Quit, stagnate or LEAP into your business model

Three ways to tackle your stagnating business model

After listening to Tara McMullin’s keynote at the Quiet Power Strategy Summit in 2015 I recognized that because I finally had a clear value proposition, I had to think about how I was going to operate this thing that I love …

… or I would eventually lose my momentum and stagnate.

Actually, there are only two ways. One of the above options, stagnate, isn’t really an option. Not making a major change to one of the inputs of your business model usually means a slow death of either running out of money, losing energy or both.

Let’s look at this really real situation:  you have been in business for a few years, you grow a tiny bit every 6 months (or so you think) but you are having periods where your average revenue is actually lower than the previous one. You blame it on the season or your competition all of sudden being everywhere or a recession.

You think you are growing slowly but because you’ve been at this for some time, you are getting less excited than when it was all new. It hasn’t actually gotten easier. You are getting the same amount of uptake for the same amount of input. That’s not momentum.

You thought you’d have momentum to leverage by this point – a consistent stream of new business without as much hustling for it and new ways to serve your clients. Right?

Early unexpected momentum is not the status quo. 

This happens only to a small group of people. Very few entrepreneurs have an idea that takes off quickly, unless their idea serves a very specific need, is easy to communicate, gets people good results, found the right marketing channels and people are hungry for it. A lot in their original business model has to line-up and this is rare.

Back to you …

So you are at this point where you are hanging on to what you have a burning desire to do because you are committed and you are ready but you aren’t sure what you need to do differently. You could be on the verge of your next big thing that will propel you into that momentum you want so badly.

Or you could be repeating a pattern over and over again. And something big has to happen.

This is the point where most of us bury our head back in the sand, keep pushing our baby along and let our doubt prevent us from doing anything big.

BIG is the only thing that will resolve this ongoing issue.

Time won’t. Business doesn’t “just take time”, it takes the right kind of knowledge, actions, connections and boldness. Time doesn’t solve any gap in ability or information.

So this is where I’ll get back to the two choices ahead of you. Quit or Leap.

Choice One – Quit or Pivot

Most of us get attached to our ideas. Too attached so we can’t see them in their entirety – mostly in the perspective of our customer. We like the idea of delivering this kind of result that someone can receive in this kind of way and we get attached.

It could very well be a great idea and the value spot on but for whatever reason – personal blocks, poor positioning, a lot of competitors saying the same thing, wrong marketing channels – your distinctiveness that sets you apart isn’t shining.

There comes a time when you have to make a choice – give your baby up and move onto a new idea or go all in.

Stagnation will never lead to great success.

Things just don’t magically pick up unless regular actions change. I realized this early last year and I made a conscious decision to let my business all but die off. I didn’t have all the parts figured out to really go for it. I didn’t understand my value proposition in the detail required to make any form of communication clear instead of fuzzy. So I quit, but with a purpose to figure it all out.

This set the stage for choice two, going all in.

Choice Two – Go All In

Now this is where business gets exciting. It’s the next most fun step after launching in the first place. Going all in is a place where you feel like you have your business model pretty much dialled, you have great offers and content in place and you need to get in front of more people. A lot more people and work with them differently.

You are ready to go all in when:

• You are confident about the specific transformation you get for people
• You love working with your ideal clients and know who they are
• You love your brand
• You have the time and energy to do the work
• You have a growth mindset and don’t doubt the investment

(The first three things on this list is what I specialize in so you are ready for the next LEAP!)

This is where you have reached the limit of what you can do all by yourself or perhaps you’ve had a team in place and you need mentorship to think even bigger.

Going all in isn’t an alone thing. 

It requires investment in areas you can’t do well. It could be social media, strategic thinking, brand development, copywriting, admin and systems. You probably already know what it is. It’s time to do whatever it takes to outsource the doubt and create momentum once and for all.

Is it going to cost you? Certainly! I recently listed to a podcast where the guest speaker talked about earning around $220k last year and spent about $100k in expenses, $38k of that on coaching. Wow! Major expenses but if you are netting over $100k just for you then is that so bad?

And if you don’t have money to invest, time to learn, experiment and hustle will make up for it.

What choice are you going to make? Move on, do nothing for a bit longer or finally LEAP?