Molly Beyer invites us to think about our growth edge in this episode. What is our growth edge? It’s when old patterns are disrupted and we’re challenged to do more to grow our business. Molly explores what challenge looks like, how to meet it as a solo entrepreneur, and why supportive non-competitive competition is key to success.

One of the biggest advantages to our growth edge is challenge but we are only ever truly competing against ourselves, so how do we grow when our only competition is us? How do we focus on the incremental improvement in ourselves and in our business if we have no comparison on which to base that growth? Molly describes the advantages of competing alongside others with ourselves. Entering a challenge with peers and colleagues not to compete against them, but to have support in the journey of competing against ourselves.

One of the ways to do this is to have an accountability team, according to Molly. Mentors, coaches, and other people who are meeting similar challenges ahead of us from whom we can learn, or behind us that we can help. Molly discusses healthy side-by-side challenges, the importance of support and accountability, and why giving also involves receiving in order to achieve our best growth edge. Join Molly on this new path in the journey to business growth.

__

Contact Molly Beyer:

• MKBeyerBooks.com
• MKBeyerConsults.com
• Facebook: MK Beyer Books
  
  

—

Transcript

Molly Beyer: [00:00:08] Hello, hello, I am Molly Beyer, host of The Ambiguous &: Business Basics and Beyond, a podcast where we have frank discussions on the basics of business with a holistic focus on everything that helps business owners define and find success. There are so many ands that impact being your own boss. Join us as we explore all these ands and more. Like, subscribe or follow wherever you get your podcasts and let's explore these ambiguous ands.

Molly Beyer: [00:00:38] Hello and welcome to The Ambiguous &: Business Basics and Beyond! I am Molly Beyer and I am here to lead you through frank and holistic conversations on the basics of business. Today we're going to talk a little bit about growth edge. What is growth edge? Well your growth edge is when you are disrupting old patterns, those moments when you're being challenged to do more, to be more, to grow as a person, to grow in your business. So why are we talking about growth edge today? Because one of your biggest advantages within your growth edge is focusing on challenge, how you focus on challenge, and who is on the journey with you. When it comes to challenges, we're really only ever competing against ourselves. We want to focus on that 1% incremental improvement in ourselves, in our business every day. But sometimes when you're only competing against yourself, it can kind of feel a little weird. Like, what am I doing here? How do I know how well I'm doing? Because I'm not really comparing myself to somebody else, which you shouldn't necessarily compare yourself to other people, but competing against only yourself can also feel kind of weird.

Molly Beyer: [00:02:02] So there's a huge benefit to competing alongside others. I've recently experienced the benefit of this when it came to a challenge. So I have this large group of coaches that I'm a part of, and for the month of June, they decided to do a challenge. Well, hundreds of coaches signed up to do this, and I wasn't going to do it because I really just didn't have the bandwidth. And even though I knew it could be really good for growing my business, really dialling in some of my messaging, getting some of my new products and offerings out there, I just didn't think I had the time. And then my mentor emailed me and said, hey, I'm doing this challenge, I need a little bit of competition, you want to compete with me? And sometimes when you want to say no, that's when you really need to say yes. So I said, all right, I'm all in. It was awesome because the challenge was really well structured, lots of very specific moves to make, but it was great to have people there doing it with me. That first week I played all in. I was right there.

Molly Beyer: [00:03:25] I was exhausted because in addition to all of the things I was doing, I added about ten extra hours that week to working on the pieces of this challenge. But it really, really, really helped me to dial in some of the things that are still a struggle for me. Time management, organizing my to-do list. Really, really, really nailing down my ideal client avatar. I'm really good at helping other people do this, but like most people, it's a kind of a do as I say, not as I do situation. I'm not always as good of a coach of myself as I am of other people. Same reason you wouldn't necessarily want to buy a car from a mechanic, or hell, even really look at the bookkeeping of a bookkeeper. I tell you, it's a good thing I have a team, or my bookkeeping would be way behind. Anyway, this challenge got me moving. Part of the reason, though, isn't necessarily the moves, isn't necessarily the things to do, that constant checking in. It was watching the other people who were a part of the challenge. That was huge. It was huge because as I am going through this challenge, maybe that first week I made some really good progress and then life happened. I didn't have as much support in the coming weeks, I got sick, I had other commitments, I had to travel out of town for some meetings so I wasn't able to play all out.

Molly Beyer: [00:05:05] But you know what? Every day I went in and checked in. Every day I shared, even if it was a small win that I had that day and that kept me playing even if I wasn't playing all out, so I could watch other people who were maybe keeping up with me in that same space where we were making those small improvements, that small 1% each day, and we could maybe give a hand back to the people who were a little farther behind than us. And we could also cheer on, provide feedback for, and even sometimes advice for the people who were just flying ahead in this challenge. But being on that journey with other people makes it so much easier. I'm not competing with them, but I'm competing with myself alongside them, and that is really where accountability comes in. Because owning and running a business is incredibly isolating. When business is good, it is so easy to ride that high. Just keep going even if you don't have anyone riding it with you. But when business is low, when you're feeling low, it's so important to know who is in your corner. And that is why I am a huge proponent of getting your people together who are there for support and accountability.

Molly Beyer: [00:06:43] Is it a challenge? Is it meeting every week? Is it emailing each other? Is it working with a coach? Is it getting a mentor? Whoever these advisors are in your world, you have to have somebody other than yourself to be accountable to. Because again, if it's just me, my bookkeeping is not getting done. I'm not creating that ideal client avatar because I'm too much in my way. Working with others, supporting others, being accountable to others makes a huge difference. So for me, the first six months of this year were amazing. I have had more growth than I probably have in my entire life, I think, in one go-round. My dream team accountability space was an accountability partner t...