Natalie Eckdahl, MBA, is a business coach, professional facilitator, keynote speaker and host of the
Biz Chix Podcast which iTunes featured as a top New Business Podcast in March 2014. She built a successful personal brand and platform from the ground up via her podcast (200+ episodes) and has been featured in Inc, Fast Company, Huffington Post and Entrepreneur. Natalie has an international coaching practice where she works with female entrepreneurs desiring to grow a profitable business. She is the busy mom of three children ranging in age from 2-14 and starts her day with a steaming cup of coffee!
Connect with Natalie and/or join her Facebook group for women entrepreneurs here. ____________________
Set and Achieve Big Goals
In this episode you get to hear Natalie coaching Shannon, the host of The Connected Yoga Teacher Podcast, on how to set and achieve big goals. Shannon shares her notes from that coaching call here.
1. Set Quarterly Goals That are Measurable and Achievable
Look at the next quarter (or next 90 days) and choose 2 - 4 goals. Half for your business and the others for your personal life. This might be a revenue goal, a list building goal or a goal to create something new. Set goals that are measurable, so that someone from the outside could literally check in to see if you hit your goals. Setting achievable goals, that seem possible is a critical step in this process. Shannon shares in this episode how she felt with having a goal that was reliant on others (booking consultations) versus goals she was 100% responsible for.
Example: Shannon set 2 goals for her business. 1 - Have a bank of 5 episodes edited before podcast launch day. 2 - Book 9 new yoga teacher consultations before the end of March. 2. Create Weekly Goals
What activities can you do that will help you to reach your goals? Count out the weeks ahead (for example April, May and June of 2017 has 13 weeks). Use your calendar to mark your weekly goals down and share them with an accountability partner.
Example: Every Monday is The Connected Yoga Teacher Live Show - at 12:30pm EST. From 9am - 12pm on those days is time for preparing the show notes and website article to go along with the episode. 3. Marketing and Your Avatar
Are you marketing to an avatar that is going to pay you? Does your current network know about the work that you do? Would you like to try Facebook live as a marketing tool? Facebook live is getting a lot of exposure right now. Is there a time when you can have a weekly live video? Do you have regular communication with your avatar, (like a weekly email)?
See Shannon's weekly live show schedule here. 4. Create Daily Goals From Your Weekly Goals
Block time off on your daily calendar that relate to your weekly goals. Account for the preparation time needed. What other revenue generating activities do you need to put on your calendar? When can you do follow up emails and communication related to your goal? Remember to block off family time (driving included). Plan for at least an hour of uninterrupted quiet for creating content.
Example: Shannon needs to block off 4-6 hours per week to get an episode together for the podcast. Productivity Tips
- Shrink your to do list -- if there are 10 things on your list, choose 3 items to get done today. Realize that some days you can only get 1 thing done and that is okay.
- Turn off your notifications on your phone and your computer.
- Use a program to shut off distracting social media platforms (Shannon talked about the Freedom app that she uses).
- Stop checking email and turn off the notifications.
- Move your cell/home phone to a different room.
- Notice where you spend your time - remember to block off time for grocery shopping and coordinating schedules and personal appointments.
- Be easier on yourself. You can only get so much done in a day.
- When your to-do list is too large - we get paralyzed and we don't know where to begin.