Module thirteen
look to the future
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Let’s head back to the beginning.
For those who didn’t just start singing the Anastasia soundtrack and were able to remain focused on the topic at hand, let’s reflect on how far we’ve come.
How have you been able to work towards shifting your priorities within your business to more closely reflect those on your dream list? What areas of your business have been most affected?
When you find ways to improve how you manage your responsibilities and time, even if it’s slow-going, you’ll find a greater balance between your entrepreneurial efforts and the demands of your current season of motherhood.
Running a business without clear goals in place is like setting out on a road trip and ending up on a racetrack. You’re just driving around and around in circles, with no clear end in sight. The other racers are shuffling you along, and you’ve gotten lost in the pack, and it’s literally all you can do just to keep up. That’s no way to go on a road trip!
Laying the groundwork for a secure, profitable business gets you in the car and on the road, but now it’s time to draw your map and head out into the wild.
This last module is designed to equip you with tools and reminders to make sure you continue your forward progress and ensure you’re always looking to the future, wherever your creative mama life takes you.
Take this chance to revisit the Backwards Goals exercise. If you’ve gone through any sort of change since you started the course, which is highly likely, you might have a different outlook on what you want your life to look like years down the road from now.
I highly recommend you continue to set aside time to revisit these Backwards Goals and modify them as your business changes. You can’t know what’s in store for you in the future, so using these goals as a roadmap, you can make sure to steer yourself back on track when life gets crazy.
Another way to ensure you keep progressing in your business is to dedicate time and finances to continually improving. You should always be looking for ways to level up your offerings or client experience, continue investing in yourself as you’ve done with this course, and seek other education from books, mastermind groups, and coaching.
IMPROVING YOUR OFFERINGS + CLIENT EXPERIENCE
It’s easier to sell to an existing customer than to a new one.
When the customer is already sold on your value as a business, there is less of a barrier to overcome in terms of convincing them that what you offer is going to serve them in some way.
Now that you’ve got a good handle on the products and services your business sells, and on your processes for marketing to and onboarding new clients, let’s take a look at some ways you can maximize the income you’re seeing from these same customers:
Sell products or start offering services that go hand-in-hand with the services that already attracted that customer to you in the first place. Example: a wedding photographer offering wedding album design or anniversary sessions.
Offer discount codes packaged with a customer’s purchase to encourage them to visit your shop again in the future. Even if they don’t use the discount code, the offer adds extra value to your product contributing to the overall satisfaction with the purchase, which could lead to them sharing about your product with their friends. (Which leads to my next point…)
A spin on the idea of selling to the same customers: offer a referral or affiliate discount and encourage your past customers or clients to share your services with their friends and family as a form of word-of-mouth marketing. Example: we offer a referral discount AND a referral reward to incentivize our clients to send their friends our way.
Partner with another business to create a custom package that appeals to both of your target clientele, as a way to benefit each other with your shared business. Example: a florist who offers a package that includes a custom illustration of the wedding bouquet done by another artist after the wedding to preserve the memory instead of the flowers.
Create a subscription offering that continues to offer value to encourage your customers to stay connected with your brand on a recurring basis.
Promoting repeat investment with your brand not only reminds your clients of your value, but it also helps you direct your efforts more intentionally when creating your initial offerings, keeping in mind how you can structure them to get more bang for your buck later on down the road.
NEVER STOP LEARNING
Another suggestion to keep improving is to always be looking for ways to grow and improve personally and intellectually. As you can, start dedicating a portion of your monthly budget to continuing your education, setting aside a feasible amount each month, and choosing your education investments wisely.
This is especially important for those operating in the online space, utilizing marketing trends that change with the tide. Stay hip and fresh, finding new ways to appeal to your target audience by investing in resources and education that allow you to stay connected to best practices.
A quick note on learning and personal development — there is plenty of free education out there right now. You don’t have to wait until you have the big bucks to start investing in your own development! Maybe you start by establishing a habit of devoting a certain amount of time each week to reading some books or listening to podcasts on topics that interest you.
Personal growth is always available to you — you just have to be willing to make the time and space for it.
Below, I’ll link some of my favorite resources for continuing education, all likely available for free from your library in either text or audiobook format.
BUILDING A COMMUNITY
The last point I want to touch on in terms of continued growth is the value of building up a community of like-minded creative mamas. You become most like the five people you spend the most time with, and while we likely spend the majority of days with our immediate family, I’ve found this rule to apply in communities, too. Maybe I’m most like my sister and my mom in my family community, but in my friend community, I adapt or shape to become more like the people I spend the most time with there. Professionally, I am more bonded and find commonalities with the clients I most often work with.
Choose where you spend your time and be intentional with the people you surround yourself with. You can easily do this by joining a mastermind group or engaging in creative Facebook groups and establishing local meet-ups to get to know others in your area. Maybe you host your meet-up at a park so you can get some networking done while the kids play!
It can feel isolating when your day-to-day looks like running a family and a business, both as a stay-at-home mom. But by taking action and choosing where your work takes place, or with whom, you can make it a little less lonely as you all hustle your way to success, together.
In summary, all I want to say is that you are a beast and that you have accomplished amazing things to get where you are. Just look at what you’ve created — a whole revenue-generating, talent-sharing, joy-producing business out of nothing. YOU did that!
Starting with nothing, you made it here. Now that you have some funds, a plan, and some actual experience as a business owner, just imagine the places you can go next.