What it means to Future-Proof your Business
Shownotes
Hello and welcome to this week's episode of the Future Proof Your Business podcast. I'm Lucy Rennie, and today I'm excited to delve into the concept of future-proofing your business – why it matters and the passion behind it.
Summary:
In this episode, I share my journey from my first job at a local pub at 12 to becoming an experienced professional in various businesses. I talk about my never-ending curiosity to understand the intricacies of how a business works and explore the turning points that fueled my passion to help more people "future-proof" their business.
Key Takeaways:
Curiosity and Business Understanding:
My extensive experience in various businesses has cultivated a curiosity that allows me to understand the different facets of a business, enabling valuable insights and holistic approaches.
The Essence of Future-Proofing:
Future-proofing is about building businesses that are able to face challenges and stand the test of time. It's about creating solid foundations to navigate uncertainties and building a business that runs well, well into the future.
Three Clear Steps to Future-Proof your Business:
I introduce the three focus areas from my book - Clarity, Communication, and Connection - as the essential foundations to future-proof your business.
Start with the Ending in Mind:
As Stephen Covey tells us, starting with a clear vision of where you want your business to be is crucial and helps you make informed choices.
Vision and Values Exercise:
And this week, I'm encouraging you to reflect on your vision and values, and why you started your business. How can you capture what it is that brings you joy and excitement, that gives you those butterflies and tummy flip moments? Because this is what will be the driving force behind your success and the key to attracting the right kind of people.
Thank you for joining me on this episode. Please come and find me on social media or via email at lucy@lrcomms.co.uk and share with me your vision and story with me.
Special Offer:
For a limited time, my book, "Clarity, Communication & Connection - 3 Clear Steps to Future-Proof your Business" will be available on Kindle for only 99p starting February 1st. And don't forget that you can access valuable complimentary resources that accompany the book including one FREE month in The Future-Proof Club® my membership.
Lucy Rennie Resources:
https://www.iamlucyrennie.com - free downloadable resources, other episodes and more information about how to work with Lucy.
Join my mailing list -
Join me in my membership The Future-Proof Club®️ here -
Come and join me and lots of other small business owners like you in my FREE Facebook group:[
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What it means to Future-Proof your Business
[00:00:00] Lucy Rennie: Hi and welcome to this week's episode of the Future Proof Your Business podcast. I'm Lucy Rennie and today I would love to talk to you about future proofing your business and what that all means and why I keep going on about it all the time. And I suppose really, if you know me or you're just starting to get to know me, you'll see that Yeah, I'm incredibly passionate about the idea of future proofing your business.
[00:00:24] Lucy Rennie: And, even the name of this podcast, which is the Future Proof Your Business podcast or the name of my membership which is the Future Proof Club and even my book, which is clarity, communication and connection, three clear steps to future proof your business. Everything is based around the concept of future proofing your business.
[00:00:41] Lucy Rennie: And so I thought really, I should explain a little bit more about why I'm so passionate about that and, what is behind all this? What do when I'm talking about future proof your business? And from today, I'm going to be taking you through a few different episodes where I'm going to share with you the what, the why, the who, [00:01:00] etc.
[00:01:00] Lucy Rennie: behind. Behind this passion of mine, but also I'm going to take you through some different steps that you can think about that you can maybe apply to your business or you can, review, sense check or yeah, take with you or not, the case might be that as we head into 2024 and beyond.
[00:01:20] Lucy Rennie: And so really, I suppose it starts with the idea that. From a very early age, I think I was 12 when I had my first job at the local pub washing pots the packhorse for those, who might know the local area in the, near the Peak District where I live. And my first job was, yeah, it was literally to go and wash the dishes.
[00:01:41] Lucy Rennie: I think it was two pounds an hour. And. Interestingly what happened really quickly was I then progressed to waiting on and became a waitress and I did really well, I loved going out and serving people and, having that relationship with them, connecting with them and. That was the way you used to make your money, wasn't it?
[00:01:58] Lucy Rennie: You used to get all [00:02:00] sorts of tips. And then eventually I got on to actually cooking as well. So I can remember it. I think you even had, it was seven ounces of frozen chips per portion. So anyway, that was like a long time ago. And I suppose since then now I've got. probably, more than 25, if not longer really experience of working in lots and lots of different businesses.
[00:02:20] Lucy Rennie: And the one thing that I can say has always been with me whether that's a good thing or a bad thing, sometimes it can be an annoying to people, is I'm incredibly curious and I love to get under the skin of a business. I love to find out more about why things work about. The drivers behind things about why that's important.
[00:02:38] Lucy Rennie: Why are we tracking that? Or what difference does that make? Or how, how did we get those results? Or really, I'm just incredibly curious and I've always been like that. So even if, I'm not an expert in finance or in I don't know, operations, I still have. a great knowledge of that and an understanding, which means that I can [00:03:00] work with that and apply it or bring, join the dots together.
[00:03:03] Lucy Rennie: So that, when I come at things with my clients from a sort of a business communications perspective or a people perspective, I'm not coming in all guns blazing going, this is what we need to do. I actually have an awareness and a holistic understanding of how a business works and the different drivers behind that, which I believe is incredibly useful to my clients and of great value.
[00:03:26] Lucy Rennie: But also it means that it's, it, I have lots of different experience and different things that I can bring or suggestions, or even just asking good questions. Sometimes sparks different thoughts for different people and different and a lot of my clients sometimes, because of the questions or thanks to the questions I've been asking, it will start a domino effect into creating even more value within the business.
[00:03:49] Lucy Rennie: So I suppose really that this is where the idea of future proofing your business has come from those years of working in different businesses, whether, my last real corporate [00:04:00] job, when I was head of communications in the steel world, working with all these different business owners around the world, it was, depending on the language, the culture, the country, the market, the products, there were so many different things at play and at stake that I got a real feel for the fact that there are certain things that are within our control, within our remit, that we can use to influence the success or influence the direction of the business.
[00:04:26] Lucy Rennie: But then there's also things that maybe are out of our control and that those things. are going to happen regardless, of us and how we feel about it. And actually really, if we want to think about future, not future proofing our business and what I mean by that, it's actually that we've got to, create something that can stand the test of time and that can actually weather the different storms, whether that's positive or negative that are thrown at us as business owners or as, as leaders.
[00:04:54] Lucy Rennie: Because we've got no choice about it. So if we want to survive, let alone grow and, foster prosper, [00:05:00] then we've got to think about, how can we make sure that we are in such a good and a strong and a solid place? A couple of examples of 2008 when the recession hit and, we went from me having literally A champagne fridge, a big, full, full size champagne fridge in my office.
[00:05:23] Lucy Rennie: That was one of my key roles was to make sure that we were stocked with champagne and all the requirements, we went from a time where I was literally flying around the world, I was organizing conferences. For managers, for leaders in Milan, in Cannes, in France, or Nice in Prague with budgets that when you think of it today, it was like three quarters of a million euros at the time for two, three days worth of conference.
[00:05:53] Lucy Rennie: And, it was the boom. It was, money was no object. And then suddenly the recession hit and what happened, we had [00:06:00] to turn all the taps off. It was literally. Stop what we're doing. And, even the slightest expense, even booking a train ticket from Nantes to Paris, which was maybe, I think 50 euros, we had to suddenly because of the way that the, they turned the taps off we had to, get approval for maybe three levels up, which was for us at the time, and so understanding what was going on and then seeing, the results dive, seeing people, colleagues, people that were dear to me who were made redundant, losing their jobs or seeing parts of the business being sold off or do all those different things. It was incredible.
[00:06:37] Lucy Rennie: Just the contrast of that, but it's a real stark reality of the harshness that can come from, things that are literally outside of our control. We've seen it recently as well, haven't we, with with the COVID pandemic and lockdown with energy prices, we've seen, even the weather now and the storms that are coming and the winds and, the impact that can have on people's businesses.
[00:06:57] Lucy Rennie: And again, depending on the industry and depending what your,[00:07:00] your line of work is, there's so many different, I could speak about this for hours. And again it's, I talk about this in my book, but we talk about the fact that it's, VUCA world now. So there's, we went through a time, didn't we, just after COVID where we were saying, what is normal?
[00:07:15] Lucy Rennie: What, when are we going to get back to normal? And actually. I think this is normal now. It's that VUCA world where it is volatile, things are uncertain, things are challenging. And so we have to take that in mind as we're thinking about, building our businesses as we're thinking about the future.
[00:07:31] Lucy Rennie: And I suppose really that's what I'm talking about in terms of future proofing your business. And so understanding some of the drivers that we can. We can use that. Some of the tools that we can implement within our business, within our strategy that are going to help to create that solid foundation so that, we can at least survive, if not thrive within these different situations is really important.
[00:07:54] Lucy Rennie: And I suppose really that's what I'm on about. That's what my passion is. It's about [00:08:00] helping. Business owners like you, leaders and managers , to build businesses that run well and businesses that run well into the future, businesses that are successful long term that can withstand whatever gets thrown at them, whatever challenges are around the corner that,
[00:08:17] Lucy Rennie: you've created something and you are creating because I do believe that we shouldn't be standing still, whatever we are, even when we're market leader, the moment you stop and you start becoming complacent about things, that's again, you're on that slippery slope downwards. It's about creating that success.
[00:08:34] Lucy Rennie: But again, what does that even mean? What is success? And I think that depends on so many things. And it, starts with you as the business owner. It starts with the vision that you have. It starts with the impact that you want to make. And we forget about this a lot, but I think it starts with also what makes us feel good, where's the joy, where's the tummy flips, those kinds of things that we want to have in our business that again, allows us to keep getting up [00:09:00] and, allows us to attract the right kind of people.
[00:09:02] Lucy Rennie: This is really what I want to talk to you about today. And so over the next few months, I'm going to be taking you through different elements, different angles so that you can think about these things and apply them in your business to help you create something that runs well, works well for you, feels good, and that runs well into the future.
[00:09:20] Lucy Rennie: And so To begin with, it starts, I believe, with creating those solid foundations. And this is really the essence of my book, which was Clarity, Communication, and Connection. Three clear steps to future proof your business. Basically, it's three focus areas that I believe are essential for you to future proof your business.
[00:09:39] Lucy Rennie: And that if you don't have these three focus areas, these three different areas. These different concepts in place, then I just think you're going to be starting on a wobbly slope and it's a bit like that song we used to sing at primary school, isn't it? About the poor man that built his house upon the sand, the rich man on the rocks.
[00:09:58] Lucy Rennie: And, we've got to [00:10:00] have those solid foundations. You wouldn't come along and build a house today, or you wouldn't put your bathroom curtains up before you'd got, solid foundations, the walls in place, and you knew that everything was okay. And that's the same kind of concept about thinking about your business.
[00:10:14] Lucy Rennie: And so Really for me, it starts right at the very beginning with clarity. And what do I mean by clarity? I just mean being really clear about who you are, about what you want, about where you want to be. What is your vision for your business? What is it that you're trying to create? What is it that you believe in?
[00:10:32] Lucy Rennie: And very often when I speak with clients, or business owners who, want some help in growing and taking their business to the next stage. We have to go back a few steps take some time out and really think about this because, It's all very well rushing in and jumping in, but it's really important to take stock and to know where you want to go.
[00:10:55] Lucy Rennie: Just like Stephen Covey, in his book, he talks about having the end in mind and it's a bit like [00:11:00] you wouldn't get in your car and set off on holiday without having an inkling of where you're going. You might say, Oh, we're going to take the scenic route and we'll see how we get on depending on traffic, but.
[00:11:09] Lucy Rennie: You've got the destination in mind and it's exactly the same thing when you're creating or you're building a business and you're thinking about future proofing it. We want you to tap into the vision. It's, we want you to think about, where it is that you want to be and who you want to be serving, who you want to be working with and how you want people to feel.
[00:11:27] Lucy Rennie: And I've got examples of Clients who, once we've got that in place, have just gone rocket fuel into the future. They've tripled their turnover. They've really made such a huge success of it because they've been really clear because they, because once. Because they know where they're going and that because they've known, the fundamentals of it, it just makes a massive difference on the opposite scale of things.
[00:11:53] Lucy Rennie: If you don't know where you're going how can you start to put things in place? It's not sustainable. Yes, we can keep going maybe and [00:12:00] survive for a little while, but ultimately we can't grow because we don't know where we want to be. And so coming back to having a clear vision and thinking about the values, thinking about the essence of who you are and your business is really important.
[00:12:14] Lucy Rennie: And I actually believe that, if you can get the vision and values set up and, be really believe in them and really be really clear on them, then I actually believe sometimes you don't even need a strategy because based on your vision, And how you behave, the ethos, what's important to you, what's, integral to you as a business and your culture.
[00:12:35] Lucy Rennie: I actually believe that, you can, it makes life so much easier and you can make informed decisions based on, is that in line with my vision? Is that in line with where I want to go? Is that in line with how we work as a business? How we, show up as a business in terms of our values. And we can actually live and breathe that without having to think about making a meticulous plan that, can sometimes be heavy, actually gives us that much more of that [00:13:00] freedom, but allows us to be more confident in the decisions and the direction that we're taking. So yeah, coming back to Stephen Covey, who said, start with the ending mind, let's think about where you want to go.
[00:13:11] Lucy Rennie: What is that? bigger picture. And sometimes I get it, it's difficult to, for some people to think of the, the bigger sort of I suppose it's the, yeah, the bigger picture, the sort of the end in mind. And sometimes we can overthink it as well. This isn't about, having this massive dream.
[00:13:28] Lucy Rennie: It's just about thinking, what's important to me? What do I, maybe it's just about asking yourself, what do you want this business to be? What do you want people to say about it? What kind of results do you want? Is it about delivering value to people? Is it about being innovative and creating new products and services or changing the way people do things or whatever it might be?
[00:13:49] Lucy Rennie: There's no rules for this, but it's just about defining that for you. And. for your team. And then ultimately, as we start to go through, we then communicate that from [00:14:00] the inside out. And that's how we then become that magnet for those people, whether that's internally to build your team, to attract the right kind of people who believe in what you believe in, or it's also about making sure that your customers or potential customers tap into that too and recognize.
[00:14:16] Lucy Rennie: All that you're about the value and want to connect with you on that sense. So really what I want you to invite you to do today. And again, if you've already done this and you've got this exercise nailed, I'm still going to invite you to just check in with yourself because. We're still in January, 2024.
[00:14:33] Lucy Rennie: So we're still at the beginning of a new year. In fact, it's the first day of spring on Thursday this week, which is the 1st of February. So it's a great opportunity as well to sense check and check in with yourself. But also it's a great reminder to bring back that joy and tap into those butterflies and remind yourself of why you're doing this.
[00:14:51] Lucy Rennie: So ask yourself, where do you want to be and why do you want to get there? Okay. And the why bit. is the bit that I'm going to leave you with today. This is the bit that for me [00:15:00] is really important. I really want you to ask yourself what's driving you? Why is it important that you create this business?
[00:15:08] Lucy Rennie: Why is it important that you achieve the success that you're looking for? Yeah. Why is it important to you? And what are the things that give you tummy flips? And we used to talk about this when I was little and it's something that stuck with me. And in French there's a word for it, which we don't really have in English, but in French you can say J'ai la gnaque.
[00:15:27] Lucy Rennie: J'ai la gnaque. Which means basically I've got fire in my belly. And it's that thing that I want you to tap into and find. And it might be that you've been doing this for 10, 20 years. Go back, tap into it, shut your eyes, just think about what is it that actually drives you? What is it that gets you excited?
[00:15:45] Lucy Rennie: What is it that gives you that sensation, those butterflies in your tummy when you're feeling good? When maybe it's because you've got a client who's buzzing because they've got the results that they wanted. Maybe it's because, it's about creating new products [00:16:00] or it's about helping other people.
[00:16:02] Lucy Rennie: Whatever it is. Think of those times when you're literally, you might come out of a meeting or you've learned that you've had this success today and you can feel yourself buzzing and you're smiling and just Oh, it feels good, doesn't it? So what is it? What's that thing that makes you feel like that?
[00:16:17] Lucy Rennie: And that we want to bottle up and we want to keep because that's going to help drive our vision. That's going to help us identify what our values are and why we want to do certain things in certain ways. And also. It's the thing that's going to help us make it sustainable. And this is really important.
[00:16:34] Lucy Rennie: And it's the thing I'm going to leave you with today is if we want to future proof our business, if we want to create something that runs well, but that runs well into the future, it starts with us. It's an inside out approach. And it starts with you as the business owner, as the entrepreneur, or as the leader or the manager, it starts with you because If your goal, I believe, and this is my opinion, because of [00:17:00] all the people and all the people I've worked with and all the different businesses that I've had the privilege of being a part of, I believe that if your goal is just about making a load of money, then I don't think that's sustainable.
[00:17:13] Lucy Rennie: And the reason why, yes, of course, money is important. And of course, you can spend hours talking about Maslow. We know, that fundamentally we need a certain amount of money to survive and to provide for our different needs, but ultimately, if we really want to make this a success into the longterm, then we have to acknowledge the fact that it's a long journey, that there's no quick fix, there's no magic pill, and that actually it's going to take a lot of grit.
[00:17:41] Lucy Rennie: and hard work and all those occasions that we talked about in the beginning where things get thrown at us on that rollercoaster ride. They're not going to go away. There's going to be something else. There's always going to be something waiting around the corner or waiting for you in your inbox on a Monday morning.
[00:17:57] Lucy Rennie: And That's the thing [00:18:00] where you're going to need more than just money to keep you going. It's all right for a little while as that comes in, but actually I believe we need more than that. And it's those Tommy flip moments. It's those butterflies. It's that purpose. It's the thing that gets us going in the morning that's going to keep you going when , times get tough.
[00:18:16] Lucy Rennie: And that's the thing I believe that makes you stand out from the crowd. It makes you unique. It's your story. It's why you do what you do, and it's what people will get attracted to. As Simon Sinow, which we'll talk about next week talks about, it's about not necessarily people buying what you do, but people buying what you believe.
[00:18:35] Lucy Rennie: And this is the thing that's going to help you get up in the morning and keep going. And, like I'm doing now, I'm talking to you on a Sunday morning before Paul and Joshie get back from the football match and I for another walk. It's doing the things that maybe You don't want to have to do of showing up time after time and keeping going and bringing that energy like I talked about last week, showing up in the right way.
[00:18:58] Lucy Rennie: And being there [00:19:00] time after time. It's not for everybody. Not everybody can do that and that's okay too. But if you want to make this business successful and run well into the future, we have to capture that, bottle it up. You could even, think of it as bottling, whatever that is.
[00:19:14] Lucy Rennie: That gets you going, whatever that is that gets you excited. Bottle it up, capture it and keep it close so that you can refer back to it time and time again, when you need that little burst of energy to keep you going and remind yourself of why you're doing what you're doing. And so that's where I'm going to end today's episode.
[00:19:32] Lucy Rennie: I just want to encourage you to take some time out, reconnect with that. You may go for a walk outside or go for a long drive or, think back to, like I was saying about me starting when I was 12 in the local pub, making a steak with sandwich and chips. It's thinking about what is it that you enjoy.
[00:19:49] Lucy Rennie: And so for me, it is, it's about being curious about business. It's about, sharing my passion for business and getting excited about it. And I [00:20:00] genuinely believe that, we can all do something in this world where we love, we can all find work that we enjoy, that there's no reason why we can't and that goes across all the different different types of work, whether you run a business or not.
[00:20:14] Lucy Rennie: I genuinely want to encourage people to create amazing businesses, amazing places to work and allow everybody to feel fulfilled and happy and bring the joy. I'd love to hear from you. I'd love to hear what you think, what your vision is and what keeps you going. What's your magic pill?
[00:20:32] Lucy Rennie: As in, what is it that you, Tap into when you need to, when times are a bit tough and challenging, because that's the thing. If we can nail that right now, everything else is going to come. Everything else is going to come from that and it's going to make things so much easier. So with that in mind, I would love you to get in touch.
[00:20:50] Lucy Rennie: Let me know what it is that might be connect with me on the, on social media. Send me an email, which is Lucy at lrcoms. co. uk and just let me know. Maybe you've got a story to [00:21:00] tell, maybe you've got it all there written clearly and it's all defined, or maybe actually you're thinking, you know what, I've never really taken the time to do this.
[00:21:07] Lucy Rennie: And I promise you, if that's you, then it's so worthwhile because from here you can. you can communicate, you can attract, you can really, you can make magic. I promise. And finally, as just as a quick reminder if you have bought my book clarity, communication, and connection, three clear steps to future proof your business, then within that, you can access a load of free resources, which is, includes a downloadable workbook, which you could actually, if you wanted to download that now, and then each episode of the podcast.
[00:21:40] Lucy Rennie: and obviously that I go through in the book. You can then do the exercises with me as we go through that. But secondly, you also get a free month within my online membership, which is the Future Proof Club. So all you need to do is get the book and you'll find the links in there. But also just a quick one, because Again, because this is my vision and I really want to help as [00:22:00] many of you as possible to get the foundations in place and future proof your business.
[00:22:03] Lucy Rennie: From Thursday. So from the 1st of February the book will be, I think it's 99p on Kindle. So it's the lowest I can get it and I can only do it for one week because of just all the Amazon rules and regulations. But if you want to get hold of the book and you're not part of the Kindle Unlimited, which you can, if you are, you can go and access it now as part of that.
[00:22:24] Lucy Rennie: But otherwise from the 1st of February for seven days, you can access the Kindle version for 99p and then still come through to the website, click on and get the resources that you need. And hopefully it might even see you in the Future Proof Club during February and we can really delve into this topic together.
[00:22:39] Lucy Rennie: So with that in mind yeah, I'm going to leave you there. And I would love to hear what you think, and if you're up for it, stay with me over the next few weeks and months. And we're really going to future proof your business together, create a business that works really well for you, that feels good, that delivers on its promises
[00:22:58] Lucy Rennie: to your audience, to your [00:23:00] stakeholders, and a business that runs well and into the future.
[00:23:03] Lucy Rennie: So thank you for listening. Thank you for watching, if you're watching me, because this is the second episode that I have recorded. So let me know what you think about that too. And I will see you next week for another episode of the Future Proofing Business Podcast. Thank you.