278: The Biology of Business

A must-listen for any entrepreneur! Discussed for the first time ever with the open public, Sundae reveals the sciencey side of operating a successful coaching business. Specifically, Sundae explains her Head-to-Toe Analysis, which is a methodology she developed (and sharpened!) through a decade of experience.

The post 278: The Biology of Business appeared first on Sundae Schneider-Bean, LLC..

In vino veritas.

A famous Latin expression that translates to: “in wine there’s truth.” Meaning that honesty comes out once alcohol lowers our inhibitions. Think of how good a philosopher/comedian/dancer/karaoke singer you are after just a few drinks. No wonder it’s also called “liquid courage.” 

Now compare that fun, two-glasses-of-merlot-relaxed-with-your-friends version against the “you” on your website. Do you sound the same? Which one of you would attract your ideal client, repelling away ones you dread?

Side note: Expat Coach Coalition helps solopreneurs find their true voice and untapped talents. Then, the program infuses members with the courage to express themselves, alcohol not required (wink). 

Get ready for the ultimate how-to-sundaebean.com secret share.

Most entrepreneurs would agree that their business is less like an inanimate object you set-and-forget, and more like caring for a living, breathing, continuously evolving organism.

This week — and for the first time ever discussed with the open public — I’ll reveal the sciencey side of operating a successful coaching business. I call this theory my Head-to-Toe Analysis — something I developed (and sharpened!) through a decade of experience.

Today, hard-earned for me means easy for you.

What You’ll Learn in this Episode:

Your big “why”
When your face is unrecognizable
Investing in the wrong relationships
A business vs. an expensive hobby
Runners’ legs

Listen to the Full Episode

Featured on the Show:

I have a soft spot for the latecomer. Make 2022 a year about victory, not about struggle. This is your LAST CALL for Expat Coach Coalition, so join us right here.

“You’ll get sisterhood, clarity, and practice. To anyone who’s considering joining, I say: Do it! This is a robust program from beginning to end, and you won’t regret it.” – Kim Adams, Family Preparedness Guru

Sundae’s Website
Sundae’s Facebook Business Page – Sundae Schneider-Bean LLC
IN TRANSIT Hub
Expat Coach Coalition
The Steady Series
Wisdom Fusion Project
Tap Into Intergenerational Wisdom At Work
Wisdom Fusion Town Hall
Year of Transformation
Ambition VIP Series

 

BONUS RESOURCE

 

Catch These Podcasts / Articles:

EP275: Create a Sense of Steady
EP266: The Constant Transition
EP226: The Space Women Crave
EP227: Intergenerational Wisdom With René Washington
EP228: Intergenerational Wisdom With Marianne Talkovski
EP229: Intergenerational Wisdom With Helene-Jane Groarke
EP230: Intergenerational Wisdom ~ The Grand Finale

 

     

We’re delighted to be in the Top 5 of the global Best 30 Expat Podcasts!

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Full Episode Transcript:

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Hello, It is 07:00 am in New York, 11:00 pm in Johannesburg, and 6:00 pm in Bangkok. Welcome to IN TRANSIT with Sundae Bean. I am an intercultural strategist, transformation facilitator, and solution-oriented coach, and I am on a mission to help you adapt & succeed through ANY life transition.

 

So on Saturday, I was at a soccer match for one of my boys and of course, we have to get there early so they can warm up, and I brought my little camping chair and my journal and a pen to kill time until the match began.  All of a sudden, I was flooded with answers to the questions I’ve been holding about this summer. As you know, I’m in transition. We are leaving South Africa and will be relocating to Switzerland. But in between, I will be spending some time, if all goes well with my family, in the United States. So, lots of things going on. And the question is, how can I make the most of this transition and still meet the needs of my clients and serve my community? 

 

Big questions and all the answers came flooding in and I thought, “Why is it that I’ve been carrying these questions with me for weeks and now suddenly in the South African sun, I have everything crystal clear in my mind?” Because these are unsteady times and we’re asking ourselves; How do we create a sense of steady even when we can’t predict things? And the answer is because I’d actually paused and gave myself some space to ask the right questions. And that’s what I’m trying to do for you today. 

 

All of April if you were inside the IN TRANSIT Hub on Facebook, my community, you know that we have been working really hard to share with you, how you can create steady progress with proven results in these unsteady times. And if you recall in episode 275: Create a Sense of Steady, we talked about steady is constant in your purpose. Episode 277 was about New Game, New Rules because I talked about the BANI world we’re living in: Brittle, Anxious, Nonlinear, and Incomprehensible, So, how can we create steady progress and have proven results, when all of this is true? When things are unsteady, how do we remain constant in our purpose? Well, there are a lot of answers to that already inside the IN TRANSIT Hub. So, if you’re not already part of that community, go ahead to the show notes and join us. And if you want to get all of these nine sessions for free, go ahead and sign up for The Steady Series, even though we concluded at the end of April, you’ll still get the round up for it because I really want to have these answers in your hands.

 

For the last few weeks, we’ve spoken about the big picture and we’ve talked about what is working for my clients so that you can apply it to your own life personally. But to be honest, we haven’t spent a ton of time talking about how you can create that steady for you professionally. Your life is in transit. Remember from episode 266, Our lives are in constant transition, right? Everything IS shifting, maybe for you personally, it’s definitely shifting globally, economically, politically, but also this impacts us professionally. And when those things are true, they might even be impacting our own transformation. And in this episode, we’re going to create that space, the space that I was able to enjoy in the South African sun. So, for you today, so you can have that space, where you can listen, are there any internal, external, or performance led transformations that are going on in the background or under the radar for you? Just like the answers to my questions were there under the surface and didn’t come up until I created space for them. There might even be really important questions that you haven’t even asked yet, but should. 

 

Okay. So what I’m going to do today is I’m going to help create that space for you. And the same time, you’re going to get a sneak peek into the exact topics and questions that I ask myself to run my own business, but I also teach inside Expat Coach Coalition so that you can make steady progress in these unsteady times. 

 

All right. So what I’m going to do, it’s called a Head-to-Toe Analysis. This is a framework I created. And while it’s specifically for solopreneurs and been created exactly with expat coaches in mind, it will work well if you use it to focus on your own career. Let’s be honest, it even works for your life, but we’re going to stay focused on business today.

 

So, here you go. This is the first time publicly I am sharing with my whole audience Head-to-Toe Analysis for your business. And as I said, if you’re not a solopreneur, it could apply for your career. But keep this in mind, it’s a very, very basic structure. Of course, there’s much more underneath it that I go into in my work with my clients, but I wanted to give you a taste of it and give you a few starting questions to think about. And if you’re interested and you want to know more, of course just contact me. But let’s get started. Oh, by the way, I also have a bonus resource for you. So stick with me to the end. You’ll find out where you can get the bonus resource and why that’s important.

 

Alright, so let’s get started. We were looking Head-to-Toe Analysis. This is a framework for you to do a deep dive in your business right now and see what areas need more attention and where you’re doing just fine. 

 

Head of your Business. The head of your business is; get in your head and ask the question, “Why?” What’s your big why?” Whether you’re at the very start of your business, you ask yourself, “Why do I want to do this? What am I doing this for?” But if you’re in the middle of your business, you have to ask yourself, “Hey, this is hard. Why is this all worth it?” So, those are important questions to ask yourself about the head of your business. And if you’ve been in business for a few years, you might want to ask yourself, “Does it still feel worth it?” I know it seems like kind of a contentious question to ask but it’s important to pause every once in a while and go, “Hey, this really feel like I am living the type of business I intentionally try to create?” Many times when I pause and I ask myself that same question and I say, “Uh. Not quite, it doesn’t feel exactly how I wanted.” So now the question is, “What has to change for things to feel even better what has to change for me to want to move forward and have it feel completely worth it.” Believe me. I’m heading up into my ninth year of business. And this is a question I get in my head, the head of my business, and I ask myself “Why?” That is important. 

 

I don’t care if you’re in your seventh, eighth, ninth year of your business, I still use this as a guiding question to tweak. And if you followed my business for nine years, you can physically watch the transformations that has kicked off because I will keep adjusting things. And the beautiful part about being in the head of your business is that you will constantly be nurturing a business that answers your why? That is in support of it feeling worth it, instead of just running the thing and not checking in with yourself on if it’s actually the alignment with what you really want. So get in the head of your business. Ask yourself; Why? What is your “Big Why?”  

 

And you might say, “Sundae, I don’t know anymore. It’s been really freaking hard.” And if that is you, I get it, I understand. And that is okay. It’s important. And it will be an invitation for you to ask yourself, “Wait a minute. Why did I start this? What difference am I making?” And when things get hard for me, I always think about my clients like, “You know what? This month has been hard.” But I do think about my one client and her transformation or think about this other client and the impact, the work that they’re doing has impacted other people and that helps me get back to my “why.” 

 

Okay, so that is from head to toe, that’s the very first part, is to get in the head of your business and start with those Why? questions, right? And if you’re brand new to business there are lots of other questions you can be asking, which is much more in the direction of market research, which is a separate conversation from today. We’re looking at keeping your business steady. Steady progress in unsteady times. We’re thinking bigger picture than market research. If you’re at the start of your business, but you always have to return to the question; “Why am I doing this? Why is it worth it to invest in my own business?” 

 

Okay. So we’ve been in the head of your business. Now, let’s get into:

 

Face of your Business. I love talking with the face of your business because there was a huge eye-opener for me back in 2014. 2014, I was in Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso, and a good friend of mine said to me, “Sundae,” she had known me for a year, “I feel like I gotta tell you something.” She goes, “I feel like you’ve been hiding,” and I was like, “What do you mean?” She goes, “You’re hiding behind your computer.” And I was kind of defensive. I’m like, “You know how hard I’m working behind this computer?” And she’s like, “Sundae, last night. We were out and all of your ideal clients were there and you weren’t there. You’re hiding your face.” 

 

And I realized that the face of my business isn’t just online,  my website, my presence on social media. I was missing out on the in-person aspect of my business, and that’s easy to do when you’re a solopreneur because so much of our work is online, especially in the last two years. But because my wonderful friend gave me this truth bomb, which helped me realize actually even being out socially among people who are my crew could elevate the face of my business and lead to business. And what do you know? I took that advice to heart and when I got my face out there in person, I automatically got clients and I establish relationships with people that I’m still very, very close to today. So think about that for you, especially as we sort of lead out of the global pandemic in many areas, is it time to get your face out there in person? Ask yourself, are you showing your face where you need to? Are you in online summits? Are you telling other people that you’d be happy to have your face in their business as a podcast guest? Where can you be getting your face out there more in person and online, that will help fast track your business. 100%. 

 

The other question around the face of your business, I want you to think about is, does it match you and your business NOW? A lot has changed, you’ve changed. So think about that as are you presenting yourself and your business to the world in a way that reflects how you’re showing up NOW. Because I know for me, I’m kind of a set it and forget it person. Put my website up and then I’ll do all the things and all of a sudden, three years later, I look back and I’m like, “Oh, I don’t even look like that anymore. I don’t even really talk like that anymore. Even with my clients, we don’t connect like that. Why haven’t I updated my face? I need a facelift.” 

 

All right, there’s obviously more but that’s just a little taste to think about the face of your business. 

 

The next part is the Voice of your Business. The voice of your business is something that I’m really passionate about because I am really allergic to people who are out there serving others are trying to serve others and then sound just like everybody else. It’s like you’re hiding your real voice. So think about the voice of your business like I have. 

 

And I’m actually going to hold something in my hands right now, while I’m talking to you, and it’s a small little statue of a wolf, and I’ve talked about this into other podcasts before. But I reluctantly share that I had a dream about a wolf and it resulted in the clarity that I need to start my podcast. This was over five years ago. And the message was, “If you howl the pack will come.” If you have all the pack will come and I knew that’s what I need to do. I needed to put my voice out there and the right people would resonate. So I’m not talking about a physical channel, like a podcast. I’m talking about sharing what is really on your heart and mind. And if you’re a solopreneur and your work is connected to moving people’s lives, to touching people, to helping them buy a product or a service something that you believe in, they need to know what’s on your heart and mind because there are a lot of businesses out there and we are very discerning consumers, and the more that we have options, the more we want to have a personal connection in a value alignment with the business that we invest in. 

 

And so you better show people who you are. I would say that to my kids, “Show me, don’t tell me.” so let people hear your real voice. And that means, don’t be shy to share what you really feel and what you really believe because you will repel the wrong people for your business and attract the right people for your business. It’s like, what are the things that you say to your buddies over a glass of wine that you haven’t yet dared to say publicly? Those are probably the things that will attract your clients. Okay, very similar to the face of your business. Ask yourself; Who could use your voice? Who is having an event, has a platform, or a community that could really benefit from hearing your voice? Your insight, your wisdom. Then you could utilize the voice of your business even more. Personally, I’ve had eight, nine years in the business, I wanted to do more and share more but didn’t have the container for it. So I ended up creating a container for the Wisdom Fusion Project. 

 

If you remember my podcast on intergenerational wisdom starting from 225 to 230. It was a way for me to talk about the things that meant the most to me. And then it brought a community of amazing people to me and ended up resulting in the Wisdom Fusion Town Hall, and a Forbes article called Tap Into Intergenerational Wisdom At Work. It’s become an extension of the things that I love and a way that I want to serve. So who knows? It might just start out like Wisdom Fusion did with one idea and then it can catapult into a community and an impact on people’s lives that you couldn’t have expected. 

 

All right, so we have talked about the head of your business, face of your business, and the voice of your business. Now, guess what? The Heart of your Business. This is important. 

 

The heart of your business is about your values. And if I asked you right now, what are your values? Maybe if you’re someone who isn’t a business owner, but in your career, what are your core values that you align with? If you are a business owner or a want to be, what are your values that you are going to lean on when times are tough or to help you make tough decisions? That is important for the heart of your business. Can your clients or will your future clients be able to name your values? If not, then they are not loud enough, right? My values, I hope this doesn’t surprise anybody are growth, connection, and playfulness. If you hear that and you know my work, those should not be a surprise, those should be a no-brainer. And when you have those values, again, goes a little bit like the voice of your business where it repels the wrong people, and attracts the right people. 

 

The other thing, you might want to think about is, if things have been wonky in your business, one of the best things you can do is actually love on other people. So who among your clients could use a little bit extra love right now in terms of attention for the challenge that they’re facing or maybe a surprise? Something where you could add value to your client’s life. That is a way to not only delight your client, but also feel great and reignite your why? Again going back to the head of your business of why you’re doing it to sort of get you back to the joy and pleasure of why you started this in the beginning. 

 

The other thing you might want to think about is who would you love to build relationships with if you want to reignite the passion in your business, from you for your business? Maybe you aren’t in a relationship with the right people. Maybe you’re missing people that could be fun to partner with. 

 

Okay, so we’ve gone from the heart, now guess what? We’re going down to the Legs of your Business.  

 

The Legs of your Business is basically what you stand on as a business. This is the difference between having an expensive hobby and having a real business. The legs are what you stand on and sales is where that comes from. We need to sell to pay our bills and to pay ourselves and to invest in our clients. 

 

And I’d like you to treat sales like runners’ legs. You need to use them. If you do not run regularly, you’re not going to be able to finish that 5K or that marathon. So if you always say to my clients, if you’re not selling, you’re not selling. So you have to actively use the legs of your business so that it will build strength in your business and that means bringing in revenue. 

 

Believe me, I was the first person to forget this when started my business. I think I spent 12 months blogging, looking like a blogger and not someone who sold coaching services until I finally started actively telling people, “Hey, you could hire me, you can work with me.” So believe me, these are all mistakes I’ve done and I’ve learned the hard way and I’m passing them on to you so you don’t have to. The other thing about treating sales like runners’ legs is you have to adapt to the terrain. As I’ve mentioned in my last few podcast. We are in this BANI world; Brittle, Anxious, Nonlinear, Incomprehensible, our terrain is constantly changing in this global dynamic. So we have to adapt and if you haven’t adapted with this changing context, you might want to think about it. 

 

And I’ve had my own examples, where for example with Year of Transformation, I was selling Year of Transformation at a time where people didn’t even know what would happen in the next two weeks. And it was like, “Okay. I need to adapt to the terrain because it was working before is not what people need right now.” And that’s where my VIP series came up because people needed more options to work with. So, are you adapting your products and services to the terrain? Just ask yourself when you’re investing in the legs of your business; What can you do differently to bring in more sales that matches the terrain? 

 

Okay. So that is the Legs of your Business. The next part is:

 

The Skeleton of your Business. And I call that the skeleton of the business because it’s like the bare bones. I think it’s kind of a dry part, but it’s the structures. It’s a systems. It’s legal stuff. But are those really in place? In one of my more recent podcast I talked about how structures are important for us to rely on now more than ever. So even though it’s not sexy. Are you invested in the right structures for your business? And that means not just professionally, with an assistant or how you pay your taxes. Whatever that might be. How you book a call. 

But are you also structured in your energy and how you organize your day so that you can show up for your people? So the skeleton of your business is those structures and systems that we need to think about; Are they solid personally and professionally? Are your foundations solid? And if not already, what needs your attention most? 

 

I know what I needed to put my attention on a couple years ago was around systems.

 

I needed to have my internal system much better aligned so that any assistant that came into my team would be able to pick up the work more quickly and run with it. And I knew I needed to do that. And I finally did that a few years ago because I was growing so fast my systems weren’t catching up. But maybe for you it’s finance. Maybe for you it’s your follow-up system. Whatever it is, think about the skeleton of your business. 

 

Okay, and that leads me to the last part, head to toe of your business, is the Muscles of your Business. And this is an important one. 

 

The Muscles of your Business is how well you take care of yourself. And I’ve talked about this in other podcasts, but your energy is your most valuable asset. How well are you taking care of YOU? How sustainable is your pace right now, given the current level of transition that you’re going through? And what has to change to better support YOU, so you can support your business? Those are important questions for the muscles of your business. I have a lot of podcasts for you, which will help you. And that is where I’m really excited to give you a Bonus Resource. You can check it out in the show notes. We’ve got a bonus resource that will go through every single area, the legs, the skeleton, the heart, etc. And then it’ll link you directly to other podcasts that will help you go further with each and every topic. 

 

So there you go. This is a sneak peek behind what I call; The Science Of Operating A Healthy Coaching Business. I wanted to share that with you. For those of you who are a DIY’ers so do-it-yourselfers, you’ve got those important, reflective questions to go further and sort of reinvigorate health in your business to create more steady of purpose so that you can get proven results. We are in unsteady times, and it’s time for, if there’s a new game, we need new rules. And the new rules are pausing and taking stock of everything we’ve done in the past, in terms of where we’re at in our business, look at it with a fresh eyes, and see how we can replenish our passion, our clarity, and our energy, and our systems so that we can go forward. We know that this world is not steady, but we’re going to keep going anyway. And the thing is, for those of you who are living globally mobile lives, maybe coaches, or expat coaches, you know the world needs us now more than ever and this time, it’s important, we have an obligation to go inward and evaluate how we’re showing up in our business and is in alignment with us, so we can continue to move forward and serve others with their unsteady times, 

 

So I’m celebrating you. If you’ve listened this far to the podcast, you’ve taken time to think about where you might need to update your business. Is it the head, is at the heart, is the face? We all need this at one point. I’m constantly asking these questions, to myself. And that’s probably why you see constant evolution in my business. Because these are the things that are guiding me forward. It’s helping me update how I interact and how I interact with myself and those that I care about, and the clients that I want to serve most. This is what you need to update how you’re moving forward for you to have progress. And for you to keep your resilience and move forward in optimism in unsteady times. 

 

And I realize this is a lot. I just hammered you with a ton of questions. It was important for me to download some critical basics for you. But if it feels like it’s gone too fast for you, you can re-listen to this or you could download the transcript in the show notes and then sit with your answers. And of course, of course, if you’re an expat coach or an aspiring expat coach, someone who wants to work with those in globally mobile community, that’s exactly why I created Expat Coach Coalition. We spend half of our time talking about the tools to support people in their own global transitions and the other half on head-to-toe in your business so that you can get yourself out there with a voice that’s authentic with strength in systems and practices. That change maybe passion or an expensive hobby into a real business. So if you haven’t already applied to Expat Coach Coalition, you’ve gotta hustle up because our deadline has passed, but I have a soft spot for the latecomers. I know there’s a few procrastinators out there. And if you’ve already held your call with me and you’re on the fence, do get back to me because I’d love to see if it’s the right fit for you and get you onboarded. We start May 16th, 2022. 

 

All right, you’ve been listening to IN TRANSIT with Sundae Bean. Thank you for listening. Steady advice in an unsteady world. I’ll leave you with the words from Professor Feynman, an American physicist: “Knowledge is having the right answers. Intelligence is asking the right questions. Wisdom is knowing when to ask the right questions.”

 

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