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Overthinking much?

Overthinking Much_
I’ve got to confess something – I’m chronically guilty of overthinking things in my business.  I can stew, mull things over, titivate and perfect for an age if I allow myself. (I could weep when I think of the number of hours I’ve spent on trying to create the perfect website logo – WEEP!)
I see a lot of this same challenge coming up for many of my clients. The desire to get things perfect, to be well and truly ‘ready’ before reaching out to the prospective client, or going to the networking meeting, or launching your program can get intense.
But here’s the thing:

Perfectionism is procrastination. It’s a way of hiding from the scary and uncomfortable feelings we get when we’re moving out of the old comfort zone.

And you know that! I know that, yet we still keep doing it.
Knowing something and doing something about it are things we’re all guilty of from time to time. But it hurts your business and your bottom line. It’s holding you back.
There are lots of things that go into building a thriving coaching business. Having the perfect website header isn’t one of them.

No one EVER said, ‘I just knew she was the coach for me because she had this gorgeous logo‘

So lets get onto the things that WILL make a difference to your business and your bottom line.

Just a few things you can take off your ‘overthinking’ list:

  • Whether you use WordPress of Square Space
  • Your logo
  • Your website header
  • Your business cards
  • Your social media strategy
  • Knowing the perfect time of day to post of Facebook
  • Whether you’re charging in dollars or pounds
  • Whether to use PayPal or stripe
  • Whether the font on your freebie PDF should be sans serif
All of these things are busy making activities that will give you the false comfort that you’re making progress in your business. You’re not.

The things that WILL make a difference in your business?

  • Telling everyone you’re a coach
  • Knowing who your best ever, most perfect clients is – and what they want
  • Reaching out to local groups, associations and events where your ideal clients are likely to be found.
  • Emailing old colleagues telling them what you’re doing now and asking for referrals
  • Being able to explain exactly the transformation you provide and to who
  • Being able to explain the transformation you help with in language your clients will understand (instead of ‘coach speak’)
  • Putting content (blog posts, videos, audios etc.) out consistently that address your ideal client’s issues
  • Having sales conversations with prospective clients
  • Submitting guest posts and pitching yourself as a podcast guest.

That second list may give you the heebeejeebees in places but they’re the things that are going to make a difference to your client roster and your business. Right now you may have a holy hunk of fear around some of those (sales conversations? for the longest time I’d rather have root canal work than attempt one.) But I promise you, with the right support and some practice they all get easier. Eventually they’ll become part and parcel of your normal business building activities.

Or you can stay in busy, overthinking inaction. Not getting the clients you want. Not getting any closer to quitting that bridge job and setting your own hours – which lets face it – Sucks BIG TIME!

Focus on WHY you want to make your business work. What will it give you?

What does NOT taking the action cost you?

Want some help getting into action taking mode? Andrea Owen and I are running a group class this summer just for coaches. You can find out all about it here