Is your productivity actually accelerating your income? Or are you just a busy bee who's not really making a lot of money?  It’s easy for entrepreneurs to fall into the busy, but not productive trap.

In this episode, we cover the common mistakes that trap business professionals in busy work and how to quickly snap out of it by using Yvonne McCoy’s Productivity A.H.E.A.D. model to quickly accelerate success. 

About the Guest:

Yvonne McCoy is a Woman’s Business Strategist. She helps woman entrepreneurs to accelerate profitable and sustainable growth. With new clarity about constant uncertainty, clients maximize their powerful genius and talents to step into their CEO mindset.

She is passionate about changing the challenges of entrepreneurial business environments into practical solutions, expanded opportunities and increased income. She assists clients in creating innovative and amazing results that reflect the owners' impact.

Her extensive experiences in coaching, divisional operations and diversified job training as well as life experiences are the basis of her practical systems.  Her biggest personal accomplishment is releasing over 150lbs.

Free Gift Link: www.ProductivityCoach.Today

Please support Yvonne McCoy by sharing her free mini course and joining her for the weekly Office Hours.

Social Media Links:

FACEBOOK: https://www.facebook.com/ImReady4Me

LINKEDIN: https://www.linkedin.com/in/yvonne-mccoy/

INSTAGRAM: https://www.instagram.com/yvonnebmccoy/

WEBSITE: www.ProductivityCoach.Today

OFFICE HOURS: Thursdays at 8 am Pacific/11 am Eastern

Join Yvonne McCoy for an interactive working hour every week to jumpstart your business. She shares a productivity or profit tip, helps apply it to your business and you plan your next step – and you enjoy speed networking with others who are scaling their businesses to 6 and 7 figures too.

Take advantage of this intimate work space here: https://bit.ly/YvonnesHour

About the Host, Elaine Starling:

An international TEDx speaker, bestselling author, coach and mentor, Elaine Starling is recognized for her video show and podcast, The Abundance Journey. After a comprehensive conversation with our higher power during a stroke, Elaine created The Abundance Journey 6 week course to share what she learned. As the Abundance Ambassador, Elaine mentors spiritual, growth-oriented women to align with Divine guidance to achieve their dreams. Elaine’s clients experience more clarity, confidence, and commit to action that achieves their goals. 

Elaine Starling Social Media Links:

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/elaine.starling1/

Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/elainestarling/

YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC3eXgwdMYYzLicCEcB1Ddrg

TEDx Talk, “Abundance Is a Choice” https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tMQ0D4sfEys&t=1s

Website: www.TheAbundanceJourney.com

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Welcome to The Abundance Journey, the show that helps spiritual entrepreneurs create an abundance mindset that accelerates revenue. Secretly, every few experience your life is actually abundance. Once you understand how to activate abundance, you find yourself in flow of your business and clients. So it's easy to create the revenue you want. The abundance journey is the only show that activates abundance for you. So you enjoy rapid results in your business. Here's your host, the abundance Ambassador Elaine Starling

Is your productivity actually accelerating your income? Or are you just a busy bee, who's not really making a lot of money? Hi, this is Elaine Starling. I'm the abundance ambassador, and the host of the abundance Journey podcast and video show. You're in the right place today. Because I have an amazing expert for you to meet. Yvonne McCoy is an international women's business strategist. She's a speaker and consultant when she lost all of her clients because of the pandemic, Yvonne was able to pivot so that she could help herself and her clients with their own productivity and profitability. She helps them get that CEO Mojo mindset. And boy, we all need some of that. Yvonne, welcome to the abundance journey.

Hey, it is great to be here to see you.

Yeah, you know, I just love where you're coming from. And, and obviously, a lot of people got hit hard by the pandemic, and a lot of people are still struggling to recover from it. Could you tell us a little bit about why you're so passionate about the work that you're doing. Um,

I think one of the reasons I'm so passionate about as entrepreneurs and as an entrepreneur, nor myself, we put a lot of our heart and soul and energy into our businesses. And because of that, sometimes we have blinders. And we can't really see the things that are going to help our business grow. Because we it's like, I know how to make it work. I do know. And so we kind of micromanage. And my joke is that, you know, you can micromanage excellent staff in them into being mediocre, because they're afraid to do something. And so part of productivity is to learn how to put processes in place and systems, so that you don't have to have your fingers and everything so that you can scale up and get things done.

I love that. I love that. Because it ties in perfectly with my next questions. I have interrupted just long enough to set you up for a really great payoff. So given what you do, this is the abundance journey, we're talking about abundance. When you work with your clients, what does abundance look like for them when they work with you?

Okay, when I work with clients, the first thing I want to know, is I want to know what they want their legacy to be. What do you want to be remembered for? Because there's no point in building a business that you don't love or a life that's going to give you a lifestyle that you hate. I mean, you can you know, if you're not sure about where you're headed and what you're trying to accomplish, you're just building crap faster. Yeah. Okay. And then you're stuck with this, this thing, this monster that you've created that you don't even like, right? So productivity, that to me just was an eye opener was part of what made me pivot was, you know, typically with productivity, we think it's time management, okay? But productivity actually started in the 1700s. Around the end of almost the 1800s, as bushels per acre, how productive is mine land, it was an agricultural concept. Then it became an industrial concept, how many widgets per hour, which is why we're constantly trying to check things off our list or you know, that kind of thing. We are neither agricultural or industrial, we are informational. We get paid to think you cannot put on your list of to dues. I want to come up with five fantastic ideas today, that that's not how it works. It's amazing how this whole concept affects all parts of our life. For instance, a really simple one is, you know, in the Agricultural Age, people cooked with whatever they had, there were no real recipes. They just threw stuff together. Then we got to the industrial and people had a lot less time. And so they had cookbooks with specific measurements. Now we can go online, you know my husband makes put a look right. And you know, he said it started with just cooking in the fields for the for the workers. We went to Spain, we got a recipe, he went on YouTube and spent all this time and came up with his own, which I have no idea. I mean, it's delicious. But he's not satisfied just putting in this and this. And this. I mean, and that's true of your employees too. Yeah, they want to be engaged, they want to think they don't want to be just do this.

So you know that you bring up a really good point that people are generally heads down, and they don't realize they have a problem until it's really in their face. Yeah. So instead of waiting until the stuff hits the fan, what is a symptom that people experience, that's a sign, they need to look at their productivity, they really need to look at that systems and processes, that that's the first breakdown in any business.

Okay, so there are two that I think that people should look at. One is if you're not making the kind of money that you want, which is an easy one, a little bit harder one, because it's more personal, is when you take a look, and you're you know, you're constantly, I have to do this, I have to do this, I have to do this, nobody else can do this. That is your, as a person, you just have a limited amount of time, you're never going to be able to do everything. And so if you don't trust people, or train people, and that's why, you know, one of the things when I teach productivity, you know, I have models and my model is productivity ahead. And the first step is awareness. What is your situational awareness, I mean, if you're having a baby, or you're moving to another state, you know, that might not be the exact time to do a huge launch. Okay? The next is what do you want to put on hold, some things can be put on hold, and you know, you're better for it, then they're the things that you eliminate, then you automate, and then you delegate, everybody tells you to start going the opposite direction to delegate first. And what that means is that you are delegating the least important things. Ah, that is so important. I love that concept. But don't make the mistake of delegating the least important things. The other thing is delegation, people think of delegation is I just want to get this off my plate delegation is actually training, how you're actually investing in a person who can do the things that you can do. And that is brilliant

Yeah, thank you. Thank you so much for that. Because often people are like, well, I don't have time to train somebody. But if you use delegation as a way to train them, yeah, yeah, you do. So I wanted to ask you, we get so caught up in what we're doing, there's always something inside us that we have to be willing to change in ourselves, so that we can have that external shift and really improve the productivity. What do you find your clients have to change inside to improve their productivity? I know it's tough

That's a big one. I think one of the things I would say is, there's more than one way to get things done. Yes. And one of the things that clients say to me a lot that makes me laugh is I want somebody just like me. Problem is because because you're you're you and somebody who's going to compliment you, that's going to do the things better that you don't like to do or you can't do. And so have been able to do that. And that's why the training part is so important, because you have to explain why you're doing and what the goals are, because there is more than one way to get to a goal. And one of the other things that's, that's amazing, that has to do, you know, a lot of entrepreneurs are really good at what they do, but they don't have the business skills and the business management. And so that becomes really problematic. And one of the things that I find in terms of entrepreneurs is, there's a difference between a workgroup and a work team. And a workgroup is like, this is what we have to do. This is the way I want to do it. You have this to do I have this, you know, and just go ahead and do it kind of the industrial model, a team, you know, that's where you're, you're the head of the team with the work group, but a team is where everybody is supporting each other. They're coming with ideas. And so you have to be open to listen. And you have to be able to differentiate because if you go in and say I want your ideas, and you really don't, right, it's demoralizing. They're not going to give you the ideas when you need them.

And they know and they totally know if you're sincere or not if you're authentic or not. Absolutely.

So I guess what that boils down to one of the shifts is that most entrepreneurs are entrepreneurs because they, they didn't want to have a boss, and now they have to have a boss.

They don't play well with others.

big shift,

oh, yeah, have to play well with others. And it's so true. Because not only are you playing well with your employees, you're playing well with your clients. And you create a collaborative environment where everybody benefits, everybody wins. And then baby, your business really ignites. Well, so one of the biggest challenges Yvonne that we all suffer from, is when we're having a challenge, we would really love to have an answer that solves the problem yesterday, but it's kind of not how it works. But our I haven't found the magic wand, I don't know that you have either. So what's like a little baby step that we should take a look at. So that we know we're starting on the right path, and we're making progress to shift our productivity.

I think one is, you know, as you look at this, I call in my in my handout, my in my mini course, is called Dead Reckoning, which is actually a sailing concept, that you pick a point on the shore, and that's where you head for, because you can't go in a straight line. So first of all, is having that dead reckoning, right? And knowing that, if you're doing something new, you're gonna make mistakes, and you're gonna have failure, but failure is not fatal, hopefully. But it is feedback. And so you have to have an environment where you can get feedback from a lot of a lot of people and say, Okay, what is the purpose of this? I mean, so many times people go, I want to do this. And I'll say to them, but why do you want to do this? Well, because somebody said, I should do it. Well, yeah. But what's it going to do for you? Is, are you coming up with this product, because you want it to be a, you know, a lead magnet? Are you coming up with it, because you want it to be a course it's going to be a core part of your business, you have to know where you're headed. And that way you can, you know, it doesn't mean that you're never going to make a mistake, you're always going to make mistake. One of the things that happened for me was, is that I lost like 150 pounds. And thank you, congratulations, I'm not finished. Like, I still can be do more. But my mantra was, it doesn't matter how many times you fall down, it only matters how many times you get up and how fast because originally, you know, it was kind of like, alright, I fell off the wagon. I'll start next month, well, it'll take you a lot longer to get where you're going. But if you can get back, say I'm starting the next meal, or I'm starting right now, or I'm gonna start first thing tomorrow morning. And so having having having those an environment, a culture, where it's alright, to take initiative, try something and the person makes a mistake, and you go, Okay, let's take a look at this. Why didn't this work? Why doesn't it fit with what we want? What is it that you were trying to accomplish? Okay, yeah, that is beautiful. I have I have a three seems to be my number. But it's I call it the three P's. So it's when something goes wrong, look at the procedure, then look at the person, and then try to be proactive. Because, you know, too many times people go, Oh, Susan never gets that right. Or Bob always does this wrong. Well, maybe there's something wrong with a procedure that they always get it wrong. And then the issue comes up that we don't want to deal with is, did I train them? Do they have the resources that they need? Or are they just, you know, subordinate, and I have to fire them, which is someplace we don't want to go. And unfortunately, for entrepreneurs that are scaling, a lot of the people that they bring in, are the people that are available, their friends, their families, they don't necessarily have what you really need. Hire, you know, technical people, you really get to see that. And it's like, well, where do I put them? Or do I do you know, yeah, yeah, lots of challenges that come up for entrepreneurs that we're not expecting. And so the last piece is proactive. Right? How can I be proactive? Like if this happens, you know, first of all, can I fix the problem and not just the one incident? Right? And then the next is what's going to make me think about this before it gets this bigger problem. Again, what's the deal? Oh, it's starting again. Mm hmm.

So true. So true. Yvonne, you very generously offered a free gift to the audience to the listeners. Could you tell us a little bit about the gift I'll make sure that the link is in the show notes for everybody. Right?

So it's a productivity coach today. It it is a A mini course, that is accelerate your productivity and profit with one small change. And it deals with the One Small Change, which really is a mindset change, okay? And it will talk to you about your limiting beliefs. And it's amazing that, you know, your limiting beliefs really affect your clients and how well they perform. Yeah. And then it has to do with change changes is simple, but it's not easy. There are a lot of pitfalls in between doing ending something that you've been doing and starting something new. And also coming up with your dead reckoning so that you can start making decisions from that, that perspective. But the thing that I'm starting, I gotta tell you, this is what I'm excited about, is I'm going to be starting avons productivity hour, it'll be weekly, it's free, that people can come, they can meet other people, they can work on their problem and leave with an action plan. And, you know, I'm doing it so people can really rev up what they're doing and, and have some community so,

Right, that's such a great idea, I'll have to get the link to that one, too. Yvonne, we do something a little sneaky here at the abundance journey, because we know that when we give is when we truly receive, that's the ultimate gift is your, your willingness to give is actually the biggest gift you can ever receive. So what can we do to support you? Um,

I guess if anything that I said resonates with you, or somebody you know, be sure to give them the link to my free course or ask them to, you know, to get a hold of me because it's so exciting helping people and seeing them grow. Ah,

That's great. Thank you so much, Yvonne. Now, I want the listeners to stick around because we're going to activate abundance in just a second man, I love Yvonne, I love her energy. I love her just nuts and bolts, she cuts to the chase baby. And I don't have a ton of time. So I really valuable p i value people who value my time who get down to the brass tacks and what I need to focus on, so I can really improve my business. That's why I wanted her as a guest on the abundance journey. And now it's time for us to activate abundance. Yes, there was so much that Yvonne said that was utterly brilliant. But one of the key things that I want to point out and I want to emphasize for step one, is we're grateful that we have the opportunity to connect with somebody who's so smart. And as so many brilliant ideas for us, someone like Yvonne, so step one is gratitude, because gratitude immediately gets you to be more creative. It also connects your energy to Ivana and to mine. And we're very high vibe people. So this will help exponentially grow your business as you grow yourself. Your internal growth is reflected by your external growth. Do you always look for ways to grow internally that influences your external growth? Okay, so you didn't know that, but you're getting a twofer. It's really nice. So step one, gratitude. Step two, acknowledge something that Yvonne said, that's a real game changer for you in your business. And I'm going to point something out now I'm, I'm like a compulsive note taker. So I was writing down all those everything. She said, It was so brilliant, and I couldn't wait for transcript. So I loved when she was saying, procedure, person, and proactive. Now, the reason why that's so important, is I think, usually we get it out of order. We tend to think it's the person that that jerk, he's the problem. But often, it has nothing to do with that person and their personality. It has to do with the procedures, the processes, the systems that are in place. I can't tell you how many times I've discovered I've been kind of ticked off with somebody, and I find out later, their computer bombed. They couldn't control their computer bombing. I've had my computer bomb, and I felt terrible before. I I've that's happened to me before. So I loved what she said about putting that into the right order, procedure, person, and then being proactive. So that's the thing I want to acknowledge. And I want to appreciate the difference that it can make in my life that step three is appreciate the reason what I appreciate about it, is it gets all of that knee jerk negative emotion out of the way. I just completely remove that and instead of doing the blame game, which is so easy to do, right, oh, it's all his fault. I can't believe he did that.

No, no. Clearly, something in the system or the process might not have been as supportive as it could be. What is the roadblock that's preventing him from contributing at the level that I need. That's a much more valuable question for me and for him, because then it creates a collaborative environment where we can work together to put together a better process, a better system, something that works for everybody. So I love that I love that about what she had to say. So that was step three, step four, is we're going to activate abundance. And that means we assign a trigger, so that when something happens, we remember to do this. Or we actually take out the calendar and we write it down on the calendar that I guarantee, I'm going to do this at this time, I'm just going to have to tell you that I will promise I'm promising you Bong right now if on in the ether, I am promising you that every time I run into that immediate kind of knee jerk, that person is not being very supportive right now feeling, I'm going to immediately step back and say, Okay, there's a process. That's a problem here. What process is the problem? And when I do that, it empowers me to show up with kindness, consideration, compassion, and curiosity. That makes all the difference. Because when you show up and you're in somebody's face, and you're wagging your finger at them, how much do they really want to support you? Like not at all right? But when you step back, and you can be compassionate and curious, and and kind to them and ask them. So what were the roadblocks, is there anything that we can do to improve the system and the processes so it's easier for you to step up? Because it's so valuable? What you do is so valuable to me, I want to make sure that it's easy for you to contribute. That's a totally different message. Of course, they want to support you then, right, it creates connection, it fosters collaboration. I love that. I mean, if one's just brilliant, right? She's utterly brilliant. So step five, celebrate. We got to celebrate we have grown so much just through 115 minute conversation with Yvonne. I haven't even done her course yet. So excited to do her free cars, because I can tell when it's just going to make a massive difference in my life and in my business. This is Elaine Starling. I hope you enjoyed today's session and make sure you tune in again for the next episode of the abundance journey.