68 | What to do when things aren't working in your business
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What to do when things aren’t working in your business
Is business slow right now? Are you feeling like you’ve tried all the things, but it’s just not enough? Do you feel like it’s time to quit? In this blog post, we’ll discuss what to do when it feels like your business is failing, and I’m letting you in on the trick I use to overcome the slump and get business back on track.
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The problem with tying your self-worth to your business.
The problem that many online business owners have is that their worth and their emotions are so deeply tied to their businesses. Of course, it’s not wrong to be emotional or to have these feelings, but the problem happens when those feelings begin to affect you as a business owner. When you are blinded by your emotions, you are going to have a hard time looking past that and getting out of your own way so that your business can grow.
Let’s take a failed launch, for example - something that everyone has likely experienced at some point since starting their business. I definitely have, and it is heartbreaking! You spend so much time, and put so much effort into creating this offer that you think is amazing… and then you put it out into the world, you tell your audience about it… and crickets… nobody buys… you feel like a failure.
The natural reaction is to want to curl up into a ball and think “I’m such a failure”, “maybe I don’t belong in business”, “maybe I should just give it all up now and get myself a 9-5”.
I would be lying if I said that I hadn’t been there. There have been times where my launch has failed, and I’ve then just retreated into myself and not created another offer or launched for months because I’m so scared of experiencing that failure… that rejection… again. And from conversations that I have had with my community, I know that this is a common feeling after experiencing something like a failed launch.
But it doesn’t even have to be a failed launch… there are plenty of different factors that may lead to feelings of failure, such as:
Not hitting your income goal
You’re experiencing a slow season and you’re not sure why
A potential client ghosts you
You don’t have as many students enrolled in your course as you would like
You received a refund request
There are so many things that can put us into, what I like to call, “The Business Owner Funk” and I’m not going to lie, having a business is an emotional rollercoaster. And it’s this emotional rollercoaster that often leads business owners to quit.
Why most business owners quit.
It’s not necessarily about not making enough money, or business being slower than usual. The reason most business owners quit is because they have tied their business so closely to their self-worth and they’re so blinded by emotions that they can’t see what they need to do in order to grow.
And I will just say that it is completely okay to feel down when things aren’t going as planned. It’s okay to have a little cry, to take a little break if you feel you need some space… all of these things are okay - you’re only human!
But with that being said, you also have to put your business owner hat on and realise that if you want your business to grow… if you want to get past this pitfall… then you need to look at things rationally.
How to overcome a ‘failure’ or ‘slump’ in business.
Whenever I’m in my feelings about something to do with business, I try to take myself out of the equation and think “what would I do if I was an employee of this business, and my job was to grow the company?” Whether that be by increasing sales, increasing the profit margin, planning the next launch, whatever it may be… I become an employee tasked with that job.
It’s in that moment that I begin to think logically again and I’m able to see past this emotional wall to where I can ask the questions I need to ask to move forward.
I ask myself questions like…
“Why didn’t this work?”
“What could I have done differently?”
“What can I do next time to make sure I’m not met with the same outcome?”
“Are there any different strategies or tactics I could experiment with that may give me a different result?”
So the next time you find yourself in “The Business Owner Funk” I want you to feel what you need to feel, talk to a friend or mentor if you can (because it always feels better to get these things off your chest), and then you are going to put your business owner hat on and ask yourself the necessary questions.
The thing about business is that things aren’t always going to go how you want them to. Things that worked for you last year aren’t necessarily going to work this year. If you want to grow, you need to change and adapt and experiment with new ideas and strategies.
And not every experiment is going to work. You are still going to experience setbacks and failures… but it’s what you do after those failures that makes all the difference. It’s how you choose to act that will determine whether you succeed, or whether you quit.
And I will just add as a side note here that if you aren’t making enough money, it is completely okay to get a part-time job or find another source of income that means that you are still able to live comfortably while you figure things out with your business. There is no shame in that. So if that’s what you feel you need to do, do it.
But if you want to continue to grow your business then you need to ask yourself the necessary questions to bring about that growth. You have to take the necessary action. You have to experiment… and you have to be persistent.
So if you are currently feeling down about your business… if things aren’t working as well as you hoped… remember to put your business owner hat on and make a plan to get yourself back on track.
CONNECT WITH TISH:
Instagram: @marketingwithtish
Website: leticiajcollins.com
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Hey, I’m Tish!
I'm a marketing mentor for ambitious entrepreneurs who want to create more time, freedom & profit in their online business, in a way that feels good to them!
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