Jan 10, 2021
Business Strategy with Marcia Riner
Trajectory Consulting & Marcia Riner - A Profit Focused Consulting Firm.
Marcia came from a family of business owners and she has run 3 successful businesses. She has been guiding people and small business owners to grow their wealth since 1997. She noticed a common thread that branched across every one of them, including her own.
Many small business owners have missed an important step in the foundation of their business. They rush to grow their business, only later to realize that they're on a wobbly foundation. Marcia has found the missing piece in every company she's worked with & has been able to provide a solid strategy to stabilize the company so that they can begin to implement the profit-building strategies that can skyrocket their success.
Every new step of your business journey involves some change. What got you here, will not get you to the next level!
Marcia created a system that will put the strength & stability back into your business foundation so that you can focus on growing your business and ultimately your profits. Because the goal of any business is to create customers, and in order for you to help more customers, you need to get paid. You are a for-profit company, right?
Trajectory Consulting is a firm that collaborates with clients to build out the strategies for their most profitable business so that they can enjoy the life of a small business owner while reaping the rewards.
Home | TrajectoryConsulting (trajectorybiz.com)
www.profitwithaplan.com
www.thebusinessofbusinesspodcast.com
Full Transcript Below
Roy - The Business of Business Podcast (00:04):
Hello, and welcome to another episode of the business of business podcast. Hope everybody's doing fine today. We have a great guest. Uh, we're going to just jump right in Marcy Reiner with, uh, she is the CEO and chief strategist at trajectory consulting. And, um, man, what a time to talk about strategies. I know that we've had, um, with COVID. I know there's a lot of people that are hurting really bad, a lot of businesses, people changing their business models. So first off, um, Marcia welcome to the show. Thanks for taking time out of your day to be here. I can't wait to jump into it. I'm sure there is something I can learn for myself as well, so,
Marcia (00:45):
Oh, thank you. I'm so happy to be here. This is, this is so it's such an important topic to have, um, business owners really get a good grasp on this right now, especially as we're kind of winding down the year and preparing for next year, um, you know, between even I heard 2020 sucks for business owners, it was just, it was just really, um, uh, thorn. Uh, it was, it was a horrible time. And so I'm hoping that I can share a few ideas and, and some, some thoughts that will, uh, your listeners
Roy - The Business of Business Podcast (01:21):
Trams are trying now, but you, you actually said something very pointed on your website and, you know, as a consultant run into the same thing you, you said not let's knock some dust off of that plan. And so a lot of times, even with a, you know, action items that I provide to con customers that, uh, you know, at some point you revisit and you see it on the shelf, the beautiful work you did, and then it's all dust covered. Like nobody's picked it up. So, uh, you know, this is important. It's important now with the pandemic, for sure, the businesses, like I said, some people, uh, hurting really bad, but some people have had to change their strategies, but then also even in, uh, even if things are going well for you, I think you would agree that this is something that you, it should be a living, breathing document. It's not like we did a plan 10 years ago, so we're set for the rest of our business life and we're just done. It should be reevaluate. And this is a perfect time of year to, I think, uh, again, I'll let you kind of weigh in on that, but this is a great time of year. Things are slowing down and we can really plan and prepare to kick off the next year, uh, fast.
Marcia (02:33):
Absolutely. And you took the words right out of my mouth, um, a business plan. What, what normal people do. Um, first of all, a business plan is not a dirty word. You know, uh, people tend to, to think about it is it's, it's something that they do when they start up their business, or maybe it's something that they do when they need to go get financing, or they're looking at adding a partner on their business, but belief is, is that businesses need to have this plan readily available. Um, prime real estate on the desk is what, what I like to refer to is that it needs to be open and referred to constantly every business decision that you make in your business should be referenced, or at least consulted with this plan. My plans are so much more than, than just a business plan. I kind of say it's a business plan on steroids, but if you think about it, it's a profit plan. And this profit plan is designed to get your business moving in the right direction. And like I said, most people just created one, one time in their life and put it up on the shelf and it's dusty and moldy and, you know, outdated and really was kind of probably rushed to put together for some sort of reason. And they didn't put their energy into it. And, and I think that it's just, it's something that really could guide your business.
Roy - The Business of Business Podcast (04:01):
Yeah. And you know, and it's not, uh, it's not a sign of a poor plan or a weakness that even if you jump, even if you're into a plan three or six months, that you actually, um, look at tweaking that thing, because once you've started the journey, things become such so much more clear than when you're at the starting line. And you really don't know what you're going to, not only the external environment changing, but also the internal environment.
Marcia (04:29):
Well, yeah, if it's out on your desk, like I said, with that prime real estate, then you have the opportunity to tweak. And if you, if you can envision a sailboat and I'm not a big sailor, but we've all been on a sailboat at one way, uh, or time, but the sailboat goes one way and then it tacks and then it goes the other way. And then it adjusts and it goes the other way, right? Your business is not a straight line. There's constant movement involved with it. And if you're not referring back to your strategy or your plan, then you, however, you know, if you're off, off keel, how do you know if you're, if you're too far to the right or too far to the left, if you don't refer back to it all the time. So I think that that's a really good, really good point that needs to be made. And, you know, you can only do that if it's designed properly and it's open on your desk.
Roy - The Business of Business Podcast (05:18):
Exactly. Yeah. Not like where did I put that thing six years ago? I know it's in here somewhere.
Marcia (05:24):
Many people do a life insurance policy and they get it done and they throw it in their desk and, you know, they don't tell their family anything about it or they don't refer to it or they don't refresh it. Many of these things just need to be, um, they need to be looked at frequently. So in, in my belief, let me kind of give you an idea on it. So my business plan or profit plan, um, has five, actually six key categories to it. Um, your first, uh, piece is your financial foundation, and this is all about numbers. Where's your income coming from? We're just spending, coming from, you know, how are you, where's it? What are you doing with it? What are you on track for your numbers and your goals and stuff? It's all about numbers and money. So it's a little bit of a rough part, but it's the first thing, right?
Marcia (06:12):
Then you've got your organizational platform who, why, where, when, how who's doing this stuff for you. And, and if you have that piece, all that plan put together, then you know, who's helping you serve your clients and how you're doing it. Then you've got your product power. How do you know that this is the right product or service for your ideal client? If you don't create and design your offer in a way that is very attractive to your client, right? Then these three pieces put together help you create your marketing directive. And that marketing directive is going to put everything you're you're about and who you're going after and what you're going after him with in a strategy. So you can go out to your marketing team and they can have very effective marketing for you to make people come in and throw their cards at you, credit cards at you.
Marcia (07:06):
Right? And then the fifth part of that plan is your, is your growth strategies. So now that you've got all this doing, where are you going? Right. You know where you are now right now, the next step is where are you going? And then if you could stack all these together with actionable items, you'll come into the office every day and you'll know exactly what you need to be doing each day to achieve the goals that you're setting in place for you. So it is really a business plan on steroids or five, six business plans on steroids, right. To put it in there. And then now you're making a decision. So I'm thinking my business has grown a little bit. I need to hire somebody. How do you know how much you can pay them? What role they're going to be in what effect they're going to have on there, if you don't refer back to your plan. Right? Yeah. And I think it's simple of doing that
Roy - The Business of Business Podcast (07:59):
Because a lot of, uh, there's a lot of resistance. Like, you know what, I don't care about all of that stuff. I just want to skip right. To the, uh, growth part. And let's talk about the future. Yeah. But you know what, I guess the way I try to relate that it's like, um, you're not quite this old, but back in the olden days, when we actually had to have a map, a paper map in front of us to see where we're going, I may know I was going to Chicago, but if, I didn't know, I was starting in Fort worth, Texas, if you just, how do you map out a road if you don't know where you're starting at? And I think that's so key to everybody to set that firm foundation of where are we at today before we can talk about where we want to be tomorrow
Marcia (08:43):
And along the way there's do I go, right? Or do I go left? Do I go on the freeway? Or do I hit, I don't know, I'm in California. So route 66 I think is to Chicago. Do I take route six? Or do I get out in the highways? Right. That'll get me there faster. Right. You know, I mean, there's, there's so many there's, so there's so many ways to skin a cat. Right, right. Um, you know, you want to do it the most efficient and effective way. And unless you, unless you get down to the foundational pieces of your business, you'll always be struggling, right. To make that dream that you want to dream, that you wanted at, when you started your business. I mean, we all started our business to have some sort of freedom and get off of, you know, get away from the man.
Marcia (09:30):
Um, you know, and, and we want him to have that, that freedom, but you know what, most business owners trade one job for their own job. And they end up in that job working. I jokingly say that, you know, you're, self-employed, you know, you get the luxury of choosing which hundred hours you want to work. Right. Nobody thought that when they opened the doors, that they were going to be working their butt off, right. There's an easier way of running your business and making more money in it with the ultimate goal of having the lifestyle, you dream the wouldn't. You want to do that rather than just trying to put that square peg into a round hole every day. Right.
Roy - The Business of Business Podcast (10:17):
Right. Yeah. I mean, it can be the same treadmill unless we really, really plan. And, uh, you know, it takes a lot of work that, and that's the thing, you know, I was thinking about pricing. I had a gentleman, uh, this has been years ago, but, um, he had a price that he charged for his service and I'm like, Hey, that's awesome. Where'd you get that? It's like, well, the guy down the street charges, uh, you know, $5 more. And I'm like, okay. So then we walked through, so what are the costs that are involved in providing the service? And, you know, it, it, as it turned out his cost for providing the service was much more than what he was collecting for the service. And so, you know, trying to get that pricing component, because the other thing that, that I like to talk about with business as, and probably why a lot of people got into business is to deliver that value. And so that's an important part of the plan is trying to decide what is the value that we actually provide. I mean, we, everybody can sell you a widget, but what's the value of buying it from me,
Marcia (11:24):
Right. Oh, well, you know, that's a great, that's a great question. And that's actually in my third piece, which is the product power, understanding what your customers are wanting and what you're delivering to them at a price they're willing to pay right. Then that matches your, your needs to, to open the business. Um, there's I, and I want to say, I think it's Dan Kennedy. So forgive me if I've quoted the wrong person, but there's, there's, uh, a race to zero right now in, especially in the financial services world where I had many years of, of being in business where your value is no longer, uh, worth it, because you can get it for much cheaper down the street. So I believe it was Dan Kennedy that said, bet, if you're not the lowest priced person in the, in, in your market, then there's no second prize for being the second lowest.
Marcia (12:21):
So if you're not the lowest, you might as well be the highest. And the only way that you can be the highest is if you add tremendous value to where your customer looks at, it looks at the opportunity of working with you, whatever, whatever you're doing, whether you're a dentist or an attorney or, or, or, uh, you know, lawn mowing company, whatever you're doing, if you're providing so much value that your customer goes, wow, that's a deal. Yeah. But yet you're still more expensive than the other guy. That's more than once they're going to come to you because you've given them value. Right. And I think that's the piece that you're talking to is that we, but how do you know what your customers will perceive as value unless you've done the homework. Right. And I want to correct you on one little thing. Okay. Certainly making a business plan is not always hard. It's just a little bit of prefilled out work that you have to do. And when you have someone that can guide you through the process and get you thinking about the answers and take your thoughts and put it into a, uh, uh, a well laid out and thought out plan, it's not that hard. It's actually easy. Right.
Roy - The Business of Business Podcast (13:36):
Right. Yeah. And sometimes when we try to do these things on our own, we don't take the time and we don't know what questions. And that's why working with a professional, such as yourself makes that process so much easier when you have somebody to guide you down that path. For sure.
Marcia (13:52):
I think that's the important part. Um, I often say that, you know, we're not an Island with no business owner has ever been successful and done it on his own right. Solely on his own. Right. There's always need for help to deliver your, your, your, your, your program or your, your product and service. And then there's help with you and your mindset because you can't see the forest when you're looking through the trees.
Roy - The Business of Business Podcast (14:20):
Right. Right. Yeah. And it's just like, well, it's like hiring professional. You know, we, we want to seek out a professional that focuses on that particular area of what we need is just like myself. I, I, I could probably do my own taxes and probably not having trouble, but my tax lady. Yeah. She, she reads all the bullets. She reads all the bulletins that come in throughout the year. And so that's her area of expertise. And, you know, I think that's a good point that we need to seek out. Again, it's not a sign of weakness sometimes. Especially if we start our own business, we want to think that we have to solve all of our own problems. And, uh, I, I really don't, um, subscribe to that. I think we need to reach out to professionals that do add value to our organization as well. Just like we want to add value to our customers.
Marcia (15:15):
So you can get from point a to point B. Um, and you can so say you want to go from, uh, the California coast and you want to get to Hawaii. You can get there by swimming. You can get there by rowing a boat. You can get there on a cruise liner, or you can get there on an airplane. So one's going to get you there faster and probably a little more money than swimming or rowing a boat, but you're still going to get there. Right. Right. Why not use the skillset to get you to where you want to go faster? Why do you have to suffer right there being a business owner when there's clear paths, right, right. Being handed to you.
Roy - The Business of Business Podcast (15:58):
Yeah. And it's not only about, you know, the profits are not us that finances our life, but we also have to think about our time, excuse me, our time is money. And so, like you were saying, if we are on this hundred hour a week treadmill, and we're not enjoying, uh, you know, the spoils of what we're doing. And, and, and I guess this is kind of fresh on my mind out of conversation with a friend the other day about, you know, we, uh, especially in, once you become a business owner, you want everything gets pushed off. I don't really have time for vacation right now. I don't, I'm gonna, as soon as this happens, I'm going to do this. And it's like, we push everything down the road. And so, like you said, if we can figure out a way to get there faster, to not only make more money, but free up more of our time where we can do things that we enjoy, spend time with our families or whatever,
Marcia (16:50):
So much more impact you can do when you're doing well. Right. Right. Even if it's community and, and charitable things, um, it's going to your kid's baseball game, you know, when you can, right. That's, that's why we, that's why we went to be a business owner is to get those freedoms, but we we've handcuffed ourself and chained ourselves to the business desk. And we're, we're again, trying to force that square peg into a round hole and trying to carry the weight of the world on our shoulders. Right. And it's not necessarily your way.
Roy - The Business of Business Podcast (17:23):
Right. Right. So the F the, uh, you were talking about the first step is laying out your financials, kind of where we are today, looking at, uh, you know, I'm assuming the revenue and the expense side, as well as if we're, we own assets, the balance sheet as well. But, um, so in the, in your experience, whenever, uh, whenever you go through that exercise, are you able to find, um, are you able to help some people with some unnecessary expenses, like pretty quick right off the bat? I mean, you know, cause it
Marcia (18:00):
Right. Yeah. Like that dentist with the large fish tank in his office that he really doesn't mean, you know? Um, yeah. It's just, um, we, we spend based on the income we have coming in. Right. And that's not, it that's the us lifestyle, you know, that we've all grown, you know, accustomed to that, Hey, I'm making more money. I'm going to go get a better car or I'm going to go get, you know, or let's, let's get new computers, the new life phones coming out, I've got to go get one and yes, they did order it. But I mean, it's, it's, we're in that rat race. And I think that, um, you know what, I heard this the other day, when it's all said and done, you're still a rat, right? So my suggestion to, to my clients, when I'm looking through their financials and I'm looking for the gaps and the ways that we can stretch and make more impact, I look at it from, uh, Oh, a formula of income plus expenses equals profits.
Marcia (19:03):
And because every dollar you spend in your business should produce a return on that investment. So it's an investment back into your company. It's an investment that's going to produce more income for you. And eventually you're going to get that appear. Normally when you're starting the business, there's a whole ton of expenses and very little income, right. But if you start spending strategically, you're going to get that income much higher. And then you're going to be able to do more with that income to produce more income. And, you know, it becomes this vicious cycle, right? So that's my mindset on it. I mean, anybody can look at someone's budget, you know, who's not emotionally engaged with it and go, Oh, what are you spending so much on that for get rid of it? Like, that's not really going to help, but it can make it a strategic spending strategy and you have it in there.
Marcia (19:57):
And you're saying this investment in my business, this hiring of this person is going to free up my time. So I can do more of what my magic skills are versus doing the accounting, or, you know, sweeping the floor. So whatever it is that, that we shouldn't be doing and allowing us to be at our highest, best use. And therefore in the beginning, it might feel a little tight, but by hiring that person, you're now creating so much more wealth and so much more growth potential. So it's just that I hate the mindset kind of game and thinking, but it is something like that when you see the numbers and you project them out, you're going to go, Oh yeah, I can spend $2,000 a month on hiring Jill, because now that $2,000 a month, that's going to produce me $8,000 a month. Yes. That's a great deal. And so it's just, it's thinking about that money in a completely different way. Right?
Roy - The Business of Business Podcast (21:03):
Yeah. And the, uh, you know, I had a guy that told me one time that, um, well, we can't save our way to prosperity. We have to have that growth growth component. He told me that, you know, um, a hundred thousand dollars saved is a hundred thousand dollars. We're F a hundred thousand dollars in revenue is minus cost of goods and all your admin costs. So if we think about it in those terms, that, and I'm the worst of anything, I'd pick up something here. This is 25 bucks, this is 25. And then, you know, all of a sudden at the end of the day, I've got all these expenses that, you know, I had added on. And, you know, sometimes it's good just to have that self check, the re you know, to recalibrate, do I really need that? Do I really need that to,
Marcia (21:50):
Right. Or that dinner that you've been paying interest on for, for six months on that credit card, you know, it was a nice dinner, but it's gone through the system already. Yeah. It's just, it's being conscious and it's being smart about it. It's not saying it's a diet, you know, uh, a budget is, is a forecast of what you have spent and what you think you're going to spend and what you have had coming in and income and what you project you're going to have coming in and income. Right. And it needs to end up at zero. So every dollar needs to be accounted for. Now, this could be technical babble for, for some of the listeners, but there's a rhyme and a reason for doing the things that we do. And if you just push through and try and go, well, I'm doing okay.
Marcia (22:36):
And I just need more customers and I'll be doing great. Well, if you're getting more customers, there's costs involved with that. And you may end up in a worse place than you did before with people you don't want to work with. Right? So, I mean, if you have a good plan and you know exactly who you're going after and what you're delivering, you may find that you're not even delivering the most valuable product to your customer at the best price. You could be delivering the chotchkies that bids keeping the door open, but you're not happy. Nobody's happy. But if you transition a little bit into this over here, this might be the thing that's going to really blow up right here. You had to do a hundred units a month to break. Even here, you have to do three units to break even, and it's much more enjoyable work. So you, if you don't know, you don't know and you're missing out. Right. And I think that's the biggest thing that business owners, one of the biggest things is they're, they're just, they're reacting through business rather than strategically planning for it, the best that they can. The
Roy - The Business of Business Podcast (23:43):
Other that brings up another good point about having a professional to work with is to, to keep, to keep us in check. We all think, uh, the F you know, we may think it's a lot rosier. We may have projections that look really good on paper, but as that, right, right. But if we have somebody there to help keep us in check, like, really, if, if you're making a hundred widgets today, why, why do you think you can make a thousand tomorrow? And so having that voice of reason to say is this really, uh, obtainable in this timeframe? It's not that you can't do it because, um, you know, I've done some proformer work for some development and, um, they can project, you know, you can ride anything on the spreadsheet you want to, and it makes it look good at the end of two years. Can you really do that? And, and in most industries are busy. Exactly. Most businesses are industry. There are norms that you can look at to find, you know, these are kind of the average monthly growth or whatever we're looking at that you can have much you can, um, improve or how much you can increase. So anyway,
Marcia (25:00):
Well, let's, let's kinda, let's build on that dose. So if you're making a hundred widgets and you want to get to a thousand widgets, it's that map, right. So what do you need in place to do that? And is it cost-effective? So then you're going to say, okay, in order to make a thousand widgets versus a hundred widgets, I have two guys making a hundred widgets to make a thousand units. I probably need five guys to make a thousand units. And so then you go, okay, what's the cost of the five guys, what's you just start reverse engineering it, and then you can come in and go, okay. Now I got to go find those five guys. And then I got to train those five guys. And so, you know, it, it does become a more lengthy process. It's not impossible, but it, you can't just go, Oh, well, I'm going to lose 10 pounds by the end of the week. Okay. If you don't eat and you sleep all five days beforehand, you know, you may, you may lose four of those. It's just, it's just the facts that you've got to be able to say, okay, what is necessary to achieve that goal and reverse engineering? Yep. That's a plan. And
Roy - The Business of Business Podcast (26:13):
Again, it's got prime real estate on our desks. So two months from now, I can open it up and say, this is where I should be. You know, two plus two out into this plan. I should be, you know, making, going along with our last thing, I should be at 120 widgets. And if I'm at one 10, then you know, what is the problem? Because that is going to extrapolate out through time.
Marcia (26:39):
Now make the shifts exact. You can now make the shifts because if you're not it. Yeah. Um, so I don't know how many of y'all I, I just started to learn how to shoot a gun. I'm not very good. I've got two different eyes and prescriptions and everything. So if you shoot a gun close, you can be a little off and still hit the target. But if it targets farther out and you shoot that gun in your little off, you're going to be way off, right? So it's that little tweaks. And, and you know, you, my beliefs is that this business plan, these strategies that you're laying out that are on your desk, if you're looking at them weekly, then you're going, Oh, my goal this week was to do 10 and I did eight. So the next week I need to figure out how I can get 12.
Marcia (27:27):
So then you're making the adjustments, tactically. And if you did a 12, then maybe you can do a 12 again. And now you're, you're faster than you ever anticipated. Right. And that's not a bad thing, but I think it's, it's being able to make those little tactical shifts along the way. But if you do the planning, you put it up on the shelf and you bring it out two months later, you're already too late, right. It's too late. It's never too late to create or work on a plan. You can do it July. You do it November. You could do it January. If you don't get it done until April. I mean, anytime is a good time to start working it. And you can work it from where you are right there. And then, right. But I have to say, holidays are coming. People think, Oh, well, you know, I got to finish hard for the end of the year, or I'm gonna take off and have time with my family.
Marcia (28:21):
There's not enough time to do it. So what's going to happen. January 20, 21 opens up. You just had the worst year of your life. For whatever reason, you know, you, you could have had a great year in your life, but now you're ready to start new. Where are you going? What are you doing? Same old, same old, the same old, same old will not take you to where you want to go. Right? So I encourage you to really consider putting something together. And, and if, even if you go about the same old, same old plan, what action to it, you know, the same old same old plan is usually, Oh, well, I'm going to achieve this number of sales goals, and I'm going to achieve that number. So there's my business plan, right? Here's what I did last year. Going, there's so much more around that to really develop how you're going to do that. What tangible actions are you going to do to achieve what it is that you want to achieve? Yeah. You can't do that without doing the work.
Roy - The Business of Business Podcast (29:23):
Two things measure measurable, measurable, and actionable. We have to have something in there to take action. And then we also need something to measure. You know, if that action is getting us closer to where we want to be,
Marcia (29:38):
Uh, then the new thing out here, and it's not really new, you know? Oh, manifest all of your dreams and they'll come true. No, they won't. You can dream about them. You can envision them. You can, you can wish as hard as you can possibly wish. But unless you say, this is what I'm going to do. Right. And then you go do it, nothing's going to happen. Right. It'd be wishing for it again next year. So, yeah. It's it's time right now, especially now, especially now with the sucky year, we just had, it's time. It's time to do things differently. It's time to look at your business differently. It's time to no longer survive in business. And I think it's time to start thriving.
Roy - The Business of Business Podcast (30:24):
Yeah. And we don't want to eat up the first three months of next year going through the same thing and then decide that we need to do it. Let's get it done. Now start the year off, fresh and start out hard and fast.
Marcia (30:38):
Totally. Yep. Hundred percent. Yeah.
Roy - The Business of Business Podcast (30:41):
Well, Marcy, I appreciate you taking time out of your day to be with us, uh, before we go, would you mind, um, so what is a tool are a habit, a ritual, something that you do either in your professional or personal life every day that you just don't think you could do without,
Marcia (31:01):
You know, this is something that's going to throw you guys for a loop because, um, it's not what you think, you know, I would say, yeah, this exercise in business, and you're going to do that, but you know what? We are the fountain of life for our business and our family needs us. Our business needs us. We need us. So I believe that you need to take care of us first, so we can take care of the business and our family and our friends and do the things that we want to do. So I'm a big proponent of exercise. So I think I get up in the morning, it's pretty ugly, but I get up in the morning. I walk my dogs because they're demanding it first. And then I go to the gym and I try and get myself with enough energy and a clear mind. So when I sit down at my desk with my coffee, you know, I've got the energy to do what I need to do and, and clarity and focus that I can get it done. If I'm not taking care of, of me, then I can't take care of my business. Right. So that's, that's my one thing that's kind of less field.
Roy - The Business of Business Podcast (32:17):
Yeah, no, no, that's a good point. And not only that, but for myself, you know, I try to get up and walk the dogs as well. And it's when I seem to, to have my most creative thinking, when, you know, I'm not sitting in front of a computer, I don't have a phone, radio, TV, something else going, I can just get out in nature and walk and it's things become so clear. So, uh,
Marcia (32:42):
Yeah, because we're trying, when we're sitting at the desk, we're trying to solve our own problems. We're trying to solve our client's problems. We're putting that proverbial square peg into the round hole, and we're trying to think how to let it fit. Sometimes it's just better to go. I'm going to walk away and get some fresh air, a little bit of exercise, and then the puzzle pieces start lining up and then it goes, Oh yeah, that's it. Yeah.
Roy - The Business of Business Podcast (33:06):
Yeah. And it's a, it's a whole nother episode. But, um, I read, uh, you know, I read a, uh, a study not long ago that was just talking about our creativity has gone down because we're so tightly scheduled and it kind of plays into this is that we need to schedule in some non-thinking time or non-busy time where we can just sit and be, and think or walk either one, but just give our mind some, some time
Marcia (33:34):
And get off the computer because this zoom world we're in as we're on right now. And the fact that, you know, you don't have to drive anywhere anymore to make those appointments. You just jumped here. So you do more stuff compacted in and more video that it's actually, um, draining us a lot more. I mean, mentally, physically, emotionally, I mean, who wants to sit there and look at themselves all the time when they're talking. So when I talk to you, I moved my picture over here so I can see it otherwise I'm like, Oh, how did don't lean in a little bit more, but yeah, it's they say day, you know, the almighty, they say that, you know, we're really, we're really hurting ourselves by bending all the time. So that exercise is key. Yeah.
Roy - The Business of Business Podcast (34:18):
All right. Well, there's going to be some people that need to want to get ahold of you to get started on that plan, some strategic planning for next year. So why don't you tell them how they can reach out and get ahold of him?
Marcia (34:31):
Thanks so much. So my company is trajectory consulting and I go by trajectory, biz B I z.com. And, um, right now I have a super simple, easy jumpstart, six days, it's a sprint. So it's a way to kind of get the juices flowing and just start thinking about some little things that you can do. So I encourage the listeners to go get on www.bigprofitsprint.com and jump on. I'm given it's a six day plan, full action packed, and you're going to walk away with the starters and a foundation of a plan to get you going. And I promise you, your juices are going to get going. You're going to start coming up with some really creative ideas and I'm a huge giver. So you're going to walk away with a whole bunch of strategies as well.
Roy - The Business of Business Podcast (35:22):
Awesome. Thanks for that. And also you have your own podcast profit with the plan, so be sure and give, give a listen. I know you have some awesome guests on there from time to time,
Marcia (35:35):
All of them. So, um, that is on, uh, it's on profit with a plan.com or you can go on YouTube and just type in profit with a plan and you'll find, uh, the versions there. I just recorded episode 80, so I'm striving for a hundred and there's, there's just been tons of really fabulous guests that came on and shared really great information. And it's all driving more profits and growth.
Roy - The Business of Business Podcast (36:01):
Right. All right. Well, thank you so much again, you can find us@wwwdotthebusinessofbusinesspodcast.com. Again, iTunes, Stitcher, Google play, and Spotify, as well as the old favorites, Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter. So until next time I'm Roy. Thanks a lot.
Marcia (36:23):
Thanks.
www.thebusinessofbusinesspodcast.com