Speaker A [00:00:00]:

Welcome to the Brand Builders Lab Podcast. I'm your host, Sue Chadwick, certified business and mindset coach, author, and speaker. Each week, we'll be talking about simple but powerful business and mindset strategies that will help you build a lean, clean, and profitable business so you can learn to get out live your own way and pay yourself more. Forget average. It's time to level up. Hey, Lovely. Welcome back to the podcast. Us.

Speaker A [00:00:28]:

So good to have you here. Hope you're doing well. We're just almost at the end of November. This week as I'm recording, this is my birthday week. I love birthday week. It's so fun. So I've got a few fun things planned as well, and I have to say that I did do a bit of a shopping spree on the weekend for myself, had a mani pedi, just a bit of a celebrating me kind of weekend, which is I'm like, why would you not do that? That's so fun. Anyway, listen.

Speaker A [00:00:58]:

This week on the podcast, us. I wanted to share something that I heard on another podcast that really got me thinking. And as it got me thinking, it reminded me of a book that I had read a while ago from somebody who I really love, and it is all about rebuilding and refounding, if you're a founder, refounding your business and why it's so important. So I'm gonna share a few a bit of a collation of things that I really loved that I heard a few other people speaking about that I have really helped me to think about my business in a different way or just have kind of helped to spark a bit of inspiration and a bit of thinking differently. And you know that I am a big one for taking time out of your business for deep thinking. Whether it's coming up with new models and concepts, if you're a thought leader, whether it's about thinking about how you're gonna move your business forward, what you're gonna do differently, how you're gonna show up in a different way. So not just looking at the strategies in your business, but also really thinking about and looking at you, like how you're operating as a business owner and whether the way in which your operating is helping or hindering you as a business owner to grow. And I know that that can be quite confronting sometimes, is to kind of be like, well, if if I was the CEO of my business, which is what you are, and I was being evaluated on my performance, how I show up, what I do, thinking strategically, would I still keep my job as CEO if that is how I was being evaluated? And I do like to think about my business in a really commercial way.

Speaker A [00:02:49]:

Like, I am the CEO. Am I working like the CEO? Am I thinking strategically and planning? Am I, you know, making sure that we're getting sales in the business, and am I making sure that I'm future proofing my business? And so that's something that I really wanted to talk about today because of some of these episodes that I've listened to where I'm like, oh, that's so good. How to get my notes app out, write it down, and be like, I have to do a podcast episode on that. So that's what we're talking about today. But, well, listen, before we dive into this week's episode, I do wanna let you know that Amplify, which is my mastermind, if you are a coach consultant service provider and you are looking for support for 2024 where you've got a small network around you, where you've got consistent coaching community and support every single week. Like, it's really high touch. It's that next level up. You're at a level where you're, like, ready to up level and you're ready to take your personal brand and your business to beyond 6 figures, then Amplify is a great place for you.

Speaker A [00:03:57]:

Obviously, we know BBA are foundational business elements. Amplify is that next level up. And I also know that, you know, I've had clients who go through BBA where they're not looking to build their personal brand. They're not looking to become a thought leader, to become a speaker, to have a podcast, to get, you know, their message out there. And so that's what Amplify is. If you're somebody who wants to get their message out there, if you wanna be bold and powerful voice in your industry, if you want people to know your name, if you wanna share your message, and you wanna monetize it, then Amplify is the place for you. So If you've got any questions on that, just let me know. DM me at Sue Chadwick on Instagram.

Speaker A [00:04:36]:

Otherwise, you can go to the website, sueeschadwick.com forward slash amplify, and check it out today, and come and join us for 2024. But listen, let's dive in to today's episode. So I was listening to the diary of a CEO podcast the other day. There were so many good episodes at the moment. I am a big fan. Always happy to share that. And I was listening to the Airbnb the CEO, Brian Chesky, and he was talking about the journey of Airbnb. And it was just so interesting because I think that a lot of times we start our business, this, and we think that there is a just an upward trajectory that we should be experiencing on a regular basis.

Speaker A [00:05:27]:

So that's just how business goes, the you know, that we start a business, and then we start growing and growing and growing and growing. And that's just not how it is. No how many podcasts I listen to. I love listening to founder stories, so I'm a really big one for it. I'm actually gonna list a couple of episodes that I really loved, that I think are worth listening to. And the other thing I wanna say is that sometimes, you know, don't always go by the title of a podcast. I know that's gonna give you some idea, but there have been a couple that I've listened to that I found so fascinating. And I'm like, that title did not do a justice at all.

Speaker A [00:06:03]:

So, anyway, I was listening to Diary of a CEO. It's called Airbnb was worth a 100,000,000,000, and I was lonely and deeply sad this moonsight is what it's called. And there was a point in the podcast where Brian says, you don't just have to found a company. You have to refound it and rebuild it and continue to have new ideas. And I don't know why, but it just kind of struck me that we think that our business journey is linear, that we create, and then we just, like, keep selling that, which you can totally do. But I think it's so important as business owners, especially in today's market, is to have the mindset that we have to be innovative. We have to be creative in our thinking. That if I was to wipe the slate clean and if you've been around for a while, I actually do do this with my clients, so I feel like I'm kind of doing it a bit.

Speaker A [00:07:07]:

But if I was to wipe the slate completely clean and start my business again knowing what I know now, how would I build it. And I think sometimes we have to ask ourselves that question because if we don't, it's really easy to become stale. It's really easy to become complacent when it comes to how we're building our business, what we're doing, the ideas that we're coming up with, how we're growing, how we're adapting to the market as well. And so when he said, you know, we don't only have to found a company, but we have to refound it again and again. I'm just like, okay, Suze. If you were to wipe the slate clean, what would you do differently? Like, where would you start? What would you keep? What would you get rid of? You know, what would you focus or invest time, energy, money in right now? And can I do that on my own, or do I need somebody else to help me? Can I do it on my own, or do I need other ideas? So even this week, I've booked a strategy session with somebody who specializes in a particular thing where I'm like, I feel like I need to invest in knowing how to do this better, knowing how to create something more valuable when it comes to that particular product or service. I have spent time really understanding TikTok more because I'm like, I think that I need to branch out because Instagram, whilst I love it, does nowhere near as effective as what it's been in the past. Like, it's not as effective for me now as what it used to be.

Speaker A [00:08:51]:

And so it's about looking at how we continue to evolve and how we continue to rebuild the brand and rebuild the business. And it's not about, like, you know, burning it all down and starting again, but it is about being a founder and being a business owner who can see what is happening, who can, like I said before, future proof your business to be able to deal with the highs and lows that are coming. And I remember having Lisa Messenger on the podcast. I'll link the episode, in the show notes. When she wrote risk and resilience, which was the breaking and remaking of a brand, startup survival pivot and exit. And it was just so interesting to listen because from the outside, we were all, you know, watching the collective. And for those of you who don't know, the collective was a magazine here in Australia. It ended up in, like, 90 countries.

Speaker A [00:09:55]:

It was really, the only entrepreneurial magazine that I've been aware of. Maybe there's others. I don't know, but it just really appealed to me. And Lisa wrote a number of books, and she spoke at my 1st conference that I hosted back in 2015. And so she's been on the podcast a few times, and I've watched her journey. And it's just fascinating to watch her once again continue to refound the business. So she started off in publishing. She ended up with the magazine.

Speaker A [00:10:29]:

She then ended up with, like, a huge lease and office where they were just losing money, like, every day. She had a lot of people working for her where they didn't really know what people were doing, and they were just bleeding money everywhere. And so then she had to basically break the brand and just completely color it all and rebuild it. And so when I heard Brian Chesky from Airbnb talk about this, Lisa was the 1st person that I actually thought about. When, you know, you think about where have I seen this happen before? Where have I, you know, experienced it or read about it? And so the book Risk and Resilience was one that I thought of, and I just thought, you know, that was Lisa really refounding her business, and now she's gone more into physical books. So they've got you know, she's got lots of different books now. She's got, like, daily mantras. She's got her books.

Speaker A [00:11:35]:

She's got inspirational cars. Now I'm seeing them in Maya, and she's at fairs that are selling in New York. And so that was a massive pivot from just having the magazine that was in all the countries. And I think sometimes we get really complacent, and I know that I've been there. I'm just gonna confess it to you. I have been complacent in my business and taken a huge hit for when I was complacent. And I know that it can feel hard to constantly be thinking, well, I've gotta stay on top of things. I've gotta stay on top of things.

Speaker A [00:12:09]:

But that is the business of business. That is actually the business of business, is being the CEO that runs the business like a CEO, that tries to keep the business ahead of the curve, that tries to keep the business relevant, up to date in the channels that are working, and just starting to think differently as well. So even before I got you know, even before I started recording this podcast, I was on a coaching call with 1 of my beautiful clients, and I was just telling her about how we've gotta shift our thinking that we're not just creating content for a specific platform now. We wanna be creating content that allows us to distribute in a really sophisticated in a really time saving way, where if it's a video, it now goes on Facebook Reels, Instagram Reels, and TikTok. If it is an image, depending on the size of the image, it can go on LinkedIn, Instagram, Facebook, Pinterest. Yeah? Like, we've gotta start breaking out of our siloed boxes of how we've thought about creating in the past, how we've thought about building the business in the past, and we've gotta refocus on the message and the piece of content we're creating, what we're trying to sell and do, and how we really start to distribute in a bigger way, how we become omnipresent with what we're doing so that we can reach a wider audience. And Airbnb were really talking about how they saw a decline in, like, you know, 2012, 2013, 2014, 2015, where the business was very stagnant because it just kept doing the same thing. It just kept, you know, spending $1,000,000 on Google AdWords, and it kept running the same kind of creative and messaging and how it was doing nothing for their business.

Speaker A [00:14:16]:

And I think that this is where we've just got to really make sure that we're staying on top of things is that, are you still doing what you've been doing for the past couple of years, or have you shifted and changed. Have you seen an impact in your business? Have things changed in your business, but you've not changed? And so whilst we don't just wanna be changing everything for the sake of it, I do think that it is important for us to be able to read what's going on in the market and not be scared to refound and rebuild the business. And for me, this Tia has been definitely a bit of a I just I just wanna streamline everything. I just wanna clean it all up. And that's been really hard because I'm like, oh, but what about all this stuff that I've created? What about all of this stuff that I have? And that may not be selling as well as I want it to, but it's like holding onto it because I've created it, because I've done it. So, like, I don't wanna change it. And I've even felt myself with the resistance and really having to manage my mind and be kind of like, Suze, like, you've gotta call. You've gotta streamline.

Speaker A [00:15:29]:

You've gotta make it easier for your clients to understand how they can work with you and the best way to do that what the results are. And so I really wanna encourage you to start thinking about, do you need to refound your business? Do you need to really revisit? And, obviously, last week, we talked about realigning and reenergizing, and I feel like this is the perfect episode, the perfect next episode after that to really be like, okay. Have we asked ourselves the questions? Are we realigned with who we are, what we're here to do. And now the question is, do we kind of have to break and remake parts of our business, all of our business, some of our business, none of our business, what needs to happen now, and do we have the courage to be able to do that? Do we have the courage to kinda go, alright. Even though I made it, even though I created it, even though I value it and I love it, maybe I've gotta, like, color it. Maybe I've gotta streamline it. Maybe I've gotta get rid of it in order for the rest of the business to really flourish. You know, even as I'm saying that, I'm thinking of our lemon tree in our backyard.

Speaker A [00:16:43]:

And my dad was like, where are all your lemons? Like, normally, your lemon tree is so full. And I actually said to him, you know something? Last season, we didn't cut it all back. We didn't cull it, and so we've not had as much fruit this this year. And I think that's actually the perfect analogy for business is that when we, like, don't cull things, when we don't tend to them, when we don't make sure that they stay healthy, we don't get as much fruit the next year. We don't get the same results as we'd had before because we've got dead wood, because we've got we we're not kind of being harsh enough with our business and really focusing in, realigning, and focusing in on the things that are so much more important. And so that's what I wanted to share with you today is that now is the time to really start thinking about what am I gonna be courageous enough to make tough calls on? What am I gonna be courageous enough to kinda go, this just is not working, whatever it is. And, obviously, we've always gotta ask ourselves, did I put enough time into it? Did I market it enough? Did I actually do what was required to make this a a success? And if I did do all of that, if I really didn't hold back and I really communicated what it is that I wanted to communicate. I gave it a number of goes.

Speaker A [00:18:08]:

I really showed up and, like, marketed it and sold it and shared it, and I still didn't get the successful result. Then the question is, do I need to make a call here? Do I need to repackage it, realign it, do something new with it, or do I need to let it go? And I think when we're in business, it is so hard to let things go because you spent the time to build it and because it's come from you. But I think that we have to be in the season of pruning and cutting back right now in order to allow 2024 to help us to thrive. For 2024 to bear the fruit that we want in our business because we made some of the hard calls. So I would love to know what your thoughts are. I wanna know how you're feeling in your business at the moment. I wanna know, do you feel like you need to make some tough calls right now, or do you kinda feel like no. Like, I'm I think things are good.

Speaker A [00:19:07]:

I think things are working the way that I want them to. And it may not be a big thing. It may be like, you know, something. There's 1 or 2 things I probably need to sort out right now. And then I know that, you know, the rest is is gonna workout for me. So that is what I wanted to talk to you about today, and I hope that it has landed. I hope that it's helping you to think a little bit differently. And, yeah, I will drop some of the podcast episodes that I'm loving right now in the show notes so that you can listen to those as well.

Speaker A [00:19:41]:

And as I said before, if you need more help with really growing your business this and being able to make those tough decisions and focusing on building assets that work for you, then, obviously, make sure you come and check out Amplify, suzschadwick.com/amplify, and come and join us for 2024. But, otherwise, if you enjoy this episode, I'd love you to share it and leave a review. And if you've not subscribed to the podcast, what are you even doing? Come and dive to the podcast because that really helps us to get up the rankings and get more people to find us as well. But listen. Have an amazing day, and I will see you next time on the