Each July…and December I get this feeling: why is it so quiet? And although it is a recurring thing, and just a natural pause, I still always find myself going into that annoying short-term panic. It used to be much worse; nowadays I coach myself right back into feeling OK. I know from my clients that this famine feeling is very common, and I wanted to share just a few thoughts about this today, so you can perhaps benefit from some of my advice too. Here are 5 tips to get through a slow month in business.
Top tips to get through a slow month in business
1. Look how far you’ve come
One thing that will make you instantly feel better, is to look at your results so far. I tell this to my clients all the time: celebrate your wins! Look at the previous months, year, or even last few years, and see how far you’ve come. You have changed so much, you have put in the work, you have worked with real clients, sold your services, and have the beautiful positive reviews and testimonials to show for it. Read those testimonials again, and take the credit. It was YOU who made all of that happen, and you will do it again.
2. Don’t start discounting yourself now
When the quiet times commence, the panic kicks in. How can you quickly earn some money? How will you pay the bills? One of the things you should never do, is start discounting your main offer. This is your bread and butter, your signature service, your pride and joy, and you should raise the price for that, if anything, not lower it.
What you can do instead, is come up with an offer that is a bit different, and perhaps priced at a lower entry level, but that does not take you too much time to produce. Perhaps an online workshop via Zoom, a mini masterclass, or an e-book, bundling your most popular blog posts. Those lower entry products can help you grow your audience, and also work as an introduction to working with you. You will probably get a few inquiries afterwards from people who see the value of working with your longer term!
3. Step out of the scarcity mindset
Scarcity mindset. It’s an animal waiting to grab you, when you are at your lowest, and hungry for clients. One of my own clients told me the story of her friend, who kept going on dates with girls he didn’t really like, just because “he was so afraid of being single“. It is that exactly.
Let’s not be afraid of being single, but instead think long and hard of who we want to date, and draw up contracts with.
You do not want to sit through meetings with people who drain the life out of you, haggle you down, do not value your work, and cross your boundaries, for example. So please be aware. Stay sharp, stay picky, and have faith that the right one will soon appear.
4. Be proud of what you have self-funded
Your bank account might be looking a bit sad right now, but if you have been investing in yourself and your business this year, than that is something to be extremely proud of. It is something I realised myself, when I looked at my tax return for 2021 and saw that the total net income was somewhat lower that I expected. But this was because I had also invested a whopping €13k in my business (13,180 USD), and my personal development.
I spent it on a business course, and worked with a number of coaches, one of them being my biggest investment ever – and worth every penny. I would not have been the person and coach I am today, if I had not done this. And I paid for it myself.
So if you have managed to pay for training or coaching, or even contributed properly to the household bills this year, then congratulate yourself. You are a business owner, and you are earning money doing what you love!
5. Stop the stories, find the silence
Stop the stories in your head.
You are enough, you are brilliant, and you are needed in this world.
You have had great results already, now trust the process. Try and silence the narrative, and the ego that is telling you that you’ll never make it. You will make it. Other people made it, and so will you. Don’t go frantically posting on social media for a few Likes, or mindlessly scrolling, as it will only pull you further down the negative spiral.
Once you think you’re not good enough, everything you choose to see and read, will confirm this. Switch off your laptop, delete the social apps off your phone. Go outside into nature. You have time now! Take this time to work on your inner self, and love her for all she has done. Breathe deeply. Connect.
The answers are all inside of you, and you are your own best guide. But you have to start listening to your true self. You can not hear her when your mind is full of rubbish and worries. Take a break. It will all work out.
great post …thanks for the advise