My Top 5 Insights from 2022

Top 5 Insights from 2022

We are already to the end of January and this year is flying by. I hope you had a fast start and if you are looking to get more clarity on the best place to invest your focus for growth in what looks like a challenging economy ahead, please reach out here on LinkedIn. And subscribe to this newsletter to keep up with new podcast episodes and newly released free trainings and resources for coaches and consultants.

I’ve been reflecting for the last few weeks on the key lessons were for me and for my clients in the last year. Rather than give you a list of common themes you could get anywhere else, I thought long about what were the insights that were game changers for us this year. 

Some may seem like common sense to you and others might spur you to new ways of thinking and running your business.

1) Pay Yourself a Fair Market Wage

This was a game changer for me last year. Although I was running a healthy profit for the business, I was underpaying myself on the payroll. Paying yourself a fair market wage is essential, here’s why. Imagine some unforeseen event where you would have to disconnect from the day-to-day running of your business for several months or even a year. What would you have to pay someone to fill your shoes as an interim CEO? I can almost guarantee that it’s more than the salary or draw you are taking from your business today.

According to Gregg Crabtree, the author of “Simple Numbers, Straight Talk, Big Profits,” you should be paying yourself a fair market wage and still have at least 10% profits on the bottom line. If you are a growing business, that should be 15%, so that you can continue to invest in people to drive growth.

2) Be Visible

You can’t be invisible and discoverable at the same time. While this may kick up insecurities or doubt about your ability to connect on camera, it’s essential for service based business owners to be visible in social channels as well as on stages where future clients are gathering. This might include professional networks, industry associations or conferences. 

While visibility is essential, it can also be detrimental to your brand if you don’t prepare. You have about 3 seconds to grab the attention of someone in a social media video. Use those 3 seconds to stop the scroll with a powerful idea.

3) Disrupt the Narrative With Your Message

If you are investing in being visible in your channels, you also want to stand out. You need to "own your lane" and be known for a specific point of view. Coaching and consulting are very crowded categories with experts frequently sharing the same concepts and using the same language. You become one of hundreds when you don’t take the time to craft a unique message that brings immediate insight and new ways of thinking about solutions to your clients’ most urgent challenges.

Push your thinking to be more innovative with how you reframe the common narrative to stand out in your messaging in a way that educates and entertains your audience, but also gives them something memorable they will associate with you.

4) Fill Your Skills Gaps with a Rockstar Team,

When you first start out, you can build your team with high-quality freelance talent that already has expertise in your field and can bring innovation into your business processes to help you stand out in your category.

While that may first be a virtual assistant - hire someone not just with admin skills, but with business operations skills. Focus on developing SOPs so that if that person cycles out, you have already captured best practices and protocols for your business processes.

Next you might need sales or marketing support. I don’t’ believe it’s possible to get both in one person. If you are hiring for a marketing role, look for someone who can rapidly get up to speed on your voice, your leadership position in your category and who can create effective content that engages your followers. Find someone who keeps up with technology and is innovative in their approach. But you are the star. You can’t passively market when you are a solopreneur - especially if you are the brand. 

If you hate to sell, hire it out. Social Setters and Social sellers is an emerging category of freelance talent where highly qualified and engaging sales professionals are working on your leads, booking consults on your calendar and keeping track of potential clients and closed sales.

You will lose more money trying to power through on your own than you will investing in someone who is better at these tasks than you are and is freeing up your time to focus on higher level skills - like creating engaging content and being seen on bigger stages.

5) Play the Long Game.

Stop buying into fake promises of miracle marketing strategies. While a successful, high converting marketing strategy is essential, most course providers and social media sellers are hawking wares with invisible returns.

When you start out, every dollar counts. Don’t be fooled by “we can make you hundreds of thousands in just a few months with our magic formula.” Hold tight to your wallet when you get that kind of pitch. If it’s too good to be true, it likely is. 

Slow marketing is where it’s at (listen to Life After Corporate episode 122). Building relationships takes time. But the more you focus on increasing your warm network, the faster you will grow.

Entrepreneurship can also feel very isolating. Find yourself a group of trusted colleagues who are at a similar growth level as you. Get a coach who is an expert at what you most need to achieve–someone who has serious business skills, not just a one-hit marketing strategy. You need the sales, marketing, service development and CEO skills that will set you up for consistent, reliable growth year after year and in a way that is in alignment with your values.

Nothing will test you more than being a business owner. You will question your worth, doubt your decision to start in the first place, and experience resistance when it comes to putting yourself out there and being visible.

Know that your people are watching - all of the time. Even if they aren’t reacting to your emails, posts or content, they are passively consuming. Your former colleagues are watching too. They want to be sure that you’re seriously committed to success before they jump in the pond with you. 

More than anything, be kind to yourself. You didn’t take the easy way out. You decided to go for the long road. The rewards on this path are far beyond what you are even imagining now. You have no limits except for the ones that you allow yourself to believe.

You are wise, you are talented and people need what you are offering. Let them see you and know you and remember to extend an invitation to them to take the next step with you–they’re waiting for you to ask.

Debra Boulanger is the CEO of The Great Do-Over, founder of The Launch Lab for women entrepreneurs and host of the Life After Corporate podcast. She helps smart, accomplished women leaders make the leap from corporate leader to entrepreneur and replace the paycheck they left behind.