The biggest challenge I often see with business owners is finding the balance between building a business, having a successful business, and having time outside of the business to actually live. There are three main stages in business that can affect this balance.
The Growth Stage
As you’re building up a new business (and in the constant process of looking for new clients), stress and pressure can build up that includes long hours, intense days, high pressure meetings and even perfectionism of trying to get it all right. This is when the business can have highs and lows, as you look outside yourself and base your worthiness on the daily actions of your business.
The Maintenance Stage
This stage has its own levels of stress, whether it’s because you have built a thriving business and are now juggling hiring team members or contractors, or navigating getting the work done while also maintaining client communication, networking, marketing, etc. Another challenge is that you became a business owner for the new ideas, excitement, and even the challenge, but when your business hits the level of success you were aiming for…it can become boring. With the challenge gone, the energy is gone and the day to day of work can be a drag…
The Expansion Stage
The next step is once you’ve reached a level of success and you want to expand your services outside of yourself to include team members to an even greater level. This is about expanding the reach of your business exponentially. Expansion brings on a whole new level of challenges and stresses, from HR compliance, on-boarding, or even the process of finding the right person for the job! As well as scaling your business to handle the increase in client load. It’s not an easy task!
Your Reason Why
No matter where you are in your business, the most important thing to remember is your goals and reason ‘why’ you are in business. If you forget those, it can be easy to get caught up in the day-to-day of emergencies, and lose your passion in what you do…because you have lost the meaning to it.
Your primary goal is most likely to serve your customers and add value to their lives/businesses; to make a difference in your own unique way. Whether this is working individually with your clients or creating an organization that flourishes under your vision where you create impact through team members, or even by a 1-to-many model, in the end, you want to make a difference in the world.
Second, is to have a life that you enjoy where you have abundance, freedom and flexibility to spend your time the way you want to. When you are at your happiest, you can give more to others.
Creating a Business That Serves Others, Fulfills You & Creates Your Dream Life
This is what it is all about in the end, so how do you create this in your business? Marketing, self-care, and business strategy.
Marketing
Understanding your target market is crucial to being able to help them completely with their pains/challenges, but also so that you can convey to them your message that you understand them as well.
This is such a huge topic that I have discussed it throughout my blog, to learn more about website design, marketing automation, marketing audits and SEO, click those links. The essence of marketing comes down to this simple fact of KNOWING your client and being able to verbalize how you help them.
When you have your marketing down and a marketing system in place, clients seek you out! Your business is working for you and generating the leads or new business that you need to grow; you can then focus on how you want your business life to look rather than operating in scarcity mode.
Self-Care
You probably didn’t expect to see self-care on the list, but after 14 years of running my own business, I know how incredibly vital this is. When you show up to clients and work stressed out, sleep deprived, or just under pressure, you don’t give them the same energy as when you come from a place of balance, excitement, and joy. Take time in your day and week to energize or calm yourself.
Being in a place of joy attracts the right clients to you, helps strengthen client relationships and creates consistency in your business that enables you to create the schedule you want in your business.
Business Strategy
This step is about being intentional in your business and planning YOUR day and schedule to have the most impact. This can range from scheduling time in your day for your own marketing and business growth strategies, knowing when you are most productive to use that as your focused time, taking breaks, setting up marketing and technology automation, hiring experts to focus on your most valuable activities and more!
Being intentional in your business is vital to creating maximum impact, while also saving space for yourself to work at your own best. Use this process to emphasize your strengths and hire out or delegate the areas that are not your core competencies.
Now I know this is easier said than done. When you are stuck in the grind or fighting other people’s fires, it can seem like there is no end in sight. That’s where I come in.
I help business owners focus their marketing and streamline their systems to create that vision they have for their business. Marketing is an ever-changing entity and it takes a lot of time to stay on top of it, as well as implement it. I’ve been in the field for 14 years, I understand the essence of it from the inside out and can customize a solution that works for your unique business. I invite you to schedule a marketing consultation to plan out the next steps to take in your business.
