Episode 187: Feel Like You’re Pushing Water Uphill? This Will Help You Find Success
Ever feel like you're pushing water uphill? This feeling tends to happen when we're doing things in our business that don't feel right to us. Maybe it's a bro marketer whispering in your ear telling you to write a certain way and post to social media 18 times a day. Whatever it is, you do it because you want your business to be successful. It's normal, but it doesn't always feel right.
We’re going to dive into why echoing and copying what others are doing might not work and how you can course correct when you hit that feeling.
Check-in to find business success
If you've been with me for a while, there's an idea that is very important to raise with women entrepreneurs. It's this idea that we must show up and perform in a certain way. And in doing so, we don't check in or give ourselves permission to ask what WE want.
You might think that's a basic concept, but are you checking in with you? Are you figuring out what's working for you? Do you understand what your unique gifts and talents are so you can express them in the world? And I say that is a little bit of a challenge because I think right now it's really important.
There is so much noise out there, and it's essential to figure out what you want your voice to be. And this is actually a form of self-betrayal. This week in the Abundance Academy, we had a lot of breakthroughs after some check-ins.
One of my clients, I love this woman so much, has dedicated her entire life to her business and we were talking about how far she’s come. Her business has doubled over the last year, and she's so excited because she's getting ready for a new launch. The excitement is high!
We talked about life before we started working together, and she kept saying that she was doing what everyone else was telling her to do. She had a business partner who she's since parted with. That step alone freed her to be more of herself. (That’s not true for everyone; some people work really well together.)
It just happened that they weren’t the right fit and she needed to let go. To do that, she had to ask herself what was happening for her? And then, internally, we started using systems that resonated with her and worked for her. Now she is happy, making more money doing the work she loves.
If you listen to what feels right for you, doing things that will bring you more revenue becomes very easy because you're not trying to keep up with everything else. We must be aware of what we are here to deliver so that we can't get distracted by others.
Top 5 things you hate doing
If you're starting to feel stuck or like you should give up your business – grab a pen and paper and list five things you absolutely hate doing in your business. It might be something like writing copy or creating processes or SOPs for your business. Write out the five things you don’t enjoy doing and then I want to figure out who you could hire (or barter with) to do those things for you.
There is so much you need to do to run a successful business. Doing things that are not a 10 for you. Doing things that distract your brainpower, heart, and soul from what you love doing is a disservice. I call this a form of self-betrayal; it is time to move into self-trust.
You can trust yourself to do just the parts of your business that bring you joy, the parts that make time disappear, the parts that excite you, and the parts that really lift you up. And this is not ego driven. This is about the interaction; this is about the creative process. This is about showing up, giving your talents, your experience, and your expertise.
And I bet you saw this coming, but I also want you to make a list of the five things you do that bring you joy. I really want you to understand what makes your socks roll up and down inside your business.
Should you do high ticket offers or low ticket offers?
There really isn't a right answer to that. It's about how you want to run your business and how involved you want to be. For some people being highly involved and creating a high-touch, curated experience for a client or customer makes their socks roll up and down. That will indicate to you that a higher ticket offer or product is where you want to go.
If you are more interested in affecting as many people as possible and don't care if it's you directly, fantastic! That might indicate that it's time to go to a lower price point, start working on distribution, and reach a larger audience. It might be time to start creating affiliate relationships and different marketing avenues to figure out how to reach more people where they already are, with much less effort.
How are you managing your days?
The other thing you want to consider is how you spend your time. So many people spend so much time planning their day that they actually never get to work.
At the beginning of a month, you might spend more time organizing how you want the business to be run, your offers, and the social media plan – anything new. You want to add those sorts of things, but on a daily basis, you need to make sure there's a little bit of breathing room.
We discussed this on Coffee with Coach this month, but do you have time to think? During that thinking time, you're going to reconnect with you. You're going to understand where the self-trust can come in and where there are forms of self-betrayal creeping in.
Are you transforming yourself into someone else? Are you doing something that you're just "supposed" to do? That is different from how you stand out or break your industry.
You really want to understand which of those things you are doing are moving the business forward and which you're doing because those are what other people do.
Be honest with yourself. The moment you start to show up as who you really are is when your business transforms; your life will become easier, and you'll probably start making more money.
