Groundhog Day Syndrome is the feeling you get when your business is stuck in the same cycle, and you’re playing the same game of catch-up over and over again.
The symptoms of Groundhog Day Syndrome are inconsistent sales and profits, stress and anxiety, and the feeling that you have been here before (because you have).
So what can you do about it?
Remember Who Your #1 Client really is
We all know about the concept of A,B,C and D clients, right? Your “A” clients are 20% of the work and 80% of the profit. “D” clients are 80% of the work and cost us money. Well, I have discovered an even more important concept, one that can double or triple your profits even more than focusing on your “A” clients. I’m talking about your #1 Client, the one who can increase your profits dramatically, by an order of magnitude (multiply your results by 10 or 100), if you just learn to take better care of them.
This #1 Client is your business, and secondarily you. If you don’t take care of your own business, it can’t/won’t grow sustainably and you will live on the business roller coaster forever, the business version of Groundhog Day.
Schedule the Time and Don’t Skip It
For starters, you need to schedule time for your #1 client every week. During this client time, you review the business results, make plans for business growth, and implement the parts of the plan that only you can do. It also means that your key employees need to allocate a portion of their time to servicing Client #1 based on their areas of responsibility.
There are 6 Pillars plus a Foundation to any business. The pillars are Sales, Marketing, Finance, Operations, Team and Products/Services. The foundation is you and your leadership team. Treating your business like your #1 Client means allocating time and resources to each of the pillars AND to the foundation.
Avoid the Rollercoaster
Solopreneurs know the Sales/Marketing/Operations rollercoaster well – market a lot, sell some stuff, then stop marketing so you can do the work that you sold. I have also seen many bigger companies fall into the same trap, working on only one or two pillars at a time, and outgrowing the foundation or other pillars. This results in lopsided and inconsistent results, and then foundational collapses when the pillars get too big for the foundation to support.
The cure for this is simple – schedule time for you and your business to work on the Important but not currently Urgent tasks. This includes planning, learning (learn more to earn more), marketing (even when you don’t need another client right now), and financial management. Avoid the rollercoaster, smooth out the peaks and valleys, and grow your business and your profits steadily and continually, without ever falling back.
If you need help setting yourself up as your #1 Client and avoiding Groundhog Day Syndrome, contact us for a free strategy session.
Author: Mark McNulty, Business Coach in Louisville, KY