Make more money in less time with these essential mindset shifts
I posted to Instagram for YEARS without seeing the results I wanted. Not only that, but it was a serious waste of time and energy. I mean the amount of time it’d take me to…
...take a photo
...edit a photo
...write a caption
...overanalyze said caption
...post it
...find the correct hashtags
Well, let’s just say that at the time, it was one of the least practical things I could have been doing to draw in more of the right leads and convert them to sales. Maybe you’ve been there too?
And it’s not that you can’t get leads on social media. You most certainly can and I’m living proof of it.
But here’s the thing: I could have piled on all the posts, all the strategy in the world, and it wouldn’t have made a difference. Why?
Because my mindset wasn’t in the right place. I was lacking clarity and it was showing up in every aspect of my business:
I wasn’t clear on my MESSAGING so it made it that much harder to communicate and connect with my audience.
I wasn’t clear on my OFFERINGS so it made it that much harder to demonstrate the transformation that was possible for my clients.
I wasn’t clear on my SALES PROCESS so I didn’t have any clear direction and repeatable actions that would result in more money in the bank.
All I had was a very pretty feed that consequently felt like a slow drip of my time an energy.
I think it’s important to have this conversation because too often I come across creatives and entrepreneurs stuck in this very same mindset block. They feel like they’re throwing spaghetti at the wall, unsure IF and WHEN something will actually stick.
They’re trying all the things to make their business work—a Pinterest post here, an online course there, wait maybe a website overhaul is in store—splitting their focus and energy and consequently, seeing split results.
They’re so quick to pile on more strategies, certifications, ads, and courses BEFORE doing the mindset work necessary to EXECUTE on those. And well, we might as well be lighting money on fire because it yields a very similar result. 🔥
So what changed? How did I shift from someone who generated zero results on Instagram (or anywhere else on social media for that matter) to someone who regularly sees leads come in? This week we’re jamming on the mindset shifts that will help you make more money in less time (amazing right!?).
Get crystal clear on what it is that you want
When I work with my clients in Future You coaching, the most important work we do together is drawing out what it is that they actually WANT in life and business. I always encourage them to dream BIG and to think about what it means to THEM to have a balanced life and thriving business. We get specific about what success looks like, because without that, how can they possibly know what they’re working toward or when they’ve hit it?
I have a killer kickoff questionnaire that’s worth its weight in GOLD to guide them through this process. Seriously, I had a client tell me I should charge for the questionnaire alone because she got so much value out of it. And here’s what I’ve noticed after reading through these questionnaires again and again:
Creatives and entrepreneurs are really quick to attach to number goals (10 clients, 2 group programs, $100k in revenue) without necessarily thinking about WHY it is that they want that or what those numbers would create in their life. They’re so dead set on the goal that they’ve forgotten to examine WHY it even matters. Because while I’ll be the first to tell you that I love money and I think money is awesome, it’s what you can CREATE with money that makes a difference in your life and brings you more of what you actually want.
And when you know what you’re working toward it becomes so much easier to bring in more of it. That kind of clarity and focus can do amazing things for you because it allows you to adapt your business so that it feels truly in alignment with what you want and how you want to create it.
Want to be able to volunteer in your kiddo’s preschool class on Fridays? Great, don’t take client calls on that day.
Want to take a two-week vacation without it feeling like you’ve completely disappeared to your people? Totally! Maybe it’s time to hire a VA.
Want to go to the gym or a mid-day yoga class? Well, it’s just about time you set some boundaries and gave yourself permission to actually DO that.
The point is, when you know what you’re solving for it makes it a whole hell of a lot easier to find a solution that will create the life AND business you actually want. And remember, I honestly believe you CAN have both.
So if you’re spinning your wheels, feeling like NOTHING is working, it may be time to go back to basics and get clear on what it is you actually want.
Clear out the overwhelm by getting specific
So many of the creatives that reach out and take advantage of my free coaching call are feeling stressed and overwhelmed and don’t know WHAT it is they should be doing to create more of the results they want in their life and business. They simply know that the way they’re feeling is unsustainable and it’s time to ask for help. And I totally get it because it’s so hard to see OUTSIDE of yourself and find opportunities to shift your mindset when you’re so close to the work that you do everyday and it’s become such a habit (which is yet another reason working with a coach can be so powerful!).
Sure, you’d love to feel lighter, focused, organized, and have more time for what you love, but implementing a simplified plan can feel daunting (the exact opposite of what you’re going for!) so it can be a hard to know where to even start. Here’s what I suggest so you can get to the root of WHY you’re feeling overwhelmed and create more clarity and focus in your life and business:
Embrace the magic of the brain dump. Get all of those business ideas, life goals, and fragmented thoughts out of your head and on to paper. Don’t forget to GET SPECIFIC. For example, “double my newsletter list” is way more measurable than “grow my audience.” Or “get outside for a run once a week” is more specific than “workout more.” Write down everything you’re looking to create for yourself and a guarantee you’ll feel so much less overwhelmed once you do.
Narrow your focus and comfortable letting other ideas go (for now)
Now that you’ve gotten all of your ideas out of your head and onto paper, I typically suggest that you narrow your focus. This is where clarity is so, SO important in life and business because it acts as a filter through which you can be sure your actions are aligned with your priorities.
I find that when I start with my Future You clients there’s usually a bit of fear associated with focusing on one idea, project, or goal at a time. Their insides start to squirm and that little voice in their head asks, “But how can ONE goal possibly be enough? I’ll never get anything done.”
But what I like to point out is that one goal doesn’t necessarily mean that you’re only doing one thing to work toward that goal. It just means that you’re deciding where to place your focus so that you can move toward that goal more quickly and efficiently than if you were jumping from project to project.
When we were working on renovating the Airbnb we run out of the ground floor of our home, much of our time on the weekends was tied up in painting, tiling, or whatever the project du jour was. If I had tried to train for a marathon or start my podcast during that time, well, I would have just about lost my mind.
It’s not that those weren’t things that I wanted or that they weren’t important to me, it’s simply that other things had to rise to the top so that I could make strides toward one thing instead of baby steps toward many. It kept my mind clear and focused so I could actually EXECUTE on those grand Airbnb plans we had. Cultivating the right mindset around those priorities, dedicating time toward them each week, and following through on those actions (even when I didn’t always feel like it!) was a large part of why we were able to get it up, running, and making money as quickly as we did.
Inherently, finding focus means that you’ll have to let something else go for now, and while that can be scary, it also opens up new possibilities by allowing you to see RESULTS far sooner.
Double check that your messaging and offers are aligned with what you want
I absolutely LOVE to help my Future You clients gain clarity around their messaging and offerings. Because now that they’re clear on what it is that they want, it’s time to be sure that their offers are actually aligned with that. There’s nothing worse than building up a business, pouring countless hours into trying to make it work, only to realize that the underlying mindset struggle is that it was never actually the business you wanted in the first place.
Simply put, don’t become a coach if you can’t stand the idea of being tied to client calls.
Don’t build up a design business if you’re going to lose your mind every time a client asks you to change the color purple in their logo.
Don’t open a brick and mortar shop if you thrive with flexibility and don’t like being tied down to one location.
OR do the mindset work necessary to move past those things so you can start ENJOYING this business you’ve built for yourself!
Take all the clarity you’ve gained from the previous steps and be sure that it’s aligned here because the more aligned your messaging and your offers are with what you actually WANT the easier it’s going to be to translate that into sales. And remember sales = more money and more money = more of what you want.
Remember my Instagram story from earlier? No matter how many posts I wrote, they felt a bit disconnected and unclear. A food post one day, a hiking photo the next, then a quote after that... I can see now that so much of my struggle was tied to a lack of clarity and alignment. Because if I wasn’t clear on my mission or my message, you better believe that my potential clients weren’t going to be either.
So if there’s one thing that you gain from this post, please let it be that if you’re confused about what you’re offering, your potential client likely is too, and confused people rarely purchase. That confusion is first and foremost a MINDSET challenge that needs to be sorted out before everything else can fall into place.
Break it down into small, consistent efforts
Now you may be wondering how all this big-picture thinking can help you to feel less overwhelmed, but the kind of clarity we’ve talked about can absolutely change the way that you THINK about your business, transforming how you make time for marketing, handle your sales calls, show up day-to-day, and live your life on the whole.
But once you have this newfound clarity and your mindset is in the right place, you still need to EXECUTE on it. ‘Cause ya know, just knowing what to do isn’t enough… you have to actually do it. And that’s where I see a lot of entrepreneurs get hung up.
That’s why I have all of my Future You clients create an ideal weekly schedule that takes into consideration their life, their priorities, and the actions they’re looking to make time for that will yield more of the results they want.
So if your goal is to double your newsletter list, that could mean making time for a few hours of weekly content creation around topics your know your audience will gobble up or checking in daily in Facebook groups where your opt-in could be of value for 15 minutes each day. The point is, you absolutely have to make time for those small, consistent efforts that will yield results.
I suggest experimenting with these blocks of time to see how you work best. Maybe you do better creating content first thing in the morning. Maybe you’re on the ball having your sales calls in the afternoon. Having this information can help you to structure your day so that you feel more focused and productive and less scattered and overwhelmed by all those ideas of what you COULD be working on instead.
The bottom line:
When things aren’t working in your business it can be so tempting to pile on more strategies, courses, or certifications without having to do the mindset work necessary to actually EXECUTE on those strategies. But often that leaves you feeling just as stuck and overwhelmed with little in the bank to show for it. By focusing on what you want FIRST you’ll gain clarity that’s essential to growing your business in big ways (with more results to show for it in less time!). This is why I absolutely LOVE helping my Future You clients sort through what they think they SHOULD be doing to grow their business and step into what feels most aligned and good to them so they can start taking action on what serves them in their life and business!
Tell me in the comments below:
What’s one strategy that wasn’t useful to you until you did the mindset work necessary to execute on it?
Photography by Jennifer Morgan Photography
