As a solopreneur, you wear all the hats: designer, developer, tester, marketer, delivery, finance, customer service....you get the idea. This can cause you to live in busy mode and forget to dream about possibilities and where all this is going. YOU are the magic in your business. People come to see what's different about you and your products. They want to be helped, inspired, or entertained. If you feel stuck and uninspired, how do you think your potential customers will feel? Doing it all could be slowing you down.
“By trying to do too much, you risk not doing enough.” — Peggy Noonan
I recently had a conversation with someone that felt stuck. She desperately wanted to be creating products that sold easily, so that she could fulfill her dreams and potential. She was so sad, feeling defeated that things hadn't progressed faster, even though she had real life commitments that hindered her progress. I created a series of questions to see if we could determine what was holding her back.
What makes you happy? For me, it's helping other people, laughter with friends & family, being outside in nature, a good book, a really clever & intriguing movie or show, really good food, my dog, my creativity, my faith- I could go on all day. If however, your answer starts with, I'll be happier when... then you'll always be unhappy as happiness isn't a destination.
What do you consider success? In the early days of my business, I would have said something monetary related. But the longer you do the work, you recognize tasks that you really don't like. You'd rather pay someone to do certain things so you can do more of what you enjoy, even if that means you make less. So what I consider success today is being able to do more of the enjoyable tasks, the ones in my zone of genius, & less of the undesirables, so that I have moments of joy & happiness each and every day. I want to truly enjoy my life every single day, not just once I've accomplished something.
What does your typical day look like AND Are there any habits that are holding you back from making progress? I already have a post about how the tasks in my day aren't always the same, but every day I do something inside my business. Last year, I took three months off from my passive product business to build out my membership site. My business kept running without a hitch. But the amount I accomplished in that time period when I focused on only one thing was HUGE. And it caused me to take a deeper look at some of my habits that weren't serving me well. Email was my number one detractor. I justified looking at email several times a day, in case a customer needed something. But what it actually did was distract me from MY priorities. I would see an email with a catchy subject line and down the rabbit trail I'd go to follow someone else's priority. I could waste a whole day away. (not super proud of that to be honest.)
What is one thing that if you completed it would make the biggest difference in your life? I'm guessing your to do list is filled with things that don't make an actual difference in your business's bottom line. If you had to identify only two to three things that would take you all year to complete but would change your life by the end of the year, what would they be? Do you need to create a product collection? Do you need to create an email list? Do you need to update your branding & shop? Do you need to learn something, maybe: how to take better photos, how to use mockup images, how to paint, how to price for profit, how to market effectively? Do you need to complete a portfolio & submit it to companies for potential licensing? What are some of your big impact items?
We naturally tend to start with the easiest tasks on our to do list so that we can make progress. And yet, if we focused on the one bigger thing that actually made the most impact, you'd be shocked at just how far you can get in a year. Because these tasks feel difficult though, we frequently delay working on them. What if instead, we took a few minutes to break them down into action steps and create a plan? That alone takes some of the fear out of starting.
Now comes the important part. Cut out the extra nonsense. Only you know what yours looks like, but we all have it in some form. Trying to do everything will only wear you out & leave you feeling empty. One of my very favorite quotes:
"The world needs who you were made to be." -Joanna Gaines
The dream you have is there for a reason. What if we weren't meant to wake up and repeat the same day or week over and over until we expire? What if we chose a better system where we have something resembling joy within each day or week? What if we delegated tasks that aren't meant for us? (You may be the only person in your business right now, but you can work towards hiring out tasks or automating processes that take up too much time.)
If you find yourself in a never ending doom loop of repeating days without progress, I'd guess that taking a step back to see what you're spending your time on would be helpful. If there are tasks that are taking up too much time without enough impact, maybe see if they are even needed or needed as often. Shifting your focus onto one important thing first will have much more impact than you realize.
Warmest regards,
P.S. The advice I gave that friend is to go back to the basics. Did she finish the module on creating her dream business plan? Did she finish her branding Voice + Visuals workbook? It's hard to know what progress looks like if you don't know where you're heading.
I have everyone go through those two things first- even if they have an existing business when they find me. If you're struggling with some aspect of gaining momentum in your business, you'll almost always find answers there.
When I was thinking of this blog post, I left a notepad near me to capture thoughts about things that made me happy during the day. Anytime I caught myself smiling at something, I would jot it down. I loved the log so much that I think I'm going to keep it going.
What you focus on grows, right? So if I focus on all the little things that bring me joy then my joy should grow too.
P.P.S. If you need help finding focus, I created our FOCUS workbook that can help you create a simple annual plan broken down into monthly or 6 week action steps. It is included FREE inside our Designed Simply Membership in case you are considering joining. You can also get access to the first module on creating your Dream Business Plan FREE here.
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