Hello, everyone, and welcome to Episode 53. So there is a scenario I am seeing so much in this online business world lately. And it goes a little like this. We see someone that looks successful in business, we wish we had that success, we sign up, take their course or their training their templates, whatever. So we can create a business that's successful too. We finish that training, or course or whatever, and find out that this isn't what we really wanted. But we keep doing that thing because we just paid a lot of money. And we don't want to waste it. We end up with a business we don't even like the online business world is built on courses and training that show you how the successful person did a thing. And that you can do it too. This is common people have success. And then they build a course, or training or something like that around how they did it so that you can follow their checklist or framework or whatever. You follow it, you create that business, you'll be successful, done. And everyone thinks, well, that's awesome because business is hard. Especially if you've come from corporate and you don't know how to do it. I just want to be told how to be successful thanks. But what you might end up with is this business that has nothing to do with you, or the life that you want. Sometimes it's so easy to be wrapped up in that transformation that's being sold, that you get there. And you find out that maybe there wasn't that much going on in the course, maybe they didn't really show you how to be successful. Or you got there. And that's not what you want. Sometimes we get wrapped up in what we're supposed to do. You're supposed to go through and start as a VA and then get your OBM or get some kind of marketing training or whatever. We think there's a progression that needs to happen, we need to start at the bottom. Even if we are like a senior vice president in corporate, we come here and we think we need to do data entry because that's how it works. And then if we follow some checklists, and we do the thing, it's going to be okay. I completely understand how this works. I've taken a bunch of courses. 

Over the years, I've got a bunch of certifications. And to be clear, there are a ton of great courses and training out there. I coach in one I shout from the rooftops about the deal all the time. What I want to talk about today is taking the knowledge in these training in these courses in the world out there and your crazy research skills and adapting it to the life that you want. Don't build someone else's business. I think it's a trap that's so easy to fall into, especially coming from corporate where there are job descriptions and very strict ranks and orders and you get a promotion and this, you don't just skip three levels, right, you get a promotion, the next year, we'll get another promotion, that'd be great. And that is comfort. It is structure, you're told what to do. And when you do it, you're successful and you get a raise. That's not what business is like, especially entrepreneurial business. They're kind of aren't those rules. If you just want to start and do something you can. So if you could do anything, why would you build somebody else's business? It may make them happy, it may make them successful. But it doesn't mean that it will make me successful. Were you. What I want you to focus on is what you want. Because you literally can build anything. Anything, you could build anything. What kind of business do you want to be in? What do you want to sell? What do you want to do? What do you want to focus on? So today, I thought we would walk through a couple of the things that I think you should be asking yourself. And then if you want knowledge from courses and training, you can get that knowledge and then adapt it to the business you want But you kinda have to figure out what businesses you want first. That is a double-edged sword, right? Because you may figure out what you want now, but you don't actually know what you want three years, fine, small business, very adaptable. My business we just went over this couple episodes ago, has changed so much in the last five years. But there's definitely gonna be things you want now, and then you can grow. That first question is a big huge one. And it's what I talk about a lot in my coaching, what kind of work do you like to do? That seems like a very simple question. 

Most people don't ask themselves that. They say, Oh, well, I get to be these three things on this list. I can be a coach, of course, designer, a VA or whatever, whatever you think is on the list of things you get to choose from, you got to pick one of those. And then you get there. And you're like, that's how a little bit of how I felt with the OBM. I got the certification, I started doing the work. And I'm like, I don't want to launch. I don't want to do marketing. And that's a huge part of that. I like finance. I like being organized and doing the operations. But I don't necessarily want to deal with like courses and definitely not launching, I don't want to have to be up at 4 am on a Saturday to figure out why links don't work, or figure out what the carts not working. It's not my thing. So I took the knowledge I got from the OBM. Which for those of you who don't know what OBM is, it's an online business manager. So I took that certification, I took all that knowledge, and then I adapted it to my own business. I don't do launches. I will not set up the cart to sell what your course like, that's not what we do here. Because I didn't want to. So taking the knowledge and then making it my own. That's the thing. So what kind of work do you like to do? What kind of work Don't you like to do? Because that's so important to back in my like VA days, someone asked me to do travel arrangements once and I was like, absolutely not. It is one of the most awful things I think I could ever do. If you love it fantastic. I hated doing travel in corporate, I hated it. It was such a nightmare. And when someone asked me that, I think it was one of the only things I ever said no to for that client. It was awful. So knowing what you don't like to do is really important too. Because why are you building a business to go to work and be miserable all day? Right? Why? So what do you like to do? I love numbers. I love spreadsheets. I love checklists. I love organization. I love creating SOPs like a nerd. Those things I love to do. So I started doing more systems work, creating dashboards and organizing things and documenting things. We also do a ton of accounts receivable, invoicing, keeping track of orders and things like that, for businesses that are ongoing, instead of like launching course people.

Every day, they're selling something, and we're running all that. That's what I love to do. So that's what we offer. I don't offer launch management, it's not something I enjoy. How could I hire someone and delegate that I was an agency? Sure. But I don't really enjoy it at all. I don't, it's not my thing. So we just don't offer it. I get to do that. I'm the boss here. And as long as whatever I want to do is a need in the market, like somebody needs me to do this out there is going to pay me I can make a business. So what kind of work do you like to do? And what kind of work do you not like to do? What do I want my ideal week to look like? This is another huge thing that most of us don't do. We don't proactively make this intentional decision to say, this is what I'm going to do. And I'm terrible at this. I like to run as fast as possible all the time. And then be massively overwhelmed and not understanding why I'm upset. I get it. So I'm in the trenches with you on this one. And I am struggling to get better about this. What do I want my ideal week to look like? I've started by trying as you can see, I'm very dedicated to this summer Fridays so that even if there's a little bit of work, I have to cover something or there's something that has to be done on Friday morning. I can do it really quickly. But everything else is planned out. And I'm going to be off at least Friday afternoons, if not all day Friday. It is not going well so far because I suck at this whole ideal week and the boundaries. So what do you want your ideal week to look like? Okay, so I want to work Monday to Thursday. I'm not going to start any earlier than nine are office hours nine to four and four is even pushing it. Now that my son's back in like real school and I have to pick him up and drop them off. that adapts my schedule. And when he was in school before the apocalypse, I had my schedule very mapped out so that I dropped him off. And I worked like crazy until I picked him up. And then that was it. 

I don't work nights and weekends, unless I want to unless I'm enjoying something like I want to learn how to use the software. I'm working through FB funnels right now. And it's not, I don't know any of the software right now. So I'm learning it. And I was doing that on a hot day in the air conditioning yesterday. That's what I wanted to do. But I will not work on Saturday and Sunday for client work. They can expect never to hear from man a weekend. That's my ideal week. Those are the kinds of things that I want you to start thinking about. What do you want this business to look like? How much time do you have to work? Or do you want to work? Maybe you only want to work two days a week. Okay, fantastic, then you need to be able to figure out what work you like to do. And two days a week. Being in the business every day kind of person may not work for you. But if you're doing VIP days, totally works. If you did one VIP day every week, and then spent a little bit of time every other like on the other days marketing. That's a viable business that lots of people do. So what do you want? And then lastly, when you figure out what this looks like, what you like, what you don't like how you want your week to work out how much time you have, a lot of us are moms or dads and we have to work around other people. It's not just like free for all, we can just do whatever we want, right? We've got to be placed and have responsibilities. When you figure all of that out, and you lay it out. What kind of business do you want to have in that constraint in that boundary? And then is there a course or training or coaching to get you there? You may think she does completely not courses like five minutes ago, I'm not knocking courses, what I'm knocking is taking that course, like verbatim, that you have to do it exactly the way they say. You can go for training and courses and get templates. 

I love a good template we all do, right? It's all pretty and worked out for you. You just have to fill in your stuff and you're ready to go. I love it. And I love learning. But take that knowledge and then adapt it to what you want. I don't want to be working 60 hours a week. But can I take this knowledge about how to do this thing and fit it into the way I want to do it? Of course, of course, you can. And I want you to get into this idea of figuring out what you want. And what you're going to have to get out of is thinking that there's a right way to do it. Because there is no right way to do this. This is crazy. And that's the best part. You get to do whatever you want. You get to build this thing, right? So having someone say, Oh, this happens a lot when people ask me about trainings I've taken, and they're like, Oh, well, do I have to do this one? And then this one, and then this one? No. Unless there's actually like a course where it's like math 101 and math 102 word like it builds on the first one. No, and most don't. It's just how other people have done it. And you know what? One, some of those other people are unhappy about the way they've done it. And too, even if they were happy about the way they've done it, it may not work for you. I want you to build a business that you will love. There's no reason not to. And there's a place where you can say, Well, I can't ever do that. I could never take Fridays off, I have too much work to do. You can, but it takes some planning and it may take some time. Four years ago, if you said I could take Friday's off, I would have laughed at you. But I've steadily worked on that. I built my agency out. So I'm not the only person in the room doing the thing. Someone else can cover that they can set up the account of Gmail or whatever we have to do that day. Or send out the invoice. Right? It's not just on me. So I've built my agency up so that we can get this work done. But I don't have to be standing here. Did that take a while? Yeah. But I also built my business slowly. On purpose. Could you do it faster? Sure. How do you work? Are you a quick start on the Colby because I am not. It will take me a lot longer for me to get going on things and other people well, that's fine with me. I'm gonna need to research the hell out of everything. That's fine with me. That's the way my business works and I'm good with it. But that doesn't mean someone else is good with it. Right? 

There's gonna be people who want things done tomorrow. Okay, that's your business, you get to do whatever you want. So get out of that mind space of, this is the way I have to do it. There's a checklist of options that I have. I only have these options of ways to work. There are so many other ways to work. Even in my own agency right now, there are so many ways to work. We have people that are client-facing in my agency, I have an admin for myself, I'm working on implementation still because there are certain things that I like doing. There's managing work, there's VIP day work, there's coaching, I'm in my own business, I'm doing a whole bunch of those things, because I like to do certain things and I'm trying to build my business around what I like to do. Entrepreneurs are famous for being rule breakers. And I kind of want you to start thinking about breaking those rules. Yeah, there are good practices for marketing whatever, that's not what I'm talking about. What kind of work do you like to do? What kind of work do you not like to do? What is your ideal week look like? How much time do you have to work? How much time do you want to work? And then is there something you need to get you there? Course software? a babysitter. Oh my god. Seriously, like just having a little space to think this last week has been fantastic. build the business that you want. Not someone else's business. Alright guys, get going on that really think about it. And I will talk to you next week. 

Thanks for joining me this week on the Sink Handle podcast. I can't wait to do all of this again next week. Make sure to visit us and reynoldsobm.com for the show notes on anything we talked about today. If you love or you mostly like the show, please subscribe and rate us on iTunes so we can help more people avoid the Sink Handle.