Emily Thompson 0:00
The Being Boss book is officially available for pre order,
Kathleen Shannon 0:04
and you can buy it wherever books are sold.
Emily Thompson 0:07
Let us know that you bought it and we'll send you some goodies just go to being boss club slash book for more details.
Kathleen Shannon 0:17
This minisode of being bosses brought to you by twenty20, where creative entrepreneurs get inspiring photos. If you're looking for authentic images to illustrate all of the hard work you've been putting in lately, twenty20 has millions of real world photos proven to help you tell a more engaging story, whether that's on social media, your blog, or your website. And they're all available under a simple royalty free license. twenty20 is partnering with being boss to support all the creative bosses and is offering new a seven days five photo free trial. That's a seven day access to licensed five photos for free to start your trial now go to twenty20.com/beingboss, that's the word 20, then to zero.com slash being boss to get five free photos.
Emily Thompson 1:06
Hey, bosses, Emily here. We've talked a lot about defining success here on the being boss podcast. But as with most things in business, the way you define success and your very definition of success changes as you grow within your business and as a human being. You know me as the person who is very metrics and numbers focus when it comes to setting goals. And that's true to some degree. But I've been doing a lot of work over the past couple of years on defining success for myself and setting some of those bigger dream your goals in a way that isn't so concrete and leaves room for the unexpected. I chat a bit about this in my interview this week over on the proofed a product podcast, a weekly podcast for product based business owners, hosted by Katie hunt, founder of trade show boot camp, here's a clip from our conversation.
Katie Hunt 2:07
Speaking of success, how do you define success in your business? And with the being boss brand? What does that look for it like for you? Because everyone does define it differently?
Emily Thompson 2:19
I love this question. Because I'm in a place where maybe I'm getting older and wiser. I'm not sure. Or maybe I'm just losing my mind, we'll see where I find myself doing the weird thing of completely trying to release all expectations of what could happen. Because one of the things that I've found throughout this process of life, of building all of the things is that quite often I will box myself in with my goals, were like I set goals where as I probably could have done better if I hadn't limited myself by what I expected to happen. So one of the things that I've been focusing on quite a bit over the past several months, and maybe this is even like a result of writing this damn book have like, really just grown beyond it in whatever way where I really just want to focus on feeling how I want to feel, and not defining what exactly that needs to look like. And maybe that's a slippery slope, you know, in six months, if I'm like the crazy cat lady who is just like really happy, you know, petting her cats, then we all know that maybe this wasn't a choice for me. But showing up consistently and doing the work for me, is you know, how you get there. My day to day I like to focus on you know, freedom and feeling confident in what I'm doing. Like all those core values that are really important to me, and it's very different day to day, some days that looks like me coming in and busting out my to do list and then being free of it for you know, 12 hours or whatever other days is saying To hell with my to do list, I'm gonna go to lunch, and yoga and then just see what ends up coming out of it.
Emily Thompson 3:58
So day to day my success looks like doing whatever I want to do, but also being super productive while I'm doing it. And then in terms of just like visioning ahead, I just want to feel creatively fulfilled. Happy, safe. And like I like helped the world heal in some way or the other and I don't know what that looks like. Maybe that looks like 18 more bucks. Maybe that looks like you know, building building a like personal and home goods company that you know, serves in you know, makes everyone's homes more happy. I don't know exactly what it looks like yet. I just know what it feels like.
Katie Hunt 4:40
Yeah, that's beautiful. And, and I love how it encompasses all aspects of your life too.
Emily Thompson 4:47
Yes, and that's absolutely something that I've that I've found on this being boss journey. And what has really guided me into it I'm sure is I always get really sad For people who hate their job, and then therefore hate their life, yeah, like, I would rather spend my effort to doing work that I super enjoy, that feeds into a life that I enjoy even more than my work. As opposed to, you know, in the other scenario, so for me, it all is the same thing I work so that I can live. And I live so that I can bring that creative awesomeness to my work. And the two are not separate, but together. And I have to work at both with the same amount of effort.
Emily Thompson 5:36
So I want to take a few minutes here to expand on this idea of getting away from your attachment to a specific outcome when you're defining what success looks like for you, or even when setting certain goals because I'm totally in this right now. And I've had this conversation with a couple of people, and I need to share it with you as well. In this episode of proved a product, Katie, and I focused on bringing your personal values into the work that you do, and why it's such an important practice for not only creative entrepreneurs, but we also reflected for a moment on how important it is for every company and organization to have a strong sense of values. values in your business not only help you feel good and aligned with what it is that you're doing. But they also help you make decisions, which we absolutely know that you guys certainly struggle with. As Kathleen and I have been diving more into preparing for our book launch and preparing some of our content for various marketing efforts and speaking gigs, we've been coming back to this exercise of finding your values.
Emily Thompson 6:42
It's one of our most foundational exercises because it acts as a guiding light for making decisions in your business. And really gets under what I mean when I'm talking about defining success without getting attached to a specific outcome. For example, three of my core values are freedom, confidence, and creativity, when I really think about it, success for me is when all of those values are fulfilled in what I'm doing in my work in life. And guys that can look like anything. So let's lay this out, if I'm attached to this vision of success, where it let's say completely hypothetically here, that our book as a best seller, and creates positive changes in the lives of bosses all over the world. In this dreamy hypothetical also, what happens is that is such a bestseller that Kathleen and I are invited on Oprah. And then maybe we get our own TV show so that we can continue to spread the boss message. And a lot of ways that feels really right. But if that's my idea of what success is, then that's the only path in which I can achieve success. If that's all I'm holding in my mind as I'm moving forward. And what happens if I get to that point, and I've checked it off as this is what success looks like to me box. But I actually find that I not truly fulfilling my values of freedom, confidence and creativity for one reason or another. At that point, I haven't really found success based on what I value. Instead of going at success. In that way. It's important to define my success starting with my values, it's a little more vague, but it might look like absolutely anything. As long as I'm feeling free, confident and creative. It's less about those concrete definitions and more about creating the feelings that I want. There are so many possible paths. And at this point and my boss journey, I'm leaving my options open. While still holding my values is super close, success could look like something I can't even imagine.
Emily Thompson 8:57
And if I'm only focused on TV shows, or hanging out with Oprah as my definition of success, I'm closing myself off to other potential outcomes that could align with my values just as much if not better. So there you have it, the next phase of goal setting and defining success. I do believe that as a baby boss hard core metrics and getting crystal clear on what you want is how you flex your muscles for doing the work and seeing the rewards that are reaps. But once you've proven that you can define and make it do working for what you want becomes less about finite Lee defining and more about just focusing on a feeling and seeing where the work takes you. It takes a huge dose of trust in the process, which again is a muscle you have to flex even as I imagined possible scenarios and outcomes that would fill sex Basketball to me as I'm making decisions in my business to get me to my place of success. I'm not doing it in a way where I'm questioning does this get me one step closer to an interview with Oprah? Instead, I'm checking in, does this make me feel free, confident and creative. I'll never find myself in a place where I thought success would be found a justified doubt that I was working for the wrong thing. And that feels pretty boss.
Emily Thompson 10:32
If you're unsure as to what your values are, check out the values exercise from the being boss book, which you can now order wherever books are sold. You can also head over to beingboss.club/values, to pinpoint your own values and share them with your tribe. And that's all I have for you today. Go check out my full episode on Proof to Product at www.prooftoproduct.com or wherever you listen to podcasts.
Emily Thompson 11:09
Alright, excuse me while I pause this here and let you in on the exciting news. The being boss book is about to hit the shelves of a bookstore near you, Kathleen and I have taken years of conversations between ourselves and those we've had with experts and industry leaders here on the being boss podcast, and have distilled them down into what we've found, makes you bought into a book that you can read, hold in your hands and share with a friend.
Kathleen Shannon 11:35
And we'd be lying if we didn't admit that we have a big dream with this book. We wanted to be a best seller. We want every creative in the world to cultivate the confidence it takes to take control of their work and make money doing what they love so they can live life on their own terms. That's what our book is here to do. And we need your help to make it happen.
Emily Thompson 11:54
If you want to dive into the core of what it means to be boss and support us while you do it. It's time for you to preorder the book. And once you do that, let us know you bought it and we'll send you some goodies. Just go to being boss club slash book for links to purchase and for more information on how to claim your swag that's being boss clubs slash book. Now let's get back at it.
Kathleen Shannon 12:20
This minisode was brought to you by twenty20 check them out at twenty20.com/beingboss. That's t w e n t y 20 as in the number.com slash being boss.
Emily Thompson 12:34
Did you like this minisode Be sure to check us out on our website at beingboss.club. There you can find more from being boss including our full episodes minisodes and blog posts. And while you're there, be sure to sign up for our mailing list so that you can get access to behind the scenes and exclusive content from Kathleen and myself to help you be more boss in your work and life. Do the work be boss
