174: Your Roadmap to Clarity: Inside the Vision to Action Intensive

Andrea Liebross: Hello my friends and welcome back to the Time to Level Up Podcast. I'm excited you're here. I'm excited to chat about this topic. I am excited about all the things and I still have not fixed the light in my podcast room so it's still shining over me as if they were a halo and no matter how I try to position myself in here, it still does it. If you're watching the YouTube part of this, you will see what I'm talking about. You will see it. I'm going to try to sit back a little this time. Let's see if that works. I don't know.

Okay, so today what I've got for you is a discussion around forming your vision and turning it into action. This is a topic I've talked about probably before. I know I've mentioned it, but I want you to think about it in terms of you and whether or not you would benefit from a Vision to Action Intensive.

Even if you're someone who has done a Vision to Action Intensive, I think you're going to find this episode valuable because you're going to be able to reflect on who you were and who you've become as a result of doing it.

I interspersed my discussion here with a few quick snippets from some of the most recent participants in the Vision to Action Intensive so that you can hear what they have to say. Sometimes they say it in their own words better than I can say it in my words. Here's what we're going to do. First I want to share with you who this really is for. Who is the perfect person to participate in a Vision to Action Intensive?

Now, let me just back up and tell you a Vision to Action Intensive, I'm going to give you what it really entails in a few minutes. But before I even get into that, because why I'm not going to tell you right now is because when you sign up for this or when you say, "Yes, Andrea, I want to do this," you don't really even know what's going to happen. So you have to start to trust yourself that this is the perfect thing for you and that you will figure out, you will walk away from it with whatever you need, and you will figure out in it what you want to take from it.

But here's what I find. People who raise their hand and say, "Yes, I would like to do a Vision to Action Intensive,” which can be a standalone coaching package or can be part of a bigger package, they are saying things like this: "I'm just having trouble figuring out what's next. I'm not really good at dreaming. I'm just so stuck in the here and now. I want to plan. I just want a plan.”

Or “I have a lot of ideas, but I don't know where to start. I just keep jumping from one thing to the next.” “My business is in the same place as it was last year at this time, but I'm really ready now. I'm really ready to focus on it. Whatever's changed, I'm ready.”

Or you might be someone who would tell me, "Yet, my business has grown organically, I really have not had to look for business too hard and things just keep evolving, but I'm realizing that the business is getting too big or growth is happening too fast to continue in this manner.”

Another thing is when you start to realize you need to hire a team, you need to move beyond just being a solopreneur. Here are a few things that some of the recent participants had to say about how would they describe who this is for?

Terri: This is probably relevant for a lot of solopreneurs that are growing their business, particularly when you need to create, establish your company, your brand outside of just you. This is huge. You need to think about what is the mission of your company, what is the vision of your company, and how does that translate in everything you do, and then how does that also play into the goals that you have for the year? I think that's one example of a person that would be great for it.

Also, I just talked to somebody who's getting ready to start their business. We were talking about I was sharing how I had put together goals and rocks and she was like, "Wow, I really need to do that." So I think it's a really great framework for somebody to start thinking about it that's going to start a business and how they can be successful in getting that up and running.

Andrea Liebross: Okay, before I share with you the next clip, I'm going to share with you a couple of other things that you might be thinking that would signal, yes, this Vision to Action Intensive is for you. You might be saying something like, “I know I probably need some help and I need to have more people on my team, but I want to have all my ducks lined up in a row before that happens.”

Or you might be someone that says, “I'm not even sure I should continue in this business. It just seems to be counting too much. I'm taking time away from my kids and my family. I don't know if I love that.” Or you might say something like, “I just don't have a good grasp of my numbers. I'm not sure that I can support all the things I want to do. I don't even know if I could hire any more people or have any more offers. I've got to make some choices.”

Or you could be someone who has a team or a partner and you're having trouble getting them on board or communicating to them what direction you want to move in. Here is what someone said about the person who is just starting to have a team about if this is a good thing for them to engage in.

Nicole: I don't have a large team, thankfully. I don't have a lot of people to manage, but I cannot imagine trying to take someone else to a place if you don't know where you're going. I just think that anyone in business can benefit from a vision-to-action plan, sitting down, giving themselves some time to think about who they are, what their mission is, what services they offer, where they want to go, what revenue goals they want to set, and basically put a plan in action of how to achieve all of that.

Andrea Liebross: Okay, so why do I include this Vision to Action in my coaching packages, and why is it a good starting point in and of itself? That's why. What you just heard is why. All of those reasons why someone comes to me and says “I think I need this or I think I need coaching, that is why I have decided that it is just part of some of my coaching packages because it's not a question of whether or not we should do it, it's how quickly can we do it? Let's do it.

I know if you're someone who has said any of those, “I'm just the person who needs to get my ducks lined up in a row. I'm not sure if I should keep going. I'm not sure if I have enough money to hire,” if you're that person, then you need this.

This is what would happen. It's one day, but yet you do some work ahead of this day and we meet again after this day. But on the day, we go deep into your vision and I help you extract that vision from your brain.

Then we discuss your core values, which is really like a hiring guide. Then we dig into what you want to focus on. Why did you start this business in the first place? What are you passionate about? What's your niche? This is sometimes tricky. I could help everybody, but who do you want to help?

This whole framework is loosely based off of Gino Wickman's book called Traction, which outlines the entrepreneurial operating system. But I have taken this into a more life business view because I'm doing this with women. I know that they have lots of responsibilities and priorities, which is why I have adopted that to work for my clients.

We do, though, then next dive into where do you want to be in 10 years? This can be hard, people. This can be super hard. We dive into what's your three-year plan, which is really, really, really key, because that three-year plan is what is going to guide you this year. Where do you want to be in three years? It's going to help you make decisions this year.

We also create a mini, mini, mini marketing plan. What makes you unique? What differentiates you from your customers? What's your guarantee? Those are all part of your marketing plan. Then we switch into the action part. We go deep into the actions that you need to take to make that vision come true. We create three to seven SMARTER Goals for the year.

We also think about the probably five to eight things that you want to focus on this quarter. Then we think about all these things that are still dangling out there. I call them outstanding issues.

I do this with individuals and I also then take it to their teams. That is actually super fun. I've done this now a couple of times, not a couple of times, probably way more than a couple, where I have the business owner go through this process, and then I help them roll it out to their team.

Let's go back, let's backtrack a little bit. What might you realize when you are exploring your vision or when you're trying to extract your vision? You might realize that thinking about this is important because it's going to affect everything downstream. Here's what one participant said recently.

Terri: I think then what surprised me most about it was really taking a step back and thinking more about the mission, vision, and values of the company and how that should impact and think about everything else downstream. It was a good opportunity to pause and reflect on that.

Andrea Liebross: You also might realize that you're struggling to think long-term and dreaming is something that comes hard to you. Here's something that one participant recently said.

Terri: I also, as you know, wasn't really prepared to think beyond like one to three years. So forcing me to think about what does this look like 10 years from now was really challenging for me. I think the biggest revelation was just that I struggled to think long-term so how do I open up space for myself to do that more in the future and just continue what dreaming looks like?

I think one of the favorite things that you said is that dreams are sort of big and amorphous and maybe not reality so don't judge them. I think I had a really hard time judging them out of the gates. That's maybe what made it really hard for me to think about the long term.

Andrea Liebross: You also may realize that you have a hard time putting into words what your core focus is, what makes you unique, hurts your brand. Here's what someone else said.

Nicole: I don't really know if there was anything real surprising or some big revelation, but I definitely think I'm struggling, and I didn't realize I was struggling with this until I went through the plan the second time when you were asking us to niche down.

That's been really difficult for me to figure out what that looks like, like “Who am I? What is my brand, and what makes me different?” I'm just really having a hard time to find words to put with what I feel like I offer people because I'm very relational and I think that is part of my brand is my ability to relate but that's hard to put that in words because everyone would say that.

Andrea Liebross: Then you also might realize how important it is to think beyond today.

Jennifer: I think one of my biggest revelations was that thinking about the 10-year goals, just even thinking that far down the line, I am such a practical right-here-and-now type person that sometimes goals to me have been a little bit like the way people do New Year's resolutions, they just make them just to make them, but they're pointless.

It really was planning three, five, ten years, even though some of it may have been huge, or maybe eventually I changed my mind on it, it helped me realize every little decision that I make every single day in my business.

If I have all these bigger goals in place, it helps all of those smaller decisions have a purpose and not just busy work or spinning my wheels. It helps me to clear out exactly what I need to be focused on.

Andrea Liebross: And you might learn that you know more than you think you do.

Jennifer: But I'm surprised at how quickly I gained clarity. I thought that as we were doing the exercises and going through the sessions I had envisioned that I would have some ideas, but that it wouldn't be as concrete as what it actually was for me.

Going through those exercises, repeating them, doing them in different ways, and looking at them in different ways, I was a lot clearer on what I actually thought about my business and wanted for my business than I realized I was.

Andrea Liebross: And you might learn that you do know what you want.

Jennifer: I also was super surprised that as we started writing everything down, I realized I do want to have a fabric showroom, like a large fabric showroom dedicated mostly to designers. I have a bigger vision of what I want it to look like, in detail, and everything of it.

I've been back and forth like, “Is that really what I want long term?” But I think I’ve been doubting that that's what I want because it's been fear. So as we went through everything, that just kept popping in and I was like, “Okay. Maybe this is what I want. I've just been fearful and that's why I've doubted that's what I wanted.”

Andrea Liebross: Notice all of the revelations that occurred to these women as they went through this process. But I would be remiss if I didn't tell you that some of them had some resistance to doing it in the first place.

I hear things like, "I'm not sure I'm ready for this. I don't think I've done enough yet." But here's what Tiffany had to say about that.

Tiffany: I think for me, I have learned I don't really have to approach anything at this point being in this amazing coaching program because I already know that I'm going to get amazing things and so I don't really have to set my expectations.

Andrea Liebross: I also hear people tell me, “Oh, I could probably just do this myself. What I really need is help afterwards.” I don't think that's necessarily true, my friends. We go way deeper than you'd go yourself.

Tiffany: How deep this content goes yet, it's so simple. But there's just no wasting time or wasting information, like it's just direct to the point, it makes sense. There's clarity in it.

Andrea Liebross: Then the last objection or resistance I hear is “I don't want to do this in a group.” But go back and listen to some of my podcasts about the benefits of working with a group and then just listen to this quick little clip from Tiffany.

Tiffany: What surprised me also about it was how valuable it was to not do it by myself, to do it in a group with other ladies that also are creating a vision, and how beneficial that was to me, and just to do it in a group.

Andrea Liebross: Okay. Are you ready for a Vision to Action Intensive? I bet you are because even if you've done one before, we keep doing these. We look at what we've done every quarter, and we do it at least once a year together.

If you have not gone through an experience like this, this is a different kind of business plan, my friends. This isn't just your boilerplate. This is something you cannot do by yourself, I promise, because I can't even do it by myself. This is an amazing way to start to get clarity.

Whether or not you decide to continue on the coaching, that's a whole other story, but do yourself a favor, get yourself signed up for a Vision to Action Intensive. It's going to make your 2024 the best ever. Now's the time to do it. There's no perfect time. Don't wait for the next quarter or the next year, just do it now because think of all the things you can do between the time you do it and the end of the quarter or/and the end of the year. Wouldn't it be amazing if you had the clarity and confidence to go after it?

All right, my friends, until next time, tell me in an Instagram direct message, have you done a Vision to Action Intensive before or something like it, and ask me any questions you might have about it. I'm very happy to answer any of them.

Then head over to andreaslinks.com and set up a call and we'll talk about this Vision to Action Intensive. We can talk about it and figure out if it's the right thing for you, and I can answer any questions you have about it then.

But remember, if you're someone who is saying things like, "I don't have a good grasp on numbers. I'm not sure if my business can support the place I want to go. I have a team or partner, but I'm not doing a great job of communicating my vision, I'm not sure if I can afford a team or partner. I've got a lot of ideas, I don't know where to start. I just want a plan. I'm really not great at visioning or dreaming,” this is for you. This is for you. It's time. It's time to level up and this is an amazing way to do it.

Go schedule your call. Let's get you on the books for a Vision to Action Intensive. I do them about once a month. Spots fill very quickly. If this is something you're even considering doing this year, you want to get yourself on the calendar. See you next time. Now is your time to level up.