BUSINESS GROWTH IS ONLY WORTH IT ON YOUR OWN TERMS – CONTROVERSIAL OR TRUE?

When you’re creating a business by someone else’s, or everyone else’s design it becomes d.r.a.i.n.i.n.g and it moves you away from creating a business you love.

It distracts you from your genius zone.

You move away from being aligned with your purpose.?

And you lose focus on why you went into business in the first place.?

Let me remind you.?

It was to make a difference because you’re great at what you do and you’re super passionate about your craft.?

But the problem is when you’re being pulled in a million different directions, worried about ‘getting it wrong’ and overwhelmed with how to get it right, the go-to is to just… do.?

Work work work. Then more work.?

Without really looking at what’s in front of you.?

Without trusting your instincts.?

Without critical thinking about how it can be done better.

Business owners have more of an understanding of the great resignation than people might realise.?

People are reprioritising and reconsidering what’s important to them, and they’re not settling.?Another big reason business owners take the leap from employee to employer.??

REMEMBER, TO ‘WORK’ IS SIMPLY A JOB. CREATING A BUSINESS ON YOUR OWN TERMS MEANS PURPOSE, BEING ALIGNED WITH VALUES, COMMUNITY AND CONNECTION, MAKING A POSITIVE IMPACT AND WORKING IN A WAY THAT SUITS YOUR STRENGTHS, NEEDS AND DESIRES.

So why do we get sucked into doing business based on the norms, expectations and shoulds?

When instead, you get to make up the rules on things like…

• Your business location
• The clients you work with (check out?this article?which helps you identify your client sweet spot)
• What services you offer
• How you work with clients, virtual, in person
• Ways of connection such as social channels, zoom
• Your working hours
• Creative ways to attract and onboard clients
• Ways of wow’ing your existing clients
• Business planning in a way that works for you
• What you want your brand tone to be (funny story about wearing ripped jeans after I left corporate.. it still can trigger me today)?
• What impact you want your business to make, what matters to you!?

There’s no right or wrong.?

More than ever there are open minds and flexibility on how we do business #covidsilverlining.?

I remember when I first started my coaching business almost 7 years ago, I did most of my coaching over the phone or sometimes video meetings – even for my local clients.?

There were lots of benefits to this way of working but I had to convince my clients of these.?

Today, people are on the same page about challenging the status quo and doing things ‘differently’ aka in a way that gets the best results for you and your clients.?

I recently had a conversation with a business owner who was nervous about growing her team because it might mean she wouldn’t be able to keep the flexibility she has around later start times and day-time Pilates.?

WHO GETS TO DECIDE THESE THINGS IF NOT YOU, THE BUSINESS OWNER?

I get that we want to have some guidelines, but let them be just that. Guidelines only. No strict rules determined by others about how you run your business.

A good rule of thumb we like to use is based on some research by McCrindle in their?Australia towards 2031?report.?

They found that?simplicity?is the most important aspect of the buying experience for Aussies. They also found?authenticity?to be a close second in terms of priorities.?Personalisation?of their experience and alignment with business?values?were also listed as critical to client experiences. And all of these things will positively impact your team’s engagement.?

?So why not base your business decision – shoulds and shouldn’ts on these.?

This?? model shows you a comparison of building a business based on your?client’s sweet spot?and the profitable?services?you enjoy delivering.

Honestly, this is where it’s at.?

Let’s do a quick state of play for where you’re at…?

Services – give yourself a score out of 4

1. Do you enjoy the work?
2. Do you spend 80% of your time in your genius zone?
3. Are your services, processes and systems easy and simple for your team and your clients?
4. Are you authentically you with your clients and your team?

Clients – give yourself a score out of 4

1. Does your client experience feel personalised?
2. Is there a values match with your existing clients?
3. Do you enjoy working with the clients you’re attracting?
4. Do they see value in paying you well for your services?

If you scored 4/4 = you get a smiley face

If you scored 0-3/4 = you get a sad face??

Now, look at the model again overlaying where your smiley or sad face’s sit and ask yourself, what are the areas you need to work on?

If you want to find out more about how to create a business on your own terms, book a free 20-minute clarity call with me.

No BS. No pitch.

Just me helping you identify the #1 thing that’s holding you back from having time freedom, achieving smart growth and peak performance in your business.

And if a 30-day Business Health Check will truly benefit your business, then we can talk about the next steps.

You can book a time with me?here.

This post originally appeared on the Business Together Blog ?

About the author: With 2 decades experience in sales and leadership, Nicky is a Coach and Mentor for Women in Business. She’s been working in the professional coaching space while running her own business over the last 7 years. ?

Nicky is also the Co-Director and Co-Founder of Business Together alongside Vanessa Medling. Together they work with work with female led, service-based businesses (with teams) and are obsessed with helping women break the cycles in business that hold them back from creating profitable businesses they love, without having to sacrifice time or life. ?

Their clients have often experienced rapid business growth resulting in them feeling stuck in the busy trap, juggling all the balls and being reactive rather than responsive. Through a 30-day Business Health Check, Nicky & Ness help their clients move from business chaos to business clarity, so they can step back and focus on the next best steps to move the business forward, without it relying solely on them.?

If this sounds like you, book a FREE CLARITY CALL – during this 20-minute call we’ll take a look at what’s currently happening in your business and identify the #1 thing that’s holding you back from achieving smart growth and peak performance Book here