How Planning Can Grow Your Biz by 60% with Amber McCue

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Today our topic is related to planning! Which took us awhile to realize that you actually need a plan to make strides in your business. And this doesn’t mean that on January 1 you buy a fancy marble printed notebook and by January 14 it starts collecting dust in your drawer.

Today on the 360 Health Biz Podcast, we discuss how planning can help you with your goals…for the rest of 2019 and starting 2020 with a bang! To determine what a kind of life changing experience this can be, we have Amber McCue, Founder of the Planathon here to go deeper into why we need to plan and set goals.Amber stated “when we put a plan in place for our business, research from the state of the small business owner reflects that you will grow over 60% faster than if you don’t put a plan.” MIND.BLOWN.

By planning out what you want to do with your business, it will help you grow faster, implement faster and you’ll carve hours off the time you would otherwise be spending trying to figure it all out. Rather than flying by the seat of your pants and feel like you need to launch something new every few months, you need to be PRO-active instead of RE-active.

You just step back and plan first.

And it’s okay to start small. This means starting with micro moves and micro plans to get us ready for the macro plans. This could include breaking down five things that you need to accomplish this week to move closer to the goal that you’re working towards. The small steps prepare us, and as we think about the plan for the year, you lay out the rocks.

So are you ready to start planning? Tune into the episode to hear all about Amber’s planning strategies and amazing event, the Planathon which just started!From single mom at the age of 18 to owning two companies that allow her to work from anywhere. Today Amber runs her businesses from Africa, where she currently lives with her family. Amber is the founder of theplanathon.com, threeboudoir.com empowerandrise.com and coaches at ambermccue.com. Through her books, speaking, and in her coaching programs, Amber partners with business owners around the world who want to get more done, realize their dreams, and get freedom for themselves.

Join Amber’s Planathon: theplanathon.com/360healthbizpodcast

Say hi on social:

Instagram: www.instagram.com/360healthbizpodcastFacebook: www.facebook.com/360healthbizpodcastKendra Perry Instagram: www.instagram.com/kendraperryincChristine Hansen Instagram: www.instagram.com/sleeplikeaboss_

Connect with Amber: www.instagram.com/ambermccue

TRANSCRIPTS

Christine: Hello everyone and welcome to this brand new episode of 360 Health Biz podcast and it is moi today, Christine with my beautiful hostess with the mostess, Kendra Perry who I love dearly, who makes me laugh, is super sexy and who’s just really, really cool basically.Kendra Perry: Okay.Christine: Then to blow your mind today even a little bit more we have a fantastic, fantastic, fantastic guest today who I had the honor of meeting just a couple of weeks ago, blew my mind, zebras and everything. We will fill you in. And I will introduce her in just a little bit, but before we’re getting started on an amazing juicy topic today as well, we want to appreciate you because you have been giving us some love. So Kendra take it from here.Kendra Perry: Yeah, so we have a really awesome five star review from our biggest fan. We’ve already given her a shout out on this podcast but she deserves two shout outs because she’s awesome.Christine: Totally.Kendra Perry: And her name’s Angela Brown and we were just saying before the podcast that she seems to take everything we teach and then implement it. I almost think we should bring her on as a case study because she’s so-Christine: I think we should.Kendra Perry: I think we should. We should talk to her. She’s probably like, “Oh my God.” Anyways, so Angela Brown says, “Best podcast! Exclamation mark. Seriously love this podcast. I learn so much every time I listen and you guys are so genuine and real and make it easy to listen and learn. Your content is always incredible. Love you guys.” And of course we love you, Angela. Thank you so much for being our fan.Christine: We love you. Totally. We totally appreciate it. It’s just the best thing ever. I feel really special. Thank you. So our guest today is the absolutely wonderful and amazing Amber McCue. So let me dish her official bio for you here. From a single mom at the age of 18, Amber, to owning two companies that allow her to work from anywhere. Today Amber runs a business from Africa where she currently lives with her family. She is the founder of the planathon.com, threeboudoir.com and powerandrise.com and coaches@ambermccue.com. So through her books, speaking in and in her coaching programs, Amber partners with business owners around the world who want to get more done, realize their dreams and get freedom for themselves. I mean what is not to love about that? Right? It’s like yeah, sign me up.So today our topic is related to the first URL that we talked about, which is the Planathon and Kendra and I… Well for Kendra probably not, but for me it took a little bit to really realize that I need a plan and at the same time I think I have a planner for every year. And I use it from January 1st til January 14th usually. And they’re really beautiful planners. I have the desire map, I have the [inaudible 00:03:04], all kinds of different ones. The passion planner, I think it’s called, really beautiful things. I just never do it. And so I’m really excited to learn about, first of all, how planning can help you with your goals because I think a lot of us, we just don’t realize how important and how… What a kind of life changing experience this can be and then Amber is obviously hopefully also going to walk us through how you can do that and her amazing program, the Planathon which is going to start very shortly. So super, super excited about this.Amber McCue: Yes. Oh my goodness. You are so not alone in your practice of, “I’ve got a new planner.” 14 days later, what planner?Christine: I know. And then it’s like September and I’m like, “Aah.”Amber McCue: So true. And it’s so funny because in the Planathon, right, we’ve got a group of people who are… 15,000 entrepreneurs come together every year and are preparing for the year ahead. And there are some good reasons for it because for those of you that may not think you need a plan, I want to invite you to rethink that, because when we put a plan in place for our business, research from the state of the small business owner reflects that you will grow over 60% faster than if you don’t put a plan.Christine: Well Kendra we need to screenshot this later because it’s just like-Kendra Perry: I can’t do this and screenshot at the same time.Christine: [inaudible 00:04:33] Excited. It’s like, “What?”Amber McCue: Yeah.Christine: And I think I read this study before, but it’s like again, what? It’s crazy.Amber McCue: I mean and I was like are you sure? Let’s dig into that a little bit more, but there’s so much research out there that supports you’ll grow faster, that supports you’ll be able to implement faster and you’ll carve hours off the time you would otherwise be spending trying to figure it out while you’re implementing. If you just step back and plan first. And I talk about it and this is a phrase I’m sure people have heard before, but slow down to speed up. Right? Yeah we’ve got to slow down a little bit. We’re going to breathe. We’re going to be intentional. Because I don’t think it’s the… It’s not the act of planning and putting everything in a spreadsheet and putting it on the calendar. But what happens is we go into a different space in our brain and we’re thinking strategically and we’re stepping and elevating into that visionary CEO role. And it just gives us so much fuel for growth.Christine: I’m excited [crosstalk 00:05:32].Kendra Perry: Yeah I really love that.Christine: Tingling all over. Say that sentence again. Too slow for speed? Is that it?Amber McCue: Slow it down to speed up.Christine: We need a teacher.Kendra Perry: It’s so good. Because we were saying before we started recording, like I haven’t… I’m not the best of… I’m not a good planner. I fly by the seat of my pants. But how I felt all of 2019, well it was a very successful year for me in business. I felt like I was in this reactive state because it was just like, “Oh crap, I need to launch this” and “Oh my God, this is coming up so I can’t launch then.” And I was trying to just work things around and it was just… I ended up having to launch a course when I had all these trips in the middle of it. So I was in the mountains for seven days and I came flying out of the mountains after technical disconnect to launching and I was like, “This is ridiculous. Why am I doing this?”Christine: I don’t know how you did it.Kendra Perry: And I don’t want that for 2020. I don’t want to live in a reactive state. I want to have at least somewhat of a framework.Amber McCue: Yes. It’s so funny because we actually in my program, Freshly Implemented, we had a client who was launching and going on vacation at the same time. But as she was getting closer to the vacation she realized, “Oh my goodness, I’m not going to have internet for five days.” So one of our team members, a mentor in Freshly Implemented stepped in and said, “I got you. I’ll watch your ads for the week.” So we were backing each other up. But one of the simplest things that we can do, and we actually do this together in a live workshop at the end of the Planathon, is just look at the months, January through the end of the year and put your rocks in there. Right? I’m going to Bali in October and I’m going to be in the States for an event in February.So you don’t overlap and then weave everything else around it. For us, one of the rocks I put in is every Fall, we are hosting the Planathon. So no trips, family. And don’t think that you’re going to get extra love from me during that season. I just let everybody know. And friends, everybody knows at this point. So putting those big things on. Because I do not think it’s important or necessary to go into all of the details for the entire year, just put the rocks on there, position things around. And then we go into details for a shorter period of time, which we can dive into a bit too. But I think if you just put those rocks in place and start to move things around it, you’ll at least have the big picture.I got to say, confession, the first many years of my business, I had way too much on that calendar. And every year I got a little bit smarter and a little bit more realistic and I got a little bit happier in my business and in my life at the same time.Christine: Yeah. And I’m already seeing that October is going to be pretty full because I already have a conference in October and I know that I also want to do the retreat for my team in October. So I’m like, huh, wait a minute. So it’s already, I’m like, damn. But you’re right. Less is definitely more. And I feel what happened to me this past six months was I just wanted to focus on my business and suddenly everything happened and it’s just proof that life happens. So just make sure you leave that breathing space, I think is just a really wise kind of tip.Amber McCue: Yeah, it’s so true. And in Planathon time, this is the one season… I think Christine, I mentioned this when we were in Tuscany together a couple of weeks ago. This is the season where my hours quadruple and I don’t sleep well just because I’m so engaged and so excited about what’s happening. I bust out the melatonin. So it’s okay if you have a season like okay, this is going to be a little bit more intense than the others. But I know after that I get tremendous breathing room and I get to go back to serving my clients in a very big way and not right… We joke that stretched too thin is a kind of skinny. This will never be in. This way, but we’re going to have bursts of our calendar where this is going to be an intense time. But when you look ahead and you forecast, you can plan for that and prepare to take care of yourself and take care of others and take care of your clients while that busy season is happening. So another benefit of, let’s think ahead and plan together.Kendra Perry: Yeah I love that so much because I’m all about lifestyle. I like minimalism in business. I don’t want to work seven days a week. I don’t even want to work five days a week. And I’m very… My self care, my lifestyle is very important. So I like what you’re saying about kind of working your business around the trips you want to do and the things that are important to you from a personal standpoint.Amber McCue: Yes sure.Christine: So let’s talk a little bit about… Well first of all the statistic is intriguing to me. So why do you think is it that your business grows so much quicker when you plan? Why do… I understand that you have a little bit more structure, but what for example would be a good… What would be a practical example of maybe a client that you worked with and you planned… You didn’t plan one year and then you did the next. What happens exactly?Amber McCue: Oh my goodness. One of my favorite clients. I got a lot of favorites. [crosstalk 00:10:59] Sarah, she is an author and she also runs courses for authors. You can check her out at heartbreathings.com if there are any authors in the house. And we talk regularly before she steps into a project about all right, what comes first? How do I position this? Because she’s writing and she’s serving authors at the same time. So how do I keep writing and I teach and I engage and I support this community? So she has just… Every year I get a little bit more structured, get a little bit more thoughtful about that plan. And I mean she just had tremendous growth and success in the last year and it is her success to share the details on. So again, go check her out.But what I can see is that when we are intentional and we’re mindful about it… There’s this thing, where actually I was working with a coach once and he said, “Your goals are too realistic. Give me the big goal because that’s what I want to help you reach.” I’m like, “Well here’s my big goal but I also want some things that are realistic because otherwise it’s like, okay how am I going to get there?” And we get disconnected from where we are today. And what I find is that yes, stretch it a little bit, but it’s also okay to be realistic about the near term goals and milestones, because it’s achievable and it builds confidence and it builds momentum. And being intentional about these near term goals, which is exactly what Sarah and I are kind of constantly breaking down in our planning goal conversations, helps us build step upon step so that you can get to the big goal. Right?It’s not that the big goal and the big vision isn’t going to happen, but we’ve got steps to take to get there. And I think sometimes it’s easy to think super big and to go super big and then it’s totally overwhelming and it’s totally confusing. Like wait, which road am I going down? How am I going to get there? What path? And I’m a big believer in driving one car at a time because how many cars can you drive at a time? And if you try to drive five, how in the world is this possible? So what’s the one thing, the one car, the one destination that we’re trying to get to right now, knowing there’s something else coming. Right? This isn’t the end all be all, but keeping the focus as we go.Christine: Yeah, and I think for example, I’m a very organic person. So I’m not linear at all, which means that I always have two to three projects at the same time. And it’s kind of my way of working. And for a long time I thought that wasn’t legit because we are taught the linear way. But it is also a big risk for me to get completely sidetracked. Right? So I allow myself to not just have linear structure. I always have two or three things on there and I bounce from one to the other whenever creativity strikes me and motivation. But I do need a kind of refinement because otherwise it just goes everywhere all over the place. So that makes total sense. And I do like that metaphor of one car. It’s totally true. Absolutely yeah.Kendra Perry: Yeah.Amber McCue: It’s interesting-Kendra Perry: I was just going to say, I’m thinking of some of our audience who maybe with their business, they’re just working with one-on-one clients. So maybe they’re wondering, well what am I actually planning for? What are certain things that people should be thinking that they actually need to plan for at the beginning of the year or on a given day in their business?Amber McCue: So a few things that immediately come to mind are how do you want to live your life? Right? So it’s how you’re operating and how you’re showing up right now in your business with your clients, in alignment with the goals that you have. So many people start businesses for a little bit of freedom. And I can totally speak from experience that this… I was a workaholic in corporate. And I had to overcome that and really reset. How do I want to show up? Because when I am showing up in alignment with who I am and I’m operating in running my business in that way, it’s just going to… It better serves everyone, especially my clients.So I think how you spend your day, are you working at optimal times? For a long time, when I started my business, I never get any time. Sure you want to meet at night? Okay. Maybe not the best thing all the time. Sometimes in busy season, but really thinking about how your day flows and getting structure around that. Something else, your marketing efforts. Big time, got to plan the marketing. We don’t market, things get [inaudible 00:15:44]. So constantly having a system in that. And I’ve got two different ways of marketing. One, in my photography business is very dialed in. We can turn it on, we can turn it off. A couple of weeks ago, Facebook turned it off for us, so we’re resetting. Anything can happen, which is why you want to have a plan and maybe a couple of backup plans. And then in the consulting business we don’t have that faucet. Right?It’s very much more launch mode. Is that how I want to run my business and my life forever? I don’t think so. So I’m doing some planning around that. I very much like my faucet in the photography business and I want a faucet in the consulting business. So think about your marketing and is your marketing working the way that you want it to? And start building a plan and a backup plan for when things get a little bit off. I know oftentimes I hear from people who have one-on-one clients who get fabulous referrals, until they don’t.Kendra Perry: Yeah.Christine: Yeah.Amber McCue: Something happens, right? And it’s not that you did anything wrong, but I’m not getting any referrals right now. Okay let’s have a couple of different marketing channels in place. And the third thing that I think is really important, is to have a revenue plan. And your marketing plan and your revenue plan sync right up. And again, it’s not about putting numbers in a spreadsheet or having numbers on a whiteboard, it’s about getting intentional about where you want your revenue to come from and how you want to serve your clients.Kendra Perry: That’s so good. And I love what you said about referrals because I think referrals are fantastic, but I do see a lot of health coaches, especially relying too much on referrals. And to me, just relying on referrals is almost like relying on hope to drive your marketing and attract clients. Because you’re like, “I hope someone’s going to refer me.” And I’ve had coaches be like, “Yeah I’ve just been getting referrals.” And they think it’s just going to like, that’s just going to happen forever, but it’s not reliable, and you’re not actually like you said, being intentional. You’re not going out there. And it’s out of your control like you’re relying on someone else. And I’m like, that’s just not a way to run a sustainable business. And you’re right, it does dry up, and then people are just like, “I’ve got nothing.”Christine: Yeah. And it’s very rigid. I think that referrals they know exactly the experience, the one experience they had when working with you so other people experiencing exactly the same thing, although you evolve. So I still get referrals from the babysit business, which was three years ago. I haven’t done that for three years, but people still, they don’t catch that you change. So it can be quite disappointing actually also when people come because they’ve been referred to you, and you don’t offer a certain service anymore or you’ve just evolved or your price has changed, you know? So it’s a tricky kind of thing I find.Amber: It is super tricky, and I love that along this referral conversation and thinking about how we want to structure our days and our weeks. Also from the state of the small business owner report. This is a great study that they did. They also revealed that businesses who are growing year over year consistently are spending two days a week on sales and marketing activities. So I sort of start to look at that as the average of the year because I’ve got some launch seasons where I’m totally spending more than two days a week on marketing. But on average over the year, and I’ll flip back into client service mode so time on marketing goes down a bit, but I’m about average two days a week. And it’s powerful, right? When you’re showing up consistently, when you’re engaging with people consistently, what that can do for a business. Again, getting to what you were saying, Christine, being super intentional about what you want to communicate and what you want to share with your audience to attract the right person.Christine: Great, great. And I do like that too. It makes sense to me like I do less, I have to say, but kind of yes and no. Intentional like scheduled you set everything new content going out is once a week. But then I also catch myself having one other day where I will do a longer Instagram story or where I will do a specifically more elaborated post on Instagram or something like that, you know? So I think, and at the moment my funnel is working really well, like I have lots of preliminary calls booked. I don’t know what’s happening, but I think it’s all connected to that.It takes a little bit of time to kick in, but there’s definitely a lot of truth to it. So let’s talk a little bit about the Planathon itself. Right? So I love the word, Planathon. It’s like, okay [crosstalk 00:02:38].Kendra: It rolls off your tongue really nice.Christine: Planathon, super nice. So tell us a little bit about how does it work? What is it? Is it a product, is it a service? Is it a workshop? What is it?Amber: Yes, we … I like to think of it as an event. And someone came to me later and said, “Oh, it’s like a virtual summit.” Like, “Oh yeah, I guess.” But it feels so much bigger. Engagement and connection in this community blows our minds every single year. In fact, we have a team, the A team, helps engagement and just making sure everybody’s taken care of in the community during the Planahton. And just yesterday a team member said like, “Oh boy, it’s getting busy.” Yes, we have a goal to connect with everyone in the community. So when people are engaging and showing up, we are there, and I am there a lot to participate because planning together is a whole lot of fun. And that’s what this is about. We bring together a community of entrepreneurs to plan together because when you’re in a group, I mean we know this, right? When you’re in a group of people who get it, it starts to feel a little bit easier, and some of that, “Oh Okay, I’m not alone anymore,” because I just sit at home alone a lot and do my work.So there’s that opportunity for connection. But structurally it’s over five days. Actually, we spread it out over seven days. But there are five core days where every day five speakers take our virtual stage and help you plan in one area of business and life. So that is what’s hap … So five videos a day, five speakers taking our virtual stage, and the first day is my favorite day because I am in there connecting most on that day. And that’s when we do some of the strategy and the big picture thinking, and then we bring it back at the end of the Planathon with a live workshop where, Kendra, you brought up at the beginning we’re going to break down the strategic roadmap for the year. And we’ve got something super cool that we built this year, which is we’re going to break down in that live workshop your modern CEO must do list because so many of us have more than we actually need on the to do list. So we’re going to look at based on your stage of business, what should you be focusing on?Kendra: Oh, that’s so sad. I love that. I feel like people are really like obsessed and weird about their to do lists, and they just like create these big to do lists because they love to check things off of them. And I can’t even … When I see people’s to do lists, I like, my adrenaline goes up.Christine: I know. I am not a list doer, but I have one. I actually posted it just today on Facebook, and it’s stupid. It’s like measuring my fucking garden furniture because I need to find covers for the winter. I’m just like, “How can I outsource this? Like who can I [inaudible 00:05:33] to do that shit for me?” I just like [inaudible 00:05:37]. But, no, I absolutely love it. And just to comment, your speakers are awesome. Obviously there’s a really exciting sleep coach who was good. But you have some really big names as well, so give us some examples for people who want to sign up.Amber: Yes, absolutely. So Amy Porterfield is going to be there speaking on how to grow your list, a key piece in the online world if you’re running an online business or even an offline business. So we’ve got Amy. We’ve got Denise Duffield-Thomas. Denise always comes out with something magical. So that’s going to be the last presentation, like what is Denise going to talk about this year? And it’s always mind blowing. So Denise Duffield-Thomas will be there speaking about money and money mindset. We’ve got Susie Gray coming to speak about your brand fingerprint. How do you really, as you were talking about, Christine, get really known in the market for that thing that you want to be known for and that thing that you do well. There are so many.Christine: There’s so many. Literally when I saw the lineup I was like, “Oh my God, I’m so honored to be part of that.”Amber: Incredible talent. And that’s the thing. That was also part of how the Planathon was born. Like there are really cool people doing really cool stuff. Let’s talk about it very specifically in the context of getting a plan together. So that’s every topic is what is a step you need to take if this is your focus for the year ahead.Christine: I love that.Kendra: Yeah, and it’s such a good topic to talk about because you know we’re recording this at the end of October, and probably when this drops it’s probably going to be closer to December. And, you know, we’re kind of coming to that crazy Christmas season where everything is overwhelming, and sometimes the business goes on hold a bit depending on what industry you’re in. But then January comes, and this is like new year’s resolution time. This is when the gyms are packed, and everyone has these big goals that come like February or maybe January 14th like Christine.Amber: You’re out of it.Kendra: It’s kind of out. So is January a really good time to start planning for like when do people have to start thinking about their plan? Like should we do it now or should we wait until the new year? Let me know.Christine: Actually we’re going to squeeze this episode in, so I talked to our assistance. Are we going to squeeze it in so that it’s before the Planathon launched so when people listen to it they can actually sign up. But it is a good question, why now and not January?Amber: Now. It’s so funny because when we first ran the Planathon it was like mid November. I’m like, “Okay, I’m going to host this and that in December. Is that good timing for everyone? No, we want it now.” So I’m like, “Okay.” And over the years we backed it up just a little bit because the holidays get busy. Right? Thanksgiving in the States, and there’s some stuff happening as we move toward the end of the year. So it’s the last week of October into the first week of November.Kendra: This is soon.Amber: This is next week.Kendra: Awesome. I’m in. Where can I sign up?Amber: I’m going to tell you, I actually did full on intensive planning back in July of this year. And it was the best thing ever because I was planning for the Planathon, and I’m updating some of our content, and I’m working on the Fresh Start workbook that we share. And I went deep because when the Planathon comes I get a little bit busy. So I’m like, “I’m going to go deep right now.” I always go deep in December as well. But I went extra deep this July, and it was incredible. Our team is already moving forward on some of those things to set us up for 2020. So I’m implementing, but we’re also thinking ahead, right? And what you were talking about, Christine, we don’t run linear businesses. But it’s sometimes really helpful to help us get our brains organized and help people understand what we’re doing if we have some linear descriptions of what it is.So I put that together in July, and now we’ve got a couple of things going. Our focus is super clear. We are absolutely in the Planathon car, right? So the sooner you plan, the sooner it’s going to help you determine this is the car I’m driving right now. Okay. But maybe I need to take a detour or I’m going to just pop over here for one minute, but I’ve got to get back in my car as fast as I can. And that’s going to ensure you get results.Kendra: Yeah. I love this too because I know for health coaches especially, especially newer health coaches, like this isn’t so much true for people when they get more established. But November, December can be more quiet times, right? This is the time where people are like, “Fuck health, I’m going to drink that beer at eat the fucking turkey,” you know. So they’re not investing in a health program. January, though, is massive. So obviously January would be the worst time to start planning because that’s when everyone’s coming in the door. This is a perfectly timed Planathon for our health coach community because November, December. You know, if you don’t have that many clients do something that is going to actually help build your business and start to plan. I love this. I’m so on board.Amber: Yeah, and we see each other that week, Kendra, actually, so we can actually exchange notes.Kendra: That’s so fun. I did also have a … I have a friend who’s starting her fitness and health coaching business here in Ethiopia, and she said, “Hey do you want to join?” I’m like, “Yeah, I’m definitely joining the next round. I got some goals.” And she said, “Okay, you do want to start in November, December?” I’m like, “January, January please.” And she’s like, “Oh yeah.” It’s to your point, exactly, like things just kind of start to bake. And we need those breaks. Again, slow down to speed up. And I put rocks in my year for every December and every July. I slow way down because [crosstalk 00:11:26].Christine: I love that, absolutely. And I think it’s going to be also, you know, you have beginners where it’s literally, “How can I make my business grow and structured day to day,” and we evaluate. So one rock could literally just been having a reevaluation day of everything, seeing what has worked and what hasn’t. And then for people who have bigger teams already, it’s more of the CEO cap as to, “Where is my company going right now? What is the flow? What do I need to connect with? How do I grow it? How can I serve my team?” You know, so I think this really works on every scale. And I love also the fact that you can just take a break, you know, and that you plan for a month to just be intentional about evaluating what is happening and allowing yourself maybe also to say, “Okay, I need to redo this.”It’s, I’ve probably seen it this way, but it’s not working. So being open and being, yeah, allowing, giving yourself permission to actually shift in case it’s not working. So do you have like a second Planathon in the middle of the year?Amber: We actually … People ask about that, that’s so funny. One year we did sort of a mini Planathon, but it’s just not the same. And then this past year we did a reflection event where you’re checking in on all of those things. And that was a really enjoyable experience. And the power of reflection is huge. And if you start from a plan, if you have a revenue plan, if you’ve got like these are my marketing plans or this was all the stuff I had on my calendar, it’s not quite working, you have a foundation that you can reflect from and reassess. And I think you’re spot on. When you start to capture those things, when you start to capture the data, like where are my leads coming from? Okay I got to get some more leads over here because I have all my eggs in one basket or I want to stack some things, that is really powerful.But it all starts with writing down the initial plan and then building in those checkpoints to come back to it. And I actually recommend people … We started, actually my clients and I, we started reflecting quarterly because I believe in building out quarterly, more detailed quarterly plans than the whole 12 months. And we were doing some reflections. I was like, “We should actually do this every week.” So I reflect on those areas of my business and my life weekly now. And that’s powerful too for the micro adjustments we want to make.Kendra: Yeah I think it’s really important. And I actually started using a planner for the first time. It’s the Best Self Journal. And I’m also very interested in your journal because I know you have a planner as well. But it’s cool because at the end of the week it’s like what were the wins and like what were the lessons learned? And it honestly helps.I’m like, “I did this, and that didn’t work. I reacted really poorly to that. So I obviously need to meditate more because that was super reactive. And that didn’t work.” And like, you know, that sort of thing. And I just love that reflection. And it also has something where it’s like, “What am I grateful for today? What am I grateful for tonight?” And I think it’s really important because, you know, we can kind of just get in that go, go, go sort of space. I think we’re all kind of socially conditioned for that. But, you know, I wish I had known more about the importance of planning when I first started a business because I kind of just let things run. I was running it, but I just was chasing things. And I ended up building a business, like this monster that I fucking hated.And it was overwhelming. It wasn’t in line with my lifestyle. And I was just like, “What did I just create?” Like, “Sure, I’m making a lot of money, but this is actually not what I want.” And so I had to really rethink and start pulling things off my plate and really think about what type of business is actually going to support my lifestyle. And I think that can happen when you’re new and you’re starting a business from a place of deficits because you’re broke as fuck and you’re like, “I just need to get clients and get money.” So you end up chasing a lot of things that maybe aren’t necessarily in line with that bigger purpose, right?Amber: Yeah.Kendra: And I think for me, I didn’t even … I thought I knew my bigger purpose, but I didn’t really. And it kept evolving. And, Christine, we talked about this as well in Tuscany. I, my bigger purpose just came to me two years ago, and I’ve been in business for 10 years. But I knew it was coming, and I knew I would figure it out. And I was careful though not … I would check myself because sometimes you know those workaholic things would come in like, “Okay, no. Dial it back.” Reflection helps identify those things sooner, and there are totally things that I held myself back on because I knew it wasn’t the thing. For example, someone, my clients at one point said to me, “Okay, now you need to create the bigger mastermind.” Yeah. What the fuck? It’s not time yet. I’m not ready. And, you know, they listen to what your audience is asking for, and yes. And also check in with what you want and what is in line with what you’re ready for. And fast forward, you know, years later, okay I’m ready. It’s not all right on time.Christine: I love that. I’ve just been talking about it today, you know, where you need to be confident in whatever it is that you do, whether it is product or service, you know. And I am the believer of high end. I mean I do charge high end prices, but I would never have been able to do that if I hadn’t been confident enough to do that. I wouldn’t be able to sell it that way. So I really love that too, sometimes go against the mainstream kind of advice and go against your inner gut feeling saying you’re not ready yet. And it’s fine not to be ready yet. I really think that it’s an important message to share and again, you know, to slowing down purposefully and really checking in and seeing and staying in that alignment. For sure. I love that.Amber: I love how you phrase that. It’s okay to not be ready yet. And that’s why I think those micro moves and those micro plans, they get us ready. The small steps prepare us, and as we think about the plan for the year, right, you lay out the rocks and you put in the launches. And then you bring it back to 90 days. I’m a big believer in breaking down your 30, 60, 90 day plan, right? All the way back to corporate. Lots of great leaders who were using that strategy and it was powerful because you get momentum fast. But sometimes a 90 day plan is even too much, right? If you’re just starting out you can’t even see three … I don’t know. Like, I don’t know. What do they want? Okay. Talk to your clients first or talk to who you think your target audience is first. Then come back and build a one week plan.Okay. And after you get through that two weeks, three weeks, and then continue to build it out. So you can think … And it’s a still contrary because we’re like, “Think big, you can do anything.” Yes. And you can also start small because like we said, these things add up and confidence builds. And you can go bigger. And new opportunities are opened to us little by little as we’re taking action. So I think that’s really the key piece for me. Build the plan and take action on that plan.Kendra: It’s so true. I love that. And so how about some like actionable steps for our listeners? I know what actionable step number one is. It’s to join the Planathon. We know that. But like what are some things, like what are some small things people can do to kind of put the stuff we’re talking about into action right now?Amber: Yeah, 100%, so if you … And this is really where we get into customization, right, of what’s going on for you and your business right now. But if you don’t have any, no plan, I got nothing, like, I don’t know, think about your vision, right? Even if it’s not fully baked yet, it’s okay to think about where you want to be going. I have this analogy when we were on a safari in Masai Mara Kenya, the driver was totally lost. He had no idea where we were going. He was so apologetic and [crosstalk 00:19:33].Christine: That’s reassuring.Amber: All right guys. And he literally said, “You’re trusting my little brain, and I don’t know. I’m so sorry.” Here’s where we should be going. Like this is kind of what we’re looking for, a big tree off to the left. There’s a tree [crosstalk 00:19:52], but the whole time my husband and I are like, “This is good.” We were enjoying every minute of this ride. And that’s what I want for us in our businesses. And, “Oh, over there, Oh, there’s a cheetah.” The guy goes, “See the cheetah,” and Simon, “Sorry guys, we’re going to be late. This isn’t safe for us to be in the park,” but we detour a little bit. And then there’s a pack of lions. And, “Oh gosh. Okay. We got to stop for the lions that are right in front of us.” We go a little bit further, and we see the hippos in the river that we have to cross to find this tree.Okay, that’s a little scary. Just like in business, right? We’re making steps forward. We don’t quite know where we’re going, but we have this idea of a destination in mind. And it might be a mirage, but it’s going to get clear and clear the further we, the closer we get to it. Even if we don’t know what exactly. Just one car, little detours, right? But stay in that car. And I think that creating that vision, even if it’s foggy, so important. And then you take action steps to move closer to it. But what action steps am I taking? Put those rocks in your plan. Then bring it back. Build your 90 day plan. If you can’t think 90 days out, start with a week, start with two weeks. And then after you have that personalized plan in place, right, very, very much personalized. Business is not one size fits all by any means nor is our life. So we want to marry those things up.Then you work it every single week. And I highly recommend you take 15 minutes every Monday or Sunday if you prefer. I’m a Monday girl because I’m still weekending on Sunday. And a breakdown, these are the five things, five things, three things, right, that you need to accomplish this week to move closer to the goal that you’re working towards, which also means you’ve got to have a goal defined. What is it that we’re even working towards? Again, I think the goal should be a little bit closer and crystal clear like the milestones along the way on our journey to the big tree.Christine: I love this. It’s not overwhelming either and I love. You know, we had this discussion, as you said, in Tuscany that your goal doesn’t have to be defined yet. And it doesn’t necessarily need to be I’m going to save the world. I’m going to save the planet. I’m going to be the next super role model for women or whatever it is. You know, sometimes you just don’t know, but you know kind of. You know at least the feeling, you know, and that is enough. I love that. I really do.Kendra: Know the feeling, and that’s enough. Yeah, and clarity will come.Christine: Yeah, I think that too. This is amazing. So tell us, how does this thing work now? What do people do? So we are airing this for our next episode I think we squeezed it into. So what do people do?Amber: So, you go to theplanathon.com and sign up. And then we’re going to guide you through the process. We’re going to share with you the link to the Facebook group. And we keep it on Facebook just it’s accessible, it’s super easy for people, and it’s all happening there. Speakers are going to take the stage, and we’ve got extra materials for you as a part of that, some extra worksheets as you’re working through and building your plan. So we’ll share with you a 90 day plan template.And if you’ve got all of the ideas, and you’re not quite sure what your next move is, we’re going to help you prioritize and give you a framework to think about, “All right, this is what I should be focused on,” versus all the things. So we’re going to just guide you through it. And I want to remind you and encourage you in all areas of business and life. You don’t have to do all of the things in this plan.Christine: Oh, I love that.Amber: So we’re a lot of speakers. Don’t try to watch all of the videos. Watch those that are relevant to you and your business right now because you’re going to get exactly what you need out of it.Christine: I love it.Kendra: I love it so much. I’m going to sign up. I’m so excited to plan. I never thought I’d say that. This is crazy.Christine: I can see you being a great planner, actually. It’s so funny.Kendra: Yeah, oh my God. I should get my partner. He has an online business too, and he’s like super into organization. This might actually be the perfect thing for him like totally geeking out.Amber: I mean from social media to mindset to money, covered.Kendra: Awesome. I love it. So everyone should go sign up for the Planathon. Me and Christine will be involved. Christine, you’re speaking there. And one more thing I want to note before we leave today is since we, this episode is going to be going out on the end of October me and Christine are going to be in person at the same time, which is a fucking unicorn. We’re basically looking at the functional diagnostic nutrition conference in San Diego. So if there’s any FDNs out there who are attending the conference, we’re going to be speaking at 9:00 AM and 10:00 AM on the Sunday. And make sure to come up and say hi to us. We can’t wait to connect with you, hang out, and actually like touch your face.Well we won’t do that. But like, you know, like hug you, you know like embrace, like connect in real life because through the computer screen is just not the same. So we’re [crosstalk 00:25:13]. Yeah, I’ll be like, “Eww,” but, no, it’s going to be great. We’re really excited to hang out with all of you guys. And, Amber, thank you so much. It’s so cool. Thank you so much for being on our podcast because you’re in Africa, and I have no idea what fucking time it is there, but hopefully you’re not in the middle of the night right now.Amber: It’s early, very early.Kendra: Okay, oh okay. Well, you look great, and I love that we can coordinate so many time zones on this podcast because we’re always doing it. So thank you so much. This is awesome. And so theplanathon.com is where everyone needs to go to sign up so that you can get organized for 2020 be 60% more successful. Right?Amber: Love that.Christine: All right everyone. So we’ll get back to you in a couple of weeks with our newest episode. And please leave a review if this was helpful for you. Please, please, please go to [inaudible 00:26:10] and leave us a fast five star review. Go to Instagram stories and do a little screenshot, and we will appreciate it. Thank you.Kendra: Oh, and one more thing. So leave a review because we have a contest going on right now. So, if you go leave us a five star review, you know, if you feel like we deserve it, we will enter you into our contest to win. And we’re going to send you the 10 business books that we basically credit with building our six figure businesses. Plus we’re going to give you a business audit, which basically gets our eyes on your business to look at your social media and website. We’re going to send you a report about everything that you need to optimize or everything that is working for you.So I think that’s pretty fucking valuable. And all you need to do is go take two minutes of your time to leave us a five star review. So make sure to do that because that’s going to go until, I think, like beginning of November. So if you haven’t done it, do it now.Christine: Perfect. All right.Kendra: That’s all I got.Christine: No, that is pretty much a lot. So with that we are signing out from Canada, Luxembourg, and Africa, or Ethiopia to be correct if we’re going to go with countries. So Africa is not … All right, anyways, hope you have a lovely week, and we’ll talk to you again soon. Bye.