At some point in time in your business, you feel stuck – you have lost clarity.
You want to move forward, but you don’t exactly know how. You begin to underperform, and it worries you nonstop.
Knowing where you want to go, without knowing how to get there is completely natural and it is also a good sign – a sign that you’re on the path to success, as long as you don’t get paralysed by fear (the human mind dreads uncertainty).
This is why we seek clarity
Clarity is an improved understanding of your process that leads to business sustainability. It means knowing what you want for your business and how to get it.
Clarity brings motivation. It’s essence is to ensure excellence in your entrepreneurial journey.
In this blogpost, I’ll be taking you through 7 things you should do to gain clarity and eventually, grow your business
Here goes:
7 Simple Ways to Gain Clarity and Grow Your Business
1. Get Rid of Clutter – Be Organised.
For you to be seeking business clarity, there might be some sort of clutter somewhere, that you’re not paying attention to – either mental or physical clutter.
Declutter your mind – write down all those plans in your head, let go of the past, stop multitasking, reduce the amount of information you’re taking in, be decisive, meditate and be organised.
Declutter your physical workspace – Arrange your files, manage your inbox, tidy your desk top, eliminate possible distractions and keep it simple.
2. Take a Step Back and Re-analyse your Business.
You probably had to answer these questions when you started your business, and now is a good time to look over your answers again.
You should also have them written down where you can see them quite frequently because it helps you understand the essence of what you’re doing and your relationship with it. These 4 questions are:
- What makes your business different/special?
- Who is your target audience (specifically)?
- What do you want to be known for as a person?
- What do you need to know more about to achieve your goals?
Make sure you clearly write down the answers to these 4 questions. If you find it difficult to answer any, just breathe and really think about it till you find the answers you’re looking for.
3. Establish Valuable Relationships.
Build relationships with people who have achieved or are trying to achieve what you want to achieve or something similar to it.
They might have, or have had similar experiences as you, and can be of great help to you and your business.
Try as much as possible to see how you can be of use to these people too, so they won’t see you as a burden but instead, they’ll be much interested in your growth as well.
If necessary, get into the right coaching programmes that can assist you in getting clear on the next steps you need to take to contribute towards the growth of your business.
4. Have the End Goal in Mind.
Somewhere in the beginning of this article, I said something about “knowing where you want to go”
This is very important because if you don’t know exactly where you want to go, how will you get there?
Start with the end in mind and from there, work towards achieving your goal.
When you go on a road trip, you know where you want to go, but you don’t see all the paths and turns that lead you to your destination before you start.
But because you have your destination in mind, you’d always find a way to get there – by asking for directions from the people around, by using a map, etc
Same applies to your business. Have your destination in mind and the path to success will begin to unfold one way or another.
5. Be a Swift Decision Maker.
One of the reasons you feel stuck at the stage you are currently is that you fail to make decisions quickly enough.
As much as you have to analyse your decisions properly, make sure you don’t fall into a state of analysis paralysis – a process when overanalyzing or overthinking a situation can cause forward motion or decision-making to become “paralyzed”, meaning that no solution or course of action is decided upon.
6. Prioritise Important Work.
In your work process, follow the 80/20 rule.
Only do what is most important in making your business thrive.
Know what needs your attention the most and focus on only that.
Whatever work that doesn’t really need your attention, outsource it.
Watch what you put your efforts into, to avoid overworking yourself, and breaking down in the process.
7. Readily Adapt to Change.
It is a known fact that entrepreneurs easily get attached to their ideas and creations.
While seeking clarity for the sake of your business growth, you must keep testing different ideas to know which one works.
Even if it is your most brilliant idea, readily accept change if it does not yield positive results.
Most importantly,
As I conclude, there’s one thing I can’t fail to tell you:
Take action!
You cannot find clarity if you don’t take the first step.
Clarity does not come from your thoughts, it comes as a result of your actions – from decluttering your mind and physical space to validating your ideas to everything else written in this article, none of it would really give you clarity and grow your business if you don’t take action.
Just like the road trip instance that I gave before: if you know where you want to go but you don’t start the car because you don’t know how to get there, you’ll never get there. So, JUST START!