You are Not Your Business

A woman is walking down the street, on her way home from a business meeting. She reaches in her purse, pulls out her phone and looks down at it. It’s dead. She seems frustrated, shoves it back in her purse and picks up the pace.

She unlocks the door to her apartment, sets down her things and goes to straight to her computer. She’s been waiting all day to see the information locked inside her website, but she promised herself she wouldn’t look until she got home. And, because she is eager to see the results of her query, it takes longer than normal.

“Come on.”

Finally the page loads. Where she was hoping to see ten or maybe fifteen sales of her new offer, she sees a zero.

“What?”

She hits the refresh button, just to make sure. The lonely purchase of “Sales: 0” pops right back up on the screen.

She sits back in her chair, feeling stressed and deflated. She had worked hard on that offer. The looks of disappointment, sadness and fear rotate cross her face. What if nobody buys it? What if I’m not meant to be in business for myself? Living your dreams – that’s for other people, right? And then the doosey. What if I’m not good enough?

And I’ve been there.

Oh yeah, I’ve been there. That fear of not being good enough? That can feel very real (even though it’s complete crap!) And as an newbie entrepreneur, I was in the throws of one of the most important lessons my father tried to teach me about business. You are NOT your business.

What I had started to do was take on, personally, the problems with my offer and business. I thought that if people didn’t identify with what I had to offer, they must not like me. This, of course, is not the case, but that’s where I was. I found out later that it is actually quite normal issue that entrepreneurs face.

What is the case? You are a wonderful person with a gift only you can give the world. If your business isn’t performing the way you would want, let’s look at it simply as an issue that needs diagnosing. A problem to be solved. Stop taking it personally. That wallowing isn’t going to help you or fix anything anyway.

What will fix things? Action. Do you have an offer that didn’t work? Pick it apart, not yourself.

• Would you buy it if you were the customer?
• Are you excited about offering it?
• Who are the right people?
• Is your offer solving a problem for your customers?
• Are you making it clear, and easy to redeem?
• Did you get the offer in front of the right people? (If not, check out my free 15-Minute Marketing Plan!)

It’s easy to feel so close to something that you put so much time and effort in to. But try to keep a little bit of separation. It’s healthier for both you and your business.

Have you ever felt like a failure when your business didn’t succeed? Please share as much as you feel comfortable below. It helps to be able to move forward. I know it can be tough. Don’t forget, it’s fixable, and you are Awesome!

Google+