Do you ever get frustrated running your business? Perhaps you feel stuck at a certain level and you just can’t seem to get past it. Maybe you feel that if you ‘just’ sorted out your marketing strategy / your social media / your message / your team – that everything would fall into place. But you aren’t sure what step to take next to do that. Possibly you have asked everyone you can think of but got no sensible replies.
It is really difficult sometimes when you are a business owner, to see how to move things on. Most small business owners don’t have partners, or a board. There is just you. And even if you have some managers – it isn’t the same. They are paid employees – they don’t have to put their necks and their mortgages on the line if the new idea doesn’t work out.
But the thing is you have to do something. Because if you keep on doing what you have always done, you will keep on getting what you have always got, right? Or put another way – what got you HERE, will not get you where you want to go.
So – what is the answer? It is simple. There is no need to re-invent the wheel (unless you are an inventor and you want to re-invent the wheel – or anything else, because that is what lights you up). The quickest way to move your business to another level is to find someone who has already done that and do what they did. And that means getting a coach and having a mastermind group.
I used to struggle with the thought of getting a coach for various reasons. The excuses I gave myself were – I might choose the wrong one/there were other priorities to spend the money on right now/I didn’t have the time / I had a coach before and it didn’t work out. And so my business stayed stuck. It was successful – from the outside. I had a turnover of not far short of 400k. I had holidays, I drove a sports car, had an extension built on the house. All great. Except for one thing. I felt close to burnout a lot of the time.
I was exhausted and the real reason my business wasn’t able to grow was because the thought of getting any more work on and sleeping for even less time every day was not a pleasant one. I also had a bit of a self-worth thing going on too. Subconsciously I had a thought process which went a bit like this. “How can I justify spending money on me”. Stupid I know. Had no problem spending money on a nice car, but spending it on helping my thinking develop – No Way Jose!!
Why is it we will spend money on something which you will throw away in a couple of years but not spend money on developing yourself – which is something you will have for the rest of your life?
I sold my last recruitment business and started 2 new businesses in 2015. Last year I saw that my businesses were going the same way. History was repeating its annoying patterns – which is it wont to do when we don’t address the root of those problems. But THIS time – I spotted it. And I now have 4 coaches. Which may be over the top. 2 are paid and 2 are amazing people who are willing to give up some of their very precious time to help me develop my business.
As a result of all of their input, I am finally building a scalable business which at some point in the near future won’t even need me in it (although they don’t get rid of me that easily!). It means I can see a time, not too far away when I will not only be able to operate my business from anywhere in the world (which I already do to an extent) but where I will be able to do “my genius” – which seems to be the in phrase at the moment. It means I will be able to do all the things I love and none of the things I don’t.
What do YOU love to do that you don’t do enough of? What would you do for free if you were a billionaire? What is the stuff that ONLY you could do (and be honest – it’s not the invoicing, managing your diary or answering the phone is it?).
To scale your business to the next level you need to put in place a number of things.
People – the right ones to grow your business
Processes and Systems – which can be operated by anyone
Publicity – the right way of getting your messages across and in front of your target audience and turning those people into customers
Purpose – you need a big enough why to be able to change
If you feel like you need some support with any of the above – email me on [email protected] and let’s organise to speak.