What To Do When You’ve Gotten Way Off Track in Your Small Business

Pause and look at the big picture.

I was coaching a client this week and realized she had gotten way off track.

We’ve all done this, haven’t we?

We chase a client’s special request, an idea, a desperation for more income, a new service or product, a To Do, a should, a whatever, and we find ourselves way outside the scope of our business.

We forget to pick up our heads, pause, and ask Why am I doing this?

Why am I doing this? Is this in line with my values? my vision? my purpose? my big picture?

I can give you a six-word formula for success: Think things through–then follow through.” — Edward Rickenbacker

For most of us, our small business is a vehicle, or a tool, to achieve some personal aim or goal or desire in our life. Our work may be our passion and our pleasure, but it is also a means to something else.

It is good to periodically review the reasons we started our own business. Our whys. Our purpose. Our big picture.

Common reasons we might go into business for ourselves include

Time freedom

We really want freedom to set our own work schedules so that we can spend time doing something else — time with our kids & families, time to travel, time to do fitness, time to create art, time to write, time to learn something new, time to go to school, time for self care, time to play, time to slow down.

Financial freedom

We really want freedom to grow abundance in our lives in the way, speed and direction we want to grow it, rather than the way our employer, culture, families say we should grow it.

Creative freedom

We really want freedom to allow our creativity, ideas, energy, inspiration to flourish and flow in the direction we want to go rather than the way someone else wants it to go.

Location freedom

We really want freedom to live in the location we choose, a location that nourishes us or delights us, rather than the location employers or families say we should live. We might want to move locations regularly, travel, experience different settings.

Values freedom

We really want freedom to live our values in our work, to live in a heart centered way, to live in an authentic way.

Underlying reasons

Underlying these freedoms is our real aim or desire to create, to grow, to play, to explore, to love, to have fun, to inspire, to be authentic, to be our best selves. To be who we really want to be. To live the life we really want to live.

A regular look at the big picture

It is very beneficial for us to check in with our big picture regularly, to review our personal purpose, aim, desire, goal, values, vision. We need to ensure our business supports this big picture at all times.

Before we make a decision, before we take action, before we get busy, we can stop and ask:

Why am I doing this? Is this in line with my values? my purpose? my vision? my big picture?

• If it serves our purpose, that’s perfect; we will have checked in with our aim and gained clarity, direction, energy, enthusiasm to solve problems, serve, delight our selves and our customers.
• If it does not serve our purpose, we can let it go, say No, outsource it.

Creating boundaries around our work empowers us

We have just created empowering boundaries around the work we do for the world that supports and serves others, but also supports and serves ourselves.

Back to the client I mentioned at the beginning of the article. We paused in our discussion and reviewed her purpose. We reviewed her vision of the type of work she wanted to do and the life she wanted to live. She was very clear on these things and it took her 2 minutes to clearly tell me what her vision was.

We looked at how she had gotten off track. She was chasing income with a client that wasn’t a good fit for her, who wasn’t her ideal client, who asked her to do something outside her purpose, her passion, her why.

She decided to just let this client go, to set boundaries around her work, to drop the busyness, the frustration, the stress, the angst, the difficulty because it did not serve her purpose.

She made a simple shift in her thinking to being on purpose and within seconds became relaxed, calmed, poised, peaceful, excited, eager to move forward, inspired.

She found it very empowering to say No to a client and activity that did not fit with her values, her purpose, her vision.

Have you paused, recently, to review your big picture? your vision? your values? Maybe today is a good day for a quick review.

Always be yourself, express yourself, have faith in yourself, do not go out and look for a successful personality and duplicate it. -Bruce Lee

I am a life coach and small business coach. I help others get really clear on the life and work they would love to have, know that they can have it, and help them manifest it. Visit me at https://www.lauraraduenz.com