Create More Freedom When You Stop Operating From This One Limiting Belief

Time for the next edition of?The Mango Effect! ?? If you're new, this is where we talk about all things related to growing our businesses and personal brands "the mango way" on LinkedIn -- from personal branding to growing our networks to attracting more ideal clients to optimizing our profiles... and everything in between!

Each Tuesday, I share ONE strategy that you can use to optimize your personal brand or grow your business on LinkedIn. Whether you're a subject matter expert at the top of your field, a business leader looking to get on more boards, or a gritty entrepreneur trying to craft an ideal sales & marketing machine -- you'll find one action item you can take away and implement each and every week to get you one step closer to your goal.

No topic is off-limits. We discuss the good, the bad, and the fugly. I do take topic recommendations, too!

My mission is to help more professionals learn how to use LinkedIn, so we can all "up our game" on the platform, build thought leadership, and grow as leaders in our careers and businesses. And, I like to keep things fun, practical, and inspiring.

Now, onto this week's topic!

??Create More Freedom When You Stop Operating From This One Limiting Belief??

"Oh shiny!" That latest and greatest marketing strategy or sales tactic MUST be the reason I am not seeing the results I want for my business.

When we continue to leapfrog from this marketing tactic to that social platform to yet another social selling approach, we make absolutely NO progress.

It's so easy to get caught up in the activity of "doing" that we forget the reason why we're doing what we doing, what it's all for, and how it maps to our overarching objective to grow our business and increase our influence.

If you truly want to create more freedom in your business and design your ideal lifestyle, then this one limiting belief has got to go!

In this episode of Mondays with Mindi, we get a little bit personal as we address the limiting belief that tends to hold us back from creating an ideal business by our own design and what we can do to shift our perspective to embrace our own success in 2022.

There’s not enough time in the day to _____

If you’re anything like many of the entrepreneurs I know, we’re all about getting real results for our businesses. That means we’re on this never-ending hunt for the ONE strategy that will give us that quantum leap, that shift in perspective that is exactly what we need to break through whatever obstacle is in our way right now.

Have you ever caught yourself saying, “There’s just not enough time in the day or week to get it all done?”

[Raise hand - I’m guilty!]

For several years, I felt that my biggest problem was time.

There was not enough time to… build an audience, get into my LinkedIn messages, send connections to grow my network, create a viable business plan, nurture existing relationships that would grow my business, appear on podcasts, guest lecture inside other business owners’ memberships, build/launch/sell group programs, create a weekly Livestream!

I had a million and one excuses why I was NOT doing all of these things.

I was too “busy” with my 1:1 clients, scheduling and preparing for calls that did not move anyone’s objectives forward, doing tasks that never moved the needle.?

Sure, I was showing up consistently over time to “do my job” but not at the level that was satisfying or allowed me to really shine and help people in a deeper way besides a menial task in a spreadsheet.

About this time last year, I had just experienced one of the biggest upsets of my career when LinkedIn made a change on the backend that disrupted my entire flow of “what I did” and how I helped my clients. I lost about half of my clients, which dramatically impacted my income. I was terrified.

I was also in a business partnership that was not aligned with my vision for the future and did not operate by my values.

Plus, I had moved to the North Shore where it cost 50% more to live than where I was on Oahu before.?

I sat down with my husband and told him that I could no longer bank on being a six-figure freelancer and had to make a serious shift for my own wellbeing, my long-term career success, and align with my deeper calling. He had gone “all in” to support me as a stay-home dad earlier that year to allow me to focus all my work energy on my business, and hear we were. I felt like I had let everyone down.

At that moment, I realized I had a choice to make.

There was NO other option but to stop using the “I don’t have time for this” excuse.

I had to reinvent my relationship time. I had to find another way besides just working myself into the ground for the short-term cash flow.

It was time to build a business machine.

For any of you who have already made this leap, you know how hard it is to simply give up that “cushy” client work where you just need to make enough things happen to keep your clients happy AND recreate how you went about making money for the last 5-10 years.

It takes a mindset shift.

It takes giving up those limiting beliefs that you thought were serving you.

And, here’s what happened.

Reinventing Your Relationship with Time

So where does it all begin if you want to shift your relationship with time to one that is empowered, where time is abundant, where you can create effortless flow with your days?

No more rushing from pointless meeting to pointless meeting during the day.

No more feeling guilty when you want to sneak away for a quick surf session because a client or business partner might ping you on Slack and expect an immediate response.

You must start treating every decision you make as if you’re a 7-figure CEO, because you already are whether or not you have the revenue to prove it.

I learned this concept from James Wedmore - highly recommend checking out his “Mind Your Business” podcast if you want to learn from the master.

I started making shifts in my day-to-day business life.

I learned how to set appropriate boundaries with my former business partner and stop “working for free” on initiatives I knew had no legs behind them.

I stopped feeling stressed about Slack pings.

I have my phone on silent all day long, so I never hear a text message… EVER!

I only do calls with prospects or clients on two days per week, setting aside two other days for guest appearances and livestreams (like this one) and a full day of off-stage work.

But, it took me changing my beliefs around time first. I took one small action towards implementing this new belief in my life until it became a habit.

Yes, I had to exit that business partnership because it no longer served either of us once I set healthy boundaries.

Yes, I had to experience a number of setbacks related to putting more energy into creating a scalable business model that can help people more effectively than I EVER could by “just doing it for people.”

But looking back on 2021, I made the right choice.

I learned how to build a business machine, and it’s starting to pay off big time.

What people didn’t see was this shift in belief that had to happen to make it all possible.

Time is not the enemy. It’s more abundant than we realize.

It’s time to reinvent your relationship with time. (no pun intended)

5 Things You Can Do Now to Create More Freedom in Your Business

Breakdown steps/how to's

Let’s talk about exactly what it takes to create more freedom in your business as we move into the new year and really solidify our goals. It’s not as difficult as we think, especially when you have the commitment and motivation to implement ONE thing at a time.?

#1 - Choose ONE overarching goal

We like to think we can “do it all simultaneously,” especially when we’re starting out with a new-to-us business model.

The key here is not overwhelming yourself. You pick ONE shift you want to make during the year, and you choose ONE next action, course, tactic, strategy that will get you closer to that goal.

Sometimes they work out better than you hoped, and sometimes they flop.?

The key is to keep an eye on that overarching goal and adjust your strategy when something does or does not work.

The more times you do this, the faster you’ll be able to test ideas, strategies, and tactics to know if they have a chance of working well for you.

For example, I am on a mission to build a business that allows me more time freedom and has high leverage, one-to-many offers as the basis of my business income. Everything I do maps back to this strategy.

Remember: Do not waver from your overarching goal unless it’s absolutely necessary.

#2 - Set boundaries around when people can book a time to chat

I mentioned a little about this earlier when I talked about setting boundaries.

One mistake a lot of newcomers make when they’re trying to get initial business is too much laxity around their calendars - letting anyone and everyone have access to your calendar without actually qualifying them.

Before I let anyone have my Calendly link, I assess what type of opportunity this is going to be for me and how it might be advantageous for us both. If it’s not going to make either of us more money or grow our audiences or provide an irrefutable return on our time… I don’t hand out my calendar link.

Whenever I make the mistake of handing it out to someone who “just wants to get to know me” it doesn’t tend to end up well because I feel like I catered to someone else’s whim without providing a clear-cut benefit to both of us.

Remember: It’s okay to protect your calendar if you’re the type of person who needs a lot of creative space to do her/his best work.

#3 - Create a support network of people on a similar journey

I don’t know about you, but I used to consider myself a pioneer who didn’t need ANYONE else’s help to achieve my goals.

I thought I could just take a course, read a book, listen to a podcast and implement without ever having accountability or group support.

One thing I learned over this past year was that I both need and enjoy certain types of interactions in business and professional communities on a weekly basis, especially since I’m pretty much a solopreneur with a very small team.

I have an accountability pod that I meet with every Tuesday morning to share about wins, challenges, struggles, brainstorm ideas and everything in between. I missed our meetings for a few weeks and felt the negative impact it had on me.

I also am an active member in 3-5 professional organizations at any given time where I can get coached and inspired by other business leaders on a similar journey. It’s the best investment I have made in myself this past year.

Remember: You don’t have to do it all alone, find your tribe and engage with them.

#4 - Invest in professional development tools to experience quantum leaps

On the topic of professional development, I believe we must all keep learning or we will stop growing and fail to reach our full potential as leaders.

I spent tens of thousands of dollars in tools, programs and experiences that helped me to reconfigure my business this year, and I plan to continue that practice moving forward.

These investments (when chosen well) are worth far more than their weight in gold. I expect to receive a 10-100X return on my investment every time I sign up for a new program.

So should you. Choose wisely. Figure out who can teach you what you need to know to grow to that next level. Don’t be afraid to investment your time and money in yourself.

#5 - Choose ONE sales & marketing platform to “go all-in on” during the year

This is a big one because many of us still try to “be everywhere” on all the platforms because we’re told that we can easily repurpose our content to make it all happen.

We have the FOMO around missing out if we don’t do this.

I caution you to pick ONE primary sales and marketing platform that you do a LOT of upfront due diligence on to be sure your people are there and like to engage there around your topic.

Invest as MUCH as you can into that one platform for a full year, then decide if you need to even go elsewhere.

Many of my clients and program members stick with JUST LinkedIn and discover they no longer need to use all the other platforms to get the results they want.

BOOM! Saving tons of time, money and resources!

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If you’re looking for that extra edge to get you started on the right path with LinkedIn to start booking your perfect-fit clients, get on the waitlist for the next cohort of The LinkedIn Accelerator kicking off at the beginning of 2022, which is tailored to take you through ALL of the sections on your LinkedIn profile in just five days flat - - one week, and you’re off to the LinkedIn races to start growing your network and getting conversations. If you’re interested, here’s the link to get on the waitlist and find out a few more details.

What additional questions do you have about booking more conversations on LinkedIn? Leave them below in the comments or shoot me a private message. I’m happy to answer them!??