How many times have you gotten stuck in your business and thought the answer was to plan, strategize, and learn more?
How many webinars have you watched? PDFs have you downloaded?
How many notebooks and Google docs have you filled with detailed outlines for future offers and dream income goal calculations?
If you’re like most of our clients, I’m guessing A LOT!
But here’s the bigger question:
How often has all that planning, strategizing, and learning left you EVEN MORE stuck, confused, and overwhelmed?
There’s a reason this is happening—and I guarantee it’s not what you think.
Let me explain…
Why learning your way through the problem isn’t working
This might sound silly, but if you try to learn, plan, and think your way through a problem, you’re eventually going to get stuck.
It’s counter-intuitive, right?
Afterall, the reason you’re setting aside time to learn, plan, and strategize is that you think it will help you save time in the long run. You want to be sure that all of the hard work you pour into your business pays off… which is smart!
But sometimes what you think is helping you is actually hurting you.
The problem isn’t that you’re lacking the perfect plan. It’s something else entirely.
You’re getting stuck because you’re smart.
But isn’t being smart a GOOD thing?!
Sure, but not always.
The “smart person” problem
Being the smart business owner you are, you think that outlining every possibility will help you decide where to go.
But often, it only leaves you more confused and more stuck.
Smart people want to know ahead of time the results they’ll get from every action they take so they can ensure their ultimate success. They think that when they carefully calculated each step and see the whole plan laid out in front of them, they can finally move forward.
Sometimes that’s true.
But often times, the right strategy, steps, and plan aren’t enough. All of the smart thinking in the world can’t get you clear and predict your results.
Here’s an example of what I mean:
Why learning your way through the problem doesn’t work
You’ve heard that having a course is a great way to scale your business and diversify your income.
But you’re a new business owner and you know that diving head-first into creating and selling a course could backfire on you.
You know it’s a smart move to start by serving one-on-one clients. You’ve read here many times how starting with one-on-one services allows you to refine your offer, clarify your client’s language, and streamline your marketing efforts.
So you create a bite-sized offer, and you choose your client-getting activities.
But this is where things take a turn:
Because you know your end goal is to create a signature course, you decide to get really smart and plan ahead.
Before you even start selling your BSO, you grab a notebook and work out the next iteration of your offer.
You guess that after your BSO, you’ll want to offer a premium package for a higher price. You calculate how many clients you’ll need and what price point you’ll have to charge to hit your income goals.
Now you’re on a roll, so you jump to the next step and strategize how you’re going to transition from offering one-on-one services to a course—because that’s your end goal, afterall!
You map out what your course might include, how much it might cost, and how many clients you’ll have to accept into it.
Of course, planning this far ahead brings up even more questions:
What course software should you use?
Should you invest in a program on how to develop courses, so you can be ready when the time comes?
Do you need to hire someone to help you make all this happen?
If only you knew exactly what your course would include and what price it should be and how big your list will be so you can count on conversions…
If only you knew all the details of your bigger package…
If only you knew what your clients loved about working with you so you could highlight that…
If you knew all of those specifics, THEN you’d be able to take the first step.
Right?
Wrong!
Trying to predict every step, every iteration, every updated price… is actually preventing you from knowing what will work.
It’s like trying to guess how a meal will taste by simply reading the recipe. Impossible!
You’ll actually get to your goal faster by moving organically and having aha moments along the way.
Here’s what you need to do: Take the next step in front of you
The only way you can truly know the right direction to go is to take the first step. That means taking action without knowing how it will work out, taking action without having all the answers, taking action and asking questions along the way.
I call this the Serve and Learn Approach. It’s a proven, step-by-step process that helps business owners like you grow your offerings at every stage of business.
How does it work?
It’s pretty simple on the surface: You serve clients and you learn from it. 🙂
You deliver your offer to a handful of clients (usually between 3 and 10) and wait for an aha moment: “Oh! If I just do this, it will get even better results for my clients!”
Then, you’ll adjust your offer (and your pricing). And you’ll continue to repeat this Serve and Learn Approach. Over and over again.
Of course, having a coach walk you through this is also wildly helpful and can help you reach your goals faster, even if you aren’t sure of your exact next steps.
To know what will work in your business—for you and for your clients—you have to take action. And just like following a recipe, you have to take it one step at a time. No fast-forwarding!
That’s how you’ll find the clarity you seek.
And that willingness to take action and face your fears head-on (instead of continuing to try to use your head) is what will bring you to the other side of her issue. You’ll find the clarity you’re looking for—you’ll see what path will lead you to the freedom you want.
For now, put your smart brain to the side and just take the next step.
My Personal Recommendation for YouSteal This! The Exact Approach to Scale Your Service-Based Business to 6 Figures (And Beyond!)Want help from me?
Because this is such an important topic—and I want to be 100% sure you’re not being held back by the smart person problem—I’d love to help you right now.
Tell me…
Are you stuck planning, thinking, and strategizing about your next steps?
Not sure if it’s a smart person problem and want to “talk it out”?
Or did this post not land at all? Tell me where you’re stuck or confused. I truly want to help!
Leave a comment below, and I’ll personally answer your questions.
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