Alternate title: A PRIMARY REASON SOME WOMEN ENTREPRENEURS MADE LESS MONEY IN 2021 THAN 2020.
We all know the story of Goldilocks.
Too hard / too soft / too big / too small….
(ONLY NOW as I write this am I seeing some Freudian examples here, but I digress…)
Certainly a woman’s quest to be / have / do / strike the right balance of “JUST RIGHT” is NOT unfamiliar to us. As one of the leading coaches for women in business, I’ve seen this — and experienced this — in so many capacities.
👧 Feeling too young until you’re feeling too old. 😊
👧 The shaming of those who are too skinny and those who are too fat.
👧The delicate balance between showing up too little (to be noticed) and too much (to be offensive)…
But one of the things I’ve seen DECIMATE incomes lately is — ironically — when a woman intentionally “uplevels” her business, making it more fancy, more professional. They will call it an uplevel — even while not looking at sales income — because the work they’re doing on their business is ALIGNED with a bigger, more established business.
HINT: A small business being / operating / speaking / interacting like a “big business” is USUALLY not a smart way to grow. In fact, EVERY business reaches a point in their growth (usually at the $200K – $300K mark) when they must INTENTIONALLY KEEP those small, mom-and-pop touches in place, WORKING HARD not to lose them… to keep their marketable advantage.
Some sales-slowing actions I’ve seen:
➡️ They transition to a new “ALL the ‘it’ girls are using it” platform;
➡️ They paid to have their emails “formatted;”
➡️ They “redid” their site;
➡️ They hired that ADS company, to create a “campaign;”
➡️ Their videos are no longer “when inspired,” they’re on a SCHEDULE…
➡️ They AUTOMATE whatever they can… trading automation for personal touch.
Please note that NONE of these things are bad in and of themselves. BUT…
There IS a “thing” to building
— specifically a PERSONAL brand —
beyond the 6-figure mark.
Granted, scale DEMANDS some systems,
some intentionality,
some automation,
but you MUST watch your numbers
because it is VERY EASY for the efforts you’re taking
to grow / scale
to (from the outside looking in)
start making YOU
and your brand
look like
every other brand
out there.
There IS a time when personal brands
IN ORDER TO GROW AND SCALE
must guard AGAINST looking too corporate / too business-y.
WHY? Because your people learned to trust you,
your voice,
your rhythms,
your PERSONAL touch.
So, in your efforts to “grow” and “scale”
if you’re not CAREFUL,
you’ll remove the very thing
they can’t get anywhere else:
YOU.
There IS a reason my automated emails have no fancy header or formatting. It is NOT because I’m lazy or don’t have a team to do this sort of thing for me. lol…
Money. Sales. Growth. Scale. These are the very reasons I DE-formatted my emails a couple of years ago.
There IS a reason I still use very simple platforms and tried-and-true systems. There IS a reason my Instagram “grid” hasn’t been “styled” to look like “theirs.”
Money. Sales. Growth. Scale.
All of these things come down to TRUST and DIFFERENTIATION.
So, if you worked ON your business in 2021,
and feel super fancy with your new systems,
but are AGHAST at your actual sales,
maybe you took too much of YOU out of your business?
Maybe you automated and systemized in SUCH A WAY
that you began to look
and act
and INTERACT more and more
like your competitors.
Maybe in all of your editing
and perfecting and formatting
Your voice became muted or lost a little…
Maybe in your LEAN towards “more business-y”
you lost that special touch everyone craved?
When members ask my opinion,
or start to wonder where all the sales went,
I always tell the truth.
When they don’t ask,
but I see these trendy
VERY ACCEPTED and publicly APPLAUDED
leans towards “professional”
in some effort to grow their business,
I’ll say things like,
“Don’t forget the three S approach to success:
🔥 Show up.
🔥 Serve.
🔥 Sell.”
In the end, creating increasing and sustainable financial success as a small business owner is NEVER easy, but it is ALWAYS simple. Beware of ANY over-complication, even — and especially — in the name of growth.
If you WANT simple success,
ENTIRELY on your own terms,
and you are WILLING to stand TALL in your industry,
bucking trends, defying expectations,
you are in the right place.
Message me about joining Women Who WOW before THOUSANDS of dollars of digital program BONUSES
go away.
