WEBVTT - These Systems Will Help You Accomplish Anything 0:00:00.120 --> 0:00:03.160 Welcome to business and the podcast for people making it 0:00:03.160 --> 0:00:07.320 all happen. Running a successful business completely takes over your life, 0:00:07.520 --> 0:00:10.120 but I'm a believer that there is still room for 0:00:10.119 --> 0:00:14.560 some ands like health, wealth, beauty, and maybe even some fashion. 0:00:14.840 --> 0:00:16.960 On this podcast, I'll share with you what's working for 0:00:16.960 --> 0:00:19.840 scaling my nine figure business while keeping you up to 0:00:19.880 --> 0:00:23.040 date on the latest trends, news and fun finds. This 0:00:23.040 --> 0:00:26.680 is a place for business and let's dive in! Welcome 0:00:26.680 --> 0:00:29.640 back to business. And I like today's episode because it 0:00:29.640 --> 0:00:32.680 is my short and easy process for how I look 0:00:32.680 --> 0:00:36.040 at time, how I become more effective, and the systems 0:00:36.040 --> 0:00:37.879 that I use in order to create the life that 0:00:37.880 --> 0:00:39.720 I want. For those of you who've listened to this 0:00:39.720 --> 0:00:42.760 podcast for a while, you have seen many iterations of 0:00:42.760 --> 0:00:45.440 Natalie over the last six years. From when I first 0:00:45.440 --> 0:00:49.080 started this podcast. I am literally not the same person 0:00:49.080 --> 0:00:52.640 today as I was back then. And for people who 0:00:52.680 --> 0:00:54.720 know me, they ask me, how do you do this 0:00:54.720 --> 0:00:56.720 the way I do? This is the process that I 0:00:56.760 --> 0:00:59.400 lay out in this episode. It is the framework that 0:00:59.400 --> 0:01:02.060 I use and I am disciplined about using this and 0:01:02.060 --> 0:01:06.580 implementing it every single week because I know where I 0:01:06.580 --> 0:01:09.060 want to go and it's just a matter of what 0:01:09.060 --> 0:01:10.700 do I need to change, and where do I need 0:01:10.700 --> 0:01:12.979 to spend my time in order to get there? I 0:01:13.020 --> 0:01:16.100 am relentless about this, and to the extent that you 0:01:16.100 --> 0:01:18.580 are relentless about this, you can have the life that 0:01:18.580 --> 0:01:21.500 you want to. I hope you enjoy. These are the 0:01:21.500 --> 0:01:24.780 systems that turn my chaotic schedule into a life I 0:01:24.780 --> 0:01:28.819 actually control. These systems help me go from overwhelmed, making 0:01:28.819 --> 0:01:31.700 no money in a job that I hated, to co-founding 0:01:31.700 --> 0:01:34.180 my dream business and getting married to the love of 0:01:34.180 --> 0:01:37.020 my life. So let's dive in to the frameworks that 0:01:37.020 --> 0:01:40.660 actually work. The first system to help you accomplish anything 0:01:40.660 --> 0:01:43.460 is to start using a calendar to control. You and 0:01:43.459 --> 0:01:46.500 Beyonce have the same 24 hours in a day. I 0:01:46.500 --> 0:01:49.420 read that quote on a card once and my mind 0:01:49.460 --> 0:01:53.180 was instantly blown. At the time, I was 19 years old, 0:01:53.180 --> 0:01:56.700 juggling all of the things, not creating any sort of success. 0:01:56.700 --> 0:01:59.900 Still a student and thinking about the fact that Beyonce 0:02:00.140 --> 0:02:03.480 and me have the exact same amount of time. And 0:02:03.480 --> 0:02:06.440 yet look at what she's doing. She's an actress. She's 0:02:06.440 --> 0:02:09.960 a dancer, she's a singer. She's a mom. Beyonce was 0:02:09.960 --> 0:02:12.840 doing all of the things, and she was not that 0:02:12.840 --> 0:02:15.120 much older than me. So when I realized I started 0:02:15.120 --> 0:02:17.120 trying to figure out how do I find tools to 0:02:17.160 --> 0:02:19.440 help me use my time better, and my go to 0:02:19.480 --> 0:02:24.040 tool that I recommend every business owner, every future entrepreneur, 0:02:24.080 --> 0:02:26.720 or everybody who just wants to make more money uses 0:02:26.760 --> 0:02:29.880 is a Google Calendar. Now, you could really use any calendar. 0:02:29.880 --> 0:02:32.000 If you're not a fan of Google, that's fine, but 0:02:32.000 --> 0:02:34.640 you have to use a calendar to track where you're 0:02:34.639 --> 0:02:36.639 spending your time. Because let's face it, if you don't 0:02:36.639 --> 0:02:38.840 have the results that you want, it literally means that 0:02:38.840 --> 0:02:41.320 you are not spending your time on the right activities. 0:02:41.320 --> 0:02:42.720 If you don't have the amount of money you want 0:02:42.720 --> 0:02:44.760 to make, it means that you haven't learned how to 0:02:44.800 --> 0:02:47.120 make money, which means you haven't spent the time to 0:02:47.160 --> 0:02:49.600 learn the right skills. If you don't have the husband 0:02:49.600 --> 0:02:52.079 of your dreams, how are you spending your time in 0:02:52.080 --> 0:02:54.280 order to become the type of person that your future 0:02:54.280 --> 0:02:58.000 husband would actually want to date and hopefully marry? So 0:02:58.040 --> 0:03:01.860 tracking where you spend your time is the first step. 0:03:01.860 --> 0:03:03.500 If you don't know where you're spending your time, you 0:03:03.500 --> 0:03:06.220 will always feel like you are not in control of time. 0:03:06.220 --> 0:03:08.260 And one of my mottos that I remind my team 0:03:08.300 --> 0:03:11.660 of almost on a daily basis is I create time. 0:03:11.660 --> 0:03:13.100 I say that all the time, so there is never 0:03:13.100 --> 0:03:15.540 a reason for me to say I don't have time. 0:03:15.700 --> 0:03:19.460 I'm too busy. Those are not real excuses because I remember, hey, 0:03:19.460 --> 0:03:21.940 wait a second, I create time. That means that I 0:03:21.940 --> 0:03:25.220 can make time for the things that matter most. I'm 0:03:25.260 --> 0:03:27.060 going to get to where I want to go, but 0:03:27.060 --> 0:03:29.260 if I don't make time, I feel like I'm a 0:03:29.260 --> 0:03:31.820 victim of time. I don't use my calendar to structure 0:03:31.820 --> 0:03:34.619 my time. Everything feels chaotic and like I can never 0:03:34.660 --> 0:03:36.900 get ahead. I can never get what I want done. 0:03:37.180 --> 0:03:38.860 This is a fallacy, and this is one of my 0:03:38.860 --> 0:03:42.260 strategies for actually being effective. Use your calendar to track 0:03:42.260 --> 0:03:44.540 where you're spending your time. What you need is a 0:03:44.540 --> 0:03:46.940 tool that is so simple for you to use that 0:03:46.940 --> 0:03:48.980 isn't perfect. It doesn't have to be beautiful. You don't 0:03:48.980 --> 0:03:51.540 have to convince yourself. It needs to be this color coded, 0:03:51.540 --> 0:03:56.180 nicely organized with good handwriting planner. Throw all of that out. 0:03:56.220 --> 0:03:58.660 I used to get caught in this trap where I 0:03:58.660 --> 0:04:00.780 would want to get organized, and I would want to 0:04:00.780 --> 0:04:03.370 be successful. So I would buy a planner and then 0:04:03.370 --> 0:04:06.490 I would spend four hours planning everything perfectly. But when 0:04:06.490 --> 0:04:09.570 it came to using that planner and making tweaks to 0:04:09.610 --> 0:04:12.370 my schedule the next day, I had already stopped using 0:04:12.370 --> 0:04:14.450 the planner and I never picked it up again. And 0:04:14.450 --> 0:04:16.930 I would keep buying these planners every 2 or 3 0:04:16.930 --> 0:04:20.049 months in order to start the process all over again. 0:04:20.330 --> 0:04:23.690 You do not need some perfect process. You're using a 0:04:23.690 --> 0:04:26.570 tool that is effective for tracking where you're spending your time, 0:04:26.570 --> 0:04:29.929 because this is the foundation in order for these next 0:04:29.930 --> 0:04:33.810 four steps to actually work. This next system is my 0:04:33.810 --> 0:04:37.570 four step framework. And the first step is to look 0:04:37.570 --> 0:04:41.210 at your calendar and see what you can entirely stop doing. 0:04:41.210 --> 0:04:45.050 What's wild about this idea of creating time means that 0:04:45.050 --> 0:04:47.570 you can actually stop doing things that you currently do. 0:04:47.610 --> 0:04:50.170 A lot of people just start adding more, adding more, 0:04:50.210 --> 0:04:53.010 adding more. And yes, in order to be more effective, 0:04:53.010 --> 0:04:55.570 in order to expand your business, in order to learn 0:04:55.570 --> 0:04:58.410 new skills, you are adding something. But the first step 0:04:58.410 --> 0:05:01.050 is actually to figure out what you need to stop 0:05:01.190 --> 0:05:04.630 doing for me back in the day before I created 0:05:04.630 --> 0:05:08.750 real success. I was confused about where I spent my time, 0:05:08.750 --> 0:05:10.550 and I would think that I needed to do all 0:05:10.589 --> 0:05:12.710 of these things and create these never ending to do 0:05:12.710 --> 0:05:16.270 lists of things that were of medium or low importance. 0:05:16.270 --> 0:05:18.390 So instead of doing something that would actually move my 0:05:18.390 --> 0:05:21.150 career forward, I would use this idea of going to 0:05:21.190 --> 0:05:24.350 target as being effective and being busy. But I didn't 0:05:24.350 --> 0:05:26.630 need to go to target, when really what would have 0:05:26.630 --> 0:05:28.950 moved the needle in that one day was to move 0:05:28.950 --> 0:05:31.950 the one email forward that I was avoiding. So before 0:05:31.950 --> 0:05:35.390 you even use a Google calendar, this is easy to implement. 0:05:35.390 --> 0:05:37.670 What are things that I'm doing that I don't actually 0:05:37.670 --> 0:05:39.670 need to do? So some examples of things that you 0:05:39.670 --> 0:05:41.590 don't need to be doing. Taking on the project to 0:05:41.630 --> 0:05:44.470 clean out your garage, or going to the grocery store 0:05:44.470 --> 0:05:47.390 when Amazon could deliver it. Instead, these little things that 0:05:47.390 --> 0:05:49.429 we add to our to do list are the things 0:05:49.430 --> 0:05:52.310 that stop us from doing the most important things. So 0:05:52.350 --> 0:05:55.550 moving forward, we're going to stop doing the unimportant things 0:05:55.550 --> 0:05:58.670 so we can make time for the things that matter most. Now, 0:05:58.710 --> 0:06:00.870 don't even get me started on how much time you 0:06:00.910 --> 0:06:06.570 are likely wasting on things like YouTube, Netflix, Instagram, TikTok, 0:06:06.570 --> 0:06:09.610 all of those things. Could you stop doing that so 0:06:09.610 --> 0:06:11.890 that you are able to create time in the short 0:06:11.890 --> 0:06:14.770 run to get closer to your goals and be more productive? 0:06:14.810 --> 0:06:17.930 Now the next step is learning how to delegate. Look 0:06:17.930 --> 0:06:20.810 at your life and decide what can you delegate to 0:06:20.850 --> 0:06:25.089 other people? So in some situations, you can't entirely stop 0:06:25.089 --> 0:06:28.250 doing something. Let's say you can't entirely stop going to 0:06:28.290 --> 0:06:32.330 the grocery store because you are responsible for feeding your family. However, 0:06:32.370 --> 0:06:37.289 how can you delegate this to Amazon? Amazon can effectively 0:06:37.290 --> 0:06:40.289 deliver your groceries to your house without you spending a 0:06:40.290 --> 0:06:46.130 whole hour picking out everything, searching through aisles, checking out driving. 0:06:46.130 --> 0:06:49.049 They're driving home. They could just deliver all these things. 0:06:49.050 --> 0:06:51.050 And better yet, you would now have a system because 0:06:51.050 --> 0:06:54.010 it could just go on repeat order. So you get 0:06:54.010 --> 0:06:56.610 exactly what you need inside your house. This is just 0:06:56.610 --> 0:07:00.170 one idea of delegation that can totally transform how you 0:07:00.170 --> 0:07:03.670 think about making more time because most of the things 0:07:03.670 --> 0:07:05.950 that you do, you might actually still need to have 0:07:05.950 --> 0:07:07.830 those things done in your life. You can't just stop 0:07:07.830 --> 0:07:10.870 them entirely. But who else in your life or in 0:07:10.870 --> 0:07:14.670 your business could effectively take those things off of your plate? 0:07:14.710 --> 0:07:17.550 You train them. You duplicate yourself so that they take 0:07:17.550 --> 0:07:20.630 on that responsibility, which allows you to spend more time 0:07:20.790 --> 0:07:24.670 marketing your business, promoting your products and services, fixing your 0:07:24.670 --> 0:07:27.750 sales cycle because your salespeople aren't converting in the way 0:07:27.750 --> 0:07:30.310 that they used to when you were overseeing the department. 0:07:30.310 --> 0:07:32.630 When you think about the process of delegation, you have 0:07:32.630 --> 0:07:35.350 to ask yourself this question what is important that needs 0:07:35.350 --> 0:07:39.110 to get done but that I don't have to do myself? 0:07:39.150 --> 0:07:42.950 The lack of delegation is why most businesses stay small. 0:07:42.990 --> 0:07:46.110 The business owner thinks that they have to sell the customer. 0:07:46.110 --> 0:07:48.750 They have to market why their business is the best 0:07:48.790 --> 0:07:51.510 they have to fulfill on the services for the customer. 0:07:51.510 --> 0:07:54.550 They have to be the customer success arm. Many business 0:07:54.550 --> 0:07:56.910 owners just hold on to every part of their business 0:07:56.910 --> 0:07:59.830 because they think that they are the best at doing it, 0:07:59.830 --> 0:08:02.090 and that nobody can do it like them. But if 0:08:02.130 --> 0:08:04.730 you really dive into the way that you duplicate yourself 0:08:04.730 --> 0:08:08.570 in a business, you can remove yourself from certain activities 0:08:08.570 --> 0:08:11.090 that don't need you, so you can focus on more 0:08:11.090 --> 0:08:13.210 important things. And the question then that you have to 0:08:13.210 --> 0:08:15.650 ask yourself is, is my business growing? Because if your 0:08:15.650 --> 0:08:18.490 business isn't growing, it's likely that you are the bottleneck 0:08:18.490 --> 0:08:21.010 and you don't know how to delegate effectively. The next 0:08:21.010 --> 0:08:23.610 step is to look at your calendar and decide what 0:08:23.610 --> 0:08:26.570 you need to continue doing. You need to track what 0:08:26.570 --> 0:08:28.970 you're doing every day to make sure that those things 0:08:28.970 --> 0:08:32.650 are actually working for you. I think of the continue 0:08:32.650 --> 0:08:35.890 bucket as this is my job description. This is what 0:08:35.890 --> 0:08:39.250 I am responsible for. What is my primary function to 0:08:39.290 --> 0:08:43.329 move our business forward? And my job description today with 0:08:43.370 --> 0:08:46.450 a $100 million plus business, is very different from the 0:08:46.450 --> 0:08:48.770 job description that I had when our business was doing 0:08:48.809 --> 0:08:52.650 $12 million. What's weird about this, though, for a business owner, 0:08:52.650 --> 0:08:55.250 is that your title stays the same. So how are 0:08:55.250 --> 0:08:58.890 you updating your job description based on the most important 0:08:58.890 --> 0:09:03.150 problems in your business today? I believe that productivity spans 0:09:03.150 --> 0:09:06.750 into all aspects of life, including your relationships. If your 0:09:06.750 --> 0:09:10.110 relationships aren't doing so well, your marriage is struggling. You're 0:09:10.110 --> 0:09:12.350 having difficult times with your kids. You can use the 0:09:12.350 --> 0:09:15.830 same framework. These four steps allow you to identify exactly 0:09:15.830 --> 0:09:18.709 what you need to change, so you can make those changes. 0:09:18.710 --> 0:09:22.110 Implement that time on your calendar and then watch to 0:09:22.150 --> 0:09:24.750 see are those changes working? And if they're not working 0:09:24.750 --> 0:09:26.950 over a period of time, you can fix it. You 0:09:26.950 --> 0:09:29.230 can change out one task that you thought was important, 0:09:29.270 --> 0:09:31.829 no longer important. You've now put it in the stop category, 0:09:31.830 --> 0:09:34.710 or you recognize that your relationships and your business or 0:09:34.710 --> 0:09:37.310 your income is improving. So you're going to continue to 0:09:37.309 --> 0:09:40.110 do those things until it makes sense to delegate them. 0:09:40.110 --> 0:09:42.430 So you can now target new areas of growth. But 0:09:42.429 --> 0:09:45.310 all of this is connected to how do I become 0:09:45.309 --> 0:09:49.350 more productive with the 24 hours that I have to drive, 0:09:49.350 --> 0:09:51.470 the impact that I want to create? What I do 0:09:51.470 --> 0:09:53.430 with the business owners I work with is I have 0:09:53.429 --> 0:09:55.949 them pull out their calendar, share with me where they're 0:09:55.950 --> 0:09:58.469 spending their time so I can better assess what they 0:09:58.470 --> 0:10:01.910 need to stop doing altogether, what they should delegate to 0:10:02.090 --> 0:10:05.850 somebody else and what they should continue to do. Oftentimes 0:10:05.850 --> 0:10:09.410 those three buckets are very confused and they're struggling because 0:10:09.410 --> 0:10:12.329 the whole point of looking at these areas is to 0:10:12.370 --> 0:10:15.809 actually identify what you need to start doing to have 0:10:15.809 --> 0:10:17.929 your business grow so that the wheels don't fall off 0:10:17.929 --> 0:10:21.929 your business. While you are also pursuing this new expansion 0:10:21.929 --> 0:10:26.010 and growth related opportunity. When it comes to the continues, 0:10:26.130 --> 0:10:28.490 if you are a leader in a business, what would 0:10:28.490 --> 0:10:31.730 always stay the same is you continuing to lead and 0:10:31.730 --> 0:10:34.690 develop your team members. For me, that looks like having 0:10:34.690 --> 0:10:37.969 consistent one on ones every other week with my team members, 0:10:37.970 --> 0:10:41.250 doing performance reviews with them and also ensuring that they 0:10:41.250 --> 0:10:44.209 send me end of week reports so I can remove 0:10:44.210 --> 0:10:46.890 any roadblocks or barriers that are in their way of 0:10:46.890 --> 0:10:49.130 being successful in their role. I have done this for 0:10:49.130 --> 0:10:51.970 the last six years with every team member who reports 0:10:51.970 --> 0:10:54.170 to me, and that is the reason that we've been 0:10:54.170 --> 0:10:56.650 able to grow as fast as we've grown, because we 0:10:56.650 --> 0:11:00.090 have a system in place that is productive, that allows 0:11:00.090 --> 0:11:03.520 leaders to help their team members flourish and prosper inside 0:11:03.520 --> 0:11:06.280 an environment. The last step in my framework is asking 0:11:06.280 --> 0:11:09.280 yourself what you should start doing. I like to get 0:11:09.280 --> 0:11:12.160 really creative with the things that I need to start doing, 0:11:12.160 --> 0:11:16.360 because I'm oftentimes just dissatisfied. I see other people doing 0:11:16.360 --> 0:11:18.880 cool big things and I'm like, I want to do 0:11:18.880 --> 0:11:21.240 that too. And it's frustrating to me that I'm not 0:11:21.240 --> 0:11:23.160 able to do those things. And so if you do 0:11:23.160 --> 0:11:25.840 have this mindset where you could have what you want 0:11:25.880 --> 0:11:27.800 in life, you just need to figure out how you 0:11:27.800 --> 0:11:30.480 use your time to actually go get those things. One 0:11:30.480 --> 0:11:32.520 of the most impactful decisions that I made in my 0:11:32.520 --> 0:11:35.200 career was deciding that I needed to learn how to 0:11:35.240 --> 0:11:39.000 publicly speak. I had a very embarrassing experience early on 0:11:39.000 --> 0:11:42.079 in my career that made me get stage fright, and 0:11:42.080 --> 0:11:44.960 made me get incredibly nervous whenever I would speak to 0:11:45.000 --> 0:11:46.880 a group of more than 3 or 4 people. And 0:11:46.880 --> 0:11:49.160 this held me back for years. But then I thought 0:11:49.160 --> 0:11:52.439 about in 20 years from now, in 30 years from now, 0:11:52.480 --> 0:11:55.400 in 60 years from now, Natalie has, of course, figured 0:11:55.400 --> 0:11:57.920 out how to publicly speak. Like I'm going to be 0:11:57.960 --> 0:12:01.000 able to articulate myself at some point in the future. 0:12:01.240 --> 0:12:04.140 So I have to start getting better at that right 0:12:04.140 --> 0:12:06.180 now in order to eventually get to where I want 0:12:06.220 --> 0:12:08.699 to go. So what did I start doing? I started 0:12:08.700 --> 0:12:12.459 giving mini speeches every single day, whether that was in 0:12:12.460 --> 0:12:15.420 a team meeting or a toast at dinner. I started 0:12:15.420 --> 0:12:17.580 to incorporate this skill set that I needed to learn, 0:12:17.580 --> 0:12:19.819 which was learning how to speak in front of people. 0:12:19.820 --> 0:12:22.579 And I would literally add this into my calendar, make 0:12:22.620 --> 0:12:26.460 toast at dinner, or kick off all team meeting so 0:12:26.460 --> 0:12:29.739 that it forced me to get over this very uncomfortable 0:12:29.740 --> 0:12:32.100 thing that was holding me back from where I wanted 0:12:32.100 --> 0:12:35.500 to go. So you use your calendar to identify how 0:12:35.500 --> 0:12:38.700 you're going to start doing the things that you want 0:12:38.700 --> 0:12:41.620 to be doing in the future with ease. And when 0:12:41.620 --> 0:12:43.380 it comes to starting new things, you have to be 0:12:43.380 --> 0:12:45.980 very careful that the things that you start are measured, 0:12:45.980 --> 0:12:47.940 because you don't just want a list of things that 0:12:47.940 --> 0:12:50.620 aren't making an impact, but are wasting your time. If 0:12:50.620 --> 0:12:53.580 you're going to start making public speeches, if you're going 0:12:53.580 --> 0:12:56.300 to spend time looking at new businesses to buy, if 0:12:56.300 --> 0:12:59.700 you're going to learn sales skills, don't just invest your 0:12:59.700 --> 0:13:04.479 time in those areas. Measure your effectiveness in those areas. 0:13:04.480 --> 0:13:08.959 Make measurement senior to you doing the activity because the 0:13:08.960 --> 0:13:11.400 measurement is going to dictate to you whether or not 0:13:11.400 --> 0:13:13.840 you are improving. And if it's a good use of 0:13:13.840 --> 0:13:15.800 your time, if you're not improving and it's not a 0:13:15.800 --> 0:13:18.360 good use of your time, you should start doing something 0:13:18.360 --> 0:13:20.840 else that is going to get you closer to your goal. 0:13:20.840 --> 0:13:23.360 You need to start doing things that will make your 0:13:23.360 --> 0:13:26.720 life better, that will allow you to achieve your goals. 0:13:26.720 --> 0:13:30.640 If you enjoyed this podcast, you are going to definitely 0:13:30.640 --> 0:13:33.480 not want to miss out on my new newsletter. It 0:13:33.480 --> 0:13:36.160 just dropped. I just started creating this content and I 0:13:36.200 --> 0:13:38.720 am obsessed. Every single week in your inbox I am 0:13:38.760 --> 0:13:42.280 going to send you business and which is exactly what 0:13:42.280 --> 0:13:45.080 it sounds like. How do you fit business and all 0:13:45.080 --> 0:13:47.240 the other things in your life so that you are 0:13:47.240 --> 0:13:51.400 up to speed on fashion, beauty, wellness. 0:13:51.559 --> 0:13:54.280 All things that really matter. If you want to subscribe 0:13:54.280 --> 0:13:58.040 and get this special gift and weekly treat in your inbox, 0:13:58.080 --> 0:13:59.200 go to Cartoon Ventures.