Scale Up Strategies: The Business Podcast for Coaches, Consultants, and Speakers

Embrace Change for Business Success: Lessons Learned

• Laura Bashore and Mary Fain Brandt

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Are you ready to transform your business mindset and strategy? Explore the essential lessons we've learned in navigating growth and change, from shifting our focus from career coaching to honing our roles as business owners. Discover how letting go of tasks that no longer bring joy can foster a sense of relief and renewal, keeping your core vision intact even as strategies evolve. This episode promises insights into embracing change positively to prevent stagnation and cultivate both personal and professional development.

Find out how setting boundaries and prioritizing self-care can be the backbone of maintaining a healthy work-life balance. We share anecdotes about the critical role of self-care practices like facials and exercise, alongside the necessity of setting clear boundaries to protect your mental health. Plus, we delve into the world of technology integration, illustrating how leveraging tools like AI can revolutionize your business, keeping you competitive in today's fast-paced market. Think of it as a modern-day embrace of innovation, similar to when Excel first changed business operations.

Get ready for a deep dive into the art of networking, forming strategic partnerships, and gleaning valuable client insights. Learn why setting boundaries and knowing when to step away from misaligned opportunities can safeguard your reputation and time. Practical tips on vetting partners, understanding client demographics, and the importance of niching down are only the beginning. We'll share effective time management strategies, such as time blocking and hiring virtual assistants, empowering you to focus on what truly matters for business growth. Embrace continuous learning and stay updated with emerging technologies, gaining the confidence to share these insights with your network for shared success.

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Laura Bashore:

Hey listeners, this week we are talking about lessons learned.

Laura Bashore:

I know when you think of lesson, you think I'm done with school. Or maybe, if you're going back for a certification or you're still in the middle of it, you're thinking I hate school. I don't want to talk about this, but the realities are. If you want to be successful in business, one of the most important things that you can get comfortable with is reflecting on what's going right as well as what's going wrong, Because if you don't learn your lesson, you're doomed to repeat the same mistakes. Let's dive into that today.

Mary Fain Brandt:

You're listening to Scale Up Strategies, the business growth podcast for coaches, consultants and speakers. We're your hosts and business coach experts Mary Fan Grant and Laura Bay Shore.

Laura Bashore:

We're sharing all our insider tips from 20 plus years in business, including how we successfully scaled our businesses without losing our minds or our husbands.

Mary Fain Brandt:

Sure, you can piece it together and try to DIY your way to success. Or you can listen to us every week and learn the shortcuts, because we promise they're really awesome, so grab your favorite cup of coffee, tune in and let's start the show.

Mary Fain Brandt:

Laura, I don't think we have enough time to go over all the lessons we've learned in 2024, but I'm going to go ahead and start off with embracing change. I think for entrepreneurs, we set ourselves up and we know like this is our business, this is what we're going to offer, this is who I'm going to work with, and that's great. You have to have like that direction at the beginning, but I think you also have to realize that you're most likely going to grow as a business owner. I mean, we've got friends, several people in the industry that have pivoted and changed as needs change, as the market changes, the services they provide, and I think one of the strongest lessons is embracing change with a positive outlook right.

Laura Bashore:

Yes, I'm getting vibes from your educational background, speaking of school and how you're somebody who's worked with a lot of organizations to go through that, but it's so important. Even when I was working in corporate, those who were unsuccessful or who were feeling like they were getting stifled all the time were those who could not adapt and just say this is what it is. So here's how I'm going to react, but I do want to say react positively. That's so important to remember. Right, you've got to figure out how to find the right side of that.

Mary Fain Brandt:

It's like the story when I started at Bishops and I walked in and there was a typewriter. I'm like that was 2004. I'm like, why is?

Laura Bashore:

that machine over there.

Mary Fain Brandt:

Yeah, because the previous executive assistant still did things on the typewriter, so she wasn't embracing the change. That's probably why I was brought in, because I love change. As you stated, my degree is in organizational development, leadership and change management, so I have learned how to embrace change, and change just means that we're not stagnant. I think this year a couple lessons learned was if something is not bringing you joy and it really, you're like, oh, if you're putting it off all the time, right, like oh, I've got to do this, I don't want to do this, and you put it off to yeah, you put it off to the next day. Maybe you need to take a deep look at that task or that product or that service in your business.

Mary Fain Brandt:

So, for example, in January, when we were at PodFest in my heart for probably six weeks, maybe two months, I was not feeling the joy of helping people in career transition anymore. That's how I started my business as a career coach. That's how we connected, but I was no longer excited to talk about career stuff, to talk about resumes, interviews. None of that was exciting to me. I think I was just done with that and I had to find the courage to tell you, and when I did, I was so relieved because you were like me too, mary, let's pivot. And so we embrace that change.

Laura Bashore:

Yeah, and and I think that is something that I want us and our listeners to focus in on is that relief.

Laura Bashore:

If you are feeling this tension, as happens and occurs as business owners when you make the decision to let something go because it is no longer serving you in a way that it did previously, you're less likely to feel grief about it and more likely to feel relieved.

Laura Bashore:

You know, now you get to focus on the things that you want to do, and I will say that while I'm still doing career coaching and I'm very, you know, passionate about that as well I felt that for our podcast and for our audience and those in our network, those who would actively want to be listening to something like this, they're going to relate to us more as business owners because that's how they know us first, and so this just made more sense for me too, especially after I followed your lead and got certified in AI.

Laura Bashore:

So I you know that was great. I think one of the lessons that I learned at this stage in my second year or I guess, finishing out my second year of business ownership for my newer business was business ownership for my newer business was understanding that what I see for the vision of my company needs to be rolled out in a different way. So my vision is actually not changed, but the approach that I had and the strategies that I thought would work were things that served me when I was a member of this organization.

Mary Fain Brandt:

Oh, that's interesting. Your role changed. Therefore, the vision and the strategy had to change.

Laura Bashore:

I love that, yeah, so that really helped me because I was like, oh, is this just my cap? It wasn't, it's just that's what I was able to do as a member, but now as the owner and the leader of this. There's so many other things that I need to be doing with my time that are going to help this organization live up to its full potential lot is.

Mary Fain Brandt:

you know, lessons learned is about boundaries and self-care. So for me at this stage I have pretty set boundaries. I'm not answering your text after five o'clock about a LinkedIn update or can I help you with AI. Like those are boundaries. That I'm pretty good. I've adjusted my schedule. So some of you guys know my husband works at Amazon crazy hours and so with his new role I've had to adjust my schedule. So Mondays are blocked off on my calendar because he's off on Mondays. So I've adjusted and made some boundaries and I'll still do some work on Mondays, but I think I've gotten really good at setting those boundaries.

Mary Fain Brandt:

I'm not. I know I don't know about you, laura, but I know entrepreneurs. I know a few from San Diego and they work crazy hours.

Laura Bashore:

I'm talking like yeah.

Mary Fain Brandt:

I'm talking like 12, 14 hours a day all the time and I'm like maybe they love it so much, but I want to have a life. I didn't start my business to work that much in it. You know I'll put in the work, but to me I have a life, I have a family. Um, and self-care is, you know, exercise when I can get to the gym or swimming I love to swim and facials like that's my self-care. Yeah, I love a good facial, so I've kind of created that. That's in my budget, that's in my, you know, in like just my month, like this year, I probably it's November, but I probably, yeah, I probably have had six facials.

Laura Bashore:

I love that. You know what. I'm gonna add that on as something that I'm doing moving forward, because it used to be massages, but I don't really need massages anymore. Sidebar since I turned 40 in April, it's the first time I've had a major shift in the makeup of my facial skin, so I need more moisture, and facials would be an excellent way to do that, so that I make sure I'm not putting products on that are going to do the opposite and clog up you have to find like what you know for.

Mary Fain Brandt:

For the boundaries, like what are your work schedule and and you have a husband and you have kids that play sports, so weekends are out. Well, my husband's working on Saturday, so Saturday is now a half workday for me, right, I don't mind working on a project, so I'm not saying Monday through Friday, tuesday through Saturday, but you need to have boundaries and you need to have downtime. And why I say that? I want to be clear that that doesn't mean you don't have days where it's a 10 hour day. When I was doing my AI workshop, I remember Christian and I were working on the deck and that day I had like three 10, 11 hour days, but I was focused on a project. It's not the norm.

Laura Bashore:

Exactly Like just having my gala come up. Boundaries were all out of the play, except that I put a boundary on doing anything except for having to do this, Cause I was like this has to be accomplished, but the same thing. You know, what I found years ago when I started my business is that I prided myself on getting back in touch with people immediately. You know, I wanted them to know that they were top of my mind, and so I had a aha moment or a realization when a client sent me an email. At it was after hours, I don't remember the exact time, but they sent me an email asking a question and it I didn't get back to them until the next morning, and until I got back to them in the next morning, they had sent me two more emails.

Mary Fain Brandt:

And I was like you have to train them, you have to set the boundaries, exactly so.

Laura Bashore:

That was like seven or eight years ago and now I definitely don't do that. And guess what? It hasn't slowed down my business. It's made it so that I enjoy my business and my clients. Because if you feel like you're getting constantly harassed is not the word, but, yeah, a barrage right Of just constant contacts, you haven't set those boundaries. It is up to you to set those boundaries and see how you want to do your business. Cause I agree with you, mary, I hear most of my entrepreneurial friends would be like oh, but I just, you know, I had to get this done. I'm like did you? I know, did you?

Mary Fain Brandt:

Probably not. I am great at moving things when. So when I was speaking in Vegas, I made sure the day after had nothing on it. I blocked that time off because I was gone for three days, did four workshops, right. I was like that Wednesday, that's a boundary, that was for me to catch up to reach out to attendees, and then the day before was also blocked off. So I think it's important when you're having a big project or speaking or a launch, right, that you're doing some. End blocking of before and after so that you can breathe. And then that self-care, and it could be dancing, exercise, facial massage, it could be binge watching Netflixflix, like if they could bring back um, what was I watching? Jenny and georgia, like that's a fun episode right, yeah, exactly, it could be any of those things.

Mary Fain Brandt:

But I think as business owners sometimes we're all business and we think if we, if we don't have these boundaries, like if we just answer our clients all the time, if we don't take time for ourselves, our business will grow. And actually it's the opposite, because you're going to get burnt out.

Laura Bashore:

Yeah, exactly, and then you're going to be no good to your clients, your business partners, and you're not going to enjoy what you're doing.

Mary Fain Brandt:

So basically, you're losing on all three things because you couldn't set a boundary going to say hindsight AI and I know I talk about this a lot and I know you do too now, thank you, I love that, but if you're not leveraging AI and new tech in your business, you are going to get left behind. So you know, I wasn't a fan of AI at the beginning, back in 2022, I dabbled in it and then I realized some things that I do are not going to be around. And, laura, same for you. Like we've had the conversation, there are things that we do in our business that AI people are going to be able to use AI to do eventually, and they can use it somewhat now. So I think that, if for business growth, I think that every business owner needs to look at how they can integrate AI into their business so they can stay ahead of their competitors. Right, yeah, it also can save you time, lots of time.

Laura Bashore:

Yeah, it's just like okay. I'm going to give an outdated example to show why this is so important. An outdated example to show why this is so important.

Laura Bashore:

Remember when Excel was more new in the work environment and you had, I don't know, maybe 70% of people who were not going to. They just threw their hands up about it. And then you had 30% of people who were like, okay, let me change that. Maybe like 15% of people who were like, okay, I'll adapt to this. And then you had 30% of people who were like, okay, let me change that. Maybe like 15% of people who were like, okay, I'll adapt to this. And then you had this other like 10 to 15% who went in and learned and got behind the scenes of it and understood how you could utilize it to diminish the amount of time you needed to spend on this task. That would soon turn remedial. The amount of time you needed to spend on this task, that would soon turn remedial. It is the same situation.

Laura Bashore:

People keep looking at AI as if it is this whole like huge new. Nobody knows what it is, but it's like. This is what happens when Excel comes, the internet comes, iphones come Emails yes, Okay, but I do draw the line at the driverless cars.

Mary Fain Brandt:

I'm not ready, I'm not.

Laura Bashore:

I'm not doing that no, not unless we're moving up to the sky and it's getting Jetson style and you know I'm I'm enjoying a view, I'm not getting on the ground with some people who are driving and some people who are not, and not having control of my own vehicle. Agreed, agreed but?

Mary Fain Brandt:

but a lesson, I think this year, uh, another one, and it has to do with AI. I am certified I've been using it for, yeah, going on what a year and a half, two years now. But I think one of the lessons as a business owner is not to let fear hold me back.

Mary Fain Brandt:

I tend to feel I have to be up here as far like I have to know it all before I launch it where my audience isn't at that level. So why do I hold myself to that level? I know more than them in AI. What I offer is valuable. So a lesson learned in 2024 is don't let fear hold you back. Don't compare yourself to other people, because I'm surrounded with some amazing AI experts in the world and so I'm like, oh, I've got to be at that level before I launch a new product and that's just silly. So I just want to share that so that other people are afraid of launching something or thinking they don't know enough. There's some kind of rule Laura we'll have to look it up that you only need to know like 10% more than your audience or something, or 20% more.

Laura Bashore:

Well, I think a good way to frame this too, so that it's not just fear, but it's actually fear of perception.

Laura Bashore:

You're talking about a fear of perception and some people have that and some people don't. So interesting is like, virtually I don't have that fear of perception, I don't care, because I know there's so many trolls out there and somebody who's going to put something persnickety to me is somebody who, just like you know, they walk around, they stub their toe and they take it out on everyone else, and I'm fine with that. I think a spot where I get caught up in that and something to let go of is in person. So when I'm doing events, when I'm putting something on, if I'm going to be there and see everyone's facial reaction, I get a lot of anxiety before it because I just want to make sure that I'm offering value, and then I always, you know, exceed the expectations and stuff and they say like, if you even even speakers that are international keynote speakers, if you don't get a little nervous before you present, then it's no longer serving you.

Mary Fain Brandt:

You're not, you know it. You should always get a little nervous, so that's fine. And you're great on stage, you're great in person. You're great online, do you? Do you have any lessons wrapped around networking or partnerships? I got some lessons on the partnerships, good and bad.

Laura Bashore:

Yeah, yeah. So lessons on networking. I think we were talking about this in a previous episode, understanding no, oh yes, very important, because if you stretch yourself too thin, then what you end up doing is you're going to and I own a networking organization. For those listening who don't understand I own a networking organization. I attend at least one weekly meeting a week, which is the I own a networking organization. I attend at least one weekly meeting a week, which is the chapter I'm a part of. But basically I probably do like three, sometimes five, networking things in a week, but that's because a portion of that is part of my business.

Laura Bashore:

So let me be clear if I was not going to show up and do some kind of presentation or going to support some of my other chapters during the week, I would be limiting it to two to three at the most, like three would be a major week. You need to curate where you're going, and one of the things that I think people need to understand is I don't even care if you've paid to go somewhere. You walk in and after 15 minutes it is not the vibe and your people are not there. You turn around and you leave, and it's okay to do that because you're respecting your time. And if you talk to any kind of vetted networkers, somebody who's been doing it a long time, you know I won't say seasoned, because I don't like that word but um you will know that they were professional networkers.

Laura Bashore:

We, we left at podfest and that's right at a certain point we're like we're done, let's go.

Mary Fain Brandt:

We're like I already know this or it's not serving me. So that is a great networking lesson. As far as partnerships, you really got to vet them, and that means multiple phone calls. So I had someone find me on LinkedIn, reached out to me saying you know, there's opportunity partner up. We've had two conversations and he wanted me to like send them like a proposal, like of the services that I would offer, and after like letting it sit for a little bit and then I talked to some other people that he said, oh, talk to these other people, their partners. I'm like this isn't really a partnership. This is where he puts your name on a website and gets 15% if anyone signs up.

Laura Bashore:

That's not an affiliate?

Mary Fain Brandt:

Yeah, so I, I, I'm learning. I've had a lot more people reach out to me because of the AI certification, wanting me to test their tools, wanting to partner up, which is great, and I'm always open for a conversation but I'm learning how to vet partnerships and have a contract and be clear what are you really asking for and what are you expecting? How big is your audience?

Laura Bashore:

I love this. I don't mean to interrupt, but do you remember when we first started working together and you were going to contract me to do the resume writing because that's not something that you did and I sent you a contract and you were like really.

Laura Bashore:

And I was like, yeah, yeah, we need to have in writing what we're doing exactly for what you're saying there, Right, because if you don't have those expectations laid out and what people need to adhere to, it can just go the wrong way, you know, and then you're wasting your time and it's your reputation and that's so important.

Mary Fain Brandt:

I just think it's important with a partnerships that you have more than one phone call. Don't think it's all you're going to be crystal clear in one call. I'm in discussing in a partnership with someone else here locally and some AI tools and being their AI expert in a membership, and we're you know we're on our third phone call. It's going to happen. This is a good one. We vetted each other, but it's going to take a little more deep diving. So the other lesson I think that we should talk about is client and service insights. Like, I've had a lot of changes in my business, so, as you know, career coach gone right, linkedin still doing, but AI is really the focus, so I really pivoted a lot and I continue to learn more about AI and offer.

Mary Fain Brandt:

You know, figuring out what my specific AI offers are from AI chatbots cloning your own voice, which is kind of cool. That cloning yourself as a video, that you know, a video avatar that I just did. But I I I'm learning like who my clients are for that. So in my chamber, like the AI assistants, that's really good, but they're not ready for the cloning stuff. So, understanding where your audience is.

Laura Bashore:

So AI is so new that I don't feel that I'm really in front of my ideal audience at some of those networking events yeah, that's a good point because, um, I have been navigating, being an owner of multiple businesses, for a couple years now, and you're so right before I go to an event or before I speak at it. So, if there's a different time where I'll be talking, I'm intensely observing and figuring out what's the best thing for me to talk about here. Like that, what is this?

Mary Fain Brandt:

like, they're my linkedin group, not, not not necessarily, the ai high level right so you have to know your audience, and it doesn't mean that I'm not gonna do the ai stuff.

Laura Bashore:

I just feel like that's served in a to a different audience so, yeah, yeah, I agree, I agree, and it's interesting because some of the AI audience is also going to, for the most part, skew on a younger side. They are going to be more open to this because they have been growing with technology since they were little right Like they got these iPhones in their hands when they were babes. But then you have to find the younger ones who are already high up enough to where it makes the right connection. So it's a. It's definitely going to take, you know, some surveying.

Mary Fain Brandt:

And, to be honest, like my AI clients, they're all over 45, my AI clients, they're all over 45, except you, Really. My AI clients are on the older. Yeah, really.

Laura Bashore:

Okay, so you've got it under.

Mary Fain Brandt:

yeah, so you know who I'm in front of. I feel like niching down. People are afraid to niche. They really are, but you really serve your clients better. You can serve your clients better through, like content marketing when you're niched down. If I'm just an AI consultant, what do I do? Who am I for right?

Laura Bashore:

Right, it's so broad.

Mary Fain Brandt:

Yeah, if I narrow down to real estate and content and cloning your voice, right, because real estate agents are so frigging busy they don't have time for all that, but they know they need to do it.

Laura Bashore:

And then the video too, because a lot of them are integrating that or, like the ones who are being successful, have integrated that and are utilizing that too. Okay, very smart. I like that Good share.

Mary Fain Brandt:

Do we have any lessons to share with our audience with time management? Blocking do the block, time blocking.

Laura Bashore:

Do the block, that's all, that's it well, and what blocking works for you and do it well time management.

Mary Fain Brandt:

You just had a big success because you finally hired your virtual assistant, yes.

Laura Bashore:

So don't be afraid to delegate, don't be afraid to outsource right, like if you found that you're at a plateau, which is where I found myself. Well, then you got to think of doing something different, and what I needed to do different was get less in my business, which is so funny because I preach it to everyone else, right? But then it's just like the, the shoe cobbler or whatever, where you know your stuff isn't as good as what you put out there for everybody else and I I just realized, yeah, suck it up, buttercup. And I'm already seeing two, two weeks into it. I'm already seeing huge returns on the investment because, as a business owner, my time is the most valuable thing that I have, period.

Mary Fain Brandt:

So AI, virtual assistance, time blocking and adopting like CEO days or CEO hours. If it's two hours a week or four hours, so on Mondays is kind of that CEO day for me, or there's, nobody can book appointments with me. I'm not networking right. I'm not doing any of that. I'm literally working on the CEO stuff, the strategy, the launches, things like that. You really have to batch your work together. If anyone's listening and you're creative, your mind is going in 10 different directions. Or, as I like to say, I have 45 tabs open on three different windows on my monitor at all times. Right, having that batched? Yeah. So having that batch time, like this afternoon? I have 90 minutes and, laura, you and I have discussed this. What is the perfect time slot for you? You have to figure it out. Laura, you like 45 minutes? Yeah, you like.

Laura Bashore:

I like like nine.

Mary Fain Brandt:

Yeah, I'm like cause I want to like I want to work on a black Friday launch, so it's a 90 minute. You know, 90 minutes is good for me. I can focus on something for 90 minutes, but you have to find out what works for you. So maybe it's every day you have an hour.

Mary Fain Brandt:

That is your CEO work, Maybe it's one day where you have two hours so you have to test it. You guys don't be afraid to test it and then in 30 days go nope, didn't work. I didn't check those things off, I didn't get stuff done and I got distracted. So test it and then ask yourself why didn't it work? Was it the time? Was it how long it was? Were you working at a coffee shop where it's too noisy, like I can't do that long it was? Were you working?

Laura Bashore:

at a coffee shop where it's too noisy, like I can't do that um, where your kids running around, I can't either. I get so distracted.

Mary Fain Brandt:

I'm like oh, oh, look at the sparkly yeah, so this episode is just really about the lessons that we've learned and that is, adapting to change, um, to our time being, you know, mindful of our time, embracing change, the importance of boundaries and self-care, business growth and strategy. And I'm just going to say it AI and virtual assistants If you're not using those two things, you probably want to look at incorporating that in 2025 so you can stay ahead of your competitors and grow your business. Yeah, absolutely.

Laura Bashore:

It's so important You've got to stay up with technology. There's just no two ways about it. Nothing else we can say about it, you know, except learn Like this is about lessons learned. So the number one lesson learned is to keep learning you need to keep learning.

Mary Fain Brandt:

To grow, you have to learn. So open up your mind, be open to new things, bringing on a VA, learning some AI and to really look at what worked for you in 2024 and what didn't. Make a list. Hire a coach, work with them to really dive into that and tear it apart. When I've done that in the past, it really opened up my eyes that I was the block. Yeah, I'm the block.

Mary Fain Brandt:

It's not my product, it's not the service, it's not my time, it's me. So what do I have to do to release that block and really achieve those goals?

Laura Bashore:

Absolutely exactly, so I think that's a great place for us to end this episode. Listeners, if you haven't already, please subscribe and share this out with your network. If you are finding what we're sharing with you valuable, share this out with your network. We would love finding what we're sharing with you valuable, share this out with your network. We would love to be of value and service to them as well, and feel free to reach out to us social media emails. Get in touch with us. Let us know what you want us to talk about, Let us know what your feedback is and any questions that you have, Because the most successful coaches have their own coaches. I'm just going to leave it there, yes, and so until next time, you guys. Here's the good coffee great conversations and even greater success.

Mary Fain Brandt:

If you enjoyed the podcast, show us some love. Please rate, review and subscribe to our podcast, and if you have any feedback, go ahead and share that with us too, because we want to hear from you. Until then, stay focused, stay motivated and stay caffeinated.

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Mary Fain Brandt

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Laura Bashore

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