⚠️ Entrepreneurs: If you're feeling overwhelmed, it's not your fault—but it IS your responsibility to fix it!
This was my life:
"YOU'RE DOING TOO MUCH!"
I was confused 😵💫, tired, and on a dopamine high from cruising through my to-do lists😎.
Can you relate?
A classic new entrepreneur mistake:
Busyness is not the same as productivity.
One of the hardest shifts in entrepreneurship is realising you are now responsible for designing your life.
We're told what to do from the time we start going to school, then we get a job, and there's an expectation and an agenda to follow. It's clear what must be done and by when.
Then we become entrepreneurs! 🥳 Time freedom. Managing ourselves. Pursuing passions. Creating our own work day.
The only problem is we've never been here before.
So, we do what most people do when faced with the unfamiliar: we return to what we know.
We call it entrepreneurship, but we 'copy and pasted' our previous formal employment routine.
Except NOW we're not only responsible for our "role", but we are also the whole organisation.
To solve this problem, we do a little of everything. Not particularly well, but it ALL gets done, and over time, our competencies increase.
We're rollin'!... while we feel productive, we're actually just…busy.
CounterIntuitive Pivotal Moment
... but it's not sustainable.
Momentum feels good, but is this path going to take us to where we want to go?
Can you see it leading to -- THE VISION?
It might have started our business and was the right move for the season, but every move reaches a dead end.
If we don't make a change, we get bored, burnt out, and start resenting the entrepreneur life and its constant pressures.
Flat lines are a sign of the END.
It's time to slow down in order to ELEVATE.
A Blue Ocean Strategy Framework To Focus On Your "Secret Sauce"
(If you haven't read this book, it's a must! Blue Ocean Strategy, Expanded Edition: How to Create Uncontested Market Space and Make the Competition Irrelevant by W. Chan Kim & Renée Mauborgne)
Here's a quick summary ⬇️
Apply the 4 factors of this strategy to your small business to create greater FOCUS:
Raise
Reduce
Eliminate
Create
Every one thing we do in business has at least 5 or more components that make it work efficiently.
Naturally, the more we add to our list, the larger the list of key performance indicators becomes. Can you say complexity and overwhelm?
When you chase too many rabbits, you catch none and exhaust yourself trying. There has to be a FOCUS.
As a solopreneur or working with a small team, achieving and stacking those WINS is critical to morale.
Progress keeps our heads in the game.
Whatever we pay attention to will grow.
Raise = Do More Of This
What's working exceptionally well?
What services/products make up the majority of sales?
What does your business do better than the competition?
When you look at the future of your market, what must you do to create a future advantage?
Where is the real value in your business?
Where can you apply leverage for multiplied results?
Tracked data is your best business advisor.
In the busyness of daily operations, it's easy to overlook important signals in your business.
Other times, the trend is clear, but because we don't take the time to slow down, look at the data and make a plan to take advantage of this opportunity, we lose out.
🎯 Double down on what’s driving real growth.
Reduce = Do Less Of This
Do a time audit of your day. Are you spending too much time where you can outsource (hire a VA, a contractor, use AI)?
Which SOPs (Standard Operating Procedures) are too long? These will be easy to identify because no one ever follows them completely. Simplify. Do less. Make the SOPS more intuitive.
Get some templates to reduce the time spent doing repeated tasks. I've got your back!
🎯 Less busy work, more high-impact work
Eliminate = Stop this (for now)
Where is there zero to no growth for 3 - 6 months? Be brutally honest with yourself on this next part: Why is there minimal growth?
Capacity vs. Potential
As optimists, we make moves based on potential. That's critical. However, when it comes to execution, we have to make decisions based on capacity.
If there aren't the resources (time, energy, talent, money ...) to make this happen succesfully, work on building capacity for now.
I know, this is really hard! We become attached to our ideas and initiatives, but it must be done.
Even star players can be benched if it's not the right time or season.
🎯Keep a notebook for 'not right now ideas' that can wait.
Create = Value
🎯 The goal is to increase value.
We don't necessarily need to start something new, as much as we need to create more value in what we are already doing.
What will make our service or product of greater value to our clients? What do they need that they're not getting? What preferences have we not accomodated? Can we make this more convenient?
What will increase the value of our business to potential buyers (even if we're not selling)? Can we create a recurring revenue model that is superior in value to what the client currently purchases at a fraction of the cost?
Can we build an email list of prospective buyers to sell to on an ongoing basis? What can we provide these readers with that they will perceive that our business is the go-to?
High Performance & Productivity = Do Less Activity, Think More Strategically
Athletes win the game in their preparation time. Musicians rock the stages in their rehearsal time. The performance window is very small.
🏆 Preparation is where we win the game of business.
I love this quote by Abraham Lincoln,
For Christian entrepreneurs there's an added step. We invite God into our plans, asking Him to show us a better way to serve His people.
Before you move, ask God to establish the plan.
Commit to the LORD whatever you do, and he will establish your plans.
There's a unique place in the marketplace that your small busines can own. Sharpen your axe to carve out this space.
You don’t have to do everything.
You just need to do the right things.
Simplify. Focus. Elevate.
Blessings!
Business Communications Strategist
Connect with me on LinkedIn
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P.S.S. Here's a summary of Blue Ocean Strategy to get your wheels turning.
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