Stay On Track With Your Business Goals And Promotions Using CEO Days
Ashley Kang of AHK Business Management spills her ideas and strategies for planning CEO Days that ensure you're aligned with business goals, avoiding shiny object syndrome and planning your launch promotions.
In this episode, Ashley and I talked about...
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what we can learn about being a CEO from Bridgerton
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why every business owner needs a regular CEO day
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how to set up an effective CEO day schedule
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the challenge of being a visionary and person who executes everything
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a few tactics to avoid shiny object syndrome
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the impact CEO Day has on our goals
...and much, much more
Things mentioned in this episode
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Get my Free Launch Copy Map: https://www.saravartanian.com/launch-map
- Pick up Ashley's Time Audit Worksheet: https://www.subscribepage.com/ahktimeaudit
Learn More About Ashley Kang
“A real life Hermione Granger” is a tagline used frequently to describe Ashley. She’s been organizing, planning, and managing everything from a young age, from alphabetizing her personal library to coordinating group projects, to always having a to-do list and up-to-date planner.
During the early years of her career, Ashley worked in customer service and client management. After completing her masters in public policy and administration, she spent several years working as a project and policy manager, directly involved in strategy and project management at the executive level.
AHK Business Management was born out of her desire to bring her love of strategy, implementation, and systems together in a holistic way. Today, she works with online service providers to navigate the overwhelm and chaos of running a business so they can have tangible action steps to make impact and grow as CEOs.
When she’s not working with clients, Ashley loves quilting, kayaking, and puttering around in the garden. And in true Hermione Granger form, a book is never too far away.
Connect with her on IG: @ahkbusinessmanagement https://www.instagram.com/ahkbusinessmanagement/
Check Ashley's Website: https://ahkbusinessmanagement.com/
Connect with her on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ashleyhkang/
Read the full transcript so you don't miss a thing
Sara: Have you ever started launching or relaunching an offer or a service? And you're right in the midst of doing all this stuff? Or when you suddenly wonder, like, why am I doing this right now, or perhaps you've been so busy servicing clients, you keep pushing the dates on your own launch over and over. I'm fully raising my hand and guilt to that. Another common one is launching something new because other people are doing it. It looks really cool. low ticket offers this one I'm thinking of, and having success with it, but it doesn't even actually fit the original plans you've had for yourself for the quarter for the year. So if I'm talking to you right now than today's episode all about strategic planning is for you. Today I'm chatting with Ashley Kang. AHK business management about strategic planning or real life. Hermione Granger is a tagline used frequently to describe Ashley. She's been organizing, planning and managing everything from a young age from alphabetizing her personal library, to coordinating group projects to always have new to do lists and an up to date planner. During the early years of her career, Ashley worked in customer service and client management. After completing her Master's in Public Policy and Administration. She spent several years working as a project and Policy Manager directly involved in strategy and project management at the executive level. AHK business management was born out of her desire to bring her love of strategy, implementation and systems together in holistic way. And today, Ashley works with online service providers to navigate the overwhelm and chaos of running a business so they can have tangible action steps to make impact and grow as CEOs.
You're listening to the launch playbook podcast, the weekly podcast for service based business owners to discover the starts, stops and tools of transformation that go into launching their online offers. I'm your host, Sara Vartanian. And if you want to launch your ideas into the world faster with more success and less burnout. Well, friend, consider this show your secret playbook to get you there.
Sara: Welcome, Ashley.
Ashley: Thanks for having me, Sarah. I'm super excited to be here.
Sara: Oh my gosh, I am so excited. So before we dive in, I need to say that Ashley wood I met in a program done in a day during Gil's program. And you know, not only did I think what she's doing, it's amazing. And we had a great connection around terms of like the work that we're both doing. But also we are both budgeting. Yes. And so now our IG DMS are about like, I would say 70% bridgerton 3%. I mean, 80%. Feel like That's why like my life should be. And I love it, because now I have someone to like fangirl about it with Sandy Ashley, like, did you take this quiz? And she said to me why. And it's been really lots of fun. And so you know, Ashley never talking in the green room before we started recording, just like the thinking like, is there any way that bridgerton relates to business? And actually, you had some interesting thoughts you want to share?
Ashley: I mean, hey, any way we can involve bridgerton in the conversation, I'm here for it. Yes, please. So for those of you who haven't watched Season Two yet, spoilers, but one of the things I was thinking about was that Kate and Anthony, the main characters of season two, are, you know, very hung up on responsibility and their notions of what marriage and what their futures were going to be like, and what their future partners and they had a plan and had that vision. And we're a lot like that, as entrepreneurs and business owners, we have this ideal of what we want our businesses to look like, what we think it's gonna be like to run our own businesses. And just like Kate and Antony, they found and we find that you know, life happens, and things end up unfolding in ways we did not expect and maybe didn't want at first or resisted at first. And it actually ends up being the best thing that could happen because Kate and Anthony go from enemies to lovers. And just like that, we in business, try different things. Things happen, and it ends up working out. Okay.
Sara: I love that example so much. I was like clapping my hands in the greenroom ahead of time. Yeah, I think that makes so much sense. I see that. And I love that we could use that actually as a perfect bridge into our conversation today because it feels so right now for Arvest. Biz power relationships. Yeah. So actually, why does happen when we let overwhelm and those million to dues and those million expectations we have for ourselves go unchecked in our business?
Ashley: I think two things happen. One, we lose focus and we burn out like period. We've all been there. And you know those moments where you're like lying on the floor at 2am and just wondering what the heck just happened, but also flipside, sometimes we get really comfortable in doing the same things because it's safe, and it's familiar. And so when we get overwhelmed, we just dig in more. And then instead of, you know, showing up for our business and being a bold leader for ourselves and for our clients, and you know, growing our business, so think, overwhelm, and, you know, having a million to dues, there's a part where that can motivate us to be better. But we also have to honor ourselves and take care of ourselves when the burnout happens.
Sara: That makes so much sense. And I can like, personally relate to that so much that when I let all the to dues get to write, or I don't, let's say prune them properly, on an ongoing basis, because they don't actually have to be there that I definitely go to the familiar, which is like client work, right. And I like all the lofty goals I have for my own business and the things that I want to do, I let them slide where it's, I'm actually like planning and taking the time to do it, then I will show up for my business and my clients, right. And then I feel really good and powerful, but it gets like, it can be scary to be there sometimes. So then it can be easy to like, slide back if I don't have a plan to keep that going.
Ashley: Yeah, totally. I think sometimes we use client work as our excuse to ourselves of why we're not growing or being bold, it's just a really easy thing to be like, but I've got all this client work, I can't possibly, you know, spend time doing X, Y or Z.
Sara: Exactly. So that brings us to like, what two business owners actually need to focus on first.
Ashley: Oh, well, this might feel like a big simplification. But again, I am the simple first and then go from there. So my two things would be have a clear vision for your your life and your business. They're two separate things, they do overlap, but have an idea and know that they're going to change, but have be able to articulate it in the moment. Because that will help you prioritize, make your decision making filter. So that's the first thing, have that vision, that that end goal, and then to be able to structure and manage your time so that you can work towards those vision and goals. That can look a little different for everybody. But I think those are the two main things to focus on.
Sara: That makes so much sense. So actually tell us about CEO days, then who needs them? And what did we do during.
Ashley: Whoa, CEO day is one of my favorite things to talk about. So for people who don't know what CEO days are, first of all, they are a weekly time that you take out of your week, whether it's one or two hours, or if you can the full day that you work on the business growth tasks. So it's the working on your business instead of working in your business. So basically no client work and who as to who needs them. I say if you are a business owner, regardless of who you're a solopreneur, or have a team or an agency, you should have a weekly CEO day, even if you have a hard time considering yourself the CEO of your business, you're making all the big decisions. Newsflash, you are the CEO. And so the things, some of the things that you could be doing during your CEO day, I kind of put into the buckets of you're reflecting, you're reviewing, you're strategizing, you're planning and you got some self care in there. It's like the five buckets that you should try to fill. Yeah, I guess that's a good starting point. For that conversation.
Sara: What do you like to do during your CEO day?
Ashley: Who so many things I'd be curious to to hear from you, Sarah, what kinds of things you might do or are doing during your time as a CEO? So as far as we'll go back to those five buckets, reflecting, I like to do a CEO reflection where I look back on the last week, what was working well, what does it or what's not working? Well? What do I need to do to fix things I review then my metrics, my social media engagement, my progress on my monthly and quarterly goals, any projects that are happening, and then for strategizing, I'm setting social media strategy, looking at any launches or offers that I want to do or are working on planning wise, then I'm planning out all the tests for the week ahead, delegating to myself, and then self care. I am a huge champion for self care. So for me, I try every week to go for a longer walk on my CEO day or have a special snack at lunch, which is usually like a brownie and ice cream because you know, chocolate. Yeah. So those are some of the kinds of things that I do feel, again? Like that's like the base level? And everybody does a little different. But that's kind of some of the things I do.
Sara: Yeah. So what I do so first of all, I've never really called minus CEO day. And but I've been thinking about it like that since you and I met, I realized that the day that I had put aside was, like what you've been talking about, I think there's some elements, I want to add into the been watching what you've been sharing on Instagram, and since we've had conversations, but generally so minor on Mondays, and so I do a few things, I start my day late, I will say that I'm really lucky to have a partner and my husband, who gets up with the kids and dropped him off at school. I'm not a morning person. That has always been something I've been really like, he's basically does that almost every morning. So I'm really lucky for that. But I usually still get up like maybe just before they're leaving, or just after they've left. But on Mondays, I let myself get up later. So I kind of start like a slow morning, I might wake up more like 10 o'clock. And sometimes I'll read in bed even till like 11. If my partner still home, he'll even bring me a cup of tea, which is like magic. If he's not, no, but I generally just like let myself have a slow start. So it's like reading, if I didn't have a shower the night before, I'll have a shower and do my hair is straight in it. So I just feel really good. And then I will I will go into my Trello board. And I will look at like I have a sort of a section that's like big picture planning strategy plan for the year. And I just gonna do a check in to see where we're at with the things that we're goals like, I still check in, like, what do we kind of did? What did we did the week before? Do they still feel right? Like, am I still wanting to do these. So it's a bit of a gut check with that, and are there anywhere that we're sort of falling behind or needs to be done or who needs to be contacted. So I'll kind of go and I'll update that first. And I don't do any email or anything at that point. It's all about that. And then I'll just check in with my team as well, because I have I have a VA. So I check in with her. Because the beginning of the week, I just wanna make sure she has what she needs to do things. But it's really we just do loom like we don't we don't get in a call or anything we just do like boobs. And I want to see on those days, I 90% of the time, don't book calls on Mondays with anybody, like even for my business, I just like I'd really try to keep it a no call day unless something really can't be rearranged. At that point, I usually do what you do to like, I often will have something really yummy for lunch. So sometimes I'll have ordered, there's like a grocery store I love that has like prepared salads that I love, love, love so often have ordered them to come that day. So I have something fresh, and I'll do like a 20 minute workout. And then what I do is I do writing for my business. So I put it into buckets though. So I have writing for I have like a visibility hour I call it during that time, it might be like, I do pitches. Like if I'm writing pitches for podcasts, or if I'm planning some reels or something else that I'm planning, like visibility effort. It could even be outlining, let's say a presentation that I have for somebody or something I'm doing. And then I have an hour, which I just call like newsletters, but each Monday newsletter is different. So it could be like so I try to actually do my whole month of email newsletters one Monday, the next Monday would be the one for my group programs newsletters for the whole month. And then as I get my referral partner program going up, I'll be doing the same thing. So it'll just rotate through what kind of newsletters I'm reading. And then I have a little section which is around my group program. It's like an hour where I just go and I see if there's anything I have to take care of there. And something I just started adding on this quarter because my VA made me this great biz stats tracker. So it's something that I had been doing sort of loosely, but now I wanted to get more specific about it. So we're adding in a bit stats tracker, so I'll track you know, numbers across things, essentially. And then I try to wrap up just after my kids come home from school, I don't usually worry about it so much. Again, my kids are older, they're 10 and 12. So I don't have to have a hard stop when they come home in the day. Like they're very self sufficient. They really just want to go play fortnight or Minecraft with their friends, you don't really want to hang out with me. So like other than like, I like to say hi, like, how was your day and like, have a small chat, I can get back to work, but I still kind of tend to wrap up early on those days. And just just because, like, it's kind of a nice way to start the week. So that's what I've been doing thus far on my days.
Ashley: And you know, I think Sara, all of what you just shared is so great. And it's a great reflection of how you can have a CEO day and I can have a CEO day. But what we do during our CEO days is different because we make it fit for us as individuals our business and our life and you know other people I know other people who their CEO days a full day as well. In the morning they're doing you know all of the tasks and whatnot but then they leave the afternoon open so that they can do doctor's appointments or dentists or you know, things that they have to schedule during the week but don't want to take away from their work week and client work and whatnot. So it's everybody uses it a little differently and I just love hearing about other people's CEO day. So you even just gave me some ideas. I'm already thinking about who like I'm a morning person. But so I'm always up really early and I start my CEO days early, but maybe I should like, actually do something fun in the morning for myself now. So lets see.
Sara: it really it really helps chase with the Monday blues example. For sure an entrepreneur but but it really is a nice like segue into the week. That's what I've always liked about it.
Ashley: Yes, yes, for sure.
Sara: So Ashley actually how can CEO day help our business? And also more specifically, our launches?
Ashley: Yes, so I think for our business, I think we've already been alluding to this already, it's just a great way to be able to pause and get a big picture view of what's going on, reflect and then plan ahead and just have that space for us to breathe, and focus and recharge. But I think specifically for launches, because you know, this podcast is the launch playbook. For launches, CEO days can actually be a really cool tool. If you have time in your CEO day, you can use it to plan out your launches, because you know, during the week, we get swept up with client work. And so having time to be able to strategize plan, when a launch is like in the works or happening, it's a great way to be able to track what's happening if you need to course correct in the middle of it. And, you know, just actually implement because I'm sure you experienced this Sara as well, if we can make that beautiful strategy, we can make that beautiful launch plan, put all that time and effort into it. And then we have to actually like, go and do it right. And like implement, maintain, follow through and the CEO days can be a really great way to have that weekly accountability for ourselves, even uncheck him. So whether you're planning out your launch during your CEO day, or like actually doing the launch tasks, I think CEO days are just a great protected space, designated time that you know, you're gonna have to work on stuff like that.
Sara: I love that you call that a protected space. And that resonates with me so much. I know that something that when I like when I'm onboarding new clients, it's something we talked about availability, is it Mondays aren't an available day, right? Like it's not even, like we're available like Tuesday through Friday. Right, right. And even Friday, it's what's really Tuesday, Thursday, but Friday, we're still in there. But we're not I don't I don't do calls on Friday either. And so I think I love hasted super protected, because that's something that I've had to put into my business. And I think other people have to and I'm guessing that you do as well, actually that you they're not available for others, right?
Ashley: I mean, I think to again, going back to how CEOs can be different for different people. Also, knowing that, like, let's say you don't have a launch going on, or whatnot, your CEO doesn't like, you don't have to feel forced to do something that you don't have to do, if that makes sense. Like, I'm not launching anything right now. So my CEO at a time that maybe I would be using for that. I use it for other stuff. And right now I'm in a space where I like doing a couple coffee chats during my CEO day. And sometimes I don't but again, it's like I protect the time that I want to protect, and the non negotiable time during my CEO day and the rest of the week, so that I'm more effective when I need to be.
Sara: It makes so much sense I hear you're saying but like there's still some even though it's a plan day, there's still flexibility within that plan. Yeah, according to what's going on. And I and I see that too. Like when I am launching something or working on a new offer or something like even just like how we met with you know, Jordan fields program did in the day, I remember I at that time adjusted that day. So that it was like that today that I went into the program and I did learning and then like worked on the implementation of that stuff. And that's not there now because I'm done right so but it it adjusted.
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Sara: So if we want to setup for own cod, where do we start?
Ashley: Well, if you're starting from scratch, like you don't have any sort of CEO day at all, right now, you're probably also one of those people who are thinking, How on earth am I supposed to make more time like I barely have time as it is, this all sounds well and good, I just don't have time. And to that note, I would say, one, do a time audit, like, for a whole week, just write down every, like, hour, a couple hours, what you're doing during that time. And then at the end of the week, look at it, start trying to group like things with like, start time blocking, dating, and you're gonna find that you actually have more pockets of time than you think you do. So that's one thing. And also, if you've been struggling to actually follow through, or do your, you know, CEO day, each week, I say, shorten it. So don't, if you can't put a full day in, that's okay. Just maybe start by carving out like a two hour block on your Monday morning or Friday, whenever you're going to do your CEO day. And just try to consistently block and protect that time to do those things. And just get into a habit, I think, I read somewhere where they said it takes 30 days to build a habit, and like a day or two to break it. And so to get into the habit of doing a CEO day, it's gonna feel hard in the beginning. But again, stick to it. And know that the benefits once you get it under under your belt, and you become consistent and comfortable with it, it's gonna give you so much more freedom and just a breath of fresh air. And another thing I would definitely suggest is have an agenda or a checklist to work through during your CEO day because you don't have to think about oh, okay, what do I need to do next? It's right there for you. And it's repeatable. It's easy, and it keeps you focused.
Sara: I like that. And it's something I want to implement into mine is a checklist. I really just had something in the calendar on those days, it just repeat like, Aha 12 to one is this, but I think I love the idea of the checklist, because also, I like checking things off because it feels good.
Ashley: Oh, yes. Instant gratification.
Sara: Like I did that I'm so good backpack.
Ashley: Well, I mean, that's where like, if you have a project management tool, yeah, having like a designated like Trello board or clickup list or Asana list, whatever you have air table base, having one for your CEO day tasks. And sure, you might not hit every single thing, because you might not need to every single week, but just having it there to be like, alright, that that that that and that it's so much easier, you really don't have to think about it. I actually really love my CEO days because of that, because I just walk into my Mondays being like real name. And I have to think it's it's right there.
Sara: Perfect all there for me. So do you plan Ashley, your stuff ahead of time, then like, let's say like the week before the Friday before? Do you go in and kind of put like, if there's any details of things that you know, on that day? Or do you just go and look like when you get to the certain tasks or care, do them just go get the information.
Ashley: So for my CEO day, specifically, like I have that standard list, and then during the week before, because I do mine on Monday mornings, and then the week before as things happen, I'll be like, Okay, this is something I could do during my CEO day. And then I'll go in and add it as a not a recurring task. But it's an actual task for me to do during my CEO day time. And it's worked out really well. And again, another reason why ICU days are great is because during the week, when things come up, and you're like, I do not have time or capacity to revisit this right now, oh, this is a thing I could do during my CEO day, let me just make a note right now. And that's why having like a running list, or like a clickup list, or whatever you use is really great. Because then you can just go, you know, dump the things that you're gonna do. And I was having conversation with a friend recently. And she was just saying, I have all these things I want to do for the business. And it's just like, the list feels so long. And I'm just like, I can't get around to it. And like, there's all they're all important. But I was like, Do you have a CEO day and she's like, I knew you were gonna say, but it's true because the CEO day when you have time to work on those things that pop up during the week, how now it makes you feel so much better, and more in control of what's happening that night.
Sara: Yeah, that makes a lot of sense. And I love how you were talking around if you're trying to develop one for the first time to like look at your time and to monitor your time because you'll see that you're actually probably doing those things but all over the place. Right? So yeah, it does exist. And I know that that's something that I resonate with, because I remember that before I did this I also felt like there like there's no way at all I can like detonate a whole day to this like I have hours here and there but actually I had it all it's just it was Again all over the place, and that was worse. I think getting things done. I was because I was like, test switching, right. And I know, at least as a writer, I find like, that's incredibly hard. I need to like I get into a client's projects, I do the research, I read the stuff I go, writing and then to go to switch to something else. Later on, I actually find challenging for me, it's in better to silo like, cod have this is my writing day. These are my call days.
Ashley: Yup, yep. And that's why I think, to have a CEO day that really works for you, you also have to manage the rest of your week. Well, that's why I always talk about time blocking and day theming, in addition to CEO days, because if you want your CEO CEO day to actually make an impact for your week, then the rest of the week has to be set up in a way that you can actually implement an act upon the things that you work on during your CEO day. And vice versa to you're more effective if you're siloing. And focused on one thing, instead of stretching yourself thin.
Sara: So you've seen behind the curtain of a lot of businesses by now with your you know, working with CEO and CEO days, and I know you have another VIP day it's I think chaos to clarity, or Aha, what common issues you kind of see behind the scenes, give us a sneak peek what's behind the curtain. We like to know what what are other people going through that we're all you know, to we can go oh, my gosh, S T, we're not alone. And why these things are happening so often.
Ashley: I'm laughing because I was having this conversation last night with another group of entrepreneur women. And we were chuckling about this. But I think the biggest issue I see is shiny object syndrome, or some form of it, where we see somebody else doing something really cool. Or we hear about a new tool, or a new thing, or we have a new idea. And the grass looks greener on the other side, or were like, oh, it's working great for them. I shouldn't be doing it too. And we just go barreling headfirst without really thinking about it, because it's shiny, and it's beautiful. And we're like, whoo, it's the next best thing. And then, you know, like, a couple weeks later, a month later, and we're like, oh, we have nothing to show for it. That was a terrible decision.
Sara: I can relate. Yeah, I'm sure a lot of us can are listening.
Ashley: It's an issue. And to that, I would say, you know, one, you have to really ask yourself, the question of is this new thing, this new shiny thing that I see or heard about? Is is actually supporting my overall vision for my life and my business? My crew goals? And if the immediate answer is no, then you should check that off the window and you feel like maybe I don't know, then you continue to dig deeper? Like, do you have the resources and capacity to do this? Do you have the money to do it to implement this? How is this actually directly related to one of your goals to your offers, you know, and then as you start asking yourself those questions, and you're like, oh, oh, okay, this isn't, this isn't going to work, then you know, you're able to let go of that. But some people just in the spur of the moment, will make that decision. And it's, it's like that instant gratification and then regret later. It's like, you know, you eat the third helping of dessert. And then afterwards, you're just like, that was horrible. Terrible.
Sara: Yeah. Or when you say of watching bridgerton Way past bedtime, because you get a Netflix says, Do you want to keep watching? You're like, yes.
Ashley: Well, yeah, I mean.
Sara: Bad decision.
Ashley: You know, the A side note, we're, for our listeners, Sarah and I, we both stayed up till you know, for 5am Watching it the first night, we came out and messaging each other. But again, it's that same sort of thing. It's so great at the moment, the next day. we were zombies.
Sara: Could the goes to Saturday.
Ashley: Thank goodness, thank you Netflix, that was prime scheduling. But back to that original question. I think so yeah, shiny object syndrome is such a thing. Because, again, what works for someone else might not be the thing that works for you. We're always searching for that golden ticket golden solution. And our businesses are a reflection of us, and we are all individual and unique people. Therefore not every solution is gonna work for every single person.
Sara: Oh, my gosh, shiny object syndrome is an issue. And I love that you call that one out is like the thing that you see often will want and makes me feel good. I'm not the only one. But also because I know I'm sure that our listeners listening because in other businesses I've talked to as well in groups like that is the thing, right? That is like that. Who have you heard about this strategy? That we all have these conversations like should I try it and I appreciate how you brought it back to well, what are your goals? Like what were their goals and plans that you had it and does it fit in that? Will it will it get that done for you something that I implemented to deal with that actually, I thought you might find interesting, so I used to be a teacher. And one of the things that we would sometimes do in some classic cases do something called a parking lot, where we would like parking lot ideas. So in my Trello board my big picture strategy, I have a card that says parking lot. So when there's things that I like that I want to do that like the don't fit in right now, I don't delete them. I parking lot them. Every so often, oftentimes, like, it's usually more like once a quarter, what I'm really looking at, like what's coming up and honestly, the end of the year, as well. And I think like, do I still want to do these? I heard tell you that so many of those things that I parking lot, but I thought I really wanted to do right at the end of the year. Nope, nope, nope, nope. Thank goodness, I didn't do this one. But it's like, at least for me, it's like I haven't lost the idea because Humpty knows, like the idea as well. Right? That D was like seems so good. In the moment. I'm saving it. I'm just for later.
Ashley: I love that I Well, first of all, I love analogies, I actually have a same or similar thing. I call it my ideas vault. And it's actually I take it one step further where I have an air table base, and then one of the views is a form. So when I have the idea, I fill out the form, I press submit, and then I don't look at the ideas will until you on the end of the quarter or the end of the year, like you said, alright, okay. Do I still want that? Is I still viable? No, chuck it or this could be interesting to do this quarter. So it's a vault where I'm not allowed, like I put the idea in and I'm not allowed to look at it for a while, because, you know, the novelty will probably wear off.
Sara: Locked away somewhere safe. And I like that you've created a form for yourself
for it.
Ashley: Oh, yeah, it's, you know, fun to fill out the form. But to then it's like, I don't see it, I don't see the rest of the ideas that I've already put in there. It's, you know, out of sight out of mind.
Sara: It's kind of like what people say about shopping. I don't remember the phrase. But isn't it like before you make a big purchase? You should wait X amount of hours to see if you still want to do it. So it's not like yes, if it's like, feels really similar, right with, like, if we put it in our vault or a parking lot, or whatever, that we like, sit on it for time, more than three days, because we still want to do it for sure. As entrepreneurs, we have ideas, but like, you know, at least that quarter, for sure, for sure. And then we like do a gut check. And so often it's like, I'm okay, actually, I did.
Ashley: Good. Yeah. Yeah, exactly.
Sara: So, you know, speaking of all those ideas, that we send them tough to lock away, and that we want to follow sometimes, how do we balance being this visionary for our business, but also with the person who gets stuff done? Because I think a lot of our listeners here are probably identify as well as like solopreneurs. Or they might still have like, some contractors or VA and things on their team. But they're not most of them listing aren't having, they're not a team of like 10, let's say there might be a couple employees, but we're still small. And so we're still doing stuff in our business a lot, right? We, of course, are the idea person. So how do we balance that?
Ashley: That's fun, because I don't consider myself an ideas person, I consider myself the go to person, which sometimes is a hard place to be when you're running your own business, and you need to have the ideas. But I am going to bring in a little analogy here, if I may. So when let's say you're going to host a dinner party, right. And you need to have the menu of what you're going to serve all your friends and impress your guests with. So you don't just waltz into your local grocery store the day of the party with no plan, no nothing, right, because that will just be a waste of time, and money and energy, and you're probably gonna go crazy. So having the being a visionary business owner is like having the menu set, you know what you're gonna serve. And those are your vision and goals. Then you make the shopping list, right of all the ingredients you need, you might already have some things at home, check your pantry, but make the list. So that's like having your strategy and your plan. As a business owner, you're making that list of what needs to happen. And then you go to the grocery store, you should have a system or a route to go through the store by grouping your list with like things. So you're not running around from the produce department to the pantry aisle, to the meat department to the frozen section, back and forth, you're gonna want to write your list in departments or by aisle. And that's a lot like having the systems and processes to actually help you implement your plan or your strategy to help you get all the things on your list. That way, you're more efficient, and then you can go home and start cooking and have a fabulous time with your friends. So to bring that home, as business owners who need to be visionaries, but also get stuff done. You need to have those three things in place. The vision and goals like I keep saying, Have the strategy and plan and then have the systems the processes the resources or if you have a team that they would fall in that place to help you execute on that strategy and plan you need all three things. You can't have one without the other and if you think you do Though I would encourage you to look a little deeper and realize that you probably have all three of those pieces, but you might need to spend some more time developing one of those areas.
Sara: Yeah, that's so good. I love that analogy that you gave us. So if our listeners could only walk away with one thing from this episode, Ashley, what do you hope it would be?
Ashley: I would say, this might feel a little woowoo and maybe intangible, but really find your joy, and focus on it. This is another way of saying the whole quality over quantity. And another way of saying that not everything that works for everybody is going to work for you. Because, again, like, what, what ultimately do you want your business to be? What makes you excited to wake up every morning and sit down at your computer or your table and serve your clients and do the work and really focus on that and build your business around that because strategy planning launches, CEO days, they all it'll all fall into place. But you need to have that, that joy and that vision figured out so that everything else could fall in place.
Sara: I like that you mentioned like having that joy and that fun, because I think that's something sometimes when we're doing the most and all of the things and all the to dues and all the overwhelm is what gets sucked out of the business that we probably started in the first place because we actually loved thing that we started and it can so easily be snuffed out right with all the other stuff. So I so love that you came back to that as the starting spot to look at. So Ashley, where can our listeners find out more about working with you and about your amazing CEO VIP day? Tell us all about
it.
Ashley: Yeah, so like you mentioned, Sara I have a VIP day that's all about helping CEOs design their CEO day as well as structure their week so that their CEO, CEO day can be more effective. So I have that I have a vision planning VIP day as well. But I am most active on Instagram at HK business management. I love being on their reels have been a fun interest of mine lately. So you can find me there my website as well. It's always under construction, as I like to say, but that's www.ahkbusinessmanagement.com And I love just talking with people about how to get more clarity and sanity and tie back in their life so that they can be the best CEO for their business. So yeah, Instagram website, come around.
Sara: Perfect. We will drop all those links, of course in the show notes. And definitely go check out Ashley and follow her on Instagram. I have such great conversations with her, not just about bridgerton but Ashley's so supportive as a you know, as a business, hell and the information she puts out there is so helpful that you could like start implementing some things just from following her content. So Ashley, thank you so much for coming to join us today to talk about SEO days, and how we can give you some of that chaos in our business that overwhelmed actually start implementing the things that we wanted to do for our business.
Ashley: Thank you. Thanks for having me.
Sara: Thanks for tuning in to the launch playbook podcast. If you want to get weekly launch secrets in your ears. I hope you'll hit subscribe on iTunes you'll never miss an episode. Because who knows? It could reveal just the thing you've been looking for to make your next launch a success. And be sure to leave a five star review on iTunes telling me how this episode inspired your launch plans. Until next time, keep putting your big ideas out into the world. I'm rooting for you!
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