Stop Treading Water in your Business, and Start Creating Waves
A recent conversation with a new client went something like this…
“I feel like I’m treading water. My business is growing and I’m both excited about the future and scared because things are starting to fall through the cracks due to my ineffective processes and lack of proper systems to support this stage of the business. I have no clear growth plan or clear vision for the future, and I know I need to make some changes, but I don’t know how. I’m tired of being on the fence with this. I know I need to jump but I don’t have a roadmap. I need your help.”
This client’s story is not unusual. I’ve heard it a hundred times before.
You’re in growth-mode and you feel like you need to duplicate yourself.
You may be doing too many of the things and wearing all the hats.
You know something’s got to change, so that you can scale the business beyond yourself but you’re not sure how to get off the hamster wheel that you’re stuck on.
Many business owners in the start-up and ramp-up stages of growth soon find themselves deep in the weeds of running their business that before they know it they’ve lost perspective on the long-term vision and feel like they’re constantly in reactive mode or catch up mode.
It’s exhausting.
The lack of long-term planning, invites short-term thinking.
In this emotional state, our reptilian brain is in fight, flight or freeze mode, which makes it impossible to be calm and resourceful — the state we need to be in, to create a compelling vision and action plan for designing a different future for ourself.
So, this leads me back to you the business owner, and how you can build a roadmap for yourself, starting with the end in mind, so that you can reverse engineer the journey to get there. When I work with my private coaching clients, I am their personal business navigator — helping them adjust their sails so they always reach their destination.
One of the foundational components for building a successful roadmap is to develop a solid outcome frame.
Growing a business without a clear objective is like taking a trip without a destination. If you don’t know where you are going, how will know how to get there? How will you know if you got there?
The outcome frame is a powerhouse goal setting framework. There are several components to creating a solid outcome frame; every good outcome frame starts with asking powerful questions.
“If you don’t like where you are, change it! You’re not a tree.” — Jim Rohn
Imagine for a moment that you create your own reality and enter into the realm of possibilities. Imagine that you can can create your business by design, and not settle for default. Success is yours for the taking and there’s no such thing as failure, only feedback.
From that space, ask yourself these four key questions:
- What do I want?
- How might I get it?
- How might I commit to that?
- How will I know if I’ve gotten it?
The secret to success is to move forward with focus and wild abandon, to have clarity of purpose, a strong felt sense for why you’re doing it, the resolve to stop tolerating what you have, and the hunger to go for what you really want no matter what.
Know that you’re not alone on this path. To be a change maker is a heroic journey. It takes courage, passion, persistence and patience to bring your dream to life.
And it also takes the strength and smarts to know when to call in the right support along the way.
If you find yourself spinning your wheels or treading water in your business, and you’re getting tired of being the chief of everything, let’s talk.