256: Holly Worton ~ It's Summer! Time to Review Your Business, Make Changes, and Plan for the Future

Today’s Guest

Table of Contents

I’m back again, with another solo episode! Today, I talk about summer and what that means for business: it’s a time of integration, balance, reviewing, cleansing, and manifestation.

Listen to this episode

What You’ll Learn

How to review your past year in your business and life and evaluate what worked and what didn’t
What things you may need to cleanse, declutter, release, or let go of
How to evaluate the balance in your business and life and determine where you need/want more
How to look forward to what lies ahead in your business: planning, adjusting, growing
How to be daring, why it’s time to try something new and get visible in a different/bigger way
How to get the mindset you need to make this all happen more easily

Things I Discussed

Connect With Holly

How to Subscribe

Click here to subscribe via iTunes
Click here to subscribe via RSS
Click here to subscribe via Stitcher

Help Spread the Word

If you enjoyed this episode, please head on over to iTunes and kindly leave us a rating and a review! You can also subscribe, so you’ll never miss an episode.

Related episodes

Transcript

The transcript for this episode can also be downloaded here (no opt-in required).

Holly: Hello and welcome to the Business Mindset Podcast, episode 256. This is your host Holly Worton and I am back with another solo episode. Today, I am going to talk about summer and the solstice and what this means for your business. So, this is one of those middle of the year episodes, where I talk about how nature links up with the seasons and business and how you can incorporate these different cycles of the year into your business.

This episode is also a huge experiment because I am recording it outside, I am at the house, which if you listened to episode 254 with Joanna Hennon, you will know what I am talking about. So, I am outdoors in the garden, I am sitting at a table looking out over this expansive field of wheat, which is just so gorgeous. Trees to my right, grass beneath my feet, plants all around me, it is just green and beautiful. There is also a bit of a breeze so that may interfere with the sounds for this, there are also birds as I am sure you can hear. So, as I said, this is an experiment, I did an outdoors episode last year, when I was walking the Wey South path for the second time, and so I look forward to hearing your feedback on what you think on having nature sounds in the background, it is not something that I would do on a regular basis, but do let me know, do you want more of this? Do you never want me to do this again? I am open to your feedback because you are the one who is listening to this.

So, in this episode, we are going to talk about summer, the solstice, and what this means in terms of cycles and business. So, the summer solstice is all about integration and balance, it is a good time to review the firsts part of the year, what lies ahead, it is a good time for cleansing, manifestation, getting out there in the sun, enjoying life and all of its beauty as we move into this part of the year. Now, as I record this it is not very sunny, it is a bit grey and overcast, but yesterday was a glorious summer day, sunshine all day long, I went for a walk in the evening, here in the UK it stays light until quite late in the summer, so I just had an absolutely gorgeous, gorgeous, summer day. So, summer is very much something that is on my mind. So, let’s get into it, summer.

This is a perfect opportunity to review the past year, what does that mean? It is a good time to sit down with your journal or whatever it is you use to kind of record your thoughts, you can do this handwritten in a journal, in a notebook, you can do this in a document on your computer, you could record yourself talking, whatever works for you. Spend some time reviewing the past half of the year, or the past twelve months and think about what worked for you? What worked in your business? What do you want to do more of? What do you want to do less of? What do you need to do more of? What do you need to have more of? What do you need less of? What needs to change? What changes do you need to make? And, when I say this, this is not just: what actions do you need to take? What things do you need to do different? But it is also about what mindset changes do you need to make? What beliefs do you need to shift? What beliefs do you need to change? What do you need to believe about yourself, that you don’t currently believe? And, this is a good time to think about the year ahead, so the next six months, the next twelve months, what do you need to believe about yourself in order to achieve your goals? In order to do the things that you want to do with your business and your life? Who do you need to be to achieve these things? And how do you need to do things different?

So, looking forward at what lies ahead in your business also requires setting some goals. Now you may have some goals already in place, so now is a good time to reevaluate them, are they still the right goals for you and your business? Are they still aligned with what you really, really, want? And as you set these goals think about balance, think about what kind of balance you currently have in your business and life and what kind of balance you would like to have. Perhaps you would like to have more time for yourself in the evenings? Perhaps you would like to start taking full weekends off. Or, maybe you would like to do the opposite and work shorter hours every day? Different things work for different people. So, get clear on balance, whether your current situation really works for you, whether you need to make some changes? And that’s a really important thing to take into consideration when you are planning your year, the rest of your life or the next six-twelve months. When you are planning your goals, when you are planning your calendar. I love using Google calendar to map out my life and I run my life by Google calendar. And I love that it is flexible because if I decide to change my mind I can just drag and drop and move things around. So, it is not set in stone, but it does give me a framework and it does really help me to creat that balance, because I have everything colour-coded, colour coordinated, got my meals in there so I don’t forget to eat, which shockingly I hear that many people do, that hasn’t happened to me since I put it in my calendar. And, I have got personal stuff colour coded so I can see which stuff is personal and which stuff is business and that really helps me to kind of see that balance. So, if you are a visual person you might try something like that.

So, as you are getting ready for the next part of the year, the second half of the year, think about cleansing, summer is a time for cleansing. What do you need to release? What do you need to let go of? What do you need to declutter? Now decluttering is something that I love, I recommend it all the time, but it can be really hard to just get stated. So, if that is something that you know that you need to do, or you want to do, break it down into small chunks, if doing it room by room is too much, break it down into the components of that room. So, if you are looking at decluttering your office, maybe just start with your desk drawers, or start with your bookshelf, or start with your files. Start with a small component of that room and then move on, because I find that decluttering can be really challenging for me to start, but once I do start it really gets the ball going and it just makes it so much easier because it feels so good. And as I said before, even decluttering personal stuff like your clothes, can make big changes at deep levels in your mindset, in your beliefs, it can kind of trigger all kinds of changes in your life. In terms of letting go of things that no longer serve you, that you no longer want to have in your life, it is really, really, powerful and it is relatively easy to do, you have just got to get started.

So, declutter, let go of the things that you no longer need and that’s not just physical stuff, you can go through your computer, you can clear out files and you can also declutter business offerings. Are there any products or services that you have on offer that you don’t want to offer anymore? Are there any package that you have on your website, an online course, or a service, that when you think about people signing up for it, urgh, you don’t want to deal with it. You hope no one signs up for it, because you really don’t want to deliver that service. Get rid of it. If you have any online courses that you think: urgh, they are so old, they have been up there for a while, I am really not proud of them anymore. Get rid of them! Or, upgrade them. Declutter your offerings. And this is a good thing to do on a regular basis because oftentimes we accumulate stuff, a lot of us are natural creators, and we create books, and eBooks, and free opt-in gifts, and all kinds of resources and stuff that can be quite overwhelming. So, look at your opt-in gifts if you still offer those. And just think about which ones, maybe old, need to be updated, need to be just released, decluttered, let go of. And, get rid of those. Or one thing you can do, you can make them be free.

So, a while back I decluttered some of my opt-in gifts by just taking the opt-in off and making them free for just downloading without giving me your email address. And then eventually, a couple of months ago, I removed all of my opt-ins, so people can go to my resources page now and just download everything without giving me their email and then if they want to give me their email they do that specifically for the newsletter. So, that was one thing that I de cluttered, a sense of decluttering, that really made me feel better about my business, because I stared seeing how many people were interested enough in my opt-in gift to go to the landing page, but they weren’t interested enough to give me their email. But if they had been able to download it, without paying for it with their email, they would have benefits from it probably, and then they might have decided to get something else of mine or get to know me better. So, that was the right decision for me, it is not necessarily the right decision for everyone, but that was kind of an example of digital decluttering, or business decluttering. And it has worked for me, I am really, really, happy with it and I probably won’t go back to offering things as lead magnets again, it just feels impersonal, I feel if people get to know me and like me they are going to want to hear from me and if they don’t, they don’t but I am tired of tricking people into signing up to my list with a free thingy.

And in terms of decluttering also think about what tasks you can declutter by outsourcing. I recently did an episode, number 247, on outsourcing, it is quite lengthy, and people found it really useful. So, if you are struggling with knowing how to outsource, or what to outsource, that’s a good one to listen to and outsourcing is a fantastic way of decluttering, because you are getting rid of the tasks that need to be done, but not by you necessarily and it frees up your time to do other things. And as I say in that episode, I have been really good about outsourcing, because in my first business I had a team of employees, so I was used to outsourcing things to other people, because I had staff to support me. But one of the things that took me forever to outsource was my bookkeeping, I had an accountant who did my taxes and I would do all my bookkeeping and I hated it, until I got Zero, hired a bookkeeper to sort out all my paper stuff and everything is set up and perfect and it has taken a massive weight off my shoulders, it was a massive upgrade for me and it was relatively inexpensive, certainly, certainly, much less expensive than doing it myself, assuming I had to pay myself my hourly fee to do my bookkeeping, it was ridiculous that I was doing it myself. So, think about the things you dread in your business, that you could get help with and I know some people are not fans of business swaps, or service swaps, can be really useful, especially if you are just starting out. So, if there is something that you can get help with and offer your services in exchange for someone else’s, that can be a good way to get you started in the world of outsourcing and getting help with the things that you want to do. So, I do recommend it, especially with bookkeeping, if you have a friend who is a bookkeeper see if they are interested in swapping, if not, just pay them, it is so worth it if you can afford it and it is probably less money than you think. And that’s the thing when we outsource things it will take the specialist much less time to do the thing than it would take you to do the thing yourself, because it is not your specialists and you hate it. So, that’s enough on outsourcing you can go and visit that episode, 247, if you want to learn more.

So, as you are decluttering, as you are releasing, as you are letting go that you no longer want to have in your business and life, think again about what you do want, what do you want to manifest? What do you want to create in your business and life? What do you want to have? What do you want to be? What do you want to do? How do you want things to be different? What do you want to experience? How do you want to feel? This is all stuff that you need to be asking yourself as you move onward and plan the next half of the year, or the next twelve months? Summer is also a time of extroversion of getting out there. So, how can you apply this to your business, even if you are not naturally an extrovert, which I certainly am not. Be daring, try something new, get visible in a bigger way or a new way, think about something that you have always wanted to do in your business, but you have never dared to do, you have been afraid to do, do it. And, if you are one of those people who can’t feel the fear and do it anyway, which I certainly am not, do the mindset work you need to do to make it easier. So, think about that big daring thing that you want to do, or the small daring thing, the exciting thing that you haven’t yet dared to do. Think about that think and think about what you would ned to be believe about yourself in order to make that thing easier. Who do you need to be to step into the reality of doing that thing and then do the mindset work you need to do to make that action easier, because stepping outside of our comfort zone and being daring doesn’t need to be uncomfortable, yeah it can be, but you can make it easier by doing the mindset work.

So, I feel like I have been kind of all over the board in this episode, I had some notes and I have been jumping around back and forth. So, to recap, summer solstice, half way through the year, what can you do about it? So, this is a time of reviewing the past year, seeing what worked, what needs to change, it is about looking at what things you need to declutter and release, and let go of. It is about looking at balance, where do you need or want more balance in your life or business? It is about looking forward to what lies ahead in the year: what do you want to manifest? What do you want to create in your business and life? It is a time of extroversion, of being daring, of trying something new, of getting visible. So, if you find any of this difficult, if you think you are not the planning kind of person, if you like to go with the flow, I would like to encourage you to take advantage of this summer solstice, at this time, at this time of maximum light, at this mid point in the year and get outdoors in the sunshine, in the warm weather and do a little bit of planning, because if you don’t know where you are going how are you going to get anywhere? Take the time to plan, you can always adjust, and you should adjust, because when you are into personal development, deep mindset work, change, transformation, we change a lot. So, I think that’s why a lot of people resist the idea of having a plan because they think they have to stick to the plan and not change and not adapt or adjust, and that’s exactly the opposite. Create a plan, set goals, walk towards that vision and then change, adjust, adapt, be flexible. Like your google calendar where you can drag and drop stuff, plans, goals, visions are meant to be flexible because as you change, your business changes, you have different needs, your business has different needs, and it is important to be flexible so that you can step into your new business identity as you grow and as your business changes.

And, think about the beliefs that you need to have to do this work. So, what beliefs do you need to have to declutter, release and let go easier. What beliefs do you need to achieve that balance in your life and your business? What beliefs do you need to believe that you are worthy and deserve balance, that you are good enough to have balance? Looking forward to what lies ahead, what beliefs do you need to have to achieve your goals, to make changes? Manifesting, creating, what beliefs do you need to have about your ability to manifest the things that you want, to achieve your goals, to take the actions you want to take and what beliefs do you need to have around your ability to be daring, to try something new, to be visible and bigger in different ways to step out of your comfort zone. Make it easy on yourself by doing the mindset work, as you take action. So, as I always say, and I feel like it has been a while since I mentioned this, so I am going to do it again, the way I talk about doing business is very much like a spiral staircase, you are taking one step with your left foot, you are taking one step with your right foot, you are going up the stairs and you are getting to different levels. One step is your mindset work, the other step is your practical action work: mindset, practical action step, mindset, practical action work, as you move up to the spiral staircase and to new levels of your life and you work through the blocks, and the fears, and the limiting beliefs as you go by doing the mindset work and taking the actions that you are moving forward, upwards and upwards.

So that is all for now and I hope you found this useful, I am trying to integrate more of the natural cycles into my life and into my business and that’s why I have brought this into the podcast, but, as always, I welcome your feedback, let me know if you love it, hate it, find it useful or not. I am very much open to receiving your feedback because this podcast is for you listening. So, that’s all for now, please drop me a line and let me know what you thought, about this week’s episode. You can email me at: [email protected] or find me online and get in touch. I would also love for you to join me in my private Facebook group: Business Mindset Alchemists, so we can continue the conversation there. Every week I get people, usually on Mondays, popping into the Facebook group and I am assuming because they have heard the podcast episode and have come over to join. I would love to meet you, get to know you and see you in the Facebook group. So, if you head over to http://HollyWorton.com/group you will be redirected to the Facebook group and you can join.

Thank you for listening if you enjoyed this episode please leave a quick review on Apple podcasts, iTunes, or wherever you listen to podcast, it would mean the world to me, it takes just a minute. So, remember to visit hollyworton.com/256 for the show notes and links to the other episodes I mention. Thank you so much and have a fantastic day. Enjoy the summer, enjoy the sun, enjoy the weather, enjoy the thunder, which is rumbling in the sky above me, not very summery, so thanks again and have a fantastic day.

256: Holly Worton ~ It’s Summer! Time to Review Your Business, Make Changes, and Plan for the Future