Two Areas You Must Master If You Want To Be Successful-Part 2: Standards

For the last month, I challenged you to prioritize how you spend your time. Remember, how you define success should define how you prioritize your time. So, what did you prioritize last month? Reading more business books, working out, or networking with professionals? Whatever your priorities were for the month, I hope you knocked it out of the park! Now, it's time to add the second element to your formula for success, and that is standards. 

Standards

The second decision you must make if you want to be successful is determining what standards you will live by. I prefer to set standards versus setting goals. Why? A lot of times goals turn into wishful thinking. In fact, the University of Scranton came out with a study where they determined that ninety-two percent of people who set New Year’s resolution goals did not keep them. That’s sort of a downer, isn’t it?! That’s why we need to shift the mindset away from goal setting and move toward setting standards in our lives that we will live by. These standards are non-negotiable. Outside of work – which I absolutely love doing (for real), I make sure my non-negotiables are: reading, writing, checking in with my managers, and funny enough, doing one load of laundry per day. It’s easier to keep up than catch up!

To guide us on setting up our non-negotiable standards, I’d like you to think about your environment, identity, and values. First, your environment is the places, events and people you surround yourself with. You must decide who you will and won’t be spending your time with. This is critical because you will become the sum of the people you spend the most time with. Meaning, you are who you hang out with. Who has the kind of success you seek? Are you hanging out with them?

You will also want to take some time to think about the places and events you go to. Where do you need to be (i.e. what environment) if you want to be challenged and push towards your meaning of success?

Second, your identity is who you are. Think about who you are right now and who you want to become. Are there areas in your life you’re in denial about or refusing to take accountability? If you were the dream version of yourself, who would you be? What do you need to do in order to become the person you were meant to be?

A few years ago, Dave Ramsey taught me about displacement. In his terms, displacement is “pouring in the good to remove the bad.” In other words, instead of focusing on getting rid of the areas of your life you’d like to change, focus on the new positive behaviors or habits that you’d like to add to your life. For example, if you have a shopping addiction in which you always go shopping after work or on the weekends, you would instead fill up those hours with a new activity such as joining a golf league, volunteering, or joining a book club. If you struggle with gossiping with a co-worker, you need to ask a positive teammate who will be a fabulous influence, to coffee. Start booking yourself with new opportunities that lead you toward success!

Finally, your values are what matter to you and how you display those values in your life. Simply put, your values are displayed by your actions. You may say that you value education, but when you’re asked to sign up for an amazing opportunity, you decide to pass because you’d rather use your lunch break to sit on Facebook. You may value reading books on salon marketing or personal growth, but when the rubber meets the road, you choose to turn on your favorite Netflix series.

Friends, you cannot change what you don’t acknowledge. Today’s topic is to encourage you to live by new standards where you are wise with your time—all in order to get you to the level of success you truly desire. I was convinced when I heard Brad Sugars say, “If you don’t know where you’ll be in five years, you’re already there.” Use this as an opportunity to create the life and legacy you’ve always desired! 

Good luck on your journey towards success, and make sure to connect with me to share your struggles and triumphs! 

Two Areas You Must Master If You Want to Be Successful-Part 1: Time

We all desire success, but success has many meanings. For some, success will mean we are high-achievers, earning multitudes of accolades. For others, it will mean massive financial success. And for many, it will mean having flexibility with their day-to-day routines. Finally, there are a lot of us that define success as having healthy, positive relationships with family, friends, and their community.

The real question is this – what does success mean to you?

Regardless of what success means to you, there are two major areas you must master if you want to be successful. The good news is, we all have the option to make these decisions. Everyone qualifies. There is not one person reading this who lacks the power in their circumstances to choose wisely in these two areas.

Time

The first decision you must make if you want to be successful is how you will spend your time. Have you seen the social media gif that says, “We all have the same hours in the day as Beyoncé?” It’s true! We all get twenty-four hours a day to maximize. Time is the one commodity we don’t get back. It’s so precious!

Some of you may be thinking, “I don’t have power over my time. I have to take my kids to daycare, show up to work, pick my kids back up after work, go grocery shopping, make dinner, do some laundry, put my kids to bed, and at some point, I need to sleep.”

While I won’t argue that you may have tremendous responsibilities, I will argue that you still have the power to prioritize your time. For example, you can choose to get up before your kids do in order to get your workouts in. You could spend your early mornings reading books on salon business or development prior to starting your day. After work, you can choose to hit the gym before going home. You can choose to substitute television for planning your digital marketing each week. We may have a lot on our plate, but we still have the ability to maximize our time. Depending on what success means to you, how will you choose to spend your time?

I personally choose to get up before my ten-month-old son does, so I can have a quiet time. I also start work before my salon opens, so I can make it to a 4 p.m. yoga class – which I do so I can make it home before my husband is home from picking up our son from daycare. Additionally, I go to bed by 9 p.m., so I can easily wake up early and refreshed. Every choice has to be purposeful because there are many tasks to complete and many events I need to be accountable for. I once heard that success is simply making a few value-based decisions and managing those decisions each and every day. I make sure I book no more than two in-person meetings per day, while giving myself at least two uninterrupted weekdays to accomplish tasks. I’m mindful about only scheduling one afterwork event per week so I’m not neglecting my family time, and I’m especially intentional about getting enough sleep. I’m sure there are many other little things I could share, but you can get a great picture of what this means to me. The question is, what does prioritizing your time mean to you?

For the next month, consciously think about how you are prioritizing your time and start making changes. But, remember that time is only one of two areas that you must master for success, so make sure to check back for Part 2 when I share the second area!  

What Not To Do As An Entrepreneur | Part 1: HIRING

I am super excited to kick off a three-part series about What Not To Do As An Entrepreneur! First, I promise that this series will not be negative, and you won’t close your computer crying with crushed dreams. But, I do want to get real and share some tips that I wish I was told when I started my entrepreneurial journey.

As entrepreneurs, we are often told what we should do. Go to this event, hire that consultant, start this investment. But, what about the habits, partnerships, and decisions that we should avoid? A great quote to reflect on states: “success is what you don’t do.” Well, what the heck does that mean? Think about a weight loss journey. What you shouldn’t do is go to Happy Hour three nights a week, nor should you eat processed foods. When you stop these negative actions, the positive actions can actually be effective! But without—it’s unlikely you’d achieve your goal. Hence, success is often what you say no to.

As an entrepreneur who manages five brands, I have made my fair share of mistakes (keep reading and you will see what I’m talking about). To be honest, you will still make mistakes after reading this series—every entrepreneur does—but I hope that I will help you avoid the big ones and learn from the little ones.

Do not co-own; there can only be one CEO.

There’s a reason companies have one CEO. Have you ever partnered with someone? How did that go? Typically, partnerships will not work because there is not clarity around their roles. Have you ever taken a DiSC personality assessment? Well, I will share that I’m a D—if you know me, this is no surprise. D’s are dominant, driven, and task-oriented. Primarily, I just want to get it done. For me, another owner will not work, period.  Someone (me!) has to be in charge. I believe that the 80/20 rule applies here: 80% of the time co-owning will not work.  

Do not get desperate and make impulsive decisions.

 I once heard a great quote that states: “If you want a lot, make it easy; if you want the best, make it hard.” I have impulsively hired and really regretted it, so take your time!

Another great piece of advice I was given was, “Be slow to hire and quick to fire.” If someone isn’t getting it done within their current role, you may try to reposition them. If that still doesn’t work, you have to let that person go. Deep down, you will know if that person is not working for your team. Channel your inner Olivia Pope and trust your gut.

Think about these impulsive decisions that you may be guilty of: have you ever joined something that you really can’t afford, then totally regretted it? Maybe you purchased an expensive app that you have only used twice, or bought a business membership that really wasn’t worth it? Now, you are stuck with a service that you can’t afford. You get the point. Do not get desperate. 

Do not hire the cheapest; do not hire based on price period.

This is a really challenging lesson for me and one that is hard to admit. So, I am going to be candid and share a tough experience. When I first hired a software developer for Meet Your Stylist, I thought that he could build the right software for the right price. However, I quickly learned that he didn’t actually like to work. Rant Warning: the project took a year longer than it was supposed to, he was terrible at communicating, he would disappear for days, countless technical glitches…trust me, I could keep going.

At that point, I had one customer and the software was continuously failing. Although my one customer was very gracious and understanding, I was completely embarrassed. I was freaking out and totally scrambling for a solution.

When I consulted with a reputable software company, they explained that the developer’s software was a nightmare—there was code on top of code on top of code. Basically, I would need to start over if I wanted the software to work. That hiring mistake cost me $30,000. I took that mistake up the you-know-what. Long story short, if you think a project will cost you $40,000, budget $80,000—you will either pay in dollars or tears.  

Do not do all the work yourself.  

If you try to do it all, the work will be mediocre. ActionCOACH founder Brad Sugars explained this best when he said: “Saving a wage is costing you a fortune.” Eventually, you need to find strengths in others and build your tribe. As an entrepreneur, what do you do that you aren’t that great at, or drains your energy? Hire those tasks out. Do you struggle with product photography? Hire an intern! Do you hate writing your blog? Hire a blogger! Don’t try to be great at everything. Be great at being an entrepreneur, and fill in the rest by building an awesome tribe!

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Which of these tips comes as a surprise to you? Share your thoughts below! Then, check back for Part 2: Money, Money, Money where I dish on some important financial decisions to avoid!