Episode 11# The 5 things holding you back AUDIO
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[00:00:00] I've been thinking a lot about what is it that holds us back? What is it that keeps us from. Reaching our goals. Is that really the thing? Like if that one thing was solved, is that what's going to have us reach our goals and we're all of a sudden gonna be crushing it? Or is there more to it than that?
[00:00:17] The rules of retail are changing one by one. Corporate retailers are closing their doors, and some call it the death of retail, but those rules never apply to independent retailers like us. We're writing our own rules. We're here to answer the questions about how to grow your business, stay competitive, and still have a life.
[00:00:35] I'm Josh Hor and this is the Retail Initiative Podcast.
[00:00:42] Hey, welcome to today's episode of Retail Initiative. I'm excited for this one. So I'm actually coming back from vacation. A little more tanned than normal and I was thinking through so much. So I actually didn't even let myself read business books or any of that. Like I truly work to check out cause I do believe that.
[00:00:59] When we [00:01:00] rest, like there's this interesting thing that happens where our brain just like processes stuff behind the scenes, and so weirdly, sometimes pulling away from the problem, pulling away from whatever's going on actually helps you solve it and you can come back to it and you start thinking about it, but your brain's going to have created new ideas.
[00:01:19] It's a fascinating thing, but that's not what this episode's about. This episode really was a little bit of an aha moment, and I've had a lot of conversations with people recently, and even in evaluating my own business of people that have these goals and want to grow, they, they know they, their business is capable of more, but they're not there yet.
[00:01:38] Like what? What is standing in the way? Like what am I doing wrong? What is there, why is it that some people are just crushing it and I just can't figure it out? I can't reach my goals and that, that's a very subjective thing. I've had this conversation with someone doing 6 million a year, wondering why they can't get to that next stage.
[00:01:58] And I've had this conversation with someone that just [00:02:00] literally wanted money in their bank account, and it was a very similar conversation. And so I've been thinking a lot about what is it that holds us back? What is it that keeps us from reaching our goals? And uh, you know, it's easy to wanna run to, like it's figuring out algorithms or it's.
[00:02:19] Which look, I just did an episode about that. It's not that it's not important, but is that really the thing? Like if that one thing was solved, is that what's going to have us reach our goals and we're all of a sudden gonna be crushing it? Or is there more to it than that? So I came up with five things that I see across the board, and if anything, I'm preaching a lot of this to myself.
[00:02:40] But I see this in other retailers and business and entrepreneurs, even in other industries. So let's look at what holds you back from growth. Number one is beliefs. And yes, I'm going to get tactical, but I have to start here cuz the, the deal is, is we can only ever grow [00:03:00] as much as our beliefs will allow us to.
[00:03:02] I had a conversation with my coach, his name's Taylor. And I was like, man, I just like, things are good, but I, I just can't figure out like what's next and what, you know, what's gonna happen. And he was like, man, you just sounds like you just don't believe that success is for you. You don't really believe it.
[00:03:20] And so, because you think that it's like every time success comes your way, you didn't really earn it. And it hit and I was like, man, you're right. Like I'm not believing. That what I, what I do, that I'm really good at it and, and then the success can follow. My beliefs have to change as my goals change, belief around a few things.
[00:03:41] And, and so there's one belief. It's a belief around what is possible. A lot of us take on this identity that we are this small business owner and I'm a one man show and we that's, which is fine for a bit, but if we take that on as an identity, They were never able to grow. I, I remember looking at a retailer [00:04:00] site and they had it on there, there about us, like we're a one-man show.
[00:04:04] And I'm like, okay, but what if someday you need to not be a one-man show, but you've taken this on as an identity and it limits your growth. So we have to believe in what is possible. If you can figure some things out, if you can develop a strategy that will work, is it possible for you to reach your goals?
[00:04:24] I believe the answer is yes. I believe that if you can build the right strategy and, and focus on the right things, that you can get to anything you want. Those boutiques that are doing 20, 30, $40 million a year don't have something that you don't. You have everything to be able to do it. It's just a matter of believing that it's possible, and if you believe that it's possible, everything else can start to fall in line.
[00:04:53] And this is one of the most important areas. And if you don't address your beliefs, whatever is next, you're going [00:05:00] to end up holding yourself back far more than you'll ever realize. So that's number one, is changing your beliefs and elevating your identity. And I was talking with my friend Crystal Rose, and you know what I love about her is there's this idea of like, you fake it till you make it.
[00:05:19] I'm gonna pretend to be something, but the way that she talks about it, and I think it's so smart, I'm gonna have her on a podcast soon, is you embody it. You, you think about the future. Who am I 10 years from now? What business do I own? What does it look like? What does it feel like? And you embody that, the characteristics of that c e o, and you act out of that today.
[00:05:41] That's a side tangent. I, I'll interview her and we'll, we'll dig into that. Um, but then number two, so we're changing our beliefs, uh, around what is possible. The, the next thing that holds us back is we work on the wrong skillsets. We obsess over tactics. And [00:06:00] look, I am guilty to the about, I am guilty of this, this week I had a conversation with my team where I was like, we've gotta do this and this and this.
[00:06:06] And I didn't even address the strategy behind it. And ultimately the things, if we just operated out of that, it wouldn't work. And I'm not saying that tactics aren't important or even that there's not time to, you know, run a flash shale, do a tactic just to get some money in the bank. There's nothing wrong with that.
[00:06:26] But if we operate out of tactics all the time, it's going to hold us back. And so what does it look like to not obsess over the wrong skillsets? A lot of us. Ron and we, you know, are like, I have to figure out Facebook ads. I have to figure out design, I have to figure out Google Analytics for, and we spend hours and hours and hours working on these things, but we're not developing a strategy behind it.
[00:06:52] So I, I've talked about this a lot. Like there's a, there's strategy and then there's tactics, a strategy, which is really your [00:07:00] role as the ceo. It's developing the strategy, and it's three questions. It's why, why are we doing this? What is the why behind our brand, the impact that we're wanting to make? Who, who are we doing it for?
[00:07:13] Defining that one perfect customer. And then what, what are we doing for them? Why are we doing it? Who are we doing it for, and what are we doing for them? And then you get to the tactical pieces and these are the things to delegate. And ultimately these are the things to not start with. Most importantly, and this is a, this is asking where and how.
[00:07:36] The problem is we get, a lot of times we see a thing or we get this idea and we immediately jump to how, what app, what program do they do? Should I start live sales? And it's like, no. Why, who and what. Then once we've figured those out, then we can start to, to answer where and how, but don't start there. So number [00:08:00] one, ident.
[00:08:01] Like changing our beliefs and elevating the way that we think around what's possible. Two, starting to focus on the right skill sets. You know, if it's, for a lot of us, it's not ads, it's leadership. We don't need to focus on how to design the perfect site. We need to focus on how can we be a better leader to our team?
[00:08:21] How can we set a better vision? These are the areas to focus. Number three, and this is a little bit of a shift from the first two, thinking that others care about our brand. When we obsess and we think that others really care about our brand, what that leads to is a site where the logo is massive. Our copy is like, welcome to my store.
[00:08:42] And then un right underneath that, we have this about us, where we talk about our dream of opening a store. And those things are cool, and I love that you have a brand that you're proud of and that you have a story that led to your business and your story is special, and it's unique and it is worthy of being told.[00:09:00]
[00:09:00] People care about themselves. People ultimately care about, about what you can do for them and how you make them feel. People care about what you can do for them and how you can make them feel. And so when we shift our strategy away from being about us and more to being about our customer, that is the pathway to growth.
[00:09:25] That makes a site that doesn't obsess over our logo, welcoming them to our store, it obsesses over how do they feel when they land there? And we can know how to make them feel something. When we understand who they are and what they're thinking about. If they're thinking about their vacation, then our site needs to be talking about their vacation.
[00:09:46] If they're thinking about summer, we need to talk about summer. Because that's what's on their mind. So in your social media, in your site, in all these places, focus on what your customer is thinking about more than you're focusing on what you are thinking [00:10:00] about. So we don't want to think that people are obsessed with our brand.
[00:10:04] They're not. They're obsessed with themselves. And when they build a relationship with your brand, it's because you make them feel something. It's kind of like. When you meet someone, you know, at first you really don't care about them. Like we all sure we care about people and humanity of people and you know, someone's intrinsic value, but we really don't care about them until they make us feel a certain way.
[00:10:28] And when they make us feel a certain way, then we're like, oh, I like that person. And that's what starts to build that relationship. And so as the brand, like we're kind of the person that goes and makes the the first pickup line, and we're gonna do that to make them feel something. So, Then the next thing that holds us back is we don't stay curious.
[00:10:48] We, we start to just do the things and maybe we attend a webinar, we go and implement what we learned in that webinar, and then we just say the words it [00:11:00] worked or it didn't. And if it didn't, we say that doesn't work. So I attended a Facebook ads workshop. I ran ads. I did not get sales. Therefore, Facebook ads don't work.
[00:11:10] Instead, the curious way to go about that is to say, okay, so I learned this stuff about ads and I went and I ran a few, and I know that ads can work because people are spending a ton of money on ads, and they would not be doing that if they weren't effective. Why did these not work? What was it? Was it the image?
[00:11:29] It didn't stop people from scrolling. Did the copy not resonate? Did what I link to in that ad? Not really connect with the things that we talk about. In the ad, we we're talking about a dresses collection in the ad, and we were linking to our new arrivals. And our new arrivals was filled with a bunch of tops.
[00:11:47] Well, of course your ad didn't work. We want to be curious and then if it does work, be curious about why. Why did it work? Was it the image? Was it the copy? Was it the site? What are the things [00:12:00] that we can look at and say, okay, why did it work? And this applies to everything. What we never wanna do is. Learn from experts in the industry, learn from friends in the industry, try their thing, and it's like it worked or it didn't, because if we do that, we're losing out on a massive opportunity.
[00:12:17] And then the last one here, and this is really high level, is we don't focus on the 80 20 rule. And, and so the 80 20 rule, you've probably heard about it, it's that 80% of your results come from 20% of your work. It also applies to like for a lot of businesses, like for example, a church, typically 80% of its revenue comes from 20% of people.
[00:12:41] 80% of revenue comes from 20% of people. And so, but for us as entrepreneurs, it's likely that the impact that you make in your business, 80% of it comes from only 20% of your work. So here we can start to ask ourselves. Okay, what's the 20% and how can I [00:13:00] fill my day with more of that? For me, it's content.
[00:13:03] If I can be writing and recording videos and doing those things, that, those are things that make a massive impact in our results. When I'm, when I'm focus, when I'm stuck in the weeds and I, you know, I'm sorry, I'm like just doing all the other things that doesn't move the needle in the business. So what I'm trying to do is free up my schedule to where I can focus on the 20%.
[00:13:28] So for you right now, what is your 20%? What is the things that if you could, you know, when you do those for the few hours a week, you get to do it, the results follow. Then we can say, okay, what things do I take up my time that don't produce results? And how can we start to get those things off your plate?
[00:13:46] Maybe that's hiring an assistant, getting someone to fulfill orders, getting a creative to help you manage social media and keep your site merchandised, those kind of pieces. So my hope for you is that we can get these things that are [00:14:00] holding us back out of the way. Because I believe like if you're the kind of person that's listening, listening to this, you care about growing and you care about getting that to that next level.
[00:14:09] So my hope is that you can get there and to get there, we have to get these things out of our way. So thanks for tuning in. Glad that you're here. Big request, leave a review if you enjoyed the episode. Uh, subscribe to the podcast and I can't wait to see you next time.
