CBB 22: What To Do When You’re Frustrated With Your Business Progress

If you’ve found yourself at the end of this year feeling frustrated that your business isn’t exactly where you wanted it to be right now, this episode is for you. I’m sharing some tips that will help you reframe your mindset so you can start a new business year off on the right foot.

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I caught my mind spiralling down into a negative hole last week. I was feeling frustrated that my business wasn’t exactly where I wanted it to be right now and that I hadn’t smashed the goals I set earlier this year out of the ballpark. 

It’s a familiar path – one I’ve travelled many times in my 10 years of online business, but one I can more easily spot now.  So after my negative Laura started documenting all the evidence in my mind of how I hadn’t achieved every goal on my plan (or achieved it with the number of clients I had hoped), my positive Laura kicked in and talked some sense into that negative bitch.

This business-progress-tennis-rally of the mind is an ongoing battle of the driven, ambitious and big-hearted conscious business builder. And it can be amplified at this time of year when we start to reflect on what we’ve achieved, or haven’t achieved.

If you can relate, I want to share some tips and advice that have helped me.

1. Look At What You Have Achieved (However Small)

When I find myself slipping into this downward spiral, one of the first things I do is to look at what I have achieved, however small.

Once I calmed down after this week’s business-progress-tennis-rally, I looked back and reminded myself of the goals I had set out to achieve this year, like starting my Conscious Business Builders podcast, making my coaching services visible on my website, creating and launching my first business e-course (Package Your Knowledge Bootcamp) and helping a number of new clients to package their experience and expertise into leveraged offerings.

My negative Laura then shut up and I was able to feel the sense of accomplishment that comes with achieving goals.

Now your accomplishment may be as small as writing a few blog posts, sketching out a framework for an online course, choosing a name for your new offering, or even just creating some space for you to work on your business. All of these can be celebrated as steps forward.

It’s important to celebrate the small wins just as much as the big wins so you can foster the mindset that you are moving forward.

One thing I do each week in my diary is record my weekly wins. They can be big things like launching a new product or hitting a sales target, but can be small things like recording a great podcast episode too. I find this practice helps me be grateful for my efforts and achievements, however small, and encourages me to keep on pressing on. 

2. You’re Exactly Where You Need To Be Right Now

After I reminded negative Laura last week of everything I had achieved in business this year she responded by reminding my positive Laura that I’d achieved all this at the expense of other aspects of my business, like maintaining regular episodes on my Eco Chat podcast, supporting my Self Sufficiency in the Suburbs members and growing my online eco store Sustainahome (where I’d barely managed to maintain a monthly blog post and newsletter). She also (nastily) pointed out that I was a couple of kilograms heavier, a result of skipping a few walks along the way and comfort eating during the stressful times.

This one hurt. And it had the potential to take me deeper into the downward spiral.

But again I caught it and reminded myself that I’m exactly where I need to be right now.

This is an affirmation I say to myself whenever I’m feeling frustrated in business and life and it has an instant calming effect.

My family has been thrown some big health and financial curve balls these past 18 months that have slashed my available time to work in the business by 75%.

Yes you heard that right – SEVENTY FIVE PER CENT.

Of course that is going to have an impact. And it meant I couldn’t do ALL. THE. THINGS.

I know that so many of you have also been dealt some big life blows this year that have impacted your available time to work and achieve.

It’s called LIFE. And it often gets in the way of business.

You can life-proof your business as much as you can, but there will still be times when it impacts.

For these times, just remind yourself that you’re exactly where you need to be right now.

It’s okay to back off on business to attend to family, friends or you during these times. You’re not a failure if you pause your business, get a short-term job to make ends meet (or provide for your family) or take twice as long to achieve your goals.

Just make sure that these life-curveballs don’t derail you entirely. Use them as momentum to create a business that has leveraged offerings that give you space to earn while you still deal with life.

3. Choose the ONE thing

So you’ve checked in and reminded yourself on what you have achieved, that you’re exactly where you need to be right now and as a result you’re feeling calmer. However, you want to set yourself up for the best chance of progress next year.

My advice here is to choose the ONE thing in your business to focus on.

What is THE action you will prioritise over others because it’s the crucial link in achieving your next big goal?

Maybe it’s making an offer visible on your website. Perhaps it’s marketing this offer to secure some new clients or customers. Maybe it’s creating and launching your course or membership. Maybe it’s writing your book.

Whatever it is you want it to be THE action that will shift the needle in your business and life and be the crucial step in moving you from where you are now to where you want to be.

Last year when I asked myself this exact question it was very clear that I needed to make my coaching services visible (they had been predominantly word of mouth for over three years). This coming year it will be to continue growing these services, at the short term expense of running live launches for my sustainable living programs.

Which leads me to the second part of this tip.

Choose the ONE thing AND make space for it.

It’s one thing to choose you ONE thing, but another to make space to actually work on it.

Without prioritising this action and doing it at the expense of other non-pressing business, you limit your ability to achieve it.

So create space.

Stop or pause other aspects of your business or life. Drop a committee. Let the house get messier. Outsource some tasks. Hire a cleaner.

Just create space for you to work on your ONE thing.

FINAL THOUGHTS

We’re all naturally tireder and more emotional at the end of the year and it’s all too easy to fall into a negative spiral and get frustrated at what we haven’t achieved in business.

By focusing on what you have achieved (however small), reminding yourself that you’re exactly where you need to be right now, and choosing your ONE thing to focus on moving forward AND making space to work on that ONE thing, you’ll quickly and easily move out of a funk.

And you know what?

You’ll set yourself up to make an even bigger impact next year.

Over To You!

Have you cause yourself evaluating your business progress (or lack of it) lately?

What are your best tips to get out of a negative and frustrated business funk? Share below!

If you’re ready for personalised support to help you grow your conscious business online by packaging your knowledge and expertise into leveraged offerings, book your Conscious Coaching Taster or apply to join my Conscious Business Circle today!