5 Symptoms Your Biz Needs A Tune-Up

No matter how well your business is doing, no matter how long you’ve had it, how skilled YOU are, no matter how determined and committed you are, there are going to be ebbs and flows.

There will be times when it feels like you’re riding a wave into shore, and times when it feels like you’re swimming upstream with a coat of armor on- it’s just the nature of owning a business.

It’s the proverbial entrepreneurial roller coaster that you’ve probably heard about.

But it’s WHAT you do when the going gets rough that makes all the difference.  And times of challenge are NOT the time to be trying lots of new and different tactics, to be listening to EVERYONE with flashy marketing on Facebook, or to be doing the same thing over and over again and hoping for a different result.

Getting stuck in any one of these behaviors will cost you time, happiness, and money- and maybe even your business.

But how do you know you’re even IN one of these time of challenge??  

After years of working with women business owners, I’ve noticed 5 symptoms I consistently see that tell me it’s time for a tune up.  So I wanted to share those 5 symptoms with you…

Symptom #1:

You’re getting paid $500 for a $5000 job.   

You are working nights and weekends and being “on call” to your clients.  

You are offering too many discounts, taking work that doesn’t make sense and doing more work than initially agreed upon.  

I get it.  It happens to the best of us!

Real Life Example: Mary  had an AMAZING service where she supports her clients in a way that is SUPER effective, magical, and creates space for their transformations time and time again. BUT, Mary was uneasy charging a healthy price for her work. She accepted client appointments whenever they wanted them, even if it meant she had to work at times that were draining and inconvenient for her. She also frequently offered inexpensive “deals” on her work, so her community could get access to her for even LOWER rates. She felt like she had to be ON all the time for her clients, and it was EXHAUSTING HER.

Does this sound familiar?

Symptom  #2:

Launching an offer or sending out a proposal and hearing crickets.

Spending countless time and energy into creating a program or offering to potential clients and/or customers then not being able to fill it or sell it.

You feel like you’re “hustling” for new prospects and clients non stop.  

You have a group but seem to be the only one posting and trying frantically to get engagement going.  

Not to mention that “writer’s block” feeling as you struggle to create content that feels exciting to you and is snatched up by your ideal client.

Real Life Example: Stacy was stuck with amazing offerings that weren’t having the client enrollment that she wanted. She got good numbers for her first run of a super transformational program. The second run of it, 6-8 months later, had less enrollees. The third run only had a few.

Every time she ran the program it was better, more effective, deeper and more powerful content. But the value was lost because she wasn’t filling it. She was building a community online that LOVED HER and had a small list, but still was struggling with filling her program.

Symptom  #3:

Your message or offerings are trying to “catch” the whole ocean (Think: DRAGNET).

The people who are coming to you aren’t feeling aligned, and they’re draining you or are not fun to work with.

You’re stuck trying to create what you THINK people “want” so it will sell.

You’re working from a place of scarcity and fear around not getting enough clients, so you’re trying to speak to as many people as possible.

Real Life Example (to be honest- this was ME!): Years ago when I was developing my second program, I got stuck. I wanted the women currently working with me to re-enroll. I wanted more women from my community to come in. I felt stuck in trying to “grab” or “sign” as many clients as possible, and I was trying to speak to ALL biz women to make my pool of potential prospects as large as possible. It was blocking me from actually tuning in to the women I really WANTED to be working with.

I had less than ideal clients.

I had clients who drained me. I had women working with me who wanted life coaching, NOT biz coaching- and I accepted them all because I felt I SHOULD.

I was doing work I didn’t want to be doing, I didn’t enjoy my work days. Nor did it FEEL GOOD!

Symptom #4

Your community isn’t growing consistently.

You’re not getting the open rates you want on your newsletters.

You’re getting very little engagement and/or interaction you want on your social media posts.

It feels icky for you to talk about your work to people, and you’re not sure how to to bring more people into your community- without feeling pushy, sales-y, or douchey.

You’re constantly throwing out ideas and trying different methods for growing your community, increasing your reach, and building your list, but they aren’t getting any traction.

Real Life Example: Inea has an amazing and very necessary business that provides support and skills to people that are SO important right now. She has 20 years experience, walks her talk more deeply than most people I know, and is a published author of 4 books. Yet as her business grew, her list and engaged community was VERY small. Inea was talking to the same X number of people each month, for each offering.  Because of this she felt pushy and salesy whenever she talked about her biz.  

Symptom  #5

You talk to people about your work, but you shrink from the “sales” aspect.

You don’t want to feel like you’re pressuring people to “buy.”

You get people to workshops, consultations and prospect calls, but you choke at the part where you have to ask them if they’d like to work with you.

Even though you’re connected to the value of the work you offer, when it comes time to ask people to buy, the vibe changes.

You’re not sure how to ask people to commit to working with you without feeling like you’re knocking on someone’s door with a stack of encyclopedias.

Real Life Example: Honestly, most of the women I work with get stuck here. Asking for the business feels icky, and there’s baggage around sharing results that other people get =boasting (which we’re told we’re not supposed to do as girls…).   Many women feel intimidated or think they are annoying to others because they think they are being pushy.  There is fear around visibility issues and standing in your power, claiming your expertise.  Fear of being thought of as a fraud or imposter- honestly, these symptom come with so much inner baggage, often I’m surprised we don’t carry suitcases with us to hold all the crap.

Do you see any of these symptoms in your biz?

Believe it or not, seeing them clearly is a GOOD sign- it means you can be honest about how your biz is really doing or what it’s not doing!  This is the most important step to getting clear and beginning to diagnose the cause of these symptoms and why they are there in the first place.

We good?

The next step (DO NOT skip this one, either…) is for you to find out the cause of these symptoms and why fixing them is crucial to the success of your business- if you don’t pay close attention to this step you can wind up using the “spaghetti” method (you know: where you throw a bunch of stuff to the wall and see what sticks). It’s messy, it’s ineffective, and it’s a COMPLETE waste of time, resources, energy, and MONEY. Don’t be a spaghetti thrower.

Want concrete tools to change the way your biz works (and the places it DOESN’T?)? Join me and a unique community of other women business owners for my 5 Day Biz Fix  – absolutely crucial for the tune-up you’ve been putting off, and best of all- you won’t have to get dirty! I’ll get under your hood WITH you and help you figure out what the hell is causing havoc on your biz!