Ep 75: Talent vs. Tenacity: The Hidden Path to Sustainable Success

EPISODE 75

Sparking Your Strategic Impact in the New Year

 
 
 

Consider this: the natural tendency for things is to atrophy over time if we don't actively engage with them. The notion that it all happens effortlessly is one of the biggest misconceptions out there. To ensure sustained growth, consistent effort is an absolute necessity. Don't allow things to wither away; instead, embrace the challenge and commit to ongoing action.


And here's the secret: when they do start to lose their luster, that's when it's all about focusing like a laser beam, taking one step at a time, and seeing things through to the end.


We'll unpack the temptation to spread yourself too thin with a wide array of strategies or ventures. Instead, dive deep into one strategy or area of expertise. Avoid the constant cycle of jumping from one thing to the next, whether it's Facebook ads or the allure of the latest trend. Your success lies in the power of consistency and commitment.

Think you’ve reached out to “everyone” in your network? Out of ideas to get noticed and get funded?  Generate leads for your nonprofit or social impact business: https://www.splendidcourses.com/prospect

Steal my Prospect List! Lead Gen just got a lot easier!

Resources mentioned:

 
 
 

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TRANSCRIPT:

Christina 00:02

Welcome to the Purpose and Profit Club podcast for nonprofit leaders, mission-driven creatives and social entrepreneurs. Get ready to stop dreaming and start doing here. Ideas become action. We prioritize purpose and profit. You ready, let's go? Hey, purpose and Profit Clubbers, I am excited to just say hi and welcome. Happy New Year. Welcome you back to the podcast for a solo episode.

 I want to talk about things that atrophy today. We'll get into that First I want to share a couple of things, as I've been doing some business planning this year and just kind of like you know, it's like the refresh that comes with a new year. Last year I think I shared a few times my word of the year was strong. That looked like physical, physically strong and mentally strong. So it looked like weightlifting, it looked like just building more muscles of resilience mentally. That word really carried me through the entire year and this year my word came to me almost like just dropped in really, really quickly. So my 2024 word of the year is shine, shine, shine, shine. So for me the word shine is like a willingness to really really be seen, step into the spotlight and shine, like whether that's a sparkly shine or whether that's just a light shining kind of on me shine, and I see that many of the organizations that I work with may also want to adopt this word or a version of this word, and really step into their own spotlight, like really step in, and not a little, not sometimes, not a toe in, but like really stepping into it. So that's my word of the year and I wanted to share it with you today.

02:05

I have been working on some really exciting things here at Splendid and let's see, coming soon ish We'll just say in the next month, ish this spring will be a brand new high touch group coaching program. I'm calling the purpose and profit club, just like the podcast, and I just can't wait for it. I'm going to call this for a year and it's going to be. It's going to be More accountability, more traction and more momentum than you've ever had with me. So it will be coaching and mentorship and it will also be strategy and consulting. I've been working on this new flywheel method that really combines putting profit at the top of your goal and impact, like how do we get both in motion? How do we get both to increase? I'm really, really excited for the group of changemakers that are going to join to really put those two things first, right, and not have those be afterthoughts. And you know the minutiae of the day being all this other stuff that isn't money making, that isn't we think it is, but isn't, that isn't visibility making, right, really stepping into that spotlight, ok. So those two things, if being said, let's talk about things that atrophy.

 And this idea for this topic came to me in a couple of different ways. Last year I was speaking to a group of female founders and we all collectively left just like amped up. We were all like I could feel it in the room. I had a bit of a presentation and then we launched into a Q&A and then it just like everybody, just I could feel the buzz of like yeah, let's go.

03:53

And the ED that brought me in to speak to this cohort of founders said during the Q&A he said you know we were talking about again kind of this theme, again here it is putting yourself out there, really making the daring ask whether you're pitching, whether you're prospecting, whether you're doing any sort of outreach, like it doesn't matter, just putting yourself out there. And he said some sort of blah, blah, blah, dot, dot, dot. But this comes naturally to you, christina, and he said it like it was the fact he said it like right, the sky is blue. This comes naturally to you. So for people who this doesn't come naturally to, what can they do or how should they? And I was just like I was pretty mystified. It really has stayed with me. I'm sure he barely remembers saying it at all and it really stayed with me because this doesn't come naturally to me. This is a bustle that I've built over time through an entire career of entrepreneurship, through doing this, since hang on fast math, I don't know 2007, whenever that was, however long that's been.

 So that is one of the things I think internally. We tell ourselves I'm not a natural at blank, or I'm only a natural at blank, right, so we can use it against or for ourselves. So if you think about somebody who identifies as athletic, then they're going to be like, sure, sign me up for that 5K even though I haven't practiced. Or yeah, I'll give that new pickleball, whatever, a try. And somebody who just doesn't happen to identify as athletic or sporty may just say no, right, because they're just thinking one comes naturally, one doesn't right, and those are just belief systems, right? Those aren't necessarily true. And the same is true in our industry we often sort of put on well, so-and-so is really good at relationship building, at having conversations in this way, or making cold calls or making follow up calls, or so-and-so is a really great storyteller I'm really better at. You know X, y and Z, and that's a really big lie.

06:04

And the first thing I want you to do is just kind of identify where that's coming up like, where that shows up for you. It was like what you think you're not a natural at and what you think you are a natural at, just separating those out. And then what would be interesting is to look at the things that you think you're not a natural at and just ask yourself how much time, skill building, effort, consistency Do I put, have I even historically put into that? So let's use like prospecting and outreach as an example. You might say, oh, my gosh, well, jane is a total rock star at that. But I'm not Right and I would say, well, how much time has she put into it? All right, how much has she, you know, really been motivated and been consistent with the skill of cold calling, or the skill with following up, or the skill with hearing nose, the skills with just going through it, getting back up, refining her approach, right, and how much of you have or have not? And if you're like, nope, I've tried it, christina, and I'm still not good at it, okay, well, what kind of support or accountability have you had to get better at it? So that's kind of interesting. Right, it's something that you can be consistent in, but you still think you're not great at right. Okay, well, how? What kind of support have you had along the way? And that is part of the Purpose and Profit Club program that is coming out soon. That is part of. That is like accountability and support, you guys, is everything, okay, okay. So things that atrophy, and when I'm thinking about atrophying, I'm thinking of, like you know, something that has the capacity and capability to be useful, to to be helpful for you, but is like a tool that you're not using.

 So there is this scene in the movie Kill Bill. I think it's the first one. I think I always get part one and part two confused. Uma Thurman, just total rock star, love her and she's in the hospital. She's in a coma. Her character has been in a coma for I don't know how long and she wakes up. Boom, she wakes up from the coma and she's like I got to get out of here. And immediately, like she's sort of like her, she sort of audibly says I got to get out of here. And you can see it on her face. She's like get out of this hospital right now. Got to break out of here.

08:32

And she very quickly realizes that her muscles have atrophied right Because she has been physically like laying in this bed for so long she can't move. And she ends up getting out of the hospital by using her hands and getting into this wheelchair and kind of wheeling herself to a car. She's still in the car and she gets in the car, she sort of drags herself up into the car, into the backseat, I think she's like laying in the backseat. She's talking to herself and she's like move your big toe. She's just focusing on the like tiniest movement on the bottom of her you know foot and she's like okay, and it has atrophied right, just from not moving it. She was once able to move it in this movie. She hasn't been in any accident that would prevent her from moving it. It's from lack of use, right. So she's just hyper focusing and she's like audibly saying oh, I just like move your big toe, move your big toe and then slowly through the scene she, like, moves her big toe and she gets her muscles working. Okay, fictional example, but you get the point. And it wasn't because something came or didn't come naturally to her. It wasn't because she was athletic or sporty and only somebody who could do that, can you know, would be able to get out of this. It was simply because she just hadn't done it in a while and she had to talk herself through it.

 So watch yourself and watch where you are deciding that you're not good at something, something doesn't come naturally to you, something is kind of harder for you, even, or more challenging for you than it is for others, and see where you could give it a little love, where you could give it a little focus, where could you give it a little bit of encouragement and acknowledgement and focus on moving that one big toe today. So for the person who is really reluctant to like, maybe step into their spotlight and shine Okay, that may feel too global, but where could you focus and drill it down to one single thing you could do today? One single email you could write, one single person you could reach out to, right, because sometimes it's the big that intimidates us from the big thing that intimidates us from taking just the next step. What is the next step? The other thing, the other side of this is, if you're not a natural at something, maybe just finding some peace with it and being like, maybe that's fine, right, maybe that's not a big deal, maybe that's not something you do want to build the muscle on and really deciding.

11:10

You know, if I'm looking at my goals for the year, they can be personally, professionally, they can be revenue goals, any of it I get to decide. Where do I want to focus my own self development and professional development and growth, and what is okay? If I want to put those on the back burner? What is okay? If I'm like you know what that doesn't come naturally to me and that's okay. A great example of that would be my accountant. Right, that's okay. You know, I wouldn't be offended if somebody said to me you're not a natural with this, christina, when it comes to bookkeeping, like, I can do it, I got it.

 But I'm also happy to bring in somebody who is somebody who specializes in excels and also has put in a lot of time to become excellent at it. So another way to say. It is like where do you want to develop your excellence, right? What are those buckets that you're like? I want to be excellent at that, right. I want to be really, really skillful at that For me. I want to be an excellent coach. I want to be excellent at helping you increase your revenue and increase your visibility. I want to be excellent at making sure that you are enjoying this life, this role, this career that you've picked, not just the destination of where you want to be, but I actually want to make sure you're enjoying the day to day life.

12:39

So part of what I do is the strategy, the piece of making sure that we do get your revenue up, that you do have the support and accountability you need to go, take daring action, and the other part of it is making sure that you are motivated, that you're talking to yourself kindly, that you have a support system so that your nervous system feels good, so that your general contentment with yourself and your job in social impact is one that you choose on purpose. So think about that. Like, what is it I want to be excellent at? Where am I willing to maybe let a few things atrophy, and that's okay, and where do I really want to go in and focus on skill building in these ways.

 The last thing I want to talk about is and this comes up for some of my clients, I see is, in an effort to not let things atrophy, they are doing a lot of tiny actions all over the place, like a lot of tiny scattered actions everywhere. So, for example, I'm picturing in my hand like a bunch of glitter and you just release it out into the air. It's like the glitter kind of goes everywhere. There's not an intention of where I want the glitter to land or fall or go or who it's for, and practically what it looks like is hey, christina, we just brought on a new web designer. We're getting a whole new website and branding. Hey, christina, what do you think about Facebook ads? I think we need to start running Facebook ads for our organization. Christina, do you have anyone that's doing the Google ad grant? Should we do? We need better SEO. That's what it is. Gosh. Our email list Okay, I think we need to stop emailing so much and instead I think we're going to really hit the gas on social and, ooh, paid ads, paid ads, okay so, and I think we need to do an event.

14:42

Was that as overwhelming for you to hear as it was for me to say? Because I don't think we realize we're doing this? I don't. I think that it's often the best intention and really it's falling under the umbrella of marketing and the goal there is, of course, increased revenue with everything I just said. But really the idea is, all of these different strategies that are, you know, trendy, all of these different strategies that are working for this other organization or this other organization. We should be doing that and I don't want to be left behind. I don't have this frenetic energy to it. Right? Instead of saying is this the right time to invest in Facebook ads? Do we have the budget to invest in Google ads? Do we have? Why are we rebuilding our website? Why are we coming up with new branding?

 Right, really, looking at that from a strategic viewpoint and from a profitable viewpoint, versus I just want to be seen, I just want to be out there and I want to make sure that we're doing air quotes, everything we can to stand out right and sometimes the thought that you need to do everything you can to stand out will leave you feeling very frazzled and will leave you standing on your front door, just throwing glitter out into the world, hoping it lands on a prospect or a donor or supporter, instead of being laser focused on where your audience is, what your audience responds to and making sure they are converting in an optimal way. So making a donation, signing up to be a recurring donor, supporting your organization, becoming a member, really being very, very clear and targeted in that way and then building that skill set, really going deep and focused on that skill set to make that happen, versus and targeting that big toe to make it move, versus boom throwing glitter out into the world and then coming back to me saying it didn't work. So homework today, take some time and look at what you think you're a natural, at what you think you're not, where you think you might be just kind of jumping this might be called strategy hopping in your world and where you would really like to settle in in your strategy this year. What makes sense. If you don't know, book a call with me and we can talk out where I would focus for smart growth. Make sure you click the link in the show notes. We have an upcoming live training happening in February and I want to see your name in the chat If you haven't already, take a moment to rate and review the podcast.

17:18

It helps this podcast show up and help more change makers like you. I'm cheering you on and I'll see you next time. If you ask me, everyone should have a coach, especially you. I want to invite you to schedule a free discovery call with me. Go to splendidatlcom, forward, slash contact. You'll see my calendar there. Book a call with me. You'll learn about my smart growth method, where we can grow your business or organization sustainably, with ease and massive impact.

You Get To Have Purpose And Profit. I’ll Show You How.

 
 
PodcastChristina Edwardspurpose and profit, marketing, entrepreneurship, purpose driven, nonprofit, social impact, mindset, productivityComment