Latest / Online Business Uncovered: Simple Strategies for Female Entrepreneurs / 5: 3 simple strategies to help you grow

Transcript

5: 3 simple strategies to help you grow · Online Business Uncovered: Simple Strategies for Female Entrepreneurs

• 0:00
  SPEAKER_00: Hello and welcome to the Digitally She Does It Show.
• 0:03
  SPEAKER_00: In today's episode, I'm going to be giving you three very simple strategies to help you grow.
• 0:09
  SPEAKER_00: So let's get started.
• 0:18
  SPEAKER_00: Welcome to the Digitally She Does It Show.
• 0:21
  SPEAKER_00: I'm your host Karen and I'm here to lift the lid on what it actually takes to create a successful business.
• 0:28
  SPEAKER_00: If you are an ambitious creative ready to build a business on your own terms and without compromise, then this podcast is perfect for you.
• 0:36
  SPEAKER_00: With my award-winning approach to marketing and expert knowledge in creating online courses, this show will leave you feeling inspired, energized, and ready to bring those big dreams to life.
• 0:46
  SPEAKER_00: Join me each week for a dose of motivation and marketing know-how, along with actionable step-by-step strategies to help you accelerate your business's growth.
• 0:55
  SPEAKER_00: So let's dive in and don't forget to subscribe to all my upcoming episodes, which drop every Wednesday.
• 1:18
  SPEAKER_00: So before I dive into this, let me start by asking a question.
• 1:22
  SPEAKER_00: What would it feel like to have more time in your business?
• 1:27
  SPEAKER_00: Now I don't mean more time to do work, I mean more free time so that you can use it to do whatever brings you joy.
• 1:36
  SPEAKER_00: Would you spend it being more creative?
• 1:38
  SPEAKER_00: Would you perhaps go for a longer walk in the morning?
• 1:41
  SPEAKER_00: Maybe you would enjoy an extended lunch, or would you simply reduce down your working week?
• 1:47
  SPEAKER_00: So instead of working five days, you work three days instead.
• 1:51
  SPEAKER_00: Now, this is all possible, but like anything in life, we need to plan for it and we need to be intentional.
• 1:58
  SPEAKER_00: And what's great is that we are mid-year, you know, we're coming up to that mid-year point, July is going to be around very shortly, so we can start really getting clear on the goals that we want to set ourselves for the latter part of the year.
• 2:12
  SPEAKER_00: So we can get really intentional about creating the life and the business that we want.
• 2:18
  SPEAKER_00: And something that I've learned in business over the past six or so years is that anything is possible, and as entrepreneurs, we do have limitless possibilities available to us.
• 2:31
  SPEAKER_00: We have the power to create our future.
• 2:34
  SPEAKER_00: Now, I liken our business to a vehicle.
• 2:37
  SPEAKER_00: We can go wherever we want to go, and this vehicle that we're calling our business is the vehicle, but we need to have an end destination in place so that we can point the vehicle and we can drive it to that destination.
• 2:52
  SPEAKER_00: So it's really important that when you're setting your goals, you are really being clear on where you want to get to, what you want to create for yourself, and how you're going to get there.
• 3:05
  SPEAKER_00: Now, if you are selling one-to-one services, I am going to hazard a guess that you're most likely caught up in a cycle of trading time for money.
• 3:15
  SPEAKER_00: It's very common, and so many entrepreneurs get trapped in it, and it's something that it just happens.
• 3:22
  SPEAKER_00: You start a business, you get busy, and then before you know it, you're constantly having to feed your business with new clients.
• 3:31
  SPEAKER_00: And it's exhausting, right?
• 3:33
  SPEAKER_00: It takes a lot of energy, I think, to have to go out and find new clients, bring them back, provide the service that you want to provide them, and then going through that over and over again just to keep the lights on in your business and to keep everything afloat.
• 3:50
  SPEAKER_00: And I know this really well because for a long time this was me.
• 3:55
  SPEAKER_00: When I started my business, I had this really strong vision of what I wanted to achieve, but then I got busier and busier, and I was taking on more clients, and then before I knew it, my focus was on their vision and not my vision.
• 4:09
  SPEAKER_00: So I wasn't moving my business forward, I was just on this hamster wheel of working with clients all the time and then having to find new clients to work with them and just keeping that hamster wheel going.
• 4:23
  SPEAKER_00: And when COVID hit in 2020, things changed.
• 4:27
  SPEAKER_00: One-to-one services became more difficult to sell because businesses were cutting budgets, especially in my area, which is marketing.
• 4:38
  SPEAKER_00: And you know, that it's the first thing that goes on hold when there are shifts in the economy, in that.
• 4:45
  SPEAKER_00: So COVID, I think, had a lot to answer for in terms of how people were running their businesses and the services that they were selling, and the money, of course, that they were making off the back of that.
• 4:59
  SPEAKER_00: And one of the things that I realized that really brought it home during that period was that if you are solely relying on your clients feeding your business, then when things happen that do sit outside of our control, it becomes scary because you're in this vulnerable state of relying on other people to keep your business going.
• 5:21
  SPEAKER_00: And that's so difficult because it means that in order to continue doing what you're doing, you have to constantly keep feeding that cycle, and it can get really scary, especially when things are happening which sit outside of your control.
• 5:37
  SPEAKER_00: And then, of course, there are other ways to run your business, and it doesn't always get talked about in terms of other ways to approach what you're doing, and I know for a long period of time I thought that the way I was doing it was the way that it needed to be.
• 5:55
  SPEAKER_00: I was a service provider, and so I would show up and provide that service, and that was my business, that was my model.
• 6:02
  SPEAKER_00: And what I realized over time was that I can run my business how I want to run it, and I don't have to be chained to my desk 24-7.
• 6:12
  SPEAKER_00: And when I realized that, it was so powerful because it meant that I could make change and shift the balance so that I was getting more freedom in my life, whether that was sort of more time freedom or financial freedom, or just simply freedom to create the things that I wanted to create to put out in the world so that I can make the impact that I wanted to make.
• 6:36
  SPEAKER_00: So the good news is that there is another way.
• 6:40
  SPEAKER_00: You don't have to be chained to providing a service in order to make money for your business.
• 6:46
  SPEAKER_00: But I think one of the most important things about knowing this is understanding that there needs to be a mindset shift, a way of creating true abundance in your business is to take yourself out of the day-to-day selling so that you can actually sell what you have to offer, but not be so much in the weeds of delivering it.
• 7:13
  SPEAKER_00: So, first and foremost, it is about reframing your mindset on how you see your business and how you see the future of your business as well, and how, of course, you can make money that you feed into your business.
• 7:27
  SPEAKER_00: I think just by knowing that there is a different way to generate revenue, other than selling services directly to clients, can be really powerful.
• 7:36
  SPEAKER_00: And I don't need to tell you that, like most things in life, it all starts with the mind.
• 7:42
  SPEAKER_00: We can only go where our minds will take us, and so when we start to reframe how we see our business, we can then expand our thinking and explore different ways of doing.
• 7:53
  SPEAKER_00: So I think that is a really important point to make, is that it is about looking at your mindset and shifting how you view your business.
• 8:04
  SPEAKER_00: So I'm going to share with you three very simple strategies that I really do hope will help you to just create more time in your business so that you can start moving it forward in the direction to which you want it to go.
• 8:19
  SPEAKER_00: Now, my first strategy is about increasing your prices.
• 8:23
  SPEAKER_00: Now, this isn't rocket science, this is something that it's easy to say, not so easy to do.
• 8:30
  SPEAKER_00: However, we are living in a time where everything is going up in cost, and therefore what you have to offer has to go up in cost as well.
• 8:40
  SPEAKER_00: So increasing your prices is going to keep you going.
• 8:45
  SPEAKER_00: Now, if you're a solopreneur, you might feel a little bit overwhelmed at the prospect of potentially losing clients through increasing your prices.
• 8:55
  SPEAKER_00: And I understand this, I get this.
• 8:57
  SPEAKER_00: However, what you have to offer is of high value and it needs to be paid for.
• 9:02
  SPEAKER_00: So what I would encourage you to do is look at your prices, ask yourself when was the last time I increased my prices, and then to increase them.
• 9:13
  SPEAKER_00: It doesn't have to be increased by 50%, 70%, 80%.
• 9:18
  SPEAKER_00: It doesn't have to be a high number by which you increase your prices.
• 9:22
  SPEAKER_00: It could start with just being a marginal increase, but you will start bringing in additional revenue into your business simply by increasing your prices.
• 9:35
  SPEAKER_00: If you have a fear around the fact that you may lose clients by doing this, then potentially the ones that do stay and pay the increase in cost will cover the ones that decide to jump ship.
• 9:49
  SPEAKER_00: Okay, so please don't worry that you're going to lose clients.
• 9:53
  SPEAKER_00: Most people are reasonable, they understand your business has costs.
• 9:58
  SPEAKER_00: It costs you a certain amount to keep the lights on.
• 10:03
  SPEAKER_00: Even if you are a solopreneur and all you have is a laptop and your expertise, and that's how you make your money.
• 10:10
  SPEAKER_00: Your time is worth money.
• 10:12
  SPEAKER_00: Your expertise is worth money.
• 10:14
  SPEAKER_00: So it has to be paid for.
• 10:16
  SPEAKER_00: So please don't ever downplay what you are worth.
• 10:20
  SPEAKER_00: Put a value to your time, put a value to your expertise and then charge accordingly.
• 10:28
  SPEAKER_00: Now, what you don't want to do is position yourself as the cheapest on the market.
• 10:33
  SPEAKER_00: You really don't want to do that because you're not going to attract good quality clients.
• 10:38
  SPEAKER_00: All you'll do is attract the clients that are looking at price and not value.
• 10:43
  SPEAKER_00: So if you have clients that decide to leave because you increase your prices, then the chances are those clients are more focused on the price aspect and not the value that you provide.
• 10:55
  SPEAKER_00: And if that is the case, do you want to be working with them?
• 10:59
  SPEAKER_00: So I do encourage you to have a look at your prices, have a look at the market and your competition and to increase your prices.
• 11:08
  SPEAKER_00: You can do it very marginally, it doesn't have to be a large sum that you start to charge.
• 11:14
  SPEAKER_00: You could do it bit by bit, but do think about increasing your prices because you're worth it and your business needs to stay afloat, and you need to generate this revenue to help you with my second strategy, and that is investing in support.
• 11:32
  SPEAKER_00: So my second strategy is all about getting the right support on board to help you.
• 11:38
  SPEAKER_00: Being an entrepreneur means wearing many different hats and juggling lots of balls, and it's all part and parcel of running a business.
• 11:47
  SPEAKER_00: There's no getting away from that.
• 11:48
  SPEAKER_00: You've got your marketing, you've got your sales, you've got your lead generation, you've got your accounts, you've got your bookkeeping, you've got your networking, whatever you're doing.
• 11:57
  SPEAKER_00: But there will be certain activities in a business that is standard and then need to be done.
• 12:03
  SPEAKER_00: And as a business owner running a business, you are responsible for doing all of this.
• 12:09
  SPEAKER_00: Now, what's great about it is you have control, you have full control over your business, so you can set your own perimeters and do the things in a way that you want them to be done.
• 12:22
  SPEAKER_00: You can decide how things get done, who does them, and what that outcome is for you.
• 12:30
  SPEAKER_00: So you have the control, which you of course don't have when you are working for somebody else.
• 12:36
  SPEAKER_00: So I do think that is a real strength and a positive to running a business.
• 12:40
  SPEAKER_00: However, the downside is that it's so easy to get caught up in the act of doing all the time rather than focusing on the things that really matter and need your attention, and it's going to move your business forward.
• 12:55
  SPEAKER_00: Now, there is a principle called the Parito principle, which is an 80-20 rule, and it's just a guideline.
• 13:03
  SPEAKER_00: But basically, what it says is that 20% of your business activity is going to generate the most results.
• 13:10
  SPEAKER_00: So, therefore, 80% of what you're doing, it's probably nice to do, but you can most likely outsource it.
• 13:18
  SPEAKER_00: So it might be the things that you're caught up in that's absorbing your time, but you don't actually need to do it, and that it probably can be outsourced.
• 13:27
  SPEAKER_00: So it might be things like updating your website, you know, scheduling your social media content, writing copy for blogs, email management, diary management.
• 13:40
  SPEAKER_00: There may be activities in your business that you are spending a large proportion of your time doing, but actually you don't need to do it because there are other people out there that can help you and probably do it better, quicker, and more efficiently.
• 13:55
  SPEAKER_00: So, what can you outsource?
• 13:57
  SPEAKER_00: What can you pass over to a VA, a web designer, a graphic designer, a copywriter?
• 14:03
  SPEAKER_00: Like, what can you pass over that's going to give you time back?
• 14:08
  SPEAKER_00: Because you can make money in your business.
• 14:12
  SPEAKER_00: You can always make money, you'll always find a way of making money.
• 14:15
  SPEAKER_00: You may not feel like you can make money, but I guarantee you will be able to make money.
• 14:20
  SPEAKER_00: But what you can't get back is time.
• 14:22
  SPEAKER_00: And time is the thing that is so valuable to us.
• 14:26
  SPEAKER_00: It's so common when people say there's not enough time in the day.
• 14:30
  SPEAKER_00: But we all have the same amount of time, we all have those 24 hours.
• 14:34
  SPEAKER_00: It's actually how you're spending that time and where you're distributing your efforts that's going to determine the results you're going to get.
• 14:43
  SPEAKER_00: So if you are looking at pushing your business forward and making more money, what can you pass over to give you that time back to focus on the 20% of your business activity that's going to make a difference?
• 15:00
  SPEAKER_00: What can you do to do that?
• 15:02
  SPEAKER_00: Now, again, if you're a solopreneur and you're just starting out and you feel like you don't have the budget, I completely understand that.
• 15:10
  SPEAKER_00: And it's part of the journey, I think.
• 15:13
  SPEAKER_00: And I know for me, for a long time, as a perfectionist, I had this mindset of nobody could do it as good as me, nobody could do it the way I want it to be done.
• 15:24
  SPEAKER_00: So therefore, I must be the one to do it.
• 15:27
  SPEAKER_00: And what I realized is that I was the bottleneck.
• 15:30
  SPEAKER_00: I was holding things up, I wasn't getting things done.
• 15:33
  SPEAKER_00: I wasn't being productive because I was caught in the weeds of my business, I wasn't moving it forward.
• 15:39
  SPEAKER_00: When I started to bring in external help, and I did start with a VA, and it was amazing because all of a sudden I can pass over the things that actually I didn't want to do.
• 15:51
  SPEAKER_00: They didn't fulfil me, they didn't bring me joy.
• 15:54
  SPEAKER_00: I could pass that over.
• 15:55
  SPEAKER_00: I remember it was an amazing day, the day that I took on a bookkeeper, because I could pass over my bookkeeping and it became somebody else's responsibility.
• 16:05
  SPEAKER_00: I hated bookkeeping.
• 16:07
  SPEAKER_00: It's such a boring job.
• 16:09
  SPEAKER_00: But for the right person, they absolutely adore it and they love doing it, which is why they provide that service.
• 16:16
  SPEAKER_00: So, what are you doing at the moment that number one doesn't give you joy, that you find incredibly boring, that sucks up your time, and that you can outsource to somebody else.
• 16:29
  SPEAKER_00: And then hopefully, by increasing your prices, you can bring in that revenue to be able to pay for somebody to support you.
• 16:38
  SPEAKER_00: You don't have to build a big team, it could just start with one person, and you could just start on a small amount of time per week or per month.
• 16:47
  SPEAKER_00: Small baby steps are far better than being caught in the weeds and never getting anything done because you're so caught up in the doing.
• 16:57
  SPEAKER_00: Now, my third and final strategy is about starting to monetize your expertise.
• 17:03
  SPEAKER_00: Now, this is a big one because as entrepreneurs, we need to create a more robust business for ourselves.
• 17:11
  SPEAKER_00: As I've previously mentioned, if the pandemic has proved anything, it's that our businesses do need to survive when we are not at the helm.
• 17:18
  SPEAKER_00: If anything was to happen to us, if we were sick or we've got childcare issues, or I don't know, we've got a poorly relative that we need to spend time with, we want our businesses to still operate.
• 17:30
  SPEAKER_00: We still want them to be working when we're not there.
• 17:35
  SPEAKER_00: So it's really important to kind of build a business that has strength in your business model so that it can cope when things happen outside of your control.
• 17:44
  SPEAKER_00: Now, no one expected a virus to sweep in and take over the entire world, and yet the unthinkable did happen.
• 17:51
  SPEAKER_00: So this is proof enough that we do need to start thinking differently about how we go about our business.
• 17:57
  SPEAKER_00: Now, I'm not saying you must stop what you're doing, stop selling your one-to-one services, because if that's working for you, then it doesn't make sense to do that.
• 18:06
  SPEAKER_00: But the point is that we all have the opportunity to build businesses that are more solid and robust.
• 18:12
  SPEAKER_00: And the great way of doing that is to package up your knowledge and your expertise and sell what you know so that you can sell it over and over again on repeat and whilst you sleep.
• 18:26
  SPEAKER_00: Now, in my opinion, this is a really smart move because you can start building up different revenue streams and start building up passive revenue.
• 18:36
  SPEAKER_00: And what that's going to give you is that's going to give you financial support, and it's also going to build freedom into your business because you can sell when you're not around.
• 18:45
  SPEAKER_00: When we build a business where everything is on our shoulders, it is a tremendous amount of responsibility, and we have to make sure that we're there operating at full capacity all the time in order to show up in the way we want to show up so that we can be the best for our clients and deliver the service we want to deliver.
• 19:05
  SPEAKER_00: But the problem is that we can burn ourselves out because there is so much to do all the time.
• 19:10
  SPEAKER_00: So creating online digital products are a great way to almost take that pressure from you and to diversify your revenue stream so that you're not just building revenue from one area of your business.
• 19:23
  SPEAKER_00: I think it's a really smart move and it's something that's becoming more and more popular, especially in small businesses.
• 19:30
  SPEAKER_00: We have so much available to us now that makes this possible, and with that becomes opportunity.
• 19:37
  SPEAKER_00: And as entrepreneurs, we're here to grasp opportunity and to create businesses that support our lives rather than the other way around.
• 19:46
  SPEAKER_00: What we don't want to be doing is being chained to our desk 24-7 because that's not fun.
• 19:52
  SPEAKER_00: And who wants to have a business that just sucks the life out of you?
• 19:55
  SPEAKER_00: You know, it's just not something that I know I want, and I'm sure you don't want that as well.
• 20:01
  SPEAKER_00: Now, the truth is, if you facilitate a transformation of any kind, then you can create an online digital course or a digital product of some kind because you have that knowledge and you have something that generates a result.
• 20:15
  SPEAKER_00: And the great thing about that is, of course, you can sell it over and over and over on repeat.
• 20:20
  SPEAKER_00: Now, I'm not gonna sell you a dream that you created once and you become a millionaire overnight because that's not what I'm about.
• 20:28
  SPEAKER_00: I come from a space of reality, and anything that's gonna take my time, I want to know that I'm gonna get a result, but I want to be realistic with those results.
• 20:38
  SPEAKER_00: But what I will say is that the huge opportunity and potential to create a stronger side to your business that generates you the revenue that you want to be generating.
• 20:49
  SPEAKER_00: And also by doing so, you can impact more people and support more people because you can widen your audience base and therefore help more people in the process.
• 21:00
  SPEAKER_00: Now, you may be thinking everybody seems to have a digital course at the moment, and it probably does feel like that, but I do think that's proof enough that people are creating online courses because there's a real value there and there's opportunity that needs to be embraced.
• 21:18
  SPEAKER_00: How you approach your course is going to be very individual to you.
• 21:23
  SPEAKER_00: So even if there are courses out there that already exist around your topic, it really does not matter because the way that you will talk about your topic or the way you will create content around your topic will be specific and individual to you, and that's such a valuable point that I can't stress enough because you have your own magic, and the audience that's right for you will appreciate the way you deliver your thing because it won't be like anybody else's, because it's a bit like the thumbprint.
• 21:56
  SPEAKER_00: Your thumbprint's individual, your individual, and so the way you would deliver your content and your course would be individual as well.
• 22:04
  SPEAKER_00: So just by using the skills and the knowledge and the expertise that you have accumulated over the years, you can teach others, create more impact, and of course make money on repeat.
• 22:16
  SPEAKER_00: So when we're talking about building freedom into your business, by raising your prices, you will generate more revenue.
• 22:23
  SPEAKER_00: So that'll give you more money to invest in support.
• 22:27
  SPEAKER_00: By bringing support on board, that's gonna free up your time so that you can focus your energy on that 20% that's gonna move your business forward, and then that 20% that's gonna move your business forward is all about creating a sort of product side to your business, which is most likely going to be online so you can sell on repeat and start removing you from having to be there just to make money.
• 22:52
  SPEAKER_00: So I know these are very simple strategies, and I did say they were going to be very simple strategies, but the outcome is that you should be able to trade fewer hours for more income whilst experiencing more joy.
• 23:08
  SPEAKER_00: And honestly, who doesn't want that?
• 23:10
  SPEAKER_00: Who doesn't want to create a business that gives them joy?
• 23:13
  SPEAKER_00: I mean, that's got to be one of the most important things, isn't it?
• 23:16
  SPEAKER_00: We must create businesses that we love and we get joy out of, otherwise, what's the point?
• 23:22
  SPEAKER_00: And believe me when I say that anybody can make this transition, all it takes is a little planning, experimenting, and a willingness to let things unfold naturally because building passive revenue does take time.
• 23:37
  SPEAKER_00: So you need to give yourself the freedom to be able to take things slow, to learn, study, to grow, and most importantly, to experiment.
• 23:46
  SPEAKER_00: And that's what's going to move your business in the direction of giving you more time and freedom so you can ultimately create a business that gives you the joy and the life you desire.
• 23:57
  SPEAKER_00: Thank you so much for taking the time to listen to today's episode.
• 24:01
  SPEAKER_00: I hope you found this episode of value, and of course, please feel free to share it with anyone else that you think will also benefit from listening to today's episode.
• 24:11
  SPEAKER_00: If you are feeling inspired and would like to know more about getting started with creating an online digital course, then why not download my free ebook, 10 Steps to Digital Course Success, by visiting my website www.carinhyphandavies.com.
• 24:28
  SPEAKER_00: I will be back next week with another episode, but until then, have a great week.
• 24:37
  SPEAKER_00: I hope you enjoyed this episode of the Digitally She Does It Show.
• 24:41
  SPEAKER_00: Don't forget to check out the show notes for all the links and resources mentioned in today's episode.
• 24:46
  SPEAKER_00: New episodes drop every week on a Wednesday.
• 24:48
  SPEAKER_00: So why not rate and subscribe so you never miss an episode?
• 24:52
  SPEAKER_00: Thank you for tuning in today, and I will see you next time.