081 - How To Simplify Your Business
The Positive Pants Podcast
Shownotes Transcript
How To Simplify Your Business
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Stop over complicating things in your business. It really is time to simplify a few things.
One of the biggest things I see holding business owners back, is over complicating things that could be a LOT easier if we just looked at them a slightly different way.
There are a huge amount of people out there selling tools, strategies, techniques, software etc all promising to be THE thing you need that will finally make stuff happen in your business.
They make it seem sooooo easy.
Then we get them all, and end up overwhelmed and not implementing any of it and in a worse place than we were before we got them.
It’s not your fault. We’re bombarded with clever and manipulative sales messages everywhere we look that make us feel, and believe, that without this ONE THING, we either don’t have a business or it’s just never going to work.
No wonder so many people come to me feeling overwhelmed, anxious and completely unsure how to turn it around.
Everything is so bloomin over complicated!
So where are YOU over complicating things and in need of a little simplifying?
So, I wanted to put together a few ‘thinking’ points for you to go through that might give you a little ‘a ha’ moment for where you could simplify things for yourself, and a few ideas that could work for YOU!
We’re all different at the end of the day. The thing that works well for one person may not for you. But there is always another way.
Another way to look at things, another way to think about things, another way to DO things that may not be obvious on your own that can clear your head space, increase your productivity and make you take action on things that have previously been holding you back.
I’ll start with one of my favourites, and one that is always a game changer for my clients….and it’s super simple! Bonus!
Schedule your day! Instead of feeling like you need to be in a million places at once, doing a million things, how would it feel to have a structure that you follow so you always know what you’re focusing on at that moment? You get to do that! (Why multitasking is a myth))
A time for emails, and the rest of the time you have an auto responder on so you don’t feel you have to reply in that instant.
A particular time and day of the week for client calls, admin, learning, sales. It makes life so much more simple, frees up time and gives you a structure so you’re not always fighting fires.
Analyse and set up processes. Do you have processes in your business like above?
What is your process for getting people on a call? Is it a fumbly ‘when are you free’ situation that takes several emails to work out a time...or do you have a simple link you can send with your availability and the client can choose. I use Calendly but there are plenty of other auto schedulers to look at.
Have a look at the common tasks in your business and see if there is a more simple way to achieve the same result, in less time ideally!
Two heads are better than one. The amount of times you’re looking at something and just can’t see the woods for the trees, and someone comes along and simply says ‘have you thought about doing it this way’, and you kick yourself at how bloomin obvious the answer was.
Yeah, that!
How much time and stress could you save yourself if you’d had that conversation sooner?
Get an accountability buddy, paid membership groups, a mastermind or a coach and save yourself the time and heartache!
It’s one of the many reasons I structure my Proactive Pants Mastermind like I do, you’re literally never more than a few days away from solving a problem that you could potentially spend weeks or months agonising over otherwise! (you can join The Proactive Pants Mastermind HERE))
Outsourcing. I know I bang on about this but honestly it’s such a game changer, and often not as expensive as you’d think.
Would you rather make an investment of your time or money? Which is the priority?
Here are a few of my favourite things to outsource that made a real difference to me.
I got an accountant and invested in Quickbooks (there are other tools so choose which is right for you) . I mean...every receipt I get is just emailed over and stored so end of year accounts are a doddle. I’ve got a system set up where everything is SO much easier and I save SO much time.
My VA is a dream. There are certain tasks she does for me every month and they just get done! It’s amazing. She follows a process and everything is done how I like it and I don’t even need to think about it.
Think about personal things too, where can you save time? Cleaner? Getting your shopping delivered instead of going to the shop itself (the £5 you spend on delivery will MORE than be covered by you not hovering down the Ben and Jerry’s aisle!) Plus they save your list for next time so it eventually even takes most of the thought process out of it. DREAMY AGAIN!
What tasks could YOU outsource?
How do you currently get clients? Over complicated funnels? Slogging your guts out in other peoples Facebook groups? Spray and pray opt ins? Have you looked over your low hanging fruit? Is there anyone you could simply reach out to that you may have spoken before?
All these methods have their merits for sure, but the quickest and easiest way in my opinion is to consistently analyse who the most active members of your community are, who you’ve spoken to before, asking for referrals and going to in person events and talking about what you do.
Re-purposing Re-purposing content is a game changer. It’s a HUGE time saver and also creates a cohesive message. People will have their own preferred platform to consume your content on so you don’t want them to miss anything. There are a tonne of ways that you can re-purpose across multiple platforms already.
For example, Instagram can go to your Facebook page and twitter.
Have a look at your current content and see how else you could use it. I create one core piece of content every week and have ways to promote it for a whole year across audio, video, written and images.
One piece of content creates around 30-35 pieces of content across multiple platforms, without me having to spend all my time there!
Automation. That leads me nicely onto automation.
What in your business is currently labour intensive that you can automate?
Batching. My FAVOURITE along with re-purposing.
Batching similar tasks together ensures you can get into ‘the zone’. The less you context switch, the more you get done, and the easier it feels. So, what can you batch together? Content creation? Interviews? Client calls? Discovery calls? Personal admin tasks? Learning?
The world is your oyster so have a look at your own business and see what comes up for you.
Look at your packages or services Is there anything you can combine or let go of so there’s a clear pathway for your customer?
Do one or two things really well. There’s nothing to stop you introducing more as you master things. Don’t confuse your clients. 'Confused minds don’t buy'! Increase your focus and get one thing bang on first.
So, what are you telling yourself you HAVE to do in order to have a successful business...do you really HAVE to do it? Is there an easier or simpler way?
What change would have the biggest impact in the shortest amount of time. What I like to call the low hanging fruit.
It’s so easy when the answer is often right in front of our face to not be able to see the woods for the trees.
We are bombarded with so many different messages it’s easy to get lost, do what we’re told, and not go against the grain and look for another way.
It’s time for this to stop. There are too many overwhelmed people stuck in inaction when it doesn’t have to be that way. It’s about looking at things another way and consciously LOOKING for that other way that will make the difference. We tell ourselves it SHOULD be complicated, difficult, hard because the pay off can be so huge. The reality is it doesn’t. It’s time to simplify.
‘Life is really simple, but we insist on making it complicated’ - Confucius
If you know that now is the time to start changing things for yourself and want to explore this further, have any questions or want some accountability to make sure you’re doing the things you need to then please book in a free discovery call) so we can see what needs to happen to get you from where you’re at right now, to the successful business owner you know you can be!!
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