Two weeks ago, we dug into the first six of the 11 makes that are keeping your business from growing. This is part two. Here are the other five things that are probably contributing to why you keep hitting a ceiling, why you’re still feeling overwhelmed why you feel you should be further along than you are right now.

I feel like I should be more secure. I should be more financially stable. I shouldn’t be as stressed out and overwhelmed as I am.

Mistake #7

We’re going to get right into it and start off with the seventh mistake that is probably contributing to you not growing. That’s hanging onto people for too long. Yup. We’re just going to rip the bandaid right off with this one because your people are one of your largest assets.

Your employees, the people you surround yourself with, the types of networking events you’re going to, your clients. People, in general, play a huge role in your life, mentally, physically, spiritually, emotionally. And if you’ve got naysayers — people that are trying to hold you back, hold you down, always challenging you for the negative, making you question yourself, or not believing in you — that has a profound impact on your ability to keep going forward.

It’s kind of like that game whack-a-mole. You no longer stand up and something is beating you on the head, back down into the hole. Without your team. It’s going to be really hard to scale your business and keep all the promises you’ve been making to all of your customers. Sometimes you overlook flaws or allow things for too long, and worse yet, have someone that’s disrupting your culture.

Now you’re probably thinking: But they’re so talented how are we going to go on without them? How are we going to replace somebody like that?

Well, the downside is keeping a bad egg for too long does more harm than good. And no matter how talented they are, you can find someone else. Your culture is non-negotiable and no one gets to come into your place of business and rattle that.

Now, it’s not always negativity. Sometimes you have someone that’s just simply maxed out. They’re great at what they’re doing, but they’re not providing value to the company because they’ve become complacent. You see, hanging onto people longer than you should not only disrupts your company but it sets the tone for a lower vibration for the rest of the team.

So how do we fix this?

Well, it’s never an easy topic, but it’s a responsibility that comes along with being a business owner. First things first, if you have someone disrupting your culture, it needs to be addressed immediately. Documenting in your company manual what your processes for a warning, second warnings, and termination are going to be essential. You have to set the expectation for acceptable and unacceptable behavior. If someone is not willing to learn, grow, and surpass where they are right now, then the bad egg has got to go.

One of my mentors once taught me to hire slow and fire quick. I firsthand understand how challenging it is to fire people, whether that’s your employees or your friends or your family. Firing people does not always associate with an employee being terminated. Sometimes it’s protecting your energy to get people out of your life that no longer serve you.

If when their name pops up on your phone and your first response is, Oh my God, I cannot today, you really need to start evaluating that relationship. If you’re going to networking events for work and you’re around the same people all the time and you’re thinking, Oh my gosh, if I have to stand here one more time, start evaluating that. If you’re going to family functions and realize that this is a really toxic atmosphere, start evaluating it. You do not have to hang on to anyone that tears you down, breaks you down, or wants you to fail.

By clearing the capacity, and specifically within your culture, you create the space for amazing talent to come in. People that wake up and think, Oh my gosh, I can’t believe I get to work here every day. People that are adding value to your services, to your culture, and to you.

Do yourself a favor, do the hard thing and create the space.

Mistake #8

Mistake number eight is staying stagnant and avoiding change. Anytime I hear a business say, Well, this is how we’ve always done things, I think a little part of my soul dies because this is a recipe for staying exactly where you are.

You want things to change, you want to grow, but you’re not willing to flex and do new things to get there. Yeah, it’s not going to happen. That’s called insanity. Doing the same thing but expecting a different result. Staying stagnant has killed more dreams and ideas than probably anything else. And to get a different result — you have to change the way that you’re doing things.

There’s a level of discomfort that comes along with change, but growth in your business starts from growth within. I know it’s easier said than done, but allow yourself to be open to change. People within your organization often see things from a different perspective than you do so they can come to you with an educated suggestion, meaning if it’s an idea with facts and reasons to support it, I want you to consider it before you shut it down.

So when they come to you with a suggestion on how to maximize time, how to make things more efficient, how to improve the company, be open to it. Now, you don’t have to take every person’s suggestion. You don’t have to implement every single system and process, but be open to it because you never know when those conversations are going to lead to the decision that actually starts to move the needle.

One of your jobs as a leader is to listen. Listening to feedback gives you a chance to improve client experiences. Listening to your employees gives you a chance to help them grow, which in turn helps the business grow. And listening to opportunities to change gives you a chance to break out of old patterns, old behaviors, and improve your business.

Some of the greatest things we do here at Worx were not my idea and that’s okay. Open up your mindset to know that if someone else comes up with an idea and it helps your business, it’s okay that it wasn’t yours either.

Mistake #9

The ninth mistake that may be hindering your business growth is having a dream without a plan. I once heard that a dream without a plan is just a wish and I thought, Well shit, that’s true. Dreaming has an important part of your business. You have to come up with ideas. You have to play in the space of what if.

Daydreaming and coming up with the future vision is a huge part of the business. That’s probably one of the areas you serve in your business the best. This is the space you need to think about the future of your life and your business and it’s often where your next great thing is born. But just like marriage after a honeymoon, the real work starts when you put action behind that dream without a plan.

It’s hard to know how in the hell you’re going to achieve those things. I mean, you can sit and think and daydream all day long, but if there isn’t a plan — how’s it going to happen? And that’s exactly how you fix it.

I’m a huge advocate for playing in the space of what if  (that’s something that we use here at Worx). There is a time and a place for being visual, for dreaming, for just creating. We love to use that space as a time where we don’t have to have a plan, we don’t have to figure things out, we literally just daydream, visualize, and think big. This is absolutely necessary an unstructured time, but then comes the other really important time and that’s breaking things down. That’s getting into the weeds of, How are we going to do this? What is our timeline? What are our goals?

You have to start putting strategy with your vision. This is a huge area I missed as well because I can visualize all damn day. If you need an idea, I’ve got you, but that has to be backed up with the how.

Mistake #10

The 10th mistake is undervaluing your services. Pricing is one of the most challenging parts of any business. It’s one of the top questions I get when people are like, Oh, I’m going to start a business, but I have no idea what to charge.

You go on the internet and you look at what other people are doing and there are all kinds of websites that tell you national averages and blah, blah, blah. So you don’t even know where to begin, let alone how to set yourself up for value.

One of the most common things people run into is they feel bad. You feel bad for charging for what you do and why? Well, it’s easy for you. You love doing it. It comes pretty naturally. You can do it fairly quickly, but here’s the thing: It’s only easy for you because either A. You’ve been doing it for a really long time. B. You’ve gone to school and learned how to do it, C. You read books and immerse your timing.

I mean, we could go on and on. It’s only easy to you because you have dug into it, but this equates to feeling bad because you’re like, Wow, this is really simple for me and I feel bad charging someone for something they can’t do that comes super natural to me.

I’m here to tell you, you got to get over it. If you ever want to make money, if you ever want to get ahead, if you ever want to pay your bills, if you ever want to get out of debt, if you ever want to work by the beach, you have to get overcharging people for what you do. Your pricing structure — it’s not a linear decision. There is not really a right answer. The biggest trick here though is knowing who your audience is, who are your customers?

If it’s been two, five, 10 years since you’ve adjusted your pricing structure, I want you to take a hard stop and go back to the numbers board because you are worth your time and you are worth your talent and no, you may not be for everyone and that’s okay. But when you position yourself properly, you invest in your branding and your marketing and you set yourself and your clients up for success.

Mistake #11

Then last but not least, number 11: Being reactive versus proactive. So you’re busy. I get it. You’ve got a thousand things happening at any given moment and if you get something off of your list or empty an inbox you feel like you’ve won the freaking lottery. The problem is you’re doing everything like 10 steps behind where you actually should be doing it.

These are things that should have been taken care of months ago. This is planning out for your social media that should have been taken care of already. This is a sale that’s coming up. You’ve got a holiday and you know it comes up at the same time every year, but lo and behold at the 11th hour you’re like, shit, I need to create a campaign.

You spend so much of your time being reactive in your business that you’re constantly just putting out fires. I mean, seriously. When was the last time you felt like, Damn, I really nailed that, I feel so good, I had so much time to dedicate to it and it just feels really great? Ultimately, that’s what we’re striving for.

We want more of a proactive feeling than what the reactive actions give us. We fix this by intentionally giving ourselves space. You are overbooking yourself. You’re over-committing. You’re saying yes to too many things. You’re being too many things to too many people and then it’s like whatever you have left is what you have to work with. We’ve got to flip that switch around.

Okay, so we have compiled the top 11 things that are holding you back from succeeding in your business and I just want to applaud you because again, if you are here if you’re reading this episode, that tells me you are hungry for change. You are hungry to start implementing something. You are hungry to move the needle. You’re ready to start making money. You’re ready to start feeling better. You’re ready to decrease your stress and increase your cashflow. That alone deserves a round of applause.

Your business is a living, breathing thing and it requires your time, attention, and affection. And here’s the beautiful news: There are always ways to turn things around. None of this is too far gone.

Thank You, Gutsy Tribe!

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