You are listening to My Freedom Grove podcast with Gretchen Hernandez, episode 142.

Welcome to My Freedom Grove Podcast, your calm space for practical help to get your dream business up and running while being authentically you and taking care of your mental health. I'm your host, Gretchen Hernandez. I'm so glad you're here!

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Hi My Strong Friends.  Today I am attending a huge event in Arizona put on by my coach Brooke Castillo.  I’m amazed by how much her company has grown and the size of the crowd she attracts.  I’ve been a student of Brooke’s for 5 years.  

In 2019 I went to her live public event that had 150 people.  Today is also a public event. I’m expecting to see thousands in attendance.  She’s doing a hybrid of live and virtual, so the number of seats is unlimited.  The number of lives she impacts is astronomical.  I know some coaches focus on the revenue.  I care about the people.  How many people are getting helped?

Life coaching helped save my life.  After living with Major Depressive Disorder for 3 decades, it’s almost completely gone. 

There will be other people in that audience that will also get those life changing results.  Imagine, 2000 people healing all at the same time.

As coaches, healers and educators we all have the potential to help a large number of people.  Our work has a generational impact.

That’s where Business Metric Magic comes in.

Metrics are the numbers we use to run and grow our businesses.  How did Brooke get her live audience from 150 to over 2000?  Was it magic?  Did she have a magic wand to make it all happen?  Of course not.  Although I’m sure all of us wish a magic wand like that existed.

Brooke used Business Metric Magic to make it happen.

I call it magic because metrics make the Impossible possible.

You have to know where you want to go before you plan a journey, right?  Metrics help you with that.  The Clarity Steps helps you achieve those metrics.

Today I invite you to geek out with me over business metrics.  I know not everyone loves metrics as much as I do.  But, I’m determined to help you fall in love with them.

All successful businesses use metrics.

When I worked in Biotech I was known as the “Metrics Queen”.

Leaders wanting to know how to achieve Bold Goals, would come to me.  I knew how to read the “data tea leaves” to give them pinpoint accuracy on where to make changes.  They could put in a small effort and see a big payoff.

Many people are scared of metrics.  They make the numbers mean something about them.  It’s amazing that an innocent number 6 can trigger someone into an emotional storm for days.  It really can be any number.  A 3 can be just as triggering as a 6.

I’m not immune to numbers triggering me.  I want you to know that all humans have a human brain.  That brain doesn’t always allow a number to just exist.  We have to practice managing our minds with numbers.

Metrics are just neutral numbers.  We can make the numbers mean anything we want.  We can also allow them to not mean anything.

METRICS HELP US SHOOT FOR THE STARS

What happens when we allow metrics to open new possibilities for us?

Creating a metric target does that.  A metric target is the new number we want to achieve.

Just the act of setting that target shifts our brain.  We are getting intentional about what we want.

It’s OK that we don’t know how we are going to achieve that number.  That’s part of business experiments.

Just setting a target is not enough to make it happen.

Metrics involve routinely measuring that aspect to detect movement.  We use that new measurement as an answer key for our experiments.

How will we know if we got “the how” right, if we don’t have an answer key?

Rarely does a new business come with a manual with exercises and an answer key.

We must create it on our own.  Metrics help us do that.

When you routinely check your metrics you can quickly course correct.

Imagine you did an experiment and you didn’t check the metrics.  What if the metrics indicated you had a Home Run with that experiment?  But you didn’t know.  Sometimes results at a surface level indicate something didn’t work.  But what if, when you pulled back the covers, you saw the Home Run?  If you didn’t see it, you’d scrap that winning solution and walk away.

I love that Metric Targets help uncover the obstacles.  We can’t resolve obstacles if we don’t uncover them.

When you do an experiment and say “I’ll just see what happens” it gives you some data.  You will see what happens at a surface level.
But, when you do an experiment with a metric target, you get the opportunity to ask what obstacles get in the way.

Let’s use Brooke’s live event as an example.  Back in 2019 after a successful live event with 150 people, she knew how to do live events with 150 people.  She could continue to do more live events with 150 people.

When she set a Huge Metric Target, the questions changed.

Let’s say she set her Metric Target for 2000 people.  She could let that number scare her.  She hadn’t done an event for 2000 people before.  

Or she could let it help her uncover the obstacles.  

She may have logistic obstacles like location, seating, sound systems, or traffic flow.  

She may have performance obstacles like “How do I coach 1 person from a stage with 2000 people watching?” or “How do I keep that many people engaged for 3 days?”.  

She is also a self identified introvert that gets drained from public activity.  Back in 2019, she shared that she was completely drained from the 1 day live event with 150 people.  She will have to resolve her energy and overstimulation obstacles to do a 3 day event with 2000 people.

When you set a Metric Target, you create the opportunity to grow.

When you write out your obstacles, it might be tempting to think “there’s no way I could do that”.  That’s where I remind you about the power of “Yet”.  “There’s no way I could do that Yet”.

It’s amazing how one word opens the door.  It implies that you are willing to consider that someday you will know how to do it.

Do you want to impact the lives of lots of people?

Do you know how?  Are you doing it today?  Are you doing it in the way you really want to?

Are you willing to consider that someday you will know exactly how to impact that many lives?  And that someday you WILL actively be impacting their lives?

Your Metric Targets empower you to put a stake in the ground.  It’s a decision.  I will impact X number of lives.

USING YOUR METRICS FOR YOU, NOT AGAINST YOU

Let’s talk about metric abuse.  There are 3 types of Metric abuse:

1. Red Metric Aversion
2. Watermelon Metrics
3. Self Flagellation

When you develop a routine of checking your metrics, color coding is often used.  When you meet or exceed your metric target, it is Green.  When you don’t meet your Metric target it is Red.

You wouldn’t believe how many people use these numbers and these 2 colors against themselves.  Metrics are your friend.  They are telling you all the answers on how to get it right.  Please do not use metrics to abuse yourself. Do you even know if you’re doing these 3 types of metrics abuse?  Let me share some details.

RED METRIC AVERSION

I spent well over a decade working with close to 1000 people on metrics.  Across the board I saw Red Metric aversion.

Teams would cherry pick metrics they knew would be green.  When they put together a Metrics dashboard, they wanted to see 95% or more of the metrics green so they could feel good about their performance.

They would either leave off important metrics or choose low, achievable Metric Targets.

This was great for their Egos and Team Morale.  However, it wasn’t helping the Business do better.

Do you know the real reason behind Red Metric aversion?  Employees were worried about getting in trouble.  They were worried their job would be in jeopardy.

Ironically, if the business wasn’t doing well, layoffs would be a possibility no matter how green their dashboard was.

That’s where a cultural transformation was necessary.  As their coach I had to switch their mindset from being scared of Red Metrics to wanting Red Metrics.

Why would anybody want Red Metrics?

Red Metrics show you where to focus.  Red Metrics help you drill down to determine what isn’t working so you can fix it.

Let’s say you had 20 things about your business that were not working.  Would you prefer to ignore them and only execute tasks that you were really good at?  I know some of you are chuckling right now.  Yes, Gretchen, I prefer working on things I’m good at.  I know.  Achievement and confidence feels great.  It’s a huge dopamine high.

But what if the 20 things that weren’t working sunk your business?

A boat is a pretty good visual here.  If you’re in a row boat and you see a leak, are you going to ignore it and keep rowing?  What if you had 10 leaks?  Of course you wouldn’t ignore it.  You have a vested interest in your boat staying water tight.  No amount of rowing will help a boat that sinks.  You are going to be grateful to notice the leak so you can fix it immediately.

In the entrepreneurial world sales funnels are 1 type of boat in your business.  There are several metrics associated with that sales funnel.  It helps you determine your leaks so you can fix them and make your boat work.

Some of those leaks in the sales funnel highlight skill gaps.  It doesn’t feel good to acknowledge a skill gap.  It will require effort to improve that 1 skill.  So, I see entrepreneurs ignore the Red Metrics.  Or try to remove that Metrics so they don’t have to look at it.  The leak is still there.  No amount of rowing will help your boat cross the finish line.

The other way I see Entrepreneurs exhibit Red Metric aversion is by adding Sales Funnels.  Let’s keep the boat analogy.  If one boat equals one sales funnel, it’s possible a business can have multiple boats.

Having multiple boats is a great thing if none of them have leaks and you have enough crew to run each one.

Unfortunately, many entrepreneurs find themselves with a fleet of leaking boats and they are the only one there to row all of them.

It only takes one boat to win the race.  When we can embrace Red Metrics as good things, we can focus on the one boat.  We can be grateful that the red metric showed us where to concentrate our effort.

Once you can flip all of the Red Metrics to Green, you are ready for new targets.  Let’s say it is the number of people in your boat.  In a Sales Funnel, it would be the number of potential clients.  If your current boat handled 10 people and all your metrics were green, can it handle 25 people?  You can increase your Target Capacity.  It will be your only red metric.  As more people get on your boat, your other metrics will indicate if everything is still working or if you have a leak.

Business Metric Magic creates leak proof boats of your dreams.

WATERMELON METRICS

Who here loves watermelons?  I do.  I love watermelon with salt.  My husband and daughter think it’s gross that I like salt on my watermelon.  I find it brings out the sweetness even more.

Where I don’t like Watermelons is on a Metric Dashboard.  Think of a watermelon.  On the outside it’s nice and green.  If you didn’t realize it was a watermelon, you’d assume it was green all the way through.

Some metrics will show Green on the surface but have a ton of Red Metrics underneath.

I encourage all of my clients to set Mental Health metrics when we set up their Clarity Steps workbook.  This is one way to ensure we don’t have Watermelon Metrics.

Have you ever worked on a business deliverable that had a due date?  Adherence to Schedule is one metric that can easily be a watermelon.  You may hit your due date.  The metric is green.  Yay!  What this metric doesn’t show is that you had to work 60+ hours at all times of the day, stress yourself out, jeopardize your health and relationships, and possibly cost you extra money by hiring people to do some of the work.

But you got a green metric.  All of the other parts behind that metric do not create a sustainable business.

Having a well rounded metrics dashboard ensures you have pure metrics.  The objective is to use solutions that help all of your metrics turn green.  You might have had no choice but to hit the due date.  It’s ok for that metric to be green, just make sure you have the other red metrics show up.  When you have red metrics ask yourself what the obstacles were.  Those obstacles can be resolved through experimentation.  It is possible for all of the metrics to turn green.

Business Metric Magic creates smooth running businesses.

SELF FLAGELLATION

Why on earth do you want to beat yourself up?  Seriously.  How high is your motivation and energy when you experience a ton of shame and self directed anger.

Metrics are neutral numbers.

They help us make decisions.

Most of the time the metrics indicate a Process obstacle.  A process is a process.  It’s not you as a person.

If a process isn’t working it’s not because there is something wrong with you.

It’s just some steps.  Either it’s missing a step, needs a different step or needs refinement.  If you don’t know what the step could be, you get to go out idea shopping.  Shopping can be fun.  You can also experiment.  Often the answers are revealed during the experiment.  Just like magic.

If the metric indicates a skill gap, it doesn’t mean anything about you as a person.  It’s just a skill.  Let’s consider something basic.  What if a potential customer shared that they didn’t feel welcomed and engaged because you didn’t smile.  Does that mean you are a bad business owner?  Does it mean that your business is going to fail?  No.  It’s just a smile.  The smile happened or the smile didn’t happen.  It can be that basic.

Copy writing is one skill needed as an Entrepreneur.  Copy is another word for all of the words that you create.  Copy shows up on your website, in emails, in social media posts, in ads and any of your content.  There are professional copywriters that have been doing this for years.  They perfected their craft.  And then there are coaches, healers and educators like us.  We do our best work interacting with other humans directly.  Writing something to an audience that includes people we don’t know is challenging.

Some of your business metrics may indicate that the copy writing isn’t working.  For example, you may have copy in your social media posts and a call to action to visit your website.  If you are keeping an eye on your metrics, you’ll see if your copy was effective.  If people are going to your website, your copy worked.  If they are not going to your website, your copy didn’t work.

It can get frustrating and discouraging fast.  Especially if you start self flagellating over it.

Focus on the skill.  Copywriting is a skill.  If your copy is not working, then you have an opportunity to develop that skill.

I personally want to further develop my copy writing skills.  In the Clarity Steps goal achievement process, we sequence our business development.  I happen to be at Copywriting.  It’s been on my radar for over 3 years.  But I had many other parts to develop first.  I allowed myself to have B- copy quality while I developed the rest.  B- skills can still work.  Your metrics may be lower temporarily, but they are not at zero.

I knew I had 1 Strong Sales Funnel that didn’t involve copywriting.  I could still keep my business viable with that sales funnel so I could follow my development sequence.

For the next 3 months my focus is on copywriting skill development.  I invested in a program I’ve known about for 3 years.  I didn’t purchase it way back then because it wasn’t time yet.  My copywriting experiments are going to be plentiful.  I’m excited to develop this skill to be A level.  Not only will I help my business, but I’ll have my experiment Lessons Learned to share with all of you.

Business Metric Magic can be magical if you let it.  It can be exciting to have opportunities for growth.  It can be exciting to develop your skill set.  It can be exciting to see the positive impact it will have on your business and for your customers.  The dopamine hit will be just as exciting as watching the fireworks at Disneyland.

SPECIAL OFFER TO YOU

I have some special magic to offer to you, my friend.  Setting targets for your Sales Funnels may seem like a confusing task.  One, many entrepreneurs don’t know which sales funnel they are using.  Two, they don’t know the sequential steps of their sales funnel.  And Three, they don’t know which targets will help them achieve their revenue goals.

I use special Sales Funnel simulation software to create a clear picture for you.

To show my gratitude for you, my listener, I want to offer you a free 1 hour Sales Funnel Simulation session.  This is open to my full audience including members from my Unshakable Business Co-Lab membership.  A full hour, just for you!

If you are a listener who hasn’t had a chance to work with me yet, this is a great opportunity.  You may get more clarity from this 1 hour session than you would get from 1 year of piecing it all together on your own.

The Free Sales Funnel Simulation sessions are available now through December 15th.  To schedule your session, go to the webpage for this episode at www.myfreedomgrove.com/podcast-142.

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 Thank you for listening to My Freedom Grove Podcast. When you are ready to make your dream business a reality and take care of your mental health, I invite you to join the Unshakable Business Co-Lab. This is the mastermind membership you've been waiting for. There's no limits on your imagination, nor your timeline. We're with you every step of the way. To learn more, please visit www.myfreedomgrove.com/join. I'll see you there!