Have you ever thought about how trimming trees relates to running a business? Kristen got us all thinking after chatting about tree pruning and uncovering surprising similarities between this necessary job and how we shape our businesses. This talk led to some eye-opening discussions, linking the process of pruning to smart business strategies and offering valuable lessons for everyone aiming to grow professionally.
Kristen’s story about two trees holds invaluable lessons about pruning and the transformative power of speaking life into seemingly challenging situations. These lessons extend far beyond the realm of horticulture, offering profound insights applicable to our daily lives.
Let’s look at a few highlights:
- The idea of ‘cutting off things that look like they’re working’ might seem counterintuitive, yet it’s a critical aspect of growth. It prompts us to consider what serves our present needs and what might hinder our future selves.
- The pruning season might be discomforting, but it’s an integral part of the growth process—a process that nurtures stronger, enduring, and ultimately more fruitful outcomes.
- Kristen emphasizes the need to reframe our perspective on the phase we’re in. It’s not just the victorious seasons that define us; instead, it’s our ability to navigate and grow through the challenging times that truly shape us.
- It’s a reminder that by speaking life into our endeavors, exercising patience, and consistently putting in the effort, we have the capacity to build something that lasts—a testament to the power of intentional growth and nurturing.
The crucial takeaway is about persevering and speaking positivity into our efforts. It’s a lesson in patience, self-care, and the understanding that growth takes time. Much like trees go through the pruning stages, we must make hard decisions, persevere through challenges, and have the patience to nurture what we are building.
Elevate your holiday sales with our Monetize & Maximize Holiday Sales Guide, your ultimate resource for proven, organic marketing success. Don’t miss out on the chance to boost profits and drive sales this season.
Introducing the Social Selling Leadership School: A 12-week Advanced Leadership Certification program for Network Marketers. This program was designed to give you everything you need to be a confident and transformational coach for the people you serve and help your team get massive results. This is the ONLY Coaching Certification program built specifically for the social selling market. Find out more and join the waitlist here!.
Thanks for listening! Do you have a question about network marketing? Kristen can help! Drop your question here, and she just might answer it live on the podcast: https:/Kristenboss.com/question
If you’re ready to learn the simple process of running your social selling business online, you have to check out Kristen’s live group coaching program! The Social Selling Academy: www.thesocialsellingacademy.com
Transcript for Episode #188: The Tale of Two Trees
Kristen Boss (00:19): You are listening to the Kristen Bos podcast. I’m your host, Kristen Bos. As a bestselling author and performance coach, I’m on a mission to share about sustainable and purposeful approaches to both business and life. Each week I bring relevant topics that I believe are necessary to create a life of purpose, significance and meaning. Entrepreneurship is about so much more than growing your bottom line. It’s about who you are becoming in the process and building a life that is truly extraordinary. Entrepreneurship is really just the beginning.
Kristen Boss (00:57): Hey, bosses, welcome to another episode of the podcast. It’s good to be back. I took a week off and I decided not to have any drama about not airing a podcast. Last week, I actually took some time to enjoy putting up Christmas decorations with my family. So my house is officially decked out for the holidays and I love it. And if you’re listening to this, you’re like, it’s, it’s not even Thanksgiving. I grew up in a house where we didn’t decorate. We didn’t put up Christmas decor until Thanksgiving weekend after Thanksgiving. And as I’ve gotten older, it takes a lot of work to decorate my house. I ain’t going to lie. And my husband always jokes every year when he takes up 10 giant totes from the basement, he’s like, is it really necessary to have this much Christmas stuff? And my answer is always like, yes.
Kristen Boss (01:45): And there can never be enough Christmas stuff. I’m currently working on selling him on getting a Christmas tree for the basement. He’s like, we’re not there very often. I was like, yeah, but then it can be a different themed tree. I am absolutely out of control when it comes to Christmas. I will not even pretend to say otherwise about myself. So it’s been really fun and as my kids are getting older, they’re helping out a bit more. And in Colorado, the weather’s changing. We got our first snowfall of the season and we were expecting trace amounts an inch. We got 15 inches and we’ve had another snowfall since then. So it just feels like we have been thrown into the holiday season. So if you have not speaking of holidays, if you have not grabbed my monetize and maximize holiday guide, people are loving it.
Kristen Boss (02:40): We’ll put the link in the show notes for that. But it’s just a fantastic way for you to really leverage the holidays better with your audience to really maximize your sales. There is a strategic way to go about this. You can’t just be posting and hoping that people are going to buy from you just because you’re posting when everyone else is just, you’re not just competing with other who are selling commissionable products in network marketing or with those companies. You’re also competing with Amazon and Major Storefronts and other influencers and other companies. It is normal now for major corporations to leverage influencers and affiliates as well, not just network marketing companies. It’s very normal. So it’s not just you against other network marketers, it’s you against other influencers who are leveraging social media to sell to their audience. So you really need to be, for lack of a better term, I was going to say clever, but I would just say strategic and intentional with your content, how you show up in the online space between now and the new year.
Kristen Boss (03:42): And I also want to say, do not wait until the new year. Do not wait until the hustle and bustle of the holidays is over to decide to take your business seriously. We are going to be launching and announcing our year, end live three day event very soon where you can get the tickets. And I have changed the theme of this. It is so relevant to where the industry is going. And for the first time ever, historically, when we’ve talked about our year end events, we’ve gotten anywhere between 10 and 15,000 registrants. We’d love to see 20,000 registrants this year, but this is the first time where we’re actually marketing not to the individual of like, Hey, here’s where you can go and start your business and have sustainable habits. We are really going to be speaking about how to build momentum with a team and how to actually get your team into momentum the first 90 days of 2024.
Kristen Boss (04:35): So that is what the event is really going to be centered around how to set yourself and your team up for massive momentum. The first 90 days of 2024, because the first 90 days of 2024 will determine and set the tone for the entire remainder of your year. So if you want to one year from now, if you want to be having your strongest sales, having your strongest paychecks, having a larger team hitting all your goals, a lot of that is determined over your next four to five months of decisions and how you show up in your business. So you’re going to want to keep your eyes out. If you’re not on our email list, follow me on social media. But I’m also going to be announcing out in the podcast when we release the name of it, when the tickets go on sale, it’s only going to be a $9 event we normally do.
Kristen Boss (05:20): We want you to have a little skin in the game. We want you to take it seriously. We want you to, because I notice when something’s free, there’s no where’s the skin in the game. It’s like, yeah, sure. If I get around to, it’s like, no, I can put down $9 to better myself, better my future and take myself seriously. So that’s going to be coming up real soon. But you can also grab the Monetize and Maximize holiday sales guide in the links. We’re also, for the first time ever, going to be doing a Black Friday special. You guys, I’ve never done a Black Friday in my company in however many years we’ve been running this, you’re going to want to check your inbox if you have been thinking about joining the Social selling Academy, if you’ve been thinking about the Rise Live event that we are doing in April of 2024 in Denver, we’re going to be talking about that as well.
Kristen Boss (06:08): Just so many goodies coming your way. Goody goodies coming your way. So keep your eyes out. Be sure to check your email, check your socials. If you’re in our text campaigns, you’re going to want to do that as well. So let’s get down to what I really wanted to talk about in today’s episode. And it was inspired by a conversation I had with one of my good friends, his name’s Zach, and I’m also good friends with his wife, Ashley. And we were just talking, we were connecting and doing some collaboration stuff, and we were talking about being business owners and we are both CEOs of our own companies and just what that involves sometimes and how you go through seasons. And we’ve just been like, well, what kind of season are you in right now? And we both were talking about how we’ve been in a pruning season and there’s different seasons in your business.
Kristen Boss (07:00): You might be in like, I am putting down roots. I am sowing seeds, I’m prepping the soil. I’m not going to see much from this for a while. Then there’s like, okay, I’m watering. There’s not much coming from this. And then the harvest, and then there might be the winter soil or whatever it is. There are different seasons in business. And we were both just talking about the season of pruning. And so this particular podcast, I decided to call it the Tail of Two Trees because I just put up all my Christmas trees and I was like, oh, this is very relevant and seasonal, and I think there’s good lessons in both of these stories. So Zach was telling me, he’s like, yeah, I’m in a pruning season right now, and it just seems like this is what we’re going through and this is why it’s good.
Kristen Boss (07:45): He’s like, but I want to share with you an example. He’s like, I live on this property and it’s mountainous and it’s surrounded by eucalyptus trees and I love eucalyptus trees. And he was saying, when we first moved on the property, we had to cut back all of our eucalyptus and they’re beautiful, seven foot eucalyptus. And I had this, I think they’re an arborist, come in and tell him, okay, well this is what we’re going to have to do. And he’s like, when they pruned the trees, he’s like, there was almost nothing left. It was like stumps. They cut off all the greenery. It was nothing beautiful to look at. And it was actually, it was hard. It was like, oh no, my beautiful tree, I don’t want to do that. And then he’s like, and now the trunks and the branches, he’s like, they’re double in size and strength and they’re much thicker and stronger.
Kristen Boss (08:43): And he’s not only that, he’s, the trees have now almost doubled in size. I think he said they were 11 or 12 feet. He’s, so my seven foot had to be cut back down and to where it was stumps and branches and nothing was beautiful. And he’s like, I looked at it and he’s like, I really didn’t think anything was going to come from it. I thought we had killed it, but it came back stronger and bigger and more green, and the branches were thicker and they could bear more weight. And not only that, but underground, the roots go deeper and spread out wider so the tree even becomes more stable. And I was like, man, that’s just so good with how sometimes we have to cut off things that might even look like it’s working. It was a seven foot lovely tree. There was nothing unhealthy with it, but the arborist knew if you want a stronger, bigger, healthier tree, we have to cut it back, which meant even sacrificing some of its present beauty and looking at it being like, but I don’t have to cut off that branch.
Kristen Boss (09:42): It’s a good branch. What’s wrong with it? Why would I have to cut it back? But Zach was telling me this. He’s like, I had to actually look up more of why the pruning process works. And I was like, yeah, because that’s not something I sitt think about as well. And he’s like, when you cut a branch, when you prune, it releases a growth hormone in the plant that accelerates it again to grow more, stronger, bigger, faster, all of those things. He’s like, it is only the cutting that releases the growth hormone. And I was like, dang, that is such a good analogy for our own seasons of growth. Nobody likes the pruning part. Nobody likes cutting off the things that look pretty good. I could settle for this lovely little seven foot tree, but to actually cut it down where it looks like there’s no beauty left and cutting away the parts that you’re like, well, I feel like it’s working.
Kristen Boss (10:37): Why should I have to cut that off? And it feels like, and then there’s this barren season of like, oh, there’s not much to look at now. This is awful. And then again, it’s only the cutting away, the removing of the things that are limiting us, that triggers the growth hormone, that triggers all of that internal process to yield a better stronger tree. And that is exactly what happened. He’s like, the branch is doubled in width and it almost doubled in height and the root system is stronger and it’s even more beautiful to look at. I’m like, dang, are we willing to do that in our own lives? Are we willing to prune away the things? Are we willing to not settle with, yeah, I guess this is good enough, or are we, and I think this is the idea of acknowledging and seeing our upper limit being like, okay, I’ve accomplished up until this goal, but in order for me to reach the next goal, you are probably going to have to prune things.
Kristen Boss (11:31): And if you haven’t listened to the 10 Xs easier than two x episode with myself and Dr. Benjamin Hardy, you absolutely need to go back and listen to that episode because we talk about this, we talk about how you have to let things go, that even if they’re serving you now, they cannot serve you in growing into the future version of yourself. And I think industry-wide right now, a lot of people are in a pruning season, pruning people that were on their team two years ago that aren’t on their team now. Maybe some of your best producers or maybe your most valuable employee or your best client, maybe those have had to be cut away. Maybe relationships you have had to prune relationships. Maybe you’ve had to prune your finances, cut back on the things that were fun and great and being like, alright, I’m going to have to buckle down for the next two years.
Kristen Boss (12:21): We’re going to have to trim down our lifestyle and our expenses so that we can have more cashflow to put into our business, to put into other opportunities for passive income or into real estate or into our future investments. I’m willing to constrain and cut back on what is now knowing that it’s going to yield greater fruit later. So I think just this year, I think it has been a pruning year for the industry, the industry as a whole. I see there’s the individual tree that needs pruning you as an individual business owner. And I’m sure there are parts of you that have had that. If you haven’t pruned them already, I think you know what needs to be pruned. Being like, okay, this part of me that’s scrolling on social media when I know I can be more intentional and I can step into this more and really just decide to go all in on social media of really building an online presence and a brand and going there.
Kristen Boss (13:14): I know that’s required of me, but I just haven’t put in the time. I haven’t been intentional about it. So I just think that’s a way of being like, okay, I have to prune away. What do I have to prune out or cut out so that I can do that so that I can create the fruit of that? And then the industry as a whole, I think we’re pruning away people that are shortsighted, people that are only in it when it’s fun, people are in it. That’s only when it’s like, Hey, in a good recession, in a good recession, lordy, in a good economy, it’s easy to stay in things when it’s easy. But now in a recession and when things are a little tighter, I’m just seeing people bail when it’s hard or complain when it’s hard, or try and just sit it out or negotiate with themselves or just say, I’ll just wait for this to pass and then I’ll show up again because it’s not a good time to sell.
Kristen Boss (14:04): But I’m just like, you know what? Selling always happens. It always happens even in a recession. It’s just a matter of those that offer the most value and how they speak to their audience. Those are the ones that do well in a recession, and that’s going to be for another episode of how to actually show up in a recession. But I think there’s pruning happening within the industry. I think people that maybe are in it for a quick buck in it for a quick season they’re in and they’re out. Maybe people who were certain types of leaders or people that were bouncing around. Whatever it is, it has been a pruning season. And I think it’s interesting because I meet with a lot of companies, a lot of corporate teams behind the scenes, and I was telling my COO the other day, I was telling her, I was like, I’m waiting for the day for a corporate office to tell me something I don’t know, to tell me something I haven’t yet heard, because I’m hearing the same thing from every office and every corporate office I talk to, they everyone’s having the same problems.
Kristen Boss (15:08): And it’s like, okay, can you pour belief into the field? They’re still recovering from the disappointment of post pandemic business and they’re needing some tough love. We need our leaders to do this. I’m like, yep, check, check, check, check. I’ve heard this from now, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19 different companies. Everyone’s telling me the exact same thing. So I’m like, it’s a pruning season even for in the corporate office for companies too. They’re bringing in new CEOs, bringing in new director of sales. It’s just what’s happening and pruning, we have to stop thinking pruning is a bad thing. Like, oh my gosh, this is the worst thing that’s ever happened. Is it painful? Absolutely. Is it scary? Like, oh my gosh, is this actually going to grow back? What if I kill the plant? What if I kill the thing? What if the pruning is what kills us? But the pruning is what triggers the growth process, and we have to start seeing it that way.
Kristen Boss (16:02): So that was the tale of the eucalyptus tree. And I think the takeaway I want you to have from that is just reframing how you are viewing the season you’re in. If you’ve been in a pruning season and understanding the pruning is what triggers the growth. The pruning is what unleashes the growth hormone in you where you realize, all right, we got to dig deep. We got to go to the next level. Because I will tell you, my pruning season is what created all the growth in me. It wasn’t my winning seasons that defined me. It was all the hard seasons that got me to where I am. Think about that. I’m not defined by my winning seasons. I think we can think that from the outside looking in, being like, oh, look at all they’ve accomplished. But I would be like, well, I could tell you all the things I failed at.
Kristen Boss (16:51): I can tell you all the things I tried to do and it didn’t work because that is what got me to a winning season. It was the pruning that got me here. So really working on that shift in your mind and then asking, well, what do I need to prune in order to trigger my growth? And then the second story is kind of fun. I was sharing about it earlier this year. I just talked about out my Instagram, but I’m like, okay, this is so good. Then when Zach had told me his story, I was like, okay, wait, hold on. I learned a lesson from a tree this year too. And so it was almost a year ago. It was after our three day event, and it was actually right in the new year. My Facebook ads manager sent me, she’s a friend of mine, and she sent me a plant.
Kristen Boss (17:38): And listen, guys, it’s a miracle I can keep myself, my husband, my dogs and my kids alive. I’m not somebody you gift a plant to. I once tried to have a fiddle leaf fig, and we called him Fred the fig, and Fred died real fast. It was just so pitiful. If you want your plant to die, give me a plant. So she sent me this plant. I was like, oh, no, I have yet to watch another plant die. Oh boy. But the thing was is she had sent the plant while we were away skiing in Breckenridge, and we were gone for a while. So the plant was outside in this box. We get home and I’m like, oh my gosh. And mind you, Colorado winter, it is freezing. So I bring this box inside, I open it, and it’s this plant. Actually, I’m not going to give the name of the plant yet away.
Kristen Boss (18:28): So I bring it inside and I pull it out, and the leaves have officially withered off. It turned black, died. It is the most awful looking thing. I’m like, oh my gosh, I realize it froze being outside. And I was like, okay, maybe it’s in a state of shock. We’re going to bring it inside. I’m going to make sure it has water. But it was looking real bad and it just kept getting worse. And eventually I realized, I’m like, oh no, I think I’m going to have to cut off all the leaves. I was just clinging to like, okay, maybe it needs to keep the leaves on. But they started to get more withered, turning black, dine falling off. And at this point I’m like, oh my gosh, I think I have to cut all the leaves. So I cut it all off, and all that was left was this stump sticking out of dirt.
Kristen Boss (19:12): And when I tell you it was a stump, it looked exactly like baby Groot from the Marvel Guardians of the Galaxy. That’s what I’m looking for. I had grew in a pot and that was it. And I was like, oh, this is not good. I think I killed it. And I looked up, I Googled frost damage. I was like, oh, no. And then I looked at the card in the box and it said, this is a money tree. And I was like a money tree. Oh no. So I’m looking at the money tree that has dyed and it’s sitting on my kitchen counter, and it was green and leafy and beautiful. If you were to look up a money tree, Google it. They’re a really pretty plant. It’s a really pretty tree. And so I was like, oh, no, it’s a money tree. And I killed it.
Kristen Boss (20:03): And I was like, is this an omen? I’m not superstitious, but I was just enough to be like, oh, no. Well, I can’t throw away a money tree. So I was like, okay, maybe we just need to wait this out, let it see some sunlight defrost inside. And so again, I got it in January, January, nothing, February, nothing. It’s a stump. It just looks like a stump for so long. And I’m looking at it, and I even think my husband once said, he’s like, are we going to throw that away? I’m like, oh, it’s a money tree. I don’t want to throw it away. I was like, I dunno why? It’s just like there was just something about it. And so then I’ll never forget, I want to say it was maybe beginning of March where I was like, okay, I know the scientific studies behind speaking positive words to plants.
Kristen Boss (20:54): And so I’ll never forget, I was in a bathrobe and everyone was in bed, and I went to go get a glass of water in the kitchen, and I look over at my baby group money tree that’s looking real sad. And I look at it and I’m like, maybe it needs some loving words and encouragement. So there I am, like 11 o’clock at night in a bathrobe leaning over this stumping dirt, and I’m like, Hey, little guy, you’re doing great and you can come back to life and you have strong roots and you are thriving. I just started encouraging this plant and I felt like crazy. I’m like, if anybody saw me, they make fun of me, but I’m like, whatever. I’ve seen the studies about this. And so I just started doing that maybe once a week. And then I was this so close, so close to finally it was April, and at this point, four months, absolutely nothing guys, absolutely nothing.
Kristen Boss (21:55): And my husband was like, babe, I was like, don’t speak over it. I’ve been speaking life over this plant. I was like, don’t speak over it. Still putting water in. It being like, and it’s a self-watering system or whatever. So I’m like, okay. And it finally got to the point where I’m like, I really think I’m just watering a stick in a mud. I think I need to throw it away. And I literally walk up to the counter. We’re getting ready to head out to the mountains to ski for the weekend, and that’s usually when I’m getting the house ready for when we leave. And my husband makes fun of me. I have to wipe down my counters and fluff the pillows before we walk out of the house. He makes fun of me every time. He’s like, babe, do you have to fluff the pillow?
Kristen Boss (22:37): I was like, you know who you married? Yes, I have to fluff the pillows before we leave the house. And we’re actually doing that today. So as soon as I wrap up this podcast, I’m going to go fluff pillows and clean my countertops. There’s something about walking into your house from a trip to a clean kitchen and a couch that looks nice and fluffy. I don’t know. I don’t know guys. So anyways, I’m doing my reset. My husband’s about to get in the car, and actually he’s already headed up the mountains and I am trailing behind him, and I go to pick up the plant to take it to the trash can. And I look and I see this tiny, tiny little green shoot sticking out of the spe. I’m like, it’s alive. And so you guys, you could not know my joy. I was known as a plant killer before this, and now I’m like, are you kidding me?
Kristen Boss (23:24): So I have called the plant Lazarus. And so I will tell you, I was so delighted to see a sign of life, the tiniest little green shoot you would have thought. I was like, oh my gosh. I was delighted. I took a picture, sent it to my husband, and I continued to speak life over it. And now, six months later, just yesterday, I actually had to trim the leaves because it’s such a robust, happy green, lush, beautiful plant, Lazarus, the money tree. And so the lesson I want you to take from that, and it was a good lesson even for me, is even when things look dead and hopeless and distraught and nothing good can come from it, and it is like it’s maybe it’s worth just throwing it away. Your efforts aren’t even showing any payoff yet. Understand two things. One, don’t speak death prematurely over something that might still have life.
Kristen Boss (24:33): Watch what you say over yourself, over your business, over your relationships. Words truly do have power. And I would also say with this money tree is like don’t always judge what’s happening on the outside the surface. There’s so much happening in the roots and there was healing happening, and now it is a robust, healthy, happy money tree. But there was like guys, four months were looked like nothing was going to happen. It was a stick in the mud. It was a sad baby group. I’m like, there’s nothing for me here. And it’s so easy. There are seasons in life and business where we’re looking at something and we’re putting in our efforts and we’re speaking life over it. We’re just like, okay, it’s dead. It’s as dead as dead could be. It’s time to throw it out, maybe do something new. But there was something in me that I was like, let’s see if we can make this happen.
Kristen Boss (25:29): I don’t know, it was just maybe my stubbornness and maybe I was just like, wait, maybe just it needs more time. Maybe it needs time. And oftentimes when we are impatient for our goals, impatient for our future, the last thing we’re willing to give our dreams is time. You can’t just do hard work once. You have to do hard work for a consistent period of time. And most people give up before that little green shoot starts to show the actual fruit of the reward. And I think it was perfect. It was just beyond 90 days, just beyond. It was about four months for this plant to start showing signs of life. And it’s so funny, every area of my life in fitness and in health, it was around the same timeframe, about four months where I actually started feeling like this is who I am and this is what I do.
Kristen Boss (26:15): And I started seeing extraordinary results and I started dropping weight. I was like, this is amazing. It’s the same for my students inside the Social Selling Academy when they’re doing the Go-getter challenge and they’re doing their work consistently 90 days, they’re like, wait a minute. I’m seeing this compound. I’m seeing things happen. And then if they stay in it that month four, it’s like miracles happen, but we are too impatient. We think miracles are supposed to happen in a moment. We think miracles are supposed to happen in instant, we ask for them. But I believe miracles happen when we are patiently working towards what we want and we don’t give up. Miracles happen when we keep our eyes focused, everything ahead, and we don’t look at what we’re seeing in the now. We don’t look at, okay, I see no signs of life. I’m seeing no fruit.
Kristen Boss (27:03): Why isn’t my plant waking up? Why isn’t it coming back to life four months and for a tiny green shoot for it to look robust and happy and full of life and healthy? Six months, no longer than that, like eight months. I would say. It was the end of the summer when I was like, oh my goodness, I have a happy money tree. And it’s just been so fun. My husband and I both looked at it. We were like, look at this. And I’ll tell you, at the time when I was gifted that money tree, that was before I had launched the social selling leadership school, and that was when I had decided to discontinue one of my offers in my company that generated a decent amount of revenue. And I’m like, okay, we’re going to let that go because I think this is the thing that the industry truly needs.
Kristen Boss (27:48): And I remember feeling that fear and I’m like, man, the money tree was the perfect example of I had to cut back. I had to prune and I had to trust and I had to keep doing the work. So I don’t know which tree you needed to hear about today about. Maybe you’re like year 20, 23. It looks like a stick in the mud. There’s not much there. And you could choose to walk away. You can choose to throw out all of your efforts. You could choose to jump on the next thing. That sounds fun and exciting, but I will tell you this, the novelty always wears off. There’s a honeymoon phase in everything. There’s a honeymoon phase in business, there’s a honeymoon phase in relationships, there’s a honeymoon phase in friendships. There’s always the honeymoon phase until reality sets in. And every successful business owner I know, we’re just like, when the novelty wears off, that is when you have to become a ninja at business.
Kristen Boss (28:39): That is when you have to decide, I’m working consistently, I’m staying consistent. But most people, once the novelty and the excitement and all the dopamine wears off from the excitement of their business, which I find is typically year two, year three, they’re on to the next thing. That sounds fun and exciting because a lot of people don’t know how to work through the boring and the mundane. They’re just like, no, it always needs to be fun and always need to be in a winning season. I’d be like, absolutely not. 4% of the time in my business feels like a fun winning season. The other 96% of the time is just doing the boring, the mundane, the repetitive, the content creation and sitting in meetings, you guys, I had no idea that running a company would involve so many meetings. I’m like, how do I have this many meetings?
Kristen Boss (29:28): And I’m even very consciously aware of what I say yes to and what I say no to. And I’m like, and here we are. We still have meetings. So all that to say is, are you willing to work through the seasons where it feels like you see nothing? Are you willing to cut back on things? Are you willing to have a pruning season to trigger new growth in you so that you can come back stronger and healthier and better? Are you willing? Are you going to speak life over things that maybe don’t look very promising? Or are you speaking death prematurely being like, it’s dead. It’s dead. There’s nothing left there. I can’t revamp a team. I can’t wake up my business again. I can’t get new customers. I can’t get new leads. I’d be like, yikes, you actually say that. That’s going to be your reality.
Kristen Boss (30:14): Because the person that’s like, I can’t get new leads. I can’t wake my business up. That person is not out there talking to people. Somebody who doesn’t believe that they can get new leads is not actually out there diligently working towards acquiring new leads and acquiring customers. Why? Because they’re busy telling themselves, I’m helpless to the situation. I’m a victim of what’s going on around me. I’m not going to get new leads, or I’m not going to get new customers. And a lot of people are making the fatal mistake of scaling back during a recession being like, I’ll just wait for this to pass when people are ready to spend money again. I’m like, oh, that is not the decision to make at this time. Now is the decision to lean in, to dig deep to it’s a pruning season, friends. It’s a season where you have to speak life, where you have to continue to water and put your business in the sunshine and take care of yourself and keep going and realize, okay, the fruit is coming, the fruit is coming, and I’m willing to be patient enough for the miracle to manifest from all the hard work, the hard decisions I’ve made.
Kristen Boss (31:13): And to wrap this up, that’s what Zach and I were saying at the end of our chat together, we were just saying, you know what? We have built what we’ve built by making lots of very hard decisions. And when you become somebody who knows how to make hard decisions, who knows how to put in hard work, you become so much more fearless in the marketplace. Like, I’m fine. I’m somebody who knows how to make hard decisions. I’m somebody who knows how to do the hard work. I’m somebody who knows how to lean in and dig deep, and I’ve built the skills to where if something should happen. And finally, it’s taken me a couple years to get here, but I’m like, wait, hold on. I’ve built a lifetime of skills, and maybe you can see that with yourself now too, as being like, what skills am I learning?
Kristen Boss (32:03): Do I get to take with me forever? People don’t notice that network marketing. A lot of the people I meet who run companies got their starts in network marketing because they’re like, I learned everything in network marketing. I learned how to sell, how to market, how to do customer fulfillment. You learn everything. So even if it’s a hard season, you can ask yourself, what lifetime skills am I acquiring that makes me more valuable in the marketplace that will set me up even in the future? Oftentimes, we just become so narrow in our thinking and being like, well, if it’s not building a paycheck today, then it’s worthless. But I’d be like, what else? Is it building in you? Is it building in your character? Is it building your decision-making? There’s so much more than just running a business and selling a product. I would say this is the training ground for character development, for understanding business 1 0 1.
Kristen Boss (32:52): And I think it’s why we have low barrier entry, but also a lot of people leave because they realize maybe this isn’t for me. And that’s okay. If the world was all entrepreneurs, we would face economic collapse. We need doctors, we need nurses, we need teachers. We need engineers. We need people in all different walks of life doing different careers. And I think it’s also important to show appreciation for them instead of being like, Hey, you know what the real scam is, is working for a nine to five, maybe in your mind, but not for them. Some people do want that. So all that to say, just to keep me from going on too many rabbit trails because I’ve had a lot of coffee and I’ve apparently I feel very passionately about this. I just want you to decide today to prune what needs to be prune, to speak life over what you are working on and to be patient for the miracle. Because if you put in the work, you put in the consistency, if you’re willing to prune, if you’re willing to be patient, if you speak life over yourself, your business, your relationships, you have the capacity to grow something quite beautiful, quite strong, and something that can last,
Kristen Boss (34:02): We’ll catch you in the next episode. That’s a wrap for today’s episode. Listen, if you love what you heard here today, I would love for you to leave a real quick rating and a review. This helps the show get discovered by new people. Be sure to take a screenshot of today’s episode and shout us out on Instagram. We’ll shout you right back out. If you’d like to find additional resources or discover how to work with me, head to kristenboss.com.
