Susan Finn 0:09
Hey, welcome to rise above noise where each week, I have the honor of shining a spotlight on somebody in the rise above noise community who's making a real difference and who's helping others with their business growth. If you and I haven't met yet, let me introduce myself. I am Susan Finn. I'm a digital marketing strategist, where for the past 15 years, I've been working with transformation creators, that's energy healers, lightworkers, coaches, creatives teachers, what we're doing is creating their own personal roadmap in their digital marketing journey. So that together, we get to create your own system, for showing up in a way that feels generous, and in service so that you show up with consistency. And that way, people who are already searching for what you have to offer can find you that way your business grows with flow and ease. When you do marketing, you reach people. That's what marketing is.
Susan Finn 1:19
And here's something else you're going to hear me say quite often, because I believe it with all my soul. Our only true currency in this life is our time, and our energy. So as we're working at building our businesses, it really is of the utmost importance, to practice efficiency. And more than that slow to find what gives you joy, and find the flow in the work that you do, to set up systems that allow you to shine in your zone of genius with joy without sucking that precious time and energy. This week's guest Manasse Sharif wants you to know that productivity will help you grow a business, in alignment with your values without compromising your work life balance. This my friend, this is at the very core of our success as business owners. So grab a pencil and some paper, you're going to want to take some notes on the tips and strategies that we're going you're going to pick up in this week's episode. All right, I'm not going to make you wait any longer. Let's get to it.
Susan Finn 2:46
Okay, Thursday, my favorite day of the week, because it's the day that I get to spotlight somebody awesome in the rise above noise group. Now the rise above noise Facebook group is something that has come has kind of become its own thing over the years, I used to give tips, I still give tips and strategies in there. But what I'm loving about the rise above noise Facebook group these days is that given a simple prompt, first thing in the morning, the members are joining into the conversations that that the prompts elicit. And I love the thoughtfulness that people are putting into their into their answers. And I love how they're finding common threads and ways to collaborate with each other. You know what I'm going to actually this is a good idea. While I'm thinking on the fly, there have been so many people within the community that have met through this group, and then have taken it to the next level and collaborated on projects and supported each other in in different ways. And I'm going to actually ask people to comment if you're listening to this live or in the replay. Let me know if you've connected with somebody in the rise above noise group that now or that you've had a collaboration with I think that'd be a really interesting thing to take a look at. All right, as I do, I'm going to get started by running through very quickly the five pillars of the rise above noise system, because where we're going today, right So you've heard me say it before the rise above noise process is a way for you to dig into your into your core values really know your why and your mission and who you're speaking to. You're going to master your time, which is what we'll talk about today. gain control of your messaging and attract clients who align and the five pillars are like I said first know what your core values are, know what your non negotiables are who you're speaking to your ideal clients? The second pillar in the rise above noise process is to create compelling content. What does your ideal client need to learn? What does your client need to know? What does that what does she struggle with that she's looking for a solution for that you can show up and help her with? Proof of concept is sharing your stories, share your successes, share your testimonials, share your case studies. Now this one, the fourth in the rise above noise system is where we're going to spend some time today. It's making sure that you have systems set up to increase your productivity, and to organize and schedule because as you've heard me say before, and I feel this to the deepest part of my soul, that as humans, our only true currency is our time and our energy. We can go out and make money. But if we are spending our time and our energy in ways that don't produce joy, or revenue, or happiness, then we really need to sit back and say, Alright, how can we do that? And I'm really looking forward to speaking with Manasa today about her tips on exactly that. How do we become more productive, so that we're not treading water so hard? And as you know, the fifth pillar in rise above noise is keep in touch. I spend a lot of time with my clients on how can they keep in touch with the people who need to hear their message? Is it email marketing? Is it touchpoints using a Contact Relationship Management System CRM, as you know, I use honey book and it's been a big help for me, all of these are so that you can show up. Not only be of service to others, but my friends be of service to yourselves. So I thank you for hearing me out with that. It's it's really become a nice roadmap or GPS for my clients. Alright, so let's get to the good part, the better part of the morning when I get to introduce my friend, man as Sharif. Let me tell you a little bit about her. As I read her official bio Manasa is a strategic business architect. She helps wellness business owners
Susan Finn 7:46
who are trading time for money, they feel like they have no time to grow their business. She helps them build a field good online business with productivity and business strategy. So they have more time, more freedom. And they're they're offering more impact without sacrifice. I love this. I think we could talk all day about this. When I asked my masseuse what her superpower is, she said that it's breaking down complex problems into bite size digestible elements. When as I'm so glad that you're here, and I want to hear more about your superpower.
Mahanz Sharif 8:32
Thank you so much, Susan, thank you for inviting me on firstly, and for your lovely introduction. Yes, so for those who don't know, me, I'm an AS and yeah, my superpower is really dealing with breaking things down, making things more manageable, and making them more efficient and streamlined, which as we know, as entrepreneurs, we have so many hats to wear, we have so many things to do. So being really focused, and bringing your energy into your business and the right way is only going to serve us well. And what might may seem like a complex problem by simply working on things step by step and, and in a very strategic way we can really do things that we didn't think that we were capable of. And that's where transformation happens, doesn't it?
Susan Finn 9:28
Yes. And I feel like many of us say when I right, you say what do you need? I just wish I had more time. Right? And we all have the same time and so I feel like that productivity like the man. Let's work with a person tomorrow miles. She wrote a book based on Maslow's hierarchy of needs, but it was the productivity pyramid right. And so how do we figure out How to get to that part where we're so good at what we're doing and everything is flowing, that we can reach our highest potential. And I imagine that's kind of where you're bringing people is what seems unattainable. But with the small steps you bring them to, to that piece.
Mahanz Sharif 10:16
Exactly. Yeah, I mean, if we first just start looking at our daily habits, because that's where everything begins, you know, our daily habits, routines, anything that we are doing, how we are spending our time, and I think there's some, there's a quote that I can't remember fully, but it's if we can master our minutes, you know, that is really where the whole mastery comes in. As Master, if we can master it our minutes and we can, are really able to achieve anything. And understanding that time is a commodity is such are really the most valuable, let's be honest, because we cannot trade time in any way. We cannot buy or sell it. So what we need to be doing is really thinking more carefully about where we're spending our time and being more focused on that. And just by doing more strategic work and really thinking this through, especially if we bring it into our daily habits, we know that as regular every single day these happen, and they will mount up really quickly and be and we will feel very productive as well. So we can be doing things in a structured way or a slight structure or quite a flexible routine, whatever works for us. But we what we need to understand is that the what we do daily has got a huge potential for helping us meet our goals. And so taking things like if you were losing weight, or healthy eating that kind of thing, it's fairly easy to to understand that if we allow our daily habits or routine to slow in any way, then it will not be aligned with the goal that we're trying to achieve. And really, by, by being focused on what those daily habits are, we will be staying more consistent and achieving the results that we are wanting to get. On the other hand, if we disconnect from our daily habits, then what we are doing is again, having an impact on the end result. And it will diminish the chances of us meeting those goals. So really, our daily habits need to be sustainable. At the end of the day, they need to be very unique for who we are and how we how we show up. But they also need to be sustainable so that we get that consistency, which is another buzzword and the same holds entrepreneur entrepreneurial ship. So yeah, these are these sustainable habits will then allow us to have a sustainable business sustainable growth. And that's what we want, isn't it? Ultimately, we want to have a business that is sustainable.
Susan Finn 13:04
So, okay, I'm in. Where do I start?
Mahanz Sharif 13:10
Yeah, so let's say, let's talk about sustainable growth in terms of what it means because this can be for for different people. So when I'm coming from, it's building a business with strong foundations, so that it remains manageable. And rather than it growing accidentally, that business and that foundation is always aligned with us. So that not only are we growing the business, but we're growing it in the way that we want to grow it so that we can manage it in the way that we that suits us best. And the time we have, and with all the balance and freedom that we are looking for. Because generally speaking, all of us went into this area, because we wanted to have some freedom and have control with what we do, and how we do it as well. So we didn't start our business to work long hours, and not get enough rest and get even more stressed and worried and trying to be hard and trying to be seen. Like you see Susan rise above noise. I mean, that's just such a beautiful title. And it resonates so deeply that you know, we're trying to get heard and our message be seen and listened to, you know, that's our very primitive design desire that we all have as human beings, isn't it to be heard and to be fully understood, right? So sustainable growth means that we not only want to get intentional with our time, we want to bring our purpose and our values into the work that we do. So as heart centered business owners, we also want to make the impact get the result that we desire. And it's not just about waiting for the next Client, there's so much more to this. So the growth, the growth that we are looking at this sustainable growth is something that will then help us almost future proof our business in a way, so that we can maintain and uphold all our values desires, the healthy work life balance, we have the boundaries we've created, and create that positive impact, which we know this whole world needs so desperately, doesn't it?
Susan Finn 15:28
Oh, my goodness, now more than ever, we need the people that you and I are speaking about, right and speaking to, we need them to be successful in their business, we need them to show up more than ever we need this this flood of this positive energy of wellness. Yeah, right.
Mahanz Sharif 15:48
Absolutely. Absolutely. And there's never been a better time ever. But given everything that has been going on for the last two years, it's even more important. You know, when we have that passion, we have that drive for creating an impact, then, you know, really going out there and doing it now not I will do it one day, because one day never comes. It's like what we do today that we are investing and that counts. So, yeah, I think I think it's really important across you know, all the businesses are very much in there to help people and help them get results and working together and being able to support each other's amazing in this space, and in your lovely group as well.
Susan Finn 16:37
So do you have some, some hot tips on how to get this done? How do we do this? I thought
Mahanz Sharif 16:50
we should start with the mistakes that people make if that's looking.
Susan Finn 16:55
Yeah,
Mahanz Sharif 16:57
I'm thinking, let's cover the biggest mistakes that I see when we are trying to organize our data. Because when we're talking about daily habits, we're really talking about how your day is set up, how it's organized, how you might shedule. Now the most common and please do comment along and pop in the comments which one resonates with you, you know which one? Is it that you feel this is definitely me. And I need to I am doing this because this is very common, and nobody is perfect. So number one is overfilling hour a day. So that's when we just really put so much into our day that we will get all of this done when we give ourselves our to do list or whatever it might be to do things that are just setting up an expectation isn't about us. We're overfilling the day so we're already that's like that's a definitely a no no, because we don't want to be working from a place where we just started doing doing doing all of the time. Number two is setting unrealistic X expectations was which has a little bit of number one as well. But you could be setting unrealistic expectations for anything that you're doing. It could be the time taken for it to be completed, it could be what you're actually trying to achieve. But when we say something that's unrealistic, chances are that if that's not accomplished, and not accomplishing the way that you had set the expectation, then we are going to feel down, we're going to feel quite negative and disappointed and almost maybe even have some particular thoughts going on in our head that you know, are let that we've let ourselves down, which is not good. It's going to really affect our motivation and our mindset. And this is something that will just repeat itself, like a cycle, which is not good either. Because then day to day, you know that voice in our head will be telling us that you know we didn't do X Y Zed. And that's not the place that we want to be. And number three is over estimating the time needed to complete a task. Now this may seem contradictory to some of the other ones, but I'll let me explain. We really do waste so much time when we give ourselves our very loose and long time to do tasks and when we overestimate that what are we doing for the majority of the time, we are thinking we are overthinking and hence we are procrastinating. So for some tasks, you may find this resonates for you no you know when you're doing you're putting something off it goes into the next day. It becomes something that you didn't accomplish in one day, and then the next day you already didn't accomplish it but there's some thing that's making you still just keep thinking about it rather than taking the action. So I'd love to know and if you are on live or on replay do pop in which one resonates number one, two or three, one is overfilling. Your day two is setting unrealistic expectations, and three is overestimating the time needed to complete something.
Susan Finn 20:23
I'm so curious. Yeah, I'm curious what people will put in here. If you guys are listening to the replay or watching this on YouTube, go ahead and put your comments in? Is it number one, two, or three? And those will be listed in the show notes? I think for me, well, it's all of them. But I think the main thing is overestimating the time that it takes. And so overthinking it, and then being like, Oh, that was too hard. I should go check my emails, or Oh, that was too hard, I should go do a quick, I should go do Wordle real quickly, right, like just taking my mind off of it, and then coming back, and that sucks up the energy. I've been using the toggle timer on as a Chrome extension. And that seems to help if I give myself 40 minutes to get something done. Yeah. And as I mentioned to you before, sometimes I need some background of sound, either beta waves, or the Red Sox game, seem to put me in productivity,
Mahanz Sharif 21:18
whatever works isn't
Susan Finn 21:21
the most common one that you see that you see from people.
Mahanz Sharif 21:26
And I, I do think procrastination is a real thing that we all struggle with. Just that sometimes it shows up, and it with a higher impact on you. And other times, you know, you can deal with it. But we all are procrastinators. But the good news is that, you know, you're thinking about it. So like, it's good that you it's good that you are thinking about that in such an intentional and real way. It's just that moving on from that to the next step is weird. The difficulty is it's that very first step. And that becomes really hard and tough and feels like you know, it's like climbing Mount Everest, you know, it's just, it will do anything else instead. And it's not really a priority to do. So we'll move it to the next day. It's needed to be done today or urgently, I'll move it to next week. And, and I think just thinking about this, and observing is a great thing to do. So whatever one you're thinking, is, is resonating the most with you just know that you recognizing it is the first step. And that's like, amazing. So don't it's not a negative, it's a positive knowing how you how have you work.
Susan Finn 22:45
So good. I want to I want to say excuse me for interrupting. I wanted to tell you that Laura Clark has said that she's learned that I'm curious what you say about this, she's learned to multiply times three, what she thinks something will take. And that helps. And also she loves the Red Sox like I do. So. Oh, and then Karen says underestimating the tiny tasks will take n and overloading the day for sure. Karen, I think that's what was meant, as was saying to. So times three, yeah, I always do that, I always say, Oh, I'm just going to quickly update this page, it should only take, right, and then two hours later, didn't take that as well.
Mahanz Sharif 23:24
But then if you've built that time, man, I guess what that's doing is, is think of it like buffer time, you know, it can be used, but and you're doing that one thing, but by by giving yourself extra time, you are not switching all the time, which is another really kind of bad thing to do. Because, you know, when we when we're focused and working like imagine 100%, even though 100% is not possible, but even if we said it was 90% concentration levels, then when we switch our task, it takes a long time for us to fully get to the maximum. And we know this because we have experienced it, but we don't necessarily think about it in our day to day. So really just working with all the things and understanding and observing. You are far better off knowing how you work, and then being able to use that. Like you Susan, I know you love review and analytics and understanding all these Well, this is exactly one of those things because all we're doing is saying, This is how I work. This, you know, this is what I've done. I know that's happening. So you're always reviewing how you operate and understanding your own personal operation system. And then working with that so that you're using that as evidence to help you the next time you do it and evolve and adapt and just you know, keep going and that way.
Susan Finn 24:57
It's nice to have that clarity too. I know one of the things that I've been working on with myself and with my clients is what are they doing? That we can automate or set up a system for a checklist, right. So I know that that's been very, very helpful to me setting up the spotlights, I have a checklist, I have forms. And that makes everything so much more smooth. If you have something that you're going to offer a workshop or a course or something that you're going to offer, let's say twice a year, four times a year, have the automations all set up. And this is, you know, where I come in is helping with the email and the registration and how does it happen so that you don't have to keep all those balls in your head at one time, right? There's this system, yes,
Mahanz Sharif 25:44
it happens when you sleep. Basically, it just works.
Susan Finn 25:49
As happens when you sleep. That's what I tell people. We're going to talk for 15 minutes, and then you're going to wake up and it's gonna be all time. A little more than that, but yes,
Mahanz Sharif 26:00
yeah, well, well, this is the thing, isn't it, at the end of the day, time is so precious to having those processes like you've got set up, Susan, for this presentation, etc. Everything, you know, you have a process, you have a way of operating and sometimes automation and the word automation could throw people off. Feel like it's something huge, but you everybody has processes and their business. And working them making them work in the most effective and efficient way, is not only going to save you time, energy, your time as well, the sort of technical aspect, once it's done, it's done. But the other thing is that you don't have to have something fully automated, we all start in our businesses, where we don't have a budget for tech or any other things. And there are so many ways that we can streamline something and create it so that it's not manual. So basically, the emphasis being not manual, and not automation, if you see what I mean. And then as we grow, and as we develop, we're always looking towards automation as much as possible. But whatever is possible for you at the time, and there is so much available to us in terms of the tools and things out there, that every step of the way, you know, we don't have to be spending lots of money to be doing things, it's just really putting that and focus on how we can improve things. So yeah, happy to go to my tips now if you like because we were I don't want to keep everybody to longer. Yeah,
Susan Finn 27:35
let's go through your tips. And yeah, and then also, while you're doing that, let people know how they can work with you like where else they can find
Mahanz Sharif 27:41
you. So three, my three productivity tips are, remove wherever possible, or reduce your distractions. So this could be your mobile phone, it could be social media, it could be any things that are keeping you. And you know, while you're working on your inner zone, what is it that takes your attention away, and really work on that. And wherever possible, I've said to remove them. But even reducing them is obviously going to be helpful. So definitely working on this. And we usually do know what's distracting us when we're working. But we've not maybe taken that next step to think how could I make that better? Or what could I do. And sometimes it's simple as switching off your notifications. Some people like to not have their mobile phone around them when they're working. You know, there's always the if there's a problem, there is always multiple solutions. Number two is plan your day. So failing to plan is planning to fail, and really starting the day with a clear focus, so that you know exactly how you mean to go on with that D. And I like to think of planning in terms of cycling. So I'll give you a little explanation here. So we're going somewhere and we're going on our on our bike, we can choose to stop for what might take 10 minutes and those 10 minutes might seem like forever, open our map, have a look where we're trying to go and how we're going to get there. And that stopping we've planned that all out we understand how we're doing it and then we get on the bike and then we start if we just hopped on the bike and decided we'll just get there. We don't know how but we'll just cycle and all of a sudden our destination will appear in front of us well, that's not going to happen. It will waste a lot of time. If you just get going too quickly. You are not necessarily going in the most efficient path. And the most quick the quickest route the easiest route you know you're not thinking about these things. So really, what when it feels like you're stopping and not doing anything. It can really be effective when you do start because then you are starting in a different key You're almost because you know, you know exactly what you're doing. Tip number three is start with the hardest task first. So if it feels like it's hard, there's obviously some kind of resistance there anyway. And imagine how it would feel, if you actually accomplish that very early on in your day. And you already have that ticked off, you know, that will already felt hard, you've got ticked off the motivation, the energy you have, and the feeling of accomplishment is all going to be really helpful and boost to for the next for the rest of the day that you're working. And if it feels too hard, always think about how you can make it easier. So try chunking that task down into bite sized pieces, you don't have to do everything regarding that hard task all in one day, all at once, when it feels so overwhelming. And what we can do is a really good tip here is to just take the very first time that you're doing that hard task is just give yourself five minutes, maybe five or 10 minutes, where you're going to plan how that hard task will be done. And that is simply breaking it into steps. And that's it. And then once you have done that the next time, you're just picking up the first step and doing that. So that you really sort of set yourself up for success because that procrastination will not kick in because you have a plan. And you are following the steps and each each step rather than it being this whole big thing that is giving you a bit of headache, or you know, you feel like it's just weighing you down. So those are my three tips. And I'd love to know which one you're going to try. Like, which one do you feel like you know, I really need to try this one out. Do pop it in the comments as you are watching this.
Susan Finn 31:59
Yeah, that was very so good. Trying to think of what so number of let's go through them again quickly. So number one was,
Mahanz Sharif 32:06
number one is distraction. So you want to remove or reduce distractions. Number two is planning your day. And then number three is start with the hardest task first. So good.
Susan Finn 32:20
Eat the frog. Right. That's so good. Awesome stuff. So tell me minhas? How do you work with your clients? Well, who comes to you? What's the process look like? And how can people get on your list or learn more about you.
Mahanz Sharif 32:39
So I have a free resources available on my website, I will pass my website link to Susan and she can pop it in. And I my free resources are different things including an experience I have, which is simply giving you 10 minutes a day that you need to commit to. And over a period of 10 days, you will be chipping away at your productivity and you will feel that you are solving your productivity and effectively slowing down time because that's what happens when we're more intentional with how we use our time I work with my clients in many ways I have a monthly membership where we do business training, accountability and support and lots of things going on in there to really help and these small business owners who want to get out there, and I work with women and business and wellness specifically, because that's who I'm drawn to. And that's who seemed to come into my world. And absolutely love helping them. And I also have a big program, which is all about getting those wellness services from not really being online to actually creating, developing launching and marketing and actually getting your things out there to to have that sustainable business as well. So there's so my website is Excel webinars.com. And I'll get Susan to pop the link in and then you can check out my free resources there. So there's lots of things that you can use my blog, and all sorts of take a look if you're interested.
Susan Finn 34:19
And then I'm looking to because I think I have different links with you. Right, you have a free workshop.
Mahanz Sharif 34:27
At the moment, I have a free workshop and I have a free experience. Yes.
Susan Finn 34:33
I'll put those links in there as well.
Mahanz Sharif 34:37
That's great. Thank you.
Susan Finn 34:38
I'm glad that you joined us, Laura. Thanks for hopping in. And so much good stuff. Okay, I'll do I'll put more things in the notes as we're moving along after this. So if you guys haven't already had a chat with Mahnaz, get on her calendar, have a chat learn more about what she does. Grab her freebies get on her list because we need you, we need you to show up and make the real difference in the world. Awesome. Thank you so much for joining me this morning. Thank
Mahanz Sharif 35:12
you, Susan. It's been a complete pleasure. Thank you.
Susan Finn 35:20
There you have it. I hope you enjoyed this week's rise above noise spotlight, I know that you got some great takeaways. Manasa is on a mission to help women entrepreneurs find that balance in their life, with clarity on their goals and systems to move them along in their, on their journey. As you know by now, our rise above noise community is revolutionizing how service professionals show up in their marketing to make a real difference in the world. Again, marketing is how you show up marketing is what helps your business grow. My mission is to be a guide for you to make sure that you the transformation creator will continue to show up and make that difference. So today we talked about strategy and productivity and a flow that feels in alignment with your values. It's what helps you and your business thrive. Now, more than ever, our world needs you. We need our transformation creators to be successful, to show up to be in service and make that real difference in our world. I honor you for the work that you're doing. And I want to thank you for joining this episode. And I look forward to seeing you in the rise above noise community and I can't wait to share another rise above noise spotlight with you
Transcribed by https://otter.ai
