[Transcript starts at 1:19]
Hello, hello, hello, my podcast people and thank you for joining me for yet another episode of my favorite podcast. It is Monday, August 28th. And today we are answering the question, are you working in your business or on your business? Quite frankly, that's a phrase that I fucking hate. It is annoying.
There's a bunch of phrases out there. I thought about making an episode. Maybe one day I will, but I, I hate being, hate doing episodes that are just like complaining. Yes, I can always spin it and then, you know, give a lesson, but I try to spread out the complaining. And today's complaint is about that phrase, I'm too busy working in my business to work on my business and my.
My response is, what the fuck does it even mean? I have clients that say it, I hear it in the space, and I'm like, yes, it's very catchy, it's very punchy, but, as always, if you want better answers, ask better questions, which typically means ask more questions, and ask more pointed or more specific questions. And I think, honestly, when people say this, what it actually means is that they are, they feel that they're too busy doing things they don't like doing and they're not moving towards their goals, which is amazing.
We can work with that. So I know for a fact that Jill Fit has a Fit Biz U episode about this. I batch my episodes. I've been batching these because I got life stuff going on. I will reveal afterwards, um, after it's done. But I know that Jill recently dropped an episode about that, about working in your business, on your business, something like that.
Um, so we will link that episode. Courtney, thank you. Cause I have no idea when that episode came out in relation to when this episode is going to drop. Probably like a month before. Um, but the, the reason I put that out there is one, sometimes Jill listens to the episodes and I want to acknowledge that Jill did an episode about that.
Um, I haven't listened to it. Um, but one of my favorite parts about working with Jill is that we have somewhat different approaches to things. We definitely have different strengths, but we have pretty much the exact same values, which means that we may come at things from a bit of a different direction, but it all always ends up being helpful for our people.
So also go check out that episode as well, because I know that it It will help you. Haven't even listened to it and I already fucking know. So back to the phrase, I'm too busy working in my business to work on my business. Again, if you want better answers, ask better questions. I think what people actually mean when they say this is I'm too busy doing things that I don't like, and I'm not moving in the direction that I want to be going.
Totally understand that. If you take a step back and we look to kind of define each of these, these terms here, working in the business versus working on the business, like what does that even mean? If we kind of differentiate there. To me, working in the business means delivering the actual service, delivering the actual offer, which is typically, quite frankly, folks, the easiest part.
Working on the business is doing the things that help actually grow the business. So lead gen, you know, marketing, that side of things. When it comes to online business, especially when it comes to online business, and I'm saying this cause that's my expertise and the thing that I'm just like, you know, submerged in, I think that things aren't so black and white when it comes to in versus on your business, which is why worrying about that to me is a bit of a waste of time.
My solution, and I shared this with the Mafia a few weeks ago. So Mafiosos, I know you're listening, thank you for being the best sounding boards ever. But my solution here is to stop stressing about whether you're working in or on your business and instead start focusing on doing shit that you enjoy and the shit that has to get done so you can achieve the goals that you have.
So I want to use a personal example, um, as to just to kind of highlight or elucidate this grayness between in versus on and the fact that if you go to any coach out there or, you know, you look at marketers, they're all gonna, it can make it very confusing because everyone's trying to push their way on you, and ideally they're not pushing their way as the only way, but many people do. And in doing so, I watch as consumers just get hella confused and then they're like feeling guilty about what they like doing. And I don't think that things are that black and white. So for me personally, a perfect example is creating podcast clips.
Y'all know I used Descript. I have a whole episode about my podcasting, um, process. Courtney, thank you for linking that. I create the podcast clips that you see on social media, the video podcast clips that you can, that you see there. I love doing it. I spread the workout across a week. I can now do it in about two days instead of three, but I love doing it.
If I was to talk to other business coaches about it, they would probably say, what are you doing? Outsource that. These coaches likely don't like creating clips. They're probably not good at creating, creating those social media clips. And so they'll be like, yeah, why the fuck would you do that? Outsource it.
They're going to view it as working in the business. And they can use that phrase you're working in the business, which means you can't work on the business and actually grow it. I can flip the script very easily and say, actually, these clips go on Instagram, which is where I get new clients. And so to me, this is a client facing activity, which is, yes, it could be working in the business, but it's also working on the business because it's lead generation. It's client acquisition. And I don't want anyone else touching that because I want that first point of contact because this is truly a personal brand. So we see that it can go either direction there.
One is not right or wrong. To me, what tips the balance of the scales there is that I like doing it, so I hold onto it.
I was just talking to LCK about this. Uh, Laurie Christine King, we've had her on the podcast. She's a creator through and through and she has a podcast. She outsources it and the creation of the clips.
And I was just like, Hey, how is that for you? Because I know that you are a creator and that probably can be difficult. Cause maybe you're like, I would do a little bit differently. And you know, I kind of want to switch that. And if you are at a phase where you still want the control of things, it can be very, very difficult to outsource to the point where you're like, actually, I'm just going to do it myself.
And that's where I'm at right now with these clips is that I like doing it. It is lead generation. It is lead acquisition. And to me, that's working both in and on the business. So I'm going to hold on to that. Uh, if we take podcasting, but we just do the audio side of it, take it to my journey there. I edited the first 150 episodes.
Now I have the ever wonderful, she's fucking amazing, Courtney. I talk about her or I, I don't know, I give, I ask her something in every episode. I just, so I know you folks listening. If you've listened to more than one episode, you've heard me say her name. Even if you just listen to this episode, you heard, I've already been like, Courtney, thank you.
Um, so she, now she does the editing and I'm going to say that she's an editor and producer. She makes sure that she makes sure that it gets up, that it goes onto the website so it can get distributed. She does the show notes and all of that. I waited 150 episodes before I outsourced it to her. And yes, I was working in the business at the time, creating the content.
But again, podcast lead generation, nurturing, that's to me working on the business as well. And I made sure that it got done the way that I wanted to do it, which to me was very important because this was the foundation, right? These were the initial episodes. And man, those first 150 episodes, first 100 episodes were fucking bangers.
You folks may not even know about those episodes because they're not actually on Apple Podcasts. You can't go back that far. It only shows 300 at a time and we are, we're past 500. So you may not even know they exist, but I did a bunch of guest episodes during that time. Um, I actually just brought Jill Miller back on the podcast and she was like episode 40.
So, doing things that way and me working both in and on the business was very important. It could be, you know, a coach could come in and be like, oh, immediately outsource that. You're working on the business. You're working in the business which means you can't be working on it. And especially given where I was at in business, I needed to be doing both.
And it's, if you're just starting your online business and you listen to this episode, look to do both. Stop looking at fucking outsource everything minute number one. Work in the business. Work on the business. You are the business. You are literally the business. So you're doing all the things in the beginning and then we can start looking to say, okay, what do I want to change? And that's going to be based on what I said earlier, which is not whether this should be categorized as working in or on the business, but rather, do you like doing it? Does it need to get done? Is it moving you towards your goals?
Another example, responding to emails.
One could look at that and be like, that is definitely an in the business task. It doesn't allow you to work on the business. But if it's how you get clients, if it's how you grow your business and your goal is to be bringing in clients and growing the business, then that's also working on the business. So hush up and do it. Figure out a way to hate it less. Maybe you batch it, something like that.
So it can't just be, okay, this is black and white in versus on you're right now you're working in the business. You got to get rid of those things and just work on the business. You got to figure out what you really like doing. You got to figure out what needs to get done. You got to figure out what needs you. And then what goals you have and you go from there.
Realistically, anything and everything can be outsourced. You got enough money, anything, literally anything can be outsourced. Right. There are certain things that I personally absolutely would not outsource.
There are certain things that I won't work with for, with people if they outsource those things, but it's not like a, you know, judgment against them. It's that's not my expertise said. Um, but honestly, if you're willing to pay, you can outsource anything. Of note, when, and I've done outsourcing episodes before.
Um, if you want to link one of those, Courtney, pick whichever one you want. Thank you. Of note, when you go to outsource, it is important that you get to a place where you're okay with quote unquote good enough. This doesn't mean, this doesn't mean settling for mediocrity or settling for things that are bad.
But if you're very good at what you do, or if you have very specific standards, or if you have a very specific vision, there's a good chance that someone else cannot do that exactly as you would. And that's okay, so long as you are okay with it, right? So if you've decided my time is better spent somewhere else, then you have to get okay with good enough and not be micromanaging people.
One thing I always say as it relates to outsourcing is wait until you hate it. If you wait until you hate that task and you're at a point where you're like, anyone can do it. Rupert, that's my cat, you can do the task. It becomes so much easier to outsource because it becomes so much easier to be okay with good enough.
I will say, while we're still, you know, talking about this outsourcing, uh, concept, if you're trying to organically grow an online business, stop looking to outsource from the fucking first second. Write your own shit, write your own copy, write your own sales copy, write your own sales pages. Write your own copy that's on your website. Write your own emails. Write your own show notes. The product is in the process. Find your voice. Figure out your style. Build and establish your brand personality. And then, if you want, you can outsource things and basically look to have people emulate your style. That's where ghostwriting comes in. Where you're like, hey, this is what I sound like. They can see this body of work. That's what I did with the podcast and show notes.
I had 150 episodes and when I was first asking Courtney, you know, and seeing if it would be a good fit, it was like, Hey. She, she did a phenomenal job, folks. She was like, okay, I've listened to the episodes. I think this is what your voice is.
This is what I would do for the show notes. And she gave me a sample and I was like, yes, I would say that. And it's not that I need to say it exactly in that way. If you've broken through the trust barrier because you've written so many things, you've sent so many emails, you've done so many sales pages, you've done so many posts, people know your voice, but they will accept slight deviations from your voice because they're just like, they assume it's you.
So it's just, this isn't like about trickery. This is about you have the trust from your audience such that they know, even if you're not the one specifically writing it, that you've okayed it, that it's the same messaging. It's the same values and principles going into it. And they'll accept that. All right.
But that only comes after you've built the thing and that comes from you doing it first. Okay. So again, if you're sitting there and you're like, I'm working in my business and I don't have time to work on my business, solution, focus on doing the shit you enjoy and the shit that has to get done so that you can achieve the goals that you have.
So the action items here: first, write out what you actually enjoy doing. I'm thinking about a client right now that I'm working with and I'm like that's the first step is like, what actually comes easily? What do you like doing? We're gonna lean into that first because the other stuff, if we do decide to outsource, remember wait till you hate it, the stuff you hate will be a little bit easier to outsource.
So first write what you enjoy doing.
Second write out what your goals is or are. Are you trying to get more customers? You're trying to get more sales? What are you trying to do? Trying to get more content out there?
Three, write out what needs to happen in order to achieve those goals. Then you decide if you want to be the one doing those things, or if you want to have someone else doing them, right? We're getting actionable here. We're getting objective here. Get onto the spreadsheet here.
My strong suggestion again, is that you do the things first yourself, and then you outsource. In versus on, it is gray. It is not black or white and people will always use that grayness to justify doing things that they want to do and not doing the things that they don't want to do. And I'm okay with that and using that.
This is why I lean into creating the podcast clips because I like doing it. If I hated doing it, I could very easily be like, well, this doesn't really contribute to this or X, Y, and Z and so I can outsource it. That's what's going to happen regardless. So I want you to get objective with that. Start with what you enjoy.
Start with what you think needs to happen. Start with what goals you, excuse me, what goals you have, and then we can go to there. Go from there. That was a lot right there. So less worrying about whether you're working in or on your business, more focusing on doing the shit you enjoy and the shit that simply needs to get done so that you can achieve your goals.
All right, we're going to do a review. This is the last review for a bit because I am batching these episodes. So the way that, I've spoken this before, the way that Apple seems to do it is that like, they also like delete back ones. So I'm looking like, coach Anna's is not even there anymore. Like, it seems like, I don't know if it's every month.
I don't know how it does it, but like it deletes them. So I could use some new ones. Um, we got a few new ones. I read them on the past episodes. We got one today and then I might get some more in the upcoming days, but I won't be able to read them until subsequent episodes because I batched a bunch today.
But either way, if you left a review, thank you. Y'all are the real MVPs. If you don't know how to leave a review, very simply search the podcast on Apple podcasts. You find Maestro on the Mic. You scroll all the way down and you'll see an area to put in stars. Those are ratings. If you want to leave stars, thank you.
Please leave five. Why would you leave anything else? Okay, I'm just gonna say it. Please leave five. And if you want to actually write something out and leave a review, I would love that. I just love reading them. I don't know if it helps people find the podcast. It definitely helps people once they've found it to kind of decide if they want to watch or listen, but I just, I just like reading them.
It's a unidirectional platform. I'm talking to a camera right now, talking to myself. And so I love hearing from you and knowing that it's landing, it's resonating, and it's helping you. So today's review is from Reader McReadington. It's probably my favorite name thus far. Uh, the title is So Much More Than Online Biz.
Shanté is a gem. I've been following her for years on Instagram and she lives and breathes her message. Live your best life. This is the underlying message to all of her podcast episodes, at least the episodes, at least all the episodes I've listened to and I've listened to a lot. My heart explodes. It's so clear that that's ultimately what she cares about.
All the helpful and insightful bits of information, all the tangible action steps, all the ins and outs of online business. She frames them all around supporting you in living your best life and doing what makes you happy. Whatever that looks like for you. This person gets me. This person gets me.
This podcast has become a regular part of my week and I'm always rejuvenated and ready to take action after listening.
Reader McReadington, this is. I, folks, I just copy, I screenshot it and then I put it onto this little outline that I'm reading from. I try not to read the actual, um, I try not to read the actual review until I, I am doing the episode.
So, I don't know, hopefully I don't get a bad one and I just start reading it on this thing. Um, but this is literally the first time I'm reading it and it's just. Y'all are amazing. And I'm truly, truly grateful for the review. So thank you Reader McReadington, you the real MVP.
One announcement and I'll leave y'all alone.
DOORS open next Monday, September 4th for round 14, folks, round 14, of my Instagram intensive. The Instagram intensive is my six week online group coaching program that teaches health and fitness pros exactly how to use Instagram for online business. So if that sounds interesting, something you've been looking into or wondering about, the link for that, to register, it has all the information on the sales page. And I wrote all of that copy. It will be in the show notes. If you've got questions about the Intensive, go ahead and shoot me a DM at TheMovementMaestro. Would love to have you. All right, we're going to wrap it up there. As always, endlessly, endlessly, endlessly appreciative for every single one of you.
Until next time, friends, Maestro out.
Watch this episode on YouTube!
Register for the Instagram Intensive now!
MOTM #491: My Podcasting Process
MOTM #237: Should You Outsource Your Sh*t?
MOTM #397: How I Make Outsourcing Easier
FitBizU: Working In Your Business vs. On Your Business
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