Talking to a client yesterday, she suddenly said: "I want to find a different way of doing this! I don't want to be the same as everyone else!"
She got me thinking about how we tend to search for a tried and tested way, rather than striking out on our own. There are both pros and cons with this.
Since that conversation, I've been having a look at how I work in my business.
I try to spend a little time each day learning something new. It's one of my routines. Just like checking emails at certain times, replying to client queries within 24 hours, writing the newsletter twice a month. Routines are needed to make sure nothing important is forgotten. But some routines can also stifle change, and often they're only there because they're comfortable.
To be absolutely honest - some of my business routines are really only there because I've been too lazy to change them. No longer! I'm going to look at each routine closely and assess if it needs to be changed to benefit the business.
What routines do you have in your business that are in need of an overhaul?
How do you get a small business owner motivated? No it isn't a joke question, unfortunately! I've noticed a distinct lack of motivation in some of my coaching clients lately. They're comfortable with what they're making and they don't feel the urgency to get out there and hustle. It's really difficult for me to find out what their future goals are.
Anthony Robbins talks about needing a 'big enough Why' and he's absolutely right. Unless you have overwhelming reasons to go for something (either in your personal or business life), why should you bother? Far easier to stay in your comfort zone and go with the flow.
At the end of this month I'm running a workshop all about Motivation for Entrepreneurs. Apparently it's sold out already. I think the business owners I'll see there will be looking for ways of rediscovering the motivation they felt when they first started in business. It seems to me that, unless you nurture that motivation, it starts to wilt under the every day pressures of being a business owner. Before long, it's all too much effort (we start to think fondly of being a salaried employee!) and we look for a way out.
I firmly believe that it is possible to reconnect with your motivation - and I'm going to prove it to my workshop delegates! It's all to do with thinking big, very big......
I've been lucky enough to work with literally hundreds of business coaching clients over the last few years. And there's a recurring theme with nearly all of them.
The business owners who know what they want from their business face a really tough choice. You see, just about all the 'good stuff' - the extra sales, the increased revenue and profit that they want - is just out of reach. Just outside their comfort zone. Their choice is whether or not they go for it.
Whether they pick up the phone to speak to prospective clients, whether they arrange to meet these same scary people, and whether they ask for the business!!
I struggled for a long time to reach outside my own comfort zone and do the things I knew I needed to do to grow my business. The best moment for me was what happened when I finally did find the courage. I got more clients! Nobody was nasty to me, and it wasn't nearly as bad as I'd built it up to be.
If the good stuff - what you really want - is just out of reach so you have to stretch to get to it, and move outside your comfort zone, two things are absolutely certain. One, you will have to really, really want it in order to make the effort and put yourself through the discomfort to reach it. And two, you are definitely going to appreciate the fruits of your labours!
Go for it - and celebrate your achievements. What have you got by going beyond your comfort zone?
