When starting or running a predominantly online business, it’s common to spend a lot of time and energy focused on how you can attract as many people as possible to your brand. You think “The world is my oyster filled with potential clients and customers!”. And to some extent it is. But here’s a reality check.

Are you tired of hearing the word authentic? #liveauthentic I love what it stands for, but the word itself makes me cringe. Anyone else? So I’ve got a new word for you instead. RELEVANT. 

You used to post to your social accounts EVERY.DAY! And then it became a few times a week, and then a couple of times a week and now… you’re desperate to outsource it because you’re drowning trying to do “all the things”. Before you go any further you need to read this!

This is not going to be a popular opinion… But I’m going to share it anyway, because it’s a truth I’m glad I came to terms with before starting The Strategy Studio. When it comes to starting and running a successful business, it’s not enough to indulge your passion. There, I said it. And now I’m going to explain.

Who are you trying to exclude? Often when working on our marketing strategies and growing our businesses we spend a lot of time focussed on attracting our ideal client. Who are we trying to draw in? Whose attention are we chasing? How are we going to engage with the type of people willing to spend money on our products and/or services? Equally important to focussing on who you ARE trying to attract is a consideration of who (or what) you DON’T want to attract.

Having one of those days (or weeks) where you feel like you’ve got nothing to say and no pictures worth sharing on your social channels? An easy quick tip is to take a look at your Instagram insights and see what content your audience has been responding too most of late. If there’s no patterns that stand out, here are some other ideas to kick-start your social media slump.

“Why bother writing such long Instagram captions when nobody reads them anyway?” I’ve heard this question before as I’m known for my somewhat-lengthy captions on Instagram. As you might have guessed, I have a lot of thoughts on it! Here’s 4 reasons I believe longer captions are worth the effort.

“But if I share too much of my process, or give too much away, no one will ever need my services.” Ever found yourself second guessing posting something on your social media out of fear it feels “too good to share”? The problem with this way of thinking is that you’re usually basing this decision to post or not post based on your COMPETITOR instead of your CUSTOMER.

Have you heard of the Conscious Competence Ladder? It’s a model that highlights two contributing factors that affect our thinking as we learn a new skill, those being our awareness (consciousness) and skill level (competence). According to the model, we move through 4 levels as we build proficiency in a new skill. The level on this ladder I want to draw your attention to is No.3 which in my opinion is the hardest! It’s often when you know you’re capable of something, and you’ve figured out/learnt how to do it, but it just feels harder than it should and you’re wondering if it will ever get easier!

When do you know it’s time to start outsourcing some of your business? Regularly during Strategy Session cllients talk to me about an aspect of their business they’re really struggling with. When I question whether they’ve considered outsourcing it, they usually respond with: “Yes… but how do I know when is the right time?” Good question. And here’s my thoughts on that.