It’s almost the end of the year and we were beginning to fade, neglect working on OUR business, procrastinate and completely ignore the fact that our goals for 2018 were virtually non-existent because we hadn’t put any time into creating them. In a nutshell, our motivation was shite and we were feeling like Leslie Mann in The Other Woman when she decides she needs to go to brain camp. Our biz and personal life was suffering in a major way!
The Social Cue team where lucky enough to tag along for an intensive two day brain camp and Business Mentoring session with the team at Elite500. The seminar was led by the super incredible and inspiring Dr David Dugan. David who works alongside the likes of Entrepreneur Royalty, Sir Richard Branson was the fuel our squad needed to kick our butts into gear. He gave us the tools to not only reignite the flame and the hunger but to completely design the next 10 years of business life.
With all the positive Juju injected into our soul, we have completely shifted our mindset. We have a brand spanking new Client Journey in place and we finally feel in control of this roller coaster ride that is Entrepreneurship.
We are going to share with you our top takeaways from this impressive and seriously inspirational event.
1. PRIORITIES, THE IMPORTANCE OF A CALENDAR AND THE BIG ROCK THEORY
Takeaway One was the biggest for us on a personal scale. Too often we say “there’s not enough hours in the day” or it could be that we get distracted with small issues that we completely neglect what is important in life. Basically we suck at prioritizing! Which brings us to The Big Rock theory.
Imagine that your life is a Jar. In 365 days we fill that jar with Big Rocks, Pebbles and Sand.
Big Rocks are the big ticket items like family time, your annual holidays or a money making event for your business. Pebbles reflect deliverables, team planning, meetings and training. Sand reflects personal development, hobbies and self-care. All are important, but they need to be prioritised.
If you fill that jar with sand, you leave no room for the big rocks or pebbles. The most efficient way to use your time is to add your big ticket items first, The Big Rocks, followed by the pebbles and sand. The pebbles and sand will fall into place around the big rocks. Have I lost you yet?
Getting to the point. Get your calendar for 2018 at the ready. Add in your Rocks FIRST! For that is most important. Fill the rest with your pebbles and sand and that way you have created balance and possibly saved your sanity!
2. WHY, WHAT, WHO, WHEN AND THEN COMES THE HOW
How can we achieve this? How will it work? How about I just sit down and look at memes.
According to our new learnings, HOW, should be the last question we ask ourselves. In fact, it is all about the WHY. Why are you doing what you do?
This was a pivotal moment in our brain camp. We were so focused on the HOW that we forgot all about our WHY.
We want to make an impact on businesses around Australia. We want to see their success and know that we were a part of it. We want our clients to become industry leaders. We want to create. WHY? Because we love it and we know that our experience can help businesses grow!
3. NAIL YOUR MORNING RITUAL, PRACTICE BREATHING AND GET ALL THE GOOD FEELS BEFORE TAKING ON THE DAY
The speaker invited multiple people to speak about their success in business and the common theme was a killer morning ritual. Unless you count our daily trip to Ferry Rd Markets Merlo Coffee a killer daily ritual (Let’s be real, it’s pretty awesome) it wasn’t quite cutting it as far as success in business goes.
Something we learnt was that “Success Leaves Clues”. Basically suggesting that if all of these people who have a morning ritual have become super successful in business then maybe we need to take a leaf from their book.
The biggest morning habit was Breathing and Meditation. Something that we do not do enough of (okay, honestly. We don’t do at all). We were treated to a crash course in breathing and WOW what a difference. Oxygen was getting to the brain and we all felt incredibly energized and ready to move mountains.
4. THE 6 KEY ELEMENTS TO SUCCESS IN BUSINESS AND DELEGATION
Success was broken down into six fundamentals and boy was this an eye opener.
WINNING TEAM; Your team must be aligned and committed to the common goal
ELEVATED VISION; This keeps you focused on the tangible goals for your business
OPTIMISED OPTICS; Knowing the importance of critical drives, KPI and financial data so that you can make informed and strategic decisions
MARKETING; Having a clear marketing strategy that builds your brand
OPS & TECHNOLOGY; Consistent evolution of procedures and systems
INSPIRED INNOVATION; Creating your unique core offering that monetizes your intellectual property
We were asked to rank ourselves in each category between 1 and 10. We learnt the importance of each aspect and that the best way to achieve all 6 consistently was to delegate the weaknesses and focus on your strengths. Trying to kill it in all 6 hats will no doubt send you crazy. Assign team members or outsource projects.
5. REFLECTION
The art of reflection is paramount to success in business and kicking goals for 2018. We were asked to name three Business Wins and how much value (in dollars) it brought to the business that year and what action was taken so we can sustain or repeat.
We were then asked to do the same, but for our “woopsie daisy” moment in business. Again, we needed to highlight the challenge or mistake made, calculate the cost to the business (in dollars) and identify the lesson. That was a game changer!
So there you go! These are a few of our fave new business practices that are setting us up for success in the new year.