Maybe It’s Time to Relax & Just Do Something

If you are a Stage 1 entrepreneur (or pre-Stage 1 and don’t even consider yourself an entrepreneur yet, but see yourself moving towards getting into business), you may be struggling with getting clear about exactly what you do and who you do it for.

It’s totally normal.

Even professionals, like lawyers and doctors, who you think would know pretty clearly what they do, struggle with this.

And even thought it’s perfectly normal, it’s something you really want to get clear on before you move through Stage 1 to Stage 2 and start taking on team members.

Stage 2 can be extremely expensive and painful if you do not have clarity of vision around what you do and who you do it for.  Leading a team and finding the right people are dependent on your clarity.

And that keeps a lot of Stage 1 (and pre-Stage 1) entrepreneurs stuck.

If you find yourself not moving forward because you are wishy-washy on who you serve and what you do for them or if you find yourself losing focus or flip-flopping constantly about it, it’s time to relax and do something.

I was coaching a private client through this last week.

She was totally stuck. Not moving forward. Frustrated. Annoyed with herself.

She’s been stuck between serving two markets – executive women unhappy in their careers and entrepreneurial women overwhelmed by their businesses.

Two great markets. Both of which she could help equally.

She was torn. Right down the middle. Paralyzed.

Couldn’t move forward with anything else because your whole business foundation is built on who you serve an what you do for them.

On our last coaching call, I told her to pick what I called a learning market. A starter market.

And to commit to giving herself 6 months to a year to serve this market and apply everything she is learning from us about constructing her business model, creating her 12-month marketing calendar, pricing and packaging her services, creating her message and her lead generation magnet, her website, everything – apply it to this market.

We came up with a very simple, clear, compelling statement of who she serves and what she does for them and she is going to move forward.

She was freed up by realizing that the market she chooses does not have to be her forever market.

She is going to learn on this market. And she may decide to keep it forever, but probably not.

She’s probably going to realize she can’t make enough money serving the first market she chooses. Or maybe she doesn’t have passion for that market.

Or something else.

Almost everyone I know who is or has what you would consider to be a successful Stage 2 or Stage 3 business has #1) started somewhere and #2) in many cases shifted out of the market he or she originally started serving.

So just relax and do something.

It really doesn’t matter what. As long as you are moving forward. Taking action. Making mistakes. Learning lessons.

The only danger to your success is not getting started.