5 Questions To Ask Yourself To Reclaim Your Focus and Purpose as an Indoor Playground Business Owner

Since we are already nearing the halfway point of 2024, today I want you to ask yourself a couple of questions that I have gotten in the habit of asking MYSELF if I’m feeling a little distracted or unmoored in my work or personal life, because it always brings my goals and perspective back into focus.

And I have gathered these questions over the years from various sources, so while I will try to give credit where it’s due, I truly have no idea where I first heard a few of these so– again, I’m trying my best here.

Here are 5 questions I want you to REALLY put some thought into answering BEFORE we reach the end of Q2– so you have a bit of time.

1) If I Was REALLY Brave, What Would I STOP Doing In My Business?

And this one I heard a few years back from one of MY business mentors, Amy Porterfield. And I love this question so much because we are SO much more likely to ask ourselves the inverse of this question, right? You probably ask yourself quite a bit, “what would I be doing right now if I was really brave?” So for example, for some people it might be going live on social media more. For some people it might be hiring their first employee. I know for me, this is a question that’s already keeping me up at night– things I know I probably should be doing but I’m not. I don’t need a reminder to ask myself that. 

But when I stop and ask myself, “If I was REALLY brave, what would I STOP doing in my business?”-- THEN I really have to dig deep. 

And I’ll give you a couple examples you can use to get your wheels turning.

You probably know by now if you’ve been watching my videos or listening to this podcast that within a year or so of opening my indoor playground way back in 2015, competitors started popping up all over town. And I gotta be honest, as a new business owner without a community to lean on for support (which, by the way, was one of my main driving forces that caused me to create my programs and Play Maker Society), my confidence was FULLY shook.

I was obsessed with stalking my competition’s social media and I always thought to myself, if they are doing something, I HAVE to match them and do something similar or even BETTER. And sure, I had tons of ideas that they took “inspiration” from as well, so we were really matching each other's anxious energy here, it was a mess. 

SO if they were doing princess summer camp, I did princess summer camp. If I did a mothers day paint and plant event, they would post one a few days later. Kids night out, same thing. 

And we just got into this really destructive cycle.

And one day, though I didn’t have this exact phrasing in my toolbox yet, I asked myself, “man, what would happen if I got really “brave” and broke this cycle? What would happen if I just unfollowed them and did what felt right and made sense for MY business?”

And so I did.

And once I dug into the numbers and spoke to my team members, it turned out that events like kids night out, while they generated revenue, were absolutely draining the LIFE out of my team. I did an entire YouTube video detailing alll the reasons we stopped doing Kids Night Out type events– but it took bravery to pull a big money maker for the sake of making more time and energy for better, more fitting things for our business.

I finally had to realize that, every time I said YES to something, it meant I was also saying NO to something else. WIth brick and mortar businesses like ours, there is REAL scarcity with our time and space, so it’s really important to factor in opportunity cost when you are filling up your calendar.

So yes, it was scary to take Kids Night Out out of our rotation when it seemed like every other kids' space was doing it– but we replaced it with things that ended up making more money, lighting our team UP and energizing them, and became our biggest differentiating factors between us and our competitors.

For this business, my THING I had to get brave and stop doing was publishing FIVE episodes a week on this feed. I knew it was getting overwhelming for YOU as a listener to tune in 5 times per week, and it was certainly starting to completely monopolize MY time, but I was SO afraid that if I slowed down, my business would come to a screeching halt. 

But once I looked at the numbers and all of the things I was having to say NO to in order to get those 5 episodes per week out, it became clear. Since I have pivoted to one episode per week I have been able to start taking 1:1 clients again, I have been completely revamping all of my free downloads and my mini courses and toolkits, and I am doing a complete refresh of my Play Cafe Academy course with the newest and freshest information and strategies.

And those are going to have a MUCH bigger impact on my businesses long term sustainable health than 4 extra episodes per week would.

So what is that THING for you?

If you’re anything like some of the people I work with, maybe it’s wearing ALL the hats or SO many hats in your business. Maybe your BRAVE move would be to STOP trying to manage ALL of the things and start delegating to a team member or a virtual assistant.

And if you already HAVE help, maybe there are still some tasks you’re clinging onto for dear life. Well, what would life look like if you were brave and STOPPED doing those tasks? What would you be able to do with that extra time, energy, and creativity? Would you launch a new revenue stream like balloons perhaps, start dreaming about a second location, do mobile events or rentals? OR would you pour extra love and energy into your family?

What would you STOP doing if you were really brave?

OK, the next question I want you to ask yourself is, 

2) If I Wanted To Add a ZERO To My Monthly Sales, What Would Be The FIRST Thing I’d Need To Do?

This is probably my absolute favorite question, because MAN did this one make me have to stop and think. And this one I saw on instagram from Alex Hormozi.

And I love that this makes you think REALLY BIG, and almost unreasonably. Because it forces you out of your comfort zone.

So just imagine, hypothetically, that you got a really big bill or there was this MUST HAVE investment you wanted to make or maybe even a personal item you wanted to purchase. But you needed to come up with a LOT of money QUICKLY. 

If you absolutely HAD to– what would you NEED to do FIRST in order to add a 0 to the end of your monthly sales?

So, if you’re making $20k per month, what would you need to do to make $200k?

I know, for me, it would be hiring. After managing many employees for many years, admittedly, I have been putting off hiring for my CURRENT company for WAY too long.

And when I asked myself this question, hiring IMMEDIATELY was my gut reaction. And thats what this question is designed to do.

Whatever pops up in your head, is likely the ONE thing that you’re holding back on, that is in turn holding back your GROWTH.

So while 10-xing your sales is a little dramatic, take notice of what came up for you, and make a REAL plan to move forward with it before the end of this year. The hardest part is identifying that ONE thing that will help you massively level-up, whether it’s hiring, opening a second location, adding a revenue stream, expanding your retail into the ecommerce space– the tricky part is FINDING your “thing”. That’s why I absolutely love this question. It makes you think really BIG.

3) Where Am I Replaceable?

Ok, now we are getting a bit more personal, but this question is really imperative to your business as well. I want you to ask yourself (and this is kind of a two-parter):

• Where am I currently spending my time?
• Where am I actually replaceable, versus irreplaceable?

And I really want you to challenge yourself with this one. Because while, sometimes, it can FEEL like we are irreplaceable in our businesses as the owner, we ARE replaceable. If we woke up one day and wanted to sell, assuming you have everything in order in order to do so, technically, someone else could step in and run the show and NOT much would change for your team or your customers. Not as much as you’d think, anyway.

Someone could figure out how to be YOU in your business, and they could do it pretty quickly.

I’m sure you’ve seen those “motivational” videos on tik tok that say something along the lines of, “if you passed away TODAY, your corporate job would have your desk cleaned out and replacement interviews started by the end of the week”.

And unfortunately, again, even though we LIKE to think we are absolutely critical to our business, it would be KINDA similar. Or it could be, if you have the proper planning in place. 

And while, to some, that might sound scary– it should actually be FREEING. Knowing you could wake up one day and decide to step away for whatever reason, should feel like a weight lifted off your shoulders. And hopefully knowing that will give you the confidence to start delegating and hiring in those places. 

Where you’re NOT replaceable, is your family.

You can hire a support system to help with childcare, but you can’t HIRE someone to be YOU as mom, or dad, or wife, or husband. THOSE are roles where YOU are the only YOU, and you cannot be replaced. 

So sometimes, when I find myself really stressed or hung up about something in my business, I come back to this question. And I remind myself– if I am deeply stressing over a task or a job or a duty where I AM replaceable, I need to figure out HOW to go ahead and get replaced.

Because if that stress or negative energy starts pouring over into those roles where you are NOT replaceable, everything will suffer, Because you can’t outsource parenting. Or loving your spouse and being both physically and emotionally there for them. 

So figure out how to take steps towards delegating MORE as you grow, so you can ENJOY your life and success MORE while you grow, and not the other way around.

Next question…

4) What Is MY Definition of Success, and How Am I Measuring My Progress?

And I absolutely love this question as well because it’s so different for everyone, and that’s one of my favorite things about my membership- Play Maker Society. We are currently nearly 300 owners strong, and we all have completely different backgrounds, perspectives, business models, and styles for running our business. And YES we all have different versions of success.

While one business owner might dream of building a dynasty of indoor playgrounds and spreading up and down and all across the country– some may prefer a quieter, softer life. Where they have one or two locations, have very little stress, and make a smaller amount of income, yes, but allow that income to be more PASSIVE.

While one business owner may want to be 100% hands off with their business and treats it more like an asset in their portfolio, another owner can be building towards creating their children’s first jobs. Or for me, right now I am focused on building a business my disabled son can work at and contribute to some day. 

So this is just one of those questions it’s always good to come back to. Because while it may seem obvious, sometimes we forget to measure our progress using our OWN measuring stick. We get hung up on comparing ourselves to others, when in reality, we have NO idea whats going on behind the scenes or what success may look like for them.

So I am going to share a few ways I define my own success and measure my progress right now, in hopes it inspires you to create your own.

• Goal 1: Increase my passive income. How I measure it: by reducing my working hours to 15 hours per week, while not seeing a decrease in sales. (digital products, templates, recorded classes, etc)
• Goal 2: Contribute to my savings. How I measure it: Profit First. Paying my kids.
• Goal 3: Create more positive impact in the play industry. How I measure it: Increase to 350 members this year.

Notice that my goal is NOT to be the next big influencer, reach a million dollars in sales, or get published in Forbes or anything like that. I can summarize my version of success simply with, “I want to work ONLY on the things that light me up, while providing for my family’s future, by creating positive impact”. So IMPACT comes before INCOME. What do your customers need? What other problems could you be solving for them? How could you be saving them time, money, or frustration?

If you focus on the positive IMPACT you can create for your customers, the income will come. 

5) Who AM I Pouring The Most Energy Into?

Now I didn’t quite know where to stick this question into this episode so we are just going to end with this simple question. And while this one is more basic, I find myself asking my 1:1 clients this ALL. THE. TIME. Because so many of us make the mistake of pouring our time, energy, and resources into the WRONG people. And I don’t mean family versus work here.

I am focusing on your customers and team members now. 

So often I see people just “oiling the squeaky wheels” over and over again, and appeasing the customers who don’t deserve it– instead of rewarding their BEST customers with extra perks and bonuses.

Surprising and delight-ing, so-to-speak.

So I want to ask yourself, are you also guilty of this? Are you likely to bend or break your policies just to make people stop or go away? Or to prevent a negative review?

What would it feel like to stop fighting so hard to make those customers happy, when it’s likely you are just not aligned with them and could NEVER make them happy or convince them to like you or your business practices?

What would it feel like to just release them and let them go and instead refocus that attention on rewarding your best customers? Maybe planning a member mingle night? Or coming up with a new discount or promotion? 

Maybe instead of fighting negative reviews, you find ways to get more positive ones? Send a survey asking for feedback, or provide some incentive for reviews? I know, personally, I feel SO much better when I pour love into the people who actually show me love BACK in the form of support– whether that's monetary support or support online.

So I’d love to challenge you to think of how you can reward your BEST customers this week and surprise them with something thoughtful. And try to LIMIT the energy you give to people who will never be thankful or grateful, and will only continue to take and take and take. And just see how that feels.

I hope these questions served as a nice quarter 2 check-in and helped you refocus on what’s most important in your life and your business. 

Do you have any other questions you love to ask yourself to re-claim your focus and purpose as an indoor playground owner? I’d love to know in the comments!