BIRD WILLIAMS: You're listening to Bird Means Business Episode 32.

Hello Hello Hello! And welcome to Bird Means Business podcast. I am so glad that you're here, and I have a question for you. How are you doing? No, really. How are you doing? You know lately when I'm asked that question, I kind of have this mental debate in my head of how honest of an answer I'm going to really give. I'm one of those kind of people who like, I don't like to just say good when someone asks me that question. Never have. I always had to give some other kind of adjective or something substantial so that I'm being real and honest and kind of present with my answers just in life. I'm the kind of person who doesn't like small talk. I want to go deeper. These days it's tough though because when I'm asked that question, I oftentimes don't really have the words to express how I feel, I don't know how to sum up quick enough, all of the things that I am feeling. There's just really not enough time honestly for me to give you a real answer or to not have some hours-long conversation about everything going on in the world. I have been using my go-to, which is, I am grateful and hopeful. That is something that is true. I am grateful. I'm grateful for what I have and I really want to focus my energy there. Grateful for how blessed I've been in my life, and then also hopeful for a better future. I encourage you to check in with yourself because it's important. Also, find the beauty in any season of life. That is what will keep you going. I want you to ask yourself this question, and I want you to really make time for yourself, to reflect on it, and to be really honest. As the CEO of your business, which I believe most of you are, how you are will reflect in your business. I said it before that your business will begin to kind of smell of you, the smell of the stink of your own personal life. I mean, you see that happen in your finances. If you're a small business, who bootstrapped. If you don't have your personal finances in a certain place, and then you go launch a business, and the business isn't able to pay you, then you're stressed at home. Well, then your team is gonna start to be stressed and on and on. It flows from the top down, even just the energy. If you're worn out and beat down, your team will start to feel that. Your clients will then start to feel that. It's really important that you have self-awareness, that you check in with yourself, and that you prioritize asking yourself, simple questions like, "How am I? Am I okay right now? 

In my free guide "Ready, Set, Launch", this is my guide for the first 10 steps to launching your business, I intentionally make, number one, the first step to be adopting an entrepreneurial mindset. And that's because this ride of entrepreneurship is like no other. It is wild and beautiful and crazy and magic. But it's something that you really have to go into understanding what I am getting myself into. I remember whenever I first became an entrepreneur, one of the first things that stuck out to me in terms of the difference between entrepreneurship in corporate America, is the fact that there's no one around to tell me whether or not what I'm doing is right. Like, there are no performance reviews. I have no boss. There's no guideline. There's no roadmap for what I'm doing. How do I know if I'm moving at the right pace? How do I know if my deliverables are okay? I mean, obviously, there are things you could measure like client feedback and that sort of thing. But even as a boss, you know, to your team, how is that going? It's funny because I think about it. Your whole life, we're accustomed to having some kind of grade, all the way of course from school, high school then in college. Your GPA. There's like this measure of success. And then even in corporate America, performance reviews. Well in entrepreneurship, there's none of that. I mean sure your business can be doing good or not so great, but that's not always indicative of your direct work. right? And even I'm in partnership with my husband for our gym business. He's not even that because we are really working in different parts of the business. I would feel like I did something really awesome for the business, updating the financials like you know a spreadsheet or something, going to tell him and he's like, "Oh cool". He didn't really have any feedback, because that's not his role in the business and then vice versa. I can't really tell him whether or not programming is great. The point is that as an entrepreneur, it's really, really important you set your own boundaries, that you set your own goals and structure. My schedule, all of a sudden, became very fluid and flexible. So I had to create structure so that I could actually make sure I was getting things done. I had to set goals for myself and come up with systems to ensure that actual progress was being made in order to reach those goals. What I want to share as we talk about kind of this mid-year check-in, are two practical things that you can do as you approach the second half of the year. And I know we're also busy, even though it's quarantine. I feel like I'm busier than ever, Lord. I'm just gonna give you two. Two practicals because I really want you to do this, and to implement this. 

Okay, practical number one, this is your business plan review. First, one of the main things I discovered when I was kind of in this weird place of, okay, I have no structure. I know I need to create it. What is something that I can do to kind of hold myself accountable? A quarterly business plan review. And this was a way that I could like regularly sit down with me and Terry and say okay where are we. You have to remember that your business plan is a dynamic, living document. It's not a one-and-done sort of thing. And I think that's one of the big misconceptions around business plans. It's like, oh, in the beginning, as I'm launching my business and then I move on. Or I have this one-page executive summary or this marketing plan that I kind of just do, and then that's it. That is not true. It is a living document. It's something that you're going to be constantly making adjustments to as you move along in your business. I'll give you an example. Maybe you go to your business plan and you look at your marketing channels and you say, okay, where are we getting the most engagement? Based on this, maybe we should do X, Y, and Z campaigns. We're looking and analyzing our revenue streams and see, wow, surprisingly this other product is getting more traction than we thought it would. Let's ramp up marketing around that. Let's figure out how we can improve efficiencies here or there. This is the best part. Whenever you're having to make big decisions about the direction for your business or hiring, or how your business responds in any kind of situation, you would go back to your foundation which is in your business plan, and allow it to guide your next steps. Practical, number one, or your mid-year check-in, is to review your business plan to look at it and say, Okay, last quarter I was thinking we should do X, Y, and Z, where are we now, what should we do, what is our plan for this next quarter. I promise you if you get into the habit of doing this every quarter, your business will thank me. 

Before I jump into the next practical, I want to mention my Bird's Eye View business process. This is my signature program that I created as I've worked with different entrepreneurs around their businesses. I'd have people come to me and say, "Hey, I have a problem with X, Y & Z in my business. And I'd say, "Okay, let's get started". I would find so often that they never really went through the process of developing a business plan that is cohesive, that looks at the different pillars of their business and says, this is how all of our business functions together. People instead will just look at the numbers or just look at the marketing, or just think about operating the business. But they never actually got a thorough process of developing a business plan. That's where the bird's eye view business plan came from. It's a five-week program. It's so much fun. At least for me. I've said before, I'm sometimes jumping through the Zoom screen because I get so excited and pumped up. I love taking clients through this process and I really just love the honor it is of journeying alongside entrepreneurs as they explore the different facets of their business in this way. If it's something that you're interested in, all you have to do is just book a consultation that's where we kind of start. I want to make sure that we're a good fit that I'm going to be able to help you based on your specific needs. And obviously, I want you to look and make sure that you feel like it's something that's good for you. So before we sign any contract or do any of that we just jump on a consultation call, it's free, it's 15 minutes, and we just kind of talk through your needs. And I can tell you more about the program so you would go to birdwilliams.com/consultation to get more information. And you can also go to birdwilliamsconsulting.com/birdseyeview to get more information on the Bird's Eye View business planning process. 

So let's jump back into practical number two. So in addition to reviewing your business plan here in the middle of the year, I want you to do a goals review, and that is looking at the goals that you set for the beginning of the year, and seeing where you are. Now, this is going to be for both you personally, and for your business. The way that my husband and I do it is every year at the end of the year we have a goals meeting, and we chart out our goals for the next year. I'm actually looking at the list that we had for 2020, which is hilarious on so many levels because of what has happened in 2020. But we break it down. Terry has personal goals. I have personal goals. We have marriage goals. Goals around our entire family. Specific goals for our kids. And then for each of our businesses, right out specific goals. So what I want you to do is literally just sit down and say, "Where did I think I would be, look at this list and think, am I to a halfway point in terms of my goal?" For example, I'm looking at my list right now and one was that I want to do intermittent fasting. I want to be able to commit to it. I actually didn't start intermittent fasting until we went into quarantine because I guess it became easier. I mean I've really stuck with it pretty good. That was April, so it's been a few months that I've been sticking with it pretty good. So it's like, okay, I feel like that's a goal that if I keep up the pace that I'm in, I will be able to reach by the end of the year. Another goal I had was no work after 6 pm. That certainly hasn't happened. Not at all. Not even close. What I would do at the middle of the year is say okay, that's not happening. What do I need to adjust in my life to make that happen so that by the end of the year, or as soon as possible, I'm not working super late at night? Maybe 6 PM is too aggressive if I'm realistic because I am running three businesses right now, which is crazy. Maybe it's 10 pm. Maybe it's just being in bed by 10 pm or whatever it might be. But kind of adjusting it because your goals are good. Goals came from a good place, and you don't want to use an excuse of, "Oh it's just too hard," Given what's going on in the year, given where you are, you want to make adjustments to your goals. I want you to do this for both your personal goals and your business goals and you might say, Actually I never sat down and really wrote out goals. Well, now is a great time to do it you could go ahead and do it here in July, middle of the year, and just say, where do I want to be at the end of the year? Where do I want to consistently be, okay? So like I said, you're going to look at this list and you're going to say, we're halfway through the year, am I halfway to reaching my goal? Is it a consistent pattern in my life? If not, like I said, you're gonna adjust your life. You're going to find ways to adjust your schedule or whatever you have to do to make sure that you achieve those goals. But if you are, if you're halfway through and you're like, Yes, I have been crushing it. I want you to celebrate. I want you to give yourself a pat on the back and do something that will reward you because that will motivate you to keep on going. 

All right. In summary, 2020 is not canceled. I have heard so many people say, "Can this year just be over? Like can we just be done with it? Can we just move on?" But no, we cannot. We're not canceling 2020, because we're here. It's real life. And we have to walk through the hard times just like we have to walk through the good times. And instead of just wanting to kind of sleep through the rest of the year, let's say okay here we are halfway through. I am going to crush it this last half of the year. I'm going to give it my everything. I'm going to put my whole heart into the remainder of this year despite how crappy it's been because I'm going to remember my why. Why are you doing all of this, right? This should be your motivation, all day, every day. It's what I think about so often, even with the Bird Means business podcast. It's a labor of love. I really enjoy sharing my experience and tips in my heart. But it's also a lot of work. But I remember my why. I remember that I wish I had a resource back in 2013 when I launched my first business. I wish I would have not wasted so much time and money and energy, not knowing how to navigate things and that's what I'm trying to provide to people. When I hear someone say, "Oh my gosh, this podcast is my favorite." Or "I learned so much from this." Or "I went to the bank and I knew what to ask." I'm just like, oh, totally worth it. In the same way when you look at your goals, remember, it's not self-serving. It's about what you're doing for others too. Of course, we have to make sure to take care of ourselves. Again, I have a whole list of personal goals. In the bigger scheme of things, it's like, I'm able to pour into others whenever I pour into myself. Whether it's personal goals or business goals, remember your ultimate why, what you're able to do because you're reaching your goals, and that is going to give you so much motivation to keep on going. 

I mentioned at the beginning my freebie, "Ready, Set, Launch". If you haven't downloaded it, go ahead and do that. It's the first 10 steps to launching your business. It's a quick guide, and it's really something that I wish I would have had when I launched my business. For example, on there, it's kind of in time sequence. I list out that you need to make sure you get your P.O. box before you begin to add your personal address on public filings because when you're filling out your formation documents and other things like that, you're putting in an address. Well if you put in your personal home address that's going to be actual public knowledge. People when they look up your LLC can see your home address and you don't want that. You could have like a bad client, some kind of creeper. You don't want to have your personal information out on the web. Getting a P.O. box helps with that. Some P.O. box locations actually allow you to have a street address since sometimes people won't accept a P.O. box as an address. It's just things like that that make it so much easier. The other day, or actually a few months ago, a friend of mine was starting a business and I bought something from the business. Of course, I'm like a nerd with it so I'm like scrolling through the receipt looking at how everything's laid out. And at the bottom, it was her home address. I was like, "Girl, you got to change your address on there. You can't put your address because you know you could have some weirdo know exactly where you live." On my "Ready, Set, Launch" guide, they're just tips like that and I think you'll really really like it.  It's something that I wish I had when I started my business. Go to launch.birdwilliamsconsulting.com to grab your copy, and you'll also find that link in the show notes for this episode. 

One last thing. If the Bird Means Business podcast has been helpful to you, can you leave me a review on Apple Podcasts? I would really really appreciate it. This will help others find the pod, and share the love. All right, and if you have an entrepreneur friend who could benefit from some of the things I talked about, these tips and tricks for entrepreneurship. Make sure to share the Bird Means Business podcast with them. Alright, that's all for now. Talk to you next week.