Is it a business slump or time for a refresh?

Something that doesn’t get talked about a lot is the business slump. We’re far more able to accept that we need to adjust our career sales when we work for someone else.

Part of owning a business is recognising our relationship isn’t going to be all dew-eyed optimism and laughing all the way to the bank. Things will be tough. And things will be relentless, boring, and sometimes that erodes the confidence

we have in what we’re doing. We also lack the promotion and the clearly defined next career step that comes with working for someone else. The change in income, the risk, and the desire not to have to start all over is different when you own your business.

But we don’t have to throw out the business or silently stick with it. We don’t have to whiteknuckle it through a business slump and hope our mood rights itself eventually.

It’s about reflecting on what is happening and figuring out what to do next.

Here are exercises, questions and a little guided pondering you can try to see if you’re losing confidence in your business, facing a slump, or if you just need to shake it up a little bit.

Put pause on the social media

It is really tempting to think your enthusiasm will come screaming around the corner and that social media will attract the client that will reverse your emotional fortunes. But honestly, I think leaving your social media running is probably the last thing you should be doing. If you’re not really sure if you and your business are still having a solid, happy relationship, the last thing you should be doing is standing on the internet stage crowing about it. Plus, if you find that the symptoms are signalling a change of focus and a business slump is on the horizon, I’m not sure it’s fair on you or the unlucky clients that out-of-date social media attracts to muddle through on a project if you don’t really want to have it.

Let these questions be your guide.

• What do you want to talk about on social media?
• What communities do you want to connect with?
• What would social media that falls flat do to your confidence at this time?

Pause and reflect on the business

Pausing and reflecting are two of the most powerful actions you can take when you’re experiencing a crisis of confidence. It’s about getting to the root cause and understanding why you feel this way.

This is part observation and part questioning what’s going on around you:

Use history as a guide

Think back to the last time you felt this way about your business.

• What were you experiencing at the time, personally, professionally, and emotionally?
• Were there elements in common? E.g. a certain time of year, cycles within the business, fluctuations in the industry?
• Were there common stressors present? E.g. tax time, quarterly reporting, issues with late payment, slow growth etc
• What was lacking in your working life? E.g. challenge, variety, autonomy, the opportunity to experiment, freedom from obligation, support?

Address the present moment

• What has your relationship with work been like lately?
• Are you getting enough breaks, rest, and time away from stress?
• When your mind wanders or you procrastinate, where does your focus and energy go?
• What are you resenting about your current working situation?
• What annoys you about your business?
• What do you still enjoy doing?
• On a scale of 1 to 10, how empowered do you feel to improve your circumstances?

Pause and Reflect (without sugar-coating)

• What’s really bothering you? (e.g. money stress, lack of direction, comparison, burnout, slow growth)
• Is the business model still viable or are you forcing something that no longer fits what you need?
• Are you tired, or are you misaligned?
• Leaving aside the obligation and responsibility you feel towards your business for a moment; how would you rather be spending your days?

Write it down. Get it out of your head. From here, you should be able to tell if this is a business slump or a sign you need to shake things up a little.

Check that the goals are your own

I’ve heard a lot of crap in my time from people that are really self-assured about what success actually means on a job level. They are so sure that you should mature into tenure or that the natural progression for a freelancer is to hire other people. They have an unwavering certainty that revenue should be exceeded year on year. Or that the only way to succeed is to expand, grow, and never look back.

These kinds of ideas create limitations. They become sources of shame because we don’t want to manage ten people, be a seven-figure entrepreneur, or continually produce new ideas.

What we’re seeing in most of these situations is internalised capitalism. Life satisfaction can be achieved without continually striving for economic supremacy. You don’t have to hoard wealth, resources, attention or merit badges to be happy. You don’t have to be scoring all the goals or in poll position to feel worthwhile or like you’re making an impact.

Nobody talks about piles of money or career goals on their death bed. And that really tells me a lot about what matters in the end.

Sometimes, we’ve gone as far as we can with an idea. Sometimes, we were happier a step down the ladder than up it and have accidentally promoted ourselves away from the work we enjoy the most. Sometimes, the opportunity to be curious and challenge us holds more appeal than having everything all figured out.

It is time to figure out what you want.

Exercise: Whose goals are these, really?

Take 15–30 minutes somewhere quiet. Grab a pen and paper, a journal, or a Word document.

Step one: Write down your current business goals

Jot down all your goals (large and small) from the ones you feel like you’re nailing to the ones you feel like you’re avoiding or slacking on. Examples:

• Earn $X by the end of the year
• Grow your audience
• Launch a new service
• Get featured in the media
• Be more visible on social media
• Hit a specific follower or subscriber number

Don’t filter. Just get it all out.

Step two: Interrogate the goals

Under each goal, answer these four questions:

1. Where did this goal come from? How did you decide it was your next step? Did it come from social media, a mentor, a book, or peer pressure? Did you assume this is what someone in your position should do?
2. How does this goal feel in your body? Do you feel excited, tense, ashamed, heavy, inspired, curious? What sensations do you feel in your head and your gut when you think about it?
3. Does this goal move you toward the kind of life you want? Leaving promises of future income aside, will it give you more time, joy, connection, autonomy, or energy, or just more pressure and work? If you are choosing it because of income, is that enough of a motivation for you to continue?
4. Would you still focus on this goal if nobody else ever knew you achieved it? Why? Why not?

Step three: Revamp or release

Once you’ve done that, go back through each goal.

• Circle the goals that feel truly yours.
• Rework goals that aren’t aligned with your values but still feel good to you.
  e.g. “Grow my audience” might become “Spend more time with people that inspire me.”
• Cross out goals that aren’t yours to carry anymore.
  Let them go. You don’t owe anyone someone else’s version of success.

Focus on outputs

Society is obsessed with goals and outcomes, and you know what? Sometimes, we can do with a break from that as well! The business slump you may be experiencing might be you becoming increasingly aware that externalised pressure to perform isn’t what you need. And that’s okay.

Rather than trying to over-anticipate where your labour will get you, focus on creating to connect with yourself. In that way, outputs can be a much less emotionally draining guide to getting things moving.

1. What do you feel like making?
2. What do you need to make that happen?
3. What benchmarks can you invent to keep you accountable to the process?

OR simply…

Set yourself up to create and see what happens. Create the conditions that help the work flow through you.

I use this to paint and make art all the time and it is an incredibly freeing process. And it proves to me we don’t always have to know exactly what we’re doing to feel productive and experience benefit.

Reconnect with your work

Is it a business slump or is it that you’ve outgrown your original plan? This is definitely a question worth asking.

Sometimes, we shift away from a plan because we’ve moved forward but haven’t given ourselves time to adjust. This is very true when we first get into business because we come in with a clearly defined vision, and then opportunity leads the way. When we first start working, we follow the jobs, gigs, and projects. Before we know it, we’ve conquered our goals, owned our place in the order of things, and have nothing more other than day-to-day work to keep us in motion.

For a lot of people, that’s not enough. To stay inspired, they need a clearly defined challenge and something to focus their energy on.

• What motivated you to start this in the first place?
• Are those reasons still relevant to your life now?
• If not, has your mission evolved? Does your current business reflect that?

• What’s working well, even if it’s small?
• What are clients, customers or supporters saying?

Try a simple SWOT analysis (Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, Threats) if you need structure.

Give yourself a break

As we move through life, our priorities shift and change. We realise that concepts like our working identity or career aren’t enough to satisfy us. Or perhaps we’ve finally got to peek behind the curtain only to find that it really isn’t as exciting as we thought.

As we mature, we start asking deeper questions about what makes life meaningful. It is OK to accept that change and adjust our sails accordingly.

Just give yourself a break by:

• Reading a book that inspires your curiosity
• Listening to a podcast that enhances creativity
• Journaling your feelings out properly
• Joyscrolling on your social media looking for inspiration
• Sitting away from your desk with a pen and paper and mapping what you want
• Spending less time with the “you gotta want it” online business vibe
• Replacing your social media follows with inspiration instead of peers and tips
• Attending an event or festival that you don’t have a business case to visit
• Taking a step down in responsibility and using the petrol you gain for experimenting
• Learning something that won’t have a financial pay off and seeing what happens
• Upping your self-care
• Designing your workday to look more like a creative choice
• Check in with a therapist or a coach

The bottom line on losing business confidence

Don’t read too much into a business slump. But don’t let it live rent-free in your head, either. Only you know if your business is still right for you. But you don’t have to work through the process or challenge the notion all on your lonesome. Checking in with a therapist or a coach can help you figure out what’s going on and where to next.

Need help figuring out the next phase of your business relationship? Book me for a Creative Change program now.