Intuition: your best business strategy for 2021

(00:08):

Hey friends. Welcome to episode number 16 of entrepreneurial Outlaws. In today's episode, we are going to be diving into intuition. We're going to be having a conversation about why your intuition is your best business strategy in 2021. In last week's episode, I shared with you how to create your own outlaw strategy. We talked about the foundations. We talked about creating your business strategy from your intuition and making sure that you align your business with your values, how you take your business and place it into your life rather than trying to cram your life into your business.

(00:57):

This past week, though has reminded me of the ways in which I have become comfortable, the ways in which I have allowed my boundaries to slip. And I don't know about y'all, but for me, when the external world changes so rapidly, when all of a sudden my school, my kids' school, my school, my kid's school closes, and I'm trying to navigate a new routine. And when we see terrorism and white supremacy raining, when my external world feels uncontrollable, I allow my own world to become uncontrollable. I procrastinate, I get distracted. I let all my boundaries down and I spiral into this place where I'm left, exhausted and drained by my own, my own toxic routine.

(02:08):

And what I realized by the end of the past week is that it comes back to intuition. So for those of us who have felt the need to say something and have stood up in our values and have said the, have to remind people or mind our followers, again, that we stand with the black community, we stand with the indigenous community. We stand with people of color. We stand with LGBTQ community that we will not stand for racism and white supremacy within our businesses. That we will not work with people or collaborate with people who are silent. I know that for so many of you, you've also felt this crunchiness as my coach would say this feeling of how do you do business as usual when nothing is usual, how do you create content? How do you plan? How do you market? How do you sell?

(03:18):

How do you launch? And this is a common question I've heard this week from business owners. It's a common question I've been asking myself is how do you do business as usual when nothing feels usual? And one of the feelings and one of the, I guess, reminders I've had this past week is that we feel very much. Or I personally feel very much that I'm in the same place. I was a year ago or last March. That's you have the urge to say something, but everything feels like noise. You have the urge to say something, do something, support people who are hurting right now. But there feels like whatever you say will add to the noise. And this is something that I realized many of you are struggling with right now. It's something that, to be quite honest, many of you are going to continue to struggle with is something that many of us struggled with last year.

(04:39):

And so I decided to kind of switch up my approach to the coming episodes. We're going to be talking about intuition as a business strategy today. Why intuition is your best strategy overall, I'm going to break it down. I'm going to talk about what using your intuition can do for your business, what it can do for you and your personal life, because that is just as important. And then over the coming weeks, we're going to look at intuition as a marketing strategy, as a content strategy, as a strategy to Instagram. Now, for any of you listening, who have been in business for a minute, for any of you who have downloaded the lead magnets, you had normally mine, but anybody's lead manage magnets. You've downloaded the freebies. You signed up for the things you've watched. The webinars you've even maybe bought some courses in an, a membership paid for some coaching. You it's very unlikely. You need to learn anything new.

(05:40):

And I don't know about y'all, but what I see is a lot of people right now looking outside of themselves, I see a lot of business owners clinging to something, something new, something, they can buy something they can change because that feels like control. If I change this about my business, if I start a new project, if I decide to go on a new platform, now some of those things might be the right things, but oftentimes we look outside of ourselves for a solution. So when everything feels unknown, when there is a lot of uncertainty, when we are afraid, right, afraid within our business, because we have built so much and we have worked so hard, we spend way too much time on Instagram. My hand is raised at very high. We spend way too much time at consuming content that is adding to that noise.

(06:46):

So there's two sides. There's how do you ensure that you don't add to noise and how do you also ensure that you can get in and get out? Right? How do you still do the things that you love about your business? How do you still create content? How do you still hang out on Instagram and, and, and get to experience the parts of that, that you enjoy and learn and support people, or whilst also not falling down that spiral of comparison, letting our inner critic eat away at us and consequently, just being left, asking what's next. And what's the point because these are some very real questions I've had this past week, very real conversations I have had with clients and friends and students, and with myself as the, we know if this amount of people, small business owners, entrepreneurs are feeling that way. I also know that you're not alone.

(07:47):

So I want to invite you to join me on this episode. We're going to look at intuition as a strategy, as a business strategy for 2021. We're going to talk about why it is a strategy, how it is the best strategy and how you can use it as a tool in your business to continue growing, to continue doing the work you need to do without becoming overwhelmed, without losing your sense of self without squashing your boundaries without hiding your values. How do you use your intuition to be part of the positive impact? Create the positive impacts, be part of the greater good

(08:55):

[Inaudible].

(09:04):

Okay. So the first thing I just want to say is that your intuition is a strategy like period, okay. Your intuition is a strategy. It is a form of a strategy. It is our best tool against the noise on social media. During this pandemic, it was the best tool we had last year. And it continues to be that way because it is the best way for us as small business owners to show and share our values. Now more than ever our core values, our business values also have possible values. They are incredibly important. And it's important that we share those values, that we show people what we value. Now we can do this by standing up and saying, Hey, these are my values. You can also do that in the way that you collaborate. You do that through your content. You do that through the stories that you tell you do it in the way that you market and launch and sell your products or offers it is the easiest way to solve and to be of value to others. And we hear a lot about, be valuable, show up, serve your audience, be of value. Everything should be at value. We hear that on repeat, right? And it's one of those statements that I have found over the years to be incredibly, incredibly confusing or incredibly vague, be a value. Oftentimes we, we feel like we're being valued. We feel like we're providing value. We feel like we're being of value. Perhaps we don't get the, the reciprocation from our audience that we were hoping for.

(10:55):

And I think one of the reasons for this is because often we are taught so many rules, right? We have been taught so many rules around how to be a value, how to sub, how to show up, how to be authentic. But the thing is the rules stop us from doing any of those things. There are rules around being authentic. It is just what it is, right? Oftentimes sharing the content, sharing the thoughts, the opinions, sharing the steps or the strategies, the things that you have found valuable in your business. They are the things that others find valuable. I mean, if we're going to talk about business in a very simple way, entrepreneurship in the most simplest ways, find a problem solver. We know that everything else is noise, right? If we looking to find a problem and solve it, that is the easiest way to be of service. It's the easiest way to be a value. Someone has a problem. We have a solution. We are now a service and a value to that person. Everything else is noise. And so when it comes to creating content, marketing, launching, selling, ever, it might be in your business. Your intuition is going to guide you.

(12:36):

But I also know as a business or not, who's been doing this for a number of years now and has invested a lot of time, energy and money into learning from others. It is not easy to go from, this is the strategy. This is the thing I have to follow too. Maybe it's not, maybe there's another option. Maybe that's not the right thing. It's difficult to shut out that noise. It's difficult to turn that noise off. It's difficult to almost get in and get out. It's also difficult to sometimes rationalize with ourselves that if something isn't working and we need to put it down, we need to slow down. We need to look at other options, alternatives, because if something isn't working, there's a good chance that it's not going to work. If you know that you've followed the strategy that you've done, all the steps and it still didn't work, it's probably not you.

(13:36):

It probably is just that that strategy or tool, isn't the best thing for you. Your intuition is always going to be your best tool. It's always going to be your best guide. But I also know that that can be very difficult to tap into. It can be very, very hard for us to tap into our intuition and recognize how we can listen to ourselves to have trust that what we are going to do is the right thing that we know the next best step. And that really is what it comes down to trusting in ourselves, that what we value that our grounded beliefs, the beliefs are grounded in our values. That that is always the right answer. And I'm going to assume the other strategy, the strategies that didn't work are not grounded in your values, and instead were gimmicky and marketed towards you. And I say this from a place of love and a place of knowledge. That that was the same thing for me. I fell for the gimmick. I fell for the best kept secrets when really they were never going to be the best tool for me.

(15:04):

So your intuition is your best tool in business right now. If you have feeling uncertain, if you are feeling overwhelmed, if you are asking yourself what's next, or how do I create content plan, my content market, my business sell launch. How do I do those things? When I feel like there isn't enough value, that is how right? Letting your intuition guide you. Intuition is how you decide, should I post this or not? Is it appropriate? Right? It comes from your values and your grounded beliefs. It comes from knowing that you are trying to serve. So have you already, it's, you're trying to create a positive impact in the world, right? Intuition is how you decide is this right or wrong? Should I post this? Is this the right time? Intuition is what tells us it's that feeling that tells us when something isn't working now, we've all had that, feeling, that feeling when we are in a launch, that feeling when we're investing in a program, that feeling in a community, we just get that feeling in us, in our gut, in our stomach, we get our feeling of this isn't working or this isn't right.

(16:31):

Something isn't right here. And the intuition is what we use to decide what's next. But we block out my intuition. I mean, blindly follow others. We blindly follow what is out there. Instead of listening to ourselves, that is when we get deeper and deeper into this place where we feel overwhelmed, where we feel like nothing is walking,

(16:57):

Right?

(16:58):

Intuition is what we use to decide what needs to change and what we're willing to work on. It's how we decide, what am I going to do this month? It's how we plan our business. We stop listening to our intuition because we have been told that there is a million secrets. There are all these things that we need to do. Those are the things that we should be doing. Intuition is, and always has been the way a small business and a modern day. Entrepreneur breaks down barriers, scales and creates positive impacts. Be a human whilst creating wealth. How many times have we probably felt like it's one or the other? Like if you scale your business, you can't also be a human. You can't answer your DMS. You can't be the face of your, but that's just not true because our intuition is what helps us do those things.

(17:56):

It's what helps us be a human being whilst scaling. It helps us break down barriers and build connection and create positive impact. It helps us be a human. Whilst we create wealth. It helps us to decide what is right, what is the next step? And when we stopped using our intuition, when we look outside of ourselves, when we allow strategy and only, and stretched you alone to become the main goal, we lose that connection. We lose that connection to ourselves and we lose that connection to our audience, to people, right? We lose that connection to the people around us who are telling us what they want. More of.

(18:43):

We lose that connection and the modern day entrepreneurs who want longevity and sustainability, right? That's really important. I want, I want to focus on that for a second longevity, being that we have trust and faith in our business. That that is the thing that we should be working on. It's not always going to be linear growth, but we know that our business is the, is the thing that we love. It's the thing that we were meant to do on this planet. It's a walk, right? So for modern-day business owners who want that longevity, but also wants sustainability, right? We want to be able to make, make an income, right? Pay our bills in business, right? We need to be able to tap into that intuition. We need to be able to allow our intuition to become a business stress sheet now more than ever. Why? Because there is so much outside of ourselves that we cannot control for the first time. At least for me, the first time there is, there is external factors. There are people who potentially don't follow rules, and that impacts the way I can do my business. That impacts

(20:12):

Whether or not my kid goes to school, whether or not I have routine, there is something bigger than me and my business outside of my home that is driving. It is the control, right? It controls whether or not people can go back to work. It controls whether or not we can travel. It controls whether or not our kids can go to school. It controls whether or not someone survive or not. It is bigger than me. It is bigger than us. And because of that, we cannot necessarily apply any strategy or tactic that we once knew to be correct or the right thing or the secret. We cannot follow the same rules in business, at least not all the time.

(21:25):

And I know this to be true for anyone who feels the emotional impact on a regular basis, the emotional impact of COVID the emotional impact of this world. As we know, it impacts the way we run our business. If we struggle with the duality of being able to both see what is happening in the world, watch the news and run our business effectively. If, if you are someone who struggles with that, then we have to understand at the same time that a lot of what we have been taught, a lot of what we have known may not work right now. It may never work again. And I don't mean that to sound really scary. But what I mean is if something didn't work before, it's very unlikely to work now, a really good example of this, right? And I'm going to get more into this in a couple of weeks, but the really good example of this is content batching.

(22:35):

If you've been listening to me for a while, or you've been aware of my content for a while, I became known as someone who batched content, I taught people how to batch their content. It was amazing. It worked incredibly until it didn't and content planning and content batching pretty much stopped working for me. The day we went into lockdown, when every single routine or cycle go thrown up in the air, when all of that happened, the planning and the batching, you no longer worked. It was something I had relied on for so long in my business. And all of a sudden it didn't work. It didn't work because I didn't know what I wanted to say. It didn't work because I couldn't plan a week ahead. I didn't know what tomorrow was going to look like. And I feel like we're back there, we're back in this place where we don't know what tomorrow looks like. We don't know what next week looks like. There is hope there is possibility. We know that, but at the same time,

(23:56):

Is it really

(23:57):

Stick for us to plan 30 days of content?

(24:00):

10?

(24:03):

Is it realistic to plan 90 days a year? Not really. It is realistic to say, Hey, I'm going to plan as far as I can. And I'm going to let the rest unfold.

(24:16):

It is

(24:16):

Realistic to say right now, this is brave. Feel is a value. This is what I want to say

(24:25):

And plan around that. So

(24:32):

How do we do business? When nothing is usual, right? How do we do business as usual? When nothing is usual, how do you plan your content and not make noise? When we're in a pandemic? How do we market launch and sell? When there is this blanket of grief across the world, when things feel so very divided,

(24:53):

And

(24:54):

I believe it comes down to using our intuition, but I'm not going to like, just tell you to use your intuition because the reality is, how do we tap into that? How do we tap into your intuition? And I've done a little thought on this. And I've been thinking about this for a while, really? For a year. And it comes down to one very specific cycle, right? This cycle of using your intuition, the first is listening. That is the first step, the first phase, whatever you want to call it is listening, listening to yourself and listening to your audience. So it's important to listen to ourselves because if you're feeling uncomfortable or off around something, if you feel like there's red flags or something, isn't right. You need to allow yourself to listen,

(25:54):

Right? Yes.

(25:57):

Sometimes when we listen to ourselves, we'll, we're like, we're afraid. We can say, actually, we still need to do it.

(26:06):

Sometimes

(26:07):

It is a it's misalignment. Sometimes it is us telling ourselves we shouldn't be doing this or following this rule. We need to listen to our audience. When it comes to our business lawyer, I've been saying this for almost a year. The number one tool when it comes to creating content is listening.

(26:32):

Yeah.

(26:36):

How many emojis you use in your caption? It's not how many times a week you email your list or when you post, which days or what times it is listening. Because when you, when you create content, because you've listened, right? When you create content as a, as a factor of listening, you listen to your people and then you create content. You are serving, it comes back to that thing of serving, of being a value of being of service, right? So the first phase in this cycle of tapping into our intuition is listening to yourself and to your audience, right? Listen to yourself. When something feels really off, listen to your audience, to help you create the content, to help you market your business, to help you decipher how they're feeling right now.

(27:37):

And the second phase is creating, right? So you've listened. The next thing is you need to create, you create as a direct response to what you've heard. Once you create, you need to connect. Connection is key more and more. Right now we are craving connection because so much of our connection was taken away. So even though we have zoom, even though we can hang out on FaceTime with people, we still have lost a huge amount of connection. So connection is still incredibly important. Listen, create connect, and finally stuff, right? Listen, create, connect, and serve. This is how we tap into our intuition. This is the cycle and it is a rinse and repeat cycle. And when we can allow ourselves to look our business from this place, from this point of view, from this perspective of listening, then creating, connecting, and then serving. When we can do that on repeat, you don't need to plan your content out a month in advance.

(29:05):

You don't need to plan your content out six months in advance. You don't need to post every day. You don't need to look outside of yourself. You don't need to change your branding or watch that next webinar, or look for the next best thing, because you already have it right in front of you. You already have a cycle of service, a cycle that helps you tap into your intuition, helps you deliver content, create content and deliver content from a of value helps you be of service. It helps you to build more awareness with yourself and within your business. It helps you to remind yourself what is important right now, and prioritize and look at which strategies and which tactics and which things are most important. It helps you to prioritize what is most important within your business, because when we can slow down and we can say, okay, this isn't working. Maybe I'm not listening. And my hand is raised high. Cause we all do it. We can slow down and we can say, okay, this isn't working and I'm not listening. Now you built awareness into the fact that you need to listen, slow down and listen to yourself and listen to your audience.

(30:41):

And when you do that and you start to create from there, create products, create launches, create content. When you start to market from that place of awareness and intuition, everything starts to shift. You become more present within your marketing. You are more aligned and when you're more aligned with what you deliver and what you create, you, you create this energy that your audience can see, right? Because one of the things that 2020 has done for us is it's made that lens, crystal clear, right? We can see and smell the marketing that is icky and is full of bro marketing. We can, we can see the people who are silent and complicit, and we can see that a mile off now.

(31:49):

And because we're not willing to be involved with those businesses, it allows us to, it allows us to be present. It allows us to be aware. It allows us to create this sense of calm and there's energy that others need. It allows you to create this. There's almost this balance between where people are feeling right now, this confusion and this uncertainty, this this discomfort in the reality of what's going on outside of themselves, you're able to build this awareness, create this connection, right? You are able to have more belief in yourself, less noise from your inner critic. You're able to understand what works for you. And you give yourself permission to try things differently. See what works and put the things down that don't you give yourself permission to say no. And to change your mind, you give yourself permission to change the rules and the terms and your boundaries to meet you where you're at. In that moment, you are able to build connections and collaborate with people whose values are aligned with yours. They're aligned with your business.

(33:20):

Yeah.

(33:20):

You're able to stop hiring a team, a team of people who are there. They get it. They use their initiative. They communicate effectively and they help to help you to do your job better. Using your intuition has a profound effect on your business. It will have a profound effect on your business. It will have a profound effect on the way you show up the way you, how you are visible, what kind of impact you make. It will make your launches and your strategies aligned. It will help you to do live to, to, to deliver from a place of value. It will help you to have that crystal clear lens. But I think what I have to be really, really transparent with because that's one of my values is there's no guarantee how much money you make by using your intuition, because it's not about that.

(34:25):

There is no guarantee who you could hire, how quickly there's no guarantee how quickly things grow. There is no guarantees, but here's the thing I do know when we use our intuition and our business, we build that presence and state of awareness. When we have that belief in the way we show up for ourselves to give ourselves permission, to do things on our times, when we follow that route, it is a whole lot more fun. It is enjoyable. We get ourselves out of that place of discomfort and uncertainty far quicker. When our inner critic shows up, we had way more capable of engaging with her or him or them. We may more way more capable of engaging with our inner critic and allowing ourselves to go, yeah, I'm going to do it anyway. It makes us, it gives us more confidence using your intuition on a, on a, on repeat in this rinse and repeat way it builds our up.

(35:38):

It builds our confidence with them in our decision-making. It allows us permission to say no to change our minds, to change the rules, terms and boundaries, because this idea that we should all be building or growing or scaling up business in the same way, this idea that if you decide on January 1st, you're going to build your business in 2021. And now that's the only thing you can do. That is a, such a leadership. His thing, just because you said on January 1st or whenever it was that you were going to build your business this year, it doesn't mean you can't say, you know what, actually, I'm going to scale this thing. If you said you were going to scale, and now you're like, Hmm, you know what? Maybe I just need to take some time to build and figure out some things behind the scenes. There is nothing wrong with that.

(36:31):

This idea that one decision we make is now the only decision we can make this idea that whatever we decide to do when we write it down in our goals is the only thing is absolute crap because we are in control. And isn't this one of the reasons we start up businesses to have more control, to create something, right? That's isn't already out. Yeah. To create our own freedom, to have this time, this presence, but my hand is going to be raised. But I say, how many of us actually have lost all of that? How many of us don't have that time? Or don't allow ourselves to have that time? How many of us don't have that presence? I know I lost it. I've lost it many times when we tap into, onto, into our intuition and allow that to drive up businesses and our strategies.

(37:28):

That means that we regain that presence. We regain, I mean that time, because when not available for the things that take us away from that, and we make better decisions, faster decisions, and we less aware of what's going on outside in that. And I mean that from the sense of comparison, right, we should never lose a sense of what's going on outside, because look, we're not the most important thing in this world. As individuals, there are always bigger things going on, but we we've lose that comparison. We lose that sense of what's that person doing that. Person's doing it this way. Maybe I should do it this way. No, that starts to slip away. How quickly I can't promise you that. But I do know that this cycle, right, listening, creating, connecting, and serving that cycle allows us to create a business that feels good. A business on our own times, a business that we do not feel tied to all the time, a business that allows us to scale and still be a human a business that allows us to create wealth and still be a human, a business that comes from our values and still makes money because it doesn't have to be, and, or it gets to be both.

(39:14):

Nice.

(39:19):

And look, I know that right now, there is so much uncertainty. There is this feeling of what's next and how quickly. And so many of us are just fed up, right? We're fed up with the way things are. Don't forget. Don't lose hope that your business, your decision to create a small business and to use your platform, to make a positive impact and build wealth. That is what we need that's is what is going to help us to keep going. It's what's going to help you to make that change, right? If we've fed up with the way things are, we have to do something about it. And it is not always easy. And it's not always clear and it's not always simple, but we have that decision to make as individuals.

(40:17):

And as I said, I know that saying that using your intuition is your best businesses. Business strategy is not the same as saying, Hey, here's how to make six figures. Here's how to have a seven figure launch. And the reason is because a lot of that is just noise. And I know that for most of you just like myself, we are tired of the noise. We get tired of seeing the same or regurgitated stuff from the same people and his thing. One final thing, using your intuition as a small business owner, it is our best tool against bigger businesses. It is our best tool to help us be seen, to become visible, to be HUD. Because when there is all this noise going on, all these regurgitated tips and strategies that are all the same, but maybe tied up in a different bow.

(41:25):

Well, we have

(41:28):

Is the ability to actually sit with someone virtually of course, and say, yeah, I get it. I feel the same way. Here's what I've done differently, right? Because when there is all this noise around you and you feel overwhelmed by that, what you're looking for is like one person, one person to actually come and sit down next to you to quietly and calmly tell you, or explain to you how this can be, how this can be delivered, how this can be done, how this could be executed, how to become healthier, stronger, fits a smarter wealthier, whatever it might be, whatever it is you do.

(42:22):

Your intuition guide, you allowing our intuition to guide us is our best business strategy for 2021, because consumers are savvy as. And they have become salvia. And this is the opportunity we have to stop being part of the noise, become thought leaders, and actually allow ourselves to continue having that peace of mind and growing our business, knowing that we are doing that effectively, that we have presence and self-awareness as we grow up business and it allows us to step in, to alignment, tap into our intuition and create that business that we always imagined we would have before all of the noise. That is how we do business as usual, when nothing is usual,

(43:26):

That's how you create launch, sell a market. If you feel like your product is not needed right now, if you are concerned that what you were going to do, isn't the right step. Tap into your intuition, listen, create connect and stuff. Break the rules, break those rules. Do you want your times create your boundaries? Change your mind. If you have to make those decisions from a place of intuition, and I promise you, you will make them faster and they will feel good. And you will not doubt yourself. And I know this from personal experience

(44:10):

[Inaudible]

(44:11):

So I just want to remind you again. There's four, four phases. There's four cycles to tap into your intuition. Create, sorry, not crate. Listen, listen, create connect. And staff listening is an incredible tool. Why? Because we all want to be heard Next week on entrepreneur Outlaws. I am going to be sharing with you how I use my intuition to market my business. I'm going to be sharing with you some lessons that I have learned over the last 12 months. And I'm also going to be sharing with you the opportunities that have arisen because of my intuition. I'm going to be sharing with you. Some of those decisions I made to grow my business because I used my intuition.

(45:19):

Yeah.

(45:20):

How powerful it can feel to know that what you are doing is always serving a higher purpose.

(45:33):

So thank you once again for having me in your prayers. Thank you for listening. Thank you for being a part of this community. I wanted to remind you before I head off that the Outlaws mentorship is open. We are taking enrollment until the very end of January, and you can get all of the details about the Outlaws on my website. The link is in the show notes, just now just go to Melanie nights.com forward slash the hyphen Outlaws. The Outlaws is a community led mentorship. That means that it is guided by the members is guided by the people who are a part of the community. So it's not about what I think you should learn. There is no 10 step framework to follow, but part of the work we are doing inside of the Outlaws is helping you to use your intuition, right? The Allos is the intersection of spirituality strategy and self-inquiry, we are looking at how to tap into your intuition, how to let go of the rules, unpack on gunk and on ourselves from all of the noise.

(46:59):

And if you want it more information, as I said, go to that link. If you have any questions, please, please, please come and DM me right? Come to Instagram, give me a questions. Let me know what's on your mind. And I will answer them. And I will make sure that you have all the information you need to make the best decision for yourself. So you can go get more information, learn more about it. We're going to be linking to these podcast episodes on actual sales page so that you can make the most informed decision. And you can actually take the time to decide, come out, hang out with me on Instagram, ask your questions. And I hope to see you inside of the Outlaws. Okay. Until next time.