Erin Marcus: All right, hello, hello. Today I want to talk to you about one of Let's call it the best and at the same time, worst questions that I learned through the coaching community, through my experience with working with coaches. Um, one of the best questions because it works and one of the worst questions because it can be very frustrating.
Erin Marcus: It can be very frustrating. So what am I talking about? The question is. What if it were easy? What if it were easy? You know, we're getting close to the end of the year. People are doing all sorts of review of 2023 and planning for 2024. And I hope you're doing that. And yes, while I like to remind people this is something that should not only be done at the end of the year.
Erin Marcus: This is something that should be done. All year long. The truth [00:01:00] is it has a different feeling to it at the end of the year. At the end of the year, a lot of times when you're working on your plans, there's this feeling and willingness to go bigger right to plan for something greater. There's a feeling of a fresh start.
Erin Marcus: Um, there's all these things we can build on. So as you are doing that for your business, the question you can use as a tool is What if it were easy? And I don't mean to use this in like, well if it were easy I would win the lottery and just visualize it and it would happen by magic. That is not what I'm talking about.
Erin Marcus: Um, that's hope, not action. Doesn't work. That's not what we're talking about. I mean this is, as you look at what you are trying to do, Keep in mind this idea of what if it were easy? What if it were easy? And then [00:02:00] plan for it that way. Things tend to get complicated by accident. They really do, right? We add this piece, and then we add the next piece, and we add the next piece, and we add the next piece, and they get very, very complicated seemingly by accident.
Erin Marcus: You have to keep things easy, aka simple, with intention. It actually takes concentration and intention to keep things simple and easy. Now, keep in mind also, um, That overwhelm is a very big thing for small business owners as they work to scale their business. Feeling overwhelmed is a very common thing because so many times a business has literally been created around the owner.
Erin Marcus: You've built your business around yourself, which means everything in the business bumps up against you in [00:03:00] some way. Everything in the business bumps up against you like a wave in some way. And as you're trying to grow your business and scale your business, it can feel like those waves that are bumping up against you are getting bigger and bigger and bigger.
Erin Marcus: Right? We can all visualize the droning that happened after that, right? That's what we're trying to avoid. Scaling a business often means removing yourself as the bottleneck to that growth. So if you combine these two things, the idea that complexity just happens. And the challenges of getting yourself out of the way for the growth that you want as the business owner.
Erin Marcus: This question of what if it were easy can actually become a helpful planning tool, not just a moment of reflection. I'm a big fan of don't just tell me [00:04:00] something that might make me feel better, but what do I do with that information right now? So how do you do this? Get into the brass tacks of it. So, number one, and I tell people when I explain this to them, do not take as long as I did to figure this out.
Erin Marcus: This is one of those lessons that when I learned it, my coach said to me, Erin, I've been saying this to you for two years, and I've been going, No, you haven't. No, you haven't. No, you haven't. And she lovingly smiled at me and said, yes, I have. So let's shorten your learning curves here. Do not take as long as I did to figure this out.
Erin Marcus: And so what am I talking about here? There is an idea concept. Easy is a perspective. Whether or not something is easy is a perspective. You can actually decide, oh look at that, that's easy. Or you can decide, oh look at that, holy crap, I'm doomed, this is too hard. You actually can choose that. So the analogy I'll give [00:05:00] you that finally helped me Lock this in is going to a scary movie, right?
Erin Marcus: Two people can go to a scary movie on a date, go to a terrifying movie. It's the scariest movie ever made. And one of those people, they've seen the same movie, right? One of those people walks out going, Oh my God, this is the best movie I've ever seen. And the other person now needs therapy. It was the same movie.
Erin Marcus: They have a different perspective on that movie. Um, I use the same approach to looking at my calendar, right? Because my calendar can get very, very busy and it can start to feel overwhelming. So I, every day, look at my calendar and look what's scheduled and tell myself how great it is. This is awesome.
Erin Marcus: Look at all the fun stuff I get to do today. Now I can choose to look at my calendar and let me tell you, it happens [00:06:00] sometimes go, Oh my God, how am I supposed to get anything done? I'm overbooked, right? I can do that. But I have to very, very intentionally remember that I can also choose to see something as fun, as easy, as fulfilling, as exciting.
Erin Marcus: So number one, this idea of whether or not something is easy, what if it were easy, you get to actually pick. You get to choose whether or not the work is exciting and easy. And you can do it and you're looking forward to it or you get to pick this is hard. This is this won't work, right? So number one, using the question of what if it were easy and that easy is actually a perspective is an absolute mindset shift.
Erin Marcus: That you're in complete control, that you're in complete control. [00:07:00] So number two, as you go through your plans, as you go through all the business plans that you're making for the 2024 review, everything you are doing through the lens of the question, what if this were easy? What if this were easy? So client acquisition as an example, remove the steps, remove the dots, remove the steps, take what you are trying to do.
Erin Marcus: And make it simpler to enact and simpler for someone else to become your client. We create these funnels. We create these conversion events. Don't get me wrong. I'm a fan of both of those. I'm not saying don't do them, but look at your client acquisition system and make sure that at least half of what you are doing is made up of Non [00:08:00] complicated, more direct, easy to put in a play and easy for someone to become your client.
Erin Marcus: Those types of strategies need to be the foundation of your client acquisition system. In terms of client fulfillment, great, they become your client, now what? Meet people where they are and help them move forward step by step. Right? Keep it easy. What if it were easy for someone to be successful as your client?
Erin Marcus: What do they need to do? What do they need to know? How can you make it easy for someone to be successful? working with you. One of the complaints I had in the coaching programs that I was first involved in when I was introduced in this world was that they felt like I was learning from the fire hose.
Erin Marcus: This [00:09:00] is, it was a huge complaint for me. I felt like I was drinking from a fire hose and that I was never able to actually implement on anything I was learning. I felt the information was great, but I had no way to Implement on it because of how overwhelming it was. Now that doesn't make them wrong.
Erin Marcus: Maybe I was just in the wrong program at the time. It's not about, you know, blaming anybody, but look at what you're doing for clients and how can, how you can help them win, how you can help them move forward is more valuable. It's more valuable than overwhelming them with how much you know about a topic.
Erin Marcus: So review your client fulfillment through the lens of, what if this were easy? What if it were easy for them to be successful as your client? [00:10:00] I never renewed any of those programs. I never renewed any of those programs, even if I felt that they were right, when I couldn't implement on them, I never renewed any of those programs.
Erin Marcus: Think about that. Are you creating lifelong clients by making it easy for them to win as your client? And the third thing about reviewing your plans through the lens of what if this were easy is about team building. This trips people up because they think it's going to be so hard. That they don't do it.
Erin Marcus: They think that it's going to be all or nothing. I have to hire 40 hour a week people. I have to hire expensive people. It's going to be too much money. And so they do nothing. That's not how that works. What if it were easy? If it were easy, maybe someone just helps you up five hours a day, five hours a week.
Erin Marcus: And maybe that builds into five hours a day. What if it were easy? The second thing that trips people [00:11:00] up is hire for horsepower, not for task rabbit. When you hire for someone to just check a box off your to do list, you end up replacing the work that needs to be done with managing that person. That's not easier.
Erin Marcus: That's just different work, right? That's not easier. That's just different. So hire for horsepower, hire people who can move your business forward, not just take a little bit off your plate and replace it with managing them. So number one, easy as a perspective. Number two, review everything you're doing through the lens of what if that were easy, so you know what that looks like and then go make those plans.
Erin Marcus: And number three, make this easy on yourself. Make this easy. easy on yourself. If you hate doing something, odds are you're not going to do it. And even if you did [00:12:00] do it, You're going to suck at it because you don't like it. Now, sometimes there's things in your business you have to do that is not your favorite thing to do.
Erin Marcus: That's fine. Sometimes there are fears that you need to break through and discipline that's required. And that's fine. That's not what I'm talking about here. If, but if you would rather have a stick in the eye, then do the thing. You're not going to do it. You're not going to do it. So make everything easier on yourself by focusing on the thing you love doing, the thing you are great at doing, and then going back to what if this were easy for team building, hire the team around you that makes it possible for you to focus on the thing you love doing and the thing that you are best doing at.
Erin Marcus: Quick review. What if this were easy? Easy as a perspective. [00:13:00] What if this were easy? Review your plans. How can they be simpler in nature instead of more complicated in nature? And what if this were easy as in I absolutely love doing this, and I'm great at doing this, so I'm going to build everything around me to keep me as much as possible in my genius zone so that it actually works.
Erin Marcus: So a last word on this scaling. Your business is not about more work. It's about different work. And often that different work is actually scarier work. It's not more work, but it is often scarier work. So as you go through your plans and you use this tool of what if it were easy. I'm going to go ask you to go back through and ask yourself one more question.
Erin Marcus: Not just what if it [00:14:00] were easy, but where could I be a little bit braver? Not just where can I make this easier, but where can I be a little more brave? Try that one on for me.