→ Tired of throwing spaghetti at the wall with your marketing? In Expand, we’ll create your custom strategy FOR you and execute it WITH you. Plus you’ll get FREE access to Emily’s exclusive live 4-week Business Incubator when you sign up by July 31st: get.embodiedmarketing.com/expand 

What if I told you that your biggest strength as an entrepreneur—your ability to handle more than the average person—might be the exact thing keeping you from breakthrough results?

I recently turned down multiple six-figure opportunities that would have been easy money. Why? Because I’ve learned that saying yes to everything (even good opportunities) is the fastest way to stay stuck at your current level. The entrepreneurs who break through to 7 and 8-figures think completely differently about focus.

In this episode, I’m sharing why I said no to a million-dollar opportunity, how to transition from reactive entrepreneur to strategic CEO, and the focus framework that separates 8-figure leaders from everyone else still spinning their wheels.

Key Takeaways:

• The entrepreneur’s delusion—why convincing yourself you’re “the exception” who can do more than everyone else is actually sabotaging your success
• The strategic no that changed everything—how I turned down multiple six-figure opportunities to stay laser-focused on just two priorities (and why this decision will make me more money long-term)
• The focus audit framework—specific questions to identify where you’re spreading yourself too thin and what deserves your concentrated attention for the next 3-6 months
  

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More ways Embodied Marketing can support you:

If you’re ready to hand off your entire marketing strategy (from funnels to ads to copy) and finally get the expert team you can trust, apply here and let’s talk: helpmystrategy.com

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READ THE EPISODE TRANSCRIPT

Emily Hirsh: 

We can convince ourselves that we are the exception and we can do way more than most people Fuck around and find out, right? Like try a bunch of things. See what works. You’re in a very reactive state when you’re doing that. Who even knows what the world’s gonna be like in a year from now with ai? And there’s a different energy to that.

Like chaotic. I have so much to do and I’m always behind and I’m doing all these things to like we are laser-focused. Eye on the target. Realize how powerful it can be. When you choose to laser focus your time, your energy, and your resources as a company. Embodied CEOs don’t chase trends. They pave the way they lead from within.

Move by purpose, unshaken by noise. When you are the source, you do not need permission. Hello everybody. Welcome back to the podcast. I hope you are having an amazing week. This week before recording this, which it won’t come out for a few weeks, but I am prepping for Embodied Marketing Live. I am so excited.

Running events and hosting retreats is my very favorite thing in the whole world, and I still can’t believe that. All these people fly in from all over to come to my events. If you would’ve asked me just two years ago, I would’ve said no. I wasn’t gonna run events. So it’s crazy. It’s been, it’s been a year, just over a year since my very first event, and now it will have been two big three big events.

1, 2, 3, 4, 5 retreats all in the last year. That’s crazy and they’re my very favorite thing because the level of impact that I can have in person is just beyond anything I can do online. So I hope one day, if you haven’t been to one of my events or one of my retreats, that you make it there. Today’s episode, I wanna talk about something that is very relevant and we’ll be just like a quick.

Quick reminder, a quick little inspirational, not even just inspirational, it’s also tactical tip in your ear, and that is the importance of focus. But I wanna dig into what that means. So it’s something that I’ve recognized in myself many times as an entrepreneur because I think that a lot of entrepreneurs have this gift of.

Making shit happen, like getting stuff done, doing a lot of things well beyond what the average person could do. And I also think that I see this a lot in entrepreneurs and I just did a bonus coaching call. For the founding members of Launch our platform, if they, when they bought right on my workshop training, they got access to a bonus call with me.

And so I just hosted that call and that was like the theme of it. It was, here’s all the things I’m working on, here’s like the offers that I wanna put out in my business. And I kind of had to have a tough conversation with a few of them and go, like, what would happen if all you focused on for the next three to six months is just that one thing?

They’re like, I knew I was supposed to do that, but I was telling myself that I didn’t have to do that. And that, that’s, that’s the thing. That’s part of it. That’s what I wanna talk about is I think that as entrepreneurs, we have this gift that can turn into a hindrance and something that prevents. The level of success that you could have, which is we can convince ourselves that we are the exception and we can do way more than most people.

Now, while I think that we can do more than the average person, in a lot of ways we are built that way. We’re. A lot of us are generators on the human design. You don’t have to be a generator to be built that way, but we’re driven for more. Like we have this drive that’s that’s most entrepreneurs, but what happens is that can cross over into this area where you literally convince yourself that you can do way more than is actually at all possible for you to do well.

And I find myself doing this all the time, and then I end up creating a state of overwhelm and. Doing too much and then not putting all my attention and energy into focused areas. So I will catch myself literally going, you know, oh, I know that, you know, probably the good thing would be for me to do is.

Not do those three projects, not try to launch that thing that fast. Not try to do this, but I’m gonna do it anyways because I can do it. Right. And you may relate to this, like I think we, we think we are the exception. And while it is very. Advantageous to follow those bursts of creativity. And you know, like when I built my soft, the software product, I built small software product in six days and just like grind and build.

For that short period of time following inspiration, if I continued to do that every single week where I just kind of followed what I wanted to do and told myself I could do way more than I could, the reality is it would spread my time. It would spread my energy across too many things, and then nothing’s getting depth.

So. As an entrepreneur, and especially as you become more seasoned, as you become more experienced, as you figure out what works and what doesn’t work, it’s really important that you pause and you kind of take inventory of your time and energy, and not just like your time and energy, but your businesses time and energy.

If you have a team, if you have a marketing team, if you have, you know, projects internally and different things that you’re working on, pausing and going. Should we be doing all these things? Where are we going and what’s gonna move the needle the most for us? And are we all on the same page? Are we focused or am I focused?

If you’re in your business on your own. And so this is something that takes a skill and it’s where you, you make this transition from becoming this reactive, I’ll call it entrepreneur in the beginning. ’cause you’re not really a CEO yet. When you start your business and you’re a solopreneur and you are figuring things out, it’s very reactive.

It’s very much like, this is what I’m gonna do today. This thing worked. I’m gonna try this, I’m gonna do this. And you’re kind of reacting to things around you. You don’t have a solid plan. And it’s okay in the beginning to be in that season ’cause you’re figuring out what works. And I, you know, I, I think I talked about this on an interview recently of I haven’t seen a single business.

Where they write out a business plan and just follow that business plan, and that’s what works. So there is this piece in the beginning of business that is, I don’t know, fuck around and find out, right? Like, try a bunch of things, see what works. You’re in a very reactive state when you’re doing that.

You’re not being intentional. You’re following the momentum. You’re following what starts to work. You’re excited. Okay. Once things start to work and you have clarity, clarity around those foundational things, like true clarity, you have clarity around your ideal customer. You have clarity around your offer, you have clarity around your messaging, you have clarity around the direction of where you’re going, and you can really start to see that vision and things are coming together.

That’s when you need to make this transition from entrepreneur solopreneur to CEO and and business owner, which A CEO and a business owner is much more intentional with time and energy realizes that those are not unlimited resources. And so every minute of your time and energy. Should at least be intentional if you can make it that and not be reacting.

So these entrepreneurs that were on this call with me earlier, and this is how it always starts, right? They’re like, look, I have these three ideas. I have these offers, and I know that all of them are gonna work. I wanna do all of them. I love them all so much. I’m super passionate about this and I love this, and this has already worked for me before.

So I know people want that. And so how do I organize the strategy? To be able to do all of them, and it’s usually me. Questioning. I don’t like to tell people what to do, so I like to question and have them come to the realization on their own. But I asked this person the question of what would happen if you just spent the next three to six months and you only focused on this one, which was her most likely to be successful because of what the offer was and what people wanted the most.

And I said, you go all in on that. It doesn’t mean you can’t do those things in the future, but they’re gonna likely evolve. As you really focus in on that, you go all in on the messaging, you go all in on the offer, you go all in on the strategy of selling this and all of your time and energy goes to that.

What would, what would happen? I’m just curious. And she’s like, I knew. I knew it. I just needed someone to tell me that I needed to focus. Because when I think about doing that, I know that is the best option for my business because then I’m putting all the resources into this. And so I think as entrepreneurs, one thing I would invite you to do right now is really pause.

And take inventory. Look at the last week, look at the last month, and make a list of what are the projects that you’ve been working on? Where is your time and energy going and. Is it being spread across? Do you have like five marketing ideas and three offers and a website rebuild and social media content and all these things you’re trying to do?

And I want you to ask yourself, okay, lemme take inventory of what I’m doing, and now let me ask myself like, where am I really going? If I fast forward 3, 6, 12 months from now, we don’t need to go farther than that because who even knows what, what the world’s gonna be like in a year from now with ai. So 3, 6, 12 months.

If I fast forward there and I think about where my business is going and the impact I wanna have and the money I wanna make, and the life I’m building, what are the biggest needle movers? And if I just poured my attention. Into one or two areas, then what would that look like? And I shared this on a recent solo episode that I did for me, which was my focus in my business because I feel that right now in this kind of state that we’re in with ai, it’s opening up so many opportunities and it’s very easy to get sucked into those opportunities.

So I’ll give you an example. I was in a mastermind meeting with this incredible group of entrepreneurs. I showed them the product I built that I turned into a software. I showed them launch and five of them are immediately like, can your team build this for me? Like I wanna do this in my business. Can your team build this for me?

And would they pay me Probably a good amount of money to do that. Yes. Do I have the current infrastructure to support that? No. And I had to sit there. ’cause there’s a part of me that was like. You know, messaging my team and like, oh my God, we should totally do this. It’s a huge opportunity because everybody’s gonna have to transition their offers and do this, and maybe at some point we will do this.

But right now, in this moment, this quarter, this next three to six months, let me lay out on the table all the options of what I could put my energy into. And so I did, and I sat down and it was the media and the content. It was offering this as a service. To help you build your offer into a software or a platform.

It was growing my own program and overhauling that in a way that I am working on, which is turning it into a software, right? That’s a massive lift. That’s a massive project that is requiring my attention right now. When I lay all that out, I can’t do it all there. There’s just absolutely no way that I could put my energy into all those, and not just my energy, but my team’s energy.

And so I said the one. Several had to go, but one of the big ones was the opportunity of building business owners offers into platforms and softwares, and I have to let that go. I can’t, that can’t be a focus right now. It doesn’t mean it never will be when the time is right. If it is ever right. Maybe I’ll do that.

You know, maybe we can offer that. But right now I’ve got these two focuses. One is the media building out my media team going pro with, with content creation. Really taking that to the next level, like serious next level. I have dreams for a book. Massive content and attention and brand legacy. And then it’s.

My program and overhauling that and marketing that. Those are my two main focuses. And then we have our done for you, which is there and running so great. So doesn’t need to be overhauled. We are creating some things as it relates to platforms and dashboards for clients, but I had to really sit down and have that conversation with myself, even me at where I’m at actually frequently I have to do this ’cause I have zero shortage of ideas and I’m sure you feel the same way.

Now I think that when you are in that stage of business where you haven’t found the thing that’s like working really well yet, it’s even harder to do this because it feels sometimes like. Way more fun to just quit the thing that isn’t working very well and jump to the next thing. And I think you have to really ask yourself, have I given that thing a full opportunity, that funnel, that strategy, that offer?

And if I poured my time and energy into that for the next three to six months, where would I be? That’s a question I want you to sit with today. Take inventory of where your time and energy is going. And really ask yourself, am I telling myself that I’m the exception and that I can do a lot more than.

Most people that, that I know it. It could even be like in the back of your mind, right? Like I don’t consciously have these thoughts, but I catch myself all the time in this state because I love pushing myself to the limit. So I will convince myself that I can take on all of this stuff, and then even if I take it all on, I might still get it done, but did I give it all the depth that I wanted to give it?

So have that conversation with yourself of taking inventory. Where your time and energy is going. Are you being delusional to the fact of what is actually possible with the time and energy you have? And if you were to do a little bit less, but but go deeper in a certain few areas, what would that do for your business?

And then if I asked you the question, if you went all in on one main objective, it doesn’t mean one main project, right? Because if I have an objective of massively growing my presence in terms of content. My brand impact and legacy. Well, then there can be projects as it relates to content, podcast, guest podcasting, a book deal, right?

There’s a lot of things that could fit in that bucket, but if I looked at my one main objective of doing that, and then I said that’s gonna drive our resources, our decisions, our time and energy, capacity, and dedication for the next three to six months. If I did it just on that, what would it do for my business?

It’d be domino effect of other things. So if I were to ask you if there is one main objective that you go all in on for the next three to six months, what would it be? Could you answer that and can you feel into. What it would be like if you said yes to going all in on that and you really brought the depth, the strategy, the intention, and the focus.

Like you put blinders on and I told this to the individual on the call, like, it doesn’t mean you can’t come back to those things later. You’re not saying no to them forever. You’re just saying right now, this is my focus. This is where my attention is going. And I think we all need this reminder as entrepreneurs because we all try to do too much.

And like I said in the beginning, it is a strength because we are the ones who we don’t feel overwhelmed by too much. A lot of times. Like I’m like, bring it on. Yeah. That impossible project, that impossible deadline, those things, I can do that. But is that. Ongoing doing that week after week, month after month, which I’m not saying I have been, but I do ask myself this frequently.

Is that what the the eight figure CEO would be doing? No. She is operating with intention. She is operating strategically. She is. Taking inventory of where we’re putting our resources and how we’re showing up. And there’s a different energy to that, like chaotic. I have so much to do and I’m always behind and I’m doing all these things to like we are laser focused, eye on the target while still being aware.

And open to something that might come across that we don’t know in three months from now. So sit with those questions today. See what clarity you come up with and realize how powerful it can be when you choose to laser focus your time, your energy, and your resources as a company. And that includes money, right?

Like I sat down with all the ways that I can invest in support right now. And one of those things I’m gonna invest in is the media. Because that’s the main objective that I wanna bring into the company. So, all right, everybody. I hope this got you thinking. And maybe you’ll make some changes. I always love it when you guys send me messages when you do have realizations and takeaways after listening to the podcast.

So if you did realize something, I would love to hear it. Thank you so much for tuning in, and I will talk to you next time.