Stuck? Stop working, start thinking

The following is one of my most popular teachings for folks who are ready to get to multiple six figures.

Here’s what I want you to know. As your small business grows beyond the startup phase (yay!), you will become very busy (ugh!).

Maybe you’re already there?

Tell me, is this you?

Your calendar is close to being full or is jammed.

You’re working nights and weekends.

You don’t seem to have time for yourself or your family.

You feel stuck.

You’re spending more time working IN your business than ON growing it.

You may start thinking, “How long can I keep doing this?”

You look into the future and realize you probably won’t be able to grow because there are no more hours in a day, and you are feeling so stretched, you can’t see this being sustainable in the next three to five years. Yet, you still want to grow your business and work on attracting new clients.

How do you make a shift in business growth when it’s like this?

Having these thoughts is how you know you are ready to begin the Leverage phase, meaning, you scale your business, without working more (in fact, working much less). It’s time to think about how you can shift to the next level of business to help and work with more people than you can on an individual basis. Your current one-to-one model is hindering your business potential. It’s time to start leveraging everything you have. You are ready to discover the answers for getting to the next level.

Here’s how you get to the next level: you actually make time to figure this out.

When at the overwhelmed stage of your business, it’s not actually by working more or harder that you will grow. You actually need to work LESS, take more time to think, journal and plan out what your evolution is going to look like.

The number one step I recommend is to set up at least one day per quarter (if not once a month) where you don’t go to the office at all. Instead, you THINK.

Why outside the office? You need a separate place to foster your creativity and problem-solving abilities. Then, get out a white board or flipchart and start to brainstorm so you map out how you want your business to evolve (you also get this time once a quarter when you join our program).

Having this pause helps you strategize and also have time to listen for divine inspiration. The process requires empty space set aside specifically for this purpose, without the day-to-day business and interruptions that will prevent your creative flow.

I do this with my life and business partner Derek on a regular basis. It can help to have another person to bounce ideas around with (but you can also do this alone, so not to worry). It’s always an expansive day where we explore all sorts of crazy possibilities.

Let yourself go and don’t worry about being totally realistic at the start – this expansive space you create for yourself is where amazing ideas can come to life. Once you mind map it, you can see which ideas you could actually use and execute. And then, once it’s all mapped out, you can bring things back down to earth and start working IN your business again, knowing you now have a plan.

Your Next Step:

Right now, take out your calendar and plan your first brainstorming day.Then mark down other dates for the balance of the year. Set this time aside today and stick with your plan for future ideas. This is how you honor the possibilities of what your business can grow into and become.

Now, if you’re not sure where to start leveraging what you have to scale your business, then my advice is to follow a step-by-step system that comes with the support and accountability you need to stay on track. At Boldheart Business, we offer business owners the most important things to do to set up simple, solid systems for delegation and exponential growth, without having you work more, so that you consistently grow your income and downtime. It’s a proven recipe, with incremental actions we support you in taking, instead of an overwhelming mish-mash of unrelated things.

If you feel that you’re ready to move from your current phase to scaling your business, I have a free tool I created recently that can help you get some clarity: the Leveraged Business Assessment?. After answering just a few questions, you will receive a customized strategy so you can move up to that next level.

And if you’re curious about how we can help beyond just the assessment, reach out for a free exploratory session with one of my awesome Strategy Coaches. We want to help you with the strategy and support you need to grow your business and get your life back. xo