One of the most common experiences I hear from my fellow business owners is that delightful moment where it feels like nothing fits.
The offers you used to be so excited about, but now secretly hope nobody buys...
The next "launch" you're prepping for which feels about as enticing as emptying the dishwasher...
(And sometimes, even those calls in the diary with current clients which part of you is dreading showing up for because what they want support with just doesn't light you up any more 👀)
When we're in these moments, it often feels like there's only one solution: burn it down to the ground.
Mate, I have been there.
And yup, I've also gleefully ditched offers, taken my website down and started from scratch more times than I can remember.
But having been through this process several times, I know that so much can be learned from our frustrations if we give ourselves a chance to sit with these fiery emotions and go within.
So before you have your next crtl+A/delete moment, I want to offer up a few thoughts and reflections for you to consider to save you from repeating the same patterns again.
The following exercise will also help you avoid falling into the dreaded ‘trend trap’ where you end up making decisions based on what’s popular right now, rather than what is authentic to you and will serve you in the long term.
past, present & future
Before you dive head first into starting over, it's important to begin by spending a little bit of time reflecting on what brought you to where you are today and where you want to go in the future.
Connecting to these ideas is really important as it will set the tone and provide an anchor for your next season of work - so don't skip it!
QUESTIONS TO CONSIDER:
- Why did you start your business?
- Are your intentions the same now as when you started your business, or have they changed in any way?
- How has your life changed since you designed/developed your current iteration of business?
- Are there any lessons you’ve learned that you want to remember as you embark on this ‘re-defining ‘ process?
- What do you love about your business at the moment? Is there anything that you want to make sure stays present in your next iteration?
- Is there anything you've learned about what you hate to do? What are those super important "to-do's" that you keep pushing?
- If you knew you couldn’t fail – what would you be doing in 5/10/15 years with your business that you aren't now?
- e.g. Running retreats? Only doing a certain type of work?
the people you serve
It doesn't feel very sexy to talk about, but one of the most common areas we can start to feel restricted in our business is when we've outgrown our audience.
This can feel especially sticky when it's these very same people who have supported us to get to where we are and so admitting we've 'outgrown' them feels like we're being an ungrateful spoiled child.
QUESTIONS TO CONSIDER:
- Think about your current clients, who do you love working with and serving? Why?
- Which are the clients which make your stomach drop when you see their name pop up on your phone/inbox/calendar? Why
- Is there anyone who you would love to work with, but aren't yet? What is about them that excites you?
the offers on the table
Sometimes it's not about the people we're serving, but the way we're serving them.
So before we start re-inventing another group programme or designing a brand new offer that we have zero desire to actually deliver, let's think about it 😉
QUESTIONS TO CONSIDER:
- Make a list of things you currently offer & rate them on a scale of 1 (hate) to 10 (full fat love) - what do these scores tell you?
- Consider, how do you feel about the specific topics you're supporting people with?
- How do you feel about the delivery methods of your offers?
- Which offers make you feel energised/satisfied and which feel draining?
- Take a moment to visualise yourself truly fully booked out with your current offers, what do your days look like? What does your calendar look like? Would you be hitting your money goals?
IMPORTANT TO NOTE: There's a potential overlap with marketing here to be aware of. For example if you have a 'passive product' which was super fun to create but you DREAD the marketing to sell it, it's important to make that distinction.
the way you sell
Another area which can often have an outsized influence on the way we run our business is the way we go about getting people to buy from us.
We might actually love what we do, love the people we work with and if someone could just handle the marketing for us then all would be well in our world.
But when it's not working? Our frustration with the way we make people aware of us and what we do can trickle into everything else & lead us into thinking "business" isn't for us when really... it might just be that "Instagram" isn't for us (as ya know, a non-specific example 👀👀👀)
QUESTIONS TO CONSIDER:
- How do you currently feel about the way new people find you?
- What are the platforms you're on and how do you feel about them most of the time?
- What are the specific ways you create content & awareness (e.g. writing posts/emails/recording podcast episodes) and how do you feel about them?
- How are you currently "converting" leads into sales? (e.g. discovery calls/DMs) How do you feel about it?
- If you knew it was easy to get new clients into your offers, would you still feel like you wanted to burn your entire business down?
the way you see yourself
This last line of enquiry is really here if you go through the other sections and realise that there's actually very little *wrong* with how things are and yet... something just doesn't feel right still.
QUESTIONS TO CONSIDER:
- What's your sleep like at the moment?
- How's your nutrition and movement? Are you looking after yourself physically?
- Is there any other big life stuff which is going on which is impacting your ability to actually follow through on all the things you want to do?
- How much are you currently defining your sense of worthiness, enoughness and general capabilities by the results in your business?
- Have you got things outside of business that bring you joy?
- Are you currently expecting your business to be/do more for you than provide an income and/or provide a pleasant way to serve others?
- And again, have you had enough sleep lately?
I'm hoping spending some time with those questions allows you some insight into what's behind your current desire to light a match & turn everything you've worked for into ash.
And not to go all woo-woo on you, but I think it's also a helpful perspective shift to have gratitude for those feelings of frustration too.
If you truly listen to them, they're pointing the way towards exactly what needs to change for us to live a more joyful life.
