Christine Schlonski [0:02]
Hey Gorgeous. This is episode number 170. You are listening to Heart Sells! Podcast. I’m your host, Christine Schlonski. And this is the last variety Friday of 2019. I’m so happy you are here. I’m so happy you are tuning in. And I’m very excited because I want to share with you what I’ve learned in 2019. Some of the mistakes that I did that I’m not going to repeat, as well as my goal-setting process for 2020. Because it’s the end of this beautiful year, we are in the last week of this beautiful year. And usually, this is a time where people set goals, where they get clear about their intentions. And yeah, where they trying to move forward with the new year. In my goal-setting process and my intention setting there’s always a review of the years well, and I hope you do that to like what works super well, what was wonderful and what wasn’t so great.

So let’s start with the wonderful stuff. 2019 itself was a wonderful year, full of joy, of a ton of travel for me. I managed to go to London to Paris. I traveled to Germany, I was invited to speaking gigs. I traveled to the US and I traveled there to Florida. I was in New York and made my dream come true to sail by the Statue of Liberty in a tiny, well, not a tiny word, kind of a small nice sailboat. And yes, so many things really worked out wonderfully. My clients had huge successes. We celebrated, and we overcome huge challenges together. Obviously, I supported them in the process, and it was just so beautiful to see how they could serve on another level with their amazing gifts because now they had the structure. They had clarity. They had changed their mindset from a sales mindset into a sales success mindset. And they even started to enjoy sales by having fun conversations instead of sales conversations. So this was just wonderful, wonderful. And I am super, super grateful for all the opportunities, for everything I learned. And where I got to travel, the people I got to meet, as well as having this amazing podcast, Heart Sells! which just is so you know, deep into my heart.

Yeah, it’s really a passion project, because I get to connect with such wonderful people sharing their story. And my huge hope is that we inspire you because you might still feel stuck in sales. You might still not get forward with your business in a way you want to. And by listening to people who have been there, who have struggled, who have overcome their struggles and are sharing their success stories with you, I really hope you every time ask yourself, “How can I do this too?” And this helps you to move forward, to take action to get momentum, and to really create a life, a lifestyle and a business that you just love. Because for sure you deserve it. And you have permission to build whatever you want to build. So this is all the beautiful stuff. Let’s look at some learnings because you might have some questions, you might have followed me and see, “Well, you know, after London, there was Amsterdam and then already Paris and then again, she was traveling to the US and then meanwhile she was having a speaking gig and back” like I was a lot traveling. And I learned that I love traveling. I mean, there’s nothing wrong with it. I love connecting. I love seeing different cultures, different ways of living. But also I found out that I did travel a ton. And I do need time where I am at home, where I just, you know, do my daily thing where I sit in front of my PC, where I go out for my nature walks, where I play with my dogs, where I spend quality time with my husband or cuddle my cats. So this was something that I learned that I traveled a little bit too much because I said yes to split more or less like almost each and every opportunity that kind of came my way.

So the big learning is that I discovered traveling is great and I love to do it but maybe take less. And also, I discovered that when traveling, I need to put more focus on what it is for. I mean, all the travel was business. And obviously you always combine the lifestyle with your business since I am a lifestyle entrepreneur. But there were also, you know, maybe travels that did not have the results that I wanted to have, or I was not clear enough and why I was going and what exactly was my outcome besides networking, creating relationships. So moving forward, I decided that traveling really needs to make sense from a business perspective. Just being more clear about what I want to achieve is probably going to help in the future to travel a little bit less, and then travel for all the right reasons. So I want to invite you, if you are thinking of traveling, really be clear in what’s your game. Like, is it a conference you’re going to? Why do you want to attend? What is it that you want to take away? And, you know, how do you, how are you planning to do the follow-up? With all the traveling, some of my follow up really fell off the table, so that I made a ton of amazing connections. But I did not manage to follow up with each and every person that I wanted to follow up with. So my advice would be, make some plans, be really clear on the outcome. And then after you are back, or even in the process, make time so you can connect with each and every one of those amazing people you meet, to actually discuss business opportunities, to discuss partnerships to invite them to speak to you and case they might be your ideal client. So you want to be really, really clear in how this travel is supporting your business and your lifestyle. So that’s one.

And then also, you know, I went for some shiny objects, where I thought, “Oh my goodness, I really, really need this course. I really, really need this mentor. I really need to add this to my product line right now.” Just coming to find out that you know, I didn’t need it right then and there. I probably need it but maybe next year, so there was actually no reason to invest that kind of money because I wasn’t really ready to take action. And again, that might play into you know, the travel. Because when you buy a course and then you know you’re going away to travel, you won’t have the time. Let’s just be serious. I thought about all the hours I’m going to work while traveling, but then you are traveling, maybe your trainers late, maybe your plane is late, maybe something doesn’t work out and you have to find another solution. So this all takes time away from all the amazing plans you made in the first place that you will not be able to follow through. And when you travel and you are on the road, like all the time, it’s much more difficult to follow up on all the things you wanted to do for your business, like the regular stuff, like putting out blogs or doing videos all the time. Because you know, you won’t find the time and at some point, you kind of want to just sit down with a person and concentrate on creating a relationship instead of worrying what your next post will be on social media, or you know anything else like maybe writing a book or writing your next blog article because there will always be challenges if you are not in your own home office, working from your own desk, if you are out and about which is a great experience, but I just want to say be clear in your intentions and then also be clear that things will not work out the way you think they will work out.

There will be people not following up on their promises, there will be difficulties in connecting flights or whatever it is, just be prepared that nothing will go smooth as you are planning it because you are planning it from your desk and you are not planning it from real life. And then also following some shiny objects. If you don’t need it right then and there. It’s not really your next step in your business, don’t invest in stuff. That was one of my big learnings because I purchased three courses that I have barely touched. And you know, it’s just money that went away. I’m not saying the courses are not great. It’s just that I didn’t need them right then and there, but that I followed that impulse. And you know, I bought them because I thought, “Oh, I’m gonna dive into it right now. And then I’m going to create something amazing. And I’m going to add it to my business.” So I would really recommend for 2020, get clear on your strategy, get clear on where you want to go, and only focus on one thing at a time. That’s all. That’s what you need to do. I think the Heart-Centered Lead Generation Summit is going to help you a ton in getting clients lined up into your calendar so that you can have the sales conversations that you can practice, that you can understand if you have enough clarity. If your offers are good enough if enough people are signing up So just focus on one thing at the time. Obviously, you know, you need to serve your clients, once you get them in and you promise them certain things you need to deliver. No doubt about that. But also, you always want to have that clear path for a whole year that you don’t get sidetracked, that you have a goal. Then everything coming the way you ask yourself, “Is this supporting my goal? Or is it not supporting my goal? And I just like to have it or I just like to do it?” And if it’s supporting your goal, but obviously, you’re going to move forward. If it’s not supporting your goal, the heart, it might be hard, but you need to say no.

So these are big learnings that I have had like my own experiences in 2019. It was an amazing, amazing year and I’m so grateful for every minute, for every lesson I learned, and I’m so happy that I was able to reflect. And now I am creating my 2020 by actually setting my goals. So how do I do that? Well, first of all, I get really, really clear on what I want to do, on how many people I want to serve. And for me, is that I write down impacts goals, like for each and every month, like how many people would love to influence in a positive way impact for the month of January? And then you know, how would I like to grow that? What are the relationships that I’ve built in 2019 that I really love and treasure, and that are relationships where the other person is actually a person that is willing and able to support me in my journey and I can support them in the same way? So it’s a mutual relationship that helps each other. So I’m getting clear on those relationships, so that I can nurture them more, that I can reach out on a regular level, that when I read a post or a blog, or I see a book, or I talked to someone, I can make connections, I can forward an article with something they might be interested in so that I’m here to support their business, which will help them, hopefully, to move forward but it also will nurture our relationship. So I want to ask you, who are your 20, 30 or 40 people that are playing an important role in your business? Who do you see who maybe has a similar client base or who’s just willing to promote you, partner up this you, who is it? Get really, really clear on those. Maybe it’s only 10 people. It doesn’t really matter, like, get clear on your people, on your support tribe, because we all need a support tribe. And if you can join a mastermind, get yourself a coach that has some connections and who’s able and willing to share connections with you. I think that’s one of the criteria that’s really important that if you have someone that you are supporting, you want to support them in a big way. So you want to figure out, like, what would they do? And what are they looking for at this moment, so that you can, you know, send people their way, make introductions, or share whatever resource you might be found?

So I do set impact goals for 2020 like a big number, and then I break them down, and I highly recommend that you do the same so it’s not that overwhelming. And then I also tried to connect with that intention. I like to feel. How would it feel if I actually meet my goal? How many amazing people would have impacted? What would happen in their lives? So you know, kind of playing that positive movie, in your own mind. So obviously, the impact will lead to money. So you get clear on what kind of services are you offering. If you have, for example, one on one coaching and it’s not yet booked out, I would not recommend to start with an online coaching or group coaching or a membership or like everything at the same time, because you need to focus on the one thing that makes the biggest impact in your business right now. And usually one on one coaching is also the coaching where you get the most revenue in comparison to an online course. So if you have enough people that you are coaching one on one, and depending on the time you invest, that might be five to 10 people at the same time, you want to make sure that if they all have the same challenges, the next step is a group coaching program, where you then actually can move people into the group coaching program, spend less time, get the same amount of money, or even more because now you have more people that you can serve at the same time, and help them in that form. And then if you have even more influence, so that you can’t handle a group coaching anymore, or two or three or four group coaching programs, then you want to go into the next step, which then probably is creating an online course. But then you already have all the experience, all the questions that you get asked all the time over and over and over again. And then it’s so much easier to do that.

So I really hope that helps. That you get clear on the impact you want to make, how you want to make that impact. Once you know what kind of impact you want to make, it’s so much easier to map out a strategy, like what kind of posts are you going to do? Are you going to start a podcast? Will you host a summit? Will you partner up with people in webinars? And you know, you can learn all these amazing strategies at the https://christineschlonski.com/hclgs-registration/ where people tell you how they have grown your business. Will you hold an online challenge, where people actually get momentum where they take action and get results within five or seven days, and what’s going to be the offer at the back end? So there’s so much to do, but it all starts again with your clarity. So get your impact go first because that is how you bring your gift to the world. That is what happens in a positive way when you support other people. And as Bob Burg always says, “Money is the echo of value.” The impact is value. So, revenue will kind of follow. If you have impacted, let’s say, 100 people with your coaching programs, then you have the impact that reflects your revenue. So that’s x. And then you take that revenue and you divide it up and then you know what you want to make per month. And then you know how many people you need to influence in a positive way, impact in a positive way.

So just get clear, map out your whole year. Break it down. Don’t forget to put in some downtime, vacation time, time where you might spend offline, where you might be just with nature, recharging your batteries, self-care time, put in some spa days if you like that, or family time, just plan around that so that you can follow a plan with 100% focus and plan on what you want to improve in 2020. What are the things that you’ve seen in 2019 that you might not have liked about your self? I was, at some time pretty upset about my shiny object syndrome. Because I made those wrong decisions for my business. That was definitely something I did not like about me. So for 2020, it’s going to be the Christine who does not follow that shiny object syndrome because she has a clear plan, like a much clearer plan than in 2019. So what can you do to improve your personal habits? What can you do to get to your next level? For me, I know exactly 2020. There’s also more workout time than in 2019. There’s also more time for self-care. There’s more time for conversations with my family, there’s going to be more yet well-planned downtime because now I have a much clearer a plan that I can just follow. And then life becomes easier because you spend less time and thinking about choices. You already have the plan, all you need to do is be focused and follow.

I really, really hope that this helps you. Hop on over to https://christineschlonski.com/ for the show notes, for the transcript. I hope by now you are a subscriber to Heart Sells! Podcast. And definitely check out the https://christineschlonski.com/hclgs-registration/ get your free pass, tune into all these amazing speakers who share their wisdom, who have amazing success stories, and who really go deep and their sessions to teach you all the different ways of lead generation. Because only when you sell you have a business, and you don’t have a hobby. Thank you so much for being here. It was a joy having 2019 with you. 170 episodes now on Heart Sells! Podcast, I’m so grateful for every single listener. I’m so grateful that you are here Gorgeous. If you want to leave a review and a rating I would be most grateful because that is how people find Heart Sells! Podcast. That is how they can connect the more ratings and reviews we have, five stars, obviously, the better it will be that people can connect. So thank you so much for being here. Have a wonderful rest of the year, wherever you are in this beautiful world. And thank you for listening in to the last variety Friday of 2019. I’m super excited to welcome you with the next variety Friday in 2020. Sending you much love, have a wonderful day and bye for now.