Episode 29: Do What You Want Not What You Need To

Welcome to episode 29 of doors of a new era, the Chronicles of a serial entrepreneur. Now, in this podcast episode, we are going to cover something that I am very, very into at the moment. And this is the protea principles. Now some of you may have heard about it. Um, you may have even applied it to some of the things that you’re doing.

This is something that, um, with COVID the whole pivoting, the whole kind of, what on earth is going on? Where am I going? Um, we’ve all just felt a bit kind of blah. And I think really in the sort of fact that it has gone on for so long that in the beginning of lockdown, I was quite like, you know, Oh, I’m not traveling and I can get the time to do this.

And I was super productive and really focused in, and what I was doing, I was just so busy time was flying and then I had a bit of burnout and then I got a bit bored and, you know, I’m sure we’ve all been through the cycle, but honesty is my policy. And this is about, you know, not just kind of presenting the lovely day-to-day of an entrepreneur, which, you know, it isn’t that way.

Every single day, you know, that there’s challenges in my businesses in your businesses, in your job, your world, you know, but it’s all relative. And what, um, I, I really kind of, um, harnessed into and started focusing on, especially, um, this year and, uh, 2021 is that. I kind of just thought, do you know what?

I don’t really want another 2020, no one does. But I looked back at my business and I thought, well, you know, everything’s kind of going well and we’ve got lots of different things. We’ve got like literally workshops. We’ve got qualifications. Uh, the merchandise came out, um, middle of last year. Which just looked incredible.

And then people started wearing the digital superhero, uh, hoodies t-shirts mugs posting on social media. Uh, my book came out in 2019 dynamic digital marketing hit best seller before launching and got some, magnificent awards. Uh, you might be thinking, well, you know, Dawn, what have you got to complain about?

I haven’t really got anything to complain about as such, but I could sit on my laurels quite easily and just kind of let things trundle. And what happens there is, is that your business becomes quite stagnant. And if any of you have read my book dynamic, digital marketing you’ll know that I am very pragmatic.

I just like to kind of get my teeth into things and get results. Doesn’t mean to say I’m not procrastinator because I definitely, definitely am. There’s certain things I love doing and I’m super creative. I love working on drawing things, writing things, content videos, teaching, you know, that is when I just truly feel that I am doing my passion. That is my job. And, you know, it’s like a hobby, um, that is turned into, you know, a successful business. And, um, I don’t mean that in terms of like, when we talk about side hustles and things like that, I’m talking about something that is just. Part of my life. It’s like ingrained in me.

Digital marketing is like something that I’m kind of living and breathing. Um, so I think it was something that was always in me and it just sort of developed and evolved. Now that said, it means that for me to be good at what I do and continue to be successful, I need to keep my finger on the pulse and, you know, Every day is a learning day.

And so it should be, I mean, that, that, that fulfills us as human beings. You know, anyone who knows anything about Maslow’s hierarchy of needs, we have this utter desire to just feel like we are absorbing and learning and new experiences and lockdown has starved us from a lot of the new experiences and, uh, again, you know, new environments.

So. What I’ve been thinking about, and this is something that probably over November, December last year, I just started thinking, well, what, what is it that I really want to be doing? So this year, I really honestly, truly feel like in the Academy, in business console Academy, um, we are delivering everything that I just feel is you know, in line with the consumers in line with the market, honestly, uh, you know, totally focused with like trends, insights and things like that. So, you know, pivoting and moving my business and, you know, I spent time during lockdown doing them now. If you’re looking at your own business, you’re thinking, what on earth am I going to be doing what I did?

And this really helped was I started speaking to as many people, customers, potential customers looking at what the problems were and what people wanted, because learning is one thing, you know, and that’s the vehicle that’s going to help, you know, achieve goals. Um, but it, it’s not just the only thing, you know, having a community, you know, and having a support, accountability.

Those are the things that. Really do make a difference. When we look at successful people and they talk about what was it that helps you along the way, what were the tools, you know, and so many people say. It was either a, an inspirational person, a mentor, a community, a feeling, a spirit, a time. There’s an experience that, that adds value to every person’s life and business and, you know, commercial entity.

And normally there’s something that has triggered or been a compelling event in your life that has made you change now. COVID for me was the compelling event, traveling, traveling, traveling, like, literally, I can’t tell you what it feels like now. And I can’t even remember what it was like, but I didn’t think I was doing too much but I definitely was.

I was just doing things I felt I needed to do, but. I’ve learned that nobody needs to do anything. You know, it’s me who who’s pushing myself. It’s me, who is creating that work. Now, when I sat down and looked at the Academy and looked at the courses I wanted to deliver, I wanted to have a balance of, you know, community.

I wanted to have a balance of one-to-one. I want to have balance of group programs. I wanted to have a balance of live. I wanted to have a balance of online. And I, I honestly, you know, really feel that this year, you know, we’ve kinda got that. And one of the nicest things for me, um, has been in, in 2020 was releasing my podcast.

Something that’s just really allowed me to take a lot of my personality, a lot of the, uh, you know, characteristics, uh, about myself and really share that in a more kind of talk show way, which I’m loving. And this brings me on to something that I think will really help you guys because. I started focusing on my outputs and what the inputs required were for those.

So I started thinking, well, I don’t need to travel. I don’t need to be doing these things. What do I want to be doing? So the, the key difference here is thinking about need versus want. Now. This whole episode is focused on the fact that, you know, if we look at our to-do lists and we look at, you know, 10 items, if you have an item of 10 things to do, generally speaking, only two of those items.

Yeah, will be the impactful items. Okay. And they will be more powerful or have more output than the eight of the others put together. So we can be really busy. I’m just looking at one of my, to do lists now and I’m thinking, yeah. Okay. It looks a bit crazy, but what I do is I get huge post-it notes and I brain-dump everything onto it.

And then I make sense of those notes and I dump those onto Trello. Then I dumped them into lists of things I’m working on. And then I pull out all the actions I feel that I truly would be best to do. And then I try and delegate, um, and involve my team, uh, in doing the rest of the items. Now that feels like I have control, but I could still be literally doing, to do lists all day long.

And, um, even just today I was thinking, what do I need to do? What do I want to do? So all the things I didn’t need to do, I got rid of.. and all the things I want to do. So wanting to record my podcast, I’m doing that. I’m wanting to do some planning. So I’ve started structuring my day so that I I’m really looking at the Pareto principles.

So the Pareto principle, as I say is all about this 80% of your outcomes are going to come from like 20% of your input. So basically in short, 20% of your time getting like 80% of your revenue. So. When I started thinking about my business, I’ve taken a step back from the Academy, uh, in terms of, and stock like totally involved in delivery and things like that and all the things that I’m passionate about, but not really doing much on the day to day.

But, um, this is where obviously I decided that I felt I needed a change and. One of the things I know from our agency side of the business is definitely that, you know, um, there are now all aligned to the Pareto principal and I kind of really thought about it before. So 20% of my time, honestly, you know, maybe in sort of, uh, working bits in the Academy, working part in the, uh, you know, agency side, but.

Am I really fulfilling my true passion in terms of, yes, I’m passionate about digital marketing. I love it. I love online marketing. I love. And when students come to me and say, you know, I’ve got this job or to my career, or I got a distinction on my diploma. And you know, when we go to the graduation ceremony, all of those things make me buzz, but it’s about really getting the nitty gritty of what makes you tick and not everyone’s the same.

Um, so weirdly I don’t think I am money motivated. Now you might be thinking, well, you know, doing your whole point about revenue all the time. Oh, absolutely. I am. I am focused on, you know, every, um, aspect of the business generating revenues, making them profitable. Yeah. But. It’s not the adrenaline. I get, you know, um, some people, you know, who work in sales, you know, that whole kind of feel of getting the sale in.

Yes. It’s, it’s lovely to get a customer, but different people have different motivations and different things that really just make them satisfied. Um, and it’s a deep satisfaction I’m talking about and not just a quick, Oh, that was nice. But something that really makes you kind of wake up every day and think, wow.

Really I’m happy with what I do. I love it. And I’m in control. There’s all of those things coming together. And it was a bit of an epiphany moment, really, because I thought, well, I’ve, I’ve worked so much on business consort and that brand I’ve worked so much on the agency side of things. And for the past 20 years, I’ve, I’ve taught, I’ve spoken, I’ve written, I’ve now done my podcast.

What an earth now. So when I look at it, once my business has got to this point, I don’t need to be doing these things. So what do I really want to be doing? And you may be stuck in this dilemma. Like when people talk about the businesses. They think sometimes it can’t change. And you might be feeling this yourself where you’re committed to something and you think, well, you know, I’m delivering this program, I’ve done this course.

I’ve gone this far. I’ve got to stay. If you feel at all, uh, that you are not fully immersed, then it’s going to be very difficult. Well, to be successful. And the good news is, is you can change. No one said apart from you that you’ve had to continue doing the same old things, you can completely change. So this is what I’m going to do.

And you guys can follow me on this journey. So, um, I, I’ve never been as excited in the most recent months than I am now. I literally, for the past sort of eight weeks have been mulling this over and then probably in the past four weeks, throughout January, I’ve just been kind of immersing myself in making it happen.

And what I’m going to be doing is I’m going to be delivering my expertise in a different way, a way that I feel. Is, um, authentic to me a way that I just feel would be very engaging, um, for all parties. And it’s a complete change because so many people know me as digital marketing, you know, training, speaking, qualifications, books, all of those things.

Um, but the podcast has opened up this whole new sort of area. And this area that I feel that I can walk into more comfortably, which is on my personal brand. So DawnMcGruer.com. And, um, we are going to be inviting guests on to the podcast, all sorts of different entrepreneurs. Uh, this is going to lead on to a new program and, um, yeah, I, I’m going to be launching this in the spring and it will be the first.

First program I’ve ever done like it in terms of the way that it’s structured everything within it, things that are my expertise and things that I felt in my complete genius zone. Um, but working with a community of people and community is something I think we’re all craving at the moment. So. I’ve probably spent 12 weeks thinking, what do people really want?

What do I want? And how does that all work together? And how could that actually be monetized? And this is something that I would urge you to do because no one said you have to continue doing something. If you feel that, you know, you’re working on a bit of a labour of love, that’s fine. You know, but are you really, really thinking about, you know, what effort you’re putting in.

And this is something I’m so guilty of. I’m so guilty of just getting caught up in to-do lists and I’ve stepped back. I hardly have any kind of like team meetings now. I’ve just, I’m more organized, but I’ve got more time. And actually everything just seems to be far more in sync and you know, everything is working.

So I feel that success sometimes means that you have to step back a little bit. And, um, just look at the picture and think about is what you’re delivering truly aligned to what people want. And I think that’s a big thing now really in COVID. So how will I structure this? Well, I’m going to spend basically 20% of my time.

And I think it will generate, um, about 80% of my income. Um, now obviously I have different businesses and that’s the model that I work on an all of them, but there’s for my own personal brand DawnMcGruer.com will be at now. Some of you may know that I run a retreat in Marrakesh and, uh, the strategize and energize retreat is all about the eight areas of life though.

I really feel passionate about. So when I think about the Perato principle, And I think about the things that I love doing. Um, I focus on trying to keep my business life in check and all of the other aspects by looking at these eight areas. Now, if you’ve read the book dynamic, digital marketing, you will know what these eight errors are, because this is all to do with creating a success plan that I know I’ve covered in other podcasts, but this is about wellbeing.

Number one, family, number two, work, number three, friends, number four, relationships, number five adventure number six, and then money number seven and home number eight. Now these eight areas are things that, um, I feel that if we’ve got them all in sync, as I say, all aligned and we’re, we’re getting results in each of these, we feel quite balanced as individuals.

And I think from a mindset point of view, especially in COVID, uh, times that. It’s been really important to check in on that because when you starve us from things that we need, then we do suffer, you know, and, and all of us will have suffered from mental health, from, uh, losing people from all sorts of distress, from money, and all worries that come with this, this awful pandemic that’s come along now.

If you’re thinking about having a revamp and you’re thinking about how do I align Pareto’s principle to it? Well, I’m thinking about, well, okay. I’m going to put 20% of my time in for 80% of my output. I think about that in terms of my revenue. I think about that in terms of exercise, I think about that in terms of food, you know, and.

If you break all of this up and start thinking about things differently about this, this whole essence of a to-do list about if you’ve got 10 things on there, what are the two things that are gonna make the impact? What the two things that are going to generate, you know, 80% of the outcomes and just forget the rest and stop sweating the small stuff and walk away from it.

And delegation, you know, is something that is, is, you know, very true to me and something that I found hard for many years. They say kind of like a knack that you’ve got to develop and I’m a bit of a control freak. So it’s always been quite difficult to, to sometimes let go. Now, um, have a think about your business and think about where your actions are and where your time should be spent, you know, and, and really think about what it is you’re doing.

Um, quite recently, I spoke to a lot of clients who are doing lots of low value, um, you know, items in terms of pricing, not, you know, obviously lots of gold related juicy nuggets that they’re providing, but, you know, it could be that they’re trying to sell things that, you know, low amounts now. Selling things like small products is great.

If you’ve got a really established audience, you know, cause you could sell a lot of them. Okay. And you can make quite a lot of money, but honestly, in the early years, you know, if you’re starting out, it’s because that’s going to be a really hard nut to crack, you know? And when I think about it and I think about high ticket offers and buy high ticket offers, I mean, not just you tens and 20 thousands, I’m talking maybe like a hundred thousand, um, you know, high ticket offer.

Well, those sorts of things, when you think about it, you know, That’s when people start realizing, well, you know, they’ve got a lot more time because they’re getting more money in for a lot less of their, you know, sacrifice, you know, of things that they have to do. So you’ve got to think about. How you price really important and how you can bundle things in to keep people together.

And, you know, if there’s a one-off sell, can you turn that into a sale that happens again and again, and you know, I know people talk about passive income and I do a lot and recurring revenue, but this is, um, you know, Something that you have to kind of build into the model at the early days so that you can start thinking well, instead of trying to find 10,000 customers, it’s always going to be easier to find 10, you know, structure what you have and spend some time thinking about what your pricing is and, and really, you know, to serve clients well and not be super busy.

You want. Maybe a smaller amount of clients where by your serving, you know them really well, or you could do something where it’s a community like clubs and memberships where, you know, you have. People are paying every month and you maybe work on scale. It’ll be different models and different ways for different, uh, people in terms of where you are in your career cycle and your business journey, because not everything works for everybody.

And you know, if you ever want advice on this, come and join us in the Facebook group, business consort. Marketing motivation and mindset. The three core principles that we talk about in the group, and also you have an amazing community to join. So I just wanted to challenge the way you were thinking about your time and to share a little bit about how I’ve applied this to my businesses and what my focus is going to be for the coming year, because it’s always nice to kind of get you guys involved in the journey, um, to, you know, See where I’m going, what I’m doing, and also to, to get feedback from you guys in terms of what it is that you really want right now, you know, there’s different things that people are missing.

And this is a conversation that we’re having in the group at the moment. So I would love you to come and join. So don’t forget, come and join. Um, the group. And also you can subscribe to the podcast on all of your favourite podcast, listening tools, uh, anything from like Spotify to Apple, you name it. So just pop over to DawnMcGruer.com.

And you can get the links from there. So I will see you on next week’s episode and have an amazing time. Don’t forget about your to-do list. My final final item here is that, you know, if you’ve got to do list of ten, only two of those will be creating the majority of the impact, um, uh, versus eight of the others put together, take care.

Guys have a super weekend. I hope you enjoy this week’s episode and don’t forget, I’m going to be with you. Each and every week. So download and listen on DawnMcGruer.com or on iTunes and come and join us in our Facebook community, too. All the details are on the website and I’ll see you next week.