Episode 164: Five small biz lessons I learned in 2021
In this episode, Fiona talks about why your business and life should merge or integrate. She also talks about the top 5 things 2021 has taught her and shares tips on how you can practice and use it in 2022. Tune in now!
Topics discussed in this episode:
Introduction
Life and Business should merge or be integrated
The 5 important lessons 2021 taught Fiona
Conclusion
Get in touch with My Daily Business Coach
Resources and Recommendations mentioned in this episode:
Gen Bailey of Happy Sad Man and I am 11
The way that I work with people, whether it's through marketing for your small business, the course or one-on-one coaching or group coaching or any kind of way that I work with people is to figure out a lot about them. What makes them tick? What are their values? What do they want the values underpinning the business to be, what do they want from this? What does success look like? And not just financial, but you know, emotional, physical, spiritual success look like and really align the brand and their values. Because I think that that is what makes a successful business and a successful life.
Do you love your business? You should, right? Well, sometimes we just don't, it's my hope that this, the, my daily business coach podcast helps you regain a little of that lost love by providing tips and tactics, tools, insights, inspiration, all the good stuff to help you actually enjoy running your business. In addition to actionable tips and tactics that you'll be able to execute immediately, You'll also hear from creative, small business owners around the world, who've been able to sidestep the hustle and build a business that merges their passion with their purpose and provides a profit. I'm your host Fiona Killackey, founder of My Daily Business Coach. Let's get going.
Hello and welcome to episode 164 of The My Daily Business Coach Podcast. So this is the very last episode of 2021. So thank you! If you have been joining me consistently, I just wanna say a massive, massive thank you. 2021 was a full-on year. Wasn't it? And we are almost through, and I just wanna say a huge thank you to every single person who has reached out to me about this podcast. It really does mean so, so much. I'm always kind of surprised that people listen to it and it's just wonderful to hear from all the different types of business owners that do listen to this and find it useful. So thank you. Thank you. Thank you for joining me this year. And I hope you'll join me again next year, as we dive into 2022. So today I wanted to talk about something that is super important at this time of year, any time of year, really, but especially at this time of year, but before we get stuck into that, I just wanna remind you that group coaching is opening earlier than we had anticipated next year, just due to demand and people contacting us.
And we were like, why not? It's been a hell of a last two years for people. So anyone who's interested needs to be on the waitlist because those people will find out first. And if that is you then definitely jump on over to mydailybusinesscoach.com/group-coaching-wait-list. So group coaching, waitlist just with hyphens in between. And of course, we'll link to that in the show notes, which you'll be able to find at mydailybusinesscoach.com/podcast. The other thing I wanted to mention before I get stuck into today's coaching episode is to just acknowledge the traditional owners and custodians of this beautiful land on which I am looking out at right now, and which has sustained me through so much of the last two years. I mean, I lived here for the last six years, but just the last two years in particular. So I want to pay my respects to the wandering people of the Kulin nation and acknowledge that sovereignty has never been seated. And I also wanna pay my respects to any elders past, present, and emerging that may be listening from other indigenous and Aboriginal groups around the world. Welcome. And thank you for joining me. All right. Let's get onto today's episode.
So if you are listening to this in real-time, it is Thursday. Thursday, it's Thursday. The 30th of December, 2021. And aside from being or what would've been my parents' 50th wedding anniversary, "Congratulations, mom and dad, wherever you are right now", it is the end of the year. We have one day left of 2021. So I thought, what better time than two talks about something that I ask my clients to do quite often, which is to reflect on what the biggest lessons have been this year. And I thought that I would actually go through five lessons that 2021 has taught me in business and many of them apply to life as well. You know, if you're listening and you're a small business owner, you know, that life and business totally merge and kind of integrate. I don't necessarily believe in a work-life balance. I definitely think there are parts of the year and parts of your life and seasons really where everything feels inflow are the times when it doesn't.
I think the biggest thing that we can kind of aim for is a work-life integration where both things integrate well, and you're not feeling that one is completely overpowering the other. So I would love to know if you're listening to this and if you feel comfortable doing so, what your biggest lesson has been from 2021? I mean, goodness, I'm sure you like me have gone through a whole lot of lessons. Some you didn't wanna learn, some you were happy to learn, but yeah, if you are listening to this and later on, feel like you wanna share with me, then please send me a DM. You can do that @mydailybusinesscoach on Instagram, or you can send an old school email, hello@mydailybusinesscoach.com. So yes, I'm gonna go through five lessons that I've learned. These are not in any particular order. One, the first isn't necessarily the most important.
They're just things that I thought about when I sat down to reflect on what has 2021 given me and gifted me, you know, lessons are always a gift. And I think if we can have that kind of mindset, then it allows us to really reflect on what are we gonna take from 2021 into 20, 22 and into future years as well. And you know, maybe some lessons that we're happy to kind of leave behind. All right. So I'm gonna stuck into these. I'm just riffing. There are no real notes except what the lesson is called. So hopefully this all makes sense, but yeah, like I said, I'd love to know what you have learned. So please don't be a stranger, all right. In no particular order, number one, "boom". Accept help. Whoa. Now that is a big one for me. And it's a big one in life, not just in business, but really I think that accepting help is a lesson that I've had to learn over and over and over and over again.
Definitely, I'm somebody who tends to think I'm fine. I can do it. Even in terms of, you know, at home with my husband, he'll sometimes be like, do you need me to do anything? I'm like, no, I don't, but then I'll be like, "Oh gosh, why didn't I do this, this, this, this, this". And I think that's something that, you know, probably I'm gonna have to keep learning for a lifetime, but this year in particular, I really think that accepting help was a huge thing for me to really just embrace. And, you know, if somebody said, I'm happy to do this, or I'd love to do this for you. I tended to be a little bit more on the, yes, that would be great side versus I'm gonna be a martyr and do everything myself. And so that was a huge one. So in my business, what did that look like? In terms of accepting help, firstly, I invested in a mastermind and I'll get onto that in a second.
But from that, I actually met some really incredible people out of that and have made, you know, lifelong friends. And part of that was, you know, me offering what I knew to those people, but also those people generously offering, "Hey, this is a contact. I think that, you know, might be able to help you" or, "Hey, have you seen this framework?" Or, "Hey, this is how I do this in my business?". And I think that has been just really wonderful to be part of that kind of community and to also embrace it and to be like, yes, I can accept help. And I can, you know, do that. I've talked many times before about Natasha ACE, one of my good friends. We meet with each other every quarter and we catch up every single week and talk about our businesses. And she is definitely somebody that I accept help from on the regular.
And I'm lucky enough to be, you know, surrounded by so many great friends and family. My sister is a GP and I'm sure many times she would rather just say, go to your own doctor Fiona, but sometimes she does sometimes she's like, you know what? You should do it. You should call your GP and I'm like, I'm calling you. But yeah, there are definitely people in my life that I've definitely accepted help from a lot. And I would say that this year, I learned to accept it from a few more people. One in particular. I remember Gen Bailey earlier this year in between the many, many, many lockdowns that we were in. We had a short window of time around my birthday, which is the end of June. And I thought we were just gonna get, take away, and kind of, we hadn't really organized anything.
It was sort of that hard situation when you've got restrictions and you don't really know what you can do, where you can go. And anyway, I thought we were just gonna get takeaway, watch Netflix, put the kids to bed, you know, normal kind of stuff. And somebody turned up on my doorstep on my birthday and it was my friend, Jen Bailey. She's also a small business owner and the creator of I am 11 and a happy sad man. And my first thought was actually have I organized dinner? And I completely forgot. Did I organize something that I didn't know because I was just so taken aback that she was there and she literally was like, I'm here to look after the kids? You guys are gonna go out for dinner. Have a really nice night. And I have to say it was just such a beautiful thing.
Firstly, have somebody who would even think like that and be so generous with their time and so considerate, but also to, to be able to say, thank you, I'm gonna receive that help. And I'm going to take it and not turn down these opportunities. And I think in business and in life, we can do that a lot. We can sort of feel like we're putting other people out or it's a burden or, you know, not asking for help as much as we potentially could. So that was number one, accepting help. And I would urge anyone who's listening to this who maybe has been a bit like me in terms of, no, I can do it to sort of put the breaks on and think, well, what would it look like if the next time someone offered? I actually just said yes, because most of the time people are offering, cuz they genuinely want to help you.
And they feel really good as well. So why not just accept it and say yes. So that's number one, accept help. That was a massive lesson this year.
Number two on my list of five lessons that 2021 has taught me was to invest in my business. So, you know, I talk about this with people all the time, investing in myself. And it's something that I've done consistently since I started my business. But this year I really stepped it up a notch and I invested in this six-month mastermind program, which was, which was great. And you know, the people that I met through that have just been phenomenal and you know, amazing. So that was a big thing for me to do, not just investing in the actual, you know, financial investment, which was a chunk, but the time. So this mastermind, because it was in the US, was actually run mostly at 5:00 AM.
Sometimes twice a week, 5:00 AM to 6:00 AM, sometimes 5:00 AM to 7:00 AM. We had two retreats as well. And because of the lockdown, one of those, I could book a hotel for it. The other one I had to do from home due to restrictions and both of those meant being awake basically all night, my time and then kind of sleeping a little bit in the day and then being awake again for two nights consistently. So it wasn't just the investment of financial money really, which is what people often think of. When you think about investing in your business, it was the time it was also, you know, talking with my husband and saying, Hey, I'm gonna have to get up really early twice a week, which means that you are gonna have to look after the kids on those days. Now my husband looks after the kids, we are literally 50%.
We are so equal when it comes to looking after our kids. So it wasn't like, oh, he poor him. He has to get up. It was that his days of potentially sleeping in, he had to get up instead of me. So it wasn't even just me. It was my whole family that was sort of investing in this program. And, I'm glad that I did. So it's not just the mastermind. I also hired a new Pinterest manager. I have had people work with me on Pinterest before some have been good. I have been absolutely shocked, but yeah, I decided that enough was enough. I was going to hire somebody and hire them on a much more regular basis. So yes, I have somebody great on my team who works on Pinterest. I think it's about 12 hours, 10, 12 hours a week, purely working on that program.
I also invested in an online business manager. So really looking at what was working and what wasn't working in my business and finding somebody with a skill set that could really help us scale. So there was a whole lot of kind of investing in the business. Also investing in different kinds of equipment in the business. So I have been doing business coaching for six years. I'm going into my seventh year, shortly in 2022. And for a long time during my one-on-one coaching, I would write things by hand. I'm a visual person. I like sketching things out and I would often take notes by hand and I thought, you know what? This is a bit ridiculous. I should just get a new iPad. So I got an iPad pro and I got the lovely pen with it, and the stand, and everything. And it has just made it so much easier to take notes, to sketch things, to do a whole bunch of things.
And I'd been looking at that for a couple of years and I don't really know why I didn't, I guess it's sometimes these things that you think, oh, I'll put that aside. I'll put that aside. I'll do it later, invested in that, invested in an apple watch, which is kind of exciting and not to say all this to boast or be like, oh, look, I'm splashing the cash. But really I think I started taking things a lot more seriously and thinking, you know, what this business has been doing pretty well for quite a few years, I can actually invest back into the business. So I've reaped so many rewards from that investment. And you know, I've always invested in a business coach. I've always invested in key people around me that have been experts in their field. So it, it was just a, a different type of investment this year, but absolutely investing in my business has been such a huge payoff for me.
And it's something that if you are, you know, on the line about things like whether it's business coaching, whether it's, you know, investing in a course, so you can upgrade on something, maybe it's investing in staff, investing in, you know, a better warehouse system, whatever it is, you know, really sit down and look at the pros and cons. But quite often, sometimes we need to invest before we actually think we are a hundred percent ready. And sometimes I find, you know, when I talk to my clients, once they get a staff member on board, for sure, they're like, oh my God, I should have done this like two years ago. So that is lesson number two, invest in my business. Lesson number three, and just a reminder, these are not in any particular order of importance. They're all kind of equally important. Lesson number three for me is really, it does not all have to be done today.
So one of the things that I work with clients a lot on is the alignment between their values and the way that business runs. So I am definitely not the type of person who's like turn X your business tomorrow. And you must have, you know, a 90-day runway for launching and you must do 27 webinars in 24 hours and send an email every three seconds to, you know, your database. That is a hundred percent not me. The way that I work with people, whether it's through marketing for your small business, the course or one-on-one coaching or group coaching, or any kind of way that I work with people is to figure out a lot about them. What makes them tick? What are their values? What do they want the values underpinning the business to be, what do they want from this? What does success look like?
And not just financial, but you know, emotional, physical, spiritual success look like and really align the brand and their values. Because I think that that is what makes a successful business and a successful life. You know, you're in business, not just for monetary gain, but to change your life and to change the lives of those around you. So my number one value, and I've talked about this many times is freedom. It has always started off with freedom and it always will have freedom in my values list. And so I guess for me, freedom is something I come back to again and again, and again, both externally, you know, with my clients, how can I help them feel like they've got more freedom? How can I help them feel freer to make decisions that might bring them more confidence, which brings more clarity? And in my own, you know, internally in the business things like are my staff feeling like they've got the freedom to work when they wanna work?
Have they got the freedom to ask me questions? Have they got the freedom to upskill and up-level and help their own businesses? Because they all run their own businesses. But so freedom is a huge value of mine. And it's something that I've had to come back to a few times in 2021 and really align the way I'm working with that brand value. And you know, I know not everyone has this privilege of being able to be in this position, but I, you know, turned down work because I just felt like the freedom element was going to be impacted. I also, you know, I've talked about this before on the podcast as well. I don't work Wednesdays and Fridays and I don't usually see clients on a Monday. And during this year I felt like slowly, slowly, we were letting you know, people booking Mondays when they usually don't.
We were changing things around a lot for people and it just started impacting my own freedom. And I thought, no, this is not how I've set my business up. And so I remember having a conversation with my VA at the time and just sort of saying to her, I can't keep doing this. Like we've gotta put some brown boundaries back. We've gotta, you know, really keep true to the boundaries that we've set up that have helped us so much with this business. And so, you know, that looked like going back to people and sort of being like, we can't actually move this. This is kind of when you've booked in. So what else could we do, but we're not gonna move it onto the days that we don't usually see people. It also meant really setting up boundaries again myself, you know, really not getting back to people if it's after hours, not getting back to people on weekends, like just all the things that I've had in place for years now and slowly in 2021, I felt like some of those were kind of coming a little bit unstuck.
And so I really went back to that idea and I guess this whole lesson of like, it doesn't all have to be done right now and you don't have to say yes to everything that comes along. And so that also looked like turning down, you know, particular clients, it turned down particular opportunities, including media opportunities, certain podcasts that asked me to be on them that I said no to, which is not to be like, oh, I'm so picky. It just was like, you know what? That podcast is not gonna work with everything else I've got going on right now. And so we just sort of went back to the drawing board and looked at the brand values and were like, okay, freedom, family alignment, education, kindness. How are we actually living up to those internally? Not just externally. So that's just a reminder for anyone whos listening, who may be feeling like everything kind of got on top of them a little bit last year or this year I should say 2021 here I am almost into 2022 feeling like I'm there already, but really looking at, you know, how much of that, which sounds really harsh, but how much of that is our own fault?
How much are we enabling people to walk over the those boundaries that we had thought we'd set up really solidly? And so lesson number three is really about, you know, aligning your brand with your values, making sure that the two go hand in hand, not just externally customer-facing client-facing, but internally as well, how are we creating systems creating the, to creating the environment so that we, as the business owner also get to, you know, enjoy and align with those brand values as well. It's not just sort of one way externally, but internally the brand and the values are in true alignment. So that was number three. It does not have to all be done today and really, really focusing on the brand and the values alignment. And before I dive into number four, I should just let you know that if you have not worked on your values or maybe it's been a bit of time before, you know, since have done that we have a free values checklist and you can find that at my daily business, coach.com/free stuff, and just look for the values checklist, we'll link to it in the show notes, but it's a great place to start.
If you feel like you need to revisit your values for 2022 or anytime at all, whenever you're listening to this, or if it's just something that you wanna go back and kind of maybe validate the ideas that you've got for your brand values. So again, you can find that plus a bunch of other things over at mydailybusinesscoach.com/freestuff. All right! Onto lesson number four in the five lessons that 2021 taught me. I mean, of course, they taught me so many more, but these are five of them the number for, oh, this is a big one. It's okay to celebrate your wins. So, Hmm. This is a big one for me. So I tend to, I always feel weird saying this on a podcast, but where, you know, I'm touting my stuff all the time and, you know, giving you links and saying, download this and blah, blah, blah.
But I have not actually entered my business in many awards if any, really. So every year since I've started this, I get a notification about that. You know, at least three people have nominated you for the Telstra Women of the Year Business Award. I get notifications about umbrella awards or other stuff, the AusMompreneur, I think it's called, you know, like where people have put your name forward for things and really I should be entering them. You know, this is something that I guess I also feel weird about because I'm, I'm also telling my clients, oh, you know, you could enter awards and this is part of your brand strategy and awareness building. And I think it's something I've thought about for sure. Sometimes, you know, just the deadline passes and I'm like, "Oh, no forgot to do it. Didn't get things done in time."
The Australian podcast awards this year were something that kind of crept up on me, even though it was in our plan. And I kind of started pulling together. You had to pull together a lot of information. I started pulling that together and then just a whole lot of life stuff happened right in the week before it was due and I just didn't get around to it. And then I looked and it was like, you know, due on Monday and it was Sunday afternoon. And I just thought I wanna spend this time with my kids. I don't wanna go into the office and do all of this paperwork sort of stuff, but it's definitely something I wanna enter next year. But I did decide to enter this year, the Australian Business Book Awards, and I also entered one other award and the other awards I got, absolutely nowhere didn't get any kind of notification or anything from them.
And then the Australian business book awards, I also thought that that had happened. So the night that the awards were on, which was November, I was watching them with my husband. My husband, I think he was kind of on his way out or maybe he'd just come home. Anyway. He was saying, what are you watching? And I was like, oh, I'm gonna watch these Australian business book awards. However, my book hasn't won anything. And he was like, how do you know? And I was like, oh, I think they notify people, you know, well ahead of time. And the reason that I thought that was that my book, "Passion, Purpose, Profit" was shortlisted for the Australian Book Design Awards earlier this year. Now that is something that I think the publisher or the award ceremony kind of just finds these books. I'm not sure how that all works, but I, I definitely didn't enter that, but it was long-listed and then shortlisted.
So that's sort of like the top five books in the non-fiction category for the best designed. And my book was beautifully designed by an amazing designer called Andy Warren and also Hardie Grant books. I was really excited about that. I was like, oh my gosh, what have my book wins? And when I was watching that award ceremony for the Australian Book Design Awards, I thought that it was all life. And then when people won, it was all like prerecorded. And I was like, oh, so they all knew who had won way ahead of time. So then when it came to the Australian Business Book Awards, I thought that was the same thing. So I was like, well, no one's emailed me. Nothing's happened. It's the night of the awards. Therefore, I haven't won anything. And I said that to my husband, I haven't won anything.
And he was like, are you just not gonna watch it unless you've won? And I'm like, no, but I kind of was like, mmm. But no, I, then I decided, no, I'm definitely gonna watch it. Even not as a winner, just as you know, just to see who actually won. And I was absolutely like, I'm genuinely saying this shocked when I saw my book shortlisted. So in the top three for two, two categories for the overall best business book for 2021. And so it was in the top three and then one of those ones, and then it was actually the winner for the best general business book for the Australian Business Book Awards 2021. And I think they had around 140 books entered into it that have been published in the last year in the business category. So my point here is, I was completely shocked that it won.
I mean, I wasn't shocked. I think it's a good book, but as in, I was shocked just, I just had no, no idea, but I would never have won if I had never put myself forward. And I guess this is a long-winded way of saying that, that lesson number four, it's okay to celebrate your wins as someone who champions other small business owners and regularly shares their wins regularly asks them how you gonna celebrate this? I mean, that's like probably if you're a client, you're probably laughing because I've probably said that to you at least 10 times. "How are you gonna celebrate this? How are you gonna celebrate this?" I think that we really need to stop and celebrate and acknowledge our wins, but I am just like everybody else. And I still find it, especially being an Australian, difficult to put myself forward for things and to be like, I'm doing a good job.
And I'm going to put that out there, whether it's posting on social media and being like, look, we're, you know, number two in marketing in all podcasts in Australia, or "Hey, we're ranking here..." Or, "Hey, we got this many downloads..." Or "Hey the book is up for this award..." Like every time that I've posted those, I have also gone through the whole, oh my God, am I gonna look like I'm boasting? Am I gonna look like I've got a big ego? And that has been something that this year, my gosh, six years in, I just sort of embraced and went, you know what? I'm proud of the stuff that I put out and it's okay to celebrate that it's doing well. The other thing last year, I had just this horrible thing happen and I've talked about it before on this podcast. It was just a really sad thing that had happened, where somebody, I thought that was quite close to me, sort of let me know that they felt that they were in competition with me.
And I did not feel that way at all. I was genuinely celebrating them and I thought, likewise, and, and so I guess from that, it really knocked my confidence and made me think, oh, should I not talk about things? You know, I don't want my friends to think that they're, that there's a competition. I don't want my friends to think that I'm big myself or anything like that. And so I really hide away from stuff, doing stuff in 2020 because of that incident. And so in 2021, I thought, no, you know, I'm doing some good things and I'm gonna, you know, I'm gonna be okay with celebrating those things. So that is lesson number four. And just a reminder to anyone who's listening, who maybe you've been thinking about, you know, entering the award, or maybe you've been thinking about sharing some really exciting news, or you've been thinking about even just telling your friends and family that, you know, these big investment opportunities come in or this incredible partnership opportunity has come in.
And I think the more that we can all do that and feel okay about doing it, the more opportunity and possibilities that open up for everybody else, the more we hide those things away. And especially as female entrepreneurs, you know, kind of be modest and like all coy and "Oh, no, I don't wanna, you know, look like I'm bragging." I think that it's actually just a, in detriment to all small or business owners. So if that is you and you're listening to this and it's inspiring you in any way, then maybe 2022 is your year to put yourself forward and celebrate your wins on a bigger scale. So that is number four. It's okay to celebrate your wins. And number five in the lessons that 2021 really drove home for me is that mindset is absolutely key. And I'm just gonna repeat that mindset is absolutely key.
Now I know that sometimes the word mindset or any of that stuff can really make people feel like, oh, it's all very fluffy and BS, and oh, here they go on their mindset is everything. And if you could just have the right mindset, everything that you've ever wanted will flow forward through to you. I'm not saying that, but I definitely feel that time you are faced with a challenge. You really, really can sit and think, do I wanna kind of dwell in what I've lost or do I want to look at this as to, you know, what is this teaching me? What education is here? How could I get curious about it rather than seeing it as a kind of chaotic thing? And of course that even the option of just sitting and thinking like that might take months after the thing has happened, it might take years.
It may be something that you, you know, a point that you only get to through, you know, working with a therapist or working with your GP or working with a specialist of some sort. But I do think that everything that comes to us has some sort of lesson to teach us. Now, I'm not saying that "Oh my gosh, the most traumatic thing has ever happened to you." Or "The death of somebody or, or, you know, especially like a child or anything else that is just horrendous", that you should just be so thankful and, "Oh my goodness, you just need to have the right mindset", not at all. But I am saying that in certain, in cases with a small business where to say you've lost an opportunity or where a customer complaint has come in or where maybe you've realized that the platform you're on, you've outgrown it as a business or even the stuff you've kind of outgrown them or, or they've outgrown your business.
And, you know, it's time for them to move on. Those things can really show us lessons in education if we have the right mindset. So in 2021, I really did a lot of work I've talked about before, like the year of health and working with like kinesiologist and the energy healer and all sorts of things. Definitely, some things that I would've liked laughed at years ago, but, and some things that I would've embraced years ago as well, but really looking at my mindset, not just in my business, but with lockdown after lockdown, after a lockdown in Melbourne, looking at my mindset around having the kids at home 24 7 homeschooling, not having childcare. And I remember a good friend of mine said to me, I don't know, this is something that is bandied around a lot. And so it wasn't the first time I'd heard it.
But I remember when she said to me, you know, what, if you just reframed it to, I have to do this instead, just reframe it to, I get to do this. I get to spend this much more time with my kids, or I get to have my whole family at home all the time, or I get to do X, Y, Z. And it sounds so, you know, twee, and sometimes even in the moment, you can be kind of defensive and be like, Aah, well, that's all very well and good to say", but I really did notice that when I started saying that to myself and being like, I get to be with my kids for the next five weeks, or I get to, you know, really understand what they're doing at school. I mean, anyone prior to lockdown who has not homeschooled versus now, I mean, yes, there's a lot of stress and overwhelm and challenge and tears from everyone, but I also really did get a huge insight into what the schools are teaching and where my son's up to and all sorts of things that I would never have got if we had not gone through this pandemic.
And again, you know, I definitely need to preface this whole number five with, I understand that some things are bigger than just going, just flip the script and your mindset. And everything's great, but I really do think that 2020 just reminded me a lot that a lot of what I see is coming through a lens and I get to choose how that lens, you know, operates. I get to choose if that lens is full of negativity and critique and cynicism, or I get to choose if that lens is a bit more curious, a bit more hopeful, a bit more positive, a bit more upbeat. And I'm not saying that these were easy things to do. They definitely were not. I'm like everybody else. I went through lots of challenges, lots of tears, lots of screaming at the TV, lots of super frustration at all sorts of things that were going on, you know, really, really getting down about some things I had to dig deep that I definitely think that my mindset has become stronger as a result of 2021.
I think that all sorts of things in life build resilience. I think losing people that you love and I've talked about it many times, both of my parents have gone. I lost them both in the last couple of years. I'm literally recording this on my father's anniversary of his two-year passing. And so definitely have gone through really hard times trying to get pregnant and a whole bunch of other things. But I think with each of those comes a deeper understanding of what life is about a deeper empathy for other people. And I do think that it helps your mindset. You, you have a perspective on things. So the mindset is absolutely key and that is lesson number five for me throughout this whole year, both personally, both in the business, just really being aware of what sort of mindset have I got right now, where am I choosing to shift things?
And to be a little bit more curious, a little bit more positive, holding my tongue a little bit. I remember one of my bosses once said to me, "Fiona,, you don't need to say everything that you think". And I remember at the time being kind of defensive about that comment, but I really it's really something I've come back to. A few times this year, just hold your tongue. Just even things as simple as, you know, coming out in the morning, I definitely would say that I am a morning person, but you know, the pandemic, the stress, the everything, sometimes I'd come out in the morning and I'd realize I was just in a crap mood and I'd just woken up. And then I was projecting that crappy mood onto everyone else in the house, lucky them. And so I started this silly thing where I'd get up and if the kids were already up with my husband, I would get up and I would, you know, go to the bathroom, whatever, brush my teeth.
And then I would walk out to the kitchen and I'd be like, "Good morning, my loved ones" or "Good morning, lovely people who I get to spend another day with", or just, you know, silly things. And the kids would laugh and I would be in a better mood. They would be in a better mood. And it was literally the smallest thing of me choosing at the moment when I woke up to not be annoyed that yet again, or in another day of lockdown, or yet again, the kids are arguing about something or yet again, you know, premier of the state is on the TV saying X, Y, Z, that he promised that, you know, whatever, I'm not gonna get into that, but I just had to have that split second of going, I can either be a crap mood and deliver that. And everyone else kind of gets into a crap mood too.
And then another day is kind of wasted or I can flip it and be like, I'm healthy. I still have a job. So does my husband, we are incredibly, incredibly lucky. We have two beautiful children who are also healthy. We have some money in the bank like we are doing very, very well and really I have nothing to complain about. And it was making that mindset shift that just totally changed a lot of those days. And it's something that I still do if I wake up in the morning and I usually try and say a kind of thought or prayer to myself and it makes a world of difference. And it's funny, my mom and dad were Irish Catholics. And so there was a prayer that my mom used to start the day with a lot when I was growing up with or growing up, I should say, or growing up with, with her.
But yeah, she used to start the day with this one particular prayer, this like a short prayer. And I won't say the whole thing, but, but the start of it was a good morning, good day. And I just thought such a good place to start like good morning, good day. I'm putting that intention out there. And it's such a silly thing, but I've, I've thought about that prayer from childhood many times in this last year and sort of thought, well, yeah, if you get up in the morning and you have that mentality, it's gonna be a good day. Maybe it just might be. So that is number five. Mindset is absolutely key. So just to recap, I learned many, many, many, many, many lessons in 2021, but these are five that I decided to share today. Number one, accept, help to invest in your business. Number three, it does not all have to be done today.
Make sure your brand and your values are in alignment. Number four, it's okay to celebrate your wins. And number five mindset is absolutely key. So I would love to know what lessons 2021 has taught you. Maybe if you've not thought about this, maybe take today's episode as a chance to, to sort of just reflect. Maybe if you're in the car, maybe just sit in the car for another 10 minutes after this finishes and, really think about what did 2021 teach you and what sort of lessons are you gonna bring into 2022 and the years following as well? So thank you absolutely so much from the bottom of my heart for listening to this podcast again this year for all the support, I can honestly say so many of the mindset shifts that I had year were as a direct result of people sending me a DM.
Right, when I was just about to have the worst possible day and I would get this DM saying, "Oh my God, I just discovered your podcast and X, Y, Z". And honestly guys, like I know these sound really cheesy when people say them in the podcast, but I really, really, really value those and appreciate them. They just, you have no idea sometimes, you know, you're recording this, you're just in a blast state of mind. And then you get a DM or an email or something from somebody saying, I love your podcast. Or it has helped me because of X, Y, Z. And it just makes it all worthwhile. And I'm like, everybody else going through this pandemic. I've got two children. I'm trying to keep my business going as well. My husband is working and he's had so many changes to his work. And so, we are all going through it and you know, it really, really means the world that you are spending time listening to this podcast, sharing it with people, leaving reviews, sending me DMS.
So thank you. Thank you. And I hope that I see you around here next year. And if you are listening to this, if you've been a long-time listener, or maybe you've just sort of started, either way, thank you and welcome. But if you're listening to it and you either have a problem that you would love me to address on the podcast, or you have a tip or tool or a tactic that you think I should with other people on the podcast, please get in touch. You can email us at hello@mydailybusinesscoach.com. You can send me a DM. I'm at @mydailybusinesscoach on Instagram, or you can just, where else could you find me The Good Business Group, which is my free Facebook group, full of wonderful small business owners in there always having a chat. So feel free in any of those ways to get in touch with love.
Love, love, love, love to hear from you, but for now, I'm wishing you a happy, happy, happy new year. I hope that 2021 is coming to a nice close for you. Not like a chaotic, challenging, crazy one, just, a nice kind of peaceful end to the year. And I hope 2022 just looks incredibly bright and amazing. Thank you so much for listening. I'll see you next time. Bye.
