EP44 | 7 Ways You're Stalling Business Growth and Killing Your Joy

Perhaps you’ve noticed a downturn in business? Perhaps you’re no longer happy with what you’re doing? Are there things you are doing that are stopping you growing revenue, sales and profit and hindering the forward momentum of building your vision? In this episode of The Create Purpose Podcast Zach highlights 7 ways you might be doing all of these things! Lookout for the signs of these and how to overcome them in this episode. 

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But when you start focusing on opportunities, you start focusing on what you actually want to create. You start to focus on what the steps might be for you to create that opportunities that are powerful. You can get yourself there just by simply asking, What's the opportunity here? Welcome back, or Welcome to the Create Purpose Podcast.

In today's episode, I wanna give you seven ways that you're stalling your business's growth and killing your joy. These are seven ways in which I, I see business owners oftentimes get in their own way. Make achieving their vision so much harder. So we're gonna talk about the seven ways that you're stalling yourself and your business and robbing your joy.

And then here you're gonna wanna listen to the end of the episode because I'm gonna give you three distinctions to get back into. The captain seat, cuz if you're a business owner, a ceo right, you're the captain of the ship. What that means is being responsible and I think that's a cool life. I, I think being responsible is, The only way to be if, if you're going to be an entrepreneur to the other extreme would be being a victim.

And if you are a part of any of my groups or programs, one of the things, one of the ground rules I set, and I encourage you to think about how you might set this in, in the culture of your business too, is kinda having a no victim policy. Because the truth is you and I, everyone around us are powerful.

That victimhood mentality is denying ourselves of the power that we have to affect change to create more of what we want in our business. And so these distinctions I'm gonna share with you are gonna put you back into the captain's seat and puts you back at the helm of creating. Everything you want to see in your business and your life.

So let's get into it. So starting out, what are the seven ways we, we get in our own way? Seven ways that we stall our businesses growth and rob our joy. And when I say growth, I don't necessarily mean just growing like revenue and sales and profit. I mean just the, the forward momentum. Of your vision of building that vision, there are seven ways we stall that and make it so much harder than it has to be.

So let's get into 'em. I have seven. Number one, you're spending your time doing way too many things that you're good at, but you don't really like doing anymore. And it's sucking the joy from your work. The stuff that you maybe are good at, you've gotten good at, cuz you've been doing them for so long, but you no longer enjoy them.

As long as you keep doing that, you're, you're depleting your energy, you're. You're sucking the joy out of your work, you're, it makes sense that you don't look forward to coming to work every day cuz you're doing stuff that you don't love to do. That's stuff you've gotta learn to let go of. So that's the first way we stall our businesses growth, is we continue to hold on to doing the things that maybe we're good at them, we've always done them, but we really don't like them.

We don't love 'em, we don't enjoy 'em that. Way more exhausting than it has to be. I want to challenge you, how might you look at handing those things off to somebody on your team? So that's number one. Number two, you're focusing on, you're focusing too much on revenue and revenue growth and not enough on profit.

You know, and that's money and time. So often we get so attached to the growth of our business and we attribute growth to what's our revenue gonna be this year. And that's deceiving because I have had conversations with many business owners that have hit record years and revenue and sales, sales growth.

But for, for the first time ever, they don't have any money. At the end of the year, there's no, there's no profit. Every money they made, they spent and there's no profit and it's like a punch in the gut. Have you ever felt it and. We get ourselves in that dilemma because we get so fixated on revenue, growth and sales, and we lose sight of the, the bigger picture that's profit, that's time and money because I'm willing to bet that's ultimately why you went into business is you want to be able to, to pay yourself well.

You want to create a, uh, you wanna create some freedom for yourself and your family, you know, to travel and to create new ideas and. Explore new ideas. And if you don't have any money or time to do that at the end of the, the week, the month, the year, then where's your focus? And oftentimes when we focus on revenue, we miss the bigger picture.

And that is, that is ultimately profit, how much money we have left over at the end. So that's number two. Number three, you're, you're getting caught up in the problem solving myth. This is, this can be an addiction. Well, what is the problem solving myth? We become so fixated on what's wrong and what's not working.

We have this negativity bias, so we naturally gravitate The bad has more weight than the good, and so we. Constantly try to solve all the problems that we see. And here's the deal, you can solve all your problems in the business and still not be any further along towards creating your vision. So we need to be really mindful around what are we really doing?

Are we just solving problems? And sometimes we can almost subconsciously like create problems to solve just so we can feel good about ourselves, like having solved something does feel good. But is it actually creating the vision that you want? That's ultimately the question. So I would much rather you focus on what's the result you desire to create instead of what needs fixed, or what needs solved or what.

What's the problem that you need to solve? What's the result you wanna create that's coming from a place of what is your vision? What are you building, and what's your next step to bringing that into reality? That's creation, that's creativity, problem solving. I don't have much time for it. I have, I have allowed it to be such a distraction in my own life, and I see it be such a distraction in so many people's lives and so many people's businesses.

It's addicting, being busy, solving problems. At the end of the day, it's just a, a weird way of staying in your comfort zone. There's comfort in knowing that you worked hard, right? We're taught we need to work hard. We're taught to solve problems, but we lose sight of the bigger picture. And oftentimes we need to see past those problems that we're facing today.

And look out onto the horizon and look at the vision we're actually creating. Cuz sometimes those problems that we see become irrelevant. They just do. You know, there's that saying that Kohls are those scary things you see when you take your eye off the target. So I'm encouraging to get your eye back on the target, the vision that which you're creating, and then decide if you need to solve that problem.

I'm willing to bet the problems become less significant. When you're actually creating your vision. So stay in creation mode. So that's number three. Number four, you are delegating tasks instead of delegating roles. What, there's a distinction here, there's a distinction between delegating tasks and delegating roles.

What do you think it might be? Because when we're de delegating tasks in a way, that's us looking for somebody who can come into our business and quote unquote, help us. And so we, we delegate tasks here. Can you help me with this? Can you do this? Can you do that? And we find ourselves kind of still at the hub of the business.

We still are that liaison constantly having to, to dish out more to-dos to our team. And sometimes we feel this like, Oh my God, I, I need to, I need to give someone something to do this week. I haven't, I haven't checked in with them. I haven't given their tasks for the week. Now I'm kind of, that's, that's normal.

Like I, I've been there. I, a lot of people I've interacted with, they, they find the. Having to dole out more tasks to keep their team busy. Have you ever felt that way? Here's why you're feeling that way. You're delegating tasks instead of delegating roles. When you delegate roles, you're basically saying, you know, this big section of the business, maybe it's accounting or bookkeeping or, or marketing or website.

It's, it's a role. It's, this is a part of my. And I am handing it over to you, , I am asking you to own this and be responsible for it. I'm delegating the role to you that's, that is like life changing when you can start to delegate roles in your business because then you kind of just kind of wash your hands of it a little bit.

It's, it's them. It's up to them to figure out what they need to do on a given day or. That's powerful. Now you've just freed yourself up to go be that creative ceo, that visionary, the person's gonna create that bigger vision. You know, it's, it's normal if you, you can't think bigger and get clear vision and focus on purpose and culture if you're stuck in the day to day.

And the way you get out of that is you gotta start delegating roles, not tasks, but actually delegating clear roles to different people in your business. And so what you might find is it's gonna be really important. That you recruit the right people, the people that can be accountable for those roles.

And so that's, that's your opportunity. Be thinking about how you might be able to create opportunities to delegate roles instead of tasks. Where, where might that be in your business? If you were to delegate a role, what might be the first role that you delegate in your business? So that is number four.

So again, we're talking about the seven ways you're stalling your business's growth, and you're also killing your joy in the process. So number four was you're delegating tasks instead of delegating the rules. Number five, you spend more time. Fixing things and rescuing your team than you do, creating the results you actually want.

This is kind of back in that problem solving myth, but it's how you interact with your team that's making it really hard to create the conditions that you want. The, those conditions where people are being responsible are taking ownership to where you're actually able to give them a role. We, we kind of self sabotage that process when we begin delegating and delegating our roles.

We still. Default back into these old behaviors of, of fixing things for others and rescuing them. We mistake being that caring, compassionate leader that I know you are. We all are. And we mistake that caring person for a caretaker. Instead of coaching our team, we're coddling them. We're holding their hand, we're rescuing them.

And when you rescue your team, what are you communicating to them? You're communicating that there's someone who needs help. If you've followed me for very long, you've heard me share the story of growing up. I did rodeo and I team roped one of my favorite stories. I was 11 year old kid learning how to team rope, and that's when my mom met this.

Cowboy, his name was Bruce. He invited me to his ranch to spend a week with him and his son, Travis. I was gonna work with them, help them out, but they're also gonna teach me how to team rope. And the first day I was there, we had just finished a bite to Eden. Bruce comes in the kitchen, he's like, All right, boys, go saddle up your horse.

Me, me and the arena. We're gonna start practice. I'd never saddled my horse before. My mom always saddled my horse. Well, Bruce didn't know that, and I wasn't gonna ask him. I knew he wasn't gonna do it for me. I just. That day I saddled my own horse for the first time. Something was different. I was riding taller in the saddle and my mom never had saddled my horse again.

And that's what I'm talking about. Every time you rescue your team, fix things, you're not allowing them to saddle their own horse. Thank God Bruce didn't saddle my horse for me, cuz I would've never learned what I was capable of. I never would've grown up that day like I did. That was a defining moment for me.

You have the opportunity to give your team defining moments by asking more of them, not less by instead of rescuing them, keeping the ownership and responsibility with them, asking them, what do you think you would be the best next step for you to address this? Stop taking their problems and making them your own.

It's on, It's not only hurting you, it's hurting them. It's preventing them from realizing they're powerful to, to create the outcomes they want in many ways. So are you. And we have to be responsible. We have to take those roles that we've delegated and then we have to let, we have to let go, and we have to let others figure out how they're gonna solve their tough problems.

It's, we don't have to do it for them. In fact, they don't want us to. That's number five. You're, you're, you're fixing and rescuing the team instead of creating the results you actually want, instead of staying focused on your, your role. Do you know what your role is in the business? You know, being that visionary, that ceo, that's a big role.

That's a big role. And if you don't see it as that, that's a huge opportunity to start to let yourself come out and, and fully express who you are and play more and create more. Because I promise you, if you, if you move into that, it's gonna become the rising tide that lifts all, all boats. To do that, you have to let go of the rescuing and the fixing, and you have to find the right people.

You have to build that team, and then you have to let go and go be who you are in as the creative CEO of your business. So that's number five. Number six, you're avoiding tough conversations. You're not dealing with the people issues, especially, that's how you're stalling your business is growth. You know it.

Um, what's so normal? We kind of just hope it gets better. We hope that person, after that conversation we just had, we hope that they change. And years can go by. Years can go by still hoping things get better, and we kind of, and then we, we start compromising. We start telling ourselves this story of like, well, it is what it is.

It. It could be worse if I didn't have that person here. Like at least, at least. At least they're here. At least they can at least help me. I mean, it would be much worse if they weren't here. That's a great way to stay stagnant in your business. Just stall your growth. I wanna encourage you to lean into the tough stuff.

Address it, address it, head on. In fact, if this one's resonating with you, if you're like, Yeah, I, I struggle with this conflict stuff, this, these tough conversations, dealing with these people issues, I would encourage you to go check out episode three that came out when I first started the podcast. It's a coaching session.

It's me coaching you on what you're avoiding just might be your greatest opportunity. So go check out that. So that's the sixth way we get in our way is we, we, we avoid tough conversations. We avoid dealing with our people issues. And then number seven, you are letting what scares you, own you. Because when, when we allow fear to determine how we show up, when we allow fear to make the decisions in our business, that fear begins to own us.

What scares us, owns us. What are you afraid of? What are you afraid of? Is, are you afraid of having to start over? Are you afraid of having to go back backwards? Are you afraid of running outta money? Are you afraid of, of your team quitting? Are are, are some of your team members leaving you? Are you afraid of.

What is it? Are you afraid of some form of failure? It, it is. But what is your version of failure? What is, what feels really sticky for you? It might be afraid of, of, of letting people down, afraid of running outta money, afraid of having to start over some. Those are some of the things that are coming up for me right now.

Here's the thing, as long as you're afraid of those things,

It's not gonna allow you to play full out in your business to fully express what's on your heart and what's in your gut. You won't because you'll always be playing it safe. Always cautious, cuz I'm afraid I don't wanna have to start over, so I better not make any major mistakes. I better not say something that offends somebody cuz then they might leave.

All this is normal, so I don't wanna make fun like I'm, I've been there. But I just need you to realize that when you are allowing fear to make your decisions, it's diminishing who you are, which then it diminishes what's possible for you in the business. It's really stalling your growth, and frankly, you're miserable.

You're miserable because you're not fully expressing, You're not really being who you know that you are, and that sucks. So what are you letting scare you and how might it be owning you? There's. One of my favorite quotes, you've heard me share it before, Joseph Campbell says, The cave you fear to enter holds the treasure you seek.

So the cave you fear to enter, the one you just will are unwilling to go into because of the fear is actually where all the possibility lies. So we need to become aware of what scares us. And actually recognize like, Oh, that's what I need to do next. Cuz that's what scares me. Therefore that must be where my, the, the treasure.

I see. That's where it exists. I gotta go. I gotta, I gotta go into the cave. It's scary, but it's kind of funny as, as soon as you step foot, you're in the moment every step of the way. It's way less scary than you when your mind said it would be. And before you know it, you're already there and you're like, Wow, that wasn't so.

And I'm so glad that I had that conversation. I'm so glad that I own that part of me that I've been hiding from others. I'm so glad it's out in the open. It's like a. It's like a relief. I can, I can get back to work again. That's what I want for you. That's number seven. That one's probably the most important because what scares you often is what has you falling into these other six ways that stalls your growth and robs your joy.

It's because you're scared that you're unwilling to let go. It's because there's something you're afraid of that's has you unwilling to delegate a role or have the tough conversations or say what you really want to say. It's what scares you. So really pay attention to that. That what scares you will own you unless you, you become aware of what it is and start to lean into it.

Okay? Those are the seven ways in which you are stalling your business's growth. Robin, your joy now. I wanna give you three distinctions to help you, help you sit back into the captain's seat, help you to be that creative ceo. Visionary of your business to take back the captaincy and, and to be responsible and to really stay in that position of creating more of what you want.

Three distinctions. Number one, I want you to shift your focus from problems to opportunity. Shift your focus from problems to opportunity in other. Stop seeing things as problems. Stop seeing things as mistakes and failures. Start looking for the opportunity. Start seeing how that was an opportunity for you to continue to learn and grow, and you're, you've learned from that and you're, you're better for it.

I want you to live by the motto, If there is no such thing as, as failure as mistakes, there's just this opportunity to learn and grow that that's true. It, it's true. If you wanna make it true, it's true. You get to focus on problems and when you focus on problems. You start to beat yourself up, you start to diminish who you are.

You start to lose energy for your business, and you start questioning if it's even what you want to be doing, is it even worth it? But when you start focusing on opportunities, you start focusing on what you actually want to create. You start to focus on what the steps might be for you to create that.

Opportunities that are powerful. You can get yourself there just by simply asking what's the opportunity? Because what's more normal is like, what's the problem here? We're really good at saying, Well, the problem is, The problem is have you ever been around someone who just is really good at telling you what the problem is?

Well, I love being around. People are like, Here's the opportunity. Here's what would have to be true if we were to create that. That's fun. That's cool. That's what I want for you. So that's the first distinction. The second distinction is I want you to move away from fixing and shift toward creating. We're not fixing anymore.

We're not, we're creating, you know, fixing is kind of like, well, we gotta face reality. You know, whatever that is. Maybe, maybe we've lost a key person in our business, or maybe the profitability isn't where it wants to be, or, or, Something's not working in the business. And we tell ourselves, Well, I just gotta face reality.

And, and then we, well, I gotta just fix this. But I like, I much rather see yourself as creating reality. Creating like, okay, that's the situation ain't bad. Just is what do I wanna create next? Where do I go from here? Cause that's moving forward, focusing on the problem and fixing. Again, you might be fixing and solving problems, but it may or may not be moving you to where you actually want to go.

So a much better question is focus on what do you wanna create next? The third distinction, you need to move and go from obligation to commitment. Far too many of us, you and I, we be, we get to a point where we're over obligated, under committed, over obligated, meaning we have so many people that we have to get emails out to, and we have so many deadlines we've gotta get done by the end of the week.

We have, we are keeping up with social media and production, getting orders out the door, all those things. We leave no time left for ourselves and our vision. So if you're when you get committed to your vision, that no longer happens, are you more committed to your obligations? Are you more committed to creating your dream in what you actually want?

So I want you to go from obligation to commitment. And get committed to the stuff that really moves the dial your vision. So those are three distinctions for you that my hope is help just give you some insights of where you might be able to make some shifts in how you're showing up in your business so that you can create exactly what you want.

As a result. So thanks for listening to this episode of the Create Purpose Podcast, and I can't wait to be with you again in our next episode. So we'll see you next week. Real quick, I have a question for you. What would it look and feel like for you to lead your team and build your business with more clarity, confidence, and conviction?

That's why I want to invite you to the fully expressed leader. It's a full day workshop, virtual workshop to learn how to lead from the inside out. This is for creatives, artists, executives, and right brain business owners who are ready to be the. Fully expressed leader they were meant to be. My promise to you is that by the end of this full day together, you're going to be able to identify the critical element in your business that you've been ignoring.

You're gonna know the secret to unleash the full potential of your team and start to see responsibility as a gift and not a burden you're gonna make leading from the inside out your new automatic default. What I love most about this day is I get to see the change in those that do the work. They come in exhausted and they leave energized.

Later on, when they check back in with me, they tell me that it's like someone turned the lights on. What once felt impossible? Now feels inevitable. To learn more, go to www.cratepurpose.net/. This day is not about doing more. It's a way of being a way for you to shift your approach to building your business on your terms.

So go check it out, www.createpurpose.net/workshop. Hopefully you really enjoyed this podcast episode, and my hope is you found it really inspirational and also most importantly, I hope you took away some practical things that you can start to do and apply in your own life. So finally, I have one small favorite to ask of you before you go wherever you get your podcast, whether that's Apple Music or Spotify.

If you enjoyed this episode, leave us a review. Love to hear your thoughts. Come find us on social media, share it on social media. It just really helps us get the word out, helps us grow our audience, so please do that. Thanks to my team, Ashley Bolden, who handles all the admin and Chris Skipper who handles all the music and editing of this.

Podcast. For more information on the Create Purpose Podcast, you can go to www.createpurpose.net, and you can also follow me on Instagram at Zach dot errands. Please drop me a comment, reach out, drop me a dm. I'd love to hear from you. I'd love to hear what you're taking away from these conversations.

What would you like to hear more of? Do you have any guests that you would love to see come on the show? And I'm always looking for great people to talk to and people with great stories that can inspire you. And so if you know of anybody, send 'em my way. Love to hear from you. I'm your host, Zach Arend, and I'll see you in the next episode of the Create Purpose Podcast.

Bye for now.