How to be a Vision Driven Leader

Not to mention when things get busy your content is the first to go of Angela Proffitt and clients her my agency for five figure strategy days to batch and create magnetic content for social media. But in my upcoming free training, I'll share the methods my team uses to create amazing social content that allows you to stay consistent without spending all your waking hours on social media. Sign up today at GSD power hour.com. Welcome to business unveiled podcast. This is the place where we help overwhelmed time starved entrepreneurs like you make the profitable shifts to get more done and get more out of life. I'm your host, Angela Proffitt, award winning eight figure entrepreneur and CEO. And in every episode of business unveiled, I'm bringing you conversations that will give you the expertise and strategies that will scale your team and business so you can get shit done. That's GSD in our world. So get your time back and grow a business that helps you be present in your life. Let's do this, y'all.
How do you know if you're a leader? It's not about the titles or the authority that you have. I think that real leadership starts with having a vision, an actual plan for your life and for your business. You have to know where you want to go, what success looks like and how you'll get there. That is the only way you can lead a team to make your vision come to life. And the only way you can decide what to focus on was so many things competing for your attention. There are plenty of books that will tell you how to be successful, but they don't often offer the big picture which irritates me. Sometimes without this perspective, it's easy to get lost in the day to day grind of work without ever achieving your actual goals. I talked about creating a vision for yourself in my signature course GSD Academy. But this lesson was made super clear to me about a decade ago, when I started working with a mentor for the first time. At that time, I'd been doing well in my business. I had money in the bank, but my business wasn't profitable. And I didn't even realize that no profit zero. I was working just to keep the money coming in. And it was flowing right back out. And I had nothing to show for all of that hard work. It was like going out way quicker than it was coming in. When I originally started my business. It was a side hustle. It was a hobby, it was for fun. And I loved making people happy. I love designing and planning and doing amazing events. As my side hustle kept growing and growing and growing, and became my main job. I never took a step back to consider where I was headed, and what I wanted for my life and my business. And I never thought about what I really wanted it to look like. So when I sat with my mentor, he started asking me really hard questions that I had never considered because no one had ever asked me, including like million dollar questions, like what do you want for your business? And what do you want life to look like? In five years, I had no idea where to even begin? Because no one had ever asked me these questions before my business was set up to serve everyone else. But I had never considered what I wanted my life to look like. How many hours did I want to work per week? How could my business support my full life? How could it help me travel and spend time with my family and my friends? What was that freedom that comes from working for myself? I may not have been sure at the time, exactly what I wanted in my life and exactly what I wanted my business to look like. But at that point, I was really clear on what I did not want it to look like and I'll tell you this much work working like crazy and not having any profit in the bank to show for it. That definitely was not working for me. After that session with my mentor and my accountant, something clicked deep inside of me, it was as if all of those years that I was feeling like I was spinning my wheels were brought into like crystal clear focus. Once that vision was clear, I was able to get back to work, but with a different mindset, and a renewed focus. But here's the thing, My vision is not going to be your vision, you've got to find your own vision. But where do you start, because this is kind of an overwhelming thing to think about. If you've never thought about it before, what really helped me and I would recommend you do the same as start by doing a vision board. There's not too many times where you are going to hear me to say use paper. But for this particular exercise, I think it's very healthy, to use a whiteboard or put large post it notes on the wall, and really lay out what you want. What is your vision for your life and your business. If you're not familiar with the process, something that I used to do, just to help me get a visual picture put up on paper was cut out pictures and glue them to this paper. I don't know if you have magazines sitting around that you could go cut up. But if you don't, at least write it down, write out in the next 12 months, 24 months, three years, five years, what do you want it to look like? When you actually manifest these things? It can happen if you put the work in. And this is something that I would keep up so that you can see it even if it is in a closet door or something that reminds you of how you're spending your time when you open that door or close that door. Or I know some people that I work with their whiteboards, they have curtains that come over it. But doing an exercise like this, it makes your goals and your vision visible. And that's what keeps it in the front of mind. You've got to create a goal in your mind before you can bring it into the world. And the pictures of the goals or the words for your goals that you have in your life in your business can help you create that vision for yourself. As a business owner, this is what you're doing for your clients. So often you help them get clarity on where they want to be, and then do all of the work creating that vision with them. Why not take some time and do a vision for yourself? Make your own vision clear as well, you're doing it for clients. So why are you not doing it for yourself? Once that vision is clear, the next thing to do is to start working on the steps that will get you there. You can't just allow your vision to be a dream. It has to have actionable items in it. Things that are doable and specific for you as an individual. When you know what those actionable items are, you need to block off time on your calendar each week to get those things done. If the time to complete, the task isn't blocked on your calendar, it's not going to happen. It doesn't exist, I promise you, if you don't make it a priority, and if you don't put the time on your calendar, it's not going to happen. You've got to control the things you can control and take small steps every day to make that vision a reality. Then week by week, that vision on your vision board starts to become real, very real. I know that it may feel strange to go make goals and plans after the year that we've lived through with a global pandemic. And so many things and feelings feel so uncertain and completely out of control. But if you don't know where you're going, how will you ever make it anywhere. You need to have a vision for your life and your business. You may have to pivot. And you may have to make some changes along the way. But it's a good foundation to start that vision map. You've got to know what you want in your life. And you've got to know what you want your business to look like. And you've got to treat this like a business that supports that life. So my challenge for you this week is to really take a step back and I want you to think about where Am I headed?
Where do I want to go? And what do I want in life? In my business? What is your vision for yourself as the leader in your business? What is your vision for your life in five years, 10 years from now. And I know it's really hard to think that far ahead, given what we've just gone through. But you can still put it out there and manifest and you always have the opportunity to pivot. If you decide to make a vision board, let me know, snap a picture, tag me on social, I would love to share it with our GSD community. And I also want to know if there's anything that I can do to help you meet those goals, please tag me. If you want to try something new, go over to my YouTube channel, and check out my productivity playlist. We'll leave the link in the show notes. If you learn a new tech shortcut, or something that you have never tried before, I would love for you to take a screenshot and share it with me on social and let me know and tag me on Instagram. I'll share it in my stories. I would love to know how you are using technology to not only serve yourself, but serve your business so you can get more done and keep your life balanced and flowing. My YouTube channel and social media platforms are a great place to follow along to learn more about the new tools that I'm discovering all the time. But if you really need to know how to use your technology to be more efficient, or if you're looking for the step by step guidance and processes to ingrain these habits and practices in everything you're doing. Don't miss your chance to sign up for GST Academy, go to the GST academy.com right now, it makes sure that you get your name and email address on the list. Depending on when you're hearing this episode, you may have a chance to sign up for a waitlist, but we are going to be opening the doors to the academy really soon. And you don't want to miss out. See you back here next week on business unveiled. Bye. That's it for this week's episode of business unveiled. Now that you have all the tools that you need to conquer the world and GSD get shit done. Would you share this with your friends and fellow business leaders? One thing that would really really help us and help new listeners is for you to rate the show and leave a comment and Apple podcast, Spotify, Stitcher, or wherever you tune in and listen to business unveiled. You can check out the show notes at Angela proffitt.com slash podcast and link up with us on social media so you can share your biggest insights. And I want to know your aha moments. Until next week, remember the profitable shifts and structures you're creating in your business help you be more present in your life. So get out there and GSD