15# Stop Learning - Just Move
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[00:00:00] Hey, welcome to today's episode of the Retail Initiative Podcast. Today's an important one. Have you ever been at a point where like, you know, the things that you want to do, you know the act, you know the end results that you want, but taking the first steps to get there is paralyzing. Like you know that you want to, but you just can't do it.
[00:00:22] A few years ago, I discovered this book called Expert Secrets by Russell Brunson, and at that time, I really hated my [00:00:30] business. I hated what we were doing. I wanted something to shift, and this book was all about creating a movement and teaching and the impact that I could make in people's lives. And I was all about it.
[00:00:41] And, and it, he taught a lot of really cool tactical things about how to grow, like via webinars and sales funnels and all this stuff. Now I'm sharing this because about nine months later, I went to his in-person event and then I started listening to his podcast and then I started figuring out [00:01:00] what podcast he listened to and I started listening to those and then reading this book and that book and all the things, and I was in research mode.
[00:01:08] I was, I felt like if I didn't go in like with an expert plan, and not only that, but like I couldn't just do a webinar and send an email after that was like, Hey, thanks. I had to have this super robust automation set up and I wouldn't touch it until I could do that. Have you ever felt like that? Like maybe you want to [00:01:30] grow your online sales, but you're, we're, you know, why even update the hero image if we're not going to add in this, this, this, this, and this, all these bells and whistles or, okay, I know that there's that simple thing that I can do, but it's much more than that, that's needed.
[00:01:44] And so I'm gonna go attend yet another webinar. I'm gonna read yet another book or re-listen to yet another podcast episode before I take any steps to get there. I've been there a thousand times, and I'd be willing to bet that some of you have too, where [00:02:00] you've wanted to take action, but finding those first steps is, is difficult.
[00:02:05] And so I want to give some practical ways to get past this and how, like how could you actually, you know, move towards your goals and remove that, that paralysis that happens? Uh, and so thing number one, Is set a clear goal and a clear vision. And the fir first thing with that is [00:02:30] sometimes when I'm paralyzed it's because I don't actually want the goal half the time it's because I don't actually know the goal.
[00:02:40] Have you ever been in that spot? Um, but if I don't want the goal. Why, like ask, start, question your goals. Question your vision and ask really, is that what I really want? Is that if that happens, is that going to be helpful? I mean, 'cause sometimes we just don't actually want the things that we think we do, and so [00:03:00] think that through.
[00:03:00] But let's just assume that we do. We do actually want it. A lot of times it's just not clear enough. We have not set a clear goal. We are saying things like more. I want more online sales. I want more in-store sales. I want more time at home, but we're not putting a clear definition to it. I want my online sales to be equal to my storefront sales.
[00:03:25] Now then we can start to say, okay, why do I want that? Why is that important? What [00:03:30] impact is that going to make? And we can start to measure the cost. A lot of times we look at people in the industry, in in our world, and we want their end result, but we don't want the work to get there. We don't want to have to put in the things that they did to get where they are.
[00:03:49] So we have to start to measure the cost. Okay, if I know where I want to be, what's the cost to get there? Alright? So if we're setting that goal, then we can start to [00:04:00] say, okay, how do I want it to feel? Once that happens, what is my hope? Like, what does my life actually look like at that point? Do you still feel like you're reacting to things all the time, even when that happens?
[00:04:13] And the reason we want to do that, we wanna define the feeling that we want, is have you ever set a clear goal and accomplished it? And when you accomplished it, it kind of felt underwhelming. It wasn't what we hoped it could be. I've talked to a [00:04:30] lot of retailers that, that tell me that the day they hit a million dollars for the first time, they didn't even notice it.
[00:04:37] They, it, it, it was brushed off. It was just another day. And that I think is what a lot of us do, is we set these goals and when we hit it, the joy that we thought would happen doesn't happen. And, and the reason this is, That if we are not enjoying the process, if we are not enjoying who we're becoming [00:05:00] as we're chasing that goal, the goal itself will never be fulfilling.
[00:05:05] If we are not becoming who we want to be and making progress towards it, then the when, when we eventually get there, it's just not fulfilling because ultimately the journey is the fun part. The journey is the fun part. And so we have to learn to have fun with it. And I think that happens when we set a vision we can get excited about.
[00:05:27] If I'm honest, about a year ago, I, [00:05:30] I was having like this identity crisis and I was like, do I want to do what I'm doing? Is this, is this like what I own right now? Is this the life that I want? And I, so what I did was I wrote out a forward thinking vision. I wrote it like it was present day. So like if I wrote it today, I may be like, Hey, it is August 15th, 2033 and capital commerce is blank.
[00:05:59] [00:06:00] And I started to write out these visions and I wrote out two scenarios and I really had to put some thought in, like, can I be excited about that? And once I got excited about the vision, action became easier. Now that's not the only thing though. We, yes, the clear, distinct vision that we actually want that is defined is step number one.
[00:06:20] But then let's start to ask ourselves this question. If I had to do this in a quarter of the time, let's say this is a five-year goal, and I said, if you had to accomplish this in [00:06:30] one year, what would you focus on? What would be the things that you would go all in on in order to make that happen quickly?
[00:06:39] It's likely that when we ask ourselves these kind of questions, we're able to really get down to the root thing that's going to bring us results. That's the 80 20 rule. That is the 20% that is going to have an outsized impact on getting where you want to be. So if I had to get there [00:07:00] faster, what would I focus on?
[00:07:01] Well spend your time there. I'm not saying actually change the timeline of the goal. Keep it five years. I think that's healthy. I think it's healthy to set those kind of, uh, parameters, but focus on the things that actually are going to move the needle. There's this story where Warren Buffett was, you know, huge investor billionaire was meeting with someone, I believe it was the story.
[00:07:23] It's like his pilot and his pilot. I. Had never, he's like, if you're still my pilot 20 years [00:07:30] later, like, I, I have not equipped you. Like I, I should have, like, you should be chasing these other dreams. And he was like, well, I, I don't know how to get there. And so Warren Buffett was like, all right, here's what I want you to do.
[00:07:41] Write out 25 things that you want in your life. Write out 25 goals that you have that you wanna accomplish over the next five years. All right, so you got your 25 now let's circle the top five. Alright, so we have this as a list. This is our top five. Now that is your focus list. [00:08:00] You are going to focus all of your energy on making those top five.
[00:08:05] Five things happen. Let's make them clear. Let's set first steps. Let's do all of those things. Now here's my next question. This is Warren Buffet. Still, what are you gonna do about the other 20? What are you gonna do about the other 20 things on the list? And the guy's like, well, I think, you know, in my spare time I wanna work on making those things happen.
[00:08:24] And he was like, no. Those things are your avoid at all costs. [00:08:30] List your five goals, your top five things that are gonna make the biggest impact in your life. The 20 other things are a distraction. And that is what ne needs to make its way onto an avoid at all cost list. Nothing in that list gets worked on until the five that you listed as the most important in your life.
[00:08:51] When those happen, then you move on. I. I thought that was profound, and I think sometimes in business we have to do that. [00:09:00] A lot of entrepreneurship and the things that make us successful is not in needing new ideas. In fact, it is in saying no to a lot of good ideas to chase and pursue the good and the great ideas.
[00:09:15] The great ideas that are gonna move the needle that are in that top 20%. It's not this new other thing. It is no, like I already know, these things can make an outsized impact to my business. I'm gonna spend my time and my [00:09:30] energy there. So number one, set a clear vision and a clear goal. Make sure that it's in line with what you actually want and that you're okay with the cost of it and what it takes to get there.
[00:09:43] 'cause if you're not, it's not gonna happen. We can say we wanna lose weight, but if we're not okay with the cost of losing weight, the goal will not occur. Number two, ask ourselves, if we had to do this in a quarter of the time, what would I focus on first? And [00:10:00] focus there. Spend your energy on those things.
[00:10:04] Then we can start to ask ourself the question, what do I do first? What is step number one? Sometimes this is, it's registering for that business. It's buying that domain name, it's signing up for that Shopify account. What is step number one? And here we can, if you've been in research mode, we can start to adopt a, a research philosophy, you could call it called just [00:10:30] in time learning.
[00:10:31] We don't go learn all the things and then do we say, what do I need to know now? What do I need to know right now in order to move to the next step? Especially if you've been in research mode, you probably know enough to get the big picture. So if, if that's the case, then what do I need to know for that next step?
[00:10:53] And so, you know, within that, there's a few easy things you can start to ask. Number one, what is step [00:11:00] number one? That's, that's easy. What is step number one, not 2, 3, 4, 5, and six? A lot of times we want to know the full journey. We wanna know what every turn is gonna look like, but that's not possible. If we see the top of a mountain, all we can know is I need to move in that direction.
[00:11:18] I need to move up. We're not going to know every turn, and I get on calls all the time with people. I just wanna know what every step's going to be. It's like you can't, you can know what step one is. You can probably [00:11:30] predict two and three, but someday there's situations going to occur that, that you're not gonna know.
[00:11:36] And that's where just in time learning comes in. Number two, who should be doing it? Who is it you or is it a team member, or is it a contractor, an agency? Or whatever. A lot of times, one of the things that I see is brick and mortar retailers have mastered delegation in store. They can hire like the best of them, they can lead a team like the best of them, and then we'll [00:12:00] have an owner of a $5 million retail business entering products into Shopify.
[00:12:06] We, we take a step down in the level, the way that we approach our business when it comes to this new sales channel. So asking who is the best person to be doing this? Sometimes it may be you. But sometimes it might not be. And then when, when am I going to do this? If it's not on the schedule, it's not going to happen.
[00:12:26] If we aren't making the time for it, it will not move forward [00:12:30] like we want. So I hope that this episode is encouraging, in fact. I know that it is because these are lessons that have had to learn the hard way, and hopefully some of you might leave this avoiding some of the mistakes that I've made. And so thanks for listening.
[00:12:46] I cannot wait to see you next week. If you enjoy today's episode, do me a huge favor, subscribe and leave a review. Let let us know what you think. It's one of the best ways, one to give us feedback, and two, to help us connect with more retailers and continue [00:13:00] to make the impact that we wanna make. So thanks for tuning in.
[00:13:02] I'll see you next week.
