In this episode, I’m interviewing PGSDer Olivia Fox, who’s so generous with what she shares. Olivia walks us through the practical ways that she’s used the tools inside PGSD to help her increase her business revenue while having a better work-life balance at the same time.
Olivia experienced an impressive 181% increase in revenue from the previous year, all while enjoying a better work-life balance and a healthier relationship with herself.
This episode gives you an idea of what’s possible when you stop using advice that doesn’t work for your perfectionist brain. You may not realise it, but traditional productivity methods like to-do lists and time blocking make you procrastinate, overthink, hold yourself back, and make it harder to move past the fear of judgment.
There are so many subtle ways we can procrastinate. Olivia shares what she does in her power planning each day to stop procrastinating, complete the courageous tasks and finish work at the time she said she would.
If you have courageous tasks you know you need to do right now and you’re just not doing them, then this episode is for you. Olivia and I talk about how she gets herself to do those courageous tasks. We discuss how you actually go from being someone who intellectually understands what is required to build a business, to being that person who feels safe enough emotionally to build your business the way you want to.
Additionally, Olivia openly shares how uncomfortable it used to be for her to talk about money, let alone think about how much money she was capable of making and wanted to make. In Olivia’s words “…the growth goal and power planning combined, are like chef’s kiss to feel so much more comfortable, and like I’m not saying you’re never going to feel awkward about it again. But it does provide a lot of clarity.”
I’m so passionate about giving perfectionist entrepreneurs the tools that help them create a healthy work-life balance, feel safe to show up, be seen and trust themselves throughout their journey, even when things don’t go perfectly.
Find the full episode transcript and show notes at samlaurabrown.com/episode453.
Thank you Olivia for joining me on the podcast.
Featured In The Episode:
- Olivia’s Instagram account: instagram.com/theresumefox
- Olivia’s website: theresumefox.com
- Sign up for Perfectionists Getting Shit Done (PGSD) – samlaurabrown.com/pgsd
- Take the perfectionism quiz: samlaurabrown.com/quiz
- Follow me on Instagram @perfectionismproject
PGSD is open! From 14 March to 21 March 2024.:
My coaching program Perfectionists Getting Shit Done (aka PGSD) teaches you how to plan properly as a perfectionist so you can get out of your own way in your business.
The PGSD Process will get you out of your own way in your business and have you making more money more easily. The doors to Perfectionists Getting Shit Done will be opening at 6am New York time on 14 March and closing at 11:59pm New York time on 21 March 2024. Find out more about the program and join the waitlist here: samlaurabrown.com/pgsd.
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FULL EPISODE TRANSCRIPT
Introduction
Hi and welcome to another episode of The Perfectionism Project, a podcast full of perfectionism advice for entrepreneurs. My name is Sam Laura Brown, I help entrepreneurs release their perfectionism handbrake so they can get out of their own way and build a fulfilling and profitable business. I’m the founder of the Perfectionist Getting Shit Done group coaching program, which is otherwise known as PGSD. And for even more perfectionism advice to help you with your business. You can follow me on Instagram @perfectionismproject
Sam Laura Brown (Episode custom intro)
In today’s episode, I am interviewing PGSDer, Olivia Fox. Olivia is so generous with what she shares in this episode. And if you have been thinking about signing up for my program, perfectionist getting shit done, then make sure you listen to this interview all the way through, we talk about how to actually get yourself to do courageous tasks. Because right now you probably have bigs you know you need to do and you’re just not doing them. How do you actually go from being someone who intellectually understands what is required to build a business, to being that person who feels safe enough emotionally, to do those things. So we talked about that, we talked about the importance of having a growth goal when you are power planning, we talked about so many practical things in this episode, to really help you understand more about PGSD, but to also just really give you an idea of what is possible when you stop using advice that doesn’t work for your perfectionist brain.
Things like to do lists and time blocking that are making you get in your own way. Even when you don’t realize it is making you procrastinate, it’s making you overthink, hold yourself back and really not be able to move past fear of judgment. I’m so passionate about giving perfectionist entrepreneurs the tools to actually show up and be seen and feel confident doing that and be able to trust themselves throughout that process and have their own back when it doesn’t work out perfectly as it inevitably does at times. So yeah, I hope you enjoy this episode. Thank you again to Olivia for sharing everything that she did. She introduces herself at the beginning of this so I won’t give her an introduction here. She does a fantastic job of that but we will link up where to find her in the show notes. I hope you enjoy the episode.
Sam Laura Brown
Hi, Olivia, welcome to the podcast.
Olivia Fox
Thank you so much for having me.
Sam Laura Brown
My pleasure. So do you want to start by telling us a bit about you and your business?
Olivia Fox
So I’m Olivia and I launched The Resume Fox, it is a resume creation and consultation business. We create resumes that stand out in a recruiters crowded inbox, because I was that busy recruiter that was sifting through about 100 resumes a day, and deciding which resumes made the cut. So I create resumes that will stand out and capture the attention of recruiters and hiring leaders.
Sam Laura Brown
Amazing. And so when it comes to perfectionism, which obviously we’re going to talk about, when did you realize that you are a perfectionist?
Olivia Fox
I think I have always known that I was a perfectionist, I don’t think this is something that I evolved into. I definitely think this is something that has always been a part of me and my core identity. I did start listening to your podcast probably about nine months before I started PGSD. And it was like, someone was speaking directly to my soul, every single… I am sure that sounds like the cheesiest marketing ploy it is it is 100% true. Every single thing that you talked about, like self trust, self image, the planning aspect, the everything that went into it just it resonated with me, I remember even a handful of times like feeling like deeply emotional about it, because it really like struck a nerve or like hit cut very deeply there.
Sam Laura Brown
Yeah. Do you know or remember exactly how perfectionism was showing up for you and your business? Because obviously, like, I talked about the five signs of perfectionism, and there’s different ways it can show up. But for you, what did that look like? And like, what problems was perfectionism causing for you when it came to growing your business?
Olivia Fox
Absolutely, definitely saw procrastination, for sure. I definitely saw like the planning aspect, I used to write like to do lists, and then I would rewrite the to do list and then I would color code them. And then I would cross coordinate and right, like, I would do all the things. And I probably was like the most disorganized, organized person ever, like, you know, portraying the perfectionism of oh, I’m the most organized, but really was not at all. That was definitely there. The fear of judgment was there as well. I make this joke all the time that I, when I started my business, I like forgot that I would have to market myself, like forgot that I would have to actually put myself out there. And some people might like that, and some people might not. And some people might think that it resonates with them, and some people might not. So those are definitely two areas that showed up a lot. And specifically with the planning as well.
Sam Laura Brown
Just to speak a bit more to fear of judgment and the fear of being seen, because this is something that for so many of our PGSDers like yourself like that. And my own story to the fear of judgment is one of the biggest things that makes us get in our own way. And that fear of being seen to be imperfect, and to be showing up and putting ourselves out there and people saying that we’ve done it wrong, or we don’t know what we’re talking about, or aren’t showing up and posting, and we don’t look our best. And we’re not happy with that. And all of those different things that it’s one of the biggest things, I see that so many other ways, incredibly smart, people are not able to actually build their business simply because perfectionism is stopping them from putting themselves out there and being seen, what did that side of things really look like for you, when you are starting your business? Like some our PGSDers, for example, they will have an idea to post it and they stop themselves from doing that post and things like that, like what was that like for you?
Olivia Fox
Yes, very much. Like what you said, I would have an idea and then think well, that’s not like fully refined, I think something that might be really realistic is I would think about all of the counter arguments to what I was saying, right? Like I’m marketing my business. This makes sense. This is the reason that my business exists. This is why my service is valuable. And I was the one poking holes in it. Like, just as someone who is potentially judging my business, or even just an audience member is poking holes, but they’re probably not finding the flaws like I am, right like we are our own worst critic. And so I was coming up with all of these reasons as to like, well, that post doesn’t make sense because of this, or this will someone could argue this other thing and that makes my post completely void. I was almost like playing devil’s advocate but in a negative way, like in an not constructive way.
Sam Laura Brown
Yeah. And then with that, did that come off when you were like launching your services and actually starting to make money? How did that show up for you?
Olivia Fox
Yes. Yeah, I think with the pricing structure that came up a lot as well, like, probably tied more to a self worth and a self image thing as well, like how do I? How do I price things? I’m so worried that someone would think that that is too high of a price, right? That fear that people would not want to pay that and that someone saying, Oh, your services are too expensive, is like the worst thing that could happen. And now I recognize that that is just a natural part of being a business owner, like, there are certain stores that I don’t shop at, because it’s too expensive, right? That’s not what I would want to pay for it. But for some reason, I held myself and my business to this completely unrealistic standard, that I have to have a price that fits every single person’s needs.
Sam Laura Brown
Yeah, pricing is one of the things we talk about a lot in PGSD not particularly from a strategic point of view. But the mindset side of things is so important that so many perfectionist tend to really either like completely under charge, so that we can please everyone and that no one’s ever gonna say, Well, who do you think you are charging that much? Or like completely overcharge this happens a lot less but so that like, we can not even have to really engage fully in selling or just like, oh, well, it’s probably because my price is too high. But really, when it comes to the pricing and niche, and so many decisions like that, that perfectionist really get stuck on like trying to figure out what the perfect answer is, and get lost in all that procrasti-research and all of that kind of thing as well. So what made you sign up for PGSD? Like, what was that journey like for you?
Olivia Fox
Absolutely. So like I said, I’d been listening to the podcast for probably about nine months before I joined. And I started implementing some of the things that I heard you say on the podcast and out about like six months, and I had my best month yet. And then I did it again. And then I did it again. And I thought to myself if I can get these, my best months ever, from listening to her podcast, what type of potential could I unlock? Like? How could I get out of my own way more by joining PGSD?
Sam Laura Brown
And did you have any doubts or hesitations? Or like, what was that like? Because I know a lot of people thinking about it. And for someone who’s listening to this and thinking about it. There’s a lot of thoughts that can cover up about like, will I actually follow through on that, because I don’t really trust myself. I’ve sign up for things before and I haven’t done it. Well I have enough time. And of course, like when we’re in that perfectionist mindset and our perfectionism handbrake is on, we are getting in our own way, we’re not using our time wisely. So it feels like okay, but how am I actually even going to find the time for it and all of that. So for you what did that sound like when you were thinking about signing up?
Olivia Fox
I made the conscious decision to go all in on it. And to stop signing up for a million different free webinars and all of the you know, I would, I felt like that was my real job not being a resume writer, but signing up for free webinars and listening to so many different professional development, business development, podcasts and webinars. And I made the conscious decision, like I’m gonna go all in there is a financial investment. Right? And so it was like, I’m gonna go all in on this and really focus on it. Yeah.
Sam Laura Brown
Yeah, I love that. And what in just from your perspective, as he said, like he got results, listening to the podcast, and your thought about it was, that’s a reason to sign up. And some people will get amazing results from the podcast. And they will, that’s a reason why I don’t need PGSD. And so many of us perfectionist were like, well, I should be able to figure it out on my own. And like, I should be able to just take that and really apply it and experience that is kind of like I would only need to sign up, if I was really struggling with it. And not actually really seeing that, like I love talking about like, Good to Great that you can have really good results from listening to the podcast. But that next level comes from doing the word being committed. And obviously other things that are inside PGSD that just don’t make sense to have in a podcast format. But for you, what was that difference like between going from being a podcast listener to being inside PGSD?
Olivia Fox
By listening to the podcast, so you could definitely piece together a lot of what you’re talking about, right? And what is seen in PGSD, the underlying like with perfectionism, the five signs but then also the underlying themes, like self worth, self image, self trust, all of those things. And by joining PGSD, it all comes together. It’s like there’s a pretty little bow on top and it’s it’s very organized and guided very well, which makes sense to my brain, right like it honestly it just made it easier for me because I felt like I was constantly going back through the podcast and trying to find things. Something that really resonated well, and this is more just from like a mindset shift and reflection through PGSD is is the self worth and like investing in myself and knowing that I am worthy. And this is an investment. Yeah, it is a financial commitment, but that I’m investing in myself.
And I relate that back to my business because I, my service is something that my clients oftentimes come to me thinking like, I’ve never hired a resume writer, I never thought it would be to hire a resume writer, I don’t feel that I’m worthy. And a lot of people are in a very unfortunate situation where they’re feeling a lack of self confidence, and they’re feeling stuck. And when you’re talking about a job, the livelihood like how you make money, that it’s very intense and deeply personal. And it’s it’s so interesting to me that I didn’t see this before. But having been in PGSD, me investing in myself is exactly what I’m asking my clients to do. And by investing in myself, seeing how the business has grown and how I have learned so much, personally, it I hope that that’s replicated through my clients. But also it’s it’s just a cool experience that to see that come to fruition.
Sam Laura Brown
Yeah, thank you for sharing that. And can we talk more about the planning side? Obviously, I love talking about that. But you mentioned about the to do lists, and all of that, which I’m sure everyone has experienced. Or maybe it’s with whiteboards and post it notes or different things. But yeah, we love just frying to like, get it all together, and then having to do that over and over again, and all of that kind of thing. But what did that look like for you? Because obviously, it’s different now that you’re planning and doing all of that. But before PGSD, could you go more into like, the productivity side of things? And like how you were showing up? Like, what did that look like, on a daily basis?
Olivia Fox
Absolutely. I mentioned like the to do list and feeling like the most disorganized, organized person ever. With that, I would work eight to 14 hours a day. I mean, there were some days, I was working ridiculous hours. And at the end of the day, I felt like I climbed a mountain, I was exhausted. But I felt like I still had a mountain left to go. And like I couldn’t rest because that mountain was still there. As opposed to now with planning. I’m thinking about my day and thinking about my week, and even how that plays into like, the month and the year, right and my, my, my strategic goals and all that. And I’m planning so much butter, but it’s also an of the moment thing at the end of the day, I’m like satisfied or at least like feeling like you said good versus great. Like I’m at least feeling good. I don’t think prior to planning, planning this way I ever felt good about my day, I just would beat myself up.
There’s so much more that I could be getting done. And well, I mean, I got all of those things done. Honestly, I don’t even think I would focus on that as much. I wouldn’t even give myself the acknowledgement of look at all the things that you did say it was just look at this mountain that you still have left to climb and feeling so like unfinished and unresolved almost at the end of every single day, not just at the end of the week or the end of the month when you’re like looking at these milestones, like, literally at the end of every single day just feeling defeated and exhausted, like truly.
Sam Laura Brown
Yeah, did you have the feeling of momentum at all? Because this is the thing that I think like we talk about how we love feeling motivated and like all of that. But I think really, perfectionists love that feeling of momentum. And I know for me in my own journey and experience that. I think it was 2016. So for me three years after I started my business, that I actually felt like I had this momentum like I had the wind behind my back. I wasn’t having to like push everything uphill anymore that I was actually showing up and the things that I would was doing with my time were actually starting to pay off for me. I was getting email subscribers, I was writing blog posts, like all these different things. I launched my course I started making money from that. But until then I just felt like and I worked the longest hours in those first three years on the side of university and work hated everything like that, but I just didn’t have that feeling of momentum. And I just really wanted that so badly. Like did you have that at all, like maybe had glimmers of it? What was that like for you?
Olivia Fox
Bursts of energy bursts of momentum followed very quickly by maybe quick but oftentimes very long periods of burnout. Like oh my gosh, I’ve been like pushing this boulder up the mountain. And I’m exhausted I need a break. And yeah, that that was not just like, oh every couple of weeks I need a holiday like I need a break. It was like every couple of days it’s addressing and listening to your podcast, you would give a lot of like specific examples of like scrolling through Instagram and thinking that that’s really productive because I’m quote unquote getting ideas or getting into inspired or whatever, like seeing what other people are doing would really I was just like, not working. And we’re using that to procrastinate, right?
Like you’ve given a lot of other really good examples, the rewriting to do lists for sure. Like I would be like, Well, I don’t really know what to do, I know that I still have this mountain left to climb. But I don’t have any way to like break up the mountain into mile one mile two mile three, it was just like, I have this mountain to climb. And so then I would like rewrite the to do list or find other ways to like, busy work and procrastinate. One thing might bookkeeping, oh my gosh, I would just like organize a receipt. Like that sounds like the stupidest thing ever. But I would like organize receipts and look through all the charges and like tell myself that that was really strategic and that I you know, was some I was the type of business owner who was really, like intimately involved in my the money and the financial side of my business, when really I was just using that to procrastinate. Doing challenging and impactful things in my business.
Sam Laura Brown
Yeah. So what for you when it came to hearing about power planning me talking about it, obviously, in the podcast, and that kind of thing. What appealed to you about starting to take a different approach, because I know, we tend to love to do lists, like I still, I love a to do lists, it just feels like biological, to some degree like that. Satisfaction to write it out to do list, but what made you think about palpating being an option that you’re willing to try?
Olivia Fox
I think the burnout got so intense, like truly, it felt crippling, like I couldn’t continue without having some sort of revitalization, some new way of doing what I thought was great, but knew wasn’t working. Right. It just, I knew that that wasn’t going to get there. I don’t think I thought of this in the moment. But seeing it now, having power planning in conjunction with the growth goal is huge for me, like knowing that I’m working towards something that is specifically related to the growth goals related to revenue, knowing that I’m planning in a way that will support my revenue and will drive revenue, the each of them independently, the power planning and the growth goal are monumental, right, like they are huge in my business. But when you couldn’t buy them, I just that has truly transformed the last. I don’t even think I’ve been in PGSD for six months at this point what it’s been like, yeah, not even we’re five months. Yeah.
So it just feels truly transformative to have those two things together. It’s not only a mindset shift, but the brach the practical application through power planning. I think also with a lot of like, other planning advice that I had gotten or had implemented like come up with myself. It felt like, Oh, these are general ideas, or mine should that shift. So there’s something I could try. And it just felt so like, obscure, almost whereas power planning, it feels tangible. Like it’s legit, it makes sense. It’s a step by step process. And I’m a very process oriented person. So that works for my brain. I think that’s a difference to like, programs or like free webinars and things that I’ve joined. It’s like, oh, this is this idea. But there’s not like a step by step way to do things. And the power planning to me feels very process oriented, and then gives me the power and the ideas to transform the other areas of my business, not like you’re writing my business plan for me, right, like I’m doing that. But the power planning gives me the tool to feel more empowered to write the business plan.
Sam Laura Brown
Yeah, and with the growth goal and help and I love that you mentioned that because the reason we have you set your growth goal before starting power planning and that I am so adamant about having a growth goal before starting power planning is because you need to have direction for your planning for what you’re doing. Because so many of us we have such vague goals when our perfectionism handbrake is on because we’re so scared of disappointing ourselves and failing. And we don’t really want to be able to measure if we’re successful or not as much as we do really want to be successful, that when you actually set a goal for yourself, and one that does invite you to grow and step into that next version of yourself. Then when it comes to figuring out, okay, what is, as you said, like the most impactful thing I can do, and probably as well, it’s going to be a challenging thing to do. What does that actually look like? And it’s when we’re struggling to figure out our priorities and like, where I even put my time? And is it even going to make a difference?
It’s often because we don’t really have a goal to anchor us and to help us figure out those things that we need to figure out and then we can confidently say, Okay, well, this is my goal, and this is my hypothesis as to how I’m going to get there. And as you said, I don’t write that for you. I don’t say, Okay, here’s the next step. And that’s because I want to teach you And everyone, how to be able to rely on yourself. And also, like yourself, so many people, almost everybody comes into PGSD already has a wealth of knowledge about all of that strategy from other programs they’re in from webinars or different things like that, like we love learning. And so it’s really just about having a process with the growth goal and with power planning, that allows you to actually bring that all together and like pull out your own wisdom and trust it enough to then begin taking those steps and actually having the courage to show up and put yourself out there and do those things.
So I love that you mentioned that because as the coach, that is my intention for sure that that growth goal is really there to anchor you and have power planning be the best tool that it can be. And it’s really been my answer for myself initially, in the beginning, it’s like, okay, I, when I’m wanting to do things perfectly, and never do anything imperfectly, and like all of that, and I’m all I’m left with is like these mantras about like, done is better than perfect. Like, I can’t actually like, I love a process. And I need to like have something to really wrap my mind around it and like, see how I’m spending my time but not in this like, really judgy way, but just a compassionate system to be able to manage myself and my time, so that I can show up and do the things.
And so it’s really so important for anyone who’s thinking about power planning to know like, obviously, it helps with productivity, but it’s a really a big part of it, I’d love to ask you about this is just like getting your perfectionist mindset on your side and really calming your perfectionist brain down. So that those challenging things don’t feel as big and scary as they do. And we do just have that like mile long to do list. And we find ourselves pushing off the like going live on Instagram or whatever that looks like like creating the product and launching it because it doesn’t feel perfect enough yet. I need to be busy doing these other things first before I’m ready and getting our ducks in a row. So could you speak a bit to with power planning specifically, how that has helped you actually do the challenging things you need to do because you came in knowing what they were. But you weren’t doing them in the way that you want it to be? So what did that, shift look like for you?
Olivia Fox
Yeah, a lot of it is definitely rooted in self trust. I think that is something like important to note. I think the other part of it is, like rooted in a combo of like procrastination and burnout and how that that manifests there. It felt like I needed to close the business for a week so that I could have time to work on the project, right? Like we use the term a lot like like go to a cabin in the woods, right and like work on these projects. And while that would be great. I don’t think I would like to go work at a cabin in the woods, I would like to go have a vacation in the cabin in the woods. So I think looking the way that power planning helps me is audit two things, starting with my courageous task first, every single day like I know what those courageous tasks are, and breaking them down so that I can start with them every single day. That’s what works for me that’s maybe not what works but other people. But I typically like get to my desk journal for a little bit and then I’m like, I’m going to do the courageous task that thing that like really fights for that fear of judgment that like challenges that and makes me feel a little bit uneasy, but that I know will drive the business and specifically will will drive that that growth goal.
And instead of thinking of it as this thing that I need to do, and in one sitting like I need to spend all day or the next three days, the next week doing this one thing, no, I’m going to do it for 30 minutes every morning, or some days, it’s going to be two hours or one hour, however, I decided to break it up. But doing it every single day, I think relating it very much like, hey, I want to be a person who is physically stronger, I’m gonna go to a three day workshop and just become stronger, right? Like, no, you’re gonna go to the gym, or Pilates or wherever you go multiple times a week, so that you can build up those muscles gradually over time, you’re not just going to like snap your fingers, and magically, it’s going to happen, right? Or do it for three days, and then your muscles are going to grow, you’re going to do it progressively and repeatedly, over time and build upon those skills. And something else that I have realized and that I continue to work on and shift my mindset around is something that used to feel so courageous and so scary to me, like, something I’m working on right now is automating my processes.
And I was like, Oh my gosh, my CRM scares the shit out of me. Like what if I press one wrong button, and everyone gets you know, press a button, close, like I don’t know, I come up with these these random, horrible things. In my mind, I don’t know how I got there. But I was so like, scared to tinker with those things. And now like something that used to take me three hours to like play with this one thing now might take me 30 minutes or 10 minutes, and I literally we’ll block an hour for it. And it takes me 10 minutes. And that’s something that is such a cool realization, and also, you say this a lot in PGSD. Like, I know how to write resumes, I don’t necessarily know how to operate a business, I have to like, strengthen those muscles and learn how to, to build those skills. And you don’t just say that, right? Like, you’re not saying it’s not true. Like, that’s actually true. I’m like teaching myself progressively by implementing this on a weekly basis on a monthly basis on a daily basis to strengthen those muscles, the business owner muscles, the automation, the removing the fear that I’m going to press the wrong button, right, like, I’m flexing all of those muscles and growing them over time.
Sam Laura Brown
That’s such an important point, I’m so glad that you mentioned that. Because that distinction of the skill set that you have. And for most entrepreneurs, it’s like this, the skill set of whatever it is you do. So for example, for myself being a coach for you writing resumes. And so we think, well, if I’m good enough at that, I should just be able to have a successful business. And if I don’t, that means I’m not good at. So for example, in my case, if I don’t have a successful business, that means I’m not a good coach. And it’s so interesting to just like really pull that apart. And this is part of getting to the growth mindset is understanding this way that there’s the coaching skills that I have. And there’s a business entrepreneurship skill set that I have. And to not confuse the two or to have a sense of entitlement. Well, I’m good at this one thing, so I should be good at the other just to see, I’m building my business skills.
And also, I have my coaching skill set, which I’m continuing to build. But it’s not like the results of my business is a judge on whether I am good enough as a coach. And so when we can really separate that out and just see like, I’m becoming more skilled at business, we can actually have an access to courage to do those things like tinkering in the CRM, and like actually understanding it versus thinking like, oh, I shouldn’t have to even do this, or like all these different thoughts that come up, when we have a sense of entitlement from being good at the service or the product. And just recognizing like, Yeah, but we’re also building a skill set of business. And for a lot of us, like no one has taught us that directly, like you learn it by doing it. And that alone for a perfectionist really requires a lot of courage and vulnerability because we prefer to go to school, sit in a classroom, you know, just like be learning it all intellectually, but in business, you learn by doing it. And your exam is essentially like the results you’re getting back. And there’s all of that mental drama that can come with that as well.
So I love that you mentioned that. And I’d love also to ask you, when you say like doing the most courageous task in the morning. First, and this isn’t something we specifically say, with power planning is really about helping you figure out what’s going to help you to actually take action. So for some people, they have a slow morning and build to that thing for others like me like you as well prefer to do that thing earlier in the morning and kind of get it out of the way and do that. So it’s really finding what works for you. But would you speak specifically to how you actually get yourself to do that thing? Because someone listening might be thinking, Okay, I’ve already done that before. I’ve had the plan to do the courageous thing first. And obviously there’s like different parts of happening. We haven’t spoken about like clean rest and buffer time and all of these things that really support you to actually do courageous things.
But then the time comes, and they have this inspired idea about something else, or they’re hungry, and they need to go to the kitchen or like something comes up, or they distract themselves somehow, because they’re scared of doing the thing and succeeding or doing this thing and failing for you. And if you would mind sharing a specific example of this for you think of one, like, how do you actually get yourself to do that thing, because just because you know, it’s going to be scary or challenging, doesn’t mean it’s less scary or challenging, like, it still is going to be hard. So what is your self talk in that moment look like?
Olivia Fox
I feel like there’s so many answers I could give here. So I’m trying to get cuz the it all goes together, right? When you start power planning, it really is that like 25, puzzle pieces, click together to make it happen. And I’m not just saying that like, that is actually how I feel like, for me, if I’m going to do a courageous task, I’m going to add in extra buffer time afterwards, so that I could go reward myself with like, a walk around the block, or like hanging out with my dog or like doing something they’re like, Yeah, you figured it out. And or maybe it wasn’t as complicated as you thought, yay for you, right? And celebrating those things along the way. That is one thing. I can speak a little bit too. I think sometimes there’s things that we need to do in our business, like we just don’t want to do, right. Like I don’t, I don’t want to analyze my bookkeeping, that’s really boring to me, right? Or, like, I don’t want to do the Instagram posts that I’ve been like putting off. And maybe I can attribute that to fear of judgment, maybe I can’t, or maybe I’m just like, I don’t want to write a post about it.
But I know that I need to write. I think padding it with different things is really helpful, but also breaking it up. And like looking at it ahead of time, if it’s on my calendar. And in my power planning, it’s because I’ve identified that it is something that’s going to grow the business, right, like it is something that’s going to drive revenue. And something that’s really that I become more attuned to is, if I keep moving the task a day to day to day to day, I need to or week to week, right? Sometimes that happens do I need to analyze like, why? Right? And am I do I feel like I’m insufficient? Like I don’t have the resources? Or is that like a self worth thing that is going on, right? Is it that I just don’t want to do it right, like the bookkeeping?
Like, sometimes we’re adults, we have to do things that we don’t want to do, and I just don’t want to do it, right? Is it that I don’t feel like I have enough clean rest in in my schedule and feeling like I need more of that. And so I keep putting this time off so that I can you know, spend extra time doing XYZ that I want to do. I think I wish I had like one specific example. But I think it’s like an like, if I keep moving something I need to do a deep dive into like, why am I moving that? Because sometimes also, the answer could be one of the things that I said or like, maybe this really doesn’t matter. Like I thought that it really mattered in my business. I’m looking at it now. And I’m like, why like, does that really matter? Is that actually going to go back to the growth goal?
Sam Laura Brown
Yeah, what I’m hearing you say as well is, ultimately it’s that self study. And in power planning, we have the third step being the weekly review. Lately in my power planning, I call that I write it in my calendar as weekly self study. Because that’s really what I’m doing. I’m looking at the screenshot from when I finished my power planning or my Power Hour at the beginning of the week, and then my calendar now and looking at the differences and really just being curious about, okay, what is the same and what works well, and what changed. And that was something working like it’s not that something changed, that means oh we should have kept the plan the same. And that’s where we have the second set the little tweaks to acknowledge that sometimes we get better information as we go. We underestimate overestimate how long tasks take and all of that.
So there will be a change between the calendar at the beginning of the end. And really diving into those differences. And not having to understand it all. But just picking like one specific thing about okay, I see this was on my calendar, the beginning of the week, and then it didn’t get completed. It’s not on my calendar at all. What’s that about? And getting curious about that for you before power planning, what did that side of things look like? Because often we don’t have, especially when we’re working from a to do list or say even like time blocking and things like that. There’s not really this kind of self study that goes along with it. It’s just the beating ourselves up for not doing it or like falling off the weight. Like there’s a kind of that dramatic side of it. And a lot of stopping and starting and all of that the guilt trips for not being productive enough. Did you have any kind of like practice for looking at why you procrastinate on things or like spending all the time organizing receipts and things like that, or is that something that power planning has really allowed you to begin doing?
Olivia Fox
Yeah, the latter I had no, not no self awareness, but like very little self awareness. It’s like I didn’t take the time to assess what was going on with like, make up random excuses or play detective. And I wasn’t a very good detective, like I wasn’t coming up with the actual reason as to why I wasn’t getting things done. I think one other thing that might be like more of a practical application is the tasks that I was putting on my calendar. Like before or on my to do list before I started power planning was like, revitalized marketing strategy wasn’t on me. And like that, that’s so secure, we’re not getting specific. And I don’t even know what that’s supposed to be. So I’m just going to do something else. I don’t even know where to start. And now it’s like breaking down each and every task and getting it as specific as possible. And that’s where I still get my, you know, little love and thrill of to do lists is like by breaking that down and really writing it out. And that does help a lot.
Sam Laura Brown
Yeah, and does your brain because my brain still does this, sayi that you don’t have time to do that. And that you just need to like start working? Or where are you at when it comes to that? Do you have resistance to doing your power hour into breaking down? The like revitalize marketing strategy kind of task into chunks? Or do you find that, like, it’s easy to get your brain on board that okay, we’re going to do this and put it in the calendar. What does that look like for you?
Olivia Fox
Yeah, I think that’s something I’m still working through. Sometimes I think of my Power Hour is just a game of Tetris. How many things can I fit into this week into this finite amount of hours? And pre power planning, it would be like, Oh, well, like, I’m not going to have dinner that night, or I’m not going to go for my walk, I’m not going to go to my workout class or have my clean rest, right? I’m just going to like fill all of the time with work. And recognizing now that that that’s not something that aligns with my personal goals, or my business goals. I think what I’m still working through is like trying, like sometimes it does still feel like a game of Tetris. And sometimes it’s less about the strategy and more about like, this is the shit that I have to get done this week, right? Like this is this is my to do list and it has to get done. Sometimes it’s not as much as the like fun business development marketing stuff. It’s like, oh, no, this is like the work that I have to get done in my business. And that’s definitely still something to be like working through.
Sam Laura Brown
Would you mind sharing a bit more about the burnout, work life balance side of things as well, because you mentioned that previously before power planning in PGSD that the first thing to go would be dinner or working out. And I know that my brain loves to do that too. Like, if I’m like, I don’t have enough time, I should just like remove everything that actually makes my life enjoyable and sustainable and keeps me fit and healthy and all of that. So when it comes to you mentioned bene Elia, and that work life balance in taking care of yourself, what has that looked like for you when it comes to having your business? I think you shared with me before we started recording, like you had 180% increase. What was that stat, do you mind sharing?
Olivia Fox
Yeah. And so this past year in 2023, I had 181% increase in revenue from the previous year. And yes, I did achieve that with such a better work life balance such a more honestly productive and healthy relationship with myself, like holistically. A practical application is when I’m power planning, I put that in first, like my dinner, my lunch, the like, the walk that I take in the afternoons, and something that was felt like super uncomfortable to me was like, you stop at five or whatever time like making up a time I stopped working at five o’clock. And even if the the task is half done, and that is so uncomfortable to me still, like it feels so strange.
But after doing this for a month, it it really impacts so much deeper than just stopping at five so that I don’t eat dinner at eight o’clock at night or like goof up so that I actually eat dinner right. It’s so much more than that. It is like the self trust that I am building and continuing to foster it is like the image of myself. It’s the stories that I tell myself about myself. Like I’m the type of person who prioritizes my health and well being while I work towards my goals. And it goes so much deeper than like, oh, I said I was going to be done at five I’m going to be done it five and like even being uncomfortable with stopping the task. Halfway through. It goes so much deeper than that. Yeah, their feeling like burnt, like the feeling of burnout. It’s so easy to perpetuate that right like it just keeps going because you just keep working more. Yeah.
Sam Laura Brown
Yeah, it’s like, as you already know, I love love, love, love. I quote landing the plane but like deciding when you will finish your day and like there is nothing more satisfying to me, then saying, I’ll finish up for me at the moment. 430. And at 430 on the dot, my laptop is closed my, like, there’s not clutter everywhere. Like I’ve just, I’ve had time to wrap up my day, close a laptop, I walk out of the room exactly when I said I would. And I know that brings up so much fear for perfectionist. And also this idea of like, well, I love working, when I’m inspired, I want to just keep working and working and working. I love what I do. So like, I really just want to capitalize on that there are so many different ways that we dress it up. But ultimately, as you said, if you say I’ll finish it five, and then you don’t, you can’t trust yourself, you can’t rely on yourself.
And one of the other reasons I love it is because when you are willing to say I’m finishing at five, even if that task is half finished, which often and we don’t even realize it when someone else is involved. Like if we have dinner plans with someone else, we’re willing to do that, but not when we have plans with ourselves. But if you’re willing to say, I’m gonna finish at five, then instead of us procrastinating because we can always do it later. It’s now like, Okay, well there’s a consequence, if I spend today scrolling Instagram, because that thing literally isn’t gonna get done. And that’s that like burnout when we are just really walking from this place of inadequacy and being scared to show up and put ourselves out there. So during our actual work time, we just procrastinate and then like, okay, now I have the pressure. So now I can be productive. And now I like have no choice but to do the thing.
And then so we get ourselves to do a bit it’s at such a high cost because we can’t trust or rely on ourselves. And that makes it so hard to make business decisions. Like there’s so many other impacts, as you said, if you can’t trust yourself to even finish at the time, you said you would finish? Or do what you said you would do, then how can you trust yourself to make a decision about other things like pricing or niche or all of that if you can’t trust yourself with something so small and basic. So I love that you mentioned the self trust side of it and how power planning is really designed to help perfectionist build self trust, because when we have that, then we’re able to really support ourselves and trust ourselves. If we put ourselves out there, and we show up and we get criticism, or we say something wrong, I will support myself and I will have my own back. And I can trust myself to do that.
And I can trust myself to be there for myself or to get the help that I need or, you know, talk to the friend or all the things like I can actually trust that future me will take care of me. But when we’re not thinking that when we think future me is going to be my like beat me up and not doing it perfectly and all of that it’s so hard to do the courageous thing. So thank you so much for sharing that. There’s so much more I want to talk to you about but, I also want to really respect your time. And how long we said this interview would be for Is there anything that you want to mention before we wrap up, and we’ll also talk about where people can find you, and all of that. But if someone is listening to this, and they’re thinking about signing up for PGSD, about doing Power planning about like really actually getting shit done without burning out in their business and turning things around? Is there anything that you would say to that person who’s kind of like on the fence about it and, maybe they have been for a while now maybe they’ve just heard about it. But what would you say to that person?
Olivia Fox
It’s a great question. I’ll speak a little bit more actually, to the growth goal, because that was something I’ve been I’ve been thinking about a little bit, I think something prior to joining PGSD, I was super nervous to set that growth goal like this is how much money I want to make and my business. And having done that through the Growth Goal and knowing that that is my like Northstar, my guiding light. It guides it truly does guide every decision that I make in my business. And as someone who was previously like, No, I don’t want to talk about money, like I’m in this business to help people or I want to do this because it makes sense. And like I want to do this because I’m a good person, I want to help people. Yes, that is still true. But you can be both of those things. You can be a person who wants to help people and wants to have a business and wants to have a business that makes money.
Another like a practical way that that showed up for me like a like a tangible way is I used to look at every single metric that I possibly could have. I used to look at like email, open rates, click rates, like views on social media, like all of these different things in order to measure my success. And those things I’m not saying like you can’t look at those things. And maybe there’s a couple a handful of metrics that you still want to look at. But knowing that the growth goal is the guiding light and especially coming from someone who that was previously really uncomfortable for like it was really uncomfortable for me to talk about revenue it was really uncomfortable for me to think about how much money I, A thought was realistic for the business to make and B thought I was capable of making and, C, like honestly what I wanted to make right like those three numbers maybe are very different. Maybe they’re the same as someone who used to feel a lot of like a insecurity around that and like, pressure and like just like awkwardness in general, if you’re feeling that way, the growth goal and power planning combined, are like chef’s kiss to feel so much more comfortable. And like, I’m not saying you’re never going to feel awkward about it again. But it does provide a lot of clarity.
Sam Laura Brown
Amazing. Thank you so much for sharing that we didn’t even get to talk about, like the PGSD forum, the coaching calls all of that aside the private podcast, but I love that you spoke to the growth goal and power planning because that really is like, I’m so passionate about giving perfectionist entrepreneurs, the tools to be able to build their business, and ultimately, probably not good business. But ultimately I want to have my clients be able to be self reliant and to be able to guide themselves through building their businesses and through the ups and downs and not have to rely on Okay, well, is there a coaching call time right when I need it, or all those different things that you have the tools you need, and of course, you have the support as well. But ultimately, those tools are catered for your perfectionist brain to help you get shit done without burning out. So thank you so much, Olivia, for sharing everything that you shared if you’ve been so generous with everything, and do you want to share if people either probably themselves they don’t need to write a resume nerd entrepreneur, but maybe they have someone in their lives. Who was a resume written for them or any of your other services? Where can they find out more about you?
Olivia Fox
Absolutely. Theresumefox.com. Also on Instagram and LinkedIn and Facebook @theresumeFox.
Sam Laura Brown
Perfect. We will link that up in the show notes. Thank you so much, Olivia and I will talk to everyone in the next episode.
Outro
I hope you enjoyed that interview with PGSDer, Olivia Fox, and I’m so grateful for everything that Olivia shared in that episode, because it’s just such a testament to what is possible when it comes to your revenue for your business, but also for your personal life as well. When you are doing that work on your perfectionism to release your perfectionism handbrake, so that you can show up consistently and confidently put yourself out there and do that without burning yourself out or freaking yourself out. So PGSD is currently open for enrollment, but the doors are closing at 11:59pm New York time on the 21st of March. So to find out more about the program and sign up today, you can go to samlaurabrown.com/pgsd.