Kelly emailed me with a great question. I know her challenge is something many small business owners encounter, so I thought you might find it useful.

Here’s an excerpt from Kelly’s email, shared with her permission, along with my answer.

“I started my business in 2009 and though it grew for the first 4 years things have been flat ever since. […] My main problem Jim is that I know I need to grow my business but that means changing things and it feels too risky. I carry on doing what I do because the risk factor stops me doing what I need to do. Why am I self sabotaging?”

Understanding risk

Like many, (perhaps most), small business owners, Kelly fears making some of the improvements needed for success. It’s easy to see why: Improvements require change and change feels risky. So, she repeats what feels comfortable, she works hard and hopes things will improve.

The challenge with that approach, as Kelly has discovered, is that it doesn’t work. It’s limited. Extremely limited.

Here are just some common examples of what happens, when we try to avoid risk:

• We fail to get noticed. To get noticed we need to stand out, which feels risky. Riskier than simply working hard and staying in the background.
• We fail to be remembered. To be remembered, we need to do something extraordinary. The ordinary is within our comfort zone. The extraordinary is, by default, outside our comfort zone. And leaving our comfort zone feels risky.
• We fail to attract word of mouth referrals. People only remark on a business when it does something remarkable. It feels risky to deviate from the norm.
• We fail to attract the best clients and the highest fees. Offering a premium service and charging a premium fee, feels risky. Risky enough for just a tiny percentage of business owners in your industry to even try.
• We fail to deliver exceptional work for our clients. To do exceptional work, we need to risk delivering something different.
• We fail to work on the best projects. The best projects go to those who operate at the top end of their marketplace. These are the providers who are daring enough to tackle the trickiest challenges. The mavericks. Maverick work feels way, way riskier than doing average work.

When I work with a client on this challenge, I start by explaining how change is essential, if they want to grow a great business. Because no change equals no improvement. I then work out what’s blocking them and show them how to overcome it.

If you know there are things you should improve, which you’re not doing because the change feels risky, press pause!

Find out why you associate risk to the safest thing you can possibly do. Then develop a strategy for growth. That’s how you start the process of taking your business to another level. And another level…

I have a great little tip to share with you today, my friend.

Decide what you want from your business, in all the key areas. Then, turn that “want” into a target, by putting a number on it.

Here’s the thing: You can’t hit a target, if that target doesn’t exist.

It’s ineffective to say you want “more customers”. Why? Because the thing you want is undefined. It’s non-specific. So, you can’t focus on it. As soon as you put a number on it, you have a target. And your target then allows you to make all future marketing decisions with clarity.

For example, there are things you’ll need to do in order to attract 40,000 new customers over the next 12 months, which you won’t need to do, if you only want to attract 40. The number is what gives you your target. And your target will then rule in, or rule out, certain strategies.

Here are just a few areas, where you need specific targets, in order to make the right decisions.

• How will you know when you have enough money in the bank? Put a number on it.
• How will you know when your business is valuable enough? Put a number on it.
• How will you know when you are getting enough word of mouth referrals? Put a number on it.
• How will you know when your profitability is high enough? Put a number on it.
• How will you know when you have enough subscribers? Put a number on it.
• How will you know when you have enough visitors to your website? Put a number on it.
• How will you know when your professional network is large enough? Put a number on it.

Replacing general wishes with specific targets makes all the difference. And if you want to smash your targets, remember this is happening.

Is your business both focused and flexible?

Those words almost sound like opposites. They’re not. In business, they work together beautifully.

• It’s essential to know what you want to achieve and to stay focused on it.
• However, you also need to remain flexible regarding how it happens. Then, as new information and opportunities come along, you can adjust your approach.

So, you remain both focused and flexible.

You couldn’t buy a cup of coffee from Starbucks

It’s true. Starbucks had already been in business for several years (and opened its first 5 stores), before you could buy a cup of coffee from them. Until then, you could only buy their coffee beans. Flexible thinking allowed them to identify a new opportunity.

Starbucks’ focus remained the same: to build a successful coffee business. However, their approach changed.

And Apple only sold computers and software

Apple’s surge to being the world’s most valuable company started with a pivot. Initially, Apple was exclusively a computer company. Steve Jobs decided to enter the music industry, with the iPod and iTunes. Then, Apple pivoted again, creating the iPhone. If iPhone were a company by itself, it would be bigger than Coca-Cola and MacDonald’s… combined!

Apple’s focus remained the same: to create beautifully designed technology. However, their approach changed.

Learn from the success of others, my friend. Remain focused on what you want to achieve, but be extremely flexible on how you achieve it.

P.S. For more ideas on how to make this work for your business, I’ve written this:
Agile Thinking – A new mindset for a new landscape.

I have a question for you today. An important question.

The question is this: Does your business excite you and energize you?

Well, it should do.

In fact, it HAS to!

Seriously.

Here’s why

It’s impossible to build a truly successful business, unless that business fills you with energy and excitement.

Think about it.

• The energy is what keeps you moving forward. It’s the essential fuel source behind every successful business owner.
• The excitement is what the marketplace needs to feel, whenever they have an encounter with you or your business. It’s highly infectious. It’s what inspires people to hire you, buy from you and recommend you.

And that energy and excitement can be yours. If you want it.

You see, you get to choose

You can choose to either create an inspirational business, or carry on like 99% of small and medium-sized business owners, in a business you love, which doesn’t love you back.

Small business owners suffer more stress, work longer hours and work harder, than they would do if they were an employee. They work themselves harder than any boss would, with none of the perks of being a salaried employee.

And that’s nuts!

New clients often tell me they would see other business owners, who were brimming with energy, and wonder how those other business owners managed to be so motivated. Usually, they blame themselves for not being self-motivated enough.

Thankfully, they’re 100% incorrect.

ANY business owner can become highly motivated and fully energized. However, it isn’t going to happen, while they’re working in a business that’s zapping their energy or failing to inspire them.

Business owners are intelligent people. They’re not going to feel highly motivated and energized, working in a business that isn’t fulfilling them.

Clarity is the key

All that energy and excitement only comes, when you are crystal clear about what you want from your business AND you have a plan for exactly how to achieve it. This massively improves the way you think and feel about your business. That’s because you know what you want, know how to get it and can see daily progress toward your dream / goal / target. I see the impact this has on my clients every day. I’m telling you, it’s transformational!

And as your thoughts are what determine your actions, your newly-found excitement for your business provides you with the essential energy, excitement and motivation you want. That clarity and direction is all that separates you from those supercharged (and highly successful) business owners.

The challenge you need to overcome, if you want to access that energy and excitement, can be summed-up in one word: Settling.

Settling

Some business owners have spent so long with their daily grind, that they unconsciously start to settle for things the way they are. Sure, they hope things will improve. Occasionally, they’ll try something new. But they find themselves with the same core problem. So they (wrongly) blame themselves for lacking the self-motivation or energy.

Pretty soon, they realize 2017 is starting to look a lot like last year. And last year wasn’t much different from the year before that. It’s little wonder they lack motivation, when they know that January 2018 won’t be the start of a New Year, just another chance to relive the same old year, all over again.

Fact: You are in control

You don’t need to settle for ANYTHING.

You’re the boss.

That’s the whole point of being a business owner. You get to build whatever kind of business you want. You choose how enjoyable your “work” is. You get to decide what you earn, where you live, the number of hours you work and the quality of your customers. Everything is directly under your control.

Choose clarity. Refuse to settle for less than you deserve. And if you’d like some help, I’m right here.