Knowing What To Do -VS- Doing It

Starting the conversation:

It’s easier than we believe to get in our own way by not doing the important work necessary to grow. Cultivating effective decision-making by knowing yourself and your team comes from intention, awareness, and conscious choice. In this It’s Your Business program, Quentin Ortega, Founder and Lead Consultant at QCO Consulting; Christy Maxfield, President and CEO at Purpose First Advisors; and your host, Jess Dewell, Managing Partner at Red Direction, discuss knowing what to do and then taking the steps to make it happen.

Surrounding yourself with individuals who have your business’ best interest in mind — who also compliment your thinking processes — not only offers support in making sure you don’t miss anything essential, but also allows an outside set of eyes to help you keep the information you need … and let go of the rest (for now). Reduce your confusion and increase your confidence by seeking advisors and consultants who understand exactly where you are on your business growth journey.

In this It’s Your Business program, you will hear about the importance of finding an accountability sounding board, embracing the discomfort of consistent action, and knowing the distinction between the inside and outside game of decision-making. Quentin Ortega, Founder and Lead Consultant at QCO Consulting; Christy Maxfield, President and CEO at Purpose First Advisors; and your host, Jess Dewell, Managing Partner at Red Direction discuss and offer actionable takeaways for moving through knowing what to do, and actually taking consistent action to getting things done.

Host: Jess Dewell

Guest: Christy Maxfield and Quentin Ortega

What You Will Hear:

Cultivate what it takes to make the right decision at the right time.

Head, heart, gut leadership and decision-making styles.

Know the default way you make decisions and develop complementary ways to increase confidence moving forward.

Surround yourself with people who lead and make decisions differently than you do.

You prioritize what you value.

Alleviate fear by shifting what you learn (and avoid information overload).

Break down steps and then choose to do them, or choose to let them go.

Permission to let learning go (and an example of how to read books).

Information overload just creates confusion, it is “just in case learning,” not just in time learning.

Specific ways you know you are in information overload (and how to change direction).

Accountability and advisory are closer than you think — your “accountabilibuddy” may already be someone you know.

What can you control? Who can you be vulnerable with? Who would be the right person to push back and challenge assumptions?

An outside set of eyes offers you dedicated knowledge applied to your business specifics.

Know what you can control and use that to create accountability for yourself.

3 takeaways to shift from knowing what to do to doing what it takes to achieve your goals:

Find your “acountabilibuddy” and celebrate along your journey.

Boredom and discomfort of consistent action is what makes progress.

Know what is the inside game and what is the outside game to consciously choose the next best action.

Get started and make a difference in your business with a Growth Framework Reset.

Resources

• 4000 Weeks
• How do you respond to the word discipline (in your decision-making)?
• 5 Tools for Prioritization
• Overcoming information overload in the workplace
• Connecting With Your Future Self to Make Better Decisions
• mBraining: Using your multiple brains to do cool stuff

Transcript

Christy Maxfield 00:00
Because all we want to do is help you from where you are. Not rehash where you’ve been necessarily.

Quentin Ortega 00:06
For your business for yourself, whatever it is, don’t just fall in love with the idea. And then never take those steps towards actioning it.

ANNOUNCER 00:16
Welcome to “It’s Your Business,” brought to you by the Bold Business Podcast. This is your go-to source for navigating today’s ever-evolving business landscape. In this program, Jess, Christy and Quentin share the realities of current business challenges and triumphs. Get ready to lead with depth, understanding and achievement.

Jess Dewell 00:38
It is time it is here this is it’s your business. We are brought to you by the Bold Business Podcast, your go to source for navigating today’s ever-evolving business landscape. I’m your host, Jess DoDewellolin. On each program, we are getting real about our current business challenges and our triumphs. Get ready to be here with myself with Christy and Quinton. So that we can together go deeper, have more understanding and work toward the more achievement that higher achievement or consistent achievement in the direction that we want to go. All right. Let’s take a moment now just to introduce ourselves before we get into the real of the real here. Christy How about a few start.

Christy Maxfield 00:44
Hi Christy Maxfield. I’m founder, president CEO, whatever other title I give myself on a given day of purpose first advisors, emphasis on advisors, because we like to be a trusted partner with the business owners that we support in mapping out their growth trajectory and helping them make a transition, whether that’s out of the day to day of their business, so they can enjoy the fruits of their labor, or actually all the way through exit. So it’s an exciting space to work and in.

Jess Dewell 01:50
All right, Quintin.

Quentin Ortega 01:51
Quinn Ortega, or Q if you prefer a lot of people call me Q, founder President, again, whatever title you want to Q CEO Consulting, similar to Christie work on helping companies grow, create strategies, Exit Planning, and a little bit of everything in between, as well as some fractional operations work. So just helping companies be better companies, helping founders and business owners be better owners and and hopefully live more, let’s say full and complete lives along the way as well.

Jess Dewell 02:19
I’m telling you, that’s what it’s all about. And just do it again. And I will tell you what here, what we’re doing at Red Direction is we are working with thriving, growing businesses that are creating and building. And the purpose of this is to get in get deep and then stand back and see where things fall. So we can go take action, we can go do some of the next things. And then we recheck in, and we see what’s going on. And so the work that we’re doing is in the form of off-sites and retreats, as well as just on-site work for a period of time so that we can take a big look to see what’s going on, have some fun with it. And then off you go. Because until we take action, everything is just theory. And I’ll tell you what that actually means that actually as I was preparing and making sure I had the right little thing today to say about myself. It made me think of our show this quote, so I had to go find it because I’m like excuses, letting go of excuses. I think it’s anonymous. So here I am searching everywhere for this thing. And it is true, I found it. When I lost all my excuses, I found my results. And it is an anonymous quote, I could not find it to be attributed to anybody. And I thought that was a really perfect quote, for our conversation today.

Christy Maxfield 03:28
It’s like the things you’re looking for in the work you’re usually avoiding. I know that’s not the exact quote. But if you’re resisting something, that’s probably where what you’re looking for is hanging out. That’s right.

Jess Dewell 03:39
We’re thinking about this ahead of time. And we’re talking about this. And we’re talking about being able to understand why are we having this conversation today. And it can happen any day. Why on earth. Now, why now? Why right now, why at this time, and it’s because it’s true. It’s true that until we level up our advisor team, we don’t have anybody to truly suggest push challenge us to make sure we’re actually choosing because in the end, that is what it’s all about. So the difference between just to set this up, knowing what to do and actually doing it comes down to who do we surround ourselves with? What would you add to that, Q and Chrisy?

Quentin Ortega 04:23
this recording right now is a great example, because we held each other accountable for actually getting on and doing this live stream, right? We had some scheduling conflicts and we but we still figured it out and saw the time right. And in a way we’ve created our own advisory group to ourselves here I ran my mind man.

Jess Dewell 04:39
We have to claim it to your point. If we don’t claim it, we let it go by if we go claim it it’s bad. So what let it go again? Hello. There’s all kinds of sports where you catch and release. What does this have to be any different when we apply it to business that is okay. And

Christy Maxfield 04:57
every sport it’s practice, right so we widows put this off for a lot of reasons, scheduling being one of them. But the fact of the matter is like getting on and actually having the conversation was more important to us than making sure it was exactly right. We’re grappling with the same things our clients are was in terms of where could we surround ourselves with? What do we prioritize? What do we say is important? And then how do our actions actually reflect that?

Quentin Ortega 05:23
Iwill say to reminds me, so a good friend of mine, who has really rezone and recently on the idea of there is no try right to sound like Yoda a little bit, but like, trying to stop myself removing that word from my language. And I think that we as humans, like for scheduling this for everything else, we say, oh, yeah, I’ll try to make it to that. I’ll try to do this. And I think that leads to a lot of issues for business owners, right? No, yeah, I’ll try to improve this piece of the business. I’ll try to spend the time that I need to work on this or I’ll try to address the problem that this person has an elbow and and there isn’t as they say, there is no tried just focus on results, focus on action, because that’s what matters. And

Jess Dewell 06:02
I Babe Ruth said, I’m like, filled with quotes today. Apparently, Babe Ruth said, yesterday’s results do not win today’s games. And I think that’s also really important. Sometimes we think, Oh, we’ve been there done that. So it’s second nature to us.

Christy Maxfield 06:17
That’s all I gotta say about that. I like everything we choose to talk about. We’ve heard it before. Like we’ve either experienced it ourselves. We have experienced it ourselves. Not Yes. Or maybe. And we’ve heard from others, right, that there’s a I know I should or I know about this? I know I could I know. And then what is it? Have you chosen? If you’re having that conversation with one of us, you’ve said I’m tired of trying, I’m tired of knowing but not doing I’m tired of relying on the prior results, expecting them to turn into future results. And you are without even thinking about it, really trying to move beyond whether you call it stuff or researching planning, we all love a good plan. None of us is going to tell you not to plan. But what it’s the execution that really matters. That’s what we’re talking about it today. Because we want you to We hope you’re hanging out with us. And we want to help you move forward.

Jess Dewell 07:21
Truth. And so we’ve broken down this topic into three parts. And part of this accountability piece is how do we take the expertise of each one of us who is an adviser to business, who does some not the same stuff, but definitely more complementary to each other, to bring three points of view to you to consider so that you can continue to grow and learn and move forward. And those three things that we’re going to hit today, we’re not actually going to hit them, we will highlight and talk about them will be? Well, how do you align all of the pieces both for yourself and for your team? To be able to know you’re making the right decision at the right time. That’s the first thing. The second thing we’re going to talk about is information overload, shifting how that how you learn to alleviate the fears that we all face. And the third thing will be how to be accountable. And I’m going to try this accountabilibuddy as well as advisory, I just had to slow down accountabilibuddy as well as advisory to help you do this to be on your journey right exactly where you are.

ANNOUNCER 08:28
If you’re ready to make a real impact in your business, and you’ve waited too long to take action, go to Redirection.com and click on solutions to find out how.

Jess Dewell 08:40
Those of you watching don’t forget to type into our comments pipe into our conversation we are watching and we will include you in the show. Also from that, is there anything else that we need to say to set this up? Christine? Thank you.

Christy Maxfield 08:54
Now let’s just keep going. Let’s just keep going.

Jess Dewell 08:58
So the first things first, we’re going to be talking about that first thing, which is how do we step into our power, aligning ourselves as well as knowing because what that does is are we making the right decision at the right time? Is this the right decision? For right now? That is a question that I challenge each and every one of you to ask on a regular basis. And here’s the thing that I find most important. When we’re looking at that bigger holistic picture, we’re taking three or four steps out, and we’re looking down at our forest instead of being by one or two trees at a time within our forest. And this is the concept of our head, our heart in our gut. Now, I cannot take credit for this. There is a book out there called M Braining. And these two people who wrote an article a long time ago before M Brennan came out, I saw this and I was like I want to incorporate this into my work. And sure enough, as soon as I started looking, what did I find? I found that some people lead with their heart. They are feeling first they have some criteria with which they are working. And that is for the good of the good in whatever their definition of that is or for the ultimate success of all, then there are people who are traditional, what we would formerly call right where it right brain fingers. See, it’s so far out of my memory, I can’t even remember that phrase. And then the other piece of that of having that linear thinking, that logical thinking, what becomes that’s the brain between our ears, and it serves so much awesome, good. But if it’s been worse, if it’s working by itself, our heart, and our feelings never get a chance to show up, we never get a chance to check in another way we let other information, run the show. Then there’s the third, third pieces are guts. By the way, this is how I roll. I am gut first, hands down, if you throw an idea at me or you throw a problem at me quick, I will ask two or three questions. And I will have some sort of a solution with which to throw away and build something better. Hands down all the time. If you need a quick decision, if you need somebody to hold your hand really quick when you jump and want to make sure your parachutes going or at least you’re not jumping along. I am the person have you had to be beside you. Because that’s the that’s an interesting thing. Now, here’s what I’ve learned. embracing that. Something that comes back to my heart is okay, I can balance that out. And the thing that always overpowered everything else was the shoulds. And the codes that ended up here, it actually was not my logical brain that helped me make good decisions based off of data, it was the ego part of what’s between my ears instead. And so by really settling in and anchoring into these three. And by the way, I do this with all of the companies that I work with the leadership teams, when we get better at doing this ourselves, we can get better going, Oh, here is Christie’s go to hear is cues go to and how can I ask questions to support and bring in the part that is their strength? Because it’s my strength? Or because it’s my weakness? Or how can I do the opposite. And that is something that’s really important, because until we can look at a picture in some shape. From lots of points of data, we cannot, we can’t make the right decision at the right time. It will elude us. And so this is a way to get us to go, oh, maybe this is the next little step. Or maybe this is the right thing to try out. Or here’s the actual obstacle. And so the right decision at the right time comes from alignment here. As well as being able to know what that is for our teams that are closest to us making the decisions and working with us day to day. Q What’s your go to? So

Quentin Ortega 12:38
I was loving that because I was like getting that refresher. I was like wait, which 1am I as I was like listening to the descriptions, and I am actually a gut person as well. Right? I go there first. And the A reminded me of a funny story that I’ll share really quick, which was basically that one of my business partners, Michael, I would probably put him in the headspace if I had to. And one of the things that we used to do. And we still do every once awhile we get the chance to is basically if somebody comes to us and says, Hey, I want to work with you, how much is it gonna cost. So I immediately using my gut make a what I feel like they’ll say yes to call. And then he goes and does all the numbers, he builds the spreadsheet, he like maps it out, we don’t tell each other either thing until the end. And then we come together at the end and see how close we are. And the great or creepy thing is or best thing is that we are always either spot on or within very little margin of error to your point just on like how to lean on other people to double check that my gut is still in line. I do that with my partner, Michael a lot. And so it’s a great tool for sure.

Christy Maxfield 13:38
And I would say the only times I’ve ever gotten in trouble is when I’ve gone against my gut. And I’ve been trained to trust my brain more than my gut or my heart. Right? So finding that balance between intention, intuition and intellect. And evolving into I don’t always have to have the data to back up my gut. Because my gut, isn’t it in and of itself is a data point. But I’ll say that and say most of the business owners I work with are doing gut leadership without having a Michael. And so I am the Michael to most of my clients because they’ll, they’ll text and call and email and say so and so called they want to do XYZ we know we were talking about pricing, what do you think about this price, and it’s just a number. And I take out the spreadsheet that we’ve been working on, and I do all the input. And I go this is the number I came up with using all the things you told me we needed to put into the mix to make sure we were pricing appropriately and profitably.

Christy Maxfield 14:50
And so that I think that tendency among the clients I work with to, to rely solely on their gut But as they grow, needs to then be complemented by more of that head piece. But they all have to be in alignment. If the head is saying do X, but the gut is saying do Y, I’m probably still going to tell you to do what your gut says,

Jess Dewell 15:14
I believe you’re onto something as T, especially because people who say I don’t like corporate and I’m going to go start my own business are not going to use their head primarily. And that is where an outside set of eyes that has that skill set or that can ask those questions, is an incredible gift.

Quentin Ortega 15:34
Christy, what you said, really stuck with me to is I realized, for my own work for my own businesses, I use my gut a lot. But you’re right for the people that I work with. I am the counterbalance, I put on a different hat depending on what’s needed to like, counterbalance them and, and provide some of that pulling away from their gut part. But at the same time, I look at it I’m like, but if your gut doesn’t feel it, you’re not going to believe in it, right?

Christy Maxfield 15:56
There’s so many reasons why even if the numbers work, if the gut tells you know that there’s going to sabotage one another, they really all to just this point have to be aligned. Because in the in my language, that would be about a true choice, a choice that I’m not making, because I think I should, and I need to live up to somebody else’s expectations of this is what you do when you get to your five or this is what you do. When you get a six figure contractor, this is what you do. After you’ve hired your first Temple team members. There are some things that make sense that everybody does because business is not that special. After we get past. Whatever your secret sauce is, there are definitely mechanics that make sense and follow in sequence. But if you’re just doing it, because you feel like you have to, or you have to prove something, or live up sort of somebody else’s expectations, that’s where the numbers can work out on paper. If your heart’s not in it, and your guts not in it.

Jess Dewell 16:59
You’re not going anywhere. In this realm, in this world, when we have dissonance and we start making zero progress, even though there’s movement, we’re not actually getting anything done. So lots quotes about that, too, if we’re gonna stick with the, quote, things going on here. And so we got to get off the hamster wheel. And if we find ourselves or we don’t see any movement, then it’s time to really analyze, where is it here first. Because ultimately, all this means when we’re talking about this with the stepping into your power and claiming it to make the right decision at the right time because you’ve got this, it’s your clue. I’m not aligned, my priorities reflect what I value. Please remember that my priorities reflect what I value. My action is what I’m prioritizing. So I can say I want self-care. But if I never give myself self-care, do I really want it? No, I prioritizing what is important. And it could be wrong, can it always be changed? Sure. Until we accept the reality of what we’re actually doing, we can’t make that change, which means everything we do is a little bit in vain, until we can know what’s happening.

Quentin Ortega 18:09
And move forward. just reminded me of a, an article I was just reading the other day on on basically how to improve sales conversations. And you remind me of it because like when people say they want self-care, but they don’t do, they don’t take the actions to do self-care. They like the idea of being someone who does self-care, right? Like they don’t really want it, but they want what they envision that looks like, right? And interestingly, coming from the other side, the sales article was really about when you’re selling someone, something, sell them the idea of what they could be with this, right, because that’s what we as humans often go to. And I think what we’re talking about here today is reverse that back is don’t just buy into this image and not take the action to get there. But really break down the steps to get there and started taking them. So whatever that goal is of what you’re desiring, for your business for yourself, whatever it is, don’t just fall in love with the idea. And then never take those steps towards actioning it.

Jess Dewell 19:07
It will also tell you you’re wasting your time. If you break down the steps and you’re not willing to commit to it. It’s okay let it go. That catch-and-release

Quentin Ortega 19:15
Yeah, but that’s right. That is right.

Jess Dewell 19:20
And I think that we forget that I think we forget that. Just because we have a goal we state a goal we break it down we start doing it that way. There’s something in us that just means golden as yet. Where did that come from?

Christy Maxfield 19:31
It came from people forcing us to finish books that were awful because my husband will stick with a book. That’s awful. And I don’t Life’s too short. I gotta move on. There are more books to be read. I got shelves full of books that need to be read.

Quentin Ortega 19:46
And we’ve never talked about that but that’s like a trigger for me Christy thank you for a long time, I guess because I was raised that way right? Like I would like force myself to read a book and I would go so slow right. I was like I don’t like reading clearly because I never read. No, it was just because I was making my So I finished the books I didn’t like. And I needed to just give up on them. But it took a while to give myself permission.

Christy Maxfield 20:07
And I just actually, in a fiction book I was reading read ahead, because I was like, this is very interesting. But I really want to know how this resolves.

Quentin Ortega 20:14
I’m not that enlightened yet. I’m trying to get there.

Christy Maxfield 20:17
Part of it, we put the analogy to our business, we want to be able to skim ahead and say, Okay, if I spent all this time doing X will actually get that payoff. Will I really? Why No, who done it by the end? And I think that’s also where we get ourselves stuck. Because we want the read ahead. We want to find some way to see the future. And the God’s honest truth is we can’t. So we have to be able to measure these smaller increments of am I getting closer to the end result? I think I want Have I ever shared with the two of you how I read books. Now especially nonfiction books, okay. Yeah. Okay. Lay it out. So that’s a book.

Jess Dewell 20:55
Oh, let me see if I have one right here.

Quentin Ortega 20:57
No, I’m excited. I’m learning to read. See, this is great.

Jess Dewell 21:00
This might have been before, I might have been no outliers as before that, okay, what I do maybe Blue Ocean has it. I taught first I put in who recommended it to me. Okay, smart to why No. And then what I didn’t know is the year on this one. Okay. So that’s an interesting one. And then this one was when I just started doing it. So as incomplete because there’s no other notes in here. What I do then is I read the table of contents. And I’m like, okay, cool. I think I have something to learn here, then you know what I do, I read the foreword because the foreword is going to sell me on why I should read this book. And am I the right person to read this book? And is it gonna have information that’s useful to me right now. Then I write down the big idea in the front. Then I go to the last chapter, or the afterwards. And I read that because I want to find out if the afterword matches the foreword, and I am the person who said, and these are the things that I learned because I got there. And if there was a difference, or I don’t like it, by the end, I’m like, Cool, I might read three chapters of this book. And I now have permission to get the piece I need to have because I have the shape. And I can decide what of this shape is going to help me in this puzzle that I’m building someplace else. And of course, I write all over my books, and I do all of that other stuff, too. But this actual concept of what’s the big idea? What did I pull away from it? What, what chapters did I choose to read? If it was a few? How many books go into the pile of never reading any the majority, the majority of the books that I pick up, I do not read and that was hard for me to let go of, to the points being made here. But it helps me understand I’m not gonna waste my time with this, I can actually go Oh, nope, this doesn’t help me make my shape. Nope, this doesn’t help. And I think that’s huge in the grand scheme of things when we’re trying to do this, especially when we have information overload, especially when we always have so much coming at us. And I know Christy, you have a lot to say about that.

Christy Maxfield 22:50
I eventually can recall conversations with clients were in successive meetings, and I usually meet once a week, once every two weeks. So we’re meeting pretty often. And if every meeting, somebody is saying, I listen to this podcast, I just read this book, I just got off a phone call with a friend who said they’re voraciously consuming data they’re seeking and I love that about them because they want to grow. They’re signaling to me, they’re the kind of person I want to work with. They’re eager to grow, they want to apply things they’ve learned, they want to learn from other people’s mistakes. But they also tend to get so confused, not overwhelmed. I think that I think it’s actually confusion, rather than overwhelm, because now I’ve got very similar things. But this guy does it this way. And this person does it that way. And this woman does it this way. And this group of people does it that way. And, again, we’re always trying to read a little bit further ahead and find out if I do this, will I get the results I want. And I actually just say to them, please stop reading, please stop consuming podcasts, let you these are the things you’ve told me you care about. Let’s stay really focused on those for a little while. You don’t need the distraction of more input, you actually need some space, in your head and in your heart and in your gut, to assimilate some of these things you want to do. It’s also a self-soothing activity because it feels very much like doing but it’s not actually doing. And then I recently came across this idea of just-in-case learning versus just-in-time learning. And the idea of this is not my idea. I’m not sure who gets credit for phrasing it this way I’ve seen I’ve only seen it in a few different references,

Quentin Ortega 24:37
I will tell I think you should keep it at yours.

Jess Dewell 24:39
Cool. Wonderful. Done.

Christy Maxfield 24:40
I agree. The school teaches us just in case learning. We learn a little bit about these subjects a little bit about these subjects, particularly K through 12. Right. Very rarely are we diving deep into one subject area because then we know that’s our calling. We’re learning lots of things just in case. But as business owners We actually need to focus on what do I need to learn to be able to take action just in time. And it may even be to learn that I need to get somebody else to do this. Because the thing that will I need requires so much background information. So much specialized knowledge, that what I need to know is that I need it. And I have trusted advisors who are going to help me evaluate whether or not the people I’ve chosen to work with are actually good people to work with. Because I also hear that from owners, I got to learn about this because I don’t want to get taken over a barrel. I don’t want somebody pull wool over my eyes, I want to make sure I know enough about this to be a smart consumer, you actually don’t have time for that either. So who are the trusted advisors that you can bring who are going to help you do that, and then figuring out if this is your top priority, we know like, like going back, we’ve aligned ourselves, we know what our desired goal is. We’ve prioritized certain things we think are going to get us there. And then we’ve said, okay, in order to do what take one next step, one more, right, next step, I need something, either any time I need money, I need knowledge, I need a combination of those things. And what’s gonna allow me to take that next step.

Quentin Ortega 26:19
Yeah, it is really about that, that next step, right, just take the right next step and break it up. And I think that I love the just-in-time learning thing, right? Because I think that everybody is a little guilty of that, right? Like, we were just talking about reading books, right. And I’m sure that the three of us have, together, for sure went through a mountain of business books and self-help books and like how to be a better person and all these other things, right? But in some ways, I feel like when people are doing that, when we encounter those owners who are just taking as much information as possible, more so than helping themselves, they’re actually like creating choice overload. They’re putting themselves in a situation where if 30 people tell you to get to destination x in 30 different ways. Now all of a sudden, you don’t take any action, because you’re afraid of which one is right, and you start being worried about those pieces. I love the idea of learning what you need, and then just applying it right then write sub seeking more.

Christy Maxfield 27:16
And because it’s going to create new knowledge, it’s going to actually teach you whether it’s working or not working. And for me, that’s also when my gut comes back into it, like I do it. And I’m like, oh, that that feels right. That seems to be going where I’m going, I use sheer force of will to make things happen before I will things into being. And they’re usually not the thing I needed or wanted. So if I can also relax enough to know that taking the next right actions may lead me a little bit differently than I thought. But I’m still in the general ballpark. Rather than trying to force an outcome, to feel the relief of having something resolved, I want the relief of resolution. So I force something to happen. And that’s not actually what’s in my best interest.

Jess Dewell 28:09
Because I am always going to suck up information because I know somebody is going to be interested in the information and it will help them so I am like the just in time, go to place have something when you need it. If you have a question, I will have a place for you to go look, that is a natural talent of mine. And so to lean into that, though, and to go, Okay, so some of us we were taught this, some of us were, and some of us if we’re working with small teams, or we are the only executive or the only owner, and then we have people around us or sometimes people we can’t talk to. And so what do we do, we gather as much information as we can. And now we’re out of our practice of, if we’re only strong in one of our three areas had heart or gut, then this confusion, I can totally see it ensuing. What can we say no to? So if you must do it that way because you think it’s the right path? You know what? To accuse point, know what you need? And then with all the information there, what do you do? You’ve got to start choosing that choice. And that is a yes, no, yes, no, maybe. And I love when I have to when I have to choose things, and they get to go in the bin. It makes me feel so awesome. And the more I have in the bin, the better I know what I need. I’m not sure about you. But that has been my experience. And truly, especially when we’re talking with single or duo, business owners or founders. And then even if you get up a little bit higher, it becomes a little more complicated, but I will tell you in general, the more that people say no, the best is what’s left to determine that right next step. Yes, because there’s a fallacy to that if I keep my options open.

Christy Maxfield 29:48
Then somehow I either defy the laws of physics and, and I live forever. And I get to do all the things because they never I had to choose a thing. There’s a book called 4000 weeks. And it basically is a slap in the face of your mortality, right? Snap out of it, you’re not going to live forever, right? But making choices, it sounds so obvious and so simple. But actually making a choice between A and B, or A, B, C, and D, where the whole freaking alphabet

Jess Dewell 30:22
With sub letters, yes, choose one. Because here’s the thing, you can go back and change your mind,

Christy Maxfield 30:30
There’s almost no decision you’re going to me that shuts every other door or window. And if you do it small enough, and fast enough, that’s even more right. People think $3 million into something you’re closing doors or windows, and the bet better be paying off. But if you think 303,003 hours, we can better see if we need to make a different choice along the way. But choosing choose a choose Make a choice. Just choose just chinos.

Jess Dewell 31:01
Either way, all you got people out there, let’s say you go with the biggest one and just go, a new set of options will appear. So don’t freak out too much. They’re, they’re just going to look very different than what you started with. So you will shut the doors on your previous ideas and have to be ready for what shows up.

ANNOUNCER 31:15
While listening to the Bold Business Podcast hosted by Jess Dewell, a nationally recognized Strategic Growth consultant. She works with business owners and executives to integrate just two elements that guide business through the ups and downs of growth. Number one, know what work is necessary. Number two, do all the work possible. schedule a complimentary consultation to find out more at Reddirection.com.

Jess Dewell 31:45
I love that decisions are never set in stone. And I’ve always said sometimes you just gotta get to the next moment. It doesn’t have to go the next week or the next year. Sometimes it could just be to the next moment.

Quentin Ortega 31:55
Just something just choose. It’s funny, because he clearly we’re in each other’s heads. Because as you were talking before you said that I just wrote down you can revisit choices. Just remind everyone, it’s not set in stone, just like you said, and it’s a continuous learning cycle is you’re gonna have new input, you’re gonna have new info, you want to have enough info you feel confident. But you don’t have to have all the answers before you make a move because it’s impossible.

Christy Maxfield 32:18
Confidence has to be intrinsic to like I when I did my first startup and quit a good job what without pay for a while all that I was betting on myself, just like every business owner does we bet on ourselves. And I knew I was a good bet. Because I knew if it didn’t work out that I could go get a job. And I would work really hard. And even if I didn’t love what I was doing, I still wouldn’t neglect taking care of my family and fulfilling whatever obligations I had. So I could trust that. And I can have confidence that I had enough. When I was in my 30s. When I did that, I have enough evidence to say I’ve never let myself down in a way that I should believe that somehow now suddenly, I would become a person who is failed. If this didn’t go the way I wanted it to I couldn’t pull myself out. So I didn’t know how it would happen. I didn’t know what plan B would be actually I had to let go plan B in order to embrace plant a 100%. And once I did that, then I could fully focus and do that thing for the period of time I did it and then turn my attention to something else. But my competence has to actually lie in me. And that’s the irony. We’re talking to business owners, they’ve taken the biggest better their lives on themselves already. And I know there’s some I’m sure there’s research on this about that first time it’s almost you don’t know what you don’t know. And there’s something sacred about the naivete of taking that bet on yourself. And then after you’re like, Oh, the stakes are higher stakes were really damn high in the beginning too. You just didn’t know it. And yeah, you add employees stakes are higher you add equipment, you add facilities, you add partnerships, you add distributors, customers stakes get higher. But that’s why it’s even more important to bet on find different ways to validate your own ability to make choices.

Jess Dewell 34:19
That true choice, knowing it and here’s the thing, all three of us have not gotten as far as we have gotten by ourselves. We have all that not only peers and accountability buddies, I’m letting it slip again. I gotta keep getting this practice

Christy Maxfield 34:35
We’re gonna hit Garanimals and become accountability buddies.

Jess Dewell 34:38
That’s right. And to have that outside set of eyes, and this sometimes needs to be somebody that has your best interest in mind and will challenge you not only from a place of love and support and kindness and excitement for you, but also because your goals are known and the reality of your goals may not be fully understood. And this is what an Outside set of eyes and an advisor is all about. This is also how you alleviate that fear. You get to have the opportunity to shift how you think and learn. And you also get to step into your power and know where do I operate by default. What are the things I want to make sure I have as I’m building the shape, so that I can be in alignment because it comes down to choice. And so before we get into our third part, I want to do a quick interruption here and say, Hey, let’s introduce ourselves one more time. Great.

Christy Maxfield 35:32
Go for it. Glenn

Quentin Ortega 35:34
Ortega, or q if you prefer president, founder of QC do consulting, we help companies plan growth strategies, operational efforts and some Exit Planning along the way.

Christy Maxfield 35:45
And Christy Maxfield Purpose First Advisors working with growth-oriented business owners to achieve their growth goals and prepare for whatever’s next in their business. And I think, too, you said this earlier, and that usually comes with some fractional operational stuff, being that partner being that advisor who can really dig in and help you understand your business and make decisions.

Jess Dewell 36:08
And I’m Jess Dewell managing partner of Red Direction, where we are working on strategic plans and how to implement them, and creating that long-term cadence to be looking five years ahead, at least, if not more, just to have the path of where we want to go. And of course, great things along the way. How do you say no? How do you say yes? How do you stay excited, all of the things, and I’m honored to also be the host and the producer of the Bold Business Podcast, which is bringing this program, it’s your business to you today. Okay, so jumping in, here we go. Okay, cute. Take us away. Number three,

Christy Maxfield 36:43
What’s an accountability buddy?

Quentin Ortega 36:45
I think everybody that’s ever worked with me has heard me say this term, right? It’s a term that I lean on, and that I often start conversations with, when I’m working with clients, and it’s really finding your person that will hold you accountable. Right? I love using the term accountability, buddy, because one, it’s a tongue twister, I have taught myself to say it really fast, but at the same time, it sticks in people’s memory, right? Everybody knows that they need a team member or they need someone to hold them accountable. Right? Accountability, buddy just sticks as a title. I think I should start making shirts or something right? Like I’m an accountability buddy, right? That’s the see my merch store after this for that that is those designs. The thing I like to also stress to people is that your accountability partner, or accountability partner, I’m gonna say it 30 times here, it often isn’t advisor, right? It’s often one of us, like on this call who’s coming in, they’re learning your business, they’re spending time with you. And what I tell people is they should treat me they treat us as managing members of the team, the great thing that we are is another experienced business advisor voice in the room, who can call you out on the hard pieces, they can say the things that you don’t want to because you’re tied to it, right? Because your life is tied to this venture because and so having that accountability partner who can come in and ask those tough questions becomes super important. Obviously, I think that advisors like us are a great resource for that. But if you don’t want to work with somebody like me, a spouse, a colleague, someone else who’s also a business owner who’s detached from your business, so that they can ask you tough questions, we just have to create that circle of support of people that are going to look to you and say, Hey, why haven’t you filed your TPS reports this week? That need go from there. Right? That’s the you need. And when you come back next week, and they ask the same question, they’re gonna push you to have that answer. I think that’s super important.

Christy Maxfield 38:34
Yeah, I was raised in a family business, and my parents actually worked in my dad owned it, my mom worked in the business for a period of time. And I find that the spouse pieces actually really hard that it’s not that they can’t be a great business partner. It’s not that they can’t be an accountability partner. But a spousal relationship. As you are, as a business owner, you are wearing your spouse hat because your business takes care of your family. And you’re wearing your owner hat because your business takes care of your customers and your employees. And you’re wearing your investor hat because you’re putting so much of yourself into this, you’re typically investing the most time and money into this and may or may not be thinking about how to turn that into actual cash later on, right? And you’re wearing a manager hat and you’re off often an employee, a frontline worker in your own business. And we don’t need to get into the spouse or no spouse conversation here.

Quentin Ortega 39:28
But it’s a whole nother podcast.

Christy Maxfield 39:29
It’s a whole nother thing. Right, but I loved it. I know it. Well. One of the reasons it might be easier to confide in a spouse is because you’re already familiar with being vulnerable with them. And a lot of times what you’re talking to your advisors about are frankly things you’re afraid of, and nobody wants to show chinks in their armor, when, frankly part of their identity is being a successful business owner. And you can be both a successful business owner and a business owner who needs advice, advice advising support expert Are T specialized talent. Those two things are not mutually exclusive. Wherever you start practicing that vulnerability muscle of being able to share things share decisions you’ve made that you don’t like how they turned out, you wish you had known something different. You wish you had done something different? Or the things you’re like, I just don’t know. And I’m freaked out that I don’t know. And I feel really vulnerable. Because I don’t know, all of these things. When we posted about this topic, people were like this great way to talk about why we procrastinate and what we’re afraid of that all of these things, yes, you’re afraid, which is probably why you’re procrastinating. There’s a lot going into why you’re either doing or not doing something. And finding that trusted person where you can let your guard down a little bit. If you meet somebody who’s potential advisor and you don’t feel like you can let down your guard that is not the right fit for you. That’s your gut, and your heart and your head telling you. It’s not that you can’t confide in anyone, but you may not want to confide in that person, because all we want to do is help you from where you are. Not rehash where you’ve been necessarily.

ANNOUNCER 41:13
Focused on growth. Listen to more programs like this, which support the challenges and opportunities you are working with right now. Search Bold Business Podcast for the key terms at Red direction.com, or your preferred podcast listening app.

Jess Dewell 41:29
There are things that we forget we can control. And I think about being accountable. And I think about having this outside set of eyes. And it doesn’t matter who that outside set of eyes are if they’re not telling you things like Christie Q and I would and I know they’re going to add to this list. Here’s where I would start. Did you write it down? Because here’s the deal. If you don’t write it down, it can change in rose-colored glasses get the best of us every time. Another one would be understanding the key elements that give you that launching pad that could be a value set, that could be a way of delivering a product that in my world and what the first thing I’ll ask you is, what is your economic engine, because all of the key elements of having a business is to stay in business. And if you don’t have the engine to make it go is not going to take you very far. So that’s what you’ll hear from me those key elements and clarity around them. And the third one for me would be what’s the worst case? I remember when I first went home when I first left. Okay, so part of my story is I dropped out of college to start a business with four, three other people. I left college, and I went on my way. And my mom, I remember she sat me down and it was all very serious. And she said, what’s the worst that can happen? And I looked right at her and I said, I could come home

Christy Maxfield 42:42
Like how much startup capital do you needs?

Jess Dewell 42:47
I can come home. Lots of smart thing to say yes, you can go home. Okay, so how bad is it? Really? That’s the thing. If you know the worst-case scenario, it’s not something to be afraid of, because you’ve named it and that’s okay. So those are my addition my concepts of so what can you control? What are some other things that we can control? Christiane Q,

Christy Maxfield 43:06
I asked you did you write it down? Did you set a date by which you want to see that happen? This concept of making decisions in the present that impact the future is very hard, right. And so everybody, lots of quotes hit the airwaves at the New Year, and one of them was like you, if you start today, in six months, something’s gonna have happened. And if you did it with intention, now it’ll be the out, you’ll be closer to the outcome you want. When for me that really resonated, because I decided it was time to go back to being more diligent about what I eat and how I moved my body. And that was October, and now it’s February, it was gonna go from October to February, whether I did that or not. And the choice I had to make was, Do I make short term decisions between now and then that get me closer to where I want to be health-wise or don’t I? So I’m like 15 pounds down. And I could have quite easily been 15 pounds up if I hadn’t been thoughtful about that. And the same thing with your business. If you say you want to hit a revenue goal, what’s the revenue goal? What are the three things you’re going to do it? When do those things need to happen? Chances are if we do them, you will achieve that goal or come near it closer to it. And

Jess Dewell 44:29
I’m going to just jump in here and say I heard Christie say three things. This is not the task list to execute said thing. This is three things to do. Very different when we’re talking about that actionable piece right now. And cube cut me off and throw in yours because I’ll just keep going

Quentin Ortega 44:45
100% All of those things, right? And so I think the only other thing that I would really add is really a throwback to our last podcast that we did, which is like finding your TrueNorth and making that reflect what you’ve decided to do. So everybody all of us have this like place where we check first, whether it’s your calendar or your to do list or whatever that is, making sure that those tools that you’re surrounding yourself with, reflect to these goals that you’ve said, I think that just knowing that and then revisiting it over time. And I think the other thing I’ll say is going stepping back a little bit to the Hoosier advising team, who are your people. Also, if you don’t know who that person is, like, look around you, and find the people around you who you are like, Man, I wish I could do what they’re doing. Like when you see them. And you’re like, I don’t know how they have enough time in their day to do all those things. Those are the people to go ask and be like, be my accountability partner, the my accountability, buddy, or at least learn how they’re doing it, right. Because a guaranteed all of these top performers, all these people that you look up to, that you aspire to be, whether that’s business or sports, or whatever it may be, they have a team, right? They have advisors, they have accountability partners themselves. And so I think that it’s important to like, remember that everybody has this, nobody has a solo actor out there, all these people who are performing, are surrounding themselves with those accountability partners. And so look for the ones around you who you say, wow, you’re doing this so well. And then remember that they’re not just doing it on their own, and ask them how they’re doing it with the help of accountability.

Christy Maxfield 46:16
And if they are saying they’re doing it all by themselves, they’re probably also not achieving quite as much as they purport to be achieving isn’t that’s when he when I talked to people about getting ready to sell your business, we asked them to look at their business through the lens of the buyer. And then say, What’s the proof you have of that? Have you reduced honor dependence? Do you have a diversified customer base? Have you documented all your procedures? Do you have a good team in place? And they’re like, Yeah, I’ve got gonna give myself the highest marks, I’ve got all the stars, and then it’s okay. She’ll prove it to me. Like, I It’s not that I don’t believe you. It’s just, especially if we’re going to do a business transaction. If that’s how confident you feel, then I would expect that there would be artifacts that would substantiate that right. So me the money, show me the money. And in the same thing is look for those proof points of the people around you of the what are they saying? Who are they saying they work with? How did they say they learned? What are they? And what are they trying to give back? Given what they’ve learned

Quentin Ortega 47:19
That it’s great. Also, I feel like we’re in each other’s heads. Because just when you started saying that earlier, I literally wrote down 10 minutes ago, I wrote down what’s the worst outcome? And then you were like, what’s the result? I was like, this is perfect. So we’re all in step like all of us have seen this from different angles. I talked with my clients about that all the time. I’m like, if you make this decision, what really is the worst outcome and I think that part of helping them see that it’s not that bad in almost all cases, and then to saying, even if you make a decision to go down this path, if you’re not deciding to just go from A to Z, right, there’s the whole alphabet in between those two, if you’re gonna go down a path, a next step is B, it’s not just right to z. So breaking these things up into those small consistent chunks. The I’m hoping to just as a quote here, because she’s been the quote person, like don’t get one Hang on, keep talking for this of like, how do you bring, you know, take small, consistent steps, right towards actually implementing this change doesn’t happen overnight. It never happens as fast as we as business owners want it to, we always want it to be faster. And so celebrate those steps along the way and break it down. And I’m and I would say also go by Justice quoted a calendar where she talks about all these things that will also be in the merch store afterward. Also in the merch store.

Jess Dewell 48:34
Afterwards, I was gonna say I it sounds like this is coming. It sounds like this is coming. Okay, this is very a variation of it. success is only achieved by those who don’t know that failure is inevitable. Okay. Then there’s another one to go all the way back to stoics. The secret of change is to focus all your energy not on fighting the old but in building the new that’s Socrates. And then of course, I can’t leave out somebody like Guy Kawasaki, who said ideas are easy implementation. It’s hard .

Christy Maxfield 48:59
to write good ideas are a dime a dozen. Whew. And I’ve worked with people who said listen, we’ve actually literally heard the same idea before. Because I think when I was leading that program, it was like there are 7 billion people on the planet chances are somebody else’s thought something similar.

Quentin Ortega 49:16
Yeah, yeah, if I have one more person pitch me a replacement for business cards, that’s digital. That was the one that Christy and I always got to be like, so we got it. Cool. Everybody check it out.

Jess Dewell 49:29
We’re sharing our biggest takeaways, but let’s call it out. What are our biggest takeaways? Christiane? Q?

Quentin Ortega 49:34
Find your accountability partner, your accountability, buddy, break down the changes that you’re that you want to do and the smaller steps and celebrate those along the way and know that no matter what the I’ll still justice here, the worst outcome is probably not that bad. And you’re gonna revisit it along the way. Just know that you can make a choice and start acting so that you can then come back and assess that along the way because ideas are A dime a dozen action is what matters. So just start taking some action and the path will become clear.

Christy Maxfield 50:06
The person who can live through the discomfort of change, and who can deal with the boredom of change because consistent, small, consistent steps, eating a healthy breakfast every day is freakin boring. It’s that I don’t see any major return, I gotta keep doing it knowing it’s going to be a cumulative effect. So embrace the power of compounding small things done consistently over time, actually do add up to big thing. And know that your competition’s probably not going to be as willing to be bored or uncomfortable. And if you can live with some boredom and some discomfort, and keep doing the thing that really we do know works, whatever that may be. I think you end up getting way farther ahead than you think. Right? So it’s turning whatever’s in your head into action. However small, however, seemingly inconsequential, really is going to get you way farther than you imagine. And then acknowledge whatever fear you’re feeling. It’s not that we don’t feel fear, I think we’ve gotten really good at being aware of what’s going on. Because I like to do dueling actually alleviates my anxiety. If I just had to sit with the idea of all the things I could be doing, I would need more medication. So then the question becomes, Am I doing something that actually takes me closer to where I want to be? Or am I simply doing in an effort to try and defuse some of this anxious energy that I and if I can actually choose to do something that’s putting me closer to where I want to be, I can achieve both outcomes, I can take the action, which is frankly, just to get the anxiety levels to go down. And it can be an action that is aligned to where I want to go. And therefore, a quote-unquote, good use of my time, figure out what that fear is figure out what you do when you feel it. And then either How do you lean into that behavior to get a better outcome? Or how do you stop and interrupt that behavior to get a better?

Jess Dewell 52:25
And I would say our conversation revolves around an inside game and an outside game. I came back to the head, heart gut. It’s something that we can all tap into and go, Oh, how am I showing up here? Am I in my own way? Because I’m using my head too much. Because I’m using my heart too much. And I’ve got to let a few things go. Am I not able to make a decision because I’m, I have so much so many ideas. There’s just spaghetti on the wall and some of it sticking and some of it’s not, when we can find out where we’re at, then we know inside or outside. Okay, is the whole back is the staleness or the stagnation coming from inside or is that because I’m not in alignment with my Christie and my que tu and because we’re all reacting from the same place, instead of bringing our strengths and what we know of in each of those areas. And that’s, I think, a huge piece because when we know our go to action, we can move mountains, we can move mountains by sheer will, as Christy was talking about that, when we know what we can control, we can go back to that. And it makes our yeses and noes a little easier for the first, which means we have less choice all the way around. So that was my I think that’s my biggest takeaway. From those. Are there any final thoughts before we close out today?

Quentin Ortega 53:41
Yeah, just recognizing along the way, what your triggers are, what your fears are, like Chris Christie was saying and defining some partners to help you along the way.

Christy Maxfield 53:49
When things we haven’t touched on maybe it’s a part two is there are actually consequences to not moving beyond the knowing doing gap. And they depend, it all depends on what you’re trying to achieve how big that gap is. But as business owners, we have a lot of people counting on us to make decisions and take action. And to tell us what their vision is so that we can take action. When you put together a team. Their entire purpose is to take action on behalf of you Scheving the vision for your business. I mean, like, they got a job description and a task list. They have goals, they have objectives, they got KPIs. All of those are actually they have to make choices every day about what to do with their time and how to do it in order to get there. So it all goes back to alignment. Because if they’re off here doing this thing in, you’re off, you’re doing that thing that everything’s twice as hard and the outcomes become the consequences of not being aligned. The consequences of not making choices and taking action and taking aligned action become much much bigger.

Jess Dewell 54:56
It’s your choice. It’s your choice. And here’s the deal we’ve been talking about Knowing what the difference is between doing something and knowing what to do, and all of us, like the former, just go do something. Because the knowing what to do is only gets us started to look at the landscape. We got to join the game. And thank you, Christy. Thank you, Q. And thank you to everybody who was tuning in listening, and you can find us on not only on the show notes page from this later on, but you can also find us all on social media. I know we are all active on LinkedIn. And we’d be very interested in hearing what your biggest takeaway is, and what we can do to help you but also what you are doing to help you most importantly, because to the point of normalizing the conversation of ceasing our fears, it is the thing and this is a big thing that we don’t talk about in business that we want to so you know what to do. Now, what you’re going to do and what will you take away from this program that where we’ve been talking so that you can start doing it?

ANNOUNCER 55:59
Wow, Jess hosts the Bold Business Podcast to provide insights for building a resilient, profitable business. By deeply understanding your growth strategy, ensuring market relevance, and your company’s future. It is bold to deeply understand your growth strategy with your host, Jess Dewell. To get more information about how to drive solutions and reset your growth mindset at Red Direction.com. Thank you for joining us, and special thanks to our post-production team at The Scott Treatment.