This week we’re going to talk about being intentional.
Y’all, it’s easier said than done. So many people just go through life without doing things on purpose.
I need to tell you about a time that I was not so intentional. When I graduated from high school, I very excitedly got out of the state of Tennessee where I had grown up and attended the University of Central Florida. I went for the great business school and the beautiful campus, but I didn’t really participate with the school side of things. Let’s just say, I loved the beach more than I did class. And my grades showed it.
I wasn’t intentional with my time or my studying, and at the end of my first semester of my sophomore year, I had a 1.4 GPA.
YIKES!
Y’all, it wasn’t that I wasn’t smart and willing to work hard—I just didn’t focus.
But here comes the good news. When I decided to transfer to the University of Tennessee—to spare my mother the out of state tuition and because I realized I wanted to return to Tennessee after college—something amazing happened! They accepted my credits but didn’t carry my GPA over from UCF.
I got a clean slate. And I ran with it!
I got really serious. I stayed late, I did extra credit, and I went the extra mile. At the end of my sophomore year, my first semester at UT, I got a 4.0. All because I was intentional.
It’s so easy to just get by. It’s so easy to let life happen and just spend our time reacting instead of acting.
I want us to do something different.
I want us to be intentional and do things on purpose.
Things will not happen for you in life; you have to make things happen.
I read this a few weeks ago on Twitter: “If you want what you used to have, you have to do what you used to do.”
What did you used to do in your marriage?
It is so easy for our marriages to become businesses. You and your spouse did not fall in love over the cable bill, or kid’s schedules, or determining who was going to pick up the dry cleaning. Before the busyness of kids and errands and all the to-do lists, you and your spouse probably just had fun together.
In my life, there are things that Matt and I used to love to do. We still do those things, because we schedule time to do them. We put it on the calendar. If you wait for those things to happen, they will never happen, because life will get in the way.
What do you and your spouse love to do together?
Those things don’t have to slip away. Life gets busy, but don’t let your marriage become an afterthought. Be intentional with your marriage and see how it changes things for you, your spouse and even your kids!
Related: Ep. 49 — How to Get Your Husband on Board With Your Business
In any area of our lives, it’s easy to be reactive instead of proactive, but this seems particularly tempting with kids.
Admittedly, I have two kids and they are fairly young, and I’m learning with many of you. But I’ve noticed that we, as moms, spend a lot of time reacting. We react to school and sport schedules. We react to what other parents are doing. We react to handling their behavior. We react to dealing with tough situations.
Trust me, I know parenting is hard. But we’re going to spend the energy regardless, so we might as well spend it on the front end, shaping our kids proactively, rather than always reacting to whatever life throws at us.
Being intentional with what you want your kids to know, feel, do and experience doesn’t have to look like holding yourself to an impossible standard of perfection. Just do things on purpose; it’s amazing how our kids will get it.
Related: Ep. 8 — How to Deal with Mom Guilt
You can’t float by in your business and wonder why you didn’t reach your goals. Success won’t happen if you don’t do things on purpose.
If you don’t start with the end in mind, you’ll cross someone else’s finish line.
In business, like all areas of your life, being intentional means setting goals. It means putting things on paper on purpose.
Decide what you want and what you need to do to get there! Start with the end in mind and then start breaking it down into small, tangible actions to get there.
Be intentional in your business and you will build a business you love.
Related: Ep. 38 — Hitting Big Goals By Winning Small
You get one body. One. That’s it.
Take care of your body by working it out, drinking water, and eating things that are nutritious and give you energy. It’s about finding balance and seeking to be healthy.
Being intentional and doing things on purpose with your body also means loving it.
Not loving it because it’s perfect and you look like a supermodel. No, it’s loving and celebrating your body for the things it does for you. For the fact that it’s already beautiful, strong and amazing!
You get a choice. You can love your body or you can constantly think about what’s wrong with it. You can treat it well or you can neglect it.
You get one body. Love it on purpose.
Related: Ep. 47 — Mom Entrepreneurs: Finding Success in Business and Motherhood
The bad news is that being intentional in all of the above areas take time—which is something I’d be willing to bet you already don’t feel like you have a lot of. But the good news is that you have more time than you think.
You can’t do everything, but you can do the most important things.
Maybe you won’t get to be a part of every club and organization or take on every project that sounds fun. But for me, if I already have an amazing marriage, rock star kids, a thriving business, and a strong body, then I’m fine to say no to some other things.
I don’t want to do everything; I just want to be awesome at a few really important things.
Stephen Covey says, “The main thing is to keep the main thing the main thing.”
These are my main things. Yours might be different, and that’s okay. Figure out what’s most important to you and be intentional with those things.
Related: Ep. 34 — Excuses That Steal Your Time
Dave Ramsey is a New York Times best-selling author, the host of The Dave Ramsey Show, and the CEO of Ramsey Solutions.
Over the last few decades, Dave Ramsey has been incredibly generous in sharing his story to help millions of people find hope. He helps people take control of their personal finances, change their family tree, become better leaders, build their businesses and so much more.
And, as if all that wasn’t enough, Dave is also my leader and my friend. When I think of someone who is a master at how to be intentional, Dave Ramsey is one of the first people that comes to mind.
Dave truly uses his impressively growing platform of over 15 million daily listeners to serve people. He pays attention to where people are hurting and meets them where they are. Dave is present, intentional, and firm in his beliefs, and he never stops learning.
Dave has been one of the driving forces behind the Business Boutique brand from day one, and I am so excited to have him return to the Business Boutique 3-Day Event stage this November! He will be speaking about one of the biggest pain points that business owners have: money!
In this episode, Dave Ramsey shares his wisdom on how to be intentional in your life. You’ll learn:
Related: How to Have More Time
I want to take a quick second to talk about an area of your business that you might not be approaching with intentionality: finances.
It’s so tempting to build your business by taking out debt. Here is what many people don’t see: business debt is YOUR debt.
Someone has to pay the bills at the end of the day, and that person is you, not “the business.” (You ARE the business!)
Instead of trying to accelerate your business by using debt, I want to encourage you to grow slow. Start with what you have and take your time to use your profits from the business to reinvest in the business. I’ll bet you’ll find that you don’t need half of what you think you do.
Don’t handcuff yourself to those payments. Nothing will take the joy out of your business like debt. There are so many people who have been in your shoes and have built thriving business without taking out debt.
You’ve got this!
Don’t forget that I love hearing from you! Give me a call on my new toll-free line at 844.944.1074. You might hear your question on a future episode!
Related: Ep. 24 — Money Pitfalls to Avoid in Your Business
1:21 Five Areas of Your Life to Be Intentional
22:10 How to Be Intentional in Your Business with Dave Ramsey
59:50 #AskChristyWright
67:19 Encouragement: Build Your Business Debt-Free
Get Christy's Goal Setting Tool by filling out the form here!
Sign up for the Business Boutique Academy waitlist at BusinessBoutique.com/Academy.
To save $10 on any Business Boutique Nashville ticket, use the code BBWRIGHT.
If you have a success story you would like to share with the Business Boutique community, email me at podcast@businessboutique.com.
New podcast episodes are available every other week.
It’s time to talk about building a social media strategy that works.
No matter the type or size of your business, having a strong social media strategy is important. You don’t have to be an expert to find success on social media.
I want you to think of your social media profiles like a party! And people can’t come to your party and have a great time if they don’t know about it or show up.
I’m going to break this down into seven ways for you to step up your social media strategy to attract more followers.
If your social media page is a party, think about how you signify to real-life guests where to find your party. You put out balloons and maybe a sign. You want to make it really clear: THIS IS THE PLACE TO BE!
Do the same thing when you post content on your social media page: make it visual whenever possible. This will instantly set your content and posts apart. Can you add a photo or video? Is there a graphic you can create? There are tons of apps and tools to help you create visual content in less than a minute. I’ve got a list of a few of my favorites on my Social Media Cheat Sheet.
The human brain is designed to ignore anything that is familiar. It’s constantly scanning its environment and labeling, categorizing and discarding anything that isn’t necessary for survival. It’s crazy.
It’s the reason that I can say, “If at first you don’t succeed . . . “ and you instantly know how to finish that sentence. Your brain finishes it for you and moves on. But if I say, “If at first you don’t succeed, then skydiving probably isn’t for you,” then that stands out because it’s interesting.
Related: Ep 31: Branding the Look and Tone of Your Busines
When you add variety to your content on your social media strategy, it keeps people coming back for more because you’ve added an element of surprise and delight. It’s the same reason that I could go into T.J. Maxx twice a week but I won’t go into a department store more than twice a year. Department stores don’t have as much variety as T.J. Maxx! The variety is addicting and it draws you in again and again. Mix up the types of post you’re putting out into the world to keep your follower’s attention.
Related: Get the Most Out of Your Content
If you want to grow your impact on social media, you need to increase your engagement.
Engagement indicates how many people acted on your post—they didn’t just view it or scroll past it; they responded in some way. They liked it, shared it, retweeted it, left a comment, etc. Any of these are great things because the more people that engage with your posts, the more “successful” the platform views that post and the more likely they are to show it to even more people. When it comes to your social media strategy, pay attention to what types of your posts get people to do something.
In life and on social media, one-way conversations are not fun. That’s why you should set aside a few minutes each day to respond to comments and feedback you receive. Your customers are more likely to respond to your content (remember: engage!) when you respond to them and engage. Treat others how you want to be treated, right? So if you want more responses, be more responsive.
Related: 3 Ways to Connect With Your Tribe Using Social Media Content
If your social media followers see you four times a day for months, and then you choose to go off the grid, they’ll be confused. You have to show up when you say you’re going to and be consistent! You get to choose what your consistency is, but then stick to it! Your content should have variety, but your frequency should have consistency. Teach people what to expect from you and then follow through. Consistency is so key in building trust with your tribe.
Building a brand is easy when you are just yourself from day one. Then you don’t have to try to put on a show or be someone you’re not, which can be exhausting. Instead, you just put yourself out there—the good, bad and ugly—and let people come for who you are. When you do this, you attract the right people. Be authentic in your social media presence and watch what happens. You’ll gain not just fans, but loyal customers.
Related: Ep. 51— How to Build Trust With Your Social Media Followers
Amy Jo Martin founded Digital Royalty, where she helped corporations, celebrities and sports entities humanize their brands online through social media. Before exiting in 2016, she worked on social media strategies for clients like former Suns player Shaquille O’Neal. Y’all … Shaquille O’Neal!
Amy Jo is the author of New York Times best-seller Renegades Write the Rules, and host of the Why Not Now? podcast.
Before becoming an entrepreneur, Amy Jo began working for the NBA’s Phoenix Suns. Working in male-centric industries, Amy Jo developed a passion for helping women thrive in business leadership. She is currently spending her time researching the relationship between technology and humanity and investing in other female entrepreneurs so they can reach their full potential.
She believes the future of technology is the future of humanity. Her motto is “humans connect with humans, not logos”.
In addition to being an expert in creating social media strategies, Amy Jo has a pretty impressive social media following herself—more than 1 million people—and was named the third most powerful woman on Twitter by Forbes.
I am thrilled that Amy Jo Martin will be a speaker at our Business Boutique 3-Day Event in Nashville this November!
In this episode, Amy Jo Martin and I talk about:
Related: 3 Ways to Connect With Your Tribe Using Social Media
You probably already know this, but as a reminder, everything you put online is permanent. (Even if you delete it.) Since being more in the “public eye,” I’ve created boundaries to be proactive in protecting myself and my family when it comes to posting online. I’ve also set boundaries for my social media posting strategy and consumption.
These are the lines I’ve drawn for myself and my social media strategy and use.
What are yours?
Figure out where your lines are. Define what you post and what you don’t. Define what time you post and when you don’t. It’s your social media and your prerogative. But it’s time to be proactive and intentional.
Related: How to Keep Up With Social Media (and Still Run Your Business)
Don’t forget that I love hearing from you! Give me a call on my new toll-free line at 844.944.1074. You might hear your question on a future episode!
1:25 Seven Ways to Step Up Your Social Media Strategy
18:01 How to Build a Social Media Strategy That Works with Amy Jo Martin
41:27 #AskChristyWright
49:53 Challenge: Determine Your Social Media Boundaries
Get Christy's Social Media Cheat Sheet by filling out the form here!
Sign up for the Business Boutique Academy waitlist at BusinessBoutique.com/Academy.
To save $10 on any Business Boutique Nashville ticket, use the code BBWRIGHT.
If you have a success story you would like to share with the Business Boutique community, email me at podcast@businessboutique.com.
New podcast episodes are available every other week.