Help! I need more structure in my business

As the world starts to open back up I have started to attend my fitness sessions in the park (social distanced of course) but it has given me a chance to talk to more people from a different area of my life. And it was interesting how all of us struggled with the lack of exercise, our common factor. But so many of them also struggled with working from home.

Some are employed – and reminded me why I like being my own boss 😉 and others are self-employed. But we had a great conversation about business so I wanted to share. Also on a side note…. after my first session last week I was in lovely “hard-work” pain for 5 days! This morning thou (after session 2) I feel ok – maybe I didn’t work as hard!

Anyway! Let me break down the conversation:

We started talking about our own business, mindset, and actions since lockdown – all varying with varying success. Then we started to talk about businesses that had survived or not survived the lockdown in our area. And businesses that had changed completely and how they did that.

THE COMMON THEME THAT I NOTICED (AS I DO WITH MY PATTERN BRAIN!) WAS THESE:

• The businesses that survived had an adaptable owner willing to do something different or had a money reserve to sit tight and kick-off again after lockdown
• The businesses that didn’t survive (in our area) had an owner that wasn’t in love with their business so this was as good a reason as any to stop the business. Or they didn’t have the skills, energy, or time needed to change their business.
• The businesses that changed completely – well this was the most interesting category to me. (being what I do)

This last point was the one I wanted to share about as the more I thought about it after our chat the more I could see some mistakes that business owners made, and I wanted to share.

I THINK THESE ARE THE 2 BIGGEST MISTAKES THAT BUSINESSES OWNERS MADE DURING THE PIVOT TIME:

1. Not considering or taking care of the customers they already had
2. Changing direction without thinking about where they would end up

When you pivot your business, if you already have customers that are paying your in your current business, you always want to consider how the change affects them. What do they need during the change, can they come across to the new business as customers? Can you get a few options of people that they can move to locally that could offer them the same service or product that you are stopping?

The benefit of keeping your old customers happy is that they recommend and support your new business. Even if it is different, they will engage with your social media, share your new venture with friends and family. But if you leave them high and dry while the opposite will happen. They will tell others about the experience.

Change direction without thinking where you will end up is an interesting one as it is not the first time I have spoken to people about this. A number of my network have had this conversation as they have done anything they can at the time to make money and stay open, however, now they are on a completely different path and working in a way that doesn’t align with the life they want to live. REMEMBER In business you need to design the life you want first and then the business that will give you that life.

One of the biggest wins an entrepreneur can make is to align their business as soon as possible with the outcome they want to create, some businesses go through four or five different plans before finding their groove, and while this is ok, it is time-consuming, costly and can be soul-destroying for those of us that are business owners but not natural-born entrepreneurs.

So as an entrepreneur I will leave you with these 4 questions with the hope that they will help to move your business in the best direction possible:

1. What life do you want to live – when you picture your life in 3 years from now, are you in a physical business with employees and customers, are you jetting around the world talking at large events, are you working from home around your kids and watching them grow up, are you traveling and working from anywhere in the world. What is it for you? Everyone will be different, but the clearer you are on your end goal the better! I have customers that have wanted all of those things – and the next three questions helped them move towards getting them.
2. Who do you want to work with – this one is key, who do you absolutely love working with. What are the common factors of those people? If you could only work with one type of person forever more who would it be?
3. What do you want to do for them – What are they struggling with that you can help fix. What additional joy can bring into their lives. As humans, we are programmed to buy things that either fix a problem or bring us happiness! Which do you offer?
4. How do you want to deliver it – What will the deliver method be, and this needs to be one of two things – either automated or employed people delivery. This is something business owners need to understand IF they want to scale their business. The only way to scale is to either automate as much of the process as possible or to hire people to help you deliver the big outcomes. Make sure the way you deliver it is in line with your 3-year life goals.

Read me blog on 3 providers to help you automate

Ok, I am going to leave you with those questions, once you answer them let me know your 3-year plan! I Love hearing those!!

Chat soon

Jacky x