4 Ways to Survive a Messy Transition in Your Business

“I feel like I’m swimming in uncertainty. I’m not sure of anything I’m doing right now. I need help finding motivation and figuring out what I should be doing next.”

I was facilitating a mastermind recently when the person in the hot seat shared that they had been feeling stuck.

We all have those moments where the path ahead for our business feels unclear. Sometimes these periods are brief and sometimes they last months or longer. The hot seat question got me thinking about a messy transition I went through several years ago.

When I stepped away from my last business, I felt untethered. I didn’t know who I would be without the sense of identity and purpose my business had provided me.

“Who am I if I’m not Jason Van Orden of Internet Business Mastery?!”

 

Our podcast had been a top ten business show for years, and here I was seemingly starting from scratch.

At times, I was excited by the possibilities. Other times, I felt frozen by uncertainty.

Here are four things that helped me to uncover breadcrumbs that guided me forward to a new sense of vision and purpose, illuminating the path ahead.

Curiosity

I read books and attended conferences that were different than usual. I asked myself what I was excited to learn and went down the rabbit hole. I learned new skills and honed existing ones.

Conversations

I had daily conversations with trusted colleagues and friends to see what they were focused on, thinking about, or struggling with.

I kept my ear to the ground for opportunities, connect with people outside my usual circles, and listened for new opportunities to create value.

Creativity

It can be hard to muster creativity when we are uncertain and unmotivated, but these are the moments when we need to create new things, put them out into the world, and see what happens.

Experiments

Strategy is a series of hypotheses and experiments, not a straight-line plan. Even if the destination is unclear, you can forge ahead with small experiments that yield valuable feedback.

I played with new marketing channels, launched pilot courses, offered small free workshops, and found other ways to test ideas and try new things.

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What do you do to navigate the “messy middle” of a transition? What helps you find motivation, clarity, and vision?

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