Always do what’s right for YOU in YOUR business!

Jul 5

The most important lesson I have been learning over the last couple of months is to always do what is right for you.

What I think happens often, especially when you are just starting out but also when you have been in business for a while and things are just not working out the way you want to, is that we keep looking at business who are similar to our own that are doing really well (or at least we think they are doing well) and copy what is working for them.

Thinking that if it is working for them why should it not work for you, right?

So you see someone like Social Bungalow rocking the IG game, bringing in business via the DM's and start to focus on that.

Then you see Social Salad Society doing something similar but with Facebook Groups and you jump on to that.

And so many people are saying you need to make passive income so you start creating courses or memberships.

The thing is, that there's nothing wrong with any of these methods.

All of these things can work. I have seen them work for so many businesses (and I love both Social Bungalow and Social Salad Society btw, they are doing great things).

But it just does not work if that isn't the right method for you.

Always do what's right for you by Flourish Online Management

And this goes much further than just the way you market your business:

+ I have seen instances where copy, packages, pricing, target markets and branding are almost identical between competitors.
+ Talked to clients who were scared to offer packages that played to their strengths because none of the competitors was offering something similar.
+ And discovered recently that someone has copy and pasted part of my website copy.

But it just doesn't work when you're taking all these little bits and pieces from others and add them to your business.

What happens over time is that, because you are not building a business based on your knowledge, experience, strengths, likes, dislikes and goals, it will:

+ Burn you out
+ It will make you doubt everything that you're doing
+ And worst of all, it will make you doubt your own abilities -- hello imposter syndrome

So instead of looking at what others are doing and trying to fit yourself into that mould, look at your personal goals, financial needs, your skills, experience, likes, dislikes and celebrate what makes you unique and combine that to fill a gap in the market.

Let's look at 2 examples:

Are you creating new services because you see that most of your competitors have them?

Take a step back:

Have your clients asked for a service like that? Is it filling a gap in your product suite or are you doing it for the wrong reasons?
Does the type of service play to your strengths? Let's say most competitors include a detailed and beautifully designed action plan created in Canva. But you don't like creating an action plan because it drains you.
- Think (and test) if you can replace the action plan with a Zoom call or deliver it in a different way that still gives your clients what they need and fits better with you.
- If so, it's a great way to differentiate yourself. If not, then it might not be right for you.
Does this service make sense for your schedule? Let's say it's an 8-hour VIP day but due to something in your personal life you can only for 6 hours a day. Then this service might not be right for you even though it works for others.

Are you offering the same prices are your competitors?

Take a step back:

Everyone’s financial situation and goals are different, so you need to look at your situation and determine what you need/want to make in a year and start from there.
- How many of each service do you need to sell to make this revenue? (I have an example in this blog).
- Don't forget to take holidays and how many hours a week you want to work into consideration as this will have a large impact on how much you need to earn per hour.
How many hours do you spend on each service?
- If you multiply this by the hourly rate you calculated in the previous step what should your minimum selling price be?
- Be sure to add in a profit margin - you don't to be paid only for the hours worked on a project but also the time it takes you to market and sell.
Now, look at how this compares to what is being offered in the market.
- If you did all the calculations and your price is less than the market average, increase your pricing.
- If your price needs to be higher than what is in the market think about what you can add to your package that does not cost too much of your time but increases the value that you offer compared to competitors, just make sure you don't price yourself out of the market.

I can give many other examples, but it all comes down to this:

Don't try to fit yourself into the mould of what you see working for others.

Built a business based on your personal goals, financial needs, your skills, experience, likes, dislikes and uniqueness if you want to create something that will last and allow you to use your business as the vehicle to live your life on your terms.

I’d love to hear your thoughts on this. Have you been building your business with bits and pieces of others? Or have you built it around your knowledge, experience and strengths? Comment below and share your story. I’d love to hear.