Is there anything more daunting, more puzzling, and more exhausting than building an online business … from scratch … on your own?
You have 3,487 things to do, are constantly thinking over (and maybe over-thinking!) every single aspect of running your business, and are terrified you’ll ultimately fail. Not knowing what to focus on next or seeing how you’ll get everything done can lead to some serious overwhelm.
Being stuck like this is a serious problem, because while you’re crouched in a corner crying your eyes out, your business is languishing and – even worse – you’re not making any money. (Sound familiar? I’ve been there, too, so you’re in good company!)
Luckily I’ve got the perfect solution. With this simple-to-follow, can’t-fail strategy, you can beat the business-building overwhelm that’s got you frozen and get back to being productive.
The Real Reason You’re Overwhelmed
People experience overwhelm for many different reasons, and I believe it’s important to know why you’re feeling this way if you want to solve this problem.
If, for example, your business is still in the early stages, your overwhelm may be tied to information overload. If your business is much more established, you may be in a situation where you’ve taken on too much and overloaded yourself.
Somewhere in the middle, in the business-building stage, solopreneurs tend to get overwhelmed because they know how much work is still ahead of them and genuinely believe they have to tackle every single task right away and complete them all to perfection.
But that leads to some really big (and overwhelming!) questions, like:
- Where do you start when everything is equally important?
- How much time do you invest in any one thing when there simply isn’t enough time in the day?
- How do you know when you’ve done something well enough to move on to something else?
- What if none of your hard work pays off?
This (false) sense of urgency and seemingly impossible ability to prioritize creates an intense amount of pressure that would make anyone crumble. It’s no wonder the natural response to this kind of overwhelm is feeling utterly stuck and frozen!
My Personal Recommendation for YouSteal This! My Rock-Solid System for Getting It All Done (& Having a Life)But here’s where your overwhelm really comes from…
The root of all of this is actually really simple: You think it’s all more important than it really is!
Let me explain…
It’s a common belief that you absolutely must have a complete web presence, a beautiful website, a flawless home page, great blog content – everything (you name it!) totally done and perfect-perfect – before you can put yourself and your business out there, get clients, and start making money. People believe that all of those components are so vitally important to building a business that it would be foolish to start approaching prospective clients without them.
Well, I hope you’re sitting down because what I’m about to say may shock you: NOTHING COULD BE FURTHER FROM THE TRUTH!
My most successful client of all time – someone on her way to pulling in a million dollars this year – was getting clients, making money, and doing work she loved well before she had a web presence that appropriately showcased her budding business. In fact, her home page, about page, and opt-in offer at that time were for her old business – not even the one she was marketing and making money with.
If that’s not enough to shake the urgency and perfectionism right out of you, I don’t know what is!
My Personal Recommendation for YouHow to Stop Fear & Perfectionism from Holding You BackStop the Madness with One Simple Strategy
Now that you know the source of your overwhelm, it’s time to put a stop to it.
It’s helpful to think of building a business as having two related but distinct categories:
- Creating and updating your web presence
- Getting clients
What you’re probably doing is thinking of ALL THE THINGS you need to do to have a great web presence and ALL THE WAYS you could be getting clients. With so much stuff pinging around your head all the time, it’s no wonder you’re freaking out. (My clients talk about this all the time!)
The key to getting past this is taking control and prioritizing the thing that matters most to your business – getting clients. No matter what service you provide, who you help, or how much money you’ve earned so far, a steady flow of clients is the lifeblood of your business.
Maintain a firm focus by choosing three particular methods of getting clients; while you’re working away at those things, choose one task from your web-presence list to take on and work at it until it’s done.
Got that? I’ll say it again…
Pick three client-getting techniques and do them over and over and over again like your life and your business depend on them (because they do!). At the same time, chip away at one website-related task (and only one!), moving on to the next only when you’ve completed the previous one.
Keeping things at this three-to-one ratio is guaranteed to help you keep overwhelm at bay as you grow your business.
How to Get More Clients
If you want to make money and grow your business, your priority should be getting clients – not being a website perfectionist. Tweet that! And if you’re not sure how to actually get clients, I can help!
Sign up for my free Make It Work Online workshop today and learn the no-fail, three-phase approach to building a sustainable, profitable business.
Tell Me What You Think
I’m always refining my approach to solving your biggest business-building problems, and in doing that I really get so much value out of your feedback. Let me know what you think about my solution to this overwhelm problem in the comments. Tell me…
Are you currently experiencing this kind of overwhelm?
If so, do you think my strategy for overcoming it could work for you?
What might keep you from taking this advice on board?
Are there other ways you’ve balanced the demands of creating a web presence and getting clients?
Please, share your insights below!
Information overload kept me stuck for a loooong type. I like to be an expert but I realised that although I can be an expert coach and NLP Practioner. I can’t be an expert at all of the other jobs I was trying to do too. I couldn’t afford a VA when I started so I did do everything alone but simplifying everything and not comparing myself to others who were further ahead than me were the most important lessons I learned.
I think overwhelm is a fact of life and inevitable at times but the right strategies and mindset mean we can lessen the impact and recover faster.
Yes, overwhelm is always going to be right there, ready to tear us down if we let it. When we decide to not let it take us down and use strategies to help us keep moving forward, we do. I’m so glad that you stopped comparing yourself to others. That never helps! Keep up the good work!
I like the idea of the 3:1 ratio. I am in the beginning of developing content for a new site, so in the research phase but I imagine when I launch, I will need to figure out how to balance continued research with finding clients/building my list. I think the 3:1 ratio will work very well here!
It totally is a balancing act all the time. The 3:1 should keep you in check and keep you growing. Best of luck with your launch!
Hi Jenny.
Thanks for the article. You said we should focus on getting clients, but Isn’t this kind of a catch 22?
For instance, I feel most people want to see your website you can send them and take you more seriously or feel you’re legit.
There is alot of stuff out there that says if you’re going to put yourself out there, be Professional, however, I feel like it’s alot of pressure & I’m trying to keep up with these amazing brands.
Also, when you’re trying to get a client and don’t have a website, what are alternatives beside visit my website to learn more about what I do?
You bring up a great point, and that’s where a lot of people get confused. They think they need to have a perfect website to get clients, but they don’t! That’s why too many people spend days and months (or longer) perfecting their site before they get clients. If you’re getting out in the world — either in person or online — people will get to know YOU as a person and learn about what you do. They’ll trust that connection that you create over any words on your website. It’s those personal connections that lead to your first clients.
I love to tell the story of my most successful client to-date. She’s on her way to hitting a million dollars this year. And when she started with me, her website did not speak to her target clients; it was focused on an entirely different market. But she went out there, interacted in Facebook groups, showed up as a helpful person, and grew her business. It wasn’t until she was really clear on that value she brought to her clients and how to speak to them that I had her go back and update her website.
Because truly, you can’t have a very clear website if you don’ have experience with clients. So yes, it sounds like a catch-22 and you’re not alone in thinking that. And the way to jump out of that catch is to go out there and market yourself as an awesome, helpful person, get clients (even if they’re free ones), and start building a reputation. Sure, you should work on your site, but not endlessly, because a perfect website will never bring you clients — only going out there and getting them will.
Hope this helps clear things up!