Episode 103: Why You Need To Always Put Your Best Effort In Everything You Do As A Small Business Owner (and Taking A Minute to Stop)
Inspired by a recent IG story on the account of Jerico Mandybur, Fiona shares a lesson she learned about ghost outfits and why it’s important as a small business owner to put one’s best effort in always, even if it means taking a minute to stop before making decisions.
Topics discussed in this episode:
Introduction
Ghost outfits (Jerico Mandybur)
Putting in the work
On playing basketball (An example)
Taking the minute to stop
Conclusion
Resources mentioned in this episode:
Episode transcript:
Hello and welcome to Episode 103 of the My Daily Business Coach podcast, so today it is a Quick Tip Tuesday, that means it's time for a tip, tool, or tactic. And today is a little left of centre, but I love those things. So let's get into it.
So, I as some of you might know, I’m on this kind of holistic health journey this year, which means not just working with GPs and, you know, getting blood tests and that sort of thing, but also looking at kinesiology, tarot, a whole lot of kind of the whole spectrum of mental health, physical health, spiritual health. And one of the women who has helped me in that journey is an amazing lady called Jerico Mandybur. And she is a tarot reader and creative coach. She's Australian. She's lived in the U.S. for quite some time. I think she lives in Australia at the moment. But I worked with her a while ago and I did a tarot reading and I followed her for a long time on Instagram.
I think she's just wonderful. And I was looking at her Instagram stories not that long ago, and she had this really, really kind of funny and great one. But I think it was a story. And it was really sort of saying, think about what you're wearing, because if you die today, this will be your ghost outfit forever. And I thought it was a really funny way to look at things, but also really just got me curious about how does that relate to business, as I'm always thinking of content and ideas. And I thought it was such a beautiful way to look at kind of putting in your best effort because you never know what's going to happen. And I love that idea of, you know, whatever you wear today, if you happen to die, this is your forever ghost outfit. And it made me think about when it comes to business, what is your next kind of step forward.
So if you are dealing with a client today, what kind of energy is going to bring into that call? If you are putting out an email, you know, is it going to be an awesome email or is it just sort of mediocre and it kind of bores you, yourself? So, you know, is it really going to be that interesting to other people?
It just really had me thinking about putting in the effort. And I know I'm very much an anti-hustle. And, you know, my book is Sidestep the #hustle. And I'm really not about Hustle, Hustle, Hustle. But I do think I talk about this in the book as well, that hard work is sometimes important and just putting in the work not necessarily hard or difficult or struggling, but the work and it same with putting in effort. So I loved the idea of kind of I put in some effort and make yourself feel great because, you know, the whole ghost outfit thing, but also the effort at work. And I know sometimes you just can't be left. You're just not in the right headspace, in which case, you know, maybe go and listen to some good music, go for a walk, take a breather.
Remember, it's your business. You're in control of your time. But, yeah, it really made me think about looking at taking a minute to consider what's my next step and am I putting in the effort that I'd want to be remembered by. So if I'm about to get on a coaching call, can I take three minutes before that call and just sort of do some deep breathing, get myself in the right headspace so that I'm turning up and I'm showing up for that person on the other end with the best possible energy? Likewise, if I'm sitting there staring at the screen trying to write my Sunday email and it's just not coming out, I can either sit there and just put out crap or I can take a few minutes, put on some music, maybe have a Google search, look at some things, try and get inspiration, go through my DMs, looking at what people are actually asking about and then create an email that I think is quite good or useful or valuable. So I guess that's the tip for today.
It comes from the idea of Jerico's post, which was, you know, really consider what you're wearing today. Does it make you feel great? Because if you die, this is your ghost outfit forever. But in relation to business, really, the tip is to take a minute and consider how am I showing up for the next thing that's happening today in my business? Am I giving it my all or am I kind of lukewarm, mediocre? Can't really be asked. And could I change that myself? So could I, like I said, turn on some good music. I often call it shake it off in our house.
And actually the other weekend I was in a bit of a I don't know, just not feeling at mood. And my son said to me, Mommy, do you need to shake it off? And I was like, yes, yes. He has learnt. He has been listening. And I did need to shake it off. He was completely right. So, coming back to that business, if you're kind of sitting there, can't be bothered writing an email, can't be bothered doing the thing that you're supposed to be doing or that you need to do, can you take him in and out and shake it off? Can you put on some good music? Can you go for a walk? Can you go watch some trash TV? If that's going to just get your mind off things for a minute, can you call a friend? Can you have a conversation with somebody that's going to make you feel good? Can you listen to a bit of comedy for, you know, ten minutes and watch a YouTube video, do something that can flip?
The energy so that whatever you do, you are putting in your best foot forward, you are in that analogy putting on your awesome outfit so that if you become a ghost, you know, you feel great and that is it. And it sounds like a bit of a bit silly, but it really is about taking that minute to stop and to reflect and consider how you might, you know, flip the script. Really, another way of looking at it is my son plays basketball and he's a good shooter.
He's a decent at basketball. He's got a sports streak in him that I don't I don't know where he's got it from. My husband's kind of sporty, but. Yeah. So for a long time he was kind of just shooting the ball. As soon as he'd get the ball, he was kind of going for it, you know, kind of Michael Jordan style halfway down the court. And we and his coach kind of said to him, you've got to stop. You've got to stop for that split second. When you have the ball, stop and consider your next move. And he's doing it more and more now. And it's great to see him, you know, really take that on. He can watch you. And as he's playing, he'll grab the ball, he'll get the ball and he'll stop. And for that split second, you're seeing that he's considering instead of just going with impulse. And it's the same thing in business, exactly what I'm talking about today, which is really take the minute to stop.
Sometimes it's ten seconds to just stop. You know, if you get a crappy email, you get a crappy comment on social media, stop instead of just instantly replying with emotion and defensiveness, stop and consider, you know, am I going to put my best foot forward? How does this reflect on my business?
Same way if I'm turning up to a client today, how can I give it my all? So, they feel really sane and valued. If that was their last ever interaction with me, how am I going to leave it with them? Say, if somebody is coming into your store saying if somebody is sending you a message on Instagram, DM or same, if you know you're sending out a package today and you sort of. I asked if it that's good enough.
Can you take a second and think, what if this is the only package or gift? Maybe this person's bought themselves a gift for their birthday and this will be the only gift that they get. What could I make what can I do to make it really beautiful when they open that box? So that is it. I know a bit of a weird one weird kind of workaround, but I just found that whole idea of, you know, getting dressed for your ghost self really also. And, you know, I'm someone I talk about this quite often. I put on my big earrings. Sometimes I put some lippy on and I do that for myself. You know, I work from home, but I do that because it makes me feel good. So, yeah, that is it today. It's really about taking a second, considering how are you putting your best self forward.
So if you would like a transcript of this, you can find it over at mydailybusinesscoach.com/podcast/103 as this is Episode 103. And if you want to follow Jerico Mandybur on Instagram, you can find her at jericomandybur.com. And of course, we'll link to that in the show notes as well. Thanks so much for listening. See you next time. Bye.
Thanks for listening to My Daily Business Coach podcast. If you want to get in touch, you can do that at mydailybusinesscoach.com or hit me up on Instagram at @mydailybusinesscoach.
