Build My Business

Why I almost quit my own business

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It was the middle of the pandemic. While Instagram was busy making banana bread, the only thing I was baking was severe burnout. My clients were in panic mode. Revenues were down. It felt like I was drowning. Panic set in as thoughts of looking for a ‘normal’ job started to grow. Thoughts whirred around my brain about whether it was time to quit my business.

I fell out of love with my business and it happened fast.

Then it dawned on me. It wasn’t running my business that I’d come to hate, it was how I was running my business. So I pulled on my big girl panties, ate some banana bread and sat down to work out a plan.

Find out what I did and how below…

Sometimes it’s not what you’re doing, but how you’re doing it. Even small tweaks can make a huge difference. When I was facing down my business towards the end of 2020 I did what I do best. I developed a strategy to fall back in love with it.

Fancy following my method? Grab a notepad and pen and get cracking:

How I fell back in love with my business

1. I wrote down what my drivers were

Why do I really want to run my own business and why this business? Is there a certain type of lifestyle that I want? What do I want to achieve? What impact do I want to make? How do I want to feel? What risks am I willing to take?

2. I deep dived what was and wasn’t working

This involves brutal honesty. And columns. Make a column titled ‘working like a dream’, a column titled ‘has promise but could do better’, a column titled ‘necessary but I hate doing it’ and a column titled ‘not working, needs to go’. Then assign the different parts of your business into each column. Consider everything from your processes, team members, and output to your admin, marketing and branding.

3. I set boundaries

I’m a big believer of firm boundaries with soft edges. That means that you firmly stick to your boundaries but you do so with kindness and the littlest bit of agility when it feels right. I established boundaries upfront with my clients and team.

Then I repeated them throughout the entire process – in our contract, in our project management software, verbally and by email at various touch points. And I ensured my team were doing the same. Our boundaries cover things like working hours, revisions, response times, out of spec requests, how we communicate and so on.

4. I got help

I hired a financial advisor. And a coach. And I added ‘help and delegation’ to my 1, 3 and 5 year plans. I started automating as much stuff as possible (and I got help with that too). What kind of help will depend upon what your individual needs are.

The moral of the story?

Don’t be afraid to ask for or spend money on help. It’s an investment in your business and your sanity. It will save you money, earn you money, save you time, reduce your stress levels and give you clarity. Investing in help holds you accountable. It takes some of the load off and allows you to feel more supported and less alone. It opens up opportunities. Even coaches like me have coaches! And mentors. People we can lean on and learn from. It makes us better coaches.

> This strategy led to me completely restructuring my branding agency.

> It led to me launching my coaching and consultancy business for female founders.

And I’ve not looked back since!

Falling out of love with your business? I’ve got you. Let’s have a chat about what’s going on for you and how you can catch feelings for your business again.

Book a free, no obligation, virtual cuppa with yours truly: click here to book

Find out why it’s crucial to know your audience: click to read

This is why having a strong brand strategy is crucial for success

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Simply put, brand strategy is the foundation for all business development, brand design, sales and marketing. It’s the day dot. Without it your business won’t operate effectively or efficiently. Much like frantically flinging dry spaghetti at the wall and hoping some of it sticks.

To have a really successful business you need to stand out among a big, loud crowd of competition.

Moreover, you need to connect with your target audience in meaningful ways, so they actually want to buy from you. But this doesn’t happen with stardust and hope. In order to make this happen you need a plan and a confident strategy to go from where you are now to where you want to be.

Ok, but what is brand strategy?

In a nutshell, it’s your game plan. A 360-degree business blueprint.

A strong brand strategy is meticulously crafted. It takes into account all aspects of your market, niche, product/service offerings, customers, and competitors. And all of this should be built from as much data as you can get your hands on.

In the early stages of your business you’re probably going to have to take some leaps of faith. It’s pretty unavoidable when you’re starting from scratch. Eventually, as time goes on and you get more customers and fans you’ll have more data to work with so you can tweak and improve your strategy as you go along, to make it even more effective.

Let’s get to the nitty gritty – how exactly does this help me?

For the nerdy ones at the front (hello my people), here’s a list of what brand strategy includes:

<ul>
<li>Getting unstuck and reconnecting with your personal ‘why’.</li>
<li>Clarifying where you want to be and building a roadmap to get there.</li>
<li>Pinpointing why your brand exists and the impact you want to make.</li>
<li>Refining your brand story and mission statement.</li>
<li>Nailing your strengths, USPs and competitive advantage.</li>
<li>Becoming the obvious choice and standing out from your competition.</li>
<li>Communicating effectively and sending the right message. </li>
<li>Identifying, understanding and becoming irresistible to your ideal customers.</li>
<li>Mapping out and maximising your customer’s buying journey. </li>
<li>Optimising each encounter your customers have with your brand.</li>
<li>Streamlining your processes, tools and time. </li>
<li>Refining your offering and developing new income streams.</li>
<li>Aligning your team with your values and vision.</li>
<li>Building brand awareness with a no-faff marketing strategy. </li>
<li>Figuring out how to translate all of this into the way your brand looks and sounds.</li>
</ul>

A strong brand strategy will help guide you through the ups and downs. It will keep you focused on who you are and what you want to achieve. Even better, it’ll save you time and money by helping you to market to the right people, in the right way.

Above all, brand strategy is your secret weapon helping you battle the competition and become the obvious choice. Your guiding light, your shining star, your love… sorry, I’m having a bit of a Luther Vandross moment over here.

If you want to grow your business, you’re in the right place!

Your free, no obligation, virtual coffee with me is one email away:

<a href=”mailto:claire@barefacedstudios.com”>claire@barefacedstudios.com</a>

Struggling with your sales? You might not be selling to your ideal customer! Find out more by <a href=”https://claireholly.co.uk/6-reasons-why-its-so-important-to-truly-know-your-ideal-customer/”>clicking here</a>.