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Winter came and now it won’t leave

According to a study at UC Berkeley, 72% of entrepreneurs in their sample group self-reported mental health concerns.

Other studies have also concluded that Entrepreneurs experience mental health challenges at a higher rate than the general population. It requires awareness and being proactive.

The first quarter of every year, I brace for a period of lower motivation, increased anxiety, and even a bit of depression. This common phenomenon is called Seasonal Affective Disorder, and it affects many.

In this article, I want to speak to those acquainted with this kind of mental health challenge and offer some ideas about how to mitigate the effects and survive the taxing final weeks of winter (and any other period where your mental health takes a dip).

Here are a few things that have helped me.

Engage Your Curiosity and Awe

I have a daily nighttime ritual of sitting in my back garden (in front of an infrared heater), looking up at the stars, and watching YouTube videos about space, physics, and other ideas I find mind-expanding. I also picked up the guitar again to learn some jazz standards and hone my improv skills. This has been vital to my well-being.

Find something that will stimulate your brain and soul. Make time for it.

Why over-eager helpers lose sales

When it comes to earning the trust of your intended clients (so you can inspire them to buy), we all know it’s important not to be an over-eager seller.

But did you know being an over-eager helper can also cost you sales?

So how do you strike the right balance between helping and selling to maximize sales?

Recently, my ten-year-old daughter, CeCe, shared her frustration about something going on between a group of friends at school. Right away, I saw a potential solution.

“You know what you could try…”

The immediate blank look on her face told me I’d jumped in too soon to offer advice. What she wanted was for me first to show understanding.

We often make the same classic mistake when earning the trust of potential clients in hopes of inspiring them to do business with us.

Broadly speaking, we can divide the process of earning a prospect’s trust into two parts.

3 Reasons Your Customer Base is Not Growing

Want to scale your business beyond the limitations of offering one-to-one services?

Create an online course or group program, right?

Well, yes. But a scalable offer alone won’t get you to your desired level of income, impact, and freedom.

Your entire business model also needs to evolve. That’s why I always work with my clients on three areas of their business.

Positioning: how you are perceived in the mind of the audience you serve.
Platform: the marketing messaging and channels you use to reach that market and attract new customers.
Products: how you deliver your value proposition to the market.

All three need to be scalable. Today, I want to talk about your platform.

I see coaches and consultants make three common and costly main mistakes when scaling their platform to grow their audience and customer base.

One of my biggest mistakes as an entrepreneur

2016 was a rough year for me, even more so than 2020, and dealing with the pandemic. It was the beginning of a couple of years of deep physical and emotional anxiety.

As my inner turmoil increased, my connection to the world diminished.

Go to that networking event? No way, too exhausted. Meet that friend for check-in and chat? I’d just feel inadequate. Put me out there on social media? No. Thank. You.

Unfortunately, this is common when someone deals with mental health challenges: they isolate themselves. Perhaps it’s due to shame. Perhaps it’s because of a lack of energy. Maybe it’s both and more.

As time went on, I isolated myself both personally and professionally more and more. Work opportunities started to dwindle (increasing my anxiety and continuing the cycle). Engagements and invitations stopped coming in. Fresh ideas and inspiration withered.

Bit by bit, my inner chatter told me I was getting less relevant than ever, which fed my sense of fatigue and self-doubt.

Knowing your revenue capacity reveals what’s needed to reach your income goal (or if it’s even possible to reach with your current business model).

Know your revenue capacity to reach your income goal faster

“How much money do you want to make in 2022?”

I recently opened a client coaching session with this question.

She gave me an ambitious but doable revenue goal.

“Great! What ideas do you have so far for reaching that goal?” I asked in response.

She came back with the usual answers.

“Grow my email list.”

“Fill my classes with more people.”

“Maybe raise some of my prices.”

I nodded my head, then asked.

“Do you know your revenue capacity?”

She looked confused.

I looked back at her reassuringly. “Don’t worry; most people don’t know their revenue capacity. That’s why they’ll struggle to meet their income goals. But we’re not going to make that mistake. “

I continued.

“Let’s do a little thought experiment. If you woke up with twice as many people asking to work with you tomorrow, could you serve them all? What about 3x or 5x?”*

She replied, “I’d have to turn a lot of them away.”

This is the same answer many coaches and consultants give in response to this question.

Archive for category: Thought Leadership

Engage Your Curiosity and Awe