Candice (00:05.39)

Hey, it's your coach Candice. Have you ever looked at your goals at the beginning of a year and thought, okay, in my business, I want more growth, but I also need to change a bunch of things. And quite frankly, I'm exhausted by this all, and I'm just not sure what I'm supposed to do. I think so many wedding pros at this time of year are planning for their next season in their business.

But we're planning for that after years of pressure. We've made some pivots. We've overextended ourselves. And we're trying to fix everything at once. And I just don't think that's the best way to set goals at the start of a year. So today, I'm sharing with you a different way to look at setting goals for your business and planning out your strategy for this year. And to be honest, I think it's going to change everything for you because it changed.

everything for me. Today we're talking about the three business lanes that you can choose from in any season. Growth, recalibration, or stability. Let's get into it.

Hey there friend, welcome back to the Power and Purpose podcast. We have a new season on the horizon, a new year, a new way of doing things on the show. You might notice a couple of changes throughout today's episode. I hope you enjoy them and I hope that this feels like a conversation because that's what we're having today. And if this episode helps you, please make sure that you're subscribed to the podcast and share it with a friend.

who's also deep in planning their business strategy for this year. I think they'll really appreciate getting the chance to listen. Now, I'm sharing with you a strategy that I have adopted in my business, and I'm going to share more about how I was inspired to do this. But what I see as a coach for so many women in the wedding industry, especially at the start of a year, is that you're often setting goals that compete with each other.

Candice (02:13.752)

You're feeling a ton of pressure to choose growth in your business, even when your energy and your intuition is telling you otherwise. And you're always, you're just kind of seeking a smarter way to plan for your business that feels supportive and maybe honors your energy, your bandwidth, and the season of business that you're in.

If I described you in any way, you're going to really appreciate today's episode. Now I discovered this kind of three lane framework. I learned this concept while I was in a mastermind with Amy Porterfield. She taught this to us, but it was kind of like, it was like one of those things that she mentioned and we all just really perked up and we were like, wait a minute, what? What are you talking about?

She shared with us that in business, she sees it that you can't have all the things when it comes to setting goals. You can't sit down, set goals, and think, I'm going to have a growth year. I'm going to recalibrate and fix all the things. And I'm also going to find stability in all of this. She was of the mindset that you have to choose a lane. And when you commit to having a growth year, a year of recalibration, or a year of stability,

It really unlocks a whole different way of thinking about strategy in your business. And the core idea was pretty simple. You can't grow, restructure, and stabilize all at the same time. Except I think most of us, myself included, in this room of million dollar business owners, all thought, wait a minute, no, I thought we were supposed to be doing all these things at the same time. And it was this realization

that we all had in the room that really got me thinking about my business, but then, of course, your business, because I teach you what I learn about business. And I wanted to share this with you. So credit to Amy for bringing this to me. And I'm excited to now pass along the ripple effect and share this with you. Now, this changed the way I set goals. And I'm not sure that I can ever really set goals the same.

Candice (04:32.832)

At least in this season of my business for the last two years, I have really latched on to this premise about choosing a lane for my goals, either choosing a growth year, a year of recalibration or a year of stability. It shifted from, I shifted from stacking goals and trying to do it all and feeling just overwhelmed at the thought of getting started on the things that I wanted to do.

to choosing a single lane and building my strategy, my goals, what I wanted for the year, my financial goals, my sales goals, my customer goals, all around the lane that I chose. And the lane became a filter for what I said yes to, whether that was opportunities, speaking engagements, people, clients, but also what I said no to. And it stopped.

me from forcing momentum in my business where I needed stability or I needed something different. And ultimately, I truly do believe that it's created better results for me with less emotional and mental load and overwhelm. And so it worked so well for me. was such a great aha moment.

that I now lead my mastermind WPI under this sort of framework. And that's because I saw how many high achieving business owners were over committing to things by default, and how many people were always choosing growth in a season where they needed to recalibrate or needed to find steadiness. And what's beautiful about this is it introduced a kind of shared lane for the year inside the mastermind.

The women chose what type of year they wanted to have growth, recalibration or steadiness and it helped them focus and get laser sharp on where they needed to spend their time. But it also, like GLUE, brought people together in groups who have chosen similar tracks to support one another.

Candice (06:46.198)

And ultimately, I've seen a huge difference in how the women inside my group are selecting goals for themselves, how they're creating timelines for achieving specific things, and their expectations throughout the year. For many, it was as if a weight had been lifted off their shoulders. And it's created stability, sustainability,

and better decision making. All things that I experienced, but it was wonderful to see how great it is for members inside the mastermind. So this is year two where we met as a group for our goal setting retreat, sat down, picked a lane, and then set goals based on the track we chose. And what I wanna do next is share with you what each lane means and coach you and support you in

adapting this strategy in your business this year and making a decision about what type of year you're going to have and then encourage you to follow that throughout the year and set goals and intentions that match the energy that you chose.

Okay, Haley here, I think we should do like a little bit of a transition music.

And what I'll do in the episode, Haley is or whomever is editing this, I will share with you if I can think of where I want transition music. So be on the lookout for that so you can edit that out. And I will, if I forget, I'll just have you use your best judgment.

Candice (08:29.26)

Now let's talk about the three lanes that you can choose from explained. And I'm taking this from what I learned from Amy, but I'm also adopting it and adapting it to our industry. And I kind of made it my own in a way. So it's a little bit different or maybe just the way I see it. Actually edit that out. Let me start that over.

Let's talk about the three lanes explained, growth, recalibration, and stability. Now, I've taken what Amy taught me in that mastermind, and it's evolved a little bit since it's been in my hands. I've evolved it to definitely match my business, but also a wedding industry's business. So some things look a little bit differently than how she described it, but I love, no, let me not even include that, because it's pointless. Let me start that over.

Candice (09:25.588)

Let's talk about the three lanes explained. Growth, recalibration, and stability or steadiness. Let's start with growth because this is the lane that most people feel like they have to choose. And I think by defaults, we gravitate towards growth because why? Growth feels good. We feel like we're always supposed to be growing upward, onward in this straight.

trajectory, financially we're supposed to be growing, client-wise growing, portfolio growing, team growing, growing all the things. Now growth in business and if you choose a growth year, this means expansion. It means acceleration and elevation. You are increasing revenue, visibility, capacity and or your team. And you're doing this built on a solid foundation for your business.

I don't think that you can build upward and onward on shaky foundation. So your business foundations have to be in order for you to grow. But growth means exactly what you think it means, a year of growth and expansion. You usually come to a growth year after a year of recalibration or steadiness. And we'll talk about what those two mean next. You can have growth over growth years, especially if you're in a growth mindset and that feels really good to you.

But how do you know if you're ready for growth in your business? Well, here are some signs and clues that a growth year might be a good option for you. The first, your systems mostly work. Things are not breaking. You recalibrated things. You have worked on your client experience, your backend systems, your communications. Things are operational. You feel energized and ready. I think being resourced and ready to go into a growth year

a year of expansion and acceleration, you have to have the mood, the energy, the vibe to take that on. You also are ready for growth when you're just craving momentum. You're ready to move. You're ready to lace up your shoes and get out there and start moving. You have ideas that you're excited to act on. You have things that you want to do. Maybe there were clouds in your judgment over the last couple of years.

Candice (11:46.136)

There were obstacles, things that were holding you back and like a racehorse out of the gate, you are just alleviated of those things and you are ready to move. You're also willing to move faster and really stretch yourself. I think in a growth year, you have to be willing to fail.

And if you missed the previous episode that I recorded on failure, highly recommend going and listening to episode 201. It's a real treat. And you guys have messaged me about that episode so much. I'm so glad it landed. So a growth year is really about expansion, acceleration, and elevation. And I do think it is in all pillars of business, but you can also identify a few.

pillars specifically where you want to grow. Maybe you want to grow your clientele. If you're a designer, your design skills. Maybe there's a specific skill set you want to grow or enhance. Growing a team is often very popular. That might be something that you want to do. So you can pick and choose which pillars in your business resonate most with growth. But I do think a growth year means growth in all things and in all directions.

Now, if you're choosing a growth year for yourself, that's so exciting. And I'm so excited for you. I want you to know, though, that growth in business requires support. So this means support systems in your business, having people on hand to support you, get the work done, the right team members in the right places, part of growth. But also, it does make sense to have a community or some type of

space where you can focus on your growth and get support. So keep that in mind. The next lane is recalibration. And this is a lane that I think a lot of people need, but also a lane that a lot of people stay stuck in. So let me explain. Recalibration is when you need to refine, restructure, realign things in your business. You're updating your pricing, your services, your messaging, your positioning.

Candice (13:52.47)

You are fixing what no longer fits. Maybe you're coming off a growth year and you're realizing, wow, things grew really fast and my business isn't quite set up to maintain this growth. So I need to take a step back and start recalibrating certain things so that I can continue onward. Recalibration is exactly what you think it is. It's going back to the drawing board and looking at the things that don't work.

and fixing them in the hope that you can then have a growth year or a year of stability. The issue that I see as a coach is a lot of people stay stuck in recalibration. If you're not careful, recalibration can become getting ready mode, where you are just constantly recalibrating everything. You're recalibrating your systems, your pricing, your sales tech, your portfolio. It's like you're always

trying to reach for something that feels just out of reach and you think that you have to keep practicing before you get in the game. Only you will know if you are in getting ready mode for too long. And I'll leave you to look inside yourself and say, am I playing it safe by recalibrating all the time? Do I constantly believe that I need to keep fixing things in order to be successful?

If that's the case, would say, please get outside your comfort zone and don't choose recalibration. Choose growth. Push yourself outside your comfort zone and do something different. But there are many, many business owners who actually do need to pause growth, pause a growth mindset, and come back to their business and recalibrate things that are not working. So you might be in recalibration and you might need recalibration if...

Something feels off or misaligned. You've outgrown your current setup. Your systems are not working. Your client experience isn't the best it could be. You're tired, but you're not uninspired. You're tired of maybe maintaining things the way they are. You know there's a better way to do things, but you're not burnt out to the point where you don't even have the energy to.

Candice (16:12.6)

come to the table and fix things. You're inspired. You're motivated to do it. I think recalibration comes when you've had growth, but that growth, it's created cracks in your foundation. And if we're not careful, those cracks can get bigger and bigger. So a recalibration year, a recalibration season is going in and doing the work necessary to sure things up.

I also think you might be in recalibration if you feel pulled to change direction or to do something different. Maybe you want to shift your services in a new direction. Maybe you want to shift your aesthetic or style. That is definitely an indication that you might be in recalibration. Something to remember here is that as much as it doesn't feel great to pump the brakes,

and slow down and fix things in your business, recalibration is still progress. And I think in order to grow, in order to have a year where you make the most money ever and you book the best clients ever and you're featured in all the places, you need to recalibrate. You need to slow down, look around, ask yourself, what isn't working? What needs to be fixed? Focus on those things so that. So just know that recalibration is extremely strategic.

And it is not like you're taking steps backward unless you stay stuck in it. And then certainly it becomes regressive. And we don't want that. I don't want you regressing. And I definitely don't want you staying stuck in getting ready mode forever. Please don't do that. The final lane is steadiness. And I'm going to be honest. I think steadiness is something, stability is something that as business owners, we should all be

striving toward more stable, steady years, more years of less tinkering and more just autopilot. I personally think when you choose stability and steadiness, that's the ultimate flex in business because it means that you're maintaining what you've built. You are maintaining

Candice (18:28.322)

what you've built, is working, it's working for you, and you're just not adding more things to your cart. You you're just not buying more stuff. You're just satisfied with how things are, what things look like. And you're focused instead on strengthening your consistency. You're focused instead on showing up and strengthening that consistency, focusing on delivery, endurance, sustainability.

client happiness, and of course, your happiness. So you can see why steadiness is a flex. I mean, personally, I would love everybody who's listening to this podcast to have maybe one, two, three years of stability in your business before you decide if you need to recalibrate or grow again. You might be in a season of steadiness if you're at capacity. You know that you just cannot take on any more.

And you don't want to. You're quite content with your clients, with your money, with your team, things feel good, your capacity. You were satiated. And I don't mean you're at capacity like you're overrun, you're bursting. That's not what I mean. I mean, like you're good. You know, you've got enough passengers on the flight. You don't need more people. You're, you're good. You're also.

in a year of steadiness or a season of stability when you just want less change. You don't need to be tinkering and changing things and doing a million things. You're like, I just want to chill. I don't need to change things up. I'm quite happy where things are. I also think stability is a wise choice when you are recovering from a big season or a big year. Now remember, things are still working. You're just maintaining.

but you don't necessarily need another year of rapid expansion or growth.

Candice (20:31.266)

Stability is also great when you want to deepen things in your business instead of expanding. When you want to focus on maybe one or two areas that on the surface might seem small, but actually they matter a lot. Maybe it's focusing on your time management or your communication or training your team. And ultimately, your priority here is peace. Peace is the priority, steadiness and peace.

It's important for you to know that steady does not mean stuck. Steady does not mean that we're just in a holding pattern. It doesn't mean that we're just waiting and it's not unsexy. It is actually quite sexy. Think about how sexy it would be to be making money peacefully, minding your business, drinking your water, just living your best life and not chasing after a bunch of things.

or not fixing a bunch of things, right? So steadiness is strength to me. means you've got a strong business and right now you are just settling in and enjoying it.

Candice (21:45.278)

Only you will know between these three lanes what feels right to you. And there is no right or wrong choice. We're all in different seasons of our business. The only asterisk I would give here is this, well, two actually. Chasing constant growth isn't always the wisest move. And you don't want to get stuck in recalibration forever. I think steady, if you're not really sure what feels right, what feels good,

then choosing steady to start off the year is a wise choice. Because if you don't have clarity on where you want to go or what you want to do, and by the way, that's totally normal. We just think that we at the push of a button, the ball drops at midnight. And then suddenly now we're supposed to have it all figured out. And we're supposed to be super energized and ready to tackle a new year. And that isn't the energy that most of us experience.

So if you have a lack of clarity, that's to me, it's usually a sign to just reduce some of the variables so that you can not feel pressured. Stability creates space for clarity as well. So not making a decision to do anything big or grand means that you're not going to force decisions that maybe aren't the right fit and give yourself a little more time to decide what feels right. I also want to say that choosing

A steady year is not playing small. Not at all. I'm not trying to force you to choose a steady year. I just feel as though we often dismiss steadiness when in reality we shouldn't. You can also choose steadiness for the first six months of the year and then decide where you're at come June or July. I also think that any of these lanes can be chosen for the first half of the year.

and then recommitted to or shifted in the second half. It is difficult to commit to something for an entire year and say this year is going to be all about recalibration. Because what if you get halfway through the year and you're like, yeah, I recalibrated. Like, now what? Do I have to just keep recalibrating stuff? No. So it's nice to plan things quarterly, but I think it even makes sense to commit to something for six months here and then see where it takes you.

Candice (24:11.488)

If you had to choose a lane for the next six months, a lane that would support where you're at in your business financially with your clients, but also with your mindset and your energy, what lane would create the most excitement, the most peace or the most clarity for you right now? What lane would you choose?

I'm choosing to have a year of growth in my business. I'm excited about growth and growth to me means a little bit different than I think what other people might interpret. I'll share more about this in a future episode, but that's what I've chosen growth. Now the women inside wedding pro insiders are a bit of a mix. I think we're at half growth, half recalibration with a few women choosing steadiness.

in the group, but the majority chose growth or recalibration. I'd love to hear what you're going to choose after you listen to today's episode. So do me a favor. Go to Instagram, make sure you're following me at Candice. Coppola and DM me and say, Hey, Candice, I chose blank for my year.

I would love to hear from you. And I mean this in all sincerity. For those of you who DM me on the regular, you know, I answer and I love getting to know you and your business and knowing that you're listening to the podcast. So I'm very curious. What are you choosing? Share it with me. And if you want guidance applying any of this to your business, if you want my help, whether it is growth, stability, or recalibration, I'm inviting you to come and check out my mastermind, Wedding Pro Insiders. can.

Find out more information at weddingproinsiders.com. We have a running wait list there. Feel free to sign up. You can email me or DM me if you have questions about the experience. And it's best to get on that wait list and to get on my radar so that when a spot opens up, I can share the details on how you can take advantage of that spot and come and work with me and get my help no matter the type of year that you're choosing.

Candice (26:35.138)

All right, friends, thank you so much for tuning in to today's episode of the Power and Purpose podcast. I'd love to know what your year goal is going to be and if you had any big takeaways or aha moments during today's episode. I also want to remind you that there's so much power in your purpose. I'll see you next week.