Chapter 1: What is the main topic discussed in this episode?
Hello, Gwen. How are you doing today?
Chapter 2: What insights does Gwen Bortner share about untapped potential?
I am fabulous. Thank you for having me on, Ash. I appreciate it. Great stuff. You're always welcome.
Chapter 3: How does accountability differ from task management for founders?
I've been so excited to have you on my show since, you know, we had our intro call. And I've been thinking about like, okay, what sort of question I'm going to ask Gwen, because there's a plethora of knowledge there to bring on the show, right? So before we go into the show, Gwen, do you have a favorite quote, something that inspires you, motivates you, you would like to share with our audience?
You know, it's a long quote, so I'm not going to give the whole quote. Everyone has heard this, but it's about don't dim your light. Shine your brightness out there and, you know, be all that you are designed to be. And I think it's something that we all need to hear because at some point someone tells us, oh, you're too much.
Chapter 4: What is the distinction between discipline and genuine accountability?
especially when you're a founder, an entrepreneur, a visionary. And so I love remembering, you know, shine your whole brightness, all that you are, all that comes with you. The world needs it and your unique combination of it is particularly valuable. Indeed, indeed.
Couldn't agree more with you on this because my grandmother, she's still alive, by the way, but she used to say when I was a kid that, There is nobody on this earth which is like you. You have your own energy, your own... She didn't use the word light, but she used to use a lot of energy word. And there's nothing which could replace your energy.
Chapter 5: How can founders effectively set priorities for success?
So be proud of her. She always used to say that. So I remembered that when you mentioned the quote. Okay, Gwen, let's do... So I was thinking today on the show, we should do something different. Imagine that we are in a room full of ambitious founders, early stage builders, people who are crazy about creating something of their own. They are gathered in a room.
Chapter 6: How can defining success change over time for entrepreneurs?
The room is empty. The room is full of founders, but the stage is empty. And then... You walk in in the room with the mic on your hand and the spotlight is on you. You walk on the stage and everybody's looking at you and saying, who is this lady? Who is this gorgeous lady walking on the stage?
Chapter 7: What role does reflection play in enhancing accountability?
What is she going to say? But they don't know you.
Chapter 8: What metrics should founders focus on to measure performance?
They haven't seen you before. What would you tell them that will keep them with us for the rest of the hour? So I would share a story. I would start by saying everybody has untapped potential. But the trick to untapped potential is, in fact, tapping it. And part of it being untapped is if we could do it ourselves, we would have.
So I want to share a story of one of my early clients who is still a client. So we've been working together for years, years now. And when we first started working together, she had had her business not too long. I want to say a year or two. It was still a fairly new business, so much like this hypothetical audience that you're talking about. And she had had some success.
She was in the early stages of a six-figure business. And she knew there was more in her. that she could do more. And so we started working together. And what I did with her is I did what I call business advisory. I focused on three really big things.
The first was keeping her focused because as a visionary and an entrepreneur, it is so easy to get distracted by, you know, all the things all the time, right? And she was absolutely, and she has brilliant ideas, lots and lots of brilliant ideas. So it's never about, you know, whether or not they're a good idea. That's not the issue. There's too many. good ideas, right?
So the first was keeping her focused. And early in our work together, I had her make a post-it note that she was to put on her computer that said, no new ideas. No new ideas. So that we could get focused on the things that she was doing. The other thing that I did was I pushed back
And I would ask her questions that no one else was willing, sometimes even able, but often willing to ask because she was brilliant. She was doing all sorts of the right things like so many founders do. And anyone that was working with her was like, well, she knows what she's doing. She's totally, you know, why would I question it?
And so part of what my job was, was questioning her on everything. And I remember the first time I really pushed what I'm going to call a button of hers. I didn't realize I was pushing a button at the time. But I asked her her question and she's delightful. She's friendly and open and she always has this great smile. And her face went blank. It went so blank.
And the thing, we now joke about it, we call it the resting serial killer face. When she gets this face, right? And I honestly thought I was going to get fired. I thought, our engagement is now done because I have pushed too far. But the reality was the second that I did that, she had to process it because no one had really pushed her that way.
And within 24 hours, I was getting responses to the question that I had asked, that it was like, oh, and I thought of this, and I thought of this. So needless to say, we did not get fired. But the third thing and probably the most important thing that I did was I kept holding her truly accountable. And when I mean accountable, I don't mean managing her tasks. She's an adult. She can handle that.
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