Smart Growth Isn’t JUST a Strategy. It’s a Wake-Up Call

EPISODE 1: What Smart Growth Really Means (and Why Now Is the Time to Course Correct)

Welcome back to Season 4 of Smart Business Growth – and this time, Nicky's flying solo. In this personal and powerful episode, Nicky peels back the curtain on what it really means to grow smart – in business, in leadership, and in life.

As we approach the end of the year (and if we face the fact that 2030 is closer than we think), it’s time to pause and ask: Where am I heading? And is it where I want to go?

This episode dives into:

• The five truths of smart growth that every business leader must embrace
• Why listening to your intuition isn't fluff – it's a strategy
• How discomfort is your signpost for momentum
• The power of having good people around you (and honest feedback)
• And why your personal growth is always tethered to your business success

Whether you're a founder, a senior leader, or someone who's questioning the pace you're moving at – this is your invitation to reflect, recalibrate and choose growth on your terms.

Grab The Growth Code™ here!

Learn more about Nicky at nickymiklos.com

Get your a copy of Healthy Hustle: The New Blueprint to Thrive in Business & Life www.healthyhustle.com.au

Connect with Nicky on LinkedIn here

Instagram: @nickymikloswoodley

Call: 0403 191 404

Email: hello@nickymiklos.com

Music by Jules Miklos-Woodley

Transcript

Speaker: 0:06

Hello, hello, and welcome to episode one of season four Smart Business Growth Podcast. I am thrilled to be back for another season. And for those of you who've been following along for a little while, you'll notice that it's just me. There's no nest this season. We've had some big changes in the business, which of course had a roll-on effect to the podcast. So it is just going to be me flying solo. You'll be in my capable hands for this season while we really explore and dive deep into moving away from transactional sales to a more sustainable, future-proofing, smart business growth focus. We are, of course, going to bring a lot of conversations around healthy hustle and how to keep your hustle healthy and of course leading with clarity. In today's episode, to kick us off, we are now moving into or are into the last quarter of this calendar year. Oh my gosh, I cannot believe it. Yes, we are going to be in 2026 soon. Before we know, we'll be in 2030. I mean, there's lots of clients and myself starting to think about what that 2030 vision looks like. And that's really related to the topic of today's episode because I want to unpack and have a conversation with you around what does smart growth mean? And really when I think about and reflect on this term and this idea about smart growth, it really transcends across different areas of our life. We need to grow our businesses, whether you are a leader, you know, you're a part of a team, it's someone else's business, or you're the business owner. We still want to grow our businesses in a smart way. We want to grow our careers in a smart growth way. And we want to grow ourselves as humans, as individuals in a smart growth way. I mean, really, we could even extend this to our health and well-being, our relationships, every area of life. But for today, let's really focus on growth as an individual. You know, there's that the saying, one of my favorites that I learned from Joe Pane, which is we can be green and growing or ripe and rotting. So which will you choose? I know I'm going to choose green and growing. And again, I want that to be my personal growth, my career, my business growth. And so as we are in this last quarter of the calendar year, or maybe it's Q2 of your financial year, it's a great opportunity to pause and reflect on what actually matters to me. Why am I doing what I'm doing? What is the vision that I'm creating this for? Because our careers and our businesses are the vehicle for our personal why, our personal vision. And that doesn't have to be world-changing, awe-inspiring, massively huge. For some of us, maybe it is. But also for some of us, it could be really simple. There's no rules on this to say what is right or what is wrong. There is no such thing because it's right for us. So when we think about reflecting on these questions, when we think about our why, our goals, our vision, when we think about the fact that our business or career is a vehicle to achieve that, maybe it gives us the financial stability to be able to achieve that. We can get really caught up in actually not pausing and reflecting on has my why changed? Have my goals changed? Has the vision changed? It might be that you're caught in rapid growth of your business, you're chasing ambitious targets, your team are growing. It could be that you've had career progression and you know progressed role after role. But when was the last time you really paused to consider, is this still what I want to do? A, is the bigger picture still where I want to head? And is this the right vehicle to help me get there? Now, this is something that earlier this year, if we go back a few months, Ness and I, so for those of you who don't know Ness, Ness is the co-host of seasons one to three of Smart Business Growth. And we had a business together called Business Together. And we had that business for about four and a half years. And earlier this year, we took the moment to pause to ask ourselves these questions that I'm now asking you to reflect on. And what we realized is that actually the vehicle wasn't the right vehicle for us anymore. That our bigger picture goals and vision had tweaked and changed somewhat. And so we need to make some changes. And the thing is that this isn't always the easy thing to do. But when we lean into the tough decisions, the big decisions, I suppose, the challenging aspects, they are the points that can create the biggest impact. A quick interruption to this podcast episode. I'm really curious, do you want to close more sales in less time? If the answer is yes, which I hope that it is, then you need to get your hands on the growth code. It is going to give you three proven frameworks and tools that will help future-proof your business and scale with clarity. All you have to do is head down to the show notes and click the link below. And so today I'm going to share with you five insights for you to embrace, to take on, to make sure that you stay on track with your own smart growth, whether that is within business, your career, personal, or all three. So let's get into it. Insight number one is to listen to your intuition. Now, for some of you, this might be a brand new concept. For others, it might be a no-brainer. This might be how you live your life and your business every day. Regardless where you sit, this is your reminder to listen to your intuition. What I really learned, particularly this year, and when I talk to and listen to experts in this space, everyone says the same thing that your intuition is a whisper. It will never be the loudest voice until we ignore our intuition to a point that something big happens to get our attention. So we've got to dial in and create enough quiet and enough pause and enough space to be able to hear our intuition. Are we on the right path? So that's insight number one. Listen to your intuition. Insight number two is to lean into the discomfort, lean into the challenging conversations because making tough decisions can be the gateway to momentum. Making tough decisions can be the gateway to momentum. If we don't lean in and create change based on what our intuition is telling us, then we can stay stuck and stagnant. And that is not where true impact, momentum, you know, achieving those bigger picture goals and vision that you have, that's not the space that that happens. So lean into discomfort, challenging conversations, and make those tough decisions. Insight number three, make sure you have good people surrounding you. And by good people, it's about understanding that different people around us play a different role. You know, if you're leaning into your hubby or your girlfriend who's never run a business or doesn't understand what it's like to be an executive leader and you're asking questions or wanting that sounding board on business, are they the best person that can give you that? Potentially not, if that's not their experience. They have a different role to play for you. Probably champion, champion you and tell you everyday idea is a great idea. Hopefully, they're not, you know, being the negative, but really think intentionally about who am I surrounding my me with and am I leaning into the right areas to get the right feedback. You know, we want to make sure that we have people in in our lives that are also willing to give us the mirror, hold up the mirror and give us the feedback that maybe we don't want in that moment. So the good people around you that are not just yes people. That's insight number three. Number four is remember personal growth is directly linked to your business growth or your career growth. It astounds me every time, even after 10 years in business, running my own business, 20 years working as you know, sales leadership roles. Every time when I work on myself, when I lean in, when I trust my intuition, I lean into challenging conversations, I get really good feedback around me, I make tough decisions, I invest in my personal growth. Guaranteed there is growth in my career or in my business. So always remember that personal growth is tethered to your career and your business growth. And the fifth insight is that our vision, our why is always changing. Now it might not change exponentially. Maybe it doesn't change for a number of years, but we have to check in because oftentimes our phase of life, our phase of business, it depends on what's going on for us. But that big thing that we're shooting for, or as I said at the beginning, the vehicle to get us there often changes. And if you don't pause and reflect on what is that big outcome I'm still going for and what's the vehicle that's getting me there. And if that does change and you haven't found that out, you really start working towards something that doesn't even matter to you anymore. The amount of conversations I have with people where that big, juicy, audacious goal has actually changed and they realize that's not what they want anymore. It's something different. We have to remember to check in so we can course correct. So they're the five insights. Listen to your intuition, lean into the challenging, tough decisions you need to make. Make sure you surround yourself with good people that will give you honest truth when you need to hear it. Personal growth is connected, tethered to your business and your career growth. And the vision and the vehicle sometimes will change. So keep checking in. So, as a finishing point here, what I really would love for you to do is to really answer these three questions. And this is gonna help you look at those insights and see if anything needs to change. Of course, hearing those five insights, your reaction to those is gonna give you some feedback as well. If there was an area you weren't sure about, if you got a bit of a icky feeling, if you felt defensive, all of those emotions are feedback on where we need to look. But as a closing statement here, ask yourself, where am I heading? Think about 12 months' time. Whether you're listening to this at the end of 2025, in 2026, but whenever you're listening to it, in 12 months' time, where am I heading? Then ask yourself, where do I want to head? There could be a difference. Where am I heading? Where do I want to head? And the third question is, do I need to course correct? Do I need to course correct? This is your moment to make sure that the direction you're heading in is actually the direction you're intentionally wanting to go. And it doesn't mean that it's good or bad. It just means that it's something different. This has been the personal journey that Ness and I have been on this year, which has been amazing and also filled with all of the different perspectives, emotions, challenges. And we've been able to navigate it together. So we now have again been able to go, it's a different vehicle for a different vision that we're shooting for. I hope and I trust that this episode has been of value. I'd love to hear from you what you've taken away and what the answers to your questions were. Were there any realizations that you had? You can check out all the links in the show notes below. Catch me on all the usual channels, and I really look forward to speaking with you and being with you in the next episode.