162 Positive Productivity: Entrepreneur Kim Sutton On How to Succeed Without Losing Yourself Along The Way

Kim Sutton is an entrepreneur who knows a lot about how to juggle: She owns a growing marketing agency, hosts a popular podcast and somehow keeps it all together as a mom to five kids, eight cats and a dog. In this advice minisode, Kim shares her advice on self-care, sleep, focus and why perfectionism is the enemy of success.

Melinda Wittstock:         Kim, welcome to Wings.

Kim Sutton:                        Thank you for having me.

Melinda Wittstock:         I am so excited to get all your advice in this wonderful advice mini-sode on a Friday. So first of all, tell me what’s inspiring you right now?

Kim Sutton:                        The total transparency and authenticity that I’m seeing out there is just reminding me that I need to be more me. Right? And pull back the covers-

Melinda Wittstock:         We all need to be … Yeah, we all need more ourselves.

Kim Sutton:                        Yeah. We all do.

Melinda Wittstock:         That’s awesome. And how does that manifest for you? How is being more Kim more Kim?

Kim Sutton:                        Well I stopped trying to be other people, because I can never be other people. Right? When I really step into myself, people react and they closer and I’m building stronger relationships.

Melinda Wittstock:         Yes, that’s so true and then when we have those relationships it’s easier to build a team, it’s easier to build a business. Right?

Kim Sutton:                        Oh, it so is.

Melinda Wittstock:         All of that.

Kim Sutton:                        Absolutely. Yeah.

Melinda Wittstock:         It’s all relationship at the end and it starts with a relationship I guess with ourselves.

Kim Sutton:                        No kidding and that’s sometimes the hardest part, is just being comfortable with ourselves, perfections and imperfections.

Melinda Wittstock:         Exactly.

Kim Sutton:                        So I don’t mind sharing the fact that I burn dinner just about every single night.

Melinda Wittstock:         Yeah, you should see my cooking. Well it’s kind of little of hit and miss for me. But yeah, like you just have to learn to accept yourself. There’s some things that you’re going to be amazing at, other things not so much and the things that are not so much you hire people.

Kim Sutton:                        Absolutely.

Melinda Wittstock:         Right?

Kim Sutton:                        Can somebody make me scrambled eggs that aren’t brown?

Melinda Wittstock:         Right. Exactly. Well I love that you admit that because I think so many women, we have this perfection gene where we try and be all things to all people and we can’t, and it sets ourselves up for a sense of failure or feeling less than and we’re not. You know? It’s great to step into our super-shero powers. And so of course, there’s always something that is challenging us though. So what are some of your challenges at the moment?

Kim Sutton:                        I know that I can’t do everything, but I still stack too much to do on my to do list.

Melinda Wittstock:         Yep.

Kim Sutton:                        Yeah.

Melinda Wittstock:         I know that one.

Kim Sutton:                        And then I get really frustrated when I see that I’ve tackled maybe two or three out of 10. But I myself tell people, only have two or three items on your to do list and when you get those done, then add a couple more. Don’t do 10, but I do it to myself.

Melinda Wittstock:         Oh my God. I’m laughing because I’m so like that and it’s like … I keep telling myself it’s a work in progress ’cause when you’re trying to change one of your own habits, one of the easiest things to do is to help other people to do it and … but getting into alignment where you’re doing it yourself. So like by teaching others, we’re teaching ourselves.

Kim Sutton:                        Yes. I hope that that course has a escalated version shortly.

Melinda Wittstock:         Let’s put a multiplier-

Kim Sutton:                        Yeah.

Melinda Wittstock:         On that for sure. Okay. So what are your top three go to pieces of advice for women in business and entrepreneurs?

Kim Sutton:                        When it doesn’t feel right, say no. Always follow your gut, that’s number one. Number two, has to go back to the to do list, two or three things. Start with those and when you get those done, give yourself a big pat on the back and if you feel like it … if you have time in the day and you’re not extremely exhausted, then add another one. And number three, don’t neglect your sleep. If you do not sleep, you will not be productive tomorrow.

Melinda Wittstock:         Oh, gosh. Sleep is everything and we’re so kind of acculturated or taught that working hard is best but actually it’s working smart. Sometimes I do better in my business when I work less.

Kim Sutton:                        Oh, absolutely. Me too. And those … I thought that when I went from sleeping two to three hours a night consistently to eight hours, that I would lose six hours of work time. But happened was that tasks that were taking me eight hours when I had slept for two to three hours were now taking me two to three hours, because I could focus.

Melinda Wittstock:         Oh, that’s right. I don’t know how you could … I could never survive on two to three hours of sleep. I’m definitely an eight hour person. If I don’t get eight hours, I’m a mess.

Kim Sutton:                        Oh, yeah. I nearly didn’t. I nearly didn’t. I was at the end of my rope about ready to give it all up and then I got the big aha.

Melinda Wittstock:         Well I’m so glad that you’re so rested. You sound rested.

Kim Sutton:                        Oh, I definitely am. I got my eight hours last night.

Melinda Wittstock:         Fantastic. So Kim, how can people find you and work with you?

Kim Sutton:                        The best way to get in touch with me is on my website at thekimsutton.com and you connect with me about my marketing automation or listen to my podcast and connect with me on social media right there.

Melinda Wittstock:         That’s wonderful. Do you have any special offer for our listeners today?

Kim Sutton:                        I would love to invite you to go to thekimsutton.com/7dp and you can get the free seven day version of my planner right there, and it only has space for three items.

Melinda Wittstock:         Oh, that’s wonderful. Very, very good. Keep us all focused. And so I’ll put all of that in the show notes at melindawittstock.com/wingspodcast. You can also just get there by wingspodcast.com. And so Kim, thank you so much for putting on your wings and flying with us.

Kim Sutton:                        Thank you so much. I love wearing them.