Hey there, my fabulous listener, welcome to episode 133 of the Small Business Made Simple Podcast.

Thank you for lending me your ears today – I know you have lots of choices, so I sincerely appreciate me being one of them!

If you’re a first time listener, super super welcome, I am so pleased to have you here.  I am your host Jenn Donovan, and it’s my job, via this podcast, social media and everywhere else actually, to make your business life simpler.

Business can be lonely and hard and complicated and it’s hardly ever easy, but it should be simple or at least simpler, so that’s my commitment you to on the Small Business Made Simple podcast!

One way I help to make your life simpler is by having a group of like-minded business owners all in one stop.  To ask questions, get answers and enjoy the journey of business! If you haven’t joined the Like Minded Business Owners Facebook Group, then hope over there after this episode and join!  Simply search Like Minded Business Owners in Facebook or come to the show notes for the like.  Show notes are at www.socialmediaandmarketing.com.au/133

www.facebook.com/groups/LikeMindedBusinessOwners

This week I’ve had some interesting discussions around the journey of a business owner.

Some people don’t like the word Journey – me, I think it exactly describes what the heck we are doing each day when we turn up to our businesses or jobs! Continuing the journey.

My clients, private and group, come to me at all different stages of their business journey and no matter what stage you’re at there is somewhere else to go – up, down, sideways – business, owning a business is not a linear line – I don’t have to tell you that – pretty sure you have lived 2 steps forward, one step back before!

But I think all of us start at the same place and have the goal to get to the same place.  This is what I call invisible to invincible.

So, this week on the podcast, I thought we’d explore the concepts and journey of a business owner, in the context of going from invisible to invincible and perhaps you will see yourself on the timeline somewhere and get some tips on what it will take to get the next stage.

Caveat – This is NOT a step by step thing – you might be on one level, change something in your business and begin again.

I’ll put a slide in the show notes so you can see what I’m talking about too.

The show notes will be at www.socialmediaandmarketing.com.au/133

Ok, so we all start at INVISIBLE.

We are taking the leap

Starting a new business.

Our passion is high but we need clients – or customers – because every business needs money – and we also need to be seen.

We are, and we feel quite invisible in the noisy and competitive marketplace.

We are trading money for time as we are more than likely in the hustle by ourselves – no money to pay VAs, PAs or staff.

We are in this and giving it our all.  This is the invisible stage, but could also be called our READY, FIRE, AIM stage – we are firing all over the place, taking action, and aiming later!

If this is you, then know you’ve got this!  Remember your WHY and your passion for when it gets tough, and it’s going to get tough – but your Why and passion will pull you through.

Our next stage in the journey is the ACTIVE stage.

Our passion is still high, we are in hustle mode, but we’ve had a few wins.  We might have some clients or customers already and some money is starting to come in.  They might not be the exact clients or customers we want, but we are prepared to take the money!

We are still at the fingers crossed this will work stage and trading our time for money.

But we are learning, implementing and doing the stuff to get seen.

The next stage is the BUSYNESS stage of business.

Oh, and boy do we love the busyness stage!

This is where we are busyness being busy but our bank account just isn’t showing the rewards for effort.  Yes, some money is coming in but we just seem to be busy!

We are doing all the right things that the marketing and business gurus are telling us to do, starting to think about strategies, looking at insights, getting more and more knowledge.

We feel like for the amount of work we are doing, we should be further along the journey – the business just isn’t growing quickly enough.

We have some cash to hire some help in this stage also.  To help with all the busyness!

The daily grind is real here.

The next stage is the CLARITY stage.

We are getting clarity in our messaging, in our strategies, in our marketing, we are attracting the people who want what we sell and know the expertise we bring to the table.  They know us, trust us and like us!

We know our target audience, what we want to be famous for and the money is coming in easier than before.

This is a good stage!  We have help, VAs or PAs and things are going quite well.

Our 5^th stage in business the INFLUENTIAL stage.

At this stage of business, we are in control.  We are the “go-to” person in our industry and attracting the right clients.  Our brand is well established and people know what our brand values are and how they can work with us.  We are starting to work less and earn more.  We influence people in our industry with our expertise and knowledge.

The final stage is the INVINCIBLE stage.

This is where we are completely in love with our business model, our offerings and we are working less and earning more.  We are enjoying the lifestyle and freedom we set out to create when we started our business.

We earn what we are worth, and we are giving back to our communities and making a difference in the world.  We have the income now to outsource all the “jobs” that don’t light us up in our business.

So where do you find yourself on this journey?

At the:

• Invisible stage?
• Active stage?
• Busyness stage?
• Clarity stage?
• Influential stage?
• Invincible stage?

No matter where you are in this journey, the biggest takeaways, I think, are:

• Have goals! Know where you are heading, know what you want from your business – know what freedom and lifestyle looks like for you – what’s the reward at the end of this business thing works?
• Have solid branding – know what your business values are, what you stand for and your why. Express all of these in everything you do.
• Know your ideal client – back to front, front to back. You’ll probably have more than 1, perhaps 2 but you shouldn’t have more than 2 or 3 – it’s too hard to market to them – it’s too broad to get traction.
• Know what you want to be famous for – what are you hanging your hat on? Know it, live it, love it.  You can’t be the “go to” person in your industry if no one knows what you do or who you do it for.

And most importantly, make marketing a priority.

Seriously, the only way to go from being invisible in the busy and crowded marketplace is to tell more people about what you do and how you do it for and why they should buy from you – and the only way to do is to market yourself and your business.

You can’t get to be INVINCIBLE without making marketing a priority in your business.

So what bits do you need to improve on – goals, branding, knowing your ideal client or what you want to be famous for or simply making marketing a priority?

If you’re feeling like you are at a stalemate in your business, do something!  Surprise your audience or surprise yourself – but do something.

Just start marketing – ready, fire, aim – perfection is a trap.

If you want some marketing or business help, don’t forget you can book a discovery chat with me here: https://calendly.com/jenn-smm/discovery

We can have a chat about your goals, your struggles and roadblocks and what’s holding you back and how I can help.

But that’s all for episode 133, I’ll be back next Thursday with another great episode to help you simplify your business in 2021.

If you’re enjoying this podcast, which if you have listened to here – you hopefully are, don’t forget to subscribe, share this episode with another superstar business owner who’s doing the daily grind and would appreciate someone making their business simpler, and leave a rating or review to show how much you are loving this free weekly content.

Massive love coming your way if you do!

See you next week on the podcast for episode 134.  But in the meantime, let’s hang out on social and get social on social – you’ll find me on Instagram, Facebook and my fav LinkedIn.

But whatever you do,

……..remember small business peeps, as my opening song says, there’s no point in dreaming small!