Ep 235 – February In Review

Episode Introduction: The Month in Review (Already!)

Hello everyone, and welcome to “Mentoring with Geraldine, and the Bite-Sized Podcast”  How the devil are you? 

How’s it all going with you? 

Here we are – can you believe the end of February, and the beginning of March? 

I cannot believe it. 

Okay. I can’t believe it, and February is the shortest month, blah, blah, so we got here quicker than we would normally. 

But I also just can’t believe how fast the summer is disappearing, because it’s not really been a summer. 

I don’t know about where you are, but every time I turn on the TV, there are floods and cyclones, and there’s bad weather here, and it’s cold, or it’s boiling hot.

It’s been the strangest summer, hasn’t it? 

So here we are at the end of the month, and it’s time for our reflection and our review. 

So we need to ask ourselves a number of questions, and I’m going to answer those questions, so that you get an idea, and a feel for what I’ve been up to, and what I’ve been doing.

Intentions for March:

So we are setting our intentions for the coming month.

Mine is … I’ve done a couple of practice runs with my new website (I’m moving everything to Simplero, as I’m sure I’ve told you), so hopefully in March – that’s my intention – that it will be up and running.

Podia will still be there for a little while yet, as I move everything slowly but surely over, and try to work out the kinks. 

So something that didn’t go so well with this Simplero move, is I didn’t communicate properly with my VA about the colours that I like to use on my site. 

So she’s had to go back and do a number of things again, because I didn’t communicate properly.

Communication is Key:

Communication is a huge part of what we do, isn’t it? 

Getting people to follow up, and follow through 

and do what we’ve asked them to do.

Connecting and communicating 

and realising where we are not syncing.

So I had a couple of meetings. I was like:

“Oh, I’m not too keen on the colour”.

And then I didn’t do anything about it. 

I didn’t follow up. 

The only person to blame was me, because I didn’t follow up. 

So I had to follow up. 

I had to make those connections and so:

“Right. Let’s have a couple of meetings and let’s talk”. 

She’s like:

“Oh right, yes, no worries at all”. 

Because I hadn’t connected.

I hadn’t used my thought processes properly.

I hadn’t connected properly. 

I sometimes think that my VAs somehow know – by osmosis –  what I’m intending. 

That’s just not going to happen. 

We need clarity of speech. .

In my group, that’s much easier when I’m working directly one-to-one with people rather than messaging or emailing. 

I’m much better at the spoken word.

I’m much better at that scripting – at speaking – connecting – motivating through language. That’s what I enjoy doing. 

So I have done some of that over the summer, not as much. 

Now that February’s here, I’ve had some really great sessions, in The Academy, 

and in The Graduate Mastery Program, and with Clinical Mondays (aka The Next Level Group).

We’ve had some really great sessions – really connected with the people in those groups, and we are working up to a few things, aren’t we? 

We’re working up to things, just like you are. 

Learn From Your Reflections, as You Look Forward:

“What are you working up to in your business?“

“If you reflect back, what did you mess up in February?” 

“Or even January, if you haven’t done a reflection yet?”

“What did you feel that you could have done better?”

There is learning. 

It’s always a movement forward. 

All of these things are learnings. 

They are not failures, Okay? 

They are learnings, so that we can proceed forward on this journey. 

Wins for the Month Just Gone?:

What was my biggest win for February? 

Well, probably actually connecting again with the people in The Academy. 

* Heads Up – The Academy Closing Dates and A Price Rise Next Round:

The Academy‘s only open for another month and a half.

Then it closes again for the winter, and then we’ll reopen it very quickly in the autumn. Obviously Australian weather, I’m talking here, so if you’re on the other side of the world, you can think the other way around.

So we’re going to close for Winter, and then we’ll open again for Spring.

The reason for that is because we are working on things.

If people are joining, or we’ve got people coming in and out, they don’t know where they are, or what they should be doing. 

We do have these 2 times for intake in the year, and we’ll actually go up. 

So when I reopen in the Spring time (in August), the price will have gone up a bit.

There’ll still be discounts here and there, but it still won’t be as cheap as people are paying now.  Obviously the people who are in it, their prices won’t change. 

My biggest win for February was reconnecting.  

It was being back with my Academy members.

It was connecting with them, and re-looking at my foundations, and starting to make sure that things are flowing properly.

Goals for March:

One of my goals in March is (and I’m talking about it in another podcast: “Foundation”), so my goals are to make things run smoothly.

So I’m double checking everything.

I’m working through, as I change from one system to another … 

• I’m making sure that things work smoothly.
  • That I’m aligned with my business 
• That everything that I’m putting out to the world
  • aligns with my values,
  • and with what I do
  • and how much I want to support you to succeed in your business 
    • as a practising Natural Therapist

What do I need to do to achieve these goals? 

I need to sit down. 

I need to stop doing “shiny object”. 

I need to sit down. 

I need to work through and look, and think:

“Yes, that one definitely flows into that”

Rather than just:

“Oh, they need this”

“Let me just create it, and pop it up here for my people in my Academy. 

“Oh, they need to know about Google My Business – let me put that up”

“Oh, they need to know about creating a Facebook group – let me put that up”

All of these things that I just create and put up, instead of being really sensible about it. 

Everyone Can Gain from Mentorship:

So one of my actions that I’m taking, is I’ve signed up with a mentor for the whole year.

So I’m in a whole year mentoring program. 

I’ll tell you more about that mid-year because she will open her doors again mid-year. 

I run a membership, I run a mentoring program, which is great and I love it.

But I’m there supporting others, so I in turn, need support. 

So if you join The Academy, you get me supporting you – very specifically around your business, and what you do, and providing those services to your clients.

So I need support around the business I run, and providing this service to you.

I need to focus more, and I’m giving it to others, but I need to receive it as well. 

So that’s one of my biggest things that’s coming up for me is: 

I need a longer duration of support. It’s been a little bit piecemeal over the years, and so it’s time to really just settle into one group, and actually go with it, and stick with it, and work with that group.

So that’s what I’m doing over this coming year.

This Year’s Retreat:

We had a very, very successful Retreat last year here in Adelaide. 

And the Online Retreat was spectacular as well. Everybody really liked that. 

So this year there is another Retreat here in Adelaide, and the house is to die for that we’re all going to, in the hills. It looks utterly amazing. 

There will be the photographer, and we’ll do the market, and we’re going to be doing some of the same things. But the people who came in last year were like:

“Yep, totally into it”. 

“Really want to go back to the market”. 

“Geraldine we really want that photographer to come back, so that we’ve got shots”.

It was just phenomenal. 

So I’m looking at the Retreat this year, and here I am in February going:

“Well, I’m only going to do the 1 in-person retreat, and I never intended to do a retreat, let alone 2”. 

So I don’t even know if there’ll be a 3rd, but go with it, see what happens. 

So I’ve got my Retreat, but 1 of the learnings from that last year, was that they had to be 2 retreats. There had to be the physical retreat and the online Retreats separately, whereas last year, because I really priced it really tightly, I had to have them all at once. 

So this year they’re going to be 2 separate events. 

Which is also really exciting, because it means the people who come here get another Retreat the following weekend. An all day, or online, so that they can really consolidate what they’ve done, and keep up that momentum.

So it’s very exciting. 

And although that’s not till November, and here I am saying:

“Oh, let’s talk about March”

…. I have to organise that.

I’ve already booked the accommodation. I booked that last November. 

I’ve got to double check the photographer is up for coming again. 

I’ve got to make sure he’s catering, and more!

All of those things will take time. 

So even though we’re just hit March, I’m really making those plans now all the way down to November: 2nd – 5th November here in Adelaide, for Academy members. 

So if you wanted to come, on one of the best retreats ever, then you need to join The Academy so that you can come along as well.

My march is construction. 

My march is development. 

My march is building out the content for the new site, and that includes the content for the Retreat – the information for the Retreat that’s coming up. 

Your Turn for Reflection and Intentions:

So when you look at your February, how did that go?

Then where are you headed in March? 

So thinking March – that’s your short-term planning. 

So I’m doing my Simplero and things like that. 

So they’re my short-term objectives.

My long-term objective is the Retreat in November. 

What is your long-term objective? 

I have a lot of meditations and things on objectives.

They’re in The Academy.

So what is your long-term objective? 

Have you got one? 

Are you thinking about it?

Is it realistic? 

Is it long term?  

For instance, you qualify in 2 years time, and when you qualify, you want to work in a Pharmacy, or you want to have your own business in your own home, or you want to move into somebody’s office.

So is it really long term, or do you have something for this year? 

It might be you qualify mid year this year … in which case, you join The Academy. 

It might be that you’re having a baby this year.

In which case don’t join The Academy. Enjoy the baby. 😁 

What is the longer term vision for 2023? 

We’re in our first quarter right now.

What is this quarter vision?

What is that longer one? 

What’s happening? 

What’s going on with you?

Write it down. 

Do some journaling. 

Do those dot points.

Work it out, because it’s a really great time. 

At the beginning of the year, our mojo is high. 

We’re hot, we are ready to go. 

• We can think back on what happened last year, 
  • and we can reflect on how things went
  • whether they went well
  • what didn’t go so well
  • what needs changing

We’re at the perfect time right now to be projecting forward in that longer term way. 

So although we’re doing our first quarter objectives, you can actually be looking at your whole year objectives right now too.

Have Your Intentions Changed From Your Earlier Plans?:

See if they’re different from when you set them in November last year, before the holidays.

Because that’s the last time I was talking about:

“What are you doing next year?” 

“What are your objectives?“

So it’s a good idea to think now:

“Well, what did I think about last November?”

“What did I write down?”

“Did I do Geraldine’s Challenge where I made sure that I wrote out everything?”

 “And what did I do?”

“And did I achieve those things for the new year?

“Am I on track for them?” 

Signing Off:

So I’m going to leave it there. 

I hope you have an absolutely brilliant rest of day. 

You know the deal … follow, subscribe, do the things, make sure you please give me a 5-star review, if you made it all the way to the end. Why wouldn’t you? 😉. 

You just scroll down on your phone – which I assume is what you’re listening on – scroll down until you get to the review part, and it’s just in the same place. 

So whatever system you’re on, I would love a review. 

So I hope you have an absolutely brilliant rest of day, and I look forward to catching up with you really soon. 

Cheers. 

Thanks so much for joining me today. Don’t forget to rate, review and subscribe to the podcast, for the weekly episodes. If you’d like even more support and learning, then The Academy is for you. Here, you’ll find part 2 of the herbal discussions, more clinical learning, and case studies, to support your clients in practice. 

Bye for now.