Welcome back – I am so excited to dive in to this topic, how to HAVE it all without having to DO it all.
Earlier this year, one of my business partners, dear friends and wise mentors, Jane Harrell of ‘cause Digital Marketing gave me one of my favorite mantras. She said, Nic..
you CAN do ANYTHING, but you can’t do EVERYTHING.
Oh man, she totally got me. Historically, I am one of this hectic, serial entrepreneurs who reallly struggles to focus on one thing at a time. Can you relate to that? I am busy now, learning the lesson of not just how to say no to the things I don’t want to do, but how to say no to the things I DO want to do… learning to priortize is a bitch.
If this is something you struggle with, check out the book Essentialism. It’s a great kickstart to help you learn the critical skills to focus on what matters, before it’s too late.
SO, it’s true, we can achieve anything we desire, but we cannot achieve everything that comes to our mind, that we scribble down in our notebook or add to our Trello board and our pinterest. And that’s OK.
The first step to having it all, without doing it all, is learning the art of the graceful no, even when our heart is screaming yes… and finding peace and joy in a few GREAT things, instead of dozens of mediocre things. Honestly, this is a lesson I’m still working on – but I’ve gotten much better in the past few years – and I’ve made some huge sacrifices, but putting down my camera and no longer offering graphic design services, both of which I love, in order to focus on what matters most to me, what I am BEST at, and where I can do the most good.
Taking that one step further, our next lesson lies in the illusion that we must get good at everything in order to succeed, when i fact, the opposite is true. Each of us have unique magic that we will be able to leverage in order to have it all. Unfortunately as entrepreneurs, most of us go through phases in the growth of our business where we have to wear a TON of hats, and complete and own a lot of different tasks. Some of these we’ll be naturally great at and enjoy, some of them… not so much.
During these bootstrapping years we tend to create some control-freak, do-it-all habits that leave us believe
Two Big Myths:
- We have to do it all in order for it to be done right
- We have to be good at everything
The first one is really tough, because we’ll inevitably go through the horrifying process of finding and training someone, and they will inevitably let us down. Let’s face it, hiring teams, delegating tasks, outsourcing… these things are rife with opportunities for people to disappoint us… and if we allow that to be proof that we have to do everything ourselves, instead of proof that we need better processes and better communication – we’re setting ourselves up for business that play small and teams that are resentful. It takes time to get this working like clockwork, and there will be a few disasters and disappointments along the way – but remember I said there’d be some discomfort? Yup. Here’s one of those things that just sucks. Let’s call it growing pains.
Second, during these times of discomfort and disappointment, the belief that we have to be good at everything gets reinforced, and sadly, we start to load tons of shame baggage on top of our already weary shoulders. If we’re not marketing people or numbers people, if we’re introverts or makers – we fear that if we don’t ever master what we’re not currently good at, we’ll never succeed. This is a straight-up lie. What we need to do instead, is get clearer and clearer on what we ARE good at, and how to leverage it to build our brand, and we need to work on the whole ‘we have to do everything ourselves’ mindset – to start outsourcing the other stuff. Because here’s the truth…
You don’t need to be anyone other than who you are – you can have it all being you.
You have wonderful unique magic you well be able to leverage to build a brand that matters, and you need to work to get yourself and the business in a position where you have as much time as possible to focus on THAT instead of feeling guilty about the other crap that will never be your genius.
One of the models I’ve been working on to identify where we are, and who we need to balance us, is what I call the ‘Spectrum of Magic’. This is a spectrum that all entrepreneurs will fit into somewhere…
On the left, in the blue, we have, what I call ‘Method Makers’, the art science department. The Entrepreneurs who fall on this side of the spectrum are planners, process people, who like to reduce risk, keep an eye on scaling, focus on precision and on function over form. Method Makers usually operate from an ‘outside-in’ approach, meaning they want to see all the facts and figures and make the most logical decision.
Over on the right, in the red, we have the art department, the ‘Maddness Makers’. Entrepreneurs who are heavy on the ‘Maddness’ side of the spectrum, are innovative, creative, full of excitement and ideas that they want to implement right away. This side is full of dreamers and risk takers, artists and entrepreneurs focused on expression and ‘inside-out’ approach where they follow their gut and intuition. Typically Maddness Makers don’t enjoy time constraints or rules, but they do often love the pretty or exciting details.
In the middle, you have the purple zone… the balance of method and maddness, the magic department where ‘Magic Makers’ live and work. When you’re in the magic zone, you’re both authentic AND scalable, creative AND planned, the big picture is mapped out, and so are the pretty little details. This is where marketing genius lives, and where most of us will find ‘flow’
Are you in one of these extremes?
My partner I mentioned earlier, Jane, falls heavily into the ‘Method’ side, and I fall heavily into the ‘Maddness’ side, and we actually pull each other closer to the magic zone… because working with each other requires each of us to respect the boundaries and needs of the other. So, while I don’t need to become more method, I may need to commit to some more deadlines or have more big picture discussions than I would on my own. Equally, Jane doesn’t need to be more maddness, but she may need to be a bit more flexible or accept higher levels of risk, to allow me freedom to do my best work. Together, we both create Magic.
Having the balance of the other, helps us operate in the ‘Magic Maker’ zone more often. If you identify as one or the other of these extremes, I highly recommend you find yourself a mentor, partner or high-level team member, who is in the other. That person will help you stay in magicville without having to become someone you’re not.
The last point I want to mention, is the idea of building a brand that matters. In the first two episodes of this podcast you’ve heard me refer to building a ‘brand that matters’ instead of just a business, in order to ‘have it all’. Well, we’ll dive more into that next week, but want I want to say here, is that by building a brand that matters, instead of just a business, you’re creating something inherently sustainable, profitable, desirable and meaningful, instead of something that has just one job, which for a business, is to make money.
A brand that matters is steeped in humanity so it’s more fun to operate, market and buy from. A brand that matter leverages the strengths of the human(s) who built it. When you build a brand that matters, not only is your magic your strength and competitive advantage (so it’s critical you don’t dull it down by trying to do everything), but brands that matter can afford to outsource, hire teams and invest in creating repeatable processes and systems, all of which increase efficiency results and your personal freedom.
So, to review, our — steps to Having it all, without DOING it all, are:
- Learn to say no to some things we love
- Practice letting go. We don’t have to do it all ourselves for it to be done right
- Accept that we don’t have to become someone different to succeed
- Aim to operate in the magic zone more often by finding people to balance us out
- Build a brand that matters instead of just a business
Wow that list may only have 5 things on it, but it’s 5 big things! My recommendation is that you don’t get bogged down by all of them at once, but to have a look at the list and pick one to focus on first.
Which one will you pick to look at first? Jump in to our free, private facebook page, and tell us:
‘Magic Makers HQ’ Facebook Group
That’s it for our third episode of the Magic Maker podcast – welcome to the headquarters of entrepreneurs who want to do good, be real, find happy and build brands that matter.
We’re thrilled you’re here.
Next week, I’ll be diving more into the nitty gritty of how to build a brand that matters. If you enjoyed this episode you’ll love episode 3!
If you want to make sure you never miss an episode, be sure to subscribe and of course, we would be so grateful if you would be willing to invest a few moments of your precious time by giving reviewing this podcast on iTunes, so we can reach more magic makers and help too, to change their lives, and the world.
We’ll see you next time!
xx – Nic
