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.
Over the years, I’ve had an influx of prospective clients come to me with these exact words: “I want to rethink 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. 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 rethinking and redesigning 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.
Redesigning Your Business Model
There are lots of reasons why people redesign 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 favorite stories 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 redesigning what she offers her audience but her marketing model as well!
- And last but not least, one colleague wants to completely redesign herself, sell her existing business, and take everything she knows and loves, creating a whole new career/business for herself.
Do any of these sound like you? If yes, are there specific reasons why you’re transforming your business or marketing model, or just a gut feeling you have?
Step Into Your Leadership Potential
I think you said it best when you described how your business was feeling too easy for you to run. That’s the point when you know you need to shake things up or it can turn into a bad situation very fast.
If you are not facing a challenge, or planning your next ‘big thing’ to focus on in your business you are not reaching your full potential!
I have many projects going at one time, so right when one of them starts to smooth itself out I turn to one of the other projects that needs some moving and shaking to stir up some ideas and creativity as to how we can better assist our clients.
Great article!!!
For me personally, continual working towards my full potential is really important (as long as I take time to smell the roses along the way!). But I’m also hearing from others that now is the time they want to reinvent their business to back off a bit from business and do other things with their lives. The more I talk with folks, the more I see so many different reasons why people give their businesses a “facelift.” 🙂
I want to reinvent my business because I want to move onto to new and exciting things. I love to learn and share what I’ve learned, but once I’m done with a project or product I want to move on. I don’t want to get stuck in a rut and I want to give all my ideas a chance.
I think, for me, it’s not so much about reinventing my business, but reinventing HOW I run my business.
Sandy, do you find that you want to work with the same audience but just do something different for them? Or you really want to shake things up and start from scratch?
My entire business is based on reinvention. After I reinvented myself completely I had so many clients come to asking HOW that it became my business. And the key I’ve found is it all starts with a passion – which is not always easy to figure out.
Cheers
That’s so true, Michael, knowing what you’re passionate about, what you want in life, what you value — that takes a bit of thinking and meditating. So what’s your passion, Michael?
My changes are coming out of a few places:
-I’m tired of working in certain markets as a writer. My tolerance for bad clients is growing higher and I simply won’t put up with some people I would have willingly accepted years ago (ie: fuzzy writing needs, late payments, etc).
-I’m needing to scale back my business because of health.
-I want to move to an editor/publisher model rather than a ghostwriter.
I’ve been a subscriber for a few months and your posts are really helping me structure my business properly.
I noticed recently that I reinvent my business almost every two years. And as some years it was out of necessity (market changes etc.) other times it is just me getting a bit bored and trying to shake things up a bit.
Not sure if that’s good but so far it’s been working really well for the company.