Full Transcript

Sari

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! Welcome back to the podcast. We are in week three of the new year and I'm so curious, how are you doing? Are you still feeling the excitement and the motivation of a new year? And you know, you're like thinking like this is the year I'm going to launch or this is the year that I'm going to finally create a business that replaces my salary, or creates the profit, or the freedom, or the time that I envisioned. This is a really key week, this is the week where you will start to see attendance start to drop off at gyms all of a sudden, parking spots become available, right? All of a sudden, the less healthy restaurants become busy again as everybody's like kind of didn't really do the work of creating a sustainable plan. They're just focusing on intensity over consistency. And at today's podcast, I want to offer you a really key strategy. I've been doing this work with a client who doesn't actually have a product business but he wanted some help just creating a new version of himself, a 2.0 version as he says, and really being able to stick to new habits instead of doing what he normally does which is intensity over consistency. And you know, recognizing that that just doesn't work, it really doesn't work, right? That's why we all come out of the gate with these big resolutions and then three weeks, four weeks in, we're back to our old self. And we actually talked about this strategy of having an obstacle strategy and understanding what's going to come up as a tool for him now that he's, you know, heading into, he's actually in week three of a Badass 30 day Challenge as we're talking today. So this is going to be a really helpful, really useful tool for you, as you look, as you want to keep the energy and the enthusiasm and the motivation up. And it's probably the most important thing you can do as far as really visioning for yourself how you're going to handle obstacles. You know, I love a good future self strategy, I did a whole workshop on how to go to your future self and reverse engineer who you want to be and what you accomplish in that, you know, five year timeframe looking ahead, and then bringing it all back and saying, okay, how do I need to act and think and do and all the things. Love a good future self strategy! However, this other piece is so important to incorporate into that strategy because a future self strategy will really only get you so far because obstacles are inevitable. Things are going to happen outside in the world as well as internally that we should just expect something, if not a lot of things to happen that are going to get in the way. It's not if, it's when. And there's no better example of that in 2020 and a pandemic but there are lots of much smaller things that get in our way. And so today I want to talk with you about something I call obstacle strategy and this is just like it sounds, it is the strategy of preparing for obstacles that will come up, that we just need to plan for and have a plan when they do. And there are really two kinds of obstacles. There's the external ones, right? The things that are outside of our control for the most part, they're things like pandemic but also other people's opinions of us, could be our family or friends or our spouse, or just strangers who maybe don't like or want you to do what you're doing. It could be a certain amount of investment and money, capital that you need for your business that you don't have. It could be inflation. It could be a store says yes and then they decide to go in a different direction. It could be weather, sometimes that stops us, that's a big obstacle. It could be our health, right? Maybe we get sick or maybe somebody out one of our relationships, something happens with them, right? I had a client this year whose father was killed. I mean, that is a terrible obstacle, right? An external circumstance that she had zero control over, that can really stop us in our tracks. And those kinds of things are going to happen and I do think that it's important to just have a strategy even if it's just self compassion when something like this comes up. Like just knowing that things will happen, I guarantee you, that you will have at least one if not multiple things that will slow you down, that will get in your way of this big vision, right? You make a plan and then you throw away the plan. It's like, as soon as you make the plan, what's that phrase like, then God laughs or something like that. So. But nevertheless, just assume and expect it. And that helps to reduce some of the drama and the panic. It's when we think that things shouldn't happen and there should be no outside circumstances that derail us. And then we get caught up in the drama of the shoulds and the expectations instead of just getting to work solving the problem. And I find that that is one of the biggest things that slows people down when there's outside circumstances, is that they're arguing against reality and they think that it should not be the case that this thing outside of themselves is happening. So preparing for that just telling yourself right now, like hey, things are gonna happen outside of my control, I have no idea what. Life is here to surprise me and I'm just gonna, like, let myself feel the feels, I can get through this, I am resilient, I can figure it out. And I'm we're gonna get to the work of problem solving when this does happen. But the one that you really have the most control over and the one that I find to be the most problematic, meaning the thing that actually really slows you down more than anything is the internal stuff. It's really good news but you are the problem and you're also the solution. Because if you are the solution and you are the problem, it means you have power over it. That you have influence and you can control it. And so what I mean by this is that all the internal stuff, that's why I have a whole coaching presentation I've done for a number of groups about solving your biggest obstacles which is you, your mind, what is going on in there, right? The limiting beliefs that come up about whether you think you deserve this or you're enough or that you're capable of learning technology, or capable of learning how to sell, or capable of creating wealth and profit. It could be just your time management or lack of time management skills. And that you're allowing yourself to get distracted, to kind of go, you know, get procrastinate and let yourself get off track because of negative emotions that are coming up. I was listening to a podcast with I don't know if I'm gonna say his name right but Nir Eyal, N-I-R E-Y-A-L. And he had a really good, he has a book out called Indistractable, I believe. And he talked about distraction versus traction. I thought was so good, this concept. And I hadn't really thought about oftentimes we think of the opposite of distraction as focus. But if you actually look at the word, the word is traction, meaning like action with focus that we are getting momentum going, that we are moving closer to who we want to be, and what we want to achieve, right? We're like on the right track in action versus distraction is something that is moving us farther away from who we want to be and what we want to achieve. And really, the only difference there is being intentional like really saying, I am going to sit down and I'm going to work on this exact thing in my business, I'm going to do my social media posts, or I'm going to do that email, or I'm going to work on researching a manufacturer or I'm going to watch a module in Food Business Success. And it's like, you just put it on your calendar and you're like, for 30 minutes, I'm going to do this. And then you do not let yourself get distracted, you stay in traction and that is intentional, right? And it's not so much about the outside dings and rings, and pings, and all the things. Although I do highly recommend that you shut those off during your working hours. And frankly, in general, like you should be controlling your technology, not it controlling you. There's a lot of money that is devoted to keeping your attention and keeping you distracted from other things that are more important. And so, and he mentioned the study, which I thought was fascinating, are getting off on a little tangent, but I will circle back around. That 90% of when we check our phone, it's not because of the, you know, the ding or that red badge or something like that. It's actually because we're avoiding a feeling, that we're avoiding boredom or anxiety or stress or worry, or fear. Being afraid that we will fail if we actually do the thing, right? And so I'll bring it back around here to that internal piece of allowing our negative emotions and that we don't have to distract ourselves. And that sitting down and doing the work of what you need to do in your business or whatever goal you're working on. That we have to really measure our success in, did I do what I said I was going to do? I sat down and I worked for 30 minutes or 45 or 90 minutes, setting a timer, distraction free, I did that thing, right? And also I love this idea that time management is really pain management and managing our emotions. So it all really goes together. But our biggest internal, our biggest Achilles heel in general is our internal dialogue. It's all of those negative thoughts, right? And those limiting beliefs and the negative emotions that come up because of our thoughts. And you know what your soundtrack is. It's usually some version of I'm damn, I can't figure this out, things never work out for me, there's something wrong with me, I'm not enough, what's wrong with me? Why can't I figure this out? On and on and on. You know your own, there's some flavor. I definitely have some of those, right? We all do. We're all human. We have a human brain that thinks that it's helping us, that thinks that it's keeping us safe by having negative thoughts, right? It feels like it's doing something productive. And it's just a habit, you're in a habit of those negative thoughts and those thoughts and those limiting beliefs and those indulging in the negative emotions or not processing them. Just like when you buffer and you distract yourself, you're not actually dealing with the emotion, you're just delaying it. And it really slows you down. So what I want you to do, in addition to all of your amazing resolutions and your future self planning is the most important thing that you can do is to role play with yourself to create, to visualize, not only just do the fun visualizations of what it will be like when you achieve the goal but to visualize what you are going to do when dot, dot, dot, right? That when not if but when your negative thoughts come up, when you're feeling anxiety or fear or stress or worry or boredom or confusion, doubt. What are you going to do? That is perhaps the most important thing because yes, we need a compelling vision to help us like to pull us forward. But we get distracted. It's just a human thing. It's okay. And what are you going to do when that happens? So it could be when I find myself wanting to look at my phone, I'm going to do what, right? I'm going to pause for a minute and say, is this really what I should be looking at and doing right now? Oftentimes, I was doing that this morning where I was like, getting ready. And I'm like, okay, just focus, stay focused. And then I'm like, thinking about a vacation that I want to do with my girlfriend. And I was like, oh, I should check my Hyatt points. And I should do this. And I should check this and, and I was like, okay, this is not what I'm supposed to be doing. But here's the little trick, a little hack is I just said, but I am going to put it on my calendar, I'm going to give myself 30 minutes to figure out how to login because apparently, my login isn't working. But I'm going to log in and look at my rewards and look at the dates and do a little bit of research. So I now have that time on my calendar. So that part of my brain that's like, oh, this is really urgent and you got to drop what you're doing right now. It's like, no, no, I got you. I'm just going to put it on the calendar, we're going to do that later. So that I can focus and stay in traction now. So that's just one example.

But when something comes up, when you know, you're gonna get distracted. When that negative thought comes up, what are you going to do to move through it to overcome that obstacle? And just a little hack that I do especially around my negative thoughts, and the things that I want to reprogram is that I actually set recurring reminders on my phone. So every day, I have maybe eight reminders that come up that just like it's like, I'm trying to reprogram myself with the positive thoughts because the negative ones happen automatically. They're just a part of my 47 year history, right? They've been there a really long time. And we have to do it on purpose where we, you know, catch it, and we start to rewire it. And so just by every day looking at those reminders, things like I am in demand, and people want what I have to offer. And I am good enough, I am worthy of success, or I make great decisions, or I am safe in my success. Or I am a wealthy woman. And I am in so many ways, money aside, I am so wealthy. And just reminding myself because my brain loves to tell me all the opposite things just because it's a brain and it's trying to help me. And so it's really helpful to have those remindes and I just look at them really quick, and kind of take a pause and be like, oh yeah, I'm remembering this, I'm rewiring my brain on a new track. I also love putting an image on your phone, I like to do kind of the word of the year or have some theme for the year. So I'll create an image in Canva and have that be the screen, homescreen on my phone, or putting up sticky notes on your mirrors or around your office space. Really, really helpful. We have to do things on purpose in order to like create a new habit is what we're trying to do. But you have habits that probably there are some, if not many, that are not serving you. And we need to replace those habits with ones that are more beneficial and that help us overcome obstacles when they do happen. And this is just one of the reasons why I created Master Your Business, the 10 week program that's coming up on January 18th. This is exactly what we're going to do. We're gonna plan out the entire year, you're gonna map it out at a high level because you can't know or there will be external obstacles that will come up. But you can kind of say, oh, I want to release a new product or work on a new flavor here. I'm going to put it on the calendar for Q2 or Q3, right? And so we can do some high level planning and then we're also going to dig in deeper to Q1 and Q2. And part of this is that we have have to look at what are the obstacles that are going to come up, it could be, I know that I'm going to have a surgery, or visitors come into town or I know that this thing in my day job, right? Every year we have this big retreat, and we have a lot of planning to do. Whatever it is, there's going to be obstacles. And we have a tendency, our brain loves to be like, it like to plan based on nothing bad or "bad" like nothing derailing us from that. I think I mentioned in last week's podcast that, you know, if we think for like, yeah, it only takes me 15 minutes to get to the other side of town, we don't ever think, well, but that's only if there's zero traffic and zero accidents, right? So we want to plan as if we already knew that, hey, there might be traffic, and there might be a car wreck, and there could just be as really slow driver in front of me. So we're going to actually put it all on paper, I'm gonna "force you" because you're investing your money and your time in this program. And we're going to do that work, the work that you usually resist, and you distract yourself with the urgent things like, oh, I gotta check that email. And oh, I have that order. And oh, I gotta get that post up. And we let the important things, the things that will really set us up for success, and really get us so much closer to our goals is that harder work, but it's the work that keeps us in traction. So if this is something that you like piques your interest, I really would love for you to go check out the program, this will really help you step into becoming the CEO of your business and not just the employee, the maker, the doer. So go check that out at foodbizsuccess.com/profitin2023, I'll put the link in the show notes as well. Because the thing is, we all know what we should "do", right? The most important things that need to happen in your business if you already have a product. And if you don't know, I will help you to know. But most of you probably know, like I should be doing this planning, I should be checking my cash flow, I should be doing a forecast for the year, I should have an org chart and I should have an employee manual, things like that, we're going to actually do that work, because let's face it, you're probably never going to make time for it. Most of us don't, including myself, that's why I "forced" a retreat for myself with some other women to go up and we got a place and like forced ourselves to do that work. Because it's hard, it takes a lot of energy. And so I really would love for you to make this an important thing. And to really commit and put your, you know, make that investment. When you make an investment, you're more likely to show up and do the work. So please do consider doing this 10 week program with me, it's gonna be awesome. I'm so excited about it. So to close, how can you become more intentional and in integrity with yourself? How can we set yourself up to win where the only measure of success is did you do what you said you would do during that time without distraction? And that's a really big piece of that consistency over intensity. And to creating that obstacle strategy of how am I going to manage these obstacles as they come up? What strategies can I put into place? I was working with a client and he's starting a Badass 30 for January, because he really wants to make some big, pretty radical identity shifts for him around his work-life balance, and health. And we talked about a plan A and a plan B. And I've done this with some of you as well, who you're like, yeah, when things are going really well and I have health and the time and there's no outside circumstances that are getting in my way. Here's my Badass 30 strategy, and also having a plan B. So when you get sick or when something happens, it's outside of your control, that you have a way to still achieve success because that's really all we want. We want the psyche to start seeing you as a winner. Not as somebody who never finishes things and always drops the ball and you know can't get To Do list done, right? And so deciding on some of these obstacle strategies is going to make a huge difference in how close you get to achieving your 2023 goal. All right, that's what I have for you this week, do go check out the Master Your Business Program, we start January 18th. And Food Business Success will be opening up soon. It's not open yet. And I will be launching it with a challenge coming up.

So if you are one of those people listening that just has an idea, and you're like, I think this is my year, but I'm not quite sure if this is a good idea, help me be ready to launch. I'm going to be doing a prep for your launch challenge and if you want to be first to get notified about that, then go to foodbizsuccess.com/2023 and you can get on the email list so you will be the first to know when that launches. So excited. Alright, 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.