Signs You Are Playing Too Small In Your Business

Are you holding yourself back by thinking too small? 

Whether you're settling for safe goals or focusing only on short-term gains, this episode breaks down the habits that keep you from scaling your business.

In this episode, we share personal stories of how we learned to set bigger, more audacious goals, the importance of surrounding yourself with the right people, and how to value the transformation you provide — not just the immediate results. Tune in to hear their top three tips for expanding your mindset and taking your business to the next level.

If you're ready to stop playing small and start thinking bigger, this is the episode for you.

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• Candice Carcioppolo
• Kat Torre

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Transcript

Hi, I'm Kat, marketer turned brand storyteller. And I'm Candice, educator turned entrepreneur. And you're listening to Not Nice, Clever. As CEOs and leaders, it's your job to always have the answers. But sometimes you need a little help. Leverage, if you will. We get it. This is the place for you. So wherever you're listening, 530 AM club at the gym, on your way to your next meeting or putting out today's fire, let's get into it.

In today's mini episode of Not Nice Clever, we are talking about the signs and symptoms that you are thinking too small. Now we wanna clarify that this has nothing to do with saying if thinking small is good or bad, but if you are wanting to grow and to change your situation and improve and expand and scale, then thinking small is not gonna get you there. So in this mini, we're gonna share three tips

about what we keep in mind and what we practice on the daily and with each other being in community with one another that helps us from straying too far into the thinking small category. So Candice, what would be, what's the first tip that we're going to share about this one? The first thing is you need to step outside of your comfort zone and stop settling for safe goals. I

Went to a conference once and it was hosted by a coach named Alyssa Nobrega. And she said that your goal only needs to be 50 % believable. And that really helped me to be like, okay, it's only 50 % believable. All right, well, I already know I have this skill. I'll use my design studio for an example. The first year I started the design studio, I just thought it would be cool if we did one design a month.

Like we did one design a month. Like that'd be cool. My team would be happy. They'd be busy and we'd have a consistent flow. And then I was talking to Dalton about it. And I know as we were going, he was like, well, how many designs do you think you could do? And so was like, I don't know, probably realistically maximum three. Right. And he was like, well, if you think that's what you can realistically do, why aren't you doing it? Like,

I just didn't think about it because I was focused on other things, but it seems like an opportunity. And so was like, well, if three is realistic, I bet you I could do six. I don't really know how that's going to happen yet. So I wrote down six. I was going to do six design projects. within less than 18 months, we were at six. And what that meant was my team couldn't handle it. We had to add more people to our team, but that's okay. was like the next right step was

All right, now we need to add more people to our team. So now we have a total of three designers on our team. Previously, we had like one who always worked in a partnership. now things are just working. Well, it's two, I was worked in a partnership, but anyways, now we have three total and they work by themselves with one manager and one project manager. so anyways, because I thought bigger than what I thought was possible, I was

revealed the next right step, which is get help, grow the team, you know, be even more visible. So if you're in that space right now where you're like setting safe goals, because you know that you can accomplish something, set that scary goal that's going to force you to take the next right step in your business, whatever that is. I love that if it's 50 % believable, that's a great like kind of like tangible thing to think about and keep in mind.

I also always think back to if you don't have that kind of like nervous, like night before the first day of school type of feeling when you are setting goals, like, are you really challenging yourself? Are you really pushing yourself? And you said scary. I think people say like nervous. I like to use the word like apprehensive about it because apprehensive to me is a little bit more like you're excited.

You're like kind of daring, you're daring to be, you know, bigger, daring to do different than what you used to do. But if it's not, if your goals aren't giving you that little, like that inner sense of feeling of like, my God, like, could I really, is it possible? Then you're probably not thinking big enough. So use those two as a litmus test when you're setting your goals. And also I would say Candice share it with somebody and get their feedback too, to get it out of your head, right? Because they might reflect back to you.

Like we've often reflected to each other when we're talking about our goals. Write it down and also be in community with people who are doing cool shit, doing cool things. You got to be with people who are doing cool shit. That's literally the way you're going to grow. That's the hack. If there was one. If there is one hack, it's that. And you guys know we hate that word, but like, it's true. Yeah. If there was one, that's the one that I would say is a hack, is like being surrounded by the right community.

because it was Dom who was like, well, what would happen if you did this? Like, I don't know, we're just like, working at our current capacity. I wasn't even thinking about it in that way. But if we do one versus six, we're like, six times the income. Okay, like, I'm not mad at that. No, right. Not so just having people who are going to have that conversation with you.

And then knowing that you'll figure it out along the way. So going back to Marie Forleo, we talked about her on a previous episode, everything is figure outable. So even if you're like, I'm not sure how this goal is going to be obtained, it doesn't really matter yet. It just matters that you put that on your radar. If you think about any of the successful people that you actually admire, they once wrote down some

crazy goal or goal that people thought was crazy that turned out to not be so crazy for them. All right. Our next tip, and this is a really important one. And if you've been following along for a while as part of the clever crew, you know that we're always very clear that the value you provide, the transformation you provide, whether it is a product based business or a service based business is separate from your self worth as a human.

And so when it comes to not thinking small, what often happens is that you underestimate the value you provide. Nothing to do with your self -worth, but the value you provide in business, whether it is saving people time, it is helping them avoid effort, it is increasing the joy that they have in their life, really understanding and quantifying as much as possible that value and knowing that there's a quantifiable price tag associated with it.

And again, writing it down, right? And being able to know that and stand in that and not feel bad about setting your rates or setting your fee or setting your commission or whatever it is. thing that has helped me a ton in being able to continuously increase my price points, you know, over the years is one, finding all the evidence that my clients are happy clients.

So looking, just read a cat right before this. I read a cat a DM from a client that I had that was super excited to receive today. But I screenshot those and they saved them in a folder on my phone. So if I need to have that inspiration or be reminded like, hell yeah, this is worth it. Look at all this value that I've provided. Like literally people's lives and their children's lives are changed because they have learned something.

about branding themselves in social media that has changed the trajectory or options for their family. Like it's bigger than just a logo. It's bigger than getting views. It's literally providing for people's families. And like that makes me excited about doing this. And then when I see that, I know that the value is there because who doesn't want to double their income, triple their income, sell five times more houses than they did the year before.

That's huge. It's actually huge. Yeah. So, so I would save all of the things that remind you that the value that you provide is actually there, put them in front of yourself. and then the other thing that I would do in this case is I would look around at other people in your industry, not because I want you to like change your prices to match their prices or think of them as competition.

But I want you to see the difference. Not comparisonitis. want you to see what they provide and how it's different. So for example, if you come to Elevate Design Studios and you want to get a logo design, I wouldn't ever use the word affordable, budget friendly, anything like that. That is not what Elevate Design Studios is about, right? We are more, I don't know,

Luxury is the right word, but we are an elevated service that is going to provide you. glove. You're more concierge. Right? It's different. So I'm not worried that someone is selling a logo for $50 on Fiverr because I don't see them as competition because I provide an entirely different experience or service. So I would look at people in your industry and say, what is it about me?

that makes my opportunity different. And how can I highlight that? Yep. Highlight it, articulate it, define it, start there. And also whatever number you're thinking in your head, you can probably double it. my gosh, told me that so many times. Free advice. Have you doubled your? Yeah, there we go. Right. Everything. like we're we're getting up there. If you want branding, now is the time, y 'all.

Because next year, who knows? 'all, book. Okay. Next year, it's double. tip. Moving on. this is a good one. So third sign that you are thinking too small is if you're only focusing on the short term gains, the wins now, the wins tomorrow. And look, I get it. Candice and I both have empathy for the fact that you need to keep the lights on in order to operate, in order to be able to grow and to

grow into that CEO that you want to be someday, it shouldn't be the only thing you're focusing on. Your perspective, right? The goals that you're measuring your success against, the metrics that you're measuring. Okay, there can be ones that keep the lights on, yes, but there also needs to be ones, need to be ones that set you up for sustainable, long -term success. Otherwise, you are never going to get off that hamster wheel and be able to look up

and cast a vision beyond just the next few weeks. And that's not a situation we want anybody to be in. Yeah, I can never talking about this right before we got on today too, because she has a client right now she's working with who is struggling with wanting immediate results. And we've all been there wanting like immediate results. But really, I like to think about branding, social media, all these things that we like to coach on and talk about as

Just how I think about fitness. You have to show up to the gym over and over and over again. You're not gonna go to the gym one day and get on the scale and see a difference. You're not gonna go to the gym one day and then your jeans fit different. But if you go for 30 days, you're gonna see that difference. It's compounding over time, right? So you can't look every single day for the evidence because the evidence is gonna reveal itself

when you've put in the work over time. And so that instant gratification is keeping you playing small. And if you're looking for that instant gratification, I will tell you right now that that is not the way to grow your business and scale in a way that makes sense for you. It's going to just lead you in that hamster wheel, running and running and running, chasing clients instead of attracting.

Mm

Not a good situation. 'all. No, there's not. There's not. And this is called not nice clever. And this is the not nice advice that is really going to change the game for you. remember those three tips. If you are thinking small, it looks like setting safe goals, underestimating the value you provide, and only focusing on short -term gains. We want you to do the opposite so that you can start thinking bigger, acting differently,

and seeing better results longer term. And today we want to give a shout out to Amy Wimmers. Actually, we were just texting today and she sent me the nicest message. She is crushing it. She is top agent in Lubbock, Texas right now, top 10. Like that's incredible. Super excited for that. But she wrote this, says bed. my God.

She said, best podcast, even better people, the ultimate boss babes with all the advice on growing your business and reaching your ultimate potential. Kat and Candice are the best. Don't miss this educational, entertaining, badass podcast. Amy Wimmer, thank you so much, Amy, for listening and thank you for your review. If you haven't yet left, not nice, ever, a five review. Remember to follow not nice, clever, you listen to audio. And if you haven't already, drop that five star review, share your takeaways,

Tell us your story. We love to hear it. Signing off, you're not so nice, but so clever, besties that mean business. See you soon.