How to SIMPLIFY Your Business

Hey, everybody, welcome to the podcast. So today I want to talk to you about simplicity. This is something I have been talking about on other people's podcasts a lot lately. And I realized today sitting at my desk after recording the third other persons podcasts that I've done in the last couple of weeks that I haven't really talked about here, what I've been talking about there. So when we talk about simplicity today, what I'm going to talk to you about is how to simplify what you are doing right now with just a couple of simple steps, how to make it all less complicated and less convoluted. There is an earlier episode of the podcast towards the end of last year, I think it was sometime in December 2020, where I talked a little bit about simplicity into the new year, this is going to be sort of an add on to that. So if you've already listened to that, I promise this is a little bit different. But when we talk today about simplicity, what I really want you to take away from this episode is the idea that you can control the level of simplicity that is in your power. We all have squirrel brains, we all are in a million directions all at once. And we're all sort of chasing the shiny objects. But you really can teach yourself some of these simple tools and use them a lot and get a lot of simplicity out of it and really reduce the noise and the chaos in your business and in your day to day. So before we jump into that, I'm just going to seed a little thing that's coming here in the next couple of weeks. June 14, I think is the Monday, that week in June, I'm going to be running a challenge over email about how to sell without being salesy. So one of the things that I hear from people a lot from clients, from potential clients, from people in my group, from friends, coaches, whoever is that selling is hard, because you just feel like you're being salesy about it that it's uncomfortable. And that it is it's just feels icky. Or it feels like you're pressuring people, and you don't want to do that. And so this challenge, this email challenge is going to be all about how to sell without any of that gross ness, no more slimy, no more salesy. No more of the pressure, you don't want to put people on, what I'm going to teach over email over those couple of days or five days is how to sell effectively without the ick factor. And this is going to be particularly pertinent if you are someone who is a teacher or was a teacher, because that is the only lens from which I know how to speak. But it really is going to help set you on a course to to sell more effectively to sell to make money in your business. And also feel really good about it. And that's the goal, like for me is for you to walk away with some tricks and some tips and some tools. And some ways to think about sales and selling that feel more you that feel more authentic, that feel more real, and you're more likely to do effectively because you'll make them better. So there will be an email, you'll need to sign up. And if you're not on my email list, you should send me a note and you can get added. But just keep an eye on my Facebook group which is teachers in business or comm connect on LinkedIn in in Comm. Take a look. And I'll sign you up for the challenge. And it'll start and it'll just come to you every day. It'll be great. It's gonna be a quick video and some extra questions and then there'll be some bonus things. It'll be exciting. So today, let's talk a little bit about simplicity, as all things are dinging in the background. Sorry. When I talk about simplicity, somebody asked me earlier today how I define simplicity. And the way I really think about it is simplicity is the straightest path from point A to point B with the most joy. So things are simple when you're not wandering around in circles. And when you're really enjoying that. I think both things together, combined to make the most simplicity. like can you have a straight path without joy? Sure. Can you have joy while you're running in circles? Absolutely. But for me the best version of simplicity particularly in business comes from being on that straight path and really loving it and really having joy because it doesn't feel complicated because It's simple. In talking about this, one of the things I've been asked a lot lately are, you know, what does it look and feel like when it's not simple. So when it's not simple, what you're going to find is you're learning all the things but you're not using them. You are always thinking about what the right way to do something is. Or you are constantly looking for more resources, signing up for all the freebies, taking all the courses, reading all the emails, looking at all the Facebook pages and posts and all the things that is collecting noise, right collecting, I don't mean noise in a derogatory way. I don't mean it negatively. I mean, it's just, you know, collecting information and collecting information. And it gets really noisy, because there's a lot of ideas that you then have to filter through, it's like, the more input you collect, the harder it gets. So that's not necessarily a straight path, right? collecting 46 different pieces of advice to get from A to B means you have 46 different paths to follow. Now, you might find the one that's perfect for you, it might be number 45. But odds are one of the first three would have been great. So the first thing in simplicity, to really have straight paths with lots of joy is to reduce the noise level in your business. So it could be that you just take a little bit of a detox from noise, you take a couple weeks, and I'm not saying forever, take a week off of podcasts, take a week off of emails, take a week out of the course you're taking take a little bit of time off. This is not the first time I've suggested this on this podcast either. And I'm not trying to like drive away listeners. But at the same time, I am really careful with the amount of noise I consume, I actually have a response from one of the coaches I worked with today. And she was something that I was asking for help with. And her suggestion was like, go listen to this podcast episode by so and so. And I was like, I try not to listen to that. Because it just adds to the noise level. And I already have a crazy squirrel brain. So that is one way to start. If you're trying to do it, right, if you're trying to do all these things, a lot of times it's because we see other people doing it a certain way and they're succeeding. And we think like, if I just did it more like that it would work right. But that's, that's not the thing. They're running their business, you have to run yours. So like I'm not running. My friend Jen's business. My friend, Jess has business, my friend, Michelle's business, my friend, Candy's business, I'm not running any of those business, I have to run Sarah's business. In my job. Most simple thing I can do is to run Sara's business as Sara, like I can't be pretending to be or trying to run my business the way Michelle would. When I'm Sarah, because Michelle's business runs Michelle's way, Sarah's business run Sarah's way what I try to run it as someone else. It's getting really complicated. So turning down, that noise allows you to do the next thing, which is to get really, really focused on what's happening in your own head and your own intuition in your own ideas. When you turn down the noise on the outside, you get to turn up the noise inside you get to hear yourself. And when you can hear yourself all of a sudden, so often, the straightest path then becomes clearer. So it makes it significantly easier to move from A to B, if you can hear yourself and think like, Okay, wait. One of the questions I ask all the time is what is the simplest next step? Well, it's really hard for me to decide what the simplest next step is when I when I have all these options. But when I turn all that down, and I just listen to my own wisdom, 99 times out of 100 I figure it right out. We don't give ourselves enough credit, we have all the answers. We just don't always get the time or the or the the quiet that we need to actually hear them. The second thing that I think is really, really helpful in simplicity is asking yourself really good questions on the regular. So what's the simplest path forward? What is my one goal? What is the one most important thing that I can be doing right this moment is in is the thing I'm doing right now it so that gets to focus, it gets to prioritization, it gets to goal setting. Having one goal really does some By all the things and there is a podcast episode about that. There also was a podcast episode about prioritization that you can go listen to about the four ends. And both of those things really helped to take things that don't make as big an impact off the board. So you don't have to worry about them. Because really, like for me, in my business, the things that make a difference. And I would, I would argue that these are the things that make a difference in every business. The things that matter most for me are connection and evaluation. If I'm connecting to people regularly, and I am evaluating regularly, things are growing, period, like that's just the way this works. And so, if I am focused on connection and evaluation, then I don't need a whole bunch of the other stuff. Like, will I be making social media posts? Sure. But do I need them all desperately? Do I need five posts a day? or eight posts or 13 posts a week? or whatever? Have you? Do I really need a blog every week, I don't know. If I'm really focused on connection, I'm meeting the people and I'm talking to them about what I do. And then I'm evaluating how my work is going, I probably know exactly what I need to do next. And that also keeps things simple evaluation. In checking in is the tool it's like, if you have to change a light bulb, you need probably to take the cover off. If it's a ceiling light, like I'm picturing in my head, you need a screwdriver, you need the new light bulb, but you probably don't need a broom, right? Or a vacuum unless you drop the light ball, which you try not to do. The more tools you bring, though, if you bring the hammer and the whole bag of tools, the more complicated it gets. And all of a sudden, like the ceiling fans not in the wall anymore. They're like, Oh, what's happening here? So for me just using that tool of evaluation to think like, Okay, how am I making things more complicated than I need to be right now? That's a great question. It's a great evaluation question. Like when you get to the end of the week, you might say to yourself, like, Where was I able to keep things simple? Where are things feeling complicated? And why? And how do I move forward? With less complication? You can just ask yourself, those kinds of questions. And if you ask yourself, those kinds of questions a lot, it helps you to, to narrow things down to have less moving parts. And then the last thing is to remember that the way forward that you think is right is right. Period. It'll all get figured out there hundreds of businesses out there, and they all do things differently, and they all succeed. So why would that not be the case for you? Really, like if they're all doing it their way, and you show up and you're doing it different your way, and they're all doing it their way differently to begin with? What does it matter if you do it their way or your way or, or some other way in between? If you do it fully your way, like I did a podcast interview a couple weeks ago, where we spent a lot of time talking about math and teaching. And what it occurred to me was that part of why I really crusade on simplicity. And I'm keeping things simple as that as a math teacher, that was the entirety of my job. My job was to simplify all of the moving parts of math for my students. And that's my job today. The way I do that, with clients with business coaching clients, is different than I would with math students, but not totally necessarily. It's to strip back and to only do the steps that are really necessary to be really intentional about the approach you're taking to really understand the problems you have before you try to solve them to not solve problems that you don't know how to do yet or that you're not you haven't reached yet. And then to really focus on what the point is in this. You know, I've had students get to the end of the math problem when they get an answer when it's not actually the answer we were looking for. It's like, wait, what was I trying to do in this problem? Same thing is true in business. When you're solving a problem, you can ask yourself, what actually is the problem I'm trying to solve today? Because sometimes we go off and we are solving something we're not even sure what it is yet. So if you take the time to check in a lot more often, then you are now like how many times do you want to check in in a day? Is this the thing that matters most right now? What's the simplest way forward? What problem Am I trying to solve right here, then you get a lot further, faster, I promise. This is the kind of stuff that I teach clients. This is the kind of coaching I do every day and coaching one on one matters because the level of specificity that we get to Get into about the complications and simplifying them. From client to client, really, we get to go a whole lot deeper. So if things are feeling complicated for you right now, and you would like a simpler, less complicated, less convoluted, fewer offers more success, then let's talk about how we can increase the simplicity in your business in decrease the complex, the convoluted all of that, you don't need all the noise. You don't need all the shoulds you don't need all the right ways. You need your way. And that's it. Alright, so if you want to get in touch, you can send me a message at sara@torpeycoaching.com if you want to get on the list for the email challenge, send me a note to or pop onto my email list. You can do that from my website, which is torpeycoaching.com And then we will start June. In the meantime, if you want to talk about coaching know a couple things. The first thing is, I am happy to talk to you, I have time for you. Always. The second is if you come and we spend an hour talking together. In the end, we decide it's not a good fit, I'm not going to be mad. I think it's worth the hour no matter what, because you're gonna walk away clear. And then lastly, just know that even though you might not feel ready, even though you might not feel certain. Those are still things that are okay to bring to an initial coaching call. I promise that I won't try to talk you into anything. I promise that if you get to the end and you're like, yeah, I'm still not sure about her. That's okay. I don't want you to do something you're not ready to do. But if you're thinking about it, and really fear is the thing that's keeping you back and you're just not sure. We're never sure when we do new things. You can't be sure until you try it. So it's worth having a conversation to just explore and if you're ready to do that, send a message. Let's talk. Alright, have a great week. I'll talk to y'all soon.