Where are you right now?
Not your physical location, but within the context of running your business. I’ve been running my business, along side my father, for the last 8 years. In a few recent interviews on other podcasts, I was asked how I got here. As if ‘here' was the end-game. As if I weren’t trying to get to the next level.
Did they even know there was another level?
This gave me pause to reflect on the many different phases I’ve been through this far, in my business. My feelings are, those of us who struggle to push ourselves to the next level, have not fully defined our past.
How do you know where you want to be if you can’t define where you’ve been?
We love this digital business world we live in because it affords us so many opportunities. We can control our destiny, be as creative as we want to be, and constantly learn new concepts. For entrepreneurs like you and I the accessibility of knowledge, resources, and software on the web is the perfect drug.
Masters of our own destiny and our only competition is the inner critic.
In the Precursor to Greatness, I wrote about the dark times being the era that define us. When it’s so easy to drown ourselves in the content of millionaire owner's “overnight success stories†we lose sight of not only our goals, but our own capabilities.
Let me know if this sounds familiar:
“I keep seeing other digital consultants and boutique agencies charging 5-figures for their work and I can’t seem to get past $1,500. How are they doing this?"
- or -
“Why isn’t my digital product selling like that other woman’s product? I put more effort into my product and it’s way better!"
The reality is this, we haven’t put in the work to define ourselves or our customer yet.
You can't fuck with reality
I’m sorry (not sorry) for cursing, but humor me for a moment:
“I just need to learn this WordPress framework and I’ll be ready to take on this project."
“If I just had a new iPad Air, I could test my mobile apps better."
“If I had more revenue, I could hire a virtual assistant to do customer support."
“If my product was selling, I cold spend more time on marketing."
Familiar?
This is the thing about reality: It’s real. It’s now. It’s not changing until YOU change it. So we can sit here all day long and ponder “if I..†or “I just need…†or “ buying this will…†until the cow’s come home (the etymology of this is quite facinating) but it’s not going to change our reality. We need to act on our current reality to push ourselves to the next level or phase of life/business.
Can you define where you are now?
The Cobbler
You are in the infancy of your business. You may have taken a few small gigs, but it’s nothing serious. You are about to make critical decisions and the “If I just had…†force is strong within you.
The Artist
Full steam ahead! You’re taking on projects and time blocking like a boss. You’re even stopping at a local mixer and passing out business cards. Everything is great except for tax season and the occasional project drought. Time to charge more.
Boutique Bossman
Deep breathe…exhale…smell that? You’re a boss. You have employees or at the very least 1099 contractors that feel part of the team. Glorious! You can close bigger projects (maybe even those 5-figure projects you’ve wanted) and you’re expanding your customer base. But services work is still hard — you still need to sell more — maybe if you had more recurring revenue this wouldn’t be so hard.
Digital Maven
We’ve seen other’s doing it. Bootstrapped SaaS business built off the blood sweat and tears (lots of tears) of web design work. Reinvesting their experiences and money into building a product the whole world wants. There’s just two problems, the world doesn’t know about you and you’re just emerging from being Mrs. Boutique Bossman — how do you juggle this?
Exercise
When you see it on paper, can you identify what the next steps need to be to get to the next level? Let’s look at an example when The Cobbler wants to become The Artist.
The Cobbler
- Still has a day job
- Doesn’t have a client base yet
- Still has a lot of learning to do in the web services industry
- Has enough knowledge to build a WordPress site, but functions.php scares them
- Doesn’t know how to market
- Doesn’t know how to network in the community
The Artist
- Has extensive knowledge of consulting clients
- Is sought after, but occasionally still has to hustle to get a job
- Very comfortable with their abilities
- Has a list of references and other businesses that refer her
- As a solo business, she cannot take on too much work or the overhead of a bigger project
- Still has trouble with building a brand because of the current workload
Going from Cobbler to Artist
Now that we’ve built a small profile of each, it should be much easier to identify how one reaches the next stage. If you’re a Cobbler trying to become an Artist, you can see that you need to sharpen your skills. You need to become much more proficient in a few skills you enjoy.
However, you also see that even the Artist struggles. You have to be careful not to take on too much work by yourself and let yourself breathe to grow your brand. So knowing this, as a Cobbler, what would you do differently to avoid that and leap into becoming a Boutique Bossman sooner than later?
Summary
It’s easy to shield ourselves from reality.
As entrepreneur’s we’re built to see the end game in everything. Sometimes we avoid reality, tricking ourselves into thinking “it will just happen†or “once I get 10 customers..†but then it never happens. What I’ve painted above are a few different profiles that I think most of my audience falls into. I know this because I’ve been through all of those phases, myself.
Can you paint the same scenarios for yourself? I challenge you to this:
- Outline which phases you’ve been in
- What phase you’re at now
- Where you want to be by 2016
Even if you don’t know exactly what that 3rd step will look like — pretend. Write out what it means to you, not just in revenue, but emotionally and with context.
Once you've done this, write back to me, tell me what you've learned.
Can you help me?
Since opening up Matt Report Pro, I’ve received a lot of requests to build a course or workbook that outlines how to start a digital services practice. From learning all things WordPress (community, market, technology) to growing a team and finding customers.
For one, the podcast will shift to covering more digital services topics like our upcoming series, Real Stories from Web Design. I interview folks who help architect projects, who are planning to launch a new website, and from designers who have built $5k to $50k projects. It’s going to fun. :)
Second, I think it’s time to build that course that helps The Cobbler become the Digital Maven and beyond.
If you’re interested in participating in an invite-only beta round of this course, complete these two steps:
- Join this e-mail list
- Tell me why you want to be part of the beta group and especially if you consider yourself a Cobbler or an Artist. (Hit reply after you signup)
I won’t accept everyone. I’m looking to work with a small group of you that are passionate and willing to put in a certain amount of effort. Not interested in the early access but want to be notified when this course launches? Subscribe to my podcast in iTunes and I'm sure you'll hear about it.
I hope today's e-mail has helped in some way. Until next time.
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