Episode 419: What are the invisible rules that hinder your business?
In this episode, Fiona explores the hidden rules we carry in both business and life. Learn practical tips and tactics to identify and overcome these invisible constraints. Tune in!
You'll Learn How To:
Impact of upbringing on rule formation
Different approaches to problem-solving and learning
Societal expectations and professional attire
Invisible pressures in business communication
Self-imposed limitations in business and personal growth
The importance of questioning and breaking down unhelpful rules
Examples of age-related and experience-related rules
Practical steps to overcome these constraints and improve business practices
Get in touch with My Daily Business
Connect and get in touch with My Daily Business:
Welcome to episode 419 of the My Daily Business Podcast. Today is a quick tip episode, and that's where I share a tip, tool or tactic that you can implement immediately and today. Which one is it? I think it's a bit of a tactic and a tip. It crosses both of those. But I also feel like this is one that you need to be aware of in business and life because it can raise its head in multiple places. If you're not aware of this, it can lead to a lot of challenges in a way. Before I get stuck into that, I want to of course acknowledge where I'm coming from and acknowledge the traditional owners and custodians of these lands. And that is the Wurrung and Wurundjeri people of the Kulin Nation. And I pay my respects to their elders past and present and acknowledge that sovereignty has never been ceded.
The other thing I wanted to mention is that we would love it so much if you could leave a review for this podcast. If you've ever listened to any episode of this podcast and you've found it useful, I would love it if you could just take 10 seconds out of your life and leave a review either on Apple, Spotify, Amazon Music or wherever you listen to this, because it does help other people find this podcast and it helps us. We don't monetise this podcast. Everything is done as a labour of love in a way from our business. This is a marketing channel for our business, but I know that so many people get so much out of this podcast, which is why we get all the downloads that we do. But I would just love it if you feel inclined and if you could leave a review. With that being said, let's get into today's episode and hopefully, you find this one useful as well.
Recently, my husband and I and our eldest child were working through these like practice exams for something that my eldest child had at school. We were all working through this one question. I was working through the maths behind how I would answer the question. My son was working through it, and then we put it to my husband because the way that my son and I had worked through it was different. It was very different from the way we'd calculated. We got to the same answer, but I was like, you do it that way. And then I said to my husband, “How would you have worked this out?” He worked it out a completely different way. And it was funny because it brought up a lot of discussion, which is very interesting. Myself and my husband went to primary school a long time ago, and teaching has changed, but it brought up what we all think of as rules.
I was brought up in a certain way, my dad was very strict, I wouldn't say strict is too strong a word, but he and my mom both expected me and my siblings to get good grades. And we were very aware of the sacrifice they had made. We were immigrants to this country, all of that. We were expected to maintain a certain level of schooling. And with that came certain rules that this is how you do this or this is how you work that out. We talked about the maths one and I was like, that's strange because I would've done it this way. Or then my husband had a different way of doing it. And then we moved on to an English one and I was saying to my son, haven't you learned I before E except after C?
He was like, “No, we've never learned that. I was like, “Really?” It just brought up all of these expectations and ways of me believing that he should be taught in school even when I haven't been in school myself. I'm not a teacher. This is also not bagging out teachers at all because I think that is one of the hardest jobs in the world. I don't have the patience to be a teacher in terms of primary school or even high school. But what it did bring up was these rules, these ideas of rules like this is the way you do something. It made me think about in relation to business, how many invisible rules we are all carrying around with us. Things like if somebody sends you an email, you need to get back to them within two hours.
If somebody sends you a DM on Instagram, you have to get back within a certain amount of time, or that's unprofessional. Or even things like, I wear Converse a lot, I wear Converse and pretty much I wear Converse and Birkenstocks and don't change it up. Occasionally I will wear a heeled boot if I have to go somewhere fancy or like go to a wedding. Not that that happens very often. I do have platform shoes for weddings, but I used to come from corporate and I used to have to wear heels as part of my job, which is crazy when I say out loud that you are expected to wear heels in a workplace because somehow that is professional when converse or flat shoes are not professional. when I started my business, I took a lot of these corporate rules with me and I didn't even know that I was doing it.
Things like what footwear I was wearing when I was presenting at workshops for corporates and it's laughable when I think about it. But I took that or my husband has a lot of tattoos and lots of people have tattoos these days, but we have friends who will cover their tattoos completely when they go into a workplace. Because they're like, it's seen as not professional face piercings. All these sorts of things that we carry around these stupid rules when you think about it. A face piercing has no relevance to whether somebody can do a job well or not or this skill, I think when I first started, I dressed in a certain way for corporates. I wore a lot of blazers and healed boots, and I slowly got into dressing in a way that was a lot more comfortable for me.
This is interesting because when I started my career, I was the editor of Fashion Journal. That was my very first full-time job. I always wore Converse. I lived in Converse and sneakers and jeans and hoodies, and occasionally I'd have to dress up for a fashion week event, but the majority of the time, if I could do it, I'd be in flat shoes. I just want to put into your consciousness, the rules that you're carrying around that are hindering you in your business or that maybe they're not hindering you, but they're not helping you in some major way. thinking about what it is. And often you can pinpoint these rules when you look for the pressure. Where does pressure exist? Where it's not, it's not like you're glistening a diamond, it's just irritating pressure.
It may be things like your inbox, it might be your customer service sequencing. It could be like putting yourself forward for things. I think people have invisible rules sometimes where they're like, if I'm good enough, someone will find me magically amongst all the millions of businesses that are out there and ask me to be on a panel, or ask me onto a podcast, or ask me to feature in a magazine or be interviewed by them instead of putting yourself out there because you have some rule that good people or people that are good at what they don't need to pitch themselves or don't need to put themselves out there. Interrogate the rules that you're carrying around with you. As I said at the start, it could be in business or life.
We have things all the time. I have so many wonderful clients and I'm starting to get more in their sixties, which I love. I have to say, if you're listening to this and you're in your sixties, rock on and book a coaching session, because I am just so enamoured and blown away by these people who have been coaching me recently who are in their sixties and killing it. And just brilliant people with so much wisdom, so much experience behind them much innovation to that they're putting forward into the next 10 years, the next 20 years, the next 30 years of their life. I find that amazing. But I think that sometimes with age, and I'm also guilty of it, I'm in my forties now, there will be invisible rules that you put in place for yourself. I shouldn't be on this platform, or who am I to do this?
I'm too old to do this. Likewise, I have also had clients, I think the youngest client I had was 17. She's now in her early twenties. Honestly, I think she'll be a prime minister of Australia one day and I can't wait for that. The back end of her systems and processes was next level. But there's also on that part of the spectrum, there's people that are like, I'm too young to do this, or I can't talk about this, or what will people say if I charge this much? Or there are just so many invisible rules that we all put in place for ourselves and in life as well. I should be this far along in my relationship, or I shouldn't be living here, or I should have bought a property by now, or whatever it is.
Interrogate those rules and think about whether they are helping you or hindering you. If they're hindering you in any way, whether it is hindering your confidence, whether it is hindering the ability for your business to get out there and be known a bit more, then consider how you might work through them. For example, if you have a rule, I'm trying to think of one that is that your emails need to get responded to in a certain fashion and you don't want to do that, then this is the perfect thing that you would outsource or where you would look for AI or you'd look for even just a basic order responder that says, “Hey, this is how I work.” You'll get a response within this timeframe instead of just having this irritation eat away at you or then beating yourself up about something.
Likewise, if you think that you are so good that people need to find you, you shouldn't pitch yourself, dare yourself to pitch yourself to something, just dare. Even if nothing comes from it, that practice alone and the fact that you did it is going to set you up to do it again and again. And each time it'll become easier till you break down that invisible rule and demolish it because it's not true. You can pitch yourself and also be good. Those two things can exist at the same time. You can also have people come to you unexpectedly asking you to do something, and you can also pitch yourself. It's not mutually exclusive. That is it for today, thinking about what are the rules that you are carrying around in your life and in your business that are not working for you, they're not helping you in some great way, and I'd love to know what they are.
You can always send us a DM @mydailybusiness_ on Instagram or just @mydailybusiness on TikTok. You can also go old school and send it to our whole team at hello@mydailybusiness.com. Thank you so much for reading. If you want to go through this in text format, you can find it at mydailybusiness.com/podcast/419. If you found this useful, if anything I've ever said on this podcast has been useful in these 419 episodes please leave us a review. It's just a lovely way that you can give back and we read every single one and we're appreciative. Thank you and see you next time. Bye.
