Head in the Game

I’ve spoken on this blog before about Stephen Covey’s quote “The main thing is to keep the main thing, the main thing”, but it couldn’t be truer for me now than ever.

I’ve been working like crazy to qualify for the mastermind I want to join.

It’s the kind of goal you have to push EVERYTHING aside for.

I’ve stopped doing a lot of things that seemed important to me.

I haven’t been growing my group.

I haven’t been making YouTube videos.

I haven’t been running.

Not because they aren’t important to me.

But because my priority right now is to hit my most important goal.

And I’m willing to do whatever it takes.

Even if that means sacrificing the time I’m spending on some of my other less important goals.

I will be back to growing my group, making YouTube videos and running – soon.

But right now, I’ve got my head in the game.

Double Impossible

This is my boyfriend, Daniel.

His impossible goal is to do something called a Double Cork (a double twisting backflip off one foot).

He’s SO close.

To give you an idea of skill level, at one point in time, a Triple Cork was considered physically impossible.

So to do a Double Cork will be the hardest move he’s ever done.

I’ve seen him fail this exact move for an entire year.

But he has never given up.

He trains almost every single day.

Any day now, he’s going to get it.

And the moment he hits it, a Triple Cork is going to be possible for him too.

Because he’s done the flippin’ work.

What Changed in My Business

It took me two years to figure out how to make enough money doing what I love to support myself full-time (and not be eating pot noodles for every meal).

Two. actual. years.

Not two years of considering starting a business.

Two years of being in the thick of business, day in and day out.

Getting rejected.

Feeling confused.

Investing tens of thousands.

Being a starving artist.

Being told no. Again.

Sometimes, not even being told no. 

Just hearing... nothing.

Here's the thing:

Making your first dollar with your passion isn’t rocket science. 

1. You offer something

2. Someone buys it

You're in business.

But making consistent money with your passion? 

Money you can rely on coming in the door each month?

Never having to go back to another job?

That‘s a whole other ball game.

It takes something more than just passion and persistence.

It takes insight.

Trying to figure out what isn't working with your business when you're nose-deep inside it just doesn't work.

Because you can't read the label from inside the bottle.

That's where I was.

I was doing everything right. Showing up every day. Doing the work. Being persistent.

I was just persistently headed in the wrong direction. And I had no idea.

So what changed for me?

I got a mentor.

Someone who was exactly where I wanted to be.

Someone who could map it out for me.

Someone who could show me all the things I couldn't see. (There was a LOT). 

If I could go back in time, I would tell myself to get a mentor sooner. Asap.

Not a freebie course or a one-off chat.

Someone who will actually talk with you.

I'm a coach and I can help you make consistent income doing what you love.

But it doesn't have to be me.

It just needs to be someone you truly believe in.

Someone who is where you want to be, and can genuinely help you get there.

Not someone claiming they know. (Don't get a mentor who is secretly struggling with the same things as you).

This is possibly the most important thing you can do if you want to make consistent money doing what you love.

Don't make the same mistake I did and wait two years to make your business work.

Do it now.

Goals vs Learning

Goals are not important in and of themselves. You set goals for the purpose of learning. – Will Smith

I heard this quote on a Will Smith video today.

It grounded me.

Note to self: Don’t forget it.

Mental Health & Burnout

I’ve been getting some questions recently about mental health and goals.

This is close to my heart because I’ve experienced intense anxiety at different stages in my life.

The question that keeps coming up is, are you allowed to rest, or should you push through when you have mental health challenges?

Here’s the most important distinction:

Taking a rest GIVES you energy to come back at 100%.

Slacking off DRAINS your energy and you don’t feel like coming back at all.

You’ll know by the feeling.

Trust it.

The Only Thing Standing Between You and Your Goal

Action.

It's the only real thing standing between you and your goal.

Two weeks ago, I received an application from Keira, where she confessed to me her impossible dream of starting an independent book shop.

She told me she couldn't imagine it actually happening.

Last week we started working together.

This week, she put in an offer to LEASE A BUILDING.

And she almost forgot to tell me.

That's how much action she has been taking on her goal in just one week – that deciding to lease an actual building was her new normal.

You can choose to spend 10 years making your dreams come true, or you can register your business, buy 15 books, put an offer in on a building and be in business in one week, like Keira.

You can take ACTION.

Or you can wait.

Don't wait.

Book a consult with me. I can help you achieve your goal.

Even impossible ones.

Especially impossible ones.

Let’s talk here.

Second Year in Business Review

It's time to do my Second Year In Business Review! Technically I've been a coach for 2.5 years, but I went ALL IN on my business 2 years ago, so I’m excited to share what I’ve learned along the way.

This year has been huge. I finally had the breakthrough I’ve been waiting for (and it feels surreal to say that!). It finally all clicked.

2 years ago (when I started), here is where I was at:

1. I started my business right after travelling Europe for 5 months and draining most of my savings. 

2. I paid for an expensive certification program with all the money I had, and then missed my flight from London to Arizona (where the training was)– I had to buy a new one on my boyfriend's credit card for $2000 on the spot. All he had $15 left over to get the bus home (I don't know what I would do without him. Surround yourself by people who believe in you!).

3. I wore prescription sunglasses inside for an entire month because I had broken my regular glasses and couldn't afford new ones. The world seemed both metaphorically and literally dark. I ended up getting a freelancing job so I could afford food (and glasses).

4. He was also paying my rent and food for about 4 months. I racked up $5000 in debt to him in a couple of months.

5. I created the occasional client, but I had no idea how to do it again. I thought it was just luck. I believed the marketing gurus who told me I needed some kind of crazy funnel strategy. I would re-strategize my (non-existent) funnel every single day. Seriously. Instead of working IN my business (creating, serving, coaching), I was always working ON my business (funnels, websites, logos, etc).

6. I made about $6000 in my first year in my business. And I was working on it 16 hours a day.

7. In conclusion, in my first year in business, I was broke and confused.

1 year ago, here is where I was at:

1. August: I had 3 private 1:1 clients.

2. I created a membership site and pitched it for a week to my 17k followers on Instagram. 3 people signed up for $27 per month each.

3. I was desperate to get out of debt, so I got a dreaded j-o-b. I walked to work over an hour each day in the freezing British winter, making £7 an hour. I got out of debt, built up a little savings, and then ran away.

4. Then with determination and discipline, my Facebook Group exploded and my business started to grow rapidly.

5. I moved back home to New Zealand.

6. I started getting requests to work with me coming from Facebook, Instagram, YouTube, and even offline.

7. I started signing clients rapidly. 5 new clients per month.

8. I created a viral post with 31k likes.

9. I added 900 new group members in a single day.

10. I asked strangers at the mall to subscribe to my YouTube channel so I would hit my goal of 600 subscribers in July.

Where I am today:

1. 16 private 1:1 clients (almost full capacity)

2. 5 figure months (whaaat?! I've dreamed of saying that).

3. A Facebook group of 2300 girls crushing their goals and supporting each other.

4. 700 subscribers on YouTube (that might not seem like many, but clients come from there and it's growing!)

So what changed?!

• I joined a brilliant business program and figured out what ACTUALLY mattered for creating clients: Growing an audience, showing up as a role model, and reminding people daily that I can help them.

• I got hella disciplined. I understood the power of doing things DAILY. I started blogging daily, and growing my audience daily, and making offers to my audience daily.

• I decided I was Michael Jordan. I asked myself every day in the shower "Now that I am MJ, what do I do? How do I solve this issue I'm facing?"

• I learned to show up no matter what. I committed to the outcome, and made hitting it non-negotiable, like the way you'd commit to picking your kid up from school.

Mistakes I made:

• I fell into the trap of thinking I needed to have 20 different offers and be “launching” all the time. I thought that if something was inexpensive, people would be more likely to buy it. I was totally wrong. People don’t necessarily just want inexpensive things. They want their problem solved. You can sell the cheapest thing ever but it doesn’t solve a problem, no one will buy it. Lesson learned.

• Selling a membership site in the beginning when my audience wasn’t big enough. Do you know how many $27 memberships I would need to sell just to pay for my groceries every month? 15. Yikes. That’s just of the things I need. Don’t create a course or a membership until you’ve got a massive demand and your private offer is sold out.

• Thinking that audience size equals demand rate. I thought that because I had lots of Instagram followers, selling would be automatic and easy. Wrong. Your audience has to be the right people, who actually want what you’ve got to offer.

If I could go back to my self when I started my business, this is what I would say:

1. Find out the ONE thing that will DIRECTLY get you the result you want.

2. Do it every day, no matter what, no exceptions. Make it non-negotiable.

3. Remove everything else, even if it's fun or you want to do it. If it's not essential, it's holding you back.

P.S. If you’re ready to make money doing what you love, I can help you. I spent two years figuring it out so that you don’t have to. We’ll go right for the results. We don’t mess around. We create results FAST. Book a free consultation with me here.

October 2020 Goals

We’re in October! Quarter Four is here – that means GO time with final goals. 2021 is going to come around before we know it (I think a lot of the world will be relieved, amiright?!)

So here are my goals:

1. Focus even more on what matters. What totally doesn't matter right now? Where am I putting my energy that won't produce a return? Where can I dive deeper into what actually matters?

2. Meet the requirements to join the business mastermind I want to be in. This is non-negotiable for me. And they don't take just anyone who pays them. There are certain requirements that you have to hit, and at the beginning of August, it seemed fully impossible in every sense of the word. Now going into October, it's inevitable. Because I've DECIDED it's happening – and that I'm willing to do whatever it takes. (There will be a lot of watching Michael Jordan's documentary on repeat this month because it seriously pumps me up to go after my goals!)

3. Making actual progress on my shoulder healing. I am getting fully serious about this one. I said it a few months ago but I kind of only half meant it. Now, I REALLY mean it. I'm sick of being in pain. I bought a new monitor to help me look ahead instead of down at my laptop, and I got a desk that can be standing or sitting, AND I've even tracked down an ergonomic specialist who is going to come and fit me to the desk and get my chair right so I am at the ideal angle to reduce aggravation on my neck and shoulders. As part of this, I'm committing to doing my physio exercises every single day as well. I set a goal to do 100 push ups, and until I'm fully healed, I can't work on it. So no more excuses!

4. Reading a book or watching Netflix in the evenings. Okay – that might sound bizarre to set a goal to watch Netflix, but so often I have a habit of watching only business-related content (and then my brain never switches off from work in the evening) so I want to enjoy more social Netflix watching with my family and my boyfriend in the evenings.

What are your October Goals? Let me know in the comments!

September 2020 Goals Review

I went into September with the goal of doing LESS.

I had no idea that it would produce the most successful month I have ever had in my entire life,

Here is a rundown of my September Goals:

1. Do less, to have more impact
   I signed more clients this September than I did in the whole of 2019. Welcome aboard, you incredible people! I'm so excited to work with people on so many different kinds of impossible goals (and I can't wait to share their stories with you!). I had my biggest month EVER. 4x bigger than I have ever created before. That is freaking WILD to me. This is definitely because I focused on the 80/20 rule (80% of your success will come from 20% of your actions). So I decided to stop doing anything that wasn't impactful, and then dial up the 20% that was working. Plus, I managed to work only 4 hour days most days – generally 3 hours of coaching, 1 hour of content creation.

2. Get the most important things done in the morning 
   This seems like obvious advice, but actually DOING it has been a game-changer for me. I've been waking up, creating all my content, and then taking my coaching calls after that. My day has been SO much better, way more relaxed and stress-free. I actually got this idea from Elizabeth Gilbert (writer of Eat Pray Love) who says she wakes up every day at 4am, writes until 9am when she starts to get texts and phone calls, and then she basically just takes baths for the rest of the day. I'm like omg. That sounds like bliss. So I started creating content from the moment I woke up (still in my pajamas) until it is DONE. Then I take calls in late morning/afternoon (and the occasional evening one if time zones don't align for the day).

3. Run 3x a week.
   I did this religiously for the first 3 weeks, and I had the most epic run where I crushed it harder than I ever have before. At some point in the final week of September, I aggravated my shoulder to the point of being in pain all day, so I deliberately decided not to run, to preserve my body. I'm counting this as 3/4 completed.

4. Apply what I learned in my YouTube course to my videos.
   I have been applying what I've been learning, including the MOST important thing I've learned: to research my content a while in advance. It's the worst feeling to have to pump out a YouTube video on spot when I'm not prepared. It doesn't usually go well 

Your turn! Give me a rundown of your September Goals! How did you go? What went well? What will you do differently next month? 

The Real Problem

The goal is never the problem.

The only things that can hold you back from a goal are thoughts and actions.

Once I figured that out, things started shifting for me. Massively.

Now I’m focusing a lot more on my thoughts and actions, and almost putting no energy at all into thinking about the situation or circumstance.