7: Amber McCue: Right on Time

Amber McCue and I discuss running and scaling a business in the middle of chaos, and not beating yourself up when you’re not doing enough… because you’re right on time.

One of the things that has been very important for me is not just to have guests who had interesting stories or great values I admired but people I personally really looked up to, and one of those people is Amber McCue. She is one of my most trusted mentors and one of the biggest inspirations I have in my business with her positive energy and the level of energy that she has and just how wonderfully and kindly she runs her business.

Amber runs Freshly Implemented Mastermind as well as Planathon, her annual planning event for entrepreneurs. She is a mom of 3 and is currently living in Ethiopia.

It’s so important for us as business owners to recognize one: where are the phases or seasons of our business where we do have to work harder and two: when we are getting too stressed; when is the stress manageable and when is it starting to affect us, our health, our well-being.

When first starting her business, Amber decided to just go with the flow, but she soon realized that her approach was not working, she wasn’t getting anything done. Then she decided to go into “machine mode” and just crank out her to do list every day. But this wasn’t what she wanted either. That is when she decided to focus her energy on what mattered, on her “$100 bills”, versus her $5s and $10s”, and just ditch the 5s and the 10s. And that framework and shift in thinking was really helpful for her. There are still times when she does feel like she is putting in more, and going into the “machine mode”, but she tries to keep a healthy balance.

When it comes to her revenue goals, Amber is more oriented towards increasing her impact. Reaching out to more people, serving more people, hiring more people. It’s not about the money as a benchmark, it’s what can we, as entrepreneurs, do with that money. There are so many ways we can help each other in this world. And entrepreneurship gives us that opportunity.

Last year was quite challenging for Amber and her family because they had to move 15 times in a single year. During that Amber was still working and trying to grow her business. One thing she learned from that experience, she says, is that you should delegate your work, as soon as you can. Hire a contractor to do some of those things that are not a good use of your time, the things that have to get done, but you don’t have to do it. So as soon as you can, get some help because it’s going to get you in a different space and into different groups and then you can focus on revenue generating activities and serving your clients. When it comes to a full-time hire, if you are between 150 and 300 in revenue, you should start thinking about it.

Another thing that Amber learned during last year is a lesson in surrender and patience. Moving 15 times in one year while trying to grow her business made her realize that everything was happening right on time. And that became her mantra. “We are moving again? Right on time”. She says that the “right on time” way of living has been the number one game-changer.

Amber invites you to check yourself: Start tracking your time; start watching if you’re investing in $100 bills, the most important things in your business and life, or if you’re spending time on $5 bills and $10 bills, the things that don’t get you ahead, the things that don’t make you happy. 

Start tracking your time and observing your energy levels around things and delete those things that just aren’t getting you ahead.

Find Amber on Instagram

Love + magic,

Maggie