Many of us often think about our client and audience pain points, but don’t set aside much time to work on and solve our own business problems.
We get busy handling inquiries, developing speeches, writing, talking to clients – it is hard to make time for this.
Guess what? Without setting time aside to work on your business, it will be harder to reach your goals.
I have a number of clients who want to see growth in their business, but they are so bogged down with the day-to-day, that they do not have time to put their strategies into place, never mind think of new ones.
Sometimes I suffer from this myself. Once a quarter I head to Toronto on the train to see my coach (I attend Strategic Coach with the brilliant Dan Sullivan), and I develop a long list of ideas for my business.
A day later, I return and get re-absorbed back into my daily routine of coaching, writing, and selling, only to have all of those brilliant ideas remain untapped in my binder.
So, what are we to do? Here are three ideas that I have found help tremendously.
3 Ways to Solve Pain Points in Your Business
1. SCHEDULE IT. In order to commit to the time required for business strategy and execution, it needs to be a part of your regular schedule. Put it on the calendar! Every 2nd Friday I have “Coffee & Strategy” on my calendar. I go away from my office (sometimes moving to another location helps to set the stage for a particular project), map things out and scratch things off my strategy “to-do” list. This time is sacred, so turn off the phone and email and dive in!
2. CREATE ACCOUNTABILITY. How do you work best? Is it when someone holds your feet to the fire? Or is the idea of talking to them, knowing they will ask about your progress, enough? For many of my clients, seeing our appointment scheduled shifts them into “get things done” mode. Consider getting an accountability partner, starting a mastermind, or joining a community of like-minded people to create accountability for advancing your business.**
3. CELEBRATE YOUR WINS. Consider looking back from where you came rather than forward to where you’d like to be. Sometimes we do not even realize when we’ve achieved something because we are off to the next thing. The world of speakers is full of high achievers, and we often forget to stop and appreciate what we have accomplished. Perhaps you set a goal that if you have a great month, you will reward yourself with a spa day, purchase that new gadget that you want (like the iPad Pro) or, better yet, order up that Tesla!
Sometimes I get my best ideas on the way to see my coach. That 2-hour train ride seems to feed my creative soul! Because to solve your pain points, sometimes all you really need is time to think. When was the last time you just stopped and stared out the window?
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** If you’ve been thinking about getting into a community of like-minded individuals, consider joining us for the Accelerate 2016 Conference in Dallas later this month. It is just the beginning of a year-long community of networking, learning and business building.
