What do you actually love about your business or your brand?
If you have ever listened to my podcast — thank you! — you may have heard this line in the intro:
Do you love your business? You should, right? But sometimes you just don't...
So, I want to ask, how are you feeling about your business right now?
Exhausted?
Elated?
Confused?
Certain?
Somewhere in between?
When I begin working with people as their business coach, I always ask them to fill in quite a lengthy questionnaire before our first session.
Two key questions in this are:
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How committed to your business are you vs. when you first started? (more so, less so, about the same), and
On a scale of 1-10 where 1 is defeated and 10 is amazing, how would you rate your mood the last four weeks?
These two questions provide so much insight into where people are at, in terms of loving their business.
Now, to be clear, I don't believe we all love our businesses 100% of the time. I have days when things just seem HARD or where I'd rather not have to deal with stuff that isn't going to plan. I have days when I question what I'm doing and wonder if I should just give it all up and get a job where someone else takes on the bulk of the stress and responsibility. Thankfully, that doesn't happen too often, and I would say a huge part of the reason for that is I've been able to set up my business in a way that means I spend most of the time doing things I actually enjoy (speaking with people, mapping out systems, creating content, solving problems) and less time on the things I find tedious (which are, to a large degree, automated or outsourced). (And hey, it's a work in progress. No business and no business owner has it all figured out all the time.)
How much of what you do, on a day-to-day basis, is actually enjoyable?
Which parts of the business do you love?
Which parts would you really not like to delegate or give away?
And, on the flip side, which parts of the business drain you?
Which parts would you happily outsource, reduce or remove if you could?
If you're finding it hard to answer these questions, it could be worthwhile spending some time and working through your values and how they show up both internally and externally in your business, as well as this free Skills Matrix. I often use the latter with clients looking to hire or re-structure, but it is just as useful for anyone looking to increase the love they have for what they do. This matrix enables you to consider the key tasks and areas in your business, highlighting those which you enjoy, have an interest in and have experience / skills in. The idea is to see where the gaps are for up-skilling, restructuring or outsourcing. I've had clients work through this and completely remove an area of their business they thought they needed, but realised isn't having any great impact on their goals.
We spend the bulk of our waking time at work, you want to enjoy those hours, days, weeks and months. On this month, one so often linked to love, it's well worth looking at how you spend you time and, as a small business owner, considering how you can feel more enjoyment and love with what you do.
PS. Abraham Lincoln famously said, "The best way to predict your future is to create it". If this email has, in any way, made you reflect on what you'd like more and less of in the future, it may be worthwhile solidify it by writing your future self a letter and sending it at a later date via FutureMe. A free service, this platform enables you to write a letter to yourself and have to sent straight to you, electronically, at a later date.