It is inevitable. Every single business owner will at some point or another (if not multiple times) feel stuck. Stuck being overwhelmed by daily tasks. Stuck at a plateau with sales. Stuck as to what the next steps are to grow.
It can feel like we are drowning. Like we are at a crossroads with no map and no idea which direction to go. It can feel deflating, demoralizing, frustrating, and all of the other feels we have as entrepreneurs all rolled up in one! I see it every day and help business owners with that feeling, find the right solutions, answers, map, plan or whatever they need to get them back on the road to achieving their dream and version of success.
What I have found over the years is most things that hold our business back from growing or things that result in us feeling stuck are rooted in 10 things. Here are the top 1o things you should look at and analyze to get you back on track!
- You
This is probably the most unpopular reason I have to talk about with business owners. Believe it or not business owners themselves can be one of the biggest reasons their businesses are not thriving or growing. Most of the time when bringing this up I am met with immediate defensiveness. But hey, it’s not meant to be hurtful. We’re human. Maybe we are going through a rough time mentally or physically and our focus is elsewhere. Maybe we need to work on our mindset a little to embody who we need to be as a leader and business owner. Maybe we just need to quit being stubborn and admit we can’t do it all and accept some help!!
Trust me I get it! No one wants to hear that either what they are doing or not doing is the reason there are issues in their business. But listen…..no one person can be expected to know everything about business or be perfect in every aspect. We all have strengths and weaknesses and the key to success is learning how to harness our strengths and get support for our weaknesses. Be open to hearing constructive feedback on how you may play into the current situation with your business and really look for help. Whether that be help for you personally or help in your business, just be open to help. I promise you it’s one of the most freeing feelings!
- Improperly targeted marketing
Obviously the whole point behind marketing your business is to get your name and product/service in front of people. So we go through all kinds of efforts to harness the power of social media, tv/media ads, print ads and other forms of marketing to blast our name out there. But what if we aren’t targeting the right people? What if our target audience doesn’t look at print ads but that’s 90% of our marketing budget? What if we spend hours and hours posting and putting ads on Facebook but our ideal clients are using Tiktok and Instagram? We’ve wasted a lot of time, money and effort, effort right? Knowing your ideal client and where to find them is KEY to maximizing you marketing efforts
- Confusing messaging
For all the effort we put into our marketing efforts, we want to make sure our target audience understands us. We want to make sure it’s clear why they should use our product or service. It should be obvious why we are the right people for the job! So are we being clear? Do our ideal customers understand what we are selling or what we stand for? Are we advertising one thing to our clients but something completely different on our personal streams? If all of these aren’t in alignment our message can be confusing to customers. They may not understand what we stand for, what we sell, or why we stand out. If it’s not clear….they won’t want to work with us!
- Lack of proper operational processes
Think about all of the processes you have in place to handle different aspects of your business. Maybe they are areas you don’t have any procedures in place on how to handle. Ever wonder if what you have in place is right? Could different processes or procedures be put in place to save you time and money and make your team much more productive and profitable? There is always room for improvement in the processes and procedures for your business! Be open to trying new and different ways of doing things!
- Lack of streamlined backend infrastructure
This goes hand in hand with your backend processes and procedures. What if you have great processes in place but the systems you use to implement them hold you back. What if you have a perfect team in place and great projects you are collaborating on but your project management software causes some miscommunication or some tasks to be missed. Even with the best team and processes in place your system structure (infrastructure) could be holding you back.
- Not the ideal team or team structure
This is probably the second to top reason I see businesses holding themselves back and probably the second most unpopular issue I have to bring up to business owners. For many valid reasons business owners are very loyal to their team and their team structure and it’s hard to see from the inside that it may be holding you and your business back. You may have someone that has been with you for many years and is like family to you, but what happens when they start slacking on their job duties? You probably brush it off and cover for it, right? After all, they are family! Guess what, you are costing you and your business countless time and money each and every time you cover for it instead of addressing it. Same thing if you try to handle everything on your own instead of trying to hire the proper help for your team. You are costing yourself not only time but money. Taking a constructive look at your team and team structure could be the single key to making your business soar.
- Improper financial systems
Do you have systems in place to track your sales, tax info, etc? What are they? Do you utilize more manual methods to track this info and drive your CPA crazy? Maybe you’re a little intimidated by systems and software that help you track all of this. Having the right system in place to help you track all of your financial pieces is essential and crucial to your success. Not only can you save a ton of time and money by having the right system but you can also have a better understanding of your current financial situation at any given time.
- Cash Flow/Budgeting issues
Do you have trouble understanding or keeping up with your cash flow? Do you always seem to end the month/year with very little left but don’t know where it is going? Want to see more profit levels? First, having the proper system in place to track your financial info is crucial to see your cash flow and help keep you on budget. It will allow you to see the flow of cash and future cash flows based on current sales and profit margins for your products or services and will allow you to analyze changes that may need to be put into place to create a better cash flow, higher profit margin, better ability to stay on budget.
- Communication disconnect
Do you and your team communicate effectively? Do you communicate well with your customers? Not sure? Might be a good idea to take a good look at how and what you and your team communicate to each other or with your customers. If you don’t communicate effectively with your team, tasks may not be done right or done at all. That alone can affect your overall business in a major way! Or what if you or your team are not communicating effectively with your customer? They may end up confused by your message or turned off and not want to do business with you! That’s HUGE! So taking a look at how you and your team communicate is so important to the overall success of your business.
- Lack of direction & focus
Do you find yourself spinning your wheels just trying to keep your head above water? Are you doing your best just to do the bare minimum? Join the club. We all get there! Running a business is not for the faint of heart and is overwhelming. So no surprise there! But what does surprise some is just how much this one seemingly simple thing can have on your focus and direction of your business. Without your full attention the focus of your business can waver causing all kinds of confusion and issues from confusion amongst your team, inconsistent messaging to customers and clients, decreased productivity and profitability. The direction your business is headed can change without you keeping it headed the right way! Making sure the focus and direction of business is on point keeps all other aspects of your business on point and in line with your overall goals.
If you are interested in learning more about the 10 Most Common Things Keeping Your Business Stuck with expert help, I would love to speak with you! Schedule a call here!
