Shiny object syndrome is veeeery real in the creative industry.
You see someone else talking about this new software, piece of equipment (uhm hello R6) or even their newest offering and you think:
“Oh should I be doing that too?”
And if you don’t, you feel like you’re behind. And if you do, you just added one more thing to your plate to do “so-so” with nothing to really show for it.
You’ve heard me say this before, but I’m gonna say it again.
Big impact doesn’t mean saying yes to all the little things.
If you need a little refresher on saying no the guilt free way in business, head back to episode 7 where we chat all about this topic.
As I’m preparing to add another offer to Hygge Design Co that will allow me to serve more incredible entrepreneurs (oh yes that’s totally a hint), I’ve done a lot of thinking about how do you know it’s time, how do you decide what your next step is, so in today’s episode we’re gonna chat all about how you can strategically pick your offerings and grow your business.
I was chatting with a friend from college earlier who is also a business owner, and we were talking about wanting to do all the things, and wanting it launched like yesterday and that might not be the best approach.
Because if there’s one thing that made a major difference for the growth of my own business, it was figuring out what my lane was, and sticking to it. And really just putting on blinders for everything else until it was the right time.
One of the lessons I learned early on in my own business is that just because I’m good at something doesn’t mean i have to make money on it. Online biz world shows you that there are so many opportunities, but you have to be strategic when choosing them, if not you’ll just end up frustrated, burnt out, wondering why nothing seems to be working.
Becoming an expert
The biggest growth in my business was when I went from offering 4-5 different things to just one.
Yes. Just one offer. If you wanted to hire me, you’d hire me for branding and website design. I enjoy that, but I also know that’s where I would get the best end result for my clients.
Biz coach mentor Elizabeth McCravy:
Don’t use a product or new offering as a bandaid for a poorly performing service. Because guess what, chances are now you’ll just have two poorly performing offerings.
Story time – i wanted to add stationery design for weddings to my offerings. I did everything to convince myself it made sense, and did actually launch. It turned my website into more of a monster, and it made me even more confused.
Consider your Seasons
At the beginning of 2020, before everything happened, I went to a Tuesday’s Together meetup where the speaker, Carrie Grace reminded us that it’s okay to say no to something and realize it’s “not in my season”
That doesn’t mean a no forever, but it frees up that mental space to allow yourself to keep growing what you’re working on and not take on other people’s goals as your won.
I also think it’s very normal for us to become bored with what we’re doing – entrepreneurship is such a rollercoaster journey, and we always want a new challenge.
Covid necessity
I don’t know about you, but I saw people launching all sorts of things in the past year.
I too adapted to COVID. I found that people still wanted branding done, but they couldn’t afford the website. So I started offering a brand only package. The fun thing here is that last year I booked about half and half. This year, I’ve only done one brand only project.
Episode 5 was all about pricing, so rather than lowering my prices because of the pandemic (hey I actually increased them), I created a new offer based on my ideal clients and their situation. It wasn’t about discounting my time, but rather providing an alternative solution at a different price point that could get them some of the results they were looking for, within their budget.
Some wedding vendors did the same with their micro weddings, but some also decided to pivot or change their businesses completely.
So how do we grow?
How do we know if it’s the right time to introduce something new, or to even add in something else to our current lineup?
Ask yourself some questions:
- Does this make sense for my current audience? Will I need a whole new audience for this to work?
- Is there a demand for this? Just because I see others doing it well,
- What do the people want and need? Sometimes we have to sell them what they want and give them what they need.
For me, it was realizing that my primary service had become a well-oiled machine, and I was consistently booked out with good pricing. I obviously could just keep doing what I’m doing, and that would be fun, but as entrepreneurs, I think we all enjoy a good challenge. Once something seems to be working well, we want to do more. You can always start thinking about how you can serve more people, and help more business owners reach their goals.
