Episode 38: Building A Better Relationship With Your Business with Lisa Jacobs
Lisa Jacobs began her journey in business with an Etsy storefront selling jewelry. Not before long, she quickly found success and eventually she started sharing her business knowledge on the Etsy forum. People loved her advice so much that blogs would post her threads word for word and credit her. This made her realize that she loved talking about business and helping others grow their own businesses. Eventually, Lisa shifted her focus to become a consultant, writer, and course creator. Lisa now works as Bonnie Christine’s Integrator and runs her own side business renting an Airbnb with her family.
Running Off Track
Lisa recalls a pivotal moment in her life when she attended a presentation by Tabatha Coffey. Tabatha was discussing business growth and how it goes against our natural human wiring, which is to stay small, play safe, and stick with a group. Lisa had been living on the "mountain of more," constantly chasing after more without a clear endpoint or vision. Tabatha warned about the dangers of pushing too hard outside of our comfort zone which could make our “train run right off the track.” Lisa realized that she was at her breaking point and that her business was owning her. Lisa realized that she had to find structure, categories, and routines for her day to compartmentalize her business within her life. Even if she wanted to run a company of one, she had to understand that a company has an org chart and roles and responsibilities that everyone has to invest in. Lisa learned that she had to focus and know where she was spending her time and where she was procrastinating.
Separate Yourself From Your Business
Lisa recently got into an Airbnb venture with her family in her hometown, and as soon as they purchased the property, they had complete trust in the business. Lisa realized that she had never felt that level of trust in her own creative business. It was here that she identified a difference between the personal business that she built as a creative and her Airbnb business. She realized that her Airbnb business was a very non-personal experience and that with her creative business she seemed to have a greater personal connection to it. Lisa explained that for us to have a better relationship with our businesses we need to be able separate ourselves/personalities from our businesses and also have full trust in it.
Trust Fall
Two questions were posed by Lisa which were, “can you do a trust fall with your business?” and “are you babying your business?” She explained that one of the challenges of running a business is ensuring that it can operate smoothly even when you are not physically present. She used the example of her Airbnb rental, explaining that the business needs to operate consistently every day, regardless of her personal schedule. Lisa explains that one way to help with building trust with your business is through careful and intentional planning. While it is easy to have good intentions and plan ahead, it can be difficult to motivate oneself to consistently stay ahead and ensure that the business is always being tended to. Lisa notes that it is important to regulate the delivery of work and not get too excited and share everything immediately. Sometimes it is better to hold back and work towards a larger goal with a longer runway, building up a system and sequence that can be launched at the right time. To achieve this, Lisa suggests giving each product or creation the same level of care and attention that she gave her Airbnb, testing it thoroughly and ensuring that it has everything it needs to succeed. In doing so, she believes that one can be strategic about the business they are running and give every aspect the time and planning it needs to truly thrive.
The Scarcity Mindset
Having a scarcity mindset can very much affect people who are trying to build and grow their businesses. Lisa explains that the fear of not knowing enough or doing enough drives us to compare ourselves to traditional employees who have a different way of working and getting paid. This comparison often leads to false starts, buying more courses and books, and wasting time. Lisa believes that people don't give their creations enough time to incubate and grow, leading to missed opportunities for growth. She suggests that slowing down and giving the product or creation time to grow is essential, just like planting a seed and allowing it to incubate. Scarcity creates a sense of urgency that pushes people to work harder, but it also costs them time and creates false starts. Comparing oneself to others is natural, but people need to be mindful of the comparison and avoid falling into the trap of scarcity.
Fast Track Toolkit
There are so many things to do and ideas that come and go in the creative entrepreneur’s life. Lisa explains what she calls “the daily scramble,” where you wake up and try to figure out what needs to be done to improve your business. Even with a well-thought-out plan, it's easy to get sidetracked and end up in left field. Lisa emphasizes the importance of staying focused on the most important tasks to achieve success in your business and she created The Fast Track Toolkit to help with this. Her toolkit helps keep you in batch focus mode, prioritizing the work that needs to be completed the most. The OCN Method is a key component of this toolkit, allowing you to log new ideas while still keeping focused on completing important tasks. Lisa believes that completing business is what makes actions interesting, and without completing tasks, you're not doing anything of value. By using the Fast Track toolkit, you can maintain a steady and consistent presence in your business and achieve your goals.
With Lisa's The Fast Track Toolkit (and less than an hour of your time), you’ll be empowered with tools to audit your schedule, filter your activities through a clarifying purification process, and use this system to spotlight exactly what you should be working on next! Check it out here.
KEY TAKEAWAYS:
If you're pushing so hard that you are far outside of your comfort zone, you run the risk of running your train off the tracks.
While its a necessary starting point to treat our businesses like a baby, that baby has to grow up. We don’t want to be babying our businesses forever…we want our businesses to baby us!
We must separate ourselves and our personality from our brand. This allows us to be more strategic and take things less personally. We also are in a position to think “does my business have everything it needs to operate successfully? Can it operate without me?”
If we are being really strategic about the businesses we are running, we definitely need to give every product, offer, or creation, a high level of care and respect. We cannot just launch things out into the world. They need time, planning, and some practice before we can let go.
If we boil down scarcity is is born out of this fear that we don't know what we're doing and we believe we're not doing enough. Scarcity drives us in what we're doing to keep up. It costs us a lot of time in wastage, because we are chasing something to make us fill the gap of confidence and trust in your own business.
Remember that your first idea started from a quiet vacuum, it didn't start from the giant feedback loop and looking at other businesses. You were just there with your idea and your business, where it was easy and effortless.
The nutrients in our soil to build a better relationship with our business that were mentioned were: trust, strong sense of self understanding so that you can offset your weaknesses, and implementing rhythm and routine.
Ask yourself and ask a friend, what is your personal vision for your business in it’s fullest flourishing state?
Sometimes we just need to hear someone remind us that our visions for our businesses and our lives are reasonable and completely doable and are in reach.
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Lisa Jacobs is a forward-thinking corporate development executive and best-selling author of multiple books, including Your Best Year: Final Draft and Marketing Playbook. She champions your business' sound structure, intentional planning, and strategic growth.
Visit www.marketyourcreativity.com for more from Lisa Jacobs and follow along on instagram.
