In this episode of "Talk Local to Me," hosts Heather and Mike kick off 2026 by reflecting on last year’s goals and sharing their new intentions. They discuss the importance of setting clear, actionable goals, learning from setbacks, and being intentional with commitments. The hosts offer practical tips for staying organized, avoiding burnout, and making thoughtful decisions. They also highlight upcoming events from the Central Virginia Business Coalition and introduce their new video series, "Teatime," which spotlights local business owners. The episode encourages listeners to pursue growth and community connection in the new year.
Transript:
Certainly! Here is the episode transcription with last names removed and only the speakers Mike and Heather included. All other speakers, ads, and last names have been omitted.
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Heather 00:02:01
Happy New Year everyone. Welcome back to Talk Local to me. I'm Heather with the Central Virginia Business Coalition.
Mike 00:02:06
And I'm Mike with Visiting Angels of Lynchburg, America's Choice in Home Care.
Heather 00:02:11
Well, we are happy that you're tuning in with us today. And hopefully, you know, you tuned in last year. If you didn't, go ahead and prerequisite this one by going back to last year's first podcast of the year, where we talked about goal setting, because that's something we are going to be talking about again today.
Heather 00:02:29
And we don't have any guests on the show. So it's just me and Mike, and you're going to have to deal with that. And lucky you. And yeah, you're going to enjoy it and you're going to love it. I actually have talked to a couple of people this week leading up to today's podcast, and informed them that we were going to be talking today about goal setting, because that seems to be on everyone's mind. And so hopefully, if you're someone that I've spoken to and you're listening live, great. And if you aren't listening live and you're just, you know, tuning in after this has been uploaded to wherever you're getting your podcasts. Maybe you're cooking dinner. Maybe you're doing some work and just need something on in the background playing. Hopefully you'll get a little insight and take a little nugget from today's podcast, and it'll kind of help you with your goal setting for 2026.
Mike 00:03:13
Right. Because I'm not big on on resolutions like New Year resolutions, because they usually last about two weeks and then they just kind of you forget about them and don't go through.
Mike 00:03:21
But I feel like setting goals is a different thing because you're not just saying, hey, I'm going to, you know, eat less Christmas trees or you know, things like that. Like you're you're actually like building a habit.
Heather 00:03:33
Yeah. I think, I think for me, a lot of, what I'm talking about today, and really, I wasn't really sure what my word was going to be until the last week or so of December. Rolling into last two weeks of December, rolling into, you know, this week. And a lot of it had to do with some things that happened just in December. That really have set me on a different path for 2026. Right? And, I'm, you know, I'm not going to go into my work quite yet, but, it's just some things that I'm looking at for myself personally and professionally that I feel very hopeful will lead me on a kind of a in a different direction than where I have been in the last couple of years. So, you know, I'm excited for its different changes, but I think that's good.
Heather 00:04:22
I think everyone needs some changes. you can't always keep going down the straight path and expecting not to stumble or not to have roadblocks in your way and, you know, needing to to make those changes. And it's better to be ready for them and prepared for them before you hit them.
Mike 00:04:36
Right? So and so last year we had a show and we talked about goals. Do you remember your goal from last year?
Heather 00:04:41
Sure enough I don't I can't remember.
Mike 00:04:43
So I guess we can't.
Heather 00:04:45
I didn't go back and listen.
Mike 00:04:46
To it. Successful or not. No it wasn't so I'm not sure I didn't listen.
Heather 00:04:50
Oh, okay. I wonder if you remember or not.
Mike 00:04:52
I remember my goal last year was, was, I think it was. Ironically, I think it was to be intentional and have growth.
Heather 00:04:58
Ironically, that is mine for this year.
Mike 00:05:00
And it was, to have growth. Well, we we had growth. We actually hit our, the previous year's revenue and, and all that stuff, which is kind of what we track, in October.
Mike 00:05:11
So we had three extra months to kind of build onto that. But it was a very hard year work wise, like just for everybody in the office, just because it felt like we were like we were having to do a lot more to get that extra growth. Right? Right. So we achieved the goal. But at what cost? Right. We didn't really I didn't really analyze it. as much as I probably should have this year using ChatGPT, like I was able to kind of see like where we hit the goals and it was, you know, it, it started talking about what about the goals last year, Like, did you achieve the goals or did you fail goals and that it's okay for you to change a goal mid-year, right? Or to or each month even, and to also realize that some goals just don't come to fruition. Like they're going to fail. And that's okay. Yeah, right. Because you just need to learn from it and and go on. So, my word of the year this year is lazy.
Mike 00:06:14
And before you start thinking like, that's crazy.
Heather 00:06:17
So wait, before we get into the goals. Yeah. Before we get into the let's before we before we jump in, I do want to kind of kick off. I do want to talk about a little bit about what we have coming up.
Mike 00:06:26
Okay.
Heather 00:06:26
I do that with the Central Virginia Business Coalition. Just so those of you who are making the goals to do more and be more involved this year, go ahead and start throwing some things on your calendar, because we got a lot, coming up. And, as part of my, my, my goal of being intentional, I want to, you know, I've been getting all these things done way ahead of time so that, you know, people can be intentional, put things on their calendar and be ready to go and not waiting for me to throw something up last minute and then saying, oh, hey, okay, there it is.
Mike 00:07:00
Oh, I can't do that.
Heather 00:07:01
Because I didn't go, so.
Mike 00:07:01
I couldn't prepare.
Heather 00:07:02
Yeah. So that's one of my, my big my big goals. And I've been really I'm you know, I'm really proud like all of our, our major events they're set the dates are they're.
Mike 00:07:11
Rocking.
Heather 00:07:11
It out. Yeah. The dates are done. The venues are set. Everything's ready to roll. so I will say for for January, January is a big month for networking, just because a lot of people kind of slack off in things like November and December due to the holidays, and they want to jump back in for January. So we actually have quite a bit of networking opportunities in January, and I want to go ahead and get those down on your schedule. We've also made all of our coffee talks there now like very, very set, very dedicated days of the of the month. So but for January. If you're in the AltaVista Campbell County area, you want to get out, you want to network. We're going to be there at the Spark Innovation Center January 22nd.
Heather 00:07:54
I encourage you to come out and kick off the New year, with your business and make some connections. And then the very next day, we're moving our Appomattox Coffee talks from Tuesdays to Fridays. So, Friday the 23rd, we will be at the Appomattox Inn Suites. So if you're in that Appomattox area, Concord, Pamplin, or you're in the Lynchburg area and you're looking to branch out into Appomattox, we will be at the Appomattox Inn and Suites on the 23rd from 830 to 10. That's both of those are from 830 to 10. the following week, which is that last week of January. We have two things going on Tuesday, the 27th, if you are, maybe you are a new member of the Central Virginia Business Coalition. You've been a member for a few months. Maybe you're a business that's been listening in, is not a member, but wants to learn more. Or maybe you are a member than have been a member for years and just want an update on your benefits. We are hosting our first Bagels and Benefits of the year, which is our membership kind of benefit refresher course that is going to be on the 27th from 830 to 10 at the Homewood Suites.
Heather 00:09:03
And then following that, if you would like to stay, you can run out from between ten and noon, you know, leave the Homewood Suites, run out, grab yourself some lunch, but hop back over for our first lunch and learn of the year. And that's actually going to be hosted by myself. We're going to be doing our networking 101 lunch and learn. I thought that was a very, you know, purposeful lunch and learn to hold at the beginning of the year because people are just trying to get into networking. How do you network? What's the best way to network? I think that's something that scares a lot of people. And I feel like if you have those tools starting the year out, it's going to be more helpful going going through it. So, that's.
Mike 00:09:41
Our CVABC.
Heather 00:09:42
No, That's also at the Homewood Suite. So we're going to be there. Gotcha. All day. people can just run out, grab their lunch and come back. It's free. So it's not something you have to, you know, pay to be a part of.
Heather 00:09:51
And, so that's on the 27th. the networking one on one is from noon to one. And then lastly, our coffee talk for January is going to be Friday, January 30th at the Happy Waffle from 8:00 to 10:00. so I put all those those are all smaller networking events. We do have major ones coming up as well. Our annual business dinners February 20th nominations are open on our website for those. If you are interested in nominating a business for, ten, there's ten total categories as well. you can go on and nominate that. And then if you'd like to get tickets February 20th, you can purchase those there $60. And we'll be at Legacy Auditorium. We have our theme for this year is Diamonds and Denim. So you can dress up like you'd wish or guys, you can show up in your blue jeans. It's going to be very kind of, glitzy and western themed all at the same time. But we're going to have a really great presentation by Butch Jefferson and Tameka Younger. They're going to be doing kind of like a skit slash presentation for that event.
Heather 00:10:53
That ought to be, yeah, so excited for that. Then our lead on summit will be happening March 26th at the Craddock and Terry Hotel in downtown Lynchburg. we're currently securing sponsor, I mean, not sponsor securing speakers for that event. and we'll have more information as they come out. And then our home and garden showcase is happening April the 11th at E.C. Glass High School. We have both gyms secure, so we are looking to have a wonderful day that people can come out and learn more about who they can get. Home and garden services, home services in our area. So those are like our bigger events coming up. our Empower Women's event will also be hitting, but I'm not going to dive too much into that either right yet. but wanted to just kind of highlight that. I know that just took up quite a bit of time, and I know there may be people that are listening in. That are not from our area, and they're just like, how does this apply to me? It doesn't necessarily unless you want to come and join us.
Heather 00:11:46
We'd love for you to come into Lynchburg and come to any of our events. but with that being said, looking wherever you're at, look around your area and see where you can participate. I think that's really big at the beginning of the year to see where, you know, where can you network, where can you grow your business, where can you get resources from? so even if you're listening in and you're not a business, you're just a community member. Support local. Go out and find where you can, you know, can do that. So that's kind of what we've got going on. And, hope that we'll see you this year. at some of these events.
Mike 00:12:23
Sounds good. So that's quite a bit of things happen in the next couple of months.
Heather 00:12:26
That's a lot of things happening.
Mike 00:12:27
So I like it. So yeah.
Heather 00:12:30
So we're back to you being lazy.
Mike 00:12:32
Back to me being lazy. So my word word of the year is lazy. And that may not make a lot of sense to you at the moment, But one of my favorite quotes is, I think, by Bill gates, and it says, if you have a difficult task, assign it to a lazy person and they'll find the easiest way to do it.
Mike 00:12:45
So my word of the year is lazy because I want to, work smarter. And, you know, I feel like we have the goal of growth last year, and, you know, it's, you know, to be quite honest, it caused a lot of burnout on my staff and myself because we were working so hard to work for that growth and sometimes even maintain because we have a, you know, we're doing senior care. So people do pass away and things like that. And so, you know, a couple big clients, if they pass away, it can drastically affect our hours for the week and month and all that. So, just trying to find to where we can put out the same amount of effort but have a lot more practical work done and not just, you know, if we're doing something like in the hiring and we're repeating steps or it takes a lot of labor time to get something done, maybe there's a system or a service that we can use to make that that process easier.
Mike 00:13:36
Very good, very good.
Heather 00:14:38
Yeah. So Mike, we kind of already alluded to it, but my word for this year is intentional. I didn't remember that that was your word from last year, but, yeah.
Mike 00:14:49
I think it was.
Heather 00:14:50
I, I decided on intentional because the more I looked at it, you know, being intentional means acting with a purpose and having clarity for what you want your goals to be and acting upon that. Not not so much just being reactive and jumping into something just because it looks like it may be a good idea. I'm really good at that. I see an idea and I just jump and I'm like, let's do it, let's do it. And I don't look at the long term. Or do I even have the time to fulfill this idea or, you know, even in my personal life, I, I, you know, I jumped to help pretty much anybody who is in need all the time. Right. And I don't necessarily always look at how that's going to affect Myself or others around me, whether it's my staff or whether it's the rest of my family or things like that.
Heather 00:15:38
So I'm trying to do things with more of a purpose and, asking myself, like, why am I doing this before I just jump into to doing it? and just recognizing, like how I'm going to spend my, my time and how the decisions that I make, how is that going to affect. and with that, it's also about not, for those of you who don't know, my daughter Autumn, she's she's very intentional about things. she also has one of those attitudes of, I'm a people pleaser. and that's that's kind of how I have kind of been in maybe all my life, but definitely in the last maybe 8 to 10 years. And, I always, I always joke that I'm going to channel my inner autumn because autumn is that person where she's not going to cut uni slack, she's not going to care. You know, I mean, she cares, but you know what I'm saying? Like she if you don't do something, she's not going to care that you're like, oh, well, if you don't do this, I'm gonna do this.
Heather 00:16:41
She's gonna be like, well, then don't do it. You know, whatever. And, I'm always that person that kind of bows down. I please, I want to make sure, like. Oh, well, I have to do.
Mike 00:16:50
Let me fix your issue.
Heather 00:16:51
Yeah, that. Let me fix your issue or. Oh, I've got to do this because if I don't, then they may not be a sponsor anymore. Or they may not do this anymore. They may not do that anymore. And I've come to realize, especially in these last couple of months, that I've bowed down enough and it still didn't get me the results I wanted. Right? So why did I waste that extra energy on somebody who didn't really deserve the energy?
Mike 00:17:17
Right? Because you don't really have the capacity to take everything on.
Heather 00:17:20
And that's where I'm going with it. That's where I'm going with it this year. I just, I don't I don't have it in me going into 2026.
Mike 00:17:28
And I feel like our words kind of go really well together because the, like with mine being lazy and just trying to find the easiest way to do things and being more efficient while being intentional goes right along with that.
Mike 00:17:38
Right? because a lot of times it's a whole lot harder to react to something than it is to plan. Yeah. For something. Right? Yep. And so it's, you know, you've got situations that may come up that are unexpected and you can't really help those. But if you can kind of learn from like, oh, this happened once, it's probably going to happen again. History repeats itself. Right? So, making sure that we're, not doing extra work because of emergencies and being intentional in where we choose to make decisions and, and what we take on. because a lot of times we have the, the, the feeling because we're both people pleasers. Right? So it's really hard to, tell somebody like, no, I can't do that. Even though, like, you know, that they need the help. Things like that. But we can't fix everything.
Heather 00:18:25
Well, and in speaking with my my staff yesterday because I was going over, you know, the word, what my word was.
Heather 00:18:31
And it's also about being more engaged in current in the moment instead of always worrying about the next thing and worrying constantly about this or that. And I am I am a big worrier. you know, my anxiety gets all up in my I get all up in my fields and then I start to worry. And I also got to thinking about it the other day. And there's just some things like it is out of my control. there are things that I'm, you know, I'm not going to be able to control certain elements of my professional life or my personal life and, and to some degree, the people that I'm so worried about, I've got to, you know, just kind of let them understand that, you know, you can be concerned, but I can't control that. And what I can control, I am controlling and I am worried and I am doing the things I'm being proactive where I need to be, but there's no need for me to worry about something currently that I have six more months or seven more months to worry about when I'm trying to make the baby steps to get them.
Mike 00:19:35
To worry about, but to prepare for.
Heather 00:19:37
Yeah, to prepare for or just to, you know, like I said, you know, intentionally start focusing on the things that can.
Heather 00:20:45
See terms you know, be worked on. but I can't control whether a business closes. I can't control whether a sponsor has to reduce their their sponsor level. I can't control whether, you know, a venue has closed down that I used to use. You know, there's just things like in anybody's life, if you're out there listening, it's really about, you know, setting that, you know, looking at maybe there's something on your plate right now that you're really concerned about. It's driving you. Your anxiety is super high. And sit down there and break it down piece by piece. What part of that can you actually control versus what part of that is completely out of your control, you know? And instead of having this humongous, massive big picture that you're just puzzled that you're trying to put all these pieces together and it's frustrating you because you can't get like the end piece to to go into the piece that you know that doesn't fit.
Heather 00:21:39
Breathe. And little by little, take those pieces and pull them aside and say, okay, I can control this. I cannot control this. And see with the things that you can't control, is there a way to work around it? Is there something you can do, you know, potentially to to help? And if not, let it go.
Mike 00:22:02
And recognize let it make things easier. So when you go to do a puzzle, let's say you're doing a 1000 piece puzzle. Where do you start? Me? Yeah.
Heather 00:22:09
The edges, the edges.
Mike 00:22:10
Everyone starts at the edges, right? So building the framework of what you need to do, like and just working on piece by piece, it's all going to come together. Right? But you can't just put the whole picture together at once. And I think a lot of times people get frustrated because they're like, I have this idea. And then they want it to just be done. And it's like, you have to have the pieces and sometimes you can't.
Mike 00:22:32
You know, putting that last piece in, it's very satisfying. But getting to that point takes a lot of other steps. Yep. So you can't just have something happen and boom it's done. You've just got to take the time and be intentional. Yep. And do it the lazy way. Find the easiest way to do it. The easiest way to do it. Start with the edges because they're easier to identify.
Heather 00:22:50
And and and I go back to the whole thing about asking yourself like what is your why? Like why are you doing what you're doing? Right. you know, in my case, I sat down and I looked at our events. I looked at things that were doing, and I, and I asked myself, well, why are we doing, like, this event? What is the purpose behind it? Or maybe it wasn't necessarily the event itself, but why were we doing this piece inside of the event? Like does this need to happen? Like for example, our empower our Empower seminar.
Heather 00:23:21
You know, for the last this will be our eighth year of this this, you know, event. And it's a wonderful event, and it's an event that I stand behind. And if I had to choose one event of all the events we do to to keep and had to throw out everything else, it would be this event, the empower event, I believe very strongly in and and I love. But there's part of that event. and I've changed it year after year. You know, we started with the Athena Award. We had an awards part of the the women's event, and we had to pay a massive amount of money for the rights to that Athena award. So after, you know, 3 or 4 years and trying to get sponsors to cover it, we finally decided, you know, we're not we're no longer going to do the Athena Award. It was great. It was, you know, it has a name recognition to it. But did that name recognition really bring more people? No.
Mike 00:24:10
Didn't did the trophy show up broken?
Heather 00:24:12
No it did. Trophy broke. So you know so So then we decided, okay, let's just make our own award. So we came up with just the Central Virginia Women in Leadership Award. We had that for two years. And, you know, we created our own little award and had nominees and whatever. And so then this year, you know, I'm sitting there looking at the cost to even get our own award and, and just not even the cost of the award, but then the energy that you have to put out to, you know, get people to nominate and then to find judges to read all the nominees and to go through all of that. And it's just it's a lot. it just, you know, and so I sat there and I thought to myself, well, is this even needed? Are people coming to empower because of the 30 minute award ceremony we do for the, you know, Empower award? They are not. So why is it they're like, why are we wasting energy, money and time on something that is not even the central to focal point of the event? So that's just kind of a big piece of it.
Heather 00:25:16
So this year there's no no award. It's all speakers. It's all about what the event is actually intended for. The why of empower, which is bringing women together and listening to these speakers and uplifting each other. And, so again, yeah, that's what I've been doing a lot of.
Mike 00:25:32
I think that's good. It's good to reflect on, like, you know, you talk about why what's our why. Right. So, you know, at the end of the day, it all comes down to like a paycheck, right? Because we have to feed our families things like that. But we choose where that paycheck comes from. Right. And so finding a job that has a purpose that we believe in and being able to help our community and help, you know, other businesses, things like that. I think you found that and I found that in what I do. And so, you know, finding the why for each part of our job is also important, right? Like, why are we doing this? So, you know, we Host coffee for caregivers for through Love Heals at our office.
Mike 00:26:16
They were there this morning and it's like, you know, I had to do a lot of cleanup because we'd been taking Christmas trees and things like that down. There was glitter everywhere, and so I had to clean up before they got there. This morning, I was like, I could be doing a lot of other things other than cleaning up glitter and and getting everything ready for people to come in here and just use our space. And then before I left, like seeing the people that were in the the meeting and the they were talking and what they were talking about and things like that. And it's like, you know, this really brings value to our community. So yeah, it was worth me having to get to work half hour early to kind of clean up. Right. And you know, but it it would be very easy for me to go, oh we don't need to do this. Like we don't get anything out of it. Right. But it's not necessarily what we get out of it compared to what our community gets out of it.
Mike 00:26:56
And that's why we do what we do.
Heather 00:26:57
Yeah. Yeah. And seeing that's, that's a great way to, to why you have that program you know that comes in and you know we had A55 hour staff meeting yesterday. Oh my God I want to say it was a big one. It was a long, extremely productive staff meeting. you know, myself and Megan and Autumn, and then we even had Terry Heilig and Stat come in and sit in with us, and we had a very productive meeting. And, you're one of our delegates. I'm sure you got. You got the email. Did you did you finish reading? I did read it.
Mike 00:27:28
I haven't filled out the form.
Heather 00:27:30
I know I'm.
Mike 00:27:31
On.
Heather 00:27:31
Time. I'm very proud of you. Very proud of you. but that was another thing. Like, we we wanted to be intentional in the programs that we're offering, and we have a, we have a program that we've had for years and years and years and and every year I say, you know, we got to do a little bit better.
Heather 00:27:46
We got to get people more involved. And I've always been this whole like, well, I don't want to make them. You know, they're volunteers and they're doing this. But then I got to thinking about it and I said, yeah, there are volunteers, but they are volunteering to do this. And so they need to be intentional about this program and what they're doing. This isn't just to come eat free pizza once a month. Deal. you know, if you're going to come in here and, you know, be part of the time that we're putting into it and the effort that we're putting into it, like do that. So we've got some very intentional plans for the the delegate team this year. And my first step, which I, you know, was really excited about, was actually, you know, putting out a actual lead delegate. So I have one person on our delegate team that I'm basically making almost the president of the delegates, if you will, but it's like a lead delegate that I know will actually put in the work and implement plans.
Heather 00:28:43
And it takes some of that off of myself and Megan because we don't always have the time. And that's, you know, I'm being very intentional in delegating this year. things that I need delegated. So, you know, having someone that can take minutes and send those to our delegates at the end of the, you know, end of the day and, you know, check on whether they're attending or, you know, hey, can you come to this meeting or this event or, you know, reaching out and encouraging them to do more. I think it's going to be I think it's going to be good. going into 2026.
Mike 00:29:17
Yeah, I think so.
Heather 00:29:18
So again, that's just another thing. But we sat down, yesterday and we went through I mean, we went through everything. We went through all of our events. We went through our membership packets, we went through all kinds of things. And we were just like, again asking the why? Why are we doing this? Or is this going to be beneficial? how can we fix certain things? And, I left yesterday feeling really good.
Heather 00:29:45
probably for the first time in a while. Right. And, I think as a business owner. So if you're out there, you know, listening, sometimes that's just what it what it takes. I know sometimes you you probably are leaving and and it may maybe this is even in your personal life, and you just you just haven't felt good. You just feel unsettled. Maybe. I think that's kind of a good word. You feel unsettled? and that's how I've been, you know, for for quite a bit. And, and I feel like if you don't take the steps to fix it, you know, as much as I love what I do and or even on my personal side, I love my family. You get burnt out, right? And so you've got to make some sort of change, right?
Mike 00:30:26
Yeah. And so I have a work goal and I have a personal goal. Okay. So my personal goal this year is to just make time for myself. Right. Because I am terrible at doing that because it's like you know I'm usually at work until like 630 at night.
Mike 00:30:39
And usually she just texted me like, hey, what time are you coming home? When should I start cooking dinner? Things like that. And it's so making time for myself, not just when I'm supposed to be off, right? But also making time for myself during the day as well. Because we can't just go into work and just go, go, go. Like, we've got to be able to take a minute to kind of reflect and things like that. And so my work goal is designed to help my personal goal be achievable. Right. So if we can find easier ways to do things at work, I'm not going to be there trying to fix a problem or trying to get something done before a deadline like last minute. Like you know, just kind of if it's easier to do it doesn't seem overwhelming of a task to tackle. Right. Right. So, because the, the having time for myself, like, you know, like I wanted to, like, I have tools.
Mike 00:31:32
I have so many tools. It's crazy because I have a lot of different machines, things like that. Added a new one this Christmas. So, finding all the things that go with the tools and organizing them, getting them together, like I wanted to do that like in June. Right. Still it's still not done because I haven't been able to take time for myself to like clean up my garage and get everything straight. And so I go looking for something simple like a screwdriver and like I've got to dig through like four different places because they've been spread out everywhere. So like getting all of that stuff done and set up and everything like that. I can't do it if I don't make time for it. So. Yeah. Just taking time for myself to do things.
Heather 00:32:05
So we're going to cut to a quick commercial break, but think about we would love to hear from you guys about what your goals are. So if you're listening on the podcast and want to shoot us a comment, you know, whether it's, you know, on the on the podcast thread or you want to just send us a, something through our Facebook or Talk Local to Me Facebook page.
Heather 00:32:24
We would love to hear what your goals are for 2026. We'll be right back.
Heather 00:34:19
Omega provides 24/7 emergency response, ensuring that help is always available, locally owned and not a franchise. Omega is your first and last call in any emergency, restoring your home or business from beginning to end. For more information about Omega Disaster Restoration and their comprehensive services, please visit. Omega disaster restoration. Lynchburg. All right, we're back. How do I set a goal?
Mike 00:34:45
How do you set a goal?
Heather 00:34:46
I said, well, I mean, how do you set a goal?
Mike 00:34:48
Well, let's talk about it. How do you set a goal? Like if somebody's listening and they're like, I have no idea where to even start. I don't know what my goal is.
Heather 00:34:56
What or if like a resolution, you set one last year and you're just like. Or you're like me, you forgot what what even was right by the end.
Mike 00:35:01
Of the year. So, like, what's the most popular resolution out there? You think.
Heather 00:35:05
I'm going to go with it either to lose weight. Yep.
Heather 00:35:08
Stop smoking or drinking. Yep. or get more like active. Do more exercise.
Mike 00:35:14
Exercise, exercise and lose weight. Okay, I figured and so the gyms are packed in January, right? They start to slow down in February.
Heather 00:35:22
My goal is to not step in a gym in this.
Mike 00:35:25
So my goal why do people fail at their resolutions, right. Because that's a resolution is a baby goal. it's one aspect of so if you're going to set a goal, the things that you want to do is you want to you want to define a clear outcome. You want something that you can measure. So let's let's just take going to the gym for an example. Let's say I'm going to go to the gym more. Well that doesn't really tell you. That's kind of like Heather, I want you to go paint that. Well yeah. And it's missing a lot of information. Like what color would finish? Like, do you want to do the trim a different color? Things like that. Like you've got to have more detail than that.
Mike 00:35:58
So if you say like, I'm going to work out more. You can't just say, I'm going to work out more. You get to say, like, I'm going to go to the gym three days a week. Like, that's my goal. And then you can clearly track that because you're like, oh, if I only went twice this week or I went four times this week, you're either above the goal or below the goal. Right. So being able to track your goal is important and not just for a lot of people set like a yearly goal, things like that. But being able to set something where you can track it as you go. So I want to exercise more. So I want to go to the gym three days a week and then being able to look and you actually need to write down like here's one I went to. Like put it on your calendar. This is when I went to the gym. This is you know, and if you didn't go, why didn't you go, you know, was it? Well, it was a busy week.
Mike 00:36:42
I didn't have time now. Did you not have time or did you not make time because the motivation wasn't there?
Heather 00:36:47
And I think that's where you write like right there. That part was I think a lot of us set these these set goals. You set resolutions, but then the excuses really they start to set in pretty quickly. Right. And I think a lot of times those excuses come about because you didn't set the appropriate pieces to your goal. You know what I'm saying? Like like you were saying, it's enough to say, oh, I'm going to go to the gym. Perfect. But if you didn't set what day you're going to go to the gym and what time you're going to go to the gym and like how you're, you know, that sort of thing. The potential is you're going to get up that more and go, oh, I'm going to go to the gym. And then 20 other things will happen and you don't go to the gym. Yep. So you're going to make that.
Mike 00:37:24
You're going to wake up. And so I used to go to the gym every day. when I back in the days when I worked in manufacturing, I got up at 430 every morning and went to the gym for at least 30 minutes. Right. So the days that I was like, I don't really feel like doing this, I woke up late, had trouble getting everything together. Like, I would go for at least 30 minutes and like, run or walk on the treadmill. So I did that. I lost like £50 doing that. Right. So and I wasn't trying to lose weight. I was just trying to get more active. Right. So But if I didn't, because I would go to go to the gym at 430 in the morning, I would leave at six, 630 and then go to work. Okay. Well after I go work out I need to take a shower at the gym and go. So I need to have clothes to wear for the day. So if I didn't pack my clothes in that gym bag the night before I was a lot less likely to go.
Mike 00:38:08
Yeah. So you've got a plan to achieve your goal, so you can't just say, well, this is my goal and I'm just going to do better at it. Like, yeah, actually write out the steps for everything you need to do. So you've got to make sure that laundry's done first of all. And then you've got to make sure that, like, your gym bag is packed and you're ready to go and you've got what you need, and then you've got to set the alarm. You've got to make sure you go to bed early enough so that you can get up. Because when I was getting up at 430 every morning, I was not up till 11, 12:00 at night. Right. Right. So first of all, I'd gotten up at 430 that morning, so I was exhausted and was ready for sleep. So making sure that you got enough sleep so that you can get up, making sure you've got everything prepared so that you can go like you've got to break it down into smaller, smaller goals, really.
Mike 00:38:49
like. You can make the go, like, I'm gonna pack my gym bag every night so that I'm ready. Because that's one less excuse. You have not to go so well.
Heather 00:38:56
And one of the things that I did not, you know, didn't do well this past year and what probably haven't done well in the past couple of years, and also folks listening in, the first thing you need to admit is that you have faults. There's there's things that you did wrong. It's don't put it on anybody else. there's a lot. So for me, I, I can be all over the place. I have the best of intentions. I really do, right? But, you know, stuff happens, and, I didn't set goals properly or I didn't. I decided, okay, we're going to do this, but I didn't put the, the, the measures in place that actually made it easier to, to happen. So one thing I know for me in particular is our weekly newsletter.
Heather 00:39:40
who the heck knows when that thing is coming out, right? Or at least last year you didn't know. it was just like people would message me. I'm like, is it coming up? Does it normally come out Thursday or Friday? Or could I be like, I don't know. Comes whenever I put it out there.
Mike 00:39:51
I get.
Heather 00:39:52
It together. Like you know hopefully, hopefully you'll see it next week. and I'd have the best of intentions every week, you know, to, to get it out there. so that was one thing I really wanted to focus on for this year as part of being very intentional with the things that are our benefits and the things that come out and the things that are happening. And so, you know, I've already, reached out to one of our members who had had talked to me a couple couple weeks ago about the fact that she does really well with her newsletter, and she was like, I'd be happy to sit down with you and help you, like, reconstruct it.
Heather 00:40:22
And he's like, also, our newsletter stinks. I'm like, I'm gonna put it out there. Like I'm saying it for years, I it does. It's horrible. It's not horrible, it's.
Mike 00:40:30
Not horrible.
Heather 00:40:31
Horrible. But it's very like you open it and it's like there's 50,000 flyers, right? And there's no substance. There's no substance whatsoever. Right? It's like, here's stuff. Great. so, you know, our I want our, our newsletter this year to actually have some, substance to it, some stories, some some, you know, we're doing some sponsor spotlights. We're going to do some member spotlights. We're going to yeah, we're going to still have those flyers in there. So people know what businesses are, what's going on. Right. But it's not going to be something where you just open it up and it's just like 20 flyers and, you know, whatever. But so I'm already, you know, going to be working with someone on how to make that look better.
Heather 00:41:07
And then I very intentionally decided our newsletters are going to go out Friday morning at 9 a.m.. I want them to hit Friday morning. That way people can put things on their calendar for the next week, right? Be ready to go. Right. and so Thursday at four on my calendar is blocked off time and it's already set for the whole entire year. Yep. Make sure newsletter is completed and scheduled for Friday at 9 a.m. and that is on my calendar and it's blocked off. So nobody can throw another appointment in there at me and and things like that. And also because Megan will see it in Hound Me the Dickens out of me to make sure that that.
Mike 00:41:44
News on you every Thursday at 3:00 and be like, hey, where's the newsletter?
Heather 00:41:46
Believe me, Megan, no one won't come out till Friday.
Mike 00:41:48
I know, but I'm gonna be like, is it done yet?
Heather 00:41:50
But, Megan. Oh, Megan will do. Don't you doubt if Megan sees it on my calendar? I love her to death, but she.
Heather 00:41:55
She keeps me if it's on my calendar.
Mike 00:41:57
She holds it to it.
Heather 00:41:58
She holds me to it. It is the. I mean, it is. It is awesome. I love Megan to death because she is that person again. I've said it before, we are two totally different people, and so it's always good to have that person that it's good.
Mike 00:42:10
any goal to have accountability? It is Megan's being your accountability as well.
Heather 00:42:14
And what I love about her. She doesn't do it in an annoying way. You know, some people would be like, oh my God, Megan don't like, stop.
Mike 00:42:19
Megan's listening. I think she does it annoyingly.
Heather 00:42:21
She doesn't, she does. She's super. It's just she'll be like, oh my gosh, what's on your calendar? You have this. Did you did you get it done? I just want to make sure you got it done and I'll mark it off. And I'm like, I think she has a separate check in sheet for me that she works.
Mike 00:42:32
I have a Megan in my office as well.
Heather 00:42:34
Not sure, but she.
Mike 00:42:35
Doesn't make it in my office that if I have something on my calendar, she'll tell me when I walk in, like, don't forget about this. And I'm like, oh yeah, thank you. So Yeah. Yeah.
Heather 00:42:43
So I'm, I'm, you know, but that's just something that I, I've found. And that kind of almost goes into your lazy task because it's like, you know, I knew we had to do it, but I would let other things pop up that I felt were more significant.
Mike 00:42:57
And isn't it so much harder to do when. So, like, you want it to go out at 9:00? Yeah.
Heather 00:43:02
Then I'm trying to do it last minute.
Mike 00:43:03
So like 8:00 Friday morning, you're like, oh my gosh, the newsletter. Right. And then you're you're pushing to get it done. So I, I run a senior networking group, which is just for people in healthcare and things that deal with seniors.
Mike 00:43:14
And I run that group. So I do newsletter and get events and, and I tell them like, it's going to come out the first Monday of every month. Well, I did tell them in the like three newsletters go like for November, December and January. It's probably not going to be the first Monday because the holidays, it's, you know, it's a busy time for us, things like that. So like it's going to be a little bit later. But we always meet the third Tuesday. So I always have that in the morning. And then right after that we have the delegate meeting. So the third Tuesday of every month is very busy for me. So, but we always, always get it out before then and it's got like where the next meeting is because it moves around and, events that people have going on and things like that. And, I had to learn very quickly because there was before me there was no newsletter that went out. It was just kind of like an email that went out to people.
Mike 00:43:58
So using, you know, to quote my wife, resources that are available to me, you know, we use MailChimp for something at work. So I was able to put a separate little segment in there and set something up so that when I do the newsletter a, I don't have to try and track down everybody's email addresses. I can copy the previous month's newsletter, take out the events that have already gone by, I add a new one so that people have emailed me and things like that. Like it makes it a lot easier to manage where I can do it in 15 minutes. If as long as there's nothing major that I have to change or track down. And so it takes up a lot less time. And the first couple of months that I was running that group, like it took me probably three hours to try to find everybody's email address and copy and figure out how to merge it into my email and send. And then, you know, if you put too many, recipients in an email, a lot of times the spam filter or block it out, right, because they're like, oh, this is obviously a spam email.
Mike 00:44:51
So, you know, it's it. I had to find ways around it. And now it's, you know, it takes 15 minutes. But I also have to schedule that time.
Heather 00:44:59
Right.
Mike 00:45:00
Yeah. To get in there. So.
Heather 00:45:01
So for those listening that maybe have their goals, they've picked their goals in place. what what are the actions like what are the next steps. What are you what are like when we're turning those goals into actual actions and tangible? You know, I know we've talked about putting stuff on your calendar, you know, making sure that you have those baby steps to support that, you know, the main goal. But, you know, once you've got those, how are you actually implementing Anything. You're just shaking your head like, yes, exactly. That's what.
Mike 00:45:40
I'm doing. Yeah. How are you gonna implement those goals? So, like, mine is to be lazy. So we're already working on a new hiring platform. Yeah, a new hiring platform that should make our it'll it'll be easier for us to post jobs.
Mike 00:45:55
because we a lot of times we have. So we cover like, pretty much all of Central Virginia. Right. So we may have a client that needs care and. Good. Right. And we don't have a lot of caregivers and good. So we may need to post a about a job posting. Good. Well, the steps that we had to do before that was when it had to come through me, which is always a weak point, right? Because I have a lot going on. So it had to come to me. I had to email the person who managed our account for indeed and SEO and all those things and say, hey, I need to up, I need to do a new job post and I need to sponsor it for this much, and it needs to cover this area, and it needs to say it's for this. And it was like a whole like it literally would take a day. right? Half a day to get all that done. Now, anybody in my office can go, hey, we've got a client.
Mike 00:46:41
Good. They are. New software has a function where you hit smart post and you let it draws a map in the area of where it's going to be on the map, so that when people apply, they can see, like where the job's going to be, where they'll be working and all the information there, and it's a whole lot easier for us to switch. So now it should be like a 15 minute thing to post a new job. Yeah. Instead of a half a day. Okay. And it depends on me being in the office to be able to send the email and the information and all that. So that is going to make it a lot easier for us to kind of target where we're hiring and things like that. So it's one of the things just finding new systems that will work better than what you're currently doing. Right. So because we've got, you know, we had a goal for growth last year and we didn't grow every month. And you know, when we look at that, it's very easy to kind of make excuses of why we didn't grow that month.
Mike 00:47:35
Like, oh, we had a couple clients pass away. We had a really big client that their long term care insurance ran out. So they, you know, they cut their services way back, things like that. Right. And it's real easy to say, well, that's out of our control. We can't help it, but we should constantly be adding new clients and things like that. So one of the things we're looking at this year is to make our onboarding process for clients a lot easier, right? And to have the follow through that we need to do it. And it's really easy to say like, oh, well, with every client, we're going to have follow through. We're going to follow up with phone calls and emails and texts and all that things. But it takes time for a person to do that. And, you know, this time of year, our phone rings like 4 or 5 times a day for people looking for care. Yeah. So you multiply that by five, you're looking at like 25 to 30 people that are calling a week.
Mike 00:48:18
And the time it takes to follow up with all of those multiple times is is hard. So it takes a lot of time.
Heather 00:48:57
I think, too, if you're you're out there and you have your goal and you're thinking like, okay, I'm gonna I'm gonna start this new program or I'm going to, you know, start, you know, like I was talking about just being intentional with whether it's a new event. I, I get people that constantly, probably monthly, ask me like, hey, can you partner with us on this event or you should do this event.
Heather 00:49:17
And in the past, you know, I'd be like, yeah, let's do it. And I'd come up with it. And then I realize after I said yes or after I got excited that those pieces really aren't going to all fall into place the way I wanted them to write. And so part of that, like for me, I know, and I suggest other people listening in, is if you have something like that, if it's whether it's a new event or whether you're looking into something like a new job or a new person, you know, before committing to a new piece of the puzzle in your life. Wait about 48 hours, mull over it for, you know, maybe even just 24, 24, 48 hours, and sit down and ask yourself, does this serve either the the business that I'm working for, the goals of the business and the community, or is this serving the the person that you want to be like, is this going to time suck your energy so much that it's going to keep you from doing the things that you want to do with family and friends and, you know, that sort of thing.
Heather 00:50:22
And just instead of just feeling like you should do it and just doing it because it sounds good or you feel like you should. It's really, you know, asking yourself, is this the serving? You know the purpose that I want it to serve, right? And sometimes that clarity doesn't come right away. I mean, I mean, some things. Yes. I mean, if somebody says, hey, you want to go play on the railroad tracks, hopefully you're going to say no. Like, that's not going to serve the purpose you're hoping for. But, you know, if someone's asking you to do like a new event or something, you know, sit back and, you know, I, I joke about I was watching Gilmore Girls. I love Gilmore Girls for anyone who cares, but that's I was really sick last week, and I spent a good majority of my time, on my couch binge watching Gilmore Girls. So, like, I'm season one through six and it's only been like a couple or five days.
Heather 00:51:07
Like, I've been straight up like, you know, with my husband came home, actually, and he had the theme song in his head while he was walking through one of his businesses yesterday. And he was like, I cannot be in here with you anymore, right? But, there's the there's the episode where. And if y'all don't like, you're not gonna talk about it, but there's an episode where Rory's trying to decide which college to go to, Whether it's Princeton, Yale or Harvard. And so they have the pro con list out and they're constantly pro conning and pro conning. And, you know, nowadays you don't really think of that anymore. Right. But in this sort of way, like the whole committing waiting 48 hours or so, create a pro and con list, I think, like sometimes old school is the best way to go. and decide like, is it going to serve the purpose? What are the pros to this versus what are the cons and see where, you know, you're kind of sitting at.
Mike 00:51:52
And so.
Heather 00:51:53
With your.
Mike 00:51:53
Goal even using modernizing that a little bit. So there's something called goblin tools. and you can just Google Goblin tools that'll come up. It's a series of eyes that are set to, to kind of, there for people who don't really know how to do, like tackling something new or something like that. And one of the things is a time tracker, so it'll actually tell you how long steps should take in a process. Right? How long it should take once you've got it down. So, you know, saying like, hey, let's do a new event. Let's do, a eight hour podcast and have different people come in every 15 minutes. And we're going to talk to everybody, right? Well, how do you plan on that? Like how long is it going to take to plan all that out and contact people, get people lined up. Make sure people show up, like all that sort of thing. Like it'll tell you how much planning time it would take for that.
Heather 00:52:40
You brought that up?
Mike 00:52:41
No, no.
Heather 00:52:42
No, I it was like a year ago. I really did look up the Guinness book. Like the, like the longest podcast for the most guests or something on a podcast. And I truly thought because with all the members we had, I was like, I really wonder if we could make that work and actually keep talk local to me on for like a world record breaking amount of time. I cannot remember at this time I got to go back and look, but it was so many hours and it wouldn't even be necessarily like you and I had to host that all the time. The talk local to me just had to keep going. So even if we had, like Jennifer, come in and host for an hour, you know what I mean? So we got rest. Anyway, it was pretty cool. I was thinking about it and I was like, that would be crazy to do. But it's just funny you mentioned that because that would be a really, really cool, if what he's listening in, we need we need to do that.
Heather 00:53:27
We break a world record, put media squash on the map with talk local to me.
Mike 00:53:30
The team of Dutch podcasters set a world record by broadcasting continuously for 153 hours, about 6.4 days during Dutch media week in October 2022. This is one of the longest uninterrupted podcast marathons recorded. I think I think we could do that.
Heather 00:53:45
Yeah, we could do a podcast for seven days and bring all of our members on, I think.
Mike 00:53:49
Yeah, you know.
Heather 00:53:50
People just need to bring me food, right? And pizza and stuff. So that's all I need.
Mike 00:53:55
I can handle can handle a solid seven days.
Heather 00:53:59
Yeah. I mean who who couldn't. I mean, look at Emma over there. She's ready to go. Couple days behind the rails. Yes, that'd be awesome. But anyway.
Mike 00:54:06
I think Emma just emailed in her resignation.
Heather 00:54:09
Emma said, Heather, you need to wait 48 hours. Think on this and we'll bring it back. Bring it back up for discussion. But no, and I think that also turns into, you know, once you've got your goals, once you're implementing them goals, how do you stay on track without burning out by the end of the year? Right.
Heather 00:54:25
Because, you know, again, a lot of people, I would say probably 90% of us, can set a goal, set a resolution, and then kind of like Mike asked me earlier, what was yours. I didn't remember by the end of the year because stuff just happened.
Mike 00:54:40
And so not to not to call you out, but because you didn't stick to it and make you weren't intentional, you.
Heather 00:54:45
Might have stuck to it. I just don't remember.
Mike 00:54:47
Right. You you may have, but I.
Heather 00:54:48
Don't.
Mike 00:54:48
Think it did. If you didn't track it, you don't know and you should be able to look back. This is all new to me this year, so I'm not saying that I did this last year. Now it's different for me because I was I wanted to have growth like revenue growth and things like that. And of course I track that weekly. So, I was able to kind of keep up with that. And while we were, the one of the fastest growing business angels in Virginia, which I was proud of, we grew by like 28% or something like that over over the year.
Mike 00:55:12
But we had some months where we should have grown and we were actually behind. Right. Yeah. So it's going to be interesting to see how January ends. Because I'll be able to see like, how did it compare to last year, right. Because the first four months of our year last year were the reason we had growth last year because those months, like, I'm surprised, you know, I didn't have staff quit and left and right. but we had an immense amount of growth and it was it hurt. It was painful, but we grew. And so my goal is to do the same thing this year, maintain it throughout the year, and do it with the same amount of work. Right. Like the same amount of stress and work like I don't want it to be more. And you know, the stress can definitely be left. And so we're actually looking and adding new staff members to our office to kind of where our pain points where do we where do we struggle. Right.
Mike 00:56:03
Where do people get frustrated. because we talked about goals in our meeting on Monday and I said, I want everybody set a personal goal, and I want you to write that down and put it away somewhere. And you don't have to share that with anybody. You just make a goal for yourself. and then also make a kind of professional goal, like what do you want to see at work? Like what? What is hard that you want to get better? And one of my staff member was like, I got a whole list. I'm like, I know you do. And we're working on those because it's been the last three months of the year. We're just painful. Just there was a lot of burnout in our office and things like that because we were we're all very driven and we're all pushing to be the best. But nobody tells you that to be the best. It comes at a cost, right? You've got to do that. And if we're not growing, is it because we don't have enough staff in the office to help split up the duties enough, right? Yeah.
Mike 00:56:52
And, you know, I'm the one I'm the worst at delegating things out because I'm like, well, I can just handle it. Like, it's not a big deal, right? And I've got to get to where I'm willing to hand things off and not do them myself.
Heather 00:57:05
So yeah, I think definitely having a weekly check in, whether it's with yourself or your staff. you know, I'm trying to make sure we can't always have a staff meeting every week, right?
Mike 00:57:17
Especially not a five hour one.
Heather 00:57:18
Right. But we did talk about yesterday that we would be having a relatively long one at the beginning of every month. and then potentially after that, it's just going to be maybe a quick an email check in with my staff every week, just like, hey, you know, tell me what you got done this week that, you know, and this and that.
Mike 00:57:35
The small enough staff like you have, like, it's easy to have a little quick check in. Yeah. Even in person.
Mike 00:57:39
Because at some point during the week, y'all are all.
Heather 00:57:42
Yeah, we're all together. Yeah. Yeah. and then just, you know, tracking your progress. So even for me, like, right now, just the, the small fact of like, yes, I put the calendar on there, the thing to make sure we, we do the newsletter so I can track then weekly did it go out like was this successful for me at the end of the year. Did that one little thing right there, you know, did that equal success in that area? did you know, adding a lead in a lead delegate to our team did that at the end of the year? Was that more successful? Did we see more of our delegates participating and being a part of different things?
Mike 00:58:18
I think.
Heather 00:58:19
So. How is that going to work?
Mike 00:58:20
Being a delegate, getting the email this morning and saying that Terry's going to take notes at each meeting, because a lot of times, like you're running the meeting so you can't take notes, right? Oh yeah.
Mike 00:58:27
And there's always something else going on. And people are walking in and wanting things and things like that. So having somebody dedicated just to take notes so that if something is set at a meeting, it's not like I think we said this, right. Because that happens a lot just in anything. Right. You'll have an idea and you'll say it out loud. And I'm famous for like the first time I hear it is when it comes out of my mouth and like, oh, this is a great idea, let's do this. And it is a great idea. But because it isn't written down and memorable, like, you know, I have the same idea every three months sometimes. You know what I mean? Like, oh, this would make this a lot easier if I don't write it down and do something. I have notes all over my desk because I've started. If I have a thought like, oh, this might be good, I write it on a post-it note. I got a little box on my desk and it goes in there, right.
Mike 00:59:09
And then I'll dig through that every once in a while when it gets full and be like, all right, which one of these you know? And I found that I had one, one idea written down like three times until there. So I was like, oh, maybe I should actually, like, act on that.
Heather 00:59:20
So yeah. Yeah, I think that's it's it's definitely good to keep those ideas there. I mean, I'm not saying every idea is a bad idea and like, you.
Mike 00:59:28
Know, but.
Heather 00:59:29
It just might not be the right time for that idea. Right. And that's where you have to learn to just not say yes to everything and just be like, okay, I'm going to compartment like, I'm gonna put this in a little, little space.
Mike 00:59:38
Depending on what you.
Heather 00:59:38
Say. Yes and yeah. And be intentional in what you say yes to and the relationships that you're building. But know that it's okay to say no. I think for me that's a big part of it.
Heather 00:59:48
I feel like and and I think again, when my staff and I were talking about this yesterday, they, you know, they said that they can see where for me, because I am the face of the Central Virginia Business Coalition. And for me saying no to something in my mind, it's like people are gonna be like, oh my gosh, like, she's not doing doing that. And my business, you know, she needs to do this because my business needs this or blah blah blah blah blah. And like sometimes you just got to tell people like, it's just not it's not going to happen, right? Right now. Doesn't mean it will never happen. It doesn't mean that I don't care about your business, or I don't care about the community or this or that or whatever. It just means that right now, I'm not going to do the best job for you that I can because it's not, you know, it's it's just not the right time for that. And I want to I want to be able to, to do these events and focus on these things and make them successful.
Heather 01:00:39
I don't want to just have them there, if that makes sense. I don't just need it to be there because it's there and oh yes, it's an event. I need it to be something that's successful, and it's actually going to be something that will grow and continue to grow and actually have positive reactions versus it being something thrown together, that that's when the negative Nancy's come out and go, well, you know, you could have done this better, this could have been done. You know, it just looks.
Mike 01:01:02
Like a system.
Heather 01:01:03
Thrown.
Mike 01:01:03
Together. We started talking about last year until we were blue in the face about nobody understands how much it takes to run a business behind the scenes. Oh, yeah. Right. To an outside onlooker in my office, it looks like I just sit in my office all day and don't do anything right. But I'm doing things that have to be done in order to to keep the doors open and payroll going.
Heather 01:01:24
It's funny that you mentioned that too, because, you know, Terry, Terry Halligan STAT does a lot with us volunteers.
Heather 01:01:33
She does a lot of things. but it was funny after the staff meeting yesterday, after really sitting down and listening to me go over like, here are things that need to be done, or just the tossing of ideas around and how we could do different things when we got finished. Terry looked at me and she said, I really didn't realize all of the things that go into it. I mean, it's it's one thing to come to the event and volunteer and see, like running around like crazy or checking people off a registration list. And but that's so much more goes into it.
Mike 01:02:07
Right. The day of the event is usually the easiest day of the event.
Heather 01:02:10
Absolutely, absolutely. So, you know, it's the the leading up to the fact that. Yeah, Centre Fest is, you know, September the 20th this year. But we're already planning like things are already. People are already messaging us. Things are already happening for that. So it's not like I wake up on September 18th and go, oh, I got an event to put on.
Heather 01:02:33
Let me, you know, get some vendors. And, you know, y'all just all show up, right? Show up at seven.
Mike 01:02:39
You know, the the day everybody shows up, we'll figure out where they're going to like first come, first serve, like go to work.
Heather 01:02:43
Just grab a booth space.
Mike 01:02:45
And, not yeah.
Heather 01:02:47
Although I'm.
Mike 01:02:48
Just kidding. The biggest issue is that, like, especially Center Fest, I feel like is is probably one of the smoothest running events for as big as it is. Please see ABC. The problem is, is that it goes well and you make it look easy. Yeah, so nobody realizes all the work that goes in to make it easy, right? Not saying it, it's easy, but. Right. You know, it. It looks like it's well executed and things like that. And it looks like it. Well, this doesn't really seem that hard. Well, you try it, right? Because the it running smoothly is years of trial and error.
Mike 01:03:20
There is something that goes wrong every year that makes it like, all right, we're going to fix this issue. Right. And it it makes it even better the next year. So you know, it it it takes a lot more than just boom, show up the day of. Right. And I think a lot of people forget that for a lot of different things. Right.
Heather 01:03:43
So wow. Another great episode of goals. I like it I feel like it's been great. I think I feel like one of the things that I want to be more intentional about with the podcast going into, 2026 and it's, it's definitely something we can think about on it for 48 hours.
Mike 01:04:01
Right. I'll let you know Friday.
Heather 01:04:03
Yeah, but no, I do think that I love I love us having our guests in each week and talking to them about themselves and their business. But I do want to be more intentional with talking local, like we're doing today on just issues and potential, you know, actual topics versus just having guests in every single week.
Heather 01:04:22
So whether it's we have a topic at the beginning and then a guest or, you know, one one week where it's just us talking about topics and no guests, you know, and then having guests for the rest of the month. I don't know, but I think, you know, that's something I want to, to look at, actually having it serve more of a purpose for these sorts of things that people can listen into and, and reflect on and take back into their business. Or, you know.
Mike 01:04:50
So if you're listening to this podcast. Yep. And you own a business, run a business work for a business, which is just about everybody.
Heather 01:04:57
Like a business.
Mike 01:04:58
Like a business, and you have a question or a topic that you want us to talk about. Either email Heather at CBC or go to our Facebook page and send us a message. Send us a comment. Leave a comment on this episode. Anything like that. But get it to us because we would love to have.
Mike 01:05:15
Because. Because you don't know what you don't know. Like what challenges are you facing in 2026?
Heather 01:05:19
And there's I know there's a lot of a lot of challenges, that are out there and we're not going to come out here and go, oh, well, so-and-so from this business has this challenge, like, we're not going to throw you out there.
Mike 01:05:29
We're even better for our armchair quarterbacks out there. What do you see a business doing that you're like this. They're struggling with this.
Mike 01:05:36
You tell us. Tell us something like why does this why does it take so long to put an event on, you know, different things like that.
Heather 01:05:42
So because remember, for those of you out there listening, this podcast is, is for you. It's because of you. We host these every week because we I can talk to Mike just talking to Mike, you know. But we do these because we want to bring you know, we want to bring you businesses in our area that you can, you know, build relationships with and can learn more about.
Heather 01:06:02
But we also want you as a, as a listener, to take some of the things that we say and be able to implement them into your daily and, and say, you know, hey, I really enjoyed listening to talk local to me because I got this information or I learned this.
Mike 01:06:16
Or I got encouragement. Yeah, I realized I was in the.
Heather 01:06:18
100%.
Mike 01:06:19
Or.
Heather 01:06:19
This 100%. And I think that's one thing Mike and I are very good about as being open and honest and and out there, we don't really gatekeeper. Yeah. 100 per. Yeah. So, that's kind of what I want to. I want to see, I want to see we're going into what, year five for five for me. It'll be like, yeah, it's a lot of stuff. What do you sent me a picture yesterday of, like, the very first. It was actually what got it all started. And it wasn't, for talk local to me. Let me let me see if it showed me how many years it was, but it was more about my very first.
Heather 01:06:54
five years ago.
Mike 01:06:55
You came on cool talk or.
Heather 01:06:56
Something. Five years ago, I had my first podcast interview with Brandon Brown on Cool Talk, and that is what launched in that little teeny tiny table. But that is what launched. Talk local to me. So yeah, going into year five of talk local to me this year. So, that's definitely not something I take for granted. But we want to make sure that we're there's a purpose behind it and there's we're being intentional with why we have this podcast. So there we go. That's that's what I got to say.
Mike 01:07:24
I can't believe it's been five years. I know, and it's been what? This will be my third year.
Heather 01:07:28
Your third?
Mike 01:07:29
Yeah. Wow.
Heather 01:07:30
Yeah, it's been a lot. also, if you're listening in, I just want to bring this up before we leave. we have launched a new program, a new benefit through, kind of a spin off of Talk Local to me, except this is a, visual.
Heather 01:07:45
It's kind of like a almost like a talk show style, broadcast called teatime. where we are spilling the tea with local businesses in our community, and they're sitting down for a quick, rapid fire, 15 minute interview about their business and about really the people behind the business, not necessarily the business as a whole, but the people behind the business. And we're really excited for this new opportunity here, and we hope that you guys will tune into that. You can, check out our first episode just hit. You can go to our Facebook page, Central Virginia Business Coalition, and then you'll find, the link. We have it up on our YouTube channel. we have a new YouTube channel for the Central Virginia Business Coalition. it's, ABC local and would love for you to go on there and subscribe to that. So you're being able to see those tee times each week as they're being broadcast. we're going to be building up that channel, not just with tee times, but also some, some local content.
Heather 01:08:44
we're, we're we're really pushing out social media and local content this year, building our platforms. And so we would love for you to go out and subscribe to that as well, and hopefully we'll actually have the subscription link up on our Facebook page too, and in our newsletter this week. So there you go.
Mike 01:09:02
Very cool. That's a lot of information.
Heather 01:09:03
A lot of information. but yeah, thank you guys for tuning in to us today. Hopefully you're setting your goals. Be intentional or lazy or whichever you'd like to be for 2026, but make.
Mike 01:09:14
Intentionally lazy.
Heather 01:09:15
Intentionally lazy, but make sure you're clicking and subscribing and hitting the notification bell. Be intentional about that so that you are listening, and to talk local to me every week. And for more information about any of the events and the information about being a member or sponsor of the Central Virginia Business Coalition, you can find that cvabc.org.
Mike 01:09:32
Have a great week. We'll see you next Wednesday.
Time Stamps:
Talk Local to Me Podcast Intro (00:01:36) Podcast introduction and show branding.
New Year & Goal Setting Introduction (00:02:01) Hosts welcome listeners, introduce goal setting as the episode’s theme.
Reflections on Last Year's Goals (00:03:13) Hosts discuss last year’s goals, resolutions vs. goal setting, and personal/professional changes.
Upcoming CVABC Events & Networking (00:06:17) Overview of Central Virginia Business Coalition’s January events and networking opportunities.
Major Events & Community Involvement (00:09:03) Details on annual business dinner, Lead On Summit, Home & Garden Showcase, and encouraging local involvement.
Word of the Year: Lazy & Intentional (00:12:30) Hosts share their “words of the year” (lazy, intentional) and discuss their meanings.
Intentionality & People Pleasing (00:14:38) Heather discusses being intentional, people-pleasing, and setting boundaries.
Letting Go of Control & Worry (00:18:25) Conversation about focusing on what you can control and reducing anxiety.
Mint Mobile & Sky TV Ads (00:20:16) Ads for Mint Mobile’s holiday offer and Sky TV January sale.
Controlling What You Can & Puzzle Analogy (00:20:45) Advice on breaking down big problems, focusing on controllable elements, and using a puzzle analogy.
Evaluating Event Purpose & Eliminating Awards (00:22:50) Reflection on the “why” behind events, removing unnecessary elements like awards.
Community Value & Delegation (00:25:32) Discussion on community programs, staff meetings, and intentional delegation.
Personal & Work Goals for 2026 (00:30:26) Mike shares personal and work goals, emphasizing work-life balance and efficiency.
Omega Disaster Restoration Ad (00:33:29) Ad for Omega Disaster Restoration and related services.
How to Set a Goal (00:34:45) Step-by-step discussion on effective goal setting and why resolutions often fail.
Making Goals Actionable & Accountability (00:38:49) Tips for breaking goals into steps, scheduling, and using accountability partners.
Implementing Goals & New Systems (00:45:40) Examples of implementing goals at work, adopting new systems for efficiency.
Evaluating New Opportunities & Pro/Con Lists (00:48:57) Advice on evaluating new commitments, using pro/con lists, and decision-making tools.
Staying on Track & Avoiding Burnout (00:54:09) Strategies for tracking progress, regular check-ins, and preventing burnout.
Delegation, Note-Taking, and Saying No (00:58:18) Importance of delegation, note-taking, and learning to say no to avoid overload.
Behind the Scenes of Event Planning (01:01:03) Insight into the extensive planning required for successful events.
Podcast Intentions & Listener Engagement (01:04:22) Plans for more intentional podcast topics and encouraging listener questions.
Talk Local to Me Milestones & New Programs (01:06:54) Celebrating five years of the podcast and introducing the new “Teatime” video series.
Closing Remarks & Calls to Action (01:09:03) Final thoughts, encouragement to set goals, and reminders to subscribe and engage.
Key Words:
goal setting, New Year 2026, personal growth, intentionality, habits, accountability, Central Virginia Business Coalition, networking, community events, business development, productivity, work-life balance, burnout prevention, business goals, strategic planning, measurable outcomes, newsletter improvement, collaboration, local businesses, community support, event planning, time management, self-care, delegation, reflective practices, decision-making, personal development, professional growth, goal tracking, intentional programming, audience engagement, podcasting, local content, social media presence, Teatime show, business networking, leadership, women's empowerment, business challenges, proactive planning, efficiency in work, systems improvement, community involvement.