A few weeks, months or maybe even years ago you had an idea that would earn you money… You wanted to be your own boss and no longer have to ring in with excuses when you were just plain exhausted with the rat race.
You love working on your own, independently and a great self-starter.
You love your family and want to decide for yourself how to split your day to create the work/life balance that is best for you.
Now you are x months in.
Are you serious about running your business?
What do I mean by ‘serious’?
After the initial honeymoon period of a new business, when the excitement, drive and passion carries you through all the many tasks that need to happen… comes a time when the reality hits. You realise that there is far more to running a business than you first thought, from the constant need for marketing activities, pricing decisions, learning new tech and being on top of legal documents. No-one told you about this!
Running your own business is hard and needs to be taken seriously to succeed.
This means investing both time and money into getting systems, processes and people in place to support your vision.
“We don’t have to do all of it alone. We were never meant to.” Brené Brown
If you talk to successful business owners, most will share that they would not have achieved the success they have without support in some form. When I decided to “get serious” with my business growth, it was the time to invest in a coach, a mentor, who had trodden the path before me, to guide me through those tough days. To show the possibilities ahead.
Equally, there are three key personality traits that combine to show that you are serious in your business. Let’s go through them.
1. Are you focused?
Focus is about knowing what you want to be known for, how you want to make your mark in the world, even if it’s just your small corner.
Focus is about knowing what value you can provide to others that they need to make their lives that little bit better.
Focus is about constantly questioning and listening to your clients to provide the services that they are asking for.
Focus is less about making that 5 year plan, stating the end destination and keeping to it at all costs. Rather it’s about staying focused on the value you provide that your customer wants.
“You can have everything in life you want, if you will just help other people get what they want.” Zig Ziglar
2. Are you consistent?
Next up is showing up consistently. In your messages, your branding, your business.
This consistency builds the “Know, Love, Trust” factor with your clients. It’s not enough to just be liked by your clients these days. You need to bring about stronger feelings.
If you switch up your message every week and talk about your latest idea, then people not only get confused, but they also start to see you as flakey. If they invest in you today, will you still be doing that next week?
People want to know that you are who you say you are. Being consistent goes a long way to building your strong brand presence that gives the reassurance of seriousness. No-one wants to invest in someone who may disappear overnight. We all hear horror stories of online scams.
So it’s in your interests to show up consistently, build your reputation on one key message to start and then build your business out from that point.
If you have lots of ideas on a regular basis – write them down in a notebook to come back to – don’t leap onto social media and talk about them until you are sure they fit into the bigger business picture.
3. Are you 100% dedicated?
Lastly, you need to be dedicated to your business, and to your customers.
Mainly, you need to love working with your clients. Over-deliver your expertise and wow your clients as you dedicate your expertise to help them achieve their goals.
Reading through my clients’ testimonials, you will hear again and again how I “over-deliver” as a coach. I am there for my clients 100%.
Kathy shared…
“Susanna is definitely an “over-deliverer” – the support she provides throughout is exceptional. I can highly recommend Susanna.”
Annette reflected on her experience…
Susanna is incredibly generous with her time and her sense of calm radiates throughout the training. I often felt that I didn’t want to ask too many questions or take up too much ‘extra’ of her time, but every time I asked for help, I received it and was never made to feel ‘bad’ for doing so. That’s something I very much needed and really appreciated.”
Anaël said…
Susanna is there for you and will make sure you will succeed at it. Just trust the process and keep going as the Signature Offer System works! Susanna’s support was the best piece of this course. Susanna is encouraging, full of great ideas, a really good coach and listener, with deep technical knowledge and without her support and the accountability she provides, I would not have been able to finally get close to launching my offer. 100% commitment within the hours I have allocated to my business, that is.
As the CEO of my business I make the rules and also at times, break them if needed too… as I know to get the job done, sometimes we have to work longer hours. Which is OK, so long as they are balanced with time out too
The secret is knowing when to put those hours in. Make them matter.
Deciding how you will dedicate your time and energy to different tasks up front will make it far easier to grow your business and be serious about its success.
Key tasks in any business revolve around the “client getting activities” of sales and marketing, and dedicating time in your work schedule to these is one way of showing that you are serious about running your business.
If you’re serious about your business, but are struggling with your key focus, then take this simple, 3-minute assessment which will highlight for you where to focus on now for growth, with a detailed report created on your answers.
