In this episode of Bella In Your Business:
The impact that podcasting and Shannon Hernandez has had on me and fellow pet sitters.
How to get your motivation back and your staff!
My top tips:
1. Evernote
2. MeetEdgar.com
Transcript:
Before we get started with today’s episode, I want to know, are you burnt out trying to hire employees? Or maybe you want to hire employees, but you’re just terrified of that boogeyman that does not exist in the closet. Well, this episode is sponsored by my free three-part webinar series, Jump and Scale Your Business, and I would love to see you there. It’s a must-have attend if you want staff, you want to grow, you feel like you’re held hostage, or you have high turnover. Signing up is as easy as going to jumpconsulting.net/scale.
Welcome to Bella in Your Business, where Bella will discuss anything and everything about your pet sitting business to help you land on target. So get ready, Bella’s got your chute. Let’s jump. Welcome back jumpers! This is Bella Vasta coming to you on Bella in Your Business. Thank you for joining me for episode five. Before we go forward, I’d appreciate it if you could jump on over to iTunes and type in Bella Vasta or Bella in Your Business and go ahead and subscribe to my podcast. That would be fantastic. Then you can get all the updates as they come out.
I hope you guys have been doing great. It’s been a little while since our last podcast, but I have found a whole new motivation to get back on target, so to speak, and I’m going to tell you a lot about that today. I have a couple of announcements and then I’m going to talk to you about two quick topics and then follow up with three awesome tips that are really going to help you in your business. And I can say that because they’ve helped me and my business. So let’s get started.
I was asked a couple of weeks ago to join this amazing expert hiring panel. It’s actually on Monday, March 31st, and it’s called Hiring in the Pet Industry. Basically, I have the pleasure of being interviewed by Mike, who is the owner and operator over there at Black Dog Marketing, and it’s going to be quite fun. What’s going on is that myself, along with a handful of other experts, are also going to be answering the same exact questions. They include: how do you know it’s time to hire someone, an overview of how the hiring process works in the organizations, where to look for talent, what to look for in a good candidate, and how to structure compensation.
I think it’s pretty awesome that we’re all going to be answering the same exact questions because it’ll be really different to hear the responses. I’m sure my responses are going to be quite different than others, and I know that you will learn a lot and take a lot from it. So it’s a free thing; you’d be silly not to listen to it, whether you’re thinking of hiring, thinking of switching from ICs to employees, or just want to hire more employees. Hiring is something that once you get involved with it, it’s always something that you’re doing. It’s never something you’re not doing or ever fully okay with. So get on board with that.
In the past three weeks or so, my good friend Shannon Hernandez, who is known as Shanman here on local radio KUPD in the Phoenix market, has been in the podcast realm for a little while now. Not only has he been a radio DJ for over ten years, but he also has been a teacher. So you combine those two amazing skills together and you have the most amazing podcast and performer that you could really get. He’s a really great person to learn from. So naturally, I joined his group, I joined his flock, so to speak. Remember how I always say birds of a feather flock together? Well, that’s definitely one flock I wanted to be a part of.
About three weeks ago, I got this email and he was launching these four modules, and I wanted in. So I got the product and it’s pretty amazing. It helps with podcasts and it walks you through everything you possibly need. Not only is there audio on it, of course, but there are also videos, workbooks, time sheets, and a module for podcast programming. It’s really neat how he gels together his understanding for radio and segments and also performance and what goes into a good performance, and why calling up on freeconferencecall.com and then just posting it on a blog doesn’t really cut it and sound professional. It’s kind of the difference between doing your own website and hiring someone to do it. He really shows you how to be awesome at it.
That is what helped me be re-motivated. So I started talking in my private coaching group to everyone and finding out who actually has a podcast, if anyone does or if anyone’s interested. A whole bunch of people responded. So I went back to Shannon and said, “Hey Shannon, I’ve got this community and we’d really like to learn from you.” We set up a webinar and Shannon packed our brains in one hour. It was even over my head, but I wasn’t too worried because I knew I had these awesome modules to go through at my own pace.
He only releases one module a week so that you don’t rush ahead and you really soak it all up. I thought it was really cool. At the end of that presentation, about five pet sitters joined his podcast and performance class, and they’re all in this other private Facebook group with me now too. It’s kind of funny because Shannon had this great little group of diverse people and then boom, here come all the pet sitters and we are just chatting it all up about pet-related podcasts. It’s kind of fun.
If you’re interested, I’d highly suggest that you connect with Shannon at shannonjhernandez.com. Find him on Facebook or Google Plus. If you actually go to my YouTube channel, which you can find by typing in Bella Vasta, one of my first webinars that’s posted is actually with Shannon, and we talk about Google Plus and also podcasting. That was from about a year ago, and you can just learn so much. I love learning. I get bored when I drive, I get bored when I walk, I get bored when I do laundry. So I like to listen to things and feed my brain and it also kind of gets me excited.
It’s kind of like what people who work out experience — I don’t exactly go work out — but it gets my endorphins going, and it makes me excited. Which kind of leads me to my second thing I wanted to talk to you guys about today: motivation. How do you get back your motivation? Because once you lose it, gosh, it’s pretty hard to get back. You ever have those days where you have these thoughts and you want to execute them but there’s just no way on God’s green earth you actually can do it?
Then you get discouraged because you can’t actually execute. Or maybe you just have the time but you have no idea what to do or where to start or how to go about it. Being stuck in a rut is really hard, and I’ve been there. I am there right now, in fact. My life has kind of been turned upside down for the best, and I want to be really clear I am not complaining whatsoever. I have my beautiful baby daughter. She is alive when she had less than a one percent chance of being alive, and she’s going to be just fine. In fact, she’s sleeping and I can hear her sucking in the other room.
So what happens when you lose that motivation? First thing I want you to do is don’t get so down on yourself. Get rid of that stinking thinking and that negative Nancy in your head. Tell her to shut up and go next door. There’s no room at your inn for her because that’s one of the biggest things that leads into my second rule when I coach, which is: you are your own worst enemy.
So please don’t give in to the thought of “I’ll never get it done” or “It’s going to stink” or “I can’t do it.” You have to keep pushing forward. When I first sat down to tape this podcast the very first time, I thought I was ready to go. And I had to keep stopping because different things were happening. I tried to splice it back together and I messed the whole thing up. So this is actually my second round doing this podcast tonight, and it’s actually kind of good because, first of all, I didn’t let it stop me, even though I really just wanted to lay on the couch and watch TV.
The second thing is, now I have a dry run so you guys are getting everything that I have to say the second time. Lucky you. So why do you do what you do? Because that’s also going to help you with your motivation. You’re going to get back to the why — the so what factor — the reason for your being. Why do you do this? Why do you work day in and day out every single day in the grind, answering the phone, dealing with people’s problems, playing with the pets, walking the dogs, listening to your staff complain maybe, listening to your husband or wife tell you that you’re a workaholic, feeling like you’re so tired, feeling like there’s no end in sight.
Why do you do all of this? For me, it’s because of my beautiful daughter and my handsome husband, my family. I want to do it for my family. And I have no idea how anyone could ever go through what I went through, am going through quite frankly, and have to go to work or have to have daycare. There’s just no possible way. And I cannot explain to you how much of a blessing my coaching company and my pet sitting company have been to me. The obvious reason is that we still have income. But the other part is that it’s an escape for me.
When my life gets hectic and I just want to stop being mom for 20 minutes and feel like I’m making an impact on someone’s life, I can go sit down, do a podcast, write a blog, do a status update, or come up with a profile. I can allow my creativity to run, and it’s kind of like a mental sprint. That’s what works for me. You might be completely different, and that’s okay. I encourage you to figure out what exactly that is and how you can motivate yourself, because knowing what motivates you is something that’s really important.
What are your strengths? What are your weaknesses? What are the things that will totally destroy you? I can tell you, with 100% honesty, the one thing that will totally destroy me is if I do not sleep. If I do not sleep, I am a cranky person. I cannot think. I have no patience. I just lose it. I have to sleep, and it’s like when my sleep tank is low, I am running on fumes and it is not pretty. So what destroys you? What are the things that can just completely bring you down, and what can you do to prevent them from happening? If you can identify those triggers and if you can identify the things that you can do to make them not happen or be proactive, then you can kind of get your motivation back.
It’s about being mindful. It’s about taking a step back, realizing where you are, where you want to be, and where you came from. Because when you get too caught up in what you’re doing, sometimes you can’t see the forest through the trees. When you sit there and you think about where you’ve come from — maybe you were the one walking the dogs and doing all of the visits and the scheduling, and now you have staff that’s doing it for you — you can pat yourself on the back and realize, “Hey, I’m not in the same place I was a year ago.”
That also goes into being your own best friend. I know we just talked about you being your own worst enemy, but you also have to be your own best friend. You have to encourage yourself. You have to be the person that motivates yourself and pushes you forward because, in the end, nobody is going to care more about your business and your life than you. No one. Not your spouse, not your friends, not your parents, not your staff. Nobody. You are the one that has to want it the most.
So if you want that motivation back, if you want to get out of that rut, if you want to feel like you’re getting back to who you are and why you do what you do, you have to take control of it. You have to look inside and figure out what makes you tick. You have to make a plan. You have to put it into action. Because sitting there wishing for it to come back isn’t going to do anything. Wishing doesn’t make it happen. Doing does.
So that’s my little rant about motivation. The next thing I wanted to talk about was stress, because motivation and stress kind of go hand in hand. Stress will destroy your motivation, and sometimes when you have no motivation, it creates more stress. It’s a vicious cycle. So how do we deal with stress? First of all, you have to learn how to say no. Oh, that’s a hard one, isn’t it? I am a people pleaser by nature. I hate saying no to people. I want to make everyone happy all the time. But I have learned that saying yes to everything means saying no to myself.
If you say yes to everything, you are not leaving room for yourself, for your family, or for the things that really matter. So learn to say no. And it’s okay. You can say no nicely. You can say, “Thank you so much for thinking of me, but I’m not going to be able to take that on right now.” Or, “I really appreciate that opportunity, but my plate is full.” You don’t have to give anyone a long explanation or feel guilty about it. Just say no.
The next thing about stress is delegating. If you are stressed, chances are you are trying to do too much on your own. You cannot do it all. You cannot be the marketer, the scheduler, the walker, the sitter, the social media person, the bookkeeper, the accountant, the HR person, the web designer, the customer service rep, and the janitor all in one. You have to let go of some control and let other people help you.
When I finally started delegating in my pet sitting company, it was life-changing. I hired an office manager. I hired more staff. I hired people to do the things that I didn’t enjoy doing. And you know what? My business grew. Because I finally had time to focus on what I do best. You have to figure out what your zone of genius is — the thing that only you can do — and focus on that.
Another thing about stress is to take care of yourself. Self-care is not selfish. It’s necessary. You cannot pour from an empty cup. If you are constantly giving, giving, giving, and never refilling your cup, you are going to burn out. You are going to be resentful. You are going to start hating the very thing you once loved. So take time for yourself. Go get a massage. Take a nap. Go for a walk. Read a book. Spend time with your family. Do something that makes you feel good and recharges you.
You have to make yourself a priority. Because if you don’t, nobody else will. And finally, when it comes to stress, you have to change your perspective. You have to stop looking at everything as a crisis and start looking at it as a challenge. Challenges can be overcome. Crises feel hopeless. It’s all about mindset.
When something goes wrong in your business — and it will — take a deep breath and ask yourself, “Okay, what can I learn from this? How can I make sure it doesn’t happen again?” Because every single mistake, every single failure, is an opportunity to learn and grow.
So those are my thoughts on stress. Learn to say no. Delegate. Take care of yourself. Change your perspective. And now, to wrap this all up, I promised you three tips that are really going to help you in your business.
Number one: track your numbers. I don’t care if you hate math, if you hate spreadsheets, or if you think you’re not a numbers person. You have to know your numbers. You have to know how much money is coming in, how much is going out, where it’s going, what your profit margin is, what your average client spends, what your cost per visit is, what your payroll percentage is. Because if you don’t know your numbers, you don’t know your business.
When you know your numbers, you can make smart decisions. You can see what’s working and what’s not. You can make adjustments before things get out of control. So start tracking your numbers today. Even if it’s just in a simple spreadsheet, write it down.
Number two: create systems. Systems are what will save you. Systems are what allow you to step away from your business and have it still run smoothly. Systems create consistency. They create efficiency. They make it possible for you to grow without losing your mind.
Document everything you do. Every process. Every step. From how you answer the phone, to how you onboard a new client, to how you train a new employee. Write it down. Make it simple. Make it clear. And then follow it. Systems will set you free.
And number three: never stop learning. The moment you think you know it all is the moment your business starts to die. There is always something new to learn. There is always a way to do something better. Read books. Listen to podcasts. Attend conferences. Take courses. Surround yourself with people who are smarter than you.
Never stop learning. Never stop growing. Because when you grow, your business grows. When you get better, your business gets better. So there you have it. Track your numbers. Create systems. Never stop learning.
And that’s all I have for you today, jumpers. I hope this inspired you. I hope it motivated you. I hope it reminded you that you are not alone, and that you can do this. We all have our moments of doubt, our moments of stress, our moments of burnout, but you are stronger than you think.
Thank you so much for listening to Bella in Your Business. If you want to connect with me, you can find me on Facebook at facebook.com/jumpconsulting. You can visit my website at jumpconsulting.net. And don’t forget to subscribe on iTunes or Stitcher so you never miss an episode.
Until next time, keep jumping. Thanks for jumping with Bella in Your Business. For more information, free articles, free coaching sessions, and more, go to jumpconsulting.net. And remember, Bella’s got your chute.