Why Your Business Isn't Going As Well As You Thought
There are (unfortunately) a ton of reasons why your business may not be going how you want it to. For today I’m going to touch on the core 2 reasons. Once these are sorted all the other problems tend to instantly solve themselves or become easier to solve. These 2 core reasons are not only the biggest contributors to your business not going how you want it to but also cause a serious downer on your joy levels– and you know I’m not down with that!
Most service-based business owners are operating on skill. You’ve been trained in something that will help you help others. But, up until this point you’ve probably been working for someone else, on someone else’s schedule and on someone else’s payroll for most of your working career (even if you’ve been self employed, without these 2 pieces in place you’ve probably still been working on others schedules or feeling like an employee to your clients). You haven’t, however, been trained or taught how to set up your business foundation for both sustainability and joy.
This is a huge problem.
I know, I wasn’t taught any of this either. I went from working for someone else on their schedule, to being on my schedule. For me it was so weird and actually quite difficult to transition to having all the freedom to do what I wanted, when I wanted because I wasn’t clear on what I needed to be doing and when and I hadn’t set up my business foundation. I was left catering to whatever everyone else wanted whenever they wanted…because, heck, I didn’t have a set schedule.
Eventually I hit that point where I was going back and forth between the extremes of working all the time (even when I wasn’t technically working I was thinking about work) to feeling exhausted and not wanting to do anything for extended periods of time. I wasn’t attracting much attention or clients, and when I was it wasn’t totally in alignment with what I wanted to be doing, making or who I wanted to be working with.
[Tweet "When you’re frustrated, disappointed, or drained you simply can’t do your best work. "]
That’s when I developed and started putting into place the 2 things I’m going to be sharing with you today. That’s when everything changed and my business started to feel like a total joy. I felt like I was in charge and things started to really pick up in my business. P.S. All this happened before I became The Business Joyologist.
Let’s get this sorted for you too…asap!
There’s 2 things you need…
#1: The foundation of your business. This is what I call your Business Pleasure Map or BPM.
There are 5 key parts to your BPM, each is equally important. You want each of these parts to be in alignment with what you really want to experience. It's very possible your big vision dream compared to where you are now is a pretty big leap. For now focus on what you want to create and experience over the next 6 months.
The 5 parts are:
Your schedule.
What you want your lifestyle to look like, and knowing what it will actually cost.
What you want to do (offerings).
What you want to charge.
Who you want to work with.
I often gain clarity on what I DO want to experience the quickest by looking at what I don't want. So, if you are having a hard time visioning what each of these parts look like for you, try starting off by looking at what you don't want in each of those areas.
Once you gain clarity in each of these areas you can start to set yourself up for success by putting them in place piece by piece. Scheduling in the things you really want to do into your calender. Looking at what your ideal lifestyle looks like and costs. Removing things from your offerings list that aren't things you enjoy or don't support your BPM. Increase your prices if necessary. Stop taking on clients that aren't a perfect fit to make room for those that are.
Watch how you feel about your business transform.
#2: The boundaries to back up and support your BPM.
Here’s 2 resources how to start setting, sticking to and communicating your boundaries.
Without knowing and being really clear on these things it’s so easy for you to just zip back into default mode and be working based on what you think you need to do, what other people want and on their schedule instead of yours.
What do you have the hardest time with in regards to the foundation of your business and boundaries? Share them with our sisterhood here in the Soulful Success Tribe.
