When you are spending time working ON your business, rather than in it, does it sometimes feel like throwing spaghetti at the wall? Maybe your strategy resembles a bit of a scrambled puzzle, with no clear focus? If so, it’s time for a change.
My advice would be – simplify!
When you’re a service-based business owner, there’s a lot of pressure out there to be visible on every social media platform. After all, you don’t want to miss out on any new opportunities. But are you inadvertently sabotaging your success by spreading yourself too thin? We all know how short the days can be, so finding time to do ALL the things really well is frankly impossible… Especially if any challenges or curveballs come your way to de-rail things further – which we all know are in fact guaranteed at some point or other!
But, the idea of going all in on a specific platform, niche, or service can be scary.
What if you miss out on potential clients elsewhere?
What if you’re missing out on growing your audience?
What if the niche you focus on doesn’t give you the results you want?
This uncertainty means you spend a lot of time overcomplicating things and becoming less productive. You try to maintain a presence across multiple channels and offer a broad range of services to cater for all but in the end, you risk diluting your focus and hindering growth. Not to mention feeling overworked, your energy drained and losing all love for your business.
I know, I’ve been there (as have many of my clients!)
So, what should you do instead?
Double down to double your reward
I recently had a client who was feeling the pressure from all the noise online to be visible everywhere. They were feeling overwhelmed with creating content and showing up on multiple platforms, despite not seeing the return they had hoped for, but they were scared to stop.
After we had got total clarity on what she wanted her business to be, who she wanted to be in it and what she wanted it to give her, we went back to basics and focused on her target audience.
We dove into who her dream clients are now, which services felt most aligned, where most of her leads came from and where she felt most comfortable being herself so we could see where to concentrate her energy and have the most impact. And spoiler alert – she didn’t have to market her business on every social media platform just because everyone else seemed to!
If you get more leads from one platform, focus on that. Yes, you may get a few elsewhere, but is the energy and time you put there worth the small reward? What if you put that time going even further into the one you know works best for you?
If one doesn’t feel aligned with your offering or how you like showing up, don’t be on it!
In the process, we also reviewed her offering and looked at streamlining her services so she could not only focus on the most profitable and in-demand ones, but the ones she felt best delivering.
By narrowing her focus to one platform, she gained clarity on her goals and set out a well-defined, manageable strategy to market herself and build a stronger connection with her audience. Instead of wasting time and effort, she was able to fully invest in the one that aligned best.
So, what does it mean for you? Ask yourself these questions:
- Where am I spending most of my energy?
- What aspects of my business are most fulfilling and enjoyable?
- What feels draining or stressful?
- Am I seeing the results I want considering the effort level vs output?
- What services or products resonate with my target audience the most?
- Which services, programmes or products do I love to deliver / produce most?
- Where do I get the most leads from now?
- When it comes to social media, where are my ideal clients most active/likely to be?
- Where do I feel more comfortable and energised to show up?
I’m practising what I preach. I’ve recently decided to take a step back from posting to Instagram and Facebook and instead, focusing more on LinkedIn – it’s where I feel more connected! I’ve also made the decision to press pause on my Facebook group – Business Happy Mums. Business Happy Mums is a community for mums who have broken free from the corporate world in pursuit of their dreams of setting up their own business but have found themselves at a crossroads about what to do next. I built the group to be a supportive space for people to ask questions, share experiences and get help to evolve their businesses but in all honesty, I haven’t been as active in it lately as I would like. Like so many of us, I was spreading myself too thin. I could have trundled along, still posting the regular stuff but I realised my energy wasn’t there. As a coach for solo business owners, helping others to EVOLVE their businesses and work out what’s next, it makes total sense for me to do the same! So, it’s a strategic pause, time to reassess and refocus and most importantly, simplify where I’m focusing my energy for maximum impact.
If you’ve been feeling overwhelmed and uninspired, where could you simplify?
If you’re not sure where to start, download my free resource, “Your Business Health Check.” It’s going to be your roadmap to making more strategic changes that will revitalise your business from a position of strength, not stress. Here’s the link:
https://rebeccaamincoach.kartra.com/page/business-health-check
If you would like to book your free 20-minute intro call, book into my diary here: https://meetfox.com/en/e/rebecca-amin-1?t=0&l=intro-consultation-business-owner
March 1, 2024
