Introduction
Welcome to the Coaching Hive Podcast! I’m thrilled you are here for today’s conversation.
Have you ever sat and wondered what the next step is for your business? Do you have lists and lists of ideas but can’t find the path forward?
I will never forget the beginning of 2022 when I sat with piles of sticky notes surrounding me on the dining room table and felt completely overwhelmed. I had so many ideas that I wanted to implement, but where to start was the problem.
It was at that moment that I realized I needed to step back and figure out what the next step was. I needed to figure out what step would move me forward in my business.
Once I was able to look at the pile of sticky notes with that objective in mind, they seemed to organize themselves. Now obviously I couldn’t just wave a magic wand, but it was the next best thing.
Figuring out the next step is a superpower that you can develop and is something that we focus on heavily in the Coaching Hive.
Without that next step, your business is stagnant.
Have you felt this stuckness of not knowing the next step? Does it keep you from pursuing your business with intention? Maybe it keeps you from seeking support. Perhaps it has you plateaued. It is time for action and next steps today.
If you are ready for this conversation grab your notebook and a pen and let’s dive in!
The Next Thing
As a solopreneur, the whole to-do list for your business falls, your plate innovation ideas, list building, customer follow up, lead generation, finances, tech research, content development, marketing, sales, vision, task breakdown, and the list goes on.
Today, I’m not going to give you a big long list of things to do.
You already have your own stack of sticky notes that is telling you all of the things that you need to do. So here’s what we’re gonna focus on three things that you need to keep in mind when you look at that stack of sticky notes.
1. Focus
The first one is focus. This is multidimensional focus, not just in what is the exact next step you need to take. It is a focus on where you want your business to go right now.
What’s that next step for your business? Focus on that.
Then when you look at your sticky notes of things to do and tasks to accomplish, I want you to figure out which one is the step that will help you to stay focused on getting that goal accomplished. Because we can create goals upon goals upon goals.
In fact, some of you have probably done that. I know I’ve been guilty of it. I think if I just rewrite that goal one more time it is going to magically happen. It’s not true. I keep trying it, but it’s not true. So what we have to do is take that goal or take that intention or that direction that you have for your business and focus.
Focus on just that and focus on what specific task is going to get you there. Now, you need more than one task to get you there, but what’s the next task you need to accomplish?
For example, if I want to record six podcast episodes and get them done, get them banked for upcoming episodes so I don’t have to worry about it and I can focus on something else in my business.
Well then my goal is to get those six podcasts recorded and banked and just ready to to roll out when each Tuesday comes around. Okay? But there are a lot of things that have to happen for that. I have to plan, I have to record, I have to have the topic. I have to edit. I need to get a transcript prepared.
I need to have a description. I need to have a link that goes to our RSS feed. But if I think about all of those things at once, nothing will get done. So the next thing to do is to choose a topic, and from there, it’s to create an outline to think about what stories I wanna tell or what key points I want to make.
Then it comes down to recording it, then it’s editing, then it’s the transcript. Then it’s getting loaded into our system so that it’s ready to go. But if I think about getting six podcasts done, if I were to have all of those sticky notes for all six of those episodes just kind of floating around, my focus is going to be fuzzy at best and completely panicked at worst.
Okay, so here it is. The first thing you need to do when you are a solopreneur and the whole to-do list falls on your plate is to focus. What thing do you want to work on right now that’s going to move your business forward? And what little action steps do you need to take?
2. Execute
That brings us very aptly to the next of three steps that I want you to think about are three key ideas that I want you to think about in today’s episode,
and that is to execute. Execute that sticky note. Do what it says to do. If I go back to the example of I want to get six podcasts done and out of the way, and I’ve lined up my sticky notes in the order, I know exactly what is my next right step to take. I know that I have to choose a topic, but if I don’t choose the topic, then nothing else can fall into place. That focus has been lost once again. So we have to actually execute on the tasks that are identified. Now, when I gave you that six podcast focus, I created a lot of different tasks, a lot of little things.
Keep it simple as you’re getting started with this approach of finding just the next right thing to do.
Because if you can keep it simpler, you’re much more likely to stay focused and to execute those tasks that you need to do. Now, execution may take quite a bit of quite a few different forms. You may need support for that. You may need a checklist. You might need an app or a timer or something that encourages you. You might need a reward of some kind, whether it’s five minutes out in the sun, a new, a new cookbook, something. If you need to reward yourself, that’s okay.
The key is to make sure that you execute on your task.
3. Deliver
If you stay focused and then you execute what happens, you have something to deliver. So in my case, in the example I gave you about the six podcasts, I would have six podcasts that are ready for delivery. I can follow through on my commitment to you as listeners that you have a podcast to listen to. Every single Tuesday without fail delivery is key for anything in your business. If you can’t deliver what you say you’re going to deliver, then your clients lose confidence and they might go somewhere else.
That’s certainly not what we want, especially if you have been working hard to stay focused and to execute ahead and get that delivered. Make sure that you are delivering what you need to deliver.
I know this might sound kind of simplified, but here’s the thing, getting things done in life is all about just taking little steps forward. It’s about doing the next right thing and not worrying about the huge picture in front of you, or all of the plates that you are spinning in the air, hoping none of them fall…especially as a solopreneur.
It is just about getting the next right thing done. It’s simplified.
Focus. Execute. Deliver.
That’s what your business is all about. Focus. Execute. Deliver.
I want you to imagine for a moment when you sit down to your tasks, you know exactly what you’re focusing on. You have a clear focus. In fact, you’ve chosen that next right step to take, and you have aligned time in your schedule to do that step. You sit down, you do the step, and it allows you to move forward to the next piece of the puzzle. And before you know it, you’re delivering that fully formed puzzle in your business.
How does that feel? How does it feel to finish the puzzle? And maybe you’re thinking about puzzles that have fallen by the wayside, that maybe you got three quarters of the pieces done and placed and you weren’t able to do that last 25%. What would it look like to go back to that? Finish it up, stay focused on it, execute and deliver that puzzle. Complete it.
Full picture, full story.
When we simplify, we can accomplish far more than when we try to do all of the things all at once without any kind of plan. So hear me very carefully when I say goals are important. I’m not trying to tell you not to have goals. I’m not trying to tell you to think only small or short term.
No, I absolutely believe you need to have a five and a 10 year plan. I think you need to have a one year plan. I think you need to have a quarterly plan. I think you need to have a monthly plan and a weekly plan. However, if you think about all that stuff, it’s going to stop you from taking action.
Action Item
This brings me to the part of the podcast where I ask you to take action. I want you to think about what you are going to focus on, how you’re going to execute that focus area and what you’re going to deliver.
Each Monday, Wednesday, and Thursday, I sit down with a wonderful group of women who are all entrepreneurs. We sit down at 6:00 AM and we work for 90 minutes. We co-work and we hop on Zoom. We turn off our webcams and our mics after we kind of say hello and set our intention. So what we’re really doing at 6:00 AM is setting our focus for the next 90 minutes. And you might be thinking, Whoa, 6:00 AM 90 minutes. Yeah, I’m not gonna get what I’m supposed to do finished.
Here’s the thing. We stay focused because we have to execute. At the end of that call, we deliver. We talk about what we accomplished, and it is very empowering. It creates an atmosphere of focus. It also creates a commitment that sometimes is tough to create on your own, but with others who support you, who are like-minded, other entrepreneurs, other solopreneurs, focusing, executing, and delivering becomes a habit.
It becomes a way of doing business, one that works, one that catapults your business forward. Now, back to the action item.
Your action item for this week: I want you to make sure that you choose a focus, that you execute and then you deliver.
And here is how I would like you to stay accountable. I told you about my co-working sessions. What I’d like you to do is pop into the podcast review and let me know what you focused on, what you were able to do, and what you delivered because of that focus and execution. So stay accountable, come back and tell me what you were able to do as part of this approach.
Focus, execute, deliver, do the next thing. That’s it. Just do the next thing. Stay focused.
Conclusions
As we wrap-up today’s conversation about the next thing, remember that imperfect action is the best action. It is ok to not have the most elegant action steps. It is ok if you get things a little out of order or aren’t sure exactly what is working.
The key is to get some things done so that you have data to look at and adjustments to make. Without focus, execution, and delivery you have there is no data, no adjustment.
Just get going. Don’t worry about continually creating new goals if it is keeping you from implementing.
That’s all I have for you today, but I trust that our conversation has provided value as you continue to build your business. I’d love to hear from you about where you were able to focus, execute and deliver in your business.
I look forward to seeing you back here next week for another episode of the Coaching Hive Podcast, where a focus on mentoring and community removes the overwhelm of building your successful and profitable business and adds in a dose of momentum.
Until next time, have a healthy, safe, and happy week!
