If you’re doing any of these things, you could be hurting your business’ growth

When you try lots of different things in your business—or worse, quit before something even has a chance to work—you don't give anything the chance to stick. What many business owners don't realise is that things take time—there's no shortcuts and no hacks for instant success. In today's episode, I'm sharing 5 things that can really hurt your business' growth, especially if you're not aware of them.

– Why getting caught up in the little details won't move the needle in your business or make or break your success.
– How waiting for inspiration to strike before taking imperfect action may mean that you'll be waiting for a really long time!
– Why jumping around creating new offers, new messaging, new niches etc won't allow you to see their potential or the time it takes to build momentum.
– Why chasing the trends just doesn't work—and why creating a sustainable business (regardless of what's working right now) is much more important for the future.
– Why consistency is key when showing up with your marketing content.

 

 
Today, I'm sharing a couple of really common things that I've noticed with a lot of online business owners, especially those who are slightly newer in the game, but also those who have been in it for a little while now, a couple of common things that you might be doing that are holding you from growing your business, growing it to that next level. 

If you've been stuck where you're at for a little while, these things might be the reason why you're not getting to that next level and I do want to say that I have also been guilty of all of these at some point in my business. It's not unusual but until you are aware that you are doing these things, it can be really hard to figure out what it is that's stopping your business from growing. 

 

#1: Putting the cart before the horse.

I see a lot of online business owners getting really bogged down in figuring out the tiny little details. Where should I build my email list? Should I be on Instagram or TikTok? What podcast host is best for my show? How will I edit my videos? All of these little things before they even really know the strategy behind what they're doing or why they are doing matters, none of these little things are going to make or break your success. 

Like once you start recording a podcast, you're recording your first few episodes. You're going to be so excited to get them out there that you will just figure out where to host your podcast. Once you record your videos, you'll want to publish them. So you will learn how to edit them, or you will hire an editor just so you can get that work out there.

So rather than worrying about the details that are going to present themselves in 10 steps time, the decisions you're going to have to make a year down the track, focus on what is that next step and you will figure out the rest of it.

Also, I do want to say that focusing and worrying about these details can feel really comfortable and safe compared with taking scary action. So that might be another reason why you are focusing on the little details because it feels a lot safer than taking the really big, scary action.

 

#2: Waiting for inspiration to strike before taking action.

Whether that's creating content, whether that's trying something new in your marketing. Like if I only recorded podcast episodes, when I felt inspired or when I thought I had something worthwhile to talk about, I'd have maybe 10 episodes, not nearly 700 of them and now it's just part of my routine. 

And I have to force myself to come up with content ideas. If I have nothing fresh, I'm not sitting there waiting for something worthwhile to present itself. I'm constantly looking for new ideas. I'm constantly thinking, how can we take old ideas and rework them? It is an important task on my to-do list and it doesn't get skipped unless I absolutely have to. And I mean, we haven't missed an episode in a couple of years now. 

So I often struggle to find that inspiration and those ideas of what to talk about but once I start taking action, once I force myself to sit down and outline episodes, the ideas start to float and when I get stuck on content topics, I'll go back to the surveys I've sent to my audience.

 

#3: Jumping around and never sitting still in one spot. 

I have been so guilty of this in the past. Always creating new offerings, new messaging, not settling on one niche or one focus area. And the truth is that it can take a while to build momentum in one area. You're not going to niche down into a topic and instantly become the expert overnight. You know, it took ages before I became known as a launch strategist a few years ago.

And I feel like I'm still building that credibility as an online business strategist now simply because I pivoted slightly recently and sometimes you will organically evolve and your niche will shift like mine did and that is fine. But if you are a business coach one week, a launch strategist the next, and a social media marketer the next, you are confusing your audience and you're slowing down your growth.

 

#4: Quitting something before it has a chance to work. 

I see this happening a lot. Everything's going to take time before you will see visible results. You can't podcast for a month and then give up because it's not working. Of course, it's not working because you didn't give it long enough to actually work.

Right? There are no shortcuts. There are no hacks. Your chances of posting once to TikTok and going viral are slim to none. You can chase all of the things that are trending and constantly be following the things that are working right now, but it's so much easier to build a business that is sustainable regardless of what's working right now because when that thing that's working right now stops working, you might not have a business anymore.

 

#5: Being ad hoc with your marketing and your content. 

I see a lot of business owners not really having any kind of systems or structure or plan or strategy around the content they are sharing online and why they are creating what they are creating. Instead, they're showing up when they feel like they have time or when they feel like they should because they haven't shown up in a while.

And for me in this business, working with my team to get our entire content process systemised has been a huge task, but it has made my life so much easier because I know now that as long as I can share three episodes a week of this podcast, my team has everything they need to then repurpose it into other pieces of content. Emails, Instagram posts, carousels, reels, and daily business booster emails that I send to my list. 

And that means that we have a constant flow of leads into the business rather than me freaking out at the last minute before a launch because we haven't done anything to grow the audience in a while.

 

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