Food Business Success® with Sari Kimbell

EP #228 Become Someone New: Set Identity-Based Goals to Get What You Want

• Sari Kimbell • Episode 228

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Sari  0:00  
Are you thinking about what's next for you in 2025? How you want to launch your business or scale your business? And finally make this the year that you go 10x. It matters the type of goal that you set. It matters why you set it, and to help you, I am making my 10x Goal Workshop totally free for the next few weeks. To get access to this incredible workshop that helps you understand why New Year's resolution type goals never work, and how to do them better so that you actually achieve more than you set out to do, go to foodbizsuccess.com/10x-goals. I'll also put the link in the show notes below. 2025 can be your year to go 10x. 

Sari  0:54  
Welcome to your Food Business Success. This podcast is for early stage entrepreneurs in the packaged food industry ready to finally turn that delicious idea into reality. I'm your host, Sari Kimbell. I have guided hundreds of food brand founders to success as an industry expert and business coach, and it's got to be fun. In this podcast, I share with you mindset tools to become a true entrepreneur and run your business like a boss, interviews with industry experts to help you understand the business you are actually in, and food founder journey so you can learn what worked and didn't work and not feel so alone in your own journey. Now let's jump in!

Sari  1:41  
Hello and welcome back to the podcast. And welcome to 2025! This is coming out, I guess, the week after. So I hope you had an amazing New Year and you are excited. I am so excited for 2025 and last week, we talked about your future self and befriending that person, becoming that, closing the gap on your future self to create what you want. And this week, I want to follow it up with how you are doing your goals wrong, if you're following the traditional model, the New Year's resolution model, and how I actually want you to change the way you do goals, and to not make it as so much of an outcome goal, but to make it more of an identity goal. And the research again shows that when we align with a future identity, that we are going to be so much more successful. And I go into this in depth in the 10x Goals Workshop, so you can go and get that for free. The link is in the show notes if you're listening live. I can't promise that it'll always be for free, but right now, I wanted to open that up and make that available to you as you are doing your 2025 planning, and to do it differently than you've done in the past. You can think about other new year's resolution type goals that you have set for yourself that maybe haven't been as successful as you would like them to be, that oftentimes what it looks like. You guys know this. We all do this, right? It's like, I'm going to, we make this big declaration, I'm going to start a business, I'm going to lose weight, I'm going to get in shape, I'm going to find a relationship, I am going to XYZ, right? We declare these big things and then their outcome goals, and we don't end up shifting our identity to match it. There's no alignment there. And so it's just a lot of smoke. It's a lot of, like, puff, you know, air, right? It's just like, I'm going to do this, I'm going to create a $100,000 business. I'm going to create, you know, $10,000 in sales a month. And we just say it as if, saying it's going to make it real. But we all know that the parking lot at the gym starts freeing up right around like the third week in January, right? Because everybody who made these big goals about getting in shape starts to decline because they haven't made identity shifts in who they are. And some of the great books, definitely one of the best books, I think, on this is James Clear and Atomic Habits, so I highly recommend that. It's something I've listened to a number of times. There's also the Power of Habit is another good one. There's lots of great books that will get into how you need to shift, make an identity shift, and not just declare this big goal that's super arbitrary anyways. Like, how do you know you're going to create 100k business, or a 300k business in a year? Like, exactly 12 months. But we do know that if you shift your identity and become the kind of person who does create a business, a 300k business, a 100k business that becomes an entrepreneur, becomes a CEO, that over time, those shifts, those behavior changes, are going to create what you want. And last week, I said, oh, this is so perfect, because Pura Vida and being in Costa Rica for the next few months on my year of adventure aligns perfectly with becoming my future self. And then I realized I didn't actually explain why, and I want to do that right now. So for me, I have a future self vision that I am an entrepreneur. I am a CEO who allows things to be easy. For the first five years of my business, it's been hard like I'm doing it. I'm successful, but it's a slog, right? It's a lot of work. People are like, how do you do everything that you do? I'm like, yeah, it takes a lot of time. It takes a lot of work, and some of it feels like forcing and I muscle through it, right? I hustle, do all those things. And now I'm in, oh gosh, I guess the sixth year officially of my business, and I want it to be different. I want it to be easy. I want it to be Pura Vida, so funny. I ended up here, and I didn't even think about it that way. But now that I'm here and everybody's talking about the good life and how it can be easy, that's exactly what I want my business to be. That's exactly who I want to be. I want to I mean, I'm going to do the work, right? I'm still going to show up. I'm still going to do the podcast. It's not like I just say screw it and don't do anything. But I want there to be more flow. I want the money to flow in. I want the new clients, the new members, to just come with ease that you're like, yeah, I want what she's selling amazing. She's going to help me skip the line and get what I want and create it easier, faster, with less stress. Yeah, I want that.

Sari  7:17  
And those are the kind of people I want in my membership. Those are the kind people I want to work with. And so the more I can shift my identity to becoming this type of person now moving temporarily to a new country, that whose motto is Pure Vita, living the good life is beautiful because it's forcing me to do this, and so far so good. I've only been here a few days. Things have been easy. I've just said, I'm going to let it be easy. Doesn't mean that nothing goes wrong, right? "Wrong", although sometimes the wrong is kind of leads to the right, you know, it leads to the fun stuff. But I've just said I'm going to let it be easy. I'm not going to stress. I'm not going to try to make it be something that is not what it is, right? I'm not going to try to argue with reality. I'm just going to go with the flow and trust that what I want, the vision of what my beautiful business looks like is possible without so much hustle. It means becoming a new version of myself that leans on an amazing team. I am so fortunate. I'm just gonna give a shout out here. I'm so fortunate to have my VA Vinness, who's probably transcribing this podcast right now. I'm so grateful she's been with me over, I think, over three years now, and it's been an incredible relationship, and I know that I can lean on her more than I do, and then I'm so grateful for April, who's our Fuel Community Manager, and she's going to be helping me even more this year, and so it's becoming a new version of myself, one that trusts other people, one that builds a team and focuses on helping them succeed. It's a person who lets go of some control, which I'm a little bit of a control freak. So it's letting, it's allowing. It's letting other people do what they are best at. One thing I'm realizing, and this is so, you know, we talk about this in Master Your Business is that you can't do everything. I mean, you can, but you can only do a certain amount of those things, and you can only do them so well. You're not going to be able to do everything 100% and do it amazing. You're you have unique abilities in certain areas. Yes, at the beginning, we do have to wear all the hats, and that's a good thing. We need to hustle a little bit. We need to learn our businesses. But over time as they evolved. And this is exactly why I created Master Your Business. So I'm doing the work right now is that we need to be able to start relying and delegating and creating a team so that we can create this synergy that like takes us to a whole new level, right? And then as the CEO, as the founder, you can start taking a little step backwards and focusing on the things that you are good at, the things that only you can do, right? Like April can't do this podcast like I would do it. Now, I do want her. I think in the future, she will do some podcast episodes, but it will be different, right? I am the one who writes my book. I am the one who films the videos. Like these are my unique abilities. I know that her unique ability is in supporting me, is in creating systems, which I'm, weirdly, I'm really good at helping other people, but sometimes it's harder to do it myself, but it is allowing her to step into what she is really good at. And then at my market, I have an incredible team. I mean, proof here is that the market is running without me, right? We have this incredible farmers market that I have set up my team for success. We have created systems, and I've set the standards and the results, and I'm available to them, but I'm really allowing them to run it. And so this is the year of me like allowing other people to help and create a team to support me, and it's not easy. I know we all think that's what I want, but when you're in it and it's your business and your baby, it can be hard to let go and let others tend the baby in this metaphor. So any case, I wanted to explain why Pura Vida is for me is such a great example of living into my future self, becoming a person who allows it to be easy and lets go and goes with the flow and creates a team and focuses on what I am really good at, so I want that for you, too. In any case, I want to get back to and in the goal workshop, I talk about this that a lot of times we set these extrinsic goals, we set these outcome based goals, like I am going to launch my business, right? I'm going to increase sales to $10,000 a month. I'm going to get on whole foods market shelves. I'm going to get on Amazon. And there's nothing wrong with setting those kind of goals.

Sari  12:56  
It's time to get off of the sidelines and into the game. 2025 is your year to make a big leap, to score big, but you have to get into the arena and start taking action. The fastest way I know to see progress and get momentum is to get expert coaching, to get great content that gives you exactly what you need when you need it, and get you access to an incredible community that is cheering you on. I am telling you these are your keys to success, and going it alone is the slowest way possible, and it's when I see so many people quit. Do not quit in 2025. Get the support you need. All of the programs that I offer are open now for registration, including the original Food Business Success program to help you launch and grow to 100k. Master Your Business is open for applications, or if you're not quite sure you're ready to go all in, then commit to coming to Fuel member calls. Become a member of this incredible community with an amazing annual rate, where you get some one on one calls with me as well. There are some incredible bonuses that I put together and discounts that only come around once a year. So do not miss this. Go to foodbizsuccess.com or check the show note links for individual links that'll take you to each of the programs. It's time to secure your success for 2025, commit, make an investment, and let's make a big leap together. 

Sari  14:49  
But what is important is that we at least, at the very least, pair them with an identity based goal. So let's just take getting on Amazon, for instance. And my members who have gotten on Amazon know this to be true, we tend to think like, Oh, that'll just be easy. I'll just get on Amazon and the money will just come and people just buy, right? But there is an identity of a kind of person who learns Amazon and knows how to operate it well. It is a tool. It is a system that you need to learn, and there are going to be investments of time and money to get that operating, and probably outsourcing and getting some support, which I highly recommend. I have a great Amazon guy, lots of great Amazon people. In any case, there's an identity shift of somebody who is great at running Amazon, at running your storefront on Amazon, right? There's going to be new things you have to learn. There's going to be new ways of thinking about it that is different than what you're doing now. And so it's not just I'm going to create $1,000 a month, or $10,000 or whatever number you want to choose. I'm all for going big in your goals, but we have to be careful that we're not just going after a number to go after a number to prove ourselves worthy to like we think that if we make a certain amount of money, then we've made it, quote, unquote, that here's the problem. We always like, move the finish line out. I promise this happens over and over again. I see it so often that it's just become an inside joke in my head where I'm like, oh, okay, remember when you said $1,000 a month would be enough? And now it's $5000 and then when you get to $5,000 it'll be $10,000 like, we just keep moving the line out, and we're never good enough. We've never achieved it. But if I become the kind of person, how there's real success. Now there's real alignment, because you can't take that away from me. Like even if my entire business, all three of my businesses burned down, they went away overnight. I am the kind of person, I am an entrepreneur who will figure it out. I am the kind of person who can create a multiple six figure business, and I will be successful, and I want that for you. It doesn't matter. The most successful entrepreneurs often had failures at the beginning. Their first business completely failed, but they became an entrepreneur, their new identity as an entrepreneur, so they just pick it back up and do something else, versus the one that make it mean that they're a big failure if that quote, unquote fails, right? Because that was an outcome based goal, and it's based on outside like outside appreciation, outside rewards, things that you can't control, but you can certainly control an identity based goal. And what the research bears out is that when we change the identity who we want to become, that future version of ourself, and we get really clear on who do I need to become. And one of the recommendations that I make to people is, go find entrepreneurs. Go find business owners who have what you want so that you can go and see what do they do different than I do now? Who are they? How are they different? Because I promise you, they are thinking and behaving differently than you are now. So go find other people. So funny, like a second day here in Costa Rica, I went on this tour to go see some sloths. And it was so wet that they were all just like big wet furballs in the trees huddled up. In any case, the guide, Guillermo, shout out to him. He was so great. And we ended up chatting afterwards, you know, I'm traveling solo, and I was taking an Uber, and so we were waiting for that, and he ended up being like, hey, I can take you to the volcano tomorrow and be like a private guide. And it was amazing. I was like, yes, I'm the kind of person who allows for serendipity and trust my intuition and my gut, and I felt good about it, and so we did that. And turns out he is an entrepreneur. He's like, becoming one, I should say, and he has a dream of having his own tour operating system, like he wants to buy a van, and he needs a license, and he, you know, there's all these things that he has to do and become. And so this whole hike up the volcano was like me being a business coach. I just can't help myself. But it seemed like he was okay talking about it. So we were talking about his business, right? I was coaching him on, who do you need to become, and how are you going to do that? And, okay, you need a certain amount of money, like, what are the things that you're thinking and doing to become that entrepreneur and to create that? And of course, I have, like, a million ideas for people. I love doing that. So he ended up, I said, you should be paying me.

Sari  20:31  
I'm like, You got some some really great coaching there. So I'm excited to follow him. And as he starts his tour company, I will give you guys the information, in case you want to come down here, and any case, sorry, super big tangent, we're going to come back around that what we know is that what your behavior drives your actions, so when you start like it's the think, feel, act cycle, and I've talked about this as a life coach, is that when we think that I want I am this kind of person. I am the kind of person who knows my numbers. I am the kind of person who follows through. I am the kind of person who has discipline and does the hard things in the moment, doesn't just like pass it off to my future self. I am the person who learns social media and I go and get Kayla's course that's happening in January. Or I am the kind of person who asked for the sale, who makes the offers, who figures it out, right? That's an identity shift. It's not about creating a certain amount of money or, you know, doing these very like buying certain equipment or hiring a team, it's like, I am the kind of person who figures this stuff out, who does this and is successful at it. Then when we're thinking that our feelings are like, they're like, I'm capable, I'm confident, I'm self reliant, I trust myself like I'm determined, I'm focused, I'm motivated. Those are the feelings that start to come and then our behaviors follow that. Now we're going to make new decisions that is in alignment with the identity that we are trying to become. And it's a beautiful, beautiful thing. It works every time, right? And let's just take a really like, non business example. So if you wanted to become healthier, you don't just say, I'm going to lose 10 pounds, and you join a gym, and that's the new year's resolution model, and then you're like, I'm going to work out every single day and I'm only going to eat broccoli and chicken breast, and you make these, like, really extreme things that are not an identity shift, right? They're just like forcing a behavior change, but you're not changing who you are. Then the second that you mess up, because you will, because you're human, and you fall short, and maybe you get sick, or you go out with friends, and you, you know, eat the chips, the guacamole and whatever. And now we tell ourselves, like, well, that didn't matter, so maybe I won't do it this day. Won't do it this way. And then we fall off the wagon, right? We are doing apparently, next year I'll do that, or later this summer, I'll do that, and we never become a new identity. Versus, like when I was getting healthier and I wanted to lose weight and I wanted to feel better, I was like pre diabetic, and I was feeling terrible and had horrible energy, and I was not strong. I was overweight. I had to change my identity. I am now a person who thinks of myself as a healthy Sari, right? I am hooking my future self up, but I in this moment, I am a person who makes healthy choices. I'm a person who loves my body. I'm a person who cares about what I eat and that I get movement and that my body feels good, and so I trust myself, wherever I go, to make healthy decisions to take care of my body, and that makes all the difference, because I can slip up, right? I can have a day where, I mean, like Christmas Day, I ate all the cake and did all the things, and it was amazing, right? But it doesn't change my identity. I don't think, oh, I'm a terrible, unhealthy person. I'm just like, I'm a healthy person who made some choices to have cake and enjoy it, and now I'm going to make different choices, right? It doesn't shift my identity. And this is what happens in business too. You decide I'm going to become an identity of an entrepreneur, and an entrepreneur is going to do hard things. An entrepreneur is going to hear no more than yes, an entrepreneur is going to have patience and weather the storms and stick with things and follow through and do the hard things. That's what an entrepreneur does. And so I want to encourage you, go watch the 10x goal workshops. I'll talk more about this, it's super important that we're making goals that are based on identity and intrinsic motivation. So go grab that workshop. Super valuable. I want you to be thinking about what are the types of goals that I'm making in 2025 and I want to invite you to maybe make a little shift if you set a goal already. Maybe go back and look at that. Become the kind of person who launches a business and creates $10,000 a month, but make sure there's an identity in there, right? That I am a CEO, that I am an entrepreneur. And what does that mean for you? And if you aren't sure, come join us in Food Business Success. Come join us in aster Your Business. Those are great ways to surround yourself with other people, including myself, but also our community and the other people in the program that they are becoming entrepreneurs. And also look to other entrepreneurs. Go find examples, and I promise you, there is a shift in identity that you need to make. 

Sari  26:27  
That is what I have for you today. I am so excited for what is coming for your 2025. I hope you are too. And if you are feeling like I'm not quite sure what I need to be doing, I'm not quite sure the identity. I don't know the strategies. I'm confused or overwhelmed or I've made this declaration that I'm going to start my business or scale my business. Now what? I want to encourage you that the identity of the kind of person you want to become seeks support. We cannot do this alone, it will go so much faster if you come and get support, if you come and get community, you get expertise, you get coaching, so that you can get over all of your doubts and your confusion and your anxiety, and you can feel more confident, capable, committed all you C words right and and keep taking action. Until next time, have an amazing week! 

Sari  27:28  
The smartest thing you can do as an entrepreneur is to invest in a who to help you with the how to speed up your journey and help you skip the line when you are ready for more support and accountability to finally get this thing done, you can work with me in two ways. Get me all to yourself with one on one business coaching, or join Food Business Success, which includes membership inside Fuel, our community of food business founders, that includes monthly live group coaching calls and so much more. It's one of my favorite places to hang out, and I would love to see you there. Go to foodbizsuccess.com to start your journey towards your own food business success.