It’s a rare business owner who—at some point—doesn’t feel stuck.
Either you begin to experience burnout, or you aren’t reaching your goals and can’t seem to get past the income plateau you’ve managed to find yourself on.
Not to worry (too much), as it’s a normal part of being in business – but staying there isn’t. Successful small business owners figure out how to overcome the hurdles and overwhelm and continue to grow their business. And the first step is to determine exactly what’s holding you back.
Lack of Clarity
When you don’t really know what it is you want from your business, you’re experiencing a lack of clarity. Maybe you aren’t clear on who you’re meant to serve, or can’t quite envision your product funnel. Or maybe you can’t even picture your epic training course in its entirety.
These are all symptoms of a lack of clarity, and they can stop a promising business dead in its tracks.
If you’re suffering from a lack of clarity, take a step back and do some brainstorming (or brain dumping) to get everything out in the daylight where you can see it. This alone can help you get clear on what your next step is.
Lack of Focus
If you’re clear on your goals but you’re having trouble moving forward consistently, then a lack of focus might be your trouble. You head to your office each morning with purpose, but by lunch it’s clear you haven’t accomplished anything you set out to do.
You’re not a bad person, or even a poor business owner. You just have trouble focusing on the next step that needs to happen to make your dreams come true.
Try this: With your end goal in mind, brainstorm the next physical action you need to take to achieve it. So if your goal is to build a 4-week ecourse, then your next step might be to poll your mailing list about what they need/want from you. There are many ways of doing this other than just sending a simple email asking them a straightforward question. Some of them are great at identifying details that would otherwise be missed. One of the more popular processes for this is called the ASK Method by Ryan Levesque. It is very detailed and will gather you very detailed information on your clientele and what they want.
No Excitement
Bored? Lost interest in that business you once loved? This is, unfortunately, quite common among “solopreneurs”. That’s why we see so many of them jumping from business to business, and chasing shiny objects, never spending enough time in any one endeavor to see it through to success.
Staying excited about your business starts with having a dream that keeps you going even when you’re faced with the day-to-day drudgery that every small business owner encounters. Not everything is fun when you’re running a business, but if you keep your “why” in mind, it can help you get past the dull spots.
Want to know how to easily fix all these issues (and more)? It’s a simple trick that the world’s most successful entrepreneurs have been using for decades: vision boards. These fun and colorful tools are often just what you need to clarify your dreams, work out your next steps, and stay excited about your business. Vision boards can be as simple as a few images clipped from a magazine and pinned to a corkboard, or as complex as a framed poster with hand-lettered quotes and personal inspiration. The choice is yours. It’s completely personal, super fun, and best of all, it works. Give it a try next time you’re feeling stuck in your business!
If you need information on how to create a vision board, see our post here where we share ideas and tips on creating vision boards. There is also an excellent a video by Jack Canfield in that post.
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