© 2024 Melanie White
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A lot of startup business owners lack clarity in the beginning, feel uncertain about their performance at times and start to question themselves. And the same can be true for seasoned business owners!
I want to share three ways to feel confident in and connected with your business.
Have you ever felt like you’re spinning your wheels in your business and not really getting traction, not really going where you want to go, and not sure if you’re heading in the right direction?
I felt like this at times for sure, as have many of my clients.
You can tell you’re in this state because you’re asking yourself things like,
“Am I doing things the right way?”
“How can I get more customers?”
“Am I doing a good job at giving people what they want?”
“Why is (other person) doing so well, when I’m still struggling?”
I’m sure you can hear the lack of clarity and confidence in these types of questions.
Having coached many clients around this, I know that when you feel like this it might mean you’ve been distracted from your goals, have become disconnected from your vision, or have lost confidence in yourself and you are questioning your focus.
Now think a little deeper. What do these sorts of thinking patterns tell you?
Simply, you’re spending too much time in your head, and not enough time in real life collecting evidence and celebrating successes.
Does that resonate?
That’s why this discussion is so important. If you’re too much in your head, then you need to do something to ground yourself and get back on track.
And the best way to ground yourself is with a bunch of FACTS.
If you start to pursue facts instead of fears and thoughts of “what if”, then you are more likely to regain clarity and reconnect with your sense of purpose, simply because you’ve stopped second-guessing yourself and have sought concrete evidence that’s staring you in the face!
The three things I will share now will help you to get out of your head and re-focus on what’s important in your business, so you can feel confident in and connected with your business.
Ground-truthing means making observations to check for accuracy. This is something I did in my career as a scientist.
We would create a hypothesis, then go and get actual data to see whether we could prove or disprove the hypothesis.
The great thing about ground-truthing is that it is 100% free, and it is a really easy way to bring yourself back down to earth.
There are two simple ways you can ground-truth your thoughts.
Firstly, find a networking group or a social media platform where your niche client hangs out, and check in there regularly (at least once per month) to observe two things:
Just talk to people, or read a selection of comments!
Doing this as a regular activity helps you to reaffirm that you are targeting the right niche, that your marketing messaging is on track, and that you are focused on the right thing.
Secondly, you can pull back and reflect on what is going on for you!
Is your work still aligned with your niche and ideal client – and your own values? I suggest at least once per month, reflecting on:
When you do this, you remember why you started your business in the first place. You check that it’s still valid and relevant.
You make sure that you are attracting an audience that is aligned with your values. If you’re attracting the wrong type of customer, then you can go back to your marketing and look at the messaging, the offer and other aspects to correct things.
Every business owner should know that this research and reflection is an essential, ongoing activity that helps you to stay abreast of customer opinions and market trends so that what you’re doing stays relevant and meaningful.
Also, if you want to be a lighthouse for people in your niche, you need to stand firm in your own beliefs. So your job as an industry leader is to check in with yourself and remember why you’re doing this!
If you do these two things, you will be constantly ground truthing your thoughts, feelings and reality and making sure that you are on the right path.
Years ago, I went through a period of helping a lot of my friends write their resumes and cover letters as they applied for jobs. Many of them lacked confidence, but by the end of the session, after reflecting on all their achievements, they realised all they were capable of and felt way more hopeful about getting the job they were applying for!
Business owners can lose confidence in their business because they have forgotten about all the value they have created for their clients.
The lesson is this: reflecting on past success reminds you of your value and what you offer to the world.
You can reconnect with your value right now by reflecting on what your clients have achieved as a result of working with you.
But there is another important reason to reflect on success – that is so that you can make sure that your marketing messages are still relevant.
Remember that, no matter what you’re selling, people buy results, so your promotional messages need to speak directly to the results that people want to achieve. People want to know that what you sell really works and is worth spending money on.
One of my students in my Passion to Profit course was recently telling me about some market research she did.
She was asking people if they would buy a coaching program like the one she was developing. And the person said, “Sure I would buy it if I could be guaranteed that I would get results.”
Now while you can’t necessarily guarantee people’s results, you can guarantee that if they do everything possible to achieve that result, they are likely to do so.
In any case, we can see how important the achievement of results is to the customer who is buying.
They’re not going to buy something from you for the fun of it, out of the hope that it could make a difference, or for general interest. You’re not in the business of educating people – you’re in the business of transforming lifestyle habits, thoughts and actions.
If you need help with this, I will be covering a simple method to get your wording right, called the endpoint method. It helps you to work out if you’re describing your services in a compelling and attractive way. Stay tuned for that.
There is one last thing that will truly help you to feel confident and be more connected with your business.
Flip the switch – instead of focusing on your own fears or discomfort, simply focus on being of service to others.
If you master this, you will be successful. There are two ways to look at this.
Firstly, to be truly successful you need to become very good at what you do.
If you put your heart and soul into practising your craft with people and focusing on doing the best job that you possibly can, and improving through interactive feedback with your customers, then you will become known as somebody who cares, and somebody who can help people get the results that they want.
Secondly, the better you can build rapport and genuine relationships with people, the more successful your marketing will be, and the quicker your business will build.
It’s no secret that every business is only as good as the relationships it’s built on.
So if you focus on exceptional customer service, being caring and empathetic, and connecting with people where they are as part of your marketing, then you will feel confident and connected with your clients and your business.
The great thing about these two skills is they take your focus off you, yourself, your perceived shortcomings and your fears.
By being extremely curious about your customers, and what they need and want, and how you can help them, you will quickly forget about your own fears and start to really build strong relationships with the people that matter most in your business – potential customers.
I will go into depth on these in another episode as they’re pretty important!
If you’re struggling with imposter syndrome, have lost confidence or are feeling disconnected from your business, then please know that there are three solid ways you can regain that confidence and connection in your business.
Today I discussed three things you can do to get there:
If you need help, get in touch!
Understanding who you are and what you need will allow your business to thrive! If you’re truly ready to break old habits and get out of the rut I encourage you to check out the Habitology membership.
Learn more here:
© 2024 Melanie White