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Show Notes
Welcome to Small Business Talk. Episode 332. Are you stuck in planning? We have been talking a lot about goal sticking. Setting goals that actually work. Setting out your intentions. Working out what you are actually going to do for 2026 and make it happen. But as coaches, sometimes we get stuck, don’t we? We get stuck in planning. So if that’s you, you are absolutely, absolutely going to love this episode because we have got a couple of things that we can tell you today about how to get you moving and get you moving now.
You Don't Need Perfection
So why do we get stuck? As coaches, we want everything to be perfect, don’t we? We want to make sure that we know everything. And we quite often get stuck because we don’t know everything. We can’t see the map ahead of us. But did you know most of the times when you look at the map, you can’t see what’s on there anyway because it’s flat.
It’s not showing you all the terrain. It’s not showing you the sneaky little shortcuts. It’s not giving you the full picture anyway. But we put so much emphasis on having the map, knowing the how. And quite often, that’s where we get stuck. So let’s get you unstuck and let’s get you moving. So what is it that you need to do?
Stop Planning. Start Doing
Let’s get you out of that planning and into the doing. So, what can we do to start that? Well, the first thing we need to do is actually show up. We need to do it. Get out of the busy work. Get it out of the social media scrolling. Get out of the email checking and start doing some actionable steps.
So think about the things that you can do. Set the intention. What is it? What’s that one thing that you are going to do? It’s not magic. It’s not complicated. Let’s just break it down into three simple steps. And as coaches, we all know this but how often do we use it on ourselves? So we set the intention and then we constrain. We have to stop those shiny objects and just start doing that one project. If you had a look at the episode, I think it was two episodes ago: SBT Episode 329: Why Your To Do List is Missing The Point. What are your big rocks? You need to put it first so you know what you need to do and then you need the steps to do it.
Start Small
You don’t need to be able to say every step when we are standing at the bottom of the staircase. We quite often can’t see the top. So you just need to know what your next few steps are. But with the intention of going where you are going, I recently done a 30 day challenge where I did a video every day, and I did it over the Christmas period, so I actually did 32 days.
I had a rough guide of what I was doing, and I knew that I wanted to do 30, but I didn’t know exactly what it was going to be. Every time you say “ I don’t know how”, is a chance for you to get stuck.
Yes, it’s like a brick wall. You can’t move from there. But what if you step back and had another look? And instead of saying, I don’t know, I have that, I have a guess. How about I run a hypothesis? It’s a science experiment, isn’t it? We decide one thing that we are going to do. We put all our energy into it.
We try it, we test it, we measure it, and then we see if it works. If it works, fantastic. Amplify. If it doesn’t, let’s do some analysis on it. Did it not work completely? Or was it just some sections of it?
Consistent Action Builds Results
Did we say that we were going to maybe get five clients this month, but we didn’t even send out an email? Probably pretty hard, isn’t it? If nobody knows that we are actually looking for clients, or did we send out one email? But that’s all we did for the month. Okay, so one email. Now did we get some replies? And we just keep analyzing what we did and didn’t do. And then it we might tweak it a bit. If we sent one email app this month, maybe next month we could send four.
Maybe we could do four emails and a LinkedIn post. Maybe we could do for emails, a LinkedIn post, and maybe pop into a Facebook group, whatever it is that you get your clients from. So whether it’s networking, whether it’s social media, whether it’s actually using your database, utilize it. You might not realise it but you are sitting on a goldmine and you are not using it. So make sure that are doing those regular touch points to your database so that they know that you are there, because that’s where the gold is.
Conversations Convert Clients
Allow them to actually interact with you. Make sure that you do have offers at that. Make sure that people know that you are available for those things. For example, you say “Hey guess what? I’ve got two coaching spots for February. Would you like to DM me? Would you like to have a conversation about what that might look like?” Now that’s an offer. Whereas if you just say, hey, do you manage time? I’m here. People are not going to. You need to be more concrete with your offer.
When somebody perhaps you are looking at something and somebody comes up to you and says, can I help you? And you just gonna, “I’m just looking.” But if they come up and they start a conversation that got a bit of relationship with you, then you are more likely to say, actually, yeah, I was looking for a bag to go with this.
Coaching is the same when people have seen some of your stuff, they are starting to feel a bit more comfortable. But you still do have to say I can’t help it because quite often they won’t raise their hand. So it’s a bit odd, doesn’t it? You think that they don’t. But think about your buying behavior as well.
So if you were going to get five new customers this month, you have to start having real conversations with people and you have to have more conversations than the five that you are looking for.
Be Totally Committed
When you have to do something, stick to it. Try it out. If it’s a real trying smash, then you might want to stop it and have another hypothesis and do another one, but maybe do that for four weeks. If it doesn’t work, start again and try it for four weeks. Just make sure that you are actually believing in it wholeheartedly, that this can work, and giving it your full effort. So you might go, “okay, I’m going to do this for 15 minutes every work day”. Start that and start it in the morning. Start it when you first start work because otherwise things get in the way, don’t they? There are a lot of things that can get your attention like client calls, interviews, family commitments, health issues. These can all get in your way so make sure that you are sticking to your one rock and doing it as soon as you can so that it gets done.
Now sometimes we say we don’t want to do it first up because our energy is better in the afternoon. Doesn’t really matter when you do it but just make sure that it’s in your diary. You commit to it and it is a solid appointment. You are trusting yourself to do it. You can’t just say its there and go, “oh, client wants to book in that time”.
If that was another client, you would not be double booking a client, would you? You wouldn’t be moving your favourite client to accommodate somebody else. So treat yourself like your favourite client and make sure that you are sticking to it and trusting yourself. So then you start to create that momentum and then you can start amplifying what’s working.
Choose Progress Over Perfection
Now, there will be days when you won’t get the result you want or you won’t get there at all. That is okay. Pack that day and then start again the next day. Don’t make that an excuse to write off the whole week, the whole month, and not start again. And if it is something that’s just not going to happen, don’t make that an excuse to write off the whole month either. Reassess, try something else, and off you go again.
So start with seven days, whether that be seven working days or just a week, depending on what you are doing, and start those micro movements. Start doing little things that build. And if you can do one thing today, fantastic. Don’t wait from Friday to Monday to do it just because you don’t want to do it over the weekend. Don’t wait. We just need to put those building blocks in place and step them one step at a time.
Prioritise Yourself
Take a breath. You might need to walk away from it. Yes. Go outside, get some fresh air and then restart. But once again, don’t let that spiral into something that gets out of hand so that you are not working. And if that is become a constant pain, then maybe you do need to look at getting some help.
And there’s lots of help available. So making sure that you are looking after yourself and don’t get let it get too bad. Speak to your coach. Get a new coach if you need to, or escalate it to whatever medical services you need, but make sure that you are looking after you because you are the asset. And if you are not in top condition, then it’s going to be really difficult for you to serve your clients.
Especially when you are doing marketing and you are putting things out into the world, if that is not your favourite thing. So look after you, give yourself a break and build on the things that you can do.
What are those things that you can do towards your big risk? Your goals? If you haven’t listened to that episode, go back and listen to it. And then also Episode 331 was about accountability without shame. Treat yourself well and make sure that you are learning to trust yourself.
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Stuck in Planning? One Step To Get You Moving Today
Get out there and coach. And if you’ve got a bit of a lull, youhave got some things happening. Then go back to your data base and talk to those people because that’s your warm audience. They have had some touchpoint with you. They already know you. They already like you. Start there and then go out to the world.
Listen to the full episode of Small Business Talk episode 332.
You can also find the video versions of the Small Business Talk Episodes on YouTube.
