I will never be as good / professional / successful / popular / able as them…
Do those thoughts sound familiar? I know I have thought them MANY times. We see all those other service-based business owners splattered all over social media with their amazing offers, graphics, free resources, massive audience. There’s no way I am going to reach their level of success! So, I will stay small and plod on the same way forever. That level of success is so far out of reach it’s not even worth trying!
But what if that weren’t true? What if you didn’t even need to be the same as them to be more successful?
Whilst we all know social media is necessary for marketing our business, it can also be a necessary evil! It is the reason we paralyse in fear of never being as good as all those businesses we assume have got it all figured out and are earning millions.
Let me tell you something. Those service-based business owners you feel you are never going to be as good as? They were at your stage once. Also, sadly, many of them probably aren’t having the time of their life and raking in the cash at the rate we may believe to be true… And some of them are!
Either way it doesn’t matter. What does, is zoning the noise out, focussing on ourselves and our business and pushing through those fears that are stopping us reach our next level of success.
Firstly, we have to know that anything that will feel like success has to be something we haven’t done before. If you do the same thing every day, week, month, year you may be fairly happy that you earned ‘enough’ for example, but this won’t feel like success as you already know you can do that… and eventually you are likely to get bored and start asking “where is this even going?”
If you regularly run 5km, each time you do it you are pleased you went for a run, but it doesn’t feel like a big success. If you added even half a km onto your next run, it would!
Working on your business is no different.
So what is it that is holding you back from pushing for a new level of success? You probably have those days where you think “I could do way more than this!”, but what is the reason you don’t then get a plan in place to do it?
I can tell you. It is that little voice that tells you it won’t work out for you. You can’t achieve that really. It’s too hard. In other words, fear of failing.
So when those thoughts creep in and stop you taking action, catch them and ask yourself “How can I succeed?” Simply using ‘How’ shifts your brain into action mode – to looking for a solution. Instead of “I can’t earn more money from this”, shift to “How can I earn even more from this?”
Back to those businesses, you find yourself comparing yourself to. What is it that has told you you need to do it the same as them? You don’t! They may be dancing around on reels every day or have the shiniest website you ever saw… IT DOESN’T MATTER!
When you are a service-based business owner, your clients are buying you, not your Instagram, carousel post. Of course, marketing is important – if people can’t see you, they can’t get to know you. But do it your way. As long as you are getting your messaging out there, that’s what counts. If certain accounts or profiles make you to feel rubbish and get you stuck in comparisonitis, stop following them!
So what to do from here? Start by working on what you really want your business to look like. What you really want it to give you. Not what you think it should look like because that’s what others in your specialism are doing, what YOU want to do / have.
Think ahead. 2 years from now.
- Where do you want to be with your business?
- Who do you want to be working with and how?
- Why – what will that give you (other than ££)?
It’s only when you have that clear can you begin to feel motivated to take action and stay anchored to that goal. So reply / drop a comment and tell me – what is your big business goal for 2 years from now that excites you?
If you need help with this:
Firstly, join my free Facebook group;
Secondly, take a look at my website to find out more about what I do and the Coaching programmes I offer;
Thirdly, book a free 20-min Consultation call so I can hear where you are at, where you are stuck and share how I can help via one of my Coaching programmes.
October 1, 2023