Episode 233: The problem is the portal
What's your mantra? Today is a quick tip episode where Fiona shares her favorite mantra and how it has helped her move from being overwhelmed and stressed to being curious, and a bit calmer. Tune in!
Topics discussed in this episode:
Introduction
The problem is the portal
Examples
Conclusion
Get in touch with My Daily Business Coach
Resources and Recommendations mentioned in this episode:
Welcome to episode 233 of My Daily Business Coach podcast. My name's Fiona Killackey and you are tuned in to a tip episode. That's where I give you a quick tip tool or tactic that you can implement immediately. All of these episodes are 10 minutes or less or they should be sometimes my editor's is like “This is way over Fiona.” But today I'm going to try and keep it in that 10 minutes, keep it short and sharp and really easily accessible. So before we get stuck into that two quick things, of course, I wanna acknowledge the traditional owners and custodians of the beautiful land on which I live and work and play and record this podcast. And that is the Wurundjeri and Wurrung people of the Kulin nation. And I pay my respects to their elders past, present, and emerging, and acknowledge that sovereignty has never been ceded.
The other thing I wanted to mention is that the Marketing for Your Small Business course and coaching program is back. So if you want to nail your marketing in 2023 and for the rest of this year, really hone in and create an incredible marketing plan that is very strategic. That is, not just like throw this at the wall, or maybe I should be doing that platform because everyone's suddenly doing it and getting strategic in your marketing. Definitely sign up to that. That course and coaching program will happen soon. It's a nine-week program. You go through the Marketing for Your Small Business course, you have access to that at any time, as soon as you sign up. And then we meet every week for nine weeks. And it's just the best I love doing this course because at the end you can opt-in to actually present your marketing strategy and plan to the rest of the people in the course.
I think it keeps you super accountable. So you're not one of those. I think it's like 80 or 90% of people who buy courses and never actually finish them. You are not, you're gonna be in the top 10, 20% and you actually have to stay accountable, do the work so that you can present to the rest of the team at the end of the nine weeks. So if you're interested in that, definitely check out marketingforyoursmallbusiness.com. You can also email us if you want more information at Hello@Mydailybusinesscoach.com. Let's get into today's quick tip episode.
So over the last few months, since the start of June, as people know, if you're on my email list. If you've been listening to this podcast, if you're a client, I have gone through a major health challenge, not major. I've had to really reassess a bunch of things because of three slip discs in my back. And I've done all sorts of treatment, acupuncture, cupping, physio, meditation, GPS, neurosurgeons, all of it. And it's been really eye-opening and I've watched a lot of documentaries. I've read a lot of books. That's who I am. I'm just a researcher at heart. And so one of those documentaries that I watched is Heal, HEAL like heal yourself. And I remember watching this when it first came out in 2017, cause I was trying to get pregnant, wasn't working and we watched this and I was like, “Okay, okay. If I could just think it into existence.”
I don't think that that stuff is actually true necessarily. I don't think people can just think themselves better if they have cancer or anything like that. But I do strongly believe in a mind-body connection and all the stresses and other things that can go on can actually have a physical response. Now I was watching Heal for the second time, or maybe the third time when I got into this back injury, I was like, “Okay, let me watch this again and see if I can take anything out of it.” That was different from the last two times I've watched it. And so I watched it and you know, I'm always blown away when I watch it. It's easy to watch it and be like, “Okay. If I just think right.”
But I definitely think there were some really good parts of it. And one thing that really stood out to me was when one of the experts and I actually looked up all the people that were interviewed and I can't see this guy who played a very small part in the documentary, but he said, and I'm paraphrasing, but something along the lines of “The Problem is the Portal” as in portal. And I have been really using that as a mantra for like literally the last few months in life, but also in business. And I think in business, obviously, this is a business podcast. I really think this can be so useful in business. So recently I had a client call me and they were very upset about something that had happened outside of their control in sort of the supply of product.
We talked about lots of different things. And one of the things that have come up is just changing some of their policies, changing some of their systems. Now, I think using this mantra, “The Problem is the Portal” is such a great way to move from being overwhelmed and stressed and freaking out about a problem to being curious, and a bit calmer. I mean, of course, we're all human and seeing like how is this problem, a portal to a better business, to a business that's going to run with better policies, better systems and processes, better legal contracts, and things like that. And I think with my back as well, the problem is the portal. The problem is my back and it was a portal to stop to reassess. I had been totally not meditating for months and months where I used to do that quite a bit.
I had totally let my end-of-day ritual dropouts. I was working right up until the point I had to pick up my kids. So there was no sort of gap at the end of the day. Whereas there used to be, we had let certain things slide in some of our systems. I really had to assess and go. I can honestly say that having this back challenge has been a portal to a whole bunch of interesting things, whether they're really deep conversations with some of my clients who also, I did not know, suffer from chronic pain. And I mean, anyone that suffers with chronic pain I'm sending you the biggest hug. I don’t know how people do it. I've only had a couple of months and it's really hard. So it's allowed me this portal, this gateway to get curious about all these other things.
I guess the tip today is to think about maybe there's a problem in your business right now. Maybe there's a staff member that's just being a bit slack, or maybe there is a bigger problem. Maybe there's some big financial problem. Maybe you've got tax issues. Maybe there's some manufacturing problem. That is huge. And is really going to impact you think about if you can, how is this problem, the portal. And I know it can sound really fluffy and like, “That's really nice to say, but I'm actually dealing with a whole lot of big insert, four letter word here right now.” But perhaps if you just take a step back, maybe take an hour back, maybe take a week back, whatever you need to take a step back and think about how is this a portal maybe we need to change, let’s say in the staff member, maybe we need to change our onboarding and maybe we need to do more one-on-one.
So this person feels very supported. Maybe we need to catch up with people more often. Maybe we need to really look at our supply chain and look at all the parts and not rush things. All the different maybes, but consider how is the problem, the portal. It has helped me so much. I cannot even express it. I feel like I'm saying it multiple times in my head throughout, especially the last few months, but it's something that I'm gonna take with me for life. In all instances, how is the problem, the portal? And I really hope that helps you as, as fluffy as it may seem when I first heard it, I mean, it instantly just was like, “Oh,” and I'd watched that film two other times. It didn't hit me. I think sometimes things have to hit you when they have to hit you.
And that when the man said it on the screen, it just instantly was like a big neon sign. “The Problem is the Portal” and I've used it ever since. And I hope that it helps you today, whatever you are dealing with consider going from a state of chaos and feeling really overwhelmed to one of calmness and feeling curious, how can I get curious? How is this allowing me a gateway to do things in a different way, maybe a better, better way, maybe improve in certain aspects that will help me long term, how is the problem, the portal? So that is it for today's quick tip episode. Definitely, under the 10-minute mark, my editor will be happy, but I just wanted to kind of remind you again, that if you are interested in Marketing for Your Small Business and the course and coaching program, definitely head on over to marketingforyoursmallbusiness.com. If you wanna go through this again in text format, you can find it in the full show notes over at mydailybusinesscoach.com/podcast/233 as this is episode 233. Thank you so much for listening. If you found this useful, I would love it so much if you might share it with a small business friend, just help other people. Maybe they really need to hear at the moment. “The Problem is the Portal.” All right, take care. See you next time. Bye.
Thanks for listening to the My Daily Business Coach podcast. If you wanna get in touch, you can do that at my daily businesscoach.com or hit me up on Instagram @mydailybusinesscoach.
