[00:00:00] Speaker A: Friends with numbers. It's really not that intimidating, and sometimes it just takes a little bit of good old napkin math or pen and paper math to really understand everything.
[00:00:12] Speaker B: Entrepreneurs love talking about business. However, it's no secret there's also so many things they love talking about which are not about business. In the sea of business podcasts, NONE of your Business is a refreshing break. A surprise kiss, an afternoon fizz.
Through Carla Singson's cheeky and radical takes on mundane and principle heavy topics, you'll gain insights that guarantee you something to talk about on your first Tinder date while visiting Grandma or if you want to impress your new boss.
Big thanks to Proximity Outsourcing for sponsoring this episode. Outsource the most tedious tasks in your business such as data management, appointment setting and creatives for less than $12 an hour, fully managed. Visit proximityoutsourcing. For more info. Tired of business podcasts? Tune in to NONE of your Business new episodes weekly.
[00:01:26] Speaker A: If you love this podcast, please give us a review on Spotify or Apple Podcasts. It really means a lot to us. And if you love to make more, more money by improving your customer or client retention, loyalty and lifetime value, check out Alex's work at Huckleberry Consulting. He is offering a free one hour audit to just a lucky few. Just for the first 20 listeners who will reach out. It's super easy. Just go over to consulthuckleberry.com and book an appointment at his calendar and all you need to do is mention this page podcast. So this one hour free audit has a value of $500 and you're going to get it for free. If you're one of the first 20 listeners, just book an appointment at his calendar. Go over to consult huckleberry.com and all you need to do is just to mention this podcast. Come to that call with your customer success and client success problem and feel free to pick his brain.
That's all you need to do. So I hope you're one of the first 20. Let's go.
Hello, good morning and welcome to another episode of NONE of your business. Today is a super special episode because it is partially business, but most of all it is also about life. And today we are talking about how to lessen risks in life and business.
So I think some of you may know that in the past I have a career as a competitive poker player and I've definitely done some very risky things in my life like moving to a new country with like less than five friends. I think I did that twice actually in my life Traveling alone, starting a new business, starting a new business in an industry that I'm not familiar with. In fact, my first ever business, my flower shop, which has been around for over 15 years and we've even sold dealerships and franchise type business in a box arrangements with other business owners. We have still made that into a very successful business in my opinion. But that one was a risk because when I was starting that one, I did not know anything about flowers aside from that they're pretty.
But I definitely took that risk. And in the over 15 years of doing business, obviously I've started other business along other businesses along the way and I've also done a lot of other stuff. I have learned a few things that help me lessen risks in life and in business. So we're going to start number one is lots of clients do not do this. Lots of business owners do not do this. And it's super surprising to me, but when they don't, when I find out that they don't. But it is not doing market research.
So it's crazy because it doesn't matter if you're starting a side hustle selling peanut butter in your workplace or if you want to buy a $10 million franchise. You need market research. You need to talk to your clients. You need to see what your target market, what this personal profile or type of person thinks about, talks about, hangs out, what are they saying on Reddit, on Quora, on these Facebook groups, what are their insights, what are they really thinking, what are they buying? Who do they trust? So these are super duper basic marketing questions that we use for research. When I am consulting with companies, I usually ask these questions and sometimes it just blows my mind how there are businesses that have been around for five or 10 years and they haven't even done super basic market research. I literally send them a form and they can't fill out. They can't fill it out properly because they just haven't done it before. And so when I work with a company either for marketing or pr, I do consult, I still do consulting on the side and I still actually own a marketing and PR agency in the Philippines where we serve lots of big name clients.
We start with the research and if they don't have the data that should be in the market research, I tell them I can't even send you a proposal or I can't even send you a quotation because whatever we will be doing, I'm not even sure if that is the best thing that we should be doing. So unless the client Comes to me with their mind, already decided, already decided or already made up that you know, for example, they come to me and they say, hey Carla, we need six billboards in this amount of time at this thoroughfare. Just give me the prices. Unless they tell me that. And they're very straightforward.
I tell them, what do you need? What's the purpose?
Or what does your research tell you? So I work with a few clients right now on a consulting basis and this is definitely where we start. And in fact we charge for this additional thing. So we actually charge money even before we even send a proposal on what they should be doing. Because for me personally, it's malpractice to not do that. And so if you are thinking of anything that involves making money, whether it's a side hustle, whether it's a freelance career or whether it is a full on business, definitely do market research.
Now the version of this for life is picking your partner.
A lot of people, when you ask these single people, describe your ideal partner. So in that sense they are your target market. They always tell you about what they look like, like what their values are and what they will contribute to the life of your friend. But then when you ask your friend, but why do you think they would be hanging out, what are they thinking? Have you met these kinds of people?
What are their priorities? What are their motivations? Because to be honest, if you just think about that, it's kind of like doing market research. It's going to be easier for you to find your partner because now you have info, you have data that you can work with and then you can match your efforts on that kind of data. So it's super funny because one of my Facebook friends posted, oh, I cannot find good women anywhere. I think that most women that I know have half naked pictures on Instagram and all they care about is social media and nice clothes or a nice car and they have these demands and they want to be a kept woman, blah, blah, blah. So basically he was complaining. But I know that there are a lot of good women out there. In fact, I have lots of single friends that are also looking for an ideal guy. And honestly, it's funny because they also face the same predicament. But then I commented on that post of my Facebook friend, I think you're just hanging out in the wrong places. And as a joke I said, maybe you should go to church and masterminds. I think that's where your woman will be. But to be honest, I kind of meant that because if you think about the Kind of person that goes to church and that goes to business masterminds that are continuously working on themselves, maybe in personal development seminars too. I think you will find a certain caliber of person there. And that's your market research and that's how you can get to your target market. So that's tip number one.
Tip number two is crunch the numbers. This tip is super ugly sometimes and painful, but it's definitely needed. So I would say a little over a year ago I faced a trial in my business. I left the partnership that I had in a million dollar company with my former business partner. And that was the first time in a very long time where I absolutely felt cash strapped.
In fact, I even depended on my husband completely for my finances for a short amount of time. And even he was very nervous because I don't live a cheap lifestyle. But he definitely supported me and I'm super grateful because I' turn my business around. But one of the things that was painful for me to do but super needed was I downloaded money management app. There's so many money management apps right out there that are free, they're so easy to use, but you can just basically log all of your expenses there and you can see how much you're actually spending and what you're spending your money on. And I also love charging stuff on my credit card because I gain points that I can use for free, free flights, free stays in hotels and other rewards. But at the same time, most credit card companies will give you a statement and will break down your expenses like how much you spent on travel, how much you spent on food, how much you spent on groceries and things like that, entertainment, you know, movies and stuff like that. So it's nice because you actually get objective list of things that you're actually spending on. So that's one example. You know, your daily budget, you can crunch the numbers. I feel stupid doing it sometimes because I really get to face my misgivings in terms of budgeting. And a little caveat here, I'm the kind of person where it's all, it's super easy for me to make money compared to budgeting or stopping myself from spending. I'm just that kind of person. I would rather make more money than spend less. And so that has kind of have been my principle in life. Instead, if I needed money for something instead of cutting back, I usually just how can I make more money? How can I create something to provide more value to people so that there's a proper exchange of cash? And of course the value and the efforts that I put in their lives or in their business and however else I help them. And so same thing with your business, you know, crunching the numbers. When you are doing projections, when you're analyzing your balance sheet, try to understand everything in it. Actually, I really recommend you guys taking accounting for non accountants class. Now. I'm very lucky because I studied business administration in college. I majored in marketing, but my actual course was business administration. And we had multiple semesters dedicated to understanding your balance sheet, your ledger, accounting 101. And so it was super beneficial for me to do that in the past.
Right now I can have just high level conversations with my CPA and it's easy for me to understand all this accounting stuff. And it's also helped me become basically more educated when I was trying to understand doing my taxes. Obviously I own Philippine businesses and I also own a U.S. company, a U.S. corporate LLC. And it has helped me understand these things better. So be friends with numbers. It's really not that intimidating. And sometimes it just takes a little bit of good old napkin math or pen and paper math to really understand everything.
Another example for this is taking care of your health. Or if you want to drop a certain weight, you gotta crunch your numbers, you gotta compute your macros, you gotta weigh your food, you gotta think about how much protein is in your food, how many meals, how many calories, how much are you dropping, how much water are you drinking, how much sleep. All of these things are numbers. What? You know, even the milligrams on supplements that you're taking, all of these are numbers. So there's so many things that you can benefit from if you just try to be friendly with numbers and get yourself acquainted with some of the most important numbers in your life. And in fact, even just being better at arithmetic. Arithmetic.
Say that right?
My inner bisiah comes out, my Filipino accent comes out. But yeah, being better at, you know, that kind of math is super beneficial. It's not only useful when you're computing for a 40, 20, 10% discount or a 10%, 15%, 20% tip, it's not only useful for that, it's also useful for useful for a lot of things. So be friends with numbers and don't be afraid to crunch the numbers. So my next tip is talk to someone or be connected with someone who is able to do it or make it in life.
So I love this tip because it definitely lessens your risk in not succeeding if you just put yourself in rooms where you are always around people who are doing something amazing. In life, people who are already there or you want to go, people who really make a difference in the world. Because when you're always around these people and when you are in these rooms, the conversations are just different. The conversations are a different level. And it kind of raises the bar on what's normal for you, because you get to see what's around you and you are rewiring your brain to change what's normal quotations, what's normal for you. And if what's normal is talking about personal development, talking about faith, growing your business, finding a good partner, if these are the normal conversations that you're having, and even if you're not having these conversations, if you're watching these conversations happen and around you, that really makes a lot of difference, and that lessens your risk. Because in this process, you also get to learn.
You also get to learn from other people.
And so this leads to my next tip, which is like, learn how to be a friendly and influential person. So definitely the bible for this is how to Win Friends and Influence People by Dale Carnegie. Very, very good book.
Buy that book or buy the audiobook and list to it every year. But there's lots of tips out there, and there's lots of things that you will learn on what to really do, to be likable, to be influential, to be memorable to someone. This definitely puts you in a very good position in life and in business because lots of people want to work or hang out or spend time with or give to the kind of person who's friendly, influential, and the kind of person that makes them feel good. So no one. You know, at the end of the day, people can easily forget your name. They can easily forget your business or who you work for or who you're dating, but they will never forget how you made them feel. They will never forget their experience with you as a person. And this is why I really value getting to know people in a very deep way. Or I really work and do my best to make them laugh because then they're more relaxed and they will remember that they have a great time with me. So obviously, I'm not just, you know, preparing a joke for every encounter. I think I'm a naturally funny person, but I also have this little mindset of when I'm meeting a new set of people. I basically psych myself up and visualize being fun, being funny, being loved by everyone.
And it helps me really become more like, easy to love and easy to like when I'm with these people. And that puts me in the Right rooms. It puts me in a great place to be remembered in a positive way. And I think that's such an advantage in life. I think that definitely lessens your risk in business and in life. And that's the risk of being forgotten or the risk of being looked at as mediocre. And honestly, you don't really want that. Okay, so the next tip is take the shortcut always.
So obviously I'm not just saying take the shortcut when it comes to driving or I'm not encouraging you to do, to do something illegal or, or bad for your body, you know, like taking, taking a bad drug so that you can lose weight. I'm not, I'm not endorsing that. But when I say take a shortcut, invest in things that make things easier for you or gets you to your ideal outcome faster. So one of these things is hiring a mentor or hiring an expert or a consultant. And so sometimes even if we know what to do, we still need a coach for accountability. And most of the time that is really the easiest and fastest path to moving up in life and to solving the problems that you want to solve. So I don't regularly do coaching programs or I don't sell courses really for my Filipino following. I do have a large Filipino following of business owners and freelancers, and I do support them on a regular basis. But I have a very intimate mastermind, literally less than 10 people that I just give advice to. And then for other people, if they want to book, because I have so many inquiring all the time, they can just book a one hour consult with me. And in this one hour, I give them everything that I know about their problem. I send them a form beforehand. And then I really dive into their problems and what they want to solve. And I try to get an answer or a result, a specific result by the end of the call. And I, I would say 100, 100 of the people who book this call with me will have told, you know, will have their problems solved or like we'll, we'll know what is the next step for them. And they always tell me that, oh my God, that just gave me so much insight, so much optimism and that they're super happy they didn't go the long way or try to find a group coaching course. They just like went straight to the source and got their answers. Same thing. I'm that kind of person too. I was actually trying to figure out this email marketing thing for a very long time now. And then I, I will admit I bought some courses That I didn't even look at as probably have tons of PDFs about it as well. Because I'm really curious. I want to perfect it. I know email copywriting and I know email marketing, but I would say there's so many people who do this as their main business and they're experts and I would have questions every now and then. So every now and then I just book a time with a coach or a consultant. I pay for an hour and ask, I ask my questions and most of them actually do a follow up and they're super gracious of their time as well and they're super duper generous of their knowledge. I definitely feel like I took the shortcut or the business class or the first class to the information that I want. So do that. Hire a mentor, hire a consultant, hire an expert. Same thing with other parts of your life. You want to lose weight. If you want to get rid of the pests in your house, you can definitely do that yourself. But you can also hire a pest control company that has been doing it, you know, in an expert level for a very long time. So if you can, obviously budget is definitely factor as well. But if you can, hire a mentor, always hire a consultant, always hire an expert, take the shortcut. Because to be honest, time is the only resource that you can't get back. You can always get back that money, you know, charge it to your card if you really need it and figure it out afterwards. So, you know, take that advice with a grain of salt. Obviously it's not financial advice and it's very case to case basis, but it is a way to lessen risks and it lessen your risks in business and life because you are dropping the risk of wasting time.
Okay, next advice is try to learn how to argue from the other side. So a lot of people call this a devil's advocate way of arguing or proving something right or proving something wrong. Or in some interactions this could be called giving the benefit of the doubt. Right? And so in our lives we will experience very difficult situations with people that we love or people that are important to us or people that we value a lot in our business. And they did something wrong and we are really angry at them or mad or disappointed or frustrated. And so my tip is try to take a breather and learn to argue for their side. If you were them, what would make this justifiable? What would make them accountable for this? What makes sense for them? Why did they do that? So the more you do this, the more you understand them. You know, when you put yourself in their shoes. And it really helps give you get an eagle's eye view of the problem, which will get you to the solution faster. So quick little shout out. I also have another podcast episode called how to Solve Problems or How I Solve Problems. I recommend that you really check that out. It's also a really good episode. But yeah, try to learn to argue for the other side or consider the other side. And when I say learn to argue, I mean, like, learn to really find the motivation and the reason, as if you're arguing in front of a jury or you're presenting a certain situation in a particular way. So I'm very grateful for my experience in debate. When I was in college, I was a competitive debater. I debated in two formats. I debated in the British parliamentary format, where there are four houses and you have a partner. And I also debated in Asian parliamentary format where there are two houses with three team members each. So these sides would be obviously positive and the negative or the pro and the con. And in the debates, we called them the government and the opposition.
And when I did competitive debates, they would give us a topic and then we would draw, you know, our side. And so it really depends on what paper you pick if you're government opening, government, closing, government opening, opposition, and that will determine how you argue. So in fact, you don't. It doesn't matter what your stand is in that topic. If we have a topic about legalizing abortion, and I personally believe that abortion should be legalized, but I am tasked to argue on the opposition side, then I have to make arguments for that. So really, it is a competition and it is a sport. It is a sport about thinking and about analysis and about being articulate and about being persuasive because both sides are actually correct. It's just. It just depends on the adjudicator or the judge to decide who was a more persuasive debater or team. Right? And so another tip, if you have kids, it's super cool to make them do debate. I know that sounds super nerdy, but, you know, when they grow up, they are going to have some of the best trainings in public speaking and building their confidence in thinking fast and in finding logical mistakes in people's arguments and statements. This is why a lot of really good attorneys and lawyers are also really good debaters college. So learn to argue for the other side because this will lessen your risks in business and in life because it helps give you a better view of the problem. And it also helps give grace to the other side that you kind of are mad about or are mad at or angry at or disappointed at. So I have been in experiences, you know, in certain situations, even in my business, where I just couldn't help but be mad or not control my temper. And as I started to understand the other side, I became my own devil's advocate and I gave the benefit of the doubt and I used my debate training to develop arguments for the other side. It has definitely helped me understand them better. It has helped me understand my colleagues better, my clients, my employees, my business associates. So it's super helpful. And it's the same thing with life if you have a spouse and, you know, you're on different sides. I always tell my husband, we. Not me, just now, he tells me too, but we always tell each other, you know, put yourself in my shoes or just. Just try to see this perspective, you know, my perspective. And that's usually how it starts to become peaceful. Like, that's usually when the.
When the temper or when the tension simmers down, because then we take a breather and then we try to see, okay, if I was my wife, if I was my husband, why would I be. Why would I be thinking that? Why would. Why would I see it in a particular way? And it's super helpful for us, and it's super helpful to not just finish the argument and be friends again, but to really see the world on a more expanded worldview. And at the end of the day, that is. Is such a gift to yourself, and that is such an advantage when you see the world in an ex with an expanded worldview.
Our next tip is super easy.
I bet you already do this. I hope you guys do. But it's writing your goals every day and going through your list diligently. So I'm super old school. My favorite way to list my goals is through pen and paper. I just feel so scholarly and responsible when I do that. But I also have a Trello phone app, just the free version, nothing crazy. And it is for note taking or task taking when I'm on the go. So if I don't have my notebook or pen and I think of a particular task, I just put it on my little Trello app and has definitely helped me. So writing my goals every day and going through it diligently has helped me not forget things, has helped me stay on track with my goals, and also it has helped me just achieve more. So obviously you lessen your risks of failing when you do that because it's something visual. It's Something that you can see, it's something that looks real.
Now, I don't care how motivated you are, anyone can say that, oh my gosh, I have this dream, I have this, this vision. And people can have vision boards and everything. But without writing your goals down and going through your list and checking them off one by one on a day to day basis, nothing will really happen. Or even if you have a little bit of success, you will get to your destination longer. So one way that you can do that more efficiently is to give yourself, you know, an advantage. And that's super simple as writing your goals every day, going through your list diligently. And there's a saying that said that was, you know, make, make most of your day good because if most of it is good, then most of your week is good. And if most of your weeks are good, most of your months are good, and if most of your months are good, then most of your years will be good and so on. So personal development, growth, success, all of those things. It is a day to day commitment. Guys. I'm not saying you should work out every day, you should work eight hours or more every day. You know, sometimes it's just not the best thing to do for that day, obviously. But be intentional and go through your goals and your to dos diligently. And if you need to rest, no problem, you can definitely rest. And you can, you can give yourself a little bit of grace, but do not veer away from your goals. So, and get that list done.
Okay? So last, how to lessen risks in life and in business. I love this advice. Learn to manage your default. So what do I mean by this?
So a default is something that just happens without thinking, right? And this happens in our life. So people have certain defaults. So one example is what do you do when you're bored, right? Do you immediately get on your phone and scroll or do you go on audible or do you take that time to meditate or journal or go through your goals or can you maybe make a friend while you're waiting in line?
So that is one example. But there are certain pockets of your life where you do not want to think about what to do next and you just go to a default. So another example is your diet. So our default sometimes is I'll just get, you know, fast food, McDonald's or I immediately open like my Uber app if I'm hungry. And my top five there, it's like my five favorite fast food. So if that's your default, then that, that will be most of Your life because it is your default. And so if it requires a certain type of motivation to move away from your default and be intentional. And yes, it is good to be intentional, but if your defaults are bad, then there's a higher risk of you not getting to your goals. And so this is also really good for your mental health if you arrange particular defaults that basically protect you from yourself. No, I know that sounds a little pessimistic, but let me give an example. So I used to watch a lot more tv. I watch way less TV now. And so one way that I manage that is at night when I'm preparing to wind down.
My default is now going to my Kindle. So reading a book.
And I have, I think I read at least three books every month now, back to back. Not. Not just audiobook, but an actual book on my Kindle at least. And I also still read audiobooks. I still listen to podcasts that I learn a lot about, you know, things that I'm just interested in life. And on top of that, I still watch, like, stuff on YouTube Premium that also helped me, like, learn stuff. And so. But my default, you know, when I'm winding down to sleep is reading. In the past, it used to be tv. Now also, another thing that I started doing this year is I. When I want to binge something, you know, sometimes I love binging, like shallow reality shows like Love is Blind or Too Hot to Handle Perfect Match, I have decided that I will only do that on a treadmill. And so that is a nice default, right? Because I'm not. If it's not on a treadmill, I'm not doing it. And then, you know, even if I am consuming something, something that's not very good for my brain, I am doing something that's good for my body. And so I've managed my defaults well. Another thing is for me, which is so small, but could be, you know, could be something positive once you add it all up, is having healthy snacks. Because when, you know, at random times of the day, especially if you're a woman, you know, it depends on your hormones sometimes, like how hungry you are or what types of food you're craving if all you have in your house are unhealthy snacks. I used to have Doritos all the time. Pringles. I used to have those things all the time. But now I have lots of, like, healthy snacks that are my defaults if I need a snack or if I'm feeling a little bit hungry, but I don't want to Ruin my appetite for dinner or lunch. I just go to my pantry and get a healthy snack. So this morning I was feeling kind of lazy and so I had, I made Mac and cheese, bacon and scrambled eggs for breakfast and it was gluten free, gluten free pasta and it was herb cheese too. And we immediately, my husband and I immediately noticed the difference. It wasn't heavy and I know it sounds, it sounds like junk food because Mac and cheese and bacon, but it was healthier. And so we, we have just made our lives a certain way that our defaults are healthier and better for us. And so these things really matter in business too. This one example for this is what are you doing when you have nothing to do? Do you do lead generation? Do you, do you go on podcasts? Do you try to find PR stuff for your business? So these things are super important because these are the things that you fall into whenever you don't feel very motivated. These are your defaults. Okay, so some other words for this are habits and routines.
So at night I also have a default which is just before I sleep. I always put on my beauty products and drink my supplements, my sleep supplements. And that's my default. So that happens even if I'm traveling, that still happens. That's just my default. It is, is already there built in in my system and I have a personal expectation of doing that. So that has been my default since I was 19. That's a very long time ago.
So it's, it just happens. There's no effort. That's it. And the other benefit is certain defaults also send signals to your brain, send positive signals. For example, if it is your default to, or your habit to put your beauty products in your skin before sleeping, then as you're putting that cream on, you will notice you actually start winding down mentally and you start preparing for sleep mentally. And because of that's easier for you to sleep. And so I've never had problems sleeping. In fact, it always amazes my husband how fast I fall asleep right now.
But that is because I've managed to do a lot of of parts of my routine that train send signals to my brain that you know, when it's time to sleep, it's time to sleep. So now I've added Kindle on there and it's super effective. Sometimes I only, I only get to read three pages and I'm out, I'm sleepy. So yeah, that is the podcast how to lessen risks in life and in business.
Number one, do market research. Number two, crunch the numbers three.
Learn how to win friends and influence people. Shout out to that famous book by Dale Carnegie. Next, talk to someone or be inside rooms where there are people that are already at the place where you want to be in life. Next is Hire a mentor, consultant, or an expert. Always take the shortcut. Next is Try to learn to argue for the other side or see the opposite perspective of what you believe in. Second to the last one, write your goals every day and go through your list diligently. And lastly, manage your defaults. So for me, those are the best ways to lessen risks in business and in life. Obviously, everything still comes with a risk, but if you're doing this and you're you're entering it and you're entering life in a way where you can manage your risks and really be more intentional, then that really puts you in a very good spot. It helps you avoid mistakes that others have made. And most of all, there's a very, very likelihood that you will be ahead of your peers mentally, financially, physically and emotionally. So let me know what you think of this episode. Message me on Facebook or Instagram. You can find me easily. It's Carla Singh Son on Facebook and Carla Stefan on Instagram. If you also want to join my newsletter where I basically share my journey of growing my business and living life my own terms, you can find my
[email protected] resources so thank you so much for hanging out with me. Hope you like this episode and I'll see you next week for another episode of none of your Business. Bye.
So it's a wrap to my entrepreneur friends. I hope that you found this episode interesting and enjoyable. I know I did. Big thanks to our sponsor Proximity Outsourcing for making this possible. If you need to outsource anything in your business business so you can scale fast and easy, visit proximityoutsourcing.com and check out their solutions. If there's any topic that you want to request, feel free to reach out. I only have two conditions. You tell me why you find it interesting and you promise it's not business talk. Find us on Spotify, Apple Podcasts and YouTube and leave us a comment or review because you're cool like that. This is your host, Carla and thank you so much for joining me. Thank you for your interest in fun stories. Now we can get back to business. See you next week. And remember, everything here is none of your business.
