Why Can't I Make My Business Work?

Why can’t I make my business work? I am often asked this one by frustrated heart centred business owner who, despite being an absolutely awesome resource and support for their audience, just feel that they are not getting it right. They are not achieving their potential. They are just screaming to themselves, every day, “why can’t I make my business work!”

HOW DO THEY FEEL?

LIKE A FAILURE.

Eeeeekk – not a pleasant word. Not a word we want to be associated with although perhaps we might all be partial to self proclaiming we are one. Here is the dictionary definition from the Cambridge Online Dictionary

It’s all about not being successful. But isn’t the definition of success a subjective one? Doesn’t the definition of success vary for person to person? I remember when I was very poorly that my definition of a successful day was being able to walk to the end of the street all by myself – that obviously wouldn’t be seen in the eyes of many, including myself now, as a massive achievement or a success. So success is…

So it’s all about the standards that you are setting yourself and the fact that you strive and seek to get the very best results immediately, without having to work through the processes. Often the very best lessons come at the hands of “failures” and if we are going to be brutally honest it’s all about the way that you frame things. Thomas Edison famously said – “Of the 200 Lightbulbs that didn’t work, every failure told me something that I was able to incorporate into the next attempt.” 

It’s about the journey to getting to that end result and you may not be ultra successful immediately but you are always taking one step closer to that big goal you have put in place for yourself. It’s about looking at what you are learning along the way and not immediately branding yourself as a failure and giving up. It’s about getting through the dark night so that you can witness the dawn.

It’s amazing that when you feel that you are at the end and that you just can’t take anymore then that is usually the time when you are on the cusp of a massive breakthrough. Having to work towards your dreams sure is character building, it is definitely challenging at times but will be TOTALLY worth it in the end.

Please don’t brand yourself a failure. To become an overnight success takes time and patience, perseverance and commitment. It takes you digging REALLY REALLY deep at times and carrying on, come what may. Don’t brush off the things that did not bring you the results that you wanted, learn from them. Don’t give up just because it didn’t work out as you had planned. When you give it your all and are committed to what you are doing then it will all come right in the end.

STUTTERING IS PART OF THE ROAD TO SUCCESS.

Successful entrepreneurs have never got to where they are without going through the same mill. So buckle up and take the rough with the smooth, see every missed goal as a learning point, see everything that did not go as you planned as a lesson. Keep learning, keep moving forwards and whatever you do – don’t throw the towel in! Pep talk over. Now it’s time to look at the practical things that you can consider to elevate your success.

ARE YOU BEING TOO BROAD?

Are you continuing to hedge your bets?

Making sure that you are appealing to everyone?

Being really “professional”?

When you try to speak to everyone – in your marketing, on your website, within your social media updates, on your blog – then let me tell you what happens…. You end up talking to no-one. Your messages don’t hold any gravitas. They are simply not specific. At best they are wooly and at worst they are down right vanilla.

You will attract more people into your audience by becoming really specific. You need to decide who you are best able to help, who is it that will get the best results from the services/product that you offer? Think about it for a little while. Sit with it. Don’t panic or procrastinate over it, you can evolve and develop this concept over time.

The excercise I suggest my crowd do when thinking about this is to develop a Raving Fans Notebook. This is a notebook where you start to keep notes about who your crowd are, what they are stuck with. It might be words, phrases, snippets from questions you are regularly asked or paragraphs of information but this book will become your Raving Fans buddy. When you are feeling like you aren’t quite connecting with your audience then you can look back to your Raving Fans notebook and see where you have got lost and how you can reset yourself to helping those specific people. As I said, it can evolve and grow as you get to know your crowd better. If you are stuck with what your crowd are struggling with then my top tip is to ask them! Ask them on Social Media or via your newsletter, ask them by way of a survey. Get their feedback. You want to help them and you want to change their world, you need to know what it is that they really want in order to do that. I have worked with people who I have asked to do this and the results have been amazing. Not only have they been able to connect better with their crowd after carrying out a survey but they have also got content ideas for their blog articles as well as products and programmes.

ARE YOU OFFERING THE RIGHT THINGS?

You might be talking to the right people (or you might not) but offering them the wrong things to buy. I want you to look at your product development as a journey that you take your crowd on. They are currently in a place called stuck and they want to get to the town called awesome. Yes they could probably take this journey on their own BUT they would probably get lost, end up on the side roads, perhaps take a little detour or end up right back where they started. You are their sat nav and you are going to take them on the most direct route. First thing you have to do is find out where this place called awesome is. This is their desired outcome. This is the basis upon which you are going to sell your services, products or programmes to them. They WANT this outcome. You then need to work out what they need in order to get there. You will sell them what they want, you will sell them the solutions to their headaches and problems and what you will provide them with is what they need in order to get there.

FINALLY, ARE YOU BEING INVISIBLE?

No-one can buy from you if they know nothing about you. No-one will stumble across your programme/services/product if you are hiding. Please make sure you’re not invisible because if you are then that will answer the question – why can’t I make my business work! Well, perhaps it’s because it’s the most massive secret out there ??

>>>Read More About Getting Visible Here<<<