Untrapped Entrepreneur

There comes a time in your business, surprisingly early, in fact, when "doing good work" isn't going to be good enough for your next hire. You're going to need people who assign and develop good work for others to execute well. #hiring #teammembers #teamplayers #aplayers #untrapped

In the spirit of helping other entrepreneurs escape common “traps” of business ownership (they don’t call it the @untrappedpod for nothin’!), today I want to talk about have-tos vs need-tos. I’ve found that the more have-tos that I have on my calendar — certain meetings or administrative tasks — that I feel I “have” to do, the more stress I have in my business and my life. We’ve all been there: a given day rolls around and you find yourself spinning your wheels in a pointless meeting or staring blankly at a spreadsheet. If you know exactly what I’m talking about, I urge you to take an inventory of those have-tos. In many cases, you’ll find that most of them are actually not “have-tos” at all — you can pass off most admin tasks to a trusted VA, meetings can be changed from every month to every other month, or every week to every two weeks, etc. Reducing the number of things you feel like you “have” to do will take a significant amount of stress off. So, here’s your homework: if you’re feeling stressed, take an inventory of your have-tos and reduce them so you’re only left with your need-tos. When you’re left with the things you actually NEED to do, you’ll enjoy less stress, more direction over your business, and more control over your mental state and your life. And isn’t that what every entrepreneur wants?

If you’re feeling stressed about your schedule, I recommend auditing it, screening for “need to vs have to.” You’ll often find during this audit that the cadence of your “have tos” can be modified, helping to take some stress off your plate, and focusing you on your “need tos.” #meetings #tactics #entrepreneurship #untrapped?

Feeling stressed about meetings and commitments? I've got a list of ways to help you audit those commitments to make sure you're deploying your way in the best time possible for yourself and those around you. #mindset #meetings #entrepreneurship #untrapped

In business, we’re constantly focused on the next big goal — hitting a sales target, increasing membership sales numbers, hitting retail goals — in other words, our outputs. And when we don’t hit our goals or achieve those outcomes, we tend to focus even more so on the goal we didn’t meet. Even I’ve been there…and every time I end up putting a lot of pressure on myself and my team. It can easily become a vicious cycle or even an obsession. Instead, what I’ve found works better is to not focus on the outputs at all. Focus on the inputs instead. For example, get really clear about what drives a sale. What inputs actually cause the output to happen? If you don’t know what those are, then that’s where you should spend your time if you’re not achieving the goals you want. Get clear on the inputs: Make a list, pressure test it, get feedback, ensure that that’s the lever you need to pull to generate the outcome you want, and stay myopically focused on what you need to put into your business to achieve the success you want. When you master the inputs, you will end up getting the outputs that you want. Focus not on what you’re trying to achieve. Rather, focus on how it’s actually done.

If your team isn’t hitting goals, it can be easy to focus on that alone and get distracted from the real issues. In this Untrapped Minisode, I share a remedy I’ve used to great success over the years: not focusing on the outputs, but the inputs, the how of my goals. By looking at that, you’ll often find the missing ingredients to help get you and your team where you need to go. #inputs #outputs #mindset #entrepreneurship #untrapped

Sometimes you and your team can get stuck in a cycle of not hitting a target and then focusing on not hitting it, leading to more frustration without better results. In this article I outline a tactic that's led to better outcomes for me and my team. #inputs #outputs #mindset #entrepreneurship #untrapped

One of the messages Andrew Cavanaugh tries to communicate to business owners at any stage is the importance of separating your identity from the business you own at a given moment. It's a lesson he's learned in his own entrepreneurial and marital journey. #mindset #business #communication #entrepreneurship #untrapped