29: Accomplish More Business Goals This Year

This episode helps relieve some of the anxiety that comes with setting the big business goals we often set at the start of the new year. I hope this helps you think through simplifying your approach to achieve more of the success you want.

Episode Transcript

Welcome to The Business That Story Built podcast. I'm your host, Christie Bilbrey. A marketing strategist and brand story expert. My goal is to help you understand exactly what sets you apart from your competitors and how to confidently and authentically share that with the world. Your stories are what draw in your audience and keep them coming back for more of you and what you offer in the business world. The top storytellers grow the top businesses. Let's chat about how to share your stories to grow your business.

I had a conversation earlier today that was really kind of perfect for the new year. I was catching up with a colleague and she was telling me about just some big plans that she has in a pivot that she decided to make last year and the frustrations that she's had, which I know a lot of us have
had over the past two years, just life stuff and navigating a lot of different things. And that can get in the way of head space when you are a business owner and you have really big goals and just things you want to accomplish.

So we were talking about, you know, what she would like to do and some frustrations she's had about going about it and just maybe some alternatives that she could look into. And it was funny because I ended up sharing with her toward the end of the conversation.

Some of my own frustrations and obstacles with things that I've wanted to do and really moving into the space of an agency as opposed to a one woman shop. And I've had, especially over the past year, so many opportunities, projects clients that I've worked with who asked, Oh, can you also do this?

Can you also do that? And I only have so much capacity, but I have such a great network of other freelancers who are really great. And I just for whatever reason, the thought of moving to an agency just freaks me out.

And I was talking to my husband about it this morning, and he said, Well, really, what is the risk? I mean, I'm not buying a physical space. I'm not, you know, having these salaried positions with benefits and everything.

So I can really kind of start small and casual. So what in the world is preventing me? And it just feels like a fear that I can't even really grasp on to because it's not based in anything. And I was telling my friend in our conversation, I said, Yeah, what is the worst thing that could happen?

It's not like somebody is going to chase me down with a hatchet or something. There's really, you know, people might say, No, I'm not interested, and that's really the worst thing. Maybe I'm out some time that I took preparing for a proposal or something like that, but I just thought that it might be helpful to share some of that conversation with you because it's very natural for the beginning of the new year of all kinds of ideas and goals that you want to implement. And the implementation can feel really overwhelming. Or there can be fear just stepping into the unknown.

And we we talked on our call today about just stepping out of our comfort zones, and it feels really strange and awkward and scary. But it's the best thing to grow. If you are a business owner, you have to step out of your comfort zone and you have to trust that it's going to lead wherever it's supposed to lead. So what can you do if you are feeling the fear and wanting to step through it and you need a little bit of help along the way? I recommend really just simplifying your plan. It's so easy for me in marketing.

There are 1,000,000 options to market a business, and so it's easy to come up with a list of 50 things that you think. I should be doing all of these things if I want to accomplish this in my business or start this new business or, you know, shift my business, pivot to this new thing, I need to do everything. And then what happens? You end up doing nothing or getting burned out. So really, really simplifying it. And when I was talking to my friend today about her business after the call, I was thinking, Gosh. I can really apply a lot of that to my own business and really just simplifying, OK?

These are three things that if I would just do these three things each week and forget about the other 47 that I love to do. I would see a difference and a lot of accomplishing your goals, especially the new year, when there's just this great energy about starting fresh. Going big. Letting the past just fall behind you. And I think to make sure you don't get derailed, really try to eliminate as many pieces as possible. Yes, you can always hire people to do other pieces of that which, hey, I might be one of those people who can help you with something.

But when you're very first starting it and you think, OK, what are two or three? Is that two or three things that I can do and feel like I'm moving forward, even if you can't see the results immediately.

Just knowing that you are consistently doing something is going to make it easier and easier with each passing week, and getting those under control can help you take more steps forward and possibly bring on other people, whether that's employees or that an agency or or whatever that looks like to help you do some of those bigger pieces. But that is what I would recommend. Just how can you simplify your plan? Don't worry about it being incredibly sophisticated. Don't worry about does it have all the latest bells and whistles that different people are telling you you must have?

A lot of times it's the really unglamorous pieces that can make the biggest difference. So think about what that is for you. You know, in my personal life, I had a few things health wise that I wanted to shift.

I wanted to start walking more, exercising, you know, weight bearing exercises and stretching more. My mom is someone who stretches pretty much every day since she was about my age. So for the past, I don't know, 30 years she has spent probably ten or 20 minutes each morning stretching, and it's made a huge difference in her life. And it's just those few minutes. And so I thought, OK, you know what? Worst case scenario, I would love to do ten minutes of stretching, ten minutes of walking and ten minutes of a YouTube workout. Super simple.

I can do it in my house. I have a few little hand weights and just basic, basic things, and it's going well. It hasn't been every single day, but it's been more often than not. And so whether it's your personal life, your professional life or both, the the simpler you can make it, the more likely you are to achieve it and start seeing some of those bigger results. So I hope that is encouraging to you. And I would love to know what you guys are planning on doing and how you are able to simplify that.

So if you want to share that with me, you can either reach me on Instagram at Christie Bilbrey or you can email me, respond, you know, with with the email address in this podcast, and just let me know how that's going for you.

But I just thought this is a little something different, but I just wanted to share that since it is right after the new year and try to help you make your marketing a little easier this year, at least kicking it off here in January.

Good luck with everything you have going, and I will talk to you soon. If you're ready to dive deeper into exploring the wealth of stories you have to offer. Grab my free guide, become your audience bestie at bit.ly/bestiepodcast.

That's bit.ly/bestiepodcast. You can also find the link in the description of this podcast. If you enjoyed today's episode, make sure to subscribe to this podcast, and I would be so appreciative if you would also take a moment to leave a review.

Do you know someone else who needs this episode? Make sure to share the link with them. Thanks for listening!