Episode Transcript
[00:00:00] Quick question.
[00:00:02] Have you ever used an actual old fashioned water pump? I mean the ones that stick out of the ground and have like a huge lever on them and you have to pump them from scratch. I went camping one time and I was with my kiddos and we were in a somewhat rustic campground. And you know, when you're camping with your kids, kids, you're always out there for the experience. And I happen to be walking along the campground and I saw like one of these old fashioned pumps like in the middle of nowhere.
[00:00:44] And so I grabbed my kids and I'm like, in my head I had this little fantasy of what priming that pump and using that pump would look like. And my fantasy look, look like I'm gonna pump this thing once and like tons of cool, refreshing water is going to come out of this pump.
[00:01:08] So I gather the kids around, I'm like, come on you guys, this will be really fun. And we go over to, to have our pumping experience.
[00:01:18] Well, I am here to tell you an old fashioned pump is no, no joke.
[00:01:25] So here we are in the middle of nowhere, you got a little dirt all over yourself, you, your little water containers ready to get water, and you start pumping this thing and you pretty much within inside of 30 seconds realize, oh, this is a little harder than I thought.
[00:01:44] But that's okay because my kids are watching.
[00:01:48] So we're going to teach them a little lesson here about some work. Now some work, by the way, meant we're going to pump this maybe one or two times.
[00:01:59] Now if you've ever done it before, and if you have, you already know where this story is going.
[00:02:04] So we all grab ahold of this pump and we are pushing this thing down. Now first of all, there is no just mild pushing it out. You actually have to like kind of force the thing down and kind of force the thing back up and force the thing down and force it back up. And as you're sitting there in the middle of this campground, it's hot.
[00:02:26] You're. Now I'm getting sweaty because I pumped it like four times and there's no water coming out. As a matter of fact, at one point I stopped pumping because I'm like, this thing is broken. And so I go and look into the pump to see that it's all clear.
[00:02:45] And I'm like, it doesn't look broken. And I'm like, I'm going to try it again.
[00:02:50] And so as we're pumping, as I'm getting sweaty now, my kids, you know how little kids are, they're like they're done. They're bored. But now I'm, like, super intrigued and interested. And as I'm pumping and as I'm pumping and as I'm pumping and sweating, it occurs to me, like, how this thing actually works. Like.
[00:03:14] Like, my vision was that when I pushed this level lever down, I was literally just opening the floodgates, and water was just gonna flow out.
[00:03:25] But then it occurred to me, like, oh, no, this all hinges on me and my effort and the amount of willingness I have to keep pumping this thing until I build up enough pressure that the water comes out.
[00:03:45] Now, I am determined at this point, so I'm pushing this thing. I'm pushing this thing. I'm pushing this thing. And lo and behold, after what felt like a year, after what felt like a very long time, a little water trickles out, and I'm like, all that work for that little bit of water.
[00:04:05] And then I just kept at it, and then a little more water came out.
[00:04:09] And then the next time I did it, I hardly pumped at all, and the water just started flowing.
[00:04:17] And then I realized, oh, my gosh, I've actually gained enough traction here with this pump that if I literally stopped pumping, the water would stop coming out. But what I need to do is just apply now a minimal amount of pressure in order to continue to get a steady flow of water.
[00:04:43] And at that point, it was a beautiful thing. At that point, I was like, look at all this water.
[00:04:49] Oh, my gosh, this is amazing. Bring all your buckets. This is great.
[00:04:55] And it was really funny to me that this happened so long ago, but yet it sticks with me. It sticks with me to this day as a metaphor for business and sales.
[00:05:10] Now, if you're new to the podcast, welcome. My name is Genevieve Scory. I'm your podcast host. I'm a former C suite executive of a major $350 million brand. I was in charge of the strategy for sales and selling and training. And I now spend my time helping people figure out how to make their businesses grow. In particular, how to sell with confidence and how to sell without being sleazy.
[00:05:38] And I. I love this whole conversation because so many people start businesses and they get to a point where they actually are, like, one or two pumps away from a really steady flow of income, but they quit way too early.
[00:06:03] It reminds me, honestly and truly, of a time when I started business, and I. I'm a little bit of a serial entrepreneur. I. I know that I. I spent the last decade or so working for corporate America, but prior to That I actually had two of my own businesses. And I, if I'm being honest with you, I didn't fully prime the pump at first.
[00:06:27] If I'm being honest with you, I didn't really even understand the mechanism of how it worked.
[00:06:34] And it wasn't until something happened in each of those businesses that I realized I wasn't actually running a business.
[00:06:45] I just had a really fun and somewhat expensive hobby.
[00:06:54] I think there comes a time in every entrepreneur's life where they have to ask themselves the question, am I, like, participating in a hobby or am I actually running a business?
[00:07:07] So I want to talk through that today, and I'll tell you why. Because I feel like here we are in October.
[00:07:14] We are coming into the last few months of the year. So many of us have set goals that we're not even really close to achieving.
[00:07:24] And this last part of the year sets up your next part of next year. And if something doesn't fundamentally change, you will indeed be back here at the same spot with the same frustrations, asking yourself, how come I keep showing up?
[00:07:42] And yet I don't see results.
[00:07:45] So let's break down the difference between a hobby and a business.
[00:07:51] This is, by the way, one of my favorite conversations, because so many people are playing business, if you will, and they are actually not acting like a CEO.
[00:08:03] Now, hobbies, hobbies are a lot of fun.
[00:08:07] Hobbies are great, but hobbies cost money.
[00:08:12] Businesses, on the other hand, intentionally generate money.
[00:08:18] You work a bit of a plan, and you show up whether you feel like it or not.
[00:08:25] And the result of that showing up in a structured and aligned way creates income.
[00:08:34] You see, hobbies don't have any sort of commitment. You don't have to go to scrapbooking. You don't have to go to do your crochet. You don't have to go play pickleball. So you have the luxury of deciding to go or not to go.
[00:08:51] A business, however, is a lot like priming that pump. If you don't stay consistent with pushing that lever every single day, or at least with some measure of consistency, you're going to lose all of the traction that you created.
[00:09:11] So hobbies happen when you have time and businesses grow because you make time. Because you make time. I remember when I started in business, I was, quote, unquote, playing business. I had my little branded things and I had all my Pinterest quotes, and I was looking at all the things that I enjoyed doing, but I didn't actually have consistency in any part of my business. I didn't have consistency in my schedule, I didn't have consistency in my systems. I didn't honestly even have consistency in my mindset.
[00:09:52] So you're either dabbling or you're leading. And that's the part that I think for me, I had to wake up from. And the minute honestly and truly that I stopped dabbling, everything changed. Everything changed. If you want CEO results, y', all, you have to start being the CEO of your own business.
[00:10:21] It was really clear to me, honestly, when I first started a business and I went to a small local business conference, a small local business conference. And I will tell you, I had experienced some success like I had experienced success, probably more than most people.
[00:10:44] But although I had committed to working the business, I had fantasized about the outcome. So in other words, what I said yes to was the rewards of having the business. I said yes to I want the laptop lifestyle. Can anyone relate? I said yes to having a life on my own schedule. I said yes to right all of the fun parts of having a business. And I think honestly, social media right now makes it even worse where you're like, yes, yes, I want all of that. I said yes to all of that and I had a decent level of success.
[00:11:25] But because of my own self limiting beliefs, because of my own inability to really understand the work or even the downside of the business, I actually was playing small, which created a lot of frustration. You know, I, I often tell people the best business formula I can think think of is actually a, a measurement of the rewards and then saying to yourself, well, if this is the reward I want, what does the work look like to get that level of reward? So in other words, if you want like a, everybody likes to go, oh, you can have a six or seven income, sec. Six or seven figure income. And I'm like, you can.
[00:12:13] I know plenty of people who do, but I don't think any single one of them would tell you it was super easy. But yet if you're following people on social media, a lot of times you think like it's all upside and there's no downside.
[00:12:28] That is what creates frustration.
[00:12:30] Because what happens is you have your sites on rewards but you don't have the right amount of work or consistency to make that happen. So for example, in my first business, my husband had a full time job and while he had a full time job, it wasn't as critical for me to actually make the kind of income that I really wanted to make. So it created a lot of room for me to kind of Be super casual. To be super casual.
[00:13:05] And it wasn't until it solely depended on me that I had to figure it out.
[00:13:13] I remember going to this conference, and it was at a swanky country club, and it was a female conference mostly. And I went because one, I thought, ooh, lunch at a country club. This'll be really fun.
[00:13:29] And.
[00:13:30] And my expectations were actually pretty. Pretty low. They're pretty low because in my head, this was a business that women did on the side. It was a side gig. If people use those terms, side gigs, I have to tell you, I. I think we do oursel a disservice sometimes. And we're like, oh, it's just a side gig. And it's like, well, it's a business. Honestly and truly. You work it part time, but you work it consistently, consistently if you want to get consistent results.
[00:14:00] So I go to this event. It's at a country club, y'. All.
[00:14:04] I was. I was living in fantasy land. I literally didn't know what I thought I was going to expect. But in my head, I thought, well, I'm going to see a bunch of moms, which means there's going to be a bunch of kids, which means that, like, people are going to be there with strollers and babies and, like, kids clinging to their legs. And so I actually, I. I'm embarrassed to say.
[00:14:27] I dressed like I was going shopping. Like, I had my athletic clothes on, and I show up now. Imagine being invited to, like, a. Like a country club, and you're like, in, you know, athletic wear. And.
[00:14:43] And I showed up, and immediately I was like, ruh, ro. These.
[00:14:48] These women are not playing. I mean, they were dressed to the nines. They had their notebooks. They had their nice pens. They were there to learn. They were there to learn how to lead their business into the future.
[00:15:05] And they meant business.
[00:15:09] It was then.
[00:15:10] It was then that I really figured out, through a lot of contrast and comparing, that was like, oh, like, every time someone spoke, I was like, I don't do that. I don't. I don't. You do that.
[00:15:24] You. You do that. And it's like, yeah, you do that if you want those sorts of results.
[00:15:33] It was super, super interesting to me. And honestly, that was the thing that changed everything for me.
[00:15:44] And I made a couple of fundamental shifts that to this day, I watch people still need to make. And so I want to break those down for you, and I'd love to have conversations with you in the comments about, was it just me? Could you relate? What shifts did you have to make to go from hobbyist to CEO of your own business.
[00:16:07] So shift number one that I needed to make was I needed to actually stop doing and start deciding.
[00:16:15] In other words, I had to be honest with myself about what I was really committed to doing. I had to decide to make this a success no matter what. But I think when people hear that, they often think like, well, no matter what, that scares me. And I'm like, no matter what means I will figure out what I don't know.
[00:16:41] No matter what means I won't believe my own excuses or my own self limiting beliefs. No matter what means that I'm going to keep walking consistently toward my goals or like, I'm going to, like, I'm not going to quit. Like I'm either gonna run out of time, have to, you know, go do something different, but I'm gonna, I'm not quitting. I may fail, but I will not quit.
[00:17:17] When you make a decision that you're gonna be successful, when you make a decision to actually run and lead a business, things change because what happens is your brain starts to think differently.
[00:17:30] In other words, when you wake up every morning, instead of jumping to what do I need to do today?
[00:17:37] You start really with how do I need to show up?
[00:17:42] How do I need to show up? Am I showing up like a business owner? Am I showing up like the CEO of my own business? No matter the size, even if you're a consultant and you're all by yourself, you still have to put on like the CEO hat.
[00:18:01] Someone has to be there.
[00:18:04] That part of you has to show up, that future part of you that has a successful business. You gotta ask yourself, how is she showing up? Is she showing up with confidence or she's showing up scared? Is she showing up sure of herself? Or is she showing up in a place of desperation?
[00:18:28] Most people start their day without actually setting their mindset first.
[00:18:34] So three questions that I started to ask myself that I still ask myself that fundamentally will change your business is who do I need to be today?
[00:18:44] Who do I need to be today? I will even stop. And this is hard for an overachiever, y'. All. I will usually stop even before a meeting or a call and ask myself, who do I need to be in this moment? In other words, if I'm on a sales call, who do I need to be? Like, what do I have to show up as? I'm not an order taker. In that moment, I'm actually entering into my servant leadership self. I don't care. Like I'm not emotionally tied to your. Yes. I am simply tied to connecting with you and showing you how interacting and engaging with me in my business is going to fundamentally better your life. You see, that's a very different being, if you will, than someone who's just like, well, I'm gonna hit my next title, or I'm gonna hit my next rank, or I'm gonna make my next digit. And so you don't matter to me. What I really need is a closed sale. You see, those two things are fundamentally very, very different.
[00:19:51] When you know who you need to be, then what you need to do falls into place, and it's much more authentic and it's much more fun.
[00:20:00] And then the last thing I have to ask myself every day is, what's the very next most impactful thing I need to do? Because I have to tell you that being intentional trumps being busy.
[00:20:17] Y', all. I love. I'm a social girl. I am. And I can spend all day talking to my business bestie. You know who you are, Stephanie. And. And I literally, like, we can spend all day strategizing, talking. And we, by the way, never talk about business. I mean, like, the whole conversation isn't just business, if you will. And a lot of times that doesn't serve you. Like, that's not the thing I need to do that day in that moment. Now, a lot of great conversations come out between the two of us, but if I don't go into, like, we actually have a little bit of a code, like, I'm calling about business or I'm calling about this so that we don't start talking about our social lives.
[00:21:01] But there's lots of people that you can talk to that distract you. You could spend time creating things that don't create income. Maybe you're spending a lot of time perfecting your social media, but you're not actually selling anything. That's. These are the kinds of things that I'm talking about when I say who you're being and what you need to do. Those two things are absolutely connected because there's a difference between showing up and saying, let's see what happens when you really want something specific to happen versus claiming what you want, claiming where you want to go, and then asking yourself, like, how does. How do I create that person that makes that happen? And it's things like, I'm not going to wait and see what happens. I'm going to work with some intention and some consistency. Just small, small tweaks like that.
[00:21:59] The second shift, I had to make was I had to stop waiting to see what happened, and I had to start creating real targets.
[00:22:07] So for me, it was like, ah, hello. Dreams don't pay the bills, Math does.
[00:22:14] So I used to set really vague goals. It was kind of like, well, if this happens, that'll be great, or, I'm working for this next prize or thing instead of actually tying it to something specific.
[00:22:28] Can you imagine being an architect and having a dream of what a biz, what a building could look like, but never actually sharing the blueprints to making that building a reality?
[00:22:43] That's kind of what it's like to work without goals. Is like, okay, I think I know where I want to go. I've specified that, but I haven't, like, figured out what are the small, significant, smaller steps that need to happen for me to get there.
[00:22:59] So many people just like, work and work and work and work and like, sale, work and work and work and work, work sale, work and work and work and work sale. And it's like, okay, well, how many sales do you need to get to hit your goal? How many customers do you need? How many repeat customers do you need? There's not a lot of things that you need to measure in a business, but there are some core things that you need to be focused on every single day. Like, how many customers do I need to have? What's the average order of those customers? How do I keep more customers? And how do I get referrals from the customers that I have?
[00:23:40] Those are all very simple, fundamental things that we don't actually like to look at. You know, I've coached so many women who actually are afraid to even look at their numbers because they have judgment about it.
[00:23:55] The truth is, numbers are just simply a representation of whether you are headed in the right direction or not. It's kind of like your speedometer on your car. If you don't know how fast you're going, you can't adjust accordingly. You can't make it faster when it needs to be, or slower when you're going too fast.
[00:24:14] So we as CEOs emphasize realism and commitment, and then we pair that with our belief in our effort. We don't do vague when you're in hobby mode. When you're in settling mode, you do vague. As a matter of fact, my favorite saying is, the opposite of success isn't actually failure, it's successful settling. And when people settle, they get really vague about their goals and aspirations.
[00:24:54] Okay, last shift that you need to make is you need to protect your energy like a Crazy fool.
[00:25:02] One of the biggest reasons people experience burnout is because they don't prioritize the right things.
[00:25:12] You see, if I actually looked at your calendar, I could tell how serious you were about your business.
[00:25:19] If you don't actually prioritize the things that are important to you, like for me, I like to prioritize family time. For me, I like to prioritize my health and wellness time. And for me, I definitely always schedule my business time. There's not a day that I wake up and I'm like, maybe I'll work, maybe I won't, maybe I won't. But I also know to what degree I want to work, how many hours I want to work, and what I'm doing during that time.
[00:25:54] So your calendar tells the truth about your priorities. Take a look at your calendar, ask yourself, am I spending the the right amount of time on the right things? And I encourage you to stick to those priorities. Because you guys, a full calendar is not the flex you think it is.
[00:26:18] A full bank account and a peace of mind is the flex that's the flex. And it's not about doing more.
[00:26:27] It's about doing it with intention and doing it with consistency.
[00:26:34] So back to the pump. Back to the pump.
[00:26:38] Sustained effort and sustained pressure is going to equal sustained flow.
[00:26:46] And every align value packed action that you do over time consistently is the, the priming of that pump and your emotional payoff is going to be all of water flowing and you by the way, being able to back off a little bit and only doing the exact things that move your business ahead. You see, one of the reasons that people struggle so hard with figuring out how to have success is they're already so overwhelmed by the amount of time they're spending versus the results that they're getting that they think that they think I'm going to have to double my effort to double my check.
[00:27:34] When you have strategy, when you have systems, when you have intention in your business, that couldn't be further from the truth. It really couldn't be. What your goal is is exponential growth based on the very next high impact activity that is going to create that exponential growth.
[00:27:57] So to sum it up, you don't need more time, you don't even need permission, you don't even need perfect systems.
[00:28:06] Ask yourself, is it time to start dabbling and is it time to start deciding?
[00:28:13] You don't become a CEO because of your success.
[00:28:16] You actually think like a CEO and create that success.
[00:28:23] Listen, if this hit home for you and you're ready to take a next step. I want to introduce you to the Sales Confidence Lab, which we are starting in November. If you're looking to create scale, you're learning to sell without being pushy. You want to have a community of like minded people who will encourage you and you want to have help from yours truly. Go ahead, click the link below and and get the information sent to you because we are opening the wait list now and there will be better value for people that get in now opposed to when we start in November.
[00:29:04] Please make sure to pass this podcast along. This is how we create more free content for you. This is how we grow. This is how we help more people. Make sure you like, share and subscribe. Looking forward to talking to you soon. This is your moment. Y' all move from dabbling to deciding.
