Self Employed Success

Did you know your business runs in cycles? The key to a successful business is to begin the process of change, growth and/or innovation before the preceding cycle of success runs out.

In the past few months, I’ve had an influx of prospective clients come to me with these exact words: “I want to reinvent my business.”  I thought:  Cool! Me, too!

For me, I want to shake things up a bit. Running my business is too easy for me. There’s not a lot of day-to-day challenge and I don’t feel like I’m reaching my full potential. Heck, I don’t know what my full potential IS — but I know I’m not there yet. Have you ever felt like that?

A great way to keep growing personally and professionally is to keep reinventing your business model without completely wiping away everything you’ve done in the past. Take all your experience and knowledge, plus any new goals and lifestyle changes, and make a plan for your future business.

Reinventing Your Business Model

There are lots of reasons why people reinvent their business model. Here are some of the ones I’ve heard recently:

• One of my clients needs to take her business completely virtual so that she can travel extensively with her husband, who retired early.
• Another client said he wants to make more money so that he can send his kids to college in a few years.
• One of my business colleagues wants to expand the services and products he offers to his customer base, to be more “full service” and have multiple streams of income.
• One of my favorites is a colleague who wants to make her business completely based on passive income by selling educational products about her field of expertise. So not only is she reinventing what she offers her audience but her marketing model as well!
• And last but not least, one colleague wants to completely reinvent herself, sell her existing business, and take everything she knows and loves, creating a whole new career/business for herself.

Do any of these sounds like you? If yes, are there specific reasons why you’re transforming your business or marketing model, or just a gut feeling you have? I’d love to hear your comments!

Michael asks, “How can I get funding for my new small business venture?”

Watch this video on YouTube: 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xVJLCW9B5e8

Got a question for me about growing your business? Ask your questions here:

http://www.AskKarynAnything.com

New videos will be posted each Tuesday.

I got to be a student over the past few months! I signed up for a free ecourse on graphic design called Design 101.

Why would I take time to learn graphic design? After all, I’m no artist. 

Because people WILL judge you on the quality of your marketing materials. And they may chose to read or ignore your message depending on whether it catches their attention, and whether it looks professional or like the work of an amateur. Sorry, that’s just the way life is.

I don’t have to tell you that good graphic design can have a significant impact on your marketing materials. You already know it. So I signed up for a free “Design 101″ ecourse that helps small biz owners learn the basics of graphic design, from Pamela Wilson of Big Brand System.

Sometimes you can’t afford to hire a graphic artist to do the work for you. Or you’d really like to learn the basics of graphic design yourself so that you can make sure your marketing materials look great and bring results (and are consistent with your brand, a major big deal, folks.)

Check out Pamela’s free Design 101 ecourse here.

In this episode of Ask Karyn Anything, Delia asks, “How can I get clients to keep returning?”

Got a question for me about growing your business? Ask your questions here:

http://www.AskKarynAnything.com

New videos will be posted each Tuesday.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u99yU4kB6uU

Something’s in the air!

Everywhere I turn recently, I keep running into people who tell me stories about how they are changing their business model, reinventing the way they do business, modifying the products/services they offer, and shifting who their target audience is.

Some say they’re feeling restless: that they know something is going to change in their business but they’re not clear yet exactly what the new model will look like. They’re exploring all the options to find the new formula that works for them.

Others know exactly the direction they’re moving in and just need to work out an action plan. One colleague said to me, “I’m itching and ready to take action, if only I knew what the right action should be!”

I’ve been feeling the same way. I know my business is morphing. I won’t reinvent it from the ground up, but instead I’ll take all my knowledge and experience, and redefine what services and products I offer my audience. Some services will go away, some will stay the same, new ones will be added.

I’m seeing some recurring themes about why people are reinventing their business, and I’ll explore the range of reasons in another blog post. There’s no right or wrong reason for reinventing your business, just like there’s no fixed definition of what “reinvention” means to you and your biz.

Just trust your gut instinct. If you know something isn’t quite right with your current business model, trust your thoughts and feelings on the matter. You may not know exactly where you’re going, but the reinvention journey is a path worth exploring.

I’m interested to hear your comments. Are you reinventing your business, too? Where are you in your thinking about your new biz model?