May 14, 2025 • 27 mins
In this episode of The Bold Blueprint, your host Claire Bartlett - business mentor, strategist, and no-nonsense coach dives deep into the third pillar of her R.E.S.E.T.™ Framework: Strategise. If you've ever felt like you're doing all the things but making no real progress, this is the episode for you.
Claire unpacks the real meaning of strategy in business, not as a buzzword, but as a powerful and practical tool for achieving your long-term vision without burning out. From simplifying your services to redefining your business model and building a marketing approach that actually serves you, this episode is packed with insights to help you stop guessing and start growing with intention.
In this episode, you’ll learn:
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Why most business owners are operating without a real strategy, and how to change that.
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The difference between goals and strategy (and why you need both).
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Claire’s 3-step process for strategic simplification that helps you align your offers, model, and marketing with your vision.
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How to audit your current business activities and cut what no longer serves you - even if it’s making money.
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Why your strategy must match your energy, lifestyle, and goals (not someone else’s).
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The importance of platform-specific marketing strategies and growing your email list.
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How to build a roadmap for realistic, sustainable growth, without sacrificing your sanity.
Key Quotes:
“Strategy is the method to the madness of business. It’s not rigid, it’s a guide to keep you aligned and moving forward.” “Even if it’s making money, if it’s not aligned with your bigger goal, you’ve got to let it go.” “Just posting on social media isn’t a strategy. You need to know the why behind every action you take.”
Resources & Links:
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👉 Book your free clarity call with Claire to get personal support with your business strategy.
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📲 Follow Claire on Instagram: @cs_bartlett
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💌 Grab your free guide to eliminate Sunday dread and regain control of your time HERE.
- 💟 Grab your exclusive XERO discount HERE.
Rate & Review: If this episode helped you see your business differently, please take a moment to subscribe, rate, and review The Bold Blueprint on Apple Podcasts or Spotify. Your feedback helps us reach more bold business owners like you!
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
(00:04):
Hey lovely humans and welcome back to the Bold Blueprint.
I'm your host Claire Bartlett, business mentor, strategist and your no-nonsense guide tobuilding a business that doesn't just look good on paper but actually feels good to run.
If you're new here, welcome and if you've been riding this way with me for a while, I amso glad you're back.
Now, if you've been listening to this series, you know we are deep diving into my resetframework.
(00:29):
five transformational steps to help you reignite your energy, realign your business andgrow with purpose, confidence and calm.
We've talked about reignite and we've explored explore.
And today we are diving head first into strategize.
And let me tell you, this is where the magic starts to happen.
(00:51):
Now, most people think strategy is just about planning, about working hard, adding more,you know, more offers.
More content, more funnels, more launches, more, more, more.
But strategy is so much more than that.
It isn't just about planning.
It's about having intention and being purposeful with everything that you do in yourbusiness.
(01:14):
Strategy touches every single part of your business.
I don't want you to just strategize, I am going to make six figures this year.
That's not strategy.
That's a goal and that is ambition, which is an amazing thing to have and is needed.
But once you've made that goal, you then have to go back and build the strategy around howyou are going to make it happen.
(01:40):
strategy is a bit of a buzzword at the moment.
You are hearing it sort of left, right and centre.
But I just don't think people have the understanding of what that word actually means.
We hear it so often and put into so many different contexts.
But actually, it's quite a simple process that you should all be following in yourbusinesses.
And the word strategy is something that hopefully a lot of people are already doing intheir businesses.
(02:05):
They just don't realize that's what it's called.
So in today's episode, we're going to be talking about one, what that word actually means,how you can implement it in your business for the biggest impact.
And number three, what you can do today to start m
putting strategy in place in your business with intent and with purpose towards thosebigger goals that you have.
(02:35):
I see so many business owners, you know, on that hustle train, constantly going, going,putting the work in, putting the hours in, but they're sort of doing it blindly.
They're flying around.
They're trying all of these different things in their business.
They're putting their attention here and then suddenly they're all over here.
And that just leads to burnout.
(02:55):
It just leads to overwhelm and not making any real movement forwards in your business.
And that's where strategy comes into play.
Now strategy is literally having a goal and a vision and then looking at that roadmap.
It's sort of like the step now to how you are going to get to that goal.
(03:16):
So if you want to build a six figure business, you look at where you are today and yousay, okay, well that is the distance that I need to travel to hit that goal.
So what actions am I going to need to take to get me to that destination?
If you think about
a sat nav, you put in your final destination and then usually it will come up with like,you know, there could be three different routes that all take relatively the same amount
(03:43):
of time, but they are all very different.
One could be on the motorway, one could be on the country roads, you know, but they allget you to that end place.
It's about choosing the route that you want to take that will get you to that enddestination.
And it can be the longer route, it can be oh
you know, the short and fast and direct, it's whatever is going to one, be realistic foryou, and two, align with you and your values in the business.
(04:09):
And that's what's really important.
Because if you, you know, if you go back 100 years before satnavs and before maps wereeven that readily available, and you said, I need to get 100 miles from here, and you had
to just suddenly figure out, you know, well, I think it might be north from here, I'mgoing to try this and just...
(04:29):
you're off blind, you know, have no idea how to reach that destination.
So you're just trying all different routes and different pathways until hopefully one dayyou end up.
That is what you're doing in your business if you don't have strategy.
You are heading out into the big bad world completely blind and just praying and hopingthat someday you'll manage to stumble across that vision and that goal.
(04:56):
How you can start putting strategy in place in your business is, like I said, start havingsome intention about every decision that you're making.
When you have that end goal in mind, if you are really clear on where it is that you'rewanting your business to go, it makes decision making so much easier because if you can
(05:16):
ask yourself, does that take me one step closer to that end goal?
If it doesn't, then it's a no.
If it does,
and it's a yes.
It makes decision making so much easier.
And again, that's where having a clear strategy can help you in business because if youhave a strategy and you're following it, you can make the decisions faster if it's keeping
(05:38):
you on track, if it's alongside that strategy.
And it can also help you decide what the next steps are in your business.
So for me, I love public speaking.
I love sharing.
my views and my opinions.
As you all know, I love to talk.
So one of the things that I really wanted to build in my business was the public speakingopportunity and sharing my passion and my knowledge with the world.
(06:05):
So I had to build a strategy around how I was going to achieve that.
I could have just sort of stood here and been like, okay, I've created the goal.
I want to speak more.
And then had no idea how I was going to do that.
Instead, I built a really clear strategy.
Well, I know that the people that I want to speak to, know, the people that are going toalign with what I'm talking about, would be at these sorts of events.
(06:30):
So that is my strategy to get into those events in front of that audience that would helpme grow my business.
So it's about working through the steps that you can take to achieve the goals, but thenbreaking them down into smaller detail.
Because remember, it's the small steps that you take, those tiny little nudges forwardthat end up making the biggest difference in your business.
(06:56):
So if we are talking strategy and we have the goal in mind and we can set ourselves thenthe target.
So we can say, I have a five year goal.
If I want to hit that in five years, what do I need to have achieved by the end of threeyears to be on track for that goal?
(07:17):
And if I need to be there in three years, what do I need to hit at the end of one year?
And then what do I need to hit in those 12 months of that first year?
So you can see that by working back from the goal and asking yourself these questions,what are the stages that I need to be hitting?
And that's where people miss that part of the process.
(07:41):
They say, here's where I want to be in five years.
and then let's just work really hard and throw absolutely everything at it, including thekitchen sink until I get there.
But that's not how you are going to succeed.
And I see so many businesses, I work with so many clients who are absolutely exhaustedbecause they've been hustling for so long in their business and they've tried everything,
(08:06):
but nothing seems to have worked.
And it's purely because they've either done things in the wrong order,
they're focusing their energy at the wrong areas of their business or the wrong audiences.
They've had no structure and no strategy behind what they're trying to achieve.
So you need to take a step back and you need to simplify.
(08:27):
Take out all of those extra unnecessary elements in your business that are not serving youin any way.
If you are wanting to build an online business, but you are spending time doing
face-to-face networking events or face-to-face one-to-one sessions that are not alignedwith your bigger goal.
(08:48):
It is a waste of your time.
You need to always be working towards things that are taking you in that direction.
Remember that Sat Nav.
If it's not a destination that would be showing up on your Sat Nav route, then it's notsomewhere you need to go, no matter how fun it looks.
And that's where discipline, I suppose, comes in because
(09:10):
If you have this strategy, you've spent the time and you've built that strategy, if youdon't have that dedication to it, to stick to it, then you will still be veering off in
all different directions.
So it's not enough to have just built the strategy.
You need to stick to it.
(09:45):
So this all sounds great, Claire, but how do I start?
How do I build that strategy into my existing business?
Because I hear you, right?
And actually, according to a 23 HubSpot report, 64 % of business owners admit that theydon't have a clear strategy behind any of their offers, their content, or their growth
(10:06):
plans.
They are just doing what they think they are supposed to be doing.
And there's that word again, what you suppose you should be doing.
Does that sound familiar?
You know, you wake up, you're overwhelmed by that to-do list that you have created foryourself, for a business that you have built, and yet none of it feels like you anymore.
(10:29):
And it's taking you off in this completely new direction.
And yet the numbers still aren't moving in the way that you want them, or worse, they are.
Actually, your business is moving forward, but you are just feeling miserable.
Strategizing.
is the way out of all of that.
It's the way of building a business that is directly linked with your bigger vision andyour bigger goals that you know can take you to that final destination.
(10:58):
So it's time to press pause and start asking yourself, what is working in my business?
What is not working?
How can you start to simplify, to strip things back?
and then start to scale again, but without losing yourself in the process.
(11:19):
So when I work with my clients in this phase, in the strategy phase, we always start byrevisiting their personal capacity and their ideal lifestyle vision.
This is how you can start to figure out what that vision is for yourself for the longerterm and what you're wanting from your business right now.
Because your strategy cannot be like a copy and paste from someone else's.
(11:42):
And again, people get so lost in that comparisonitis.
It needs to be built around you, your energy, your goals and your strengths.
And if you are spending too much time looking at other people's businesses, what isworking for other people and thinking, well, if I just do it that way, that will be
working for me.
(12:02):
It doesn't work like that.
I'm sorry to break it to you, but it has to be unique to you.
So here are the three things that I start this process when I ask my clients.
How many hours do you really want to be working right now?
What income do you need to be earning to live comfortably?
(12:25):
And then which areas of your business really light you up?
Like really bring a smile to your face and make it a really great day.
And then on the opposite of that, what areas really drain you?
What really sucks the life out of you and leaves you feeling just so despondent at the endof the day?
When my clients come to me, most of them are working like 40 plus hours a week in abusiness that they were meant to build for freedom, right?
(12:52):
When we go into business, most of the time it is because we want a better work-lifebalance.
We want to be in control of our time.
And yet we end up building these businesses that we become slave to because we feel likewe should be working harder and adding all of those extra things in.
So here's where we have to get brave and we have to start simplifying and cutting thingsback.
(13:14):
So you need to look at your business and you need to audit everything, every single areaof your business.
Look at your services.
What offers do you have out there at the moment?
What marketing channels are you on?
What platforms are you on?
What are your boundaries with your clients?
All of these elements can really help you start to see the ups and downs in your businessand where you should be focusing and...
(13:41):
start when you're building strategy for your business.
So some of the main common traps in this place is too many offers.
So you're diluting your message, you're draining your time.
And as I said earlier, your messaging, sorry, your offers might be completely in areas ofyour business that aren't taking you to that bigger picture.
(14:02):
So really being tough with yourself.
And it doesn't matter at this point how much money and how much revenue any of theseoffers are coming in.
You just need to look at the actual offer.
What is the topic of those offers?
Are they aligned with the message and the way you're wanting your business to go?
If they're not, are they serving you in any way and should they be scrapped immediately?
(14:26):
I know I said I was going to be tough here.
Are they actually profitable?
Are they taking way too much of your time and leaving you with barely any money in thebank?
Again.
That is a no.
So there's so many questions you can start looking at around your office and yourservices.
Is it that you're doing really complex one-to-one work that yes, you might enjoy doing,but again, it's not profitable or it's not enough of an hourly rate.
(14:56):
The amount of time and effort that you're putting into it for the outcome, you could beearning so much more if you are on a one-to-many model.
So these are all the things that you need to be thinking about when it comes to yourservices and your offices.
And then you need to look at like marketing strategies, for instance.
Are you trying to spread yourself so thin and be on every single platform because youthink you should be or because everyone else is?
(15:20):
Because again, have you ever actually asked yourself, are my ideal clients actually goingto be found on those platforms?
You need to build a strategy around them.
And another thing that people don't ever think of when it comes to social media.
is the strategy behind each platform.
Are you looking for lead generation?
(15:41):
Are you looking for direct sales?
Are you looking to get people to leave that platform and come to your website, forinstance?
Are you trying to use one just to help you grow your audience on another?
Just posting regularly on social media is not enough.
You need to have a game plan on each platform, what it is bringing to your business.
(16:02):
So if it is all about lead generation, that's a really powerful way of using social media.
You can be using your freebies and your downloads, sharing them, showcasing them on theplatforms, talking about the pain points that you are helping, and drawing people into
that email list and off that platform into your world.
If you are just posting, never really talking about any freebies or downloads.
(16:26):
Never really saying book in a one-to-one with me or book in a call, and you're justsharing.
knowledge or opinions that's great and you might get a following but they're not ready tobuy they don't even know they can buy from you you know so it's really important to have
those strategies behind everything that you're doing in your business
(16:48):
because strategy really is key.
Two and a half times this
It's actually been proven by Harvard that a business is two and a half times more likelyto grow sustainably over a five year period if they have a strategy behind them.
(17:13):
I'm telling you strategy really is key.
So let's get practical.
Let's get practical now.
If you've got like your journal or a notes app or your laptop open, this is where you wantto start making some notes.
I have a three step process for strategic simplification in your business.
(17:38):
So first off, I've already spoke about it.
Revisit all of your offers, do an audit on them.
Does it bring you joy?
Is it aligned with your bigger goals?
Is it aligned with your income?
Is it best delivery results for your clients?
Really dig into them, ask yourself all of the awkward questions and then start crossingthings off.
(18:00):
Cross out the ones that just make you feel meh.
Cross out the ones that aren't profitable for you or aren't in a line with where yourbusiness is anymore.
You have to be strong with yourself.
You have to be dedicated to this and you have to, even if it's bringing you in money, youhave to be harmful.
(18:21):
Even if it's bringing you in money, if it's not aligned with that bigger goal, you have tolet it go.
Then step two is the business model reset.
This is where you look at the model of your business right now, but also which one isactually going to be more aligned with that bigger goal?
Is it staying on one-to-one, but maybe charging a premium for having that one-to-one time?
(18:44):
Is it moving to a one-to-many model?
Is it a hybrid of the both?
Is it just online courses that actually are self self run and you're not involved in atall?
What business model is aligned with that end goal on the end of the sat nav and which oneis going to help you get there the quickest?
Have you ever actually asked yourself that question?
(19:06):
So many people don't, they get stuck in what they're doing right now.
You know, that age old saying, if it's not broke, don't fix it.
Well, it might not be broke, but it might not be, might be full of cracks and not helpingyou.
get to where you need to be.
So look at the business model and where you could start implementing a slight change inthat to help you move to the next level.
(19:33):
When I stepped away from purely doing one-to-one work in my business, it really helped metriple my passive income in a year.
You know, I had online courses that I was selling.
I had strategy days.
So I was doing a one-to-many model.
And I started implementing all of these different areas instead of just focusing onone-to-one work, because my time is limited.
I only have a certain amount of hours in a day that I can do one-to-one work.
(19:56):
So I knew that if I wanted to build my business, I had to start implementing otherstrategies and other business models.
So I have currently like a whole hybrid of all three and it's working really well for me.
And over time, the one-to-one work will probably have to reduce more and more as the otherareas grow.
But it's about asking yourself, how can I best serve my clients?
(20:19):
How can I also best serve myself?
And then finally, the next area, the next step is your marketing.
And again, I've already spoken on the importance of looking at this and the importance ofhaving a strategy behind it.
But here's the reality, not everybody should be dancing on TikTok.
(20:40):
It doesn't suit every business model.
Yes, lots of people are hugely successful from it.
And maybe you feel like you should be doing it.
But you really have to ask yourself, one, is my audience actually on there?
Two, is me doing the latest trend on TikTok actually serving my audience in any way, shapeor
(21:01):
You have to pick a platform that aligns with you, your energy, where your audience aremainly going to be.
You need to pick the actual plan and strategy for that platform.
What is my end goal for spending time on this platform?
And like I said, there's loads of different things that you could be looking at.
(21:21):
It could be...
Lead generation is a huge one on social media.
So make sure if that's the case that you are talking about your freebies and yourdownloads.
uh You're showcasing your next webinar or whatever it is, your podcast.
Make sure that you're sharing how people can get some more information about what it isthat you are helping them with so they can start warming up to you.
(21:45):
It's all about those touch points, right?
And the biggest thing is moving people off social media into your email list.
This is a really big important point for me to hammer in here actually.
You do not own and you never will own your audience on social media.
That social media platform can take your audience away from you at any point.
(22:07):
So it's so important to not just sit there and be really proud of that, you know, five,10, 15, 20,000 strong audience.
They mean nothing if they are not off that platform in any way with you.
So.
Having them on your email list is huge.
Such a massive asset for your business.
If you can't move them off onto your email list, can you have a private group where youcan collect email addresses or some further information?
(22:36):
Can you get them onto a WhatsApp group?
It's really important to have a way of contacting those people off that platform.
And then you need to choose a strategy that means that you are showing up on whateverplatform it is that you've chosen absolutely consistently, but in a reality, in a
(22:56):
realistic way.
And so in time, you will not start resenting it.
There are so many different advice out there.
You need to post three times a day.
You need to post daily.
You need to post this, that, this time, that time.
You need to be doing reels and carousels and all of this.
If it's not achievable for you, don't do it.
(23:17):
What is going to work for you as a business owner?
If it's posting three times a week and that's it and they're static posts, do it.
But try and do it on the same three days every day, every week.
So the platform can start understanding the consistency around your brand and they canstart pushing that out for you.
What I see so often, and this is the funny point with most of my clients, is they get...
(23:42):
You can really get hit with inspiration and you can create an absolute gluttony of socialmedia posts and you've come up with like 50 post ideas and you've smashed them all out and
you've created the images and you're so proud of yourself.
That's a gold mine but what it completely devalues it is if you go and schedule them allout over like two week period and then you've got absolutely nothing again after those two
(24:07):
weeks and then you just go silent again.
But there is absolutely no value to you in doing that at all, where it can really serveyou.
If you schedule them three times a week, then you've got months worth of content and youdon't have to worry about it anymore.
So be strategic, always keep in mind the bigger goal and make sure that you are beingconsistent in a realistic way.
(24:36):
Okay, so hopefully you've started to understand the importance of strategy here and howyou can start looking at ways to build it into your business.
Now, as I've mentioned, strategy can touch every single area of your business.
So this is just like a tiny little taster in this episode.
If I wanted to talk to you through the entire, you know, reasoning of strategy and how toimplement it across the whole business, we would be here all day.
(25:04):
And I don't know about where you are, but right now the sun is shining and I want to getout in the garden.
So I've given you the highlights, the little tasters, the teasers of how you can startlooking at strategy.
But it really, it's about asking yourself the tough questions, being honest with yourselfand being prepared to take action.
(25:25):
And then writing down, okay, if I want to grow my audience on Instagram to, you know, by1000.
in the next nine months, what do I need to do to make that happen?
I need to be posting consistently X, Y and Z.
I need to be connecting with people and sending out invitations.
(25:47):
Those are the level of steps that you then write down and build into a strategy that keepsyou aligned with that bigger vision.
And the other thing to keep in mind here with strategy is if you can see that you areactually way off from that end goal,
So my goal would be, you know, grow my Instagram by a thousand people in nine months.
(26:07):
And actually I'm three months or six months in and I'm still really far off.
You can always amend your strategy.
You couldn't revisit it and say, okay, well, this isn't working.
This part of my strategy is not moving me forward at all.
Therefore I'm going to completely ditch that and I'm going to focus on these and maybeI'll add another one in.
It is flexible.
(26:29):
It's not.
absolutely rigid model that once you've written down you cannot fluctuate from at all.
But what it is, a guide, it's a guideline for you to just have some method to the madnessof business in a way that you start moving forward.
So I want you to go away and pick one area of your business today and just start
(26:51):
revisiting it, doing an audit, asking yourself those difficult questions, and thenbreaking down the steps, what is that bigger goal in that area?
Break down the steps that will help you achieve it and build yourself a strategy.
And then find me on Instagram, CS underscore Bartlett, and let me know what strategyyou've put in place, what area of your business, how you're finding it.
(27:16):
I would absolutely love to know how you find.
and putting strategy in your business.
Be bold and start taking action in your business today.
(27:36):
And if you are ready to go deeper, head to the link in the show notes and book in a freeclarity call with me and I can start helping you on this process of putting strategy in
your business.
I would love to hear your story.
I would love to help you with this.
Strip out the chaos and start rebuilding something that you actually love waking up to.
So until next time, you have got this strategy is key.
(28:00):
Have a wonderful week and I will speak to you all next time.
Take care.
Hey lovely humans and welcome back to the Bold Blueprint.
I'm your host Claire Bartlett, business mentor, strategist and your no-nonsense guide tobuilding a business that doesn't just look good on paper but actually feels good to run.
If you're new here, welcome and if you've been riding this way with me for a while, I amso glad you're back.
Now, if you've been listening to this series, you know we are deep diving into my resetframework.
(00:29):
five transformational steps to help you reignite your energy, realign your business andgrow with purpose, confidence and calm.
We've talked about reignite and we've explored explore.
And today we are diving head first into strategize.
And let me tell you, this is where the magic starts to happen.
(00:51):
Now, most people think strategy is just about planning, about working hard, adding more,you know, more offers.
More content, more funnels, more launches, more, more, more.
But strategy is so much more than that.
It isn't just about planning.
It's about having intention and being purposeful with everything that you do in yourbusiness.
(01:14):
Strategy touches every single part of your business.
I don't want you to just strategize, I am going to make six figures this year.
That's not strategy.
That's a goal and that is ambition, which is an amazing thing to have and is needed.
But once you've made that goal, you then have to go back and build the strategy around howyou are going to make it happen.
(01:40):
strategy is a bit of a buzzword at the moment.
You are hearing it sort of left, right and centre.
But I just don't think people have the understanding of what that word actually means.
We hear it so often and put into so many different contexts.
But actually, it's quite a simple process that you should all be following in yourbusinesses.
And the word strategy is something that hopefully a lot of people are already doing intheir businesses.
(02:05):
They just don't realize that's what it's called.
So in today's episode, we're going to be talking about one, what that word actually means,how you can implement it in your business for the biggest impact.
And number three, what you can do today to start m
putting strategy in place in your business with intent and with purpose towards thosebigger goals that you have.
(02:35):
I see so many business owners, you know, on that hustle train, constantly going, going,putting the work in, putting the hours in, but they're sort of doing it blindly.
They're flying around.
They're trying all of these different things in their business.
They're putting their attention here and then suddenly they're all over here.
And that just leads to burnout.
(02:55):
It just leads to overwhelm and not making any real movement forwards in your business.
And that's where strategy comes into play.
Now strategy is literally having a goal and a vision and then looking at that roadmap.
It's sort of like the step now to how you are going to get to that goal.
(03:16):
So if you want to build a six figure business, you look at where you are today and yousay, okay, well that is the distance that I need to travel to hit that goal.
So what actions am I going to need to take to get me to that destination?
If you think about
a sat nav, you put in your final destination and then usually it will come up with like,you know, there could be three different routes that all take relatively the same amount
(03:43):
of time, but they are all very different.
One could be on the motorway, one could be on the country roads, you know, but they allget you to that end place.
It's about choosing the route that you want to take that will get you to that enddestination.
And it can be the longer route, it can be oh
you know, the short and fast and direct, it's whatever is going to one, be realistic foryou, and two, align with you and your values in the business.
(04:09):
And that's what's really important.
Because if you, you know, if you go back 100 years before satnavs and before maps wereeven that readily available, and you said, I need to get 100 miles from here, and you had
to just suddenly figure out, you know, well, I think it might be north from here, I'mgoing to try this and just...
(04:29):
you're off blind, you know, have no idea how to reach that destination.
So you're just trying all different routes and different pathways until hopefully one dayyou end up.
That is what you're doing in your business if you don't have strategy.
You are heading out into the big bad world completely blind and just praying and hopingthat someday you'll manage to stumble across that vision and that goal.
(04:56):
How you can start putting strategy in place in your business is, like I said, start havingsome intention about every decision that you're making.
When you have that end goal in mind, if you are really clear on where it is that you'rewanting your business to go, it makes decision making so much easier because if you can
(05:16):
ask yourself, does that take me one step closer to that end goal?
If it doesn't, then it's a no.
If it does,
and it's a yes.
It makes decision making so much easier.
And again, that's where having a clear strategy can help you in business because if youhave a strategy and you're following it, you can make the decisions faster if it's keeping
(05:38):
you on track, if it's alongside that strategy.
And it can also help you decide what the next steps are in your business.
So for me, I love public speaking.
I love sharing.
my views and my opinions.
As you all know, I love to talk.
So one of the things that I really wanted to build in my business was the public speakingopportunity and sharing my passion and my knowledge with the world.
(06:05):
So I had to build a strategy around how I was going to achieve that.
I could have just sort of stood here and been like, okay, I've created the goal.
I want to speak more.
And then had no idea how I was going to do that.
Instead, I built a really clear strategy.
Well, I know that the people that I want to speak to, know, the people that are going toalign with what I'm talking about, would be at these sorts of events.
(06:30):
So that is my strategy to get into those events in front of that audience that would helpme grow my business.
So it's about working through the steps that you can take to achieve the goals, but thenbreaking them down into smaller detail.
Because remember, it's the small steps that you take, those tiny little nudges forwardthat end up making the biggest difference in your business.
(06:56):
So if we are talking strategy and we have the goal in mind and we can set ourselves thenthe target.
So we can say, I have a five year goal.
If I want to hit that in five years, what do I need to have achieved by the end of threeyears to be on track for that goal?
(07:17):
And if I need to be there in three years, what do I need to hit at the end of one year?
And then what do I need to hit in those 12 months of that first year?
So you can see that by working back from the goal and asking yourself these questions,what are the stages that I need to be hitting?
And that's where people miss that part of the process.
(07:41):
They say, here's where I want to be in five years.
and then let's just work really hard and throw absolutely everything at it, including thekitchen sink until I get there.
But that's not how you are going to succeed.
And I see so many businesses, I work with so many clients who are absolutely exhaustedbecause they've been hustling for so long in their business and they've tried everything,
(08:06):
but nothing seems to have worked.
And it's purely because they've either done things in the wrong order,
they're focusing their energy at the wrong areas of their business or the wrong audiences.
They've had no structure and no strategy behind what they're trying to achieve.
So you need to take a step back and you need to simplify.
(08:27):
Take out all of those extra unnecessary elements in your business that are not serving youin any way.
If you are wanting to build an online business, but you are spending time doing
face-to-face networking events or face-to-face one-to-one sessions that are not alignedwith your bigger goal.
(08:48):
It is a waste of your time.
You need to always be working towards things that are taking you in that direction.
Remember that Sat Nav.
If it's not a destination that would be showing up on your Sat Nav route, then it's notsomewhere you need to go, no matter how fun it looks.
And that's where discipline, I suppose, comes in because
(09:10):
If you have this strategy, you've spent the time and you've built that strategy, if youdon't have that dedication to it, to stick to it, then you will still be veering off in
all different directions.
So it's not enough to have just built the strategy.
You need to stick to it.
(09:45):
So this all sounds great, Claire, but how do I start?
How do I build that strategy into my existing business?
Because I hear you, right?
And actually, according to a 23 HubSpot report, 64 % of business owners admit that theydon't have a clear strategy behind any of their offers, their content, or their growth
(10:06):
plans.
They are just doing what they think they are supposed to be doing.
And there's that word again, what you suppose you should be doing.
Does that sound familiar?
You know, you wake up, you're overwhelmed by that to-do list that you have created foryourself, for a business that you have built, and yet none of it feels like you anymore.
(10:29):
And it's taking you off in this completely new direction.
And yet the numbers still aren't moving in the way that you want them, or worse, they are.
Actually, your business is moving forward, but you are just feeling miserable.
Strategizing.
is the way out of all of that.
It's the way of building a business that is directly linked with your bigger vision andyour bigger goals that you know can take you to that final destination.
(10:58):
So it's time to press pause and start asking yourself, what is working in my business?
What is not working?
How can you start to simplify, to strip things back?
and then start to scale again, but without losing yourself in the process.
(11:19):
So when I work with my clients in this phase, in the strategy phase, we always start byrevisiting their personal capacity and their ideal lifestyle vision.
This is how you can start to figure out what that vision is for yourself for the longerterm and what you're wanting from your business right now.
Because your strategy cannot be like a copy and paste from someone else's.
(11:42):
And again, people get so lost in that comparisonitis.
It needs to be built around you, your energy, your goals and your strengths.
And if you are spending too much time looking at other people's businesses, what isworking for other people and thinking, well, if I just do it that way, that will be
working for me.
(12:02):
It doesn't work like that.
I'm sorry to break it to you, but it has to be unique to you.
So here are the three things that I start this process when I ask my clients.
How many hours do you really want to be working right now?
What income do you need to be earning to live comfortably?
(12:25):
And then which areas of your business really light you up?
Like really bring a smile to your face and make it a really great day.
And then on the opposite of that, what areas really drain you?
What really sucks the life out of you and leaves you feeling just so despondent at the endof the day?
When my clients come to me, most of them are working like 40 plus hours a week in abusiness that they were meant to build for freedom, right?
(12:52):
When we go into business, most of the time it is because we want a better work-lifebalance.
We want to be in control of our time.
And yet we end up building these businesses that we become slave to because we feel likewe should be working harder and adding all of those extra things in.
So here's where we have to get brave and we have to start simplifying and cutting thingsback.
(13:14):
So you need to look at your business and you need to audit everything, every single areaof your business.
Look at your services.
What offers do you have out there at the moment?
What marketing channels are you on?
What platforms are you on?
What are your boundaries with your clients?
All of these elements can really help you start to see the ups and downs in your businessand where you should be focusing and...
(13:41):
start when you're building strategy for your business.
So some of the main common traps in this place is too many offers.
So you're diluting your message, you're draining your time.
And as I said earlier, your messaging, sorry, your offers might be completely in areas ofyour business that aren't taking you to that bigger picture.
(14:02):
So really being tough with yourself.
And it doesn't matter at this point how much money and how much revenue any of theseoffers are coming in.
You just need to look at the actual offer.
What is the topic of those offers?
Are they aligned with the message and the way you're wanting your business to go?
If they're not, are they serving you in any way and should they be scrapped immediately?
(14:26):
I know I said I was going to be tough here.
Are they actually profitable?
Are they taking way too much of your time and leaving you with barely any money in thebank?
Again.
That is a no.
So there's so many questions you can start looking at around your office and yourservices.
Is it that you're doing really complex one-to-one work that yes, you might enjoy doing,but again, it's not profitable or it's not enough of an hourly rate.
(14:56):
The amount of time and effort that you're putting into it for the outcome, you could beearning so much more if you are on a one-to-many model.
So these are all the things that you need to be thinking about when it comes to yourservices and your offices.
And then you need to look at like marketing strategies, for instance.
Are you trying to spread yourself so thin and be on every single platform because youthink you should be or because everyone else is?
(15:20):
Because again, have you ever actually asked yourself, are my ideal clients actually goingto be found on those platforms?
You need to build a strategy around them.
And another thing that people don't ever think of when it comes to social media.
is the strategy behind each platform.
Are you looking for lead generation?
(15:41):
Are you looking for direct sales?
Are you looking to get people to leave that platform and come to your website, forinstance?
Are you trying to use one just to help you grow your audience on another?
Just posting regularly on social media is not enough.
You need to have a game plan on each platform, what it is bringing to your business.
(16:02):
So if it is all about lead generation, that's a really powerful way of using social media.
You can be using your freebies and your downloads, sharing them, showcasing them on theplatforms, talking about the pain points that you are helping, and drawing people into
that email list and off that platform into your world.
If you are just posting, never really talking about any freebies or downloads.
(16:26):
Never really saying book in a one-to-one with me or book in a call, and you're justsharing.
knowledge or opinions that's great and you might get a following but they're not ready tobuy they don't even know they can buy from you you know so it's really important to have
those strategies behind everything that you're doing in your business
(16:48):
because strategy really is key.
Two and a half times this
It's actually been proven by Harvard that a business is two and a half times more likelyto grow sustainably over a five year period if they have a strategy behind them.
(17:13):
I'm telling you strategy really is key.
So let's get practical.
Let's get practical now.
If you've got like your journal or a notes app or your laptop open, this is where you wantto start making some notes.
I have a three step process for strategic simplification in your business.
(17:38):
So first off, I've already spoke about it.
Revisit all of your offers, do an audit on them.
Does it bring you joy?
Is it aligned with your bigger goals?
Is it aligned with your income?
Is it best delivery results for your clients?
Really dig into them, ask yourself all of the awkward questions and then start crossingthings off.
(18:00):
Cross out the ones that just make you feel meh.
Cross out the ones that aren't profitable for you or aren't in a line with where yourbusiness is anymore.
You have to be strong with yourself.
You have to be dedicated to this and you have to, even if it's bringing you in money, youhave to be harmful.
(18:21):
Even if it's bringing you in money, if it's not aligned with that bigger goal, you have tolet it go.
Then step two is the business model reset.
This is where you look at the model of your business right now, but also which one isactually going to be more aligned with that bigger goal?
Is it staying on one-to-one, but maybe charging a premium for having that one-to-one time?
(18:44):
Is it moving to a one-to-many model?
Is it a hybrid of the both?
Is it just online courses that actually are self self run and you're not involved in atall?
What business model is aligned with that end goal on the end of the sat nav and which oneis going to help you get there the quickest?
Have you ever actually asked yourself that question?
(19:06):
So many people don't, they get stuck in what they're doing right now.
You know, that age old saying, if it's not broke, don't fix it.
Well, it might not be broke, but it might not be, might be full of cracks and not helpingyou.
get to where you need to be.
So look at the business model and where you could start implementing a slight change inthat to help you move to the next level.
(19:33):
When I stepped away from purely doing one-to-one work in my business, it really helped metriple my passive income in a year.
You know, I had online courses that I was selling.
I had strategy days.
So I was doing a one-to-many model.
And I started implementing all of these different areas instead of just focusing onone-to-one work, because my time is limited.
I only have a certain amount of hours in a day that I can do one-to-one work.
(19:56):
So I knew that if I wanted to build my business, I had to start implementing otherstrategies and other business models.
So I have currently like a whole hybrid of all three and it's working really well for me.
And over time, the one-to-one work will probably have to reduce more and more as the otherareas grow.
But it's about asking yourself, how can I best serve my clients?
(20:19):
How can I also best serve myself?
And then finally, the next area, the next step is your marketing.
And again, I've already spoken on the importance of looking at this and the importance ofhaving a strategy behind it.
But here's the reality, not everybody should be dancing on TikTok.
(20:40):
It doesn't suit every business model.
Yes, lots of people are hugely successful from it.
And maybe you feel like you should be doing it.
But you really have to ask yourself, one, is my audience actually on there?
Two, is me doing the latest trend on TikTok actually serving my audience in any way, shapeor
(21:01):
You have to pick a platform that aligns with you, your energy, where your audience aremainly going to be.
You need to pick the actual plan and strategy for that platform.
What is my end goal for spending time on this platform?
And like I said, there's loads of different things that you could be looking at.
(21:21):
It could be...
Lead generation is a huge one on social media.
So make sure if that's the case that you are talking about your freebies and yourdownloads.
uh You're showcasing your next webinar or whatever it is, your podcast.
Make sure that you're sharing how people can get some more information about what it isthat you are helping them with so they can start warming up to you.
(21:45):
It's all about those touch points, right?
And the biggest thing is moving people off social media into your email list.
This is a really big important point for me to hammer in here actually.
You do not own and you never will own your audience on social media.
That social media platform can take your audience away from you at any point.
(22:07):
So it's so important to not just sit there and be really proud of that, you know, five,10, 15, 20,000 strong audience.
They mean nothing if they are not off that platform in any way with you.
So.
Having them on your email list is huge.
Such a massive asset for your business.
If you can't move them off onto your email list, can you have a private group where youcan collect email addresses or some further information?
(22:36):
Can you get them onto a WhatsApp group?
It's really important to have a way of contacting those people off that platform.
And then you need to choose a strategy that means that you are showing up on whateverplatform it is that you've chosen absolutely consistently, but in a reality, in a
(22:56):
realistic way.
And so in time, you will not start resenting it.
There are so many different advice out there.
You need to post three times a day.
You need to post daily.
You need to post this, that, this time, that time.
You need to be doing reels and carousels and all of this.
If it's not achievable for you, don't do it.
(23:17):
What is going to work for you as a business owner?
If it's posting three times a week and that's it and they're static posts, do it.
But try and do it on the same three days every day, every week.
So the platform can start understanding the consistency around your brand and they canstart pushing that out for you.
What I see so often, and this is the funny point with most of my clients, is they get...
(23:42):
You can really get hit with inspiration and you can create an absolute gluttony of socialmedia posts and you've come up with like 50 post ideas and you've smashed them all out and
you've created the images and you're so proud of yourself.
That's a gold mine but what it completely devalues it is if you go and schedule them allout over like two week period and then you've got absolutely nothing again after those two
(24:07):
weeks and then you just go silent again.
But there is absolutely no value to you in doing that at all, where it can really serveyou.
If you schedule them three times a week, then you've got months worth of content and youdon't have to worry about it anymore.
So be strategic, always keep in mind the bigger goal and make sure that you are beingconsistent in a realistic way.
(24:36):
Okay, so hopefully you've started to understand the importance of strategy here and howyou can start looking at ways to build it into your business.
Now, as I've mentioned, strategy can touch every single area of your business.
So this is just like a tiny little taster in this episode.
If I wanted to talk to you through the entire, you know, reasoning of strategy and how toimplement it across the whole business, we would be here all day.
(25:04):
And I don't know about where you are, but right now the sun is shining and I want to getout in the garden.
So I've given you the highlights, the little tasters, the teasers of how you can startlooking at strategy.
But it really, it's about asking yourself the tough questions, being honest with yourselfand being prepared to take action.
(25:25):
And then writing down, okay, if I want to grow my audience on Instagram to, you know, by1000.
in the next nine months, what do I need to do to make that happen?
I need to be posting consistently X, Y and Z.
I need to be connecting with people and sending out invitations.
(25:47):
Those are the level of steps that you then write down and build into a strategy that keepsyou aligned with that bigger vision.
And the other thing to keep in mind here with strategy is if you can see that you areactually way off from that end goal,
So my goal would be, you know, grow my Instagram by a thousand people in nine months.
(26:07):
And actually I'm three months or six months in and I'm still really far off.
You can always amend your strategy.
You couldn't revisit it and say, okay, well, this isn't working.
This part of my strategy is not moving me forward at all.
Therefore I'm going to completely ditch that and I'm going to focus on these and maybeI'll add another one in.
It is flexible.
(26:29):
It's not.
absolutely rigid model that once you've written down you cannot fluctuate from at all.
But what it is, a guide, it's a guideline for you to just have some method to the madnessof business in a way that you start moving forward.
So I want you to go away and pick one area of your business today and just start
(26:51):
revisiting it, doing an audit, asking yourself those difficult questions, and thenbreaking down the steps, what is that bigger goal in that area?
Break down the steps that will help you achieve it and build yourself a strategy.
And then find me on Instagram, CS underscore Bartlett, and let me know what strategyyou've put in place, what area of your business, how you're finding it.
(27:16):
I would absolutely love to know how you find.
and putting strategy in your business.
Be bold and start taking action in your business today.
(27:36):
And if you are ready to go deeper, head to the link in the show notes and book in a freeclarity call with me and I can start helping you on this process of putting strategy in
your business.
I would love to hear your story.
I would love to help you with this.
Strip out the chaos and start rebuilding something that you actually love waking up to.
So until next time, you have got this strategy is key.
(28:00):
Have a wonderful week and I will speak to you all next time.
Take care.
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