The world doesn't stop for anyone. It's easy to force yourself to go, go, go. But, in that push you can cause more damage than good.
Slowing down can have incredible benefits for both you and your business, especially your marketing.
In this quick read my goal is to help you understand
Avoid flying by the seat of your pants.
The most common problem I see entrepreneurs and small business owners describe is they continue running themselves ragged without a plan or sense of true direction.
Things happen, life changes, challenges arise, stress compiles, and these pressures can cause trouble like:
Brain fog
Lack of motivation
Forcing yourself to execute things that don't really connect with you or your audience
Burning yourself out on tasks that don't yield results
When you are both without a destination and pushing ourselves beyond what we can truly do, you can actually cause unintentional roadblocks in your business and life.
Imagine you spend hours upon hours on a new product (or service), despite exhaustion you drive yourself to finish what you've decided in your mind is incredibly important to your success...
However, because you're attempting a huge expedition without a map you've unintentionally missed your audience... That goal you had set in your mind comes and goes, leaving you feeling even more drained and disconnected.
5 Steps to evaluate and identify the disconnect and slow down.
The first step to creating change in your marketing and ultimately the results to your hard work, is to understand what's going on right now.
Use this 5 steps series to get started and embrace your slow down era:
What is happening? Get clear on what you're feeling is a source of trouble, disconnect, or failure in your work.
(Ex. I'm posting nonstop but getting no reach on social media, I need sales now.)
What is the result? Identify with available data and your personal knowledge the results.
(Ex. It feels like I'm posting just to post, I'm stressed and feeling like it's easier to just not create content; looking at the data I can see I've I'm missing opportunities and wasting time.)
Where is the problem or pain I'm experiencing stemming from? The goal here is to dig in to both your personal pain and the pain of your business. If it's a pain in your life like not enough time with your family, look honestly at where your time is going
(Ex. Because I'm so drained mentally, my work takes 10x longer it feels like, and what I'm doing isn't connecting to my audience at all where it is now.)
Is there clear value to my life, business, and/or audience in this effort? Is there a disconnect happening that is caused by something that in reality serves no purpose? The goal of this step is to be sure you're time, energy, and effort are going to things that are supportive of your life and business. If they are not this is the step to dig deeper and ask yourself 'why' until you get to the answer.
(Ex. Because I'm not reaching or connecting with my audience on social media, I'm not getting the exposure I want limiting myself to platforms. I know based on direct feedback that this content serves my audience, I do believe it has value to my business, and I enjoy creating it.
How can I better align my needs and actual efforts to alleviate this? Now that you've identified the root of the disconnect and confirmed the value of the work at hand, you can start to make improvements.
(Ex. I can commit to supporting my vision with content strategy and planning, focused on the most important pieces/places first. I'm going to put more effort into content on my website first for search-ability and repurpose content for social media while I test the audience more.)
Slow down and realign your efforts.
When we slow down, it gives our mind the opportunity to take hold of our purpose.
To move ahead and realign your efforts, ask yourself - what does progress look like?
Depending on your stage, progress and wins can look foundational to a business who has a fully functioning system, assets, and processes in place.
Likewise, progress that may feel simple to a large company with a big team and unlimited resources is simply not going to have the same definition as a small to medium sized business owner, who if they took on the other progress goal would hinder their own growth.
Slow down, stay in the moment, and support your audience wherever they are.
When you do this effectively, you're also directly supporting your own body and mind.
The less stress and disconnect there is for you, the more ease and flow you'll experience in your business.
Do you need support in creating an actionable strategy for your marketing, I'm here to help.
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