January 16, 2025 • 34 mins
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Can success be learned, or is it something you’re born with? That’s the big question we’re exploring today.
I’m so excited to welcome back to the podcast, Annabel Gonifas, a coach who specialises in mindset. Annabel brings her wealth of expertise to today’s conversation, where we discuss how overcoming limiting beliefs and cultivating a growth-focused mindset can truly transform your business journey.
We’ll also explore the power of reflection and the importance of having the right mindset for sustainable business growth while avoiding burnout. If you’re looking to strengthen your mindset and grow your business with confidence, you’re in for a real treat—this episode is packed with insights!
[00:00] Welcome back Annabel
[04:30] The difference between self-belief and self-respect
[05:54] How to navigate fast growth with sustainability
[08:12] Overcoming the invisible walls and mindset barriers
[13:00] Rediscovering the self-belief you already have
[27:04] Habits to cultivate a strong business mindset
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
(00:00):
What does it take to be asuccessful product business owner?
(00:03):
Are there certain attributes thatyou can learn or is it something
that you're born with or not?
That's what we're going to beexploring today on the podcast.
Hi, I'm Catherine Erdly.
I'm a small business and retailexpert, and I'm also the host of
the Resilient Retail Game Plan.
I'm so excited to welcome back to today'spodcast, Annabel Gonifas, who is a coach.
(00:26):
And also she is the coach insidemy mastermind program, the
product business mastermind.
We're kicking off againfor our January cohort.
If you want to know more, checkout the link in the show notes.
Welcome to the Resilient RetailGame Plan, a podcast for anyone
(00:46):
wanting to start, grow or scalea profitable creative product
business with me, Catherine Eardley.
The Resilient Retail Game Plan isa podcast dedicated to one thing,
breaking down the concepts and toolsthat I've gathered from 20 years in
the retail industry and showing youhow you can use them in your business.
This is the real nuts and bolts ofrunning a successful product business,
(01:09):
broken down in an easy, accessible way.
This is not a podcast about learninghow to make your business look good.
It's the tools and techniques that willmake you and your business feel good.
Confidently plan, launch, and manageyour products, and feel in control of
your sales numbers and cash flow to helpyou build a resilient retail business.
(01:37):
Welcome back to the podcast, Annabel.
So good to have you with us.
Do you want to just give everyonea really quick, brief overview
of who you are and what you do?
Thank Oh, you very much, Catherine.
Lovely to be back.
I'm Annabel Gonifas andI run Gonifas Coaching.
I'm a business coach and I focus onwomen entrepreneurs, helping them
and supporting them to thrive intheir businesses and also personally.
(02:00):
Absolutely.
And you are an integral part ofthe mastermind as you have been
for the last 18 months, whichis more than 18 months now.
Gosh, yes.
Anyway, it's absolutely fabuloushaving you as part of that.
And I get some such great feedbackfrom the mastermind participants about
how fabulous it is working with you.
(02:20):
And the reason that you're part ofthe mastermind, you're just generally
fabulous, is that everything I dowith people is very, very practical.
So I do a lot of the strategy,profitability, sales, structure
and sanity is a phrase I'vebeen using a lot recently.
But putting a lot of that into placefor people in their businesses.
But then you do a lot of work onthe mindset piece or the kind of how
(02:44):
people are feeling about the business.
So do you think that there are some keytraits that you see that really help
people build a successful business.
Yes, definitely.
And I think you're right where you put inthat, I love that structure and sanity.
I think I put in thevision and the clarity.
I like that.
(03:05):
that
And they were actually thetwo words I wrote down this
morning before speaking to you.
So I think it's that clarity.
So the structure and the processes,and that sanity, and that framework,
this is where I see the kind ofdoubling up that really benefits.
Because without those, youhaven't got a building.
You haven't got the timberto build a business.
And when I hear the clients andthey get these structures in place.
(03:31):
These are really, really keyin order to move forward and to
scale and to grow and to gainconfidence and all the great things.
There might still besome barriers in place.
And I guess that's the trade is focusingon the clarity of what they're doing.
There's often like a massiveforest in front of you.
(03:54):
And as a great friend always says, yousee the wood for the trees and that's
really what coaching does is thatyou start to really get the clarity
around kind of what you want as abusiness, what makes sense for you.
Looking at the vision, butwhy that's important for you.
Because we can't just strive towardsa vision, get there and then think,
"okay, well, this isn't actuallywhat I wanted in the first place."
(04:15):
So really personalizing it aswell and understanding the person.
So in terms of the traits of themindset, there's definitely a lot
of that, the clarity, the vision,the inner confidence, I think.
The self belief, self respect sometimes.
How do you see the differencebetween self belief and self respect?
Well, because I think that youcan believe in yourself and
(04:37):
you can believe in what you do.
But sometimes you might have thatbecause it's a lot of like competence
and expertise and knowledge.
But the self respect is aroundthe boundaries and saying no.
I seem to have spoken to quite afew masterminders recently about
boundaries on loads of levels.
(04:57):
About boundaries on so that youdon't say yes to everything.
Boundaries around screen time, boundariesaround work and balance of life.
And so I think that's a self respectbit, like where you sit in the business,
how it serves you and how you serve it.
Oh yeah.
Rather than just being like,dragged along with your heels
(05:17):
behind you going, okay, it's okay.
It's okay when actually you're doing itfor you at the end of the day, aren't you?
Oh my goodness, that is so true.
I feel slightly called outby that, but it's okay.
We'll work through that.
No, but I think it's so interesting.
You say that about the respect and theboundaries, because I do think that one
(05:38):
of the things about the mastermind isthat we quite often work with people.
Somebody asked me recently,like, what kind of reasons do
people join the mastermind?
What kind of things dothey come to you for?
And I said a lot of peoplecome at a sort of crossroads.
Sometimes it's a crossroads becauseit's grown hugely but they just can't
(06:00):
keep going the way that they're goingbecause they are absolutely at the point
of breaking because probably somethingto do with what you're talking about
there, that self belief and self respect.
Because if you grow fast, it can comewith a huge amount of self belief because
you're like, wow, okay, we're doing this.
But then equally, you've probablygot there to that fast growth point
by giving it absolutely everything.
And then, like you say, it's that selfrespect that comes in where you kind of
(06:23):
go, okay, all right, I gave it everything.
But actually, I just can't.
You have to work out a way that you cankeep the forward momentum without you
kind of being, I feel like I'm mixingmy metaphors here, but anyway, like
without you being kind of like crushedin the mechanisms, you know what I mean?
Oh yeah.
The momentum's going, butlike oh my goodness, I'm
getting just sucked into this.
Now it's like a bigger machine, right?
(06:44):
It's the same machine, but it's grown.
It's like, you know, it's gonefrom like a Ford to a whatever,
we're moving up the cars.
And you end up wanting to be, I don'tknow, in a Lamborghini or something.
But at the same time,so the engine is there.
But it's a sustainability of the business.
I spoke to someone the otherday and I said, what do you do?
And he works for abuilding company merchant.
(07:05):
And he said he was in sustainability.
And I was like, Oh, right.
So is that to do with likethe timber and the trees?
And he was like, no, I'm thesustainability officer for the
business in order to see it throughactually to keep the sustainability.
I was like, Oh, it'sa family run business.
It's been going for three generations.
I was like, oh.
(07:26):
That just wasn't in my head spacewhen he mentioned sustainability,
but sustainability for business, youknow, the end game, the long road,
the long term approach is really huge.
And I think then it flips backto what you do, which is often
what I say to people as well.
With Catherine, with you putting inall the processes and the frameworks
(07:48):
that they can rely on and thatbecome more intuitive to them.
Because often, especially, creativebusinesses, but any businesses grow lots
of it is about medium viable products,or it's about learning on the hoof.
It's about learning the experienceand then kind of getting to a
point that you say where yougo oh, okay, what do I do now?
(08:10):
This is not working.
And I think it's really importantto say as well, burnout is a thing.
And we live in a crazy world.
We're having to develop much quickerthan we've ever had to develop.
And I think so making sure that youare okay in terms of your being.
You are the head of your business.
You are the captain of yourship, so making sure that you
(08:32):
are okay 'cause otherwise it'snot, but burnout will happen and
it 's much harder to get out of.
Yeah, absolutely.
I completely agree.
And I, the phrase I always think about isthat what got me here won't get me there.
And I think that that's sotrue for a lot of people.
And coming back to why peoplejoin the mastermind, I mean,
absolutely for fast growth.
Sometimes it's that the growth has slowed,but then they feel like, right, I've
(08:56):
got to either do something differentor change direction completely, or
I just need to work out what next.
And sometimes it's that the businesshas been doing well may not have been
like on a fast growth trajectory,but it's got to a good size.
But it just feels really, reallydifficult for the person running it.
So a lot of the time, I think thatthe mastermind, a lot of it's to do
(09:16):
with the way it feels for people.
Like, do they feel overwhelmed?
Do they feel lacking inconfidence in their decisions?
Cause sometimes you can start offand I'm going to ask you a little
bit more about this, how yourtraits can fluctuate over time.
But I think sometimes you can startoff with a lot of self confidence
and then all of a sudden hit a periodwhere you've got lots of self doubt.
And I was talking to some of themasterminders who, at the end of
(09:38):
their six months, and they were sayingabout how again, a lot of the changes
for them were about confidence,were about I felt really lost.
I felt really unsure where I wasgoing, and now I feel a lot clearer.
And I think that a lot of that does cometo the fact that we change and we grow as
business owners and our businesses change.
And sometimes we can overlook things likenot paying ourselves quite enough at the
(10:01):
beginning, but you definitely do get tothe point where a certain number of years
in, if you're not rewarding yourselffinancially from your business, that also
makes it talking about sustainability.
I think it's a greatway of talking about it.
Like that's just notsustainable really, is it?
In the long term, to work as hardas small business owners work?
Let's face it.
We all work really hard and to notbe financially rewarded for it.
(10:25):
I think it's really difficultor even if you are, but you feel
constantly like you're on a rollercoaster and not in a good way.
Yeah, I think that wouldresonate with a lot of listeners.
Absolutely.
And a lot of people coming into it or alot of people starting out in business.
Or as you say, you know, get to a stageand then you realize you're not actually
paying yourself and what's the point?
(10:45):
So then it goes, you know, then we woulddo some work around values and saying
to people, you know, one of your values,I would say you have three to five.
If being financially independent andstable is really important to you.
That's value.
And often, I've had this aboutthree times with people where they
said, am I allowed to put that down?
(11:06):
Yes, yes, you are.
So then there's some workaround money as well.
In fact, money also comes up quite a lot.
But then there's some work around moneyand just that you know, cause people say
ooh, I'm not sure I'm allowed to say that.
No, no, you really are.
You're in business.
You really are.
We're doing it to make money.
And again, that's where it ties backinto what you do because you're able to
(11:29):
help them excel on the profitability.
So once again, you get that kindof structure around the stock or
whatever it is on the profitabilityand then the mindset around it as well.
That's a winning combination.
That's really fascinating about thewhole piece, about the money mindset.
I think that is so interesting becauseone of the things that I see a lot
of the time is people tend to nottake enough money out of the business
(11:51):
for various different reasons.
Sometimes it's just not feasible.
But often the reason it's not feasibleis because they plowed it back
into stock and somehow people havethis idea that if you are giving it
back to the business, that's okay.
Actually, what if you just take it out?
And it often makes the businessleaner and stand on its feet more.
(12:12):
If you insist on taking that money out.
There's always going to be a"to-spend" list in a business, right?
You're always, always,always going to be spending.
But I think sometimes getting intothat mindset where you can see
everything mapped out clearly.
Cause that's part of what I dowith people is I put in things
like cashflow spreadsheets, so youcan actually really see what your
money is going to be each week.
But then also insisting, right, well,I'm going to take that out for myself
(12:35):
and if that means I have to buy lessstock, well actually, that's probably
the best thing for the business becauseso many people overbuy on stock.
So, okay, so we talkedabout clarity vision.
We've talked about self belief.
Self respect.
Do you think some people naturallyhave these traits or does it vary
across time according to circumstances?
(12:57):
So we touched on, for example,how self belief can fluctuate.
Yeah, I think everyone naturally has it.
It's what is there in a narrative andwhat they believe about themselves.
Or it's taking away the limitingbeliefs that they might have accumulated
as they grow up through childhood.
And often it's around family,siblings ,in your educational setting,
(13:18):
university, your first jobs often havequite a huge influence on your mind.
So I believe that everyonehas, as humans, these traits.
But they can have been dampened down alot by listening to other people's voices.
And so it's sometimes a case of strippingthat back and actually finding that
(13:38):
person, you know, nurturing that.
Sometimes you get someone who has a hugeamount of self belief in one aspect.
But actually doesn't in the other andtherefore, you know, so I think that
proves that I think we all have it.
It's just a case of finding it again.
Do you think you have to havea certain amount of self belief
(14:00):
to even start a business?
Definitely, definitely.
And if a certain amount of driveand focus and ambition and all of
those things, you know, becauseit's a risky thing, isn't it?
We all know that.
Just because you don't haveyour regular paycheck coming in,
you're not doing what you're told.
You're having to think creatively.
There's so many differenthats you have to wear.
(14:22):
It's all consuming.
Yeah.
And so it takes a certain mentality, butthen what's really exciting, I think,
is when you're able to watch that grow.
And for them to be able tosee their true potential.
Yes, yes.
So how does that kind of present itself?
You talked about where peoplemaybe have got this vision,
(14:44):
this clarity, the self belief.
They've had it kind of dampened down.
Like how can you tell that whenyou're talking to somebody?
Is it always like, oh,okay, hang on a minute.
Something's happening here,something's going on here.
Or do you always haveto kind of like, dig in?
Or does it sometimes pop up whenyou are not even expecting it?
That's a really interesting question.
It pops up in different ways.
(15:05):
So, it will pop up inlanguage that we use.
We all use different language.
You know, you and I will both beusing different language in order
to portray what we're saying.
And so it kind of pops upin bits that aren't said.
And then it's also pops up,it's often certain words that
get used again and again.
So I'll say, "Oh, I can hearthat you're saying this again."
(15:28):
It's like, "Oh yeah."
So sometimes you have to dig much deeperto find out where that's come from.
But sometimes it's very much, itcan be quite quick to unravel.
I'm trying to give you an example, but Ican't think of one off the top of my head.
Also, everything's very confidential,so I don't really want to kind of
say anything, but it can really befrom where the people are putting a
(15:50):
glass ceiling on top of themselves.
That can occur.
Yes.
Okay, so I've got an example.
When I first started my business, I didquite a lot of work on money mindset.
Like you said, kind of unpickingrelationship and beliefs about
money and what that meant.
And I remember that somebody.
(16:11):
There was somebody was doingaffirmations, something like I
can have anything that I want.
You know, and you had torepeat it was probably like a
guided meditation or something.
And then I filled in like, Ican have anything I want as long
as I work hard enough for it.
And I was like, huh.
Okay, all right.
And it was just quite funnybecause I literally like that to
(16:33):
me was the end of that sentence.
And it just was a goodhighlighter to me that like, okay.
And to be honest, I still have toconvince myself that it's not true.
But it's like you only get, you canonly make money if you work really hard.
But obviously there's lots of examplesof people who just, you know, their money
makes money, like it accrues interest.
Like there's lots of differentways of making money that don't
involve a huge amount of hard work.
(16:54):
But for me, that was an example.
Is that kind of what you're saying?
Like.
Yeah, absolutely.
They're like these bedrock assumptionsthat we have for whatever reason
that we might have been taught.
Absolutely, one of those.
And so it's a case of bedrock.
challenging that and understandingthat not everyone thinks that way,
because it's your bedrock assumptionor was your bedrock assumption.
(17:15):
You kind of assume that's howthe world works, but it's when
you can start challenging it.
And I guess having that paradigmshift of, ah, is that not the case?
Exactly like you say, can you putmoney in a bank and it accrues
interest and it makes more money.
That sounds quite easy.
Do you know what I mean?
There's these different things, and I'llgive you two classic examples as well.
One is, and this happens a lot inrelationships, it's peace over honesty.
(17:39):
So as long as you don't really sayanything that you really feel, everything
will be more peaceful, and therefore it'sbetter than actually telling the truth.
So that's a kind of bedrock assumptionand you can start to challenge that
because sometimes you can have thebest outcomes when people actually
start to tell the truth and are ableto communicate more freely around it.
(18:01):
And another one, which I'veoften thought is I have to make
everything okay for everyone.
So it's a real woman thing that we haveto make, although I was talking to a
male friend the other day and a businessleader, and he absolutely felt the same.
That you have to makeeverything okay for everyone.
It's like, well, is thatyour responsibility?
And that, you know, when you start totake that away as well, it can be a huge
(18:24):
amount of pressure off your shoulders.
Yeah, yeah.
For sure.
That actually, it's not.
And it might be harder for theother people, but they're still
humans and they'll still be okay.
Yes.
Yeah, yeah, for sure.
So my degree was international business,and one of the things that we did
was a module about interculturalrelationships, in terms of businesses.
(18:46):
And I always remember themtalking about invisible walls.
It was based, you know, it was very muchlooking from a big business perspective.
It was talking about multinationalswhere they might have multiple
offices across the world.
One of the things they talked aboutwas invisible walls, where somebody
would just not understand why somebodyelse was acting a certain way.
It just didn't make any sense to themor they'd run up into, they try and
(19:09):
get someone to do something and thatperson would say, yes, yes, yes, yes.
And then just not do itor something like that.
And it felt like they were runninginto an invisible wall because what
was really happening was that theirunderstanding and assumptions about work
and authority and setting priorities andgetting things done was very different
(19:29):
to somebody else's, because they camefrom a different cultural background.
And I often think about thatconcept because I think we often
run into our own invisible walls.
So what I think is interesting issometimes, for example, I'll be working
with somebody on something and why Ithink it works so well, working both of us
together is that we'll talk about puttingsomething into place and then people,
(19:50):
for whatever reason, just don't find itpossible to put that thing into place.
And it's almost like we have to take astep back and go, what's going on here?
Is it actually just not the waythey like to work, which you
obviously have to work around it.
People have their own preferences, butsometimes I think it's these invisible
walls that they, you know, like I hadthat example where it's because I heard
the phrase and the end of it poppedinto my head and I say, "Oh, hang
(20:13):
on a minute, what's going on here?"
But I think there's lots of things likethis that we maybe just aren't even
aware of on that sort of conscious level.
A lot of the time.
Absolutely, it's how it works.
Yeah, we do and I see that where you putthe structure in place for some people
and they find it really hard to implement.
And I think it is working aroundthat and working as to why?
(20:36):
What's the fear of putting it in place?
Or what's the barrieror why isn't it working?
And it might be that they workin a really different way.
So maybe spreadsheets aren't their thing,but then we look more creative ways.
Even making spreadsheets more colorful,creative ways so that you feel as though
you want to get into that spreadsheet.
But I often find when peoplestart to see the benefits from it,
(20:57):
that's like a motivator in itself.
I quite like the spreadsheet.
But the, I mean, sometimes, you know,when you talked about the traits and
I think one of the traits is aroundfocus, being focused and with some
people, the focus actually needs onneeds to be practiced on staying focused.
Yes.
Because, you know, as creative businessowners, there can be these tangents
(21:21):
that people get pulled from here tothere or any business owner really.
And there might be quite a lot ofwork to do around staying focused.
Fear of missing out.
Fear of missing out, fear.
And also, you know, these ideas cominginto people's heads, 'Oh, I must do that.
I must do that."
And actually what are theynot doing in that moment?
(21:43):
If you start taking your resource or yourenergy away from something and putting it
into something new or something differentor something easier, then you're not
staying focused on the task at hand.
No, we totally get off on tangents.
And what about thingslike clarity and vision?
(22:04):
I mean, it's interesting tothink of that as a trait.
I feel like sometimes that canbe almost be something that kind
of goes in and out of focus.
Like sometimes you feelreally focused, really clear.
You have a really clear vision, right?
This is what I'm doing.
This is where I'm going.
And you go off almost like a, you know,like a greyhound after a rabbit type.
Right after heading off to this.
(22:24):
And then other times it can feellike, actually, what am I doing?
Or feel very distracted orfeel very disconnected from it.
So do you see that the clarityand purpose is something that
kind of can waver in and out?
Yeah, 100%.
We've also got to remember this idea ofhaving a positive clear mindset isn't,
it's not like a mountain that you climband you reach the top and you put a flag
(22:47):
in it and you're like, "yep, I've done it.
I bagged that one."
It's like a continual thing.
And I think that even in the next40 years, we'll all still be, there
will be things which are cropping up.
That's how minds work.
And it's almost, that's the challengein itself is how you respond to react
to challenges, which will happen.
They will naturally come up.
(23:08):
I was told a really great sayingonce, which was expect the unexpected.
So I think because we go aheadthinking as long as we've got a plan
in place, that's what will happen.
And we know exactlywhat's going to happen.
Yeah.
Down the line.
But if an element around expecting theunexpected, just knowing that that curve
ball's going to come, we don't know whatit is, could be positive, could be a real
(23:30):
challenge, but we know it's going to come.
And it will wobble us.
It will totally change our clarityand our purpose and our vision.
But it's a case of how we respondand gaining strength and kind
of control in that situation.
What can we control?
What can't we control?
Business is like sailing a ship.
(23:51):
I have to go to ships, but it is.
You set your sights on somewhere.
And that's where you're heading, butyou are going to tack along the way.
You don't want to do too manyjibes because that's a real pivot.
You can do small pivots, but a massivepivot away from your initial vision is
quite turbulent can be, but at the sametime, sometimes that's what's needed.
(24:17):
Mm-hmm This is working out what that is.
Well, whether it's needed orwhether you're just doing it and
expanding unnecessary energy.
Yeah, and money andresources and all the things.
But sometimes it will be needed.
So it's a case of getting real clarityand confidence around those decisions.
And interesting, actually, sometimesthose can be gut decisions.
(24:39):
Which I believe are very important,but if you just swing with your gut.
And you're not, again, looking at thefacts and the processes and the systems
and all the things that make sense.
Then you can be flying off theseat of your pants, slightly.
And again, it's thatcombination of the two.
It's like, my gut's really telling methis, but you've got to look at the facts.
(25:03):
You've got to look at all the workthat you do as well, and then come with
quite a kind of a calm, it's a muchmore calm way of making a decision.
Yes, for sure.
Yeah, absolutely.
Sometimes you do have to make bigdecisions, but it can be done in
quite there's actually quite a lotyou can forecast and calculate and big
believer in get everything mapped out,make yourself a model, and then you
(25:24):
can play around with the numbers aspart of your decision making process.
I think that it's pretty good.
I mean, that's how I think ifI'm going to make a business
decision, I think with the numbers.
I start with the numbers andthen I kind of work from there.
And I think that, you know,obviously you have to use gut as
part of that, but I think whatmakes people feel really untethered.
(25:45):
It's just not reallyknowing the number side.
And so they feel like they're sortof taking action or in that, or in
action, and they don't really knowif it's going the right direction.
So it's a great combination, I think, todo that work where we get really clear
about the business and what's happeningin it and what we can play around with.
And then they've got you workingwith them on the clarity and the
(26:05):
vision and the understanding.
Like what's blocking them.
And I think it's, no, I thinkit's a great combination.
And going on to those, sorry, goingon to the figures, I think from the
feedback I get when I'm speaking topeople, it can so often be a case of
in the past, they just used to spend ororder stock just because it felt right.
(26:25):
Or because they thought they should,or because there was a gap, or because
they've got 10 minutes and theyjust might as well order some stock.
And I think it's those decisions, asyou say, made with that clarity and
foresight and having it all mappedout and being able to tweak as well.
I think people really like beingable to tweak the figures and see how
different things pop up and then beable to focus on what they're spending.
(26:49):
So I think that's really, really key.
Yeah.
Clarity and control, for sure.
Those are the key things.
So we talked about how some peoplehave got natural elements of these
key traits and some people or manyof us have them, but they fluctuate.
Are there particular habits oractivities, for example, that can
help people cultivate a reallystrong, successful business mindset.
(27:14):
Yeah.
I mean, there are many, many, Ithink the three that come to mind
is working out where you get yourenergy from, working out where you
re energize which is more importantthan I think people actually think.
And yeah, what works for you doesn'tnecessarily work for someone else.
So whether it is getting that, becauseessentially what you're trying to
(27:37):
do is get that stillness of mind.
When you get that stillness of mind,it's where the really good and more
unconscious thoughts will ariseand you'll be able to sift through
the problems that you're facing.
So whether that is, just sitting in adark room, whether it's reading a book,
whether it's going out, socializing,whether it's walking in nature,
whether it's swimming or pumping inthe gym or whatever it is, giving
(28:01):
yourself space to re energize becauseotherwise you go into that burnout mode.
And also, when you're exercising or whenyou have that stillness, you're right
in your left brain calm as well, becauseoften people will come to me saying their
mind's feeling like a hamster wheel.
Or like a like a whirlwind and theyjust can't, they've got this inner
(28:21):
chatter that just doesn't stop.
So working out where it works best for youto re energize, whether it's 10 minutes,
whether it's a case of getting up earlierbefore anyone else is awake in your house.
If it means getting up at five insteadof six and just having that peace, it
might seem quite mad for the first month,but after that you just get that sense
(28:43):
of space, or maybe it's late at night.
So I'd say that's a really goodhabit to get into, just being
able to zoom out and think, okay,what am I really looking at here?
And that is a habit.
You know, it's a wayof meditation, I guess.
Getting in the flow, quietening your mind.
Another good habit isreflection and learning.
(29:04):
Sounds really boring.
But without it, you'rejust kind of steamrolling.
Mm hmm.
You've got to learn and reflect.
And sometimes the learningscan be a bit icky.
You don't really want to acknowledgethe fact that maybe it was you who
could have done something differently.
What learning can you take from it?
(29:25):
How do you want to react in thatkind of situation next time?
Who do you want to be nexttime when you're reacting?
And one big one is what can youcontrol and what can't you control?
And keep on asking that really,those two very simple questions.
Or kind of just ground you again.
What can you control?
What can't you control?
Because otherwise you can go offspiraling about things which are,
(29:48):
which aren't really in your control.
So they are a waste of time and energy.
Yes, totally.
The last few years have just shown usso many things that we can't control.
I completely agree.
And it can be a really, really draining.
And if you spend too much time in spaceswhere people almost, I think sometimes the
small business world, we can get into abit of a negative spiral and it's really
(30:12):
useful just to keep bringing it back.
Like you say, what can I do?
What actions can I take and focus take
actually that, that, that mentioningdraining as well, I think that goes
back to where you re energize as well.
You know, re energize withradiators, not with drains.
If someone, if you're surrounded by peoplewho are, you're all bringing each other
(30:34):
down or you're got this negative spiral.
It's really hard to stayafloat mentally, really hard.
Whereas if you've got people who, whichis part of the mastermind, isn't it?
That you've got everyone.
And again, that's what I hear ispeople are, you're kind of, you're
being buoyed and you're being ableto put a problem forward and have
other people who are going through thesame thing, be able to come up with
(30:56):
suggestions or not even suggestions.
It's more what they've done.
So that's a really good placeif it works for them to feel
buoyed and to feel re energized.
So those, those wouldbe my two key habits.
There was one more, Ican't remember what it was.
I know what it is.
(31:17):
So another key habit would be focusingreally on so these, these are all kind
of mind habits, but mind practices.
So focusing on what success means foryou because people get very caught up
in what success for others look like.
So it's really focusing on what successmeans for you and just, it's really
hard, but just keep going on that one.
(31:39):
Oh, that's such a good point.
Yeah, I love that because I think,everything I do, whether it's the
mastermind or whether it's the membershipor whenever I'm working with people,
that for me is the most important thing.
Not what does a successfulbusiness look like generically,
but what does it look like for you?
And I think that's such an importantquestion for us all to ask ourselves,
because the actions we need totake are very different depending
(32:00):
on what we want the outcome to be.
And I think it's also absolutelyfine to not want to be a household
name and it's absolutely fineto want to be a household name.
I completely support bothends of the spectrum.
I just think we all have tokeep checking in with ourselves.
And I was going to say the habits as well.
The analogy that I really like is,somebody said you wouldn't brush your
(32:22):
teeth once and then think that was it.
You were done with oral hygiene.
brilliant one!
And I feel like, yeah, I feel likethat's the same thing with the
mindset piece as well, isn't it?
It's like, you've gotto keep up with these.
Sometimes it can feel frustrating tothink, well, I worked out my vision.
Why do I just not feel clearand happy all the time?
And it's like, okay, well, because it'ssomething you have to work on every day.
(32:44):
So, that's definitely thejoy of the mastermind.
I think with that, so we're cominginto January now, and there's
that new year, new you, youknow, vision boards, whatever.
On one aspect, I think this issomething that we shouldn't just
say for the January, we should kindof be constantly doing all year.
(33:05):
Having said that, you know, now that we'rein this kind of rundown until January, I
literally see it like a hill and going up.
I do feel January is a good reset time.
Especially in the northern hemisphere.
Everything's quite dead, butunderneath the surface of the
soil, things are happening,things are starting to grow again.
(33:25):
And it is a good time to rethink.
So if you have one month, wheneverit is throughout the year ,that
you're able to kind of really reset.
It doesn't have to be January, but avision it's not going to last you really,
I wouldn't have said more than 12 months.
You can have like a two, three yearvision or five year vision or a
10 year vision, but you've stillgot to have those smaller visions.
(33:47):
Keep on moving forward.
Cause as I said, expect the unexpectedthings are going to crop up along the way.
And you have to be open tohow you react to all of that.
Thank you so much, Annabel.
And I just say, if you've enjoyed ourchat, then inside the mastermind, then you
get three one to one sessions with Annabeland you also work on people's personality
profiles, which is fascinating as well.
(34:10):
And thanks so much for joining me today.
Thanks so much, Catherine.
It's lovely to speak to you.
Thanks so much for listening.
I hope you enjoyed today's show.
As I mentioned, if you want to know moreabout the mastermind, then do head to
the show notes where you can get thelink to sign up for a discovery call.
We are kicking off shortly and wehave just got a few spaces left.
So if you're interested, then go ahead.
(34:32):
Do grab a call and let's chat.
Otherwise, I hope you have a great day.
Don't forget to like, andsubscribe to the podcast.
You'll be the first to know about each newepisode coming out each Thursday morning.
What does it take to be asuccessful product business owner?
(00:03):
Are there certain attributes thatyou can learn or is it something
that you're born with or not?
That's what we're going to beexploring today on the podcast.
Hi, I'm Catherine Erdly.
I'm a small business and retailexpert, and I'm also the host of
the Resilient Retail Game Plan.
I'm so excited to welcome back to today'spodcast, Annabel Gonifas, who is a coach.
(00:26):
And also she is the coach insidemy mastermind program, the
product business mastermind.
We're kicking off againfor our January cohort.
If you want to know more, checkout the link in the show notes.
Welcome to the Resilient RetailGame Plan, a podcast for anyone
(00:46):
wanting to start, grow or scalea profitable creative product
business with me, Catherine Eardley.
The Resilient Retail Game Plan isa podcast dedicated to one thing,
breaking down the concepts and toolsthat I've gathered from 20 years in
the retail industry and showing youhow you can use them in your business.
This is the real nuts and bolts ofrunning a successful product business,
(01:09):
broken down in an easy, accessible way.
This is not a podcast about learninghow to make your business look good.
It's the tools and techniques that willmake you and your business feel good.
Confidently plan, launch, and manageyour products, and feel in control of
your sales numbers and cash flow to helpyou build a resilient retail business.
(01:37):
Welcome back to the podcast, Annabel.
So good to have you with us.
Do you want to just give everyonea really quick, brief overview
of who you are and what you do?
Thank Oh, you very much, Catherine.
Lovely to be back.
I'm Annabel Gonifas andI run Gonifas Coaching.
I'm a business coach and I focus onwomen entrepreneurs, helping them
and supporting them to thrive intheir businesses and also personally.
(02:00):
Absolutely.
And you are an integral part ofthe mastermind as you have been
for the last 18 months, whichis more than 18 months now.
Gosh, yes.
Anyway, it's absolutely fabuloushaving you as part of that.
And I get some such great feedbackfrom the mastermind participants about
how fabulous it is working with you.
(02:20):
And the reason that you're part ofthe mastermind, you're just generally
fabulous, is that everything I dowith people is very, very practical.
So I do a lot of the strategy,profitability, sales, structure
and sanity is a phrase I'vebeen using a lot recently.
But putting a lot of that into placefor people in their businesses.
But then you do a lot of work onthe mindset piece or the kind of how
(02:44):
people are feeling about the business.
So do you think that there are some keytraits that you see that really help
people build a successful business.
Yes, definitely.
And I think you're right where you put inthat, I love that structure and sanity.
I think I put in thevision and the clarity.
I like that.
(03:05):
that
And they were actually thetwo words I wrote down this
morning before speaking to you.
So I think it's that clarity.
So the structure and the processes,and that sanity, and that framework,
this is where I see the kind ofdoubling up that really benefits.
Because without those, youhaven't got a building.
You haven't got the timberto build a business.
And when I hear the clients andthey get these structures in place.
(03:31):
These are really, really keyin order to move forward and to
scale and to grow and to gainconfidence and all the great things.
There might still besome barriers in place.
And I guess that's the trade is focusingon the clarity of what they're doing.
There's often like a massiveforest in front of you.
(03:54):
And as a great friend always says, yousee the wood for the trees and that's
really what coaching does is thatyou start to really get the clarity
around kind of what you want as abusiness, what makes sense for you.
Looking at the vision, butwhy that's important for you.
Because we can't just strive towardsa vision, get there and then think,
"okay, well, this isn't actuallywhat I wanted in the first place."
(04:15):
So really personalizing it aswell and understanding the person.
So in terms of the traits of themindset, there's definitely a lot
of that, the clarity, the vision,the inner confidence, I think.
The self belief, self respect sometimes.
How do you see the differencebetween self belief and self respect?
Well, because I think that youcan believe in yourself and
(04:37):
you can believe in what you do.
But sometimes you might have thatbecause it's a lot of like competence
and expertise and knowledge.
But the self respect is aroundthe boundaries and saying no.
I seem to have spoken to quite afew masterminders recently about
boundaries on loads of levels.
(04:57):
About boundaries on so that youdon't say yes to everything.
Boundaries around screen time, boundariesaround work and balance of life.
And so I think that's a self respectbit, like where you sit in the business,
how it serves you and how you serve it.
Oh yeah.
Rather than just being like,dragged along with your heels
(05:17):
behind you going, okay, it's okay.
It's okay when actually you're doing itfor you at the end of the day, aren't you?
Oh my goodness, that is so true.
I feel slightly called outby that, but it's okay.
We'll work through that.
No, but I think it's so interesting.
You say that about the respect and theboundaries, because I do think that one
(05:38):
of the things about the mastermind isthat we quite often work with people.
Somebody asked me recently,like, what kind of reasons do
people join the mastermind?
What kind of things dothey come to you for?
And I said a lot of peoplecome at a sort of crossroads.
Sometimes it's a crossroads becauseit's grown hugely but they just can't
(06:00):
keep going the way that they're goingbecause they are absolutely at the point
of breaking because probably somethingto do with what you're talking about
there, that self belief and self respect.
Because if you grow fast, it can comewith a huge amount of self belief because
you're like, wow, okay, we're doing this.
But then equally, you've probablygot there to that fast growth point
by giving it absolutely everything.
And then, like you say, it's that selfrespect that comes in where you kind of
(06:23):
go, okay, all right, I gave it everything.
But actually, I just can't.
You have to work out a way that you cankeep the forward momentum without you
kind of being, I feel like I'm mixingmy metaphors here, but anyway, like
without you being kind of like crushedin the mechanisms, you know what I mean?
Oh yeah.
The momentum's going, butlike oh my goodness, I'm
getting just sucked into this.
Now it's like a bigger machine, right?
(06:44):
It's the same machine, but it's grown.
It's like, you know, it's gonefrom like a Ford to a whatever,
we're moving up the cars.
And you end up wanting to be, I don'tknow, in a Lamborghini or something.
But at the same time,so the engine is there.
But it's a sustainability of the business.
I spoke to someone the otherday and I said, what do you do?
And he works for abuilding company merchant.
(07:05):
And he said he was in sustainability.
And I was like, Oh, right.
So is that to do with likethe timber and the trees?
And he was like, no, I'm thesustainability officer for the
business in order to see it throughactually to keep the sustainability.
I was like, Oh, it'sa family run business.
It's been going for three generations.
I was like, oh.
(07:26):
That just wasn't in my head spacewhen he mentioned sustainability,
but sustainability for business, youknow, the end game, the long road,
the long term approach is really huge.
And I think then it flips backto what you do, which is often
what I say to people as well.
With Catherine, with you putting inall the processes and the frameworks
(07:48):
that they can rely on and thatbecome more intuitive to them.
Because often, especially, creativebusinesses, but any businesses grow lots
of it is about medium viable products,or it's about learning on the hoof.
It's about learning the experienceand then kind of getting to a
point that you say where yougo oh, okay, what do I do now?
(08:10):
This is not working.
And I think it's really importantto say as well, burnout is a thing.
And we live in a crazy world.
We're having to develop much quickerthan we've ever had to develop.
And I think so making sure that youare okay in terms of your being.
You are the head of your business.
You are the captain of yourship, so making sure that you
(08:32):
are okay 'cause otherwise it'snot, but burnout will happen and
it 's much harder to get out of.
Yeah, absolutely.
I completely agree.
And I, the phrase I always think about isthat what got me here won't get me there.
And I think that that's sotrue for a lot of people.
And coming back to why peoplejoin the mastermind, I mean,
absolutely for fast growth.
Sometimes it's that the growth has slowed,but then they feel like, right, I've
(08:56):
got to either do something differentor change direction completely, or
I just need to work out what next.
And sometimes it's that the businesshas been doing well may not have been
like on a fast growth trajectory,but it's got to a good size.
But it just feels really, reallydifficult for the person running it.
So a lot of the time, I think thatthe mastermind, a lot of it's to do
(09:16):
with the way it feels for people.
Like, do they feel overwhelmed?
Do they feel lacking inconfidence in their decisions?
Cause sometimes you can start offand I'm going to ask you a little
bit more about this, how yourtraits can fluctuate over time.
But I think sometimes you can startoff with a lot of self confidence
and then all of a sudden hit a periodwhere you've got lots of self doubt.
And I was talking to some of themasterminders who, at the end of
(09:38):
their six months, and they were sayingabout how again, a lot of the changes
for them were about confidence,were about I felt really lost.
I felt really unsure where I wasgoing, and now I feel a lot clearer.
And I think that a lot of that does cometo the fact that we change and we grow as
business owners and our businesses change.
And sometimes we can overlook things likenot paying ourselves quite enough at the
(10:01):
beginning, but you definitely do get tothe point where a certain number of years
in, if you're not rewarding yourselffinancially from your business, that also
makes it talking about sustainability.
I think it's a greatway of talking about it.
Like that's just notsustainable really, is it?
In the long term, to work as hardas small business owners work?
Let's face it.
We all work really hard and to notbe financially rewarded for it.
(10:25):
I think it's really difficultor even if you are, but you feel
constantly like you're on a rollercoaster and not in a good way.
Yeah, I think that wouldresonate with a lot of listeners.
Absolutely.
And a lot of people coming into it or alot of people starting out in business.
Or as you say, you know, get to a stageand then you realize you're not actually
paying yourself and what's the point?
(10:45):
So then it goes, you know, then we woulddo some work around values and saying
to people, you know, one of your values,I would say you have three to five.
If being financially independent andstable is really important to you.
That's value.
And often, I've had this aboutthree times with people where they
said, am I allowed to put that down?
(11:06):
Yes, yes, you are.
So then there's some workaround money as well.
In fact, money also comes up quite a lot.
But then there's some work around moneyand just that you know, cause people say
ooh, I'm not sure I'm allowed to say that.
No, no, you really are.
You're in business.
You really are.
We're doing it to make money.
And again, that's where it ties backinto what you do because you're able to
(11:29):
help them excel on the profitability.
So once again, you get that kindof structure around the stock or
whatever it is on the profitabilityand then the mindset around it as well.
That's a winning combination.
That's really fascinating about thewhole piece, about the money mindset.
I think that is so interesting becauseone of the things that I see a lot
of the time is people tend to nottake enough money out of the business
(11:51):
for various different reasons.
Sometimes it's just not feasible.
But often the reason it's not feasibleis because they plowed it back
into stock and somehow people havethis idea that if you are giving it
back to the business, that's okay.
Actually, what if you just take it out?
And it often makes the businessleaner and stand on its feet more.
(12:12):
If you insist on taking that money out.
There's always going to be a"to-spend" list in a business, right?
You're always, always,always going to be spending.
But I think sometimes getting intothat mindset where you can see
everything mapped out clearly.
Cause that's part of what I dowith people is I put in things
like cashflow spreadsheets, so youcan actually really see what your
money is going to be each week.
But then also insisting, right, well,I'm going to take that out for myself
(12:35):
and if that means I have to buy lessstock, well actually, that's probably
the best thing for the business becauseso many people overbuy on stock.
So, okay, so we talkedabout clarity vision.
We've talked about self belief.
Self respect.
Do you think some people naturallyhave these traits or does it vary
across time according to circumstances?
(12:57):
So we touched on, for example,how self belief can fluctuate.
Yeah, I think everyone naturally has it.
It's what is there in a narrative andwhat they believe about themselves.
Or it's taking away the limitingbeliefs that they might have accumulated
as they grow up through childhood.
And often it's around family,siblings ,in your educational setting,
(13:18):
university, your first jobs often havequite a huge influence on your mind.
So I believe that everyonehas, as humans, these traits.
But they can have been dampened down alot by listening to other people's voices.
And so it's sometimes a case of strippingthat back and actually finding that
(13:38):
person, you know, nurturing that.
Sometimes you get someone who has a hugeamount of self belief in one aspect.
But actually doesn't in the other andtherefore, you know, so I think that
proves that I think we all have it.
It's just a case of finding it again.
Do you think you have to havea certain amount of self belief
(14:00):
to even start a business?
Definitely, definitely.
And if a certain amount of driveand focus and ambition and all of
those things, you know, becauseit's a risky thing, isn't it?
We all know that.
Just because you don't haveyour regular paycheck coming in,
you're not doing what you're told.
You're having to think creatively.
There's so many differenthats you have to wear.
(14:22):
It's all consuming.
Yeah.
And so it takes a certain mentality, butthen what's really exciting, I think,
is when you're able to watch that grow.
And for them to be able tosee their true potential.
Yes, yes.
So how does that kind of present itself?
You talked about where peoplemaybe have got this vision,
(14:44):
this clarity, the self belief.
They've had it kind of dampened down.
Like how can you tell that whenyou're talking to somebody?
Is it always like, oh,okay, hang on a minute.
Something's happening here,something's going on here.
Or do you always haveto kind of like, dig in?
Or does it sometimes pop up whenyou are not even expecting it?
That's a really interesting question.
It pops up in different ways.
(15:05):
So, it will pop up inlanguage that we use.
We all use different language.
You know, you and I will both beusing different language in order
to portray what we're saying.
And so it kind of pops upin bits that aren't said.
And then it's also pops up,it's often certain words that
get used again and again.
So I'll say, "Oh, I can hearthat you're saying this again."
(15:28):
It's like, "Oh yeah."
So sometimes you have to dig much deeperto find out where that's come from.
But sometimes it's very much, itcan be quite quick to unravel.
I'm trying to give you an example, but Ican't think of one off the top of my head.
Also, everything's very confidential,so I don't really want to kind of
say anything, but it can really befrom where the people are putting a
(15:50):
glass ceiling on top of themselves.
That can occur.
Yes.
Okay, so I've got an example.
When I first started my business, I didquite a lot of work on money mindset.
Like you said, kind of unpickingrelationship and beliefs about
money and what that meant.
And I remember that somebody.
(16:11):
There was somebody was doingaffirmations, something like I
can have anything that I want.
You know, and you had torepeat it was probably like a
guided meditation or something.
And then I filled in like, Ican have anything I want as long
as I work hard enough for it.
And I was like, huh.
Okay, all right.
And it was just quite funnybecause I literally like that to
(16:33):
me was the end of that sentence.
And it just was a goodhighlighter to me that like, okay.
And to be honest, I still have toconvince myself that it's not true.
But it's like you only get, you canonly make money if you work really hard.
But obviously there's lots of examplesof people who just, you know, their money
makes money, like it accrues interest.
Like there's lots of differentways of making money that don't
involve a huge amount of hard work.
(16:54):
But for me, that was an example.
Is that kind of what you're saying?
Like.
Yeah, absolutely.
They're like these bedrock assumptionsthat we have for whatever reason
that we might have been taught.
Absolutely, one of those.
And so it's a case of bedrock.
challenging that and understandingthat not everyone thinks that way,
because it's your bedrock assumptionor was your bedrock assumption.
(17:15):
You kind of assume that's howthe world works, but it's when
you can start challenging it.
And I guess having that paradigmshift of, ah, is that not the case?
Exactly like you say, can you putmoney in a bank and it accrues
interest and it makes more money.
That sounds quite easy.
Do you know what I mean?
There's these different things, and I'llgive you two classic examples as well.
One is, and this happens a lot inrelationships, it's peace over honesty.
(17:39):
So as long as you don't really sayanything that you really feel, everything
will be more peaceful, and therefore it'sbetter than actually telling the truth.
So that's a kind of bedrock assumptionand you can start to challenge that
because sometimes you can have thebest outcomes when people actually
start to tell the truth and are ableto communicate more freely around it.
(18:01):
And another one, which I'veoften thought is I have to make
everything okay for everyone.
So it's a real woman thing that we haveto make, although I was talking to a
male friend the other day and a businessleader, and he absolutely felt the same.
That you have to makeeverything okay for everyone.
It's like, well, is thatyour responsibility?
And that, you know, when you start totake that away as well, it can be a huge
(18:24):
amount of pressure off your shoulders.
Yeah, yeah.
For sure.
That actually, it's not.
And it might be harder for theother people, but they're still
humans and they'll still be okay.
Yes.
Yeah, yeah, for sure.
So my degree was international business,and one of the things that we did
was a module about interculturalrelationships, in terms of businesses.
(18:46):
And I always remember themtalking about invisible walls.
It was based, you know, it was very muchlooking from a big business perspective.
It was talking about multinationalswhere they might have multiple
offices across the world.
One of the things they talked aboutwas invisible walls, where somebody
would just not understand why somebodyelse was acting a certain way.
It just didn't make any sense to themor they'd run up into, they try and
(19:09):
get someone to do something and thatperson would say, yes, yes, yes, yes.
And then just not do itor something like that.
And it felt like they were runninginto an invisible wall because what
was really happening was that theirunderstanding and assumptions about work
and authority and setting priorities andgetting things done was very different
(19:29):
to somebody else's, because they camefrom a different cultural background.
And I often think about thatconcept because I think we often
run into our own invisible walls.
So what I think is interesting issometimes, for example, I'll be working
with somebody on something and why Ithink it works so well, working both of us
together is that we'll talk about puttingsomething into place and then people,
(19:50):
for whatever reason, just don't find itpossible to put that thing into place.
And it's almost like we have to take astep back and go, what's going on here?
Is it actually just not the waythey like to work, which you
obviously have to work around it.
People have their own preferences, butsometimes I think it's these invisible
walls that they, you know, like I hadthat example where it's because I heard
the phrase and the end of it poppedinto my head and I say, "Oh, hang
(20:13):
on a minute, what's going on here?"
But I think there's lots of things likethis that we maybe just aren't even
aware of on that sort of conscious level.
A lot of the time.
Absolutely, it's how it works.
Yeah, we do and I see that where you putthe structure in place for some people
and they find it really hard to implement.
And I think it is working aroundthat and working as to why?
(20:36):
What's the fear of putting it in place?
Or what's the barrieror why isn't it working?
And it might be that they workin a really different way.
So maybe spreadsheets aren't their thing,but then we look more creative ways.
Even making spreadsheets more colorful,creative ways so that you feel as though
you want to get into that spreadsheet.
But I often find when peoplestart to see the benefits from it,
(20:57):
that's like a motivator in itself.
I quite like the spreadsheet.
But the, I mean, sometimes, you know,when you talked about the traits and
I think one of the traits is aroundfocus, being focused and with some
people, the focus actually needs onneeds to be practiced on staying focused.
Yes.
Because, you know, as creative businessowners, there can be these tangents
(21:21):
that people get pulled from here tothere or any business owner really.
And there might be quite a lot ofwork to do around staying focused.
Fear of missing out.
Fear of missing out, fear.
And also, you know, these ideas cominginto people's heads, 'Oh, I must do that.
I must do that."
And actually what are theynot doing in that moment?
(21:43):
If you start taking your resource or yourenergy away from something and putting it
into something new or something differentor something easier, then you're not
staying focused on the task at hand.
No, we totally get off on tangents.
And what about thingslike clarity and vision?
(22:04):
I mean, it's interesting tothink of that as a trait.
I feel like sometimes that canbe almost be something that kind
of goes in and out of focus.
Like sometimes you feelreally focused, really clear.
You have a really clear vision, right?
This is what I'm doing.
This is where I'm going.
And you go off almost like a, you know,like a greyhound after a rabbit type.
Right after heading off to this.
(22:24):
And then other times it can feellike, actually, what am I doing?
Or feel very distracted orfeel very disconnected from it.
So do you see that the clarityand purpose is something that
kind of can waver in and out?
Yeah, 100%.
We've also got to remember this idea ofhaving a positive clear mindset isn't,
it's not like a mountain that you climband you reach the top and you put a flag
(22:47):
in it and you're like, "yep, I've done it.
I bagged that one."
It's like a continual thing.
And I think that even in the next40 years, we'll all still be, there
will be things which are cropping up.
That's how minds work.
And it's almost, that's the challengein itself is how you respond to react
to challenges, which will happen.
They will naturally come up.
(23:08):
I was told a really great sayingonce, which was expect the unexpected.
So I think because we go aheadthinking as long as we've got a plan
in place, that's what will happen.
And we know exactlywhat's going to happen.
Yeah.
Down the line.
But if an element around expecting theunexpected, just knowing that that curve
ball's going to come, we don't know whatit is, could be positive, could be a real
(23:30):
challenge, but we know it's going to come.
And it will wobble us.
It will totally change our clarityand our purpose and our vision.
But it's a case of how we respondand gaining strength and kind
of control in that situation.
What can we control?
What can't we control?
Business is like sailing a ship.
(23:51):
I have to go to ships, but it is.
You set your sights on somewhere.
And that's where you're heading, butyou are going to tack along the way.
You don't want to do too manyjibes because that's a real pivot.
You can do small pivots, but a massivepivot away from your initial vision is
quite turbulent can be, but at the sametime, sometimes that's what's needed.
(24:17):
Mm-hmm This is working out what that is.
Well, whether it's needed orwhether you're just doing it and
expanding unnecessary energy.
Yeah, and money andresources and all the things.
But sometimes it will be needed.
So it's a case of getting real clarityand confidence around those decisions.
And interesting, actually, sometimesthose can be gut decisions.
(24:39):
Which I believe are very important,but if you just swing with your gut.
And you're not, again, looking at thefacts and the processes and the systems
and all the things that make sense.
Then you can be flying off theseat of your pants, slightly.
And again, it's thatcombination of the two.
It's like, my gut's really telling methis, but you've got to look at the facts.
(25:03):
You've got to look at all the workthat you do as well, and then come with
quite a kind of a calm, it's a muchmore calm way of making a decision.
Yes, for sure.
Yeah, absolutely.
Sometimes you do have to make bigdecisions, but it can be done in
quite there's actually quite a lotyou can forecast and calculate and big
believer in get everything mapped out,make yourself a model, and then you
(25:24):
can play around with the numbers aspart of your decision making process.
I think that it's pretty good.
I mean, that's how I think ifI'm going to make a business
decision, I think with the numbers.
I start with the numbers andthen I kind of work from there.
And I think that, you know,obviously you have to use gut as
part of that, but I think whatmakes people feel really untethered.
(25:45):
It's just not reallyknowing the number side.
And so they feel like they're sortof taking action or in that, or in
action, and they don't really knowif it's going the right direction.
So it's a great combination, I think, todo that work where we get really clear
about the business and what's happeningin it and what we can play around with.
And then they've got you workingwith them on the clarity and the
(26:05):
vision and the understanding.
Like what's blocking them.
And I think it's, no, I thinkit's a great combination.
And going on to those, sorry, goingon to the figures, I think from the
feedback I get when I'm speaking topeople, it can so often be a case of
in the past, they just used to spend ororder stock just because it felt right.
(26:25):
Or because they thought they should,or because there was a gap, or because
they've got 10 minutes and theyjust might as well order some stock.
And I think it's those decisions, asyou say, made with that clarity and
foresight and having it all mappedout and being able to tweak as well.
I think people really like beingable to tweak the figures and see how
different things pop up and then beable to focus on what they're spending.
(26:49):
So I think that's really, really key.
Yeah.
Clarity and control, for sure.
Those are the key things.
So we talked about how some peoplehave got natural elements of these
key traits and some people or manyof us have them, but they fluctuate.
Are there particular habits oractivities, for example, that can
help people cultivate a reallystrong, successful business mindset.
(27:14):
Yeah.
I mean, there are many, many, Ithink the three that come to mind
is working out where you get yourenergy from, working out where you
re energize which is more importantthan I think people actually think.
And yeah, what works for you doesn'tnecessarily work for someone else.
So whether it is getting that, becauseessentially what you're trying to
(27:37):
do is get that stillness of mind.
When you get that stillness of mind,it's where the really good and more
unconscious thoughts will ariseand you'll be able to sift through
the problems that you're facing.
So whether that is, just sitting in adark room, whether it's reading a book,
whether it's going out, socializing,whether it's walking in nature,
whether it's swimming or pumping inthe gym or whatever it is, giving
(28:01):
yourself space to re energize becauseotherwise you go into that burnout mode.
And also, when you're exercising or whenyou have that stillness, you're right
in your left brain calm as well, becauseoften people will come to me saying their
mind's feeling like a hamster wheel.
Or like a like a whirlwind and theyjust can't, they've got this inner
(28:21):
chatter that just doesn't stop.
So working out where it works best for youto re energize, whether it's 10 minutes,
whether it's a case of getting up earlierbefore anyone else is awake in your house.
If it means getting up at five insteadof six and just having that peace, it
might seem quite mad for the first month,but after that you just get that sense
(28:43):
of space, or maybe it's late at night.
So I'd say that's a really goodhabit to get into, just being
able to zoom out and think, okay,what am I really looking at here?
And that is a habit.
You know, it's a wayof meditation, I guess.
Getting in the flow, quietening your mind.
Another good habit isreflection and learning.
(29:04):
Sounds really boring.
But without it, you'rejust kind of steamrolling.
Mm hmm.
You've got to learn and reflect.
And sometimes the learningscan be a bit icky.
You don't really want to acknowledgethe fact that maybe it was you who
could have done something differently.
What learning can you take from it?
(29:25):
How do you want to react in thatkind of situation next time?
Who do you want to be nexttime when you're reacting?
And one big one is what can youcontrol and what can't you control?
And keep on asking that really,those two very simple questions.
Or kind of just ground you again.
What can you control?
What can't you control?
Because otherwise you can go offspiraling about things which are,
(29:48):
which aren't really in your control.
So they are a waste of time and energy.
Yes, totally.
The last few years have just shown usso many things that we can't control.
I completely agree.
And it can be a really, really draining.
And if you spend too much time in spaceswhere people almost, I think sometimes the
small business world, we can get into abit of a negative spiral and it's really
(30:12):
useful just to keep bringing it back.
Like you say, what can I do?
What actions can I take and focus take
actually that, that, that mentioningdraining as well, I think that goes
back to where you re energize as well.
You know, re energize withradiators, not with drains.
If someone, if you're surrounded by peoplewho are, you're all bringing each other
(30:34):
down or you're got this negative spiral.
It's really hard to stayafloat mentally, really hard.
Whereas if you've got people who, whichis part of the mastermind, isn't it?
That you've got everyone.
And again, that's what I hear ispeople are, you're kind of, you're
being buoyed and you're being ableto put a problem forward and have
other people who are going through thesame thing, be able to come up with
(30:56):
suggestions or not even suggestions.
It's more what they've done.
So that's a really good placeif it works for them to feel
buoyed and to feel re energized.
So those, those wouldbe my two key habits.
There was one more, Ican't remember what it was.
I know what it is.
(31:17):
So another key habit would be focusingreally on so these, these are all kind
of mind habits, but mind practices.
So focusing on what success means foryou because people get very caught up
in what success for others look like.
So it's really focusing on what successmeans for you and just, it's really
hard, but just keep going on that one.
(31:39):
Oh, that's such a good point.
Yeah, I love that because I think,everything I do, whether it's the
mastermind or whether it's the membershipor whenever I'm working with people,
that for me is the most important thing.
Not what does a successfulbusiness look like generically,
but what does it look like for you?
And I think that's such an importantquestion for us all to ask ourselves,
because the actions we need totake are very different depending
(32:00):
on what we want the outcome to be.
And I think it's also absolutelyfine to not want to be a household
name and it's absolutely fineto want to be a household name.
I completely support bothends of the spectrum.
I just think we all have tokeep checking in with ourselves.
And I was going to say the habits as well.
The analogy that I really like is,somebody said you wouldn't brush your
(32:22):
teeth once and then think that was it.
You were done with oral hygiene.
brilliant one!
And I feel like, yeah, I feel likethat's the same thing with the
mindset piece as well, isn't it?
It's like, you've gotto keep up with these.
Sometimes it can feel frustrating tothink, well, I worked out my vision.
Why do I just not feel clearand happy all the time?
And it's like, okay, well, because it'ssomething you have to work on every day.
(32:44):
So, that's definitely thejoy of the mastermind.
I think with that, so we're cominginto January now, and there's
that new year, new you, youknow, vision boards, whatever.
On one aspect, I think this issomething that we shouldn't just
say for the January, we should kindof be constantly doing all year.
(33:05):
Having said that, you know, now that we'rein this kind of rundown until January, I
literally see it like a hill and going up.
I do feel January is a good reset time.
Especially in the northern hemisphere.
Everything's quite dead, butunderneath the surface of the
soil, things are happening,things are starting to grow again.
(33:25):
And it is a good time to rethink.
So if you have one month, wheneverit is throughout the year ,that
you're able to kind of really reset.
It doesn't have to be January, but avision it's not going to last you really,
I wouldn't have said more than 12 months.
You can have like a two, three yearvision or five year vision or a
10 year vision, but you've stillgot to have those smaller visions.
(33:47):
Keep on moving forward.
Cause as I said, expect the unexpectedthings are going to crop up along the way.
And you have to be open tohow you react to all of that.
Thank you so much, Annabel.
And I just say, if you've enjoyed ourchat, then inside the mastermind, then you
get three one to one sessions with Annabeland you also work on people's personality
profiles, which is fascinating as well.
(34:10):
And thanks so much for joining me today.
Thanks so much, Catherine.
It's lovely to speak to you.
Thanks so much for listening.
I hope you enjoyed today's show.
As I mentioned, if you want to know moreabout the mastermind, then do head to
the show notes where you can get thelink to sign up for a discovery call.
We are kicking off shortly and wehave just got a few spaces left.
So if you're interested, then go ahead.
(34:32):
Do grab a call and let's chat.
Otherwise, I hope you have a great day.
Don't forget to like, andsubscribe to the podcast.
You'll be the first to know about each newepisode coming out each Thursday morning.
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