Recently, I spoke with a gentleman who's been in business selling a product for 20 years. He has a strong social media following & people were clicking into his ecommerce website, but they were not converting into sales. I told him the problem was on the website. Obviously, the marketing message worked as potential buyers were clicking on the ads and posts. But once on the website, they were getting lost, distracted, and frustrated. They left after a couple of minutes. He took offense. He would not accept the fact that having a slider showing all his hundreds of product choices with no rhyme or reason wasn't working. They needed to be categorized. Simply doing a little rearranging would solve his problem. However, to him, his website was perfect. Since he had years of experience, he thought knew what would work. Unfortunately, that was not the user experience his potential customers needed. If you're going to ask the opinion of an experienced consultant, don't ignore the advice.
I had to grow up fast in my family in Mississippi. Because I had demonstrated so much leadership in our home by the age of 8 or 9 my Dad started taking me into his CPA firm office on Saturday mornings. When I was able to escape as a Junior in college, I took with me a ton of baggage; a feeling of always being in ovewhelm, a round peg trying to fit in a square hole (I was so ill-suited to be a CPA), negative judgments about my boss that I started at age 15 about my Dad that went something like this, "That's a great idea!" (out loud) and then in my head, I'd add "You idiot". You can imagine how that negatively impacted my relationships with my bosses in my CPA career even though it was theoretically unsaid. I did a ton of work on myself to unbundle all that baggage and even put my tools into two books. But the final piece was relaxation. I finally learned how to relax on a daily basis and move at a slower pace. I'm proud to share my spouse and I have relocated back to MS this year.
I found that delegating is the best way to grow my company. That is why I hired the best talents that I can find for my company. Then I let them do their job without my intervention. I do not interfere with their work and don’t ask them how they do their work. I give instructions, but I never ask them how they are doing their work. The result is that they work more efficiently than me and do a better job. I can see that they are growing my company because they have new ideas and they know what they are doing. They also communicate well with each other and complete jobs on time.
Looking back, I can see that a fear of failure held me back from a very young age. I remember saying that I didn't want to join the competitive team at my dance studio when really, I was too afraid of being judged at tryouts. In companies I started, I said that I only wanted a casual, lifestyle business which kept me from investing as much time and money as I might have and from reaching out for help when I needed it. It's something I've finally mastered while launching Dogby. I still feel the urge to step away or procrastinate, but I now recognize it for what it is, take a deep breath, and dive back into my work. Sometimes many times in one day. I think that a few things came together to help me make this change. I've gotten more self aware with age. I have a baby now and don't want to squander my time away from her. But I think the biggest thing is that before starting Dogby, I took the time to reflect on what has held me back in the past to avoid the same mistakes.
When I started my own coaching practice 2 years ago, having had a previous career in advertising and marketing, I thought that I should be able to market myself on my own as I had the experience. The problem with this, is that I could not be objective enough, because I am my own business. I found that I came up with a lot of personal resistance, doubt and procrastination when making decisions about what marketing strategies to choose and how to execute messaging. I also enjoyed the branding part, but not the digital marketing part (where most client acquisitions would likely come from). So I hired an SEO consultant to do an analysis and create a strategy for me. Having a specialist third party give me advice and execute a strategy in an objective way was just what I needed to get out of my business' way and let it grow. I've reached my business goals much faster than I think I would have if I had not hired someone else to help me make decisions.
Back in 2021, I had been managing a staff member while leading a Reverse Recruiting dept. I noticed almost immediately after hiring her, that she would be able to do more for the department than I could. Call it an instinct. And I felt like things were just not going the way I had hoped. So, I had an internal choice to make: Continue down the current path. Or.... Put someone in the position who should be doing it and will do a MUCH better job. I always enjoyed leading, but did not like managing. So, I got out of the way and asked to promote the new hire, and I would do what I like best: Work with clients. Needless to say, it was a good move. The team hired 5 new people over the last year, there is a waitlist for the service, and processes are more streamlined than ever. To me, it was probably the smartest decision I made while running the dept: I got out of the way. Steven Lowell Senior Reverse Recruiter Find My Profession
I took a step back and realized that when I was going through some tough times, the company wasn't growing as fast as I wanted it to. When I looked at our numbers, we had been growing pretty steadily for the last few years. But it wasn't enough for me—and I needed to figure out how to get us beyond where we were. I spent some time looking at our process and our team's roles, and realized there were a few things we could do to make things run more smoothly. We made a few changes, and almost instantly our growth rate picked up. It wasn't a huge jump, but it was enough for me to see that yes, there are ways that we can improve our process so that we can grow faster than ever before.
As a new freelancer, I used to say yes to any and every inquiry I received. This resulted in a large number of clients that weren't a great fit for my skillset. We'd both walk away frustrated. When I returned to freelancing after working full time in my field, I decided to only take on the clients I knew I could help best, rather than being so desperate for work that I said yes to anyone. To my surprise, by saying no to the opportunities that didn't fit, I found myself with an abundance of awesome clients I can serve even better. Lesson: Don't be afraid to say no if an opportunity isn't a good fit.
Building my personal brand on LinkedIn was monumental in helping me get out of my own way with my business. I felt stuck in a freelancer mindset when I really needed to transition to the CEO seat, and spending time on social media worsened that. On a whim, I deleted every social app from my phone except for LinkedIn. I realized that the creators on LinkedIn were people I could genuinely learn from and get to know. I started posting every day and invested time in reaching out to others and building relationships. The results: authentic friends and an elevated way of thinking about business. I was even discovered by a publishing house through my personal brand on LinkedIn and was offered a book deal. Now I try to persuade everyone to build their personal brand there, no matter what stage of business or career they’re in. Like social media, it’s a fun outlet, but it's an extremely fruitful place for learning, business development and growth that's guaranteed to improve your mindset.
I felt that I was charging too much for my services, but after speaking with other service providers, I realized I was actually selling myself short. I doubled my hourly rate and my side hustle income skyrocketed. I'm planning to increase my rates again in 2023 as I've been consistently closing new leads without price objections. If you're looking to grow your business in 2023, consider increasing your rates and see what happens. You may be surprised at how much people are willing to pay for your services. Instead of simply valuing what your time is worth, also consider the value add you're providing for your clients. This may make your pricing even higher than what you think your time is worth.
Imposter syndrome can cause you to delete social media posts, fail to connect with other business owners and limit your marketing potential. As a new business owner, imposter syndrome was holding me back in my marketing and collaboration efforts. Once I realized that my skillset and business were valuable to future clients, I was able to grow my business substantially. I am active on social media, constantly reach out to potential collaborators, and am no longer afraid to create advertisements to attract potential clients. This has created referral opportunities, built lasting business relationships, and increased my revenue. I no longer delete a post when there's limited engagement or fear of what others think about an advertisement. My goal is to serve a purpose for the community and potential clients, and overcoming imposter syndrome has helped me continue to grow.
There was a time when I felt like I was working nonstop—but not really getting anywhere. I had been growing my company, but it wasn't the kind of growth that made me feel like we were on the right track. I decided to take some time for myself and reflect on what I wanted for my business. When I looked back at how much time and energy we were spending on things that just weren't working, it seemed like there was a lot of room for improvement. So one day, I sat down with my team and asked them to help me come up with a plan for where we wanted to go as a company. It took us some time to figure out how to do this, but once we did, things started moving in the right direction again.
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Answered 3 years ago
All options were on the table when it came to letting my venture thrive. I took a drastic measure of reinvesting income designated as my salary to keep in order through its most difficult times. I needed to reinvest everything I could, and it finally bore fruit. I had to live off my savings for a whole year. The dedication and well-advised investment decisions paid off massively, and I have never had to go without an outcome.
The three mentioned - attention, intention and interaction - are key in where focus is placed. The most successful, and vulnerable, leaders query the crowd. They ask critical questions, invite critical questions, and listen deeply to what is and isn't being said. They have to get out of their own way to hear THE way. The idea of loosing control strikes fear in the hearts of some leaders, who are really just managers in leadership positions. Your team will guide you to accomplishing your mission, provided you've communicated the vision well enough. Even with the inclusion of emotional intelligence into the workplace scenario, empathic resonance is the goal. You've got to talk about the 'sense' or 'feel' of things to evolve and meet the demands of the new marketplace. It is tremendously personal. It's about trust-building. It's something you and your team sense that is confirmed by the data and results when people, places and things are aligned with purpose.