Something absolutely AMAZING happens when you focus and become clear on your goals.
You say NO to what doesn’t align and yes to what does. This includes trusting your intuition, the first time.
Your ability to communicate clearly and effectively about what works, could and doesn’t, is improved greatly.
You do it for the cause, not applause.
You prioritize your mental health and well-being because you know for a fact separating what you battle personally, from how you show up professionally is unrealistic (balance what!?).
You can actually show up for yourself and for others when your strength permits. When it doesn’t you work on filling YOUR OWN cup.
You stay in your lane.
You stand firm on the belief that other people’s business is not your own, and therefore isn’t yours to tell.
You are as sensitive about and protective of your energy, as you are with your money.
You value other people’s resources and time because you recognize the value of your own.
You know sitting on your ass is equivalent to moving backward, so you push through fear, doubt, and procrastination.
You realize your time on this earth is to be used as a vessel to help improve the lives of others. Not just your own.
All of the above is courtesy of becoming clear with my focus. Moving gracefully from my heart with intention. Which brings me to the point of this blog post.
If you’re familiar with my blog, you may have noticed I cleaned it up a lot, to reflect my ongoing events, the amazing brands and Goal Digging Women I’ve grown (and am still growing) with. High-value areas. Sidenote: four years in and I’m still SO humbled to know you ladies care about what I say, do and share via this dope network :).
Here is how I did it.
I underwent the stressful process of being real with myself: evaluating the areas that simply did not work, didn’t align, weren’t making money or helping me/others grow. A step further, getting clear on my goals (intention over attention) took outlining what I do, why, and how and being able to describe this in less than 60 seconds. I came up with this:
“As a result of what I do, I help brands and individuals alike share dynamic spaces that offers life-enhancing opportunities.”
This, in turn, helped me get clear on my niche market/target audience:
“My community is for the goal-oriented individual looking to incorporate systems that improve their foundation, process, and flow. “
So what it boils down to is this. I’m a professional planner who creates conscious communities on and offline. And in literal terms, an event planner. A damn good one.
Events are a great way to create authentic experiences between a brand/group and individuals. Through the creation of my blog, connecting with women walking my walk (to some extent) and working with all size brands/specialists in different industries, I’ve become SO good at bridging the two worlds.
This area of focus pushed me to excel at marketing and branding, growing a blog, climbing the entrepreneurial latter, event planning, and even self-care.
As a result, SO many individuals and brands witnessing the quality of the work I produce and the stories I’ve shared, have asked me for support with their own growth on some level. Be it personal or professional. For years I said yes. Another opportunity to help another brand, and create a new revenue stream? Sign me up!
What ended up happening was my focus was unclear and pointed in so many different directions. My progress was stagnant to some extent because I wasn’t clear about what I was working towards. I was just going through the motions and making other people’s ideas and desires my own.
This helped me realize the significance of knowing what I DONT want. I may not have been clear on what I did want, but eliminating areas I knew for certain were not for me seemed like a step in the right direction.
So a moment of focus driven honesty:
I am great at social media marketing but am not a social media consultant.
I am in tune with understanding behaviors (psychology major), but I am not a certified therapist.
I am great at building websites, but I am not a web designer.
I am great at graphic creations, but I am not a graphic designer.
I am good at pitching and getting media coverage, but I am not a publicist.
I AM a professional planner.
Call it an aha moment or just lesson after lesson finally learned. A series of events (both painful and empowering) opened my eyes to what’s always been in front of me:
My ability to help brands and individuals alike share dynamic spaces that offer life-enhancing opportunities.
This is what God blessed me with. This is what I am great at. Not just good, OK or average. I am a professional. I am wonderful at planning all the way to the end.
Through my own entrepreneurial journey mixed with not having enough money to afford to hire professionals, I became good at all of the “I am not..” listed above.
“A Creative Jill of Many Trades” was something I once coined myself as. That and a serial entrepreneur. Yes, “Jill” used all of the above as side hustles after being asked for help by others, but what it really boiled down to was lack of focus. And a Jill who became exhausted from doing way too much.
This realization started with me being transparent with myself. I thought “OK Carmen what is it your good at, can do with ease and comfort?”
Turns out, I’m really talented and am good at a lot, but only a few things made my heart feel whole. The passion work that I really truly enjoyed was bringing people together to help them grow. So I set my focus.
Now in addition to setting the intention for what myself and anyone (individual or brand) could expect from me moving forward, I thought of a few ways I could still be of assistance to others, without negatively impacting my focus.
For everyday women (what I refer to as “Goal Diggers”) or brand in Connecticut or surrounding states who offer a product or service, I offer my life-enhancing events where you can participate as an attendee or vendor. The same for my Goal Digging Women virtual club for those who are looking for an academy that offers support for entrepreneurial development.
OK so here is how I got more clear on my focus which is similar to the system I created and use for planning and executing events:
On a sheet of paper make four columns.
Write “I offer” in column one then yes, no, and so-so on the top row of each remaining columns.
Now write out what it is you offer under the “I offer” column. List all of what you do and all of what you currently and are considering offering.
Add a check mark under yes if you’re great at it, no if you aren’t, and so-so if you’re mediocre. *Great being a professional, who can execute seemingly effortlessly. You know the ins and our and can produce results.
Be honest with yourself and your answers. The only person you will cheat here is yourself.
Anything marked no, you should not be offering as a service to others. So-so is grouped in the same as no unless you work with professionals that you outsource the areas you can’t handle.
Anything marked “yes” is a no-brainer. You should be doing this.
For the “yes” and “so-so” (WITH outsource partners established, otherwise mediocrity doesn’t qualify) the next step is to weigh how good is your process? Have you actually created a system that makes process and flows a breeze? If not…you probably shouldn’t be offering whatever it is until you get this part fine-tuned.
Once it’s fine-tuned, it’s time to work on streamlining your process. Here is how I do it in four phases:
Planning phase.
Launching phase.
Marketing phase.
Retention phase.
It’s the system used to re-build my member’s club (because the first time is was so-so), grew and continue to grow my blog, plan events, etc.
I spent the most, honestly too much, time in the planning phase. It is literally the most significant of any other phase of launching, marketing and retention are impacted by how well you structure this foundational level. Here you will define steps a through z of what it is you offer, and create established systems for each. One of my favorite parts of the planning phase is I can quickly rule out any requests for partnership or collaboration if the proposed bottom line does not align with the system set in this phase.
Then onto launching. Now focus your attention on how you will actually offer the product or service, and to whom. In this phase, you will outline when and how you will officially present this offering to the world and moving forward which brings us to the next phase.
Marketing. So you offer this amazing product or service but you have no clue how to reach people who will utilize it. In the marketing phase, you work on your niche market and how you will connect and engage with them. Choosing and perfecting what channels work for you and eliminating what doesn’t.
Followed by retention. How are you going to keep your customers and audience as loyal supporters and also how will you keep them satisfied? This part is SO SO important. This phase requires factoring in the process and potentiometer outcomes for when things go wrong because I guarantee something will.
Now after you have taken the time to dive into all of the four phases, you can officially move on to offering your magic to those who will love and appreciate all of what you’ve built. You have planned so well in advance and all the way to the end, you can move freely and fiercely through your day-to-day operations.
That’s how I did it. That’s how I’m doing it. This is what works and allows me to focus on my bottom line while staying aligned with my focus and goals.
I know some people are thinking I just basically gave away all of my secrets. Well yes, I gave away some of my outlines. That’s what this network is all about: sharing and development. The fine details are really the guts of the system. And what I focus shading in my Goal Digging Women community.
Though hopefully this alone is more than enough to get you going :).
What do you think? Have you tried something similar or different that you’d like to share? Comment below letting me know
