What if I told you there was a way to remove three significant obstacles that are preventing you from seeing business growth? Are you ready to reach and maintain a 6-figure business?
I’m not going to promise you rainbows and flower gardens, because overcoming these obstacles will challenge and stretch you in ways you might not be used to. But if you’re ready for the challenge, here’s what I CAN promise you: You’ll come out the other side with a stronger, more profitable business, and you’ll be a happier person. Sound good? Read on!
Obstacle #1: Perfectionism
Perfectionism, at its heart, is tied to our ego. Whether we want to admit it or not, our compulsion to get it exactly right, every time, is more about how we want to be perceived than delivering a “perfect” product or service.
Here’s how perfectionism might be cropping up in your business:
- You’re hesitating to release a product or service because it’s “not quite right” yet.
- You find yourself crippled by procrastination, because not doing it at all feels better than doing it less than perfect.
- You take “detail-oriented” to the next level. Newsflash: No one is going to notice that the footer on your website is not *quite* the same color as the icons on your header.
- You feel frustrated with everything you are putting out into the world, because it’s not exactly what you had envisioned.
Perfectionism leads to inaction, frustration, self-doubt, procrastination, and stress. If this is a problem for you, it’s going to be difficult to ever feel fulfilled and content with your business.
If you can identify yourself in this description, it’s time to take action. Here’s a few simple ways that you can start to unlearn some of these habits that are keeping you tethered down:
Acknowledge that “done” is a victory.
The goal isn’t perfection. It’s just to get the task complete. Start rewarding yourself for completing tasks and checking boxes, even if they are messy and not quite what you envisioned. Done is better than perfect. Done is better than perfect.
Accept mistakes as a gift.
No one likes to fail. But because failure and mistakes are an inevitable part of building a business, we have to learn to deal with them in a healthy, productive way. Every single mistake I’ve made in my business has taught me something if I was willing to look for the lesson. Every single mistake you make will bring you closer to the best plan for your business. Try to take yourself out of the equation and evaluate the situation as an onlooker. What can you learn? What will you do differently? Can you take a lesson from this and turn it into something new?
Find a mentor or a coach.
Here’s the truth: It’s not always easy to see when we are falling back into our old habits of perfectionism and inaction. Sometimes we need a third-party who can call us on our nonsense and help us find our way back to the path. If you don’t have someone like this in your life, it’s time!
Obstacles #2: People-Pleasing
This obstacle is intrinsically linked to perfectionism. Why? Because often our need to do things perfectly is rooted in people-pleasing.
Do you recognize yourself in any of the following scenarios?
- You know you need to raise your prices, but you worry that your ideal client won’t be able to afford it.
- You want to stop offering a service or pivot your business, but you feel bad about leaving your existing clients hanging.
- You want to hire a house cleaner or a nanny, but worry about what your family will think of you.
- You don’t follow-up with clients or leads because you don’t want to be “annoying”.
- You think about specific people when you post stories or content and worry about what they will think.
You wouldn’t put anyone else in charge of your business, would you? Why are you allowing other people to dictate how you run your business? I’ll be honest, if you’re a chronic people-pleaser, you have given over the reins to someone else and you’re letting them run the show.
Side note: It’s not wrong to want other people to be happy. If you don’t care about others happiness, you’ve got 99 other problems and people-pleasing ain’t one. Here’s the real problem: Your need to make other people happy interferes with what’s best for you or your business. You’re making decisions based on what you THINK other people are thinking or wanting, and it’s not actually based in fact or reality.
So let’s get started on fixing that, okay?
Practice confidence.
You have to flex that muscle every day if you want it to get stronger. Thinking about it, reading about it, and wanting it isn’t enough. People-pleasing is rooted in the fear of rejection, judgement and the fear of letting others down. One of the best ways to overcome this fear is to do something outside of your comfort zone every day. Push back. Lean into discomfort, and watch it transform your outlook.
Know your value.
You bring something amazing to the table. Your services are valuable and you should be fairly compensated and treated with respect by your clients. If you don’t believe that, it’s going to be hard to cut ties with your people-pleasing ways. A simple way to start becoming a person who really DOES know and appreciate their worth, is to start a positive affirmation journal. You can even start with the two at the beginning of this paragraph.
Obstacle #3: Shaky Boundaries
You are actively teaching your clients how to treat you. Enforcing your boundaries isn’t anyone else’s responsibility. When we turn the light back on ourselves, it becomes harder to blame our lack of progress or unhappiness in our business on our clients or our circumstances.
Once again, there is a strong interconnection between people-pleasing, perfectionism and boundaries. If you struggle with one, there’s a good chance you struggle with the others too. Does any of this feel familiar?
- You feel like you are always out of energy.
- You feel resentful towards your clients for the work you are doing.
- You’re on the verge of burn-out.
- You have a hard time saying “no”.
- You treat your client’s business better than your own.
- You’re spending too much time on projects that you don’t even enjoy.
Okay, let’s talk about this for a minute. First of all, to begin to enforce boundaries, we have to first know what they are.
Set firm boundaries.
Take some time to think about what you want your work day to look like. Evaluate the work you enjoy vs. the work you feel obligated to do. Identify where you’ve allowed scope creep to worm its way into your contracts and proposals. Figure out what you need and deserve to be paid and identify clients where rates need to be raised. Once you know where you stand and you have clear lines in the sand, it will be much easier to identify when a boundary has been crossed.
Enforce those boundaries.
Don’t be afraid to reach out to existing clients and reestablish boundaries. It’s okay to make changes in your business that benefit YOU. This is a great way to practice confidence! Expect it to feel uncomfortable to inform a client that your rates have increased, or to say “no” to a project that you don’t have time for. Enforcing boundaries is a form of self-care. How can you be an effective service provider if you’re stretched too thin and on the verge of a breakdown?
Breaking Free
Breaking FREE from perfectionism and people pleasing while setting healthy boundaries, will solve so many issues in our businesses AND in our lives.
How would you live your life if no one was watching?
How would you run your business if you felt confident in putting yourself first?
Would it impact the way you show up online and the way you market and sell your services?
These aren’t hypothetical questions. Take a pen and paper and really think about your answers. Those answers are going to give you action steps to start turning the dial towards confidence, success, and fulfillment.
Virtual high-five! You’re on your way to a happy, healthier, (and more profitable!) business!
And listen, it’s not easy making these changes. It takes a lot of courage and intentionality to make it happen! I want to offer you a way to inject life-giving, confidence-building energy into your business every day!
I’d love to invite you to join my AUDACIOUS community! This is the place for women business owners to have real, raw conversations around business and life. It’s a place for you to tap into your most audacious self and surround yourself with others who are on a mission to live boldly!
