Hello, hello, this is episode nine. I’m your host Becca Pike, and today we’re going to discuss why doing way too much shit is killing your business. Simplifying your life, your business, your to-do list, it’s the number one way to gain traction and to take bigger strides towards your business’s success. Let’s do this.

Hey, guys. I’m Becca Pike and welcome to The Hell Yes Entrepreneur podcast, the number one show for entrepreneurs looking to create their first six-figure year. If you’ve got the drive and you know how to hustle but you’re not sure where to channel your energy, we’ve got the answers. Let’s dive into today’s show.

What is happening my friends? I’m getting ready to hop on a plane and head to Mexico to build up with my mastermind. I joined a mastermind this year for coaches who are working their way towards their first $2 million. Some of my colleagues in there have already well surpassed the $2 million mark, and they’re shooting for ten. Y’all, I’m surrounded by some of the top coaches, top brains, top creativity in the nation in this group. I’m beyond thankful to be in this room.

I accredit most of the success that I’ve had to simply surrounding myself with elite kickass brains that force me to up level unless I want to be left behind, right. You know that my primal tribe brain refuses to be left behind because we’re wired to not get kicked out of the tribe, right? So I’m using that leverage.

So I’m heading out very soon, and we are heading to Cabo San Lucas, Mexico to mastermind with each other. We’re going to be staying in this beautiful high end resort, and I am super pumped, but it’s not all rainbows and butterflies. When we get together, we work hard. It is sunup to sundown masterminding for five straight days. Last time I went, I basically ripped my entire business to shreds and started over in order to make it super strong foundationally.

By the time I leave, I will have the rest of my year planned out to a tee. From how much money will be made to how much money will be doing out and where each dollar is allocated. What my email series will be about. Most likely probably I will have written the rest of the emails for the year by the time I leave. What my staffing will need, what direction I’m heading into for the next year. It’s crazy y’all.

When I came back from last year’s, I had several staff members and clients and friends say that I had changed. They were like, “I don’t know what’s different about you, but you’re different. You’re like super focused. You are carrying yourself differently. You’re even dressing differently.” You know what? You’re absolutely right. Anytime that you spend drastically quieting the noise around you, like removing yourself from your business so that you can look at your business from a different angle, that shit will change you. You will see things that you don’t see in your day to day hustling and bustling life.

This is why I’m such an advocate for coaching whether it’s one on one or group. You don’t have to fly off to Mexico for five grueling workdays. But taking even just an hour or two to turn your notifications off on your phone and just look inward on your business with another brilliant brain, like a coach, who is a few steps ahead of you. You will come out different, and your business will as well. There is just so much that you just don’t know when you’re starting and when you’re in your first years. There is so much to learn and to tweak.

So if you haven’t already, start thinking deeply about what it would look like for you to bring another mind into your business. We have several coaches here at HYC that specialize in different types of businesses. But if we aren’t your right fit, we’re going to help you find a coach, all right?

So before we get started in today’s lesson, I really want to start doing something called Sexy Celebrations where I’m just going to share with you some fun hype and stories that are worth celebrating and are going to bring a lot of motivation to you all. So today we’re going to talk about 4esthetics Lounge here in Lexington, Kentucky. This message that I’m about to read was dropped into my Facebook group, Hell Yes: The Entrepreneur Circle, and I just had to share it with you.

So this client that wrote this message is one of four owners to this local aesthetics practice. She and her three coworkers, they decided to leave their job, one that they were dissatisfied in. They wanted to start their own injectables and aesthetics practice. When I met these girls, I knew that they were going to be successful for real.

Like any entrepreneur, I can safely say that they were scared. They felt nervous about all the big changes in their life. They felt nervous about the money that they were about to spend, about putting themselves out there, about failure. All the typical things, right? But OMG did every single one of them have the work ethic of a mule.

These women are NPs. If I know anything about nurse practitioners, and at this point I know a lot because I think I’ve worked with like 13 nurse practitioners starting businesses. It is that NPs can fucking work. They never have any excuses, none of them. None of the 13 NPs that I’ve ever worked with have excuses. They are never scared to put in effort. They just do what they gotta do always. Shoutout to NPs out there.

When all of this was just an idea for Emilee, Krystle, Corie, and Katie. They invited me to a taco place on UK’s campus on a hot summer day. We sat on a patio eating chips and salsa discussing what it would look like to work with a coach. None of them had any experience with business, and they hired me that day. We started from the ground. How to get a business loan, how to rent a space to have a brick and mortar business, how to project what they would need and what it’s going to cost. I have lived and breathed this business with them, and still do since day one.

For anyone who is doubting if it’s possible, please listen. Corie, one of the owners, said in the Facebook group, “Truth. We just smashed almost a half a million dollars in sales in our first full year during a pandemic while being shut down for two months.”

Now mind you guys, they got shut down only 60 days after opening their storefront. They could have given up. I told them no. I’m like, “Listen, this is when we work harder. We are going to spend this whole shutdown making this business absolutely fucking untouchable. When your doors open back up, all of your systems will be in place. You’ll be able to handle more clients and more staff than you ever thought possible.”

They worked their asses off during the shutdown. Fast forward and in their second year of business, they are easily going to clear a million dollars. Congratulations ladies. Here in Lexington, Kentucky, 4Esthetics is going to continue to absolutely kill it. Mark my words. I can’t wait to see your all’s location number two, three, four, and 15 pop up across the nation. I deeply love you girls and thank you for always not only taking my advice but somehow making it come to fruition almost instantaneously. You guys are some serious MVPs.

Okay guys. Let’s get to the nitty gritty. Today we’re going to talk about simplifying your business. A mistake I often see in the business coaching clients as well as in my early days is overcomplicating things. Believing that you have to have all the gadgets and the tools and the apps. Believing that you have to be an absolute expert. Basically believing that you have to be, do, or have things other than a quality service or product that helps people.

Guys, in order to become successful you need two things. Are you ready? You need one, a product or service; and two, to tell people about it, like a lot. You guys will hear me say this a thousand times, and I’m sure you’ve heard it a thousand times before. You don’t need an amazing website. You don’t need business cards. You don’t need the perfect profile on LinkedIn. You don’t need an Instagram following. You don’t need 847 canvas that all match with a theme of color.

You do not need any of that, and I see people being so obsessed with all of these things before they have even sold their services. Sell your services first. Nothing else matters or is needed until you have clients under your belt. If you’re obsessing over every detail of your website, you’re procrastinating. You’re wasting time when you could be doing your service or getting your product into people’s hands.

By selling your services enough, this is going to put the money and the time in your hands to then be able to build the website, to then be able to delegate having your canvas created and your LinkedIn profiles created, right?

Here’s the question. Why are you spending so much time on your website or on your business cards or doing all the back end shit that doesn’t really matter in the beginning? There’s a reason. If you want to gain a lot of traction, then you’ve got to figure out what the underlying reason is that you’re procrastinating. Everyone has a different reason because we do procrastinate for some specific underlying thought or issue.

My guess is you’re either scared of failure, you’re scared of success, or you’re spinning in confusion, which ultimately is actually just a fear of failure or a fear of success. You’re using this time to perfect the backend stuff and what your business looks like on the outside so that you don’t have to actually start it.

Of all the super successful companies that I know personally, we all have one thing in common. We spent our early days hustling our businesses without the fancy stuff. We didn’t go into business with a website or a virtual assistant or a perfected program. We just started offering a service to anyone and everyone without apology for how it looked on the outside.

In the beginning of my massage company, I would be a millionaire right now if I had a dollar for every time I said to someone, “Yeah, no. I don’t have a website. You can’t find me online. I also don’t have a business card to give you right now, but I can type my number into your phone so that you can reach me to book an appointment.”

I was making minimum of 100K per year before I ever had a website in massage and in coaching. I used a paper calendar to track all of my appointments and meetings for the first two years of my business. I didn’t know shit about Google reviews or SEO or Yelp ads. I knew nothing, and I had nothing. Yes, I have these things now. I have the fancy website and the canvas and the podcast and all the gadgets, but this stuff did not come until I was well, well into multiple six figures.

I can’t say this enough guys. You don’t need all the things that you think you need. It is all noise. There will come a time that you can have these things, but don’t try to build a house before you have land to build it on.

Next time you stop to think that the reason your business isn’t taking off has something to do with one of the things that is listed above, like not having the special gadgets or the special blogs or the ads, I want you to hear my voice on your shoulder saying, “Shh. Your brain is a fucking liar. You’re not having a hard time getting clients because of your lack of website. You’re having a hard time getting clients because you’re spending your time thinking about your lack of website instead of offering to help people who are looking for your service.”

We want to spend less of our time on the things that aren’t gaining us traction at the given moment, right. So even having more to-dos on your plate makes you overall way less efficient. We want to ask ourselves constantly these three things. What’s important now? What can I delegate? How can I simplify? Which of these things will make the most impact? If I choose to only do one thing today, which thing will leave me feeling like I accomplished a big stride in my growth?

Making a list of to-dos, how much of it can be handed off to someone for real? Almost all of it. Do that. Even when you think you can’t afford it. Because the minute that you have someone helping you do all the menial shit, your brain is finally freed up to do everything that makes money.

If you know you can afford it but you’re having a hard time letting go of it because you feel that you’re the only one capable of doing a good job, let me tell you this. Number one, people are trainable. If your staff is trying but they’re not getting it right, they’re undertrained. Take ownership of the quality of work that your staff does because it is a direct reflection of how well you have trained them.

Number two, if you really don’t want others to do these tasks, only yourself, then you’re capped out homie. You’re done. You’ve hit your ceiling because there’s only 24 hours in a day, and you’ll be here stuck doing the things that others can do for you. If you want growth, hiring help is non-negotiable. Is it time to hire the receptionist? Is it time to hire the other service provider? Is it time to hire a manager? Is it time to hire a driver? Right? Also ask yourself how much of it isn’t actually necessary to begin with? All the stuff that’s on your to do list, mark it off.

If you’re like me, half the shit on your to-do list isn’t even 100% necessary. It’s busywork. We just keep adding it to our list to fill a void and try to stay busy. Then after you mark off that dumb stuff, of what is left ask yourself what is the most important. Choose one or two things a day and do them well. Do them like really well. The beauty of essentialism is doing less but better.

I believe in doing everything like it’s the only thing my clients will ever see of me. This episode, the last episode, each blog, each Facebook post. If a client will only see me one time ever, it must be quality and it must be helpful. Guys you will be so surprised what happens to your creativity and your production level when you slow the noise down and start removing things from your plate. Removing your obsession with your website off of your plate, removing the hours you’re spending creating canvas.

For some people listening to this, I know that the thought of leaving things undone gives your horrible anxiety. You’re like, “Becca, I would love to just drop a bunch of the shit on my to-do list, but I can’t. My business needs this stuff.” Here’s my answer. It doesn’t. It doesn’t. Your brain is just telling you it does. Instead of selling the shit out of your service, you’re spending time in the backend of your business trying to sweep it up and make it look perfect.

If you have a company that is bringing in less than a half million a year, then the amount of things that needs to be done is pretty minimal. Be really good at your service. Communicate with your staff and pay them well. Tell everyone you know what you do. Don’t let your brain tell you that there’s a million things to do when there’s not. That’s called anxiety, and we don’t listen to her. She’s a bitch.

Another way to overcomplicate things is to offer too many services. Listen, if you offer everything, you’re not known as a master of anything. Simplify your services. Most hairstylists, for example, offer their services to anyone and everyone. They are willing to cut men’s hair, women’s hair, curly hair, straight hair, fine hair, blonde hair, black hair, and anything that you can think of.

But you know who’s making the big bucks? The ones who offer one service. They’re the ones who are like, “Hey, I only cut hair that’s super curly. I am the king of curly hair. If you have curly hair and you want to have the best curly haircut you’ve ever had that is going to give you the most bounce, it’s going to give you the least frizz, I’m the expert. People drive hours to see me.”

That hairstylist has curly headed girls on his waitlist for six months. People are driving two hours to see that hairstylist to finally understand how to care for their curls the proper way. Why? Because he offers one service, he is known as the master of that one thing.

When you offer one thing, you become known. Massage Strong is a great example. There’s a thousand different types of massages guys all that do different things. Swedish, deep tissue, sports massage, cupping, prenatal, ashiatsu, trigger point, reflexology, hot stone. Most people make the mistake that offering more services will make them more money, but it’s actually opposite my friends. If we offered all these services at Massage Strong, we would be known for nothing. We would just be another massage place.

Listen, we had people asking us all the time to offer things outside of a deep tissue massage. I wish I had a dollar for every time someone asked us if we would offer hot stones, okay, but it’s not what we wanted to be known for. We are known for deep tissue. We offer deep tissue massage, and after a lot of contemplation we now offer cupping, which is a complementary service to deep tissue.

Because deep tissue is primarily the only thing on our menu, we are known for deep tissue. We have etched out the expertise category in our city in that industry because we narrowed down, and we stayed focused. We have people that are driving in from Louisville an hour away because they are in pain, and they want to go to the experts.

If these examples aren’t hitting home for you then take this one because I know you’ll get it. When it comes to food, I am a huge foodie. I’m obsessed with trying new things and eating in new places. If my husband is ever trying to explain something to me and I’m not getting it, I’m always like, “Can you turn it into a food analogy because I will definitely get it.”

So think about it. Restaurants that have 20 page menus versus restaurants that have five things to choose from. Need I even say more? You know that at the 20 page menu restaurant that your neighbor’s 17 year old son with 14 layers of acne and his girlfriend Old Cigarette Hands are the ones making your food. You know that they can’t be good at all 1,026 dishes on the menu. They offer everything, right. Like they’re not good at any of it.

You ever seen the menu at The Cheesecake Factory? It’s longer than a fucking Harry Potter book. Then when you go to the Michelin star restaurant that offers five dishes total, it’s going to be the best food of your life. That chef has been perfecting these dishes for 20 years. The more you niche down, the easier it is to offer consistency with confidence and ease. This allows you to prioritize more which makes your priorities more in focus.

All right guys. In a super simple recap, here’s what’s important from this episode. Slow down, simplify, remove the noise, and spend your time selling quality services. The rest will come. That’s it for me today guys. I hope you all enjoyed this podcast. I can’t wait to see you here next Wednesday. Bye.

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Hey, thanks for taking the time to listen to today’s episode. If you’re looking to get more clarity and momentum for your business, visit hellyescoachingonline.com. See you next week here on The Hell Yes Entrepreneur podcast.