Full Transcript

Sari 0:00
Welcome to your Food Business Success. This podcast is for early stage entrepreneurs in the packaged food industry ready to finally turn that delicious idea into reality. I'm your host, Sari Kimbell. I have guided hundreds of food brand founders to success as an industry expert and business coach, and it's gotta be fun. In this podcast, I share with you mindset tools to become a true entrepreneur and run your business like a boss, interviews with industry experts to help you understand the business you are actually in, and food founder journeys so you can learn what worked and didn't work, and not feel so alone in your own journey. Now, let's jump in. Hey, there, welcome back to the podcast. Oh my gosh, it's mid December, how did this happen? So wild, I feel like it was just yesterday, we were talking about January and all the things you were going to do, and all of your goals that you had put out there. And I'm so curious, when you think about the goals that you set back in January or the end of last year, where are you in those goals? How do you feel about those goals, whether you achieve them or not? How do you feel about that goal? I will tell you that I started out 2022 very similar to how I've approached other years. And I set those goals and I was really gonna like go after it. And half about halfway through the year, I started to feel this almost a little bit of burnout like, I just can't keep doing it this way. And so today, on today's podcast, I want to talk to you about two different ways of going after goals. Because when I started learning this other technique and really doing the work, everything has changed for me. And even though I have not technically achieved my big goal that I set out in January, my impossible goal to be fair, I could make it mean all sorts of terrible things about myself but I'm not. And I'm not done. Like I'm still going after those big goals, they've shifted a little bit for me. But I'm wanting to talk to you about kind of the two ways that we can go about goal setting. I wanted to describe for you two ways, either the push method versus pull, or you could call it drive versus desire. They're very similar and I would use those interchangeably. So push or drive. And this is the traditional way that we go about setting goals versus what I'm gonna talk about towards the end is the pull or desire method. You probably set goals in your usual way that we all set goals, it's kind of this New Year's resolution model, right? It's like, alright, I'm finally going to do this, I'm setting this big goal, I'm gonna go after this. And we set a goal and we hopefully set an end date for it, and you know, an achievement date. But if you think about it, that date is pretty arbitrary. Like it's usually the end of the year. Or you might set a goal like, I'm going to make X number of dollars in sales, I'm going to make $100,000 in sales in 12 months, right, by the end of 2023. Or it could be I'm going to launch my business in three months, right? So March of 2023. And when we think about kind of more traditional goals, it could be like, I'm going to run a race by June 15th. Or I'm going to lose 20 pounds by April 30th, right? We have these kind of goals that we just arbitrarily choose a day we think that seems reasonable. And we set a big goal and then we're off and running. And hopefully you're feeling pretty excited about it. You're feeling determined and committed. You're like yeah, I'm gonna do this. This is what's happening next year. And so hopefully you say it to yourself, maybe to others, you write it down, you know, declare it. You start taking action towards it but if you think about it, there's not a ton of strategy involve there. We're not really making like, well, how much? How much time would it really take me to create 100k in sales? Or 500k? Or a million? Like, we haven't actually really done the work to think about, to put strategy behind, what would that actually look like? What would that take? And we always underestimate how much we can get done in a long period of time, say, like, five years or 10 years. And we really overestimate how much we can get done in a short period of time. So take like three months, or sometimes even 12 months, right? If you want to make a million dollars in sales, it potentially could take you a lot longer than 12 months. And so you go about the goal, you're like I'm in, I'm passionate, I'm motivated. And you have a launch plan, you're kind of thinking about like your initial first steps, maybe you consume information, you're probably researching, you ask other people for opinions, you just start taking action, maybe a little bit of like spaghetti against the wall, right? If you're trying to create more sales, you're like, well, let's try this over here and let's do this wholesale account. And let's go after Amazon and let's do ecommerce. And let's try this and this and this. And that's not a bad strategy per se, it just, again, maybe it's not the best strategy, maybe it's not the most well crafted, functional strategy that's really gonna get you there. And we're operating out of what we already know. So this is why I call it kind of the drive or the push method. It's like, we're really pushing ourselves forward or pushing the goal. And it's really based on what we've done to date, what we know about ourselves, and the information that we've gathered. And the problem with this is that we don't actually really know what's going to be required of us because you have never done it before. How would you know? I mean, I'm not saying that it's a problem that you are operating from this kind of present and past self. But let's just admit to ourselves that you've never created whatever that sales goal is, or you've never launched a food business. And so to put these arbitrary dates and sort of arbitrary strategy on it, is maybe not the best way to go about it. It always looks like there's a lot of activity happening, like, there's research and talking about it and thinking about it, and maybe taking some actions. So there's a lot of busy work and to the outside person, you'd be like, yeah, they're, they're doing stuff, right? And you in your head are like, yeah, there's a lot going on here. But it may not be the right thing. And is this kind of goal really going to help you overcome setbacks? So things are going to happen, I promise you, I can guarantee you with 100% accuracy, that you are going to have a plan, you know, you're gonna like this is my goal. And here's my plan to get here. And things are not going to happen the way that you thought that they would. There will be outside circumstances and there will be, there'll be like big world things, and then there'll be things close to home that happen. It could be a family member, or somebody close to you getting sick or passing away. It could be your own health. There could just be, you know, I mean, a worldwide pandemic, right? Or a recession as we're looking ahead potentially, right? There are outside things that are going to happen that are going to throw some curveballs into your plans for sure. And there's also just our mental, internal chatter that also slows us down. If we're not able to overcome that negative outlook that we're just wired, we're hardwired to have a negative outlook. And we don't have the tools to overcome that, all of that's going to slow us down. And so when there are setbacks, how is this goal going to help you overcome it? To me, I just get this sense and this is what was happening to me last year, or well this year but last January, and through the spring was it felt like I just really had to like muscle it through. I had to like push it forward like just keep going, gritting and just like, alright, well this does not work, let's try something different, right? Because I was making the goal so important that it really meant something about me and my self worth, and that I could finally, you know, celebrate me being a success and being happy. And that when I finally got there, it would equal, you know, worthiness or accomplishment, achievement, respect, pride, all those things. And so there was a lot of like, just pushing and gritting. And so I don't know if you've felt that way about your own life sometimes and sometimes when you go after goals. So you might learn something about your product that you're like, oh, I didn't know I had to go get that testing, or I had to go get that certification, or I have to go do this out of a kitchen, or I need this certain equipment. Or you thought you were gonna go to a farmers market. And oh, sounds like there's a waitlist. Now, what are you going to do? Or you put a little bit of social media up there, and then you're like, huh, it's not working. Everybody said it'd be so easy. And oftentimes, I find when people go after big goals is that they really don't anticipate the expenses that are involved in the investment. And so if you can kind of picture yourself, this is where people either quit, right? They're like, this is getting really hard. This is why this is the New Year's resolution model, right? Because we go forward with a lot of energy, and a lot of passion, a lot of commitment. But we haven't actually set ourselves up to use our brain effectively, to help us overcome obstacles and to continue to problem solve and practice resilience and work through courage and fear. And this is the place that if you are going to continue, if you've set up the goals this way, it's going to feel really hard, it's going to feel like you're pushing up that boulder up the hill, and that hill is getting steeper and steeper. And are you going to keep going? And like I said, this is the point where many people give up. And I'm guessing if you're listening to this, many of you have been in this position, and the cycle will start over again, right? Maybe it's three weeks from now you'll get back the energy and you'll be resolved and all the excitement, or it could be three months from now or three years from now. But this is the point where it starts to get hard. And if we're only relying on willpower, and how we think we will feel, the accomplishment, and the achievement and the pride at the end of the goal. Most people are not cut out with enough willpower. Willpower doesn't last very long, we actually have a limited amount of willpower every day. It takes a lot of energy in our brain so that's why, let's say you start out the day and you're like, I'm going to eat really healthy. But if you are presented with a lot of options that keep coming your way, the doughnuts, the trips to coffee shops with, you know, sweet things and, and the wine and the cheese and all the things by the end of the day, it's really hard to resist those because you've worn down your willpower. And it's just not the best tool in your box. It's a good thing, it can really help us but like I said, it's very limited. And you're just going to find that if you're only relying on grit and drive and pushing yourself. And oftentimes if you can just feel it, I'm trying to express it in my voice. But oftentimes, we're using fear, fear of disappointment, fear of self loathing, beating ourselves up. We're kind of using that as the fuel, as the motivation to keep going. So, you know, I don't want to mix metaphors here too much. But if you're, you know, trying to push that boulder up the hill to get to your goal. The fuel that you're using is not the cleanest fuel. It's really not the feel good, life sustaining fuel. So we have to be able to overcome this saboteur that is in your brain. This is the biggest thing stopping you. I see it all the time, I talk with people who have amazing products, who have amazing ideas. It's not your product that slowing you down. It doesn't matter how amazing your product is. It is you, it is the person in your brain, those thoughts that part of your brain that is slowing you down. And I, I will keep talking about this because this is so important that we have two brains, we have a primal part of our brain that we have to overcome with our prefrontal cortex, our thinking part of our brain. As human beings, we have the privilege of having this prefrontal cortex that can help us make decisions ahead of time, help us look ahead into the future and problem solve in ways that other species cannot. But we do have this primitive part of our brain that is still with us, part of our evolution. And all it wants is to exert the least amount of energy. So this is going to tell you all the reasons why you should stop, why this will feel better if you slow it down, if you stop trying, right, whether that's short term or long term. And the longer we don't take action, and we avoid it, because we get temporary relief from stopping, the harder it is to get the momentum back up, hence the New Year's resolution model. And then it also in addition to not wanting to exert the least, the least amount of energy, it's also avoiding pain, and it's seeking pleasure. It's actually kind of amazing. If you think about it, that big things get done. Don't you think like how on earth did cars get built, and we have technology like we do. And I mean, just the amazing connectivity and the access to things and big goals being achieved. It's kind of amazing to think about it but here's the trick is that it's actually those kinds of things like records being broken, and achievements and athletics and people doing amazing things in business and entrepreneurship. It's not happening through this traditional model. Alright, so let's talk about a different way of doing it. Imagine the same goal. It's the $100,000, the $500,000, the million, or could just be $5,000, it could be that you launch your business, whatever that goal is, I want you to go into the future. At some point, we're not even going to put a timeframe on it right now. So we're gonna go into the future where that is done. And it's that place in time where it's just like, yep, I've launched I'm in business, things are happening. Or I hit that goal, right? I hit that sales goal. And don't just imagine it for 30 seconds, I really want you to paint the vision, get really clear. What is it that you really want to achieve? What does it look like? Where are you at? Are you at farmers markets? Do you see yourself in the summer? Like it talking with people, giving out samples? Do you see yourself online doing the shipping or communicating with all the people or figuring out social media? Do you see yourself, you know, looking at your product on Amazon or seeing it on a store shelf, like really start to use your five senses to really make this vision? Like really crystal clear. Most people I asked some version of this when I talk with people for discovery calls for coaching or in Food Business Success. And I asked them, what does that look like for you? And they can't do it. It's, this is a skill, it doesn't come easily. But the more you practice it, the easier it does become. And so when I say, you know, you've launched your business, and it's some period of time in the future, tell me what that looks like. Where are you selling? What's your product? How many flavors? What is it look like? What are the conversations like? What are you wearing? I don't usually go that far into it because most people are like, I don't know. I mean, I want to do all the things. So we can do all the things at the beginning. So what one thing do you want to choose and then let's get really clear on that. Or if you are creating those big sale for you, whatever that looks like, how do you do it? Like, think about where you really want to be spending your time. What are you enjoying? And to be clear, this future vision should be fun. This should be amazing, this should feel so good. It's like we're delighting in it ahead of time, we're feeling that success, we're feeling that goal, achievement ahead of time. And so as we play around with that, can you just feel a difference? This is the pull method, or the desire method. It's like your future you has a string attached to that same boulder that we use in my metaphor, right, you're pushing it, and you are taking action, you are doing things, we can't just sit around and be like, okay, future self, make it happen, right? It's not how it works. But it's like the future you has come down in there like helping to pull that forward or helping to pull it up. And it just feel so much better. And when we feel better, and I've talked about this in a number of places, Hard Times Ahead Call, or here on the podcast. But our brains when we're stressed, we don't make good decisions. When we're doing it out of the push and the drive method, we're not having any fun, we're not problem solving, we're not looking at potential solutions, and considering all options, we're really just like, getting super focused because we're very stressed out. But instead of opening yourself up, I want, that's what I want you to do is feel the joy, feel the fun, the pride, like really see yourself doing this. And when you can hook on to that future you, he or she knows how you did this, there does have to be change in you, this is an identity shift for you to go from, I just have an idea. Or wherever you are in your business, if you're at $10,000 in sales, and you want to go to 100k, there is going to be a change in you. There has to be. You have to change your identity, it is your identity of that person who creates that, that is going to help pull you forward and really help you make better decisions, make more collaborative, fulfilling, you know those decisions that just really open up your world? And you're like, huh, look at that! Like I didn't know that that's how it was gonna happen but it did. And it really eases the journey, right? When we're pushing versus being pulled. There's an ease of the journey that says this is all part of it, the failures are part of it. So many of you, I see so many members inside Fuel, and my clients that are in such a rush. And why are you in such a rush? When we kind of theoretically, logically know that these things are going to take the time that they take, there's going to be lessons learned, there's going to be mistakes and yet we are, we often start out these goals in such a rush. Like we kind of get there, I gotta get there. And it's because we're trying to prove our success, we're trying to prove that this is a good idea, right? And I just love looking at the end goal and seeing, I don't know what the journey is going to be like. And I will tell you, every one of my clients, I can tell really quickly, if they are in it to enjoy the journey and how much faster success comes for them, versus the ones that just want to get to the end. I want to use a non food business example because I think this is really illustrative. So imagine, you look ahead, and we're just going to call it a general sort of retirement date, that there's some year in the future where you're going to be like, I can retire, I have enough money in the bank that I don't have to work and you might still want to work. Oftentimes when we do create that we do want to keep contributing. I find that true to be for entrepreneurs a lot that we just love creating value and contributing. But nevertheless, let's just say in the future, you can see yourself having enough money in your retirement to be able to not have to work. So for a nice number, let's just call it you want to have a million dollars. Some could argue that's not enough and whatever but that's fine. Let's just say you in the future have a million dollars in your retirement account and that means to you, I no longer have to work. Okay, so can you go to that place? Can you see yourself that vision of you, like just super proud of yourself for all the decisions, the little and big decisions that you made, the risks that you took, the failures that led you to this place? Like, it's done, it's inevitable, and you get to that place, and there's just an overwhelming sense of fulfillment and accomplishment, and pride and celebration and all of these great things. And think about why you want that. Can you see yourself whatever age that is, you know, is it 60, 65, 70? Maybe it's sooner than that. And you just see yourself kind of basking in that. And you ask yourself, why is that so important to me? Like why do I really want that? There has to be an emotional resonance, maybe it's that you want to be able to really do anything that you want to do? Like really follow your passion, that you want to be able to contribute to others and give back. That you just know when you're living a purpose filled life that money is just easy, and you have plenty and you're coming from a place of abundance, and your kids and your family are taken care of, right? So really get clear on that, like spend time in those sensory moments, right? The pleasure of it, the pride, the like, what are you wearing? What? Where are you at? Where are you living? What's, what's your family like? Like get really, really clear on it, okay? So if we're, like really coming from a place of gratitude and abundance and it's happening, done, can you see that the journey that you're going to take is going to be a lot more at ease, that you're going to look back on this, and you're going to be like, yeah, I'm gonna make some mistakes but it's happening, I'm gonna learn from them, I'm gonna grow, it's gonna take me in this sort of, you know, twisted, fun adventure. And you're just really curious, and you're open. And you're just like, yeah, let's just see how this works like it's going to happen. And your future self really helps define the journey, right? You're going to be like, hey, I actually want to save money here, or I want to learn how to invest. You're going to find guides, you're going to research and really learn, you're going to take action, you're going to learn from "failures" and you're just going to keep going. And again, I highly recommend any kind of future self goal that you are finding mentors, that you're finding experts in the industry, like, don't just set out and be like, oh, I'm gonna figure it all out on my own. That is the slowest way and the most expensive way to do this. So can you imagine doing it this way, versus sort of the traditional way where you're like, I gotta get there. And it's out of this negative energy, like, insufficiency, and like, you got to prove to yourself, and it's just never enough, and you're worried and stressed out about the future. And then you're gonna find yourself doing that, just like I talked about last week, like hooking your future self up, you're gonna find yourself if you're coming from that place, really going to extremes where you're like, I'm going to save all my money and not do anything fun. And it's going to be this grit and grind. And then you're gonna have like, this effort moment, where you're just like, oh, screw that, like, you're gonna go out and blow a bunch of money, and you're just not gonna care. And you're not really hooking your future self up. But if you're looking from the future, your decisions, the path become really clear. So I just thought using a non food business example might provide a lot of clarity like, oh, I can see that there. How do I apply that to my business? How do I apply this to this passion project that I really want to turn into my livelihood, or a very profitable side hustle, or whatever that looks like for you. Whether we want it to be here or not, the end of the year is almost here. And you get to decide, how do you want to go about setting goals? Now some of you don't even want to set goals because you're so worried about not achieving them. But at least if you're thinking like I do want to set a goal for this coming year. Which way do you want to do it? Which one feels more fun, which one feels better? And I promise you, if you go the way that it feels better, you're going to get so much closer. Tomorrow, it's not too late to get in. I have the Future Self Workshop the Go Big in 2023. And I'm going to be giving you the strategies, and the way our brain works and the brain life hacks that I have been using and helping my clients use, and it is changing everything about the experience of going after big goals. So it's only 19 bucks, you go to foodbizsuccess.com/future, and you can get registered. It's live tomorrow on Wednesday, December 14th, at 11am Mountain Time. But that also gets you the full replay and access to the worksheet and all of the good stuff we're going to be talking about in there. So if you want a different way to create your 2023, please come join us. And please, if you're thinking about waiting to join Food Business Success because so many people are telling me like well, I'll just wait because I'm not I want to be further along, or I want to go ahead and launch. And I'm like, no, that is exactly what this is for, do not put this off. This is everything because it's already going to be hard, right? You gotta push the boulder up and your future self is helping you to ease that load by pulling you forward. But you should be going up the right mountain, like let's not take the longest route possible and hit a bunch of dead ends. I want to help you skip that line, I want to help make sure you are on the right path. And you're not slowing yourself down by a ton of mistakes, or not considering all the ideas. I mean, I gave a woman in one of our calls the most, I'm just going to say, the most ingenious idea. And she was like, I've never thought about that, oh my gosh, that is going to change everything about my business. And that's what I love about getting to see all of you on our group calls. And the community people have gotten ideas from each other. It's just incredible. So please, please, please don't do this the hardest way it just breaks my heart when I hear people tell me that that they're going to wait till they're farther along. And I am closing new members joining starting December 22nd. And it's not going to be open until later in January. So do yourself a favor, hook your future self up and start now, get into the program now so you can start 2023 with a bang. You have options, do it the hard way with the push method, or pull yourself using your future self. Pull yourself towards your goal and make it so much easier. Come join me on that live workshop or get the replay. And until next time, have an amazing week. The smartest thing you can do as an entrepreneur is to invest in a who to help you with the how to speed up your journey and help you skip the line. When you are ready for more support and accountability to finally get this thing done. You can work with me in two ways. Get me all to yourself with one on one business coaching or join Food Business Success which includes membership inside Fuel, our community of food business founders that includes monthly live group coaching calls and so much more. It's one of my favorite places to hang out and I would love to see you there. Go to foodbizsuccess.com to start your journey towards your own Food Business Success.