Build to Enough

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Keila Hill-Trawick: Hello. You're listening to Build to Enough, a podcast for entrepreneurs who want to scale at their own pace. I'm your host, Keila Hill-Trawick, and I'll be your chief storyteller and cheerleader in a world that glorifies endless expansion, we're tuning out the noise and discussing the beauty of enough. Each episode will dive into inspiring stories, practical insights, and strategies to cultivate sustainable success on your [00:00:30] own terms. So whether you're a solopreneur or small business owner or aspiring entrepreneur, get ready for a refreshing take on the entrepreneurial journey. This is Build to Enough.

Keila Hill-Trawick: Hey, and welcome to the first new episode after what was an extended break for our team and our clients while we closed for a little bit to just recharge and reset. It's really important at Little Fish that we make sure that we are avoiding burnout, and one of the most proactive ways we can do that is to implement Rest after really busy times like [00:01:00] year end. Urine. I'm excited to be back this year and back on the Build to Enough podcast, where we challenged the hustle culture and really redefine what it means to succeed in business. I'm Kayla Hill Traywick, and my focus here is to help service firms grow sustainably, both professional service providers and my own peer group in the accounting industry. The new year is a natural time to set goals, but often we fail at them.

Keila Hill-Trawick: Like we set these really lofty things at the very beginning [00:01:30] and they overwhelm us instead of empowering us. So I wanted to take this time to flip the script a little bit on that. So today we're going to talk about a practical framework for setting goals that align with both your business success and personal fulfillment. I'll share some stories of what I've run into with our own firm and with clients, and we really want to take this time to kind of set up how to make your year a time to focus on sustainable growth that works for you. So I like to tell people like, take the meat and leave the bones. Whatever works for you. We want to [00:02:00] make sure that you're able to able to implement, but there is no one size fits all. So let's get started talking about your year ahead. Not just your Q1, but like what this full year will look like for you. Now the first thing is, a lot of times, like I talked about earlier, our traditional goals will fail us. And that is because they're disconnected from our personal values or our business capabilities. So we'll say things like, I want to double my revenue this year without necessarily taking into [00:02:30] account how much time that will take from us and our own bandwidth, how many clients that might require to actually be able to succeed at that goal.

Keila Hill-Trawick: And a lot of times, that's how we lead to burnout, team dissatisfaction, or reduced service quality. We're so focused on getting to that end result without really, um, contextualizing what it will require of us in order to get there. So I like to say instead of just picking arbitrary goals or what feel like arbitrary goals, start [00:03:00] with this question what is enough for me? And enough. Covers a wide span of questions, right? What is enough? Clients? What is enough in revenue? What are enough hours that you're working in order to live the life you want, while also delivering the best service possible? And that's a part that I really want to make sure that we focus on. We need time as humans, as individuals, to do the things that we need to do to give ourselves joy and rest, and just the capacity for [00:03:30] reimagining what our lives could look like. Right? But our ability to do that also has to be balanced with us delivering on the promise that we tell our clients. So when you're in those sales calls and you're discovery calls and you're telling people all of the things that you're going to do for them, your ability to actually follow through on that needs to be aligned with the life that you want to live outside of work. Now, remember, enough is not about settling. I really want you to find your sweet spot, because the idea [00:04:00] is that we want to be to be strategic and intentional.

Keila Hill-Trawick: So not just a this is sufficient for now, but like what is enough look like for you so that you don't have to keep chasing more? So here's a couple of ways that you can think about your goals. We've heard about Smart goals right. We've got specific. So what is your exact target. Instead of saying I want to grow revenue, you want to say I want to increase revenue by this percent per year. That's going to be your starting point for like, what do I need to do to get there? [00:04:30] But you've got to have a really direct goal in mind of where you're trying to get to at the end of all of this. The second one is measurable. How will you track progress? I know for me it's really easy to say, I'm doing it. I'm on my way. You update those statuses in your, um, systems and you're saying, yeah, it's not to do like I've started on it, but, like, what does that mean? What have you achieved along the way, or what do you need to achieve along the way to say that you are actually making progress in the ways that [00:05:00] you need to, to get to get to that goal at the end of the year.

Keila Hill-Trawick: Achievable means it has to be within reach, and that's a really good and important part to get back to. Around burnout and bandwidth. Achievable has to say, in order for us to do that, we'd have to double our client roster. How many people need to be on the team to do that? Or what tools or software do I need to invest in in order to get there? It is really easy to set that goal and just chase it without being really specific on the back end around like, [00:05:30] can we do that? Can I grow by double or is it more realistic based on the team that I want to manage that will grow by 25%? What does that mean that we'd have to incur or give up? The next thing is relevant. So we talk about when we spoke earlier about defining your enough. Is this goal in alignment with your enough? Did you pick a goal again that's disconnected from what you want to achieve personally or in your business? If it is, it's going to be really hard to stick with [00:06:00] that throughout the year because it is all the way over here. When actually what you want to achieve is, say, more time or more space to be able to do hobbies or spend time with your family, or just rest. That's going to be really difficult for you to chase. A goal that requires that you grind all year time bound.

Keila Hill-Trawick: When do you want to achieve this? I think sometimes we don't want to put a timeline on this or a deadline on this, because we're afraid that we won't achieve it. But remember that part of this goal setting process [00:06:30] is getting closer to it. Not achieving it doesn't necessarily mean failure. You could have achieved all of these other things that you were trying to do without hitting this final goal, but your road to getting there matters too. So make sure that you have some time in place, some timeline in place for when you want to achieve these so that you can make sure you're staying on that path. And then finally, you want to evaluate and reflect. I always say review it regularly, not just to see where you are on the [00:07:00] road to your goal, but also to see is it Is it still a goal that's worth pursuing for you and your team? Goals evolve and that's okay. The goals that I had at the beginning of last year are nothing like the goals that I have at the top of this year, and will probably be much different from what I choose for me and my business next year. But the goal is that if I start and I start thinking through how I can achieve these things, I get closer and closer to the business that I actually want to run.

Keila Hill-Trawick: For very small teams, which you know is our sweet spot, if you've got a team of less than [00:07:30] ten, focus on goals that maximize impact without overloading your people. As we know at our firm and you are seeing at your business, really people power everything that you do. And if you overwhelm them with work and deadlines and all of these things that actually require more bodies and not more hours out of the people that you're working with, it can be really difficult to keep people engaged. So what you really want is your team to do a few things exceptionally well, as opposed to giving them everything [00:08:00] to complete on your behalf. In some ways that you can simplify that process are make sure that you have a project management software that can cut down on meetings, and really make sure that your team at all times knows what's going on with clients and client work. You also want to have financial planning platforms and AI assistants and automation tools that allow that base level work to be taken care of for you so that your team, you, and your team are using your brains first to review what's been presented and make any adjustments as needed based on what [00:08:30] you know. Now let's get back to enough, because deciding what you're enough is and aligning all of your goals alongside that is really going to be the foundation for everything that you do this year.

Keila Hill-Trawick: I want you to do something. You can do it now, or you can do it after this episode, but take five minutes and write down the top three things you want to feel this year in your business and personal life. Not what you want to achieve. Not what you want to get done, [00:09:00] but what three things do you do you want to feel? And what is your business need to look like to support those feelings? So that is going to be a brain dump exercise, but it really tees up what becomes your enough for the year. So for example, mine might be. I personally want to get to a point where I only work a few days a week. And so for me, enough means that I have to grow my team and grow my revenue to support that team so that I can be more hands off. Now, when we get back to those Smart [00:09:30] goals, we're going to have to break that down into smaller pieces. But it gives me a place to begin, right? I know that I have succeeded if at the end of this period I'm working less, my team is taking on more. I've delegated more off my plate. So that is a really big goal. We need to break that down into smaller steps, and we'll do that over the course of these upcoming episodes.

Keila Hill-Trawick: But for example, let's say that a big part of my job is onboarding. And the first thing I'm going to say is we got to streamline that, because it's taking a lot out [00:10:00] of me because it's so manual. One example is to break that down into steps like okay, step one, we need to look at the current process, see all of the things that I'm involved in and where they might be able to be delegated elsewhere. Step two are there some automation tools that can take some of the things that I'm trying to take off of my plate and make them happen automatically without my assistance? And then three, let's test that. Let's implement a couple of those, test it, see if it works, refine and see if there are any other adjustments that need to [00:10:30] be made. The other thing that I'll say is we want to make sure we want to avoid a lot of the common pitfalls that many of us run into. So the biggest mistake that I see is that a lot of people will overcommit. I am guilty of this too. And instead you want to focus on like 1 to 2 priorities per quarter. We've got a lot of great ideas and we want to implement them now. And what is more realistic is that really being real about the fact that we can't overhaul the whole business in one day or one quarter? So pick 1 [00:11:00] or 2 priorities that you can focus on, get really good at and see how those tentacles kind of feed into other parts of your business.

Keila Hill-Trawick: The other side, or another pitfall that we run into, is doing what we think we should be doing versus what we want to be doing. To some extent, you got to forget what other people are chasing and decide for yourself based on your enough, what your business has to look like to support you. Chasing somebody else's version of a dream is not going to make you happier, and again, is a quick way to lead to [00:11:30] burnout and dissatisfaction with your business. And so focus on what actually moves the needle for you. Finally, burnout is real. It happens in a lot of different ways, and sometimes it's really slow. And so some red flags that may come up are you start seeing things that are not going to be sustainable in the long haul, anything from increasing late nights or weekends that you weren't working before, or more team feedback and pushback than you were getting [00:12:00] before on what the processes are doing to your to your business. When you see that in yourself and in your team. I want to make sure that you have some ideas for course correction.

Keila Hill-Trawick: So. One. Revise your goals. If you've got these big goals and it seems like it's taking a lot, and you were supposed to be finished with it by the end of this quarter, maybe adjust that deadline or adjust what you're trying to achieve. Delegate more. That means hiring. Sometimes it's able to be delegated to people that already work for you, and sometimes you need to bring on more people, [00:12:30] not just employees, but service providers or other people that might be able to give you some support. Finally, I have run into these mistakes a lot when it comes to burnout, and I think that you have to recognize that this is an important time to give yourself rest, not just in the I'm not doing anything but the mental load that you are carrying. This might be a time to reduce the number of meetings that you're taking, or the amount of deliverables or projects that you're taking on. Your ability to provide really [00:13:00] good work to your clients and to your team starts from a place of you having a break and not being so overwhelmed that you really can't be your best self. All right, so what can you do right now to get started? Here's a couple of things that I would say are some quick tips in order for you to move on this as fast as possible.

Keila Hill-Trawick: The first thing is block an hour this week to reflect on your goals again. Are they goals that you want? Have they been put upon you? Is it actually [00:13:30] what you want to be chasing this year for you and your business? Make sure to choose at least one personal and one business goal and keep it simple. Don't overdo it. This is your first time at this and you really are just kind of feeling out what's available to you. The next thing I would say is to identify one process to improve with automation, outsourcing or streamlining. What can you get out of your plate onto another person, on your team, or a system that can take care of it for you and [00:14:00] share your goal with somebody? Appear here, a coworker, a coach, anybody who might be able to help you with accountability to make sure that you're still striving for those goals, even when the beginning of the year kind of fireworks wear off. Finally, assess how you're progressing throughout the year. I'd say start with quarterly. Some goals will require more frequent check ins, and some will need less. But make sure that you're looking at them throughout the year and not just setting it and forgetting it at the top of the year. [00:14:30] The key is to start small. Small and consistent. Wins are what you're looking for, not just the big ones that kind of flash in your face.

Keila Hill-Trawick: The small things are the big things. And so you want to do those right. All right. So and closing. Remember that sustainable success starts with intentional action. So you want to keep them small. You want to keep them simple. You want to think about your enough and keep that as the continuing thread through everything that you're doing. Break your personal [00:15:00] and business goals down into achievable steps that you can actually do that feel reasonable and acceptable in alignment with your business schedule and what your life requires of you, and then evaluate regularly. Again, if it's not the one anymore, take it off of your list. There's no need in making yourself even more anxious or overworked from a goal that is no longer even in alignment with what you want to achieve. So excited to be back, and for this to be the first episode in our new year, and can't wait to get into [00:15:30] more of these subjects throughout our time together. See you in a couple of weeks! Thank you for tuning in to another episode of Build to Enough. If you enjoyed today's episode, don't forget to subscribe, rate and share the love with your fellow entrepreneur friends, and make sure to sign up for the Build to Enough newsletter. The link is in the show notes. Stay tuned for more episodes as we continue to redefine success one step at a time.