#111 To Rinse & Repeat: Why It's A Good Thing In Business
Today I’m talking about a game changing strategy that I’ve been using in my business which is my rinse and repeat approach. This is also something that I’ve also been sharing with my clients to help them ditch the overwhelm and bring back a sense of calm into their business.
In this episode, I’m sharing exactly what the rinse and repeat approach is, why I use it in my business and the amazing benefits it brings.
There is a lot happening as we near the end of quarter one and I see a lot of business owners making decisions in reaction to all the noise and distractions that are an inevitable part of running a business. Unfortunately, this reactive state doesn’t set us up for long term sustainable success.
The rinse and repeat approach is about taking a fresh look at your business to discover what works, what doesn’t work, what you can do better and simplifying things to focus on improving your offerings and systems. I share how I do this through analysing data, taking onboard client feedback, and considering the direction of the business, my team and my vision.
Choosing to set aside distractions and trying to do all the things will bring a refreshing sense of calm to your business, no matter how busy you are. This approach helps you establish boundaries and means that you’re making decisions in a considered and calculated way that is aligned with your business.
I hope you find this episode of great value. I encourage you to look at your business with fresh eyes and take the time to analyse the data so that you can identify where you need to be spending your time, energy and money in order to create a sustainable business.
Full Transcript:
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[00:00:00] Tracey: Hello everyone and welcome back to another episode of the Rise Up in Business podcast. Thank you for joining me. I wanna talk about one of my favorite topics today, and that is an approach that I use in my business this year, which is a rinse and repeat approach, but I wanna explain why. Why it is that I wanna talk about this today.
[00:00:40] I don't know about you, but it's feeling like for small business owners at the moment, it's a really busy time. There's so much going on. There's so much happening, and as we end, well, we're nearing the end of quarter one when I'm recording this, there's a lot of reconciliation, pause and reflect, looking at the financials, it's all happening.
[00:01:01] What I see a lot of lately, and I'm having lots of conversations about this with my clients in my one-on-one strategy sessions, is a lot of reactive state. So there's a lot of business owners reacting to all the noise and all the distractions that are an inevitable part of running a business.
[00:01:17] So I'm talking reels and reels and more reels and ChatGPT in the algorithms, online offerings, masterminds. Do I launch something new? Am I doing enough? Ugh, It's enough to send you around the bend, but I'm seeing it a lot and that reactive state does not set us up for long-term sustainable success as business owners. Much of what I see in the matters, or the clients that come to me in a pickle or they come to me with a dispute on their hands or with a really tricky situation. They're coming to me to give them some advice and support and guidance to help them out, which I do, but they didn't land in those situations because they were taking cool, calm, and considered approaches.
[00:01:59] They landed in those situations more often than not, because they were reactive, because they were rushing, because they were making decisions in haste or because they were acting out of emotion. and emotion's, not necessarily bad. Sometimes they're acting out of excitement and drive and they wanna just jump into, for example, commercial lease jump in without getting legal advice and all of a sudden, six months down the track realised that they are in strife and financial bother.
[00:02:25] But the point is they were in a reactive state jumping in boots and all keeping up with all the people, doing all the things also they think. And so being in that reactive state and making those decisions doesn't set a business up for long-term sustainable success. Getting caught up in the noise and the distractions doesn't lend itself to us as business owners making the best decisions for our business long term.
[00:02:50] I'm not saying you shouldn't make decisions quickly, and I'm not saying you shouldn't factor in emotion and what feels good. Of course you should. What I'm saying is that when we are making decisions in our business, I think we need to find a way to move away from the noise and the distractions to give ourselves the space to make decisions that are right for the business, for the right reasons. If you've been following me for a while, you would've heard me say about six or eight months ago, I don't do overwhelm, and that has been really powerful for me because it has stuck.
[00:03:23] So since I declared that to myself and I've shared it on my social media platforms and I've shared it on this podcast, I actually not once have I fallen back into a state of overwhelm and previously I would end up in overwhelm very easily, very easily with all of the things and all the moving parts and the financials and reports and all the different client needs, I would fall into overwhelm quite easily, but I no longer do because I made a decision and I drew a line in the sand and I have not fallen back into overwhelm once.
[00:03:56] what I've also declared about six months ago in my business, and I've been talking to a lot of clients about this approach, and it's received really well and I've seen some great things as a result of this, is that I no longer get caught up in the noise and the distractions either. I spent some time getting really clear on my why, making sure that what I was offering and what I was doing in my business was perfectly aligned and I've stayed true to it. And when a new idea comes across my desk or I see something new and I think, gosh, that could be good.
[00:04:28] I'll park it and allocate time to consider it in the next quarter, such that I'm not making decisions rationally or based on emotion or fear or imposter syndrome or fear of missing out, or any of those things, I'll calmly park it and revisit it later and make an informed decision as to whether it's right for my business, and it feels so good. I feel so good in taking that approach, as do many of my clients. The approach that I'm taking that feels so good and aligned rather than being reactive and making decisions based on haste, et cetera.
[00:05:05] It's a rinse and repeat approach. So I've been running this business long enough now to know what works and what doesn't. So I spent some time thinking about what works and what can we do better. We've analyzed data, we've taken on board client feedback. I've considered the direction of the business, the team, my why, my vision, all of the things. And we've adopted a rinse and repeat approach. I did that about six months ago, and this year it has been stellar. And the clients I'm talking to, the business owners I'm talking to are sharing with me that they feel really empowered by this rinse and repeat approach. And so I wanna talk to you about it today.
[00:05:43] When I say rinse and repeat, what I mean is identifying strategies and approaches in your business that are profitable, that are working, that are aligned, and focusing on those and tweaking them and improving them, and doing them better and better. And what it does is it helps with the boundaries around staying away from the noise and the distractions.
[00:06:05] It helps with improving or increasing profitability and return on investment because we know it works and we are tweaking it and we're making it better every time. Our team are involved and they're a part of it. And we can actually see collectively that we are working towards something. But what it also does is it's building brand recognition and credibility because consumers and our audience know what to expect from us, and there's no confusion in the marketplace about what it is that we do.
[00:06:33] It's really crystal clear. It takes the pressure off me as a business owner because I know where my focus and energy needs to be because I know what's gonna take my business to the next level, and I know what's gonna serve my clients even better. by extension, there's a natural ability here to maintain a competitive edge with our competitors in the market because we're not getting distracted doing all the things.
[00:06:58] We know that our client service is excellent, and we know that we are working consistently to improve it. And so when I'm having these conversations with my clients, What it's doing is it seems to be adding a sense of calm to the chaos that seems to be the end of quarter one this year, because it's taking the pressure off that we don't have to do all the things.
[00:07:21] All the things might be great, but in a considered way. In a calculated way and in a way that's aligned with our business. And so we're not spreading ourself thin and we're not spreading our team thin, asking everyone to do all the things and setting ourselves up for failure.
[00:07:39] Ultimately, when we don't have enough time to focus on doing one or two things really well and instead, taking a unified approach in a really calm and considered way to improve what we know is working. So two of my clients recently have said to me that one, this was a refreshing perspective and it's not something that they had considered.
[00:08:01] It's not new. Nothing I'm saying here is new, but it's easy to get distracted and caught up in all the moving parts and all the noise that sometimes we forget. So refreshing was the feedback from one. game changing was the feedback from another, because what it meant was she could park a lot of the things that she thought she had to do.
[00:08:23] That's where we fall into the shoulds. She parks a lot of the things she thought she had to do, focused on two offerings that she loves and she's made them better. She's got clarity. Her team feel like they have greater clarity as well, and that they've got an opportunity now to excel because they're only focusing on two of the offerings.
[00:08:43] The rest they might get back to later. But for now, they're focusing on the two and they've got a plan for the next two quarters. And I love a good plan. You know that about me. I love a good plan. But they've got a plan for the next two quarters on what they're gonna do to improve and how they're getting feedback and the numbers and the data, and the numbers and the data doesn't lie.
[00:09:01] So you can see for yourself in your own business what works and what doesn't. What's a good return on investment? What's profitable, what's not? What's aligned, what you enjoy and what you don't. And once you sit down and you look at all that data, And take some time to analyse it, it can be really easy to identify where you need to be spending your time and your energy and your money in your business.
[00:09:24] So where it is, you ought to be investing for greater return. So I don't know about you, but I love the simplicity of that. I find the rinse and repeat model really empowering and the cadence that it sets moving forward is really steady and controlled, it feels like, as opposed to being a bit frantic and a bit all over the place because there's always something new happening and now there's Canva updates and now there's a new reels function.
[00:09:48] Oh my gosh. And we have to get on and and do all the things. It almost seems like there's a solid boundary protecting us from all of that when we've got a really crystal clear approach of a rinse and repeat. This is what's working. I'm gonna make it better. I'll analyze it again. At the end of the next quarter, we'll have a look at the figures, we'll see how we're feeling.
[00:10:07] We'll touch base and talk with our clients and the consumers to see what it is that they're enjoying most about this. To see what their feedback is and to go forward and conquer in that way, I think is really special because that's why I'm sure most of my listeners listening into this episode will feel the same, that we didn't start our businesses to be living in reactive mode in a chaotic state, wearing all the hats all the time and getting closer to burnout. No.
[00:10:37] Most of us started our business to better serve, to be aligned and fulfill our purpose. To have flexibility with our families and our business to, to be able to incorporate self-care, guilt-free, and you don't do that in a state of chaos and reaction. You do that in a state of cool, calm, and collected. And for me, and I hope you find it the same, the rinse and repeat approach lends itself to that cool, calm, and collected, and I love it.
[00:11:04] And that's why I wanted to share this episode with you. I hope you have found that to be of value. If it sounds like the sort of thing you'd like to dive into more, feel free to jump over to my website and book in for a one-on-one strategy session with me.
[00:11:17] many clients do that so that we can dive into some of these issues that I talk about on the podcast and that I write about on the resources page on the website. So if it sparked your interest, feel free to book in. I would love to see your name pop up in my calendar. I hope this has been of value. As always, please let me know what you think.
[00:11:35] I love receiving your feedback, and thank you so much for listening. I'll catch you next time.
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