E34: Setting Ourselves Up To Succeed In The New Year!

As we enter a new year I wanted to take some time to remind ourselves why we set goals, what we should and should not be doing when setting them and most importantly what REALLY matters.

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Transcript

Hello & welcome to Dream Business Dream Life, helping ambitious people, like you, to grow a business they love.

 I’m Emma Hine and I’m on a mission to show you that it is possible to grow a business without sacrificing your life.

 Having experienced the rollercoaster of making millions of pounds, but feeling overwhelmed, anxious, and totally unsuccessful, I know first-hand the importance of growing a business on your terms.

 On this podcast I'm going to share with you lots of tips and advice that will enable you to grow a business that gives you the financial freedom to live the life of your dreams while sharing with you some inspirational growth stories from other fabulous business owners.

 Ready to live the dream? Then let’s get stuck in…

Hello & Welcome to today’s episode of Dream Business Dream Life.

 As we enter another year, I thought it would be a good time to remind ourselves that we do not have to do everything, we do not have to be everywhere and we do not have to put up with things that we really do not enjoy.

It's this time of year where we set ourselves unrealistic goals, we put pressure on ourselves to do things that we think we need to do.

New Year's resolutions are in my opinion not always a good thing.  

Now don't get me wrong I think it's great that we want to set ourselves some new targets relating to our health our wealth our life our business and I think we need to do that.

 But they need to be goals that we actually want to achieve, things that move was closer to our version of success things that move us closer to living our dream and having our dream business.

 Have you ever wondered why you give up on those New Year's resolutions weeks or even days after you started?

 It's often because they're not things that you really want to do it's because they're things that you think you need to be doing things that you see other people doing and you simply think ‘I guess I should be doing that too.’

 I cannot even begin to tell you how many years my New Year's resolutions were things like lose weight go to the gym or cut down on the alcohol consumption. And I tell you now I failed every single time

 I failed because I wasn't passionate about any of those things, yes of course I would love to lose a little bit of weight and yes I would love to get back into the habit of going to the gym regularly and of course it would be good for me to cut down the alcohol consumption but if I don't have true belief in them, if I don't have true passion to do those things then I'm never going to do them.

 And the last thing I should be doing is putting the pressure on myself to do them all just because it's the 1st of January…it is a guaranteed failure about to happen. And it is a guaranteed way to make me feel pretty useless too.

 So, let's think a little bit more about the goals we do set ourselves, let's think a little bit more about any New Year's resolutions that we sign up for.

 Now let's be totally clear here I am not saying that you shouldn't be setting yourself challenging goals, that you should be accepting where you are or what you've got

 What I am saying is equally you should not be settling for what you think you should have, what you think is the right thing to do because it's what other people are doing

What I want you to be doing is setting yourself goals, stretching goals ,but goals that are going to move you towards the place that you really want to be and sometimes that is about setting yourself up for the future and sometimes it is even about slowing down.

 At the start of 2024 my goal was not to make more money my goal was to make the money I did earn more regular, to make it less feast and famine. Even back in my e-commerce business the money I earned was totally up and down

 One month revenue may have been £200,000 the next month it might have dropped to £25,000 and that made cash flow difficult and that made my life even more stressful. Yes, overall there was more money than I could possibly need but it made my management of it hard because I'm spender give me money and I will spend it…or at least I did back then anyway.

 So one of the things I swore to myself that I would not do again when I built this business was one the obvious not build a business that makes me totally unhappy not build a business that means I have to work ridiculous hours but also to build a business that gave me stability…that gave a me a consistent level of income that I could manage properly. And only then would I grow it.

 There was times where I could have pushed that there was times where I could have bought in a little bit of extra cash flow but that was not what I wanted that was not my focus. My focus was stability, and I was not prepared to deviate from that.  And because I was focussed, because it was the right goal for me, I leave 2024 with that stability.

 Was I still challenged, absolutely I was but that is how we grow.

 So…what I want to leave you with today is a reminder that you need to start your goal setting with your vision, your purpose. And you need to be unapologetic about whatever that looks like.

 And when you are defining this vision you need to yes think about the growth you want within your business but you also need to think about what you want your life beyond your business to look like 

Some people like to create vision boards something they can visually look at with pictures words and phrases that remind them consistently exactly what they strive to achieve

 Some people like to write a letter to themselves telling themselves exactly what their life is going to look like 12 months from now

 Some people like to grab pen and paper and start scribbling, mind maps, spreadsheets even.

 it doesn't matter what process you follow to define this vision of your future self what matters is that you do it and you do it thoroughly.

 You need to be questioning yourself consistently am I enjoying this do I like this does it feel good

 You need to be thinking about your right here and right now a well as the longer-term future as you need to start doing things right now that you enjoy and that feel aligned with the future you.

 Setting yourself up for success starts today.

 And remember this is what you consider success to be. Your version of success may be completely different to other peoples and that is absolutely OK

 So step one is clearly defining the vision clearly defining your dream life your dream business and getting clear on what you do and don't want to do. Getting clear on who you do and don't want in your life getting clear on how you like to work how you like to live, how you are going to have fun and how you going to take care of yourself. Getting clear on all of the things that are going to give you your dream life and business

 Step two is about turning that vision into an action plan. A strategy. It's about building a list of things that you need to do to move you in the direction of that vision you have just created.

 it's about remembering that it can’t all happen straight away but ensuring that every action you take is moving you in the right direction and about ensuring you are enjoying the journey too.

 If you see everyone around you launching podcasts running events opening a membership creating a mastermind or a group programme do not think that is the route you need to follow too.

 Your route is yours defined by your vision which is defined by you

 Step three is about making sure you've got the support and accountability that you need to make it happen. 

 I have seen too many people with beautiful vision boards that have just gathered dust because they don't do the things that they need to do to make it become their reality

 I don't want that for you. So make sure that you share your vision;  be that with friends with family , with a mentor, with a coach, with coworkers, with your business bestie, with whoever it is.

 Share your vision and take people on that journey with you. Other people’s support and encouragement can be invaluable so make sure you utilise the people in your community to help you to achieve your dream because I guarantee you will be out there helping them to achieve theirs.

 let's make 2025 the year where we stop doing what we think we should be doing where we stop doing what everybody else is doing and we start doing what we want to do

 I am seeing more and more people talking about happiness is what makes you rich about health is what makes you wealthy about how you need to simplify your business and do it your way and I think it's great as I've been saying exactly that since 2021.

 And that has to start with your vision

 So here’s to setting goals that matter, to taking action that is intentional and to stepping into our dream business and our dream life.

 Thank you for listening; see you next time…

You have been listening to Dream Business Dream Life with Emma Hine. If you want to know more about how I can help you to build your dream business and your dream life, then visit my website emmehine.co.uk. Until next time remember you really can have it all!