LATELY, THERE’S BEEN A LOT OF TALK ABOUT THE RECESSION AND CHANGES IN THE ECONOMY. 

What does that have to do with you? Well, you’re a business owner, you’re an entrepreneur, so it has everything to do with you! Those entrepreneurs that just sit back, don’t pay attention and just worry about their own personal economy are the ones that are going to have to survive through these tough periods instead of thriving through it. But, the good news is – you can thrive through it!

To help you do this, today I’m sharing with you a small snippet of the conversation I had with a good friend of mine and my own Sales Maven, Nikki Rausch. Nikki is hosting a virtual symposium called “Recession Proof Your Business”,  and you can get a free ticket to attend. Today, I wanted to give you a sneak peek of our conversation around how to recession proof your business, and what are some of the key things you need to be doing as a leader, as an entrepreneur, to get ahead and thrive through this time. 

You can get the whole conversation by getting your free ticket to the virtual symposium at https://luminaryleadershipco.com/recessionproof. And it’s not just me and Nikki, it’s a host of incredible entrepreneurs and leaders who come with their exact roadmap blueprint on how you can get ahead during a difficult time, so make sure you get your free ticket!

IN THIS EPISODE, WE COVER:

[3:10] Own Your Leadership 

Sometimes the concept of leadership can feel a little esoteric. And even though there is a lot of internal stuff that’s happening and decisions being made to become a leader, it’s also very tangibly broken down. There are actual things that you can do to strategically become a leader. 

Something that we use with our clients is our strategic leadership model. And one thing that really stands out is that you have to take ownership of becoming a leader. My strong recommendation would be to have a mentor in this space. I credit so much of my growth and the development that I’ve seen to the people who have loved me well, and poured into me and were able to see the leader in me that I couldn’t yet see. Of course, you can do it on your own but it will be a lot tougher because you need someone that’s willing to call you out when you’re not performing as the leader you say you want to be. So, find yourself someone who can see that in you and make sure they reflect your values. Because when it comes to leadership, you cannot look past who the person is at the core, their values and what they stand for and just skip to the leadership tips. 

Also, this doesn’t always have to be someone who touts themselves as a leadership expert for X amount of dollars. My mom is one of my leadership mentors, she doesn’t charge me a penny (she just makes me bring the grandkids over all the time!) and she’s one of the most valuable leadership mentors I’ve ever had. 

[8:22] Breaking Down Strategic Leadership 

So, in our strategic model, we talk about a few different things.

• One is having a strategic vision. This is more than having a vision board. It’s actually mapping out and rolling out how your vision will play out over the course of time and being able to see the leadership skills that you will need at different junctures in the roadmap. For example, there’s a point in my business where I see my team substantially growing and I’m not equipped as a leader to handle the challenges that come with tripling or quadrupling the size of my team today. But that’s okay, because I can see on that strategic roadmap that that’s not going to happen for three years. So I can source the tools and the things I need to ensure that I’m investing the time and the growth to get there. 
• Also, if it’s not showing up in your weeks, it’s not really important to you. For example, we say we want to be a leader, and we book that leadership conference six months from now, and that’s how we’re going to become a leader – in that two day intensive conference. This tells me that this is not really that important to you. Until I see different ways that leadership growth and leadership skill development is showing up weekly in your calendar, then I’m not convinced that it’s really something that you’re taking very seriously. Years ago I started blocking my Friday afternoons, and I still do this, for leadership skill development. I would identify those skills that I needed, for example communication, and I sourced resources that were going to teach me how to become better at it. 
• Another key piece is strategic innovation. When you are choosing to be a leader (because it has to be a choice, it’s not an automatic thing), the reality is that you’re committing to a life of innovation if you want to see success as a leader. I’m not saying that means constantly creating new products or offers, but innovating the culture within your team or innovating how you grow in leadership, or innovating how your systems operate. Keeping things fresh and new and constantly moving towards the vision.
• I also think it’s really important to study other leaders who you respect and their works. So I wanted to read John Maxwell, I wanted to read Craig Groeschel. I wanted to read from the other leaders that I admired. 
• And lastly, strategic creation. This is the part that’s my favorite. This is what really puts you on the map as a leader. This is kind of the sexy part of leadership. You’ve studied other people’s works, you’ve learned from other people, you’ve developed these leadership skills, you set aside time to actually work on and hone these things that maybe are deficits for you, now let’s hear from you. You’re the leader, what do you have to create from within? This is getting away from how everybody else is doing things and creating your own path. 

[17:29]  Choose Leadership Every Day 

You are called to leadership and to deny that call is really to deny your own potential. 

Leadership is also the access point to so many of the things we want. The people that we admire, the ones that we look at and we see that wholesome version of success where they are joyful in their work, they are committed to their craft, they’re making an impact, they’re really creating a legacy that’s going to outlive them – they got there through leadership. And the cool thing is, it is available to every single one of us, but it is a call. You choose it every day. And there are days where you just don’t want to do that, but that’s part of the development of those leadership skills. If you want to develop in leadership, just choose it every day. That will literally be a skill that other people don’t have. Making the tough choice and showing up for what you’re called to will put you leaps and bounds ahead of others. 

I hope today’s episode helps you thrive during any challenging season you might face. Trust me, you don’t want to put your head in the sand on this one. You want to go all in, lean in and thrive! Make sure you sign up to get your free ticket to Nikki’s Symposium!

And if this episode spoke to you, make sure to subscribe and leave us a review! Come connect with me on Instagram at @elizhartke! If there’s a topic, a question or a guest you want to hear on the show, just reach out and share that. We do this for you so the more you tell us, the more we can serve.

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