Today I want to talk about a very real fear that pops up on your business growth curve, and how it can create way too much hard work in what’s supposed to be a profitable business that nourishes you and your creative spirit.
You’ve been in business for a little while and things start to work out, perhaps even better than you could have imagined. All of a sudden, people want to buy what you have to offer. And buy more of it than they ever have before, maybe even at slightly higher prices too.
You are receiving more money than you ever have in business, perhaps than you ever have in life.
But something is wrong.
You are stretched too thin. And what started as a creatively nourishing adventure starts to feel like ridiculously hard work.
There are many changes that you can make to fix the situation, like raising your prices, taking on less clients, or changing how you structure your offers.
But you fear that any change could break the cycle of financial abundance you are in. And you fear that if you break what’s working, you’ll never get success back.
I know this fear is real, because I’ve been there.
When my online business finally took off in 2012, it felt like something magical had happened. And there was this definite internal pressure to keep doing everything I had been doing just to be sure I didn’t break the cycle of success.
Luckily, I was working with a coach who helped me pull apart the strands, run some strategic experiments, and also create a cash flow system (which I walk you through in the 6-Figure Cash Flow System) that allowed me to absorb setbacks.
Because as very real as the fear feels, it’s actually holding you back from enabling you to build the business you dream of. The one where you get to do bigger, more creative work. The one where you can work less and earn more. The one where multiple 4, or even 5 figures flow into your checking account each month without stress.
If you find yourself in this space today, here are some steps to take.
- First, get crystal clear on your monthly expenses, as well as what it takes to sustain your business and your paycheck.
- Second, start saving up each month for unexpected expenses or low revenue months. This will be your safety net that gives you permission to experiment.
- Next, create a revenue plan for the coming month. Identify exactly what you think you need to do to meet those numbers.
- During and at the end of the month, track your financial results against your plan. Watch for assumptions you made that didn’t hold true and areas where you received more revenue than you were expecting. This system allows you to learn from what’s happening inside your business, so you can do more of what works and eliminate what doesn’t.
- Finally, run an experiment. For example, you might raise your prices for a month and see what happens. Or you might eliminate an activity, such as posting to a social media outlet, that you don’t think is having too much impact. Then watch your revenue numbers. Do they dip? Stay the same? Or even go up? Based on the outcome of your experiment, adjust assumptions and your go-forward plan.
You’ll run through steps 3-5 again and again…and again and again. I run through these each and every month in both of my businesses. I’m constantly experimenting, learning, and adjusting. I watch my revenue numbers for unexpected successes and failures and I use my cash reserves to manage any dips in revenue.
And when I experience a big financial success, I build my reserves back up. Once that big success becomes a pattern, I look for new ways to invest in my business, such as hiring more help, choosing even more “risky” creative work, or raising my salary.
What I’ve learned through this process is that I’m attracted to hard work. It makes me feel good about earning the amount of revenue I do and living my momstyle lifestyle. But it’s not always the hard work that generates the financial results in my business. In fact sometimes the less I work the more I earn.
I can’t tell you exactly what you need to do to make your business thrive, but I can help you through this process of managing your cashflow in an abundant way so you can figure it out.
If you are interested in learning more about how to use this process in your own business, to ease up on the hard work, check out the 6-Figure Cash Flow System. You’ll learn simple money management techniques that will empower you to attract the money you want and create more financial stability in your business, as well as techniques for learning from what’s happening inside your business.
Click here to learn more about the 6-Figure Cash Flow System