Feeling stuck or uncertain in business is normal!

Feeling stuck or uncertain in business is normal, but it shouldn't be the status quo.

It's part of running a business, almost a right of passage, but it doesn't have to be permanent.

The feeling of being stuck, uncertain and not sure of what, why and where you should be is all a natural process in business. It might be that the motivation levels are low, inspiration is lacking and everything looks bleak at best. This is an extreme example however there are different levels of demotivation that business owners get to. This coupled with how things “should” be makes the problem glaringly obvious and for some it can stall their business into a slow death.?

Many business owners ride a wave of momentum from their initial start up days and that can continue for some time, this can last for months, years or even decades. The highs of winning new clients, creating new services and products and then expanding the people and assets alike keep everyone motivated. The shiny new concepts keep everyone engaged and motivated.?

Then, as if a brick wall is planted right before you, a huge stop blindsides the business and as the business owner you look around just wondering what happened. It almost comes out of nowhere but really as a business owner you know that it has been going on longer than you would like to admit. The business still rolls along, however the magic has gone. The inspiration and motivation that was there initially has left the business for what seems to be for good.?

Many business owners call this being stuck or uncertain in their business.?

This can be seen in all different types of businesses no matter their size or established time of the business. For some businesses this can be a seasonal phenomena that happens at the same time of year each year, for the rare few this can just be a once off as they solve the real problem of their lack of motivation. If the lack of motivation is left to linger it can destroy a business slowly and that is not pretty for anyone!

The question most business owners try to answer here is “Why isn’t it all working for me/what do I? really want to achieve?”. Often the real answer is deep within someone and the complexity of the answer is too hard to find. The business meanders along the business path and nothing seems to get really better year on year.?

Where do you start?

You need to ignite the fire.

Motivation in people, let alone business owners can be very hard to ignite. Finding inspiration in what seems mundane everyday tasks is near impossible unless you have a well defined purpose, vision and strategy for what the business (let alone you, the business owner) wants to achieve.?

I truly believe that many people understand certain aspects of motivation but very few have a handle on how you can create real change in a business. The desire to change needs to be addressed and talked about at a high business level. The desire to change also has to filter to the whole team for real change in a business to occur. Creating a new vision or strategy just doesn’t work if it means nothing to the greater team. I have many corporate and local business examples of strategies that haven’t worked due to the executive team not even giving thought to the desire of the whole team.?

Working with teams to create a desirable strategy that is both inspiring and motivating takes experience and unfortunately many business owners have no real experience with building inspiring strategies. There are many books and articles on what a strategy looks like but very few of them talk about how to create the desire, inspiration and motivation.?

So what does an inspiring strategy look like?

The strategy has to define the real purpose of the people (not just the business). Why is it the team gets up out of bed every day for this task (they could be doing any other role, why this one?).?

The strategy has to have a vision of what the business will look like in the future, one that everyone in the business wants to achieve. Being number one in a market or segment is nice but why does that matter to the people that are the ones who will be achieving these results. Build a vision that means something to the people and then the people will help the business succeed.?

The strategy should define the clients it is willing to serve and the ones it shouldn’t serve. This helps the team make the decisions, removes frustrations, saves time, energy and focus. This frees up people to do what they do best for the clients they like working with.?

The strategy should define the sweet spot of success; The product or service offering that it can deliver; and in which the business wants to deliver. Sure product X brings in more revenue but it is a hassle to deliver, hard to sell and people complain every time. Either work on the product and get it to be easier for everyone involved or look at scrapping that product and feel the weight come off the shoulders of the team (immediately!).

Lastly I believe the strategy needs to have some character to it. The DNA of the business itself. The strategy should have the wording that the business uses, the sayings, the phrases and even the catch cries. These catchy sayings and phrases help the team bring the strategy to life. Really at the end of the day that is what every business owner/leader wants. To create a plan and then have the team achieve the success from sticking to the strategy. It should be a living and breathing part of the team.

It all sounds fairly easy yet so many get it wrong. The key to any strategy is having a process that the whole team can be part of which then creates a culture of strategy within any business. Building a strategy should be fun and a great way to get rid of the feelings of being stuck or uncertain.

I have been part of many transformations in business and each one of the success stories I know started with building an inspiring strategy that motivates all involved.?

Create the future the business deserves.

Want to talk strategy? Feel free to send me a question.

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