How to Grow a Brilliant Business (Even When the World’s a Bit Nuts)

Hello there.

How are you?

No, really.

how are you REALLY?

As you can probably

tell, my voice is a

little bit croaky today.

I've come back from the US

of two weeks of speaking

workshopping and my voice

is still recovering.

So again.

How are you really doing?

Because honestly, if your

answer is hanging on by

a thread or one more zoom

glitch away from a total utter

breakdown, you're not alone.

There is no doubt that

we are living in this

weird moment right now

where everything feels

just a little bit wobbly.

Clients might be sitting

on their hands waiting

for decisions to be made,

projects maybe stalling.

Social media is doing

its own little dance, and

sometimes that silence after

you send out that brilliant

proposal, maybe it's louder

than a stadium crowd.

I had a moment the other day

myself standing in my kitchen.

I was on my.

Third cup of coffee

and I found myself

talking to the dog.

Yeah.

I've even got myself to

that point and I just

blurted out what am I even

in control of anymore?

And that's what sparked

today's episode, even

with this croaky voice

of mine, because.

If you've been feeling a

little bit rattled, maybe

you've been a bit reactive

or feeling like the world

is spinning a little bit

too fast, I want to help

you take your power back.

That is what we're

talking about today.

So I want you to

talk about what's.

The things that you

are actually in control

of, where can you

actually control things?

Years ago, I came across this

concept from Stephen Covey.

Some of you may have heard

it, and honestly, it's been

one of those really sticky

ideas that stayed with me.

It just doesn't

leave my brain.

The idea is that there's these

three concentric circles.

You've got your circle

of concern, your circle

of influence, and your

circle of control.

Now, this isn't just theory.

This is one of those concepts

that I've actually lived

through, I've cried through,

I've ranted at my mentor

about, and ultimately I've

rebuilt my business from.

So I wanna dig into those and

I'm gonna keep it really real.

So the first circle that

Steve and Kobe talks

about, this outer circle is

what he calls the circle.

Of concern.

I call it that spin zone.

You know the space, it's

where you worry about

everything, you know,

will the economy recover?

Will that big client

ghost me again?

Will that next reel that I

do bomb or will it go viral?

All these things that.

Either keep you awake, or

that wake you up at 2:00 AM in

the morning with a racing mind

and a bucket of self-doubt.

You know the things, I get it.

We're leaders, we're

empaths, we care.

But here's the truth.

You cannot control

any of this stuff.

And spending too much time

here is like trying to

herd cats in a hurricane.

So when I catch myself

spiraling and trust

me, it happens a lot.

I ask.

Is this mine to fix?

And if not, I bless it and

I release it with love,

usually also with a big,

deep breath and maybe a

tiny little swear word.

So that's that first circle.

The circle of concern,

the outer circle.

The second circle that COVID

talks about is the circle of

influence, and this is one of

really beautiful, quiet power.

This is where

things get exciting.

It's not about having

total control, but it

is where your energy

has the opportunity

to move the needle.

You see, you can't stop

a market slowing down,

but you can reconnect

with past clients.

I was literally on a

conversation with a new

client this morning who was

telling me about her three

to four massive clients,

six figure clients that

she hasn't heard from in

months, and this is the

thing that I'm talking about.

Her view was that these

clients were ghosting her.

My view was that this is

an opportunity for you

to reconnect, to be in

service and to actually

be a relationship creator

versus waiting for

those orders to come in.

The thing is you can't

fix people's decisions,

but as I said, you can

reconnect with them.

You can't stop a market

slowdown, but you can

reconnect with past clients.

You can't fix the algorithm,

but you can create content

that's so you and so

powerful that it hits

home regardless of likes.

I remember during COVID when

everything, like so many of

us went to hell in a ha hand

basket, and I had two choices.

I either went into panic

mode or I went into, and

I hate this word, but

it was a choice, right?

I had to choose to pivot.

And so I chose to go

back to my network.

I chose to offer

help to check in.

I chose to have

real conversations.

And guess what?

That's when that momentum

started coming back because

when you focus on the things

that you can control, and

in this instance it was the

relationships, the connections

that I already have when

I chose to focus on those.

Everything changes.

So this is that circle of

influence and again, it's

thinking about the things that

you can influence that may not

necessarily change the outcome

'cause you can't control that,

but you can influence the

moving of the needle in the

right direction, hopefully.

Now the final circle,

this inner circle, is

the circle of control.

This is the real deal.

This is where the

magic absolutely lives.

Here's what you can control,

how you show up, what you say

yes to, what you say no to.

You can control your

creativity, your energy,

the time you put.

In the effort, you can

control your pricing.

Yeah, I know I go on and

on about that, but you

can control your pricing.

You can control how you're

showing up with conviction

and your worthiness.

I can remember once being knee

deep in client proposals, and

I remember catching myself

rewriting the same sentence

for the sixth time because

I was actually scared.

It wasn't perfect.

Perfection.

I mean, let's be honest,

it's a lie that we tell

ourselves when we're avoiding

any level of discomfort.

And so what I did is I pressed

scent, I could control it.

I pressed scent

imperfectly, and guess what?

The client didn't care.

They just loved the

clarity and the confidence.

One of my own mentors I

remember said something to me

years ago that stuck with me.

I was in one of those,

those moods, the dramatic

spiraling, convinced the

sky was falling apart mood.

And she simply asked me, INE,

what are you in control of

right now in this very moment?

Gosh, it just stopped

me in my tracks.

And here's the kicker.

What I found myself doing was

this exact same thing only

last week at our recent Inner

circle and Elevate immersion.

We were deep in strategy.

We were planning out the next

90 days, and I asked people,

what is one thing that you can

control right now that will

drive commercial momentum?

And then I asked, what's

one thing that you can do

that will unlock the

start of building towards

your next level of scale?

The feedback from those

sessions was amazing.

People felt more motivated,

more in control, and

best of all, they

walked out with a plan.

Not a big scary perfect plan,

but a doable, clear plan.

Something that said, I've

got this, because clarity

calms the chaos and

knowing where to focus.

Well, that's where

the momentum begins.

So here's what I want

you to think about.

Where are you

putting your energy?

Are you letting outside

chaos steal your calm?

Or are you choosing moment

by moment to stay grounded

in what you can change

in what you can control?

Because when you do that, when

you start making choices from

a space and a place of clarity

versus chaos, you build

real unstoppable momentum.

So here's your

challenge for this week.

I want you to think of

one action that you can

do that you can control.

That's it.

One action.

What's one small thing that

you can do right now to move

from frustration to focus?

Hit, publish.

Follow up with that client.

Raise your rate, go

for a walk, get your

head back on straight.

Whatever it is, just do it.

And then I'd really

love you to tell me.

I'd really love you to

tell me what that thing is.

Seriously, DM me, tag me, send

me a note by Carrier Pigeon.

I don't care.

I just wanna know.

And if this episode hit home.

Please leave a review wherever

you are listening to this

podcast and make sure to

share it with somebody else

that you think it might help,

someone who's ready to take

their power back, because

I know you've got this.

Until next time, keep

showing up, keep leading,

and keep unleashing that

brilliance of yours.