4 Steps to Create an Aligned Business -

It’s hard to create an aligned business when you aren’t working on the things you want. This tends to happen we we don’t have clarity. Clarity, on this entrepreneurial journey we hear this word a lot. In my opinion, my friend Robyn Graham has the best definition of clarity. It’s one of her 5 C’s of branding. Click here to find out more.

When clarity is missing or incomplete, you end up frustrated.

No matter what you try or how hard you try, things may not be working out. When that happens you may ask yourself multiple times why you’re still trying. Or you may say something’s gotta give. So before you throw in the towel, you need to have a black coffee conversation with yourself and be honest about a few things. This needs to be done so that you can operate your business in a way that is aligned with what you really want in life. That means your life and your business are arranged to support each other.

There is a four step method you can follow to help you identify your desired lifestyle, your identity, your feelings, and your expression. It’s Christina Giordano’s L.I.F.E method which is a thoughtful approach to going after what you want in life intentionally. Having this clarity also matters in your marketing. Christina and I talked about her signature method and how to create more alignment so that you can set yourself up for success starting now and into 2022. Read our chat below.

Shannon Baker

Thank you for joining us for this week’s conversation with Christina Giordano. And I’m excited because what we’re going to talk about today is a topic that’s close to my heart, the core of my business. And you know, if you been listening to the podcast for a while, or you follow me online, you know, I’m all about creating a business that supports your lifestyle. And that’s what we’re going to talk about specific ways that you can make sure your business is aligned, as Christina and I chat today. So before we dive in, Christina, tell us a little bit about your background and your journey and what it is that you do.

Christina Giordano 00:47

Of course, thank you so much for having me, I’m so happy to be here. Well, my business, Christina Giordano Consulting, launched in 2013. And it pretty much launched as like a digital marketing agency for those looking to get the word out about your business. So I’ve been in business for over eight years now. And over the years, I’ve worked with agencies, private clients, larger organizations, you know, helping them utilize the modern tools of entrepreneurship available to them. So it was very much marketing consulting, as it is kind of a status quo. I hosted entire workshops, training seminars, large scale events. So I really touched a lot of areas of the industry. And I was busy, like crazy busy. And it’s important to me to also mention that during this time, I was also becoming, I guess you could say more aware and more involved in wellness, particularly more conscious in spiritual practices. I actually started meditating the year that I launched my business in 2013. And, and having practices like that really paved the way for a major pivot to occur in my business. And it wasn’t until 2018, after I had my first child, my son Callen, when I became a mom, that I started to get super burnt out. And as I said earlier, I was pretty much just a one woman show with a never ending array of offerings and solutions for people. Whether or not those clients and offerings were truly aligned with me, I knew what I liked, and what I didn’t like. And I knew where my strengths and weaknesses were.

And I had this underlying desire to pivot into elearning. But it wasn’t really, it was really just an idea at that point. So it hadn’t come to fruition. And then, of course, in 2020, as we know, things got a little crazy. And a lot of those clients, those larger clients, especially they lost them rather quickly, because they just couldn’t, they didn’t have the resources. And so I went a different way. Instead of panicking and freaking out, I upleveled my spiritual practice more than ever before and my business completely changed. And I made the pivot into elearning. And what I focus on now is sole lead intentional marketing consultant. So I basically help entrepreneurs realign with how they show up based on their unique what I like to call soul power. It’s kind of like what lights you up. And my goal is to help them essentially become happier, freer and more aligned, that they can actually, you know, live the life and have the business of their dreams.

Shannon Baker 03:24

And I love that like when I see that all over your profile on Instagram. and was like, Yes, I need to have Christina on. The you were also on Allison Scholes’ podcast, when I listened to that episode, I was like, Oh, we are definitely excuse the pun, in alignment with each other because my approach to helping business owners create systems is wholistic and not h o l i s t i c like most people would think. But whole, being the whole person, your entire lifestyle because our business needs to be created and built out in the platform that supports the lifestyle that we desire. And that’s where that whole lifestyle or you know, alignment, where that comes into play. So now once you made this pivot, tell us how can someone who’s kind of feeling uneven, burned out with all the things like what can they do to get more clarity to help them kind of pare things down to where their business supports what they really want? What’s most important to them?

Christina Giordano 04:39

Sure, yeah, so I think that if they are, if they’re on this journey of alignment, I think the first thing they need to do is be radically honest about where they are in that journey. So it really didn’t take until I completely was 100% aware that I was completely burned out as a mom and as a business owner to really be able to accept the fact that I had to do something about it. So when you’re going, you’re when you’re going on this journey towards alignment towards getting more in tune with yourself, towards having a business that truly represents who you are as a person, you have to have a moment where you’re like, I’m done. Like, I gotta…something’s got to change. And it’s really that moment where you get clarity, as funny as that sounds. You get clarity on what to do next. And so when you’re going through kind of that, that rough phase of like, Oh, my God, like, what’s, what am I doing? Like, why am I, what am I holding? What am I resisting? That’s usually a lot of resistance that comes up at that point. Once you get to that point, and you kind of leap over it, you can then go into identifying and discovering what it is that you truly want, why you want to start something new, why you want to take a different path. So first, I would say the first step is to definitely have that really honest conversation with yourself.

Shannon Baker 06:03

Oh, that’s definitely, that’s a big one. Because we know it starts with our mindset. So once she says we recognize that we need to change, we need to accept it, and then go, okay, it’s not going to be easy. But something has got to give. And that’s why I really love what you call the life method. Because it really encompasses the things that we need to do. So tell us a little bit more about your signature method.

Christina Giordano 06:37

Yeah, okay, this is my favorite part too. So within the life method, you identify your desired lifestyle, your identity, your feelings, and your expression. So it’s an acronym, L.I.F.E. And these are essentially the elements of your life that you can control. So when I regularly do the method from both a personal and professional standpoint, I come away with knowledge that informs my next steps, my next tasks, my daily schedule, things, I need to be aware of things I need to let go of things I need to focus on decisions I need to make. And these are all now coming from a place of empowerment and alignment, because I’m tapping into my desires. And at that, at that point, I’m not coming from a place of fear and lack and uncertainty, because when you make choices from a place of fear, and lack and uncertainty, I find that you’ll likely sustain the fear and lack and uncertainty. So that’s usually why this type of clarity with the life method is usually the first step before you do anything.

Shannon Baker 07:41

And that’s critical, because I know one of the steps in your method is identifying what your why is, and we’re talking about this a little bit before we started recording. But you know, for any deep work that really helps you put your business in a place where it supports what’s most important to you got to know what’s important to you. Because you know what’s important to me, Shannon is not what’s maybe most important to Christina, or you know, the person next door or your best friend, all of us have different values. Now our values may align. But our priorities are in different order. And we know in my own life, we can set all the priorities in the world that we want, but life happens and priorities shift out of our control whether we like it or not. But as long as we know, what’s most important. We can keep things kind of centered to where we can still be productive, even though things keep happening. And there was a quote on or a message one of your Instagram posts that I loved. I think he said when life gives you lemons…I’m going to leave it so you can finish that one?

Christina Giordano 08:54

Let’s see what was that one, it was a, it was one of my little mirror selfies. Ah, when life gives you lemons, make orange juice and leave the world wondering how you did it. I love that. It is one of my favorites. Because, you know we are given lemons in life. And we I mean we’re given what we’re given. And as much as we as much as we wish for you know, different circumstances or more things or different type of lifestyle or any of that stuff. We have to work with what we have. And usually what we have is based on the decisions that we’ve made for ourselves whether or not whether or not those decisions were truly what we wanted at the time. And so really what you’re doing is if let’s say you have a for me, so my story. For instance, I had a business that was strictly it was it was mostly digital marketing that I provided. I implemented a lot of projects for my clients. And it was it just took a lot of energy for me. And I had these, these were basically the lemons right? I had my clients; they were they were giving me the business that I needed. I was profiting from them. And I was doing their work. But I didn’t love it. I didn’t love the work. So what I did was I took those lemons. And I was like, you know what, I’m good at marketing, I’m good at this whole consulting gig. I really enjoy, I enjoy teaching and training other people and empowering them most importantly. So how can I completely switch this around, so that I can make it work for me? And that’s kind of where the orange juice came. I know that this is the weirdest analogy you probably ever heard. But you know what I’m saying?

Shannon Baker 10:29

I do. But that’s what makes it memorable. Because I mean, we’re all familiar with when life gives you lemons make lemonade, but that’s stuck in my mind, because it turned the tables to something else, it’s like, make it into something else. And then people are gonna wonder how you did it. And then you get to explain your backstory, which helps with your marketing as they can understand where you’re coming from. So keeping that in mind, what are some tips that you can give, that relate to how this applies to marketing, because marketing is hard, especially if that’s not your specialty, or your wheelhouse? So a lot of, you know, my listeners, and I know, and I struggle with this sometimes, too. How can we do it?

Christina Giordano 11:22

Sure. So how can how can we do marketing, based on kind of a different type of clarity, I would say that the first thing would be to think about marketing differently. Marketing has been obviously handed down from a corporate standard, as you know. And it’s it’s the kind that I’ve witnessed is the is the one that’s very data driven and results based and not always done. ethically, I think you might understand what by that I essentially mean that it’s it, there’s a lot of it’s very salesy, it’s a little pushy, and it’s kind of it can make people uncomfortable. I’m sure we’ve all seen examples of what that kind of marketing looks like. And so essentially, you want to what I say when I tell people that they should market themselves is don’t even think about the word marketing, think about showing up being seen and shining. And by that I basically am simplifying and modernizing the approach to marketing so that instead of feeling like you’re making a sale, what you’re really doing is making an invitation. And that’s really what marketing is, is showing up and being seen and shining. And when you shine your light, you you light up another. And with this type of mindset, it’s infused with more heart that way. So if you the first thing I would say is definitely to to think of marketing differently. Obviously, there’s nothing wrong with being data driven. And results based. In fact, data is incredibly valuable. And results are what we want. But there’s a human factor that we often forget to consider. And there’s a deep need, especially right now for connection and authenticity and reliability.

Shannon Baker 13:08

That’s good, because as you mentioned, Authenticity, just be yourself, which you know, can be hard, or we make it harder than it has to be because we can see some people don’t so much, especially on Instagram, which we know that’s like fast pace rails rails, real stories, stories, stories, post carousel, you know, the list goes on and on and on. And in our minds, we tell ourselves, oh, I need to do all of these things that may not necessarily align with who we are with our business with our values and kind of throws us off. So then we’re forcing it. And we don’t get the authenticity that’s needed, which then disconnects us from our customers, and we know it happens. But yeah, keeping that in mind, then how can we not only be more productive when it comes to how we approach our marketing based on your life method? But how can that also help us with the way that we do things in our business?

Christina Giordano 14:15

Sure, so I would say, and we talked about this before the show started but one important mistake that I don’t want your listeners to make is what I did when I first started my business back when I did all the things. So for me, the best type of productivity is aligned productivity. And as moms we kind of learned that which is which is really funny. We learn how to do the things like the most efficiently, nobody can do things the way that we do. But when it comes to your business, I’m talking about the kind of productivity that isn’t keeping you busy, just to be busy. And like you said earlier, Instagram you see all these people with all you know posting every day and stories all the time, never ending 24 hour, whatever the rules are. Yeah, whatever the rule is on stories, they’re just always posting, they got reels coming out, they spend so much time on all this stuff. But that’s a lot. That’s a lot to keep up with.

And if, if Instagram isn’t one of your top converting sources, it’s not worth putting that much effort into it. So it’s the kind of productivity you want to focus on that feels good that inspires you, that doesn’t burn you out, be good enough burnout as moms, we don’t need it to infiltrate our businesses. So basically, I think that if if you are, if you’re looking to be more productive in business, look for the kind of productivity that feels aligned, that feels like it can that it that feels inspired. And usually, you know, people talk about inspired action all the time. But it really does make a difference, when you’re just doing things just to do things just to check a box off your list, it’s harder to do it. And it doesn’t always turn out as great. But when you’re doing something that actually feels good, and feels, inspires and feels like, you know, you got full body chills, and you’re just like shining, and you’ve got this light about you. That is different. And it comes across as different. And we have to remember that our vibe is a language to wit speaks a very, it’s a big language that speaks louder than words. So having that energetic relationship with your productivity can really benefit you as a business owner.

Shannon Baker 16:28

Yes, and I love that you mentioned vibe because we’ve all heard the saying, your tribe is your vibe. So if what we’re portraying online, you know, via social media isn’t really who we are. That’s what we’re going to start attracting. So if we’re not the dancing, or I’ll just be transparent about reels. Anyone who knows me knows that I hate rails, but I hate…I’m not a big fan. I guess hate is a strong word, but I’m not a big fan of the dancing puppet videos.

Christina Giordano 17:02

Can’t handle it. You’ll never see me do that.

Shannon Baker 17:04

Okay, thank you. If that’s not you, don’t do it. And you can tell when that’s really not who someone is because they look so uncomfortable. Believe me, you’re not gonna see me dancing in a video, in a reels video either. I’m just, I’m not doing it. But if that’s what it takes to use Instagram more effectively then too bad. So sad, and I’m just not gonna be successful then. But yeah, that’s also knowing what works for you. So you can shine. I know, it’s not me. It’s not you. It’s not a lot of people, and it works for some people. But it doesn’t work for my people. They are exactly the same way. So this really has been great conversation. So do you have any other hidden nuggets that you’d like to share with us to help us to tap into our soul power as we, you know, try to clean up our business and get things in order to be more aligned?

Christina Giordano 18:10

I would say to download the life method. Honestly, the feedback that I’ve gotten from it so far is that it is so foundational to your success as a business owner, but honestly, you could use it in any area of your life. If you’re feeling like you need clarity as a mom, go for it, use it for your personal life. I use it both personally and professionally. It is my most foundational offering, and it’s entirely free. So it’s a mini course with six video lessons, a workbook and a bonus lesson for my signature program, which is the sole power business program. And it’s honestly the feedback that I’ve gotten is that it’s revolutionary, it’s, it can honestly just propel you in a direction that you just never thought you’d go because you’re finally tuning into your desires. And it’s something that you can regularly turn back to so being the end of the year where we are right now. This is the perfect time for you to do this type of work. Like set yourself up for success and 2022. Like just get it, get the ball rolling. But first start with clarity.

Shannon Baker 19:17

Yes, and I love that you mentioned you can use it for personal and business because one thing I always emphasize, our life affects our business and our business affects our life. If you try to separate the two, you are going to fail because there is no degree of separation. Let’s be honest. For most of us, we’re working from home so there really is no degree of separation except for you may have an office where you can close the door but someone can open it from the other side. So everything we do really needs to. I know we’ve said a line like 5 million times, but it needs to work with each other, they need to complement each other because one drives the other. And if both of them are driving us crazy, what does that leave us with burnout?

Christina Giordano 20:09

Exactly.

Shannon Baker 20:12

So I have a bonus question for you being that you are about to be a mom, I can do little ones. Yes. So when this episode airs, I’m going to say, your baby new bundle will be hopefully a few weeks old by the, not at the time that we’re recording. But when it airs.. So what systems do you have in either your life or in your business that really help you maintain your sanity now that you’ll continue to use when you’ve got that newborn as well? And you have a little puppy, right?

Christina Giordano 20:48

Yes, I have a toddler, a puppy and a newborn. So yes, I would say that the system that I use and that I will continue to use is essentially based off the life method. So I learned in life method that I need to prioritize myself. But one thing that I would say, would probably be the most beneficial from a standpoint of productivity, is to embrace that everything that I feel that I need in any moment is productive. So rest is productive, stillness is productive. And creating a system that’s based off of prioritizing my needs. And notice, I didn’t say prioritize yourself, because that’s such an easy thing to say, and think about and write off. But if you’re prioritizing your needs, that’s a system to really live by, that’s when you know that you’re really in alignment with yourself that you’re really embracing who you are as a person, what you need as a person. It helps you delegate better, it helps you make decisions more wisely, it helps you act more efficiently. So when you’re prioritizing your needs in that way, and making that kind of your system like that’s your system is when you’re just doing you what buy based on what you need at that time. that I think will really, it has set me up for success in the past, and I think it will continue to do so.

Shannon Baker 22:19

And I totally agree because I’m a big proponent of me time, whether that’s five minutes, or 15 minutes or more, especially because we’re so busy taking care of everyone else that we forget, we need to be taken care of, too. And sometimes there’s simple things that we can do. Pause and just breathe and look out the window. It does amazing things. Step outside, breathe in some fresh air.

Christina Giordano 22:53

Mm hmm. Yep. Yep, create rituals and routines that really just, they let you up, they keep you. They keep you. They don’t shift you in any way. And they just keep you grounded and stable and, and conscious of who you are and what you’ve got.

Shannon Baker 23:11

Yes. So we are part of the movement of, we’re gonna say “me time”, not self care. You need me time. Yes, because, I mean, I’ve done several episodes on the importance of having a morning routine, a nighttime routine, and daily routine, because those are the things that help us fill up our cup, so that we can continue to pour into everyone else. So that is great. And if you can see this beautiful smile on her face right now they’re talking about this, that lets you know that this is what we practice on a regular basis. And if you don’t believe this, try it for yourself and try to prove us wrong. It’s not going to work. Christina, thank you so much for joining us today is truly been a pleasure talking with you and getting these practical lifestyle tips from you to help us not only in our business, but in our personal life as well.

Christina Giordano 24:05

Thank you so much. And honestly, I’m so honored that I could be here today. And I really, really hope that your audience just gets aligned, get their business aligned and get ready for 2022.

Shannon Baker 24:16

Yes, now before I let you go, where can they find you online so they can get more of these nuggets that you share on a regular basis?

Christina Giordano 24:24

Sure. So you mentioned my Instagram channel, which is @thechristinagio and my name is spelled with a ch. So that’s the Christina Gio is my handle for that and it’s actually my handle for most of my socials. So if anybody wants to check me out on Twitter or Facebook or LinkedIn, I’m there. And then I have my website, which is ChristinaGiordano.com, and that’s actually where you can find the free mini course for the life method. It’s under the get guidance page so you can check that out as well. And then I have a free Facebook group that’s geared towards my soul powered entrepreneur. So, if you consider yourself a soul powered entrepreneur, if you even want to know what that means, head over to the group and join.

To hear my chat with Christina which is episode 93, feel free to tune in on your favorite platform.

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