Deconstruct to rebuild better

Someone once told me: “In order to reach a higher mountain, you must first climb down the first one to climb a new one…”

Congratulations, you have built a successful business (according to your definitions of success, obviously), but now growth has been slowing down or has been stagnant for a while. Why is that? You haven’t changed the way you market yourself, you haven’t change the way you prospect or the way you run your business. So what’s wrong?

Exactly that – you haven’t changed! What got you to one level is not what will get you to the next level.

This is a common comment I hear from advisors regardless of the level they’re at: everything used to work like wonder, now it seems like nothing works…

Personally, I love hearing these comments, not because I’m a business coach (!!!), but because I love it when I see people challenging the status quo, challenging what once was and thriving for more.

And, let’s be clear, when I say ‘more’ I don’t necessarily mean money, I know a lot of advisors thriving to have more time, to do more for people, to help more individuals and to truly make a difference in the world.

I was recently having a conversation with a business collaborator of mine, and we were talking about ‘drive’, how it simply opens up your mind to a whole new world of opportunities. And I gave her the example of a runner – the first time someone starts running, it’s hard and painful. When they stick with it, they get to a point where they can run a 5k race with ease. What happens next, almost always? They now have the goal of running a 10k, then a half-marathon and for the real hardcore one, a marathon.

Why?

Simple, it’s human nature – we strive for growth, progression and accomplishment.

But the way you train and run a 5k is not the way you run a marathon. You have to be willing to deconstruct, unlearn and challenge some habits and relearn some new ones.

Watch this video…
How to move from ideas to execution

So, why am I talking about deconstructing your business in an article dedicated to growing your business?

Because, deconstructing allows you to rebuild it with a fresh perspective, a fresh set of eyes and a different way of thinking.

And this is exactly what I’m inviting you to do this year: to question everything! And when I say everything, I mean everything! But rest assured, as you evaluate everything, some things will need to be changed some things will need to be modified, and some will stay the same (we don’t want to throw out the baby with the bath water either).

Here are some questions that I invite you to ask yourself as we are starting a new year:

In a perfect world, what would my business practice look like?
What is the main thing I would change about my business?
What drains my energy? What activities/tasks give me energy?
On a level from 0 to 10, how proud am I of my accomplishments?
- What needs to happen for me to bring it closer to a 10
- What could be my first step in that direction, the smallest step I could take today?
If I could change anything in my business and knew I couldn’t fail, what would it be?
Who could I reach to in order to make changes in my business?

There’s magic in simplicity and the minimum effective dose.

The human has an incredible talent to complicate life and justify why we make things more complicated. What is the minimum effective dose – meaning what is the smallest shift you can take that will bring the most impact? Changing a routine, hiring a consultant/coach/mentor, finally committing to a decision we’ve been putting off, stop doing something or start thinking differently.

This year, take some time to deconstruct your business piece by piece to reconstruct it better and take over its development.

And keep in mind this quote (which I love!) from Henry Ford: If I had asked my customers what they wanted they would have said a faster horse.

So go ahead, get out of the box and do things differently this year!