Five Ways To Grow Your Business By Betting On Yourself
By: Felicia C. Sullivan
Tags: Self Improvement, Freelancing, Work, Mental Health, Business

Misery, anxiety, crippling self-doubt, and abject terror — these feelings aren’t foreign to me, they’re my default. The only difference between 2020 and every other year before it is now the whole world is feeling them too. I know what it’s like to crawl out from under a tsunami of blankets and abandon the comfort of the not quite dark to see the world for what it is: complete and utter shit.

Maybe if I’d had a happier childhood, this game would’ve been different. I might have been a neurologist or a puppy handler instead of a woman who writes stories where everyone dies. Or, at the very least, suffers immeasurably. I might have been the kind of woman who wakes and savors the sunrise instead of reckoning with the fact I’m one step closer to the grave.

Though, in my defense, we are all slowly dying. But I digress.

However, after waking on my birthday from a dream that I’d died on my birthday, I said, forget this chump change. I’m ready for a whole new continent of emotion. Beckett once wrote, I can’t go on, I go on. I’m retooling his genius to channel my 2021 vibe: I can’t go on scream-crying into salad bowls, I’m moving the fuck on. Here’s me shouting for a supervisor. While I’ll need to up my shrink appointments to get to this superfine place where I’m running through a meadow with balloons, etc., I thought I’d start simple with something I actually know — my business.

Fact: If you don’t show up for yourself, how do you expect to show up for your customers. No matter how many bitter people tell you being human in business is an adorable, yet misguided belief, ignore those fools. They’re still trapped under the covers, calculating the ROI of reckoning with reality.

You are the hero. Not the product you make or the service you sell. Both can always be replicated faster and cheaper. Patents run out and you risk being replaced with a younger version of you, only with shinier hair. People value their experiences buying from you — the totality of it — above all else. Your customers remember how you treated them before, during, and most importantly, after they buy.

One of the hardest (yet Captain Obvious) lessons I learned as a consultant is the more I show up for myself, the more I stand out from the pack and shine for my clients.

Dial down the short-term extras. Prioritize what’s important to your growth and invest in it. Come 2021, I’m focused on investing in myself so I can level-up in my business and get to the place where I have enough money to move out of this rat bastard country and pay for rescue animal operations on the regular.

This is how I’m doing it.

1. Don’t Chase Every Dollar, Every Project

Listen, I get it. I’ve lived on ramen and oatmeal for months at a time, and had overdue rent notices and threats taped to my door for my neighbors to see. I’ve taken jobs for the paycheck because I needed the money and, for most, it’s the difference between eating and not eating. However, if you get to a place in your business where you can be slightly discerning, do it.

Just because someone is giving you a check doesn’t mean you should cash it. Just because you can do something doesn’t mean you ought to be doing that something. Every client you accept takes up space, so that yes better mean something. Are you taking on work that lights you up and challenges you? Are you working with people who respect your boundaries and align with your values? Do you believe in what they’re selling, how, where, and to whom they sell it? Can you stand to share a coffee with these people?

I say this because time is the one resource more valuable than money. You can’t get the hours back, so every “yes” to an opportunity is a “no” to something else. Determine if the paycheck or project is worth it, or if it stands in your way.

This year, I’ve received a lot of offers to take on performance marketing and digital strategy projects, which I turned down and referred to peers. Why? I have a long-term strategy of shifting my career to focus on education and fewer one-on-one brand projects, and the gigs in my inbox don’t advance the plot.

Ask yourself if the project advances the plot. Or is a Proustian chapter, where you’re pontificating on a cookie while the rest of your life is fast asleep.

2. Don’t Undermine Your Value

This is hard, especially if imposter syndrome is the one lover in your life that refuses to leave. Sometimes, it’s smart to reduce your rate if you’re experimenting with a new offering or product, or if you want to break into a new market. The delta is experience and evidence that you can deliver results. Maybe you need case studies, testimonials, and social proof. However, if you’ve proven your worth, there’s no reason to let people undermine your value.

I’ve had countless people either try to bully me down to a cheaper rate or yell at me for having the audacity to ask for what I’m worth. Even after I carefully researched the market and found my rates are actually lower than all agencies and on-par with my peers. I don’t care about those motherfuckers because they are not my dream clients. My clients understand the value of the investment and the long-term benefits they’ll get as a result of working with me.

I don’t discount my rates unless I’m working with a non-profit I believe in or I’m giving repeat clients a special offer on a new service. I never bill hourly, instead I offer what Paul Jarvis refers to as value-based pricing.

Do your research. Make sure your rates have context in the market. Stand up for what you’re worth and do not waver.

3. Prioritize Professional & Personal Growth

Make an investment in yourself with your time, attention, and money. No, I’m not taking about devouring work from uncredited “gurus” who’ve never practiced what they preach. I don’t waste my money or time on people whose sole experience is regurgitating what other smart people have already said. I work with real pros and practitioners. Coaches and experts who are accredited or experienced, and have an agile framework and proven track record.

Not only am I up’ing my shrink hours to nurture my mental health, I plan to invest in a business coach that will help me in the next phase of selling educational and digital products. I’ve invested in a VA who will help relieve the admin burden and manage some of the operational aspects of my business. I’ve also contracted an attorney focused on online business owners and intellectual property, who will protect my IP and get me on the road to trademarks and formal copyright registrations. If you steal my shit in 2021, you will get sued for compensatory damages because I did NOT COME HERE TO PLAY.

Finally, I’m working with a designer who will overhaul my site and every single piece of collateral I put out into the world because I want my insides to match my outsides, and I’m tired of cobbling together decks from Creative Market.

When you pay for something, you pay attention.

4. Protect Your Secret Sauce

My words are my IP and I plan to protect them at all costs. Why? Because what I know and how I convey that knowledge is not only my differentiator, but it’s also my livelihood. The methodology and frameworks I use and teach on brand-building and storytelling set me apart from my peers and I’m protecting my work through trademarks and copyright registrations. So, if someone steals my work, know I’m climbing into their pockets and getting my money.

There’s a difference between learning from someone and adapting their method to make it your own versus outright theft of their work. People have stolen worksheets from me and used them in their consultancies. I’ve turned down projects where I didn’t feel confident my brand workshop materials would be protected against reproduction, sale, and distribution.

Don’t let amateurs tell you IP isn’t important or theft is a form of flattery — it’s not flattering when it impacts you putting food on the table. When big brands steal designs from independent makers and profit off their work. When scumbag websites steal your writing and make ad revenue off of it. When people download your eBooks, digital products, and courses and sell them for a cheaper price online and profit.

If you don’t understand the value of IP, you shouldn’t have an opinion on it. Educate yourself.

It’s also vile when you’ve worked hard on something and some bag of shit steals your work and claims it as their own. I know I’m exceptional — I don’t need external validation from some fool thief on the internet. You haven’t “arrived” when someone steals from you, you’ve been violated.

Now, I have airtight contracts and terms of use for each of my services and future digital products that define how my IP is used and protected. While peers of mine groan over the expense of using attorneys, when the stakes are high they become a vital part of doing business.

5. Shout Your Shine Through Thought Leadership

I’ve written at length about the power of giving all of your smarts away, how to be a farmer instead of a hunter when it comes to lead generation and how to do it.

Clients have many fears when entering into a consulting engagement. They wonder if they’ve hired an idiot. They’re praying this random person in which they’ve placed their money and trust can actually solve their problem. Money has a way of ratcheting up terror. Your job is to reduce that terror from the onset, and you do this by showing your smarts and shouting your shine.

What do I mean by this? Give it all away for free. Don’t gate your content. Don’t play the scarcity, hide and seek game because let’s get real, you don’t have the cure for cancer. There is zero reason to hide your know-how; hoards of people can do what you do. What differentiates you is your brand, approach and track record. Show your case studies and break down the clients’ challenges, the actions you took to solve those challenges, the result, and the key learnings people reading your article can employ in their business.

When I considered how to share and shout my shine, I knew writing was my way to connect with people (video gives me a heart attack) and go deep with my knowledge. For the past few years, Medium has been my sole vehicle for generating warm leads. However, next year I’m expanding to include podcasting and newsletters to reach more people with my message.

The more I educate on the platforms where my prospects play, the easier it is to gain and keep their trust and close deals.