As you probably already know, we work with soul-centered entrepreneurs – people who put their heart and their soul into creating the business of their dreams. And over the years we’ve realized a few pretty important things about running a successful business.
One of them is that there are actually four stages a small business has to go through in order to be considered successful, and if you don’t know which stage you’re in, you’re likely to get stuck there and not be able to move forward.
The 4 Stages of Success are not hard to understand, but nobody really talks about them. We’ve seen small business owners fall down rabbit holes they didn’t need to go down, simply because they were confused about what they needed to be doing to move to the next stage in their business.
Stage 1 of Small Business Success
Here are some of the signs that you are in Stage 1 in your business:
- You’re not sure what your business is ultimately going to look like
- Your business is still in the planning stages
- Nobody knows you are in business because you haven’t really gotten started
- You’re still working on a name, a tag line, branding, products and services
- You’re unsure who your target market is – or you think it’s ‘everybody’
- You’re confused/unclear about what to do and how to do it
- You don’t know how to speak about what you do to other
- You’re excited, but also very nervous.
How To Get from Stage 1 to Stage 2
Obviously there are an infinite number of possibilities of what you could be doing (and we know this – Mandy’s a certified Infinite Possibilities trainer!). But what SHOULD you be doing if you want to quickly move your business to the next stage of success?
Here’s a Success Memo that applies to a Stage 1 business:
In order to start making money you need to start your business – and a big mistake new business owners make is that they tend to over-think everything!
Here are some of the steps you’ll need to take to move your business from Stage 1 to Stage 2:
- TAKE ACTION – Don’t tweak and fiddle for ever!
- Identify who your target market is.
- Decide what makes you different from others who do what you do.
- NAME your business accordingly.
- Discover/decide what TANGIBLE BENEFITS you are offering.
- Make sure your tag line reflects at least one of those benefits.
- CREATE your products (Introductory, Intermediate, and Premium).
- START building your mailing list.
- GET the word out – get active on social media.
- ORDER some starter business cards.
- MEET as many people as you possibly can.
The WORST thing you can do as a small business owner is to act as if you are in a higher stage than you really are. This will keep you from moving forward, because the actions you need to take in stages 2, 3 and 4 are very different from those in Stage 1. You’ll just be getting in your own way and wind up stuck. Have you ever seen this happen?
The BEST thing you can do is to find some great business support.
Getting support in your business is probably the most cost-effective investment you can make. No – this is NOT an ‘indulgence’ or an excuse to feel guilty for ‘spending money on yourself.’ This is a decision that could mean the difference between spending months or years not getting ahead, or making some simple tweaks that launch your business forward into the next stage faster than you ever thought possible.
Running a business is not for everyone. It takes courage. The more afraid you are the more courage it takes, but you CAN be successful if you’re determined and take the right steps. We absolutely believe you can do it!
Yours in abundance!
Mandy & Wayne