What Do You Actually Want From Your Business?

When I started my business back in 2014, I didn't have a plan. If I'm honest, I kind of started by accident.

I had a job I liked, but I'd recently enrolled on a copywriting course with a view to eventually setting up a business offering copywriting services.

I set up a basic website, thinking it would give me somewhere to practice my copywriting skills. I also set up a Twitter account so I could start building a following ready for when I finished my course and launched my business.

A couple of days after setting up the account, I got a message from someone inviting me to a networking event. That's where I met my first client and everything kind of went from there. Suddenly, I was a freelance copywriter.

Two years later, I left my job to go all-in on my business.

And still, I didn't really have a plan. I joined a networking group and took whatever work came my way. I was just grateful to be earning a living through my own business. It felt like such a huge achievement.

But by 2018, I was losing my way. I wasn't getting much stuff I enjoyed. I was stuck in the feast and famine cycle. I was trying to grow my business, but didn't seem to be getting anywhere.

By the end of 2019, I was miserable. I felt like I was stuck in a rut I couldn't get out of. My profits were increasing year on year, but I was still earning a pittance considering how many hours I was working. And I didn't even enjoy a lot of the work I was doing.

So I made a load of changes. I stopped advertising copywriting services so I could focus on the training and consulting. I increased my pricing. I started saying 'no' to more stuff.

But the most meaningful change happened when I realised what I actually wanted from my business.

Up until that point, I'd been trying to work towards other people's idea of success. I thought I needed a "proper" business with a team, scalability, and big ambitions.

But when I really thought about it, I didn't want any of that. I didn't want a team, or a big business empire, or even a six-figure salary.

All I really wanted was to enjoy my work and make a decent living.

I just wanted to be happy.

As soon as I realised that, it was like a pressure was lifted. I only needed to earn enough for myself. And I didn't have to take on crappy clients or low-paid work to do that.

Now I have a business that works around me. I have clients I genuinely like working with and who value what I do. I have work I enjoy. I have time for my own marketing and passion projects. I have time for personal development, exercise and self-care. I don't work crazy hours, I have proper holidays where I can switch off, and I rarely ever feel stressed.

I have a business that makes me happy.

But enough about me. What do you want from your business?

You might want the complete opposite of me. You might want to create jobs for others, build something you can sell in ten years, have a huge turnover and massive profits.

Or maybe you don't want that. Maybe you want to keep things small - just you and a couple of employees or subcontractors.

Or maybe you are like me, and you're happy being a one-person business.

Everybody wants different things. And until I speak to someone, I don't know what they want.

But what I am fairly sure of is that nobody wants a business that makes them miserable. I can't imagine anyone being happy working long hours for very little return, doing work they don't enjoy for clients who don't value them.

And, yet, that is the situation many freelancers find themselves in.

They get trapped in the feast and famine cycle (often with more famine than feast), taking on any scrap of work they can find, and hoping all the hard work will pay off someday.

Why wait for "some day"?

Why not do what I did and take back control of your business?

You won't get the business you want overnight, but if you put in the work, you can turn things around.

The first step is getting some consistency. Consistency in your marketing, consistency in enquiries, consistency in sales, consistency in quality of clients, consistency in service delivery.

Once you have consistency, then you can decide whether you want to build a business empire or stay as you are.

Either way, you have to be the one to make it happen. And to do that, you have to make some changes.

If you don't know where to start, grab a copy of my book, or book 90 minutes with me.

You can make a decent living doing what you love for people you like. You can build a business that works on your terms.