166|Leaning Out Your Business With Crista Grasso Business Built Freedom

Leaning Out Your Business With Crista Grasso
Josh: G’day everyone out there in podcast land, we've got a special guest here from leanoutmethod.com, we've got Crista Grasso, and she's going to be talking today about why you need to lean out your business to level up.
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So how do I know if I'm running a lean mean business machine or not? How do you go about knowing that you're at that right spot, you need to lean? Or how do you know the health of your business?
Crista: So honestly, it usually comes down to do you have way too much going on? You're constantly overworked, you're constantly overwhelmed? Or do you feel like you're always focused on the right things, things tend to be flowing, not that you don't have issues, because you know, you always have issues in business, there's always the unexpected things that come up. But you have a really high degree of confidence that you're always working on the right things that are actually making a difference, the things that are adding value for your customers and profitability for the business. And you have that really clear alignment to what your strategic objectives and goals and vision are for the business. If you're in that space, you're already well on your way to lean. If you're more in the place that a lot of businesses are, where there's just a lot going on, you're not quite sure if the things that you're doing or the things they're actually going to make the difference are actually going to really drive that profitability or be things that your customers are really looking for. That's when you know that you have a real opportunity to lean out.
Josh: Okay, I got a lot of great things to ask. So I know dad's always said to me, prior planning prevents piss poor performance. And it sounds like a lot of this comes down to making sure you are planning out for things like that, would that be fair to say?
Crista: Absolutely. I'm a huge fan of strategic planning. And I always add a lean flavor to that. So that you're combining that strategic planning along with lean practices. So you really are just getting super crystal clear on what are those things that are going to make the most difference so you can focus there, and just eliminate all that noise and waste in the system.
Josh: So I'm a big fan of lists myself, I love writing things. And I'll have a brainstorming day, normally with a cheeky beer and sit down and just write down. Okay, where is my business, where do I want it to be? Where's it going? And having an engineering background, I do a lot of planning, I do 90% planning, 10% execution. So sometimes I'd say I probably plan too much, then sometimes miss the reason why I was planning, that's a problem for me that I'm trying to overcome. But for others out there, if you've written a list of 100 things that need to be done in the business or ten things that need to be done in the business, how do you work out the one that is going to be that golden nugget that needs to focus?
Crista: Yeah, absolutely. And I love that you love planning because that means you're a lot better off than a lot of people. So here's where I think you really want to start with business, I think it's so incredibly important that you get really clear on vision. And I consider a vision, a next level vision is where you're looking at three different facets. You're not just thinking about where you want your business to be in the future. You're also especially if you're the business owner, you're thinking about your life and lifestyle and making sure that your business in the design of your business, your model actually matches that. But the third facet that a lot of people don't consider that I think is so important, is when you think of your vision, you're also thinking of your clients and your customers. And so what are your customers going to want from you and need from you at that point in the future? Just like where is you