Whether you are a solopreneur or manage a large team, your role is to make decisions to move your business forward. While it can be daunting, if not downright terrifying, to make some of the decisions you have to make, if you do not make them, your business will not go anywhere.
Business problems can be overwhelming, especially when they seem to pile up and become more and more complicated. As entrepreneurs, we often find ourselves adding
The wrong strategy for growing your business wastes precious time and capital. Relying on trendy tactics and methods that you are not ready to use will leave you feeling stuck—spinning your wheels and questioning why you started this endeavor in the first place.
I often advise business owners to watch a few episodes of Shark Tank and listen to the questions the sharks ask. They love a good story behind the business; you can see their emotional attachment to a compelling story. Still, the deal always comes down to the numbers, no matter how outstanding the entrepreneur might be.
While we can’t control everything that happens, we can certainly control how we respond to it. As business owners, we can have more control over our reality than someone with a job. And regardless of what is going on, you have absolute control over what you create.
After you inventory those categories, the next step is to create an action plan for the parts holding you back. Know that scaling your business requires all of these departments pointed in the same direction, working with each other instead of against each other. That is why when one category lags, it is crucial to fix it so your business can move forward.
If you combine these two things, the idea that complexity happens without intentionally preventing it and the challenges of getting yourself out of the way for the growth you want as a business owner, this question of “What if it were easy?” can become a helpful planning tool, not just a moment of reflection.
Paint a detailed picture of the precise problems they face and how your business solves those issues. When people in your sphere come across someone fitting that description, you want your solution to jump to mind quickly. The more you can clarify and visualize this, the higher the quality of referrals you will receive.
This is the most challenging, scariest work. You can hire someone to help you with business plans, branding, websites, content creation, or sales expertise. And you can hire someone to help you with this mindset. But when it comes down to it, only you can do the mindset work, the self-reflection, and be willing to shed old labels that no longer serve you.
Outlining your niche and client avatar to include who you do not serve is a win-win. It’s a win for your prospect to know that you are not the best fit for them, and even better if you can refer them to someone who is the best fit. It is a win for you because it will improve your life and help your business grow faster when you focus on exactly who you serve.
