Back in 2016, I ran a half marathon. Well, run is generous. I participated in and completed a half marathon. It was a Disney half marathon, actually. And Disney is a vast property where they are using far less than half of the property they actually own or the land they actually own. But they made it as easy as possible for us to get to the starting line with pre-race communication, buses that took us from resorts or parking lots right up to, or as close to the starting line as possible, and lots of signs and gates. It was impossible not to get to the starting line for this half marathon.
And we see this in lots of places, right? Websites that have start here. Things to do when you walk into a grocery store or a movie theater. There are lots of places and lots of things in the real world that tell us where to get started.
But when it comes to fixing our business, it's not as clear. In fact, I was on a research call with a woman named Elizabeth, and she said this verbatim. “I read all your stuff, and I'm always like, this sounds awesome. But I don't even know where to start.” And that is what we are going to go over today.
Hey everybody, and welcome to another episode of The Streamlined Solopreneur, the show that helps overwhelmed coaches, consultants, and service providers build systems so their business doesn't depend on them. Each week I share one practical idea, system, tool, strategy, or way to use AI for tasks and not for thinking, to help you beat overwhelm and get your time back while running your business without sacrificing the rest of your life or your health.
And today I want to cover something a lot of people struggle with, and that is knowing where to start. Because a lot of us tell ourselves this story. I have to fix everything. Right now, immediately. And because I can't see the whole map, I can't take the first step.
Let's go back to this half marathon example. Let's say I wasn't given any direction, and I was staying at my— well, we'll say my favorite resort, the Wilderness Lodge. So I was staying there. How would I know how to get to the starting line? How would I know? Where the starting line is. How would I know where to start the race? When the race starts, how long do I have to complete the race? What would be my approach?
I certainly wouldn't just start running, trying to complete the race if I didn't know what time the race started or what day the race started or where the race started. That would be crazy. That would be just a ton of wasted energy. No, the first thing I would do is go to the front desk and say, hey, I am running the half marathon sometime this weekend. Can you tell me what the date and time of the race is? And because I don't know the date and time, I'd put money on the fact that the cast member who was talking to me would also tell me, after telling me the date and time, " Oh, and starting at 3:30 AM, (because the races usually start at 5), starting at 3:30 AM, we're actually going to have buses right out front. Over here, you'll see a sign to take you backstage at Epcot where the race is starting.
But I would start with this one thing. So what do you do to start fixing your business if you don't know where to start? You don't start by fixing everything. You start with the single most time-consuming, most chaotic area, and you build the simplest version possible. Because progress is better than not doing anything at all, right? Progress over perfectionism is another one, right? Or like procrastination parades around as perfectionism, something like that. I read that in a Ryan Holiday book one time. So don't start with everything. Start with one thing. What is something that is— it doesn't even have to be the most time— like I said, the most time-consuming thing. That could also be a blocker, right? Because now you're like, hmm, what is the most time-consuming thing for me? So just pick something that feels time-consuming and start there.
I did this with a woman named Karen who I did a call with, right? She inherited a whole business, like a different business's entire stack. And she was stuck for a long time going, where do I start? And so during our call, I asked her a few questions. And I started pulling on one thread and said, well, what if instead of trying to fix everything all at once, you fix this one area, right? Let's set up a planner for all of your upcoming episodes. That way you don't have to worry about, oh, who is recording today and what time are they recording and do they have any episodes in the pike? I guess I should say that, like Karen ran a podcast agency. So that was just like one thing. Right.
So how do you apply this to your business? Name a time-consuming task or area this week. Think about it. Go for a walk, spend 20 minutes thinking about a thing that takes you a long time every week, or a task that fills you with dread. That's another one, right? I knew back when I first started this show that I had to hire an editor because I loved recording the interviews. And then I was filled with dread at the idea of trying to edit them. You mean I have to line up this audio and make sure there's no drift and cut important things or not important things, but not all of the ums and ahs because it sounds unnatural. So that was something I took off my plate. I delegated it, and I never looked back, right? For these solo episodes, they don't really need to be edited because I do a lot of planning on the front end.
So this is what you should do this week. Go for a walk. Think about a task that takes you a lot of time, something that fills you with dread. Write it down. That is the first thing that you should fix. And if you're still like, I, man, that sounds fine, but like, I don't know what's possible, 'cause this is another thing I hear. Like, I don't know what's possible, so I don't know how I can fix it. And yeah, that makes perfect sense, right? So, you know, again, if I'm drawing, if I'm like beating this half marathon analogy to death, something else I knew was I needed to keep at least a 16-minute mile, because if you don't, then you're not gonna finish the race before the park opens. So going in, I knew I had to maintain at least a 16-minute mile. It was better. I'm not gonna say a lot better, but it was, I, I never got swept up by the dreaded balloon ladies. So if you're still like, yeah, this sounds great, but I, I really, really don't know where to start. I've got you covered.
Check out my Solopreneur System Starter Kit. It has the 4 systems every solopreneur should need. So it is your where-to-start map. Pick one of those areas and start working on the simplest system possible. I tell you exactly what to do here. These are the signposts that you're looking for. You can find that over at streamlined.fm/kit. I will include that in the show notes below.
But that's it for this episode of the Streamlined Solopreneur. I want you to, after you're done with this episode, by the end of this week, whenever you listen to it. Know where you are going to start.
Thanks so much for listening. And until next time, I hope you find some space in your week.