289: The Entrepreneurial Journey      

Michele: Hello, my name is Michele, and you're listening to Profit is a Choice. On the podcast today, we're going to be talking about the entrepreneurial journey. What is an entrepreneurial journey? Well, it's the journey that we're all taking that gets us from the moment of conception of our business to the point that we are truly creating a vision and a longer goal, an impact on the company that we have. We're going to talk about what it looks like when we start, what it looks like when we're at the higher end of it, the different needs that we have at each of the stages and what can keep us or make us successful when we move from stage to stage. So, I would love for you to listen, jot down notes, start thinking about where you are in your entrepreneurial journey, and if we can assist you at the end, let us know.

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 is a Choice.

Hey Courtney, welcome back to the podcast.

Courtney: Hey, Michele, thanks for having me.

Michele: So today we are going to focus on what we would call the entrepreneurial journey. Right? And I know that both of us have been talking about this journey and what it looks like and really looking at some of the clients that you support in your business, The Good Sower that I support in my business, Scarlet Thread Consulting, and even in Metrique Solutions. We've been kind of talking about this journey that the entrepreneur goes on and where they would want and need different types of training or different types of support or different types of knowledge or access to information, and it varies. There are two books that I will point out that we talk about a lot, you and I, when we are talking through these scenarios. One is E-Myth Revisited, I think that's by Michael Gerber. And the other is Fix This Next by Mike Michalowicz. And so, in E-Myth Revisited, we hear a lot about that technician and then manager and then CEO or visionary. And that's kind of similar to the entrepreneurial positions that we see. And so just so everybody knows, grab those two books. They're really good. If you're building a business library like we are, these are good ones to refer to often. But Courtney, I'm going to let you kind of ask some questions to guide it, and then we'll go back and forth and answer them.

Courtney: Yeah. And I know, I remember specifically when we started talking about this journey because we were building your new strategy coaching program and we were trying to understand what stage of this journey our ideal client would be in so we could target them correctly, and we started to really realize the reality of that stage. It is okay to be in one stage versus the other. It's a natural ebb and flow through that. Early on maybe you accidentally became a business owner and then slowly now you're a CEO, you manage a team of 10. That process has a natural, step-by-step process that you want to go through. So, I'm excited to dig into that today and here’s the first question. You've coached so many entrepreneurs in all phases of this journey that we're going to talk about today, from beginning hobbyists to CEO that is managing a larger team, so, could you briefly go over what these stages are for the entrepreneur that goes through that journey? We're talking about what those stages are.

Michele: Yeah. You know what's so interesting, I'm going to say this before we talk about that. What's interesting is when you get a job in corporate, when you first enter a corporate world, you're not entering as the owner of the company, you're not entering as the CEO. We always enter when it's our first job, let's say, either right out of a trade or right out of college, and we're entering that corporate environment. We are usually starting at the bottom and working our way up, and it makes sense to us. We have heard the term you got to pay your dues, and we come in at the bottom and we spend our time, and then you work your way up. You might take a management route and then you manage for a while and then you might get director, vice president, whatever the titles are as you move your way up. And so, we're very familiar with that in a more corporate structure of how you're going to build your career, I suggest to us and have seen it played out. And I think E-Myth Revisited does a good job of saying the same thing. We start our businesses quite the same way. We start them very much as that technician, that hobbyist, that accidental business owner. I was just sharing when I visited friends in New Jersey earlier this month. And one of the things that we were talking about was when I started my first business and it was because people rang my doorbell and said, hey, can you make these things from my home like you have in your home? And I said, sure. And then I started putting price tags on it and custom window treatments. And so, I was very much an accidental business owner, but I was the technician, so I was the one doing the work. And then after a while moving more into that leadership or that management position where you have other people effectively doing that technician work with/for you. And then the last one is moving up to visionary. So just like an E-Myth Revisited, if you're looking at as just large chunks, you've got technician, you've got management, and then you have CEO of visionary where you're really starting to look forward. When we are talking about it from a Fix This Next perspective, that's where you're really starting to think at the very end, like the impact and the legacy that the business is making, not just how do I do what our business is here to do today?

Courtney: Yeah. I want to go to the first stage like that accidental business owner. I know you and I have both been through that phase and so many coach’s’ programs out there are really focusing more on my opinion. I want to hear your thoughts on tactics that may be better for that, like middle and upper stage. Like getting your profitability perfected by only saying yes to your dream client. But when you're in that beginning stage like that to me is what makes her break you. Being able to say yes to maybe some not so ideal jobs. I want to hear your opinion on that stage. Like what are some things, especially for people that are in that stage, you want to maybe affirm them that it is okay to be there for a little while. I know the fixing next talks about the first thing is sales. You've got to have sales to even be able to think about how do I manage a team. So, talk a little bit about that. Some of the things they should be focused on in stage one and be okay with for a little bit as they grow.

Michele: Yeah. I love that that you phrase the question that way, Courtney, because there's no shame in this game of starting our own business. And somehow it can, it can easily feel like we're being shamed or that we're putting shame on ourselves that we're not where we should be or where we think we should be. I've shared this on the podcast so often, but one of the men said to my son when he entered his first full-time job, one of the things he said to him and they are in commercial construction, which I've said probably a thousand times, and it was so good, he said, you cannot fast track experience. Yeah, learn all you want to learn by listening to podcasts, taking courses, absorbing in school, school of hard knocks, whatever it is, but experience, you just cannot fast track it. Right? Like I don't want somebody performing surgery on me where I'm the first one. I want them to have done whatever procedure a lot so that they have. I don't want to fast track that. And so, when we think about it, there is no shame in where we're starting from. The only shame that comes is if we stay there too long out of fear or not doing something so that we never progress. Right. So as long as there is a growth and a progression, we should feel good about it. I'm also going to say there is not a necessary time frame that is hard bound in any of these areas simply because we all have different life circumstances. Some people are starting this on a more part time basis, some people are starting it all in thousands of dollars behind them. They've been doing it maybe for another company and now they're going out on their own. So, we're all kind of entering this in a different place. But with that said, when you're looking at the beginning of the entrepreneurial journey where we're coming in either as accidental business owner just starting, not real sure. I heard a lot in my conversations in New Jersey where a lot of people the conversation was I kind of knew how to design or I knew how to design, but I didn't know how to run a business, I knew how to do this, but I didn't know how to run the business or some aspect of the business, maybe they knew one piece and not another. If you think about it, this is where the training wheels are on. We are really trying to learn and absorb and, honestly, figure out what is our ideal, not just our ideal client, what our ideal offer is. We don't even know. Sometimes we don't know what we don't know. If I had been hard pressed to tell you what I love to do and who I love to do it for and how I love to do it right as I started my business, I would have stopped every one of them because I didn't know I needed to test the market to figure it out. I needed to test, to figure out my own strengths, abilities, desires and likes along with what others were willing to pay for and buy. And so that's one of the reasons that in the fix this next, the very first level in the hierarchy is sales because we have to have proof of concept. And so, what that means is if I'm only think about it this way, if you're only eating a food that you know you like, how do you know that or don't not know that you like other things? So, when we stay so insular in our first decision that we're not exploring and considering we may not even know that we're really great at something else, we only think we're great at what we've tried. And so that's really to me, a testing ground, like a test kitchen. I'm trying out some things to see what works. And then you start to land on, oh, I like the project management piece or oh, I really like whole house designer. Oh, I really like getting in and doing a small project and getting out from the window treatment side. Oh, I really love panels, or I really love Roman shades, or I'd rather focus on pillows. So, in that first kind of technician, we're learning the doing. We're doing it and learning to do it well. We're learning to sell, learning to sell what we love, learning to figure out who our ideal client is and just really focusing on if I can prove that this concept has legs enough for me to then move to the next level so that I can hire people to help me and I don't have to be the only doer. But I talked to one business owner and one of her comments was I have now effectively done every job in my business so that when I hire, I can show them and teach them how to do it, because I've done.

Courtney: Yeah, that's powerful. And I know in my business I've created all types of packages and offers based on what the need is. That came to me because I needed to create that proof and to understand where I really excelled. That gave me so much hands on experience within the first year. And it was so critical. If I had sat back and said, well, I need this specific client, I have to make this amount of money and if I don't get those, I'm going to say no without any proof of my work and expertise you're going to have a hard time or you'll be so riddled with anxiousness, wanting it to be perfect. You won't ever take the action and put yourself out there to do the job. My next question, you talked about this briefly, is this just a phase. It's okay for this to be a phase, but there has to be some type of future state that we're dreaming of talking about to get us to that second step, which is more, we’re becoming more manager roles in our business. I was looking up some statistics before this podcast and research shows that only about 20% of small businesses make it past the five year mark. And that's out of the initial hustle, say yes to everything. That mindset that I'm the only one that can do it in my business. No one else can do it the way I need it to be done. And why do you think so many people get stuck in this phase and can't make it into that manager stage? We'll talk a little bit more about what that is. But why do you think this transition is probably the biggest roadblock for people like this is where they typically stop and drop off.

Michele: So, I think it's for a couple of reasons. One, I think sometimes when we're thinking about this first phase as a test kitchen, if we can come into it with a curiosity like we had mentioned and realize that the ultimate goal is for us to step out of it, what we don't always do is indicate what it is we love. So, we indicate what needs to be done, but not necessarily what is it that only I can do. And so, then it's going to sound terrible ,and I don't mean it this way because I think most people have done it at some point, but we get a really big ego around how great we are at what we do, and we think, not rightly, that we're the only one who can do it that way.

Courtney: Yes.

Michele: But we also tend to think there's one way to do it, which is the way that we figured out. And so, when we can learn to look more at the outcome versus how it was done, I think we have a better chance of being able to ask for help. Yeah, I think sometimes too, we don't know how to hire, we don't know how to delegate, we don't know how to hand off information. We haven't written anything down to support us. We are so overwhelmed, Courtney, that would be the thing I tell you that shows up as this particular phase of entrepreneurship grows is the overwhelm. Because once you've proven the concept in the test kitchen that you make the best pizza, everybody wants a slice of that pizza. And now you're making a whole lot of pizzas, and you can't keep up with the demand for the pizza because you have perfected how great that pizza really is at the price point that your ideal client wants it. That's really what you're doing in this first phase. And so, what happens is people get so overwhelmed. So, delegate. So, I'm busy. They don't have time to delegate. So, they didn't plan it. I think if we could come into it, number one, realizing we're not the only one, we are replaceable. If you've been in corporate, you know that in corporate you don't even have the idea that I'm irreplaceable because you know that you are. Even in our own businesses, if we were to come at them going, we are replaceable. And our goal is to find somebody to help replace aspects of what we do so that we can do other things that we love, need, and want to do. Then we have a different mindset. So, our mindset stops us. The overwhelm of growing so quickly or so fast or not getting help when we first need it, or not knowing how to do it, that delegation kind of shutdown, all of that is what stops us.

Courtney: Yeah, that's really great. I think you hit the nail on the head with that one. And then the manager stage. So that's going to be like, okay, we're by ourselves. And like you said, in this phase for us to be not part of that we want to be the 20% that moves up into this next stage, and we start to kind of hone in on that mindset of even though I'm doing this by myself, how do I make this process repeatable? How do I document it? When I am making all these pizzas and I realize someone else has got to do this work with me or for me so we can continue to grow, moving into that manager phase of this entrepreneurship journey, what resources or what mindsets should they be starting to grasp or hone in on in this manager phase where they may be onboarding some new people for the first time? Some people, entrepreneurs, never even managed people. I mean, we see this a lot. They’ve either been a sole entrepreneur for a long time, or they came from another company where they were only responsible for their work. What are some things that they need to be looking for in terms of education, mindset shift, whatever that may be, to successfully go into this manager phase of their entrepreneurship journey.

Michele: So, I think that a good thing to think about is that manager doesn't just mean manager of people, it also means manager of work.

Courtney: Right.

Michele: So, that we can start to look at instead of just doing the work, we're managing the work. And I say that because sometimes it could be outsourcing where we're not bookkeeping where we're not necessarily on top of the bookkeeper every moment of every day trying to teach them how to bookkeep. They already know how we may be delegating because of the overwhelm and the entrepreneurial. We're going to start looking at very early on and going, if I'm moving to this next level, if I'm going to scale this business, if I need to make more money or have bigger projects or take on more projects, whatever that growth pattern looks like for you is starting to say I cannot do it all. Just being very clear about that. Asking yourself the question, what do I absolutely have to do that as only as the owner, I can be the only one to do it. We call that sometimes, the queen B role. What is it that as the owner I'm the only one position to do? And write that down. Then what is it that I love to do that I would feel heartbroken if I need to give up right now, write that down and then have the list of what's everything else that I can ask for help, delegate, hire for outsource for what am I willing to have other people do to help me in the growth opportunity before me? So, it's really just the mindset of I'm willing to ask for help. I'm not going to fall on the sword of martyrdom that I did it all by myself. And some of us carry around a badge of honor that we can do at all when really, we're just exhausted and falling apart and not sleeping at night. It's not worth it all.

Courtney: I have a quick question about that because I think this is really an interesting piece of this whole entrepreneurship journey is like we do. We know we take so much almost pride in like I do all of it. I've always done all of it. Do you see that built especially with women like do you feel like sometimes we take that work and that hustle as part of our value. Like in that thought of offloading, it maybe decreases our value or worth.

Michele: Yeah, absolutely, we do. I think we look at busyness as this badge of honor and it doesn't it feel good when somebody says like even when they say to me sometimes, wow, Michele, you run two companies and have a podcast. And I'm like, yeah, but if you notice, I scaled my podcast down from four times a month to two times. Like it could be very easy to be like, yeah, I do all that and I make my own bread every week and I'm exhausted and can't sleep and I do a lot of those things. But I have started narrowing down each of these areas because it can be an ego boost to be like, yeah, I do. Yeah, I do. I'm multifaceted, multi-talented. Watch me go. because we have been taught that or just even in the way that we pick up the clues around us that that is a value producing thing, that business and activity. Katie McDonald with B Nourished. She's on the podcast and I think her episode is coming up. I don't think it will be out when this one comes out, but one of the things that she talks about is that is not what we should be doing. When we can start to realize that our life matters. And for me, we need to work to live, not live to work. And so, when we can do that, we will all know when the point comes that we need to have help. And sometimes, let me make this comment. Sometimes when we first ask for help and get help and have to pay for that help, we do take a little less in salary. But if you think about it, that taking a step back to pay somebody frees up time for us to make more. If not, we've reached the full potential of what we even have an opportunity to reach. So, realizing that our time is honestly almost more important in some ways than all of the money that we can make in that time, it allows us to put it into balance. So, when we're looking at moving into this management phase, it's about whether I want to manage the workload, I want to manage this home life balance. I don't want to do everything. I don't want my badge of honor to be that I do everything. Maybe, you shift that and say, I want my badge of honor, that I'm not alone. I want the badge of honor that other people are helping me row this boat to get downstream to where we need to go and looking at things a little bit differently. And then the switch comes, Courtney, where we're being really clear and intentional about what we need help with and what level of help we can afford, because we can't always afford the highest in talent and everything. So, what we're trying to say is that do we need done and what is it that they need to be able to do at what level? And this is the pay that I have. And so how does all of that fit together so that you can start to get the help. And hopefully, here's the thing we haven't even talked about, and it really is getting to the visionary piece. But the hope is that even all the way back at the technician piece, where we're starting to build this business and starting to get curious, the hope is that we can see two or three years out, maybe for two or three ideas of what the business could become. Maybe we don't just have one idea, very clear vision, but maybe we see multiple pathways. And at the beginning it's about testing out to see which of those pathways feels most comfortable. The closer we're getting from technician to management to visionary, we're honing in on kind of a pathway that we want to take. S people already know that they. I want to run a big firm with 10 people. I have some that come to me and they're like, I really only want like a team of three or four and that plus outsource bookkeeping, that's all that I want. And that's fine if you know that. So, the more we know, the more we can make those management decisions.

Courtney: And I'd say too, from manager, so someone who success successfully is onboarded, maybe one or two, they're more project managing the work. They've identified the role, their role very clearly, really a job description at this point. You talk about that, what is your job description for the business and the next phase, which I didn't look up statistics on this, but I'm sure that percentage is very low from people that just go from that middle phase, they've managed, they've onboarded maybe one or two people to help support them, maybe work quicker. But very few actually get into this CEO visionary role where they have separated self from business to a certain extent. They have people that they trust. It's well functioning. and I think really back to that conversation of the value and doing all the work. I think and I think a lot of your top clients, in terms of revenue earnings, have done some of that work where they are working on how to separate their value worth from how many hours they work per week, so they can get on top of their business. and I think so few people get to this CEO strategist role. And like you said, this could, you only have two people, but you still are owning that CEO strategist role, or you have 10 plus people, depending on what you've defined for yourself. But so, people that move to this CEO strategist role, they've really done a great job of getting on top of their business. What kind of support do you think is the most transformative for this group? So, a lot of times we hear people, well, I have all these people, or maybe they've done some coaching or some education before, like, what's really gonna take me to the next level? We hear that sometimes, like, what is that resource?

Michele: Yeah. So, I want to take one step back so that we can jump forward. In that technician role, we talked about sales being the kind of thing they just need to make money. And after they're making money, because they've proven the point that they can do it with sales, they start making some money, some profits. In this management, they're really working on profitability and order and organization. So, they're starting to organize the processes, organize the things, making sure they're profitable, checking all the accounts. All those things that we teach in CFO2Go, and a lot of the others, they're doing that, that middle management piece of getting the company. We have good hiring processes, we have good client service processes, onboarding processes, and an off- board process. You're working on all those things. And then when they get to the last two areas, that's where we really start moving into a kind of visionary piece. And that visionary piece is looking at things like, what is the impact that we're having internally with our employees or subcontractors, and what is the impact we're having in the community or the world at large? And what is the legacy that we're looking to leave? So, it's really looking, like you said, for me, outside of myself, this is where we might see a business turn in management, where we're bringing in a senior. Let's use design, for example. We're bringing in that senior designer, and we're the principal designer. And we know that we are, I'm not going to say aging out, but we want to personally age out a little bit. We have some other things in our life that we want to do instead of devoting 40 hours a week plus to this company. And so, what we're going to do, we're not ready to sell it. We still want to own it, but we're going to raise up other managers under us at higher levels so that we can envision what is coming and where this company could go and keep this company around for a longer term as opposed to going, I'm tired, I'm going to trop the lights and the businesses. And so, to get to that place, there has to be other people working with you that have helped, that are doing the job of the technician. Because just because you moved out of it doesn't mean it doesn't need to be done. Somebody's still got to do that. Having additional managers under you that you are raising up, that you are leading, that you are guiding, you are literally coaching internally and investing back in your people because the better they are, the better you are. Right? So, there's fear that can come in if we're not careful of, oh, my gosh, I could teach them to be me and then they’re going to go start their own business. But if people are invested enough, not everybody wants to own their own company. But people usually, if you've hired the right people, they want to do really great work and have a career. So, if you create a company with a career path, not just jobs that people do, and they have empowerment for the things that they're doing, they're going to come along behind you. And then the support that you need as that visionary is somebody that can help you see what could be somebody that can help you vision it. And if you've done a visioning exercise, which I know you have and I have, we've done it, it is literally how deeply you can vision it or envision, taste, sound, see like you are trying to put all the pieces together. I was talking to a designer the other day. Similar to what the exercise that we did, in my workshop that we did, or the retreat, the elite retreat that we did, where I gave everybody a little baggie of Legos and Lego board and I said, build. And they're like, what do I build? I'm like, I'm not going to tell you what to build. Just build. And they all built something different, yet they had the exact same pieces and the exact same colors, but nobody put them together the same way. It's giving ourselves time and freedom, and honestly, you know this as well as I do, Courtney, it's about leaving. I told the group that I spoke to New Jersey. I said, when you're trying to do this type of work, do not go sit at your desk. Your mind works in a way of getting things done when you're standing behind that desk, go out into nature, go back on your porch, go to the beach, go to the lake, find somewhere else to go. And I think that when people really become visionary, they're not spending as much time in the office working on the project as they are looking out and about to see what's even possible, or where there's a hole in the market or what hasn't been done, or other ways of doing things that they can bring into their industry and into their work. There’s more of an outward focus than an inward focus at that time. Inwardly, we're going to try to meet the goals, but if we don't get out of our vacuum, we can't even think that way. We can only think, how do I do what I'm already doing?

Courtney: Yeah. And I think people underestimate how much time that truly takes to own that role. Yes, you might not be knocking off tasks for one of your projects, for one of your design projects, but just the true time and intention it takes to get into that visionary mindset and really predict what's to come. I mean, just in the last 12- 24 months, how much has changed in the design industry? How do we how do we remain competitive? How are we going to add new services or packages into our line that better align with what people.

Michele: And you are asking where does AI fit in? Right.

Courtney: Yeah, exactly. That relies on that CEO visionary to be spending time thinking about that. Because if you aren't there, before you know it, you're just working, working. industry has shifted, and what you've been working so hard on is not applicable anymore, or people want something different. And you re that learning curve and all that that comes into that. It's so important to be able to get in that role and allow yourself the time to do it. Well, I think a lot of people say CEO, but really under the hood, they're probably still just working technician work, not allowing themselves to get out of that, that initial phase one and two. But I know we talk so much about strategy at Scarlet Thread, and I think it's applicable for all three of these phases. What's your thoughts on strategy from day one as a business owner? Like, how do you take it from day one all the way up to CEO visionary? Do you encourage people to invest in a strategy? Like from day one? What would be your thoughts on that?

Michele: So, I'm going to do something to you again. I'm going to say something before I answer that question.

Courtney: Yeah.

Michele: Because do you remember how you asked the question a minute ago about busyness and if somehow, we derived our value or worth from being so I'm trying to remember where I heard/read this, but it talked about we have lost the art of thinking and contemplating and meditating and allowing our minds to work and to speak to us. And I know I've been guilty of that where I've gotten into ruts in my life and in my business where I almost shut down my thinking and just like an automaton just do what needs to be done. And it almost then feels like the thinking and the dreaming and the meditating and the contemplating are luxuries. Before I talk about the strategy piece, I'd really like to offer an alternative to that, Courtney. And that is that those are imperative.

Courtney: Yeah.

Michele: What if our badge of honor was. Wow. I thought about my business for six hours this week and I discovered blah, blah, blah. And now I'm going to implement. I mean, sometimes we're not implementing new ideas because we're not even having new ideas. We're not entertaining new ideas. We're not giving space for anybody else to come up with a new idea. I want to share this and then we'll talk about the strategies. So, when I spoke in New Jersey, I spoke at Anastasia Harrison's AHD & Co and Heirloom by AHD. And what was so interesting is we were talking strategy, and we were sharing some of Anastasia's strategy about how she and I had been working together, I think since 2020. And so almost five years now, actually five years. And the trade company that she has, HD Trade, was not even in her strategy. Her strategy from the very beginning was to have another space for her design firm to keep the architecture and the design in there together and then ultimately to have a storefront or a showroom. Okay, so she's done those things now within five years, I think the showroom was even an eight year plan but we six year plan and got it in early. But here's what happened. She shared all of her strategies with her team so that everybody knew where they were going and what they were working towards. And then she gave them the ability to think and use what they wanted for their own career within her company. And so, Zoe who was on her team came to her and said, “I would really like to do some trade, I would really like to open up this part of the business and set it up this way”. And so, Anastasia met with Zoe, did all of the strategy work. Remember this is like technicians stepping in under the umbrella of another company, and then Anastasia updated her strategy to include it. And so, when you are really giving yourself and your employees time to think about what they're doing, they will find better ways to do it, they will find new ways to do it, they will find small tweaks that can make a lot of money and save you time. And they're actually more invested in the outcome of what you're working towards when they can just think about it versus just checking things off a checklist. So, I want to offer that first because I think that it is a mindset that we need to even consider strategy at any of the levels is there is value in sitting down and thinking and in contemplating and meditating and asking the what if questions. What if I did that? What might happen? Adding and bringing that curiosity into that conversation. Yeah, most important.

Courtney: I'll share what you shared with me previously, what you said when you were up there. I was talking with a friend of mine who owns a business and she recently started saying for an hour every morning before she touches any of her clients work, she spends an hour thinking about her own business. So, just five hours a week, one hour. And the changes were significant just in those five hours in terms of being able to clearly see further than just till the end of the day because she was just working on everyone else's and I wrote down what you said but it's really ask everyone who's listening is do you spend as much time and intention building the company of your dreams as you do building your client's dream home. I thought that was such a great statement in question to make to those designers because you think of how much time we as service providers spend on other people's dreams and we're the ones that are strategizing, making a hundred decisions to make sure it's perfect, but we can't even give ourselves 30 minutes a week to do that for our business and we expect it to grow and give back to us. I think it's a good thing. That was very eye opening when you told me that statement you made. Because it's just like good grief for me too. I spend so much time on other people's businesses, by nature and just allowing a little bit of room to deep think about what am I even doing, what do I want this to do for me?

Michele: That's right. Well, and it came up at the event. One of the things was the same kind of suggestion. Some people were saying they come into work a little bit early and they only spend time on their own business before they start. Because like when you work out, like when you wake up in the morning, go ahead and get your workout in, maybe your Bible study or a quiet time, whatever it is you're trying to do for yourself so that when you start with other people, you have filled your tank so that you can then fill the tank of others. Same kind of conversation, just for business. All right, so when we are thinking about moving forward and strategy, when do we build it in? I would say the more that you can build it in from the beginning at least the idea of strategic thinking, which means this business is more than what is happening today. Just the idea of it is more than what's happening in the now. So, if I can start to think of maybe this is my testing ground, but my strategy is to be out of the testing ground by here. So even just strategizing for when I'm going to, my strategy is at some point I'm going to ask for help. Where do I start thinking the first help should come from? Who do I think could help me? So even just strategically asking yourself to think that way is the first step. Another very actionable thing that I shared was that sometimes we don't know what we want, but we know what we don't want. So, if you know what you don't want, write it down because that will guide you into what you do want. ask yourself why you have visceral feelings about certain things. Like I will never. If you have I will never statements, ask yourself to investigate those. Why do I feel that way? What has informed that way of thinking? Or if they're, conversely something that you're like, I want to be just like him or her when I grow up. Why? What is that? What do you see? What is it that they have that is alluring or drawing you that you think that process works well. And so just really learning to listen to yourself and to pull this information together is what you use to create a strategy. Just thinking about the fact that strategy, we don't just sit down and build it all in one day. It is a way of thinking. Another suggestion that one of the business owners had was they gave on the first day of work, they gave all of their employees a small journal and said when you have ideas, write them down. And then when we have our meetings, bring your journal because you might forget it and I might not always be available to hear it when you have it. So, even just empowering our teams to write down their thoughts and their opinions and their dreams and their goals for their position or for themselves or for the company, just helps move that along. So, to me that's the thing, learning how to think forward and not just reactive in the moment.

Courtney: Yeah, that's awesome. And I love how you said strategy is a way of thinking. Sometimes we can think that there needs to be some formal 30 page document that everyone follows all the time. I think the best strategizer thinks through every action item, every task, and every big objective. They can strategically think through their daily task and how to align it to that vision state, and that takes time and practice and by allowing yourself that time to even do it. But I know we're coming up on time and I wanted to talk a little bit. I know we have a big thing we've been working on in Scarlet Thread which is how do we provide resources around the business strategy for people in all phases of this entrepreneurship journey. And I know we've got the one-on-one strategy coaching that is going to be focused on those CEO visionary people who are looking for someone to intimately work with them over a long period of time. But we also have created an eight week more intensive group coaching program to help business owners in all three phases of this journey to create that starting point of a business strategy, something to help them and teach them how to do this strategic thinking through some group coaching calls. We've already ran it once this year and it was just incredible. I know we have one coming up, another cohort coming up in August. So, tell us a little bit more about that.

Michele: Yeah, that it is such a fun program. And it is, it's for businesses of all ages, if you will, from the beginning to some that have been in business 35 years that have really started thinking this way and want to think this way, or they thought this way and didn't know how to put it on paper or how to pull it together. And so, what we're really trying to just teach people to do is how to be very clear on who they are as business owners, really clear on what their business does, that intentionality of who we are and what we do and who we serve and how we serve them and what we're trying to accomplish in the world. What are we trying to do, how are we trying to be seen, what are we working towards? And then creating a plan of this is where we are, this is where we want to go, and how do we get there? I described it as. It's like saying this, I want to go to Bali on vacation. And then what are some of the things you do? Right, I want to go to Bali on vacation in 2026. So now what is it that I need to. That is my vision. It is very clear. Bali in 2026. I got to narrow down the month, I got to narrow down the date, I got to figure out how I'm going to get there. I got to figure out how to pack, what transportation looks like, where am I going to eat. All of that then becomes goals and tasks that are supportive of getting me to Bali in 2026. It's the same kind of thing, deciding where the company is going to go and then being very clear and intentional on how we're going to get there. So that you can say the best yes and the best no with no being next opportunity instead of feeling some guilt. In this eight week course, there's educational content that they can use. There are spreadsheets for accountability. There are forms that they can fill out that they will have so that they can have something on paper. And then we teach them how to update it, create it and be accountable to it.

Courtney: Yeah, the biggest piece I think is how we teach them. Okay, here's your strategy. Here's where you want to go. Now here is this tracker we've developed. So, you can leave here with an immediate list of action items over the next four quarters. Like that is, to me, the game changer and this isn't just hypothetical. We're digging in, we're building strategy and we're also going to outline what you need to do to achieve these future states, which to me is sometimes the biggest missing piece. But I know we'll put the link at the bottom of this podcast. If you want to sign up too you can just go to our website, scarletthreadconsulting.com under the coaching options, to join us.

Michele: Yeah, that sounds great. We're excited about doing it and to have all of you join us. So, Courtney, thank you for talking about the entrepreneurial journey today. It is my goal and your goal that people have good strategies because it just helps you make better decisions in your business. You can go to scarletthreadconsulting.com to get more information. There are opportunities for free downloads there as well. Check out the Work with Me page and you're going to see, this course starts August 7th. It goes for eight weeks every other week with one live coaching call every other week. And we'd love to have you join. Remember, always choose to be profitable because profit doesn't happen by accident.

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