It Wasn’t Always this Way – Building a Sustainable Business Takes Patience, Persistence and Commitment
If I hear another story about an “overnight” success, I might just scream. If I see another story about a 6-hour work week or how easy it is to run a business from the beach, I might just start throwing things.
Here’s why I’m so frustrated with this – every time one of my clients reads about how someone is running a business by working 6 hours a week (from the beach or from Europe) – she feels she is doing something wrong. Why? Because she is putting in hours and work to build her own business, and it doesn’t take 6 hours a week and she isn’t lying on the beach between calls.
Does this sound familiar to you? Do you start beating yourself up when you read someone’s e-zine about how they only work 5 hours a week and are making multiple-six figures? Or how she has a 90% conversion rate with every sales call? Or when you notice someone pull off a six-figure launch with a preview call and few e-mails?
Then you go into what I call the “what are they doing that I’m not” scenario. You wonder if you just don’t know enough or if you just don’t have the right coach. If you were just different, then this whole business would be easier and you would build it faster.
Before you know it, this doubt has opened up a cascade of negative thoughts. You start to become paralyzed with worry and you get nothing of value accomplished.
If this has occurred for you, then please keep reading. I would like to talk openly once and for all about the amount of work that being an entrepreneur requires. And hopefully, put to rest that cascade of self-doubt.
The first thing to understand here is that every business has about five phases. I’ll spare you the details of every phase, but I’ll describe the first two.
Phase one is what I call the “running through the fields” phase. In this phase you love what you are doing. Clients are coming easily and organically. You are just happy to be getting paid to do what you love. You are either living off a severance package or another job because money and clients are not super consistent. In this phase you have more of a hobby than a business.
In phase two, “client attraction phase one” you start to realize that you might actually need retirement money and/or college savings for your kids. You begin to learn everything you can about marketing and sales to grow your business and consistently attract clients (shameless promotion – this would be a good time for www.breakthroughplanningbootcamp.com).
Here’s what is important – in phase two, phase three and phase four – you are continuing to grow your business. When you grow your business – you must put in the hours and time and effort.
You are building your expertise. You are creating exposure for yourself. You are learning how to become a CEO and manage a team. You are working through mindset blocks and barriers. You are constantly creating and innovating within yourself and in your business.
You are expanding. And this expansion takes effort, persistence and time.
With each phase of your business, your growth does get easier. As the money and clients become more plentiful, the basics of life also gets easier.
Here’s the important thing to understand. Those that are writing about working less hours, traveling all the time or doing launches that make them money overnight are not in phase one of their business. They are in phase four or five or beyond. Maybe they are even in their 2nd or 3rd company.
In fact, I challenge you to send an e-mail to your favorite business mentor and ask her how many hours she worked in her first 2 years. You’ll get a very different answer than how many hours she works now and how she focuses her effort.
Some of you might be out there saying, “but Monica, I’ve been in this for five years and I’m still not past phase 2!” I would ask you: “How long have you really been treating your business as a business? How long have you put in the time and effort to learn how to market, sell and deal with money? Have you ever worked with a business mentor one-on-one to show you step-by-step how to manage a business as a CEO?”
Start clocking the number of years you have been in business by when you started to really take your business seriously and you’ll have your answer. You see, there are ways to speed the process up, to reduce the struggle, to make the path clearer. All of that is done with smart marketing, solid business strategy, a lucrative plan and a rock-star team – all of which are made easier by a good business mentor. But there is no way to skip steps and make the process happen without work, persistence and putting in the hours.
Rationally everything I’ve written is common sense. But we tend to get irrational when we read newsletters and see beautiful pictures. We want to believe in magic – that somehow there is some orange pill that makes it possible for someone else to do it in a few hours every week. And then we beat ourselves up.
Know that you are doing amazing. You are trudging through the work, the mindset shifts and the trial and error that come with being an entrepreneur. Enjoy every phase of your business because there is a value to wherever you are and there are moments and experiences in each phase that will not come back.
I still remember my first 10 clients at Ideal Balance (my first company). I remember the joy of my first testimonial and how it felt like pulling teeth to get my first 10 clients. And I wouldn’t be where I am today without those beautiful experiences and having gone through every phase.
