Achieving Success With Non-Smart Goals With Christa Hutchins

The podcast was blessed today to have Christa Hutchins as our guest! Christa is an accountability coach who helps busy leaders reach their goals. Our discussion today gives realistic ways to reach goals when we are surrounded by a world, and circumstances, that we often can’t control. Christa’s approach to setting and achieving goals is flexible and realistic and offers a great approach that is fitting for the busy world we live in today. As an entrepreneur, freelancer, VA, OBM, or online business owner, these tactical steps will give you a refreshing way of approaching and reaching your goals!

More About Christa Hutchins
Christa Hutchins equips busy communicators and leaders with project management and problem-solving skills so they can turn their big ideas into a successful ministry or business. She is passionate about teaching women to find practical applications of the Bible in their personal, professional, and ministry lives. Christa lives in south Louisiana with her husband in their delightfully empty nest. 

Resources From Today's Show:

Connect with Christa and the resources mentioned on today’s show: https://doanewthing.com/schoolofcopy/

Connect with me www.amberglus.com

Schedule a free 30-min marketing consultation https://calendly.com/amberglus

Download my free guide for The Five Essentials For A Successful Website www.amberglus.com/website

Follow me on Instagram https://www.instagram.com/amberglus/

This blog post is a summary of The School of Copy And Messaging Podcast episode #89. You can listen to the full episode on Apple Podcasts or Google Podcasts

Full Audio Transcription of this Podcast Episode:

Amber (00:00):

What's up friends. Thanks for being here today. Oh my goodness. I have such a special guest for you today. Let me tell you about Christa, Christa Hutchins, equips busy communicators and leaders with project management and problem-solving skills so they can turn their big ideas into a successful ministry or business. She is passionate about teaching women to find practical applications of the Bible in their personal professional and ministry lives. Christa lives in Southern Louisiana with her husband and their delightfully empty nest. I love how she says that. So Christa and I, we met in a Christian mentorship program that we're in together and, uh, Christa is an expert and a doer of all things. I can totally recognize the doer of all things mentality in me. I know. And so Christa is an accountability coach, which I love like even just saying that doesn't it make you feel like you need one?

Amber (00:57):

I love the idea of an accountability coach and I'm actually getting to work a little bit with Christa in the mastermind that we are in together. And so I've gotten to know her a little bit through that. And then I started checking on her podcasts because she also has a podcast. So please go check out Christa's podcast and give her love by listening to that show. It is called just one simple thing with Christa Hutchins. Again, just one simple thing with Christa Hutchins, goals, plans, and strategy for the Christian creative. So it's a really great podcast. You guys, she gives some really cool tips. I just, this morning was listening to an episode about how to regain your focus if you're feeling unmotivated. So it was a really great episode, lots of really tactical tips that are so practical. So I love that. Um, so Krista is our guest today and Christa is here to talk a little bit about non smart goals.

Amber (01:51):

I don't know if you guys had ever heard of this. I had not. Before I talked to Christa and after hearing about non smart goals, I feel like this is my new thing. Like I no longer need smart goals. I want non smart goals. So you're going to hear a little bit about why and what the difference is and what in the world a non-smart goal is in today's show. I'm so excited to get to share Christa with you because she has a really, really great message. And I feel like sometimes as online entrepreneurs, it's easy for us to get overwhelmed because we had so many things to our list, right into our goals and talking today with step really gave me some practical things that I can do to reach those big goals. I don't know about you guys, but sometimes I feel like my goals are so big and I don't always know how to back out of them.

Amber (02:41):

And like see-through the weeds a little bit on how I actually need to get there. And so speaking with Christa and learning a little bit about what an accountability coach does was really useful to me in that regard. So Christa, thank you so much for taking some time to share what you do with my audience. And I love your message. I love what you do, and you were such a great person. It's just been a joy to get to know you in our mastermind and get to talk to you today on the show. So everybody please help me in giving Christa some love. Go listen to her podcast. Just one simple thing. And you can also go to her website at doanewthing.com. And I will link that for you in the show notes as well. Let's jump in with our laptop in pin to Christa's episode.

Amber (03:35):

Hey, there friends, are you one of the many women who started a business and quickly got overwhelmed by online marketing? You want your message and your marketing to be effective, but you don't want to spend all of your time on social media. Am I right? Well, then you're in the right place. Welcome to the school of copy and messaging a podcast where we help you craft an effective message, create relevant content and give you simple and effective marketing tools that don't require you to spend hours on social media. I'm your host, Amber Glus. I'm a certified story brand marketing guy who professionally has been in this business for 20 years. Personally. I'm a breast cancer survivor in a lover of all things. Coffee, who believes that Friends is still the best TV show ever. If you are ready to craft your message, promote it easily online. Let's get to work, grab a laptop or pen it's copy time. Thank you so much, Christa, for joining us today. I'm so excited to have you on the show. So first I would like to tell my audience, um, who you are, what you do. So tell us all the things for Krista.

Christa (04:48):

I am so excited to talk to you, Amber. Um, and I've loved getting to know you the last few months. Um, yeah, I am a, uh, project manager and accountability coach for Christian women who communicate and lead mostly Christian creatives and ministry leaders, writers, that kind of thing. And I really focus on strategic planning from a biblical view, um, and using, um, biblical examples, um, in, in all of the things that I teach. So I, I love working one-on-one with women and in a group program and helping them reach their goals and, and seeing what dreams come to, come to life.

Amber (05:30):

Awesome. Well, I don't know about everybody in my audience, but when I hear accountability coach like that, it's like, okay, I need that.

Christa (05:39):

Yeah. You know, we think, we think that we can do it all by ourselves all the time. You know, I just, I just had someone that I work with a, I thought before I started working with you, that big dreams and big goals weren't enough. Um, but often that's not enough. We need some accountability, somebody who's gonna, um, you know, be a cheerleader, but a drill Sergeant sometimes when you need it and give what I call tough grace to help you do the things you committed to do.

Amber (06:05):

Uh, tough grace. I love that phrase. That's really interesting. That's really interesting. Well, um, if you, if you don't mind me kind of asking, how did you become an accountability coach and kind of a strategist? How did you get into this? Um,

Christa (06:18):

I'm a project manager by trade. I still work full time in the engineering and construction industry as a project manager. And so I began volunteering some volunteer work with a large online ministry, and I found that those skills that I've learned as a project manager to think strategically, I think in order to think in a sequence of things are really helpful to women who are very creative and may not think in those types of terms. So I began just exploring what that would look like, um, through my business, do a new thing and, uh, began coaching and kind of honed in after a couple of years of understanding that accountability. In addition to the planning, once we made plans, what they needed really needed was accountability too, to do what they committed to do. So the coaching includes checking in every week and saying, okay, what did you get done this week on your plan? What stood in your way? What, what took your bait? What barriers did you come up against? So, um, so yeah, that's kind of how it all came to be. So I help people with plans and projects, um, and, uh, provide accountability to go with it.

Amber (07:26):

Awesome. I really liked that. Well, I know a lot of people can use that. So it's a neat niche. Well, Krista, today, we're here to talk about achieving success with non smart goals. So when most people talk about goals, I think they recommend smart goals, which for anybody out there who's not familiar with it. It's specific, measurable, attainable, relevant, and time bound goals. But you think that that might not be the best thing for everyone. So what issues can come up with smart goals? Let's start there.

Christa (07:57):

Yeah. I think smart goals are great for a lot of people. I've used them before, especially if you're like a really type a driven person. You've probably used smart goals in the past, whether you called them that or not. But what happens with smart goals is we define success in such a narrow way. We have a very specific definition that we can work really hard and do everything we can and still not meet that small target. And when we don't meet it, then we feel like we failed. And we don't recognize the process that we went through and we weren't able to enjoy that process. And we didn't, we don't recognize the progress. We don't give ourselves credit for making progress. It's almost that idea of, you know, well, if I don't, if I don't get all the way to the end, it's not good enough. It doesn't matter, you know, trying doesn't count. Um, and I think that's not, I think that's not a very healthy place to be because trying does count. And, uh, you can, uh, you need to be able to enjoy the process and recognize the progress you make along the way and not let that feeling of failure begin to color the way you think about goals.

Amber (09:11):

Okay. Well, I love that because I don't know about everybody else here listening today, but I know I have found myself in a situation where I think I've set some goals and then yeah. I feel like I, okay. I didn't, I didn't attain those. And so anytime that we don't obtain something, it makes us a little bit leery of doing it again, right. Like of even bothering to go through that process again. And for me, setting goals is not really a natural thing. Um, so how can, how can using non-smart goals be a little bit different than if, if we've set some goals before and maybe it didn't work or maybe just it did work, but it's another spin on things. So how has working with those non-smart goals a little bit different?

Christa (09:50):

I think we always want to start with our purpose and what are we trying to achieve? So what, what has, um, what has God put on your heart, or what are you, what are you working towards and making sure that those goals line up with your purpose and with your focus for this season, sometimes we just get really great ideas and they might be good things to work towards, but they're not essential for what we're doing. And if they're not essential, if they're just kind of a side piece, um, then we're not going to be as motivated to work on them. So when we're looking at our goals, we want to look at our purpose, what are we trying to accomplish? And then what are the essential things that need to happen in order for us to get there? So that's where I always start with, um, with what I call peace goals, purposeful and essential are the first two parts of, of peace goals,

Amber (10:43):

Peace goals. That even just sounds nice, purposeful and essential, but just, it makes me feel better when I hear it that way.

Christa (10:54):

Yeah. And the next part is adjustable. The A's were adjustable, and this is, um, something that I learned from our mutual friend, Esther little field is about setting instead of setting just that very one specific goal. Um, think of it in terms of good, better and best versions of your goal. So the good would be the minimum. What's just barely, you know, good enough to make you feel like you've accomplished something and then better would be a target that would satisfy you. It would feel like an accomplishment. It might even feel like a little bit of a stretch. And then the best goal would be a big stretch. It would be like better than you could even imagine the one that you said, wow, I could only make this bowl because God really showed up and did something special through me to make this goal.

Christa (11:48):

Um, and so when you can frame your goals in that good, better, best way, you've given yourself a bigger target to shoot a shoot for instead of a very small and narrow target. So making those Joel goals adjustable instead of so specific, can, can bring you a lot of peace in working towards your goals. Um, yeah. And then the third part, the C is for current. Um, I do believe in long range balls. I think we need five-year and ten-year goals and plans, but, you know, gosh, think about what's happened just in the last two years and Terry specific goals, we may have set two or three years ago as five-year goals are probably look very different right now. And so if we get so emotionally attached to those long range goals, that we can't make adjustments as life and the world changes, then again, we feel like we failed.

Christa (12:46):

So having some long range goals and a vision of where you're headed is good and it's important, but our main work is usually done in the current. What are the current things that I have control over that I can see in the near term future, um, that are gonna help me achieve those long range goals. Um, Dave Ramsey, I've heard him explain it and say, you know, what do I want to be in 10 years? And what do I need to do today to be what I want to be in 10 years? What is my 10 years from now self going to be really angry at me for not doing now? So those are the things that in the current time you need to do and then build your goals around those current things like in, you know, maybe 12 week increments is something that works really well for people is setting goals around at a 12 week timeframe instead of very specific and detailed plans that are going to get you all the way to five or 10 years from now, because you can spend a lot of time doing those really detailed plans and then some crazy life happens and all that time was wasted because that plan no longer work.

Christa (13:53):

So having a big view of where you're going and really detailed in on the current is a better way to approach it. Okay. Okay, good. So C is current. Okay. And then what does he eat? The last eight is enjoyable. You know, we have fun, right? And sometimes working towards goals can feel like such a slog. Have you ever been there? Your thought like that is like, oh, I've got to do this again. And so there's, there's hard work involved in any kind of goals, but you want to make sure that it's something that's fun and that is going to be willing that you're going to be willing to make the sacrifices you have to make. Are you, is it going to have a positive impact on your life or is it going to make you sacrifice and give up things that are really important to you that really matter in order to reach that goal? So if, if, if it is going to cost you too much, and I don't mean just the monetary cost, but if it's going to cost you too much in terms of your, I'm sure your money, but also your relationships, um, your spiritual life, your confidence, if it's going to cost you too much, um, then it might not be the best goal for you to take on right now. So that's the, that's the M five, the piece goals, um, purposefully essential, adjustable, current, and enjoyable.

Amber (15:14):

Okay, great. I love this. So one of the questions I wanted to ask you about was tips that you might have for those of us who have found in the past, we've kind of done a set it and forget it when it comes to goals, right? Like we set the goal, especially around that first time of the year when everybody's kind of thinking of goal setting. And then we get to the end of the year and we look back and we think what happened to this year, first of all, cause I was so busy, but I don't know what I accomplished. And you look at your goals and you're like, oh my gosh, I totally even forgot that I wrote that down. What happened to this year? So especially as we kind of start looking into quarter four coming pretty soon and people start that planning process is this 12 week period that you mentioned for kind of planning those goals, how this kind of a process would help us with not just setting and forget it. Is that kind of a key to why you're mentioning that 12 weeks?

Christa (16:05):

Yeah, I think so because you, it's something that you're going to be working with every day. Um, and then there's some other fun things you can do. Um, of course, one that I enforce, I love accountability, having accountability partner who can help you and remind you of those things, those goals that you set. But, um, even one little fun thing that I did this year was, um, you know, in the old days they used to tell you like write a letter to yourself and give it to somebody to mail to you. So you get reminded, right? Well now you can go into your own Gmail or whatever and schedule an email. So write the email to yourself and schedule it to send to you and the re you know, in three months or four months, or however long to remind you, Hey, are you working on this? The you, it. So it's sort of like automatically reminding you to think about your goals again. And maybe when you see that reminder in three months or four months, you think, oh, that doesn't really apply anymore, but here's how I need to adjust that. Or, yeah, I really worked on that. So that's another fun way to give yourself a little, to give you a little bit of self accountability to check in on your goals and not just forget about them by the end of the year.

Amber (17:13):

Yes. Oh, I like that a lot. I've never thought of doing that. That's a really helpful, just quick tip that we can, we can all do. Okay. Good. Well, one thing that I struggle with, um, and I'm being, I'm being a little selfish here and talking about all the things that I struggle with with goals,

Christa (17:29):

Nothing that you've said so far is uncommon that people struggle with. I know your audience is struggling with them at the same time.

Amber (17:35):

I'm hoping I figured if I have these same issues with goals, probably others listening to as well. So one thing that I really struggle with, and I think others might also is I set these goals. Now having that 12 week period is going to be helpful with this. I can already kind of see why, but how do I schedule my time then within these 12 weeks, let's say to really make sure that I'm hitting those goals. Like, cause I think sometimes, sometimes this comes with setting and forgetting it, but sometimes, you know, life happens like you said, and we have to be adjustable. So I like that this ha this process here has kind of that adjustable frame that we can readjust based on things that come up that we just didn't know were going to happen. But outside of unforeseen circumstances, how can we schedule better to really hit those goals and be more intentional with that time?

Christa (18:26):

Part of that comes with making a plan to reach that goal. And so, you know, I'm all about making, making plans and creating a, I have a tool, a really simple tool called the planning six pack, or it's just basically two weeks at a time. What are the big things that need to get done during those two weeks? Um, and so I think as you're looking at your goal and that's the end point you want to get to within the next, uh, in the next 12 weeks is setting some milestones in between. That's a good project management term is a setting some milestones in between. So these milestones are things that if you don't hit this milestone, the likelihood of you making the goal by the end of the time period is unlikely. So for example, if you said, um, you're someone is building their business and part of their business strategy is to, um, be a podcast guest on five podcasts in this time, period.

Christa (19:22):

Well, if by the end of the first month, if you haven't sent 10 pitches, then it's more, it's unlikely that you're going to book five podcasts within that time period, you know? Um, so those kinds of things, so finding some milestones that lead up to your goal kind of mini goals, but they're really a little bit stronger than a mini goal because if you don't hit that milestone, you're probably not going to make the goal. So you realize they're really important things that when you take them with that type of seriousness, that if I don't get this done by this day, then I'm not gonna, I'm gonna, the consequences are going to be not, I'm not going to make it. So when we, sometimes we don't have enough consequences attached to our actions, we may know that we need to get this thing done or that thing done or whatever.

Christa (20:10):

But when we start framing it in the terms of what are the consequences, if I don't do that, um, then we get, we can make it to them. Um, I think we sometimes think, we don't really realize what, what delay costs us, what procrastination costs us until we get we've procrastinated so long that it's not possible anymore. And so really framing that in terms of, if I don't do this thing, if I don't reach this level by this certain date, then I'm not going to make that goal. And that's not, that doesn't mean all is lost. It means you might need to reevaluate that goal. Um, so maybe I can't be on five, but I could probably still get three. Okay. That's still progress. Right. So again, we are celebrating the progress, but being really intentional about it as we go.

Amber (20:58):

Okay. That makes sense. Well, what, so what about just creating the goals in general? Like are, what is the better thing to, to think big picture, to think more small and tactical than, or is it a mix of both like, do the, do the goals, are we thinking big for the goals, but then we go tactical for how we're hitting those milestones to make sure we get there. How does that work together? Yes.

Christa (21:20):

I think that's pretty much the idea that the goals are, you know, the goals you want to be able to define them enough that you can get some meat around them. And, uh, I really, I, I try to help people work in terms of focus areas. So at the beginning of three months or the beginning of a year or whatever, we'll do an exercise where we try to find what are the areas where I need to focus for this time period. And so we might identify four or five areas that we need to focus on, and then we can set a goal inside each one of those areas so that we know that the work we're going to do is going to be balanced. So we're not spending so much time on one area that we don't make progress in other areas that are also important to us. So we set, um, you know, three to four focus areas for a quarter and, um, you know, uh, a goal for each focus area and then the tasks that you need to do to get to that goal in that time period.

Amber (22:24):

Okay. So then I have to ask how do we know which areas to focus in because man, oh man, I'm sure that my audience agrees when I look at the list of things, I think I should focus on the answer is everything right? So like how do we, how do we take that and figure out what to focus on?

Christa (22:43):

So I'm going to give you and your audience a resource it's called find your focus and I will send it to you. Yeah. You can link it in your show notes for, um, for everyone. I, um, it's and it's got three steps. The first step is called the wow, God step. So you just literally close your eyes and think about what would happen in the next three months. What would life look like if I had no restrictions, no limitations. And I could just look at what had happened and say, wow, God look what you did. So that's the first step. Then the second piece is it's called if only, and it's got a whole bunch of statements of, if only I knew how to do this if only I had someone help me to do that, if only I didn't always whatever. So the whole series of if only statements and they're not meaning to be excused as well, you know, if only I could afford a VA, then I could get this done.

Christa (23:40):

No, it's so identifying what are those things that are keeping you stuck? So if only what are they, um, and then the third one is, uh, a brain dump of all the ideas you have of all the things you already have scheduled, all the commitments you've already made. So just dumping all those out. So then when you have all three of those things, you've basically, you've touched your heart and your soul and your mind in those three exercises. And then you look across them and you'll begin to see threads coming through each all of them. And so will, you could start connecting those threads, connecting those dots. So you're able to then see the focus areas then be kind of, kind of pop out of the page. It's kind of cool that way. You just, you start color-coding, you know, words that showed up in each exercise and that they just sort of start rising to the top and then, you know, like, okay, these are my focus areas for this time period. And now I can start sending on goal for each one of those focus areas.

Amber (24:36):

Okay. Well, awesome. That, that was a holy spirit question because I didn't know that you had that resource and that question was not on my list originally, so,

Christa (24:45):

But I'm happy to share that I'm very happy to share that module.

Amber (24:49):

Awesome. Well, I, it sounds like that is perfect for exactly that person who is feeling that way. Who's like, I just don't know where my focus needs to go because there's so many things. So it sounds like that's a perfect way to start working on it. Well, um, next, can you talk a little bit about long-term versus short-term goals? Because I think in addition to hearing about smart goals, when we hear about goals, another thing that we hear about is long-term versus short-term goals. So what is this look like when you're not working within smart goals, but you're under this peace goal. Do we look at both long-term and short-term or just short term? Just long-term what does that look?

Christa (25:27):

No, I think they still got together. I mean, you, you want to be purposeful and your long-term goals and you know, where you want your life to head. You know, if you're, maybe you want to get to a point where your someone's able to quit a full-time job, or you want to get to a point where you can travel in your retirement, or you want to get to a point where, um, you know, you're ready, you're at your home is ready for you to, um, to foster some children or whatever it is that you've got as a long-term goal, then your short-term ones are all of the things that will take, will support reaching that longterm place. So again, it kind of goes back to the CR the purposeful being the long-term and the current being the, um, the, the next 12 weeks or so, what are the things I'm going to do currently? Those are my short time goals that are going to support the long-term goal.

Amber (26:20):

Okay. Gotcha.

Christa (26:21):

And if we get those disconnected, then we're like, we're spending our time working on things that don't really get us to where we want to be three, 10 years from now or wherever in the longterm. So starting there, just getting a vision of where you want to go and then making sure that your current short term ones are supporting that.

Amber (26:39):

Okay. Very good. Well, I could tell how much you kind of have a process around this, which I love as a fellow process lover. So I can tell, like, you've got this process down. Well, um, can we talk about maybe an example of a peace goal because, and I'll be a Guinea pig here. So let's say, um, uh, one of my goals this year is to build a community where I've got, I've got a lot of people who listened to the show who are listening because they want to become a copywriter or content marketer to help entrepreneurs. And so they maybe have an existing business and they just want to add this to their services. And so creating that community is one of my goals this year. Um, and this is new to me. I don't know how to create a community. It's yeah, I've never done it before. So I'm kind of building the plane as I fly it. And so, um, I have a goal where I did set up. Um, I know, I would say without going through this exercise, cause I know I would need to spend some more time on it, but, um, is it purposeful? So how do I kind of take that context of, is this goal purposeful? Would that be, um, that it meets kind of the purpose of my business that I feel like I'm headed in? Would that be accurate? Yeah.

Christa (27:49):

Yeah. If it's, if it fits within where you want your business to go, having this community supports your business and, and that maybe that feels a little bit selfish because you want to say, I want to have this community because I want to support them. But at the same time as business people, you probably know as well as I do as, as you know, passionate and heart-centered entrepreneurs, we want to do everything for everybody. We want to help everyone. And we can very often get off doing things that are good things and they're helpful things and they're helping someone, but they are not in alignment with where I want to go as a business where I want my business to go or where, where I feel God is leading my business. And so if that having that community is an opportunity to serve. That's great. That's part of what we want to do, but also does that community then serve your goals and the direction that you want to go. Is that a, an effective way for you to communicate and, and equip them to do that, to do those things that they want to do, if that's an effective way that you can equip them. And so it supports you your goal and their goal, then yes, it's purposeful. Okay.

Amber (29:02):

Okay. So now let's move into essential. How do I evaluate if that is essential to my business?

Christa (29:10):

It's, you know, it's, it's, I guess that's a little bit similar. I think you also want to look at the other things that you're doing in your business and determine am I, is there something else in my business, that's also meat. That's already meeting this goal. That's already meeting this, um, this thing that I want to create. So if, um, if you already have, you know, let's say that for whatever reason, you, you know, you put up a show notes on your blog, posts that on you're on your own website and there's a place for people to comment. And you've got a lot of common and going on in there. So you're developing a lot of comments, a lot of community in that comment as well. That's a place that's, that's already happening. You've already got the opportunity to, to influence in that area there. Um, and so this might not be essential, but if you don't have any other place in your business, that's meeting this need, then it becomes essential. If it supports your, it supports your goal and you don't have a place that's meeting that, that's doing it, then it's essential to your business. Okay.

Amber (30:15):

Oh, love. I love kind of hearing that example. That's that's great. So adjustable, how do I apply the adjustable part to this? Would that be, um, I'm just going to guess, like, if I, cause one thing I'm struggling with right now is time, honestly. Um, and my audience knows social media is not my favorite thing. Like I am somebody who, you know, you hear people talk about like I have to, I have to make myself not be on social media too much. That's usually what you hear. Well, I'm literally the opposite. I have to set a reminder to remember to check social media. Um, it's so hard for me. Like I will go months without getting on there and it doesn't bother me a bit, but I realized that if I'm going to do this community, I need to be in it. I need to actually remember to be in there and engaging. So could the adjustable part be though using this as an example, like when I get busy, maybe I've got somebody who can help me with answering some of those questions. Would that be an example of an adjustable?

Christa (31:12):

Well, I think adjustable also is usually associated with some kind of numbers as well. And so a target. So it may be an, a number of followers or a number of people in a group. It could also be, um, a number of, uh, of posts. So you said, you know, my good goal are, let's say, when I really think I need to do is I need to post four times a week. That's my good goal. That's my, that's my better goal. That's what I really, that's hard for me. It's a little bit of a stretch, cause I don't like doing it, but I think four times a week would be good. That's your better goal. But the really meat minimum is probably two times a week. So two times a week, that's a, my good goal. And then the best would be five days a week.

Christa (31:56):

So that's your now you've bracketed it instead of saying, oh my gosh, I've got to be on there four times every week. Now you've bracketed it and said, okay, somewhere between two and five times a week is good and I can, and I can, you can feel a little bit easier about that than the stress of, oh, it has to be for every week. Um, so I think it can, you can, it can be numbers of people. It can also be numbers of times that you, that you post. It can be, um, the number of, um, the number of comments you get or the number of episodes you put out or how often you put out episodes. But it's usually something that has a number associated with.

Amber (32:33):

Okay, that's helpful. All right. And then current, and you mentioned, this is something you have control over it's in the near future and it can help you achieve your long-term goals. So long-term, I really want to have a community where like, I am helping people with getting some copywriting jobs, getting content marketing jobs in my community is kind of a resource. If somebody needs to hire for that, they come and I can help train people. And so that is something that's part of my business with that kind of be how I would evaluate if that's currently part of a goal.

Christa (33:06):

Yeah. And you also want it to be something that you can accomplish within a fairly short period of time. That's the long-range goal. You also want to say, okay, well, in order to do that, then I need to have relationships with X number of other people that might want to, um, that might want to hire people. So I need to be cultivating relationships, not only with people who are, um, who are wanting these kinds of copywriting skills and jobs, but I also need to have the people who hire those people right. And, and become a resource for them. So you may end up with a goal that something around your net, expanding your network and, and reaching out to other people and having other opportunities to develop relationships so that those can influence the people that are in your community.

Amber (33:57):

Okay. Gotcha. All right. Now the last one E is it enjoyable? And I love that this is a part of it because he wants to do something they don't enjoy. Right.

Christa (34:06):

And you hate social media. Right.

Amber (34:08):

So I do that. The social media is my struggle. Like it is just not something I enjoy spending time in. Um, I enjoy the community aspect of it. I just don't like that. I have to get onto Facebook to do it. So I literally have been thinking about, I just took a poll in the community last week about, um, you know, would you mind if I changed the platform for this? Like if we go to slack or we do something over boxer or the, the circle platform, like there's some other options. Right. Um, and so I know that's an option, but I enjoy the community and what it's doing. Like I've got people who, you know, are brand new into copywriting and I'm taking a look at their website and getting them some feedback on how they can improve their website. Or I've got another person who just wrote an article that they're going to pitch to a nonprofit.

Amber (34:53):

And so I'm looking at that this afternoon for them to give them some feedback. And that's what it's about because when I started out in this industry, man, what I would not have given to have a community like that, where I could say, can I get a second set of eyes on this? Or, Hey, you know, somebody asked yesterday, um, do I put my prices on my website or not? And just some of those questions, that's like asking other people who are in it. And I love the community around that. I love being able to, to have a platform where people can do that. So I definitely enjoyed that part of it. I just don't enjoy, you know, sorry, Mark Zuckerburg, but I don't enjoy logging into Facebook.

Christa (35:28):

I think that if that is a barrier for you, because then it becomes like a mental barrier. I don't want to go there and I have to go there and I don't want to. Right. So for that would suggest that you, number one, scheduling is your friend. So sit down instead of having to do it every day, posting something every day, you know, sit down at the beginning of the week or even I know people who do it at the beginning of the month and they schedule it right in Facebook. You can schedule your posts that are going to automatically post us instead of dreading it, you know, 20 times during the month, you can just dread at one time and do it that one time. And it's, and it's done for a couple of weeks. I try, I try to do mine two weeks at a time.

Christa (36:11):

So, um, so I dread it. I only have to dread it once I only have to go in and do that part that I don't really like to do that part one time then, um, this was, uh, one of my favorite social media tips that I learned from my friend, Shannon Baker. And she, she said, what she does is she spends 30 minutes every day on social media. And that's all, she spends 10 minutes in the morning posting her own content, whether that's in her stories, on her feed, in her Facebook, whatever 10 minutes posting. And then later in the day, she spends 10 minutes going to her post her group, whatever, and answering or interacting with people who have interacted with her content. And then she spends 10 minutes at the end of the day going and interacting with other people outside of her community.

Christa (37:03):

So it's really balanced. It's really short periods, 10 minutes at a time. You who really hate getting on may not want to get on 33 different times during the day. So maybe you say, I'm going to spend 30 minutes, three days a week and do those three things for 30 minutes and that's all. And if you did that consistently, instead of inconsistently, just whenever you can force yourself to do it, you're going to have better results. If you just do it, do something that's doable and not too painful for you. If you do that consistently, then if you are hitting this with it. Right.

Amber (37:43):

That makes sense. That makes sense. Well, I appreciate you kind of letting us have an example of kind of, so how would we apply this to a goal? Um, because I think that helps sometimes with understanding so, well, I appreciate it, Christa, where, where can my community find you? Where can they work with you? Where can they learn a little bit more about how to do this?

Christa (38:01):

Um, you can find me on my website at doinganewthing.com and then also on Facebook and Instagram at doing new thing. I have a full range of one-on-one coaching. I have a group membership, I have a Facebook group. Um, I have a lot full range of all those kinds of services. So I would love for anyone to come get plugged in. And I'd love to hear what, what goals they're working on.

Amber (38:28):

And so if we want to work with you, tell me kind of like, what do you help me do? What is your, like, here's where I can take you. Here's I do with you. I know, you know, we kind of talked about the accountability. Um, if I'm kind of out there in the audience, like wondering, you know, how does this help me in my business? Cause most of my community is business. What does that look like if I work with you?

Christa (38:49):

Well, the one-on-one coaching is, um, uh, one meeting every month we spend about an hour together for a month. We talk about what you're working on and then we make your plan. I often tell people that I'm not, um, I don't consider myself an expert in online business or copywriting or social media at all. I just, what I've learned over the six years of doing this, my expertise is in making a plan. And so you come with, these are the things I know I need to do. Um, or I think I need to do so I help you with decision-making. These are the things you are going to do and make your plan for the month. You need to do this in week one, week, two, week three. And then during the month, every Sunday night, I send you an email and say, how did you do on your plan? What barriers did you come up with? What can we celebrate? And just kind of have a little back and forth with you to hear how things are going. And so I've had so many people tell me, oh, I knew that email was coming Sunday night. I got in there and got it done this afternoon.

Christa (39:50):

So that's what the coach, the one-on-one coaching looks like. And then in the mastermind and the membership is a combination of community accountability and training around making plans and other project management skills.

Amber (40:04):

Okay. Very good. Well, you are a lady after my own heart because I love a good plan. I love process and the love project management. So I love all those things. Those are our music to my ears. So good. Well, Krista, thank you so much. Anything else you want to share today? I really appreciate you coming on the podcast and talking with us today.

Christa (40:25):

No, I think that's good. Thank you so much for having me, um, just want to encourage people to, if you're not a natural goal setter, this is a really easy way to set goals. It doesn't, it's not as stressful as smart goals that really kind of hurt your heart sometimes. Um, and so I would just, I love to help anyone work their way through their peace goals and give them a little bit of direction. Thank you so much for having me.

Amber (40:52):

Absolutely. Thanks, Christa. All right. Thank you so much, Krista, for being on the podcast, that conversation was so much fun and I learned a ton from you. I just can feel your heart for wanting to help people reach their goals. And oh my goodness, what a great talent you have to be able to help people do that. So you guys, I'm going to link to all of Christa's stuff in the show notes, please go support her. Please show her her some love for being on the show. It would just mean the world to both of us. If you would screenshot this episode and share it to your Instagram stories, talk about some value here. I mean, she has been amazing. So if you would share the show, we would both it. Thank you so much again, Krista for giving us some of your time and for coming on the show until next week, you guys go share your unique message with the world. Thanks for listening today, friends, and spending a piece of your day with me to get more information on my copywriting and content marketing and messaging services. Go to Amberglus.com. You can also learn more on Instagram with me @AmberGlus until next time goes share your unique message with the world.