Ep. 124: How to Break Through the "Murky Middle" of Business
If you've been in business for a bit, and have been working with clients, you might have reached a point where you're finding yourself at a frustrating growth plateau. While it feels so nice to finally have people paying you, now that you're serving those clients you have even less time to work ON your business. You're trying to be consistent with your marketing, and you have new offers you want to create, but it just feels like there's not enough time. And it likely feels like a fluke each time you get a new client too.
Everything feels like a bit too much, and not enough, at the same time. And when you think about all of the possible options to get out of this place, it's really overwhelming. You cannot afford to waste time on the wrong thing. But what is the right thing?
When everyone is selling you a different tactic it can be hard to tell. Not to mention, you might try it out and figure out it's all wrong for you. At this stage what you need is foundational strategies for the next level, which is what I'm sharing with you in this episode.
Link: Plan for profit training: https://erikatebbensconsulting.com/plan-for-profit-training
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So this week's episode is all about the murky middle of business, which I promise I will explain what that is in a minute. Um, and also how you can. Get out of it and get to the other side where you really want to be. So the murky middle is a term that I came up with to describe that place when you're not a beginner in your business anymore, but you're feeling like you are at a point where your expertise and your efforts are not lining up.
With the money that you're making. So you're already working with clients. You have some money coming in. Uh, you have, you know, all, all of your life. Basics are covered and like your, your website, you've got your socials. Like you've got all that going. Um, but things just still feel really frustrating. You might even feel like every new client that you get, like it's just a fluke and that you never know when you're, when you can predict the next one.
Um, you might be thinking about really raising your rates, but you're like it again, when the clients that you're getting now feel a bit like a fluke. It's like, well, how am I going to charge even more? And then still get people, or maybe, maybe you know how to get clients at your current rate, but you want to start offering something totally different.
Um, you know, as a way to make more money, um, as a way to give yourself more time. And you're like, I just, I, I don't even know. I don't even know how that's going to work out. Right. It just, there's a lot of questions and it feels like. Not enough clarity on the answers and everywhere you look, different, people are telling you to do different things in order to make that leap to your next.
Revenue level. So again, this is why I call it the murky middle, right? So you're not all the way where you want to be in business yet, but it feels about as like muddy as a, as a gross swampy pond in terms of what to do next. So I know, you know, you're, you're busy, you're trying to get really consistent with your marketing, you know, as, as much as possible you have new offers you want to create.
Um, and it's just, uh, it just feels really like a lot. And what is compounding this feeling of being really pressed for time. Um, and, and even, I will say, even if you're like, no, no, no, Erica, I do actually know what I want to do next. Right. You're like, it's not that. The next thing I want to do is like murky.
Like maybe you're like, I want to create a course or I want to create like a high ticket mastermind or something. It's just that you, because you are now working with clients, you are spending so much more time working in your business, that you now have a lot less time to work on your business to actually do those things that are going to move you into the next level.
So it's just. Like a huge pain in the ass. Right. Um, and because, you know, either, either way, whether you know exactly what you want to do next, or you're not quite sure since you have less time to work on your business, uh, it feels really scary and risky to just accidentally like waste time. Right? Like you can't, you can't afford to waste time anymore.
At this point, because you know, it's not like in the beginning when you weren't maybe
serving as many clients and you had more time to like tinker with your website or make a social, um, content plan or do all the other things. But now you're like, no, no, no, I need to be super, super efficient. And so going out there and trying a bunch of different tactics, a bunch of different like popular tactics, uh, is, is.
More risky now. Um, cause you're like, I don't know. Like I, I feel like people are telling me I should create a course. I should create this like high ticket thing or whatever it is. Um, but what if I go through all of that work and then it doesn't actually get me to where I want to be. It's just instead made me even more busy.
Obviously we do not want that. Um, What I suggest instead, and I'm going to take you through the six pieces of my foundation, but it's, there's actually a, another foundation that you have to lay for yourself to make your next revenue leap, or, um, maybe like, maybe you don't just want more. But you want more time as well, right?
Or more impact, or maybe a combination of all of the above. You actually need a new foundation to support this next level of growth and what I've found in working with lots and lots of clients. And, uh, and just talking to lots of. Online entrepreneurs is that this is really, uh, it it's, this isn't very well known.
Right? So it's, um, it's, it's super well known when you're first starting out. Right. You got to have the website, you gotta have that about me page. You gotta have the services page. You gotta get your social media accounts going. Like you gotta get some headshots. Um, you know, even if they're just selfies on your phone, like there's, there are those baseline things that, you know, I have to do as like, sort of the foundations of getting your business going and now granted at the next level, at the murky middle, like you might get lucky, you might find a certain strategy or a tactic that just happens to align perfectly with.
Who you are, how you like to work your personality, your goals, um, the type of business that you operate, your clients, like all of that, right? You might get super lucky and just land on a single solution that works for you. And if so, that is. Wonderful. That is great. But what I find more often than not, especially for the people who I work with and if you're here and you're listening, I'm going to guess this is probably you as well.
You want that greater income and impact and time freedom, but without burning out or selling out. So yes. I find that a lot of the things that you're looking into or that perhaps you've invested in, they don't fit quite right. It's like a two small pair of shoes or. Uh, just, I don't know, like a, like a real ugly sweater.
Like maybe it's like other people love it. Other like, it's like a popular style of sweater, but you're like, yeah, I it's just, it's not for me though. Like it's, it's just not really my style rate. That's usually, um, what the people I work with find is that they just can't seem to find the thing that both feels like them.
And. Works for them. And so I realized over time, I was like, what, what are the common things? Like, what are all the things that I know from my experience that needs to be really dialed in. So it's, we're not scrapping the original foundations that you have built. We are just like refining them. We're we're um, like judging it up where maybe, you know, it has like a house settles over time.
Like there's some cracks in the foundation. You got to like. You know, you gotta deal with them before, um, has like a greater issue for you're dealing with a greater issue. It's like that. Right. And the beauty of these foundations and, and repairing those cracks in the foundation is that it doesn't matter what house you build on top of a foundation, but every house needs a really.
Sturdy foundation. Right? So if you want a mid century modern house, great, like if that's like your brand great. If your brand is more like a Victorian house. Awesome. If it's like a big like brick estate. Fantastic. Right? So I'm not telling you which type of house you have to build, or you should build. I'm just saying there are six things.
I am going to cover that, um, will help you to make sure that that foundation is solid. So these things are, um, I put them together in my thrive framework. So it's an acronym thrive. I did a podcast, um, months ago, uh, called a framework to thrive where I go over it again as well. Like I go to a deep dive there.
So feel free to check that out, but this is the, um, the framework that is the foundation. Of my rebellious success coaching program. And so I am going to share those all with you right now. But if this is resonating with you, if you're like, yes, yes, yes, Erica, this is where I am. I am so frustrated. Like I've got my online service-based business going, but I am definitely feeling that murky middle, then be sure to.
Go to rebellious hyphen success.com and learn more. Cause the next cohort starts in November, 2021. So you can check it out. If it sounds like the right fit for you, you can apply. Or of course, reach out to me if you have any questions, um, before doing so. All that being said, let's dive in to the thrive framework.
So the six essentials to fortify your foundations for your next level of where you want to get to, but being in alignment with who you are, uh, we are going to start with T which stands for truth. So this is your brand's promise. It's the thing that really sets you apart from the competition and magnetizes your dreamiest clients to you.
So chances are you probably already have. Something like this, right. You probably, even, even if it's not like concrete or written out, but you kind of know like the things about your industry that you're like, I, I disagree or I like to do things differently or I want to make some changes, uh, in them or make some waves or whatever it is.
Right. It's those things. It's like your it's your authority around. Um, your ideas, your thought leadership, it's all of that. That if you lined up, you know, you and 10 other people who provide a similar service that it would, if somebody was like looking through, you know, like kind of like your website copy and your social media content or your blog content or anything like that, they would get this sense of like your.
Um, thoughts, feelings and beliefs around what you do and why you do it. Um, that should be very apparent. This is also where your personal values can live, right? So this is where, um, people can really get to know like the true, authentic you so that they can make more informed buying decisions. So this is how I end up with really, really, really amazing clients.
Like the one I mentioned at the beginning. Who has the film production company, right.
She's just such a perfect fit client for me. And it's because I have a really dialed in brand promise and I, and I have my own like truthiness around my industry and, um, how I want it to change and what I, um, want people to like really understand.
And I lead with my bad. So next up is health. So we look at the financial health and your personal health and how it impacts your business. And I think that this is something that does not happen enough, um, in the online coaching space, right? So there is this level of you get to the murky middle and often, uh, we have this tendency because you know, money and looking at our finances can be really, um, emotional.
It can bring up a little. Hard feelings that can bring up a lot of like self judgment and, um, feelings around like questioning our self worth. And if we're even cut out for this and, and all of that, but it's really, really, really crucial to actually at this stage, look at some numbers. So not like in a.
Massively detailed way. Right. But like literally looking at, is it possible for you to actually sustainably hit your next level revenue goals with the time that is available to you right now to work and your offers and the pricing of your offers and how long it takes you to. Deliver your offers. I actually have a new freebie.
If you want to check that out, it'll be in the show notes, but it's called plan for profit, and it can help you with this. It's at bit dot L Y forward slash plan for profit guide, all lowercase, all one word. Um, but then we also want to make sure that we are not putting our physical or mental health.
Secondary, um, in our businesses because we are the humans running our businesses. And even if you're like, I'm good, I don't have any, uh, any personal challenges, like what are you a caregiver? Right. Are you, um, do you now, like with the pandemic, you find that you, you know, you don't have childcare or. Um, your kids' school schedules have changed or are you caring for older family members or anything like that?
Right. So these are all really important things to look at because we can align your personal and your financial goals around them. But we have to embrace what is real and what is like apps like actually happening in our lives and our businesses first. So then that perfectly goes into rest. So this is creating your sustainable supportive schedule.
This is how we're going to set you up for success and help you. Burnout. When I say rest, I don't just mean napping. I don't just mean like laying on the couch and watching Netflix. I mean, having the time to actually do the things that are, um, regenerative and energizing for you so that you can stay motivated and, and keep working and keeping excited about the work you do next.
Impact, and this is how you impact your clients and your bank account with profitable and enjoyable to deliver offers. So we want to make sure that your offers are a hell yes for your clients. That they're a hell yes for you to be able to market and sell and more easily hit you. Uh, revenue goals, but also utilizing the time that you have to work or that you want to work.
Uh, then there's a V for voice. So this is how you share your unique voice in your content with a system that really works for you and actually converts. So this isn't about like a cookie
cutter content plan. I mean, none of this is cookie cutter, but it's not about a cookie cutter content plan. It's about taking your truth, taking your.
Sustainable supportive schedule, taking your offers and looking at how can you create. Uh, highly converting really magnetic content that will actually grow your business and not just get you more like double taps on, on IgE. Right? Not just get you more likes, right. But actually help you grow your business.
And that also can be created, uh, in a way that is. Really supportive to how you like to show up. So this isn't just me saying, like you have to post on the gram, um, you know, five days a week or you have to be on LinkedIn and Facebook and tic-tac and all these places like no, it's what is going to work for you to move the needle forward.
That's what we want to do. And that can look different for everyone. It can just like different houses look different. Uh, different businesses are going to look. And last is E for exposure. So I chose this word very intentionally, because this is all about your overall marketing plan, which really is about visibility, which feels often theory to exposing.
But when I say that, I don't mean I want you to expose yourself in a way that is going to be out of alignment with you, but it is important to remember that people cannot buy what they don't know exists. So we have two. Get more comfortable and more able to get visible, but we don't have to do it in a lot of the ways that often get, you know, sold kind of in the online space.
Right? So this is not a 30 day real challenge, right? This is not you needing to do. Be funny on Tik TOK, unless you really want to, um, this is not you needing to start a podcast or a YouTube channel. If that is not your jam. This is choosing, um, connection methods and visibility methods in your marketing that get you in front of the right people without forcing you to be someone you aren't in your marketing or do a bunch of stuff you hate.
Right? So we still, we have to have marketing, uh, in our business. Even, you know, everyone knows Oprah, like Oprah still has a marketing team. Um, but when you do those, it really, and when I say like, when you do them, it might seem like, oh my gosh, that's a lot of stuff I have to do. Like, I am already exhausted.
Like, no, no, no, no, no, no. The good news is, is that you do not have to have all of these six dialed in 100%, all at the same time before you can start seeing, uh, gains and growth in your business towards your goals. Right. So. What is really cool about this. And what I love about it is that I actually use this for myself all the time, and I advise the rebellious success, um, the clients who go through my cohorts to do this for themselves.
So any time that you are at a new. I like to call it like friction point in your business where you're like something doesn't feel right. Something feels like it's being forced or it's too hard, or I'm working too much again or whatever. It's really going back and looking at each of these six areas and seeing if you can troubleshoot.
Where it's coming from. Right. So if the, if the thing is, I am doing too much, right. If I feel like I am overworking myself, I'm not, I don't have a supportive schedule anymore. Okay. So then you're like, all right, I, now I need to go to the rest section. Like what, what I learned in the
rest module. And I need to actually look at like, did something change?
What changed that now? I'm, I'm working too much. And then what can I do to allow myself to get more support in that area? Does it mean that I eliminate something that no longer serves me? Does it mean that I delegate, um, some part of my business to somebody else? Does it mean that I put something on a parking lot list, um, or, you know, any, any number of different.
Uh, things that you could choose to do that will get you back to that supportive schedule. And you will know you will be able to like take yourself through that process of really. Oh, yeah, this, this is the area that's causing the friction. So I, um, how can I just like, you know, find a solution in this area and there might not be an overnight solution.
Um, but at least you won't be there. Won't be that murkiness of wondering. Where the gap is, right. You'll know where the gap is and you'll know how to fill it. So, same thing if you're like, you know, I'm just really struggling with leads, right? Like I I'm getting, uh, you know, whenever I get people who come to me, They are converting.
Um, but I'm just not getting enough leads. Okay, cool. Then go to exposure. Right. Or if you are feeling like you're kind of holding back in what you're saying, like maybe your truth, maybe you've worked with enough clients now that your truth needs to be a little bit more refined or maybe in the case of, again, the pandemic you had, like your health was dialed in, you were rocking and rolling and you have.
Time to work on your business and you were like energize. I felt really like mentally focused and then that happened and everything got off kilter. So going back to that and being able to see like, again, what supports do I need for myself here? And that can also be financial, right? You're like, oh, wow.
It's been a really long time since I've actually like run my numbers. Like all of the numbers of my business. I, I need to revisit that and do that again so I can make better choices going forward about the support I get the, um, You know, if things need to be tweaked with my offers so on and so forth.
And the final thing I'll say is the beauty of this is if you're like, let's say it's, you know, impact, you know, you need a new offer. You've gone through, you've checked in with yourself and you're like, okay, I know where the issue is here. It's I need, um, a different offer. I need to tweak my offer. I need something like that.
Or I need a better content system. Right. I'm ready to get help with my. The best part is, is because you will have been already getting so much traction and so many results from implementing those six essentials, you will have more money on hand to invest in getting support. So instead of being like, oh my God, now I have to like, Figure this out on my own, or I have to like get this course and go through it.
And that's going to take time that I feel like I don't have, like, you don't have to do that anymore because this is the place where you get to do the really cool thing of also paying other people, a thriving wage in their business. And you get to say like, oh cool, I'm going to hire somebody for my content.
I'm going to hire somebody to write my emails. I'm going to hire. I'm a personal chef to come and give me back more time at home in the night, like in the evenings. Uh, so they're gonna come in and they're going like, Prep meals for me, right? Like this is, this is a real thing I realize that might sound super bougie, but like when you have excess, when your business is thriving, then you have the means to do this.
And it feels really, um, beautiful to be able to support other small business owners with. The extra from your business and it feels really good to be supported. So if this is resonating with you then, and you're like, oh my gosh. Yes. Again, I don't want you to forget, um, because I, I am not a hundred percent sure when the next cohort after the November one, it will be.
And really like within six months, It's incredible how much further you can get in six months? Like even I knew my, I knew my rebellious success program was going to be good because it was based on really proven principles I've been using with my clients. But the actual actual results that people have been getting are just like beyond.
And you can hear more about those. Some of my RS spotlight series episodes, where I interview actual clients from rebellious success and they share their expertise. And then I also have them talk a little bit about their experience in the program at them. So again, you can learn more about it@rebellioushyphensuccess.com.
And if you are listening, I always love to hear from people over on Instagram. So feel free to screenshot your, your, uh, podcast app. And post in stories and tag me say, hi, I really, I love to see who is listening. And if you ever have a question for me about anything in any of the episodes, you are always more than welcome to just shoot me a DM over there or send me.
An email over at, uh, go to air cabins.com. You can find my contact form. All right. Well, thank you so much for listening. Um, you know, just know that the murky middle is a frustrating place, but you can absolutely get through it. You can get to the other side and when you do it is freaking magical. Thank you again for your time.
I really appreciate it. So, so, so much, and as always happy stuff.
