Your success is not dependent on you being in constant forward motion. You know, we always say, "Keep putting one step in front of the other," and that's important. Action is important, but the caveat to that is that you need to be headed in the right direction.
Welcome to the Legacy Creator podcast, a show dedicated to giving you the tools you need to build a profitable, purposeful, and powerful business that lasts. I'm your host, Ashton Smith, a sixth-generation entrepreneur who is passionate about helping you think bigger so that you can actualize your goals and build your legacy.
Let's dive in.
Hello, and welcome back to the Legacy Creator podcast. I am so excited to be back with you guys today. This is my first time recording in our new home, so if you're watching this on YouTube, you will see my new office that is very much so still in progress, but we've got a cute little setup for you today so it looks appealing. I'm so excited to be back with you guys today and to be having a very specific conversation.
I feel like there has been this element of shifting, expanding, and evolution that's been taking place in this season. I don't know if you can relate, but there are so many people in our community who have raised their hand and said, "Me too. I'm experiencing this." It is a chapter of new beginnings, and I've been saying this for about six months now: something is in the air. Something is happening, and businesses are changing and evolving. There's rising technology that is affecting this. There's the shifting and changing economy, and even bigger than that, I feel like the online space is changing in big ways, but also ourselves as founders, we're changing in terms of what matters to us, in terms of what we want, in terms of the desires that we not only have for our business but we have for our life.
So it's been a transitional season, and that can leave so many of us feeling uncertain, unsettled. There's so much that's up in the air. We can feel frustrated, overwhelmed, and just a lack of clarity, which can really throw us for a loop. If you've felt any of that so far this year, this episode is for you.
What I've really noticed is that there is a certain level of discontentment in these transitional seasons, in these seasonal shifts, because there is a huge misconception about what business actually is. The thing about business is that you never fully arrive. It doesn't matter if you are day one, trying to build the foundations, or are you are 10 years in and you're a multimillion-dollar company. You never arrive. There is never this final destination. There is never this place of nirvana. There is no "build it, set it aside, and let it keep growing and thriving." It is constant, right? The nature of business is constant evolution for the business itself and for you as the founder of the business. The two actually go hand in hand, which we're going to touch on today, but business is this constant loop of becoming. You cast your vision. You do the work. You build. Your desires then rise up to meet you at that new level. You become more and more of the powerful force that you are, and that propels your company forward, and as you're propelled forward, your desires are propelled forward, right?
This isn't me saying, you know, you always need to be chasing more, doing more, desiring more, but in the same sense, I really wanna shed light on this concept of life and business being this constant evolution. You're never going to fully arrive because you are always personally growing. That personal growth propels the company, and as it does, your desires continue to rise up because you are more and more equipped to carry out those new desires.
So if you're pivoting, if you're expanding right now, if you feel like you are in a new chapter, this is the nature of business. It does not mean that anything is wrong with you. It does not mean that you're in the wrong place at the wrong time, you're behind. It just means that you're a business owner. You're a founder. This is part of our job title, part of our responsibility as founders.
And one of the things I really wanna hit on out of the gate is that this does not mean that you are behind. I have had so many conversations with clients and community members recently where they've said to me, "You know, Ashton, I just feel like I should have this done. I should have this down pat, you know? I should have all of these things sorted out in my business. My team should be refined. Our systems should be refined. My offers should be done, created, out in the world. This should be a seamless process. Why am I so behind?" And my response to that is, "You are not behind."
This is the nature of business, and especially when you are in a transitional season, so much is changing. There's a lot of upheaval. You're going to have to continually refine things. It doesn't mean that you took the wrong path before now. Every single experience, every single move that you make is a stepping stone leading you to the next. So, I even think back on my story. If you've been around here since the beginning, bless you. I always say that because, man, there's been a lot of transition around here, and I feel like I've personally grown leaps and bounds since day one. But, you know, I always tell people, I got my start in entrepreneurship in the blogging space. Started a lifestyle blog, that transitioned over into a print publication, that transitioned over into life coaching for a minute. I ran an agency for a minute with my husband, and then The Awakening was born. So, there was so much transition. There were so many stepping stones. And on paper, if you were to look at it, "okay, started there, took all those steps, eventually got to The Awakening," you could look at it like, "Oh, well, those were all mistakes. You took the wrong path." But another way that you can look at it is, "Oh, those were all stepping stones. Those were all moments in time where you were growing, you were developing as a person, you were developing your skill sets, you were honing in on what you actually want, what you actually want to build, how you actually want to live, how you actually want to impact people." And that's what business is. You may start completely over on the left side here, and then end up leaps and bounds from that place. Every entrepreneur is gonna tell you that they've had many transitional times in their business. It doesn't mean that you're behind. It doesn't mean that you took the wrong path, right?
And being in a season where you feel unsettled and you feel like there's a pivot or a shift that needs to happen, it's actually a positive sign because it is a sign of growth to come, right? Sometimes plants have to be cut back in order to encourage new growth, in order for them to reach their full bloom, their full potential. The same is true for us, for our businesses, for our lives. Sometimes there is this element of pulling back so you can propel forward. Every single move that you are making, that you have made, that you will make, it is a stepping stone to exactly where you are meant to be.
You know, my dad shared this analogy with me when I was younger, Lord knows, probably a teenager, an early teen. He brought up The Price is Right. So, if you've ever seen that show, it's a game show, and there are times where there are, you know, three doors that people have to choose between. Behind one door there's a banana. Behind another door there could be something like, you know, a brand new car, right? Everything in between. And so if you think about it this way, this is the way I view life, let's say that you choose the door with the banana. Well, I believe that over time you're gonna go through that door, you're gonna have the banana, have a little snack, and then you're gonna be rerouted to the other door with the brand new car behind it. I just believe that all of the pieces align in perfect timing, all things come together in perfect timing in our favor. Sometimes we don't understand why it has to happen that way, why we feel like we get off track before we get on track, but it is this process of developing and becoming, and that is absolutely crucial for when you get the brand new car, so to speak, right? So, think about it like that. Every single move that you make is a stepping stone to where you're meant to be. Don't overthink it, right? Don't feel like you have to get it perfect. Don't feel like you are behind because you still have work to do on your company. That is the nature of business.
Imagine with me for a second, it's Monday morning. You sit down at your desk with clarity, confidence, and peace of mind. You know exactly what to do in order to move your business forward in the form of impact and cash flow. This is a reality for so many inside our Awakening membership, and it's possible for you too. If you're ready to effectively structure your time, actualize your goals without the burnout, and amplify your impact and revenue, our membership can help. As a Podcast Insider, you can join today and get half off of your first month. Head to myawakening.co/membership and use the code LEGACYINSIDER, in all caps, at checkout. Again, head to myawakening.co/membership and use the code LEGACYINSIDER, in all caps, at checkout. We can't wait to serve you on the inside.
Now, back to the episode.
The other thing I wanna mention here is that evolution does not always mean doing more. I think that there's this idea in the online space that if you're evolving, if you are up-leveling in your business, well, you need to be launching something new. You need to be bringing on a team member. You need to be releasing a new marketing campaign, whatever it is, right? But sometimes evolution means powerfully simplifying and scaling back so that you can accelerate. There is power in simplifying. There is power in running a lean company, a lean team. You don't have to do more to be more of an authority in your industry. You just need to do what you do powerfully, with depth, with excellence. And if you need to scale back, if you need to cut back, if you need to, you know, trim that rose bush so that it can grow new blooms, so to speak, then do that thing. This is where it's so important that you are laser-focused on your path, on what you are called to do in this season, not what anyone else is doing. That will lead you to shiny object syndrome, which will then lead you to a lack of clarity and then massive burnout. Stay so laser-focused on your path, what you want to build, what you're good at, the value that you can bring. And if that means doing more, you go do more. And if that means doing less, go do less.
So now I want to dive into, you know, what does successfully pivoting and shifting in your business look like? I wanna hit on a few points here to give you some kind of tactical information, insight, and recommendations if you are in a season where things are changing.
The first thing you know I'm gonna have to mention is that you've got to know your North Star. You have to know that. Now, I do want to add a caveat here. If you don't have massive clarity on where you're going, maybe you're feeling less connected to your business right now, maybe you're feeling a lack of inspiration and there's some muddy waters, that's okay. Take hold of the things that you know matter. Maybe you don't know in clear detail what you want your business to look like in five years, but maybe you know how you wanna feel. Maybe you know what you want your life to look like. Take hold of the things that you know with unshakable certainty, and then the other pieces will come together. They will fall into place.
You know, I think back to when I was running a blog, and it was a passion project at that point. I had no idea I would be doing what I do today. But I had the sense of feeling behind it. I knew that I wanted to pour into women. I knew that I wanted to empower women. That was literally my first mission statement: "I wanna empower women of all ages, types, ethnicities, of all places," right? You know, and that's not necessarily specific enough, but it was enough to get me started. That's the point. I knew that I wanted to create a business that was fulfilling, that allowed me to pour into others, but also gave me space and freedom to live and enjoy my life. And I have a lot of that in my business today.
So you don't have to know absolutely everything, because here's the thing too that I feel like people don't talk about: your vision is going to change. Your vision is going to evolve, expand, be pulled back, be propelled forward. You know, it's going to be ever-evolving. It's going to unravel as you become more and more of the powerful force that you are. It's going to change, and that is okay. You're allowed to change your mind. You're allowed to change your business model. You're allowed to grow, evolve, expand. You're allowed to have a process, okay? That is business, okay? But you do need to know, generally speaking, where you're going. What's the why? What's the why behind it all?
Because that's the other thing here. Business is not for the faint of heart. I am so blunt and transparent about the fact that business and entrepreneurship is not for everybody. It's just not. There are so many high moments, low moments, everything in between, and you have to know the why in the chaos and in the good moments, right? Because if you don't know it in the good moments, you might have shiny object syndrome and go down a path that, you know, you don't really want. And then in the low moments, you know, that's where you really wanna just throw in the towel. We've all had those moments. What's the why? You've got to know that.
And I also wanna point out that your success in business is not dependent on you being in constant forward motion. You know, we always say, "Keep putting one step in front of the other," and that's important. Action is important, but the caveat to that is that you need to be headed in the right direction, and that is what your North Star does for you. There are so many seasons of business that sweep you off your feet, throw you around, disorient you, frustrate you, leave you feeling like, "Am I even meant to do this?" And you can think about it like a hurricane. If you're swept up in a hurricane, you're disoriented. Eventually, you land, and you may be facing the wrong direction at that point. After upheaval, chaos in the business, going through something that's really hard, you may end up facing the wrong direction. What matters in that moment isn't constant forward motion. Actually, it requires realignment before you keep moving forward because momentum without heading in the right direction is pointless, right? So you need to realign before you keep taking those steps forward. So your success in business is actually dependent on your ability to realign constantly. Realign with your vision, your purpose, your calling, what you wanna build, why you wanna build it, not what anyone else says, not what anyone else is doing. So that's the first thing.
The second thing, from a more, you know, strategic and tactical perspective, I always recommend this to every single one of our clients and work on this with them: create a cash flow runway. We can't just talk about, you know, the vision without talking about the financials, right? When you're going to make a big shift in your business, when you're going to transition—I mean, I would say small or big—you wanna make sure that you are financially secure. If you have a team, you wanna make sure that, you know, even more so, you are financially secure so that you can support the team, you can continue to fund operations. So prepare for this shift, plan ahead, and if this is going to require additional cash to support you in the transition, you need to accommodate for that, right? And this is especially true if you're making a really big pivot. We've worked with clients that have run agencies that have decided, "I want to end my agency. I am done with agency life," and so they have said, "Okay, this is the plan to get there. I wanna cut all of my agency clients, and instead, I wanna focus on EDU." And so I will never recommend, unless there are cash reserves already set aside, that that shift be made immediately because we also need to think about your security throughout that process.
So the first thing, make sure that you identify what is the cash needed for that set time frame, right? So let's say that you have the goal of shutting down your agency in three to six months' time. Okay? Well, what's the cash flow needed once you get to that transition? What's the additional cash flow that you need to have set aside to fund yourself, to fund operations, team, etc.? How can we plan for that? Now, you'll also wanna select the source of the cash. So this could be taking on additional clients for a short time frame. This could be putting more cash in reserves. This could be a launch, right, to create a cash infusion. It could be multiple launches depending on the extent of cash that you need on hand. But what's the source of that cash flow? And then also plan for how this cash is going to be used over the transition period, right? So maybe you put some of this cash towards a product you wanna create, a funnel you wanna create, ads that you wanna run in order to validate a funnel, right? In order to land x amount of sales from this particular offer month over month over month, and that's something that you can depend on because it's proven. There are so many ways that you can use that cash, right? Maybe it's a strategic hire that you wanna make. Maybe it's taking a part-time employee full time. But identify, okay, how is that going to be used? And maybe it's even just used for your salary during that time and your team's pay. But really clarify these details so that you don't just go into this transition with full-blown inspiration and then you get there and it's like, "Whoa, crap. I don't have all of these details together. I don't have enough financially secured in order to support everyone." Let's make sure we have a plan in place for that.
And then the final thing here that I really, really want to hit on is focus on constantly becoming. My dad always told me growing up, "Life is not about what you gain. It's about who you become." Like I said at the beginning of this episode, it's a constant loop of becoming because as you become more of who you are, more of the powerful force of who you are, well then you rise up, your expectations rise, your bandwidth rises, your ability to execute rises, and then you actualize in the business and then your desires rise up to meet you. And it's this constant process of unraveling, of becoming from one level to the next, right? It's not really about who you gain or what you gain. Excuse me. It's not about the strategies that you add in, the tactics, the trends. It's about who are you becoming as a person? Who are you becoming as an educator, a leader, an innovator, a creator?
We can make the seasons of pivoting and evolving so much more seamless, so much more enjoyable by becoming better leaders. Focus a little bit less on the trends and the tactics and the strategies 'cause they're always gonna be there, but focus more on becoming a better leader, becoming a stronger, more resilient person. Whatever it is for you, right? You need to know what you want and where you're going. That is like one of the biggest responsibilities that we have as leaders. You are steering the ship. You are casting the vision, and the team is coming up behind you. The community is catching that vision. You have to have that ability to know where you're going. Be eager to adapt and shift along the way. Shifting and evolving, I mean, it's just going to always be there. It's going to always be a part of the process. So don't get so hell-bent on, "This is where I'm going. When I end up there, I'm staying there forever," because it's just not going to happen that way and you will be disappointed when you get there. And the other thing here too is you're evolving as a leader. As you're becoming a more powerful leader, raise up other leaders that catch the vision alongside you. I think we're gonna have a dedicated episode just on leadership at some point on this podcast. I feel like it is so important in our space. Beyond the planning, strategies, tactics, steps, the trends, whatever it is, beyond all of that, what really matters the most in every single company is the leader. You set the tone. You set the culture. You set the expectations. And that trickles into everything else in the business. Who's working alongside you? The community, your students, your clients, right? And so the best thing that you can invest in at all times is yourself. Your leadership skills, your health, your well-being, the skill sets that you carry, right? You set the tone for your company, and that is important always.
So I just encourage you if you're in this season where things are unsettled and things are shifting and changing, worry less about having crystal clear detail on every single step forward. How am I gonna do this? What am I gonna do for that? How is that going to unfold? Those pieces are going to come together. They're going to fall into place. What matters the most is that you focus on constantly becoming and developing as a person, developing as a leader. Stay so fixated and focused on that. Stay so fixated and focused on your mission, your vision, your calling. Realign, keep taking those steps forward. All the pieces will fall into place from there.
I hope that this message was inspiring, encouraging. I hope that it gave you, you know, some actual insight and steps that you can take if you are planning to make a big shift in your business anytime soon. But please just know at the end of the day that business requires constant evolution. You're not behind. You are not way off. You're exactly where you're meant to be. Everything is coming together on your behalf in perfect timing. I believe that breakthrough is coming for every single person listening. Abundance, prosperity, alignment, freedom, goodness. All the good things are coming your way. Lean into self-trust. Focus on developing yourself, pouring into the people closest to you, and all of the details will work themselves out.
I hope you feel encouraged. I am so grateful that you decided to spend all this time with me today. As always, if you enjoyed this episode, please leave us a review. Share on social media. We are @myawakeningco on all platforms. Share, tag us so we can get this message out to more people that need to hear it. Thanks for your time. I look forward to seeing you and connecting with you in the next episode. Talk soon.
