Ep. 093: The Consistency Controversy
You may hear "consistency" and think it means jam-packed days of task after task that you must execute perfectly in order to get results. And if so, it's understandable you'd bristle at the word. And if you have other challenges that can make this type of consistency hard (like chronic illness or young kids at home), it can be easy to feel like there's no hope of ever being consistent. But this isn't how I view consistency at all. Why? Because for me, consistency thrives in the soil of simplicity. Which is why when I'm strategizing for my clients my main goal is to find the simplest plan that's tailor-made to them...so they can implement it and see the results. Not be endlessly busy and overwhelmed. Plus we live in an age where there are so many digital tools that enable you to appear consistent without having to be present 24/7 in your business. In this episode I go over 3 key things I focus on to get traction in my business without having to hustle.
LINKS & RESOURCES MENTIONED TODAY:
Your Rebellious Success: https://erikatebbensconsulting.com/rebellious-success
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Hey there. Okay. So we're about to dive in to the heart of this week's episode in just a second, but I realized after I spent 45 minutes recording it, that there was something I wanted to include and I didn't. So as a way to not, uh, like slip into a perfectionist trap or, um, waste my own time by going back and rerecording that entire thing and just recording this tiny snippet to put in.
Because I wanted to include a bit why I find that when people say you shouldn't strive for consistency because it's harmful as they put it, which you'll hear me talk about in just a moment. Um, why I actually felt so strongly about this and called it the consistency, controversy and everything, and like, why I'm bringing it up again, even though I have a past episode on consistency is because.
I actually feel like consistency in the way that I'm, that I teach about it. And I, um, help my clients with and everything like what you're about to hear that consistency in that way. I view it as actually more humane than starting and stopping. And here's why, so I will use an analogy of a train. So if you think of like an old, tiny train, it takes a lot of.
Energy, like a lot of coal in that, like, you know, to make steam and whatever. However, old timey steam trains work takes a lot of energy to get the train from stationary in the station to up at full speed when it's out on the open track. And it's just going through the countryside and it's sailing along.
When it's at top speed, it takes a lot of energy to stop the momentum of that train from moving. And I view it the same in business as well. So you're going to hear me do a deeper dive in all of this I'm as you know, if you've, you know, if this is not your first time here, you know, I'm going to give you like, Real strategies and tips you can start to use and implement right away.
But how I view consistency is that it's a way when you do it in the humane supportive, uh, sustainable way that I talk about it, it's a way to get you that momentum so that you are not always having to do this huge, energetic lift. To get things up to speed. Right? Cause it's a lot, it's a lot better to do it.
Like a little bit of lift in the beginning, kind of get that plan in place and see what's working and then execute on it and really start to get that good, those good, consistent results. When you're just flying through the, through the countryside. Rather than to like, if you're like a local, like a local train, thinking back to when I used to live in New York city and there were like the express trains and the local trains, right?
So the local trains are stopping at every single stop it. Start, stop, start, stop, start, stop. Whereas the express train is going through like the major hubs, right? It's not, it's just, it's just soaring on past a bunch of other, um, stations in between. And so my aim for all of this and why I think. It's worth talking about is because I think that when the people who I, when I say I mentioned them in the episode, I'm not like calling anyone out by name it's re it's truly not important.
Um, it's not a matter of like canceling anyone or, or like putting them on blast. I have no intention of doing that, but the people I mentioned at the beginning of the episode, who speak negatively about consistency, I actually think that it keeps people who do have limited time and energy capacity from getting the results they want.
I feel like they, they could see people bad mouth and consistency or lumping it in with harmful consistency. We should also talk about in the episode and go. Okay, well, I guess I'm not supposed to be consistent now then, like, I guess I'll just keep up this like roller coaster of a ride that I'm on, where I'm really at the mercy of all these other factors.
And I don't think that that serves us well at all. I think that having that momentum. Is really what enables you. Uh, and, and I know it's been the case for me and my clients and my friends. It's really what enables you to actually do a lower volume of day-to-day work, but keep your results super consistent.
And. Hi, like a good ROI from your, from your time and energy efforts. So that is just the little thing that I wanted to illustrate at the, at the outset, because I talked a lot about like how I view consistency and like how I structure it and how I do it with my clients and all of that. But I really wanted to illustrate like, why the hell should you care anyways?
Right. If, if some people are saying. Consistency is bad and you shouldn't strive for it. And I'm saying like, no, no, no. It can actually be helpful. I really wanted to kind of paint that picture of like why and how it can be helpful. And because I find that it's essentially keeping you from having to do this massive, energetic lift every single time you want to see results.
Okay. So now without further ado, I'm going to take it on over to the, the rest of the episode that I just recorded before this.
Welcome back to the, sell it sister podcast. I'm really excited for today's episode, because I'm hoping that it gives you if you feel like frustrated or overwhelmed or like you're working all the time, or like, you just want to find like a more sustainable way to do. All your like backend business development work in your business.
Like if you're feeling like it's just it's too too much, and you want to get more traction out of your time without actually having to work more hours and. Are in fact hoping to work fewer hours, but still get great results. Then you are going to get a ton out of this episode, at least I hope you will.
So lately in the last few months, I will say I have seen from a few different people, um, people who I was following on Instagram. That we're talking about consistency in this very negative way. Um, and I actually have way, way back when I first started this podcast, it's like in one of the first 10 episodes, I have an episode that is all about consistency and it's actually called, like, I think it's called consistency is key.
And so when I saw their posts, I was like, huh, I'm. Very curious about this because, um, I I've seen people refer to it as impossible, harmful elitist abelist and even in humane. And while I'm going to get into a little bit more about where I feel like that comes from, uh, I just was, uh, a little bit surprised to see that because these are not like the bro marketer, um, types who you would anticipate to see talking about.
Um, Stuff around like consistency and hustle, culture and stuff. So I was like, huh, this is, this is really curious to me. And I'm going to spend some time, um, thinking on it before I bring it to my audience. So I fully understand that, you know, for the people who are telling you. Anyone and everyone to just put in a 40 hour or more work week from now until forever, that's just jam packed with tasks and not listening to their own bodies, telling them they just need to push through if they want results.
Like yes. Is that shitty? I, I have a lot of issue with that. Um, especially considering I'm at a point now in my life where I do have a lot more flexibility and time capacity. And such and I still choose to not work more than 25 hours a week because that's what feels like my own personal capacity. So, yes.
Um, but I have also worked with, and I'm friends with many entrepreneurs who have all sorts of obstacles to that type and that brand of consistency. So, whether it's chronic illness, mental health struggles, um, neuro, neuro diversity, or just life circumstances, especially now in the time of COVID where people are virtual schooling and they, they don't have, you know, daycare and they're, you know, everyone's at home and it's a huge juggle, like.
That is definitely a barrier, even if they had consistency before, it's a huge barrier. Um, but you know, these different people who I've worked with and who I'm friends with, they've all found different ways that are their own ways to be super, super successful. And as somebody, myself who really strives to make running a successful business, as simple as possible for people, no matter their circumstances, it really led me to wonder how they had been viewing.
Consistency because it's not how I view consistency at all. And in fact for me, consistency has allowed me to work less while continuing to keep growing over time, which in turn has allowed me to be able to outsource more of my work entirely. So, as I mentioned already, 25 hours a week is my preference.
Do I ever have weeks where I end up working more than that? Sure. But I also have some weeks where I work less. And so. That is my, that is what I aim to average. It's what works for me. And I also have systems and plans in place that will enable me to keep growing sustainably over time and still maintain that amount of hours per week.
And I really, really, really credit a lot of that to consistency. So I think where the problem lies is how people often are envisioning consistency and you know what it is and what it isn't. So generally I think that. People must be assuming it means doing a bunch of things the same way, day after day, like a full eight hour Workday, just jam packed with tasks that you can never escape from.
Right. Just it's just like constant grind. But I view it very differently. Um, most of my days to be honest, never look exactly the same. And I definitely do not have a rigid schedule. I would hate a rigid schedule, but I do make a lot of traction for myself with the work that I do, um, with what I w what I do accomplish.
Like I expect to get pretty good return on my energetic and, and time investment on that. So, and I, I'm also going to add that as more of my adult, female friends have been diagnosed with ADHD. And I've been learning more about it. Uh, it is on my personal to do list to see about, um, getting diagnosed myself because as I learned more about it, I'm like, Oh, wow.
I definitely see myself, um, in a lot of those symptoms. And that's really interesting cause I never would have suspected that for myself, um, in how I always had viewed ADHD. But I know that it's more, um, you can find more info on it now in how it manifests in. Uh, adult women versus like younger boys, let's say so a lot of what I have done in order to support my natural fluctuations in energy and focus, uh, it could be that those are things that I've developed for myself over time.
As a way to work around that possible, um, ADHD diagnosis, but we, you know, only, only time will tell with that. Uh, a lot of the, of the stuff that I'm consistent with as well. When I say, you know, do things consistently, it is not every day or even every week. Um, sometimes these are things that happen only once a month or.
These are things that happen only once a quarter. So, um, or even maybe a couple times per year. So they're not things that I'm constantly having to think about. And consistency is what makes it possible for me to take a spontaneous day off when I'm just not feeling it. So let's just say I have like extremely low energy.
She, or I have a really bad headache or. I'm just in a mood. I can take a day off or even half a day off and not freak out about how that is going to negatively impact my business, which I really appreciate because, you know, especially as we live in these COVID times and like right now I'm recording this and it's winter and it's the part of winter that always makes me the most blah.
It's nice to know that, like, I don't have to feel like I'm on all the time to, um, to get results. So my primary focus in everything I do for myself and with my clients is always simplicity because when something is simple, you can do it. And it's actually the, you know, it's more the doing of it. That gets you the results that you're after, rather than just like.
The ideated on it or the journaling on it. Right? It's it's when you actually put the plan into action that you start to see the results, but if the plan is too complicated, then you won't be able to consistently keep up with it. And then it, it that boom and bust cycle, just, uh, you know, it, it never goes away essentially.
So for me, sustainable, healthy consistency starts with. A solid, personalized plan. So before I dive into kind of what that looks like, I just want to tell a little bit of a story to, um, to articulate this. And, and I will say too, like, again, if you're, you know, if you're new around here, you may not know this, but if you're not new around here, you know, that I'm very anti burrow marketing and.
Hustle culture, because usually that is born out of these upper middle class or very like wealthy white, you know, straight, uh, cis-gender men who have all of the privileges and they're like, you know, just wake up at 5:00 AM and do your morning workout and do this, do that. And then like, you know, like do your work and blah, blah, blah.
And. What they're not telling you, is that behind the scenes, like they have a partner, like they either don't have children at all, or they have a partner or paid help who is like managing, uh, the raising of their children, the caretaking of their home, like, Oh, you know, they have the people to do all of those things, right?
So they're not giving you the whole picture. And the people who I work with are not those people. The people who I work with are people who, you know, they either have kids and they're like, Managing parenting and a household and their business, or they don't have cans and they're still managing household.
And you know, their loved ones. They're like relationships with people. They care about their, uh, you know, like things that they volunteer to do, right. Where they're spending their time and other places. So the people who I serve are wearing a lot of hats and. Often have a lot of stuff that falls on their shoulders, even if it's just like emotional and mental labor and not time consuming, it's still a lot.
Right. So I definitely roll my eyes too at like, when somebody is like, you know, you just gotta, you gotta show up. Like you gotta go live every day. You got to put out all this content. You gotta do, you know, this, that, and the other, like now you gotta be on clubhouse and do all these talk. Like, no, no, no, that's not.
No, this is not what this is about. Right? So don't worry. I'm not gonna prescribe anything like that. But I wanted to relay a story about this because I think it really speaks to, um, the power of consistency and visibility in a really simple way. So this was a few years ago, my friend, Colleen, I bumped into her at a coffee shop.
And she was like, Oh my gosh, how have you been? She's like, I feel like you are like everywhere. And she is also an entrepreneur. And I was like, why, what do you mean you? Like, it feels like I'm everywhere. I don't feel like I'm everywhere. And she was like, yeah, like I just, you know, I, I saw that you spoke at that one.
Like there was this like monthly, like a women's networking thing. She's like, I saw that you were like the speaker there and then like you did like. This training or like, I don't even remember now. Cause again, it was a few years ago, but they were these small, like independent visibility things that I had done.
They really didn't take a ton of my time and my energy and like the, the monthly networking thing like that, I would just go to every month. Anyways, I just, I happened to pitch myself as a speaker. So I was speaking at one and when I say speaking, it was like a 10 minute, 10, 15 minute thing that I was talking about.
Right. But in her mind, I was everywhere. Right. And also at the time I was like, my husband was working, you know, busy schedule with work. Uh, I think at the time he was also finishing. Grad school. So super, super busy. Uh, I was homeschooling our son and, you know, juggling that and everything. So I really wasn't everywhere.
Like I was also wearing a lot of hats and had to be very protective of my own time and very particular about where I was spending my time. Right. So all of that, like even past businesses I've had, they've been, uh, born up, been born out of these times where I like my son was much younger. Chris, you know, my husband, Chris was on rotating shift work when he was still in the Navy.
I was, um, running my son all over town to various like classes, uh, like for homeschoolers and such. So I had to, I had to really like make this work for myself. So to me, I break it down into three main categories. And am I going to get, I'm going to give you examples in each of these categories. So for me, and when I work with my clients, I'm beginning with a plan that anticipates fluctuations of capacity and allows me to get great results without feeling frantic or busy, or get them great results without feeling frantic or busy.
Like that is what is key, right? And so here's what that looks like in practice. So streamlining your marketing channels. So they suit your personality. So last year, so in 2020, I think it was last year. Um, earlier on in the year, I just decided I was like, I'm not going to be on LinkedIn anymore, but I didn't take down my profile.
Like technically somebody could still message me there, but I wasn't going to be actively posting. I wasn't going to be connecting with people. I just, I didn't like it every time I'd go into LinkedIn, I would be annoyed. So it was like, I, um, why, why am I going to be here if I'm going to be annoyed? Well, I'm just gonna stick to Instagram.
That's it suits my personality. It's where you like to be. It's where a lot of my clients are potential clients. It's where a lot of my friends are like, I'm just going to be an Instagram. Right. So. Knowing, I don't need to be everywhere. Just pick where I can be, where I want to be, and then just like allow the rest to not have to happen.
Um, also very specific offers that suit my schedule with clear messaging and flexible launch plans. So for me, I, at this point, I don't want certain kinds of offers now that may change in the future. But for this moment, I don't want a lot of offers where I have to feel like I'm on all the time. Right?
Like, let's say a membership community that I'm growing and has hundreds of people. Like it's not to say that I would never have one, but if I were, I would want to have a community manager in place. First. Right. And that's just for me. Um, and also knowing, you know, who my offers are for so I can sell them more effectively and easily.
And also, I only have one offer right now that is time bound that I have to have like a proper launch for. Right. Um, even in that I. And giving myself like my rebellious success launch given myself a whole month. The first time I rolled it out, I gave myself a whole month. Other people would be like, you should only spend a week or two launching.
Well, I wanted to give myself a month. And so far it works for me. Like it's, it's totally fine. Right. And I like that. It's the only one that's super bound. So I don't have to feel like I'm constantly actively launching something with a hard. Deadline. It works for me. Uh, also like one main content channel and then batching the content.
So when I first started, it was my blog on my website, which all that content still lives there. Occasionally new posts will go up, but now I just focus on my podcast on this podcast. And when I do these episodes, I generally not always, but I generally try to do. The three weeks that are in a month in one go.
And then I have the interview. One happens separately because it's just, I can focus on the one task I can get them done. They're not super long episodes. All of that. It works for me. I also build in CEO time and I set up a call schedule that doesn't overwhelm me. So every Monday are my CEO days. This gives me a buffer, gives me like an on-ramp for the week.
It allows me to set myself up for success. It always gives me time to work on my business and, um, I'm not having to go right into the week, uh, coaching clients. So it, that feels really supportive. And I've also set up my. Coaching call hours to be supportive of when I have the most energy and like when I am showing up the best.
So it's usually Tuesday through Thursday in the middle of the day for me, because that is when I, that is when it feels the best for me to do it. Now, obviously, if I had young kids at home and I was their sole caretaker during the day, You know, I can't expect like a gaggle of toddlers to be quiet while I'm on coaching calls.
Right. So I may need to adjust it. And there were periods of time in my life where I had to just be like, based on our circumstances and our family's needs and everything. I had to do my work at different times. Like I would have to do more work in the evenings. I would have to do more work on the weekends.
Right. And over time that has. Change that has evolved. Um, but now I really like to build out my schedule, uh, around what is optimal for me and not for nothing like it's. I would anticipate that in the fall, my son's school will not be virtual. They're all virtual right now. His high school, it will probably be at least in part in person and he doesn't drive.
So we are going to have to be transporting him. And that will be something that is out of my control and I will have to adjust my schedule to match it, but I will still, you know, again, it's, I'm being intentional about when I'm doing, um, those calls. And then I also keep a regular email schedule with a loose plan.
Um, So I can be open to writing in the moment if I want, or I can skip it entirely if I'm not feeling like it. So I was just talking to one of my rebellious success clients and she was telling me, she was like, we were talking about her weekly workflow and stuff. And I told her that my emails that go out on Tuesdays, I either write them Tuesday morning or sometime on Monday.
And she was like, Oh wow. So you don't have like a whole month batched. And I was like, no, like I could, I just. I dunno, I don't want to, at least right now, like I, they don't take me a super long time. Um, which is intentional because right. Very much like from the heart. And sometimes they have like a loose idea of like, Oh, make sure to touch on this, especially if it's like a time-bound thing or whatever.
Um, but I can just really, like, I can do it in yeah. Moment. She was like, Oh, that's really nice to hear because I just assumed it had to be this certain way. It just had to be that like, The right way to be an entrepreneur is to like always have stuff that is like worked ahead and scheduled and set up to go out like always.
And it's like, yeah, that, that can be great. Like, and which I'm going to is in the next part of what I, um, what I want to talk about, but it doesn't mean that if you do it in a different way, as long as that way is working for you and you can stay consistent with it and you have built in time in your schedule for it, then.
It then by all means like, do it the way that works for you. It doesn't, you don't have to do it just like other people do it. If it was, if you were finding that, like you didn't want to email your list every week or it felt overwhelming, or it was taking too much time, like there's always a way around it.
There's always a new plan that can be. Crafted that you can be more consistent with, but don't feel like there's something wrong with you, just because you don't have a billion emails prescheduled for your people at all times. So the next chunk that I work on, so first is that making a plan that anticipates fluctuation in capacity and allows you to get results, really good results without feeling frantic.
Next up is leveraging technology to automate your efforts. And this is really how you can get traction in a few places to give that appearance of consistency. So just like my friend Colleen said, Oh my gosh, you're everywhere. I wasn't really everywhere. But it was because I was. Doing things in a few certain places where she was seeing them that made it appear that I was.
So these are things like having a call scheduler, if you're, if it makes sense for her, for your business like that, you're, um, booking in client calls, discovery calls, anything like that. It is worth spending 10 bucks a month on. A call scheduler like acuity or Calendly. One of those where Pete, where you can preset preset, where you're available, and then you can give people a link and they can book in and they can even fill out an intake form and all of that.
And it's just done. That is going to save you, having to feel like I need to be checking my email constantly to be doing this like back and forth dance of scheduling people. Also, um, schedule being able to schedule, schedule your social media and emails. So if you want to, if this feels good for you again, you don't have to, but if you want to, there are all sorts of ways that you can do this.
So there's, you know, different, um, email platforms like. Active campaign convert, kit, mailer, light flow desk, MailChimp. All of those allow you to pre-write an email and schedule it. So if you are having a higher energy day or let's say, you know, during the month, like, You usually have, uh, periods of time where you're like, Oh, I am like more high energy and I'm more low energy.
If you want to maximize your high energy time and you want to send out, you know, an email every week or two a month, you can utilize that time to pre-write those emails, get them in and schedule them so they can go out without you. One caveat to that is I would just say, be sure as best practice that you are.
E whatever frequency is works for you. That's great. But email your people somewhat regularly and also when you're not selling. Cause I'm sure we all have been on somebody's email list where you never hear from them. And then all of a sudden they're launching and it's like a trillion emails and you're like, Oh cool.
I see you. Like have nothing to say to me when. You're not selling something, but then when you are suddenly you chop a bunch of my inbox, right? So that's why I prefer to just do it as an ongoing effort. And there have been times in my life where I have, like, if I know, say like it's going to be a busier season or something I might go in and preschedule more of my emails than I currently do as a way to.
Set myself up for consistency and success during a time when I know, Oh my gosh, on Mondays and Tuesdays, like, I'm actually not going to be able to, it's not going to feel good for me to have to schedule in that weekly email. And I feel like it's, I'm just not going to get around to it and I'm going to drop the ball and that's, and I don't want to do that.
Right. And same thing, like, even if you don't want to pay for, um, stuff like, uh, plan early or later, or any of those, um, Platforms that allow you to schedule stuffer, uh, in like Instagram and social media, you can use, um, Facebook has their creator studio, which allows you to preschedule, um, Instagram and Facebook posts.
So you can always use that. And it's totally free. Uh, also scheduling podcast episodes after they get recorded. So I batch them. And then there's a whole workflow of creating yeah. Graphics and, um, getting them edited, like light editing and uploading them into the platform that automatically sends them out.
It's called Libby. Sin is the one I use, but there's several. So I, it all goes one place. And then that platform broadcasts it out to all of the other, um, Platforms, which is really, really, really cool. And it just leverages my, my time and my effectiveness. And, uh, and I, like, I will say that this is something my VA now helps me with, but when I first started my podcast, I didn't have a VA.
So I would do this all myself. So I have like templated graphics and everything. So everything can just get like duplicated each time to save me a lot of effort. And then just the specific details. Get. Swapped out each time. Uh, another story to kind of illustrate this point is I found over the years that a lot of people will, um, start a YouTube channel or a podcast as a way to be more visible, to reach more people, to get more clients.
And usually what happens is, is. Their schedule is already a bit chaotic. And then they're like, well, I'll just, I'll add this thing. And then that will help me, like bring in more revenue and then I'll figure out after the fact how I'm going to restructure things. And what it's actually better to do is make a plan, a proactive plan, get other things consistent, um, first and make sure that you have the right like systems and structure and support in place so that you can be consistent when that thing comes out and also set it up in a way from the, from the start.
Not that you can't change it later, but set it up from the start in a, in a publication schedule that you feel like. You can be consistent with, you can always like increase it or decrease it later, but don't try to overwhelm yourself right from the get-go. So I actually postponed, launching this podcast for about three months because I felt like I didn't have the right structure in my business at the time where I could feasibly remain consistent with putting out new episodes without it starting to feel.
Uh, burdensome and overwhelming and to a point where I would have to, uh, you know, stop doing it and not be consistent or, you know, be very haphazard with it because I would just be overwhelmed with other stuff. So what I did was I spent some really intentional time restructuring things in my business to give me the time before I had my VA so that I could.
Consistently put out episodes week after week. I've definitely had a few weeks where they haven't come out, but it's been very intentional. It's been, you know, holiday weeks and things like that. And over the summer, um, this last summer I did a best of for three weeks where I rebroadcast three of the most popular episodes, which gave me some time off of recording.
But what happens is, is because I batch and because I. Uh, you know, I, I figured for myself once a week would be doable. I try not to make them super long. All of that. Like, again, it's, it's all intentional. It's all planned that way. So that every single week I'm not scrambling like, Oh crap, I got to record episode.
What am I going to talk about? Like now I gotta, you know, get it set up on my website. I gotta do this. I gotta do that. Like, that would not feel good. And that feeling of it not feeling good, I would be like, I don't want to do this podcast. It's it's not fun. Like, I. This isn't enjoyable. Right. But that's not how it is.
Like, it actually is fun and it is enjoyable. And I can be consistent because I had a plan and structures in place first that allowed me that supported my consistency. And in turn, what happens is people. Can count on it every week. Even if people don't listen every week, even if they save up a few and they'd binge it, it, you know, you at least know like you can count on.
There's probably going to be a new episode that comes out every week. And that creates a lot of. Trust for, for an audience. And so, you know, even now, when I look at podcasts, I maybe want to like speak to their audience. I look, and if, if the episodes are like all over the place or they haven't released one in a while, I don't bother because I just assume it's not a very active podcast.
And I assume that they're a lot of their listenership has gone away because when it's super inconsistent, then. You know, people start to not trust it. And then they, they dwindle. Cause they're, they're just like, I don't know. I never know when a new episode is going to come out, so I'm not really counting on it.
And that's not to say that, like you can't put out episodes every other week or something. If you have even less time, you absolutely. Can't some large sponsored podcasts. I listened to actually only come out like. Every other week. And I don't mind waiting, you know, the weeks in between, like though the weekend between, um, I just know they're on an every other week schedule, but I also.
No that every other week, a new episode will come out. Um, you can also set up workflows and procedures for client onboarding. So if you find there's a lot of back and forth there, uh, you can get those set up. Um, also I suggest using a platform like Trello air table notion, a sauna, anything like that as a second brain to capture a lot of stuff.
So you don't need to think so hard every time. You do something. So this is what I do. And it's still always a work in progress, but even with my rebellious success launch, um, this time I went in and I. Wrote out a whole launch plan in notion. And as things, new things come up, things I forgot to include come up.
I add them to there because I know that months from now when I'm watching it again, I'm not going to remember all the small details. And so by capturing it all in there now all of my systems and workflows, yes, it can feel a little bit tedious in the moment, but it's going to serve me so well in the future because I won't have to feel that stress and anxiety of worrying and.
You know, usually when you're, if you're, there's something that you're forgetting. Then, if you remember it and you don't have the time to do it, then you're either like making time, which feels frustrating, uh, or you're not doing it, which leads to inconsistency. Right. So that's why I like those. They allow me to be more consistent because they're not relying on my brain to remember absolutely everything.
And also creating templates and graphics that are easy to duplicate. Um, so as I mentioned for my podcast and also, you know, just for regular social media, part of why it's nice to have a brand elements, like even if you haven't paid someone for a formal, like formally branding your business, it's nice to know what fonts and colors and.
Different things that you are going to use on a recurrent basis because you can make various templates or you can utilize some of the pre-made ones like in Canva and then quickly switch it out to your branding. And that is, it enables you to just speed up your whole workflow process so that you can be more consistent because if you're starting from scratch every time it's going to take you many, many, many times longer.
Then, if you're just duplicating a template and then changing out the words on the template. So, just to recap, we begin with a plan that anticipates fluctuations of capacity and allows you to get great results without feeling frantic and busy, uh, and then leveraging technology free or paid to automate, uh, efforts so that you can get.
Traction in a few places and get that appearance of consistency. So even if you aren't physically showing up every week to write that email or to record that podcast or to do whatever it is to other people, you are, um, going up on their end, you're being visible to them on their end as a way to keep you top of mind.
So lastly is to track what's working. To listen to your body and to say no. So it's really easy to get FOMO when we see what other people are doing, because we're all digital, it's really easy to see what other people are doing, but you do not need to be doing what everyone else is doing or seems to be doing to get results.
I promise for all of like the, you know, internet famous people that we know, like the Amy Porterfield's and the Marie Forleo's and all of that. For all of those people, there are like a hundred people you've never heard of that make great money from their business. And they're just a lot more low key in, um, in their like visibility and how they get clients and all of that.
So, uh, don't, don't worry, you know, when you see people like. Clubhouse is the main thing right now where people feel like, Oh my God, like I'm already drowning in all of these marketing tasks and to do's and now I have to be on clubhouse. Like what the hell? No, you, you do not. As long as you have again, a plan in place that gets results and allows you to be, uh, consistent and it's simple and it's doable.
You can add in clubhouse if you want. And it feels fun and it feels exciting, but you also don't have to, um, also stick with something for a bit and track the results you're getting from it. This, the data does not have to be massively complicated either. But, you know, it's, this is something I've really had to learn myself because intrinsically I am not drawn to data.
In fact, only like, Hmm. I would say in the last year I've gotten a lot more comfortable with it. Especially like things like spreadsheets and stuff. I literally used to like sweat when I would see a spreadsheet, I would be so anxious. Um, But now I actually look at data like a really awesome tool that actually will enable me to keep getting better results, uh, without doing more.
And so I really appreciate data, but I, that did not, I will say that did not come naturally. And a lot of times it felt really scary and really hard. Um, but keep it simple and just like give yourself some time and really monitor like. What is working, what is not working, et cetera, to see where like you can actually then know, Oh, when I, you know, a lot of my clients are coming from Instagram and not from LinkedIn.
So. I actually don't need to spend time on LinkedIn anymore. I can just like double down and spend my time on, on Instagram. I get better results there. Um, and also trusting your gut and listening to your body and adjusting as needed. So I know for myself that in winter, my capacity drops, I know it. So I plan ahead for it.
So instead of being mad about my energy levels, I mean, I won't lie sometimes. It's very frustrating, but I no longer try to be mad at my body about it. I just use this time as a quieter, more foundational. Time to like work on projects and things that set me up for success the rest of the year. Um, and I also tend to start my days a little bit later because I tend to need more sleep and it's harder for me to get up in the morning when it's dark.
And so for me, like part of this actually came to be from working in the world of farming for so long. And like, I'm not going to get into all the Lake, you know, esoteric, whatever. But really when you look at like most crops and plants and things that grow. They are seasonal. Right? So when you're in the Northern hemisphere and you live far North, like I do, and I have for many years, uh, the winter is really when you.
Rest like you rest, you reflect on the previous year, like, what were your wins? What were your losses? What are you going to try to do differently? Like, what's the plan for the new year? And then you start to like, actually plan, what are we going to grow? What else do we like need to have in place? Like you, you know, what do I need to learn to be better?
That is really when you spend that time, because then in spring you start to like, Grow your little seedlings. And then in late spring, like early summer, you plant them out and then summer, you know, the days are long and you're outside and you're working in the fields, you're doing all that. And then the fall, you harvest your crop and you like put up what you can put up for winter and then you rest.
Right. It's very, it's very cyclical and. I feel like in our modern world, it's really easy to assume that at every point during the year we should. But I'm putting that in air quotes. We should be exactly the same as we were. Like, we should just be like robotic, like machines that we should always be at top capacity.
And that just is not, it's not true. It's not true for humans. It's especially not true for, you know, people who like, if you're pregnant, if you're postpartum, if you're somebody who menstruates, like things like that are. We have natural energy cycles. And so it's okay to listen to our bodies and be like, I am, I am choosing not to push through right now.
I am choosing to honor what my body is telling me and to not beat myself up over it and just get really curious and figure it out. Like what w what could I do I do? And sometimes what could I do is take a freaking nap, right? And then also setting up, um, systems and routines instead of a rigid schedule.
So for instance, that's why I have my money Monday practice. I also sometimes like to do like a follow-up Friday, uh, which is just like, I just make sure I check in with anyone who maybe I want it to follow up with. Like, do we need to schedule a coffee chat? Do I need to, you know, Uh, what, you know, whatever it is, like somebody maybe had a, had a previous coffee chat with, and I, I haven't talked to them in a while and I just want to check back in, or if I want to like, send out any extra happy mail to people, like it's just that way instead, it doesn't matter when I do it on those days and it's not, you know, it's not like from.
Eight 15 to eight 30 on Monday at that's. When I do my finances, I just know that at some point on Monday, I want to do any money Monday and you know what, sometimes I've done it Sunday night on the couch. Cause I wanted to, like, I didn't have to. I just, I felt like I wanted to. And so. I did. Um, and that is what really works for me is having systems and routines that support me rather than like a super, super, super to the minute schedule.
Because again, like what if I want in my day to just like, take a walk or watch a TV show, or, you know, like listen to a podcast and eat snacks and not be working if I have a system and routine and overall sales and marketing plan that. Supports me and I can be consistent with, then I can have more flexibility in the actual, like minutia of my day to day, which feels really good.
And again, the better I feel the less like constrained. I feel the less boxed in. I feel the more actually want to show up for the work that I know will need to, like, you know, that that will move the needle forward in my business. Um, because I don't feel. Stifled. I don't feel suffocated by it. So for me, just, you know, to wrap this all up is that consistency is more about gaining traction around who you are, who you serve and how you help them.
It allows people to know what you're about and to be able to think of you when they need the kind of help you provide or when someone else needs that help. So they can suggest you because. You know, there are also a lot of people out there who start their business and they're in it for a bit. And then they stopped, they stopped doing it.
And so, you know, you want to like somebody out there might think like, I don't know where they still doing it. I'm not sure. And if, if they don't know if there's nothing like current or kind of current that they can reflect to, to see, they might just assume like, Oh, I guess they, I don't know. Maybe they don't have their business anymore.
Forget it. I'm not going to tell my friend to go check them out. There are a lot of, um, really cool, free or low cost ways that we'll put you in front of your ideal clients on a consistent basis without having you having to have you show up the same way every day. And one example of that, just like a nifty little hack that my friend Lanie Lamarre, um, has done is sometimes on her more high energy days, she will record a bunch of Instagram stories and save them to her phone.
Cause she knows that like, Every day, she's not going to have the same bandwidth to show up and like be talking in stories. So like once a week she will record a bunch of story panels and then save them to her phone. And then periodically through the week, she will drip those panels out. And I know it's still not the same, like week after week.
Like, I don't know. I haven't checked in a little bit, but like, So, I don't know if she still does it the exact same way, but I remember sometime last year, her talking about how, how should we do that? I thought that was so cool. Uh, and the alternative to all of this is that often when people don't have that strategic plan in place or they don't, um, they're not sticking with it long enough to see.
What is working and what isn't, and that is what leads people to chasing their tail. And it leads to overwhelm and burnout. And I absolutely do not want that for you. It's better to like solve one type of client with one type of offer and sell it in one type of way and get really freaking good at that before you branch out and be really consistent with it and really see like, what is working and what isn't before you try to add in something new, like.
A clubhouse, right? Like, like getting onto clubhouse and becoming like somebody who is doing, you know, clubhouse rooms, uh, on a weekly basis and stuff like that. So, um, just to recap, the three, the three things it's, um, the flexible plan, the leveraging, um, technology to give the appearance of consistence and, um, tracking what's working, listening to your body.
And saying no. So that, that is how I view consistency. I do not think it should be leveraged as a way to punish people or keep them super busy and overwhelmed all the time. In fact, I view it as a way to liberate myself from that level of busy-ness because it allows me, it allows people to. Get value from me and like learn from me and trust me and all of that.
It allows all of that to take place without me having to be physically present for more than an average of 25 hours a week. And it serves me just fine. So I know this was a little bit longer than usual, but I feel like this was something that was very deserving of a deeper conversation because I just really cannot emphasize.
How beneficial this. Like low level of consistency has been for me over the years. So if you loved it, I would love it, shared it with somebody else because you know, if you got value from it, I'm sure they will too. And if you're an Instagram, be sure to stop by say hi, I'm at Eric turbines consulting. Give me a follow, uh, share out.
The this episode, art in your stories and tag me, I love to see it. It makes my heart so happy and as always happy selling.
