November 9, 2023 • 9 mins
In today's milestone episode of the 'How You Pictured It' podcast, I talk about the idea of aligning personal values and priorities with entrepreneurial goals. I talk about the roots of starting the podcast and my experiences over 12 years as a small business owner. This conversation focuses on helping small business owners rediscover the freedom and flexibility they imagined at the start of their journey, often lost through the realities of running a business. I help you define what success looks like, identify your core values, and prioritize actions in alignment with those values. Through real-life examples from my own business, I share how you can revisit and modify business practices to reflect your personal values and priorities better. You have the liberty to run your businesses your own way.
00:00 Introduction and Podcast Journey
00:19 The Heart of the Podcast
02:22 Understanding Values and Priorities
03:39 Exercise to Identify Your Values and Priorities
05:00 Analyzing Your Answers
05:55 Applying Your Values and Priorities
06:21 Aligning Your Business with Your Values
07:00 Examples of Value-Based Business Decisions
08:09 Keeping Your Values Close
08:27 Permission to Do Things Your Way
08:59 Closing Remarks and Future Plans
Follow Dear Kate Brand Strategy on Instagram
Learn more at Howyoupicturedit.com
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Kate (00:00):
Today marks episode 50 of the How You Pictured It podcast.
I am so excited that we've madeit this far.
I've loved being in your earbudsand being on this journey with
you.
And I cannot wait to share allof the big goals and things
coming forward for the podcast.
Really diving into growing thisplatform and sharing more with
you.
Today I want to get back to theheart of why I started the
(00:22):
podcast in the first placethough.
The whole idea behind thepodcast and where the name How
You Pictured It comes from isbased on the idea of helping
other small business ownersfigure out how to get back to
the life that they pictured whenthey first started their journey
into entrepreneurship.
When most of us start out, wehave this idea of this freedom
(00:42):
and flexibility, the workwherever whenever fewer hours,
um, kind of lifestyle that isoften sold as entrepreneurship
and then we get into it and werealize we are working to the
bone or doing things that don'treally align with us or don't
feel good and miss out on thatkind of big picture life that we
(01:03):
had in mind when we started.
I've been a small business ownerfor over 12 years now, and one
thing that has come up yearafter year for me is the
reminder that I get to create myown business with my own rules.
I get to decide what I'm doing,when I'm doing it, and who I'm
doing it for.
In the early years, I wasseeking out any and all advice I
(01:23):
could find on how to besuccessful.
The key that I was missing,though, was first defining what
success is.
I took so many classes and readso many things, but when it was
time to put those ideas intoaction, I'd get stuck.
And the main reason for thatusually was a misalignment of
values and priorities, meaningthe educator's version of
(01:43):
success didn't match mine.
For example, I went to a bigworkshop, did a whole course on
senior photography, where theinstructor was teaching in
person sales.
And I had some pushback at thetime.
I felt like, how was I going tomake that fit with my family's
life, with our life, and pushedforward anyway, ignored that
little inner voice, um, andended up unhappy with the
(02:06):
situation and had to changethings again because again, it
just wasn't in alignment withwhat I valued.
So today I really want to talkabout how we can make sure that
what we are doing is inalignment with our values, our
priorities, and our version ofsuccess.
So what's the difference betweena value and a priority?
Well, a value is more like anoverarching principle or
(02:29):
feeling.
Like creativity, honesty, familyorientedness, loyalty,
thoughtfulness, those kinds ofthings.
big ideas, um, and feelings morethan actions.
Priorities lend into actionsmore or task oriented things.
They are the way we act on ourvalues.
So, if family orientedness is avalue of yours, The priority is
(02:53):
probably something like makingtime for those family activities
or putting family activities onyour calendar above, um, work
activities.
If you value honesty, it maymanifest as telling the truth
above anything else, even if itmakes you look bad with a client
because that is more importantto you., I've found that knowing
what I value most really helpsto drive those priorities help
(03:16):
me get things in order And thenthat helps to form my definition
of success Figuring out whatyour values and priorities are
is a lot of self reflection andasking yourself questions, and
then sitting with those answersto really get clear again on
what is the most important thingto you, how do you want to feel,
what things do you value most,and how can we turn those into
(03:38):
priorities.
So let's go through a fewquestions.
We're going to do a littleexercise here to help you get
clear on this.
You can write down the answers,you pause in between things, um,
and just spend some timethinking about these things.
In your personal life, what arethe things you really want to
spend the most time on?
Where do you find yourselffeeling the happiest and the
most fulfilled?
(04:00):
When was the last time you felttruly proud of yourself?
If you could only achieve onething in the next year, what
would it be?
What sacrifices are you willing,or not willing, to make for your
personal goals?
business side, what parts ofyour business bring you the most
(04:21):
joy?
Who do you love serving?
What parts of the common adviceand recommendations in your
profession have just never feltgood to you?
Is there something about the waythings have always been done
that feels gross?
How do you want people to feelafter working with you?
(04:43):
What do you want people to telltheir friends about your
business?
When you're answering thesequestions, I hope you are being
really honest with yourself.
These questions are just for youto see, not for anybody else.
Um, and I think there's so muchthat we can learn from them.
When you're analyzing youranswers here, there are a few
things that I want you to lookout for.
(05:03):
One is inconsistencies.
Is there anywhere in youranswers where you answered one
thing here and then in anotherplace you answered something
that kind of contradicts that?
I think we We can get free formand when we're like in that flow
state, things come out and wehave to kind of look back then
and see like, ooh, maybe thatwas a little bit different with
(05:24):
this kind of idea, um, and howthose kind of inconsistencies
play out and figuring out whatthe truth is there.
We do tend to lie to ourselvessometimes, and so finding those
inconsistencies is step numberone.
Step number two, what surprisesyou about what you wrote?
Was there anything that justcaught you off guard as you were
answering those questions?
(05:45):
And then step number three, whatpatterns are you seeing from one
answer to the next, even likeacross the personal questions
and the business questions?
Once we've identified thosepriorities and values, what's
next?
For me, it's looking at thosethings and helping myself define
what it is that I want toachieve.
What do I want my life to looklike?
(06:07):
How did I picture my life when Istarted this business?
How do I picture my life in thenext year, the next five years?
Those lovely basic interviewquestions, but they really do
hold value.
Finding these priorities andvalues and then applying them to
how you want your life to look.
The next step is going to befinding what in your business
and in your personal life areout of alignment with your
values and priorities.
(06:28):
How can we change that?
Do we need to outsourcesomething?
Do we need to change policies?
Do we need to change how weschedule or how we work?
Use your values and prioritiesto help guide that so that you
can get closer to that versionof your life that you pictured.
A lot of these things are bigideas too, so it's okay if you
take this step by step.
(06:48):
Look at what's really wildly outof alignment and what needs to
change first to get you back tothat picture.
Some of it's going to be a long,slow process.
Some of it's going to be quickfixes.
Early on in my business, one ofthe things that popped up for me
was that while I valueprofessional prints and products
for my clients, it was not apriority for me to make all of
(07:10):
my money on pushing that sale.
So I was able to then go in andchange my structure so that I
make my money on the digitalportion of the sale and then
they can still access the printsand products for my photography
business on the back end withoutme spending too much time on it
and therefore I was able tooffer it at a lower price.
(07:31):
Another way that my valuesmanifest in my business is
through my program, the WebsiteLaunch Accelerator.
It's highly important for methat my students have access to
me, that we have time to talktogether and brainstorm, that
they have a sounding board tobounce their ideas off of.
And so I built that program withthose things in mind.
My priorities for them were Tobe able to really have a person
(07:54):
to talk to, not to just gothrough a course and learn all
things, show it.
I wanted them to be able tobuild their site with the tools
they needed and access to thatinformation quickly.
So I built that program withthat kind of, those values in
mind.
Another step that I wouldsuggest taking is having your
values listed out and putsomewhere really close to your
(08:15):
desk so when you're trying tomake decisions, you can go back
to that and know again what yourvalues are and that'll help you
with your priorities andfiguring out what you need to do
next in your business.
Lastly, I just want to give youpermission to do things your own
way.
It is okay if you are notfollowing best practices, um,
(08:36):
air quotes, best practices foranything in your business except
for, of course, legal things,taxes, contracts.
Highly recommend following thoserules, but otherwise you get to
decide how, when, where you workwith people and what it is that
you offer.
This is your permission slip topull that back into alignment
(08:57):
and get back to the life thatyou pictured.
I'd love for you to take aminute to DM me on Instagram at
DearKateBrandStrategy and let meknow what your biggest takeaway
from this episode was.
I have more episodes coming foryou in the future with some
amazing guest experts and somemore solo episodes coming soon.
It has been a pleasure to talkto you today and I cannot wait
(09:18):
to hear what you've thought.
Talk to you next week.
Today marks episode 50 of the How You Pictured It podcast.
I am so excited that we've madeit this far.
I've loved being in your earbudsand being on this journey with
you.
And I cannot wait to share allof the big goals and things
coming forward for the podcast.
Really diving into growing thisplatform and sharing more with
you.
Today I want to get back to theheart of why I started the
(00:22):
podcast in the first placethough.
The whole idea behind thepodcast and where the name How
You Pictured It comes from isbased on the idea of helping
other small business ownersfigure out how to get back to
the life that they pictured whenthey first started their journey
into entrepreneurship.
When most of us start out, wehave this idea of this freedom
(00:42):
and flexibility, the workwherever whenever fewer hours,
um, kind of lifestyle that isoften sold as entrepreneurship
and then we get into it and werealize we are working to the
bone or doing things that don'treally align with us or don't
feel good and miss out on thatkind of big picture life that we
(01:03):
had in mind when we started.
I've been a small business ownerfor over 12 years now, and one
thing that has come up yearafter year for me is the
reminder that I get to create myown business with my own rules.
I get to decide what I'm doing,when I'm doing it, and who I'm
doing it for.
In the early years, I wasseeking out any and all advice I
(01:23):
could find on how to besuccessful.
The key that I was missing,though, was first defining what
success is.
I took so many classes and readso many things, but when it was
time to put those ideas intoaction, I'd get stuck.
And the main reason for thatusually was a misalignment of
values and priorities, meaningthe educator's version of
(01:43):
success didn't match mine.
For example, I went to a bigworkshop, did a whole course on
senior photography, where theinstructor was teaching in
person sales.
And I had some pushback at thetime.
I felt like, how was I going tomake that fit with my family's
life, with our life, and pushedforward anyway, ignored that
little inner voice, um, andended up unhappy with the
(02:06):
situation and had to changethings again because again, it
just wasn't in alignment withwhat I valued.
So today I really want to talkabout how we can make sure that
what we are doing is inalignment with our values, our
priorities, and our version ofsuccess.
So what's the difference betweena value and a priority?
Well, a value is more like anoverarching principle or
(02:29):
feeling.
Like creativity, honesty, familyorientedness, loyalty,
thoughtfulness, those kinds ofthings.
big ideas, um, and feelings morethan actions.
Priorities lend into actionsmore or task oriented things.
They are the way we act on ourvalues.
So, if family orientedness is avalue of yours, The priority is
(02:53):
probably something like makingtime for those family activities
or putting family activities onyour calendar above, um, work
activities.
If you value honesty, it maymanifest as telling the truth
above anything else, even if itmakes you look bad with a client
because that is more importantto you., I've found that knowing
what I value most really helpsto drive those priorities help
(03:16):
me get things in order And thenthat helps to form my definition
of success Figuring out whatyour values and priorities are
is a lot of self reflection andasking yourself questions, and
then sitting with those answersto really get clear again on
what is the most important thingto you, how do you want to feel,
what things do you value most,and how can we turn those into
(03:38):
priorities.
So let's go through a fewquestions.
We're going to do a littleexercise here to help you get
clear on this.
You can write down the answers,you pause in between things, um,
and just spend some timethinking about these things.
In your personal life, what arethe things you really want to
spend the most time on?
Where do you find yourselffeeling the happiest and the
most fulfilled?
(04:00):
When was the last time you felttruly proud of yourself?
If you could only achieve onething in the next year, what
would it be?
What sacrifices are you willing,or not willing, to make for your
personal goals?
business side, what parts ofyour business bring you the most
(04:21):
joy?
Who do you love serving?
What parts of the common adviceand recommendations in your
profession have just never feltgood to you?
Is there something about the waythings have always been done
that feels gross?
How do you want people to feelafter working with you?
(04:43):
What do you want people to telltheir friends about your
business?
When you're answering thesequestions, I hope you are being
really honest with yourself.
These questions are just for youto see, not for anybody else.
Um, and I think there's so muchthat we can learn from them.
When you're analyzing youranswers here, there are a few
things that I want you to lookout for.
(05:03):
One is inconsistencies.
Is there anywhere in youranswers where you answered one
thing here and then in anotherplace you answered something
that kind of contradicts that?
I think we We can get free formand when we're like in that flow
state, things come out and wehave to kind of look back then
and see like, ooh, maybe thatwas a little bit different with
(05:24):
this kind of idea, um, and howthose kind of inconsistencies
play out and figuring out whatthe truth is there.
We do tend to lie to ourselvessometimes, and so finding those
inconsistencies is step numberone.
Step number two, what surprisesyou about what you wrote?
Was there anything that justcaught you off guard as you were
answering those questions?
(05:45):
And then step number three, whatpatterns are you seeing from one
answer to the next, even likeacross the personal questions
and the business questions?
Once we've identified thosepriorities and values, what's
next?
For me, it's looking at thosethings and helping myself define
what it is that I want toachieve.
What do I want my life to looklike?
(06:07):
How did I picture my life when Istarted this business?
How do I picture my life in thenext year, the next five years?
Those lovely basic interviewquestions, but they really do
hold value.
Finding these priorities andvalues and then applying them to
how you want your life to look.
The next step is going to befinding what in your business
and in your personal life areout of alignment with your
values and priorities.
(06:28):
How can we change that?
Do we need to outsourcesomething?
Do we need to change policies?
Do we need to change how weschedule or how we work?
Use your values and prioritiesto help guide that so that you
can get closer to that versionof your life that you pictured.
A lot of these things are bigideas too, so it's okay if you
take this step by step.
(06:48):
Look at what's really wildly outof alignment and what needs to
change first to get you back tothat picture.
Some of it's going to be a long,slow process.
Some of it's going to be quickfixes.
Early on in my business, one ofthe things that popped up for me
was that while I valueprofessional prints and products
for my clients, it was not apriority for me to make all of
(07:10):
my money on pushing that sale.
So I was able to then go in andchange my structure so that I
make my money on the digitalportion of the sale and then
they can still access the printsand products for my photography
business on the back end withoutme spending too much time on it
and therefore I was able tooffer it at a lower price.
(07:31):
Another way that my valuesmanifest in my business is
through my program, the WebsiteLaunch Accelerator.
It's highly important for methat my students have access to
me, that we have time to talktogether and brainstorm, that
they have a sounding board tobounce their ideas off of.
And so I built that program withthose things in mind.
My priorities for them were Tobe able to really have a person
(07:54):
to talk to, not to just gothrough a course and learn all
things, show it.
I wanted them to be able tobuild their site with the tools
they needed and access to thatinformation quickly.
So I built that program withthat kind of, those values in
mind.
Another step that I wouldsuggest taking is having your
values listed out and putsomewhere really close to your
(08:15):
desk so when you're trying tomake decisions, you can go back
to that and know again what yourvalues are and that'll help you
with your priorities andfiguring out what you need to do
next in your business.
Lastly, I just want to give youpermission to do things your own
way.
It is okay if you are notfollowing best practices, um,
(08:36):
air quotes, best practices foranything in your business except
for, of course, legal things,taxes, contracts.
Highly recommend following thoserules, but otherwise you get to
decide how, when, where you workwith people and what it is that
you offer.
This is your permission slip topull that back into alignment
(08:57):
and get back to the life thatyou pictured.
I'd love for you to take aminute to DM me on Instagram at
DearKateBrandStrategy and let meknow what your biggest takeaway
from this episode was.
I have more episodes coming foryou in the future with some
amazing guest experts and somemore solo episodes coming soon.
It has been a pleasure to talkto you today and I cannot wait
(09:18):
to hear what you've thought.
Talk to you next week.
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