Summer is often associated with lazy days lounging by the pool, vibrant social events, and the urge to take a break from our rigorous routines. However, for those of us who aim to throttle our personal and professional growth, a lazy summer simply won’t do. This doesn’t mean sacrificing all the fun; in fact, it’s about finding that perfect balance between dedication and leisure. Welcome to our extended guide on “Owning Your Summer Strategy,” inspired by the podcast series “Own Your Awesome” by Miranda Von Frickin. In the podcast’s 41st episode, Miranda shares her powerful insights on staying productive while still soaking up the summer vibes.

The Essence of a Summer Strategy

Our starting point is understanding why you need a summer strategy in the first place. As Miranda emphasizes, it’s easy to get caught up in the “lazy summer” mindset, but maintaining momentum is crucial for long-term success.

Your strategy shouldn’t make you feel overworked — it should seamlessly integrate into your summer plans. This involves revisiting your goals, increasing your visibility, and expecting nothing but fabulous outcomes.

Revisiting Your Goals: The Foundation of Your Strategy

In her podcast, Miranda discusses the importance of revisiting and adjusting your goals, and this makes for the first pillar of your summer strategy. Six months into the year is the perfect time for a mid-year review.

1. Assessment: Reflect on your goals as they were at the start of the year. Are you on track? Have some of the objectives changed?

2. Adaptation: Course-correct where necessary. Goals are not set in stone; they evolve with time and circumstances.

3. Commitment: Renew your commitment. Making small, periodic adjustments keeps your strategy fluid and adaptable, ensuring you remain focused on your longer-term objectives.

Increasing Visibility: The Network’s Power

Miranda’s second tip is to increase your visibility, especially across professional platforms like LinkedIn. This is particularly crucial if your summer involves travel or more downtime than usual.

1. Maximize Networking Opportunities: Don’t underestimate the power of connecting with colleagues, potential clients, or industry leaders. Use your free time to enhance your online presence.

2. Leveraging Social Media: As Miranda mentions, this can be done poolside or while traveling. Scheduling posts, engaging with content, and starting meaningful conversations are excellent ways to stay engaged.

3. Personal Branding: Use the quieter months to fine-tune your personal brand. Update your profiles, polish your resume, and perhaps even blog about your experiences.

 Expecting Amazing Things: The Power of Positivity

Lastly, Miranda’s secret ingredient is expecting amazing things to happen. This part infuses a bit of woo-woo into our practical steps but is no less important.

1. Certainty and Confidence: Reinforce your confidence by recalling past successes. If you’ve accomplished something significant before, you can do it again.

2. Max Effort: Aiming for maximum results calls for max effort. Prioritize your tasks and allocate your energy accordingly.

3. Gratitude and Praise: Whether you are thanking a higher power, the universe, or your support network, never underestimate the power of gratitude. Positive thinking and a grateful heart can attract more of what you want into your life.

 Combining Hustle with Leisure: The Best of Both Worlds

Summer doesn’t mean you have to choose between work and play. As Miranda stresses, it’s all about balance. Incorporate time for relaxation — read by the pool, have those summer cocktails, and take time off with family. The key is to ensure that these moments of relaxation are enriching rather than distracting.

 Call to Action: Embrace Your Strategy Today

If you still find yourself struggling to devise a fail-safe summer strategy, consider professional guidance. Miranda offers summer strategy sessions, which are well worth looking into. These 90-minute sessions are designed to dive deep into your goals, align your actions, and set you up for success not just for the summer but for the entire year.

 Conclusion: Own Your Awesome Summer

The overall message from Miranda’s podcast and our extended guide is that you don’t have to forfeit your summer pleasures for the sake of productivity. With a sound strategy that encompasses reassessing goals, ramping up visibility, and maintaining a positive, expectant mindset, you can truly have the best of both worlds. So get out there, enjoy the sunshine, but also take tangible steps towards achieving your ambitions. After all, your awesome summer is just a strategy away!

Transcript:

Miranda [00:00:00]:
Hello. Hello. And welcome to another episode of the own your awesome podcast. I’m your host, Miranda Von Frickin. This episode is the combination of everything I’ve been feeling over the past few months, and it is the 3rd episode in a 3 to 4 part series, if you will, describing all things summer strategy. And boy, am I excited for this one. So if you’ve been listening, episode 38 was, essentially, a teaser episode for all things summer strategy, and how I plan to crush it, and how I do crush it every summer, and why I do some specific things to keep me super focused, and continue on the momentum of building and scaling, even while enjoying the summer months, the lazy summer months of summer, if you will. I’m anti lazy.

Miranda [00:01:02]:
I mean, I have some lazy tendencies, but in order for me not to get sucked in, because I’m not rich, I’m not a a billionaire and I have yet to win the lottery, or buy the tickets, but I’m just saying, I have to do some things to really keep me focused on moving my business and my brand and my goals forward. Episode 38 was essentially opening up the conversation, telling you where I’ve been mentally, emotionally after the high of launching the book, it going bestseller, and some clients that have come in and me ultimately kind of tapping into that upper limit problem, that we seem to have. And I wanted to make sure that it didn’t it didn’t consume my summer. And the craziest thing is it started in the morning one day, lasted for like an hour or so, and then I just refused to let it set in. Almost like a stain in my shirt if you will. I got out my spiritual stain stick and I refused to allow it to set in. I know it’s there. I couldn’t stop it from creeping in, but I can stop it from staying and that’s exactly what I did.

Miranda [00:02:24]:
I started reading the book the big leap by Gay Hendricks, which really helped. I started to lean into my own summer strategy that I know has worked for years. I’ve been preaching it forever. I will talk about it to anyone who will listen. I start talking about it a few months into the spring, and I wanted to do a 3 part episode for you guys to not only get you in the mode of not having to give up or go hard but you could do both this summer. You can be super successful and build momentum forward in your life and business while still catching some rays and enjoying poolside whatever your summer plans are. I put a post on LinkedIn, you heard me talk about this a couple episodes ago, and I asked everyone what their summer strategy was like. The the 3 options were chill and pull back, same as always, or double down and go with a little bicep flex emoji.

Miranda [00:03:36]:
Most people picked double down, but it ended up being half and half where double down and go was about 44%, and the other 2 combined were the remainder, the 56%. Chill and pull back and the same as always. So about half of the people who voted, which is nowhere near the amount of people in my network, so it’s just the people who voted, had said they were probably gonna chill and pull back or remain the same, kind of slow and steady wins the race kind of thing. And I and listen. I can respect that. I totally can. I am of the double down and go hard school of thought because I know when you zig, I’m zagging. Right? When when you’re zagging, I’m zigging because I don’t wanna go with the crowd.

Miranda [00:04:26]:
I want to lead the trends. I want to be the first to do x. I was one of the early adopters of LinkedIn back in 2,007 and I have been going hard on the platform for that long. Do the math. It’s 2024. It’s been a minute. And everybody comes in and they come in hot, but I have seen LinkedIn trainers come and go like hotcakes. Right? They come in hot.

Miranda [00:04:57]:
It’s a it’s a big trend right now. Everyone’s doing LinkedIn. Everybody thinks they’re a LinkedIn coach. They’ve got their strategy, but it’s really just a bite off of somebody else’s strategy. I have been connected to the people at LinkedIn that work on the product. They’re called the product team. I’ve been working with them forever, and I’m super excited to be able to share some of the things that I learned from them or that we’re piloting or that’s coming up. I can’t give all the secrets away, of course.

Miranda [00:05:25]:
However, I have been slow and steady or go hard every season on LinkedIn in personal branding since I’ve started. Of course, I’ve been coaching forever too. However, there is something about my business strategy that seems to really kick it into overdrive and that is doing what they are not doing, whoever they are. Right? They could be my competition. They could be other LinkedIn strategists. They could be other just businesses in general. For you, it could be other job seekers, other people in your office who are looking for promotions. You’re both vying for that corner office, whatever it may be.

Miranda [00:06:04]:
I put out a book before a lot of the people that I know have on LinkedIn. So to me, I gotta do what they’re not. And to me, it’s not repeating the same thing. It is not only doing what they’re not and this is what so I’m not even gonna get into the book, but most of you have gotten it by now or have read it. If not, it’s on Amazon, own your awesome on LinkedIn. Please check it out, read it, give a 5 star review, Send me a selfie with it. I’ll put you in my collage and get you on LinkedIn soon. But with the book, everybody who’s written a LinkedIn book has been very detailed about how to write your profile, what to put in what section, how to outlast the or how to hack the algorithm.

Miranda [00:06:47]:
And I was like, I’m not doing that. I’m not doing the same exact thing that everybody else is doing. So I made sure that my book would last. Tried and true. I saw an opening in the LinkedIn market, if you will, and to really help people outlast the algorithm. That is my goal. And so I like to do what everybody else is not doing. Right now, people are chilling.

Miranda [00:07:12]:
Right? The poll results are in. People most people are either staying the same or scaling back. Nope. Not me and not you because you got shit on your plate that you need to get off it. You’ve got goals you need to achieve. You set a massive goal for yourself either in the beginning of the year or 3 freaking years ago. You know? It’s still on your vision board, still collecting dust. I only roll with high achieving people who are moving their life forward, who are expanding.

Miranda [00:07:39]:
My year for the year is expand and I hope you feel it because I know I do as well. So I’m getting on more stages. I’m coaching more people. I’m connecting with more people and I wanna help you do the same and not give up on your goal, not to lose momentum, not to take the foot off the gas because summer does not mean, just sit by the pool and do nothing. It also doesn’t mean you have to go balls to the wall, if you will, and go crazy and not enjoy your summer. You get to do both. I am an and girl. I am doing it.

Miranda [00:08:12]:
I’m chilling and I’m going hard. And I wanted to give you 3 strategies of how I’m doing that. In episode 39, I told you my first strategy. It was to, obviously, create the strategy for yourself based on revisiting your original goals that you have for yourself and assessing where you are today based on when you set that goal for yourself. It’s been 6 months. Right? If we’re doing, like, the January kind of goal, well, then it’s been 6 months. Where are you? Are you close to it? Are you far away? Listen to that episode, episode number 39, to be able to hear everything I’ve got to say about devising the plan and calling in the big guns, which would be a coach, if necessary. And let’s be honest, there’s nothing wrong with asking for help.

Miranda [00:09:00]:
It actually gets you there faster and get you further and typically in more time and, more results because you’re laser focused, because coaches can see what you cannot. I’m one of those coaches. Feel free to reach out with to me. Anywhere you you follow me on socials, we’ll set up a summer strategy session. It’s a huge offer that I give out every single summer to help you set yourself up for a magical, productive, and successful summer, but really go bonkers in the fall because your calendar will be booked. You’ll already be in a line for that promotion. You already have your book strategy laid out. You already have the tech for your podcast.

Miranda [00:09:37]:
Whatever your goals may be, I say we set them up now. Why wait? Right? So the first thing is to revisit and adjust and revise if need be. So it’s all about the actual strategy itself and where you are, now based on where you were 6 months ago. The second thing was to increase visibility. Right? Network. Network. Network. Live on LinkedIn, Instagram, wherever and this can be fun.

Miranda [00:10:06]:
You can do this by the pool. I didn’t even say this in episode number 40. You could do this step by the pool. You could do this while having cocktails with your girls. Like, you can do this in between reading books or on the plane if you’re traveling with your family while the kids are in the pool and you’re sunbathing. Whatever your fun summer plan is, let’s multitask if you will. And And if you wanna just veg out, veg out, and do nothing, that’s cool. But there is a time and a place to veg out and do nothing, but for me it’s just always sweeter and more relaxing when I feel accomplished.

Miranda [00:10:43]:
So this is why I take my cell phone with me, hop on LinkedIn, hop on Instagram or Facebook or wherever you are, wherever you connect with people and spend some time connecting. Network with people, connect with some new people, engage in their content, get your face in front of whoever makes decisions. If you’re an employee, get your face in front of potential hires. If you’re a hiring manager or in human resources, get your face in front of people who could be your clients. No matter what industry you’re in, you can get access to people. They may not be buying today, but let’s be honest, they’re still buying. Right? The it’s summer doesn’t slow everything down, but it does slow down some things, so just get in front of them. Right? So that way when they are ready, it’s you they go to.

Miranda [00:11:31]:
So I double down and increase my visibility by means of networking, connecting, and my my marketing strategy. The third thing I wanna talk to you today about and it’s gonna be all about the woo because you know me, the woo is the glue and that may be a whole separate episode, but I am obsessed with this concept of expecting amazing things to come my way. Ex expecting them. That’s my number 3 of these three things that I do to help me stay focused and move forward in the summer while still enjoying myself. The third thing is to expect amazing things to happen. Listen. If we’re gonna just like chill and watch Netflix or do nothing and expect, I mean, okay. Like that’s cool.

Miranda [00:12:19]:
You you got some confidence. I can see that. But if you are still putting in the work even if it’s, you know, not as aggressive as you would a different season, but you’re still putting in the work, you can expect results from that. And to to ensure that things are gonna happen with the results that you want and the effort you’re putting in, having this this sense of ownership in in the expectation, if you will, is so valuable. So owning our expectations is a key strategy of mine no matter what my goals are. When I was writing the book, I expected that book to be done. I knew that book’s gonna get completed at some point. When I was I just told you, I think, recently, I released about £26 or so.

Miranda [00:13:13]:
I expected the scale to move. I expected to see an ab. I mean, just the one. Maybe 2. I’m not expecting a second one. I’m happy with the line I’m getting. But whatever you want out of life, career, business, brand, whatever you got going on, you have to expect that it’s gonna come to you because then you start to vibrate, your body starts to be at that frequency to match the result. Right? I expect to win the lottery and I’ve yet to win it, but for some reason, if there’s something in me that is expecting massive amount of money and I think it’s because I’m just gonna earn it.

Miranda [00:13:50]:
Right? Like, I may not win the lottery, but either way, I expect massive amounts of money so I can make a massive amount of impact in my life and business and of the people I work with and the people that follow me and that I have access to. I I am here to to reach my calling on massive levels, if you will, and I’m gonna need the money to do that. So I expect money to come to me. I expect to be healthy. Right? So But I can’t just sit on the couch and expect to be healthy while eating Cheez Its. I just can’t do it. It’s it’s not gonna happen. So the expectation has to be coupled with a few things, and here is how I set myself up to have positive expectations, while still taking ownership of the results and the action.

Miranda [00:14:40]:
1, I remind myself of times that I had complete confidence and certainty in something and it worked out. So the book, for example, I had complete certainty that it was gonna happen. I didn’t at first. It actually took a friend of mine, Marcela, love you girl. It it took her to tell me that the book is already written. It’s already written, girl. It’s in somewhere in in a alternate universe or in a different dimension or in the future, and, you know, I love to time travel. Like, the book has already been written.

Miranda [00:15:10]:
It’s a best seller, and I’m like, oh, that’s a valid freaking point right there. So whatever your goal is, sit down and say to yourself, it’s done, and expect that it will get done. Now you can’t just say it’s done and do nothing. Alright? So that’s the caveat. Right? You have to expect that it’ll get done, create the strategy, call in the big dogs, get some visibility, call in who you need. Like, you need to do the work. Right? You need to do max effort, which is what I call number 2 of this, how I set myself up for positive expectations. 1 is to remind myself of the times I had complete confidence and certainty in something and it happened.

Miranda [00:15:52]:
So if you can compile a small list of things you expected to happen and it happened on the positive side, let’s not go with the negative. Let’s just only focus on positive here. I expect to lose weight because I’m doing this, this, and this. I expect to write this book because I’m doing this, this, and this. I expect it to go best seller because I have a tremendous support system behind me who is gonna buy the book, who’s gonna give me 5 star reviews on Amazon, and who’s gonna tell their friends about it. Like, I expect amazing things to happen because I I am moving towards that happening. I’m clearing space to allow room for that to happen. I’m taking max effort which is the next thing.

Miranda [00:16:30]:
Is it max effort? What are the things you’re doing? You can’t do minimum effort and expect maximum results. You just can’t do it. It it’s a conflict of energy, if you will, to expect massive things, but do minimum effort. Right? Although, listen, there’s always Someone’s gonna come at me in the comments or in my DMs, someone’s gonna come at me in the comments or in my DMs and say, I did nothing and I manifested this rich man in this beautiful house mansion. And I’m gonna say, I’m called bullshit on that. I actually have an episode where I call bullshit on that. It’s about vision boarding. But, you you know where I’m coming from.

Miranda [00:17:11]:
You can’t expect maximum results. You can’t expect your highest self to to step up and provide you the answers and the solutions and the strategy if you, today, are giving minimum effort. So max effort, my friend. And then the third thing I do, and this is so important, is to praise on it. Now you may be thinking, wait. Does she mean pray on it? Yeah. Of course. I want you to pray on it, but I actually want you to take that a step further further and praise on it, if you will.

Miranda [00:17:43]:
For me, I’m praising Jesus. I’m thanking him for giving me everything I am looking to call in. Thank you for bringing me the right clients. Thank you for getting this podcast into the ear of the person listening because, obviously, she needs it today. Thank you for for bringing in all the resources that I may need. I’m praising Jesus and thanking him for it to already come in. Right? I expect it to come in and now I’m thanking him as if it already happened. For you, whoever you pray to, whoever you talk to that’s your highest self, that’s a higher version of you that’s outside of yourself, energy, source, spirit, universe, I don’t care what you call it.

Miranda [00:18:23]:
Just just have it and praise it every single day because, I mean, the light, obviously, is where it’s at. Right? So if there is something that you know is outside of you that’s giving you life, that’s giving you energy, that’s helping you move this forward, I often thank my brothers. My brothers are in heaven moving mountains for me here on Earth, and I often, when I pray, I praise Jesus. I thank my brothers. I thank everybody up there who’s gone before me. Ancestors, friends and family who have gone before me, who are aligning the stars, if you will, in order for this stuff to work out. I’m also praising people here on earth too. Right? Like I’m thanking my coaches.

Miranda [00:19:10]:
Jess, I love you, girl. I wouldn’t be where I am without you. Absolutely adore you. My biz besties, every single one of you, I wrote about them in the book. I love them all. I would be nowhere without my biz besties, my accountability partners, my mastermind girls, even my clients. Guys, without you who have been my clients, I wouldn’t be where I am either because every time you level up, you level me up and it gives me something else to give to the next person and then you level up the next person, your client. You do more.

Miranda [00:19:39]:
You sell more. You achieve more and and it’s amazing. The ripple effect is what I’m here for. Right? So episode number 41. This one is all about expecting amazing things to come true. I set myself up by reminding myself of all the times I had complete confidence and certainty in something happening, and it did happen. I give max effort at every angle. Now I didn’t say max effort all day, every day.

Miranda [00:20:08]:
Take your breaks. Enjoy your summer. Have some fun. Have a cocktail. Sit by the pool. Play with the kids. But find in the strategy, find time to carve out where you’re giving max effort toward your goals, and then praise on it often. Give gratitude, give thanks out loud, on paper, to people, to God.

Miranda [00:20:32]:
Praise every single thing as if it already happened because when we speak as if it already happened, we start to change our state to believe it’s already here, and when we act as if it comes faster. That’s collapsing time. It’s making things happen faster. You’re calling in the right people, the right resources, getting access to things that you may not have access to before. So if you want your summer to be the best summer ever productive wise, hitting your goals, whatever it is, I wanna be a part of that strategy. Reach out to me on Instagram or LinkedIn. Shoot me a DM. You can just say the word strategy, and I’ll know what I know what you’re talking about.

Miranda [00:21:18]:
I’ll send you a calendar link. We’ll have a quick conversation, and we’ll decide if you wanted to go head first into my summer strategy sessions. It is 90 minutes. It is $500. I haven’t given the price yet, but today I am. It’s $500 today in 2024, summer of 24. It’s the price that I do my 1 hour strategy sessions are $500, but I’ve extended them over the summer, same price at a time. 90 minutes.

Miranda [00:21:49]:
$500. You cannot go wrong. We’re gonna dive into everything. We’re gonna dive into your strategy. We’re gonna talk about calling in the right people, the resources. We’re gonna time block if you need to. We’re gonna work on your mindset, your limiting beliefs. We’re gonna get you visible.

Miranda [00:22:05]:
We’re gonna line you up with content if that’s what you need. We’ll work on LinkedIn, personal branding, life, business, promotions, career, whatever your goals are, we’re gonna pick 1 or a few if they’re small and we’re gonna get you aligned in your action for the summer to achieve those goals and to be one step closer by the end of the year or sooner. I mean, depending on what your goals are, really. If it’s to level up on LinkedIn, we could do that in a day. That’s a whole different strategy. Right? So whatever your goals are, I’m here for you. Let me support you. It’s a one and done strategy session, and then, of course, there’s an option to up level it to Voxer support and such, but that’s something we can talk about.

Miranda [00:22:49]:
But, seriously, it can be a one and done and you’ll be set for the summer. You’ll feel like a rock star. You’ll know exactly where you’re going, what you need to do to get there, and I’ll be here to support you the whole time. Friends, thank you so much for listening to this summer series. It has been such a joy recording this and coming up with pretty much, like, sharing what I do for my summer strategy. These are the three things that I do to stay focused and continue to move forward while still enjoying my summer. I create the strategy and call on the big dogs if I need to. Sorry.

Miranda [00:23:24]:
My dog just walked in. This is real life, people. I record it in real time. I go hard visibility. So I create the strategy, call on the big dogs, coaching wise, if I need to. I network like crazy, get super visible, and then I expect amazing things to come my way. This has been episode 3 of a 3 part series. If you’re just listening to this one, you’re gonna wanna go back to episode 38 to really get the full feel of what’s happening here, and then I dive into the strategy, episode 39, 40, and then this one, of course, you’re here.

Miranda [00:23:58]:
Thank you so much for listening to another episode of the Own Your Awesome podcast. I’m your host, Miranda Von Frickett, and I want to help you continue to own your awesome no matter what that looks like. Let’s figure it out. Let’s get you moving forward. And until then, keep being awesome.