Welcome to UNcomplicated Business.

I'm happy you're here! And this week, we are going to talk about things you don't need in 2023. This is the time of year where we are doing all the planning. And we are seeing all the ads for the shiny things. And it's like, you know what I want to get accomplished this year. And we make the list. It's like the opposite of a Christmas list is like the New Year's resolution list. And so often, there are things we think we need, as business owners that we really just kind of want or we feel like we should have. But we also like then we spend time and money and energy to create and get and do and they don't give us the return on investment that we hoped for. So today, what I want to share is my top five list of things that fit this category, things you don't actually need that you feel like you need that the internet is telling you, you need that you could skip, honestly, for 2023. 

So if they're on your list, maybe you take them off unless you decide you actually want them, which is different. So you know, some if it's feeling like a should, these are things that can come off the list. So number one is a shiny, perfect elevator pitch. Actually, this is one that I think everybody should take off the list. Regardless, I know that, you know, you have met tons of people that are like, well, but you have to have your 32nd commercial. And it's got to be like this and dadadada, there are entire, like warehouses full of books at Amazon about exactly this and trying to get your elevator pitch, right. And all of these things, I get it, I get it, I get it. I've done it, I fought this. And maybe it's not what we think it is. Because here's the thing, a 32nd commercial sounds like a 32nd commercial. And what do you do when the commercials turn on? On the TV? You tune them out? Right? You are about being human? You are about connecting to people? Why do you need a commercial? That's not the connection part. Like that's not the good part. That's not the TV show. So if you were like this is the year I'm going to communicate clearly exactly who I am and what I do in two sentences. That's not normal. Like, okay, kids, do some people have it? Yes. But do you know how they got it? Practice in years worth of work. So like, maybe we just focus on doing the work and giving ourselves the clarity. So instead of focusing on the shiny, shiny, perfect elevator pitch, maybe you've just focused on talking to people, like I'm gonna tell you, every year I set a number of people, I want to connect with goal, and it is usually somewhere between 100 and 200 people. And I'm talking about one on one connections. And by the end of the second year of doing that, and usually I get somewhere over 100 under 150, right, because I can only do so many one on one meetings. But somewhere in the second year of doing that, explaining my business was really easy. Like it just became more natural, it became more organic, it became easier to explain, it became easier to answer questions about because I spent so much time talking about it because I spent so much time saying it wrong. 

Because I spent so much time doing science experiments. And my favorite science experiment is that, before I go to a networking meeting or something, I'll write down two or three ways that I could explain my business to someone. And then I pick one. And that's the one I use it that meeting. And I like then give it a week afterwards and see if it resonated. Like I might use one that I wrote down two or three times and treat it like a science experiment where it's like, okay, this is the experiment and you go sometimes, and people are just staring at you like you're nuts. Well, maybe I won't use that one again. But like, you've got lots of different ways to explain what you do what you really need, what we all really need are three or four or five ways to say it, that we feel like connect, depending on the different audience. What are the ways that you can pitch what you do and how you help people, the problems you solve the things that you do best that they connect. That's what we're looking for. And that's not in a nice tidy elevator pitch a lot of the time that's in like a short story. It's in a, you know, one minute bite, it's in a 10 second bite, it depends on the meeting, because here's the thing. Sometimes you go to the networking meeting, and they're like you get one minute you get 30 seconds to introduce yourself. You get one sentence about what you do and five sentences about your favorite color. And you're like, Oh God, I spent so much time on an elevator pitch and now I don't get to use it. Right. So it's really about figuring out the experiment you're doing in the setting you're doing and talking to more people. If you talk to more people, the rest will figure itself out I promise. So no, you don't need the elevator pitch. 

Okay, the second thing that you don't need. And this is, listen, I hear you is a website, can we please stop the number of people that come to me as a business coach? And they're like, well, but my website, and I need to spend like $5,000 there. And it doesn't look right. And I don't like sending people to and that's fine. Listen, the people unless you are selling like products, and you're doing it exclusively through your website, or website doesn't matter, for the most part. Are there exceptions? Sure. Do you want it to accurately reflect you? Yes. But like, do you actually need it? No, I'm in my fourth year of business. And in October, so like three months ago, now, I finally finished and launched like the best version of a website, that for me, like a real website that I like, don't mind sending people to, before that I had a version I made three years ago, when I gave myself a week to put it together on Wix. And it sort of didn't do what I wanted it to do. And I didn't want to send people to it. But like, guess what, business still grew like crazy. Like, it didn't hurt me. And I would say to people I met and clients and made connections and whatever. And they'd say, Oh, I was looking at blah, blah, blah thing that you did blah, blah, blah, place. And I'd be like, okay, and then when clients would come, I'd say to them, oh, have you been to my website? And they were like, what? Listen, didn't stop me from signing clients didn't change anything. I know, multiple business owners who do very well, a couple that make crazy, crazy amounts of money, like millions of dollars, who don't have websites at all to speak of none, zero zip. So if you're telling yourself you have to spend money on it, but you don't want to do it. You don't want to spend the time you don't have the income and you don't know what it's going to do for you. You can skip it. It's literally that simple. And yes, you're like, ooh, hey, I don't know how I feel about that. It's okay, I didn't feel about it for three years, it doesn't mean you're going to be super comfortable, because the world tells you you need a website. But if you are instead focusing on how you are connecting with people and how you are staying in contact with them, maybe it's Facebook, maybe it's your email list, maybe it's LinkedIn, maybe it's somewhere else. If you're focusing on connection, it's going to work period, like that's it. Focus on talking to the people focus on the connection, how that works, where it is, doesn't matter. 

Okay, the third thing you don't need in 2023 is to be on any more social platforms to be quite honest, you probably need to be on less. I love you. But like less platforms, more focus friends. One of the first things people always say to me, they're like, well, but I do Facebook, and I do LinkedIn, but I don't really understand it. I feel like I should be there more and I do Instagram, but I don't love it and I've tried Tik Tok, and I'm on this new app, and I'm using Twitter and bump up up, man, pick one or two. I really focus on two for my business and have all along and I play on a third. I think Tik Tok is kind of goofy and fun. So I play there, but I don't like put any real stake in it. Okay, I have a client who loves Tik Tok, she focuses 100% over there, and occasionally pushes something to Facebook. Great, fine, awesome. Fabulous. But you know what, she stopped doing all the other things. And she was like, oh, and she a) enjoys it way more and b) she's getting way more interest, because she is focused and she's not frazzled. And she's not pulled in a million directions. And she's not feeling overwhelmed by at all, you do not have to be all the things to all the people. A long time ago, a friend said to me, what if you just trusted that the people who were meant to hear you would hear you no matter where you are? And I was like, well, that's not a thing. But actually, it's the thing. What if you just trusted the people that needed to hear you and hear you no matter where you are? Where would you be? Like, would you be like, Oh, well, then I'm only going to do Facebook? Well, if that's your answer, only do Facebook, forget the rest. Just let them be quiet for a while. And I often say to people, you know what, if you're not sure if you want to ditch a platform entirely, give it up for 90 days, like don't post there. And then put a note in your calendar come back in 90 days. And if you missed it, all right, we'll figure out how to reintegrate it. And if you didn't miss it, well, you didn't miss it.

So you don't have to go back to it doesn't mean shut it down. It just means let it live there and do whatever, people will still find you. No one will feel bad. Like you've seen accounts where people haven't posted in two years and you have still gotten relevant information from them. It is okay. So not more social platforms less. Number four that you don't need in 2023 is ads. I know, I know, I know. But here's the thing about ads, yes, you can play with it, we're all tempted. It seems like such a good idea. I have been tempted, I understand. But in order for ads to work, a) you need a decent sized audience like 1000s. To start with, and be you need to dump a lot more money than you think on it. So unless you're like very targeted, and you're very specific, and you're doing something like Google ads, then you know, possibly, but it's a very specific case in a very specific market and a very specific process. But outside of that, especially if you're in a place where you're not making a ton of money yet, we're just getting started ads is just like, burning money. I know. And that is not how it is pitched to us, I get it. Listen, like outsourcing sales and ads. And that kind of thing. Seems really well, like smart, but at the same time, it actually doesn't work. Because until you know how to talk about your business until you make the connections until you feel comfortable doing your thing, they cannot solve that. You have to be solid first. And that's the trick. Our ads are like cart before horse kind of thing. We think it's going to fix it when we don't really know what to do. But that's not how it works. It can't fix it. It can amplify. So ads amplify what's already working. And if you're spending money on them on things that are not already working, it's it's tricky, right? Like you can't, you can't amplify something that's not working. It just makes it quieter. It's like amplifying no noise. And so it actually kills your confidence. And that's no fun. So we can skip the ads. 

Okay. The last one that we can skip, I think in 2023 this one doesn't, it's not like a thing, but it is a thing. What I wrote down here is hustle. So I know, this is something people say they're like more success and less hustle and vulnerable. But they say in a very like hustling way all the time, which makes me kind of crazy. But, but but but we can work hard, and also have more ease. You know, I constantly am talking to people about how to get them 10% more rest, 10% more space, 10% more downtime. If you had 10% more space and downtime, how would you feel? What would be good? What would you enjoy? And yes, it sounds crazy. But also like you on some level? No, it's true that it would be helpful to you to to have, you know, more space to think more time to plan more time to be yourself. So when make a big difference. And it's 10% we're not talking, clear your books, clear your calendar, give yourself a week off. You know, this is one of those things. I recently had a client say to me, she's in a group program. And she was like, you know, here's the thing, Sarah, if I had realized that changing the way I thought about time, and my time and the way I was doing things would make such a difference, I would have done it. 

First, it has made such a huge difference for her to even just think about the idea of ease, and think about how time could be different for her, and how space could be different and how she could get more downtime and more sleep. Honestly, we've worked on sleep, that like her business is now growing faster than ever. Right? It seems counterintuitive that more space creates more business that like less work creates more. But sometimes we're working so hard, we're doing so much extra that we're just killing our energy, we're burning ourselves out. And so pulling that down to a more more even placed to give ourselves more ease. makes a huge difference. So friends, here's the thing. If there are other things on your list, and you're like whoa, but I do I do I have to do this one either. A) if you're not sure, feel free to send me an email, and we'll talk about it B) if you're like, I don't really want to do that when either then don't do it. Because if you're like, I don't really feel like that's necessary to my success. It's probably not you know, what you need to do to succeed you can trust yourself, just that we don't always do that. There are always so many voices out in the world that tell us that it shouldn't be like this, but actually doing it your way is the right way. So you get to do it your way and if you need help doing it more your way. That is my job. That is the job of coaching So if I can help you find the version of success that looks and feels like you actually want it to look and feel like, which is different from my version, which is different from my client, where we're working on sleep, which is different from my client, when we're working on more money with ease when we're different than my client we're working on, you know, getting her time more time and space to do art, but still, like building her collaborations. Everybody's got a little bit of a different flavor of this. But you know, everybody's got a flavor of it, because nobody's like, yes, I would like to work 100 hours a week forever. Nobody, nobody. So if you would like, more ease, more simplicity, less complicated, more success as a result, I can help. We can work one on one, you can come on in and join my small group program that launches in February or you can come take the selling by giving class that launches in March, that's going to be super fun. All of them are really great ways to get what you need. Because it really has to be about what you about you getting exactly what you mean. So come send an email, send a message, send a LinkedIn message, send a Facebook message, come to my website, book a time to talk, it's fine. Please know that I would always rather talk to you than do anything else. That's the best part of my day. You're never ever bothering me, ever. So please, let's talk. I'm happy to connect. And until then, I'll see you next week.