Recently I realised there were a few areas of my life and in business where I wasn't 'all in' - meaning areas where I wasn't 100% committed to what I was doing, the outcomes I was looking to achieve and the effort I was putting in.

I also realised that these were the areas of my life and business that I wasn't get great results in. And because I wasn't getting great results or outcomes, this just further added to my attitude of "why bother" & "there's no point" & "why put effort in here, when the outcomes aren't paying off".

But I also realised that these areas where I wasn't getting great results was actually my choice! 

I wasn't putting the effort into these areas of my life - so how could I expect the results to be stellar?

So I decided to make a commitment to myself, my family and my business - to be 'all in' in every facet of my life.

When I'm with my wife and my kids - I'm all in! I'm right there, in the moment playing, engaging and being open and present.

When...

Today I want to explore with you why being busy means that you can't and won’t be a good leader or business owner…

Big statement I know!

You see, most of us are so conditioned to being busy. We think that being busy and ticking things off our to-do list, running around all day every day and getting to the end of every day exhausted is the way to achieving the success that we want to achieve.

However, the issue with being busy all the time and trying to get things done all the time is that you're never slowing down and taking the time to think strategically about where your team or your business is going.

Let me explain.

By being busy all the time you are robbing yourself, your team and your business of your ability to think creatively, your ability to think strategically and your ability to set a vision for where your team and your business is going.

So by being busy all the time and rushing around all the time and trying to fill your days full of busyness all the time...

So many conversations I’m having with clients and leaders in our industry at the moment go something like this:

“I’m struggling to get to all the things – there’s not enough hours in the day”

“I have so much to do, I don’t even know where to start”

“I feel so overwhelmed right now that it’s impacting my ability to get stuff done”

Sound familiar?

Team, it’s no secret that it’s busy right now.

So many opportunities to pursue. So much current work on to deliver in insane timeframes. Trying to think about the future & strategy, whilst also trying to manage and deliver what’s already on your plate.

Overwhelm and burnout are very real factors on the table right now.

Right here, right now – I just want you to do one thing… breathe…

Just slow down and breathe…

Now, today I want to address with you that if you don’t do the things you need to do to look after yourself...

There is one word that I can't stand - HUSTLE......

It seems to have become a massive buzz word in the world of leaders, business owners and entrepreneurs.

I firmly believe that if you set your team and your business up smartly and you have the right systems and processes in place - then you don't need to hustle. Your team is performing well, your clients love you and the work you do for them and your project pipeline is full.

But today I'm going to break my rule and talk about one area that does require an amount of hustle....

...and that is in the follow up!!

Most people think that a potential client will either love them or hate them after one coffee meeting. They think they'll either get work out of them straight away or it wasn’t meant to be.

But that’s absolute nonsense.

If you're a stats person (which most engineers are!) then the latest stats are that a new client will need on average 8 touch points from you before they will make a purchasing decision with...

We recently had an amazing ‘Hot Seat’ session with Em in our group coaching program where she was sharing with everyone all about her wins & learnings in her business building journey.

There were so many great takeaways and learnings for everyone in the program.

There was one discussion point that came up, which became a bit of a hot topic with the group and got a lot of good discussion going.

It was this concept that, as leaders and business owners, we're really committed to and can see the absolute importance of investing in client relationships and really putting the effort in to nurture them over the long term.

The discussion moved to the fact that it can be quite difficult to actually instil these same qualities and desires within your team and the people around you, who don't necessarily care as much as you do in terms of that client relationship.

Particularly when your team and the people around you are just so focused on project delivery and getting stuff...

When you’re trying to be “all things to all people” and trying to please everyone all the time – you don’t tend to have the time for yourself to get any traction on your priorities. 

However, when you get really laser focused on a small, but important number of strategies – that’s when things really start to take off and you can move everything forward with confidence. 

This is exactly what happened with a great client of mine, Chris. 

You see, when we first started working together - he had a tendency to jump in, take over and do everything for his team when things got tough or weren’t going according to plan. 

This meant that he was constantly in reactionary mode and putting out fires and he had no time left in his days or weeks to actually focus on business development, client relationships and his teams positioning in the marketplace. 

So once we got Chris comfortable delegating to his team and holding his...

I was talking to a client this week who was struggling big time with his energy. He was constantly getting to the end of his workday completely exhausted - leaving nothing in the tank for him to spend time with and connect deeply with his family when he got home.

It was becoming an issue because his children were growing up and he was worried that he was missing out on important quality time with them. He simply didn’t have the energy when he got home to be completely present - and family is one of his highest values.

His career path, his role and the company he works for isn’t the issue that needs to be addressed here - he feels incredibly rewarded and fulfilled in the work that he does.

This is an issue of self-awareness, self-worth and an inability to set boundaries with his team.

I’ll address self-awareness first.

The reality is that no two people in this world are the same. Everyone has different needs, different wants, different drivers and different belief...

Recently I ran a webinar called 'How To Avoid Competing On Price', where we explored how to increase your prices, get paid what you’re really worth, how to generate more profit and how to have happier clients in the process.

One of the aspects we explored in this webinar, was your potential blocks from a mindset point of view, as to why you don’t increase your prices, ask for variations and in general get more hungry when it comes to chasing new sales and new clients.

Today I want to explore with you these blocks in a little bit more detail.

Now if you’ve noticed that you procrastinate or choose to do other things when you know you need to be talking to a client about a variation, or that you shy away from having sales conversations with clients or in general feel uncomfortable when it comes to sales, marketing and business development - then you should definitely read on!

The first block I want to explore with you is an unconscious aversion or a negative viewpoint...

So many leaders & business owners get caught up in pricing wars and feeling like they’ve got to be cheaper than everyone else. They feel like they’re going to lose the work or not be able to build a project pipeline if they raise their prices or are more expensive than their competitors.

Today I want to flip this viewpoint and this discussion on its head. 

I’ve been doing a lot of work recently with clients in my coaching programs around pricing, the value proposition and their positioning in the marketplace. 

You see if you get your positioning wrong in the marketplace, meaning that you've positioned yourself as a generalist, that you can do everything and that you’re all things to all people AND you don’t talk about the value that you add or how you solve your clients’ problems or how you deeply understand your client’s world, then of course you have to be the cheapest!! 

But if you completely flipped this on its head...

Today, I want to talk to you about the importance of building momentum.

The success of your team and the success of your business relies on you being able to build momentum and keep the same level of cadence in all areas of your team and your business.

I'm sure you've experienced this for yourself, that when you have momentum, things feel like they get a life of their own. They feel like they just continue to build steam and build speed and continue to generate really great and profound results for your team and your business.

And I'm sure you've also experienced what it’s like when you lose that momentum. How hard it is to then get going again, that things just become really difficult and you feel like you're pulling teeth! 

And so in order to build that momentum, you need to be ensuring that you are taking action on what's important to grow your team and your business each and every week. 

The way to do this is to make sure that you are firstly aware of these areas...