00:00:24My name is Jan McFarland. I help business owners, like you lead plan and execute their projects for Maximum Impact. Women-led businesses receive less funding our businesses are more successful as consumers. We hold the purse strings. It's time for us to take on the business. World. Welcome to women conquer business.

00:01:43Or not, and how these three things work together to build a legacy.

00:01:52What? I hope you'll get from this episode. Are these three things are keys to helping you move your projects forward, achieve your goals.

00:02:14So, let's start with consistency.

00:02:32Otherwise, people don't know what you're doing. Your dog won't listen to you. Your kids won't listen to you.

00:02:46We also hear a lot about consistency in the diet and exercise industry.

00:03:00Go to the gym, three times a week. You'll become more fit.

00:03:14You might not feel better over the Long Haul.

00:03:29The same is true when you're building a business.

00:03:37Consistency is really tied to goals.

00:03:45Peggy Noonan said, quote part of Courage is simple, consistency and quote.

00:04:04And it takes a lot of consistency.

00:04:19Being a better parent.

00:04:29It takes courage to do these things. It takes courage to put yourself out there time and time again, it takes courage to

00:04:46For a long. Of time.

00:04:56Well.

00:05:12And it provided you with Clarity around what you're supposed to be doing everyday, what it meant to be successful in your job.

00:05:30Part of consistency is the ability to measure success.

00:05:46Your kind of flailing around a little bit. You're changing course so much.

00:05:58It's hard to say if the reason you have 20 people going to your website everyday is because you did a Facebook live if you only did one or if it's because you did the speaking engagement because you only did one.

00:06:40As much as people don't like to track goals. I find measurement is a huge key to seeing how much these things are paying off. You can't always be intuitive and feel into whether or not something is working or not. If the payoff is immediate, maybe with so many times. We're working toward goals.

00:07:37And so's accountability.

00:07:54If you have consistency around what your building, if you can check in with your accountability partners and say, yes, I did XYZ again this week. This is what I'm seeing or I didn't do all of these things. Please hold me accountable to that.

00:08:21If it's all scattershot all the time.

00:08:36Part of achieving our goals is about being consistent.

00:08:45In our field is about being consistent.

00:08:53And they're confused.

00:09:04People like to see a pretty predictable flow of information. They want to know what they're getting.

00:09:27So that means that when you are building your projects that are connected to your high-end goals because I'm sorry, you can't achieve your goals without projects projects or what drives you toward these goals and your projects should be directly related to any goals that you're setting. So, the biggest question that you have to ask yourself when you're embarking on something. And I would say, particularly in the realm of marketing, or in the realm of doing something new, probably the biggest question. You want to ask yourself before you get started is

00:10:10What do you do after the excitement wears off?

00:10:24Do you pick up your stuff and go to the gym anyway?

00:10:35And the same thing is true in your business.

00:10:50In productivity when you start to see results and then it levels off because it will level off. But that leveling off is still an increase over where you were before and we stopped doing those things. Pretty easy to fall back. Just like if you don't go to the gym for a while, it's hard to stay in shape.

00:11:18And we'll talk about capacity after this.

00:12:23So go ahead, go listen to this podcast or virtually any podcast on pod coin and sign up with the promo code business. I swear. It'll change the way you listen to podcast.

00:12:46The reality is consistency, is nothing.

00:12:53Your consistency must not exceed your capacity.

00:13:01Capacity doesn't seem to get talked about enough in the business context. It does get talked about in other areas like nonprofits and the public sectors, but I haven't found to talk about as much in terms of building a business. I find capacity to be well, it's one of the most important things of any project that I've worked on and I build capacity and sustainability into every project that I work on its part of the model. That I work on the clients part of the model that I've worked on leading massive big projects.

00:13:39Sustainability doesn't always mean.

00:13:49You know.

00:14:00The same is true for the inner world and the business world.

00:14:17You see, most of the time we talked about capacity in business were talking about raising other people up.

00:14:31What a capacity is about having the physical and mental power.

00:14:46You see most of the time, that's what capacity means for people in the small to medium-sized business Realm.

00:14:58I'm going to tell the story of rock Pebbles and sand, right. I think we've all especially if you're on social media. I think we've all heard one or a different version of that.

00:15:20Meaning, are you living your life?

00:15:30Without exceeding your capacity.

00:15:46Send said, yeah. Totally.

00:15:56Shake it up a little bit. So the Pebbles fit in around the large rocks and said there's a full now. And the students said yeah jars full now.

00:16:11Sand into the jar.

00:16:18Filling up. Any remaining empty space.

00:16:26Saint. Usually, this is where the story goes to the lesson.

00:16:51And then we keep feeling it until it overflows.

00:17:06I love using the word hairy there because it kind of gives you an image. Write your biggest goals. Are your biggest rocks?

00:17:20the Pebbles are

00:17:28The big rocks. These are all of the supporting things that you need to do to work on and fulfill those big rocks, but it's also your life, friends job work.

00:17:45Those are the Pebbles.

00:18:00Without that being part of your goal for getting customers because if you're just chatting it up on social.

00:18:12It's time, waster just like watching TV is a time-waster.

00:18:31I added the water to the metaphor because small business owners. We often overfill are mayonnaise jars.

00:18:53That's when we get into the stress realm and overdoing it.

00:19:02You can't really work on everything or anything. It's that state of overwhelmed that I think so many people get into and get in that rat, rat rat, race and hamster wheel of doing the same thing over and over and over again to the point of exhaustion, which is also incidentally. When you get

00:19:30That's not consistency either.

00:19:44But it's also not sustainable. You see capacity is about creating a system.

00:19:55It means filling your teams and your services and your processes.

00:20:14And running over down the street.

00:20:31And it happens. I think I've done it. I think that we all have done it.

00:20:43Can this be done successfully year-over-year? Or if you're working in Sprints, like a 90-day Sprint, which is one of the things that I recommend can this be done successfully for 90 days.

00:21:07The next question with that is how do I know? How do I know?

00:21:18This means tuning in to name as yourself to any of their team tuning in with how you're feeling checking with your family.

00:21:36because if you're in that space of exhaustion and being resentful,

00:21:49Because that's what people see.

00:21:59so, the challenge is to

00:22:05Consistently toward your goals.

00:22:25But I would always rather see somebody be successful.

00:22:31You want your projects to succeed?

00:22:43And that's the third point is impact.

00:22:52What's your legacy? What is your purpose for being in business? What is the purpose of all of these goals and making sure that they are achievable and don't exceed your capacity. What's the purpose of all that?

00:23:14These are important questions.

00:23:37We're talking about your legacy were talking about the impact that you want to have on the world and on others.

00:23:49Being wealthy.

00:23:55And if that's your soul driver, good on you, make that happen. The reality is that impact is Success. However, you define it. We've had previous guests, talk about different methodologies for identifying success, or how you define success.

00:24:30The days I do have are made all the more meaningful and precious.

00:24:42We worked with purpose. We work on impact. We care about Legacy.

00:25:01Or whether your legacy is to be a maestro.

00:25:11At what you're doing?

00:25:19She's the best. She's the best. She knows her stuff.

00:25:36And if the result of your consistency and your capacity to be consistent, Your Capacity to lead teams and services and processes.

00:25:57That you can be the best ever. But whatever your thing is, so when it comes to your projects.

00:26:07What am I leaving behind? What is the end result here?

00:26:15And am I getting it as a result of all the work that I am? I am doing.

00:26:26Your goals sustainability and Legacy.

00:26:37or overwhelmed, or

00:26:45Thank you for listening.

00:27:13Business decisions based on short-term gains without a critical eye toward the future.

00:27:27The good news is you're not alone. You have support all around you.

00:27:54I've opened up just a few spots over the next couple of months for clients who are ready to make a move. It just takes a few minutes at. Jen mcfarland.com last ready.