As creative entrepreneurs, we often have more ideas than time to bring them into fruition. (And all ideas aren’t meant to be implemented either… ;-))
If you’re feeling like your business is overwhelmed with ideas, your message tries to encompass too much, or you have more offerings than you can effectively market, it’s time to let go, streamline, and blossom.
Here are 3 steps to help you do this:
Step 1: Let go
It’s ok to let some things go, whether it’s a product you love but simply doesn’t sell anymore (tip: turn it into a freebie), or clients who are no longer ideal, or ideas that you’ve been wanting to implement but simply haven’t happened – and it’s likely they never will.
Start letting go of these things because they are holding you back, from more sales, from more ideal clients, from better ideas that simply can’t get through to you because you don’t have the capacity at the moment to see them.
My clients who take the time to cull their content, their message, their clients, once a year always end up with far better results, easier flow, and more momentum then they’ve experienced to date.
Step 2: Streamline
After you’ve let go of what’s not working or holding your business back, take a look at what’s left. Assess its effectiveness, tune into your own enthusiasm, and be certain that everything in your repertoire should still have its place in your business today. Keep the things you’re really excited about and move the things that you’re still interested in to a secondary position in your business. Focus on the primaries first, and when you have time and/or team to help, focus on the secondaries.
Step 3. Blossom
It’s from this place that your business will grow and blossom. If you go through this process at least once a year (instead of continuing to just do what you’re doing because you’re not sure what else to do or you’re afraid to change things (!), you will reap the benefits of paying this kind of strategic attention to your business.
What can you let go of today? What can you streamline? Where can you see your business blossoming because of doing this?
Share with me below.
I don’t know why but some of us seem to be hard-wired to go it alone! I know that my tendency is to figure it out for myself before I will ask for help. Yet over the last few years, I’ve learned to embrace that asking for help is not a reflection on my inability to go it alone, but in fact a reflection of how much I think what I do and who I am is worthy of receiving help.
Here are 3 simple ways to ask for help in your business that will move you towards success with much more ease and grace:
1. Inner Circle Support
I’m blessed in that I have a husband who supports the work I do and the business I’ve been creating since its inception in 2001. Yet I know this is a hot button for a lot of entrepreneurs, that they don’t feel they have the spousal or partner support they crave.
While I don’t have THE answer to getting your significant other onboard, I did have a personal aha that I will share that may help a bit.
The bottom line is that it doesn’t matter if your spouse, partner, parent or anyone else significant in your life thinks what you do matters. It only matters that YOU think it matters.
Logically, you know you can’t change people, only your response to people. You may wish you felt more support than you do, but wishing won’t make it so. What will change your feeling is if you change how you feel about what you perceive to be their lack of support. If you remember that it only matters that YOU know what you do matters, that will make all the difference.
2. Peer Support
Whether you invest in a group with a leader or gather your best business friends together on a regular basis, give yourself the gift of peer support in some way. It’s critical for ongoing help but even more important during those times when you’re between private mentor support.
At an event I attended recently, I was surrounded by colleagues who had become friends over the years, and it was very clear to me that the support I was receiving from those friends was more important that the actual content I had come to learn. But if I hadn’t reached out asking for that support, I wouldn’t have had the critical shifts I needed to experience at this point in my business to move it forward.
3. Outside Support
Sometimes we need support for our business from places outside it altogether. Whether it’s engaging in a favorite sport, hobby or activity, or meditating or journaling, taking time off and completely unplugging, or having a conversation with a supportive friend who doesn’t have anything to do with what we do for work and just might have that unique perspective to shift ours that we need.
Where in you life can you ask for support that will help your business?
And that’s the point – to ask for the support we need. Take it from a former lone ranger… once you start asking and stay open to receiving, miracles can happen.
Designing a life you love that’s supported by a business you love is one of the pillars on which I stand and teach. Learn how to do this for YOUR business (and life) at my annual Online Business Breakthrough Workshop HERE.
I’d love to hear your thoughts on this in the comments below…
If you’re a woman entrepreneur who’s building a leveraged online business so you can keep your family first, this is for you.
As the same, I’m always looking for ways to tweak (read: leverage) what’s already working in my business to improve my results so I can grow my business more quickly without more effort.
Where in your business could you do the same? Take this mini-assessment to find out.
__ 1. Do you utilize multiple channels to reach your audience?
The more ways you can reach and connect with your audience, the easy it will be to grow your business.
Gone are the days when sending an email invitation will fill your program or sell your product. In today’s ‘attention’ economy, we need to connect with our market in multiple ways, with a focus on deepening that relationship each time.
What channels are you using today to reach your audience, and what channels can you add to that list?
__ 2. Are you re-purposing your content?
There is one question I ask myself before I create a new piece of content and that is:
Can I use this piece of content in a minimum of 3 ways?
If the answer is yes, then I move forward with it. If no, then I haven’t wasted my time and energy on creating something I cannot leverage.
What’s one piece of existing content you can re-purpose today?
__ 3. Do you labor over writing copy?
If you labor over writing copy, you can either hire someone to write it for you (which can be expensive but oftentimes well worth the investment) or you can implement a process to make it a lot easier for you.
First, start with a proven template. You’re going to make it your own – with your own voice and style and tone and story – but always start with a proven sales template.
Then take copy from that to create all your other marketing copy, like your email campaigns and social media promotions.
What parts and pieces of your current copy can you excerpt for other marketing activities?
__ 4. Do you collaborate?
If you want to grow your business more quickly, consider collaborating with other like-minded colleagues who complement what it is you do. Also don’t forget those clients and customers who are your raving fans – they can help you get in front of more people like them!
Who could you collaborate with on your next offer?
__ 5. Do you have a core product that anyone could take advantage of?
I mentioned this in Part 1, but it bears repeating. Do you have a DIY product that everyone in your market could take advantage of?
If not, what simple product could you create that your client could walk themselves through so they get to experience your work in way that doesn’t require a significant investment?
These are just 5 areas to be looking at where you could up the ante on what you already have in place in your business – or what you should have in place to create the success you desire. Spend some time figuring out for yourself where you can apply the above to start seeing better results for less effort.
If you want my help in answering these questions with you, be sure to get on the wait list for the brand-new Lively Biz Business Club that’s opening soon!
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In 2009, I started thinking about the hosting my own live event, but even though I had a great coach to help me plan it, her events were far larger and much more involved than anything I wanted to do…
And so I held back.
Then I started feeling pressured to move forward with this idea, so I contacted a nice hotel near the airport, submitted my request to host a 3-day event there, and then nearly passed out when the 15-page contract arrived – along with a required MINIMUM commitment of $15k from me.
Gulp.
So I decided to toss the whole idea until I could come up with a way to do it that felt good to me – and that didn’t make my heart palpitate in fear!
I asked myself what kind of event I really wanted to do. Not what ‘everyone’ else was doing, but what felt easy, fun, and much more me…
What I came up with was this…
I didn’t want to hold it at the airport. I didn’t want to hold it at a big hotel. I didn’t want to hold it in the big city. I didn’t want to stress about filling seats or worry about paying for rooms that didn’t fill in our room block. I didn’t want to commit to thousands of dollars of food that I knew most of would be wasted. I didn’t want to deal with sound systems and the cost and labor involved. Basically I didn’t want to do anything the way I was ‘supposed’ to.
So I started over – and by asking myself what I REALLY wanted (and following that guidance) – I found myself with a 1-page contract with no financial commitment upfront, with no commitment to paying for empty guest rooms, in a boutique hotel in a hip town near the sea.
Was I still nervous about filling seats? Sure. Did I have lots of questions about all the things I didn’t know? Yup. Was I afraid of what I didn’t know I didn’t know? Absolutely.
But by doing it my way, and starting from where I was realistically, I’ve successfully hosted 6 small workshops and have generated anywhere from $60k to over $100k NET every time.
I’m sharing this with you so you know I’ve been there…and I have a lot of wisdom to share with you as you plan and navigate hosting your own small live event.
If you’d like to learn more and get on the early access list to my brand-new training, just CLICK HERE.
If any of this resonates with you, I’d love to hear it. Just comment below and let me know. 🙂
Watching the sunrise on my recent retreat…
I have a hard time being still. Stilling my mind is even more difficult. A constant stream of thoughts runs through my mind, especially at night, unless I’m reading something really engaging (thank you, Outlander).
During the day, I’m so busy that I’m not great about settling down and just being… allowing myself to move into the stillness so I can shift from the chaos of my thoughts to clarity.
Journaling helps me immensely. And yet, sometimes I need to do something more than that.
So, twice this year I’ve traveled to the ocean for a 3-day retreat. Both times I’ve returned renewed and with absolute clarity of vision and the steps I need to implement to make that vision my reality.
I’ve ‘retreated’ at home – but it’s simply not the same. There’s too many distractions, too much pulling at me, so that I just can’t ‘be’ to unearth what wants to be heard and honored within me.
I know that taking the time away to reflect and get crystal clear on where I am right now, on what I want next (as much as what I don’t want), and then committing to that once I return home is critical to my growth – both personally and professionally – and that it leads to a lot more joy and abundance in my life and business.
Would it be easier to not go? Sure it would. After all, I have a full family life that I’m managing here outside of my business. But I also know that it is absolutely worth moving mountains to do it – both for myself and my business, as much as for my kids to witness my honoring something that’s important to me as a person, separate from being Mom.
So, what about you? Do you take time to retreat – at home, somewhere else? How often? Do you go alone or do you retreat in a supportive group?
I’d love to know ~ please comment below … 😉
I’ve been spending a lot of time lately getting ready for the new year – planning, organizing, strategizing, visioning, and more. There are many transitions and transformations on the horizon for me and my business, and much to do to prepare for them, so I’m making space and opening the flow.
In Part 1 of this article, I shared 3 ways you can make space in your business. Now here are 3 more ways I’m opening the flow in my business that you can do too:
1. Escape Email Overwhelm
The number one distraction to moving your business forward by leaps instead of baby steps is email. So here’s my system for handling email overload. If you can practice this 80% of the time, you’ll be way ahead of the game.
a. Delete: scan and delete junk emails first
b. Move: move any emails into an appropriate folder – and create a rule to make that happen automatically
c. Delegate: delegate any emails that should be responded to by someone else
d. Respond: respond to any emails that only YOU can respond toThe goal is to only have emails in your inbox that require action from you!
2. Track your moneyOne of the easiest ways to open the flow of money in your business is to start tracking exactly how much comes in on a daily basis. I give each of my private clients a money tracking sheet that makes it super-simple for them to implement this tip, but you can create your own very easily.
Just create a simple form that lists the days of the month, with your monthly money goal listed as well. Each day fill in the amount of money that came into your business, and don’t forget to include affiliate payments and any other sources of revenue as well.
Just by paying attention to what’s coming in will open the flow to more, and before you know it, all the days of the month will be filled in with a number!
3. Don’t overbook
When putting together your master plan for the new year, make sure you don’t overbook yourself. If you do, you won’t leave space for other opportunities to show up that you likely aren’t aware of yet.
When I completed my own master plan for the new year, it was complete, but not overbooked. There was lots of time off, as well as space for other exciting possibilities to come up.
How are you making space and opening the flow for the new year? Please share your thoughts below…
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