99. Petri Dish to Podcast: How 100 Episodes Helped Us Grow (and Evolve)

[00:00:00] Jenny: Hello, Q4. All right. Anybody else having a little bit of anxiety that it's already Q4? We've only got three more months of the year. I know that I am. I have been really focusing on end of year goals, wanting to complete any goals that I set out for Q2 and Q3 that I may have not been able to hit based on schedules.

[00:00:28] Jenny: Staffing and the list goes on. And if you can relate, please let me know. I hope I'm not alone and I don't believe that I am. So today's episode is going to be a little refresher motivator, and it's going to inspire you to make some moves. Get to work and to enjoy the last quarter, but really to end the year on a high note.

[00:00:52] Jenny: So it's going to be a little bit quick. Well, hence the quickies for Tuesdays. I love to keep these 15, 20 minutes or less and. Provide some really great value for you. It's really great resources. So I would say get a pen and paper out if you don't have one, maybe tune in or turn up the volume and reduce any distractions that you have going on right now.

[00:01:13] Jenny: I really want you to, uh, listen to focus. And I really want to transform your mindset in the next 15 to 20 minutes. All right. So I want you to first consider what your 90 day goals are. These 90 day goals can be personally or professionally for this purpose. I'm going to just focus on the professional goals.

[00:01:34] Jenny: Uh, the way that I do these is a couple of different ways and how I outline the goals. First and foremost, I do a brain dump. I think doing a brain dump is super, super important, not having to develop the whole plan, but thinking about. The past two quarters and the future quarter, what is it that you want to achieve?

[00:01:52] Jenny: You want to lean into and you want to create time for, I think a lot of times we want to create a whole checklist, but we don't necessarily always create enough time to execute those tasks. So I really want to encourage you not only to do a brain dump. But be really realistic of what you actually can achieve in the next three months.

[00:02:11] Jenny: Um, how I do the brain dumps is I literally just get out my notebook, start writing things down. Sometimes I'll use notes on my phone. I'll pull up drive. And I was just introduced to mind mapping, which I've done my mapping before, but you get these on Amazon. I'm sure there's a couple of different ones.

[00:02:30] Jenny: This is amazing. So for the mind maps, like you could put like marketing put all of. Like the different ways that you plan to market your company, or maybe boost culture, maybe different ways. Maybe it's doing outings with your team, hosting more, you know, like coffee and conversations, um, you know, going out to lunch or going to chamber events, things like that, um, to boost the team.

[00:02:54] Jenny: So these are really great waste and resources just to get things on paper for you to consider and for you to think about doing and then create a plan for it. But once again, you just want to get all of your thoughts, um, off your mind and maybe Up your chest, and then you can start developing the plan.

[00:03:15] Jenny: Um, so I would say, yeah, mind mapping notebooks, um, taking notes and then creating some time to develop a plan for each item as well. And I would give yourself a day out of the office. No distractions. And really dive into each one and they don't have to have a full plan. Like for instance, for me with my marketing plan, and I, there's a lot of other things in the minority plan, but I just do bulletin points.

[00:03:41] Jenny: I don't do full sentences. I don't do how I'm going to execute it. I really just organize my thoughts because more than likely what I'm going to do is incorporate my team and helping me execute these items. I am not going to do all of these things on my own. This is also going to empower your team.

[00:03:57] Jenny: You're going to get buy in from your team. And then. Once you're explaining what you're wanting to do, they're going to help you execute because the end of the day, the company's going to win. They're going to have a sense of accomplishment as well. So I feel like outlining those 90 day goals are super, super important.

[00:04:11] Jenny: And then why, why do you want to do all those things? What is that going to do for your company? What is it going to do for you? What is it going to do for. Um, maybe your employees as well. Is it going to provide some additional revenue to fund a really cool holiday party, or is it going to help with meeting numbers so that everybody can get their bonus for the year?

[00:04:34] Jenny: So consider the why and the purpose of why you want to do all these things. Maybe financially you can't do it anymore. I know for me, for my company, I just did a mind map from all of our programming, what is making us money. What is not making us money? What is the purpose? Is it because it's creating jobs and work for people, or is it actually beneficial to our clients?

[00:04:57] Jenny: If it's really beneficial for clients, I may consider continuing to do it, even though it's a break even or I may be losing a little bit of money. Maybe I'm going to be gaining money in the future from it. So really mapping those things out and having these discussions with your team is going to get everybody working together.

[00:05:12] Jenny: Um, so definitely want to figure out what your, what your, um, why is it with the purpose and why it's important for everybody to make this effort. Um, I think also, um, developing a scorecard for you and for your team members, I learned all about scorecard and, um, a players in this book, who, if you don't have this book, I highly recommend you get it.

[00:05:35] Jenny: I have it on audible and I got the paper back. Um, another book I just started is called traction. And that is super, super educational for any business leaders as well. Um, but keeping a scorecard. So all of my leadership team members basically. Have their job descriptions, have what they do on a daily, weekly, and monthly basis.

[00:05:56] Jenny: But then by the end of the year, all of these items need to be completed in order for them to get an increase in pay or to win an award. And it's basically a way of holding them accountable, but also for themselves, themselves accountable. So they know they'll have a job in the future. So highly recommend that highly recommend the book, who as well, um, another thing I want to encourage you to do is write get statements.

[00:06:20] Jenny: My coach, Gary Barnes, he has us do that. Uh, I did some get statements back in May and I was going to read those to you. I get to publish my book. I get to secure a new home for MC. I get to build my personal outreach podcast and network. I get to create systems to better serve the MC community. So by having this get to mentality versus have to mentality changes the script.

[00:06:50] Jenny: There's a little bit more appreciation. There's a little bit more excitement. And I will say that all four of those things I got to do, and I did do so another reason why writing down these get statements are super, super important. The next thing I'm going to encourage you to do is make time to celebrate small wins and the big wins.

[00:07:10] Jenny: A lot of times we just get on the hamster wheel. We're just moving forward. We're going through. Operations are going through day to day. And like I said, you know, the whole month is done. The quarter is done and the end of the year is done. So enjoy the journey, celebrate every single day. Um, you know, I have a lot of conversations about this with my staff and we do so many amazing things.

[00:07:31] Jenny: We're impacting so many lives and there's sometimes it can be really, really exhausting. So celebrate every day. What child maybe understood a theory concept or finished playing a song, or, you know, maybe you've been working on securing a new membership and you finally got it and making sure to celebrate that success as well.

[00:07:54] Jenny: We use Slack a lot to celebrate our team members. I just had a call with my mentor this morning. He was telling me about another program that a lot of companies are Are using to celebrate and create that online cheerleader. Um, it's game based as well. So I want to encourage you to take time and that can be like even having like a company award ceremony, um, celebrating at team meetings.

[00:08:21] Jenny: Um, it's just super, super important to celebrate our wins. We all work so, so hard and for so many hours as well. My next point is going to make sure to give thanks as we move into November. That's when people tend to say, Oh, thank you. Thank you. Send out thank you cards and all that. I want to encourage you to give thanks like every single day.

[00:08:41] Jenny: If you can, whether that's being grateful for the life that you have, the day that you had, you Um, the people you came in contact with or people you're doing business with. So I may allow anywhere between like three and five cards per month. And that could be like, thank you for being my friend. Thank you for something you did for me, or here's some words of encouragement.

[00:09:01] Jenny: Um, you can do that and also make sure to thank the people that show up to work. It's really, really important that your team really knows that you are appreciative to have them and their presence is meaningful. And. It's impactful as well. So don't just give thanks the week of Thanksgiving, give thanks as much as you can over the next three months.

[00:09:21] Jenny: And if you can continue that throughout the year as well, it'll make a, make a huge difference. Oh, my one of my final points is to take the time off. Um, so many times I've conversations with people and they can't take a day off, even though they have tons of PTO. Um, it is mandatory. I didn't take any time off for three years.

[00:09:42] Jenny: And when I finally did, my team changed, my company changed. Um, you know, I walked out of my business for three weeks and I had to trust that my team was going to be able to work together and make decisions on my behalf. And really have the company's best interest. And during that timeframe, the cream of the crop came to the top people that weren't meant to be at the company left as well.

[00:10:10] Jenny: And there was a new sense of appreciation and the culture was better. People were happier. And basically the negative Nancy's left, which was super powerful for our organization. Also, when you have someone that leaves, there is a void to fill. And what ends up happening is other people start to step in.

[00:10:29] Jenny: They pick up the slack and they start learning tasks. They can learn new tasks or they can see how to better do this task where it would save time, energy and money, and where there can be, um, some efficiency changes as well. So, um, I've had in the course of the past few years, I've had, you know, a studio manager be out and the assistant studio manager had to fill in and had assistant man studio manager, basically.

[00:10:56] Jenny: It was the occasion where at times we didn't know if she was going to make it to know if she was going to be a lifer. And that's because of the insecurity, the fear of judgment or not wanting to overstep boundaries. And when she had full range of all the operations, she really took charge. And what ended up happening when my studio manager actually ended up leaving this assistant studio manager was already groomed and ready for the next role, which was super great.

[00:11:19] Jenny: So we were able to hire with him. And at that point, the clientele had trusted. That person as well. So I think that employees should be. Encourage to take that time off. I do believe that people should be a little bit cross trained and then what ends up happening is you, it'll take you a few days to actually like rest and be like, Oh, okay, I don't have to check my food.

[00:11:40] Jenny: I have to check Slack. I don't check email. You'll just have a sense of peace and you'll just have some time to rest. You'll be recharged. You'll be refreshed. And when you come back to work, there'll be a level of excitement. That's what's going to keep that organization moving forward. And that's, what's going to create some ideas and you'll probably become more innovative because taking the time off as well.

[00:12:03] Jenny: So ever since, I don't know, 2018, I have taken multiple trips. I've taken a lot of time off and that is because I want to be my best self for myself, for my family, but for my organization as well. So I want to encourage all of you to take the time off and the timing not. May not be right ever, but just take the time off.

[00:12:26] Jenny: Most likely you have PTO, and if you don't have PTO, create some savings and budget that time to take off so that you can enjoy it and not be stressed. Uh, if you want to go to dinner or you want to just, Um, so yeah, so that's going to be my quickie for today. Like I said, I do those super, super quick, just want to create a couple different, um, points and inspire you to really take ownership of your time And encourage you to dream big.

[00:13:02] Jenny: I was just a CEO forum breakfast this morning had the speak speaker. Richard J. Brian was telling everybody that dream big and dreams so big that you can't imagine, you know, achieving those things, but you'll be surprised. You know, I create a vision board every year. And I'm always surprised at all the things that I accomplished.

[00:13:22] Jenny: And some things were on the vision board. Some things were not on the vision board, um, but you will achieve most of those things. And I encourage you to develop a three, five, 10. I'm going to be coming in my 10th year of business, uh, next year. And so. So I'm going to be really leaning into what I had anticipated.

[00:13:40] Jenny: I would be doing in year 10 and I'm working really hard to be able to accomplish and get to that stage that I want it to be year 10 of the company as well. So once again, it starts with. Brain dumping, outlining a plan, dreaming, taking the time for you. And I think you'll be really, really pleased. And you'll be surprised at what all you really can accomplish.

[00:14:04] Jenny: And I'm looking forward to hearing all those things that you do. So if you are interested in getting some assistance with developing those 90 day goals, I have. Of course that I can do live with you, but I do have it pre recorded as well. It's called my fridge model, and that's where you outline a 90 day plan.

[00:14:23] Jenny: You create a list, basically as a template for the front of your refrigerator that outlines like your monthly tasks and your goals and your have tos. Um, it's really great for delegating as well, and you will be surprised how much you can accomplish in that 90 days with just that simple plan. So if you're interested in that, um, we'll have a link in the show notes to get that course.

[00:14:48] Jenny: Uh, once again, I have it all prerecorded, so you can just do it on your own time. If you do want to have me work through it with you, I'm happy to do so. I love the refrigerator model as well. It has literally transformed my life in the past few years and I live by it. Bye. I think everybody should do it.

[00:15:06] Jenny: Well, I'm not supposed to say should, but perhaps you could try it and see if it works for you. Um, once again, in 90 days, you can totally transform your life, your business, create time for yourself and work even smarter, which would be absolutely amazing. So once again, write down some get statements. Um, if you're interested, get the book, who?

[00:15:27] Jenny: Cause that was super powerful. You can also get these mind maps on Instagram. Um, if you don't have my book yet, please get my book. You can get that on my website or you can get that on Amazon and yeah, looking forward to you, um, rocking Q4 and yeah. Reach out if you have any questions. Thank you so much for tuning in.

[00:15:47] Jenny: Do you know someone that could benefit from this podcast? I would love for you to consider five people that you can forward it to. And yeah, we're looking forward to having you on the next podcast. Um, season three is right around the corner and we are going to be kicking that off with my mentor. I'm super excited to have him with me and there'll be lots of great guests.

[00:16:06] Jenny: So looking forward to, um, season three of the stroke podcast.