the bossbabe podcast - 348. The 6 Elements of a Successful Freedom-Based Business To Put Your Growth on Autopilot in 2024
Episode Date: January 18, 2024YES, you really CAN have it all. You just need the right systems to get there. Today, I’m sharing my first ever keynote about the six elements of my freedom-based business method, specifically divin...g into rhythms and delegation. I break down the systems every entrepreneur needs to put in place to manage your business smoothly, move the needle, and achieve automatic growth. This keynote is full of valuable takeaways for how to go viral, defeat overwhelm, and build the successful freedom based business that will bring harmony to every area of your life. HIGHLIGHTS Why we struggle with guilt and overwhelm, and how to overcome it The six elements of my freedom-based business method + systems every entrepreneur must put in place. My top needle-moving growth tips + rhythms for going viral. Four simple steps to delegation to create freedom in your life and business How to shed the layer of “should’s”, stop people pleasing, and get to the core of who you really are. RESOURCES + LINKS Join The Société: The Place to Build A Freedom-Based Business FOLLOW bossbabe: @bossbabe.inc Natalie Ellis: @iamnatalie
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There is no way I can be implementing and executing and performing at the level that I know is required
of me. Because it's confusing, it's exhausting, you're waking up wondering what earth you should
work on. What on earth should I do today? What's actually going to move the needle?
What I really, really think is going to help us all get out of this,
and what I really, really want to talk to you about today is systems.
Welcome back to the Boss Babe podcast. Okay, we've got a slightly different episode coming your way this week. So one of the commitments I made to myself towards the end of last year is that I am going
to start speaking on more stages. You know, what's held me back? I've been really nervous
and it's something I felt like I maybe didn't have capacity to put time into learning. And what I've
realized is I just need to get on more stages and I need to get practicing. So I actually did my first keynote last year. It was in towards
the end of September and I was absolutely terrified, but it felt incredible. And I've
decided this year I'm going to get myself on at least six stages. So you get to hold me accountable.
So I decided I'm going to bring that keynote into the podcast and let you listen into it.
And throughout it, you'll hear me
mention the society. So if any of you are interested in joining and you are not yet a member of the
society, all you need to do is go to bosswave.com and you can come and join us. So I hope you enjoy
my first ever keynote. And like I said, you get to hold me accountable. That is my big scary goal.
I'm very curious what yours is too. Let's do it. 2024.
I am so excited to be here. I was sitting in this audience about four months ago and you know,
when we're having breakthroughs during the event and making notes, I wrote down, I think I want to be on that stage. I think I want to do it.
And this is my first ever keynote.
And listen, listen, I brought my baby with me. So when I tell you a joke, I'm going to need you to laugh.
Okay. Cause she thinks I'm really funny. So I really want to talk to you about building a
successful freedom-based business so that you can experience harmony in all areas of your life.
And the reason that I'm so obsessed with freedom, I've never ever liked being told what
to do. Like never. And I remember, I have this picture. I was four years old and I was at the
park with my dad and there was all these swans and all I wanted to do was stroke them and put
my hand in their mouth. And my dad was like, don't do that. This was me in response
to my dad. I've never liked being told what to do. And I've been in this space as an entrepreneur
and working with other entrepreneurs for over a decade. And there's one thing that I've learned
that every single one of us struggle with.
And I'm going to get every single one in this room struggles with this one thing.
Guilt.
I should be posting more on social media.
I should be spending way more time at home.
I should have worked a bit harder today.
I should have come home earlier today.
I should have done bedtime last night. Who in this room struggles with guilt?
And I've noticed that all of us often struggle with what I call the guilt cycle. I should be
working harder, so I work harder, and I spend less time at home. So I tell myself I should spend more time at home,
spend more time at home,
tell myself I should be working harder.
So I work harder, I spend less time at home
and repeat this constant cycle.
And for some of you, it's not spend more time at home.
Every single one of us
has a completely different guilt cycle.
For some of us, it's around fitness, it's around food. Every single one of us has a completely different guilt cycle. For some of us, it's around fitness, it's around
food. Every single one of us experiences different versions of this guilt cycle on a daily basis.
Hands up if you felt this. Hands up, I'm speaking to your soul. You're like, oh.
And the reason that we actually struggle with guilt is a lot simpler than you might think. There's one reason that
we struggle with guilt. Overwhelm. Overwhelm particularly when we have competing intentions.
I should be working harder, but I should be at home. I should be sleeping more,
but I should also be working out. We have these competing intentions
where we tell ourselves we should be doing one thing at the same time as doing the other thing.
And it's no wonder that our brains feel overwhelmed on a daily basis. And it's no wonder that when
you're at home, you're thinking of work. And when you're at work, you're thinking of home.
These competing intentions are absolutely exhausting. You're waking up wondering what earth you should work on. What on earth should I do today? What's actually going to move the needle?
We're feeding the beast of social media every single day. We have no idea what's bringing
sales. We've still got to manage the team, get home for bedtime, think about what we're going to eat. It's exhausting. And what I really, really think is going to help us all get out of this and
what I really, really want to talk to you about today is systems. Yes, an audience that likes
systems. You are my people. I want to talk to you about how I even got on this path and where my kind of breakthrough moment was.
Before I do, I'll tell you a little bit about how I grew up. Now, I'm sure a lot of you growing up
had TVs. Maybe they were color. Maybe you plugged them in, turned them on, and they worked. Yes?
I didn't. We couldn't even afford a TV growing up. So this is what our TV looked like. Do you see that little
box on the side? We had to put pound coins in it. It's like a dollar every single time we wanted to
watch it. It was a form of renting the TV because we couldn't even afford one. So you'd put a pound
coin in it and you'd get three hours of TV at a time. And I remember on the mantelpiece above the
fireplace, we'd collect our coins in there. So I'd strategically get home from school looking at how many coins we had.
Okay, I've got this many shows and this many brothers and sisters.
How are we going to make this work?
So from a very, very young age, I had to be very strategic with my time.
And this is the house that I grew up into.
I'm one of eight.
And also, yeah, don't get it twisted.
It's not the full thing. It's not the full thing.
It's just the half thing.
There was eight of us piled into three rooms in that one half a house.
And it was chaotic.
But the reason it was chaotic was not necessarily because there were so many of us piled into
such a small house.
I grew up in a house where there was a lot of domestic abuse.
There was a lot of domestic abuse. There was a lot of substance abuse.
And there was a lot of mental health issues. And I grew up in a house where screaming,
shouting, banging was all very normal noise to me. It was like background noise.
But there's this one night that is etched in my memory that I'll never
ever forget and I remember being upstairs and there was just banging and shouting and screaming
everything going on downstairs and I was kind of just trying to tune it out get on with the night
and all of a sudden everything went completely silent. That silence was scarier
to me than the noise. And I remember I was about seven at the time. I remember walking downstairs
very, very gently. Couldn't see anything, couldn't hear anything. And so I tiptoed into the kitchen,
opened the kitchen door and all I could see was blood
and I realized in that moment
what was happening
was that my mom had just cried
to commit suicide
and in that moment,
I knew I needed to do something about it
and so I ran outside.
It was snowing.
I didn't even have shoes on.
We didn't have a phone in the house so I ran outside and I ran to a phone box, picked up the
phone, 999, I need help. And luckily they came on time and they were able to help us.
And the chaos got worse and worse and worse from that moment. And I got to about the age of 12, and I decided I'm done. This isn't for me anymore. I need to
make a change, and nothing in my house is changing, so I need to be the change. I need to make a
change, and I moved out. At 12 years old, I moved out, and I remember starting a brand new school.
It was actually the third school I'd been in that year because we were so used to moving
house, moving town, moving school, because with every bit of new would be a change. With every
bit of new, there would be a difference. There never was. So I was in the third school that I
was in that year and I was checked out. I was done. I was telling myself a story that
people like me don't do things with their lives. People like me don't achieve things.
And I wasn't interested in school. I wasn't interested in making friends. I wasn't interested in engaging. I just wasn't interested. And there was this one
day, it was a careers day at school, and in and out came teachers, personal trainers, nurses.
And as every single person came in out that door, I remember just sitting back, looking at them, thinking,
good for you. People like me don't make it into roles like that. People like me don't get jobs
like that. And I zoned out and I was just waiting for the day to be over. And it was the final
session of the day and the teachers pulled us into this big hall and I heard high heels walking down the hall
and this woman came in and she had the most beautiful bag I had ever seen in real life
like I'd seen it on tv but never in real life it was leather it was a mulberry bayswater it was
the bag to have at the time and she put it on the little chair beside where she was talking.
There was no stage.
And I'm like, I'm listening.
I'm like, listen, whatever she did, I'm interested in.
And she started talking.
And the way that she opened her presentation was she says,
I was sitting on the stairs with a glass of wine in hand crying. And all of a sudden
I could see my mom in here. And it was interesting because where I'm from, everything happens behind
closed doors. You don't talk about that stuff outside. So the fact that she even started
talking about that, I was like, huh. So I started listening even more. And she talked about how she was going through a really
messy divorce at the time. And she was drinking a ton. And she decided that she was going to make
a difference for her life. And she started her own business. She became an entrepreneur.
And at that moment, something went off in my little 13-year-old body. Something just clicked.
And I was like, that's it.
Because whilst she sounded like my mom, she didn't look anything like her.
She was happy.
She was independent.
To me, she was free.
And I'll never, ever, ever to this day forget what she said to me. If you're
not consciously creating it, you are unconsciously accepting it. If you are not consciously creating
it, you are unconsciously accepting it. It changed everything for me. And I really set out on a path to figure out how I'd get my freedom.
And as I've been on my journey of entrepreneurship, I have really, really come to believe that
creating freedom in your life comes from creating systems.
And taking it a step further, I believe that building a freedom-based business requires
having freedom-giving systems.
And when you have systems, it's not this big, complicated, monstrous thing. Having systems
simply means all you're going to do is leverage repeatable processes. You will leverage repeatable processes.
And so what I did, I went away and I have pulled together every single tab that we have in our brains as entrepreneurs.
And I've put it together in what I call the freedom-based business method.
And that's what I'm going to walk you through today.
So there's six different elements. Vision, which is knowing where you want to go. Knowing deep down what it is that you actually want to create in your life, not just
your business. Because your business does bleed into your life. The way you live your life kind
of is determined by your business. We're
all entrepreneurs in here. So getting really, really clear on how you want your business to
fit into your life, how you want it to look, how you want it to feel. Having a really solid offer,
having one solid offer. And it doesn't mean we can't make it a bit smaller when we need to and make it a bit bigger when we need to. But one thing that you sell, one thing that you are known for, one flagship offer, no more creating a package for every single person that asks, no more creating a course every single time we get inspired, Picking one offer and deciding, I am going to master that.
Then it's building your audience.
It's having one primary platform where you post short form content.
I am the first person that will say, you shouldn't be on Instagram, YouTube, TikTok, Pinterest, Facebook.
No. Pick one platform and do it really, really, really well. I cannot tell you how many people
told me in the beginning when I said I was just going to focus on Instagram, they kept telling me
I was leaving money on the table. How many times have you heard that?
I was leaving money on the table because I was going all
in. I've grown accounts now and followers past 4 million because I was willing to leave money
on the table. Because I was willing not to do every single platform, I picked one and I did it
really, really well. And then I advocate for having a longer form platform. And it's something Brennan talks a lot about, you know, whether it's a podcast or a newsletter, a way that you actually
connect with your audience in a long form way and deliver value. So you build that audience with
short form and you nurture and sell that audience on your long form. And that's all you've got to do when it comes to audience. One short form,
one long form. Then we go into rhythms. Having your life, your business, your departments,
your teams, your products, all running on rhythms. So that every single day when you wake up, you know
what is happening and you know what
things you need to do to move the needle. And if you want to take a week off, the business still
runs. Having a rhythm means if you want to take a day off, the business still runs. Then we move
into delegation, actually being able to take some things off your plate so that you can constantly promote yourself
as an entrepreneur. That's one thing we should always be focused on is getting ourselves out
of the weeds, out of the weeds and out of the weeds and continually promoting ourselves.
We often think about promoting everyone else in our company except ourselves. We need to be
constantly promoting ourselves because we come to events like this
and we learn so much that we want to go and do,
but we're often so bogged down
by everything we're already doing.
All the things sit in those notebooks
and they might be all color-coded and look perfect,
but if they sit in the notebooks,
they are not actually making a difference in your business.
And then alignment, constantly checking in. Does this feel the way I want it to feel?
Am I actually happy? Am I avoiding something? Constantly checking in because this is not a
one and done thing. This is not an overnight thing that you'll do and then you're good.
This is something that as entrepreneurs, we will always be doing because we're always going to be growing and building, whether that's bigger audiences, newer products, refining new businesses.
You know, this is not just one linear journey. And so it's this process that we're going to
continually refine. So I don't have time to teach you every single thing in every single one of
these. I'm going to focus on two areas in particular today. The first is rhythms. So I'll remember discovering rhythms.
It was a big, big changing moment in my life. So my baby was about four months old and I was
flying to Napa to do a day with Brendan. I was going to bring in my plans and goals and he was
supporting us on where we
were going to go as a company. And so I flew out there. My husband came with me with our baby.
She was still not sleeping through the night and the jet lag, you can imagine the state I was in.
And so turned up and listen, this is Brendan. So I really wanted to put my best foot forward,
but on the outside, although
everything looked perfect, you know, millions of followers, clients, like
left, right, and center, we've had over a hundred thousand people through our
training programs on the outside.
Everything looked amazing.
We had a team of 20 that were happy that we're doing really good work.
Everything looked great.
I had this beautiful baby on the outside.
It looked like everything was perfect on the inside. I had this beautiful baby. On the outside, it looked like everything was perfect.
On the inside, I was so unhappy. I was so unhappy. I went back to work full-time when my baby was
three months, quite honestly, because I thought I had to. I had this story in my head that I had
to get back to my business because that would show that I still really care about it and I didn't change everything just because I came a mum but honestly I just
wanted to be at home with her I want to do a bit of work here and there but I didn't want to be
working the full-time hours I was I really didn't but it felt so scary to admit that to someone
especially someone like Brendan because I look at him and I'm like, oh my goodness, how do you do all the things you do? And I'm here just saying, I don't really want to work anymore.
And so I remember I was like, get it together, Natalie.
You have so many ideas.
You know, you've got this.
This feeling is going to pass.
Don't worry.
Once you get a room with him, you're going to get really excited about everything.
And so, you know, I was kind of going through the motions that morning.
Just here's this idea.
Here's how this is going.
And we're going along with it. And we took break for lunch we went got sandwiches and I felt so
nauseous I couldn't even eat my sandwich I was so deeply unhappy and it felt like I was floating
above myself just watching someone talk through the motion saying things that I think I should
be saying because I should be enjoying the placement
and I just sat there looking at my sandwich just like I've just got to be honest I just have to
say how I feel I remember feeling the tears welling up I'm like put them back down and I just said
Brendan I have to be really honest and I don't even know if you're going to be able to help me
with this but I really need to be honest about where I'm at. I think I want to quit my job.
I think I actually want to close my business. This isn't making me happy anymore. I built this thing because I wanted the freedom. And freedom to me feels like spending time with my baby when I want
to spend time with her, not being on Zoom calls when she's screaming in the other room just wanting mama.
That's not freedom to me.
And quite frankly, there was not a price I could put on that.
I kind of told him how I was feeling and I sat there like, oh God, what's he going to say?
And he just looked at me and he was like, yeah, you're burned out.
You're burned out and you're doing something really wrong.
He said, do not plan your life around your work. Plan your work around your life.
And I don't know why, but I just didn't expect him to say that because I saw him just crushing it and always got something going on. And for some
reason, I just thought that he was like working, working, working. And the more that I've got to
know him, I realized this is something Brendan lives by. It has to feel good. And when he told
me that, it changed absolutely everything. It was almost the permission that I'd been waiting for
to do things a different way. And I started to get excited about it. It's like, permission that I'd been waiting for to do things a different way.
And I started to get excited about it. It's like, wait, I wonder if I could create the same results, but actually work less. But I will never forget that realization. So what you got to do
is you want to create a plan that protects your priorities. And the main thing is you cannot feel guilty about what your priorities are.
For every single one of us, it's different. Our health,
our happiness, our peace of mind, our families. You have to create a plan that fits around your priorities
and not the other way around.
So that day, Brendan taught me all about rhythms
and it's changed everything for me.
So I wanted to distill it and teach it to you
because you can apply this to every single thing
in your life and business.
I'm gonna show you how I'd apply it to going viral
because listen, it wouldn't be a Natalie presentation
if there was no social media in there. So we're going to make it work. But
I want to teach you about rhythms and the way that I think about them. There's three different
elements. You first think about your measurable desired outcome. What is it that I actually want?
What's the thing that I want to achieve? And then you brainstorm, what are the
needle movers that would help me get there? And you might throw everything down. You might go
through it and realize actually only a handful of those are actually moving the needle. And then
you're going to decide on the frequency and ownership of those needle moving actions. Let's
take a quick pause to talk about my new favorite all-in-one platform Kajabi.
You know I've been singing their praises lately because they have helped our business run so much
smoother and with way less complexity which I love. Not to mention our team couldn't be happier
because now everything is in one place so it makes collecting data, creating pages, collecting payment,
all the things so much simpler. One of our mottos at Boss Babe is
simplify to amplify and Kajabi has really helped us do that this year. So of course I needed to
share it here with you. It's the perfect time of year to do a bit of spring cleaning in your
business, you know, get rid of the complexity and instead really focus on getting organized and
making things as smooth as possible. I definitely recommend Kajabi to all of
my clients and students. So if you're listening and haven't checked out Kajabi yet, now is the
perfect time to do so because they are offering Boss Babe listeners a 30-day free trial. Go to
kajabi.com slash boss babe to claim your 30-day free trial. That's kajabi.com slash boss babe.
Now I'm going to explain it to you in a sense of
social media, because how many of you feel like going viral is the most confusing, overwhelmed
concept out there? Guess what? It's a simple, repeatable process. I went viral four days ago,
I think. We're on 2 million views from one five-second video that I created and published all within
five minutes. It's a very simple, repeatable process. I don't know why everyone makes it
seem so mystical. It's actually really simple. So here's my rhythm for going viral.
My goal is go viral once a week on Instagram. Go viral once a week on Instagram. And the reason I want to go viral
is not to go viral. It's one of the best ways of growing your account. When we think about account
growth, we often think that we need to be breathing fire, jumping through hoops, dancing on TikTok,
lip syncing, you name it. We think we've got to be doing it. There are so many tactics that people will teach
you. I am telling you right now, there is no better tactic to actually getting followers than
going viral. And all that means is the social media platform you're on is showing your account
to people that will be interested in following you. The platform you're on is showing your content
and your account to people that will be interested
in following you. You don't need to do shout outs. You don't need to be commenting on each
post within five minutes. You don't need to be pinning. You don't need to be doing any of that.
If you can figure out this process, you can actually put your account growth on autopilot.
So for me, I was like, okay, if the measured desirable outcome is go viral once a week on Instagram,
there's four needle moving actions that I'm going to need to do.
Identify trending audio, really helps.
Build a post bank of other people's posts that have gone viral because success leaves clues.
Batch create B-roll content because I do not have time nor the desire to be lip syncing or dancing
on social media so I just film myself doing everyday things and I use that and then apply
viral hook audio and a message to the reel those are the four things that I would do if I wanted
to go viral and so I built this into a Now, the way this looks is thinking about the frequency
and ownership of those things. So I would identify the trending audio on a Monday and delegate that
to my social media manager. On a Tuesday, my social media manager would add 10 reels into a post bank,
other people's reels that we would reimagine, repurpose, or repost. You don't even
have to create your own content if you don't want to. So we put that into a spreadsheet. On a Tuesday,
FOB means face of the brand. I would create B-roll content. So if I'm taking meetings,
if I'm making a smoothie, I'll just pop my phone, hit record, get on with my day.
On Wednesday, my social media manager would map out
the hook, the audio, and the messaging for two reels. And then on Thursday, she would create
those reels, add them to an iPhone folder that I'm shared on, and I'd post them. And that is as
simple as it gets to be for going viral. And I also want to show you what this looks like for account growth. So
let's say my measurable desired outcome is getting 2,500 new Instagram followers per month. Yes,
it is achievable for every single person sitting in this room, even if you're brand new. So my
needle moving actions, and this is what I teach day in, day out. I would post three growth posts per week,
which is viral style posts.
And by the way, viral doesn't mean millions of views.
If you have a thousand followers
and you get 1500 views,
your post is when someone viral
because it's being shown to people who do not follow you.
Because if 1500 people have seen it,
but only a thousand people follow you,
there's 500 newbies here.
That is what I mean by going viral. I don't mean that you're a viral sensation. You're on good morning America.
It's just, it's more people that is following you, seeing your posts. They are okay. Great.
Who's had that before? Who's had more people? Okay. Every single person we've gone viral friends.
Okay. So you'll do three growth posts per week. You'll do two branded posts per week
because I see this problem all the time
where people focus so much on bringing new people in.
They forget the people that are already there
and they don't build a brand.
Followers do not equal brand.
Followers do not equal brand.
And so we'll do two branded posts a week.
And this could be teaching.
This could be telling stories.
This could be giving life updates,
whatever feels like your personal brand
or something that's gonna invite people
into your world a little bit more.
You'll do one call to action post a week,
ideally to your long form content,
whether it's your mailing list, a freebie post a week, ideally to your long form content, whether it's your mailing list,
a freebie, a podcast, one call to action. If you want to sell, great. Love selling on social media,
but one call to action a week, it's all we need to do. And then we'll show up on stories daily.
And that's just, here's what I'm up to. That's really where the relationships are being built.
And so then looking at the rhythm again, we build it out.
So on a Monday, my social media manager will repurpose three viral reels from the post bank
that's already created and being added to. On a Tuesday, she will rewrite two carousels from
past content. So she'll take my podcast episodes, newsletters, she'll just rewrite them into a four-post carousel. On a Monday, I will do a one
face-to-camera mini chat reel. So FOB means face of brand. And a mini chat reel is I'll say,
comment below systems if you want to get my systems membership. And that's just the one
thing that I will do. And I'll have them comment systems and then I'll send them the call to action. On a Tuesday, my social
media manager will create a weekly outline of stories. She'll send them to me. Natalie, just
show up each day on stories and share this one thing. On a Wednesday, schedule the week of content
out so that it's done. And then daily, creating and posting stories. And what I'll do is I'll add that into Asana. And so inside Asana,
I put the measurable outcomes, the needle moving actions, and the tasks on their frequency and
ownership. And I'll assign it to the person. So let's say I assign it to my social media manager
and I'll set it to repeat daily. If she's doing it daily, it will repeat daily because then
guess what? I'm not having to follow up. Did you do this? Did you complete this? Asana takes care
of it for me. All I am doing is leveraging repeatable processes. And here's another one,
right? We can use this for anything. Let's say we want to cook healthy meals five times a week.
Five healthy meals per week, right? The needle moving actions are we would have a monthly rotating menu. So week one, week two, week three, week four would be the same food. We'll kind of
rotate every week, a grocery order, an ingredient prep. It's all we need to do. So on a Sunday,
my VA can print the menu for the week. My VA can order
groceries. On a Monday, the groceries arrive. My husband, Stephen, can put them away.
Delegation, my friends. And then I will prep the ingredients. And it's that simple to cooking
five meals a week. All we're doing is leveraging repeatable processes. We're taking the guesswork out of it. And speaking of delegation, let's go into that one next because I really think that
can support so many of you because it can be really overwhelming knowing all the things that
have to get done for us to get where we want to go. I really want to take a lot of the guesswork
out of delegation for you and I really believe it's going to help you be free from overwhelm. I actually have a funny story. One of my friends, she wanted to hire a house
manager, someone to come a few hours a week that could prep some food for her, that could tidy up
some bits around the house that she could focus on being present with her baby when she's with
her baby and at work when she's at work. And so she really wanted someone to come for a few hours
a week. And I get a call at noon. I know it's the house manager's first day. And I'm like,
really excited to talk to her because I've had this for a while. I think it's amazing. I love
receiving support. So I'm ready for her to be like, Natalie, why did I wait so long?
So I answer the FaceTime. She is sobbing. Like, what's wrong? And she goes on to tell me that
she felt so uncomfortable delegating that she sat for
three hours while this person cried to her, telling her all the things that are going
on in her life.
Then she made her a sandwich.
She made the houseminder a sandwich because she felt so uncomfortable delegating the food
prep.
I'm like, okay, we got to work on this.
We get to work on this.
It is my belief that you can have it all if you don't do it all. I'm like, okay, we gotta work on this. We get to work on this.
It is my belief that you can have it all if you don't do it all.
We all have examples of people in our life
that we look up to that seemingly do it all.
They don't.
Just because they have it all
does not mean that they are doing it all.
Do you think Oprah's making her own sandwiches?
I don't think so. Do you think Oprah's making her own sandwiches? I don't think so.
Do you think Oprah's being a therapist for three hours every day? No, I don't think so.
You can have it all if you don't do it all. But for some of us, receiving support is very,
very challenging. A lot of us tell ourselves a story, Natalie, it's all well and good saying
delegate, but no one can do it like I can. No one does it like I
need it done. I just have to go in there and do it anyway. I see you hiding behind that notebook
in the back. Let's take a look at that one. No one can do it the way I can. Okay. So you vaguely
delegate out the task because you're already exhausted and you needed someone to help you
like a week ago. You've got way too much on your much on your plates like can you just go and get this done thank you a day goes by and you hear nothing
so you check in is everything going okay are we doing all right you're already getting kind of
frustrated because you're like you should have done it by now I would have done it by now
then they send it back to you and it is not completed to the standard that you actually
want it done so you get really frustrated hands up if you've been in this situation before. Yes, I thought so. And then you vaguely delegate something else. You're like,
do you know what? I'll do it. You do this instead. I'll do it. Right? And we repeat the cycle. And
ultimately, we either end up firing them. We demote them because we think they're not capable.
We avoid them because we don't want to have the
uncomfortable conversation or they end up quitting anyway. Hands up if you've experienced any of those
four things. There's a really simple system you can put in place for delegating and that's what
I want to share with you today. It's four things. One, you're going to consistently audit all of the things you are doing that you don't necessarily
need to or want to be doing. You're going to just sit down and say, you know what, I would love it
if someone else could take care of this on a weekly basis for me. And it might mean that you
don't have the resources right now or the time to even go and hire that person, but it doesn't mean
that you can't audit and start to put together what we call a playbook for whoever does then come into your life to support you.
And so what you're going to start doing is playbooking all of those things that you ultimately
don't want to be doing. Now, you don't need to bury yourself in a cave for a week to do this.
All you're going to do is record yourself while you're actually doing it. So if it's something that you do on your computer, there's a software I love called Loom,
and you can just record your screen doing whatever you're doing. Big Loom fan in the corner. So all
I'll do is I'll turn Loom on and I'll just be talking out loud to no one what I'm actually
doing. Okay, so when I'm looking for viral
posts, these are things that I'm looking for. And I'm doing the task as I'm recording it. So it's
not taking any extra time out of my day. I'm literally just recording as I do it. And then
once I finish the task, I save it and I put it into a playbook for the imaginary person that
will eventually take it on because I'm dreaming of them taking it off my plate. So I'll put it
in a playbook. For me, it's a spreadsheet. You it off my plate. So I'll put it in a playbook.
For me, it's a spreadsheet.
You can put it anywhere.
Or let's say it's a certain way
that you want something done around the house.
Maybe you really do want a bit of help with meal prep
because you know it would keep you on track with your goals.
Pop up your camera and video record yourself doing it.
I know it might sound really uncomfortable,
but that is you just saying,
here's how I like
something done. And people love clear direction. So you'll save it. You'll put it in your playbook.
One day, tell myself, someone else is going to help me prep my vegetables. And that will feel
really good. Step three, when you are finally able to bring on someone, and maybe you even have
someone on your team right now, maybe your husband wants to take on a few extra things around the house, you delegate. And you've
already got things in this spreadsheet ready to let go to somebody else. You've already got this
playbook of all of these different tasks that you can then send to someone else. Because how often
have you finally made the decision to hire someone and you scramble to figure
out what they can actually do?
Yeah, you scramble to figure out what to put on their plate because listen, you're paying
them so you want to get your money's worth, but you're so exhausted and busy that you
don't really have time to train them and go find the things.
So you're like, you're a social media manager, go do social media.
And they're like, okay, do we have a process for this?
Figure it out. And they'll end up not doing it how you do it, or they'll end up not getting results.
And you'll tell yourself it's a them problem. And actually, it's a playbook problem. You've never
showed what the actual process is that someone can follow and get results. And then you'll give
feedback on it. When you have delegated And then you'll give feedback on it.
When you have delegated that, you'll give feedback on it
and you'll be willing to have those uncomfortable conversations.
Hey, you got it 80% of the way there.
And normally I might be tempted to jump in and do the final 20%.
But can I just show you what it would look like to get it that final 20% or 100% there?
The person will be like, yes, show me.
So let's say you want to delegate researching
viral posts because I want you to be able to use this. Let's say I'm going to delegate viral posts
because I don't want to be doing social media all the time. You will figure out how to do it for
yourself and you'll do four certain things in your playbook. You'll talk about the purpose of going
viral, which is to attract brand new audiences. You'll share the process,
which hopefully is a loom video, a spreadsheet, a set of instructions. You'll show what it looks
like in practice to actually do the task. And then you'll show what it looks like well performed.
Here are five examples of when I did this really, really well. Because a lot of the time we ask
someone to do something
without actually showing them what good looks like.
And we just hope that they're really good at reading minds.
None of us are really good at reading minds.
You'll delegate it.
You'll set the goal.
You'll tell them why it matters.
It's really important for us to reach new people
because that really helps me bring in coaching clients.
That really helps with revenue, which helps me bring in coaching clients. That really helps
with revenue, which helps pay all of our bills. The task is that I want you to be creating a viral
post bank for me. The deadline, the time that I want it done by is this. And here is the clarity.
Here's the loom video. Here's how I perform it. Here's what it looks like if you've done a really
good job and you'll be really surprised at how
well they do it and then you'll give feedback and you'll just do four things you'll tell them what
part of it hit the mark hopefully some part of it you'll tell them what part of it missed the mark
and you'll be willing to have that conversation even if it makes you uncomfortable you'll give
them some action steps from getting where they are to where they want to go.
And you'll record those action steps and put it in the playbook.
So that the next person who then looks at that task in the playbook,
they can see an example of someone that got it 80% right and the feedback that you actually gave them.
That's really, really important to put inside of your playbook.
For me, to protect my priorities and do what I do best and get results in my business and feel
harmony in my life, there's one thing that I do. I create the playbook before hiring the person.
I don't just hire a person to fill a seat in my company and say, I think I want more followers.
Let me get someone that does social media. I think I want more followers. Let me get someone that does
social media. I think I want more sales. Let me hire someone with sales in their title. I think
I want the business to run a little bit better. Let me get an operator. I create the playbook.
I do an audit and I find out what needs to come off my plate. Or if there's people on my team,
I say, what would you love to get rid of so you can get even better at your job? And I'll ask them to create a playbook for me. My team will often come to me and say, Natalie,
we would really love a marketing assistant. And they know exactly what I'm going to say.
Go away, do an audit, create a playbook and come back to me. And magically, so many times when they
come back to me, they say, you know what? I don't really need a full-time person. I could take that
on myself. I could delegate that to someone we've already got. Actually, I can automate that because when you
get people to really look at what they're doing and audit that and playbook it, they change their
mind about needing a full-time person really, really quickly. That's a really good tip for if
any of your teams say they need a new hire. It doesn't mean they don't, but if they can present
you a full audit and a playbook, it makes the biggest difference. So that is the entire framework diving in specifically to rhythms and delegation. And
this is a whole thing. And for those of you that want to go a little bit deeper on it,
I'm going to tell you a little bit about my membership because I'm obsessed with systems
and all of that is inside of it. So inside the Boss Babe membership, we actually teach
the freedom-based business method, which is every single element from your vision to your offer to your audience, rhythms, delegation.
But I don't just teach it.
I give you every single spreadsheet, every single template, every single copy and paste that you need
because time is our biggest asset. Those
little things in the corner, that's literally my exact rhythm that I run my life on. I give you my
calendar. I give you the process I give to my team if I want them to get a post going viral.
I give you my process if I'm running a funnel, how I do that, the emails I use, every single detail. And then I also give you what I call my life HQ
and my business HQ.
Inside of life HQ is every single place
that I organize my entire life.
I need a password, my social security number,
the weekly menu,
that form that arrives in the mail three weeks ago
that I don't know where it is anymore.
Everything goes inside my life HQ and it's all organized in Notion. And then underneath that, I also have my business
HQ. It's where I keep every single thing related to my business. If my team needs a template,
a spreadsheet, something in the playbook, it is in there. I'm also going to give you my entire
playbook inside the business method. On top of that, you get weekly live coaching for an entire year.
So you actually get to bring this.
Hey, I delegated this out and they're still not getting it.
The posts aren't getting the reach that they need to get.
My followers haven't moved at all.
I'm not selling more of my coaching offer.
You bring it.
We actually workshop it with you.
You get to tap into an amazing community.
The Boss Babe community is everything and we also give you meditation breath work and visualization tools
because it makes the biggest difference to have a really regulated nervous system when you are
trying to run a business before i go i want to share with you something that is really important
to me to share because i feel like so many of us in here are struggling
because we're not where we want to be or not where we think we should be. I remember seeing this
story about a sheep going viral a few years ago and it was about this sheep that had gone wandering,
it was in New Zealand, it had gone wandering off on its own and it kept gathering layers and layers
of wool and I don't know if you know this but sheep actually need to be shaved very regularly
because that wool builds up so much if they fall on their back they actually can die because they
can't get back up because they just gather these layers and layers and this went viral
because a hiker had discovered the sheep and they actually didn't think he was going to make it
had to fly like a special sheep shaver in didn't even know it was a thing um they had to fly him in to see if they could save the sheep
which they did but it reminds me so much of people and the layers that we put on ourselves
subconsciously not knowing it whether we're that four-year-old girl with the swan, the versions of ourselves
that had so much confidence, that loved speaking our mind, that just showed up no matter if someone
was going to laugh at us. But as we go through life, we just keep putting on layers. We put on
a layer of people pleasing because we want everyone to like us we put on a layer of saying yes when we
mean no because we want to make people happy we put on a layer of not shining too brightly because
we remember when we did that and it didn't go well we just put on all of these layers because we think
it will make us into a person that is socially acceptable that people will like, that people will talk well of. And before we
know it, we are wearing so many layers that we actually forget who we are. And so if you take
anything away from this today, I want you to think about the layers that you might be wearing that
actually don't belong to you. The layers that you're wearing that actually belong to your parents. They belong to
that bully in the schoolyard. They belong to that school teacher who scolded you in front of
everybody. They belong to that ex-partner. These layers that don't belong to you. And I had this realization for myself when I was in postpartum.
Postpartum hit hard. I remember just a couple of months in after having my baby, I remember sitting
on the bathroom floor, absolutely sobbing, feeling like I was having an identity crisis.
I didn't know who I was. I'd lived my entire life since that
13-year-old made that decision in that career's day that I'd be different. I lived my entire life
achieving, people-pleasing, saying yes, moving to the next level, doing the next thing,
that at some point I completely lost who I was. And while I thought I
was having an identity crisis, I was actually remembering who I was. For the first time,
I was remembering who I was without all of these layers that I put on side of myself.
And so I want to encourage you to think about that. And I want to encourage you to think about that and I want to encourage you to shed the shoulds.
Shed the shoulds that you have continually put on yourself
because so many of you are probably struggling
underneath the weight of all of these shoulds.
I should be further ahead than I am right now.
I should be posting more on social media.
I should absolutely have more followers. I should be happy more on social media. I should absolutely have more
followers. I should be happy with what I've got. Why do I want more? I should be spending more time
at work. I should make that person happy. And if you take anything away from this, I want it to be
that the most important system you can create in your life is the system that keeps you honest about what it is
that you really want, what it is that makes you your best self and at your core makes you happy
because you're not living this life for anybody else. Your best self is not someone you become,
it's who you already are and I really, really want you to remember who you really are thank you