49: Find the real goal.

In this episode I talk about how to find your real goal, and then break it down to see exactly what to do today, and big picture.

As business owners we often think that goals are the outcomes we achieve. But goal setting will actually serve you better if you think about a goal as a compass, rather than a destination.

Using a client example, I show you the difference between the goals we commonly set in business and the real goals we want to achieve. Knowing this gives us a different set of metrics and a more compelling process to follow.

It also helps us create results faster because we're rewarded at each step along the way instead of waiting for a pot of gold at the end of a rainbow.

Episode Links:

• Connect with @linsibrownson on Instagram

• In my free consultation, I help business owners find the real problem and give them the foundation to work confidently every day. The plan is simple and the results are empowering.

Listen to all episodes of Be Brilliant in Your Business, on your favorite podcast app.

Transcript

Hey Maverick, how you doing?

Today we are talking about finding the real goal. So last episode was all about finding the real problem, and why it's so important to dig deeper and uncover what is actually causing the challenges you're facing in your business in life.

I shared, in that episode, an example from a recent consultation that I had with a business owner and new mama who is struggling to navigate her roles and keep momentum in her business.

If you haven't listened to the episode, I definitely recommend that you go back and listen to it. But what we uncovered as her problem is that she has unconsciously been trying to live up to some very high standards. Some expectations that are impossible, about how this is supposed to be. How it's supposed to look as she navigates these changes. And then she's taking all this action and doing all these things trying to live up to that expectation, but constantly failing to meet those standards.

Now, she made up the standards, but she's just not aware of them. So she kept setting herself up for failure. And it felt terrible. And the results she was getting were exhaustion, distraction, overwhelm, and none of the things that she really wants as a business owner.

So it's super helpful to know that this is her problem, because once we knew that, then we could take her work in a completely different direction than just saying, “Are you overwhelmed? Let's do some time management.” “Are you distracted? Let's set focus time and then you have to stick to your schedule.” Of course, that doesn't work. That never works, because we don't understand the real problem. So super helpful to know.

Today, I want to expand on her situation as we talk about finding the real goal. So in the consultation, what we did was we found the real problem, and then we can talk about how what steps to take, and actually set the framework to start making those changes today.

And then once we kick off coaching, one of the first things that we do together is find the real goal. So we were talking about what she really wants, this vision that she has for herself. And she said, “I want to be a rockstar business mom.”

She said, “I want to feel proud of the work that I do. And I want to maintain a sense of identity in what I'm creating in my life. Of course, I really want to spend lots of time with my baby, I want to give her my best of myself. I want her to thrive, I just really want to be a great mom for her. And I also kind of feel like my business was my first kid. I also want it to thrive, and I want to be a great mom to it. To give it my best. But I don't want any of my babies to completely define me.” I'm kind of paraphrasing this, but she's saying, “I just I want to still be me, and then I want to be this amazing mom to both my business and my daughter.”

So, the way we do anything is the way we do everything. This is our process of decision making. And so I'm just going to stick with the business goals here, and you can decide how this would relate to your personal life, and your parenting life, and all the other things.

I love using metaphors. And one of the things that I kind of picked up from her is that she feels in her business like she's constantly chasing after, or pushing, the car. So her business is a vehicle. Instead of driving it, she's actually behind it, pushing it forward, or else it's rolling and she's just chasing after it trying to catch up. And so one of the big things that she wants to do is get back in the driver's seat.

As we begin setting goals. One of the goals that she has is to make $100,000 in her business. Sshe wants that to be her annual income. And that is a common goal, right? This is something that we talk about a lot in small business, that seems to be a number that people can wrap their heads around. And that's what has been in her mind as she's been working out working, doing the things that she's been doing.

And the real goals are what we uncover when we answer this question. Why?

Why does she want to make $100,000? What does that mean to her? We talked things through for a while, but here's what it really boils down to for her:

So number one is financial stability. For her $100,000 really equates to having security in knowing that there is always money coming in. She wants to know how and when it's coming in because it allows her to plan for things. “That gives me the sense of freedom that I really crave. And then I know I have the money that allows me to really invest in myself in in my business and just overall have choices.”

And that's pretty compelling, right?

Number two, the second reason that she wants to make $100,000 is because she said, it will help her develop processes and systems that feel really smooth. So she wants a business that works. She wants a business that is simple, so that she feels in control of it. In her mind, what she's evaluating as a $100,000 goal is really about building a business that works for her that has the smooth systems in place that she understands and can manage.

And then the third reason is that she really wants to be the person be the business owner, who shows up for their business, and who really takes it seriously and lives up to their own potential. She said she really wants to feel that sense of satisfaction of like, of going to work and making a difference for people through her business. “And, you know,” she said, “I want to be that kind of person who dedicates my time, and honors my time and my own schedule. And I'm not just constantly bopping around for other people or other things.” And so for her having the goal of $100,000 is really about showing up as that person, and being that person over and over again.

It's not an afterthought. It's not a hobby. It's a business, and she wants to see herself really step into that role. So it's really helpful to break it down and actually see what these real goals are. Because these goals, choices, freedom of business that you feel good about, they are so much more compelling than $100,000.

I mean, let's be honest. $100,000 is just sort of an arbitrary number. It's based on some information we have, right. She knows how much she currently makes. She knows what she needs to live on. She has a new child so there are new expenses added into her life, and she's got an idea of what she would want to make for the dreams that she has in her life. And then it's also just that number, like I said, that gets put into our head by marketers and, and people talking about that number as sort of a marker for success. It's an easy number for us to wrap our heads around.

But you got to really break it down and understand, like, what does it mean to you? And so once we can see that these three goals are really what she's got going on, then we can brainstorm ways to accomplish them. We can put specific measurements to them, along with the ways that we will be able to truly see progress in these areas. So instead of just setting the seemingly big goal of $100,000, and then taking all this action that she can think to take to try to get closer to that number.

We're breaking it down and making it something that she understands. Like “what I'm actually after here is financial stability, so let's look at how would I create that in a day to day way instead of thinking that that's at the end of the hundred thousand dollar rainbow.”

And same thing with business systems, “how do I start to create this?” I'll dig into that in a second. But partly why it feels so daunting and not rewarding right now is because she's just looking toward that end result number and not seeing or enjoying the process along the way. So now we can look at these things in a different way.

And we can start asking some really powerful questions like, what's already working for you? Because here's the thing, she already has a business system we all do. business systems are exactly the same. No matter what business you have. It's how you bring in clients, what you offer them, and how you serve them or how you deliver what you serve them. Three things.

And our goal here with her was just to simplify the answers to each of those three things in a way that gets her really excited in a way that she feels clear on each step. And then she feels all in to get to work and be implementing those things. So we can start by looking at what she's already doing; the system she already has: what works and what doesn't work. And we can start tweaking little things right now so that she gets immediate results, like today.

And, then, big picture we want to look at the perfect system. So what I had her do was design it on, I call it on a napkin, but just design it in sketch form. What she thinks it would look like right now. So if you had to design your perfect system, which is the answer to the three questions: How do you bring in clients? What do you offer them? And how do you deliver it? What would that look like perfectly right now? Now remember, I just want to put in the caveat the word perfect. We are always are operating in a perfect system. It's the perfect system for getting us our current results. But in our consultation we uncovered that she has some really high and even impossible expectations of what that perfect system is supposed to look like. That is not what we're doing here.

What I'm having her do here is really step into her power and say, “if I knew the answer to this from this place of power, what would that look like? What is the simplest version of a business that I would feel satisfied? What would that look like right now today?” And this is where coaching becomes kind of like putting bumpers in your bowling lane. Like, you can't go out of bounds because you have a coach there who's keeping you focused and moving forward instead of going off track into perfection-land or helpless-land. I'm going to keep you focused, moving forward towards that goal. So we let her brain really go to a place where she's in charge and designing her business from clarity, and then knowing that it's completely in alignment with her life.

Now, this is just one session y'all. In one session we understand what the real goals are for her what's really going to look and feel good and right to her. Then we're able to design her perfect system while understanding her existing system. So then we can see exactly the pieces that need to shift in order to get from one model to the next, which is a pretty big leap from the last conversation, where she was just feeling overwhelmed and not good enough and completely deflated.

And now we have some tangible things that she wants to work on. And we can ask the question, “who do you need to be? How do you need to show up, in order to strategically work on these things every day?” And as she goes out and takes the action does the work gets the results and comes back to be coached on her obstacles, her thoughts, her decisions, she's out practicing being the business owner she wants to be and building the business she wants to have every day.

She's accomplishing her goals immediately starting now, and then every time it becomes a challenge, we just put those bumpers on get her back into alignment and put her back to work. Practice, my friend makes progress.

So if you haven't listened to Episode 48 on the real problem, I highly recommend that you go back and listen to that one. And then ask yourself today: “What is my real goal? And why do I have it?”

Alright, I hope this has been helpful. Have a great week.