Shownotes
In this episode, host Phylicia shares two of the biggest mistakes that entrepreneurs make that prevent them from building sustainable businesses. She highlights the importance of having aligned strategies and operating the business with systems.
About Phylicia
Phylicia Pough, MBA is a wife, mom of 1 daughter and an entrepreneur. For over 10 years, Phylicia has been behind the scenes of businesses and ministries, keeping things organized. Her journey started in Administration and developed into Systems & Automation Consulting/Strategy.
Her latest venture is The Mom CEO Suite which is a community for the modern day mom in business that curates experiences and safe spaces for mompreneurs. The Mom CEO Suite also automates business and podcasting processes for mompreneur service providers.
Connect with Phylicia
Facebook: Phylicia Pough
Instagram: @PhyliciaPough
LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/phyliciapough/
Connect with The Mom CEO Suite
Website: themomceosuite.com
Instagram: @themomceosuite
Join The Mom CEO Suite Facebook Group
Links & Mentions
Get info & join the 2 Day SOP Sprint!
This podcast uses the following third-party services for analysis:
Chartable - https://chartable.com/privacy
Transcripts
You are now tuned in to the Mom c e O Suite
Speaker:Podcast. I'm your host, Felicia wife,
Speaker:mom, and entrepreneur. In this podcast, I'll be sharing my
Speaker:mompreneur journey along with strategies that will help you build your
Speaker:online business operations in a sustainable way.
Speaker:The goal is to help you build a business that fits into your lifestyle as
Speaker:a mom who values putting family first. We will also hear the
Speaker:experiences and expertise of other moms with
Speaker:service-based businesses. You'll get a peek into our journeys, so
Speaker:you'll know that you are alone. Motherhood gets hard,
Speaker:entrepreneurship gets hard, but together we can
Speaker:do hard things. Welcome to this.
Speaker:Hey friend, welcome to another episode today. We're talking about.
Speaker:The biggest mistakes. That are preventing
Speaker:entrepreneurs from building a sustainable business. So I really
Speaker:have two major things that I want to share on this topic, but I'm going
Speaker:to break each of them down before I do that. I want
Speaker:to explain what I mean when I say a
Speaker:sustainable business. One thing that you guys
Speaker:can expect from me is that I'm going to give you a definition. I'm going
Speaker:to break something down, just so we all can have the same understanding. When I'm
Speaker:talking about a topic. When it comes to
Speaker:sustainable, what does that really mean? Literally, if you
Speaker:look it up, it means able to be upheld or able to
Speaker:maintain. So when it comes to your
Speaker:business, And we talk about building a sustainable
Speaker:business. It's building it in a way that you, as the business owner
Speaker:can upkeep that you can maintain. So do you
Speaker:have marketing strategies? They are sustainable for
Speaker:you. And this can look different from person to person and business
Speaker:to business. What may be sustainable for one person may
Speaker:not be sustainable for the next. There's a lot of
Speaker:different factors, but think about you, your
Speaker:personality. Your capacity. Your
Speaker:desires, your lifestyle. And really
Speaker:dig deep and explore what is
Speaker:sustainable for you and your business.
Speaker:Okay. Now, why is this topic important?
Speaker:It's because if you do not build your business in a
Speaker:sustainable way, you are going to experience burnout.
Speaker:You're not going to be experiencing the freedom. That you truly
Speaker:desire in business and you're going to struggle with showing
Speaker:up. Showing up consistently And showing up in a
Speaker:way that brings joy to not only yourself. But
Speaker:also to the people that you are serving. And when we think about moms
Speaker:in business, All of these things, burnout and struggling to
Speaker:show up. Not experiencing freedom.
Speaker:There's a little bit more at stake for moms in business, because
Speaker:if we are burnt out because of our business, then that is going to translate
Speaker:into our home lives and how we interact in care.
Speaker:For our children. As well.
Speaker:So let's get into these two things. These two
Speaker:mistakes that I have seen that are preventing entrepreneurs from building a
Speaker:sustainable business. Number one.
Speaker:Is implementing strategies that are
Speaker:not in alignment. With your personal values,
Speaker:desires, and lifestyle. Okay. What
Speaker:does this look like? In real life in real time.
Speaker:So it may be that you are implementing strategies that
Speaker:drain you. Right. Again, this
Speaker:goes back to what is sustainable for you?
Speaker:The internet is very noisy. And
Speaker:everybody is going to have a different strategy and they're
Speaker:going to promise that their strategy is it.
Speaker:If you do this, you'll get that. Now just because
Speaker:something worked for someone, it does not necessarily
Speaker:mean that it will work for you. And the exact
Speaker:same way. You have to take into
Speaker:consideration. Your capacity. Your
Speaker:personality. Your lifestyle. Your
Speaker:desires. What brings you joy? You have to consider
Speaker:all of those things when you are implementing strategies and your
Speaker:business. And if you're implementing something that drains you.
Speaker:That is going to, again, prevent you from. And
Speaker:building something that is really sustainable and that you are going to be able
Speaker:to upkeep. Now for me personally, I'll give an
Speaker:example. Instagram. Had been draining for me.
Speaker:I just did not like showing up on Instagram. I
Speaker:love Instagram stories. But posting. On
Speaker:Instagram and doing reels, it was draining for me. And so
Speaker:that really prevented me from being able to show up.
Speaker:consistently or even at all on that platform.
Speaker:And so what I am actually in the process now of doing. Is
Speaker:transitioning my profile. To a nine
Speaker:grid profile. So instead of posting every
Speaker:day, multiple times of day, My profile will be
Speaker:static. And you'll be able to get information about me
Speaker:and my business just from the nine posts. That are on my
Speaker:profile. For me that is
Speaker:sustainable. I cannot keep that. I can maintain
Speaker:that. And it does not drain me.
Speaker:Okay. What's another example.
Speaker:Right. So the mistake is implementing strategies that are not in alignment with your
Speaker:personal values Desires and lifestyles. Another
Speaker:example of this is receiving coaching from someone who
Speaker:was not in the same season of life issue. And
Speaker:this is something that I have. Just recently
Speaker:recognized the need for. And it's come up in a
Speaker:couple of conversations that I've had, we're all moms here.
Speaker:Right? And many of us, we have younger children.
Speaker:Someone who was in a different season of motherhood. They may have more
Speaker:time. Or it could even be that you are a work from
Speaker:home mom. And someone else may send their child
Speaker:to daycare or. Their child may be
Speaker:in school. So they may have a little bit more time where they just don't
Speaker:have. the same level of responsibilities
Speaker:throughout the day as it relates to home life.
Speaker:And so it can be very challenging when you are receiving
Speaker:coaching from someone. Who was not in the same
Speaker:season of life is you.
Speaker:Because they may be giving you strategies again, not saying that their
Speaker:strategies don't work. But it can create
Speaker:some friction for you. Because you may get into this space where
Speaker:you feel like. You're not able to keep up.
Speaker:Or. They just don't understand where you are in
Speaker:life. Having someone who understands where
Speaker:you are. Who is just slightly
Speaker:removed from where you are or. It's in the
Speaker:same season as you. It can really help you And
Speaker:knowing that they get it and it helps you just to be
Speaker:more comfortable. And. Relatable to the
Speaker:person that you are receiving coaching from, and you don't feel
Speaker:like you're falling behind or they, you don't have the
Speaker:capacity, which then can create those feelings
Speaker:of. Feeling like you're not doing enough.
Speaker:Or feeling like a failure. Or just all of these other things.
Speaker:That stem from receiving coaching from someone who is
Speaker:not in the same season of life, life issue. Now, I'm not
Speaker:saying there aren't times where you shouldn't or you
Speaker:can't, just take the information, there's a saying.
Speaker:Take the meat spit out the bones, right? I'm not saying that you can't.
Speaker:But I do believe that it can create a challenge.
Speaker:When you're trying to keep up with someone. Who is not in the same season
Speaker:of life issue. And
Speaker:so again, all of these are just examples of mistakes.
Speaker:Entrepreneurs make. Related to implementing
Speaker:strategies that are not in alignment with their personal values,
Speaker:desires, and lifestyle. Now, the next
Speaker:mistake that I have seen is that entrepreneurs are operating their
Speaker:businesses without systems.
Speaker:Systems are so important to the sustainability
Speaker:of your business. Now. This is how I
Speaker:personally define the system. Think he T
Speaker:P processes. Tools. And
Speaker:people. All right. So your processes are literally the
Speaker:step-by-step for how you do anything in your business. You
Speaker:can think of this in terms of SLPs or standard operating
Speaker:procedures. And then once you have your processes in
Speaker:place, You can consider different tools that you can
Speaker:use. Where you can implement automation
Speaker:to. Assist with these processes. And then you
Speaker:can also consider the people who are going to help you
Speaker:implement these processes. Okay. So your system is
Speaker:your processes, plus your tools. Kolas your people.
Speaker:When you think about a system, your system really supports the life of
Speaker:freedom that you desire. Where I would talk about
Speaker:having freedom a lot here on the podcast. Your system
Speaker:supports that. In the book. The E-Myth
Speaker:by Michael Gerber. It's a great book.
Speaker:Every entrepreneurship re it's literally my favorite business book.
Speaker:But he says in the book, he says that. Your systems run the
Speaker:business and then people run the systems. So your
Speaker:system is literally just the blueprint. For how your
Speaker:business operates. And systems give you
Speaker:space to be creative. As the visionary
Speaker:as the owner of the business, you want to be able to be creative.
Speaker:You want to be able to stay in your zone of genius and your
Speaker:systems. Give you the space to do that
Speaker:because you are freeing up your brain capacity, right? So
Speaker:you're not holding all of this information. In your
Speaker:head. So how you send emails
Speaker:or your process for your sales?
Speaker:Or your process for how you onboard our client? Anything that you
Speaker:do in your business? There should be some documented process for it.
Speaker:And if it's documented, that means you no longer have to store it in your
Speaker:brain. And now. You have freed up basing your
Speaker:brain to be creative, to come up with new ideas.
Speaker:Four programs and services or new
Speaker:ideas for connecting with your ideal client
Speaker:or new ideas for collaborations. You are not stuck
Speaker:working in the business. You are able to work on the business.
Speaker:Okay. And the foundation of that are
Speaker:your processes. Are your SLPs.
Speaker:This is the documentation. That allows
Speaker:your business to operate. Without you. So God
Speaker:forbid you got sick. Or let's just say you want it to go on
Speaker:vacation for two weeks. Where's your business. Be able to continue to
Speaker:operate without you. If you had SLPs.
Speaker:Yes, it would. Because a stranger. The com.
Speaker:I was going to say, come off the street, but we don't want strangers coming
Speaker:off the street into our businesses. But somebody could
Speaker:come in, look at your SLPs. See how you
Speaker:do X, Y, and Z in your business and keep things going.
Speaker:If that's all in your head. If you are storing all of that
Speaker:information in your brain. It is weighing you
Speaker:down. Your business can't operate
Speaker:without you. And you will not experience
Speaker:the freedom that you desire. Because everything is
Speaker:reliant on you. And so what is the action step for today?
Speaker:The first thing that I want you to do is think about all of the
Speaker:strategies that you are implementing in your business. Marketing
Speaker:sales client experience. Anything that you're
Speaker:doing in your business and really consider and think
Speaker:is this sustainable for me, according to my
Speaker:personal values, my desires and my lifestyle. That's
Speaker:the first thing. And then secondly, If you do not
Speaker:have your processes documented, if you do not
Speaker:have SLPs, I want you to
Speaker:start thinking about. The different
Speaker:processes in your business. And how you can begin to
Speaker:document them. If you're needing support in this area, I look forward to
Speaker:seeing you in our upcoming SOP sprint. Or
Speaker:you can always email to find out what are the next best
Speaker:steps for you? But hope this was helpful. See you in the
Speaker:next episode. Thank you for listening to the Mom C e O
Speaker:Suite Podcast. If you enjoyed this episode, can you do us a
Speaker:favor? Leave a review on iTunes and share with other
Speaker:moms in business like you. Help us spread our message and empower
Speaker:others who are at this intersection of motherhood and
