Episode 84: Stop Making Business Harder Than it Needs to Be

You know the situation.  You’re plugging along thinking “I got this.” But then you think, maybe you don’t. Maybe you need a funnel. A new website. An 88 part video series.

Slow down, take a deep breath. We’ve all been there, and in this episode, we’re dishing up real talk about the ways we make business much harder than it needs to be.

Here’s the scoop from Episode #84:

If you know anything about us, you know we really like things to be simple, so we’re SO excited to talk about how to stop making things more complicated than it needs to be in your business.

Now, before we dive in, let’s go over some things. This shows up in a lot of ways in our businesses, but we want to call out a few specific ones as we see them ALL. THE. TIME:

• Investing too much time, energy or money in marketing you just don’t need.  Things like list growth, for example.  If we had a dollar for everyone we turned away because they wanted marketing they didn’t need and wouldn’t work, we would be very, very rich.  Enough said.
• Skipping ahead to the next stage of business (ahem – going from freelancer to huge product launch with no list) and setting yourself up for needless stress and complications
• Planning (and over planning) as an avoidance technique for actually doing the work. It is so important, but you also need to do the work. Do it, but contain it.
• Getting in your own way and losing sight of what you really need to be doing – finding, booking and wowing clients. (Or doing everything else BUT the stuff that actually makes money.)

Now that we know how we complicate our lives, let’s talk about how we say NO and have a business that doesn’t create all kinds of extra work or has us wasting massive amounts of time, money and energy for nothing.

How to say no and uncomplicate your business:

• Get painfully clear on how you make money – that should be your focus. We have had to do that ourselves recently. Something might sound like a great idea and might be lots of fun, but doing something that isn’t paying for itself (let alone bringing in profit) isn’t a good idea. It’s not always about money, but you are in business so money needs to be part of the reason for existence. No money means you have a hobby, not a business.
• Understand the online business growth model – and what comes next to make more money.  You can’t jump from freelancer to millionaire.  There are natural steps to follow and if you don’t, you are setting yourself up for failure.
• Watch for your quicksand – where do you tend to create extra work for yourself in an effort to avoid reality? Is it managing your inbox (like getting it down to zero), or checking in with a Facegroup constantly. Or in Maggie’s case, it is writing things that we don’t need. But it’s fun!  Just be honest with yourself – is this the best use of your time.
• Do not be sucked in by tactics or the hot new thing.  This is so easy – we know!  You get swept up and then bad decisions are made. Understand that if everyone is talking about it, it probably isn’t a hot new thing anymore. Have some kind of evaluation mechanisms or criteria to decide if you should do something or not. Does it meet your goals? If not, maybe it isn’t a right now kind of thing. Institute a waiting period for new things.  A cart closing is not a reason to do something. Don’t make that middle of the night purchase decision because chances are, you are going to regret it.
• Tap into your values – what really matters to you? If it’s gobs of money or flexibility, what’s that going to allow you to do? If what you want is lots of flexibility, you probably won’t have all the money in the world.  And vice versa. Once you start figuring out how to live your values the best you can now, makes the whole journey much more worthwhile and less stressful. You’re going to be the same person (with the same challenges) once you get to where you are going – often times this alone will highlight some ways to simplify or cut out crap you’re doing for the sake of doing it.
• We get sucked into so many things when we spend a lot of time alone. Go spend some time with non-online business owners/workers in a real place – even lunch or an afternoon with others and realize that the online world is a crazy, crazy place.  Perspective is important. We do this regularly and it just changes everything! Trust us – do this.

Your #sayNOvember homework:

• Don’t try all these things at once!
• Reflect on how you may be overcomplicating your life. Is it a lack of perspective or not being true to your values.  
• Pick one and come up with a mechanism to stop it. Start saying no.
• Join us for #realtalk week this week on Instagram November 13th to 16th