Wouldn’t it be great to look back a year from now and say, whatever it is that’s your top pain point in business is no longer your struggle? For most small businesses their chief complaint is lead generation and getting more clients. Yet we often times struggle with how to actually go about solving these problems, or breaking out of our routine. What we need is a way to shift our perspective. This blog post is going to help you move from problem-solving to doing.
Storytime
Clara has been a client of ours for many years. Clara was a workhorse. When we first started working together, she had a new lead magnet every week. She’d be so excited about her idea and be busy writing away and creating beautiful content. She was 100% fully invested
The problem was, Clara had no new clients and no prospects on the horizon.
Then, 80-90% through the creative process, she’d start thinking again, and a new idea that felt better than the last one would pop up. Clara would talk her out of all the work she had just done and slam on the proverbial brakes.
In business, we see this show up in a lot of ways, the constant creator, the overqualified person with a million letters behind their name that needs just one more certification. The list goes on.
The reason this happens is because there is no commitment here to solving and then taking action.
Rather than remaining stuck with our problem-centric mindset, wouldn’t it be amazing to have a strategy that gives you results? The secret? Action!
I’d like to give credit where credit is due. I learned this approach from Elizabeth Benton author of the popular book, Chasing Cupcakes.
Here’s how it works (and this is super applicable to pretty much any problem area in your life):
Sensing
These is our feelings, thoughts, and emotions. It’s where we judge ourselves or compare what we have to our competition. Sensing is when you start to feel there’s a problem and assign judgment to it.
Settling
Now that you’ve done all the research, you choose your path. You’re going to do “xyz” to get more clients etc. Settling is often as far as we go. We make a promise to ourselves that we’re going to do something but we haven’t actually done it. Like, telling yourself I’m going to do Facebook Lives for the next 30 days and that’s going to get me new clients.
Seeking
This is for all you researchers out there. Now that you have a problem, it’s time to start learning ways to solve it. We’re reading books and checking in with Google, listening to Podcasts or maybe signing up for a course. Seeking is when you are starting to find solutions for your problem.
Here’s where we need to change our pattern or behavior.
Solving
This means not only taking action but taking action that produces the results you want. It’s not the plan itself, it’s the act of doing it. The key here is you move away from thinking about it to actually doing it.
The thing I love about this approach is it moves us out of our heads and into our bodies. If you said yes at the start of this post to wanting more clients, let me ask you, where do you spend your time?
Are you stuck in sensing mode where you can’t seem to move to think about anything other than how bad of a business owner you are?
Are you stuck in seeking mode, where you’re in constant pursuit of another certification or course to validate your worth?
Are you stuck in settling mode, making promises to yourself and others that this time it’s going to be different?
Or are you in action mode, putting your ideas, gifts, and service out there for the world, tweaking and experimenting until you get it right?
Remember the key to solving is more than just the initial action, but the behavior change to keep doing it without wavering. Elizabeth Benton shares, “Creating change isn’t a sprint. The winner isn’t the one who goes the fastest; it’s the one who doesn’t stop.”
In Clara’s case, she wasn’t lacking in clarity or inspiration. She was lacking in follow-through. It was always possible she had a million-dollar lead magnet but because she was so swift to move on to the next idea she never gave her a chance to act on it.
Your turn!
If you’re committed to solving whatever your number one pain point is in your business, whether it’s more clients or something totally different, my challenge to you is to get clear on what step is keeping you from success. Then start there, take action, and keep taking action until you reach your goal. Here’s a little resource to help you out:
| Category | Thoughts, Patterns, Behaviors |
| Sensing | |
| Seeking | |
| Settling | |
| Solving |
Want help on how to make this happen in the real world? I’m here to help. Book your free consultation today.
And let me know in the comments, what you think about this approach to taking action in your business.
