Blurry seasons
How to find clarity when you're stuck
Mindset Mastery is a weekly newsletter about the psychology of small business ownership from Jenni Gritters. If you’d like to support my work, I invite you to become a paid subscriber for $5/ month! Paid subscribers receive monthly journaling prompts, along with other perks.
Feeling resentful, unsure or burned out in your freelance business? I created something just for you! It’s called REFLECT: Choose from a one-hour live business audit or book a 15-minute feedback session. Get the clarity you need to move your business forward in the second half of the year.
Jordana was stuck. Her consulting business was working just fine. She employed a few contractors, made about $70,000 per year in gross revenue, and worked less than 40 hours per week. Things weren’t bad but they weren’t good either. As I always say to my clients: Fine is fine. But you deserve better than fine!
Jordana wanted to talk about what was going on. But, the problem was that she wasn’t exactly sure what was going on. She needed to spend some time figuring out what was chafing and making her feel unsatisfied. She knew that on paper, her business was working. But she also felt dread when she woke up and looked at her to do lists for certain clients.
As a coach, I know that dread and dissatisfaction are usually signs of misalignment. In other words, Jordana had built a business that worked for her at one point. But then, as her needs, desires and life started to change, she wanted something else.
So we sat down for a one-hour business audit. (This is what I’m offering in July! Learn more about REFLECT sessions here.) And we started by talking about what was working in her business, and what was challenging.
Jordana realized that employing contractors was working really well. She was also happy with her schedule. And she liked the work itself; she consulted on marketing strategy, specifically funnels and content marketing workflows. She found the work to be engaging, challenging and satisfying.
What wasn’t working? The money. Jordana felt frustrated by her income. She wanted to start making more so that she could start to put more money into savings, especially retirement funds and a savings account to buy a home. As we talked, she looked at her client list and realized that two of her clients — who had her on retainer — were underpaying her. They’d been her first clients after she left her full-time marketing job. And she was originally stoked about the pay and the set up! But two years in, she’d built a lot more expertise. The rates just weren’t cutting it anymore. Resentment was building.
This was incredibly informative. We took some time to celebrate Jordana’s wins, especially with managing contractors and creating her dream schedule. These are huge achievements! Then we created a game plan for adjusting her income, which came down to slowly changing up her client list.
Jordana’s game plan was broken down into 4 months:
Month 1: Create a new financial plan. Start outreach to potential new clients (with higher rates). And talk to current clients about upping rates or reducing hours.
Month 2: Continue new client outreach while dialing back on work with underpaying clients.
Month 3: Onboard at least one new client, and fully let go of at least one underpaying client.
Month 4: Do another business audit to check in on income and investigate wins & challenges.
We also figured out what support Jordana would need to implement this plan (regular check-ins with me, and pairing up with another business owner who wanted to make the same adjustments). Jordana left our session with clear action items and a sense of relief: It wasn’t that things weren’t working. She wasn’t doing anything wrong! It was just that she wanted to shift her workload and income to re-align with her current life and expertise.
It’s really, really normal to go through “blurry” seasons in your business. You might have a sense that you want to make a change, but feel incredibly unsure about what those changes should be. Or maybe you know what those changes are but your life situations doesn’t allow you to make the shifts quite yet.
Either way, sitting in this waiting area can feel tricky. You’re out of the old paradigm but not quite yet in the new one. I call these inflection points: Moments when you know something needs to change, but you’re still not on the “other side.”
These blurry seasons teach us a lot. But one of the most important survival tactics during a blurry season is finding support. Whether that’s a coach, a community, a therapist, or a trusted friend: It helps to talk it out.
What happened to Jordana? After about 6 months, she’d fired the 2 clients who were underpaying her and brought in 4 more. She hired another contractor to help her manage her growing workload. She worked a bit more than usual during month 4 and 5 to manage this shift, then was able to drop back down to her usual 30 hours per week. And her revenue numbers jumped from $6,000/ month to $9,000/ month. It wasn’t easy, but this up-level felt worth it to her. As she told me during one of our sessions: “I feel like I can trust myself again. My fire is back!”
We love to hear it.
This week, paid subscribers will get access to a business-planning exercise focused on learning how to bring in more revenue. If you’re not yet a subscriber, I hope you’ll consider joining the crew.
And if you, too, need support during a blurry season, check out the business audits sessions I’m offering next month. I have a few options — one for a full-hour live session, and another “mini” business audit for those of you who currently feel a bit strapped for cash. Let’s get you some clarity and build you a game plan for finishing 2023 strong.
In solidarity,
Jenni
Curious about my background? I’m a writer and business coach based in Central Oregon. I have two small children and I work part-time so I can spend a lot of time with them. Lately, I’ve been obsessed with non-linear business building and teaching people how to build successful businesses that support their human needs first. Check out my coaching offerings here and follow me on Twitter & Instagram!