E106: The Recipe for Entrepreneurial Consistency

In this episode of the Kitchen Table Dreams Podcast, Kimberly Houston discusses the importance of consistency in business and how to achieve it. She introduces the concept of 'dead ends vs. doorways' in content creation and emphasizes the need for a rhythm that fits individual lifestyles. 

Kimberly outlines the key ingredients for consistency, including setting clear boundaries, batch planning, and ensuring that offers align with personal values. She also highlights the significance of mindset, letting go of perfectionism, and being present in the entrepreneurial journey.

Chapters

• 0:00 Introduction to Kitchen Table Dreams Podcast
• 2:12 The Concept of Dead Ends vs. Doorways
• 3:05 Recipe for Consistency in Business
• 7:52 Ingredients for Consistency
• 12:17 Mindset and Preparation for Consistency
• 16:11 Navigating Setbacks and Embracing Presence

Transcript

Kimberly Houston (00:01.134)
Hello friends and welcome back to the kitchen table dreams podcast where alignment meets ambition. I am your host, Kimberly Houston. I am a pastry chef turned business strategist and I am here to help you out. So there's something that has been happening in my life and I wanted to bring it to the floor to have this discussion with you today so I can see if I can help other entrepreneurs who are on their way.

And here's what I've been thinking about. So a couple of weeks ago, I heard someone else say, are we committing dead ends or doorways with our content? And as a content creator, as a podcast host, as someone who has a YouTube channel, have TikTok, Instagram, Facebook, all the things as a content creator, I'm writing books, right? So I have all of this content that's out here.

And when I had to sit with the thoughts, am I committing dead ends or doorways with my content? It made me sit and really think about how I wanted to move forward with the way I present things to the general public. And so with that thought, I decided to really tap into the root of who I am as a person.

the root of my skill set and to tap into ways that I thrive. And one of those ways is with recipes. So for the next couple of weeks, the podcast is going to follow a recipe format. And so today is going to be our first episode of the recipe for series.

And in this series, I'm going to break down core ingredients of a thriving ease-filled business. Now, y'all know I'm a chef, so yes, you're going to get all these puns. However, all of this is going to relate to any creative entrepreneur as we go forward. So if you are a creative entrepreneur, whether you are in the culinary space or not, and you know other people who need to hear this podcast, I'm going to ask that you go ahead and share it to them now because you know I'm going to bring the heat, right?

Kimberly Houston (02:21.922)
So I want you guys to step into my kitchen and let's have a conversation about your kitchen table dream. One of the things I need you to realize is that nine times out of 10, you don't need more willpower. You just need a rhythm that fits your life. And so that's what we're going to talk about today. So today this is going to be the recipe for consistency in business. So the first thing I want to talk about are common trap.

on why consistency feels so hard. In talking to people within my coaching business, talking to different clients, interviewing other people for the podcast, one of the things that's coming up is that people feel as though consistency is hard. And consistency is literally

the recipe for your success. Like it's the main ingredient, right? So let's identify reasons that we may feel consistency is hard. So some of the ones I came up with is number one, you're trying to mimic somebody else's rhythm. What works for me may not work for you. What works for one of your favorite creators may not work for you, okay? Two, thinking consistency means

You must do this every day and that you have to do everything yourself. Doing everything every day is not consistency that is a recipe for disaster. You have to find your rhythm and what makes the most sense for you. And then number three, linking consistency to motivation, which is fleeting. Motivation is fleeting, right? One of the mantras that I have been reciting to myself lately

is don't follow your feelings, follow the plan. The reason for that is I don't always feel motivated to do the things. I don't feel motivated to go to the gym every day. But the plan is that I go to the gym every day. I don't feel motivated to cook at home every day, but the plan is to cook at home every day.

Kimberly Houston (04:46.24)
I don't feel motivated to sit in front of my computer for hours in order to finish my new book. But the plan says I must be done with this book by the end of the week. And so that means I'm sitting in front of my computer, right? Motivation is fleeting, but the plan for your success is not.

One of the things that I think about so often is I used to be of the belief hustle hard. I used to think that I could sleep when I'm dead. I used to feel like hustle, hustle, hustle, going hard, going above and beyond, always over delivering. I don't mean by a little bit. I mean really over delivering.

I thought that those things would make me a better business owner, that they would make me more successful. And what they actually made me was burned out with clients who began to expect me to go above and beyond what they paid for. And the reason that that becomes an issue is, it's difficult for you to raise your prices.

when you've been giving away so much of your talent for free. And when you then decide, no one appreciates what I'm doing for them because you've now set this as a standard, they now believe that the price that they paid is what you gave them. And so when you now sit back and go, but I'm giving you more than what you paid for, that's not their fault if you gave it to them for free. And you set this standard that

this is the level you perform at for this price. And so we have difficulty in raising our prices because people now come to expect this particular level of...

Kimberly Houston (07:00.558)
People are now expecting this particular level of service from you for a lower price. That makes it really, really difficult for you to increase your prices. It makes it difficult for you to be able to show up as your best self because you've been giving so much of yourself away.

Kimberly Houston (07:23.52)
My second point that I want to make with this is I'm going to give you the actual recipe for consistency where everything just feels right. So this is just like baking. Consistency needs the right ingredients, prep, and timing. So let's talk about your ingredients when it comes to consistency. Number one, set clear boundaries. Know when you're working and when you're off. Be real clear. When are you working? When are you off?

You do not need to be available 24 seven as an entrepreneur. I remember the times that I used to have my phone on all night long because I was afraid of missing a client. I was afraid somebody would place a cake order in the middle of the night and I needed to be the first person who responded. Absolutely not. Absolutely not. If you are a new entrepreneur and you still live by your phone,

you still have that thing on all the time. Let me go ahead and tell you right now, baby, you're going to burn out before you become successful. some boundaries. Okay. That's number one. Number two, batch planning. Group like task. So if you were in the digital space, you're going to want to record, you're going to want to write, you're going to batch record your content. You want to make sure that your offers are aligned with where you are. Right? So let's say instead of

multiple offers going on at one time. You only have one offer per quarter. That's it. That's the only thing you're talking about every quarter is you're sending people to that particular offer and then create all of your content around that one offer. Number three, speaking of your offers, make sure they're aligned. Make sure that they are in alignment with you. I don't know how to stress this one.

I don't know how to stress this. Here's what I need you to understand. I have taken coaching programs that taught me how to create a low ticket offer to serve the masses. I have taken coaching programs that taught me how to create high ticket offers. I have a master's degree in transformational leadership and coaching, which

Kimberly Houston (09:48.014)
It did not teach me the business side of coaching, but it taught me everything else I needed to know as far as mindset, getting into the mind of people, helping people work through their limiting beliefs, whatever their blocks are, et cetera, right?

Here's what I can tell you about taking all of these different classes, coachings, hiring different coaches, et cetera. If whatever they're telling you as a proven process is out of alignment with number one, who you are, number two, who you want to be, it doesn't matter how much money you put into investing in those programs.

it's not going to be successful because it's out of alignment with who you are. It is easier for you to stay consistent with your offers if they excite you, if they light you up, and if you know that you are charging for the transformation that is provided, not basing it on what other people are doing.

So those are the three ingredients for consistency, clear boundaries, batch planning, and aligned offers. Now let's talk about your prep time, So in your prep, you have to understand that mindset work is non-negotiable. If I can tell you anything about mindset on this level when it comes to creating your recipe for consistency, let go of perfection.

Perfectionism has no place here. Perfectionism has no place here when it comes to trying to be consistent. There are going to be some days that your content falls flat. That's okay. The whole point of consistency is that you continue to show up.

Kimberly Houston (11:49.934)
to choose a low lift habit you can keep showing up for. So one of the things that I learned a couple of years ago, maybe about two years ago, was that I like to pair new habits with the gym. So last year when I was preparing to do my keynote speech at CookieCon, I paired public speaking with going to the gym or with working out.

So my morning walk, whether it was outside in nature or it was inside at the gym, I was listening to podcasts on being a better public speaker. Right. And so it started as 10 minutes, three days a week, and then it progressed up to 30 minutes, five days a week. And then it became every single day, right. Where was 30 to 45 minutes, seven days a week as I was preparing for my keynote.

And the reason that I batch these habits like this, that I coupled them was one, I needed to build a habit of working out more. And then two, I wanted to make sure that when I was on the stage, because I wasn't sure if this keynote was going to have me standing at a podium, if I was going to be mic'd up and I was walking around the room, I wanted to feel very, very comfortable being able to move while also remembering my speech.

And so I started that nine months before my keynote and then continued to do that as we moved throughout. Even after the keynote, I just kept up the practice and the ritual of learning while walking. So choose a low-lift habit you can continue to show up for. It wasn't a big stretch for me to go walking in the beginning for 10 minutes, three days a week. Like that was where we started. And then the more that I did it,

the longer I could do it. Don't try and go ham in the beginning. Pick a schedule that's going to work for you where you are right now that you can continue to show up for yourself. The other thing and how that kind of shows up for me now is I know that on Mondays I don't put people on my calendar. Mondays are for me.

Kimberly Houston (14:18.232)
For the last six months, Tuesdays, Thursdays, and Fridays have gone towards coaching and my part-time job, and that only left me with Monday and Wednesday. And so I had to get to the point now of redoing my schedule where things work out in a way that they need to. So my advice to help you with this, we're gonna call this your serving suggestion.

would be the three, two, one rule. If you've listened to previous podcasts, you've heard me talk about this before, but just as a reminder, every week identify three priorities, take two actions and celebrate one win. If you are someone who has difficulty coming up with your win, then come up with one what went well this week, right? That helps you work through perfectionism. It helps you realize everything doesn't have to be perfect.

and you can just be focused on what went well this week. Now, I'm a realist and so let me help you out with what do you do if you happen to fall off? If you are a regular listener to this podcast, you know that I record and release every single Wednesday. Well, last week I didn't have any media record and I didn't force myself to, right? Why? Because I've released a podcast episode for the last year on Wednesdays.

And last week I didn't have it in me. There wasn't anything prerecorded and so nothing published and that's okay. That is okay. Here's why. I didn't beat myself up about it. I listened to my body and I gave myself the same grace that I would give anyone else. Right? I knew that I would be back on the bandwagon and releasing another episode this week. And so that's okay. If you happen to fall off,

Don't wait for Monday. Don't wait till the first of the month. Don't wait for the perfect week. Ask yourself, what minimum dose of consistency can I hit this week? What are you going to commit to for yourself? Remember back to the three, two, identify three priorities, take two actions, and then celebrate one win. Ask yourself, what does consistency look like in this season?

Kimberly Houston (16:42.882)
We go through seasons of life and seasons of business where there are times when you can commit more of yourself and there are times when you need to pull back. What does consistency look like in this season? And if you take nothing else away from this podcast, take away this one thing. Your dream doesn't need you to be perfect. It needs you to be present. I'm going say that one more time. Your dream doesn't need you to be perfect. It needs you

to be present. So as we think about the recipe for consistency as entrepreneurs, I want you to remember that this recipe requires boundaries, batch strategy, and belief that small steps still count. If you're listening right now and you're feeling behind, you're not behind. You're building your rhythm, and that takes practice.

If you are someone who is listening to the podcast and you want to connect with me, you want to be on my email newsletter list, please come and join us over at kimberlyihuston.com backslash email. And if you are ready to make this season one that is of steady progress and serious profits, I would love to invite you to the baking my way to six figures mastermind. You can find out more information about that at teach me how to bake.com.

And until next time, stay sweet friends.