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Hello, woman solopreneur! Welcome to an action-filled read. Normally, I would say grab a cup of coffee or tea and enjoy some time with me, but for my weekly posts you'll need pen and paper. It's going to get serious in here.
I'm not sure what resonated with you, "Solopreneur Success", "Success Principle" or "Break the Internet", but I'm happy you're here. If you're honest, you know how overwhelming solopreneurship can be. It's commonly intertwined with fulfilling our purpose, family needs, and lofty lifestyle goals. That's a lot of pressure to succeed.
I want to help relieve some of that pressure. Stick with me until the end.
As a solopreneur you could be making one simple, but catastrophic mistake that's stagnating the success of your business. It's time to get out of your own way.
When I was a sales trainer and manager, I had a sales team that depended on my feedback and guidance. They came to me for solutions, answers, and support on a daily basis. I had an open-door policy, which was a workplace rule that encouraged members of my team to discuss any job-related issues with me, and my job was to make them feel comfortable doing so.
One day, a team member walked into my office with a question, which led to a deep discussion about his sales goals and the "why" behind them. At the end of our talk, he shared something with me that helped shape how I communicate with people, even today. That was nearly 20 years ago.
He said, I appreciate how you always stop what you're doing and turn around to look at me. You actually stop what you're doing and focus on what I have to say. I've never had a manager like that. They're usually too busy doing other things. Thank you for that.
He was the top salesperson on my team.
The single BIGGEST MISTAKE that a solopreneur makes is not giving their UNDIVIDED ATTENTION to the task or goal at hand.
Here's what they do instead: spread their effort and energy around in small, underwhelming doses and multiple directions instead of directly, full steam ahead, at the one thing that could potentially get them the biggest results. I'm sure many of you can see where this is going, but for the sake of ensuring stickwithitness™, let's continue.
Allow me to share my #1 success principle with you. If you don't have a success principle that guides you to the finish and helps you get through the day feeling accomplished (like this solopreneur thing is doable) you can adopt mine. Following a success principle is about designing your approach, in whatever you're doing, to optimize your performance and results.
My #1 success principle is...
Create Focus, Not Balance
It's simple, but let me explain...
Balance is when you distribute your effort in multiple directions trying really hard not to drop the ball. When you can keep all the balls in the air, it's called a balancing ACT.
Here's the hard truth: I've learned that there is no such thing as "balanced" in business when you really want to be effective. There's always something there to tip the scale in favor of one thing over another. Like dropping everything to engage with your #1 producing sales agent.
To be effective, you need to tip the scale. You need to get laser focused and pour your effort and energy into what you want to achieve.
Here's a question for you, solopreneur: Why did you start your solopreneur business?
No seriously, I want you to answer that question thoughtfully and give it all you've got. Solopreneurs start their business for many reasons and your "why" is tied directly to your goal. Its why certain people can break the Internet with just one post. Its why people keep running despite feeling exhausted. Why you don't give up when business gets tough.
Now, what is it that you're really intending to achieve? What is your ultimate goal?
Your goal is undoubtedly your focus area. If your goal is to generate six-figures in revenue so that you can make a greater impact in something, for example, then everything you do on a daily basis in your business should support that. The more attention you give it, the faster and bigger it grows.
If you want to reach big milestones, you have to focus on what you want to grow exponentially. And for most solopreneurs, the impact they want to make is tied to generating revenue. Data insights from the Intuit QuickBooks Small Business Index Annual Report reveal that 47% say flexibility and steady income is the long-term goal. I want that for you!
Here's how you can be more focused in your solopreneur business so that you can finally gain the momentum you need to see real growth:
Build Daily Productivity Habits
Lack of productivity is a silent killer of first year solopreneur businesses. It is estimated that 80% of them never make it beyond the one-year mark. As solopreneurs we do it all. We say, I had a busy day with so much *umph because after all, if we don't do it, who will? Unfortunately, being busy is often confused with being productive.
Not to sound judgey, but dear solopreneur, they don't even feel the same.
Busy feels rather chaotic at times and it can be a bit illusive. There's often nothing to show for that exertion of energy at the end of the day, which is quite disappointing. Productive, on the other hand, feels amazing because you can actually see the results from your effort.
Here's what I want you to do if you have been putting in the work and haven't been reaching your milestones or hitting your goals.
Cultivate This Daily Habit Starting Today: Schedule and complete 3 "Goal Crushing" Actions every. single. workday.
Ideally you want to grow your business, not your to-do list. So, if you're on team short to-do list, you want to make your few to-dos juicy and extra impactful.
These GCAs are the 3 most important things you should complete before anything else on your to-do list. They are tied to the one big financial goal you want to achieve each month, and they take priority.
Prioritizing and doing the 3 things that move the needle every day consistently will help you build momentum and lead to achieving your BIG goal.
I like to write my GCAs in my business planner and again on a small white board each morning with a check box. For me, having them written on a whiteboard that I can see when I walk into the room and checking them off as I crush each one is more effective than just writing them in a planner. Do whatever keeps it in view for you.
A to-do list is not about completing every task. It's about completing the RIGHT tasks.
Complete This Exercise
Give it a try right now. Grab that pen and paper. Write down 12 things (actions, activities or tasks) that will have the greatest impact on your bottom line today. Each one should be revenue generating. Your list might look something like this...
Make 10 sales calls.
Promote a product by sending a marketing email to my list.
Make 5 calls to previous customers/clients and ask for a referral.
Take my product to a networking event.
Create a piece of content aimed at conversion.
Send a nudge to customers who have abandoned their cart or favorited a product.
Make 5 calls to upsell past customers.
Reach out to 5 non-competing solopreneurs to form a referral partnership.
Reach out to 2 non-competing solopreneurs to form a marketing or income-producing project collaboration.
Attend a local business meeting to present your company and product.
Launch an affiliate program and blast it out.
Answer lead inquiries.
When you've finished writing out your list of GCAs, I challenge you to get 3 tasks done today - and be fierce about it! Feel free to comment #ssschallengecomplete.
To summarize:
Prioritize the actions, activities, and tasks that will make the greatest impact on your goal.
Write 3 GCAs every single workday.
Write your GCAs where you can automatically see them daily, preferably on a desk planner or on a whiteboard in your home office.
Complete your GCAs early and first.
Set a daily reminder until it becomes a habit.
You can grab my BMBG Daily here. Use it to plan your day and print as often as you'd like. It's dateless!
You may have to pivot your business to be more sales focused. Remember, focus is the difference between achieving your goals, and not.
If you stayed with me until the end, bravo! What is your success principle? Your fellow solopreneurs would love to hear it.
As always, be fabulous!
Wanauma
Editor-in-Chief
Wanauma Graham is the founder of Boss Free Media, creator of the Solopreneur Success System™ and author of "Her Mark", "Totally Unstoppable", and "Boss Mode Business Growth: The 8 Step, 1 Year, 6 Figure Growth Strategy for Women Solopreneurs". Her mission is to help make women solopreneurs business aspirations & goals more attainable.
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