E96: Why Your Business Isn’t Growing (Hint: It’s Not Because You’re Not Doing Enough)

Is your business feeling harder than it used to?

In this bonus episode of Dream Business, Dream Life, Emma dives into the real reason so many business owners are feeling stuck, overwhelmed and tempted to “do more” right now.

Spoiler: the answer isn’t adding more offers, more platforms, more qualifications, or more price points.

The online business world is evolving. Buying behaviour has shifted. And what many are calling a “tough year” is actually a period of change.

Emma explores:

• Why “things are tough” is a dangerous narrative
• What the “trust recession” really means for your sales
• Why more content, more offers and more complexity are not the solution
• How to simplify your business to increase sales
• The one question to ask before adding anything new

If you’ve been tempted to pivot, add, expand or overhaul everything this episode will bring you back to clarity.

Because just because you can…it doesn’t mean you should.

Key Takeaways

• More offers rarely fix a sales problem.
• Messaging and lead generation are usually the real issue.
• We are in a “trust recession” buyers need more clarity and consistency.
• Simplicity builds authority. Complexity creates confusion.
• Less done better will outperform more done badly.

Free Resource:

https://membership.emmahine.co.uk/sbr-7468

Want to connect? Find me here:

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/iamemmahine

Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/emma-hine

Website:  https://www.emmahine.co.uk

You Tube: https://www.youtube.com/@EmmaHineStrategy

Transcript

Hello and welcome to Dream Business, Dream Life, helping ambitious people like you to grow a business they love. I'm Emma Hyne and I'm on a mission to show you that it is possible to grow a business without sacrificing your life. Having experienced the roller coaster of making millions of pounds but feeling overwhelmed, anxious and totally unsuccessful, I know firsthand the importance of growing a business on your terms. On this podcast, I'm going to share with you lots of tips and advice that will enable you to grow a business that gives you the financial freedom to live the life of your dreams, while sharing with you some inspirational growth stories from other fabulous business owners. Ready to live the dream? Then let's get stuck in. Hello and welcome to today's episode of Dream Business Dream Life. Well, here I am again, another sneaky bonus episode. But today what I want to talk to you about is just because you can, it doesn't mean you should. Now you've probably heard me say that a million times, as it's something I know I bang on about a lot. But the reason I want to talk about it today is because I am seeing way too many people getting pulled into this trap right now, which is kind of a pattern we see when things get tough. And before we talk about it, I want to address this things are tough this year narrative. Now, yes, I absolutely agree. The online business world, in fact, the business world in general is changing as it does regularly. But what happens when things change is people start to say things are tough this year. But what is actually happening is things are changing and change feels uncomfortable. We have to do things differently. We have to work a little bit harder. So tough becomes the narrative because it feels tough because it's uncomfortable. But what I want to do is I want to flip that. And I want you to think about things changing rather than things being tough. Because tough tends to lead to being overwhelmed, over trying things, over complicated things. And negative desperation energy tends to kick in. And when that happens, it turns people off buying even more. We go full circle. It feels tough because people aren't buying. When things feel tough and people talk about it being tough out there, the urge to do more raises its head. And that's what I'm seeing right now. So I want you to be thinking about the world is changing and I need to change with it. So what I'm seeing is people being pulled towards do this shiny thing, do that shiny thing. When things feel tough, which is normal when we are evolving, we start to do more. Add more offers, because the more offers we've got, the more we can sell. Add more content, because the more content we throw out there and the more places, the more we're going to be visible. attend more events. Again, people are going to see me, people are going to get to know me, people are going to buy from me. Add more price points because, oh, I'm missing this little group of people over here. So if I price something for them, I'm going to grab all of those people as well. We add more freebies. We just add more of everything and absolutely anything. And before you know it, you're overwhelmed. You're working twice as hard and you're still not getting better results. Why? Because change needs you to do things differently, not to do more things. If your offer isn't selling, you need to look at why it's not selling. Is it not solving the right problem? Because your offer needs to solve whatever problem it is that your audience have got right now. Not one in the future, not one last week, right now. Is the messaging not quite on point? So aren't people seeing that your offer is going to solve their problem? Is it priced too low or too high? If it's too low, people might not think it's got the right value. If it's too high and your messaging is talking to people who are right at the beginning of their journey, they may not be able to afford that price. Are you talking about it consistently or are you just putting an odd post out there sending an odd e-mail saying, hey, I've got this thing, buy it and then wondering why people aren't buying from you? The answer is rarely to add another offer. It is to solve why the one you have already is not selling. And that's often down to your messaging. You're not connecting with the right people or your lead generation strategy. You haven't got the process working quite right. Not always, of course, but quite often it relates to one of those two things or part of one of those two things. When the world changes, we have to change with it. And right now, people's buying behaviours have changed and we need to move with them. So let's talk about the trust recession for a minute because we're hearing those words a lot right and it sounds pretty scary but actually all that it means is people are more wary of marketing. Because if we're totally honest there's been a lot of bad marketing out there. People are wary of people saying they will help you to get the results because so many people have tried things and not got the results. Yes, there's been some pretty shady people out there selling some pretty shady stuff, but that is not the only reason people don't get results. They don't do the work, often because the thing they have bought isn't the right thing, or they've just bought out a FOMO. Yep, FOMO marking has been a thing, which takes us right back to people feeling wary in the trust recession. A trust recession does not mean people will not buy. People are still buying. I've invested in so much in the first six weeks of this year, but I've invested in the things that I know are the right things for me. And I'm doing the work to make sure that they give me the return on investment. But what it does mean is people need to trust that you and your offers are the right thing for them right now. That the thing you sell will get them the results you promised that it's going to get them. that you will show up when you say you're going to show up, that you're not just saying there is only one place left when there's way, way more, or that you're not offering a one time price that stays there for months. It's things like that have caused people to lose their trust. And it's that trust that we need to regain. So what you need to be doing is building that trust, not just spouting more of the same type of marketing out there, more of the same stuff. is not going to build that trust. Doing more of the same stuff in more places is not going to build that trust. You need to do things differently, not just do more of the same stuff. Equally, trying all of the things on the hope that something will stick won't work either. Adding 3 new courses when the ones you've already got aren't selling aren't going to magically make all of the courses sell. Adding another tier to your membership is not going to make it sell. It's going to make it even more complicated, more difficult for you to promote, more difficult for the person to know if it's the right thing for them. Getting another qualification is not going to make people invest in you. They want to invest in you, not all the qualifications that you've got. Doing another course will not solve the problem if you are just constantly flicking from thing to thing and adding more and more things on the hope something gets you the next sale. That's overwhelming and it's expensive. There's a lot of things in that sentence, wasn't there? Increasing your price and stuffing in loads more value is not going to make the offer sell to higher ticket clients. It's not going to make it more viable for them. Throwing a post a day out on four more platforms is not going to get you four times the leads. Changing your niece, or adding a new one into your office suite. Again, that is not the answer. All these things are just going to exhaust you, make you really busy and totally confuse your audience. If you have one court offer, you'll be constantly talking about this offer. Your audience will get you to know you for that offer and that is where the trust starts to build. You'll have clear messaging to create your content from, and that is definitely going to make your job easier and less overwhelming. And when you're less overwhelmed, you'll be able to focus on the things that actually matter, serving your clients and generating the right leads consistently. You'll have more time. Time to look at what is and isn't working and to make decisions based on your data, not on FOMO or copying the business next door. More is rarely the answer. When your business is stuck or you're feeling overwhelmed, the answer is usually to simplify and to concentrate on the things that are actually working right now. If you're not sure what is working, then grab yourself a copy of my free business reset. That's going to guide you through a mini audio of your offers, your messaging and your systems. I'm going to pop the link in the show notes for you. But before I wrap up, I just want to pull this all together with one top tip. Before you add the next thing or buy the next thing, I want you to ask yourself, Does this really move me closer to my goal? If the answer is not a very clear yes, then I want you to stop and think about it before doing it. Is it FOMO? Is it panic? Is it desperation? Is it just because you can do it? The more you do, the more complicated your business becomes. And a complicated business is a rocky road to burnout and less sales. Just because you can, it doesn't mean you should. More stuff does not mean more sales. Less done better is definitely the way to go. Thank you for listening. I will see you next time. You have been listening to Dream Business, Dream Life with Emma Hine. If you want to know more about how I can help you to build your dream business and your dream life, then visit my website, emmahyne.co.uk. Until next time, remember, you really can have it all.