You know that feeling…

The one where you sit back and think, “Dang…I have worked, and worked, and worked, but nothing is happening.” You may see no new clients, have gained minimal revenue, and may be at risk for throwing in the towel and heading to the mall to sell shoes for Macy’s instead of chasing the entrepreneurial freedom that normally drives you.

Today I’m here to keep you off that shoe floor!  Don’t give up my friend, because the success you have been striving for could be just around the corner.

Recently, I was having a conversation with my friend Kebba Buckley Button about this very subject and how so many people have had a relatively crappy year, that they are ready to “give up five minutes before the miracle” occurs.  Kebba, being the wise healer/trainer that she is asked me if I knew how a tree grew.  She shared that once you put a tree in the earth, very often you won’t see it gaining in height for some time because it is strengthening it’s foundation – the root ball – and it can take years and years for this process to happen.  Then eventually, as if by magic, it will shoot up a few feet and keep growing and growing. 

I really saw that this is what happens in the business growth cycle.  So these are the things you need to strengthen in your business before your ‘roots’ are strong enough to shoot you out there.

Your vision -does this need to be added to?  Is the same plan you set in motion a year ago still serving you?  Take some time to get crystal clear about what you want, how you will feel, and who you need to be to carry this out in the world.  Write this down, share it, and reference it daily.  Vision boards are also great to keep nearby.

Your offerings – what else could you deliver to your market?  Are there any more leveraged ways to work and get information to the folks who will ultimately want to hire you?  What problems can you solve for your clients?  This can be a really fun survey question!  Just ask your market what else they struggle with and fill what you can.  You can use www.SurveyMonkey.com for this.

Your team – this is a wonderful one to take a look at, because even those of us who have been working with teams for awhile can still find ways where it could be even smoother.  Here’s my tip for you…Have you thought about bringing on a project manager?  I used to have three team members, but I was the one who still was coordinating/scheduling, etc. all the tasks.  When I realized what a drain and time waster all this was, I got a project manager who now manages that piece of it.  She saves me tons of time, and is WAY better at doing that stuff than I am! Look for areas where you can continue to pull yourself out of the operations even more.  (And if you need a recommendation, just shoot me an email.)

Your list – One of the main mantra’s I recite to my clients is, “You gotta love your list.”  But first you need to have a list, so where could you go to connect with more people who are interested in the work you do?  During this time, focus on adding new names to your database of folks who would be better targeted to what you offer.  When you get them on the list, reach out!  Call past clients, call new people you met, send postcards, or friend people on Facebook, LinkedIn or Twitter.  These people aren’t names in a database, they are RELATIONSHIPS waiting to happen.  Connecting is your #1 job.

Your systems – yes, systems.  Not sexy, but necessary.  If you need any help in this area, my friend Beth Schneider is the gal.  During the holidays if things slow down for you a bit, I’d encourage you to go through and see what you can automate/systematize.  Here are some examples – billing, new client contact, newsletter, follow up, speaking engagements, marketing, etc.  The list is endless, and the more you can create templates/checklists, the happier you will be.

Your marketing – are you connecting with your list weekly?  Please know that a quarterly newsletter is not going to get you anywhere!  It’s not overkill to be in the inbox weekly or even more of the folks who opted in, if you are providing great content and solving their problems.  BE BOLD!  I challenge you to move through your fear about upsetting someone and welcome those unsubscribes if they happen.  I just reframe that as clearing space on my list for people who resonate more with my message.  What I know is that the more consistently you market, the  more clients you will get. Bottom line.  End of story.  Just do it!  Remember that 80/20 rule…Eighty percent giving value and information, and twenty percent selling or promoting your stuff.  And another marketing lesson for you?  Don’t give it all away for free!  Think about training your list.  You want them to get used to pulling their wallets out and purchasing something.  This will happen if you have proven to them that you are a trusted expert who ‘has their back’ and will deliver good content.

There ya go.  Six things that you can work on when it feels like things are in the deep freeze.  The biggest thing during this time is to not give up, and not give into feelings of hopelessness, frustration, or self doubt.  Sometimes the best thing you can do is to surrender to what is. If what is is that things are slow for  you, reframe it as an opportunity to revamp and retool your existing business to one that will serve you even better.  It will turn around…just gotta keep the faith and do the right things for your business to water and nourish it on a regular basis.

I don’t wanna hear that anyone in my tribe is giving up and selling shoes these days!  Buying shoes, OH YEAH!

Blessings,

Therese

This is an article I published last year that is good enough to repeat…hope you enjoy!

You know how they say “life imitates art?”  I believe that life imitates business!  Lessons in our lives are the very same ones that we bump into in our business, so in this article I share with you the story of how an incident with my dog showed me one of the problems that business owners run into daily.  This lesson is called:

4 Steps to Leveraging Your Time and Talent

After his recent near death experience and a VERY expensive surgery, I had to take my eleven year old dog Colby back to the vet to get his sutures out. He had eaten a stuffed Easter egg (which didn’t pass through!) so ended up having to have it removed which left an 8 inch incision in his stomach.

On Saturday morning as I was ready to get him in my van, I discovered that no matter what I did, he wasn’t going in. I’d lift, push, cajole, and basically tried everything I could do, but my 80 pound elderly, weak-in-the-hips pooch would just slide under the vehicle. It occurred to me that one of us was gonna get hurt, so I did what every smart business owner would do….I called in reinforcements! OK, the ‘muscle’ in this case was my ex who lives about a mile away. (Yeah, we have that cool kind of relationship….) One quick phone call and in a few minutes the ex popped over and said canine was comfortably in the seat on the way to the vet.

Here is the application for your business … Support = success!

Now why in the world would I share this story about my geriatric dog and my need to call for help? Because it’s the perfect entrepreneur’s dilemma!

I had a ‘project’ I needed to do but didn’t have the resources to make it happen on my own. The theme for this article is to encourage you to see who can do the ‘heavy lifting’ and help you out in areas where you need some more support.

Below is my four-step process for embracing this really important principle in your business.

Step #1: Open your eyes! Take a look around at your business and where you either loose energy (bookkeeping maybe?) or where you are chronically overwhelmed, or when you know that if you just had a few key pieces in place….you’d really be able to take off. Sometimes it will be letting someone do the tasks for you, or maybe it’s the need you have to learn a new skill. What would it be for you? Make a list…………

Step #2: Visualize! The next step is to allow yourself to imagine what would be possible if you had this piece in place. This is where the fun is. If you could design it EXACTLY how you wanted, how would it look/feel/be? Now, everyone knows about getting ads posted on Craig’s List or putting up job descriptions, but what I coach my clients around is to make sure you put in the intangibles.  We all want someone who is skilled, etc, but this is where your values come into play.  Do you want to have your new team members be fun, or creative, or self starters?  Adding this one piece is critical! Your turn…dream big! What would you love to see in terms of support?

Step #3: Strategize! Now where do you find this person? There are two ways of doing it. The first is the ‘inner game’ way of just harnessing energy. Part of the ‘magic’ is if you just set the intention, the Universe conspires to support you. (Anyone ever watched The Secret?)

The next way is to do some research about who is out there that could ‘fill the bill’ for you in this area.

Using the social media sites like Facebook or LinkedIn are really fabulous ways to connect.  One of my clients recently needed a marketing manager, so I just put the question to my LinkedIn list and got over thirty people recommending folks! Using other people’s networks and referrals is the best way to go in this case.

Now it’s your turn…after putting out the intention, create a list of where you could find the support you need and a list of who you could go to for help finding it. Don’t forget the power of your network. Ask others who they know.

Step #4: Realize! Now that you have found that perfect person, how is it going to work? What has to happen for you to put them on your team? Maybe you just need an advisory board or possibly a peer run mastermind. In either case, explore what’s the win-win for all parties involved.

If you need to pay for some new team members, do a calculation about how much business you’ll need to bring in to cover the new cash outlay. Truthfully, many entrepreneurs get themselves stuck in the trap of “I can’t afford to pay anyone to help, but I’m so busy doing so much administrative stuff, that I can’t earn more money either.” If you find yourself in that conundrum, ask yourself the following questions -

1. What’s the minimum investment I’d need to make to move forward? (Example, if you can only spend $500/month…what could that money buy you?)
2. How long would it take for me (with the new people in place) to begin to see a return on my investment?
3. What is it costing me to NOT have these additional resources? This could be in time, money, or just stress! Be honest here.

Now it’s time to take action!  Plan for the projects that you need support with, and get the people in place to make that a reality.  Once you begin to work this way, you’ll never look back!