EP377: The 3 Core Habits of a Highly Successful Maker

Tracy Matthews50min

Tracy Matthews

00:00

million dollar makers understand that the first version of anything that they do is just the first version. It requires iteration. They approach their business and their problems with the natural curiosity. Welcome to thrive by design, the podcast for ambitious independent jewelry brands, looking to profit from their products, get ready to make more and sell more doing what you love, without spending every single waking minute doing it. Hey, and if you're a creative fashion or product based business, I want to welcome you to the show. I'll be dropping big tips on launching, growing and scaling your business. So you could spend more of your precious time using your creativity to make money. You ready? All right, let's do this. Welcome to the thrive by design podcast episode 377. Hey there, it's Tracy Matthews, chief visionary officer of flourish and thrive. And I'm excited to be here today to talk about some amazing designers and makers who are crushing it in their business and doing all the things that they know they need to do. And today I want to talk a little bit more about the habits are the three core habits of a million dollar maker. And at the end of the year, I like to host a masterclass all around this topic, not as much the habits but what it really looks like inside a seven figure jewelry brand. For people who are thinking about scaling to seven figures are for people who are already there, but maybe need to optimize their business a little bit. And people who just are curious about what that looks like. This masterclass is great for people of all levels, because I think what it will show you is like actually what it takes to get to seven figures in a jewelry brand. Obviously people with more expensive jewelry are gonna get there faster. And it's also quite possible for handmade businesses. For instance, Amanda and Tiffany Reese of emery and Opal cross a seven figure marker last year when they were working with us in our momentum program. And they implemented a lot of the things that we speak about on this masterclass that I'm hosting an inside look at a seven figure jewelry brand to help them get there. So if you're interested in this, you can head on over to flourish thrive academy.com, forward slash seven figures register for the live masterclass. For anyone who attends live, I'm going to walk you through the seven figures scale ladder, what this is going to tell you and show you is basically how to grow from $0 to a million dollars and what it actually takes, in each basically step a rung of the ladder. So like from zero to 25,000. That's a certain thing from 25 to 100,000. That's a certain thing from 100 to 300,000. That's a different thing, and so on and so forth. So we're going to walk you through what it really takes and some of the things that in actions that you can actually be taking in your business right now based on where you are. And so it's a great masterclass, I'd love to have you join, you only get that seven figure ladder if you join live, but you can head on over to flourish, thrive academy.com, forward slash seven figures. I will also have a link in the show notes that is happening in December. So thank you for that shameless plug, I like to share my masterclasses and I hope that a lot of you are attending them who are listening to this podcast, super fun. Anyway, I wanted to just chat a little bit more about the three core habits of a million dollar maker. And the reason why I wanted to do this is because I think, you know, at any level in business, I was talking with Dawn, she's a coach in our diamond insiders group. And she's a coach for our Laying The Foundation program. And I found it really interesting to hear what she said, because I was like, we're talking about the difference between the people who actually lean in and do the program versus the people who feel overwhelmed. And then they just stopped doing it. And it's really all about mindset and good habits. And so there's a longer conversation about this. But it was interesting, because what Don said to me, I'm like, Don, I just don't get it like why do people cower away? And she's like, well, Tracy, you are someone who is like leaned in and do the work, like you teach us how to do the work. But a lot of people are not, you know, committed to their business in the way where they're willing to actually do what it takes to be successful, you know, successful, whatever that looks like to you. And I want to just mention this, because there's a lot of people out there who have potential, but if you don't overcome, like some of the fears and some of the discomfort and be okay with the fact that you're going to fail a lot, and that things aren't always going to work out and that you're going to have cashflow issues at times. And you're afraid to invest in yourself. Like if you're one of those people, then you're probably never going to really grow because you're always thinking from a place of scarcity. Like instead of thinking in an expansive mode, like how can I invest in myself and my business and overcome these things to help grow versus how can I stay the same and not get out of my comfort zone to do the things that I say I want to do. It's a totally different type of mindset. And the same thing with million dollar maker, like people who grow their businesses to a million dollars are committed. And it's not easy, I'm not gonna say that it is, it is possible for anyone listening to this podcast, if that's something that you want, and it's not something you want, then don't worry about it. But I think you'll also get some great value. And what I'm going to share from you today or share with you today about regardless of where you are about how you can become a better business owner, and think like a wildly successful business owner, whether you're trying to get to six figures, whether you're trying to get to seven figures, whether you're trying to get to 500,000, whatever it is, you know, all of it requires this. So let's dive in to the three core habits of a million dollar maker. Habit number one, this is really important to have a crystal clear vision of where they're headed. Now, one of the things that I think or I see people make the mistake of is they don't lean in to proper visioning. Like they don't know where their company's going. And or planning, meaning they have zero plans in place. And they're just winging it as they go, I have been victim to this many times. And anytime that my business has struggled, I was in the place of not being committed with my plans. And, you know, then whatever happened happened, and I didn't reach the goal that I was trying to achieve. And here's the reason why, whether you're trying to hit a financial target, whether you're trying to hit an intrinsic target, whether you're trying to hit a lifestyle, Target, whatever that looks like, you need to map out the steps of what it is going to take to get there. I remember when I first started Flourish, & Thrive Academy, there was this designer, she joined our Laying The Foundation program. And maybe she didn't even join, I think that she was going to join and then didn't, but she was messaging me a lot on Instagram. Or maybe she joined, I can't remember, that doesn't really matter. Let's just say she joined. And she's like, well, how this business plan, I want to grow my business. And I'm like, cool, like, tell me about your plan. And she's like, well, in two years, I want to pay myself $300,000 and hit $3 million in revenue. And this woman had a full time job. She hadn't started a collection yet, and had never had experience scaling a company like that before. So I was like, Huh, that's interesting, that that's the goal you set for yourself, because the chances of that being achievable, unless you're able to hire someone to actually do this for you, is literally impossible, because it's not realistic for most people. I'm not saying that someone couldn't do that. Sure they could. But it would take a lot of investment capital, a lot of knowledge and understanding and a lot of structure, a lot more structure than you think. And I think sometimes, as creatives, we don't like structure, we like the free time to be creative. I actually really thrive in structure. I'm horrible at creating it, though, with the exception of my schedule. And I think this is really important. Because if you understand what the next iteration of your business looks like, and then you start getting clear on the steps that you need to take to get there, then it becomes a lot easier. I just want to walk you through a little visualization. Now, if you're driving, please don't close your eyes. If you're working with something on your bench, please don't close your eyes, because you might hurt yourself. Let's just visualize for a second what it looks like. Right? So I want you to think let's say it's a year from now. And I want you to paint the picture of what a perfect day in your business looks like. What do you spend your time doing? What are you not doing? How much are you making in the business? Maybe? What are your monthly sales? What kind of profit margins are you having? How much are you personally making? And what does that look like? And is that a realistic number? And then how do you feel about it?

Tracy Matthews

08:40

Like all of these things are the core to kind of getting into that zone of where you can paint that crystal clear vision of where you're actually going. Because if you don't have this vision foundation for what you're doing, it's going to be really hard to get there. There's so many sayings about this. It's like business without goals is like a boat without a rudder. I don't know. That's like one of the ones I'm saying it wrong. But there's like so many quotes about this. It's like you need direction in order to get where you're going. And that starts with visioning. And then back that vision up with goals, right? We got to get there. Now Habit number two is that they are solutions oriented. Now, I cannot emphasize this enough, because here's the thing, you are going to fail in business. So many times you're going to launch a collection that flops, you're going to spend a bunch of money on marketing that doesn't convert, you're going to try something new and you're going to feel completely defeated because it was crickets. But million dollar makers understand that the first version of anything that they do is just the first version. It requires iteration. And they approach their business and their problems with a natural curiosity when things come up they actually feel the emotions instead of shove them down. And instead of feeling shameful about not reaching their goals, they understand that failure is a part and a side effect of doing business. And, you know, failure can look like a lot of things, it can look like a massive thing, like a business that actually fails and goes into bankruptcy. But it could also look like something like you launched a collection and didn't do well, and people would didn't resonate with it. It could also be that you spent $500 on ads that didn't convert, like, there's a lot of things that can constitute as failure. And so the other thing that I think, too, is that like, you know, they allow themselves to get upset, but then they move on and move into solutions space, like, what can I do to solve this problem? Who do I know? What can I invest in? What can I do to get scrappy myself? And then they think to themselves, what is this telling me? And what do I need to learn from this situation in order to grow, to be the person that I need to be or to be the business owner that I need to be. And then this is an important part is that they're stuck, they ask for help. So it might be working with a business mentor, it might be peer or confidant, someone that they really trust, it might be joining a program, like we have our momentum program, or if you're like, you know, trying to get to six figures, maybe that's the Laying The Foundation program if you're part of our community. Or maybe they get like they book a VIP day or something with a coach or get one on one coaching with a coach in a specialized industry, like the jewelry industry to get them help. And the reason why this is so important, we're helping a company right now that does breast milk jewelry, and I just so impressed by the founder, they've been able to scale their business close to a million dollars within four years, just because they had a very unique product and messaging around it. And I'm just so impressed by this business owner, because she's like, I'm not really a jewelry designer. But the thing that I find fascinating about her is that she is always figuring out how to solve the problems that they had. And so she came to us, she bought a coaching package from us. And we've been working with her for the past three months. And she came to us and was like, had everything that she wanted to work through. And she worked through all of the problems that she had within six weeks instead of the three months that she allotted for it because she got that direct feedback and coaching from me and my team of staff. And I'm not here to sell you on coaching, but I'm here to sell you on is like how quickly you can move when you get outside eyes on your business. I mean, I'd love to coach you don't get me wrong. So if you're interested in that book, a discovery call head on over to flourish, thrive academy.com, forward slash discovery call, fill out an application and chat with me and my team, because we'd love to help you solve your problems. But the thing is, is that you know, a lot of people, they look at things like investing in themselves and getting feedback as like an expense instead of investment in the speed of execution of how quickly they can grow. And I think that's a really important piece. Like if you were to invest in something that allowed you to 10x your investment in a very short period of time, would it be worth it to make that investment, or would it be worth it to get that feedback that helps save you hours of your time, that you're just thinking about it yourself, and maybe would never come to the right solution. And so this is the thing that six figure business owners are really adept at. And I want to share just another story. We have a designer who is a graduate of momentum program. She's like a rock star, her name is Angela Monaco. And last year, she was opening a retail store, right around the holidays, she has experienced some like really challenging things in her business. And he's reached out to me for support on many of these things. I'm gonna leave some of them confidential. But this one was public, because she posted it on Instagram. And they were days away from opening, her storefront was vandalized and the windows were crashed she had, I don't think the jewelry got stolen. But it was a huge build out and a huge expense for that build out that she had to invest in. And she didn't have a lot of money to fix the store before the opening. And so she got really scrappy, and resourceful, and ended up doing a Kickstarter campaign. I think it was a GoFundMe or Kickstarter, I can't remember exactly. And it allowed her to replace the windows, she offered something in exchange for people who donated. And it also allowed her to hire security so that this wouldn't happen again. And I think she could have let that situation completely defeat her. And like put her into like a really bad spot, financially and all those things. But instead of doing that she felt the feelings did all the things but then got resourceful and scrappy, and within 48 hours figured out a solution to the problem. And this is the thing. So if you are someone who was wallowing in your sorrows and feeling sorry for yourself, then I want you to snap out of it. Here's your official invite to snap out of it and start thinking differently about yourself and your business.

Tracy Matthews

14:57

Now, habit number three is that they Take full responsibility and ownership for their results. And here's what I mean by this. They take ownership of everything that happens in their business because they know the blame game is the fastest path to a downward spiral because it leads to inaction, and D motivation, knowingness, they are willing to own everything that happens in their business, because doing so puts them into a place of power, the power to act, the power to pivot, and the power to problem solve, as I mentioned earlier, they know that their results are their responsibility, and no one else is. And they also are able to make the hard decisions. Like if you have people on your team, I've been very guilty of this, I have a thing and I'm always working on it. And Jason's like, you keep people on your team for way too long, when you know that you need to let them go. And he's seen me like make this mistake of people who are just like, either draining the resources of the company, or not supporting the company in the way that it needs to be done. And one of my crosses to bear is to be able to trust my intuition and instincts to know that if someone is not a good fit for the company, that it's time to let them go. And I'm actually doing them a favor so that they can find a job and position that is actually going to be better suited for them. Because if you have a team and employees and all that stuff, the people who are struggling on your team are typically and likely the people who are operating out of fear or something like that, but they just don't know in that moment that they're not really a good fit. And when you release them, a lot of times, they're just so much happier in a different spot. So I mentioned this because I've kind of went on a tangent there because my next case study has nothing to do about this. I want to share a story of Kajal. But what I mean by that is that like, you know, anytime you're dragging your heels on a decision, like, take a look at that and the reasons why. Now on a different note, I want to talk about a fine jeweler who came to us for help to sell more jewelry on her website. She had had a pretty successful business in person, her name is Kajal, Nina. And she was hesitant to actually join our momentum program because she felt like Fine Jewelers couldn't sell jewelry online. And she also lived in Hong Kong were online jewelry sales weren't like as big of a thing she did most of her sales in person or in retail stores. And it took her a minute to kind of get over that mindset block and of thinking like that it would work or not. But she started to see the value in changing her perception of her business in her situation. And even though she was skeptical about selling online, she tried it anyway just to see what would happen. Now, the first time out of the gate, she had a collection launch that didn't go according to plan. It didn't work. But she owned the results and asked for a lot of feedback. And this is the thing that I thought was so impressive about her. She had a passion and a burning desire to really make this work. And so she started running a lot of tests, and implementing different strategies to see what stuck and eventually she landed on something that really worked. And she started building her audience, like significantly before she would ever launch a new collection, she would tease it out for at least two weeks before. And she'd have a list of people waiting to purchase. As soon as the collection was launched, her business took off super quickly, because her vision for online success and her willingness to be curious, really change things even when things weren't going well. And by taking this full responsibility, and really leaning in and testing and implementing and going for it. She sold $53,000 in 10 days and had her first like series of multiple 10k days, meaning she was having multiple days of $10,000 sales. So if you want to get in that frame of mind, I would encourage you to start thinking and adopting some of these habits of a million dollar maker because any of us can let at any given time something to feed us. And that can be really challenging, it can be really hard. But the moral of the story is this, you're always going to encounter challenges in your business, some of them are going to be huge, and some of them are going to be small. But with experience, challenges become a lot easier to solve over time. So I want you to just silently say this to yourself. My results are my responsibility. So if you're saying things to yourself, like I don't have enough time to insert a certain outcome or my promotion flop because of blaming a situation or so and so caused insert a problem if you want to defer responsibility to another human or this person is responsible for insert problem, then I want you to think about this because these are all examples of taking a lack of ownership of your outcomes and results. Now you've probably heard people say this before but everyone has the same amount of time in a day as Beyonce. The difference is what you do with that time that actually matters. Are you working efficiently? And are you focusing on the right things? Or are you wasting time doing the things that don't work? So anyway, that is my podcast for today, I am loving it, that there's ending up being a little bit shorter because I want to get you into action faster. And over the last couple of weeks, I've shared a little bit more of my personal life and my journey with being in a relationship that almost fell apart at the end of the summer, and in the early, early fall season. The good news is that we're going strong right now. And just like a seven figure business owner, I had to like literally take a look at some of these questions in my part in this relationship and how it's going. And just like in business, so is everything else in life. So with that being said, once again, I'd love to invite you to an inside look at a seven figure jewelry brand. You don't have time to join that. You can just go straight to booking a discovery call to talk to someone on my team if you'd like help right now with your business. We are getting started with our programs in the new year. And depending on where you are, we have several programs and support different ways to support you. So if you'd like that support, and you'd like to, you know scale to six, multiple six, or even seven figures in 2023, or you want to optimize your business for more profitability than we'd love to support you can head on over to flourish & thrive academy.com forward slash discovery call and fill out a quick application and select a time to talk to you Natasha or someone on my team. Thank you so much for listening to this episode today. If you've enjoyed it, I would really appreciate if you share it in your stories and tag me. I'm over at Tracy Matthews and why on Instagram or at flourish underscore Thrive. Thank you so much and I'll chat with you soon. Have an awesome day and good luck this holiday season.

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