Hello, welcome to

Tea with the Queen.

Today, I want to talk

to you about being

in the messy middle.

I find that with

our clients, this

is usually in about

year three, or about

the time they start

making revenue of

about 300, 000.

For some reason, those

two data points are

quite relevant and

quite significant.

This is a behind

the scenes.

Even if you're not

making that kind of

money, you will get

something out of this.

I've got some tips

and tricks up my

sleeve and I hope you

enjoy what we've got

to talk about today.

But first some

background for you.

When I first started

my business, I didn't

think I could sell.

So I went out and I

the pavement when we

could and talked to as

many people as I could

in our first quarter.

Because of that, in

our first quarter, our

revenue hit 240, 000.

I realized that's

a lot of money.

It's a lot of money to

a lot of people, and

I would not recommend

this strategy.

Here's why I spent

the first year of my

business delivering

that work, which

made me feel like

I was drinking

from a fire hose.

I did not recommend

that, but I did

push through.

And today we're going

to talk about what

happened when I hit

the messy middle and

what I did about it.

From my experience,

the messy middle

was about year three

of my business.

We just hit 750,

000 in revenue.

My smallest daughter

was six years old.

We had just come out of

one lockdown and we're

about to enter another,

although we didn't

know it at the time.

And by December of

that year, I was

burnt to a crisp.

I wasn't really

burnt out, but I

knew that I was on

the cusp of burnout.

It was a year

like no other.

If you live here in

Melbourne, if you

live in any other

States in Australia,

you will know it was

a crazy, crazy year.

With lockdown after

lockdown here.

Clients are a lot

more needy than usual

because there was so

much change on the

daily, some of them

pivoting, some of

them doing amazing,

and some of them

navigating heartbreak

as they closed down

or went bankrupt.

I poured more into

myself that year

in business than I

have ever before.

I had some corporate

work that went really

well, and it came

to the renewal of

the contract, and

I knew they weren't

the organization I

wanted to work with.

And, by not renewing

this contract, we

were losing a big

chunk of revenue.

Because of all of

these things, I

had a gut feel that

things had to change.

Or I would fall apart.

I had 12 different

offers out and my

focus was so dispersed.

I felt like I was doing

all the things and

doing nothing at the

same time, like running

on a treadmill, right?

My priority was my

clients, getting

results, making

sure that that was

still happening.

So I knew that the

client experience was

still bang on, but to

my own detriment, I'm

sure you've been here.

Anyone who's been

through any peaks and

troughs of business

know how this feels.

I had some

realizations.

They were this.

I forgot to say

no to money.

I teach people in

their first year to

say yes to money.

I just forgot to say

no when I was already

stretched thin.

Things were

unsustainable.

Just too much

in the diary.

P.

S.

My husband did tell

me that after year

one, but he may

have been ignored.

Hope he's not

listening.

I was tired.

I was tired from not

doing anything for

myself outside of my

family and my business.

We've all been there.

We've lost the joy.

I was working way

more than I wanted to.

And I was giving the

dregs to my family at

the end of the day.

Hands up.

Who's been there?

the realization I had

is that my business

had evolved and lost

a little bit of its

clarity of its offers.

And I loved simplicity,

but I didn't feel

like it was simple.

These things do happen.

This is what

happens in business.

When we've been in

and around a while, we

evolve, we create new

things, and we do all

the bits and pieces

for everyone else.

And we say yes,

and we work out

the details later.

Sometimes it's

good to take stock.

Hindsight's a

wonderful thing.

Here are five

things, five things.

I always say that and

then there's actually

nine things, but here

are nine things I did

to get through this.

I held a meeting with

myself that lasted

about three days.

Uh, I poured through

all the data.

I looked at all the

offers and services

that I loved and that

made good revenue.

I looked at the ones

that gave me joy and

energy and looked at

the ones who weren't

profitable and they

didn't give me joy.

So I put them

into categories.

It was awesome.

Two, I reminded myself

why I was in business.

To help women get

awesome results to make

sure they have revenue

and profit in the bank.

Three, I always wanted

to build relationships

and deliver

to my clients.

They have always been

my two focuses and

the rest is the busy

admin crap that we just

have to do as owners.

Or do we?

How much busy admin

crap are you doing

that you could

outsource?

That's my question

for today.

Number four, I let

some clients in who

no longer aligned with

my values or maybe

they never did, but

I didn't realize it.

So number five, I cut

all of my offers back.

So I had a core

offering of three only.

Yes, there's a few

more now, but they,

there were, we pulled

it back to three only.

Number six, I upgraded

my outsourcing

components like

events and marketing

and my knowledge

and own skills

around the finances.

I up leveled that, I

out sourced even more

things that didn't

give me joy, which is

basically everything

except relationships

and delivery.

Number seven,

I invested in a

new website, some

new technology,

and some different

people around me

for some creative

thinking.

Major upgrade.

Number eight.

I won't lie.

Some of the

decisions did hurt.

Some of the people

who I worked with in

terms of suppliers,

I had outgrown.

And whilst I love

them as people, I

knew I needed to make

some tough decisions

to clear the way

for myself to see

the light at the

end of the tunnel.

And number nine, my

ninth realization,

these are a lot

of realizations.

I committed to

spending a year in the

business, consolidating

everything we had

and trying hard Very

hard, not committing

to anything else.

Shout out to Serena

Francis, who is my

business manager

and also happens to

be my older sister.

She has worked with

me in the business

for five years.

Bless her soul.

she tried really hard

and continues to try

really hard to keep me

accountable and to not

let me put things in

my own diary because

it's just a mess.

I double booked myself.

I triple booked myself

and she's like hands

out of the diary.

So we committed to

spending a year.

In the business

consolidating.

That was a

lot of things.

Hey, for feeling

like I was in

the messy middle.

I suppose the big thing

that you need to think

about is can you pause?

Can you just pause

for a minute, take

some time out and take

stock because that's

really what you had to

do just so that we are

clear sorting through

this whole process.

took about a year.

There were some

very quick wins.

You know, you can cut

clients like that.

you can finish up

work like that, those

things are a bit easy,

but I was determined

to set us up not only

for success, but for

sustainable success.

Yeah.

We're now heading

into year seven.

So a few years

have passed.

Are we there yet?

Well, from an evolution

perspective, yes, we

are, Interestingly,

from year three to

year seven, where we

are now, we continue

to have on average

a 15 percent growth

year on a year,

which is amazing,

but also brings

about a different

kind of challenge.

The types of challenges

that I face now are,

these are not in

order, but there's

eight of them.

Managing myself,

my health, and my

energy to perform.

Business is a marathon,

not a sprint, right?

So you need to

be match fit.

And I focus on my

health as part of that.

Two, finding great

people to work

alongside me as

subcontractors for some

of my corporate roles.

Number three, we now

say a lot more no.

To a lot more work.

No being a full

sentence and

that's okay.

We're finding more

people to refer

potential clients to,

which is brilliant.

So someone who has

been in business a

shorter period of

time, or maybe needs

a set of clients or

whatever, we are more

than happy to refer.

Five, we focus on

the work that gives

me maximum joy and

has the most amount

of impact for me.

And that will be

different for you

and for everyone.

The legals, they've

become different.

Licensing, for

example, is a bit more

complicated than a

contract, for instance.

Uh, but we are doing

some more things

around our legals.

So we've always had

legals and a shout

out to Tracy Marla

Crane at TM Solisa.

She does an

amazing job for us.

Now we're moving

into some licensing

bits and pieces,

uh, more on that

in another episode.

Seven, we're continuing

to keep relevant

and listening to our

audience and making

sure that what we

offer actually matches

the environment.

And actually we've

probably done that

the whole time, which

is what it's got us

into the pickle in

the first instance.

We want to serve

our audience and our

clients in whatever

way that looks like.

And so, uh, that's

been interesting, but I

have to be very careful

not to add more things

in the diary without

pulling stuff out.

Because I'll just

keep pushing and

pushing and that's

not great either.

I don't want to

go back there.

And then number eight

for us was we need to

think bigger sometimes.

And I've just

finished reading a

book called 10 X.

Uh, it's by

Dan Sullivan.

I think his name

is Dan Sullivan.

Anyway, 10 X the book.

He also write, wrote,

who not how and the

gap and the gain.

And he talks about

if you needed to

think about 10 X.

Could you just do

more of the same?

No, you couldn't.

You'd have to have

a fundamental shift.

And that's what this

next level this next

year is about for us.

But the positives

to going through

this is it doesn't

feel as hard now.

The messy middle,

chaotic and

overwhelming

at times Now.

We have a lot more

money in the bank, a

buffer, which means

you have, we have

more choice on who

to bring in, what to

outsource and where

to spend our money.

Right.

When we're in the messy

middle and a lot of

my clients experienced

this, they're not

sure if they can

outsource or not.

So we'd have to look

at some, we go a bit

deeper into the numbers

and we'll work out

actually, do they have

enough profit or enough

money in their bank

account to outsource?

If you are in the

messy middle, I promise

it gets better, but

you need to stop and

you need to pause

and you need to get

some butcher's paper

and take a moment to

have a meeting with

yourself and work

out what services and

products and offerings

you have and what

you need to snip and

what you need to cut.

pop in.

If you do those

things, you will see

a significant shift

from overwhelmed

to clarity and from

chaos to something

more manageable.

I would love to

hear how you go.

Let me know if you're

in the messy middle.

I would love to

hear that as well.

And if you've been in

the messy middle and

you're out the other

side, let us know.

I want to, I want to

know and I want to

hear what you did to

get from the messy

middle to the beauty

of the other side.