Today we're talking about creating professional practices in your business. I remember watching a video with Marie Forleo and Stephen Pressfield about going professional and from then on I've looked at how I work and what I do to show up in a professional way. It doesn't always work, but it's a great thing to work towards.

There are 6 elements you can start to look at when it comes to creating professional practices in your business.  These are some of the things that I focus in order to achieve the goals that I have in my business and in my life as well.

So I really want you to start to think about, do you have professional practises in your business and I'm going to share six key things with you that I have found have really helped me.  It's really interesting, whenever I do these podcasts episodes, it forces me to take a step back and look at how I do things and why I do things.

There have been professional practises and habits that have grown organically in my business and in the way that I work. I don't always have a formula. I don't always have six steps to actually doing this, but it is something that, when I take a step back and I look at it, then yes, this is how I do it.

So I wanted to share this with you.

There are six key things that have really helped me to create a professional practice in my business.

 

1) MINDSET

The first one is not going to be anything new for you. It is the mindset to have a professional practise. I don't want to be a procra-scroller. I don't want to spend time in things that are not going to move the dial forward.

I always want to make sure that I'm show up in my business as a business owner and as a professional and somebody who is chasing after or going after the big things that I want. You know, I've got big financial goals, I've got big community goals. You know, that I'm here to support women to become bold and powerful voices in their industry and claim their space with confidence.

I want to have like 10-20-50K women globally, who are stepping into their confidence, who are finding their voice and doing big things. And if I am actually serious about that vision, if I'm serious about that goal and that purpose, then that is going to take, that's going to take some serious work.  If I don't show up professionally in my business, if I don't go after the things that I really want and do it in a structured way, then I don't think I'm ever going to reach that goal. So I think the first thing when it comes to mindset is that you've actually got to ask yourself the question,

Do I want these? And how bad is it?

I want this and what am I willing to do to have this? And can I just say, I know that there's different seasons in our lives, and I've talked about it before that, you know, you can play big where you are right now. If you've got little kids, then you won't be able to do as much as somebody who doesn't have little kids. And you know, that's just a fact of life. That just how, that's just how it goes. You know, you know that when I, if you've been listening to this podcast for a while, when I started my business, I was in a corporate job in a senior leadership role for four days a week, working in the city with a three and a five-year-old and building my business on the side that doesn't leave a lot of time to do what you want to do, but somehow you make it work because your mindset is that this is going to work. This is going to happen. I'm going to make this happen, come hell or high water. This is going to work for me. And so having that mindset of being really focused on what it is that you want and making sure that you are looking at your day, that you're looking at the time that you've got, and the time that you have you're spending on revenue, generating community, building, brand, building activities so that you can achieve your goals is so important. And if you don't have the mindset,

If you don't have the strength of mindset, to be able to do that, then you may not achieve what you want. And I thought that might sound harsh. You might be like Suze; that's not very nice thing to say, but at the end of the day, it's true. It was so interesting.

I was watching a master class, which is a thing it's masterclass.com and Serena Williams was talking about mental toughness and she was just sharing. It was like a 16 minute masterclass that I listened to all I was having my lunch. And she was just talking about the fact that you know, she has a specific goal in mind when she goes out on that court, she knows what she needs to think, what she needs to do.  She knows that her mindset is everything.  If she gives up too soon, then she'll lose the game. If she thinks that she's not going to win, she'll lose the game. Even when she's down, when she's down on the tennis court in points, she has to come back fighting. And so that mental game, that mindset is so important. 

The other thing that I just want to say here is that I know that mindset is talked about a lot. And so sometimes I think that we can become immune to the conversation around mindset. And I think it's so important for us to actually kind of go, you know, something, what is my mindset? Am I achieving my goals? And he finds me, why am I not? Like, what am I not doing? What am I not thinking? How am I not showing up? And I really want you to start to become aware of that. And if you go to my Instagram at SUSE Chadwick and you go to biz tips, business tips are in the highlights.

I actually highlighted or saved an IGTV that I did recently and I talked about the fact that, you know, we need to make that decision to show up and make that decision to be seen as a leader in our industry, or make that decision to do the work that we need to do in order to achieve what we want as well. So make sure you go and check that out, but our mindset and that mental game is like 80% of it. You're not going to show up and you're not going to do what you need to do if you haven't really thought about being self-aware and asking yourself the hard questions on a regular basis, and you should be asking yourself these questions like dad daily, literally daily, how am I showing, going up? What am I doing to serve today? What revenue-generating activities am I engaging in?

What am I not doing? So really think about that though. I think that is the first thing. When it comes to creating a professional practice is having the mindset and self-awareness of what you need to shift gears into in order to achieve what you want.

 

2) PRIORITIES

The second thing was really around priorities and focus. So, as I said, when I started my business, I was in a corporate job with small kids.  I had a lot of competing priorities. I had this desire to build this business, but I had, you know, to work in a team that I had to deliver to and serve and lead. I had small children and a husband and you know, all of that. And so I really had to take a look and say, okay, I've got two hours in the evening, or I've got an hour or 45 minutes each way on the train.

What am I doing?

How am I setting my goals?

What am I going to do?

How do I plan that event?

What do I need to take time off from work in order to run what I want to run. And so really having those priorities and getting clear on what those priorities are, and then being laser focused on how you're going to achieve them. And for me, I'm a list writer, I've my goals. And then I'm like, okay. So if I want to run that event, because I was running events at the beginning, if I want to run that conference, what do I need to do? Set the date, call the venue, negotiate what I need to negotiate start to get tickets out. Like what are all the steps that I have to do in order to achieve this goal?

So really setting that as a priority, I talk about locking and blocking it a lot and making sure that you are doing the work that is required for you to achieve that goal. so how are you prioritising? And I think the interesting conversation that I have with clients a lot is around. I don't have time and I'm just going to call it and say, we have time for the things that we make time for. And as I said, you might be in different stages of your life. And so yes, you may not be able to do everything that you want to do, but how are you prioritising the things that are really important to you and making sure that they get done in the time that you have if you are strapped for time. But the second thing I want to say is that if your, if you don't have like little kids or you don't have a job or you don't have other things, then I really want you to sit down and work out from the minute you wake up to the minute you go to bed,

What are you doing?

Write it down, do a time journal. Do a time journal. I wake up at five, normally I'd come into my office and I do a bit of admin. So I might be doing my zero accounts. I'll get on Clubhouse and I'll listen, or I'll, Comoderate a room I'll then do my walk on the treadmill for 30 minutes while I'm listening to something else. And then I sought the family out and then I get on with my work for the day and I've got a list of things. So this morning I run around a clubhouse room for a couple of hours. And then I'm now recording the podcast. I'm recording another podcast interview later today, I've got a coaching call for BBA. Like my diary is specific with what I'm doing and I try and block out time myself to say, for example, you know, I'm going to be launching the bold speakers collective again next month and I want to do a clubhouse module.

So now I'm writing out all of the content for that. So I've literally blocked out, you know, from two 30 to five 30 or two 30, till five, right? Clubhouse, bold speakers, collective content. And so it's blocked out in my diary so that I am focusing and prioritising it because I know that that's something that I want to do. So what are you prioritising right now? And if you, and be honest with yourself, you know, I mean, it's only you, it doesn't, it's not like you have to let me know what you're prioritising, but I would ask yourself, am I prioritising the things that are going to shift the dial? And I think, you know, something, I always find it really interesting whenever I run my brand builder Academy webinars. I always ask the question about what are you spending the most time on?

Most people say content and admin.  Then I asked the question, is that shifting the dial? And the answer is usually no. So I think that the other thing when comes to your priorities is if you do have priorities and you are working on things consistently, are they getting you the results that you want? Because the whole thing of, you know, the definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over again, when it's not actually getting you the results that you want or doing the same things over and over again, and expecting a different result. So definitely take a look at what are my priorities, what is my focus and is that actually helping me to achieve the things that I really want to achieve.

3) HABITS

The third thing, when it comes to professional practises or professional habits as well, other habits, you know, what are the habits that you've got?

Do you have good habits? Are they healthy habits or are they unhealthy habits? And I love atomic habits by James clear, if you haven't checked it out, then definitely do. I think it's really, really interesting the way he talks about the psychology of how we build habits and how we create effective habits as well. And so for me right now, I'm trying to create a healthy habit of, I just bought myself a treadmill. It's in my office. You might've seen it on my stories and I've given myself a challenge of 30 minutes for 30 days consecutively. So I've got a little calendar next to the treadmill. We, 30 days on it and I'm crossing off each day so that I can try and build a habit. Cause I'm really conscious that habits take time. They take, I think that they say 21 days, but I think when I read James Clear's book, I think it was more than that.

And so just trying to create that habit and fitting it in with the stuff that I want to do as well. So one of the things that James talks about in atomic habits is the reward. So for example, if you don't particularly like walking or doing something, then what else could you do that could be a reward when you have that activity? So for example, when I'm on the treadmill, I might listen to a podcast or a clubhouse stream. So I don't really love being on the treadmill, but I do love listening to podcasts or being on Clubhouse. And so I can do that whilst I'm doing something I don't particularly like, and I do it when I do the grocery shopping and when I cook as well. So when I'm cooking or when I'm doing the grocery shopping that I'm listening to something that I love, it might be an audible book.

It might be a podcast, whatever it is. And so when you are trying to create great habits in your business, really take a look at what else you could do that you could couple it with to make it more appetising, to make it something that you want to do and that you're getting rewarded for as well. And then hopefully the more that you do that, then that becomes a habit of yours. And I just think for me, I really want to get healthier this year. I think the last year 2020 was not a great healthy year for me. I was just like surviving in survival mode. And so I definitely want to make sure that I'm creating healthy habits for myself. And so, you know, I finish up work as early as I can in the afternoon because I start really early in the morning because I wake up early.

One of my habits is I wake up early. I get the day started early so that I can finish up my day earlier too. I want to create a walking habit. I need to get back into my writing habit as well. So what are the habits that you're creating and how are they serving you? So for me, I've also got habits around, you know, what I do on different days of the week, which I've mentioned before.

Monday I do have more of a CEO day and Thursday's are finance days and Wednesdays are content days. Even then I'm looking at it and going, how could I be better at that? Like what else could I do that could take that habit to a new level or that could help me shift the dial more. And so even when we create good habits, it's also then reassessing them and saying, do these still serve me?

Does this still serve me where I am in my business or do I need to shift and change that habit to now take me to that next level?

A quick recap when it comes to professional practises, the first one is mindset. The second one is priorities and focus. The third one is the habits that you're creating.

4) BUILD

The next three are really around built, create and lead.  When I look at the professional practises of building my business, what am I doing to build my business and brand, what am I making sure that I make time for? What am I saying?

Is that helping me build and grow and what are the practices that are really going to help me to be consistent with how I'm building and growing my business as well?

For me, things like speaking is one of the key things that help me build my business.

It helps me reach more people. It helps me get exposure to an audience that might be cold audiences for me, or it helps to warm my warm audience up even more and the professional practice around building is speaking for me and I'm really conscious about it.

It's making sure this podcast goes out every week. So making sure I show up on clubhouse, it's making sure I actively go after speaking gigs because I know that that's going to help me. It's shifting the dial for me to build my business. Once again, it's a mindset is a priority and it's a habit of building the other. 

5) CREATE

The next thing is Create. What is your professional practice around your creation mode?  Simple things like not constantly consuming other people's content is professional practice.

Not doing things is a professional practice, like not consuming other people's content, not constantly procrastinate, scrolling and looking at what everybody else is doing, not falling down the rabbit hole. That means that I, you know, kind of lookup and I'm like, where did the last three hours go? 

Those are professional practise that when it comes to you creating, you've got to take a look at what do I need to create in a really efficient and effective way.  For me, what I'll do is that I've got like a YouTube video that is just it's. I think it's called thinking, thinking music or creation music or something like that. And so it's just music and I light a candle, I shut everything down on my computer. I turn that music on and then I'll write. That's one of my professional practises when it comes to creating and I just know that I need to put my phone away.  Sometimes I'll give my husband my clubhouse phone. My main phone is an Android. My clubhouse phone is an iPhone. Sometimes I'll say to him here, I'm going to leave this with you so that I don't get tempted. I think you've really got to take a look at if I want to create incredible things. If I want to create high-quality things, then what practices do I need to implement in order to create those things in order for that to be my, some of my best work.  Once again, it's about being deliberate with what you're doing and how you're doing it too. I think that one of the biggest things that we have to focus on in our business is creating. It's the creation of content, it's the creation of products and services.

It's the creation of what we're delivering to our clients and the creativity and creation in a business is just something that's ongoing. If you're not creating things, if you're not creating content, if you're not creating new things, and it's not about always new products and services, I'm not saying you always have to be creating, but it's about looking at how you're being, you know, imaginative and evolving and innovative with what you've got so that you can continue to build and grow it as well.

6) LEAD

Then the last thing when we're talking about professional practises is to lead. It was so interesting. I was running a room this morning on clubhouse on how to be seen as a leader in your industry. It was Tips and Q & A, and there was so many amazing things that came out of it. 

We'll talk a bit more about professional practises, but some of the tips and some of the conversation that came out of the room this morning around leadership was that the best leaders paint a picture of their vision for their audience and leaders, really a link in the chain. So what that means is that if you want to be a leader in your industry, you really have to be clear on what that vision is so that people can see what it is that they're becoming a part of. What is the community that they're joining? What is it that you believe, what are your, what are your values? Then when they join that, when they follow you, you can sometimes be that link to them. Then find out more about themselves to them finding that resource to them, thinking differently to them thinking bigger.

So really looking at what the qualities of a leader are. Something else we were talking about, a leader is not always allowed us. You know, when I was doing that IGTV, that you can find in my highlights on the business tips I was talking about, you don't have to be loud. You don't have to be bright. You don't have to be all of the things and extrovert. You know, when it comes to being a leader, you just need to be you and you need to show up in a way that works for you and your audience. And it's sometimes the quiet decisions that you're making and the quiet conversations that you're having, and the things that you're sharing that make you a leader as well. But I just really want to encourage you that if you want to be a leader in your industry, and once again you can be a global leader, you can be a leader here in Australia or wherever you are in the world.

You can be a leader to the 20 people that you work with.  Leadership is so different for different people. But what I do want to say is that being, or having professional practises as a leader, I think is key as well. If you are a business owner, you are leading your clients, whether you like it or not, nobody has to bestow the title of leader on you. If you decided to run a business, if you've got people that work for you, whether they're subcontractors or employees, do you are a leader.

What are your professional practices around being a leader? What does that look like for you? And what do you really need to think about as well? And I think that it's so important for us to be conscious about how we show up as leaders as well, because when you're a leader, other people are going to be looking to you for what it is that you're going to say, what you're going to do, where you're taking them next on the journey.

So having professional practises as a leader, I think is really important and once again, you've got to really focus on it. You've got to ask yourself, what am I here to do? What impact do I want to have today? How am I going to lead? How am I going to show up? If you don't have professional practises around being a leader, then you need to start to create professional practices. Because leaders who stand out leaders who make a dent leaders who are memorable leaders who create real change, they have professional practises around how they show up.  I dare say with integrity, with intention, with the vision in mind, with a service mindset as well. So think about how you're showing up as a leader and ask yourself what are the professional practices that I need to implement in my business in order to achieve the things that I want to achieve and serve the clients that I'm here to serve.

As I was saying on that, IGTV as well that if I can show up today and just serve one person, you, you who is listening to this right now, you can serve you and challenge your thinking for you to think bigger and for you to start to operate in a way that means that you're not working all the time. You're not running yourself into burnout, but that you're creating professional practices that are really going to move the dial for your business, for your clients, for yourself, so that you can build something that you really are proud of.  That does what you want it to do. Then my work here is done. That is what I'm here to do. That is why I show up today and so that's all I want right now at this moment.

Those are the six key things, right? That I wanted to share with you today around creating professional practises in your business, have the right mindset, prioritise, create great habits that serve you really think about how you've got professional practises around how you build your business, how you create and how you lead. Hopefully, that has made you think a little bit about what else you can be doing and it's not about doing more. You know, it's not about working harder. It's about working smarter, being smarter. Re-Assessing constantly looking at what we're doing, how we're doing it, and what's really working for us. 

That's it for another week. Amazing to have you here. Don't forget that if you want to check out the bold speakers collective, which can really help you, you know, something, it's not just about you standing on stage, it's about how you start to articulate your message, how you start to show up more with confidence, how you start to build a revenue stream in your business, that you can obviously be earning money through as a speaker.

Whether that means you run events, you run webinars, you speak on stages, no matter what it is, maybe it's about how you clearly articulate what your services are to your clients so that you can secure more work for yourself as well. In the Bold Speakers Collective, we cover it all. If you want to start a podcast as well, if you want to get confident on Clubhouse, then those are all the things. So make sure you check out the freebie.

 

Follow me on all socials:

 

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/suzchadwick

 

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/suzchadwick

 

Clubhouse: https://www.joinclubhouse.com/@suzchadwick