518: If You’re Making 6 Figures Or More, You Need To Hear This
I’m excited to dive into a topic today that I believe brings a fresh perspective to the world of entrepreneurship and business growth. In this episode, we’ll be exploring the idea that not every opportunity is one that you should capitalize on. To navigate this decision-making process effectively, it’s essential to have a clear understanding of your big focus and overarching goal.
It’s okay to say “no” to opportunities that don’t align with your big focus or won’t have a greater impact than your existing efforts. Tune in for more valuable insights and learn how to keep pushing forward and making purposeful decisions in your entrepreneurial journey.
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READ THE EPISODE TRANSCRIPT
Emily Hirsh:
Today’s episode was something that I was inspired to talk about because I think it’s a little bit of a different angle that we can talk about that’ll bring some focus into your business. And this is the idea that not every opportunity is one that you should capitalize on. And this is a lesson I have had to learn.
You are listening to the Not for Lazy Marketers Podcast, episode number 518.
Hello everybody. Welcome back to the podcast. I hope you guys are doing amazing. Here we are. Let’s see. This episode will come out close to the end of May. I will be in Charleston, South Carolina. I’ll tell you guys a quick story. So I love to travel. You probably know that just based on how much I travel. And for me, it’s been since I was a kid, like I have been a highly disciplined person since the very beginning, like 10 years old. I can actually remember being crazy disciplined and doing workouts. And I actually just told this story recently of how I was literally 10 years old. And I remember having a journal where I tracked how much of each whatever they call it, the food pyramid, each food group, the food pyramid, because when I was 10, that’s what I thought was healthy.
Like, that’s what was fed to people in school, which is like such bs, but that’s what I thought was healthy and what I was supposed to be doing. And so when I was 10 years old, I tracked my food and I would go out in the cul-de-sac and run like loops as if it was a track before school at like 7:00 AM So I was born this way, you guys <laugh>. But for me, travel is what changes it up. So I have a very disciplined routine and, and just, I like structure and I like discipline and I like to get a lot done in a day. And, and I’m very okay with that. Over the years it’s been me kind of, a lot of people tell you that that’s too much and that you’re not enjoying life enough and that you are you need to slow down and you need to enjoy things.
And while those things are true, like it is important to slow down, I’m very present in my life and this actually makes me happier to be like this. And I, and at least right now I can tell you I’m fully, you know, okay with it. I’m not trying to change it and I don’t believe it is a trauma response. So anyways, travel for me is what kind of shakes things up and it gives me adventure and it changes up my routine and I absolutely love it. And if I have been home for a month, I need to travel again. Like I just love it. And so I was gonna go to Zion National Park because I also love hiking. And that’s been on my list every year. At the beginning of the year, I write down a bucket list of trips I’ll take that year.
And Zion was on that list, but I just wasn’t feeling it. For some reason I just wasn’t booking the tickets, I wasn’t booking it. I was like, I don’t know, I’m not excited about it, what is it? So I was looking around and I love Zach Bryan, the singer and country music right now. And so I was like, come under where he is playing and he is playing in Charleston, South Carolina next week or the week that this podcast comes out. And I was like, I’m gonna go there. I’m gonna go to Charleston, South Carolina. Like I wanna go check it out. That seems like a really cool city. I’ve never been there. It’ll be another state I get to go to and I’m gonna try and get Zach Bryan tickets that are sold out right now. So I booked the ticket, booked the plane ticket, booked the Airbnb, and I just was able to get the Zach Ryan tickets.
I was just refreshing his page and tickets popped up for like a crazy good deal. I was expecting to have to drop like two fifty a ticket. And I got ’em for like 80 bucks each. And they’re pretty good seats. So it was meant to be. But I’m really excited to go somewhere new. We’re gonna go hiking. I found a place like two hours outside of Charleston, so I’ll still get some hiking in, but I was like, I just want good coffee shops, good food, good restaurant vibe and Zion National Park doesn’t have that. So that is what I’ll be doing. And yeah, travel for me is, it gives me, I just love experiences. Like when I look back on my year every year, what do I remember, experiences, trips, travel memories, like not the things I accomplished. Those are really important, but I like to balance it with travel.
Anyways, so today’s episode was something that I was inspired to talk about because I think it’s a little bit of a different angle that we can talk about that’ll bring some focus into your business. And this is the idea that not every opportunity is one that you should capitalize on. And this is a lesson I have had to learn. And there’s a difference to me between opportunity and idea. And so I think it’s easier to say, okay, I’m not gonna follow that idea, right? As entrepreneurs, as visionaries, we get a lot of ideas, a lot of like, we could launch this offer, we could launch this new business. We’re very prone to that shiny object syndrome and having ideas and being that visionary. And this is a common thing that a lot of people talk about. And you know, the need to focus and actually not pursue ideas and kind of put them in.
Some people call it a parking lot. Put them in a parking lot and revisit them later. But don’t chase all your ideas. I think an opportunity is a little bit different and that people don’t talk about this enough. So to me, an opportunity is like someone comes to you and is like, Hey, do you wanna come, you know, talk to my group of people and do this speech. Do you want to come and, and be a guest speaker? Or you have, let’s say someone who’s like, Hey, I’ll be an affiliate for your program. And you have to, you know, it’s like, yeah, that sounds great. And then you have to, you know, maybe build things out or, or put energy into that relationship. An opportunity also can be you looking at your business and saying, oh, if we do this, like we’ll be able to make more money.
Maybe that’s, oh, if we launch a YouTube channel and we have more content, maybe that is something related to your funnel that you’re gonna launch. Maybe it is a new product. Maybe you are looking at your business right now and you’re going, okay, we’re leaving money on the table here, here and here. And so an opportunity is clearly defined, like you’ll probably get a benefit from it. It’s not an idea that could or couldn’t work. An opportunity will have some sort of reward to it because it’s already an opportunity. It already is being presented to you. And there will, you know, 95% be some sort of positive reward from it. And so why would you not capitalize on all those? Because not every opportunity is necessarily worth the energy and the time that you would have to take away from other things. And I think especially as you grow your business, you have to realize this because I used to be someone, and still sometimes this comes up where I’d get really stressed having to turn down an opportunity.
Cuz to me that’s like I’m turning down money. I’m saying no to potential and I want to go as hard as I can as far as I can. But what I wasn’t realizing was saying yes to that opportunity. While there may have been a reward to it and some sales or a positive outcome from it, it was inevitably gonna take away from other things because that’s always how it works. That is like a solid law and rule. You know, every yes is also a no. And sometimes that’s okay and sometimes that’s not okay. But you have to realize, if I say yes to this opportunity, what will it take away from? And am I okay with that? And so sometimes you are gonna look at your business and you’re gonna say, well, I could launch a YouTube channel and that will provide me with a positive growth.
Like there’s no way that a consistent YouTube channel and content is not gonna be good for you, right? That’s an opportunity. You could go and book that trip and go do the guest speaking opportunity or talk to someone’s you know, online group and, and pursue that opportunity. You could go fulfill that relationship for the person who’s saying, yeah, I really wanna be an affiliate. Let’s do joint promotions or whatever. You can go and look at your marketing. And sometimes for me, this comes up in like, oh, we could add in a whole text messaging strategy to this funnel. Again, these are all good positive things and if you’re being presented with these things, that’s a good thing. But at a certain point in your business, you have to realize that not all opportunities should be capitalized on and pursued, at least not right now.
So for example, I know that launching a YouTube channel is very soon coming for us. I already have the idea. I’ve flushed it out like I know what I’m doing, but up until now and probably like the next one to two months until we’re ready, it was gonna take away from too many other things. And so while yes, it was a good opportunity and it is a good opportunity and I want to pursue it, I didn’t wanna capitalize on it right at that moment because I knew it was gonna take away from our efforts with this podcast, with my current social media, with what I’m already currently doing that’s working. Same thing, especially for like guest speaking or guest podcasts or you know, going and actually going to an event. Like those are all things that there is opportunity and we see that and we go, okay, well for sure there’s gonna be payoff for this, right?
What is it taking away from and is that in alignment with what you should be doing? Sometimes the answer to that is yes. Like there are definitely opportunities that if I were to get a certain opportunity and it was gonna take away from something that we’re currently doing because it was out of the blue or it just, you know, happened and, and stumbled upon me and I said yes to it, it was gonna take away from other things. And that’s a positive thing because this opportunity is so big and it’s so in alignment, like that happens too. But when you look at your business and you’re like, okay, there’s an opportunity to improve this. There’s an opportunity to solve this problem. I could do this and I could do this. Those to me aren’t really ideas. Like those are already like, yeah, for sure those things are gonna work.
Then you need to understand what should I actually pursue and what can I say no to? Because every yes that you go pursue is still a no somewhere else. Like you only have so much time in the day that never changes. We all only have so much time in the day. And so where we put that, time matters a lot. So how do you know what ideas, what opportunities to capitalize on? First of all, you have to always know what your big focus and your big goal is. Like what is your number one thing? And for a lot of us, don’t overcomplicate this. For me right now, my big focus is signing more clients and growing. My agency is scaling the number of clients that we can help. It’s launching our new done with you offer and getting people into that. And it’s fully focused on that.
So if an opportunity presents itself that I feel is going to massively support that goal more so than the things we’re already doing, I’m gonna say yes to it. If I feel that it’s going to maybe support my goal, but not as much as the things that I’m already doing, I’m probably gonna say no to it if I know that it’s going to have some positive impact, but definitely not as much as the things we’re already doing and that we could grow and scale, I’m not gonna say yes to it. And so I’m very clear on my big focus and my big goal right now. Again, that big focus and big goal, you don’t have to overcomplicate it. It’s probably something to do with more customers and more clients in growing your business to a certain level. And every opportunity you take an idea, you pursue action, you implement, and things that you go and do should be backing up moving this goal forward.
So the question to ask yourself when presented with an opportunity or an idea that you have, and you’re wondering, should I do this? Should I not do this? Is it gonna move the needle forward towards that big goal? That’s a yes or no question. And is it going to move the needle forward more than what I’m already doing each day? And if the answer to that is no, I should just stay focused on what I’m doing, you should do that. I know for a fact that us entrepreneurs, we get bored and a lot of times we convince ourselves that if we don’t have new things happening, we’re not growing. But if you’re putting energy and effort into that boring work of doing more of what’s working, refining and optimizing what’s working, obviously the keyword is what is working. Like, if you haven’t found what’s working yet, you might have to go try a bunch of things.
But if you have found something that’s working, put your energy and your effort and your time and your resources into that. And then anything else that gets thrown your way or presented to you has to be weighed with, is it gonna do more than what I’m currently doing? And is it gonna move the needle towards that big goal? And then the last thing to really look at when you’re looking at these things is what is it gonna take away from, because again, everything takes away from something. So if you’re gonna say yes to that speaking opportunity, or you’re gonna say yes to diverting your resources or your team’s resources to working on that project, what will it take away from? And is that okay for the overall business growth and achieving your big focus and your big goal right now? So that’s how I always weigh opportunities.
And this will happen more and more as your business grows. Right now, if you’re at the beginning stages, like if you are under six figures or you’re just starting, you probably want to pursue most opportunities and, and also try a bunch of things. And you have to understand these phases because I see this all the time where a more seasoned entrepreneur will give advice and say something like, you gotta stay focused and you know, you can’t hustle and you have to do all these things. And it’s like, yeah, that’s for after you’re already kind of past six figures, like after you’ve already earned that, right? There’s like a rite of passage of, once I’ve sold enough of my offer, once I haven’t established enough business, once I am proven my business, proven my offer and figured out on a small scale what’s working, then I get to be more selective.
You always wanna be focused. Like that’s important. If you’re doing, you know, 15 things at once, it, it’s not gonna usually work. But there is a stage in business where if an opportunity comes your way, you probably wanna say yes to it because the other things you’re doing may not be working. But if you do have things that are working, your business is above six figures, it’s kind of a good marker. You are making sales, it is growing, and so you have effort and resources that you’re putting into something that’s working. Then when an opportunity comes your way, you do have to weigh, is this going to do more than me taking this exact amount of time and resources of my business, of myself and put it there instead of just what I’m currently doing? And this, you know, this really does also come up with initiatives and projects internally.
And so for me where this comes up is I’ll get an idea like, okay, we have to add an entire text messaging sequence into our funnel. Or I know that if we got an appointment setter is an idea I’ve had in the past, like I do know this. If we got an appointment setter and we built out a whole system where we were following up with people more, it would help me and it would produce more sales. But that’s an opportunity because I know it would work. I know that it would provide a positive result for me. But putting the energy and the resources into finding that appointment setter and center and building all of that out and actually executing that, what we’re currently doing is working better. So continuing to put my time and resources into that and the ideas that we have over there that we’re already working on is going to be more beneficial than going that route.
Now, there’s also, right now, a right now component to this because you might have an opportunity come your way and you deem it and you answer those questions and you say, okay, this isn’t going to help me more than what I’m already doing, or this is gonna take away from something else important, but this is something I would like to revisit in three months, or this is something I would like to revisit in six months and that could be a better time. And you kind of go through that process again. And so also there’s some opportunities and things that you don’t pursue right now. Like for me, a YouTube channel, I know for a fact if I launched a YouTube channel, it would do well and it will do well and I am gonna do it. And this has been on my goals for the last six months and it hasn’t been the right time to put the resources into that opportunity yet.
We’ve intentionally said no. And as you grow your business, you’re gonna get a lot of people that are gonna be like, you should do this and you should do that, and you should do this, and this is working for me. And they’re gonna show you ways that you could improve and grow your business. And they are opportunities and they will work and they will have a positive benefit. But you have to make sure you go through those questions. Is it gonna move your big focus and your big goal right now forward and what will it take away from? All right, everybody, I hope you guys found that helpful. I thought it was a little bit of a unique perspective. It was something I was thinking about in my own business too, because it is harder to say no to something that you know is going to have a positive return. But you also have to keep in mind what does it take away from, and maybe the answer is it’s gonna have more positive of a return than what I’m doing right now. Maybe it’s not. You don’t know until you ask those questions. All right, thank you guys. I will talk to you next week.
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