How Do I Level UP?

This one’s for you entrepreneurs out there. You have probably been asking this question, maybe not the question word for word… but we have all thought it: HOW DO I LEVEL UP MY BUSINESS? Maybe you have said, how do I get my business to the next level? Maybe you are even comfortable or stable where your business is right now but you want to make sure you can pay the payroll, because people are counting on you. Maybe you think about all of the incoming invoices; like will I be able to pay all my contractors? Maybe you’re in a place of chaos and frustration and pain and uncertainty. Either way, you should be asking: How Do I Level Up? Or maybe you feel like your business has plateaued a little bit but you know it is not where it could be and you are asking: Why Can’t I Break Through To The Next Level?

I’m going to answer that question and barely scratch the surface because that can go pretty deep but here are three reasons, three ways, three areas you need to address in order to get to the next level… TO BREAK THROUGH!

Level Up Your Mindset

Tony Robbins says this one pretty well and I may not quote him perfectly but here’s the gist, “the greatest limiting factor in a business is the psychology of the owner.” Basically, the greatest limiting factor to you, a small business owner, is your own mindset. So if you want to take your business to the next level, you have to take your mindset to the next level.

I had a conversation recently with someone whose business is great, personal life, income is great and yet the willingness to invest in himself is not there. How does the ability to easily manifest the next level, make substantial financial developments that would have a huge impact on his business just not there… because his personal financial blueprint will not allow him to go there.

So listen, there are some things in your business that are going to make you uncomfortable. And if you can’t go through with them, you’re never going to get to the next level. Whether it is investment, leadership, bringing new members to your team, having your first six figure employee, creating a culture… if you don’t adjust your mindset, your business is never going to level up. It’s never going to break through to that next level.

So how do you address your mindset limitations? I mean there are a multitude of ways. Sometimes you are going to need to do some of the deep work. You might need a coach, a therapist, sometimes it is just a matter of getting rid of the head trash. Sometimes it is taking the time to identify your peer group and leveling up your peer group. That could be a whole other point on the list, but these three that I will give you are the primary peer group you are in contributes a ton… get around people who are doing bigger things. Think about it, I just enrolled a new client and she said to me: I need people that are at a higher level than I am at who are going to challenge me and pull me up… so if you want to level up, you need to level up your mindset!

Level Up Your Leadership

This is a big one that does not get talked about enough because you have got a lot of entrepreneurs who are really good at what they do, they have visionary skills and are very innovative. And I am like that. I can see the vision, cast the vision but something that gets overlooked is the leadership ability and the leadership skills.

You need to level up your leadership right NOW. Like, there are volumes of books that have been written about leadership, but if your team is toxic, if you’re not getting the results that you want… like for example, when you are in the room they are all behind you and the mission and then they go out of the room and they’re having these little conversations and setting these little alliances that contradict things said in that space earlier. Like what the heck?!

There is junk happening in your business and you must lead. I was on a call with an executive client today and his leadership has just elevated in so many ways. When he hired me, I don’t think he would’ve said that we were going to talk about leadership but the majority of the conversations that we’ve had really boil down to leading his organization, protecting the culture like him, doing what he can so he can empower people to do what they need to do. And it is all leadership. The conversation we were having the other day was filled with the affirmation that his business is growing because of his leadership being elevated.

Let me give you another great example of that… Some of you have read a book by Patrick Lencioni called The Five Dysfunctions of a Team (if you have not, I highly recommend it). I personally prefer to talk about the five healthy functions of a team and he sets up a pyramid to determine those.

Level One is the foundation: Trust, Level Two: Healthy Conflict, Three: Commitment… Because you have got to trust people will believe the best and give you the benefit of the doubt. And if you have that and you’re all warm and fuzzy and everyone loves to be around each other but they won’t do level two of engaging in healthy conflict… then there are going to be some problems. Some of you might be freaking out over that word, but healthy dialogue can be a cornerstone of healthy conflict. So think about it this way: we are not attacking people, we are attacking problems.

And there is a possibility that if I disagree with you, I’m not scared to get a little passionate to defend my position and this is not in an angry way… I’ll never forget the meeting when I pounded the table and broke my watch. I wasn’t angry at anyone else, no one in the room felt threatened but they all like to laugh about the day that Mark broke his watch because he got passionate. As a team we were going over a problem and I felt I was in a safe place to be heard and valued for my opinion and I got passionate. And when you promote and engage in healthy conflict, you get people who are brought into the vision and know where you are going. And then once you get commitment, you can then hold people more accountable, which directly affects getting the results you want.

Some of you in your business want to break through to the next level and you’re not getting the results you want. And you might be attempting to address it by saying, Hey, YOU’re not getting the RESULTS… or Hey, this is the QUOTA… or Hey, this is the STANDARD. But what you’re doing here is backwards or upside down. You need to say, Do I have TRUST on MY team? Is it HEALTHY? Are we able to engage in HEALTHY CONFLICT? Do MY team members feel HEARD, SEEN, VALUED, VALIDATED, and do they believe in the company? Are they just giving in? Because if they come into a meeting and say let’s go boss and their actions and words speak otherwise, YOU ARE NEVER GOING TO GEt thE RESULTS THAT YOU DESIRE.

When the whole team has buy-in, then you can hold them accountable because it won’t be you alone, they will also hold one another accountable. And that my friend is leadership. If you want to break through to the next level, you need to address leadership!

How do I go as a leader? Get John Maxwell’s leadership book, develop the leaders around you. If you have been blaming other people for your company culture and the results you’re getting, get the book Extreme Ownership and the author will set you straight.

STOP POINTING FINGERS!

STOP BLAMING OTHER PEOPLE!

TAKE FULL RESPONSIBILITY!

Level Up Your Process!

Some of you have been winging it and you’ve been growing your business. Maybe you’re a solo entrepreneur or you have a small team and flying by the seat of your pants (which is dangerous by the way)… you haven’t documented, you have not processed, you have not created systems or structures so that you can get predictable results or repeatable outcomes.

People don’t have the confidence, whether it is you, your team members, or the clients that you are serving … if you want to break through to the next level, you are not going to do it it it’s all in your head that someone else on your team is going to know the processes even if you don’t. DOCUMENT IT! It needs to be clea, systematic, duplicatable, repeatable by anyone on your team… because otherwise you can’t grow your team. You won’t be able to add people. Then you won’t be able to let go of all the processes you know and trust that it is going to function so that you can do the things that you need to do: That’s more important as a visionary, as a CEO.

So you need to level up – commit to a process! My good friends, John and Ryan, are EOS implementers, and they work on the systems for your business… me as a coach, I work on the operating system of you. Optimizing you is one of my priorities and people like John and Ryan focus on how to optimize your business. And so maybe you’re the kind of person that is going to commit wholeheartedly to a system that helps you bring structure and systems to everything you do in your business. There’s a lot of other systems out there. Some of you just need to document and process the specific things that you do. Maybe you do something uniquely, so commit to a system. Not doing that will limit the level of success that you can create within your team.

These are three things that beyond a shadow of a doubt, with intention, focused energy… you are going to take things to the next level! But remember, you’ve got to listen to the right people, not just learn it… Execute it!!

I hope this served you! This is where we go out there and give our greatness to the world (and our businesses) because someone needs what’s on the inside of you!! Go out there and give it away!!