Aja Vancica is an entrepreneur, business consultant and podcast host who believes that using simple and sustainable business growth strategies is the pathway to success and sovereignty for female solopreneurs. Aja invests her time in sharing her highly valuable concepts and knowledge on her podcast that her listeners can use to grow without ever having paid her a dime!

After seeing countless women struggle with decision fatigue, and confusion around what their next best steps were, trying numerous strategies they see online professionals use and being left feeling incompetent and insufficient that they would never be able to reach their goals- she realized her superpower for goal setting, strategy and creating a plan of action. The Scale to Simplicity Podcast with Aja Vancica Consulting was born from this.
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Bonus content is Aja’s exclusive Freebie below on her MVP GUIDE.
The MVP Guide helps you set up the most important pieces of your business-Goal creation and what to focus on to create the outcome you want.

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Transcript

Unknown Speaker  0:00  

Welcome to the No Mercy business coaching podcast with Emily Woodruff. The podcast that walks you through managing your own small business through the highs and the lows, will talk with small business owners from all over the US and share insights on how to help manage your business without the extra fluff and connect with other women just like you. Let’s dive in.

Unknown Speaker  0:42  

Well, hello, everyone. Thank you so much for being here with me another week on the no mercy business podcast. This is your host Emily Woodruff. And I’m here with ASHA, why don’t you go ahead and introduce yourself?

Unknown Speaker  0:55  

Well, hello, Emily, thank you so much for having me. I’m excited to be here. My name is Asha van SICA. I am a strategic business consultant at Freedom supply society slash asuransi. Here consulting, I’m actually changing things back over. So what I do is I helped solopreneurs to go from decision fatigue and confused about what their next best steps are, and what they should be focusing on in their business to help them grow using simple and sustainable strategies that keep them sane.

Unknown Speaker  1:27  

That’s awesome. I think you are in the right spot for that for sure. Yes, yes. So how did you get started with your business?

Unknown Speaker  1:35  

Let me tell you, Emily, and friends. I started off in this online coaching space as a spiritual life coach, got my certification got out here and actually started with very small group programs. I didn’t start with one on one coaching, like everybody, you know, says you’re supposed to do, I started off with very small groups. And I did that for about four years. And I still had a nine to five at the time. So that’s all I really wanted to do. And I really liked my nine to five at the time, you know, so then I transitioned into adding in the one on ones, and everything just kind of went crazy. I had like burnout and everything, it was just so crazy. Like, you know, when you do the things that you’re told that you’re supposed to do get booked out and everything. And I did not like it, I did not like at all being booked out. So I stopped coaching altogether. And then I started to do web design, which is something I was doing on the side for myself. I’m a self taught web designer. And so of course, people say you should do the thing that you love to do, right? No, not always. I started doing web design for people. And then I hated doing web design. Oh, my, you know, yeah. So from there, I got into human design, I became a human design consultant. And then from there, because I really what I saw is that people were getting all the great information about their human design, but then it was like, they didn’t really know what to do with it. So then that’s when I hopped over into the OBM, world, Online Business Management world. And from there became a business consultant, which is where I’m at today, and who knows if I’m gonna stay there. But that’s where I’m at.

Unknown Speaker  3:14  

That’s great. Such as the life of an entrepreneur, though, right? Changing and morphing? That’s great. Well, so you kind of specialize in, in developing strategies and plans for your business. Why don’t you tell us what the difference between a strategy and a plan is?

Unknown Speaker  3:33  

So I love this question, because there’s so many different thoughts on what a strategy is and what a plan is. And we kind of get them mixed up. I kind of think a little bit on the different perspective. So when I say strategy, I’m looking at what is the overall foundations that we’re building for your business? And it includes the your business model, what is it that you’re actually going to be laying out to get to where you want to go to where the plan fits inside the strategy. It’s almost like the task, it’s like, the things that you’re going to be doing on a weekly basis, a monthly basis, quarterly basis, but it all fits within the strategy. And yes, plans do change, as we all know, make all the plans and then they’re gonna change. Right? So I mean, but that’s okay, though. That’s what we’re, we’re we’re supposed to be doing as entrepreneurs, is allowing ourselves the flexibility to expand and that fits within your plan. So like, I’ll tell you like, in the beginning, when I when I started my coaching business, like I said, I got burned out. I didn’t have a strategy. I didn’t have a strategy that was based where I needed it to be based from so therefore, I got into all kinds of strategies that I should not add, which is lessons learned. You know, nothing is ever wrong. It’s just like, Ooh, I learned from that now. So yeah, and when you do that it kind of like, if you’re not basing it off of the right criteria, then you will get yourself into strategies and create all kinds of plans that don’t really fit who you are. So that’s the the generalized differences as I look at them.

Unknown Speaker  5:17  

That makes 100% of sense. So that’s great. That’s great. What are so what are some big mistakes? Or what are some of the biggest mistakes that you see people make when it comes to setting their goals and strategizing for their business?

Unknown Speaker  5:32  

Oh, my gosh, Emily. But of course, I’m not going to tell you all the things I’m telling you what I can tell you today. So here’s the biggest thing. Now, when we are going about building our business, one of the things we never ever really seem to consider. And I see this way too often, is what I call your MVP, which is your mission, your vision and your principles. Sounds like a lot of corporate talk, and it kinda is. But when you bring it back to this online space, then you get to use it as you need to use it for your business. So your mission, your vision, and your principles are all about your life and your business. Your life and your business are not separate, right? So when you’re making your vision, you’re considering your life and your business. And because the reason for that is, that’s where you’re going to be using to pull your goals out of. So like, I’ll give you again, the example of when I started my business, and I was doing the group coaching, the one on one coaching and my calendar was all booked up. Well, really, I would never have done that. Had I ever had I considered that my vision is to have lots of whitespace in my calendar, getting booked out, not the right thing to do. So yeah, so you can see how if you are not really considering that, then you’re going to be making goals that are not going to be aligned with what it is that you really want to create for your life. I mean, can you imagine me being completely booked out, when all I really wanted to do was have a calendar that would allow me to go sit on my couch and work from my laptop? Right? Like not not okay, right? Right. So that’s a big one that I see. And so it makes it really easy if you are pulling out your goals from that particular, the unique MVP that you’ve set up for yourself. And then you can create your strategy, which actually just introduces itself when you create goals from there. So it’s like, Hello, here I am. Right? Right. And you get to create a plan that actually works for you that you can actually implement, you know, we tend to get into these plans, we, the coaches, and everyone tells us we need to do this, this, this, this, this, this and this, and this, and this, and we have all the plans all laid out. And then we in two weeks, we’re like who made these plans. Right. So it’s really because it’s not based off of what your MVP. So that’s what I see is the biggest thing that would really, really help everyone who is starting a business, no matter where you are in your business journey, I should say, whether you’re starting, whether you are leveling up, which we all are going to be doing at every point in this entrepreneurial journey, looking back at your MVP, and making sure that it still is something that you are going for that you really, really want is one of the best things you can do for yourself. I think

Unknown Speaker  8:15  

that’s great. And it goes hand in hand with what we’ve been talking on the show, maintaining your boundaries, and making sure that you work within those. And sometimes I’ve done the the exact thing that you’re talking about, I’ve taken my calendar and opened it at different times. And then I’m like, Oh, my goodness, it’s really cool to see my calendar completely booked. But now I don’t have time to do A, B, C or D. And now it’s impacting my evenings. And it’s doing this and I’m like, this is not the way for me, you know, so maintaining and setting those boundaries or making sure it sounds and feels cool to have five days a week booked from start to finish. But can you actually maintain that and still be successful? No, maybe

Unknown Speaker  9:02  

what do you think about this, Emily? Like, I think that a lot of times we have that, that thought that we need to have that booked out calendar because of what we see. And what we hear in this online space. It’s just like, we got to do it. We got to do it. Yeah.

Unknown Speaker  9:14  

Yeah. I think that that is a lot of talk. I think that there’s a time and a place for it. There’s certainly a season where you need to have you need to have the calls and the the interactions with other people to get your name out there or to get, you know, a certain message across that you’re working on for a time period, but it’s not a sustainable thing. Exactly as a solopreneur. If you have a whole team of people working with you, that’s a totally different game. Yes. Yeah. And I think that’s where some of those coaching calls and those coaching programs that we might fall into the teachers that I think that they kind of forget that that place but remember when you were building Our business where I’m at right now. There’s a huge, huge difference from anywhere. Yeah,

Unknown Speaker  10:06  

exactly. And I think you’re so right, I did a post the other day about hustle and what hustling looks like to some people may not look the same to other people, like I created a lot of content. And people tell me that all the time, just like you create all this content, but you know what, it feels very light and easy to me. Whereas someone else’s calendar, I look at theirs, and it may make me feel completely uncomfortable. Yeah. And why are you doing all this? Or maybe they’re not doing enough. But yeah, when it comes to hustling, like you said, there is a time for it, especially when you are, if you’re getting yourself back to that MVP, and doing it for the reasons where you need to be doing them for I’ll give you an example. I started a podcast back in August. Now, this isn’t my first podcast, I’ve started Emily, mind you. Okay. But the other times I started the podcast, I didn’t have any kind of wherewithal as to why I started. And so now this time, it’s like, yeah, I want to be a thought leader. I want to get my concepts out there. So now it’s not in you know, podcasting is long term game, right, you know. So that’s the other thing. I think people don’t really realize this, what are you doing that thing for, and making sure that you not everybody may have the same reasonings, but you know what yours is. So it makes it a lot easier for you to be a little bit be more consistent and stick with it.

Unknown Speaker  11:24  

Totally agree. That’s great. That’s great. So let’s, um, let’s move into talking about your framework for developing confidence strategies plan of action and decision making process. So why don’t you talk about that for a little bit? Well, I’m gonna

Unknown Speaker  11:40  

take you back to the MVP, okay, so when we are first starting our business, or, again, no matter where you’re at, in your journey, you have to really consider what it is that you’re really wanting. And sometimes I don’t think that that’s a very easy thing to come to come to grips with someone like me, I’m a very, I’m a multi passionate person, I am a three five manifesting generator, for anybody that knows anything about the human design world, which means I’m cuckoo crazy. Things I like my all my fingers and my toes, and all the pots, I like to be doing so many different things, all the tabs open and everything, but that’s something I had to learn about myself, you know, and when we’re in this online space, especially, and we see all of the things and all the strategies and all the options that we have, if you don’t know, like who you are, it really makes it hard. But I’m not saying like you have to, to know, like, at this very minute, you have to be open enough to allow this journey, which is gonna hit you, it’s gonna tell you who you are, as you’re going along in this entrepreneurial space, you learned so much about yourself, you have to be open to actually seen and being okay with, oh, this is who I am, this is how I’m built to do things. It’s so so very, very important. So when you’re coming up with that MVP, it may change like, we are fluid, you know, we have to be flexible as entrepreneurs. So doing making sure that you are aware and stepping into your your highest level of self concept, which means you are actually managing your mind, when you are managing your thoughts, then you get to think at a higher level, you get to problem solve at a higher level. And that’s how the decision making processes start to really become very, very beneficial for you. Because number one, you’re looking at your MVP, and you’re making all of your, your strategies, you’re planning everything based off of that. It makes the decision making process very easy, because you’re you’re creating the criteria for what that is. But then also stepping into your highest level of self concept, the future you who you want to be who you’re moving into being and always always looking at your thoughts. There’s everything that we do no matter if we’re making $100 Or a million dollars, we are always going to have to look at our thoughts, there’s always going to be something that our thoughts are going to tell us. And we have to factor that into our decision making processes that this is just something we get to decide we get to choose that these thoughts that we’re having right now. It’s an option. And there’s nothing outside of us is making these thoughts. Yeah, just something I had to get through my big head. Oh my gosh. Girl, let me tell you, Emily, it was hard. And it’s been hard. Let’s, you know, the whole thought work. Thought work and belief work are so important when it comes to you creating that decision making process that starts of course with your MVP.

Unknown Speaker  14:32  

That’s so great. I think you’re right on there. I love it. Awesome. Thank you so much. Where can our listeners find you on social media or online?

Unknown Speaker  14:44  

On Instagram? I’m at Freedom supply society. My website is freedom supply society.com and I am on Facebook at ASA van Seca.

Unknown Speaker  14:54  

Awesome. Well, thank you so much for being here. I really appreciate your time and chatting with you today.

Unknown Speaker  14:59  

It’s been awesome. Thank you so much, Emily. Appreciate you.

Unknown Speaker  15:04  

Before we go, I just wanted to reach out real quick. A lot of you have talked about starting your own podcast and you’re just not sure where to start. I wanted to let you know that Libsyn is an awesome platform. And right now they have a great deal for you to join. If you use the code Woodruff WOD Are you FF, you can get in at a great rate and get started today. Feel free to shoot me an email or send me a message. If you have any questions. I would love to walk you through starting on your own

Transcribed by https://otter.ai