Recover from Shiny Object Syndrome

Time to reclaim your sanity, finances and control of your business and recover from shiny object syndrome.

In business there is always some fancy new gizmo that “YOU HAVE TO HAVE” in order to be successful in business. At least that is the lie we allow ourselves to believe.

Launching a new business does take tech. It takes money and there are tools you will want to invest in to grow your business. But the tools you need are 100% up to you and the business you are running. Not the current marketing trends.

Check out this video story of a client who cut her monthly costs from $782 to under $100 a month but cutting out what wasn’t truly supporting her business.

Video recap

A few weeks ago I was chatting with Life Coach who was relatively new in business. Having received her ICF certification a year ago, she was working diligently to build her Life Coaching business, and was investing quite a bit of time and money into making her dreams come true.

Sound familiar? Probably as you’re an entrepreneur and this post grabbed your attention. Being an entrepreneur you have invested plenty of your own money and time into making your corner of the world a better place.

As we chatted I began to notice her confidence fading. The more she told me about all the things she was doing to make her business successful, the more stress I could see around her eyes. I could see her struggling to maintain her “I’ve got my shit together” brave face, and finally just asked, “I feel like you’ve got a lot of stress right now. What’s really going on?”

This incredibly strong and confident woman, who I admire, started to silently cry and confessed, “I am barely making it from month to month. If my investment doesn’t start paying off soon, I am going to have to close my business.”

This is a story I have heard far too often, and one I myself have lived before. As business owners we want to do what is right for our business, and yet what if often considered a “vital investment” is draining our time and money resources way to fast.

Her Tech Investment

We had our cry, because no cries alone if I am around, and then we grabbed a napkin and did a little brainstorming. In looking at all she was investing in it was no wonder she was feeling the strain. Her investment in the best tech tools alone was a huge financial drain. Take a look at her monthly fees…

• Clickfunnels:  $97 for her lead magnet opt-in
• Kajabi: $119 for the course she is going to develop sometime soon
• InfusionSoft: $199 to send out a weekly newsletter
• Acuity Scheduling: $15 to schedule free consultations
• Wistia Video Hosting: $99 to host her 3-5 minute video tips for her blog
• Facebook Ads: $250 to increase visibility of her posts

Her tech was costing her $779 in monthly fees!

The worst part of all was that she wasn’t using all of these “must haves” and wasn’t using any of them to the fullest potential. She also had no idea that some of these products offered the same solution to some of her needs.  Take a look at how she was using the tech she was paying for

All of these are great products, and they all fill an important need in business, but only if you are using them. If you are not using them, or using them to their fullest potential, they are just a strain on your finances and your stress level.

The recovery process … 

We decided to take a close look at her day-to-day operations, as well as all of the technology she had in place and ask the questions.

• Am I using this?
• Can I actually afford it?
• Are their other solutions more affordable?
• Do I have the time/resources to manage it well?
• Is it truly supporting me and my business?
• Is it truly supporting my customers?

What we found was that her website already had tools built in that could create beautiful lead magnet opt-in pages. It also had the capabilities to house online courses, for when she was ready to get her course created. And the best part was there were no additional fees needed to take full advantage of these features built into her website.

She was also able to move her newsletter list over to Aweber as it had everything she needed. And she downgraded her Acuity Scheduling to the free version as this fit her needs perfectly. Finally, she decided to take the videos she had and create her own YouTube channel, eliminating the need for Wistia video hosting. And as she wasn’t seeing a return on investment on all those Facebook Ads she was running she decided to knock that down to $15 per week.

• Aweber: $19
• Acuity Scheduling: $0
• YouTube: $0
• Facebook Ads: $60

New tech investment $79 a month saving her $700 a month! 

If you are feeling the tech tools financial strain, or not feeling like you are using everything you are investing in, it may just be time for a change, and a little spring cleaning! And if you’d like a little help with that, I’m here for you! Schedule a consult and let’s chat!