Whether you’re a new business owner or you’ve been in business for many years, you know that making money in your business is key to your success.
Yet, many entrepreneurs struggle to grow their business, and they can’t figure out what they are doing wrong.
If you’re feeling stressed about your business, and you need some help to figure things out, then you’ve come to the right place.
I am going to share 5 questions you should ask yourself if you’re struggling to grow your business.
I want you to use these questions as a business audit checklist.
Ready to audit your business? Let’s dive in!
5 Questions to Ask If You Are Struggling to Grow Your Business
1. Are you consistent?
Do you follow a regular schedule? One of the reasons some female entrepreneurs struggle to make money in their business is lack of consistency.
They treat their business like a part-time hobby and wonder why their business isn’t growing.
Some questions to think about:
- How often do you show up for your business or audience?
- Do you work on your business only when you feel like it?
- Do your followers and blog readers know how often you share a post on your blog and social media accounts?
- Do your customers know your opening hours?
If your answer is no, then you need to make some adjustments. If your goal is to make a full-time income (or even part-time income), you have to be consistent in your business.
Consistency means showing up and doing the work whether you feel like it or not. Consistency means having a regular schedule that you follow in your business.
Don’t get me wrong. I know life sometimes happens and it can become difficult to be consistent. That’s not what I am talking about here. I am talking about how you approach your business generally.
One of the reasons many entrepreneurs struggle to be consistent is because they spread themselves too thin! They are trying to be everywhere at once.
It’s better to do a few things well than to do a lot of things poorly. One of the best things you can do for yourself and your business is to streamline your activities. Focus on the things that matter most.
Here are some tips to help you stay consistent so you can grow your business:
- Set specific and measurable goals. Be clear on what you want to achieve, then make a plan to meet your goals.
- Find ways to make yourself accountable if this is a big problem for you. Find a mentor, coach or accountability partner to keep you accountable.
- Eliminate or reduce distractions. Focus on one thing at a time.
- Focus on your why. Why are you in business? What motivates you? If you have a compelling reason for starting a business, that should inspire/challenge you to be consistent.
Staying consistent in your business is key to your success as an entrepreneur.
Recommended post:
3 Easy Ways to Stay Productive In Your Business
2. Are You Focused?
Are you focused on the right goals and activities for your business? Are you trying to do too many things all at once?
Are you trying to run two businesses or two blogs when you don’t have enough time or resources to make one profitable?
One of the challenges many creatives/entrepreneurs face is, they have too many ideas! Which can sometimes be a bad thing. If you want to grow your business, then you have to be focused!
Focus on the important tasks and activities that will help you reach your goals.
Everyday, you are exposed to so many distractions that it’s easy to think you are being productive when you’re not.
Many entrepreneurs are busy playing at business instead of actually running a business. What do I mean by that? It means doing businesslike activities with no real goal or purpose.
Let me give you some examples of what I mean:
- Reading lots of blog posts in the name of research
- Spending a lot of time on social media
- Attending one webinar after another
- Constant learning without taking action (taking courses, reading books etc)
- Spending time responding to emails and comments
- Tweaking website design
- Other non-income generating activities
You can’t grow your business if you spend all your time doing tasks with no clear goal in mind.
That’s why it’s very important to be intentional and to avoid the time sucks in our lives. For example, it’s easy to hop on Facebook with the intention of spending only ten minutes but end up spending two or more hours.
Another reason some entrepreneurs struggle to stay focused is because of the comparison trap. They are way too focused on their competitors and what they are doing.
There’s nothing wrong with keeping an eye on the competition. The problem is when you get too preoccupied with what they are doing and neglect your business.
It’s okay to get some inspiration or ideas from your competitors as long as you stay focused on your own goals.
The easiest way to stay focused is by having a plan. As an example, if your goal is to make money in your business, start by asking yourself how you plan to make money (identify your income streams). Do you want to create and sell your own products? The next step is to decide which products you want to sell based on your audience.
Do you prefer affiliate marketing? Focus on that. Learn everything you can about affiliate marketing.
Do you want to offer coaching services? Determine your coaching packages.
You see where I am going with this?
One sign you may be unfocused is having a lot (or a few) unfinished projects. For example, an unfinished eBook, an uncompleted course, etc.
So how can you stay focused?
Choose your goals, then list the steps or tactics you need to take to achieve them. This will help you to stay focused in your business.
When you focus on creating value for your audience/customers, then growing your business won’t feel like an uphill battle.
3. Do you have the best strategies for your business?
Do you run your business on the fly, or do you have clearly defined strategies that you use to grow your business?
Successful entrepreneurs have a set of strategies that they use to grow their business. If you’re running your business without a strategy or a plan, then you’ll struggle to build a successful business.
What types of strategies should you have for your business?
Whether you’re a new business owner or a seasoned entrepreneur, every business needs some or all the strategies listed below
- Marketing strategy
- Sales strategy
- Content marketing strategy (including content promotion)
- Social media marketing strategy
- Email marketing strategy
- Financial strategy (how you will get paid/how your business will make money, how you will keep up cash flow in your business etc)
- Organizational and business development strategy (how to choose systems and processes to run your business, hiring decisions, customer service policies, education etc)
These are examples of some strategies you should have in your business. If you are running your business without a strategy, or if you are using a scattershot strategy, it’s time to change that.
If you want to be a successful entrepreneur, then you have to be intentional and strategic about growing your business.
Recommended posts:
How to Create an Effective Marketing Strategy
4 Mistakes Female Entrepreneurs Continue to Make
4. Do you track everything in your business?
Do you know which tasks or activities give you the best return on investment? Do you know your best-selling products or services?
Do you know where most of your customers come from? Do you know your best-performing post or ad? Do you know your referral sources?
If you want to grow your business, you have to track everything so you can get rid of the things that are not performing or working for you.
You need to develop a system for tracking your business performance over a time. When you track what’s going on in your business, it’s easy to change direction or course correct.
Examples of things to track:
- Sales (what leads to sales? where do your customers come from? which sales funnel is generating the most conversions?)
- Marketing activities/strategies(which strategy or channel is working for your business)
- Audience/followers
- Revenue and profit
- Expenses
- Cost of acquiring your customers
- Email subscribers (cost of acquiring them, where they come from etc)
What you need to track will depend on your type of business.
The only way you can tell what’s working,is by tracking everything. Yet, many entrepreneurs fail to do this. They keep spending money on Facebook ads or promoted pins, or Instagram ads without tracking the results.
If you have not been tracking the important metrics in your business, you need to start doing that. Have systems in place to track and analyze how your business is doing.
If you can afford it, pay a business coach or consultant to help you audit your business.
5. What do you need to change in your business?
As a business owner, you have to be dynamic. You should be willing to pivot and change directions if things aren’t working very well.
You have to be honest with yourself. Are there things you need to change in your business?
Here are some questions to get you started:
- Do you need to focus on a different target audience?
- Do you need to create new income streams?
- Do you need to get rid of your low-paying clients to increase your income?
- Do you need to invest in yourself so you can gain the skills you need to grow your business?
- Do you need to focus on just one social media platform?
- Do you need to get rid of some of your blogs and focus on just one?
- Do you need to automate or hire out some tasks so you can focus on income-generating activities?
You’re the only one who can decide what you need to change. Change is necessary for growth, so I encourage you to take an honest look at your business and make the necessary adjustments.
Recommended posts:
12 Clear Signs It’s Time to Pivot Your Business
11 Ways To Decide If It’s Time To Pivot Your Business
Sometimes the simplest changes in your business can yield big results. If you want to grow your business, you must be willing to embrace change and focus on some winning strategies. Also staying focused and consistent will set your business up for success.
What changes do you need to make in your business? Do you struggle with consistency? Leave a comment below.
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