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The Essential Strategies For a Solopreneur to Combat a Business Plateau in 2024
Stop Winging It: The Importance of Consistent Action
2024 has seen a significant shift in how businesses need to operate to remain profitable. One of the main culprits behind stagnant results is the tendency to "wing it." While intuition and passion are valuable assets, they can't be the sole drivers of your business decisions. Consistency is vital. If you're only taking action based on how you feel each day, you’re standing in the way of your own progress.
Emotions can fluctuate, and relying on them can lead to inconsistency in showing up for your business. Instead, anchor your daily activities to those critical income-producing actions (IPAs) that move the needle forward. Reflect on three measurable steps you can take every day to foster growth. Whether it’s engaging with potential customers, refining your marketing strategy, or analyzing your metrics, ensure these actions are done consistently, irrespective of how you're feeling.
Align Your Offers with Your Goals
Another primary reason for businesses underperforming lies in the disconnect between their offers and their set goals. Take, for example, memberships sold at a low price point. While enticing to consumers, achieving significant revenue goals with such offers can be impractical without a massive customer base.
If your current offers aren't supporting your revenue targets, it might be time to reassess and diversify your product suite. Dream big, but also remain realistic. For small audiences, consider higher-ticket items to meet your revenue targets more feasibly. Reverse engineer your goals: Determine the number of clients you need at different price points to hit your monetary objectives. This clarity will guide your product development and marketing strategies.
Overcome Analysis Paralysis: Action Over Overwhelm
We live in an age of information overload, leading many to experience analysis paralysis—a state where the sheer amount of available data stifles decision-making. It's easy to get caught up in the constant influx of information from all angles and become indecisive.
To counter this, prioritize taking action. Action leads to data collection, which in turn, drives informed decisions. If you're constantly consuming without acting, you're not moving forward. Consider regularly unplugging from technology to refresh your mind and reduce decision fatigue. By doing so, you create space for strategic thinking and meaningful action.
Track Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) for Insightful Data
You don't need to be a numbers person to effectively use data in propelling your business. Start by tracking essential metrics that offer profound insights. Here are three KPIs to begin with:
Client Acquisition Sources: Where are your clients finding you? Whether it's through Google Business listings, word of mouth, social media, or speaking engagements, knowing your client acquisition channels helps you concentrate your efforts on the most effective platforms.
Profit Margin: Your profit margin reflects the health of your business. Calculate it by dividing your gross profit by your gross revenue and multiplying it by 100. This figure will help you understand how much of your revenue is actual profit and ensure your business isn't just a costly hobby.
Email Open Rates: Your email open rates and click-through rates provide insights into what engages your audience. Analyzing successful emails lets you identify patterns and replicate what works, refining your communication strategy over time.
Embrace Change and Evolution for Sustained Success
The landscape of business is continually shifting. Embracing this constant change as an opportunity rather than a hurdle is essential. Regularly reviewing and adjusting your strategies based on actionable data ensures you are not just working harder but working smarter.
By addressing these three pivotal aspects—consistency in actionable steps, aligning your offers with your goals, and leveraging insightful data—you can break through stagnation and achieve sustainable growth in your business. Remember, all the answers you need are already within your reach, hidden within your metrics, waiting for you to uncover them.
Conclusion
Business success in 2024 hinges on being strategic, intentional, and data-driven. Stop winging it, ensure your offers align with your goals, and overcome analysis paralysis by taking consistent, informed actions. As you harness the power of these strategies, you’ll find yourself not just surviving but thriving in the ever-changing business landscape.
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Transcript for Episode 363. The Real Reason You're Not Getting Results in Your Business
Amy [00:00:03]:
It's safe to say that 2024 has been the year of the shift, especially in the online space. More entrepreneurs than ever are closing their doors because they're not making a profit anymore. The things that worked so seamlessly back in 2020, heck, even a year ago, they're not converting like they were. And today, I want to really dive into the real reasons why you're not getting the results that you want, because it really comes down to three things, the first of which is winging it. Stop winging it. Stop basing your entire business off of emotion. And I know that this may make you cringe a little bit. This can be a very hard truth to hear.
Amy [00:01:00]:
But when you're not showing up consistently because you don't feel like it, when you're just spending all day manifesting all of the things versus actually getting out there and taking action, diving into the data and seeing what's working and not working, winging it really starts to hold you back. And I am not saying that your mental health is not important, not at all. It is so important to know when you need to take that step back, when you need to take the pause. But really being intentional about those ipas, those income producing activities that you're doing every single day, and we just talked about this in a recent episode, what are those three things that you can do every single day in order to move the needle forward? Because let's face it, when time gets tough, it's hard. It is really, really hard to keep showing up when you're not getting the results. But again, I want you to view this as a beautiful opportunity to get curious inside your business and ask yourself, how can I make this work? So it goes hand in hand with winging it, which is one of the reasons you're not getting results. Which leads us into your offers aren't supporting your goals. Say you have a membership, there's lots of them out there.
Amy [00:02:31]:
And you see people out in the online space that are creating, you know, million dollar plus years because they have a membership. And this membership may only be selling for $7. So how many people then do you need? How many $7 memberships do you need to sell in order to get that million dollar year? When you start to break it down and reverse engineer it, you realize there's a big disconnect. If I want this outcome, my offers aren't supporting that. So where can I fill in those gaps? What can I do to adjust my product suite accordingly so that my offers support my goals? And I'm all for dreaming big. But this is where being realistic when it comes to the numbers comes into play. Because if you have a very small audience and you're expecting to hit these revenue goals off of a volume based product or service, it's going to be much harder. I'm not saying that you can't achieve that goal.
Amy [00:03:48]:
I'm just saying that you need to have the awareness, the awareness as to, okay, if this is the goal, this is how much I have to do, I'm going to have to go about this in a different way. Maybe that is the time then to put some paid campaigns into place, put some paid partnerships and promotional things into place. But for most people, you don't need to be investing this amount this early on in the game. I'm a firm believer, and that you shouldn't put money behind something to promote it until you have that proof of concept in front of you. It's so tempting to start comparing ourselves to others in the online space, but what we're forgetting is the context, the context behind behind it. How many times have they launched this product? How many times have they put this out into the universe and gotten results and further refined it? Every single time that right there is a game changer. So make sure to take the time to look at your product suite and make sure those offers support your goals. How many new one on one clients do I need each month? How many people on retainer do I need each month in order to reach my goals? And a lot of pushback comes from entrepreneurs.
Amy [00:05:21]:
When I'm working with them, with this, they're like, but it's going to be a lot. I don't want to know that number. Well, friends, awareness is step one to change. And a lot of times when you start to unpack the data, you realize it's not as challenging as you're building it up to be. Yes, it can be if we're talking very low ticket products. But once you're getting in and building out that very robust offer suite with offers that feed into one another, it gets easier. It's about being intentional with your actions, with your offers, what you're putting out into the world. And lastly, analysis paralysis.
Amy [00:06:10]:
This is the real reason you are not getting results. Because we are living in an era of consumption. There is so much data and information flooding in every single minute of the day. To our brains. We are getting it from all angles, every single day, all day. The amount of ads that we consume each day, it's crazy. I saw a statistic a few weeks ago about what our consumption was back in the nineties versus what it is today. And the stats are mind blowing.
Amy [00:06:49]:
It's absolutely crazy to look at it and go, no wonder our brains can't keep up. Our poor brains are tired. We are facing such decision fatigue because our, our brains are working to filter out all of this information. And this is another reason it's so important to intentionally take the time to unplug from technology, to take that intentional and scheduled break from your work so that your brain can recover, so that you can continue to think higher level. It's not about hustling more, it's about hustling intentionally putting in the work. And the way to get out of analysis paralysis is to get into action. Get into action because when you get into action, you gather data, and data is what you need in order to drive your decisions. And one of the questions I'm asked all the time is, okay, well, I'm not a numbers person.
Amy [00:07:55]:
Where do I even start? Guess what? You don't have to be a numbers person to track your data. Data is just information. And all we're doing is looking for patterns in the information. So I want you to start with these three. So grab a pencil and write them down. The first piece of data that I want you to start tracking is, where are your clients coming from? How are they coming into your world? This is going to look different for every entrepreneur. Sometimes businesses get a lot of people from Google Business listings with your local service provider. This is a non negotiable that you need to set up.
Amy [00:08:35]:
It is totally free. And the more reviews you get, the higher you will rank in search results. So that when someone searches for pizza near me, you pop up. We want you to be searchable. People are still going to Google to search things all of the time. Chances are you do too. I know I do. When I'm looking for a very specific service or product in my area, I'm typing it into Google.
Amy [00:09:04]:
And the next way that clients can come in is through word of mouth and referrals. We also have social media. We have so many different avenues that people are finding us. Even speaking engagements, podcasting is another way that people come into your world. So if you're curious as to where are all of my clients and customers coming from, ask. All you have to do is ask. And what that does is it gives you data, it gives you that information. So now you can start focusing on those areas that are converting and focusing less on the areas that are not converting as highly.
Amy [00:09:48]:
It's not rocket science. This is not as complicated as we have all been conditioned to think that it is. So make sure you are tracking your client acquisition sources. Next one, know your profit margin. And this is one where everybody glazes over. You can actually go online. There are so many different calculators. But to figure out your profit margin, it's your gross profit divided by your gross revenue.
Amy [00:10:21]:
Multiply it by 100. There you go again. In the online space, we're always seeing these, like, tactics. Oh, you know, sell ten k in ten minutes. And all these other boisterous claims that just really are taken out of context. I always get curious and I ask myself, okay, if I'm seeing that, how much did they put behind that launch in ads? How long have they been launching that? How many affiliates do they have? There's more to it. There's more to the story. But for me, I want that big profit margin.
Amy [00:10:58]:
I want to keep what I earn, and that gives me an overall indicator of the health of my business. Is my business profitable? Because if we're not making a profit, we have a really expensive hobby, right? And we don't want that. You can make an even bigger impact when you are making more money because this allows you the ability to give, then freely and generously, because this world needs more good people like you, more good people doing good things with our money, because together we can make an even bigger impact. We can create a ripple effect by doing good in the world. And your third KPI that I want you to start tracking is your open rates. Go into your email list, go into those analytics and see what people are actually interested in. Get curious of those emails that had those higher open rates and click through rates and go, what about this email? Caught someone's attention? Was it the subject line? Was it what I was talking about? And how can I do more of this? Again, we're looking for those patterns. And when we find those patterns, we're getting curious and asking ourselves, how can I do more of this because it's working, or how can I do less of that? Because that didn't go so well.
Amy [00:12:32]:
And that right there is powerful. That right there will transform your business and help you get results. Because the definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over and over and expecting different results. We don't want that. Business is always evolving. People are evolving. Technology is evolving. It's all evolving at the speed of light.
Amy [00:12:58]:
So we have to embrace this as an opportunity to start getting strategic and leveraging the data at hand. We're going to stop winging it we're going to get ourselves out of analysis paralysis, and we're going to make sure that our offers support our goals. Try these three things and let me know. Does it make a difference? Did this shed some light on why you may not be getting the results that you want? Because it is possible, it is possible to shatter your sales plateau. And this is something I work with clients on all of the time. It's just about using the information at hand. You don't need to search for answers elsewhere. You already have every single answer you need.
Amy [00:13:52]:
It is hidden within those metrics. So dig in there, get curious, and let me know how it went. I am here cheering for you. And until next time, cheers to making the money you want so you can create the impact you desire.
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