Fun Business Fun Money Podcast
EP 045 – 3 common mistakes to avoid when simplifying your business
Is it time to simplify your business? 🧐
Its a great idea to do a regular check and streamline your business operations to make sure things are working as intended.
But what if you don’t know where to start?
Or you’ve given it a go but now it feels broken?
In this coaching episode we’re taking a look at 3 common mistakes that almost EVERYONE makes, so you know how to spot where you went wrong – and what NOT to do!
KEY MENTIONS
Hey there, and welcome to the Fun Business Fun Money podcast!
Today I want to dive right on into the good stuff, we’re getting up close and personal with 3 Common Mistakes to Avoid When Simplifying Your Business. Because lets not overcomplicate anything with random chit chat!
I’m a HUGE fan of simplicity, for me its like a breath of fresh air when you remove the layers of complexity that can build up over time, and take your life and business back to basics.
Thats why I love helping digital creatives – web designers, photographers, copywriters, content marketers, video and audio experts – to transform your business by simplifying everything.
One of the most common themes I hear from these amazing creative people is that they think they need to get better at marketing their own services, they need to bring in more clients so they can hit their income goals. But for most of them, thats not it at all.
They’re so focused on providing this incredible digital work for their clients that its easy to let their own stuff slide.
A client asks for more, and before you know it you’ve added 15 things to your offer that sound good on the surface, maybe because they’re shiny and new, but in reality they’re not aligned with you, your brand or your expertise.
Have you ever looked at someone’s offer when you’re considering working with them, or maybe even after you’ve signed up and you’re going through their system or framework, and realised its ALL SO HARD??
You don’t know when you’re going to get time to handle everything, so you end up doing nothing. Or you don’t sign up at all. Thats what I’m talking about.
Simple offers that exactly meet the needs of your audience, your people, make everything else easy.
Complexity also comes through in your pricing, MAN do we get all twisted up in knots about what to charge! Honestly? It gets super easy when you’ve got your offer, your framework and your brand sorted.
When you have those foundations in place its really empowering, you can be more confident in everything you do and that comes across in your marketing and your conversations with clients (or potential clients) as well.
So what are these 3 Common Mistakes to Avoid When Simplifying Your Business?
In a nutshell, they are:
1 – Thinking its a one and done thing
2 – Eliminating essential elements
3 – Not going deep enough
As I said before, I’m a huge fan of simplicity because it truly does help you stand out from the crowd. Which is something we all want, right??
Theres a very crowded marketplace for your services out there! Theres no confusion for you or your clients on your message, and makes you an easy and obvious choice for them.
What I see and hear from most entrepreneurs is that they feel stuck and overwhelmed, they don’t know what to do next.
They think they need to refine their niche, analyse their ideal client more or tweak their messaging.
Which is entirely possible, you might need to do that. But its not where we need to start.
When I dig a little further into your business it usually becomes obvious you might have added a ton of complex add ons in the name of automation and efficiency, but they end up being time suckers instead.
Whether its trying to juggle too many social media platforms – because you’ve been told to be everywhere all the time!
But they never convert to customers and money in your account, getting stuck down the rabbit hole of creating reels, funnels and automations, or trying to cater to everyone and ending up with clients who are anything BUT your ideal clients – it all falls into this category of COMPLEXITY.
I’d love to hear if thats something you’ve experienced, send me a DM on Facebook or Instagram, I’m @funbusinessfunmoney, all one word, on both platforms.
Where have you ovecomplicated things and realised you maybe need to pull back?
I spent far too much time listening to mentors who encouraged me to try all sorts of things that I really didn’t need. It took self belief and a whole lot of courage to say NO MORE, if it doesn’t feel right for me, I’m not doing it. END OF STORY!
I’m not saying its not important, that stuff is great when you’re experiencing real growth and perhaps needing to bring in a team to help you run the systems and processes that you’ve already proven to be effective in your business.
Its NOT great is if you’re blindly following the advice of some ‘guru’ who really has no idea what you actually need and just wants to sell you their generic course or system.
Your personality plays a HUGE part in how you run your business, whether you like it or not.
What works for one person may not be right for you. I give my clients templates and then help them customise it to their own style and talents, I want everyone to win in life and business AND money!
And its also challenging for a lot of neuro diverse, or neuro spicy people as well. Too many shiny objects make it harder to see the important stuff. If you’re paying attention on social media you’ll notice a LOT more people talking about how as an adult they finally have an answer as to why and how they think and act differently. Lets make it easier for the majority of people to understand who we are, what we do, and how we can help, shall we?
Lets dig into these 3 mistakes a little further…
MISTAKE #1 – Thinking its a one and done thing
I hate to break it to you, but simplifying is an ongoing practice that you need to build into your business. Just like tidying your house or clearing your email inbox, its something you have to do regularly – dammit!
That doesn’t mean it has to take a LOT of time, just set aside SOME time every quarter, twice a year, annually, whatever works for you, and review whats going on in your business.
I’d recommend at least twice a year, and create the space for you to try something new and test things out for a decent amount of time. Then review the results to see if its worth continuing without getting stuck trying to force something that DOESN’T work for you.
You can grab my START – STOP – CONTINUE guide to help with this, its got a handy dandy checklist to prompt your thinking in areas you might not otherwise consider. You’ll find the link to download it in the description of this episode and in the show notes.
Thats also why IGNITE, my coaching program, is a minimum 6 month process and not 6 weeks or even 90 days.
A lot of clients end up staying for 12 months and longer because they love having the space and support to implement and test things while we’re still working together so they have a better shot of making things work.
MISTAKE #2 – Eliminating essential elements
This one might seem kind of silly and obvious, why on earth would you eliminate a critical piece of your business?
But thats what happens when you overthink it and freak out that you’re on the wrong track, you might take it too far.
Unfortunately its all too common, and its usually because you’re being influenced by the wrong people. Thats not to say they’re WRONG, but maybe not the right person with the right advice for you.
Whether thats an expert in your industry, or someone in your network made a negative comment that gets stuck in your head, make sure you’re not throwing out an essential element based on someone else’s opinion.
Heres a question for you…
What’s something you’ve stopped doing that you’ve since realised was actually an essential step in your business?
I remember doing exactly this a few years back. I followed the advice of an expert to take a more ‘casual’ approach to my coaching.
I let go of the structure and a proven system I had created that I knew worked and my clients absolutely loved it, and focused more on some key outcomes from a completely different angle.
That still created results, but it really muddied the waters and made it harder for me to articulate what I do, how I get you from A to B, and also harder for my clients because there wasn’t a clear process – I’d thrown out something really important!
So my suggestion here is to really take a pause and consider the impact of each piece of your process, whatever it might be. It could be your marketing process, or the roadmap or framework you take your clients through.
If Instagram is something you love and it generates leads that turn into clients or customers for you, keep doing it. If you’re putting in a ton of work and its not creating results, you either need to shift your focus elsewhere or work on your brand and messaging because you’re missing the mark.
Again, this is where my START – STOP – CONTINUE guide comes in handy.
Whatever you’re doing, its not right or wrong, good or bad. Ok, spamming people and adding them to a group or your email list without permission is bad, don’t do that. But you get what I mean! Theres no one right solution for everyone.
Look at it and decide:
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How important is this to me?
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Do I enjoy doing it?
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Does it create the outcome I want?
Keep it simple!
MISTAKE #3 – Not going deep enough
Just like taking too much out can cause problems, so can a surface level clean up. Its like running a cloth over something to wipe the dust off when it really needs a dunk in hot soapy water.
Something I learnt in my corporate career was that doing a deep dive into various systems and processes usually turns up things that could be improved, even though it appears to be fine on the surface.
You might discover something that will eventually break down or fall over at a critical time, and it’ll stop your momentum at exactly the wrong time.
Which is SO not fun! The deep dive helps spot those things before they break.
On the flip side, it might turn up some absolute GOLD!
Going through your process you can discover something that you’ve just glossed over, and you go “DAMN! Thats a really good thing, I need to talk about that more!”
Often in those corporate deep dive reviews, people from other teams or departments would see things they could implement themselves and then make their own projects simpler, faster, better.
Here’s something I want you to write down, if you can…
“Staying comfortable won’t serve me in the long term.”
Taking a serious look at what you’ve currently got is always a good thing, it helps propel you forward and keep shifting the boundaries of your comfort zone.
Entrepreneurs love to talk about ‘going all in’, thats what this means. When you go all in you can’t help but shift those boundaries because theres no way out otherwise.
There are always going to be layers of complexity, once you remove one you’ll see another. Its like money blocks, you clear something and then you discover another layer, it shows up in a different disguise.
It doesn’t mean that you have to take action on EVERYTHING all at once either, but acknowledging the gaps you have in your business as far and as deep as you can see them will be a massive help to you in the long run. And to your clients of course!
Figuring out what to ditch, what to keep and what to fill the gaps with is in itself a simple and easy process, but its a whole lot simpler and easier when you have someone guiding you through it all.
Thats what you get in IGNITE, my 1-1 coaching program. We sort out ALL the things you need, and let of the things you DON’T need.
In just our first call recently one of my clients saw how she could let go of a really difficult and demanding client, so she could create the space for a whole new direction in her business with some really exciting leads already in the works. She just couldn’t see how to do it before.
If that sounds like something you’d like for YOUR business, send me a DM about IGNITE. I’m @funbusinessfunmoney, all one word, on both Facebook and Instagram.
We’ll have a quick chat, I’ll send you the details of the program and make sure we’re a ‘swipe right’ personality fit to get you the results you’re looking for.
Thats what I have for you today, I hope this helps you avoid making these and other common mistakes when you want to simplify your business.
Everyone deserves to have a clean, simple and easy business that gets you excited about the day ahead, and that all starts with simplifying things in the right way.
You have a unique business that you’ve created around your unique personality whether you realise it or not, and you deserve to have it working with ease and grace no matter what you’re doing.
Take care, have fun simplifying your business, and I’ll catch you in the next episode!
Want to make a BIG SHIFT in your business?
IGNITE private coaching could be the answer you’re looking for! Click here to check out the details, or send me a message for a quick chat about which option is the best one for you right now.
