Why Your Business is Stuck in Neutral

Jen is a successful trainer and expert. She has work coming in constantly - although not quite at the rates she would like to charge. She's quite busy - in demand, even. She does well financially, but not at the level she wants. Her training engagements are tied to someone else's product, so she never feels really like an entrepreneur. The people in her classes seem bored and not engaged. Jen can't earn any more money, because she's already working as hard as she can. And she's afraid to ask for more money for training classes, because this is really the only lead she has. But most of all, Jen hates every minute of it.

Why Are We Stuck?

Why do we get busy doing things that we don't enjoy? When you look around and see others getting joy from their work, do you ask yourself, "why can't that be me?" If that sounds like you, then your business is stuck in neutral - stuck with nowhere to go. How does that happen? Isn't success the same as getting more work? If Jen is so good at what she does, how come she can't change her circumstances. It turns out there are two natural laws keeping us stuck in neutral. If you don't know these laws, it feels like the entire universe is fighting against you being happy and successful in your business. But if you know them and how to work with them, you can turn them in your favor.

First Natural Law

The first is the law of entropy. As we know from science, things tend to move towards chaos, not order. So many business owners think that their businesses should simply get more organized and simple as things get bigger. If you earn more money, shouldn't it become easier? But it turns out, nothing in the natural world works that way. And neither does business. Unless you put energy into creating the business you want, it's just going to get more and more chaotic over time. You need to work hard at scaling what you do. That means having a concept, business model, market, and processes that drive you towards your ideal client and ideal offering. I discuss these four keys to scale in detail in my new book, Scale.

Second Natural Law

The second law is the law of metamorphosis. Just like a caterpillar needs to turn into a butterfly, your business needs to shed its skin and morph into something bigger and stronger. And the scary thing is that often means significant change - something giving up the very thing that got you success to begin with. It's like a rocket taking off into orbit. Once that rocket is nearing orbit, it needs to shed the very rocket segments that got it there. Are you hanging onto dead rocket segments in your business? It's a tough question to ask yourself because we're attached to those things that launched our business. But eventually, you need to let go of those pieces and change into a more scalable model.

Assess Your Own Business

Here's a quick assessment to see if you're stuck in neutral like Jen.

1. Do you have a scalable product you can deliver - Not just 100 but 10,000 of them? Or are you maxed out in your ability to deliver? Fix that by creating a scalable high-ticket program.
2. Does your business generate diverse, stable, and recurring revenue from your clients? Or is it "feast or famine" month after month? Fix that by generating a consistent $25k/mo per month.
3. Do you have a growing audience who listens to you intently - hanging on every word? Or do you get all your leads opportunistically and then never talk to them again?
4. Can you remove you from your company's processes? Or, if you couldn't work, the entire operation would fall apart?

If you answered "no" to any of these questions, then you have a business that cannot scale as it is today. Think carefully about how you would address these four problems.

There Is a Way Forward

Jen realized that she wasn't working with her ideal clients. The students in her classes were bored because she was bored with them. She changed her target market to reflect the people she wanted to work with. And she changed her product to something that could scale. In addition, she built a marketing system that automates lead generation, builds relationships, and closes sales. That system now builds her fan base - an audience that wants to work with her on a regular basis. No more single sourcing all work through someone else's product. Jen stands on her own. If Jen's outcome sounds like something you want in your business, then you need to implement the four keys to scale: concept, business model, market, and processes. If you change your business into one that allows you to step in and out, you will be on your way to finding the entrepreneurial freedom you've always wanted.