It can happen to the best of us. You take your eye off the ball and before you know it your web traffic goes down and your profits head south too. Maybe you’ve been busy with your family or perhaps you’ve had a new baby? Whatever the cause, your business needs a jump-start and a blast of new energy.
So how do you take a stagnant business and revive it? Here are four ideas for you:
Find someone new
Could you bring someone on board who would be excited about the business? That excitement could well be infectious and bring back your own sense of excitement. Sometimes you need new ideas and energy to come from the outside because it’s too hard to do it alone. An outsider could bring you a completely new perspective.
Take a look around your network for someone who complements your skills and personality. It could be the best business move you’ll ever make.
Increase your hours
Your business stagnation could be down to simple neglect. Most mums with businesses seem to be running multiple businesses all at the same time. And maybe a part-time job , too! Sit down and work out how many hours you spend on your business in a month. Is this really enough to give you the results you want? If not, now is the time to fix that.
It’s hard, but sometimes we have to drop a few projects so that others can have a chance at success. Do you need to let one business go so that another can get the attention it needs?
Decide how much time you want to put into this business and put it in your calendar. Then tell other people about your new commitment so you have an incentive to stick to it.
Sometimes, all a business really needs to flourish again is attention.
Set fresh goals
Can you remember a time when you were very excited about this business? Can you remember when you used to dream about its success and what that would be like?
It’s time to get back into that state of mind. Without it, you’re just keeping your business ticking over, rather than taking it forwards. The world and business are moving so fast now, you need that excitement and energy just keep up.
So focus on what you really want from this business and set a few new goals. Make sure they are measurable and have a date when they should be met, otherwise you’re unlikely to reach them
What do you want to accomplish? Why? How would it change your life if you succeeded?
Get back in touch with that reason why. That’ll really help you to succeed.
Commit
The most important aspect of jump-starting an old business is just committing to its success again. At some point in the past, you probably lost your commitment and that’s where things started to slide downhill.
And if that doesn’t work…
If you’ve tried your best but you know deep down that you can’t get that feeling back, then perhaps it’s time for pastures new? One thing that is guaranteed when you’re working around young children is that things change. Working through the ideas in this article will help you decide if you want to revive your business or if it’s time to move on.
If you’ve successfully revived a flagging business, I’d love to hear from you in a comment 🙂
And if you enjoyed this post, why not make sure you stay in touch by joining my mailing list? I’ll also send you a copy of my e-book Running a business around a family: 9 steps to success.
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