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From the vlog archives:

• ​Your Problem is NOT a Lack of Discipline: Why "You just need to work harder" is BAD advice, plus a better way to achieve business success.

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I don't know about you, but I've heard messages like the above my ENTIRE 12+ years that I've been in business...

...and to be honest, I really, REALLY dislike those messages.

Because here's the thing: When it comes to marketing and promotions, you as the business owner do not have complete control over the actions of your clients/customers. (Nor should you WANT to have complete control over that!)

The way I see it is this: As someone who sells a service/product, you have about 90 - 95% "control" (by which I mean that you are responsible for the actions you take, visibility of your work, pitching your offers, communicating clearly with prospects, etc). The last 5 - 10% is your client/customer's responsibility: It is up to them to make the decision whether to buy from you.

...Which ALSO means that sometimes, you can do everything "right," and it simply will not result in a sale.

This does NOT mean that you are "bad" at marketing.

There are SO MANY possible reasons for why someone might choose not to buy. And we, as business owners, always want to a) help our clients and customers determine whether our services/products are the right fit for them, b) make it as easy as possible for them to buy if it IS the right fit, and c) respect their decision regardless of whether it's a "yes" or a "no."

...So, when business gurus out there are saying things like, "Just work harder and you'll make sales," or "Be more confident and you'll make sales," I call bullsh*t.

Sometimes you can work REALLY hard, and be SUPER confident in the quality and service and delivery of your offers, and it simply doesn't result in a sale because of many different factors.

"Just try harder. Just have more conviction." Those aren't really helpful statements!

In those instances where you aren't getting the sales you WANT, here's what I like doing with my clients (take notes!):

1. We assess your current thought processes and feelings about your work. (Are you in awe of your product/service? Sales aside, are you satisfied with the marketing that you're doing? Sales aside, is there anything you are DISsatisfied with that you are doing/not doing?)
2. We explore any internal resistance you might be experiencing, why that might be happening, and what mindset shifts we can work through to prevent self-sabotage.
3. We examine your strategies and identify practical actions you can take to finesse and adjust accordingly. (What could you do to make it even easier for prospects, so that instead of them doing 5 - 10% of the work, they only need to do 3 - 4%?)
4. We work on building more self trust, resilience, and other intrapersonal skills to best support you during frustrating/challenging times.

Your job, as the solopreneur, is to do everything in your power to promote and market your work (with integrity and in an ethical way, of course).

Yes, this includes putting in the effort, and yes, this means having conviction in your work, but neither of those things will automatically correlate into sales.

...and when those gurus out there tell you that it DOES correlate to sales, then you're going to think there's something wrong with you when it DOESN'T automatically lead to a sale. (See why those types of messages bother me so much?)

There is nothing wrong with you.

Sometimes you do your job AMAZINGLY, but — for reasons beyond your control — it doesn't result in a sale.

...So in that case, when you are my client, we analyze that. We validate the effort you put in. We get curious about what might be getting in the way. We pull out valuable learning opportunities from it. We motivate and inspire you to keep moving forward.

It's a blend of doing mindset work and taking practical, strategic action.

And BECAUSE you can never have *complete* control over the sales process, here's what you REALLY need: You need to be able to more effectively navigate the emotional roller coaster of marketing.

Doing this will NOT necessarily result in sales.

...But here's what it WILL do for you:

• It'll help you broaden your perspective so you can spark fresh new ideas that you might have previously struggled to see.
• It'll help you transform your self doubt into curiosity.
• It'll help you to keep moving forward (so that you're not stalling or self sabotaging).
• It'll help you to be more comfortable with visibility.
• It'll help you to be inspired and motivated and eager to experiment and learn more.
• It'll help you to more clearly communicate the purpose, value, benefits, and tangible results of your product/service.
• It'll help to increase your enjoyment of the entire process.
• It'll help you to connect more deeply with your clients and customers.
• It'll help you to connect more deeply with your values.
• It'll help you to redefine what "success" truly means to you.
• It'll help you to have more compassion and kindness toward yourself.
• It'll help you to increase your understanding of yourself.
• It'll empower you to recognize what you do and do not have control over, what your responsibilities are and are not, what actions are dependent on you vs others, what actions you want to be taking vs don't actually want to do (and why, so that you can be even MORE intentional and strategic!)...

Navigating the *emotional roller coaster of marketing* is crucial for every solopreneur.

Again, it will NOT necessarily lead to more sales magically rolling in... but it WILL enable you to keep going regardless of whether those sales are currently coming in, and to feel much better about it (and yourself!).

This topic is something we can dive REALLY deep into, and I know you probably have a lot more questions about how all of this works and what you can do to apply it to your own situation... which is why it's our *topic of the month* for our August live group training :)

I've already written SEVEN pages of notes on this topic — it's going to be an epic discussion!

This live training is happening on Wednesday August 30 at 3pm PT: Details and sign up HERE.

I'm curious: Does marketing feel fun to you, or is it emotionally exhausting? Hit reply and let me know!

Have a great weekend,
Sagan (she/her)

Success Coach & anti-hustle Productivity Strategist | Romantic Comedy Novelist
​SaganMorrow.com | Twitter | Instagram​

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