[Part 1] Answering Your Business Questions with Emma-Louise

[00:00:00] Emma-Louise Parkes: Hello. Hello and welcome to the final episode of ambitious introvert podcast for 2021. Today is a solo episode. And a while ago I asked my email list and also my Instagram following, like what questions would they love to ask me that I could answer on the show and. An overwhelming response. So consider this as part one and next week in the first episode of the new year, I will be answering the rest of the.

So, what I decided to do is to break it up into more business type questions today that people had asked, wanting to know about how I run my business or how that’s gone over the last year. And then next week, it’s a little bit more, um, personal, I guess, so stuff around my sensitivity mindset, all of that.

So I’ve kind of loosely broken them into two, but. What I really wanted to create was a couple of episodes that during the holiday season, you can listen to, without really being in your business without having to learn anything without having to consume or be educated, but you can still really get some value from.

And what I would invite you to do is to listen through to this episode once. And then I would invite you to listen through again with notepad and use the questions that people have sent in for me as reflections and journal prompts for yourself on your own 2021, because they’re really great questions.

I haven’t prepared my answers stay by the way. I’ve just, I put all the questions in a document. I’ve just opened it up and I’m just going to go with the flow. What I think is really powerful about that is it reminded me of what I would do. Someone gave me a journal prompt. So I would love you to use them like that.

If you feel it would be beneficial to be able to reflect and see what went well. We see what’s going well, you know where you are lit up in your business or the areas that need some, some more attention. So whether you are all snuggled up cozy over the whole days, listening to this, or whether you have taken me outdoors for a walk or on a drive, because you need to escape and spend some time introvert.

And then I hope that you enjoy what’s to come. So first question is what were unplanned things you did in your business that worked out really well. And what were things you planned in January, 2021 that didn’t make the cut or you didn’t do. Okay. So a straightaway, couple of unplanned things. Come to mind that went really well.

The first is joining the conscious consultants certification like that wasn’t even on my radar, it was not planning to get certified in anything else. Um, I have a lot of certifications. Wasn’t something that I was even considering until I saw the email, which was, I think in January. So definitely was not on the horizon.

It’s all did not expect to be invested in and spending six months doing a lot of study for a certification. And it worked out so well. It was one of the best things they’ve done in my business. The second thing that I did, which was not planned was I launched a mastermind. So that was not on the cards at all.

But in March, April time, I got fully booked with my one-on-one very quickly, far faster than I was anticipating. And my coach was. Very keen for me to launch a group, obviously. So I could serve more clients scale my business, and I had a resistance to it. So I sat with it for a week or so. Um, I’m an emotional generator in human design, so the felt into it and sat with it and went through the waves.

And what I realized is that I felt with a group, I would not have the time to dedicate, to creating really high quality resources. Um, With a group program. I believe that is one fundamental things, which ironically, now being a certified consultant, I have all of that stuff. So I had that real resistance and it just occurred to me as I should run a mastermind.

I’m a trained facilitator. I run mastermind days when I was in aviation and it’s much more of a community feel with mastermind in where the whole group gets involved with each other. It meant that I didn’t have to spend a lot of time creating resources behind the scenes, because it was much more about the time on the calls and the support.

So my counter to that while. I’d rather run a mastermind, which my coach said, yeah, go ahead. And the mastermind, oh, I don’t even, I can’t even. Articulate how it’s improved my business because not only from a revenue point of view, which if I look at all of the offshoots, like the people that signed up and then the people that signed as one-on-one plans or the people that didn’t sign up, but had an intensive, or the people that went through it and then recommended a client to me, or, you know, one of the pods asked to go again when they vanished.

So we didn’t have three months and we’ll likely do another three months, um, next year, I don’t even know, but it’s, it’s multiple five figures, which is just incredible for an idea that I had off the bat. And also I have loved doing it. I’ve loved having that type of connection with clients. So I really, yeah, that is of all the things.

I think the mastermind is the thing that surprised me and lit me up the most. Ask for things I planned in January, 2021 that didn’t make the cut or I didn’t do. Okay. Uh, so I planned to have a lot more digital resources. So whether that was self study courses or bundles or downloads or masterclasses or, or whatever that was, that was where I imagined going.

Wow. I started to fill up my one-on-one, um, which I didn’t expect would be so early in the year, but because of taking the certification, there was no point in creating all of that stuff. When I had so much to learn and I could make it such a higher quality if I just waited until afterwards. That stuff is definitely to come in 20, 22.

Something else that I planned that I didn’t do was I got invited to be an executive contributor for brains magazine, which I accepted in the November of 2020. And I had the opportunity to write up to 1200. For brains throughout the year. And that’s something that I plan to do once a month. And I just didn’t, I did not utilize that opportunity at all.

For various reasons, I started to write more long form social media posts. They started to add things to the blog and it just seemed that spending the time and effort on my own content rather than providing content elsewhere. Just made more sense. So that is something else that I didn’t do. Okay.

Question two is best investment or worse brackets, least valuable you made in 2020. Okay. Um, let’s do worst or least valuable first, um, the subscription to be a brain’s executive contributor, because as I said, I didn’t write 12 articles. I wrote one. So that was the least valuable investment, but that has nothing to do with.

Then that was to do with my focus changed. You know, I took on a certification, I got full with clients. My, my priorities changed. So that, that was a least valuable investment. I made another investment in paid publicity early on in 2021, which definitely did not have an ROI for me. So the lesson there is that paid publicity is, is not for me.

Uh, best investment I made. Um, wow. So let me run through some of the things that I’ve invested in this year to give you, um, some clarity obviously invested in the conscious consultant certification. Obviously I invested in my one-on-one coach. I also invested in working with an energy coach. I invested in working with a messaging coach and I also invested in working with an instructional designer to design my program suite in a way that means that, um, it’s a beautiful client journey, very easy to follow, and to make sure that the information was presented in a way that people can action and assimilate, rather than just throwing a ton of information into, you know, Uh, website and letting people just get confused and overwhelmed, like I’ve done so many times.

So in terms of the best investment, they really all linked together because without the one-on-one coach, I wouldn’t have decided to take the certification and without the energy coach, I probably wouldn’t have felt confident in doing some of the other things. And then without the certification, I wouldn’t have hired the instructional designer because I wouldn’t have had all these amazing resources and frameworks to share with you guys.

So I really do feel that they all come together, but I would say. Best. If I have to choose is the one-on-one coaching because without that solid foundation where I’d got my strategy and my mindset down, then I probably wouldn’t have seen the opportunities in the other things. I wouldn’t have been as confident to invest in them.

Okay. Number three, what’s something you noticed your clients face in common besides being introverts. Okay. Um,

I would say. Overthinking and overwhelm and the tendency to get in their heads. And I recognize this because this can also be me at times. And. And on the flip side, something that they all face in common is that they are incredibly caring and care very, very much about not only the quality of the work they do, but the impact that it has on the people that invest in them.

So. There’s obviously, uh, you know, a light and a dark side to, to both of these, the overthinking means that they tend not to just rush in and make crazy decisions, but they can also get stuck in prepare mode. And the Karen obviously means that there are beautiful people that are making a difference in the world, but it also means that their sensitivity can show up and they can maybe take things.

Personally in a way that can hinder them sometimes. So not to say either of those are good, bad indifferent or what, but it’s understanding, I guess, the effect on them. Um, Those are probably the two things that I see the most show up. Number four, what are your top suggestions for getting out of your comfort zone?

Okay. And so the first thing I’d say is it never really gets any easier. Like every time that you grow or up level or face a new challenge, you will be getting outside of your comfort zone. Which, which is good. Yeah. That’s where the growth is. Um, I would say that. The two things that I look at is there’s a quote that says if nothing changes, nothing changes.

And I, I come back to that one a lot. So if I keep doing the same things that I’ve already done, if I keep doing the same habits daily, if I keep the same strategy all the time, I am going to get the same results that I’ve already got. So if. A different result. And if I want something more, I know that I’m going to have to do something different and different can often feel uncomfortable.

But when I tie it to that, it can make so much sense. So I have to make the decision like what’s worse is that this minor discomfort of trying something new again. Do it, or would it be the discomfort of not achieving the thing that I really want to achieve? And 99 times out of a hundred, it’s the discomfort of not achieving.

So I will make the change. And make changes very incrementally. I, not someone that comes in on Monday and goes, let’s change my whole business model. So I, you know, my nervous system would not love that it would not cope with that. So for getting out of your comfort zone, know why you’re doing it and decide that the discomfort is better than the other option, which is just staying exactly where you are for the next X number of months, years, decades.

And secondly, make sure that you make small changes, small incremental changes so that your nervous system doesn’t get overwhelmed. And so that you’ve got that time to feel into them. Remember that anything that we do feels uncomfortable the first time that we do it, that’s, that’s just life from when we’re a kid.

When we’re learning to be a walk tie, shoe laces, you know, peanut avocado, whatever the thing is, the first time we do it always. Strange and uncomfortable and difficult. And the second time it feels less. So, and the 10th time you don’t even think about it. It’s like any of you that whole driver’s licenses.

It’s like the whole learning to drive thing. Right? The first time we get in the car, it feels overwhelming. It’s like mirrors, signal, maneuver, do this, you know, put your foot on the clutch unless you’re in the U S when it’s, you’ve gotten a clutch. But thinking about changing gear, thinking about signaling, thinking about all these different things.

After a few months of driving people, don’t consciously think about these things and it just feels very fluid and comfortable to drive the car. Anything getting out of your comfort zone. I always look to exactly like that. And lastly, what is my top tip for protecting my energy with an online business?

Okay. And I think this could be a whole other episode, but I will keep it brief. Boundaries boundaries is my top tip for protect, managing with an online business. So let me give you some brief examples of what that can look like. So physical energetic boundaries have to be non-negotiable because if I allow the business to seep into too much of life, I just get overwhelmed and tired and.

So it’s knowing when I am at work on the business, versus when you know, businesses closed for the day. Um, obviously business has never really closed because it’s an online business. So people can always find me. But from my point of view, like when am I deciding to put my energy into it? And when am I switching my energy away from it and think that is the vital thing working from home, which something that I didn’t do until stopped pandemic, because many of you.

It can make the boundaries very blurred. So one of the things I would suggest is if you have a workspace, a dedicated workspace, perfect work in there. If you don’t have a dedicated workspace, make sure that there are areas of the house which are non-negotiable work. So it could be, the laptop does not go into the bedroom or the phone does not go into the bedroom, or it could be a work in the dining room, but I never take work into the living room because that’s a relaxation place.

So really creating strong physical boundaries within your space. So that you’re. It will feel different because when there are rooms that are just capped for certain purposes, it’s much easier for our body to adapt to that. Since we enter it, if work isn’t every room in the house, then we never really shared that energy of being at work, inverted commas.

The other thing that I do, which some people think is extreme, but it works for me is I delete. All work-related apps off my phone every evening. And I delete them all weekend too. So I don’t have that many, I don’t have work email on my phone. I don’t have slack on my phone, which is how I communicate with my team and my clients.

I I’ve, I’ve never had Facebook on my phone. I just, I just don’t. I only use it on the desktop. So really it’s Foxer and Instagram are the only two that I have and I delete them. I just delete them because what I found was even I don’t have notifications on them. I don’t have any notifications on my phone other than phone calls, but what I found with.

The habits and the compulsion to still look at them a so strong and it is automatic. Like there’s no point where on a Saturday I pick up the phone and go, oh, let me just look at Instagram. I would just pick it up. Do it, because it’s such an automatic response and we don’t realize how dictated to we are by our technology and how we can.

We just automatically do things it’s really quite frightened until you do something like delete the apps or have digital detox. And then you realize you go to the app and it’s not there. And you’re like, I actually just went to open that without really thinking about it. No great way for protecting our energy is delete the things that you don’t need.

And. At the weekends, I don’t open the laptop if I do, if I want to make any notes or anything, I don’t check email or Facebook or slack or anything else. That’s work-related so it’s very, like someone said to me, I was discussing this with them and they were like, that takes a lot of discipline. It does it again, it’s discomfort.

It’s uncomfortable because five days of the week I’m doing those things. And then for two days of the week, they’re not there. So it, it does feel uncomfortable at first, but what’s worse and worse for me is that I keep looking at things, not making the separation, not separating my life from my business and getting completely burnt out or, you know, starting to resent my business.

So. For me having zones that are, you know, Don business zones within the house, making sure I delete any apps so that I don’t have access to them. And don’t see anything that’s going to remind me of work over the weekend. And the third thing I’d say is, um, making sure that I have. A complete digital detox at least one weekend day.

So that means like no screen time are all making sure that I eat well, making sure that I get outside, I get fresh air, making sure that I move my body every day. Like all of the things that we should be doing for our wellbeing anyway, but knowing that even more so when we spend a lot of time sat in front of technology or a lot of time interacting with people online, that it’s very important for us to get back into the real world of, you know, site.

Sounds smells sensations, um, to make that delineation. So guys, I hope that was helpful. Oh, Haley delete that because I’m really trying to train myself out of saying guys are style.

So, thank you so much for listening in to the last podcast episode of 2021. I hope you’ve enjoyed listening and this year, as much as I have loved creating the show. And just as a recap for you, here are the questions that you got asked in case you’d like to use them for your own reflections or journaling.

The first was what, what unplanned things you did in your business that worked out really well. And what were things you planned in January, 2021 that didn’t make the cut or you didn’t do next was best investment or worst least valuable you made in 2021? I think that’s a great question for everyone to consider.

Third was what’s something you noticed your clients face in common besides being introverts. And if you do not coach introverts, if you work with clients in another capacity, it’s still a really great question. What can you, what do you notice that they face in common, other than the thing that they hire you for?

You know, if you’re a web design, you might be like, well, they’ll need a website, but, but what else do they face? Because then we can restart to understand that our plants on a deeper level, what are your top suggestions for getting out of your comfort zone? So again, I invite you to look back and. C times that you have got out of your comfort zone and remember how it felt, but look at it now and see the benefits.

Um, top tip for protecting my energy with an online business. Well, as I just Chad boundaries and making sure that there are physical boundaries, there are, you know, energetic boundaries around time and just making sure that I get outside. So are you protecting your energy with your online business? Would be my question to you to thank you.

Once again, I. Catch up with you next year, I will catch up with you in 2022, when I’ll be going through the remaining questions that were sent in, which are less about business and just more about life. Take care, have a wonderful new year. And I look forward to seeing you on the other side.