Food for thought and a Business Blueprint to help conquer the next 90 days!
Welcome! You're listening to the Aspire Podcast. The podcast for the boss and her business, for the babe who is motivated and ready to rise. I'm your host, Ashley Rufino, and this is your weekly dose of inspiration, where I shared tools and concepts to elevate your mind, body and business. May you be inspired and aspire. Let's get started.
Hello friends. I am so excited to be sharing episode number two with you on the Aspire Podcast. As of right now, you can find my podcast on Anchor, Google Podcasts, Spotify, Breaker and Radio Public. We are going to be on iTunes shortly and on a couple of other channels. So I'm so excited to be expanding where we can be heard. So this episode is titled, Stop Chucking Boulders. And we're going to go into what that means, and with this episode, you guys get a freebie. And so stay tuned to the end and you'll be able to find access to this freebie in the show notes.
What it's going to be is a business blueprint, and it's a 90-day plan. As we come to the end of the second quarter, there's some things to reflect on and I really want you guys to start the third quarter strong, and what a better way than to have your very own 90-day plan to create yourself. So let's get started.
I know some of you might be thinking, "Okay Ashley, it's only episode two and you are already telling me to stop chucking boulders. What does that even mean?" So as a business owner, it is really important to obviously set goals and work towards them. And some of the things that nobody really talks about is what happens or how we feel when we don't hit those goals? How do we handle, what do we do? Some of us have a great time just being able to brush it off and keep going. Other people allow themselves to shut down when this happens. And so, I want to go over kind of what to consider when we miss these big goals and kind of how to think about here.
One of the things that I want you to imagine as I discuss this concept is you're on the shoreline and like in the middle of this lake is this island, and that island is your dream life, your ultimate self, your everything that you want is on that island. And we're going to talk about how we're getting across this water.
One of the things that we hear as entrepreneurs is to think big, make these extraordinary goals that are beyond anything you could have ever dreamed. And while I think that those goals and those thoughts as a vision have their time and place, they are boulders, okay? They are these mantras you can't even get your arms around them. Big boulders. And they might look great and they might feel great, but try to pick one up, right? It's a little discouraging. You can't move this boulder. But just think about it in this sense, so let's say you've taken all the courage, all your strength, all your willpower into hulking this rock onto your shoulder and you chuck it.
So you've mustered up all that you could. You're going to go big or go home and you chuck that rock and it goes out, and it goes out far. And you're standing there and you say, "Well shit, I got to jump to that rock now." And while it is incredible and amazing to dream big and have these big goals, if you're not using stepping stones to get there, you are setting yourself up for failure. So you've chucked the boulder, well now you've just set yourself up for failure. And then this is where that negative self talk comes in of, "What the hell am I doing? I shouldn't even be doing this. Who did I think I was even thinking that I could? I'm worthless. I am stupid. I am," you name whatever thought comes into your head.
And so, we're so focused on these boulders and putting them out there that we are missing the foundation and the value of little stones. Okay? So I want you to understand that there is just as much value as a stone that can fit in the palm of your hand as that boulder. Okay? And so, you have these small goals, you have these small action steps, right? And every time you do something, you put that stone down. And as you keep laying these stones, a bridge eventually builds, right? And it may not be as fast as you want it to be, but that pile of stones is just as solid as that rock that you chucked out there. And so, there is no right or wrong stone, there's just a lot of them.
And you need to understand that every stone is needed. Okay? So you can chuck that boulder out there, but unless you're a really good, exceptional leaper, jumper, whatever you want to call it, you're setting yourself up for failure. And so, I want you to take these stones, these stones that you can hold in your hand, these stones in your hand are manageable and you can keep placing them down and they are going to eventually build something.
And don't let yourself get into this overthinking, "I don't know, these rocks seem a little wobbly." Overthinking as a trap, and it is triggered by fear. When you choose to build your path with these smaller stones, it is one of the things that can give you control. There is so much fear in crossing the water to get to the other side, and the only thing that can give you control is doing what you're afraid to do, is crossing that water and using the smaller stones to get there. Like I said, there is no right stone, there's just a lot of them and they build on one another to get you to the other side.
And so, doing what you are afraid to do means that you're taking action. And the greatest thing about action is it's a physical commitment that you're going to do something. And when you take action and take that commitment, you're taking ownership over every stone you are putting out there. So ultimately, you need to keep in mind that those small stones are no less valuable or no less needed than those boulders. And that is why I am telling you to stop chucking boulders. It is okay to dream big, but break it down. and we're going to go into that in the 90-day planner, how to plan out your next 90 days, and we break it down from month to week to day. What action steps you need to be able to take for your business. But seriously, stop chucking those boulders, start building up with those very, very necessary pebbles. And we'll talk more about the 90-day planner here.
So I want to start with reflecting. Before you can move forward, we need to be able to take a look back at where you came from. And so, here is a few questions that I want you to ask yourself. What have you been doing that has been working? What have you been doing that is not working? Are you adding anything new that you have not done before?
I don't want you just to say, "Everything's not working." I really want you to think about certain things, because this is the part where we reflect so we can do better. So then the next part that we go into is casting the vision. So then once you have reflected, you need to be able to cast the vision. You absolutely have to be able to envision in your mind how you want things to be. So here's some of the questions, what are you passionate about that you want to get paid for? What will it feel like when this happens? What words and phrases can be used to describe your next level self? What does your life look like once you have achieved your next level self? Why is it important to make this vision a reality? What words and phrases can be used to describe if you do not fulfill your vision?
I really want you guys to sit down and work through what these mean for you. And there is nothing too grand or too silly or ridiculous. And you know what? They don't have to make sense to anyone but yourself. From there we start with the yearly plan. What are your top three goals for this year? What is your top personal goal for the current quarter? What's the amount of money you want to bring in for the year? All right, so from there we got to ... We start the 90 days. What are your top three goals for the quarter? What is your biggest project for this quarter? What is the amount of money that I want to bring in this quarter?
So from there, you take that quarterly number you just wrote and write it down and divide it by three. That is your monthly income goal. So from there, we break it down, lists all the ways you are bringing in an income every month. And this could be what you are now and what you would like to be. Write out specifically how much income is coming from each area until it equals that monthly income. Remember that this is a target goal, so don't panic about not hitting it.
Finally, for this 90-day, what is required from you at each of those areas to make it happen? And I want you to think to yourself how many clients you need to book and how will you go about gaining clients? So from there, we switch down to the 30-day plan, this is month one. What's your number one goal for the month? And then, under that, what are the action steps required to hit those goals this month? Please, break it down. Writing out sub tasks from each step takes the guesswork out of figuring out what is next.
The other thing to remember too is to make sure that your goals are SMART. Have you ever heard of SMART goals? If you haven't, this is what it stands for. S, specific. M, measurable. A, attainable. R, relevant, time bound. So specific, measurable, attainable, relevant, time bound, are your goals; specific, measurable, attainable, relevant, time bound?
So from there, we work down to the seven-day plan. Week one, what are your top three priorities for the week? And the biggest key for this as I want you to actually grab your calendar and schedule time into your week. And from there, I want you to list other tasks to get done. All right, so we have the weekly planner for that, and then we break it down into daily. And the daily plan is, what are your top three things to do today? What are your needle movers, right? So make sure that these things are the things that you do first, and when you write them out, be sure to include sub tasks and action steps to make them more attainable and easier to conquer.
Remember, not the boulder, the little stones. And then on a daily basis, who do you need to connect with today? so that brings us to the end of this episode. I know we kind of skated through what the 90-day plan was, but that was just kind of an overview of how I break it down and what is going to be included in the freebie below. So if you go ahead ... And gone on ahead into the show notes and follow the link below, you'll be able to sign up and get your copy of the 90-day Plan, Your Business Blueprint.
Thank you guys again for joining me for another episode. I am so excited to have you here. I wish you the best and the most success. Be sure to find us on our other podcast listening platforms, Anchor Google Podcasts, Spotify, Breaker and Radio Public. We'll see you soon, until next week.
Thank you so much for tuning into today's episode. For the latest on the Aspire collective, visit personalbrandingboss.com. Until next time, may you be inspired and aspire.