your calendar so that you have the energy to grow the business and achieve the big goals that you have set for yourself this year.

The last thing that I wanted to talk about today in what to avoid is doing the same thing and yet expecting a different result. How many times have you put that thing on your goal list that you put on your goals for this year, and yet you haven't achieved them. This is certainly not a shameful exercise.

And I have mentioned on the podcast before the things that I hadn't gotten to and there were very great reasons for that and that might actually be the case. But are there things on your list that you simply don't do because it's hard or because you haven't created time to do it? One of the things that I love about business is the personal development side.

I don't know about you, but since owning my business, my first business all those years ago, I have been on such a huge personal development journey, and I've grown so much as an individual, as [00:14:00] well as a business owner. But it's still so easy to fall back into old patterns, especially when what you're wanting to do feels so out of your comfort zone. This can be manifesting for you as avoiding discomfort and therefore staying in your lane doing things that you've always done them and staying safe. I'm gonna call out this right now, right here because it's early February and there's so much opportunity to move through that. But if you are not doing the things or you are de-prioritizing or de-triaging your goals because of discomfort.

I want you to get really, really intentional about noticing that. Question yourself. Am I not doing that? Because that feels uncomfortable. Or am I not doing that because something else is a priority? Genuinely some things will be a higher priority, but if you are not taking action because it feels hard and because it feels vulnerable and because it feels like it's on the edge of your own comfort zone, then this is the year things are gonna change for you because you will not get any different results if you are doing the same things as what you did last year.

And this brings me to my follow up point, is to make working on yourself and changes that you need to make on yourself a priority. It's so easy to avoid that. It's so easy to not get your mindset in order.

It's so easy not to you know, focus on what it is that you need to do in yourself

and let that fall by the wayside.

And how this can show up for you and your business is by diving deeper into your client work. Over-delivering on your client work. Burying yourself in busy work, right? Those are the hallmark signs of not wanting to work on yourself, not wanting to get uncomfortable with doing bigger things, of bringing bigger things out into the [00:16:00] world.

And the last thing I wanted to share on this point is not working on your business model, not investing time in your business. It's so easy to get caught up in the day-to-day that the days turn into weeks, the weeks turn into months, months, turn into quarters, and boom, it's December again.

The key here is to be really clear on what it is that you want your business to be and to take action with that. Because if you don't, if you're just doing more of the same of last, if you're just rolling out the same things, nothing's gonna change. And you are gonna get to December and you're gonna be like, what?

Why didn't I, why didn't I? And you'll probably see a competitor roll that thing out and you'll be like, why didn't I? And that would be a travesty. , So doing the same things and expecting a new result is something you wanna avoid in 2023. Ooh, big episode.

Lots of things to think about here. Now, with everything that I share, I know that you're gonna cherry pick out the things that apply to you, I absolutely encourage you to do that. So before you go on with your day and do the next thing and roll on into the next activity, I want you to spend a few minutes thinking about the five things that I talked about and what are you going to avoid this year. What are you gonna put into action or not do in 2023, so that you actually do have your best year yet?

Cuz as I said at the very top of the episode, 11 months to bring your big goals to life, and that's what I want for you this year. I want you to finish the year having achieved all the things that you desire. To help you out with that, the five things to not do in 2023.

Number one is listening to all the people. [00:18:00] Number two, doing all the things yourself. Number three, not having a plan. Number four, deprioritizing you and number five, doing the same thing you've always done and expecting a new result. Now, I'd love to hear from you. I'd love you to shoot me a message either on LinkedIn or on Instagram, and tell me what is it that spoke to you?

What is it that you are gonna avoid this year, and how are you gonna avoid it? Here's the thing, when you share something with someone else, it gives it power. It really is going to help you to be much more aware and much more conscious of the way you're moving through the year. So please, once you've had time to reflect and think about what it is that spoke to you and what you're going to do, shoot me across that message. Now, boss, as I mentioned at the start of this episode, we are opening the doors to the Run You business Like A Boss Academy. If you are wanting to redesign your business model with business strategy and get really clear on what your business is gonna look like in this next season of growth, then please consider joining us in cohort three of the Run Your Business Like a Boss Academy. The link is down in the show notes. We open the doors next week. All Boss, thank you so much for listening to today's conversation. As always, I look forward to chatting with you next week.