Planner or Doer—Which are you?

What I've learned launching the best-ever group coaching program for women

There are two types of people—doers and planners. I've always considered myself a planner at heart. I like to think things through, anticipating and forecasting to make things as smooth as possible. Plus, I hate fire drills, especially when I'm the arsonist (but that's a blog for another time). I love the mom saying, "Failure to plan on your part does not constitute an emergency on my part," which I always think of while driving to Dollar Tree at 8 pm on a school night to get poster board for a project due the next day. 

When people work with me on events, they always comment on my detailed planning. I create communications and other assets weeks in advance, so all I have to do as the pressure of pulling off the event builds is pull the trigger. It's very satisfying to me to be thinking five or six moves down the board. 

I also know from my time in corporate positions that I am a master of delivering on the fly. My days were so full of meetings that I barely had time to do my work. Planning was a luxury. The good news is that I'm often at my best in a crunch. Having less time keeps me focused and eliminates grandiose ideas that add unnecessary complexity. I am grateful I have this skill from my time in corporate because it has served me well this past month. 

One month ago, I launched my new group coaching for women entrepreneurs and business owners (WE WIN!). This model is entirely different from my one-on-one coaching, putting me into a start-up mode that is completely different than anything I've done before. 

When I decided to pull the trigger on the launch, I gave myself one week to prepare and execute. Thanks to my #cocwishlist partner, Divine Bunch of Divine Writing Agency, I also had a logo and research about my target audience. And with that foundation, I jumped into the deep end, putting myself squarely in doer mode. 

Here's a quick visual of my journey so far.

I'm not going to lie. For 25 of the last 30 days, WE WIN! has consumed my life. For at least 20 of those, I've worked 6-8 hours exclusively on this launch. Incredibly, my stamina has been good. I'm so excited about what this program delivers, which keeps my brain engaged and my drive strong. Many evenings when I would typically loathe the idea of doing anything work-related, I lose myself until midnight knocking another task off the list. (My house is kind of a wreck at the moment, but COVID means no one is dropping by to visit. 😄)

I've made shifts in my business that I thought I would never make. 

• Established an e-mail list with an opt-in form on my website
• Built electronic marketing assets
• Implemented system automations to eliminate task and improve client experience

I've learned new tools and integrated them into my business processes.

• ConverKit
• Zapier
• Google Workspace Add-ons

But, maybe most importantly, I've been energized, focused, and productive. 

Until the pandemic, group coaching was never on my radar. Once I had the perfect design, I only thought about the clients. I never considered how big of a ripple I was creating inside my own business. Every step has illuminated three more steps, many of which require me to learn to do something I've never done before. Maybe I could skip a step or two, but as I tell people all the time, you set a very high bar for everything you do when you put EXTRAORDINARY in your business name. 

What I know for certain is that I don't regret my choice to jump. I could have spent the last 30 days planning, but frankly, I had to start doing to realize what I didn't know because I'd never done this before. Are you a planner or a doer? The truth is that one is not better than the other. Each has advantages and disadvantages. My family may prefer that I'd planned a little more so that I wouldn't be so distracted, but convening the first-ever session of WE WIN! this Friday, within a month of sharing the news with my tribe, feels amazing.