How to Find Strength in Your Business When It’s Not Working
Welcome to the UnCloned® Insider audio newsletter. My name is Audria Richmond, and I am your marketing and launch strategist. I teach CEOs and their marketing teams how to launch game changing marketing campaigns and build uncloned brands. Y'all. I am excited about today because I want to have a conversation that people aren't having, if that makes sense.
Audria Richmond®:Like, everybody has been feeling this feeling, if that makes sense, but no one is really addressing these feelings. It's kinda like you don't really get to hear these conversations unless you are friends with a certain person, if you're a part of Masterminds, if you're a part of, you know, different business communities and things like that. But no one is really talking to the fact that a lot of entrepreneurs are burnt out. We're still healing from the pandemic. We're still healing from all of the crazy stuff that happens in society and there's a lot of things that when it comes to entrepreneurs, you really don't know how to keep going when you keep getting hit, how to keep going when you get, you know, certain blows.
Audria Richmond®:Right? And so as I was thinking about what I wanted to share with you all and what I want to talk about, I said, you know what? We all can find business tactics and strategies. If you look hard enough on Instagram or any other platform for that matter, it is somebody who's telling you how to make money, how to do this, how to but no one is really talking about how to stay strong and how to find strength in your business when it's not working. It's one thing to stay motivated and inspiring inspired when sales are popping, your Shopify is doing a stank a leg, your PayPal is doing what it need to do, your Stripe is doing what it need to do.
Audria Richmond®:But what happens when you look at the end of the month and it's all 0, or what happens when you go to lunch and you didn't hit the goal you thought you was gonna hit? What happens when you go to put out your idea and, is crickets. Right? And so it really plays on your heart. It plays on your mind.
Audria Richmond®:And if you are not careful, you can find yourself in a negative redundant loop. Right? That means that, like, you're constantly, you know, overthinking, overanalyzing. You're, you know, challenging your own mental state. You're like you're saying things like, oh, I'm not good enough.
Audria Richmond®:I need to quit. Now ain't the time. I should do this and I should do that. And the truth of the matter is it's important to have space and a place to be able to think. And today, as we dive into this audio newsletter, it's gonna be all about how to find strength in your business when it's not working.
Audria Richmond®:So what does it mean when you say it's not working? What exactly is not working? Because you can't say it's not working. It's is so vague. Like, what is the it's?
Audria Richmond®:Is you not getting leads? Are you not getting sales? Are you not getting followers? Are you not getting DMs? Are you not getting calls?
Audria Richmond®:Are you not getting sign ups? Like, what is the thing? You have to give it a a name. Right? You have to specify what you're talking about.
Audria Richmond®:Right? Because if you don't identify what the it is, you could be constantly going in circles and the truth of the matter is it might be one thing that's broken that has a play on everything else. But because you're so consumed with, you know, the idea of it, you're not giving it a name, you're not giving it, you're not writing it down, you're not identifying what it is. So before we can dive into how to find strength, we first need to be able to identify what's not working, we need to be able to identify how we feel, right? And so I'm excited we're having this conversation because I wanna I kinda wanna leave you with some things that's been heavy on my spirit, and I believe I'm very close to this conversation because, I'm pretty much getting back to a place where I'm showing up more, I'm creating more content, and I'm trying to find my my groove after losing my mother.
Audria Richmond®:Right? And I could say it's a lot of things that's not working. Right? But that's not beneficial. Right?
Audria Richmond®:That's not going to help me. So, the thing that I really want to overemphasize as we talk about this conversation today, I really want you to get to a place where you can identify what it is. And then once you do that, then and then and only then are we able to start putting, solutions in place. So number 1, you need space to think. I don't know about you, but it's so easy to be easily distracted online.
Audria Richmond®:Or if you are a person that everybody, you know, lean on, it's it's very easy to become that that friend that always get dumped on. Right? Like, it's like people are always bringing you mess. People are always bringing you trauma, drama, the whole night. Right?
Audria Richmond®:The other thing is you could get on social media with the intent of, like, you know what? I just wanna kinda, like, relax my brain and then boom, you get online to something stupid on the Internet. So, like, you really don't be knowing what you're gonna run into in a on in a day to day basis. Right? You don't know who's gonna call you.
Audria Richmond®:You don't know if you're gonna have some issues with your team. You don't know if, the sales gonna be doing what it need to do. You don't really know. You kinda go into the day like unknown. Right?
Audria Richmond®:Like, I don't know what's gonna happen. And you have to be able to protect your space. You have to be able to, for lack of better terms, you need to kinda create a barrier of how you wanna start your day. Right? So like, some of the things that I've been explore it's certain things I'm just gonna stop doing like in the morning time just so I can get to the to right in a in a good mental state.
Audria Richmond®:So for an example, I'm about to go old school and find me, like, a traditional alarm clock because, really, I use my phone as an alarm clock. And so I'm gonna go and find me a digital traditional alarm clock that we can use that's not based on my phone. And I'm gonna stop having certain conversations early in the morning, especially if I haven't addressed my day and even worse, address myself. Sometimes we give the world us first before we give it to ourselves. I was listening to Country Wayne on a on a podcast and he was talking about how, you know, the first thing that he thinks about when he wakes up is like, he thinks about, you know, God and drinking water and the fact that he woke up.
Audria Richmond®:And I think, you know, these things sound so small, but they're significant. The fact that you're waking up every day, the fact that you could still dream, the fact that you could still be motivated and inspired, those are the things you really, really, really gotta be focused on. Right? And so I need you to get to a place first where you identify what it is, then you need to get to a place where you can actually think. Right?
Audria Richmond®:And then once you get to that place, we can then start talking about some solutions. Right? So let's get into I made I made a list of some different things that you can kinda think through on how you go about finding your strength. Right? And this may be, something that I may I I feel like this conversation needs to happen so, like like, so bad that, like, I'm probably gonna promote it beyond this audio newsletter.
Audria Richmond®:So if you are a person that's listening to this, you're not currently on our email list, maybe you found this because you found it on Instagram or or we are promoting this through some some type of advertising, I wanna encourage you to get on our email list at unclonedinsider.com. That's uncloned insider.com. That's how you get on our newsletter. That way, you can always get access to, all of our newsletters, not just this one that you're listening to now. So let's get into it.
Audria Richmond®:1st, you need to acknowledge how far you've come. Right? You need to be able to show gratitude for your current and formal achievements. And this looks like not just thinking about like the big trophy and the big money accolades, This looks like being thankful that you know how to read a book in 2 days. It's that simple.
Audria Richmond®:It's about being thankful that you still have people in your Facebook group if you have one that engage with you. You still got people on your email list who haven't unsubscribed. Like, there are so many things to be thankful for. So you first need to acknowledge how far you have come. Like, I I I looked at my, how long I've been doing this.
Audria Richmond®:I've been doing this for 10 years, a decade. And when I think about how long I have been doing this, I was like, man, you know, a decade is a long time. Like, where was I in 2013? In 2013, I was super broke. My husband and I did not have resources to be able to take care of ourselves like we wanted to.
Audria Richmond®:We was definitely living check to check. We was always stressed out about finance and money all the time, and, like, I'm not there now in 2023. So, like, why am I allowing myself to get wrapped up in this thing that's really going to pass, but I'm allowing myself to be, you know, bogged down because I'm just, like, in my head about it all. Right? And so you gotta get to a place where you show gratitude for your achievements.
Audria Richmond®:The next thing, you need to get spiritually aligned. I'm not gonna get into what you believe in. That ain't my business. But what I will say is that this may look like for you praying. This may look like journaling.
Audria Richmond®:This may look like watching positive videos. This may look like watching and listening to positive content. Positive content could be positive music, you're watching positive movies. Like, whenever I'm like, whenever I'm not in a strong mental state, in certain videos I just don't watch. Because I know that it's gonna be a tug on my heart.
Audria Richmond®:I was talking to, one of my friends and also clients today. She's you know, I love her death and she'll she'll notice if she listened to this. But, I was talking to her this this morning and I was telling her no. This was yesterday. She was like, hey.
Audria Richmond®:You know, you said you wanted to discuss some things with me, and I was like, to be honest with you. I don't even wanna put myself back in that emotional state, so it's not that big of a deal. Sometimes you gotta know when to drop the drama. Sometimes you gotta know how to drop the things that don't bring you joy, especially if you're just come kinda coming over that bell curve of getting over it. You don't need to keep rehashing it over and over and over and over.
Audria Richmond®:Right? Especially if you're over it. And if you have people who love you, they will respect the fact that you don't wanna talk about it anymore. They will respect the fact that you have decided to drop it and it's no longer important. Right?
Audria Richmond®:The next thing, you want to make sure that you don't keep repeating to yourself that it's not working. Right? Think about what's working because it's easy to be like, this is not working and this ain't working and when I try to do this, this and you could literally, like, be in a idle repeating state of, like, depression really pretty much. Like, where you you're constantly in a depressed state, because you're constantly trying to force something to work that's not working. And whenever you're working on something that's not working, you really gotta get to a place to ask yourself, why is it not working?
Audria Richmond®:Right? Why is this thing that I'm pursuing so hard, why is it not working? Sometimes it's a blessing in it all. Right? But if you're constantly in goal mode and you have not slowed down to process the thought and what's happening in your environment, you can get caught up in stressing yourself out.
Audria Richmond®:Right? And we all know stress kills, so you really gotta get to a place where you're not constantly repeating to yourself over and over and over and over and over what's not working. You actually need to be thinking about what is working. Right? You know?
Audria Richmond®:So acknowledge. Again, it goes back to what I said earlier. You gotta first acknowledge how far you've come and show and show gratitude for your achievements. Right? The next thing, read some personal development books.
Audria Richmond®:I am obviously an entrepreneur and CEO and so I find myself reading a lot of business books. And even though I have read personal development books, I can't say it's a big part of what I consume. I recently read a book. I can't think of the name of it. If you come into Facebook group and ask me, I'll think of it and and post it, but I was I I was listening to this book.
Audria Richmond®:Right? And is this like 1st I was listening to the presentation because I'm in this mastermind and the speaker was there, his book comes out this week. So when I say I was listening to the book, just giving you context. I was watching his presentation and he was saying some things that were, like, so freaking powerful. Right?
Audria Richmond®:And a lot of it had to do with elimination. And, again, that's a personal development book. That was a you know, even though he's talking about, like, how to be a successful entrepreneur, it was really leaning on how you think as an entrepreneur, how you process information, how you as an entrepreneur, how you deal with your emotions as an entrepreneur. Right? And as I was listening to him, I was like, okay.
Audria Richmond®:I'm just gonna get to a place where I need to eliminate some things. And I when I tell you, it literally, like, shift. Like, I had the hugest epiphany yesterday after listening to this training, and I was thinking to myself, like, this is a game changer. This is a game changer. Like, like, I could feel stress fall off of my body.
Audria Richmond®:I could feel fear fall off of my body. I can feel uncertainty fall off of my body. I could feel everything fall off of me because I allow myself the space to think and process what he was saying. Right? And so reading personal development books is definitely going to be the wave.
Audria Richmond®:I was telling my husband, like, I want us to we already read a lot of books currently, but I want us to kinda come up with a reading schedule where we're kinda balancing out how much, business books we read and start incorporating more personal development books. The next thing, have healthy positive conversations. It's okay to vent with your girlfriends or your boyfriends or whoever you conversate with. That's okay. It is okay to to vent.
Audria Richmond®:But, you know, one of the things I say with my friends, and we say this all the time, like, you can have a moment but not a minute. And what we mean by that when I say that to my friends, I'll say, say, hey. You know, I need a moment, not a minute. When I'm when I'm talking to them, that means that I'm not going to be going on and on and on and on and on and on about what can't change. Right?
Audria Richmond®:I'm not gonna keep going on and on and on and on about what's not working. Does that make sense? So, like, in this moment, I'm pissed off about this. This is how I feel and, like, you know, I'm expressing that emotion, but I'm also co creating a solution in that moment. And this is why I say you can't keep repeating to yourself over and over and over and over what's not working because that's not gonna help you.
Audria Richmond®:Right? And so you gotta have healthy positive conversations. The next thing, go and have fun. When the last time you did something fun? Like, I was going to suggest to my husband, like, hey.
Audria Richmond®:Let's go do some race cars. Let's go do some, you know, some jumping in the little thing with the bubbles. Not the bubbles, but those little balls, a little bungee cord. The not bungee cord. Hell no.
Audria Richmond®:I'm not I'm not doing that one, but but you know the little the little trampoline park, like like, something like that. Like, when the last time you actually, like, been a be a kid? When the last time you had some fun? Play some video games. Do something to reactivate your mind from things that are negative, if that makes sense.
Audria Richmond®:So go and have fun. For me, I like to go to the movies. I like to engage in intellectual conversations. I love to watch documentaries and all of those cool things, but I still need to get to a place where like, no I need to get out the house, I need to go do this, I need to go do that, so on and so forth. So, like, go and have fun.
Audria Richmond®:The next thing. And this is this is a little it's one of those things where you kinda know why you got started on doing this thing, but I think it's important to revisit your why every every 6 months. Right? Every 6 months, you should be revisiting why am I doing this, why am I into this, you know, what am I doing this for? Because that can change.
Audria Richmond®:Like, why you was doing this 6 6 months ago or a year ago or 5 years ago could be totally totally different on why you're doing it now. So you wanna begin to think about, like, why am I doing this? So you need to revisit why you are doing this so you can get in alignment with your why. And if it needs to change, change it. You're not you're not obligated to keep your current why.
Audria Richmond®:You could totally change it up. The next thing, pivot if you need to. Maybe the way you're currently working doesn't work anymore. Right? And that could be the thing that needs to change.
Audria Richmond®:That's why I said earlier, you have to define what it is. Because you can't say, oh, it's not working. My business is not working. That's too vague. You need to write down exactly what you're saying, like, what's not working about the business.
Audria Richmond®:Is it your team? Is it, you know, the marketplace? Is it, you know, you're not getting leads, you're not getting customers? Like, what it is, you gotta be able to define that thing. And once you conclude with what it is, then you have to make a decision on whether or not you wanna continue to do that or if you actually want to pivot.
Audria Richmond®:The next thing, take a break. Man, I'd be napping my ass off, and there's nothing wrong with taking a nap. There's nothing wrong with taking a break. It's nothing wrong with saying, you know what? I'm a do a redo tomorrow.
Audria Richmond®:We're gonna try this thing again tomorrow. Sometimes you need a reset, and you can't have a reset if you're working through your and your body is telling you, bro, you need a break. You need a break. You need a break. But you constantly trying to work through it.
Audria Richmond®:So allow yourself the opportunity to take a break. And sometimes you can't take a break at home because your home is distracted. Right? You got a lot of people asking you for stuff. You can't sit in your office and get your work done because your key is coming in, flipping stuff off the desk, doing the most.
Audria Richmond®:Like, you may need to rent an Airbnb. You may need to get away. You may need to go out of town, but you need to be able to have breaks that does not require you to actually be working still. Right? You have to take a workless break.
Audria Richmond®:The only thing you should be working is your mind. The only thing you should be working is getting clarity. The only thing you should be working is, getting to a place where you can get spiritually aligned with yourself again. Right? And then the last thing, don't be afraid to change the plan.
Audria Richmond®:I will change the plan in a minute. I will pivot in a minute. If it ain't working, bro, it gotta go. So don't be afraid to change the plan. And I wanted to have this conversation because I felt like it was important.
Audria Richmond®:I feel like I'm seeing so many people on the online, on the Internet, you know, they're quitting their businesses, they're they're taking sabbaticals, they're they're they're tired of doing all the content creation and all the all the things and they're getting to a place of burnout. And I wanted to create this audio for you so you could come back and listen to it over and over and over however many times you need to, but you gotta learn how to find strength in your business when it is not working. I wanna know your biggest takeaway. Right? And the way you let me know your biggest takeaway is by coming over to the free Uncloned Marketing free Facebook group.
Audria Richmond®:And if you're not a member, wherever you may be listening to this audio, there's a description section that links to our Facebook group. Come and join our Facebook group and let us know your biggest takeaway. I cannot wait to continue to serve you and your business with your brand. And until next time y'all, let's go live an UnCloned® life and do what? Build an UnCloned® brand.
Audria Richmond®:Bye y'all.
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