Why Your Business Feels Harder Than It Should | 068

A profit doesn't happen by chance, it happens by design. Let's dig in. Have you ever looked at your business and thought, why does this feel so hard? You're working, you're trying, you're making decisions, you're moving, you're doing everything that you know to do. You think that

you're doing all the things that everyone is telling you to do, and yet at night you fall in bed, exhausted. You're mentally spent, you're emotionally overwhelmed, and your bottom line doesn't look like you want your bottom line to look, and starting this business was supposed to be freedom. Starting

this business was supposed to give you the dream that you wanted, right. So, why does this feel so hard? Why is this harder than it should be? Most business owners think that the answer is to work harder to market more to push, push, push for every aspect of the business, but that usually isn't the real issue.

You're working hard, but you're not seeing the growth, you're not seeing the movement, you're not seeing the profit in your business that you thought that you would be. So this is what I'm hearing from founders when they're in those positions. What I'm hearing is I need more visibility, I've got to get out

there, I've got to get on more platforms, I've got to market more, more eyes on my stuff, and marketing, that's it, that's the solution. I need to be doing all the things that everybody else is doing for their business, and my business needs to look like their business, or better than their business, and visibility

is the problem, or a lot of times it's well, I just, it's me, I'm the roadblock, I'm the one who can't get past it, it's my motivation, my drive, my, it's me, my motivation is what's in the way, and then I hear other people saying, you know what, this is a productivity problem. I'm just not productive

enough, I'm not organized enough, I'm not producing at the level that I need to be producing, and that's that's it's the fault of production and being having that productivity, and then you know more social media, better social media. How can I trick the algorithm, or how can I work the algorithm?

And how, why is it that people aren't seeing me, and it's more social media, better social media, like that's the pinpoint. If I could just get the social media right, and then it's, you know, time management. Oh, it's, you know, I just am bad at managing my time. I'm such a terrible founder, I'm a terrible

entrepreneur. I should be able to be more organized. That's all I need. All I need to do is just figure out the time management thing, and all of these pieces are parts of your business that do need focus, but what I see founders doing is hyper focusing on just that one area with the mistaken belief that fixing that

one thing, that one high level thing, is going to make everything else fall in place. Have you said that? Have you said to yourself, or thought to yourself, or chatted with a friend, it was like, yeah, if I could just fix this one thing, then everything would fall into place. I said it myself, I've

been there, I know what that feels like, but what if the at issue isn't actually those things, those are symptoms of a bigger issue. Those are the symptoms that show you that something is wrong in your business, like when you have sniffles and your ears itch and the back of your throat is

itchy. Those aren't the real problems, right? The problem is I'm having an allergy response. I am. My allergies are kicking my butt right now. I'm scratching the back of my throat. My ears are itchy, my nose is running. Maybe I have a headache. Those are all symptoms of an allergic reaction. Well,

when you're focused on just the marketing, or just the productivity, or just the time management you're really working on a symptom of what's going on in the greater part of your business, so the real issue is often your foundations aren't built out, you don't have the foundation in place that will

actually enable all of the. Things within the system to work, you have very unclear, or in what is it called, whenever it's having a brain moment right here, you have inconsistent, that's the word, inconsistent revenue coming in, and those processes are not optimized, so that you can actually have the

income that you want. The systems are non-existent, inefficient, not built out systems in every area of your business. You know, I have the seven pillars of profit. There's seven areas in your business that you need to have systems built out so that your business can actually run efficiently, so

those systems aren't in place. You have reactive decision making. What's reactive decision making? That's whenever you make a knee-jerk decision in the moment, because you're stressed out, you're overwhelmed, you're frustrated. Time is of the essence, and you have to move. Something has gone wrong, and

you need to fix it. So, you're making knee-jerk reactions, or you're just making high-level, like whatever comes to mind first decisions, without looking at the whole picture, because there just isn't time, and you just feeling overwhelmed, so you become very reactive in your decision making, and then the

other thing, and this is everybody out there, you could raise your hand if you do this, because I know you do, everybody does it, trying to do everything, all everything at the same time, right, we're multiple priorities, we're juggling all the things at the same time, and we're trying to

divide our focus, and so there's all these things coming up that are not given the attention and precision that they need, because we, our time and our focus and our energy is so dispersed that we're not making good decisions in those places. So, here's the thing: a business cannot outperform its foundation

if you have weaknesses and gaps in your foundation that are causing your visibility issues, that are causing your time management issues, that are causing your motivation issues. If there are weaknesses and gaps in your foundation, then your business can't grow beyond a certain point. You have to go

back and fix those things. You have to put that in place, so that you have the power and the authority and the permanence of your foundation to make those moves to build your business to scale your business to take your business to the level that you want to take it. Those foundational pieces are

essential, and you know, I know this firsthand. I know this from working in my businesses, whenever I have when When I don't have my systems built out, when I am not sure of what I need to do in my business, that is the exact moment that things fail. That's when I'm making decisions from, hey, this sounds

really good, I guess this will work, as opposed to actually looking at the totality of the business, and what does that actually mean for that moment. For example, whenever I, you know, we needed a piece of equipment, and we had to, we had to make decisions about, you know, what piece of equipment

are we going to buy. Well, if we just go out and buy that piece of equipment, and because that's what we need, it needs to be here, and we just go out and buy a piece of equipment, because it's the one that everybody else is buying, it says it's going to do what it's going to do, we need it, and we're just going to

go ahead and do it when we make decisions like that, like we're going to make a big purchase in our business, and we just do it without looking at the bigger picture. Sometimes we get the wrong piece of equipment, so maybe what everybody else is saying is great, but it's not necessarily going to work in our

business for what we need it to do. Sometimes we pay way too much for it, because that, you know, if we had done a little bit of research, that exact piece of equipment is available somewhere else for less money, and we, you know, we could have waited or made it done the research and bought it at a

lesser price, or we could have, if we had figured out the timing of it properly, we could have waited till we had a specific job in where we made enough money to pay for that piece of equipment outright, and then not be digging into the into the cash reserves, right, going into the cash reserves and taking out

money to. Buy a piece of equipment, if we had, you know, done the research and figured out the whole picture, instead of making that knee-jerk reaction, and just doing something because everybody else is doing it, and everybody else says this is the right one, without making sure that it

worked in our business. Those are the kinds of things that we, you know, it's not laziness. We weren't stupid, we did, but we didn't do, we didn't do our due diligence, we didn't look into every aspect and make sure that this is exactly what's going to work for us. And so, you know, when you make big purchases in

your business, and then they end up being the wrong purchases that has long term repercussions that isn't just, hey, I spent an extra $5 at lunch today, that actually has repercussions in your business. So when we get into reactivity mode and we are making decisions based on high level things and not looking at

the big picture, it can have repercussions long term, because now not only do we have we dipped into our cash reserves, we have limited our ability to make other purchases, we have enabled, opened up an opportunity for things to fall through the cracks, and you know, now instead, instead of

hitting our goals, our sales goals, now we have increased them to the degree that we now have to pay for that piece of equipment, and just, you know, it's very when you don't have the systems in place, when you don't know your numbers, when you don't know what's going on in your business, when you don't

have time to make quality decisions, then you have, then you set yourself up for failure, you set yourself up to put yourself back a step in your business, as opposed to moving your business forward, when you know, this is this can break down into, you know, weak systems, unclear priorities,

without, you know, just buying this because somebody said that that's that's what we need right now, doesn't mean that that was the correct, correct priority, because we weren't clear about what our priorities were, so we're working against ourselves when we have that inconsistent process in the background to to

tell us what to do, when to do it, and how to do it, so that it actually moves us forward as opposed to putting us back. So, what I mean by that is, you know, if you know that you need a piece of equipment, we're just going to stick with that example. Whatever the choice is, whatever the decision in your

business is, if you know that you need to do that, then you can plan for that. What happens is, when you don't have your foundational pieces built out, and you don't understand what's going on at the foundational level of your business, then you're making reactive decisions that have repercussions you did

not expect. When you can make decisions based on the foundation that you've set up, and you can look at numbers, and you can look at how money is coming in and going out, and, and we, you know, have this priority, and you can look at your priorities, and you can look at the systems and the

processes that you have in place. Then, when you know all of that, that is data, that is knowledge, that is the power that actually can drive your business, when you can make decisions, particularly big decisions, but any decision, when you know what your business needs to survive and move

forward and make money and build and scale, then the decision making becomes easier. If we needed a piece of equipment back to the equipment example, and we had actually had the pieces in place to buy that piece of equipment appropriately at the right time, the right piece of equipment that would work with

with our customers and our processes that would do the job that we needed it to do, then we are making making decisions from a position of power and knowing all of those that information reduces the amount of decision fatigue that you go through, because it takes away the question, right? Is this the

right time? Is this the right thing? Is this, you know, all of the things that we, you know, to, should I have done that? All of the, all of the emotional pieces around making a big purchase go away when you have everything laid out, when you have the processes in place, the systems in place, the strong

foundation that you can build from, because you're building from a position of power. Power and authority and knowledge, you will be less exhausted, because how exhausting is it to run a business? It is exhausting to know all of these things, and to have to make decisions on the fly, and to have to manage time,

and do all of those things whenever everything is coming at you, and you have to run a business, and you have to make money, and you have to do all the things, and you're wearing all of the hats. That's just absolute exhaustion. And another thing that you get from having this base knowledge of this base

power knowledge base, this base knowledge base of power. I'm trying to figure out the best way to say that. This powerful knowledge base. Hey, how about that? When you have this powerful knowledge base, you have confidence that the decisions that you're making are the decisions that are going to

move your business forward and not the decisions that are going to move your business in the other direction. So it gives you confidence when you have these things in place, you have, you have consistent revenue. You're not always one month up and one month down, and $2,000 here and $0 there, and $10,000 and $1,000

You can actually get consistent about your revenue, and that's the place where we really want to be consistent, if we can have systems in our in place that have consistent revenue week after week, month after month, year after year. That's the place where you can actually increase and grow that feeling

of being always behind, why is it that no matter what I do, I am always behind. Have you ever gone home and put your head down and just said, I don't understand? Why is this happening? Why am I always feeling like I'm behind? That's that. That is something that can be eliminated when you, when you

have these powerful, when you have this powerful foundation, and you know, let's be honest, sometimes that business that we started because of something that we loved, that business that we started because we wanted to make a difference in the world, that business that we started because we're really

good at something. All of those things make us feel like when we don't have control of all of this stuff, it makes us feel like, why, why did I even start this business? And you start to doubt yourself, you lose your confidence, and you start to resent your business, and you start, and you've lost your joy,

and that is a place that we get whenever we are constantly playing catch up with the decisions that we've made, because we are worried about visibility, and we're worried about marketing, and how productive can I be, and how productive is my business, and what about the social media, and

what about my time management, and all of these things that we see as problems in front of us that are actually symptoms that itch on the roof of your mouth, that the itchy ear, that the sniffly nose, those are all symptoms, they're actually not the problem, so it's important that we focus on fixing the

foundation, identifying the problem, and then being able to fix that problem, and this is where you know this is where a lot of founders find themselves business owners are like this is just way this is just what it feels like to be in my business, and we've normalized the dysfunction of feeling like

everything is always on fire, and now we can't even feel the heat anymore, and when a business is built on reactivity, even success feels dysfunctional, even when we're doing well, even when we're making the money, even when we are moving forward. It doesn't feel like success, it feels like

overwhelm, it feels like frustration, because, because we're, you know, we're focusing on these things up here that are the symptoms instead of actually treating the problem and the actual cause of the issue, so you know, we've talked about it, we've talked about what does this cost you when you're

running your business like this, it costs you energy, it costs you stalled growth, unpredictable revenue, and most importantly, and most overwhelmingly, and most frequently is the burnout. Right, we are just done, and we're running. Every day being done with everything, without

replenishing our energy stores, without replenishing us taking care of the business owner, and you know your business is only as healthy as you are, without taking care of you and focusing on taking care of you, without focusing on what's really going on, what is the cause and not the symptoms. So stop asking,

what else should I do? What else should I add to the list? What else do I need to do? Why, what do I need to to fix what's what more can I do? What more can I do? You're looking out here, what more marketing, what more visibility, what more time management, what more productivity, more and more and

more and more and more. What else can I do? I have to do something. There's something out there that's missing, and I can't see it, and I know if I could just find that one thing that's out there. My business would be better. I would feel better. My business would make more money. So, stop asking what

else should I add, and start looking inside your business. Look at what's going on in the actual operations of your business? What do I do every day in my business that is unnecessarily complicated? Every time I answer an email, I write it out from scratch. Every customer email that comes in

asking the same question, I write it differently every time. Am I making that task unnecessarily complicated? And this is going to require you to step away and look at your business from as if you were a stranger and you didn't know what was going on, because what happens is we get so caught up

in our and in the way we do things all the time, in our habits, and that kind of thing. It really is going to take you an opportunity to step back and look objectively at what's going on in your business. One of the exercises that we did in college, when I was studying acting, was our my acting

teacher said to us, go home, and when you take a shower, shower in the opposite way of doing everything. If you use the wash rag in your right hand, put it in your left hand. If you start at your shoulder, start at your feet. Do everything in a different order, do it differently, because when we do

something because of habit, when we do something that we do all the time, we cannot see it, we cannot feel it, we cannot experience it, because it's gone back into long-term memory, and we're just doing it like we drive a car, right? We know how to drive the car, we don't focus on every little thing that we

do, because it's become automatic, and when we do those things in our business that are automatic, it takes us the deliberate action of looking at it from the perspective of someone who's never seen it before. So all of these things are going to require that kind of perspective, as if you've

never seen it before, and am I making this task in front of me unnecessarily complicated? What is going on in my business that I am not crystal clear on? When I am, you know, ordering something, is that am I crystal clear that that's the right deal, that that's the right fits within my budget. Do you have a

budget for purchasing those things? What is unclear in your business, and get clear on that. Ask yourself, what is inconsistent? What do I do differently every single time in my business? What is constantly changing because I did it differently this time and I didn't focus on how I did it.

What is inconsistent in your business? This is one that is a big one. What in your business is entirely dependent on you and only you? Where in your business is something that only you do and no one else does it? And is that thing that you do and only you do can it be delegated to someone else? What in your

business is leaking energy and money and momentum? Look at your business and focus on one thing. So, I've given you several ideas of where to look in your business, and then here's going to be the challenge for you: stop trying to do more, strengthen what's underneath your business, and choose. One

thing, look at one thing this week, choose one thing, and ask that question: What is it unnecessarily complicated? Is it unclear? Is it inconsistent? Is it dependent entirely on me, and is it costing me time and money and energy and momentum, look at that one thing and see what's going on just there. Ask

yourself, what's driving the revenue here? What creates the consistency? What creates confusion, especially when you have a team, you need to make sure that what you're going, what you're telling one another is clear, that everybody's speaking the same language. With your clients, you need to be

clear, everyone needs to understand things the way you mean them, and that they get what you're saying, and not just, well, I said it, and they heard something else. You need to, as a business owner, here's a little sidebar. As a business owner, it is critical for you to understand what your customers

are hearing when you say something, because you can say something and they hear what they want to hear, and when they hear what they want to hear, that is not what you meant that sets sets up an unrealistic expectation between the two of you, so it needs to be clear of confusion. You need to be really

specific about how you say things to clients and how you communicate with your staff and your team members, and where am I operating reactively instead of strategically, look at what you're doing as the business owner. Is this decision? Is this action? Is this thing I'm about to do a reaction to something up

here? We're reacting to the symptoms, or are we actually being strategic and looking at the core problem, so this is that's my challenge for you this week. Look at one thing I know I talked about a whole lot of stuff, and if you try to implement everything that we talked about in this podcast,

you're just going to muddy the waters. So listen to if you have to listen to it again, or look back at your notes, or whatever resonated with you, and choose one thing to look at in your business. And I have a gift that I'm going to offer to you. It is my profit growth audit. The profit growth audit will

actually look at all seven pillars of profit in your business, all seven areas where you need to have systems and structures in place, so that you can be profitable and have a solid profit building business. And that's going to be my free gift to you. It's a self evaluation, and you'll get the

numbers back right away. And you can go, oh, look, this is an area, because if you just look at your business and you go, I don't know where to start, this will be a great place where you decide where to start, look at that, you know what area where you score the lowest, and say something in this area,

something in the in in the thing you do pillar needs some attention, something in the mission map needs attention, and then that can help you choose the one thing, and if you know already, know from listening to this podcast exactly what that one thing is, then go do that one thing. Ask those questions,

don't look out there, look inside your business and figure out where those cracks are, where the gaps are, and how you can move forward one thing at a time, asking those questions and really focusing on how to improve the things that you're doing inside your business without having to look out at

everything else going on out there, so, so, how do you get that free gift, the profit growth audit? It's really easy. You're going to go to Profit Connectors dot club, that's Profit Connectors dot c l u b, that's the website address, and that will take you to our portal. Inside the portal,

you'll get access to the profit growth strat, the profit growth audit, and gifts and bios from all of our speakers that have ever been on our podcast, that's all inside the portal, and you can listen to the podcast from there. You can get those free gifts, it's free to anyone. So, go to Profit Connect Doors,

because you are doing the connecting, Profit Connect Doors dot c l u b, that's our club, and get the profit growth audit for yourself today. It only takes a few minutes. You can take it and implement it right away. Choose one thing, go ahead and get really, really clear on that one thing this week.

Remember, it's important as you're growing, as you're growing. Creating what you want to have in your business, the change that you want to see in the world. Build with clarity, lead with purpose. And thank you for listening. I'll catch you next time.

Bye.