Ep 53: Simplify to Amplify: The Benefits of Business Minimalism

Simplify to Amplify: The Benefits of Business Minimalism

Today we are talking about my FAVORITE topic right now - how to SIMPLIFY your business to be able to scale your business - without adding more hours to your workday.

It is SO easy to get caught up in all the “stuff” on our to-do list that we don’t realize how much of what we’re focusing on and doing on a daily basis isn’t actually driving profits or client results (the two most important things to focus on in your biz!)

The key is to start focusing on the 20% of actions that will create 80% of your results - in your business and in your life. 

When we focus on streamlining, simplifying, and practicing what I call the “Art of Business Minimalism” everything just starts to click and you are able to have more time freedom and energetic overflow without sacrificing your income or impact. 

Let’s take a look at how to simplify your biz through the magic of a capsule wardrobe…

In the past, I would constantly be buying new clothes and things on sale and keeping items that no longer fit me “just in case I lost 20 lbs” and those pants from college could come back into rotation. I thought I was living a “rich life” and being stylish until all the sudden I was spending more time and energy than ever before trying to pick out an outfit, keeping things organized, more laundry to do and even sorting the piles of clothing into seasonal boxes just to store it all!

The kicker was that there was probably only 20% of my clothing I ACTUALLY wore.

My go-to staples that fit me well and worked together were chosen first over and over… while everything else just took up space. 

This is EXACTLY what happens in our business - the most important things often get shuffled together with nonessentials. 

When I finally got rid of the majority of my clothes and kept the white and black tees, the jeans, a few dresses, sweaters, and my favorite accessories… MAGIC HAPPENED.

I took WAY less time to get ready, all of my outfits worked together effortlessly to get the result I wanted (looking cute in ½ the time) and what I didn’t realize was how GOOD it felt to go through a closet or open drawers that had SPACE in them. It felt energizing and like I had my shit together - which created a positive impact in ALL areas of my life. Things felt simple, clean, organized, effective, and FUN again!

>>Our precious TIME AND ENERGY is spent out of habit doing stuff that makes us feel like we’re managing the clutter of daily to-dos when really what needs to happen is we need to clear 80% of the stuff out that we’re doing in order to amplify our income and deepen our mastery of our craft.<<

The key to EXPONENTIAL growth in your biz is not trying harder and adding more “stuff” in… but instead, streamlining the most important things so they become easy and automatic.

So how do you identify YOUR 20%?

When identifying your top 20%, ask yourself:

What are the things that are really working in my business to bring in new clients?

How can I improve the QUALITY of my products and services rather than adding in more? (the more value you provide, the more you can charge with less launching, promoting, and developing of new “stuff”!)

Here’s what our top 20% looks like:

Marketing - I record a podcast once a week (this takes me about 30min-1 hour to create show notes, record, and make a story to promote it). My team repurposes this content into reels, Instagram posts, stories, Pinterest posts, blog posts, and a weekly newsletter. We reach about 20k people each week with high-value content in under an hour of my time. I spend Wednesdays marketing. 

Sales - Sales calls and “gather and invite” events like masterclasses are the #1 and #2 income drivers in my business. So I make sure I am always creating new connections. Inviting people to calls and serving people powerfully through free content, then inviting me to my programs if it’s a good fit. This puts us in front of about 50-100 people a month, which fills my courses and 1:1s. I spend about 1 day a week focusing on sales and creating and delivering free mini courses and training - this happens on Thursdays typically. 

Client Experience/Offers - Serving current clients powerfully leads to repeat clients and referrals - this is the FASTEST way to grow your business… to be incredibly good at what you do! I coach 1:1 clients on Tuesdays and run my group calls on Thursdays. The vast majority of people in my programs are repeat clients! This means we are doing our job well. People get so much out of our client experiences that they want to re-enroll and tell their friends. The more I over-deliver, the more our income increases through repeat clients without spending time and energy on marketing. 

TAKE ACTION NOW: What is your top 20% of actions that create the biggest impact in your business (your bottom line, your client experience, and LOVE for what you do?)

MARK YOUR CALENDAR!! This Thursday, May 4th I am offering a FREE masterclass: Simplify to Amplify: How to create a rock-solid biz foundation that can scale to six-figures (and beyond!) with time freedom, energetic overflow, spaciousness + ease. 

We will go deep into identifying your 20% and the KEY places in your business to focus time, energy, and attention to amplify your income in the next 90 days.

SIGN UP HERE: https://www.alignedfemaleentrepreneur.com/simplify

The 5 Keys of Business Minimalism

Knowing what to focus on

Clearing out everything else

Creating containers that offer longer transformation (not one off- sessions)

Develop a product suite that leads clients on a journey and gets them incredible results

Once you set up your foundation, focus on staying in your zone of genius

Pretty simple - right? So why don’t we do it?

Why we Avoid Creating Simple Businesses That Can Scale

Complication is easier than simplification

I LOVE this quote…

“Anyone can make something complex; it takes a genius to make something simple.” — Albert Einstein

The truth is, we often complicate things out of habit. It is EASY to complicate - it is more challenging to simplify. 

This can also be a trauma response or learned response from our past - if we control everything or look busy and productive, or are “doing” all the time, we are safe, in control, and no one can get mad at us. 

One of my mentors once reflected to me a life-changing realization:

She said: “the energy around the thing is harder than actually doing the thing.” 

BOY was this true for me. 

I would get so wrapped up in the hustle and “trying harder” that I would spin out and overcomplicate and get confused or overwhelmed, when in reality just sending the email, building the opt-in page, or having the sales call was EASY and straight forward. 

I was the one getting in the way. 

On top of this we often feel guilty or ashamed because we “didn’t do the thing” so we procrastinate and put it off or we get overwhelmed and fear kicks up and we think well” the harder I work and the more hours I put in, the more successful I’ll be…” but then we just spin out or work a million miles in the WRONG direction. 

How to stop procrastinating and overcomplicating everything:

Step 1: Become aware. Instead of buckling down into “figure it out mode,” step back and breathe, create some space - ask: “how can I make this easy?”

Step 2: Try simplifying things and doing less to let your nervous system calibrate to ease - ex. Getting used to saying no, not taking on every task in a meeting, do ½ as much in life. Let others support you. 

TAKE ACTION NOW - what is one thing you can do this week to recalibrate to ease?

2. Embody CEO energy over Intern energy

We think trying harder and doing more stuff makes us more successful, but the opposite is true. 

If you look at the habits of millionaires and successful women entrepreneurs, they are embodying CEO energy and not intern energy.

CEO energy is cool, calm, collected, precise, confident, creative, visionary, and focused.

Intern energy is frantic, scattered, pushy, striving, people-pleasing, and ultimately ineffective. 

>>Intern energy is about PROVING. CEO Energy is about OWNING.<<

How to step into CEO Energy in your business:

Step 1: have a “CEO Day” or morning to get clear on your thoughts and plan for the day or week ahead. I love doing this the night before so when I step into “work mode” and out of “mom mode” I am instantly doing the things that will create results instead of scrolling Instagram, making a snack, organizing my thoughts, and basically wasting the most productive time of the day. 

Step 2: Consider hiring a team or Virtual Assistant when you are ready so that you can stay in your zone of genius and delegate anything you absolutely can not do yourself. You generate the value, impact, vision, and potentially cash flow of the business while your team runs the business itself. 

Step 3: Delegate, delegate, delegate :)

3.. Resist the temptation to stay in “idea phase” too long.

The trap that MANY creative, visionary, soul-led entrepreneurs get into is that we have TOO many ideas… so many that we aren’t sure which to pursue. 

We end up in deliberation over implementation. 

We love dreaming up ideas for offers, branding, social media posts or marketing strategies… we get a quick dopamine hit, and then end up doing nothing. 

The truth is… it’s fun to come up with ideas. It’s not as sexy to take action.

But information is not what creates transformation. 

ONLY ACTION CAN DO THAT. 

How to shift from idea to action:

This is why I am always encouraging you to take action!!

Once you learn the thing, IMPLEMENT the thing. This is the only way to truly “know” anything. 

Look at how you are spending your time - are you just listening to free trainings and podcasts so you FEEL like things are happening or are you investing in coaching or high-level trainings to stay accountable and build it all out? Are you taking time to integrate and apply your insights to your business? What ideas have you had lately that you need to just implement, let go of, or decide on?

Step 1: Write this down now and take ACTION NOW. 

Step 2: Write down our Aligned Female Entrepreneur mantra and put it where you can see it daily: CLARITY COMES THROUGH ACTION

4. Practice single-focused action 

It’s also easy to have lots of ideas and take LOTS of action - but want to make sure we are taking action on the RIGHT ideas. 

This is where having a coach or community of support can be ESSENTIAL. It is hard to see the big picture when we are in the details as a business owner. 

Often with my clients I encourage them to do LESS and go DEEP on a few core offers or marketing systems rather than try to copy what I do or do what they are seeing other people do on the internet. 

Because the truth is, bringing things to life is a PROCESS… it will be exciting, then you’ll hit the resistance and need to move through it - takes time and energy so want to be sure you aren’t doing all that work on a $5 ebook when you could do the same amount of work to sell as $10k VIP program. 

Don’t waste your time + energy context switching. 

Choose the right pieces to implement, take massive action, be willing to ride the waves and see it through until you generate consistent results and repeat over and over again.

It is SO much easier and literally changes your business and your LIFE overnight.

I have been able to generate multiple six figures in 3 days a week while pregnant and raising a 1-year-old. The only way I can do this is because my business is simple, streamlined, and runs itself. When I show up, it is in the most powerful ways doing the most impactful things that keep it moving forward EVERYTHING works better. I have more time and energy to spend with my family, money to travel and invest in support, and consistent results and repeat clients in my programs and offers.

This is what I want for you!

I am going to map out EXACTLY which areas to focus on in your business. 

We will do an honest and impactful business audit to see what is taking up the most time and space in your day, PLUS you’ll learn how to shift your energy from the masculine pushing, striving, default way of doing business to the relaxed, empowered, magnetic feminine leader you want to become.

Grab your spot now!

SIGN UP HERE: krissyleonard.com/simplify

As always you can find me in the comments of this episode at krissyleonard.com, DM me on instagram at @Xokrissyleonard, or send me an email at [email protected]