10 Actions to Propel Your Business

Janine: [00:00:00] Welcome to this week's episode of Unleashing Brilliance. Today I want to talk about, not letting busyness destroy your business. So moving away from unproductive tasks to sharing with you 10 really productive actions that if you put them into your business, they will propel your business forward.

And the reason I want to share these is because I've been having. A lot of conversations over the last few weeks with so many of my clients where they're feeling stretched in multiple directions and now overwhelmed with their to do lists and they feel like they are spreading themselves too thin. And as a result of that, they're whirling around all over the place, seem to be doing a lot of stuff. They're busy being busy, but they're not necessarily moving the dial forward in their business. Is that you? That feeling where despite your best efforts, we can [00:01:00] often find ourselves in that cycle of business, can't we? I certainly have felt it over these last 12 years at various points as I've built my own business where I get caught on that treadmill of being busy.

But the stuff that I'm working on isn't necessarily moving my business forward. So today I want to share with you these 10 actions that if you start thinking about incorporating these into your daily, your weekly, your monthly schedule, it will absolutely propel your business forward. And I've been sharing these, as I said, with my clients over the last few weeks, and I thought I'd record a quick episode to share them here.

It's all about changing our perspective is all about changing our perspective. So we focus. and double down on those activities that will move the dial forward in your business. So before we do, let's think about where we go wrong. I mean, there's a whole heap of things that get in our way of being productive.

[00:02:00] There's no about it, but I want to address 10 of the most popular unproductive habits that I see in so many. businesses right now, and these unproductive habits masquerade themselves as productivity, but they're actually hindering your business growth. They take away the time, they take away your energy, and sometimes they take away your, money from the business, such that instead of focusing on things that are going to move forward, we're actually pulling ourselves back.

So as I'm reading out, these 10, I want you to think about, which of these 10s are You guilty of, and which ones do you not have to worry about? I bet there's probably some in here. So I'm just going to go through them. And as I go through, think about whether, Oh my God, this is a habit that I've got that I need to get rid of or whether you've got it under control.

So number one, excessive email checking and responding. Are you constantly glued to your inbox? Are you sacrificing your precious time looking [00:03:00] at your emails, checking those emails and responding to your emails? Time that you could use somewhere else. Yes or no. Second one that I see happening all the time are endless coffee catch up meetings without clear agendas.

Now I'm all for networking. You know, that any of you that have followed me for a while know I've written a book called It's Who You Know I'm an. Absolute advocate of the power of network and the power of connection. But what I am an advocate for is intentional connection and relationship building. And whilst that is important, aimless meetings without clear agendas can lead to wasted hours and limited outcomes.

The, can I pick your brain conversations? Can I catch up for a coffee conversations? Too many of them take your focus and energy away from the business versus giving you the time and the freedom to double down on where you actually need to focus. Is that you? [00:04:00] Yes or no? Number three, obsessing about achieving inbox zero every single day or week.

Now I've sat in many a time management, productivity management meeting where I've been told that we should all be, searching for inbox zero. I disagree. I want to call BS on it because I think that instead of fixating on an empty inbox, we should redirect our energy towards high value tasks that are propelling our business forward.

So my question for you is, are you obsessing about achieving inbox zero? Yes or no. Number four, mindless social media scrolling. Are you spending excessive time on social media? Excessive time, time that has become a major productivity drain versus using it strategically and being intentional about it.

Are you getting lost in the mindless social media scrolling? Yes [00:05:00] or no. Number five, are you getting lost in non revenue generating administration? Now, administrative tasks are absolutely necessary in all businesses, but I want you to get curious and be mindful of how much time you're actually dedicating to them versus revenue generating activities.

Do you have specific time in your diaries to do the non Revenue generating admin, or is it taking over your calendar? If it is, you need to do something about it because it's taking your focus away from the very thing that you need to be focusing on to propel your business forward. Number six. Gosh, I see this all the time.

Perfectionism paralysis. Constantly tweaking, that's what I'm talking about. You're tweaking, you're tinkering that website copy, that social media post, that email, that design. You're constantly tweaking because it's not quite yet ready. That can prevent [00:06:00] you from launching the very thing that you need to launch, from seeing whether it's going to fly, and from gaining any valuable feedback.

So be careful. Are you getting lost in perfectionism paralysis? Yes or no. Number seven, posting on social media without a strategy. You've probably, if you listen to my podcast regularly, you'll hear me talking about how we must not add to the noise, but we absolutely have to be intentional about building positioning.

Posting on social media without a strategy, mean that you're adding to the noise because there's no clear purpose and there's no clear strategy that aligns to your business objectives. So are you doing that? Yes or no? Do you have a social media strategy? Yes or no? Number eight, endless reworking of proposals and content.

Now whilst I get it's important to refine, your work. I totally get that. There comes a point where you've just got to take action and move [00:07:00] forward. The other thing I see, often when people start working with me, they are writing new proposals every single time, it's like a customized proposal every single time which eats into your time and your focus.

So let's think about not reworking or where you can customize some of your proposal writing. So do you that do that endlessly reworking your proposals or content? Yes or no. Number nine, over planning without execution. Now I know that planning is crucial. We do it all the time with my clients. Every single quarter we're planning out the next quarter.

We're setting ourselves targets that we can hold ourselves accountable for. We're doing all of that, but don't let it consume all your time. A plan without execution will never happen. You have to pay attention to doing the work and doing the thing that will make that plan [00:08:00] come together. The very things that you have committed to.

So take action and make progress towards your goals. So yes or no, are you over planning? Clues to this is you might have a vision board that you've never looked at all year, or your plan might go and get lost in the bottom drawer, or you write lists down but you don't do anything about it. There's your clues.

And finally, number 10, attending networking events out of FOMO. Now I want you to be selective about events because here's the thing. If you're not, if you don't prioritize networking so that it aligns with your business objectives and where you're going to make meaningful conversations, and you're only going to a networking event for fear of missing out. That's not strategic. It takes away your energy. It takes away your focus. And often you come away from those networking, events, having had a nice time, but not necessarily moving your business forwards. So number 10, are you [00:09:00] attending various events, various masterminds, various programs out of fear of missing out As opposed to attending them because they're a strategic imperative to your business.

Yes or no. So those are the 10. How did you do? How many yeses? Oh my goodness, Janine, you are spot on versus nos. So take a moment, have a look. Now, what I want to do is shift our focus. Because it's all well and good having those, but where should you really focus your activity? And I want to share with you now the 10 actions that I've been working with my clients on to help them propel their business forward.

So first up, it's about setting clear daily goals and objectives. I really want you to think about starting every single day with intention and with focus on at least one task that is going to make a tangible impact on your business. So number one, set daily goals and objectives. [00:10:00] Number two, This is a daily thing, my friends.

Every single day there needs to be proactive lead generation happening within your business. Make lead generation a daily habit to ensure that you've got this constant flow of potential clients and opportunities coming in. When we turn that tap off That is when the chunky revenue happens, or that is when we get the feast or famine approach in our business.

The key to a scalable and sustainable business is having a regular flow of clients or lead conversations coming in. And that needs you to be proactive about your lead generation every single day. Okay, so that's number two. Number three, engage in light touch networking. One of the things, I talk about in It's Who You Know, and one of the strategies we put in place in my work is [00:11:00] what I call, I call it network 10.

Essentially it's 10 minutes Every single day, two people, those two people, and those 10 minutes are spent in light touch networking. You're not necessarily speaking directly to those people, but what you are doing is you're touching them lightly. Like think about this light touch. There's no expectation of anything in return.

What you're doing is letting people know that you're thinking about them. So light touch networking could be a voice message. It could be a video message. It could be a text message. It could be a checking in on how you are. I've been thinking about you. It could be sending, forwarding some content that you've read that you think might be worthwhile or they may find useful.

An article, a LinkedIn article or post. It could be a podcast, it could be something that you've seen on the news that you know that would help them in terms of their strategic planning. It could be that you've met someone that you think [00:12:00] they should know. It could be that you're checking in on some work that you're doing.

It could just be a simple, Hey, I've been thinking about you. How are you? So engage in light touch networking. It's about fostering connections. It's about building relationships. It's about reaching out to All of those mentors, industry peers, collaborators on a regular basis, not just when you need something.

So that's number three. Number four, build your positioning through strategic content. This is the opposite to sharing content and posting without a strategy. Think about Over the course of the month, what are you sharing? Share valuable content that really showcases your expertise, that enhances your credibility, that really works to attract your target audience.

Comment on other people's articles that relate to your expertise. Like other people's articles that relate to your [00:13:00] expertise. But every single thing that you are putting out there. Either directly via your email or across the social media platforms must be, content that showcases who you are, that enhances your credibility and that builds your positioning amongst your target audience.

So that's number four. Number five is all about delegating those low value tasks. Identify tasks that you know can be effectively handled by other people. When you do that, it's going to allow you to concentrate on those activities that are truly going to require your expertise and attention.

The time where you can double down on the very work that only you can do that you know adds value to your business. So delegate low value tasks. Number six, embrace continuous process improvements. This will absolutely propel your [00:14:00] business forward. You know, think about where you can streamline repetitive tasks.

Seek. Ways to optimize your workflows. Think about how you can increase efficiency and productivity again, is so that you can double down on doing the right work at the right time that will propel your business forward. So number six is all about embracing continuous process improvement. Number seven is linked to this, but it's more outward facing.

Number seven for me is about obsessing around your client's experiences. You know, constantly think about your clients. They are the lifeblood of your business. They are the very thing that keeps your They pay your bills. They allow you to pay your staff. They fuel your lifestyle. So obsessing about your clients is key.

Constantly [00:15:00] evaluate and enhance their experience with you. think about how you can go over and above to exceed their expectations. Make sure you're delivering on your promises and think about ways that you can ensure that this experience that they have with you is transformational versus a transactional experience.

So that's number seven. Number eight, we're nearly there is about you. Allocating time in your month, every single month for innovation and creativity. You know, it's important that we nurture our entrepreneurial spirit, that we set time aside, dedicated time aside for brainstorming, for exploring new ideas, for staying ahead of industry trends, and it's important because your clients are paying you for your smarts. So allocate time for innovation and creativity. Number nine, invest in learning and [00:16:00] mastery, committing to ongoing education and skill, and developing those skills in your area of expertise, it's absolutely imperative. It allows you to position yourself as a leader in your space.

You know, focus on the skills that you want to develop the most and maybe find a mentor or look for a program or read a book or do something that every single month shows that you are investing in learning and in mastering your craft. And finally. Okay, and this will come as no surprise, number 10. Are you every single month considering how to network and build intentional relationships?

I encourage you to seek out meaningful connections online and offline with individuals that can support your growth, that can challenge your thinking, that can push you further than you can ever go yourself. Individuals that [00:17:00] Understand the opportunity that exists in the space of mutual value exchange.

So number 10, network and build intentional relationships. I really believe that when we can focus on these 10 proactive strategies that I've just shared with you, you have the opportunity to take control of your business and unleash its true potential. You know, it's about moving away and being intentional about moving away from unproductive tasks that drain your energy, that take your focus away.

That shift your energy on to shiny stuff versus focusing on the 10 productive strategies that will enable you to double down on the very thing that you know, will help you propel your business forward. So let's flip that focus. Remember. As women in business, we have the opportunity to propel, to shape, [00:18:00] to power our businesses in whatever way we want to move them.

You can create meaningful change, but it requires you to prioritize your time, your energy, your resources, your focus on the actions that will truly move you forward. I hope you've enjoyed this episode. I look forward to hearing how you are propelling your business forward. What are the strategies that you've put in place?

And the key thing is prioritize your time, your energy, your focus, your money on the things that are going to create a shift in your business and move your business forward versus holding it back. I hope you've enjoyed today's episode. I look forward to seeing you next week.