(I Haven’t Made It Yet) What’s the Big Vision for your Business?! - Ep 4

I didn’t know it before this year, but until recently, I’d been playing it small in my business. 

When I first jumped across from teaching to business, I was thinking about hourly rates, what would cover my working, and adopting a self-employed model, working from my previous experiences as a freelancer in theatre. 

But over the past 2 years, I’ve realised that if you’re building a business, your visions gotta be bigger.

If you’re not gonna be burnt out from wearing all the hats all the time, you’re gonna need a team.
If you’re gonna have a team, you’re gonna need to craft a culture. 
If you’re gonna craft a culture, you’ve got know what it looks like - you’ve gotta have a big vision. 

And those visions also extend past your business - what does the vision look like for you in the future? 

Having a big vision is the key driving force to any business owner achieving their version of big.

It doesn’t have to mean scaling past 7 figures, but it can allow you to dream past the £40k goal you had for you business “just to replace your salary.”

So listen in to hear my journey of building a big vision for the business, what I hope to build, and how you can flesh out the same big vision for your business too. 

Want to start a podcast? Download the FREE Podcast Starter Checklist, a 15-point guide created specifically for entrepreneurs, life coaches and course creators.

Music by Kadien: Instagram | Spotify | SoundCloud

Transcript

Speaker 1: 0:01

This week's reflection in the I haven't made it yet series comes from the place at which you start to evolve from your old self into your new self, when you start to build a business and move out of the normal lifestyle that everybody follows in terms of work, such as having a job, a nine to five, etc. And shifting into business ownership. And I think there's a couple of stages there, actually, because it's possible that you moved into calling yourself a small business, but the reality is that you are self-employed versus moving into being a business owner, and as yet you might not know the difference in that just yet. But in very simplistic terms, one concept relies on you trading your time for money, and one of the concepts means that you're setting up systems and processes where you don't have to be involved in the business, in the working in the business way, all of the time, and even if you do have to start out like that at the beginning, you are for projecting. That that's not going to be the case and you're looking at who you can bring in and make part of the team, make part of the structure to create a business, not just a self-employed system, and that's a big feat in itself. To begin with, and initially I was looking at it to most of a degree as a self-employed venture it would be referred to as a small business and the shift to business ownership, being able to leverage that, being able to get into my zone of genius and get other people in who can then operate from their zone of genius, has been a big shift, and I talk about that in another episode of Big Vision Business Owners. It's one of the core premises back at episode number two. What makes a big vision business owner is where that features in some way, and it comes from the concept from Robert Kiyosaki.

Speaker 1: 2:17

Now, that in itself is not what this I haven't made it yet concept is about, though it will be something that comes up regularly, because I think it's easy to overlook what being a business owner really is. I did it, and I'm sure some of you are thinking oh god, hang on, wait. I've been trading my time for money. I'm maxed out to the limit with all of the hours that I'm doing and trying to get the clients in, and there's no systems and processes. I just do what I do. So that's one area I think can be brought to this I haven't made it yet concept, because it isn't about trying to fill my diary. Actually, to some degree I'm trying not to fill my diary and make sure that I bring in people from the start as early on as possible as is feasible with funds, so that I can stay in the realm of doing the bit that I do best and leading the business.

Speaker 1: 3:11

But as you shift into this and you start to create a vision and this is why this is called big vision business owners as a whole podcast, rather, is that I have a vision to have a business that is a pioneer. It definitely is something that other people look at and would then go yeah, that's what I want to do with my business and I've had few ideas and I don't know how they all practically work because I'm not an employee yet I don't know how it works exactly. As an employee, I've dabbled in it, but I can say some things and then, logistically and practically speaking, it might not be so straightforward, but I'm going to go with what my vision is anyway, so you can understand. So, regardless of whatever business it was, whether that was in life coaching and building up a full life coaching business or in this realm of building out some sort of podcasting agency and academy, which is the specific vision. Underneath all of that. I have a very clear vision as to how I want the business to feel, to be structured, to work. So one of my first things has always been that I want people to be paid five day weeks or equivalent, but on four day working weeks in actual practical sense. That's the amount of work that they do, whatever that means to them, but they get paid for the full five and that's not because there's an obligation to work outside of those hours, because I want people to have that flexibility and I want to create four day working weeks, essentially.

Speaker 1: 4:59

That said, I was recently reading something I'm sure it was from Simon Sinek, where he had attempted this concept of work life balance in his business and he had told people not to work on the business and not to do any work in the evenings and weekends. And then, not long after or shortly after, I don't even know he found some research. He came across it and it showed that there was a section of people that were more likely to stay in your business based on the amount of work that they actually did outside of their job and their official working hours. And there was a bit of a sort of curve to this. But there was this core section in the middle that did some work at the weekends, in the evenings, yet they were the most loyal, had stayed the longest time, something like that. That showed and indicated their investment in the business. And it turned out that that's because these people that do a little bit extra here and there care about the business. And he realized that by not permitting that and actually discouraging it, he was discouraging their natural desire to want to care about the business.

Speaker 1: 6:17

And actually I really relate into that, because as a teacher, you work beyond the hours that you're contracted. You go home and you mark and you go home and you curriculum plan. My favorite bit which is why it's what I do for other people now with whether it's a podcast content, curriculum or if it's actually sorting out people's courses for them that's what I do in my consultancy work. That's the bit I loved and I can think about that day every day to some degree. And in teaching I loved it and I love talking about what we were going to do, how we're going to use educational psychology to inform it, and that would mean reading books at the weekend and evenings, not because I felt I had to, but because I wanted to and I cared about what I wanted to do with my job role. So when it comes to that as well, I want to give people the space to be able to work on the evenings and weekends. That's only a recent revelation that that chimes with my own values, but I don't want to put people off or be that strict. It's more like giving people the space for themselves, for their families and the space for their creativity and their choices.

Speaker 1: 7:25

I also strive to be in a business, or create a business, that is built on a lot of trust, and I think that already comes through from having four day weeks. The idea of unlimited holiday is something that I always think about. Again, I need to look at the practicalities of how that actually works. It's a lovely idea. And then it comes to the side of building trust in the team, and I felt like there have been experiences in my past where I have not trusted my team in various situations. And trust is a really interesting thing, and especially when you're leading because you want to trust and then at the same time, sometimes stuff doesn't go the way that you want it to go and it isn't completed to the level it needs to.

Speaker 1: 8:13

And there's an element of looking at yourself and going to what degree did I contribute to that not really reaching its target? Was the instruction not clear? Did I not give the support that was needed? Are there elements that I could have done differently here, said differently here, structured differently here, and how does this person work differently to me that allows for this to happen? I think, on reflection, it's very important to have the right people doing the right jobs. So when you're in a structure where your team is predetermined to you and you're working with, let's get this person doing this because they're the best out of the people that I have available, as opposed to actually this being their zone of genius, I think that there's then an element where you can't necessarily get that out of someone, because you want people operating from their zone of genius, you want people doing the bits that they're best at, and so when they're the best of, it doesn't actually place them in the best elements, and then you lack that element of them putting in that little bit of extra care that you're looking for. So, when it comes to trust, I wanna be able to trust my team and I wanna be able to let them get on.

Speaker 1: 9:30

And when I first outsourced some work, some repurposing of social media, of the podcast and the videos I was creating, I really felt like I could do that. When I was employing Naio socials by Naio, that would shout out to her. But doing that because I didn't wanna have to check every piece of work. I don't wanna have to micromanage someone. I wanna be able to, whether they're a freelancer or an employee. I wanna be able to go. This needs doing. Please get it done and do it in a way that's great and by all means run it by me. Get me to review it if you must, but the reality is I want you to be in charge of it in general.

Speaker 1: 10:12

And so at the start I think I checked two posts or three posts for the first week and after that I went just post it, and if I ever see anything that I'm not that happy with, I will let you know retrospectively, whereas otherwise, based on what I've seen this week, I'm pretty happy for us to go ahead and to just let you go with it, and from that point, that was what I did and that's what I want to be able to do with anybody that is working in my business is that they get on with it. Within reason, there has to be review periods. I've learned that because I've also given the trust and then retrospectively looked at some work and gone hmm, it's not quite where I thought it would be, and that actually is my oversight for assuming no-transcript, letting you get on without really thinking about the training involved or actually how it fits in with what we do here, and once I think you've got the skill, you just need refining. Now all of this is very business owner like and the fact that I have a vision for this team to build trust. Oh, I've got ideas. To have an office at Patch would be my idea at some point.

Speaker 1: 11:21

All of this drives this new vision, this new way of working, this new way of being, and part of it is really difficult to come to terms with, because I see a future that is big and I see it bringing in this team of people that are just bloody brilliant, like they're great, they're enthusiastic, they're loving what they do, and I've got the right people in the right places, based on their skillsets and what they want to be doing and what's going to drive them to get out of bed in the morning every day and to do that. To do that in the way that I want, you know five day wages, four day weeks, unlimited holiday. I want to be able to pay people. I have to be able to pay people and give them perks. But that means that I need to make sure that I'm generating income turnover that covers their wages as well as covering my own and covering the running costs of a business. And that's just ballpark figure If you're going to put someone on 30K, 40k and I've already referenced at least kind of two people that I'd need to have there, and there's more to it than that.

Speaker 1: 12:38

Obviously there's freelancers that you can start with shorter contracts as opposed to actually employing people. But let's assume that I want a team of three or four, including myself, and then you have outsourcing to do, running the business, etc. Straight away you're a 100K turnover Before you've even put anything aside to sustain the business, to develop the business, to invest in some way to take the business to the next level. And then you think, ok, well, hang on, that's just, 100k is just going to get me there. So let's go bigger and let's plan for working towards generating 200K in some way and all of a sudden you're kind of operating in a different realm of what most people day to day are operating from, which is five figure salaries. My world, most people teaching perspective are on the 40 to 50K and there's obviously everything in between from 25K starting through to. I mean, teachers are on 100K plus in the area that I come from, but otherwise SLTS somewhere in the kind of region of 70, 80k. So that's the kind of place that I am aware of and the people that I know.

Speaker 1: 13:56

So when you talk about even though 200K is not in your pocket and it's not for you, when you start talking about big numbers and really making a business and structuring it in a way that is financially viable, viable to sustain other people as well as yourself, you are, you're thinking differently about money and you are making very different decisions to the decisions you make when it's you finding your job and sticking to it, the same way it is when you're deciding how you're going to be self employed and maximise your hours in some way. It's very different to consider it in that way because suddenly you have so much more expenditure, you've got other people that are relying on you as well as relying on yourself, and it's just a different level, and I think that's the side of business that I think is the most challenging, because people that are not in it don't understand where the drive to come and get to a multi-six figure position comes from. And it certainly isn't out of greed. It's not because I want to have 200k I wouldn't even anticipate paying myself that.

Speaker 1: 15:10

In general, I want to create a business that has a system underneath it that works and that, when I think about it and who I need involved and what I need to do to support them, it means that I need that money coming in that way so that I can create that big vision and pay for the office and have the socials that I want to have alongside the business. Because, as far as I'm concerned, work takes up so much of your time that it is kind of a good chunk of your life and, whilst you may have families, your work family is a whole other section and again you can see the culture and the environment that I want to create. This is not a business that I'm going to be creating where people just show up, come and do their job and walk away. This is going to be part of your life in a positive way and you want to come in and do your work and you can't wait for the next social event. You don't mind staying behind to socialise with everybody, even at the cost of spending time with your family, because you see work as valuable as the family time, because it gives you that other side of yourself. So I have all of these visions and sometimes sharing those with people that aren't in the space is real difficult.

Speaker 1: 16:23

And even some of you that might be listening are business owners and maybe have never dreamt that big yet or considered the fact that you would quite like to create something that goes beyond what you're doing right now and isn't just trading time for money. But if you don't know that, people have those visions too, especially at the early stage, like myself. So it's not like I'm there, it's not like I'm doing that yet. It's an idea, it's a plan, it's a goal. It certainly doesn't have a time frame on it. It would normally be a thing to smart goal it up and say when I was going to be there by, but I can't tell you when I'm going to be there. I would like to think that I could get there in a year if I really wanted to, which may sound ambitious, but I'd rather aim for it and take all the actions that would be required to get me there in the next year than I would to go oh well, it will happen in the next five to 10 years and just poodle along, but I'm not saying that, if I don't hit it by that time, that I'm behind that. I'm concerned.

Speaker 1: 17:31

Realistically, though, if I want to get this concept off the ground, if I want to create that agency, if I want to be making podcasts that change the way the world thinks, whilst creating this business that people love, that I get to spend time with incredible people doing incredible things I mean, there's almost more passion for that bit than there is just pop up because, ultimately, I'm going to create that business, regardless of what the business itself is. It doesn't matter what the niche is, doesn't matter what the product and service is. The culture behind it's going to be that strong and it's going to take time to create, I'm sure, and it won't be as idyllic as it sounds at all times, and I'm sure some of the things I've said are a little bit wild in terms of the practical implications of that. But operating in this realm is different to when you're an employee and it can be different to when you first exit, being employed and starting a small business and my also before I go validate the fact that just because I have a big vision for my business and don't want to be self employed but want to be a business owner that leverages time and has structure, processes and people, doesn't mean that just because you want to just work for yourself and that be it, that it's any less or it's worse. That's your prerogative versus my prerogative there, my desires versus your desires.

Speaker 1: 19:03

For some people, being a leader and managing a business and having other people rely on you would not be your jam or, as I sit there and I go, one bloody no, I'd be good at it Creating that space for people, even if it's going to take like evolutions of myself and I'm going to get no work hard on it. It's not going to be easy. It's going to be a challenge to hit those goals, to keep it going. But things like that are going to drive me and that's what keeps me going, the things that matter to me. I love growing, I love being pushed to the limit and I love having a big vision that I'm trying to work on and evolve into. So I hope you've taken something from that. It's a little insight into the way that I'm thinking, the way that my brain works, and it kind of explains the concept of big vision. Business owners. It's not just about playing in the self employed realm, it's about playing bigger if you dare to go there.