Don't make decisions when you're hungry, don't make decisions when you're in a bad mood or when you're really super stressed or up against a deadline or focused on something else. You can't just switch your brain over and context, switch like that and expect it to be effective and clear. It's time to make a big decision. Actually scratch that it's time to make like any decision big or small. Trivial or life-changing, whatever it is, you're faced with a decision. And I'm guessing. You have already made a lot of decisions today. Even if you have, even if all you've done so far today is get out of bed and grab your phone and turn on this podcast. Then you've already made a decision of what podcast to choose. Like what podcasts am I going to listen to? That's. Already sometimes for me, an overwhelming decision. Like what Spotify station do I want to listen to? Which email do I respond to first? Like, oh my gosh, all day long, we're being faced with so many decisions. And as business owners and as leaders, especially within our businesses. We're like expected to be these magical decision wizards. Like everybody's just coming to you. For the answer is that. Please tell me this is relatable. I feel like because I'm in a position of leadership in my community and within my actual business, even in my household with my family. With my kids and all of that stuff. It's like. Oh Yoda. What's the answer. And I'm like, no, I, ah, I don't know. I don't always have the answers. You know what I mean? I'm not saying that anybody like anybody in the world thinks of me as Yoda. But sometimes we almost feel that pressure, like we are supposed to have this enlightened answer for everything. And it's exhausting. It honestly can be. A little debilitating at times. So I was trying to make a decision about what topic I wanted to record. Today for this podcast. And I asked myself this question, I thought. What. Do I need right now? Like what is the podcast episode? That I would see scrolling through apple podcasts. And be like, yes, that is what I need right now. And for me, it was how to make decisions. So I started journaling about that and I started realizing, holy shit, I have been making. So many really big decisions in the past couple of weeks. And. Do you have a system for it? And I do have. Some really awesome tips that I've learned. That I want to share with you. And it's been a really awesome reminder for me to just sit and reflect on all of the decisions that I've been making over the past. Few days, few weeks. And realizing, Hey, actually I need to give myself a little bit of credit because I've made some really big decisions and check those things off the list. And, you know, not just me by myself, but with Nicole and with our team. And with my family. And so like, let's talk about that because first of all, let me tell you just like I did. You might be feeling decision fatigue, and you might be feeling decision overwhelm and even like decision paralyzed. Decision parallelization, parallelization. Um, That's how I was feeling a second ago, but I bet you're also like me in that. If you just sat and think about it and reflect a little bit. You do have the answer. Within yourself and you do have the tools and you know how to use them. We just get a little flustered and caught up in our day to day. And we're like, ah, I don't even know how to make decisions. Like just shut down mode. Right. So I think I actually talked about this once in another episode and I can't remember which one it was or what topic it was in relation to, but. I've told people this before. I'm like, if I could magically give myself. Like a skill. It would be to be a very quick and confident decision maker. And I always say that, you know, the doctors on Grey's anatomy that are like, In the middle of the brain surgery and there's like blood splurting everywhere. And the, the nurses and the interns are like passing out and frantic and running around. And then there's like the one master brain surgeon who's like, Knows exactly what to do. He just like he or she snaps right into gear and they're immediately like, Do this and this many CCS of that and hand me the thing. And like, you. Whatever, like all these different things come into their mind immediately in the moment. And whether or not they have time to sit and they don't have time to sit and deduct the, the right way to do it. They don't have time to go back to, um, their computer or their books or whatever, and do research. They don't have time for that. Somebody's life is on the line. And everybody else is freaking out. They are, everybody looks to them for the answer. And they're like, I know exactly what to do right now. And when you, when you think about it, it's a really unrealistic. Like treat to wish for. Because. We would never know how we would respond in a situation like that until we're put in a situation like that, you know? But when you think about somebody in that situation, They might not be making the right choices. They might just be jumping into action, doing the best they can with what they have in front of them. And with the experience that they have, and they are totally trusting and their experience. And they know that there's no time for discussion. There's no time for research and there's no time for second guessing. It is go time. And most of the decisions that we're making throughout the day. Are not life or death and they're not like. You have a split second to make this huge choice that is going to make or break your business or your life, or even the moment that you're in. So I have decided I no longer am wishing for that skill because it's totally. Unrealistic. And it wouldn't really come in handy that often. Right? It's like that. I'm never going to be in that situation. Oh, hopefully. But sometimes it feels like it, it feels like the pressure is there and everybody's looking at you with their wide eyes and their little scalpels in their hands. Like, what do I do? What do I do? You know, like, please guide me as you're like, ah, I don't know. You went to medical school to like, count me out here, you know? So anyway, um, okay. Let's get into what to actually do when you're faced with a decision. And I have come up with. I've come up with seven things and I decided I'm going to go through them. Backwards. So I'm going to start with. The ones that I think are the least effective, but still could be helpful tools. And I'm going to end with my favorite, most important. Like. Best piece of advice and mindset shift for you when it comes to making decisions. So stick with me. And it's going to get good. I think it's going to get really good. You guys are going to like this one. So. First of all, let's talk about what types of like, for me, here's what, here's what happens. Here's when I, when I shut down and like freak out. It literally happened earlier today. So. It's when I am. In like deep focus work. Or I'm in the middle of a project or I'm up against a deadline. So I'm like really crunch time. In the weeds, trying to get through something and get something done. And then somebody comes in and breaks your concentration. And asks you a question that they need your, an answer to that is. In your opinion. Kind of trivial and it's like, not what you're thinking about in the moment. And you're just like, Oh, my gosh, I can't even, what are you doing? Go away. And you, you meet might react in a way that isn't your favorite look like, maybe not like on brand for the kind of person that you want to be. So I don't know. I'm definitely speaking about myself in a specific scenario. So. They're like asking me to make these quick decisions on things. And I'm like, I need time to think about that decision. I need to go through my process. Sometimes, um, you know, you can spit out something quickly, but most of the time, these are actually things that they actually expect you to have some thought into it. So I need to like back up, take a breath and either say, first of all, Hey, I want to give that decision a little bit more thought, can you please write it down, text me, or slack me, or email me or whatever so that I don't forget to get to it later and give me a hard deadline of when you need my decision by that's. The first thing is like, we need to know when, how much time we have to make the decision. Is this, uh, in the ER, whatever or moment, like, I need a decision quick and fast right now. Or do I have till the end of the day to make the decision. So get that information and get that data first before you react. Because my very first tip for you is, do not make any decisions. Based on emotions. Or. If you're not in the right state to make the decision, which when somebody interrupts me, when I'm working, I'm not in the right state to make a decision other than the thing I'm working on. At the moment. I hope that makes sense, but like, Also if I'm not in the right physical state to make the decision the other day. We had one of our clients and friends, Allie Thompson with the evolved mind. She's a therapist that works with like high level performers and athletes. And she came in and did a really cool team building. Exercise with ampersand. And the heart of what I loved. She talks, she actually had a whole slide and she talked about. You know whether or not we respond or react to conflict and people in our lives and in the workplace. And it was just, oh, this is a little tangent, but. One of the things you talked about was how hangry is like a real thing and how not to. React to people, if you're hungry, like make sure that you have some snacks throughout the day. That was a huge takeaway. That was so simple, but like there's a lot of studies and actual truth about being hungry. So I loved what she said about that. And it made me think about it with this whole decision making thing too. Don't make decisions when you're hungry, don't make decisions when you're in a bad mood or when you're really super stressed or up against a deadline or focused on something else. You can't just switch your brain over and context, switch like that and expect it to be effective and clear. So find out what the deadline is. How long do you have to actually think about this and go through your decision making process? And that step one, let's actually just assess the situation here. Obviously, if it's like, if somebody is like, Hey, really quick, do you like this color? This color? You're going to be like, I like that color better, but for me, I'm like, I don't know. What is it for? Is it, is it for like something that we're printing on something for the business? It kind of depends. Like I might actually want to think about that, you know, so. Really, we need to have all the information upfront. Uh, before we can even jump to a decision. And that's one thing that totally drives me crazy is when people come to me. With a question and it doesn't have enough. Context and it doesn't have enough. Information for me to actually make the decision. Then I will actually just say, Hey, can you just gather some more data for me and some more information and when you have it ready to present to me, bring it back and I'll make a decision at that point. And that's something that I learned from the book. The one minute manager meets the monkey. It's really an awesome book. If you are managing people at all, you definitely need to read this one and go back and listen to our episode about that. But okay. First of all, that's my advice. Number, advice, number seven or whatever, don't make decisions based on emotion in the moment or when you're not in the right state. Physically state of mind, state of body. State of hunger, et cetera. You want to give it a little bit of time? So, okay. My next thing is make a pros and cons list. And this is number six because it's actually one of my less, it's one of my least favorite. Tools for making decisions. But we can't do a decision making podcast episode and not talk about pros and cons lists. I'll explain to you why I don't like it, but sometimes it's an effective way to just kind of get your thoughts out. So I can't help, but think about the friends episode where. Ross makes the, the Rachel versus Julie pros and cons list. You know what I'm talking about, right. Where he's like trying to decide. Who is going to marry or who is going to date or whatever. And he. So trying to talk himself. Into Julie. Basically. And I feel like this is kind of what we do when we write pros and cons lists. We kind of know what, which answer like in deep inside, we know which answer we think is the right answer. So we might be a little skewed when we start writing these pros and cons lists. Like, are we really being honest with ourself? That's what I'm asking. So when Ross writes this. I guess it's not really a pros and cons list. It's more of a, like, here's all the things about Rachel that are bad. And the things about Julie that are bad. I don't know. So. Everybody was so heartbroken when Rachel finds the piece of paper and she reads all the hurtful things that he wrote about her. Like all the reasons not to date, Rachel, not to choose her. And I'll just never forget when she sees it. And it said. Just a waitress. Oh, X. I can feel the feeling I felt the first time I watched the episode when she found that in your like, Oh my gosh. No, no, no, no, no, no, no. He didn't, he didn't say it like that, you know, or whatever, but it's out of context. She didn't know. And, and then I don't know what the other things were on there. Link something about how she has fat ankles or something like that. And I can just, oh yeah, I can hear her voice being like, I do not have to be ankles. Okay, sorry. I'm squirreling again. But then he's like, no, no, no. You didn't see the, you didn't see the back or you didn't see the other thing. You didn't see what I wrote about Julie. And so she looks at it and it's, it says there's only, there's this huge list of stuff that's wrong with Rachel. And when she goes to look at the stuff that's wrong with Julie, It only has one line. And it just says. She's not Rachel. Right. No, no, no, no. Hold on. It said. What does it say? Like it said, she's not re she's not Rachel. She, I just, she spelled it wrong or something. She's like, I'm not, she's not Rachel. And he's like, Rachel, it's Rachel. Anyway. Okay. Friend's episode aside. My point is we make these pros and cons lists. And you might have a thousand cons, but if you have one really powerful pro. It can negate all the cons and, and so it's not apples to apples and that's why pros and cons list for me don't they don't work super well for me, because I want to give one item on the list, a lot of weight and a lot of value and give other things on the list, less value. So what's the point, right? Like, I guess it's good to put all that stuff out and write it down and look at it on paper and see. You know, what are all the things going against me on this? And then is the one thing that is going for me is that big enough to outwait all those other things, right. I guess it's an effective method for that. I had to go through a pros and cons list idea in this podcast episode, but I'm kind of thinking and feeling it out with you because it's definitely not the end all be all. It really can't be. Cause you can't be like, oh, well there's three cons and four pros. So I guess let's go for it. They might be like really stupid things on the cons list and really important things on the pros list. So, get it out, write it out. If that's helpful for you. Um, but at the end of the day, Like for me, I'm a risk taker. And looking at pros and cons. Doesn't really. It doesn't really help me make the decision actually. And if anything, it just motivates me to know what things I need to overcome. If I do make the choice to move forward with something. But I'm motivated by that. I am motivated by, um, challenges and by obstacles and things that might actually make it more difficult to. Come to me. I'll never forget when we had to make the decision. Two. Open our store, our retail store in the village. It was a huge decision. It was a huge crossroads for us. I don't know where we would be if we would've gone the other direction at the end of that fork in the road. But. I, yeah. I'll never know that. And I don't have any regrets about it, even though we ended up closing the business five years later. I learned so much from that. And it was an amazing life experience. And I, I have no idea, like the people I've met or the circumstances I've been in. I have absolutely no idea what my life would be like if I didn't go there. And so. I remember though when it was time to face that decision and to finally like sign on the dotted line and get the business loan and sign the lease. W Nicole and I were sitting there and she's like, What if. This is a huge mistake. I don't think she said that, but that was kind of like our conversation together. And we both just sat there and thought about it for a little while. And at the end of the day, The reason we move forward was because we decided, but what if this is the thing that. Is going to change our lives and change our business for the better. What if this is the bazillion dollar golden ticket? What if this is the thing that we think it could be? What if it does have the potential to be as big as we want it to be? And. I'm so glad that we went forward with it. It really was. The the worst case scenario idea that we came up with. We never even came close to the worst case scenario, which is my next thing. Play worst case scenario, best case scenario. And I think this is different than pros and cons. Worst case scenario and best case scenario is actually. I think a way more valuable way to look at it. So you're like, okay, let's say you have to make a big decision. Like right now, we are in the process of hiring people. We have to hire several people for our team and we're interviewing lots of really great candidates. And we're trying to decide which seats do we hire first? How much can we afford to offer them for salaries and this and that? And can we actually sustain this much business and do we have the demand and all of these big questions and big decisions are coming up. And so we are in the thick of it right now with decision-making and really trying to choose people. And it's super hard because we have fall in love with people all the time at interviews. So it's like, okay. We're assessing this person. Well, okay. This person's super qualified. We really like her. We really like her in the interview. She has all checks all the boxes. And you're like, but then I have this other person who was kind of same thing, but maybe they have this other skill and maybe we would have to put them in a different seat. XYZ, all these scenarios going on. So I would sit down and think to myself, like, okay, The big question. Can we afford to hire both of them? Cool. Right because we love them both. Or can we afford to hire for two or three different departments? And these are really big questions. Like. What if we make the wrong choice. So, okay. Worst case scenario. Worst case scenario. It doesn't work out. And after a few months we have to let somebody go. And that's really shitty. We hate having to deal with that kind of stuff. But like, if it's not the right fit, if they're not the right person, they're not the right seat. They're not going to make the company more money. And ultimately it's not going to work out and worst case scenario. We are out a lot of time, a lot of money. But at the end of the day, Everything's going to be okay. Like the business isn't going to fail because we paid somebody's salary for a few months. And the business isn't going to fail because we went through the process of learning and it's and experiencing somebody that maybe was the wrong seat or the wrong fit for the company. All it's going to do is give us new tools and more knowledge and wisdom going forward. So at the end of the day, the worst case scenario of hiring the wrong person. Is. I mean, I guess you could play worst case scenario, like how they play it on. This is us. I've watched a little bit too much TV, maybe. Okay. But where they're like, oh, and then, and then they steal from you in the worst case scenario. And then they like. Vandalize your whole business and. I don't know. Kill your dog or something like, like, obviously we're not talking about stuff like that. We're talking about. Worst case scenario, they don't work out. We wasted time. We wasted money. That really sucks. But over here, best case scenario, let's think about that. Best case scenario. They are as awesome as we think they are. They are a really hard worker. They're a good self-starter. They have motivation and drive and they have a growth mindset and they fit all of our values and they help us get to this next level in our business. And they give our clients the experiences that we know that. We're trying to give and there. Uh, part of growing our business to what we want it to be. And they're a helper to get us to the vision that we have costed. So when you're thinking about it like that, You're looking at best case and worst case. The worst case scenario, most of the time is highly unlikely. And that is something I come back to a lot, call me a chronic optimist, but the worst case scenario. Is highly, highly unlikely. The best case scenario. Has a higher probability than the worst case scenario. I promise. And as long as you have. These checks and balances in place, and you have ways of. Holding yourself accountable to the decisions that you're making. And you're actually putting action steps into place and systems that are going to make sure that you don't just make a decision and then walk away from it. And not follow through. Then you're way more likely to reach your best case scenario. Then you are to make your worst case scenario come true. So play the game of best case, worst case. Talk it out, write it down, visualize that. And then make your decision. Make your decision knowing that even if the worst case scenario happens, You're probably going to be okay. And if that feels good. Fricking go for it, man. That's what I say, so. Okay. The next one, number five is going to be. Talk to other people. And again, we're not, this one is not high up on my list. It's still kind of in the bottom half. Because it can actually really distract your decision making process and it can cause a lot more decision fatigue. So here's my advice. When you are thinking about bringing others into your decision making process. So, first of all, I would only ask advice from someone. Who the decision will probably also affect. So, let me say that again, only ask advice from somebody. Who the decision will also affect. Of course, we want to go to our friends. Of course, we want to go to our sisters. Or our moms or whatever. Or our friends in our Facebook group mastermind. All of those things. It's so great to have people to go to, to ask advice on how to handle a situation or how to, um, you know, troubleshoot something. But when it comes to making a big decision like this or that. Or should I move forward with this thing? Usually those outside sources. If they're a little bit removed from the actual scenario itself. They just don't have the same. Context as somebody who is going to be affected by it, or even yourself. And they can actually kind of muddy it up and they're just gonna. It's going to waste like their bandwidth and their brain space. And the whole time they're trying to give you advice and trying to help you talk through it. You're going to be thinking in your mind, like, yeah, actually, I'm sorry. I shouldn't have asked, like, you don't know enough about my business or my life to. Actually help advise me in a right in the right way. So, for example, we are in the middle of picking out some furnishings. Some like we have to pick out flooring and pink colors and all of this stuff for our new studio. And it's really exciting, but like I have been in major decision fatigue overwhelm for a little while. And when I ask. My family or friends about it and try to get their input. They're telling me all like, oh, well I did this, approxi in my garage. And I like, they're telling me advice based on their experiences, which is what they're going to do. Right? Like they want to be helpful and they only have their own experiences to pull from. But they've never actually worked in our studio. They've never shot in our scenes. They've never like, had to work in the space like we do. So when I brought it to the team and asked for their opinion on it, because they're the ones that are going to be working in this space. They all had the same answer. They were all on the same page and made the decision making process so much easier. Everybody was like, yeah. Do hardwood in this room, concrete in that room, paint this that we can skip that it's not worth the money. And I think we should spend the money here instead of there. And it was so much faster and more productive than me going to try to get advice from somebody that is outside of our organization. Of course, unless it's like a professional that does that for a living. But if I were to talk about that with my husband, which I have been talking with him about it a lot lately. And he. He has a lot of opinions about it because. He's like in construction and he knows a lot about he's very handy. He knows a lot about this stuff. But he's looking at, what's going to be the easiest to install. What's going to be the most cost-effective. And he's not, but at the end of the day, he's like, well, it's your decision. You need to pick out what you want. And we're having a really hard time. You know, coming to a decision together, but when I brought the team into it, it became very clear and way easier. So if you're going to seek help from others, seek advice from others on your decision. Think about if there's anybody else that decision's going to affect, they might just deserve. To give their input either way, you know, and you can say, Hey, I know that it's ultimately my decision to make this, but I really value your opinion and your, your input. Next up on my list number four. Write out your action. Step-by-step. Right out, whatever the next action would be. Either write out the steps or write the email. Accepting the job offer or. Right. The, um, like the message to your friend saying, yes, I'm in for the vacation. Or whatever the decision is, like, write it down, write it in an email draft, write it on paper, write it like in your notes, on your phone, whatever that is. And don't send it yet. Just. Pretend like you're going through the motions of making the decision. But hold onto that for a minute. Just get it out through your fingertips. This is so freaking powerful. And then. Sit with that for a second. And just reflect and feel it in your body. You are going to be able to feel that somewhere in your body. After you write that out. You're going to feel a few different things. You're either going to feel. Relief and like a huge weight has been taken off your shoulders. Like, let's say you do have to let somebody go in your business. And you're really, really struggling with the decision. I write the letter. You know, right. The termination letter. Don't send it yet. Just write it and then breathe and feel it in your body. You're going to know. What it's going to feel like when you do send that email, if you actually go through this motion and you let yourself sit and feel that for a second. And if you want to try writing the contrary thing to. Like writing the email that says. Hey. You know, we're going to move forward. I would love to keep you on board, but here's what I'm going to need to see from you. X, Y, Z. You're going to write out all that too. And then sit with that one. Uh, one of them's going to feel better to you. One of them is just going to feel right. Or it's going to feel lighter. It's going to feel. Um, more aligned for you. And the other one is going to feel heavier and messier. And clunk clunky. So I love this tool. I use it all the time. And it's really powerful to kind of just visualize the outcome. Of what's going to happen next, which is my number three idea. And these two things go hand in hand. So once you write the thing and actually physically get it out through your fingertips, I like to type it. Cause I'm just a fast, I can't write as fast as my brain goes, but I can type as fast as my brain goes. So I like to type it. In an email draft or a Google doc. And just save it somewhere. That is just for myself. And then just really stew on that. And then I like to visualize and journal and write. The outcome as if I'm writing a journal entry. After the thing happened. So I use this a lot. If I'm. Going into some sort of. Difficult conversation with somebody. Um, like let's say there was some sort of conflict or there was some sort of misunderstanding or something with an employee or anything like that, that when you're in a leadership role, you're going to have to deal with these uncomfortable conversations sometimes. So my favorite thing to do. Is visualize. My ideal outcome and journal about it as if it's already over. So I'll sit in my car before I go in or I'll do you know, do it the night before or whatever. And I'll literally just write. Ah, I just got done with my meeting about X, Y, Z. I feel so much better. I said this, they said this. We got it all out. We, I, there were some things I didn't realize. There were a lot of things that they didn't understand, and we both got a chance to say what we wanted. And I feel a million times better. Here's the outcome that we're moving forward with. And I just am so happy that we took the opportunity and gave each other the space to speak up. And when I write it that way, I'm like really programming my brain to know that that's the outcome I'm looking for. So that everything I say during that meeting is going to be going toward that outcome. It's so fricking powerful. It just visualize how you want to feel and how you want to come out of that. Decision. Right. So that was a slightly different, like example of like I'm dealing with dealing with something. You know, maybe something negative or whatever. This is in relation to making decisions. So it doesn't have to be negative. It could be something really exciting, like, like I'm trying to decide, do I want to buy this house? Is this the house for me. So sit down and journal. I can't believe it. We are offered, just got accepted. We got the house. I blah, blah, blah. And just like, let it flow and feel like I'm, I'm so excited. I know this is going to be the perfect home for us. I can't wait to remodel the kitchen, but whatever, just like, let it go. And visualize. What your life is going to feel like as soon as that decision is made, And on the contrary, if you choose not to make the decision. Write it as if you have made that decision and choice and moved forward with it. Cool. Okay. So number four, write out whatever your next action step would be. If you make the decision. Save it somewhere. Sit with it, feel how it feels in the body. And then number three is to journal on what the actual outcome would be after you made the decision. So number four is kind of like the actual act of doing it. And then number three is how do I feel after it's already like executed? I feel like I'm getting a little confusing, but I, you guys are smart. You got it. So number two. Um, We did. I, I think my numbers are wrong. I think I've got, I think I've got these all. I don't know what number I'm on. I only have one left. I'm on number one. So I think what I did was I think I bolt together pros and cons and best case, worst case scenario. So whatever you're following with me, who cares, what number they are. They're all. It's all good stuff. Okay. Number one, you, this is, this is it right here. This is everything. You have to be clear about your mission and your values. If you don't, if you can't tell me right now, In your life. And in your business. What is your mission and what are your values? I mean for yourself for your life. Like, you don't need to be able to like rattle off like your five core values or whatever. But you need to know them. Like deep in your bones. What are my non-negotiables. What are my things that I know are going to either keep me up at night. If I go against those values and are going to make me feel so disaligned that I'm just going to be out of my skin. We all know what those things are for ourselves. And then what is my mission? What am I trying to do? What am I. What is my everyday that I wake up, like, what am I moving closer to? And when it comes to business, this is something that we've always had, but we have it super defined right now because we've been doing EOS. And so we, as a team have our VTO, which is our vision traction organizer, and it clearly defines our vision and mission as a business. We all know exactly what we're trying to build. And we know exactly. We have this north star mission statement. And that is our mission statement is that we believe. We exist because we believe that even the smallest of businesses. Deserve big brand strategy. And what that means to us is that whether you have an Etsy shop, Or a local HVAC company. Or. A huge real estate conglomerate. I don't really care. You deserve to understand and have tools in your business that can market you the same way that Nike does it in Amazon. And. You know, Starbucks. These huge brands are successful because they have brand standards and all of these things and they're recognizable and they're trustworthy. It doesn't matter how good their coffee is or their shoes are. If nobody hears about them. And I feel like with the small business world, Everything's the opposite. The product is actually amazing. It's better than those big brands. But they don't have the brand strategy that those big brands have, so they can't compete and they can't get. Recognized and build trust and build memorability with people online. Because they just don't have those tools embedded in them. The tools they have are their craft. And that's why we exist as a company. That's like what our passion is. Is sharing that type of strategy with the small businesses. And even the smallest of businesses, even the solo preneur is selling cards on Etsy. You know, So we know that that's our mission. When it's time to make a decision. On anything with our business. That's the very first thing that we think. Is this decision aligned with our mission? Does it get us closer to serving businesses? In this way, does it help us give businesses big brand strategy tools? If not, it's a no. If, yes, it's a hell. Yeah. You know, like how easy does that make it for us? The other part of our VTO says that. Our services are designed to help small business owners align their voice and their visuals. That's actually how we go about giving the tools. We make sure that everybody understands and has the tools to have a brand voice. And a visual identity that play together. In a way that actually attracted our ideal customers. So. We have ideas all the time. All the time. So coming up for all these ways that we can serve. Um, in other ways or like different niches or different markets. And we're like, oh, we could do that. We know how to do this thing. We are looking left and right. And whip lashing all the time. If we don't have, if we don't stay in our lane. So now we have this lens that we can look through and this rubric basically, we're like, okay, does it help small businesses align their voice and visuals, if not, it's just a distraction. I have a post-it note on my monitor that I look out every single day. It says every decision impacts growth. I literally want to get this tattooed somewhere on me that I can see it all the time. Every decision impacts growth. And that might stress you out, make you feel like, oh, I don't know. Every decision is like life or death, and it's going to take me, it's like the butterfly effect. If I make this decision and. Then my life is going to end up in a whole different place than if I take, make that decision. Well, yeah, it is. Literally every single decision is going to impact our life in some way. But that thought process just takes us down a path of paranoia and total discomfort. But when we think about how every decision impacts our growth. Then we know that no matter which decision we make. We're going to be growing and that's okay. But also every decision I make is impacting my growth in it's either. In what I'm talking about business. If I know where I'm trying to get to, if I know the top of that mountain and I can see it. And if I see a decision in front of me, that's like, Hey. This is either going to get me closer to that or further away. It's either going to distract me and keep me from moving forward. Or make me take a little detour. Or it's going to move me closer to my goals. And when I know what that north star is, and I have it clearly defined and it's on repeat in my mind. Then I'm going to be really clear when it comes to decision-making that I'm making a decision based on that mission statement and that it is going to move me closer to it. And we've already killed a bunch of ideas because we're like, okay, that's a fun idea. It's a big project. Could make us a lot of money. But it doesn't align with this mission. And the, and unless we're changing the mission. Then that idea is killed for now. You know, it can go on to someday list if we're bored or something, or if we want to start another business or go a different direction someday. It was a good idea. It's like, let's Marie Kondo and we're like, thank you. Thank you for your service idea. We love you. And now you can go away. Because you're distracting me. Everything is like a debit or a credit from the account. And if we know. If we've got our eyes on the prize. Then we can ask ourselves, does this move me closer to, or does it move me further away from what I'm trying to build here? And. Mm, I'm so glad I went backwards because that is such a powerful note to leave you with. If you haven't thought about what your mission for your businesses. I really recommend starting there. And this is brand building 1 0 1. We've got to start there because so many small business owners I see. Are a lot like me. They're a little multi-passionate I'm gonna use the word multi-passionate instead of. Um, like, you know, shiny object chasers are like ADHD all over the place. Like, you know, All of those things are true, but a lot of entrepreneurs have, it's like the entrepreneurial curse, right? Like we want to start a new thing all the time. And bring in new ideas and all that stuff, but we'd have to have systems in place in our lives. Two. Make sure that we're not just like zigzagging and whip lashing are our organizations. So having a mission statement, having that north star will do that for you. And it will make decision-making. So so much easier, like it helps us make decisions on the people we hire on the clients that we work with. Like, can I actually help this person? Is this client, someone who I, who is going to let us help them implement big brand strategy into their small business. Is that what they're coming to us for? Because sometimes people find us. Um, online and they call us and they say, Oh, um, You know, I see that you guys are photographers. Can you. Come and shoot this event or do my kid's senior pictures. I know you don't do that, but I'll pay you all this money. And it used to be really hard to say no to that stuff. We'd be like, I mean, I'm not doing anything tomorrow. Like they want to do it tomorrow. Sure. Like, yeah, I'll go do it. I'll make an extra. You know, 800 bucks or whatever. And we'd go do it. Well, what it's, what that's doing is it's actually distracting us from the real work that's going to get us closer to that goal. And we wonder why we're constantly on this treadmill, trying to get to where we're going. Because we're in a scarcity mindset saying yes to everything, because we think that, you know, the debit, um, or the credit into the bank account is going to be more important than the credit into. Uh, spending the time on the things that are going to get us there. So how the mission statement really define your values, it will help make your decisions. So so much easier. And visualize those outcomes. Write down your next action. Step. Don't send it yet, but just write it down and take inventory of how it makes you feel. You're gonna play best case scenario, worst case scenario, write a pros and cons list. If you really feel like that's helpful for you. But don't forget the Ross and Rachel thing, you know, You might just have one pro the outnumbers, all the cons. And if that's the only thing we're using to make our decisions, I have a feeling it's going to, you're going to have some confirmation bias playing a part in there, and it's going to make you, um, have a skewed pros and cons list. So I don't really give that one too much weight. Um, ask a friend who it will also impact. And. Don't make decisions when you're emotional, don't make them in the moment. Give yourself a little bit of time. Have a snack. And we will see you next week. Thank you so much for being here.