Is it over?
Is everything that I worked hard for in the last year now gone to waste?
Should I just call it quits while I still have some dignity left?
In today’s blog post, I want to share with you PART TWO, a continuation of last’s week’s blog, “5 Signs You’re Winning/Failing in Business”.
I’ll be sharing with you how you can know it’s time to move forward or change your business. Whether your business is not profitable or just not in season anymore. I hope you find it helpful.
Here are my tips.
1. It doesn’t mean you have to change if you didn’t earn a cent in your first month.
Most business owners already know this, you do not necessarily earn the same thing everyday. Even I have dips in my months. It doesn’t mean I’m a failure if I had more income last month than this month. Especially in your first month of business, there are a lot of factors that play into not earning a single cent your first month.
It can be your marketing, your product itself, or did you even ask for a sale?
I had a student before who complained to me when she didn’t have as many people buy her books the first launch. I asked her if she did all the things we planned for re: sales and marketing, and she didn’t. She barely posted, she didn’t send the emails, and the sales she made were people who came to her launch, or even people she met in person.
Some people may have done all of that, but still nothing. That’s why you need to not be overcome by the hurt your feeling or the feelings of failure, because it still is not a failure! It just means we look at the data, and find where the leak is and fix it.
If you need more help on this, email us at hello@shestrategyco.com with whatever you need help from.
2. Check the market standard for ROI (return of investment)
What’s the average ROI in having a cafe? It depends on your location and other factors.
I remember we used to franchise a cafe and the ROI expectation for that was 2-3 years.
Each business is different but having an idea of your market’s standard will be helpful for you. Again, before you jump into conclusions and melt in your sadness of “failure”, look it up first, you might be just overly dramatic.
(If you find this too savage, honestly, I should warn you, I don’t want to sugarcoat much. It’s the prophetic edge too :D)
3. Are you profitable?
This might be obvious, and you’ve probably already ran the numbers. But if not yet, run the numbers gal! See where you’re at financially. Compute how much you’ve invested so far, and how much you’ve earned. Then ask yourself this question,
“How far can you keep sustaining your business?”
What is the projected income?
Many of us who ventured into online business or freelancing don’t really know what this is because no one really talks about this (but maybe you do and good on you!). I honestly didn’t have mine computed until I went to apply for a specific visa in Australia back in 2021, my accountant-friend told me what this is about.
This is basically a computation of how much you’ve earned the past year and what your projected income is this year based on that or based on what you currently have. If it’s your first month of business or you are still starting out, consult your accountants abou this.
Why did I mention this? Well, it kinda lowers the bar for most of us high achievers and dreamers who shoots for the moon. Most of us feel like we’re failures when we don’t earn that first 6 figure income our first year in business when you haven’t even had any experience yet!
Many new business owners quit before they breakthrough- know this now, you’re gonna fail a lot! And that’s ok! Choose to fail forward and learn. The faster you get over yourself, the faster the breakthrough.
4. This probably should be number 1- is your season changing? what is God saying?
Perhaps you’ve been doing your business for many years and it’s just not giving you the same passion as it did before. You just sense that the grace has left the building.
Friend, I do invite you to come into God’s presence and ask Him His will and purpose for you in this season.
You very well may be operating in the grace zone of yesterday’s assignment. It doesn’t work anymore because it expired.
Only God can give you that ultimate confirmation. Spend time with Him. He’s waiting for you.
5. Sharing my own experience!
It wouldn’t be as effective for you if I didn’t share this coming from experience.
I recently did an evaluation of my brand/biz, I started building or figuring this all out July of 2019 (almost 4 yrs!) these are some of the things I asked myself that you can do the same…
Don’t rush this process. Fast and pray. It took me almost a month of sitting in God’s presence to gain much clarity.
▪️Is this still the dream God wants me to pursue now? Despite all the circumstances and numbers —YES
▪️Am I currently profitable? Breaking even barely! (Nature of shifting priorities with business/ministry)
▪️Have I been profitable in the past? (Yes)
▪️What were the strategies and what season was it when I was most profitable? Why?
▪️What were the seasons I wasn’t? Why?
▪️What is God saying to me? (In general, He spoke to me in a span of a month)
▪️What do I need to bring with me this new, fresh season?
▪️What changes should I make?
▪️New, new, new! What new things should I be expecting for God to do?
Maybe at this point you’re thinking, “well your evaluation looks pretty good… what about when I didn’t have favorable answers?”
Perhaps, you were not profitable, you never had a client, you barely had any views or engagement in your content, it’s all just bleh. What happens now???
During those moments, one will be tempted to conclude we disobeyed God or we were all wrong in the first place.
All forms of regrets and negative talk abounds.
I urge you sis! Don’t give up!
If you’re in that situation, this next section is for you.
Take some time to reflect and know that God is with you and is for you. Take heart and be brave and be prepared for what God will reveal to you. Remember, He is gracious and kind and faithful to redeem. (Romans 8:28)
- Did I hear God wrong?
- Did I disobey what He said?
- Is it the wrong timing?
My encouragement to you is…
1. His will not yours.
2. His timing, not yours.
3. His glory not yours.
Will you be successful? As long as you are with Him, you already are.
Will you ever be rich?
Deut 8:18 says He gives the ability to create wealth.
Jesus kept saying in His parables God gave us gifts. And we can certainly multiply those, and you can, too!
If, until this point, you asked yourself all the above questions and you’re still not quite sure, I have a quiz I made to give more evaluation of your business.
TAKE THE QUIZ!!!
What was your most takeaway from today’s post? Was it helpful? How?
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