124: Hindsight Brings Clarity to Your Business
Michele 00:00
Hello, my name is Michele and you're listening to profit is a choice for the third year so to Guglielmo have the so much more podcast is joining me to review the year we just had, what made it different, how we approached it, how we're going to approach moving forward and lessons learned. Make sure to go back and listen to the last two year end recaps. They all have something to teach. And I hope you enjoyed this one.
Michele 00:29
Every day empowered entrepreneurs are taking ownership of their company financial health, and enjoying the rewards of reduced stress and more creativity. With my background as a financial software developer, owner of multiple businesses in the interior design, industry, educator and Speaker, I coach women in the interior design industry to increase their profits, regain ownership of their bottom line and to have fun again in their business. Welcome to Profit as a Choice.
Michele 00:59
Hey, Ceil! I am so glad that we are doing our third joint podcast for the Sew Much More Podcast and Profit is a Choice where we jump in and talk all about goals and planning and what we're doing. And as we're wrapping up 2020, it's been quite a year. Huh?
Ceil DiGuglielmo 01:17
It sure has. When we were talking about Should we do this? I was like, Yes, I like a good tradition. This has been not only fun, but helpful to do it. But I don't think either of us anticipated the year that we have had. And I listened to our podcast from last year. And I had a chuckle a couple times because we were like it's a new decade. It's everything is fresh and new. I'm like, oh, that train's left the building.
Michele 01:46
You know, that is funny. We all kind of started off that year, this year. 2020. Full of exuberance and excitement. And yeah, I don't know what it was. But it there's something about I think it being 2020 the beginning of or the end of a decade, I think some say it ends the decade and 2021 starts the new one. But for many people, it felt like this new beginning this new plan. Everybody was planning our economy was in a good place. So everybody was planning that this was going to be the year that rocked their world.
Ceil DiGuglielmo 02:19
Yes. It did. Just not the way they thought it was going to.
Michele 02:25
So, let me ask you this. I know that we talked about at the end of last year, how we set our goals and some of the differences in what we looked at. We'll probably do some jumping around in this one. But I'm curious. March. I remember. I saw you in March. Yes. In New Jersey. I had flown out to California for a meeting and I flew from California directly to New Jersey. And I had not heard about like COVID getting ready, like getting ready to blow up the world. Right, right. No, life is we knew it. And I remember coming into that meeting. And I don't even remember how many people were there with 25-30 people it was a good it was a well attended meeting. Yeah. And we're talking about profitability and pricing and all the things I had no idea that was gonna be the last time that I was able to kind of be an air quotes on stage right teaching and speaking to a roomful of people having intimate conversation standing in front of them. Connecting I know, we didn't hug that day everybody was doing the elbow balm.
Ceil DiGuglielmo 03:28
Oh, yes, that's right. We were!
Michele 03:30
Yeah. And I remember thinking this is really odd. But if I can show up an elbow bump, I flew home and that next Monday, it shut down like we shut down.
Ceil DiGuglielmo 03:41
That's right.
Michele 03:42
I want to say that was like March the eighth, ninth 10th. And by the 16th. You know, you're right. We're done it. Yeah, we had I had one week at home. And that's when it just started escalating, escalating, escalating with no idea. And don't you think that was true for a lot of people? Oh, it was the last time you begin gonna get to, like, physically hug somebody for the last time that we were going to see face to face or that, you know, I can't even tell you I probably had to cancel so many speaking engagements, and teaching opportunities this year in person, because it just couldn't be done.
Ceil DiGuglielmo 04:16
Same. Yeah. And it's at that moment in time. It's funny when I listening to the podcast and hearing you talk about that particular meeting, even though COVID was something we knew about, we didn't understand the impact it was going to have on us so it was this this in a week's time frame. Yes. But it was this blissful unawareness. And, and it's funny because we talked a little bit when we were deciding what we would talk about in trying to find the gift in all of this. And look, there's a gift in just about everything. I won't say everything but there were parts of this that allowed people to spend more time with their family. For some people that was good for some people. That was not so good. It allowed people to really take a look at some things and see if they needed to do some things differently. I tried to take as many lessons out of it as I possibly could, at the same time pivoting and making some changes. Do you feel like you needed some time to absorb it and figure out how to respond to it because your business consists primarily of helping business owners. So like, how did you take care of Michele, before you were able to take care of everybody else?
Michele 05:33
Yeah, so I'm going to write down gift of 2020. Because I want to come back to that, in a minute. Okay. So when it first shut down, I remember thinking and you know, this about me, I am very strategic. I'm more of a long term thinker, I don't think short term. And then minute it shut down. And I started reading and investigating and like, what the heck is going on? I made the comment in my own home, to my boys and to my husband. I mean, we only had, neither of our sons quarantined with us. One had bought a house in the fall, so he was certainly quarantining his own home. Our other son, we had a house for him four hours away from us. And he had a three bedroom home by himself. So both my boys quarantined, separate from us. Okay, hard.
Ceil DiGuglielmo 06:25
Yeah, our girls were not here, either. They had both already moved out.
Michele 06:29
Emotionally that was very difficult because our son was finishing his senior year of college. And he went to spring break and came back and other buddies and other friends were gone. They were kind of like we didn't know they and of course, they didn't know either, right? They weren't going to see their friends again. So I think all being separate was weighty for me. And when I started seeing what was happening, I told the boys I said, I need you guys to plan for this to be like 12 weeks 10 to 12 weeks. Mom, you're an alarmist. You're crazy. You don't know what you're talking about. They said two weeks, I know what they said, boys, and I'm telling you, I need you to have an 8, 10, 12 week plan. Because I truly believed that, that was why I started building education immediately for my coaching clients. And I started saying to them, okay, we need to have a plan a plan B and a plan C, I want to see your four week plan, I want to see an eight week plan. I won't say a 12 week plan. You know, I had clients who came to me, I'm like, listen, even if we get out in six weeks, that's cool, this doesn't happen. It just means we need to plan for it. What if the money doesn't come in? What if we can't get work? What if we are at home? what if what if, what if, what if make some plans and then then you can feel kind of that freedom to just execute? Right? And that's exactly what happened. And then I had clients call me back and say, I didn't want to hear what you were saying. Right? And neither did I. But I'm so thankful that you said it because it made me prepare differently, I'm thankful that you immediately went into profit first. I mean, here's what I did take care of me. I went into my bank account, and started looking at everything I did. I went all the way back to my profit, first basics. On what expenses do I need to cut? What do I need to do? Who do I need to keep? Who do I need to add? What do I need to do? Like, how can I do this? I also, you know, this, and I've shared it before I have multiple autoimmune diseases, right? Two of them are the ones that, you know, with COVID, for example, are the ones that that they say are basically main underlying causes of death, right of diabetes type one, and I have asthma, you know, among other things. And so I knew that my health, it was imperative that I stay well, and my family rallied around. I mean, I wasn't allowed to go do anything. It was probably two months before I left my house outside walking around my neighborhood. You know, being outside to the point that I told him the other day I said it felt new like to drive a car. I remember thinking, Oh my gosh, that what is that like it's been so long since I've driven a car. I first started doing that. The second thing I started doing was I went through, I think a mourning phase like everybody else mourning the way that we were able to do things and weren't able to do it. And so because of that I did things like I made sure that if I felt overwhelmed at my desk, I got up and left and went outside. I stretched I did all my morning coffee on the back porch. Like I started looking for other ways to take care of myself mentally and physically. Because it was a mourning of what we couldn't do and what we too for, granted or for me, I mean, if I speak personally, I had taken for granted that I could see somebody in person I take for granted and I I also don't think that I recognized how important human touch is.
Ceil DiGuglielmo 10:05
Yes,
Michele 10:06
My son came over last night and I got to see him. And I haven't seen him in a couple of weeks. And I've always said to the boys, when I hugged them, I would say, I just got to fill my love tank up a little bit is running a little dry. And so I stood on my sofa, so that I could be face to face with my son, because he's so much taller than I am 5'3". He's about six feet. So I get up on the sofa, and I stand up so that I can like give him a hug shoulder to shoulder. And I said to him, I was hugging him really tight. And then I said to him, I said, I'm sorry, I just need a couple more minutes. I said, I kind of feel like my tank has been really empty. He said, so as my mom, also, but I missed that, you know, I miss doing that with my mom and dad or even my girlfriends just being able. And so I think the fact that we were all in this together, so I started immediately realizing how I needed to take care of myself mentally, physically, spiritually and emotionally. So that then I could pour out, right, it kicked in pretty quick, but I'm not gonna lie. It still feels like that march to maybe early June, March, April kind of May. It feels foggy. To me. It feels almost like a cloud of mist over.
Ceil DiGuglielmo 11:21
I heard you describe it that way. And I thought that was an excellent way to describe it. And I felt like I kind of shut down a little bit. I was getting podcast information about how to deal with the pandemic, I was getting score information, like everywhere I turned, someone was telling me how to pivot and what to do. And that morning is the right idea. And I've lost enough people that I know what that mourning process is like. But I just felt like I can't do anything just yet. I need to understand what's going on. And none of us did. There wasn't that opportunity to understand. But I also realized I needed to keep moving forward. And so I made the conscious decision. My husband was still going into the office that he works in, he works in school photography. So schools were shut down. But they were asking for digital images. So they could put together some kind of a yearbook. And some things had not been, you know, shut down so quickly that some things were not completed. So he was the only one in the building. So it was safe for him to be there. And he was able to get packages mailed out and email, digital files and all that stuff. So in a lot of ways every day was the same. He was going to work and I was working from home by myself. But we weren't seeing our daughters. I couldn't hug them. I wasn't seeing my friends. I wasn't seeing my sisters. And I had a great deal of work in my workroom. So most days felt almost exactly the same. And they were so different. And I realized that for the members of the library, I needed to respond and I needed to help them with what they needed to do. So same thing I took a little bit of time. But I decided I still get up every morning and did my Miracle Morning. I still exercise almost every day for 30 minutes. Because I felt like if I didn't it would all start to fall apart.
Michele 13:11
Yeah, I had to lean into the rhythms of life that I had created. I think that's a good way to say it. I agree. I just leaned into the rhythms of life that I had created. And I just kept going. Listen, I've told you this before. There were times I, my clients needed me. They needed me. And I even sent out multiple emails at the beginning that said, I know you're being overwhelmed with information. So I remember yeah, I remember seeing them. I'm going to ask you three questions, or I'm going to ask you one question. And you answer with one, two or three. And I said, How are you? Number one? Like, I'm all good. don't need anything? Yes, ooh, I'm not even sure what I need. But I'll let you know. Or number three, I need you. Like I'm in a struggle. I need you, even for clients that I had not signed up to have one on one calls with. And if they responded with a three, I went back and forth through email. And if we needed to pick up the phone, we picked up the phone just said this way, you don't have to give a whole lot of information just I'm good. I'm not even sure who I am right now. But I'll know, right? Because there were times that's all that we could test as much as we had. Right. So I tried to do that. And then it's so interesting, where some people were saying they had less work. I gave more during that time then had even been scheduled because I started giving more about how to pivot about how to check through your financials. I started talking about how to recession proof your company. All those things I started teaching immediately they had been on my list, but they get fast forwarded from like middle of the year, second half of the year, all the way up to it. In three months, kind of like, boom, let's get it out. We need it. Now let's do it now a lot more check ins doing weekly calls where it was supposed to be bi weekly calls, my workload greatly increased the calls to work with me slow down. Mm hmm. Because people started hibernating and holding back, right? For those that was already serving, the service increased.
Ceil DiGuglielmo 15:23
And I it's funny because I had work to do. And for about a week I was working, but I wasn't pushing myself because there was no end in sight. And when am I going to install these Window Treatments? So why am I rushing to do them? And then after I kind of settled into, oh, I need a good routine. Every day, I realized that the sooner I was done, the more I could look forward to the time when I would be able to write, install rather than dread. Oh, no, the pandemic, the lockdown is ending and I don't have my work done.
Michele 15:54
And that's what was hard. We didn't know when it was going. Yeah, the end, relax, whatever, so that we could move about and it was varied across the country. Yes. And so I will say this, as far as going through that time, it shifted, I think, for every business got busier, some were less busy. We all were looking at our marketing, we were all looking at our financials, we were all starting to go back into some of those foundations of business ownership. I will going back through my courses again saying, Let me shore that up. I've got a little more time. Let me look at it right difficult because it wasn't something that anybody had ever had had gone through not even around us. Nobody, right? Everybody was supposing what was going to happen? Yes, but nobody had actual Well, here's what we've done. And here's how we made it. And there, there was no history, there's no track record. But you know, what I do want to touch on before we jump into the next piece, the gift of 2020. You mentioned quite a few of them. And at my retreat for my elite clients, we all a couple of years ago, we wrote down all the things as part of our end of the year, I guess celebration. Two years ago, all my elite clients, we wrote down all the things we wanted to get out of our life, remove limiting beliefs, or that we tore it up in the small paper and like went through the act of ripping it to shreds and threw it away. This year at my retreat, we took like flash paper and wrote everything on flash paper and set it on fire and let it flash away. And then we turned around as a group of entrepreneurs and said, now what we want to do, we've let all that go. Now what we want to do is we want to share the gift of 2020. And you know, 2020 when we think about it, we think about it bringing focus and clarity, you know, have 2020 vision. And we also hear about it from the way of saying hindsight is 2020. Yes. And so we were looking at it as Here we are at the end of 2020. What does the hindsight of 2020 look like? Yeah, the comments that went around were things like, is difficult as this year has been for many of us in a multitude of ways, right? We're not even just talking business. We're talking
Ceil DiGuglielmo 18:16
Oh, yeah. Branch and all Yes, yes.
Michele 18:18
Economy. We're talking, losing people that we cared about for not just COVID. But for it. Right. No issues. Just it's just I wouldn't say this has been an easy year for, for most people for almost anybody has been an anomaly, right? It's just been I agree, that would be an anomaly. It's been a challenge. But what could we learn in the challenge, just like a diamond is formed from pressure? What is it that we learned? And there were comments similar to yours seal about, I realized I want more time with my family. Or I realized how precious friendships are. Or it was the gift of being able to learn to communicate in a different way, the gift of understanding other people and their ideas and what they're doing because we had time to build kind of community even through zoom. I mean, we were like, well, we're thankful for zoom. And just that I had some say, you know, I decided I wanted to close up my out of my office this out of my home and move it back into my home, or just all those things. Somewhere, I realized what I really loved to do in my business, I realized where I want to focus, right, you know, and so I do think it's been a tough year and a rough year in many ways. But it's been a blessing and a lot of ways or blessings have come out of it in ways that maybe we couldn't see. But you have to look for those things because sometimes the horribleness can overwhelm but yes, we've got designers and work rooms not saying this is everybody in all parts of the country. But some of them have more work than they have ever had. And yes, already picking up in July, I mean, not even waiting to August, September. Someone's like the minute things open, they've been talking about it feeling like the Christmas rush, as we always saw it in June, July and August.
Ceil DiGuglielmo 20:16
Yeah. And it's interesting, because you talk about, like the knowing the things you want to do in your business. And I had made a decision with my score advisors, because I'm running the library that I needed to not say yes to every single window treatment job that came into my business, because I'm not trying, I know, I'm not she's making faces at me, for those of you who are listening. I'm not trying to grow that part of my business. I don't I'm not ready to let go of it. But I'm not trying to grow it. And it took, yes, I set that as a goal. I said it, I said it to you. But then I was still saying yes. So I wasn't honoring that decision. And the amount of work that I had through the pandemic, including a very large whole house job, which was for a friend. So it wasn't a to the trade job. Everything was well balanced. timewise. And it's the first time in, I'd say last year, I did fairly well, but I was still adjusting to owning the library last year. And I realized that this was closer to how I wanted to feel. And that yes, I know, I had fewer jobs because of the pandemic. But the gift is okay, now I know what it feels like without ever having saying no. Now I have to start saying no. And I have said it a couple times recently, just and again, gracious and thankful. I'm so glad you thought of me. That's not the kind of work I do, especially if it was retail work. Or I had a designer reach out to me with a job that is just so far beyond my capabilities. I just said, Oh, no, I can't do that. But I have three people I can recommend to you. And those are the things that a year ago, I don't know if I would have been capable of saying Michele and I don't know if I would have been able to say no to. So that in itself was a gift. But I one of the things I was really grateful for this year was things seem to come in at the right time. And not all at once and not you know being piled on. And even now as we approach the holidays, I have jobs that I'm working on. But I'll have two people talk to me about a job, but then the hardware doesn't come in for a job. So I just work on the other one. Run start the next one. And it's I feel like that's been there before been less hurrying for my failure. Yeah, that that has made me feel better. Now not happy for the reason. But it's, it's made me recognize, oh, that's how to feel.
Michele 22:55
This pace is good for me, right. And at the end of last year, I had done some restructuring in my business to make sure that my offerings, were in alignment with what I wanted to do and my values moving forward. And I all I remember thinking during all of this was I'm so glad that I did that work. Because I am I have the capacity because I had created capacity to focus on what I want to focus on the way I want to do it serve the people that I'm serving the way I want to serve them. And it it was a relief, right, because I was able to do that. And then now when we're a little bit past and you know, who knows what things are getting ready to look like because we're in the middle of moving into this whole winter season, you know, deep in January, February, it's on the horizon. And those are usually still heavy flew and all right. But I just know that, that I here we are at the end of the year, and I still feel good about what I did and how I did it. And I love the people that I work with, like I am just, I'm probably like the most blessed coach in the world. You know, and I say that I know everybody feels that way. And that's fantastic. Then when you are in alignment with what you do and how you do it and the values, it brings things into focus. And because we had some extra time at home, I was able to put out more education and more things because I wasn't traveling. So all that time that would have been sucked up on my calendar for you know, the day before and the day after of any event. I now had that time at home. And I was able to actually crank out more than I even had on my list for this year. Mm hmm. Right so my goals from the year before I have gotten everything done. I don't have anything left that I didn't get done. Remember that can that I told you I was down there as well. That was the pricing without emotion course
Ceil DiGuglielmo 24:56
And you've read that out now. Congratulations!
Michele 25:00
That that course had been kicked down the road. And I picked that cannon and took care of it. Yeah, but I am excited about that. But I had to shift I move things around. I didn't do them when I thought it was going to do them. I had to allow flexibility in the calendar. That was different, not as structured as I had thought that it would be. Right. That wasn't the way the world worked.
Ceil DiGuglielmo 25:24
So, first of all, congratulations, because I know that was a can that kicked a few times. And doesn't that take a weight off of you of? I know, you're a little better about setting things aside, but it was still out there, because it was still something you wanted to achieve.
Michele 25:41
Well, I love that course. That course is life changing? I mean, if anybody listens to yours, it probably comes up at least oh, my gosh, three out of four podcasts? It's life changing and business changing. And I know it. I've been teaching it for 10 years now.
Ceil DiGuglielmo 25:58
Congratulations. That's awesome. I think about the number of people who have been impacted by that is thousands.
Michele 26:04
And that is amazing to me. I've, you know, up until this point, it's always been in person two days, 16 hours experience, of course. And as you know, you've had guests on. Many people, designers and work rooms took it over and over and over.
Ceil DiGuglielmo 26:21
Yeah, I took it twice myself.
Michele 26:23
And so I know that. And there was a part of me that wanted to be so careful. And how I put it out in an online way. Because I know the results that can come from it. And we all know that teaching in an online manner is different. Yes, in person, and me standing over your shoulder and helping you do the math and you're away. And what you're looking at is different. Yes. hiding something about your mindset completely different. When I'm not looking at you. And you know what I mean? Isn't? And so I just wanted to honor that was the thing that kept me from putting it online? Yeah. How do I do this in such a way that I can honor that?
Ceil DiGuglielmo 27:05
Because the personal one on one parts of it, or even when you're in a class, and someone asks a question that either maybe you hadn't thought of or you were embarrassed to ask adds to the value of the class. And so all of those things I know you struggled with in getting it together for an online platform, but
Michele 27:24
COVID took all that away, because that means it cannot be taught like that. Right? Right for the foreseeable future. So if I wanted to get it out, now was the time to do it. Right. And so anyway, that's it's been a huge relief off of me, to be able to have it, and to support people. And to do that, okay. And so I would say that if I were just looking at my how my goals were, I got all of my big goals done for 2020. But it was not always in the quarter that I thought on the The 12 Week Year.
Ceil DiGuglielmo 28:03
I just finished reading that book, Michele,
Michele 28:05
and my goal setting it's based on this year, because I choose three to four, I mean, look, I could I can quote you book after book after book traction, the great game of business, all of them are going to tell you no more than two to three big goals a year, I mean, really big goals, because you cannot get them all done, it's too much and run your company and do all the things right. And so, um, you know, I'd love the fact that I knew what my two to three big goals were. And then I was able to just move them around which corner and that that's what I thought was cool. Every quarter, I could evaluate what's the next big thing I really have to do. That's going to move the dial and push my business forward. That's the next big thing that needs to be done. And then all of my energy and attention get focused there.
Ceil DiGuglielmo 28:53
Okay, so what else are you proud of from 2020? And besides launching the pricing without emotion course.
Michele 29:00
I am proud of a couple things. I'm proud of being able to support my clients during what I think was one of the most difficult times and collectively in business. I support my clients through difficult things all the time.
Ceil DiGuglielmo 29:16
I mean, it's, it's why some of them come to you because they're having difficulty.
Ceil DiGuglielmo 29:21
So right, correct. Yeah. And I'm not gonna lie. I mean, I carry weight, a lot of weight with what I do things like I have, and, you know, over my multitude of years doing this 7, 8, 9 years, I have a lot of people come to me that are either going through divorce, or need to divorce. And they need to make sure they're financially stable. Well, that's weighty. I've got people that are forming partnerships, dissolving partnerships, weighty Yeah, you've got people that are trying to take care of their families and they need that the finances of the company to support them. That's a weighty but when you have every single client, like all of us do going through all of this, and their business foundations are just quivering. And that's a different kind of weight. So I'm very proud that I was able to get through that I'm proud that I was able to support them with a financial understanding and a calmness that says, here's what we can do. Here's what we can't do. How do we manage it? How do we pivot? How do we, and I know people are sick of that word, but it's true, how do we get around it? How do we take care of ourselves. And so I'm just thankful that my clients are still with me, and I'm still with them. And that we're all on this side of it, we may have more to go through, but, but we now have a bit of a track record for what we can go through. Right, right. And then the next big thing that I would say that I am super proud of is I was able to get my aim with intent, which is my signature scalability program, I was able to get that fully online and launched and to support the coaching that I do to help businesses scale, that's, it's pretty amazing to have all of the education built to do everything that you need to do. And then you feel like you have the freedom to just do it.
Ceil DiGuglielmo 31:15
Right. Right. And it's not dependent on whether or not you can travel and it's not dependent. Right. Well, while all of that is, you know, we hope to get back to that. We can't right now. And so therefore, we're now away. Yeah, and for now, and that's I've said that a couple times to friends and children for now. Because if I keep thinking it's really long term, then I can't handle the, the weight of it for myself. So I'm trying to help other people get through it like for now or or this is where we are today. Yes, let's deal with this today. Um, but I I also think that you're the online event that you had for aim with intent was,
Michele 32:00
Yeah, I'm proud of the too!
Ceil DiGuglielmo 32:03
You should be it should it showed your resilience. It was supposed to be an in person event. There were things that went online that shouldn't have. I'm not even speaking in our industry, just a couple things that I saw him like, yeah, that didn't work. There were people who chose not to move forward and postponed till next year. And I support that and think it was the right choice for those events. And I was really looking forward to that two day event. And it was interesting, because after how many months of not having any, any travel or anything like that, it was like I had two days blocked out and I knew where I was going to be and what I was doing, and it was, it was a great event. And I learned a great deal from it. But there was also a sense of normalcy, even though it was all on zoom. There was still something about it, like people sitting and having their yogurt while we were listening, and we could see each other it just it felt like a connection.
Michele 33:00
So one of the things you're right, so one of the things that I did when I, from my coaching clients in there in the inner circle, we have a two day workshop. That's part of what you get when you coach with me. And, and I told you all like we all did have some zoom fatigue. Yeah, October Yeah. And so I said I wanted it to be a workshop you could walk with, there's gonna be a short teaching, and then we're going to work. And so you're going to see 40-50 screen people on the screen. And we're all going to be working and which means you can ask a question your kid can come in it is going to be like we are sitting working in a space. And then I wanted to make it you know, normally when you go to those events, you get a swag bag.
Ceil DiGuglielmo 33:43
Yes. And we got a swag box in the mail ahead of time.
Michele 33:46
Yeah, the swag box in the mail, and I had them all stacked up. And that was fun for me to get to find another way to pull it off to give the information that I need in my clients to get so that you would be successful. And I think that has been another lesson this year is how do I think critically about everything? And yes, this is the way I've done it in the past or Yes, this is the way we would love for it to be done. But if it's not possible, what and how can we deliver so that you get what you need. And so that has created a creative and critical thinking differently than I think maybe what some of us had before. We're all thinking that how do I deliver these Window Treatments when I can't install them? How do I deliver a design if I can't come physically into your space? And so out of that challenge, I think it has offered many of us an opportunity to just even rethink what needs to be done, what doesn't need to be done, what processes need to be kept, what processes need to change, right? And we wouldn't have taken the time to do that before.
Ceil DiGuglielmo 34:53
And we talked about you know being tired of certain words and the word pivot was not just in our industry. Not just from you and I, but everywhere. What I was often amazed by was the resiliency that people had, and the ability to say, Okay, these are the facts, I have to do something. And and we talked before we started, I'm trying to be more careful about saying things like, I don't have time, I'm the only one who decides how my time is actually used. I don't have to answer the phone when that person calls me. I can say no to, can you be here and do this. I choose how I spend my time. And so I'm trying to take a little more personal responsibility for that. But there were quite a few times when I felt like, well, I don't know what to do next. And, and I would see what other people were doing. And just be so in awe of their ability to stop on a dime, gather the facts around them, and make a decision and go on. And I tried to learn from that, instead of allowing it to slow me down even more by saying, oh, why didn't I think of that? Oh, they're really great. I'm not. I just kind of looked around and went, Okay, this is what people need right now.
Michele 36:10
Right. Right. And but my people need right now. Exactly.
Ceil DiGuglielmo 36:14
You know, just like focusing on that.
Michele 36:16
Yeah. Other conferences made different decisions. Yes. And that what it really comes down to for each of us, I believe, is how are we best serving those who were meant to serve? Yes. And your people may need to be served differently, again, the people that I engage with it whatever point in time, yeah. And I think creating that freedom for us to respond and to consider and to think, without judgment of how anybody else is doing it exactly. is, has really been a good thing for this past year. I know, I just been doing podcasts now. This podcast is wrapping up. And I started the podcast back in November. And I've done three podcasts on pre planning, and then the first phase of planning a second phase of planning for the end of the year. And I've been doing it with inner circle. And we're also doing it with my elite group. And I've been thinking about what are some things, you know, we always talk about start with gratitude, which is, you know, we've done some of that. But really thinking, what are the lessons from 2020 that I now want to use going forward into 2021? Like, how do I not waste that clarity, that 2020 vision? How do I not waste those opportunities and lessons learned into 2021? And one of a couple of things. One is, I gotta tell you, and I know that you feel this way as well. How happy I am that I do profit first, like, Yes, I owe my stinking goodness, it has. It gave me such a sense of being able to take a deep breath in 2020. Yes, say for me and my clients, I cannot even tell you. Not even just those that are in my program right now. But those that I've worked with in the past, I get email after email after email after email that just said, Thank you. Thank you. Thank you, thank you for helping me do this. Because otherwise, I would be in deep trouble right now I'd be in trouble or even more trouble. Yeah. And I'm going, I'm going to be able to survive this because I planned for the rainy day. Now, it may not be the way I'd plan to spend the rainy day. But I got it to spend if I need to have it. I want to encourage everybody moving into 2021 It's not too late to start saying how do I now create some profit first habits that will help help my business?
Ceil DiGuglielmo 39:00
And you mentioned gratitude. And that's actually one of the things that I'm proud of for this year. I often see like Facebook challenges and 30 day challenges and these different challenges. And I it's just not really my thing. But one of the podcasts that I like to listen to the unmistakable creative, he was doing 100 Day Challenge, okay. And I alluded to this in one of my podcasts, I'm really glad that I don't engage in the community, because it's just one more place to work and read and I couldn't I can't do it, but I saw his challenge. And instantly with that with no hesitation I was like I need to start 100 day gratitude challenge. And I I'm really glad that I didn't participate in the group because I went once to look for something and I saw people were writing books and they were starting these like, great philanthropic projects, and I was like, Oh, and I picked a gratitude project. But here's the thing. It is what I need. And so I disengaged from that group and I started and I have written down at least three things every day. That's how I start my day. Three things, I'm grateful for most evenings, I also write something down. But I'm not as consistent with that. Nor was nor was that part of the challenge. I wanted to write down three things every day. And it has forced me to, because I can't write the same thing down. So I can't every day say I'm grateful for my cup of coffee. That's lame, and I can't do it. But I have really searched and looked for and acknowledged things that I might not have otherwise. I also realized what it did for my mental health. And we've talked about Carol Dweck book, mindset. And I realized that it has changed my mindset that I have been a very optimistic person most of the time anyway. But now I see things even more clearly, in terms of what about this as a lesson, and what can I be grateful for?
Ceil DiGuglielmo 41:07
Are you going to go into 2021?
Ceil DiGuglielmo 41:09
I am, I decided, so I, I know this is a shock to everyone. I'm a perfectionist. And my first thought was okay, how am I going to do this gratitude journal? And do I have to have a special book? And do I have to and I immediately stopped myself, I found a talk about swag bags, one of the hardware companies, it's a little notebook, I just picked it up. And I started and I didn't stop to think about the pages. Because I love I know, everybody thinks I'm all into paperless. I'm not. I love a beautiful pen and nice writing paper. It's not even good quality. Michele, it's just, I just got it started. And so I realized today, because I do journal on a regular basis, as I start 2021, I'm just going to make that part of my journaling. And just because I have two books right now, and but I'm really proud of the fact that I followed through on it that I didn't go on. And I didn't allow for anything to interrupt from it. But I made sure I was doing it.
Michele 42:10
That's awesome. And so for 2021, I would say my goals are actually I don't have any huge goal. I've got one really big goal. But I don't I'm not sure about when that one will happen or what it will do. But my goals for 2021 or more of refinement? Oh, well, I have my goals are refining. It's going back and refining and updating. What are what I've already done. And I think sometimes we think that our goals have to be these ginormous, huge minds more about going in and editing and culling and adding to and, and just refining from, from what I know what I've learned. And my other goal is probably more around just the intention of relationships, I care about people like I just care about people. So finding space and time to continue to connect with my clients with my friends with my family. We're getting ready to have a wedding in 2021, one my sons is getting married to a just a lovely, lovely girl and connecting families through that in writing. Who knows what that's going to look like with all that's going on? I think just really being intentional about relationships, and refining things that that that feels right to me more so than I've got this big build. I mean, I certainly working on a book. That's my really, really big thing. And but it's going to be a very different book, when I'm ready to tell you all about it. I'll share but yeah,
Ceil DiGuglielmo 44:02
It may be different from what you would thought it would be a year ago?
Michele 44:08
thought it would be a year ago. It's actually different than what I thought it would be multiple years ago. Okay. But I think that I think going through the time that we went through and COVID and for me having some things stripped away and finding out what's most important for me, from my heart has somewhat shifted the the book, but in the best possible way.
Ceil DiGuglielmo 44:34
Mm hmm.
Michele 44:35
And so now that I've gotten Aim With Intent out of my brain, I've gotten pricing without emotion out of my brain. I feel like there's a first time because I feel like I know it's gonna scare a lot of people who really know me, but I feel like I've got some space in my brain.
Ceil DiGuglielmo 44:51
You're right. That's scary. Michele.
Michele 44:52
I know my brains weird. I had somebody tell me yesterday. She's like you really are a unicorn. Finances but your unicorn in a whole lot of other way. And then she followed it up with like three to five hearts. And so when you should, yeah, but I actually feel like I have space in my brain. And I, it's been a long time since I felt like I had that space to write, read and create. Because I had so many things in there. I couldn't wait to get out.
Ceil DiGuglielmo 45:22
yeah, it does. And it's interesting, because, you know, we've joked about our processes are really different. And you had said last year, you know, you start your major planning this time of the year. So the January 1, you're not waking up and saying, oh, what are my goals for this year that has already started? And we all know that I'm more of the latter, like, Oh, look, it's January 1, what am I doing? So I have already started some of my goals for next year, a little more clearly.
Michele 45:48
I've been rubbing off on you!
Ceil DiGuglielmo 45:48
offering. I know, marketing is something I've been working on for most of the year, I'm going to be changing some things in the library and making it more accessible, and there's more content going into the library. So that's really been my focus. And like you said, opening up some space in my brain and not having quite as much, quite as many window treatments to make is allowing for that. And it's been interesting to me to watch people in our industry make changes in their businesses, long before COVID. But the business that we have today doesn't have to be the same business that we have five years from now, and you've said that many times. But it's, when you're making a decision to let go of one part to move into something else, it can be really stressful and sad to let, so I'm not letting go of the window treatments, but I am doing less of them. And that opening up of space in my work day and my brain has allowed me to really feel excited about the changes that I'm going to be making to the library. So that's I don't have a date yet for the new website, but it will start in phases. Okay, and, and will slowly bring things over from the old library into this library. So that's been, you know, I've been focusing on things I had no knowledge about. And I have someone creating my website, as opposed to building my own for my window treatment business. So it's all of that's been really exciting. And again, if it hadn't been for profit first, I wouldn't have had that money set aside to do it. And you know, there's a little period of time where I'm going to have two websites operating at the same time as we transition everything. And I have the money to do that. So those are all things that gesh, Michele, I think five years ago, if you had told me that I would have said, Yeah, I don't think so that seals not that organized or that much of a business person. But I heard
Michele 47:50
I remember that Ceil, you do. I remember who that Ceil was,
Ceil DiGuglielmo 47:54
yeah. So I heard something on a podcast the other day, do something today that future and they use their name, but like do something today that future Ceil will be proud of you for and I feel like that's been more of my mode of operation over the last couple years than it was in the past. And so being organized enough to even think about 2021 after this debacle of a year is that again, it just feels more relaxed.
Michele 48:26
Yeah, I feel like I'm, I think 2020 I'm a planner, I'm an organizer. I'm an achiever, and maximizer. Like I know who I am. And I think 2020 taught me to some degree and probably many of us to hold things lightly.
Ceil DiGuglielmo 48:47
Yes.
Michele 48:48
So yes, do your planning. Yes, do your organizing, manage what you can manage, but you can't control everything. That was one of my big lessons that I learned as a diabetic. I cannot control everything. I am insulin dependent. I can eat the same food on day one and day two, and my body can react differently in just the way that happens. So while I can't control it, I can manage it. Right and do things to lessen the impact. I can have some management over it. And I think that I had to apply that to my year because I couldn't control certain things. But I could manage them. Yeah, it so it highlighted for me the difference between control and manage, if that makes sense.
Ceil DiGuglielmo 49:33
It does and it kind of feeds into what I talked about a lot is that respond versus react. Yeah. And as for our listeners who are parents, from the minute that baby is placed in our arms, we do start to recognize how little in this world we can control but it doesn't stop us from trying to control things. And I do think that that has been another gift of 2020 is that have been better able to say alright, well, that's not something I have any control over what what can I manage? What piece of this? Can I have an effect on? And letting go of things and holding them a little more lightly is a great way to explain it.
Michele 50:18
Planning with open hands.
Ceil DiGuglielmo 50:20
Yes. There were just things that that I would start them and say, Yep, that's not going to work for this year or, you know, interviewing people for the podcast, I've hit now four years of podcasting. And thank you. And there are times when it's really hard to get people to commit to a time because their lives are in such upheaval. And I, you know, after a while, I recognize, okay, I can't control that either. And, and instead of stressing about it, finding new ways to either find different things to talk about and doing a different kind of podcast, or getting things scheduled even more ahead of time than I normally do. So, yeah, I think that's been a big part of it is that the, whether you like the word pivot or not, we've all had to do it. And I think it speaks to all of our resiliency and how much we have taken a breath and said, Okay, what part of this can I manage? And how do I respond to this instead of reacting?
Michele 51:17
Next question for you. Do you have any regrets? From 2020?
Ceil DiGuglielmo 51:22
Oh, that's a good one, Michele. Yes? In the beginning, because I was busy with window treatments. And I heard people were bored. And not knowing what to do with themselves, I was a little bit jealous of that. Now, that's a little twisted.
Michele 51:45
No, I understand that.
Ceil DiGuglielmo 51:46
But I didn't have time to make sourdough bread, or start a new Instagram account or any of that. And I let it bother me a little bit. I got over it. And I realized that I was really, really fortunate to have work to do that was keeping my mind and my hands busy. But I wish I had learned a little sooner in that I could let go of a few things and take a little more time for myself. I'm still not I'm better at self care than I ever have been. But I didn't do as much of it as I think I should have. I think sometimes I went full steam ahead when I should have taken a breath.
Michele 52:26
Yeah.
Ceil DiGuglielmo 52:27
How about you? Do you have anything you regret?
Michele 52:36
I don't I don't, I don't feel like I have anything that I regret. As much as maybe. I wish that just overall. I had appreciated time with people. I did appreciate it. Yes. But I almost wished that I had gone a little slower to absorb a little more of the in person time that I had. Make sure that my brain was so 1,000% engaged in the moment. Yeah, in that moment. And it wasn't that I wasn't there and wasn't engaged. But I think because I miss that so much. Yes, I wish that I had had, you know, just really, but just hugging my kids.
Ceil DiGuglielmo 53:37
Mm hmm.
Michele 53:37
You know? Yeah, I had just, I guess this, this 2020 is a good reminder that we don't know what tomorrow is gonna bring? Yes, reminder that you need to be prepared. It's a guest finder, that in a split moment. All of your life can be rock. We all know this intellectually. But I think 2020 moved that from my head to my heart in a way that I wasn't expecting without any massive tragedy happening. Because a lot of time right. moves from your head to your heart with your own personal massive tragedy. Yeah, like the loss of a loved one, or I guess something catastrophic. And this was, this was catastrophic for many, so I'm not Yes, underplay that. And you and I lost a very dear friend this year, yes. And in the middle of all this, and had another dear friend in the hospital with COVID. So, you know, we, we've had some of that, but I think collectively as a world, we were all suffering from the catastrophe at the same time. Yes. And I think that, that put such a feeling of I wish I had known what, what was important at the depth that it was important to me prior to I don't know if I could have Don't know how I would have responded differently. So I don't know that I really call it a regret. But I call it a heck of a reminder. Yes, that for me it is. I talk profit on here all the time, but I talk profitability, I talk conscious capitalism, like it's okay to make money, but make it in the right way do the right stuff with it. But I gotta tell you, for me, it's people over profit. People over profit, always. And even when we designed and decorated our home, that role was if our dads could not come in here and put their feet up on the coffee table and felt like they were more important than the items we put in our house. We did it wrong. Exactly. Like, I want people to know, they matter to me. And so I think it's brought just a super clear perspective on that.
Ceil DiGuglielmo 55:47
Yeah. I think that's when anyone who's listening who has lost someone that they love, recognizes that you have those feelings afterwards. I wish I had known especially if it's something that happens suddenly. And you realize how, like you said, on a dime, your life can change. But I think that, as you said, when we went through it collectively, it had a different impact on us than an individual.
Michele 56:16
Yeah, loss. Like we talked about, you know, you felt like the world stops turning. I feel like it stopped for everybody.
Ceil DiGuglielmo 56:23
Yes. And here. So here's the thing, Michele, I saw some really wonderful responses. From all of this. There's a gentleman in my local community Facebook group, who puts a post on every morning that it's kind, it's funny, he puts a movie quote in every single one and he often does grammar lessons, you apostrophe re versus y o u r. Or I should say, Why oh, you apostrophe re versus y o u r. i t s vs i t Apostrophe S. Yeah. And he's very witty and very funny. And I appreciate his posts every day. Yeah. And I think I was reading them for three weeks before I responded to one because I don't know him personally. He's just on a community group. And I thought see all you should let him know that he makes a difference in your day. Yeah, those are the kinds of things that I hope I do more of now.
Michele 57:25
Right. In the middle of it, I was in the middle, maybe more towards the beginning of it. I felt very prompted to keep my head and my heart in alignment with where I wanted to be in my belief system. And so I moved in to writing a daily prayer on Facebook. I started a Facebook group called prayer in business, I think is what it is, or
Ceil DiGuglielmo 57:49
faith, faith in business.
Michele 57:51
And I just put out there, you know, here's a worship song that I'm listening to work. Here's how I'm trying to flood my mind with truth and peace and calm, good, in kind, so that I can respond with all those things. Because if I don't pour that into myself, that won't be what comes out. And exactly that. That Facebook group faith in business and the sharing of other people in there about what they were doing, to kind of go back to some of the basics of faith. And during a time like that, it was a huge inspiration for me, but it also gave me something that I felt like I could hold on to when everything around me felt like it was shifting under my feet.
Ceil DiGuglielmo 58:42
If that's not the most important lesson that we learned that
Michele 58:48
it's going to shift.
Ceil DiGuglielmo 58:49
Yeah, it is going to shift. That's it. First and foremost, whatever is happening, this too shall pass good, bad or indifferent. This too shall pass. And that we have some choices. Yeah. And one of them is what am I going to do with all this? Yep. And we can sit back and say, Oh, no, oh, no, oh, no. Or the sky is falling, the sky is falling. Or we can say, Okay, how can I serve the people that I care about? Who can I be there for? And how can I take care of myself in the process? You know,
Michele 59:19
My thing is, how do I make the world a better place? How do I help men and women transform their life in their business in a way that they can support themselves and their families? And what does it look like in the long run that that's where my heart is and what I care about, as opposed to a quick win? Or a quick marketing scheme? Right, quick? Anything those things don't? That that's best? Just, that's not that's not the impact that I hope to have? Let me ask you one last question as we wrap up. What do you what do you hope and dream for 2021? We talked about what we regretted. Okay, you know, we've talked about our goals, but what would you Say you had Do you have a hope or a dream for 2021? For you collectively anything, world peace, will you get out by acting like we're gonna be?
59:34
It's my Miss America moment.
Michele 1:00:13
Miss America moment.
Ceil DiGuglielmo 1:00:15
You know, we're laughing about it Michele, but it is absolutely true, it's a proverb, not a proverb, a little thing that I've seen over and over again, in a world where you can be anything behind. And that means to myself, that means to the people I love means to people who are irritating the crap out of me on Facebook, because I don't agree with them about something, right. And, and I have worked on being accepting of people who are different from me, because this is, as we said earlier, the lens through which I see things. But to actually be kind, is really not that difficult. And we're not, we are not always all kind. And I think that if we can find a little bit more kindness towards each other, and understanding that we don't know half of what's going on, in it, I mean, you joke about your brain. But we're good friends, I still don't know everything you're going through on a daily basis. And when we come together in a zoom meeting, or a call, I don't know, if you just had a fight with Joe or a, you know, your dog is sick, or any of that. And we might get to that in the conversation, but we might not. And, and just to my hope for 2021 is that we can be as kind as possible to ourselves and to each other.
Michele 1:01:43
I love that. I would say mine is and I mentioned this to you, and it kind of leads to the same place. But I love that saying seek first to understand Yes, be understood. And my hope is that we can learn to understand why others do what they do think that they think behave like they behave by like they buy, right all the things personal and business, then to be understood. For how we see things back to the lens that we put on. I think sometimes it's so easy to jump to a quick judgment, whether it's in business, or in politics, or in the world or in your family or in relationships, instead of taking that step back. And because you know what it requires, it requires you to be quiet. And it requires you to take an investment of time to hear and to and to engage. And I really feel like if we would all in business and in life, listen, and hold space and engage, we would understand with that kindness, right. And I feel like things would be different. So I would really, I would really love to work on myself in a way of making sure that I seek first to understand then be understood.
Ceil DiGuglielmo 1:03:07
And I think it's interesting, Michele.
Michele 1:03:09
Don't other people that don't do it. Darn it start.
Ceil DiGuglielmo 1:03:13
Right, exactly. And that was exactly where I was going with it. One of my biggest expectations of myself is to expect the same thing for myself that I expect from others. Yeah. And expect it from and really, it's expected from me and not worry about what others are doing. Because I can't I can't expect other people.
Michele 1:03:34
I would hope it'd be catching
Ceil DiGuglielmo 1:03:35
I would hope so to kindness and understanding. But I agree with you, if I can understand where someone else is coming from, it's a lot easier to be kind to them than to just have snap judgments and blow off some comments on social media or something like that. So I like how both of those are intertwined.
Michele 1:03:56
Or just assume the worst. You know, that client didn't call me back, therefore, they must hate this. And yes, I know that. They just dropped a gallon of milk on the floor and they gotta clean it. I mean, exactly, exactly. So where are you hanging out? people can find you today?
Ceil DiGuglielmo 1:04:13
Well, I am on Facebook. I put more effort into the so much more podcast Facebook group. I am working on the new library website. Hopefully by the time this comes out, I'll have a link to give you for that. And I hope to have a whole lot more engagement on that than we have in the past. And Instagram, Instagram, I don't I use more my business which is at CLD. So how about you? Where are you hanging out? Michele?
Michele 1:04:43
So hanging out on of course Facebook and Instagram, Pinterest, and my website?
Ceil DiGuglielmo 1:04:52
So what we'll each share the links to each other's Yeah, hangouts found on this Michele, I'm so glad we decided to do this again, by the time this comes out, it will be the end of the year. And I'm sure some things will have changed from the time we, yeah, recorded till it comes out. But I think the one thing is consistent that that wanting the best for the people that we serve is really what our goal is. And so I hope that listening to the podcast was helpful for people.
Michele 1:05:23
Yeah, I agree. It's definitely our heartbeat. And that's why our, our values and our visions are aligned in that way. And it makes it so nice every year just to catch up to see where we are and where we're going and the different ways that we approach it. And I think that gives a freedom to those listening to approach it their own way. There's only one way to do it.
Ceil DiGuglielmo 1:05:44
Exactly what is alki? say there's more, there's at least three ways to get to Rome. Exactly. So here's hoping next year, we get to go somewhere.
Michele 1:05:53
And it was we were supposed to go to Italy for our 30th wedding anniversary this year. And then when it became like one of the first hot spots, we're like, well, that's not happening.
Ceil DiGuglielmo 1:06:02
So fingers crossed for that for 2021. That's right.
Michele 1:06:05
That's right. Well, thank you for your time today. So I really appreciate hanging out with you.
Ceil DiGuglielmo 1:06:10
I did too, Michele, thank you.
Michele 1:06:12
It's always fun and sometimes enlightening, for sure to look back. But with 2020 hindsight comes a clarity that we didn't have on the other side. Hiring a business coach can give you that kind of clarity. I love to see patterns and choices and to share that knowledge with my clients, which brings more clarity, confidence and control to their business. If you want to talk about how this is possible for you and your business, go to Scarlet Thread Consulting comm and sign up for a discovery call. Choose to be profitable because profit doesn't happen by accident.