Katie McManus tells service-based business owners that slow client periods are normal, not failure. She ran for office, lost by 54 votes, then launched a nonprofit and got 501(c)(3) status. Don't judge your business by short-term dips when life happens.
Questions this video answers
54 votes
In May (year not specified in the transcript).
Chapters
As a business owner, there are going to be times in the life cycle of your business where you're going to get low on clients and you're going to have to build that client list back up. And because you've been in your business for years and you haven't had to do this in a while, it's going to feel like you failed. It's going to feel like you've done something wrong, like you've crashed and burned your business and oh my God, it's never going to get good again. And that's not true. You haven't failed. Our brains really like taking any evidence that we have around us and be like, oh my God, this is your fault, you're a failure. There's something wrong with you. I can't tell you how many circumstances there are that will cause a business owner to get low on clients. You could have a health issue, you could have a major life event. You could like me this year, get a crazy idea that you want to run for office and start a non profit all in the same year. Yeah, my election was back in May. I lost by 54 votes, but that was the first five months of my year. And then I started a nonprofit this year also, and we got 501c3 nonprofit status around the same time that I lost my election. So I immediately kicked into launch mode. We have these expectations of ourselves that like we expect ourselves to be able to do the same amount of work all the time regardless of what else is going on in our lives. And that's just not realistic. So if you ever find yourself in a position where you have fewer clients than you're used to, or you're bringing in less money than used to, and you start getting in your head and you start thinking that there's something wrong with you, that you fucked this up, that this business is not going to ultimately work out. Please, please look at the extenuating factors. Please do not judge yourself based on the results you have in front of you if you're not also factoring in what got you here. Because I'm a business coach, I literally help people start their businesses, grow their businesses to multiple six figures and seven figures. And sometimes I prioritize other things than my business. Sometimes I don't put in the work that is required to maintain a certain level of clients, okay? And you know what? That's not a failure on my part. That is a prioritization on my part. Okay? If I, who teaches other people how to do this, sometimes fall below what I want my client list to be and can recover from it, you can, too. And it's pretty much guaranteed that it will happen to you. If you are a business owner who works with clients and you provide some kind of service, there's going to be a moment where your client list dips, okay? And I want you to save this video and I want you to watch it when it happens, because that is not a failure on your part. That is just how it goes sometimes.
