IAM768- Founder Helps Professionals Design A Career

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[00:00:02.20] – Intro

Do you want to learn effective ways to build relationships, generate sales, and grow your business from successful entrepreneurs, startups, and CEOs without listening to a long, long, long interview? If so, you've come to the right place. Gresham Harkless values your time and is ready to share with you precisely the information you're in search of. This is the I AM CEO Podcast.

[00:00:26.10] – Gresham Harkless

Hello. Hello. Hello. This is Gretch from the I AM CEO podcast, and I have a very special guest on the show today. I have Anna Lundberg of One Step Outside. Anna, it's awesome to have you on the show.

[00:00:39.29] – Anna Lundberg

Thank you so much for having me.

[00:00:41.29] – Gresham Harkless

No problem. Super excited to have you on. And before we jump in, I want to read a little bit more about Anna so you can hear about all the awesome things that she's doing. Anna is the founder of One Step Outside, where she helps experienced professionals around the world design a career, a business, and a lifestyle that brings them more freedom, flexibility, and fulfilment outside of the conventional nine to five. Ex Oxford, ex P, and G, today, she combines her experience in global branding and digital marketing routes roles with her training and coaching and positive psychology techniques to help people reimagine the next phase of their careers. She is the host of the Reimagining Success podcast and author of Leaving the Corporate Nine to Five, Stories from People Who've Done It, and How You Can Too. Are you ready to speak to the I AM CEO community?

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[00:01:25.70] – Anna Lundberg

I'm ready. Let's go.

[00:01:27.70] – Gresham Harkless

Let's do it. And, to start everything off or kick everything off, I wanted to ask you for what I call your CEO story and hear a little bit more about what led you to get started with all the awesome things you're working on.

[00:01:37.40] – Anna Lundberg

Yeah. Sure. So it's very organic and in a way random. There's certainly been lots of twists and turns. It wasn't something that I planned. I always say that I was sort of the good girl who followed the conventional path that I've done. As you said, you know, the good school, good university, good job, and that was sort of the typical path. I never thought of myself as entrepreneurial or risk-taking or anything like that. So it's come as a bit of a surprise to me. But you know, I haven't looked back and I've loved every moment. So I studied one thing. I ended up working in, marketing in the private sector. So at Procter and Gamble, a big American multinational corporation. Had an amazing time. I learned so much.

And, honestly, that's opened so many doors for what I do now, but it wasn't fundamentally what I wanted to do. There was always a disconnect because I thought I wanted to do something else, and I just ended up there a little bit accidentally, as many of us do in our careers. Right? We don't necessarily plan where we're going to go. So I was there for seven, or eight years. I left in two thousand thirteen not really knowing what I was going to do instead. So it was a bit of a risk. The biggest, craziest decision I made, I think, was just to leave without any plan. And as I said since then, you know, it's been, I guess, seven, eight years again, so I've almost been out of the so-called nine to five, as I call it, as long as I was inside. But initially, I fell into digital marketing consulting. K. So I did the same work I'd been doing as a full-time employee, but with other companies.

I was really lucky to have in-demand skills and a good network, and that was amazing. And it was a step in the right direction, but it still wasn't quite the independence and the freedom and all these things I wanted. So ultimately I kind of discovered coaching. I went a bit as I call hippie. I went sort of nomadic and travelled a lot and wasn't making a lot of money, have to be honest. And then over the last few years, I've combined the two. So I now really bring my marketing and business and branding and so on background. But I also have introduced new concepts of, as you said, positive psychology and coaching and writing and training and speaking and all these things. And I guess that's how I've sort of arrived at this really nice balance of the two. So I've reconciled myself with my background, but I've also introduced things that make the whole thing more meaningful to me and more fun.

[00:03:43.19] – Gresham Harkless

Yeah. Absolutely. Kinda sounds like you got to that holistic piece. And I almost wonder if you find that when because you went through those experiences, it allows you to kinda connect maybe even more with some of the people that you help out as well because they might be going through the same kind of beginning part of the journey and try to figure out how and what and where to go.

[00:04:02.30] – Anna Lundberg

A hundred per cent. And ironically, of course, I now try to help people make that journey much more quickly because because I didn't have the help. Because I didn't think about what I wanted, I just, you know, I was a little bit lost, and I guess, to some extent, wasted time. I don't regret it because it was an incredible experience, but it took me a long time to get to where I am now. And, yeah, if I had been a bit more intentional and thought about it a bit more, I think I could have got that quicker. But exactly as you said, you know because I've been through that now, obviously I'm passionate about helping other people do the same.

[00:04:32.89] – Gresham Harkless

Yeah. That makes so much sense. So I wanted to drill down a little bit deeper to hear a little bit more on how you're serving your clients. I know you have your book and your podcast. Could you take us through the services and exactly what you do to support the clients you work with?

[00:04:45.30] – Anna Lundberg

Yeah. Absolutely. So I guess it happened quite organically that I started as many coaches to do with one-to-one work, and I started working closely with people, sort of helping them work out what it is they want to do, essentially, and then make it happen. So it's quite a comprehensive package. It's it's really end-to-end in a way. You go from, I know I want to leave, but I don't know what I wanna do, right through to, hey, I know what I wanna do. I'm making it happen, and, ultimately, I actually have clients and I've got money coming in. So I still do some one-to-one clients, but, of course, we only have a limited number of hours in the day and the week. So I very quickly launched a group program. I now have a business incubator, which again is taking people through exactly that process.

I have a really comprehensive membership site now with years worth of, you know, training content and video audio PDFs, a group community, and so on. And then also an ongoing accelerator community because I found that, you know, as much as that one initial decision is a big important decision, it's actually the ongoing keep showing up, keep being resilient, all those things that's almost more important because it's so easy to give up after that initial wave of enthusiasm when things aren't quite going as we hoped. And that's why, you know, I really support them sort of longer term to make sure they're still keeping their eye on the vision they had initially financially of course, but also from a more meaningful definition to make sure they're not like burning out, they're not, you know, not charging too little, so they're not actually getting what they wanted in the first place. So one-to-one coaching, business incubator, and business accelerator are my key programs and services.

[00:06:16.89] – Gresham Harkless

Nice. I absolutely love that. And just because it has it sounds like so many different opportunities depending on what the person is actually looking for, but I love to that kind of at the heart of it of what you said is also it sounds like helping people to understand exactly what the road is, because I think sometimes you get that excitement when you take that leap, so to speak. But as you said, it's not just the leap. It's also that consistency day in and day out. And being aware of that, I think, before you sometimes even take that leak and help you potentially be more successful because you understand what the process looks like a little bit more.

[00:06:49.19] – Anna Lundberg

Absolutely.

[00:06:50.60] – Gresham Harkless

Awesome. Awesome. Awesome. So I wanted to ask you now for what I call your secret sauce, and this could be for yourself or your business or a combination of both, but what do you feel kinda sets you apart and makes you unique?

[00:07:00.60] – Anna Lundberg

Well, I think what we just touched on there is I think relatively unique in the sense that I really encourage clients to dream big and be idealistic. And people tell me I'm a bit of a dreamer and I'm a bit sort of, oh, away with the fairies. But I combine that with, as he said, look, the less sexy stuff, showing up, time management, doing the stuff, swallowing your ego, discipline, and all that stuff. So I think, you know, I combine marketing with life coaching, ambition with self-care, that really trendy but important words, you know, with dreaming big but also being pragmatic and realistic. So I think it's those sort of juxtaposed concepts that are really, really important. I also have a concept. I've just taught it actually in my group this week, in my Facebook group, the five pillars of a sustainable business that I've developed. And it really is, you know, from defining what success looks like for you, building your confidence and resilience, choosing the right business model that's gonna get you to where you wanna be, building your personal brand, which is so important.

And then my final personal favorite, which is designing work-life integrations and making sure it all works with, you know, your family or your travel or whatever else. So for me, that's again taken, you know, quite some years to arrive at those principles, but I find they apply again and again and it's just really helped to be a bit more sort of succinct and really take clients through those. Whether, as you said, you're right at the beginning of the journey and you're very new to those concepts, or to be honest, I talk to people much further along who still need to work on some of those elements. Even, you know, if you've been a successful CEO for 10:20 years, you might need to revisit, hang on, am I still moving in the direction of my vision? Am I, you know, compromising? So I don't have time with my family or I've forgotten why I started this business in the first place. So they really apply, you know, from the beginning of the process right through to much more experienced business owners as well.

[00:08:48.89] – Gresham Harkless

Nice. I absolutely love that. And, you know, as you said, being able to kinda marry, you know, both of those worlds together into one and give people practical, information on how to be successful, but, again, not being afraid to kinda shoot for those stars and understanding how exactly you're gonna do that. And I think so many times as you said, as you were kinda going through each of those aspects, I kinda saw it as rungs of the chair. And as you said, you could be super successful, but at one point, you can lose sight of that work-life integration that you talked about. And maybe you aren't spending time with, you know, your loved ones, and that's really why you wanted to start a business. So being able to kinda check in on a regular basis and know you're doing what you're doing in order to, kinda reach your vision is so important.

[00:09:27.10] – Anna Lundberg

Mhmm. And there's a Stephen Covey quote if you know the guy who wrote The Seven Habits, a book Mhmm. Massive management guru. And he said it doesn't matter how fast you're going if you're heading in the wrong direction. And I think that's quite good. It's also, you know if your ladder is leaning against the wrong wall or whatever the other expression is, but, you know, you could be doing really well and getting promotions and salary increases and hustling and making millions or whatever. But if that's not allowing you to live the life you want, then, you know, actually it's not a success for me. And, and, you know, that's just important to check in before, before it's too late, like I guess, before you're too old to do anything about it.

[00:09:58.39] – Gresham Harkless

It. Exactly. Exactly. Yeah. I always say you wanna make sure that you're running your race, not somebody else's race. And so many times, if you have that ladder on the wrong wall, as you said, or, you know, doing things that aren't in alignment with what you consider to be a success, then you can definitely, you know, have that empty feeling even if you reach and get all the quote, unquote success, in the world. So absolutely love that. And what I wanted to do is switch gears a little bit, and I wanted to ask you for what I call a CEO hack. So this could be like an app, a book, or a habit that you have, but what's something that makes you more effective and efficient?

[00:10:28.60] – Anna Lundberg

So I think something that works really well for me and that I use my clients often is, you know, as I said, we have the big vision, but you have to actually anchor it in your day-to-day. So a concept I came across many years ago was the ideal week. And it's around if you know a little bit about time management, there's a lot around calendar time blocking and, you know, rather than having to-do lists, you sort of really block your calendar. And the idea of the ideal week is, you know, okay, my vision is this and I wanna be an author and I want to launch this new program and whatever it is, then you have to look at your calendar and you have to make sure that the stuff you're doing every day is laddering up to those goals. If I want to be a writer, I need to make sure that I'm actually spending some time during my writing, right, or working with publishers or whatever.

So I always call it an ideal week because your week is never going to look like that. But at least you can block it and you go, okay. Well, first thing on Monday morning, I'm gonna be pitching media or, you know, every Tuesday afternoon, I'm gonna be following up with warm leads or, you know, recording podcasts. You can have a content batching session and it should be also, again, the work-life integration, your personal stuff. So picking kids up from school or going to the gym or, I don't know, taking, you know, three days off for whatever. Right? So whatever that looks like for you. But that's something that's really worked for me. You can sort of put it into your calendar, and each week you just check in and go, I didn't follow that at all. Either it's too unrealistic or you just haven't been focused enough, and you can kind of tweak it. And, again, you're never going to get the ideal week, but I think that really helps you sort of connect your big vision with the actual practical day-to-day, which is so important if you're ever going to get to that vision.

[00:12:03.60] – Gresham Harkless

And, I wanted to ask you now for what I call a CEO nugget. So this could be a word of wisdom or a piece of advice. It might be something you would tell a client, or if you hopped into a time machine, you might tell your younger business self.

[00:12:15.10] – Anna Lundberg

So I think both of my younger self and for my clients this week, I've said it about fifteen times, I think, in this workshop is to get clear on your what and your why before you get caught up in the how because it's so easy to go, but I have no idea this business idea is never gonna work or how would I ever get published in the new whereas you don't even know if that's what you wanted to do.

[00:12:40.10] – Gresham Harkless

Now I wanted to ask you my absolute favorite question, What is the definition of what it means to be a CEO? And we're holding out different quote-unquote CEOs on this show. So what does being a CEO mean to you?

[00:12:50.60] – Anna Lundberg

I love that question, and it's a strange one for someone like me because I don't have a big company. I don't have a big team, right? But for me, I think it means having that holding that vision. It means being intentional about what it is you want for the company, whether the company is one person or one thousand or whatever, and having that big-picture helicopter view. And then also, of course, making sure that all the sort of, again, practical building blocks, whether it's the team, the logistics, the actions, the strategies feed up into that. But for me, I think that's sort of the difference between someone who's just executing and doing a good job and being an employee to, you know, elevating yourself to this is the vision, big picture strategy, focusing on the focusing on the things that need to be done. And so for me, that's really being intentional and focusing on that big vision.

[00:13:37.20] – Gresham Harkless

Absolutely. Very, very powerful. You know, being able to have that vision, as you said, being intentional, from you know, we talked about all the way going down to a week and understand exactly how your ideal week is and what that looks like, And that helps to kinda build up towards that vision and endorse that execution of what we wanna see. So truly appreciate that definition, that perspective, and I appreciate your time even more. What I wanted to do is pass you the mic, so to speak, just to see if there's anything additional you can let our readers and listeners know and, of course, how best they can get a hold of you, subscribe to the podcast, and find out about all the awesome things you're doing.

[00:14:09.10] – Anna Lundberg

All of them. Wow. Goodness. Okay. That could take a while, but no. I mean, the business is called One Step Outside, and it comes from the quote, everything you've ever wanted is one step outside your comfort zone. So for me, part of it is to take a step back and look at this big picture. So what is success for you? It's such an obvious question. Most of us have never really asked it of ourselves. We've inherited a definition from society, from our parents, teachers, even our peers, and people around us. And as we keep saying, you know, even if you've been clear at one point, you very quickly lose sight of that. So first, you know, take a step back. What's your definition of success? But then I like the one step because you don't have to take that massive leap.

You don't have to go, I'm gonna rip apart this business plan and start again. You don't have to quit your job today. You don't have to you know, it's taking little steps in the right direction, bringing elements of your vision into life today, and also taking steps in that direction. And that I think, again, is balancing that, yes, pretty much anything is possible, but it's gonna take time and you're gonna have to work for it. So it's sort of the one-step and, of course, the comfort zone as well because we're gonna have to, again, swallow our ego. There'll be a very steep learning curve.

And, of course, because it's the first time we do something, it is gonna be challenging. But that's sort of I always say scary and exciting tend to come together. So that's the one step outside. And in terms of finding me, yeah, one step outside dot com, of course, and happy for you to connect with me on LinkedIn. But as you mentioned in the beginning, of course, the Reimagining Success podcast is a great place to if you're like me and I imagine, like, you too, Gretchen, avid podcast consumer, then that's such a great way. You know, like you, it's fifteen, twenty-minute episodes. Hopefully, both, again, inspirational thinking of that big picture success, but also really practical strategies and tactics as well.

[00:15:50.39] – Gresham Harkless

Absolutely. And, I love and appreciate that. And we will have the links and information in the show notes just so that everybody can follow up with you. But I love everything you're doing, the concept and kinda reasoning and intentionality behind everything as far as, like, the name. Because I think so many times, we see where we wanna be. We think it's sometimes a million steps. But a lot of times, that energy starts to come when we just get a little outside of our comfort zone, go a little bit more and a little bit more, and we start to create that energy. And it comes a lot sooner than we think. So I appreciate that reminder again, and I hope you have a phenomenal rest of the day.

[00:16:22.20] – Outro

Thank you for listening to the I AM CEO Podcast powered by Blue 16 Media. Tune in next time and visit us at iamceo.co I AM CEO is not just a phrase, it's a community. Be sure to follow us on social media and subscribe to our podcast on iTunes Google Play and everywhere you listen to podcasts, SUBSCRIBE, and leave us a five-star rating grab CEO gear at www.ceogear.co. This has been the I AM CEO Podcast with Gresham Harkless. Thank you for listening.

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