Stop Chasing Your Tail. Take Strategic Action

Stop Chasing Your Tail. Take Strategic Action (Scroll down for video and podcast)

If you feel overwhelmed with how much you have to do and you’re still not getting the results you want, this is for you.

Carmen Williams from Strategic Action Consulting met with Olivia de Sousa-Ferres to discuss her 5 step blueprint for creating clarity and achieving your goals.

Tune in whichever way suits you best: read the transcript below, watch the video or listen to the podcast.

 

Olivia:

Hello everyone.

Carmen:

Hi.

Olivia:

I’m Olivia, and this is Carmen and thanks for joining us. Give us a like or a comment if you’re there. I’m really excited to finally be doing this live with you.

Carmen:

Yeah, very excited too. I’ve never had done a live interview before. So, it’s all new to me.

Olivia:

Well, so. Carmen. Just to introduce you to Carmen. Carmen, you’ve been very focused and known what you’ve wanted from a very early age. Isn’t that right? You wanted to be an astronaut. Do you want to tell us about that?

Carmen:

Yeah, yeah. So, when I was young I decided I wanted to be an astronaut, like many kids. But, I always take everything a little bit a step further and take things … Do everything I can to try and achieve that goal. And, so, I started learning Russian. I did everything with my left hand, because learnt you had to be ambidextrous. I contacted the first Australian astronaut. And you know, things didn’t work out for me. My eyesight ended up not being good enough. But, it’s just an example of how when I decide I want to do something I actually throw myself at it.

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Olivia:

That’s excellent. How do you even, at that age, teach yourself Russian. You went out-

Carmen:

Oh, I just said to my parents, “Mom, Dad can you drive me to a Russian school on Saturday?” And, they just looked at me and go, “Okay.”

Olivia:

Wow. Okay. So, then you had to decide what to do next? That must have been rather devastating actually, to have your dream shot down.

Carmen:

Oh, look, it was okay. I was very interested in science in general, not just space. And, so, for me it was very natural just to learn lots about science and the broader areas of science. And, that’s what I did, and I went to uni. I did my honors. And, yeah. I learned lots about science, and I’m a science nerd by heart. Although, I have now developed some people skills to go with that analytical skill set as well. So, I like to think I’m a bit more rounded now, as a person.

Olivia:

So, how did you do this switch, and what led you to?

Carmen:

Yeah. So, I was working in the lab and I just found it a bit isolating. You know, you speak to your colleagues, but I was working on things that, if something really exciting happens there’s only a handful of people in the world that really understand it without a day’s explanation beforehand. And, I just felt quite isolated.

Carmen:

So, I decided I didn’t want to work in the lab. I didn’t know what I wanted, though. And, so, I applied for every single job out there. I got a job within a healthcare organization. I didn’t understand it when they gave it to me, and it was basically an admin position, but within three months of being there I found that I was implementing an enterprise-wide project. So, 17,000 staff, forty sites, vertical learning curve. There were tears, but it happened. Made it happen. So, that was just the start of me seeing how powerful you can be if you apply your skill set, analytics and people skills, in a really focused way and you can actually get results.

Olivia:

So, that was the start. That’s what planted it in your mind, that, “Aha, that’s where I could go from there.” Okay, so then what?

Carmen:

So, I worked within that organisation for over 10 years, implementing projects everywhere where I went. Enterprise-wide projects and also some high risk, time dependent projects as well. And, I always enjoy implementing things and making things happen, whereas maintaining things probably isn’t my passion. So, I design the projects, so that they can be sustained and as soon as my learning curve and the project was being in the maintenance stage, I would magically be tapped on the shoulder and say, “Hey, come over and play over here.” And, so, all those projects that I worked on are still being maintained and continuously improved within that organisation as we speak.

Olivia:

That is exciting isn’t it, to be able to put everything in place, so that you’re not needed anymore?

Carmen:

That’s it. That’s my goal. Make myself redundant.

Olivia:

All right. Why don’t we get into … How did you end up doing what you’re doing now? Let’s get into that-

Carmen:

So, I had worked within the industry, making things happen. I had discovered the coaching skills as well and both those experiences combined gave me the courage to decide to start my own business. So, one of the things that I really see a lot of people say is, you know how they say, “Just look. I’m really busy. I’m overwhelmed. I’m busy.” These people got amazing ideas but they can’t implement it, and that’s where I thought, “Look. I can actually add a lot of value there.” Because, everyone’s lives are busy. Everyone’s got all sorts of commitments and challenges and things like that. But, you know what? Everyone’s got 24 hours in a day. So, it’s not about time. It’s about energy, focus, and so that’s why I developed the Strategic Action System, where we’ve got five steps, and if you implement those, you can achieve amazing things and not have a headache all the time.

Olivia:

So what kind of people do you help? Would it be the business owner, managers? Is it people just lost in their career in general? All of the above?

Carmen:

Look, this system works for all of the above, but my speciality is working with business owners, because business owners, they’ve got such an awesome mindset. Like, to get to where they are, they’re already very successful. They’re already very motivated. They’ve got big plans. They’ve got quite a lot of autonomy in making things happen. And, so, that really excites me, because what that means is that … Because I just don’t want to sit there and have a chat and whatever. I’m interested in results. Like I want to support them to make things happen. And, the people I work with, they’re amazing already. So, they could implement these things independently, but they know by getting support, it’s going to accelerate the rate at which they can implement those things. And, you know, if you’ve got a big plan, like if you’re able to do that sooner rather than later, that’s pretty valuable.

Olivia:

I think a lot of successful people have said, “Get the right people around you, doing what they’re best at,” or “Get the right people in is half the battle.”

Carmen:

Yeah.

Olivia:

All right. So, can we get into the steps then?

Carmen:

Yeah, sure. We’ve only got about twenty minutes today. So, I’ll just go over some of them. I’ll go over all of them but just in part, and there’s a lot of detail behind what sits behind them.

So, the first step is to get really, really clear on what you want. The general story is I have a business owner come to me and say, “Carmen, I want to grow my business by this much,” or, “I want my revenue to be this much,” or whatever. And, that’s what they come to me about. Within half an hour, even the most hardcore business person, I’ve got them saying, “you know what? Yeah, I do want to increase my revenue, but it’s actually about my legacy.” Or, “It’s about showing my daughter that you can do whatever you want to do.”

Olivia:

Yeah, there’s always something deeper on board, behind it.

Carmen:

Or, it’s about, “I have taken the easy route the whole way, and for once, I want to go outside my comfort zone and show myself and everyone else that I can do it.” So, it’s about tapping in to why you’re doing what you’re doing. You know? It’s that emotion, because to get where you want to go you’re going to have to do hard things. And, you need to know deeply why you’re doing it, so that you can do those hard things.

Olivia:

That reminds me of a … I’ve heard that before that someone who use to work in fitness, that I actually interviewed, she mentioned that too. People go to her for fitness. “Ah, I want to lose weight.” And, then, they get to the why inside could be, “I want to do it for my kids.” So, then you find out the deeper reasons-

Carmen:

That’s it.

Olivia:

And have a wider, deeper understanding.

Carmen:

And fitness and business go hand in hand. So, my running coach said to me, “Carmen, how important is this to you?” Like the running training and the running event. And I said, “10 out of 10,” and he looked at me, and I said, “You know, running in itself isn’t important, but I know that the mindset that I’m going to cultivate in training for this event is going to go into every other aspect of my life, including my business. So, that’s why it’s 10 out of 10.” So, they go hand in hand.

Olivia:

Okay. Bring me back to … What step are we in now?

Carmen:

So, next is Step Two. So once you work out-

Olivia:

Okay. Your why. Step One is the why.

Carmen:

Yeah. Get really clear on where you want to go and why, and the second step is to define what that looks like. So, get really clear on what your goal looks like, and be really specific and use numbers. Now, if I’m going to generalise here, women are often uncomfortable using numbers or money. But, perhaps you want to grow your business by 10%, and you want to enjoy time with your family on the weekend. What would that look like? Or, if you want to build connections with people? Because, like I said, I’m interested in supporting people to make things happen. So, we need to be able to measure and check in to see if we’re actually achieving what you set out to achieve. And, so, that’s why I get really specific about, okay, how would you know that you’re there? So, it’s about being able to define what success means to you. And, it’s very individual, because I work with whatever definition of success the client uses. We get really specific about how you know that you’re there, so that we can then start achieving some of them.

Olivia:

Yeah, that’s good to know, that you’ve succeeded, that you’re getting somewhere.

Carmen:

And I think there’s something that people don’t recognise often enough is how far they’ve come. So, when you want to do something amazing, it can take some time, and often you just fixate on how far you’ve got to go, but how about what you’ve learned and how far you’ve come? That can be pretty amazing. So, it’s about when you define what success looks like. It gives you an opportunity to actually stop and think of where you were when you started that definition. What was your starting point? How much have you learnt? How much have you achieved? How much progress have you made since you began? So, there is some value in looking and reflecting and acknowledging the past as well as looking towards the future as well.

Olivia:

That’s a good idea, because if you want to get to there, there’s all these steps that you’re going to go on the way. So, maybe that should be … yes, acknowledge those goals that you’ve met.

Carmen:

That’s it. That’s it. I’m glad you mentioned the steps, because that’s part of the next step. The things is people have these massive thing they want to achieve, and they get intimidated by this thing, and they don’t know how to get to the top. So, I use the staircase analogy. So, it’s quite helpful that you just raised that. Up the top, you don’t know how you’re going to get there. Completely freaks you out, and so, some people just stop at the freaking out stage and don’t do anything.  Now, the good news is is you don’t need to know how to get to the top of the staircase. All you need to do is work out the first step.

Olivia:

That good … Because I was listening to a podcast with The Dinner Ladies. They started in the garage or whatever and they were saying that … it’s ringing bells for me, because they were saying that you can get overwhelmed by thinking, “Oh, I want to change the world and take over Australia or whatever straight away. Focus on “you’re here”, make that your goal. So, that sort of sounds like … Is that what you’re saying?

Carmen:

Yeah. Well, in part. I’m happy for you to go, “Yeah, I want to take over the world.” That’s fine, but acknowledge that even though you don’t know … you have no clue how to take over the world yet, that you just start. You just start. You take action. You take the first step. All you need to do. And, so, what I do once we go through this first two steps with my clients where we work out where they want to go, why they want to get there, and what that would look like, then I work with them and go, “Okay, what’s the first step? Let’s not get overwhelmed by the whole staircase. Let’s just work out the first step.” Because, if you can achieve some growth in the first step, then that’s just going to position you to go up that staircase and take over Australia or the world. Universe. Whatever you want.

Olivia:

All right. So, from there.

Carmen:

Once you work out what the first step is, the next thing is to take action. So many people have a fantastic idea. They sometimes even know what the first step is, that they’re like, “All right. So, I need to call Bob on Tuesday. That’s the first step.” And, they don’t call Bob on Tuesday. So, it’s about taking action. It’s about tapping into that first step of why you’re going there, acknowledging the emotions that you’re having. Most people feel fear. Most people let the fear stop them, but acknowledge that those emotions are fine. They’re there. They’re even appropriate, but you do it anyway.

Carmen:

So, sharing with you that this is my first live interview … I did my first live ever at last year. It was only a couple of minutes, but I was completely freaked out about the whole thing, but I did it. Because, I knew that that’s something I needed to do within my development. So, when I support people to work out what exactly are you afraid of? What is stopping you from calling Bob on Tuesday? Once we work through that, then that enables people to actually go and take that action for the first step. So, yeah, it’s not enough to dream something. You actually have to do stuff.

Olivia:

Have to do the scary stuff.

Carmen:

You have to do the scary stuff. That’s it.

Olivia:

Okay. And, what is it? What’s the next step?

Carmen:

So, then, when people work with me, we work out what their first action needs to be, or their first few actions. And, then they go away, and then they come back and I’ll check in with them. You know, “How did it go?” And, that’s not accountability. I call it beyond accountability. So, you may or may not have called Bob, but whatever you did, we can learn from that.

Carmen:

So, I enable you to be able to really reflect on what went on for you. What can you learn about yourself? Do you have a new goal around this? And, so, I support people to go forward, and no matter what the outcome was from their actions, let’s move forward. Let’s take the next step. Let’s work out what the next step is. And, so, it’s like this continuous improvement, and what I see is just people grow in front of me. Their comfort zones. As you were saying, doing a Facebook Live in the past was completely out of my comfort zone. It’s now within my comfort zone. And, so, you see these people grow.

Carmen:

I had this one client who started a business, and it was a business to customer, and she said, “Carmen, I see these people three times a week at the dog park, and they don’t even know that I have this business.” And, these were potential clients. She’s like, “They don’t even know.” Anyway, within a little while of working with me, she was not only talking to people at the dog park, but she was actually walking into shops and sharing her business with those people, like cold calling. This thing that most people are scared of, she was doing it.

Olivia:

Really exciting once you pinpoint that and conquer it.

Olivia:

Now, we’ve got a question.

Carmen:

Yeah, sure.

Olivia:

From Jeff. Hi, Jeff. “Hi, Carmen. What is the best strategy to move from a solopreneur …

Carmen:

Yeah.

Olivia:

..to a business with staff. Cheers, Jeff Gordon”

Carmen:

Yeah. So, thanks for the question, Jeff. So, I work on the premise … I work as a coach. So, I work on the premise that the person has the answers themselves and that I support them to find out their own answers. So, I wouldn’t consider myself a business advisor, but I’ll support them to work through that. If they’re having some challenges in any transition, once again, I’ll go through the steps of where do you want to go, why do you want to go there, define what success will look like, and then what’s your first step. I’m not the expert in your business. What’s your first step. And, then, obviously, we’ve learned from that and do the beyond accountability. So, I work in the model that I’m not a business advisor or a mentor, but I’m here to coach and support you, because most people have the answers themselves.

Olivia:

A bit of counselling, really. It sounds like. Well, Jeff, he would know everything about the numbers already.

Carmen:

He would. He’s the numbers man. So, if you need some advice about numbers-

Olivia:

Talk to Jeff.

Carmen:

Talk to Jeff.

Olivia:

But, you would probably have a chat with him, and it’s about asking the questions, isn’t it?

Carmen:

Yeah, sometimes with my clients if they need some particular experience. If they need experience with numbers or digital marketing or whatever, I can connect them with people. I’ve developed my network of people who I know and trust to be able to provide really good services. So, for example, one of my clients the other day needed a graphic designer to support her with her website. I think they’re meeting as we speak. And, that was just a natural thing for me to be able to support her with that.

Olivia:

Okay. So, the answer is you’d have to have a conversation and find out what, I guess, what would be holding you back from doing it just yet and he’d find his own answers probably.

Carmen:

Yeah, sure.

Olivia:

With a bit of help.

Carmen:

That’s it.

Olivia:

Okay. What step are we up to? Do we have another step?

Carmen:

No, so it’s about then repeating that cycle. So, it’s about the continuous improvement. Like I said, you’ll take steps up the ladder. You will reflect. You’ll learn about yourself, and you’ll find that a few months into this process, the things that were … you couldn’t even imagine doing or the opportunities or the things you couldn’t imagine a few months ago appear. And, so, that’s the magic. Being able to support people to have those aha moments and to be able to see possibilities that they never thought were possible before. So, I often see people starting with, “I want to take over Narre Warren to …. And over time, it’s like, “Oh, I actually want to take over the world.” And so, people just blossom through this process, so it’s really cool.

Olivia:

Okay. So, you’ve got these five steps, and some people may be able to work it out themselves. But, for some people, just figuring out the answers to those questions in itself might be overwhelming. What do I want? What is my goal? So, what strategy should I use? All those sort of things. That’s where, I guess, someone like you-

Carmen:

Yeah. So, I do support people as well. And, hot off the press, I’m in the process of developing a blueprint, which describes this process as well. If people do want to be one of the first people to get that blueprint once it’s all finalised, I’m happy for them to reach out to me, and I can distribute that to them as well.

Olivia:

Okay. Well, we’ve worked our way through the five steps. Is there anything you would like to add before we wrap up?

Carmen:

Yes. So, I’d just love for people to link with me on LinkedIn, because I share a lot of content on there and really support people to take strategic action and make things happen. So, I’d love for you to connect with me on LinkedIn, and then, like I said, if you’re interested in the blueprint, reach out to me as well. You can message me on LinkedIn or email me at carmen@strategicaction.consulting

Olivia:

We’ll make sure we put all that in the comments too, and, of course, you can just contact Carmen directly and just say, “Hey, can you help me?” And, jump to something more direct. I’m sure that would be fine too.

Olivia:

So, unless anyone’s got any extra questions or comments, I think we might just thank you for joining us, and thank you, Carmen.

Carmen:

Thanks for the opportunity.

Olivia:

Okay. Wonderful. Thanks. Bye.

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