Know Where You Are in Your Business Life-Cycle & What to Focus On Next

Knowledge is Power

“Know thyself”. Over the last couple of weeks, I’ve talked about how self-knowledge translates into focused marketing that attracts the clients that are just right for you. When you know who you are, you know who is the best fit for you. You can speak their language, and you know not just what their goals are, but how they want to reach them.

But self-knowledge isn’t just about you knowing who you are. As a business owner, it’s also about you knowing who your business is. Or better yet, it’s about you knowing where your business is in the life-cycle.

Each stage in the business life-cycle brings with it certain opportunities, struggles, and identifiable tasks that must be accomplished in order to move to the next stage. If you don’t know where you are, then you may try to accomplish tasks that you aren’t ready for yet, while neglecting the real tasks that you should really be focusing on.

This week, I want to outline all of the stages of the business life-cycle so that you have a roadmap to get from where you are now to where you want to be.

Building from the Ground Up: The Business Life-Cycle

I like to think of the business life-cycle stages as moving up a pyramid. At the bottom, you have the foundational work. You can’t build the second story of a building until you complete the first. So, you want to mindfully progress up the pyramid, completing all the tasks in the right order.

The Lost Stage

This is where everyone begins. An entrepreneur has an idea and decides to go for it. At this point, opportunities abound. You can do anything. You can go in any direction. It’s a time of passion and drive. Think about it for a moment: It’s at this point that you are beginning to build something new.

But there’s a reason this is called the “Lost” stage rather than the “Super-Exciting” stage. Because your business is open-ended, you have way too much on your plate. Your income is minimal, so you find yourself taking any job with any client to pay the bills. The constant pressure to succeed with income only trickling in leads to long, stressful days.

Excitement and passion can keep you going, but only for so long. At this stage, you need to build your foundation which includes developing your offers and your marketing funnel. You need to know who your ideal clients are and how to reach them.

Business owners at this stage are motivated by a desire for security.

The Learning Stage

Once you have your offers and marketing funnel in place and you start attracting the right clients, your income increases. You can also be more selective about who you work with. The ability to turn down jobs you don’t want helps avoid draining clients. And working one-on-one with clients gives you an opportunity to refine your offers and process so that you can start to zero in on what you are best at, your zone of genius.

Part of the beauty of this stage is the way your approach to marketing changes. Now, you are learning the rules of the game. The more sense it makes, the less intimidating it is.

Unfortunately, this is also a stage filled with overwhelm. Hustle, hustle, hustle. So many tasks to do, and so little time to do them. Working one-on-one with clients means you are spending a lot of time with them individually. Income at this stage is usually feast or famine. Instead of living paycheck to paycheck, business owners at this stage are living client to client. The business is still in a precarious state. The emotional rollercoaster can really take its toll on those who get stuck here.

For those who want to move on to the next stage, they need to master marketing in order to fill up their funnel. You need to start getting the right clients consistently. You need to keep that calendar full and keep the income flowing.

The Leveraging Stage

At this point, you have a refined program. Your marketing is strong, and your funnel draws in regular ideal clients. With all your ducks in a row, you start moving from a one-to-one to a one-to-many approach. You finally have the ability to leverage your time by helping multiple clients at once. As a result, you have more independence than ever and your impact is growing.

For many business owners, this is their end game. They want the comfortable life that comes with ample income, personal and family time, and influence. So when they get here, they are willing to stop.

Others, want to go farther. To do that, they need to learn how to optimize their systems. They already have everything in place. They just need to optimize their systems so they work even better.

The Legacy Stage

Finally, standing on the top of the mountain. You are a true leader in your niche. As you master the task for your level, which is scaling, your income grows exponentially with limitless potential. You rinse and repeat sales. You have a huge impact through your programs.

Know Thy Business-Self and Get Leads & Clients Like Clockwork

So, where are you? If you can figure out clearly where you are, it will help you identify the tasks you need to focus on to move forward.

If you need more help figuring out how to proceed with your marketing based on where you are, this article has been a sneak-peek into one of the frameworks Heather covers in her FREE  Get Leads & Clients Masterclass.

The masterclass will show you the exact system we use to help Wise Owl Marketing clients increase their income, independence, and impact with their business. Follow along with the masterclass workbook to create your own personalized marketing plan that will show you exactly what areas to focus on to get better results in your business.

Isn’t it time to get unstuck from where you are and start building the business of your dreams? 

Check out the masterclass here!