From time to time we can all lose momentum in business. 

Depending on the size and structure of your business, one person losing momentum at a time may not have a huge impact, but what about if you’re a solopreneur, a micro-business owner and / or a personal brand?

What happens when life and business collide and there isn’t a person or a mechanism who can catch the fall-out for you? 

Ideally we have systems in place that can support us so that we can either stay on track, or at least keep business ticking over, but that’s not necessarily always going to be the case. Sometimes life just happens, doesn’t it?

As I’m writing this we’re heading into autumn. The new school year is upon us and, even although that no longer affects me directly, the approach of this new season still holds ‘new start’ vibes. 

It’s a good time, therefore, to talk about, When you lose momentum in your business, how do you build it up again? Whether your activity in your business has looked different over the summer period (because of school breaks, your own holidays or a slowing in your market due to client holidays, for example) or a life event has disrupted your availability, when you need to get back to “normal”, how do you do that?

What do I mean by lost momentum?

First of all, what do I mean by lost momentum?

Really anything that you feel has slowed your progress towards your goals, progress you previously felt you were making.

Anything from seeing actual results dry up (for example, fewer sales, fewer people getting on calls, fewer people signing up for lead magnets) to simply feeling it difficult to get back on the business horse.

1. Don’t worry, panic or mentally beat yourself up

I know it’s easy to say, particularly if the loss of momentum you’ve experienced has impacted on your income, but this is when stepping into your CEO role, both from a practical and a mindset perspective is important.

You already know that worrying, panicking and beating yourself has no value. We all know it, yet still have a tendency to do it. However, if you can pause, take some deep breaths and step into a more objective state, I’d be willing to bet there are NO situations you’ve ever experienced where you’d look back and say:

You know what would have made that better, or achieved a better outcome - if I’d panicked MORE

So that’s the first thing - approach your business as its leader, with the mindset of a CEO, and the objectivity to know that momentum sometimes gets lost. Life and business sometimes collide, it just happens. The point now is to look at how to get it back.

And this starts with you. 

Where are you at in terms of your energy and headspace?

I’ve experienced recently having to get back lost momentum as a result of time out of my business

If you’ve been on holiday, maybe you feel refreshed (or maybe not, because holidays can bring their own stresses)

But maybe you’ve had an unexpected or difficult situation that led to the loss of business momentum, so it’s important to recognise where you might be depleted when you’re back at your desk.

Part of your development as a leader (AKA Building the Business Owner who Builds the Business) is getting yourself back into a position to take quality action, which you can’t do if you’ve landed back in your business with your head spinning. 

I know this sounds counter-intuitive and can feel hard (I find it hard) to take more time out and not dive straight into your work when your business has lost momentum, but your role as your business’ leader is to make decisions that are going to serve your business best (and therefore you too) even if it feels uncomfortable.

Rather than just diving into the 'doing' to make yourself feel better, will it serve your business better to build yourself back up instead of, for example, focusing on how many social media posts you can crank out? You can tackle your social media posts when your head is clear and you can be intentional about what you’re doing instead of just being able to tick an I’ve done my social media posting for today box.

Prioritise filling your own cup for the sake of your business so that you can take the action your business needs you to take.

2. Identify your priorities

What are the priorities in your business? What were you doing before the momentum slipped that was working? What do you need to do to get back into that - is it a matter of building up a routine again? 

=>Do you contact a waitlist to tell them you have open spots again?

=>Do you set up a waitlist so that you have time to re-engage and build relationships again before you ask for the sale?

=>Do you create a visibility plan so that you can attract people again into your orbit?

Your own priorities will depend on a number of factors, including your business type and model, how long you’ve been ‘away’, your goals etc. The point is to prioritise, and do so objectively, according to the time and energy you have available (see point one) and not try to tackle everything all at once.  

Sidenote: In Episode 78 of the Taking It Personally podcast we talked about what to prioritise to keep business on track or ticking over when life and business collide, but these tips could equally be used to prioritise where to refocus. You can find the episode here or on your podcast player.

3. How can you avoid a similar loss of momentum in the future?

I want to strongly reiterate that life sometimes just happens and it may not be possible to absolutely avoid loss of momentum (and, equally, playing the blame game about why it happened is a waste of your precious time and energy), but that doesn’t mean there aren’t lessons to spark ideas for the future.

Are there processes you could put in place? 

Do you need to hire a team member or members? 

Are there automations that would help? 

The fundamental point is to look at your business and what it needs objectively, prioritise, make decisions and take action accordingly that makes the best use of your time and energy so that you can get back on track ASAP.

If that sounds a bit dull, I get it, but it’s the implementation of the ‘dull’ concepts that can lead to the ‘shiny’ results, whatever you want those to be - money, freedom, flexibility, impact etc. Whatever YOU want from your business for your life.

If you’ve experienced some loss of momentum in your business, what are you going to focus on to get back on track? I’d love to hear from you! You can find me on Instagram @elleturner_writer 

Elle xo

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