Earlier this week, we celebrated Valentine’s Day. I hope you had a chance to celebrate love, whether it’s love for yourself, a relationship, your children, or love for your business. Take some time to really celebrate and embrace that feeling and emotion of joy.
For me, marketing and business are all about building relationships. Towards the end of 2021, something I observed from my friends, colleagues, and some of my favorite social media follows, was this theme of just burning their business down.
I saw and heard them say, “It’s just not aligning with who I am and what I want to do in the future.”
For me, it seems every year I’ve been in business, I’ve reached a point where I’ve said, “Something is just not working in my business.” And that’s sort of the same things I saw my friends and colleagues saying, in their own way, at the end of 2021.
We’re tired, we’re frustrated, we’re overwhelmed. You get the idea.
Here’s the thing though, for me – I don’t mean I’m going to shut down my business and walk away. Instead, I realize that there needs to be a change. There is something going on that is not aligning with what I want my business to look like.
I think, this last year, I saw so many colleagues frustrated and ready to burn it all down for a few reasons.
Why do people want to burn it all down? 2021 was hard for a lot of people!
I think, for online business owners, 2021 was actually more difficult than 2020. When I look back at 2020, people were stuck at home and online – there wasn’t a whole lot going on. But, when things started to reopen in 2021 and things began to look somewhat “normal”, everyone needed to readjust once again and were often being pulled into multiple different directions.
Additionally, when it comes to marketing and business, in 2021, there were some huge changes that affected the overall cost of marketing a business. Remember the iOS14 or iOS15 updates?
So at the end of 2021, many business owners did either burn their businesses to the ground or pivot their business so that it better aligned with their goals.
Did you know that 2021 actually had more businesses shut down than 2020 did? Crazy, I know!
Ask yourself: Am I still in love with my business?
I’d like to invite you to do some self-reflecting and determine if you are still in love with your business and what you do. If you aren’t, it may be time to burn it all down! Before you decide, reevaluate what is at the core foundation of your business and who you are.
What do you do better than anyone else?
Ask yourself this question. This is what your business should be built off of and around. This is that one thing where you can undeniably get your clients’ results. This should be what your core offer is built from and every piece of your marketing should lead to that core offer.
Do you know your audience?
Who is it that you serve? Not just in a broad sense, in a very micro sense. Do you know them right down to what they’re thinking and what they’re struggling with? This is so important for your ability to craft a message that will really connect with them where they are.
Do you know your numbers?
When I say “know your numbers,” I mean more than just your ad numbers or your campaign numbers. I’m talking about ALLLLL of your KPIs and your P&L. Your SEO numbers, your Facebook ads numbers, your email stats, and beyond! It’s also about knowing things like your sales cycle. Knowing those numbers will help you to assess the health of your business.
How healthy your business is, will be a huge determining factor in whether or not it is time to walk away. How healthy your business is will also play a part in how happy you are with it and whether or not you are in love with it.
So, take a step back. Look at your business, assess all of the pieces, and decide if you are still in love with your business. If you aren’t it is definitely time to pivot and possibly time to burn it all down!