Kris Plachy:

Welcome to the Leadership Is Feminine podcast. I'm Kris Plachy. I'm your host, and we are having fun with these coaching conversations. I would love to know what you think. Hey, if you haven't in a while and you haven't thought about it in a while or you never have, I would love it if you would write a review. If you're a faithful listener and you tune in and you really look forward to these podcasts, if you haven't written a review, it would be so amazing if you would do that, that it does make a difference in how well this podcast gets served up to other women like you and makes a huge difference to me personally. I would love it if you would do it. So just head over afterwards and just go into your little podcast player. It's super easy to write a review.

 

Kris Plachy:

It doesn't have to be long, just authentic. So, anyway, thanks. Okay, so we are now in the next installation of the coaching conversations that I've been having with women who volunteer to be part of this great experiment here. And so in this episode, you're going to listen in on a conversation I have with a founder who feels stuck, like, really stuck in her own success. She initially believed when we started our conversation that her struggle was about being overwhelmed and managing all the different parts of her business and staying a little too close to everything. But as we started to kind of unpack it and look at what's really going on, we started to realize that deeper questions were surfacing. Questions about her worthiness, about her mission to slow down, and about what it means to honor what she's built while still embracing the future she's quietly yearning for. You're going to feel her emotion as she navigates the tension between who she's been as a CEO and the woman she senses she's ready to become.

 

Kris Plachy:

If you've ever sort of felt locked in or imprisoned by your own success, your own achievements, knowing that there's something else out there calling you, tune into this one. This episode is for you. Let's go. So how are you? What are we going to talk about?

 

Client:

I think the biggest challenge is at the beginning of every year, I write this beautiful strategic plan. And it's lovely, and I do all the nice budgeting to line up perfectly with what we believe our intended delivery of our programs is for the year. And then for the last, well, five, six years now, I don't even know how many it's been. Every single year has been some random thing that just knocks the plan off course. And I Struggle with the sort of I feel strongest or maybe I feel most comfortable is maybe a better word in my leadership when I have a very clear vision of what we're going to and I'm like driving a team to there. But the last few years, there's no plan. Like, there's no reason I could even plan. And so I feel like I'm constantly trying to drive my team through complete chaos for fear and fear that I'm burning them out and not really developing their skills.

 

Client:

In a way, yeah. So it's for me, the balance between, like keeping my eye on the long term. Like I still have to, you know, steer the company somewhere, theoretically, maybe not, I don't know, and then be jumping constantly into the, like the now. So the like. I feel like I need bifocals.

 

Kris Plachy:

Maybe you do.

 

Client:

Well, I do also that actually.

 

Kris Plachy:

That's an interesting analogy. Right. The bifocals wearing as a CEO, the bif, long versus short. So what's the vision of the business?

 

Client:

Well, the vision, very simply, I was. Sorry, I went off on a tangent in my own brain about what my vision is, what I would like to do in the next five years. So unrelated to me, the vision of the company is to provide the very best gross motor development programs for kids in our communities.

 

Kris Plachy:

Okay. And that, that is constant. That's not changing.

 

Client:

Never changed.

 

Kris Plachy:

No. So the plans that you make are about the programs you offer, the revenue you're going to generate, the correct hours you're going to operate, all the things, the classes you're going to. Yeah. Okay. So, you know, there's the thing about strategic planning. You know, you, you've, you've worked with me long enough. I don't do a lot of strategic planning because I find it is exactly as you've. As you've mentioned, I think a quarter at a time is handy just to give you direction on what you're spending your money on and.

 

Kris Plachy:

Right. Your case, how you staff up and what you offer and all the things. So sometimes, you know, what we think we're supposed to be doing as leaders of our company might just be built off of rules that don't apply. So I just. First, let me just ask you that question. What if you didn't do a strategic plan every year for the year?

 

Client:

Well, it saved me a bucket load of time and resources. So there's that which.

 

Kris Plachy:

So that's a positive for you. And what else? What would be positive or negative on.

 

Client:

The negative is I feel strongest as a leader where I've got A goal. And I'm trying to, like, move to a goal.

 

Kris Plachy:

Okay.

 

Client:

Here. A team behind me to a goal. And I find the lack of goal leaves me feeling untethered. Or maybe not. I think also one of my weaknesses is I don't often reflect back on what we've done. Well. And so without sort of fixed benchmark measurements through the year, I just keep going to the next goal, to the next goal, to the next goal without actually stopping and checking in and being like, oh, we done well? Or we haven't.

 

Kris Plachy:

Yeah. So a goal, for example, for your business, like the primary goal for 2026 or, sorry, 2025. I'm already like, yeah, this one in. Yeah. For 2025 is what?

 

Client:

Well, this is a good question. Our strategic year ends June.

 

Kris Plachy:

Okay.

 

Client:

So just coming up to. I'm in the midst of planning right now, and this is the timing of it. So we had beautiful revenue goals for this year and to build a nest egg so that we could look at expansion for 2026. And, like, and then parents right now are like, we not spending $1. We are going to just, like, save every. And so I'm caught. Like, okay, those financial goals are just not going to happen. So we can throw out that strategic plan.

 

Client:

So if I'm being honest or our goal for the next year, 18 months is, like, survival and, like, okay, do better than break even.

 

Kris Plachy:

All right, good. This is good. So the plan that you created in your mind.

 

Client:

Yes.

 

Kris Plachy:

For what? The. There's the plan, there's the goal, and then there's the plan to get there.

 

Client:

Yes.

 

Kris Plachy:

Okay. The goal is to hit this revenue target. Revenue number. Profitability by June 30th. Yeah. Profitability, revenue, revenue, gross profit. Okay, got you. Yes.

 

Client:

Yes.

 

Kris Plachy:

A plan that you created to ensure that that could happen.

 

Client:

It was so pretty.

 

Kris Plachy:

Kris, in your. In your brain, created the plan. In your brain, you wrote. I mean, a plan is a plan, meaning it hasn't happened yet.

 

Client:

That's right.

 

Kris Plachy:

You wrote it as if it would.

 

Client:

Correct.

 

Kris Plachy:

But you made it up in your brain.

 

Client:

Yes.

 

Kris Plachy:

And now that plan isn't coming together because things happening in the economy and political and all the other things.

 

Client:

Yes.

 

Kris Plachy:

And so your thought is, now we're just gonna have to survive the next 18 months.

 

Client:

Yes.

 

Kris Plachy:

Because the plan that you made up in your brain isn't planning.

 

Client:

Yeah. And it was a really, really good one, and I like it a lot.

 

Kris Plachy:

Such a good plan. I love a good plan.

 

Client:

So in love with it.

 

Kris Plachy:

I love a good plan. So first, let's just sort of identify and notice for the listeners too that we make things up in our brain about how things should look. And then when they don't come together the way that we thought that they should look, it's all a mess. Which isn't really true. Right. What is true? Are there less customers in this world than there were in March?

 

Client:

Yes.

 

Kris Plachy:

Okay. So that is a true statement. And you could tell me probably. Exactly. Given how tight. And this is actually when a long term plan isn't useful because buyer behavior is so weird. Right. I'm noticing that in my business.

 

Kris Plachy:

It's just odd. Right. It's so interesting. I used to not sell like, like inexpensive things and now people will buy a 499 book and a $37 template all day long. Oh, and then they'll get the masterclass for. Right. So they'll spend $200. But it's.

 

Kris Plachy:

They've never met me. Fascinating to me, the buyer behavior. But if I send an email and they're already on my list and I invite them to spend $130. No way.

 

Client:

Right.

 

Kris Plachy:

Fascinating. So. Okay, so. So as the leader of the business now, what I want to ask you is when that. When you're in the predicament that you and so many others are in, which is that buyer behavior is just sort of erratic and, and un. Inconsistent. Maybe we'll like.

 

Client:

We have 20 years of data that I done this for. And this is like I said, Covid mama.

 

Kris Plachy:

I. I've talked to you on Covid calls. So listen.

 

Client:

Yeah.

 

Kris Plachy:

Nothing's more threatening than that, especially for an in person. Okay.

 

Client:

But regardless.

 

Kris Plachy:

Regardless. But what we have to now think about is, okay, if we're watching a change in buyer behavior and we want to hit this revenue goal. See, I noticed that you gave up on the revenue goal.

 

Client:

Well, I feel like I didn't. Throughout the year I tried to really push the plan. Really?

 

Kris Plachy:

Really. But you were working the plan that you made up in your mind despite the change, the changes. Yes. So now. Yeah, right now we're three months to the end of this, this benchmark. Right? Yeah. So now what we want to do is say, okay, if I've got two and a half months for this, the rest of this year, what do I want the goal to be? Now the question I have for you though, this is what I wanted to ask you. I got distracted.

 

Kris Plachy:

Is in your mind, is that you having to wear bifocals? Yes. Okay. Because I still think that is wearing the long. The long. The long lens, the regular glasses, farsighted not nearsighted. Anyway, this analogy is not working, but we were good. Yeah. Because your job as the leader is to say, okay, the target was this.

 

Kris Plachy:

The target is now this. Yep. How are we going to get there? Team? What's the solution to supporting as many kids as we can right now and get us to this? Because when you're so locked into the plan, it's like anything. Right. When. As soon as you're in resistance to what is. Here's my beautiful plan. My beautiful plan needs to work.

 

Kris Plachy:

Yeah, but we have, like, all these factors. I don't care about my plan. My plan's pretty. Have you seen it? Can I talk to you more about it? Right. No, but here's the thing. We have all these things, and we're not seeing the buying behavior. Okay. As soon as we drop the argument that the plan should be working and that if.

 

Kris Plachy:

If the plan doesn't work, and now I have to go all the way back into my business and figure this out. Right. And now that part of our energy is in there. There's a. There's a middle ground that I would invite you to consider, which is who is the tip of the sword in this whole thing? Who knows best?

 

Client:

Me.

 

Kris Plachy:

Is that true?

 

Client:

Who knows best?

 

Kris Plachy:

Who is closest to. To the buyer?

 

Client:

Oh, either our coaches or our client. Services team. Both of them. They're different.

 

Kris Plachy:

Well, yeah.

 

Client:

Services team is closest to the buyer. Our coaches are closest to the.

 

Kris Plachy:

To the user, the end user. So. But you're taking on the responsibility of being the one who has to figure it out. Is that true? Yes.

 

Client:

I've tried throughout the year to try and have these kinds of conversations. I don't. I don't think I have a strong enough team that take this on. I don't.

 

Kris Plachy:

That might be true. Right. But that is a different issue than because. Because in the absence of you over time developing that person or people, you won't have to keep swooping back in. So. So there's the immediate issue that I understand that you're facing, but the reason that you're facing that is because you've continued to be the one who does handle all of these strategic parts of the business. Is that fair?

 

Client:

Yeah. I've tried in the last year to pass as much as. Well, maybe 18 months, but to pass up as much as I can. But it may be my. It's a naivety in my leadership or.

 

Kris Plachy:

No, I don't think so.

 

Client:

Leadership where when I come to the table and I say, okay, so we have this many kids Registered. But the plan was for this many kids. Registered. What are we going to do to move from here to here? It's like.

 

Kris Plachy:

And who's accountable to that? Who's accountable to ensure that enrollment numbers are hit?

 

Client:

Our ops manager.

 

Kris Plachy:

Okay.

 

Client:

But I'm not sure that she would know what levers to pull.

 

Kris Plachy:

Like, it's okay. Stay with me. Stay with me. You're not going to like this, but I'm going to say it anyway. Right. So if someone is in. Is responsible for. I don't mean you won't like it.

 

Kris Plachy:

Like, it's just a little direct. If that's her job. Is that in her KPI to hit her numbers, then it should be her job to solve the problem. Mm. But if she's not held accountable for solving the problem, then she doesn't have to solve it. You do. And then you tell her what the solution is. Is that fair?

 

Client:

Yes.

 

Kris Plachy:

Yeah. So that's not a you problem or her problem. That's a cyst. That's a process problem.

 

Client:

Yes.

 

Kris Plachy:

Right. So there's the immediate issue, which I know which you want to solve, which is how do I make more money?

 

Client:

Yes.

 

Kris Plachy:

Today. Yes, immediately. I. I respect that. I think there's a lot of people I know who feel the same way. And B, I have not built a business yet that can answer that question without me. Now, you may not want that business, but there was this thing you said when we first started talking about. Oh, I thought you meant my five year vision.

 

Kris Plachy:

And I heard that when you said it.

 

Client:

Yeah.

 

Kris Plachy:

And I don't think this is in your five year vision.

 

Client:

No, no, not at all.

 

Kris Plachy:

What keeps you from putting someone in a role in your business who is responsible for achieving the goals of the business?

 

Client:

I think, if I'm being honest, I don't think they exist. Or are they? Yeah, like that. Maybe even from an ego perspective that anybody would.

 

Kris Plachy:

Anybody could do it. Like me. Yeah. And I think. I think most of the people who might be listening to this would agree with you. But I feel like I have this hunch about all these other companies that exist on the planet that hire people to run their companies and they make money.

 

Client:

Yeah. Yeah.

 

Kris Plachy:

So. But that is a definitive moment.

 

Client:

I also think I tell myself all the time I can't afford it.

 

Kris Plachy:

Yes, 100%. And so guess what?

 

Client:

I can't afford it.

 

Kris Plachy:

Yeah, because you're staying in it. Right. What if someone could do it better than you? What if that were true? And then if we just stuck with that and we wrote if that were True. This is who that person would be and we just dreamed about them. Now I appreciate that's a longer term solution. Right. So I get that. But I, I, I say it, I say it because you and I have known each other a long time.

 

Kris Plachy:

Eight years, might be more. And you've done an amazing job with your life and your business. So listen, there's nothing to be smirky about. Right. And I have other clients who I've known for a long time. And this we are there we are at the bigger questions. Who am I if I don't run this company? Who is this company if I'm not running it? What happens to it? What is my life beyond this role? Now, it sounds like you have fun ideas about it, but you feel like.

 

Client:

Maybe what I do not yet have the systems to get the ideas out of my head into the world through other people's work. I don't. And I.

 

Kris Plachy:

Right. We're not looking for the systems out of your head. What we're looking for is the performance of the company out of your head. There could be other ways to achieve the results that you want that you would never even think of. This is, it's so hard when it's your company. It is, it is. Your baby. It is, it is.

 

Kris Plachy:

Of you. It is. This is the most entangled. I think this is more entangling than children. Yeah.

 

Client:

I've had no problem letting go of those. They're doing great.

 

Kris Plachy:

See ya.

 

Client:

One's graduating from university in a few weeks. So. Awesome.

 

Kris Plachy:

That's so exciting. I love it. Yeah, I mean it's, it's so, it's, it's. First of all, we lock our future up in it. Right? We, it's our retirement and our income and then it's our source of mental acuity. Like where we go to. You do all, not, you know, all of the thinking that we do. And there this, we just developed this love hate relationship with this thing.

 

Kris Plachy:

Like how do I get this that I don't have to do this anymore, but the next step in your growth is doing it so that you don't have to do it anymore.

 

Client:

And I like very, very practically. So we recruited internally for this ops position and by definition that person had great skills. Incredible. Super in line with the values of the company. All the right things. But not like had to grow into this role for sure.

 

Kris Plachy:

Absolutely.

 

Client:

But I'm not in a position to be able to mentor that role. Like I again, then it's me telling them what I want I would do. Right. Like I Actually need somebody to come in and be like, okay, like, this is how we're gonna achieve that. Not me. Be like, I think this is how you should achieve that. And so. Okay, so very, very practically, you give it a number.

 

Client:

I gave it like, well, we're at what, eight months now, right. To try and get it moving in the right direction. And so at what point in time do you continue to invest in a person that I love. Like, I love, love this person, of course.

 

Kris Plachy:

And that. And the role they're in is probably good. Yes, you probably. Well, first of all, you can't. First of all, this is just practically. You can't give people the assignment of a responsibility and then not hold them accountable if they don't achieve it as much as we, you know, if I hired someone to sell, to be in charge of the sales for my business. Yeah. And they didn't hit those goals, why would I keep them in my business? That is not me saying you need to fire someone.

 

Client:

No, I know, but I always question, maybe the goals were unrealistic, maybe not achievable.

 

Kris Plachy:

Exactly. I don't know the answer either. Right. But that thought.

 

Client:

Yeah.

 

Kris Plachy:

Has made it so that the line's not firm. Right. And. And as much as I'm not, you know, I don't love, you know, how I like to lead people. I don't. But I think that if we don't respect. Respect the goal enough to hold someone accountable to it, then the goal is not real. Right.

 

Client:

And so we, like I do in like, performance meetings, be like, I haven't read it. We haven't met it. We haven't met it. But like, how many?

 

Kris Plachy:

Not that. Not as many as you've had. Because the thing is, is it doesn't. It's like, yeah, I know. What are we going to do about that? Right. It's not. The, the person who's own, who's supposed to own it, isn't owning it. Right.

 

Kris Plachy:

If you came to me and said, Kris, if you don't get this done, you're going to have to live on the street, I'd be like, okay, I'm going to fucking figure it out, or I'm going to tell you I can't do this. This is not my wheelhouse. Right. That is where your growth is. You're hoping someone that you really care about and you think is amazing will be able to step into a different level of performance. And maybe they can, or maybe they can't. But not holding them accountable is not how you're going to Figure it out. Mm.

 

Kris Plachy:

B, I agree with you. You need a C suite level thinker to run your company if you don't want to be the one running your company. And that may not be someone that you're grooming.

 

Client:

No, it's not.

 

Kris Plachy:

And that is for everybody to hear on this call. Like, it's okay. I think it's better to hire someone who's better than you.

 

Client:

I think I've grown my skill set in that area and if I'm being like I've held it together for this long, I mean, obviously I've steered it.

 

Kris Plachy:

You're a very good leader at what you do. And I actually think you could hire someone to be a general manager that you could train that has general management experience. Right. Not someone you've groomed from within. Right. Right. If you. If you meet them with.

 

Kris Plachy:

They already come with a repertoire, then they're. You're developing them for your business, not for the skill. Skill set of a leader. Right. Strategic leader.

 

Client:

Yes.

 

Kris Plachy:

Yeah. That's a long term solution. Right where you are today. You. I think what I would say to you is you have to decide. I would tell you to the fake in three month chunks, but. Yep. Let's not make a strategic plan for next year because for all we know.

 

Kris Plachy:

Yeah. I'm going to be living in your backyard. Like you don't know.

 

Client:

You're welcome. By the way. I would love a carriage house, Kris. Anytime.

 

Kris Plachy:

Oh, a carriage house. That sounds delicious. Can I bring my puppies? Yes. I also have a puppy and a husband. I have a husband.

 

Client:

Yes, yes, yes.

 

Kris Plachy:

Yeah, we don't know. But I don't think. I think that that's. That I think we have. Okay. I have to be careful of time. I just recently talked to a woman who built her own foundation and she's run it for years. Years and years.

 

Kris Plachy:

So to me that already she's badass. If you can run a foundation which is based on philanthropic like, you're amazing. I feel like you're amazing. But she built a board of people with a lot of people. A lot of people.

 

Client:

Not to do that in my industry for that reason. Most of my industry is built on that model. And I was like, oh, but where does.

 

Kris Plachy:

So this is my as I'm listening. And then one of the board members like went rogue and wanted to try and get rid of her and. Right. Like how many times this happened to my mother. This happened to my mother when. When I was her age. She got railroaded. I'm like, okay, why do we have this structure, this is where I, my brain is going.

 

Kris Plachy:

And I asked, I'm like, why are you even talking to me? Did someone tell you you needed a coach? And she said, yeah, they think I'm too this. I'm like, I'm not going to coach you to be a nicer person. I'm going to coach you to be more you. So I'm probably not a good answer for you, but B, why do we build companies the way we build them? We build. Why do we create strategic plans the way we build them? Because somebody 2,000 years ago, 400 years ago, thought it would be a great idea to have a board, the king and his council. And then what does the council do? They always overthrow the freaking king. I'm watching Wolf hall right now, right? It's riveting, right? King Henry viii. Do you guys have Wolf Hall? You have pbs, don't you? No.

 

Client:

Oh, I can get it. Yeah.

 

Kris Plachy:

Damian Lewis and what's his name plays Thomas, the guy from who was Henry the eighth's right hand, Thomas. Oh, I know everybody's listening and they're yelling into, they're like, Thomas starts with a W. Anyway, he was his, his right hand, right? And so it's the story of how, of his downfall because he was Henry VIII's guy and then till he wasn't, which is what happened to everybody who came near Ken. But my point is everything, every way that you've thought about building your business has been because someone said this is how you should. And all of the some way, the ways that we should have been born out of models that I don't know necessarily suit the version of who you are. And you've done a beautiful job at making your business in your own voice. So if your voice is telling you now I have a five year future that I want more than you ever have, which is my guess, then we have to start to ask what do I need to do for this business so the business has its plan and can function without me. And in the immediate future, what are the next three month goals that I have to build with this operations person and with my team that are reasonable but aggressive and you know, you can always go at a problem to say this is what we've done, this is where we are, this is what we have to achieve.

 

Kris Plachy:

And let's pretend we have to achieve this goal by doing nothing we've ever done before. How, how could we do that? Yep, we have to get creative because what we're doing isn't working. And all of us sitting Here staring at each other. Say, well, we have to literally come up with and say, if I could not enroll another kid the way that I've enrolled a kid. Every single person in this room needs to come up with two ways. Yeah. That we can find people, that we can be a part of the community. That we can do things that we've never done before.

 

Kris Plachy:

Yeah. And then, and then, and then what do we do with the ops manager holder accountable. But. But even think about that meeting.

 

Client:

Like you said, what just you said, sort of my brain went on fire. Is. I think the biggest issue is I write the plan and then hand it to other people. But I actually don't want to write the plan. I want them to write the plan.

 

Kris Plachy:

Right.

 

Client:

I want them like, I just basically want to say exactly what you said. In five years. I want to be out and I want X amount of profitability in this company.

 

Kris Plachy:

Yes.

 

Client:

Following the same values and the programming that we deliver. Show me what you guys are going to do. Like they're more than. I think I just need to in some ways get out of the way.

 

Kris Plachy:

I'm not going to make the plan right.

 

Client:

No. Because then I'm. Then I'm. If it doesn't work, everyone looks at me like, your plan didn't work. But I actually would just be like, this is your plan. You've said it. Make it happen. Okay.

 

Kris Plachy:

Okay. And the benefit of. For you in the long run of that is that whether you are absentee owner or you sell it, the business not. Doesn't depend on you anymore.

 

Client:

No. And there's certain parts of the business I love and I've learned like getting back into it. I'm like, I just want to teach two classes a week because I love the two year olds. Like just. That would be great. And it keeps me in shape. It's kind of like going to the gym, which is nice.

 

Kris Plachy:

But.

 

Client:

Yeah.

 

Kris Plachy:

Okay.

 

Client:

I think putting.

 

Kris Plachy:

So the conversation is with this ops person is to say, hey, I want us to. I want. I recognize I've been the keeper of the keys for too long. So we're going to practice something for the next 90 days. You and me. Yeah.

 

Client:

Yeah.

 

Kris Plachy:

And maybe you even coach her through how to have that conversation that we just did with the team. Don't be in the room.

 

Client:

Right. No, yeah, that.

 

Kris Plachy:

But that, you know, give her that. You could ask things like, what if we couldn't do it the way we've ever done it? What would be the way that we would do it? Right. What are some really creative and Then you have to be really available and open to the potential for failure because it as appears as the way that you've painted it, what's the worst we're going to face? Right. So if you make it unsafe for them to try new things because you say, well, we can't do that, or that's not going to work, or I'm not really comfortable with that, or whatever, I mean, obviously there's going to be boundaries to that, but like, if you, if you're too involved, then they're not going to feel comfortable and she won't feel comfortable taking ownership. But I think you have to see if she can do it.

 

Client:

Okay.

 

Kris Plachy:

Otherwise, I would tell you the only thing you might want to plan for for your next 25, 26 year is to start looking for that strategic leader. Yep. Yeah. Yeah. We hold on too long. What is beyond the CEO for you? I don't know.

 

Client:

No idea.

 

Kris Plachy:

That, and that this is. It's just such an interesting thing how these all come in like waves for me because I have a few women in my SAGE program that that's where we are. And they're like, I don't feel like I have any significance.

 

Client:

Yeah, No, I don't.

 

Kris Plachy:

Will I be. I don't know.

 

Client:

I. I don't know if I want to, like, go live off the grid and have a farm and some boats or if I actually want to, like, do something very different with a career and have like a second career, a whole new life.

 

Kris Plachy:

Yeah.

 

Client:

Yeah. And some, some mornings I wake up and I'm like, I'm ready to live on a farm and do organic gardening. And other mornings I'm like, oh, no, I'm.

 

Kris Plachy:

I have more to do.

 

Client:

Start another business. I'm gonna, whatever, grow something else.

 

Kris Plachy:

But, you know, what won't happen is for as long as you're tethered into this one, that won't feel. It'll feel like a fantasy. It won't feel.

 

Client:

Yeah.

 

Kris Plachy:

And it. In the writings I've been doing, this is what I've been sort of writing about, is that we're. I think we're a very unique generation, the Gen Xs, because our mothers lived a different life after 55 and 60 than we are. And I don't know how old you are, but you're in that area, right?

 

Client:

Aren't you?

 

Kris Plachy:

Are you 50 yet? You're 50. Okay, so you're close. So this is, this window, right? Is where, like, women are starting to realize, like, I'm still vibrant, I'm still healthy. I don't want to play bridge and play golf. I. But our modeling of what it looked like for a woman once her kids left home and let alone being an entrepreneur because most of our parents weren't. Most of our mothers weren't. So we don't really have like a lot of modeling here about this part of our lives.

 

Kris Plachy:

And so I'm watching some women stay very chained to their business for identity and purpose and then other women fantasizing about divorcing their husbands and running away and living in the woods. Like, I mean. Right. Like it's just because it genuinely is a whole other life that you could live 40 more years.

 

Client:

It's funny you say that. I left my. I watched my mom was raised by a single mom and I watched her at exactly this age transition out of healthcare. She was in healthcare management and she left and became an entrepreneur and started her own business. And she's still working to this day.

 

Kris Plachy:

Yeah, yeah.

 

Client:

Well into her 70s. So it's that it's, it's.

 

Kris Plachy:

And. And it brings her joy. She likes it.

 

Client:

Loves it. Absolutely loves it.

 

Kris Plachy:

And that's the thing. Right. Like that's my husband and I talk about all the time. Like people say, when are you going to retire? I'm like, I want to retire. I just don't want to have to work. And I think there is a.

 

Client:

Totally get that. Yes.

 

Kris Plachy:

Yeah.

 

Client:

I don't want to feel the hustle of I need to fill my bank account.

 

Kris Plachy:

Yes.

 

Client:

But I love to do something creative to contribute and meaningful. I think that was the biggest. The plan that I had felt like it was moving and trending in that direction and I just feel like I put the brakes on and went backwards.

 

Kris Plachy:

This year and well, let's do one different thing here. Let's decide and you don't have to speak it but let's decide on a life vision goal a buy one for you. And let's decide that there it. We don't have to know how. Right. I was just. This just is ironically a conversation today. Jody Moore, who's a girlfriend of mine who's also a coach, she just left me a voice message this morning and she said I was just listening to an old self coaching scholars business coaching class that I was leading.

 

Kris Plachy:

This had to be at least six, seven years ago. And she said it was so cute because you were coaching this person on believing in their future. Right. And like sort of creating a memory from the future. Right. Like I'm going to create this vision of what my life will look like But I don't, I don't know. I don't know how I'm going to do that. But I'm going to, I'm going to see it, I'm going to experience it.

 

Kris Plachy:

And she said, you said to her, like there's this really. There's this private club at Disneyland called Club 33 that I want to be a member of. And I, I don't know, I. The only thing I can do is sign up, which I have like and put my name on a waiting list. I have no control over anything. I just keep wondering why they haven't contacted me yet. Like, because I just know it's going to happen. Right.

 

Kris Plachy:

And a year ago it did. So she contacted me. She was like. Because I took her there by her. It took her to lunch at 33 last fall and she's like, it was just so cool to listen to you because you believed in something that didn't exist. And that's what I have to remind myself of often is that five year vision. I just want to invite you to believe in that hard. Experience it, see it, talk to the version of you living it.

 

Kris Plachy:

Get her wisdom into you. But the how will come in ways you never would have expected. Just like how you're where you are today. You never would have thought you would have. There would have never been a how that got you here that you could have pre scripted. So that notion of a plan buys you future. It's makes you feel secure. And I do think it helps in the visioning process because you envision it as you draft it.

 

Kris Plachy:

Right. But the, but the fluidity to it needs to be more not using it against you. Like I'm not broken because my plan didn't work.

 

Client:

Right.

 

Kris Plachy:

Nobody's plans work. But I do believe having a clear goal and adjusting every month to achieve that goal is a much more sound business practice. Especially right now. Yeah. When we are all at the whims of the overlords. I like that.

 

Client:

Just that I can just have a monthly adjustment meeting just like that.

 

Kris Plachy:

Yeah. And monthly and weekly tracking and. Yeah, but somebody's gotta have a belly button mama. That you're pushing because nobody being held accountable but you.

 

Client:

Exhausting, huh?

 

Kris Plachy:

Yeah. And that feels.

 

Client:

It makes me a really awful leader. Like I get really spicy and panicky.

 

Kris Plachy:

And like scarcity is not good for anyone. No. But it's understandable. But then at the same time it's like is it your job to figure out how to make money every month? But I feel like you're paying Someone.

 

Client:

Yeah.

 

Kris Plachy:

To do that.

 

Client:

A lot of people in fact have a whole team of people.

 

Kris Plachy:

Yes. So we need to hold them. They have to like people who don't do what they're supposed to do. Your thought that goals are too high? I don't know. I'm not sure I believe that. I. I think you guys might have a little group think going on. Parents are really like.

 

Kris Plachy:

I don't know. Feels like the best time to invest in your kids and your well being and have your kids go get some jujies out and get strong and capable is when the world is burning. Yeah. Maybe you should have a pickleball outing. I think that might solve everything. Pickleball team retreat. Let's go. But there is some truth to doing something totally different will make people's brains function different.

 

Kris Plachy:

You know that. I mean you're the expert. Yes. So get out of the office, take everybody. Well, tell her to do it. You go to the spa.

 

Client:

Yes.

 

Kris Plachy:

Okay.

 

Client:

I'll just do the two year olds they can.

 

Kris Plachy:

I'm busy. I have two year olds and I'm looking. I'm checking out chickens and roosters.

 

Client:

Yeah, exactly.

 

Kris Plachy:

The cooperation right now for the property that I might buy far away in Banff.

 

Client:

Yes.

 

Kris Plachy:

I don't know. Where do we buy property in Canada?

 

Client:

I'm going to go east to Ontario.

 

Kris Plachy:

I look at Canada a lot. I don't think I'm allowed to buy property though.

 

Client:

Yeah you are.

 

Kris Plachy:

Of course.

 

Client:

We've sold all of our property to foreign markets. That's a different political conversation. Sorry.

 

Kris Plachy:

Anyway, well, I am so glad I got to see you today. So that was super fun.

 

Kris Plachy:

Hey there gorgeous. Wouldn't it be so cool if we could have a conversation together? I'd love to invite you to join me for Beyond the CEO in August in Sonoma. Just go to TheVisionary.CEO/beyondceo. That's TheVisionary.CEO/beyondceo. Add your name and I will send you all the details. It's going to be so amazing. I hope you'll join us.