Someone once said to me that where they were located was negatively impacting their business.
Let’s look into this a little bit...
In 2015, I moved to rural Nova Scotia. I spent almost 6 weeks out of commission for health reasons and managed to grow my business by 22%, living in a brand new place, with a 10% reduction in time.
For seven consecutive years, my business has had positive increases year over year in sales.
What does that mean? Well, the question you should be asking right now is, “what has factored seven consecutive years of businesses growth for Lisa, and for a number of her clients?
I started thinking about my clients to see if there were trends to support geography or type of business. There were none.
Here are examples of 3 clients of mine who also have had growth year over year:
- Entrepreneur A has grown her business by over 200K in annual revenues over the last 3 years. They are in a location dependent market, meaning this person cannot market to anyone who is not local and they are on “one of those coasts”. They are in professional services, they do not work with business owners, and they don’t sell a retail product.
- Entrepreneur B has grown her business from under 6 figures to over 300k in less than 3 years, they too are focused on a local market, have a mix of retail products and services and do not sell to businesses. They have a specific niche business that is focused on kids. They live in a central, not a coastal location.
- Entrepreneur C can’t physically take any more clients. She’s increased her fees over and over and her business is exploding at the seams. She is a business consultant with a very specific focus and typically works with employees who are looking to advance their career (again not business owners) and she lives on the “other” coast.
It’s obvious to me that your businesses success is not dependant on where you live, nor does it matter what field of business you are in.
It’s easy to rationalize why your business isn’t performing. People make all kinds of excuses and tend to make it out to be the “market’s fault.” It’s not easy to step up and take responsibility for your wins and losses.
If it’s not location that creates success, then it must be something else, right?
The business owners who have repeated growth in sales year over year are the ones who invest in themselves and their business. They are holding themselves accountable for their goals and the actions they need to take to get there.
Although you may feel committed to your business...are you really? Do you continuously work ON your business as much as you work IN your business?
Where you live should not impact your businesses growth because the things all successful entrepreneurs have in common aren’t relevant to location.
Successful business owners do these things:
– They work with experts and business coaches to learn the things they don’t know in order to build their business.
– They aren’t afraid to ask for help and be vulnerable. Nor are they afraid to hire help in their business when they need additional bandwidth.
– They find a community of support for their business from other business owners.
– They’re coachable when asking for help instead of being defensive. They don’t fall into the trap of trying to defend why they do what they do because they’ll will miss the opportunity for growth.
– They take massive action and commit to their marketing strategy long term. They blog weekly, they mail their list frequently, they keep their social media up to date all the time.
– They do whatever it takes to create the success they experience in their business. They fully commit.
The definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over and expecting a different result. If you want to change, you need to change how you are running your business.
Are you prepared to change your approach?
Stop isolating yourself. Reach out and find a community that will support you. You need to find a place where you can get help, and be held accountable.
If you struggle with finances, look for someone who has built a financially successful business. If you struggle with the motivation to finish your big ideas, find someone who knows how to execute a project.
This is your business and you alone are responsible for its growth and success, don’t be scared to ask for help.
If you’re ready for some help implementing some of the things mentioned above, then it might be time for us to work together. Profit Pods is my 12-month group coaching program that is starting up again in September. This program checks off all of the boxes above.
If you would like the next 12-months to be exceptional, you’ll need to change the way you are approaching your business.
“There are seven days in a week and someday isn’t one of them.”
Do you feel there is something missing in your business? Leave a comment and let me know where you feel you struggle the most when it comes to growing your business.