As a business owner, do you ever feel like you’re constantly being told that you should do certain things? I don’t know about you, but I feel like there are enough pressures in running a business without being told that you are doing it wrong. You can end up feeling totally inadequate and that is BS.
What I would argue is that there is no “one size fits all in business”. Actually as a larger lady my experience tends to be “one size fits all” definitely won’t fit me … again, another thing in life that seems to designed to make you feel inadequate. But I digress.
What I believe is that everyone should find their own way in business. There are many approaches you can adopt, so find the one that suits you and if you can’t find one then come up with your own! What works brilliantly for one person might be the downfall of another.
Here are five things that I feel I’m constantly being told I should be doing … but am actively choosing to take a different path.
1. I should be running an online business
I run a web design business and one of the things that has always appealed to me about it is that I can work with anyone whether they’re down the road from me or across the other side of the world. And I do have clients that aren’t local to me. But in reality, the majority of my clients are based in the same county as me (I’m in Cornwall in the UK) and I love the fact that I can meet them in person.
When Covid hit in 2020 and we went into lockdown, I lost the in-person connection for a while and started spending more time in the online business world. It’s an amazing place, isn’t it? And the potential is really exciting. But it resulted in me feeling like I was playing it too small by being a “local business”. I found myself saying things like “up until now I’ve been running a small local business but now I’m exploring ways to widen my reach”. That doesn’t sound terrible, does it? But by doing that I lost a part of my identity for a while.
Over the last few months, I’ve been reconnecting with the idea of being a local business and am finding the experience positively joyful.
These days I would describe my business model as hybrid – I’m part local and part online. Hey, I want the best of both worlds!
2. I should niche down
The other thing that is talked about a lot in the world of online business is niching down. This means defining what your business offers and who it’s for in a very targeted way. Sounds great! Don’t get me wrong, it can be really effective.
But it’s something that I struggle with. If I start thinking about niching down it goes something like this “WordPress websites for small businesses” but I’m left feeling like that’s not “niche enough”. More defined, more defined, I hear you cry! I could say something like “I build WordPress websites for female entrepreneurs offering mindset coaching”. Yes, I could do that. And that would fit well with the online business side of things.
But if I tried to offer that to the businesses in my local area I would struggle. And in reality, one of the things I love about what I do is that I work with a variety of businesses and organisations. It makes it interesting! At any one time I could be building an ecommerce shop for a designer-maker, a brochure website for a financial adviser and a booking site for a holiday let. It makes life interesting, and I can never talk myself into moving away from that.
3. I should be posting on social media every day
Do you feel pressure to be constantly creating content and posting it across the various social media channels? I do and I end up feeling like I’m failing because I’m not. Maybe I should be hopping on a live now and talking to my audience (hello mum!). But, but, but … I just don’t have the time for it.
Sometimes I really wish that I could spend more time creating content, because it’s something that I enjoy when I get into the zone. Like writing this blog post!
But I’ve recently come to the realisation that I shouldn’t beat myself up about it. Instead, what I’m doing is recognising where I get the best results from when it comes to marketing (in my case networking) and working out a strategy for “just enough” content to give people an idea of what I’m about.
4. I should be selling, selling, selling
Yes, I should be making sales in my business. But I can’t get away from the fact that selling can sometimes feel a bit icky. I don’t like being sold at – I don’t like people calling me out of the blue to try and sell me something (I always assume it’s a scam anyway); I don’t like being added to mailing lists (email or postal) without my permission; and I don’t like someone starting up a conversation with me in my DMs and it quickly becoming apparent that all they want to do is sell me their program. I don’t like it being done to me and I don’t like doing it to other people.
Okay, maybe I’m spoilt. Over the years my business has come to me from making connections through networking and referrals. Word of mouth is a wonderful thing!
But there’s another side to this as well. When you do business training you get taught a lot about how to market your business and sell. And it can feel like that’s all it’s about – make that sale and move on to the next one! Hey, you also need to do the work you know. Deliver what you’ve sold, to the best of your ability. Give your clients a damn good experience so they want to keep working with you. Don’t forget that!
So instead of constantly striving for that next sale, I work hard at providing the best possible service I can to my clients, and relationship building. Trust me, new work comes from that.
5. I should be manifesting my success
There is so much about manifesting, particularly if you spend time in the world of female entrepreneurship. I was going to say that it’s also an online business thing, but it’s not confined to online. I first came across the concept of manifestation through in-person networking. And the impression I got from that was that you were supposed to think of something you wanted and then wait for the universe to provide. Would it upset you if I used the vomit emoji at this point? Yes, I have quite a reaction to it.
What bothers me about manifestation is that I find it disempowering. I want to feel like I achieve success through my own actions, not because it came to me from some invisible force. Okay maybe I’m not the most spiritual of people, I’m much happier with my to-do list and spreadsheets. But please don’t take my power away by saying that my success comes from anything other than my own actions.
Now, I’m not saying that the above won’t work for anyone. I do have strong views on the manifesting thing, but that’s a whole other conversation. What I’m saying is, don’t just blindly follow what others are saying. There is an awful lot of noise out there, particularly on social media. You’ll find people saying “you must absolutely do this” but, you know what, they might not be 100% right.
I would encourage you to have the confidence to find your own way. Try different approaches to see if they work for you – if they do use them, if not find a different way. And please don’t find yourself not being able to move forwards because you’re fixated on something that you’re being told you should do when it just doesn’t suit you.
How do you feel about being told what you should be doing? Comment with your experiences below.