5 Signs Pointing To Business Transition | Episode 117

Hello and welcome to my world again.

I'm so delighted that you are here and I have this opportunity to lift as I climb

as a woman entrepreneur, and share some of my journey, my experiences on the highways

and the side roads and my getting lost on my entrepreneurial journey in the hopes

that it will help you have a happy trip.

On this podcast specifically for women entrepreneurs who have established

businesses, that means, you're not a startup, you've been at this game for

a while, you may have a few decades under your belt, or less, you may have

a Big Payroll, or just you and some contractors, and you may have a great

love of your business, but now are feeling like you have plateaued, or, as I find

with more and more of my clients you may perhaps be at that point of, I don't

love what I do anymore, but I do feel chained to this because I've invested so

much time, money, and identity in this business, and don't know what to do now.

In answer to that, I created a program which is called The

Crossroads Clarity Solution for Established Female Business Owners.

And that program is available to people who are interested in

going through the whole program and doing the work and exploring.

But if you are not sure that you are ready for that, or maybe you just don't

have the bandwidth for it right now, I thought what I should do is pay it

forward and share some of this with you.

I'm going to cover the five modules inside the Program to help you and other

female entrepreneurs get clarity about why you're not loving the business at

the moment, and what you can do about it.

What are the different choices?

There are at least five, and we will cover those in depth.

You are not alone in this situation.

In fact, 42% of all the businesses in the United States are now owned by women.

That's a number that has been climbing rapidly over the past few

decades, we control the majority of personal wealth in the economy.

We also control a huge portion of employment creation, revenue

within communities, and we have the power to make a difference in

the lives of so many other people.

But as they say, with great power comes great responsibility, and you may

be feeling shouldered right now with more responsibility than is returning

investment of joy, or financial certainty, or alignment of values.

And that's what this program is about.

The Crossroads Clarity Solution is about helping you figure it

out in an elegant, effective way that won't take a lot of time.

I'm going to break down the different crossroads that many of us women

entrepreneurs in our forties, fifties, sixties, seventies beyond are facing.

And it's one of those spaghetti turnpike roads.

We're all getting on and getting off at different times.

The very best we can do on these journeys is avoid collision, fatal

collision, expensive collisions.

I will share with you case studies, my own personal experiences through the

various times of my entrepreneurial business, in the hot seat.

And the key here is because we are women evolving and becoming the

next best version of ourselves our businesses need to evolve with us,

or they need to make some changes.

I look forward to having you along with me on this ride.

I'm actually your co pilot.

I'm here to guide you.

Reach out to me at hello@theencorecatalyst.com and share

what your experiences have been on this magical mystery tour of business

ownership as a woman living through different stages and ages of your life.

What have you learned?

What did you wish that you had known earlier and how did you plan the route to

the next most rewarding part of your life?

Because in sharing that with each other, we lift as we climb.

I'm here to share my journey with you and also to share the journey

and the best travel advice of multiple other women business owners

who have got some miles on them.

And I say that in the most favorable possible way.

When I say we have got a lot of mileage on us, it is not that

we are worn or tired or used.

It is that we have traveled a lot in our life, and we have accumulated a

lot of experience and created a lot of value, especially as entrepreneurs.

But periodically, it will happen, and it will happen to all of us,

and will happen more than one time, you come to that place where you

feel like you are at a crossroads.

And there are multiple ways you could go, but you feel a little paralyzed

in making a decision about what is the right, the next best move to make for you.

And that's why I created a program called The Crossroads Clarity Solution

for Established Female Business Owners, because like you, I have been doing

this for decades, and I know there have been many times I've just come

to a screeching halt, or maybe I edged out into the next part of my journey,

feeling unsure, unsafe, unprepared.

So I wanted to make sure that more of us had the support and the safety

and the confidence and the clarity and the vision to make the next best move.

So I created this program based on 35 years as an entrepreneur, and another 20

years running other people's businesses.

I've seen a lot, maybe I haven't seen it all, but I've seen a lot about where

we come to these places in our journey that are like maybe we just want to

idle for a little bit and figure it out.

Idling.

It's not about turning off the engine, it's not about being stuck or frozen

in a place but as we discuss in module number one in the case study, my own

personal anecdotes and experiences, and the workbook in The Crossroads Clarity

Solution, there are some darn good reasons why you shouldn't rush into

making a big decision, a big change.

I wanna talk through those with you and what are the reasons why maybe

it isn't the right time to gun the accelerator and do something different.

Some of the factors that I, I talk about, and I talk about this with clients of

my own who are in a place of, they don't really like where they're at right now.

They know there's something more, something bigger, something different

that they want in their life, but they haven't got it all sorted out yet.

And that's what I do.

I work with them to figure that out by assessing where they are now and where

they want to go, what we have to build on, what we should retain and go forward and

the who's that should go forward with us.

I talk about that a lot in the program, and provide you some great

exercises to think through because, it's tough sometimes to extricate

yourself from the situation and the business because you're busy being

busy and doing instead of being.

And that's what I want to help you with.

What are the things that you need to reflect on and look at objectively,

less emotionally, before you make a decision to move forward.

Always at the top of the list for the women of my era and

yours is why do we matter?

What are we doing this for?

Who are we doing it for?

Where are we in that matter and

Who else do we care about?

Who are we setting an example for?

Who are we responsible for?

And how do we do that in the most healthy, positive way?

These are some of the things we're going to cover.

But there's also this amazing opportunity as a woman entrepreneur

with some significant experience in her life and as a business

owner is to look forward to growth.

Sometimes that growth is with the business that we have, and sometimes

that growth is with other opportunities, whether they be in business or they

be in a completely different vein.

In each of these modules in the program, you'll see a little bit of yourself, and

a little bit of your journey, and from staying buckled in, and going through the

entire program, I hope that's going to open up, maybe Clean your windshield,

as I like to say, so that you have a different perspective and a clearer vision

for what you want next in your life.

I don't want anybody to speed through making such an important choice because,

You change and grow as you evolve, in this moment, making this decision in

your business and how it impacts your personal life, this transformational

decision, whether you maintain this status quo, or whether you close up your

business, or whether you scale, and Go Big or Go Home, or Just Go Bigger or

whether you decide to sell your business.

I can tell you by the end of the podcast and the program, I believe that you

will have acquired some information and some resources that will help you decide

on what is the next best move for you.

Module 2 of the program for established female entrepreneurs who are maybe

sitting at the traffic lights of life and business, going, " Which way should I go?"

And I have sat at that intersection many times in my life, that's why

I am so committed, so dedicated to sharing this podcast with

you and this program with you.

Because as a woman, a business owner, a mother and a grandmother, and a

friend and an entrepreneur, and a mastermind partner, and a coach and all

of the other aspects of me, the most empowering thing for me is knowing that

in being conscious of the company that I keep and the wisdom I absorb and the

benefits of collective wisdom that I want to share and give back to you too.

Module number two it's about embracing change, as they all are, but navigating

the decision to quit your business.

This is probably the most emotional and certainly was the hardest one for me to

think about in terms of my preparation for the program and how I could sensitively,

positively impart wisdom and Share tools and resources with all of you.

Making a decision to quit isn't instinctive for us as women.

We're mothers, we're creators, we're entrepreneurs, we are caregivers.

We just don't quit.

We just don't give up.

It's not in our nature, so we are told or have been programmed to put everybody

first, make sure everybody's safe.

We are now learning, we're becoming more aware that if we don't put the

oxygen mask on us first, we don't have the capacity to support and

help other people and move forward.

And so with that, I welcome you to come on this journey with me to

explore when is it the right time to quit, to close your business.

What are the right reasons?

What are the best reasons for you and the outcome that you desire?

And how does that exponentially benefit you and the people you care about?

I talk about the issues that we as women entrepreneurs face all the time.

I can't quit because everybody's depending on me.

I can't quit because I don't want to as a failure.

It's the imposter syndrome.

It's all of those things.

It's the issues around I don't know what I'm going to do next.

I don't know how I'm going to support myself.

We talk in the program and in my coaching about being so tightly bound to sunk

costs, money that is already spent, which is learning to come to grips with that and

deciding on really holding onto the past, expecting to change for a more positive

outcome and feeling and results in the future, requires us to make some changes.

We talk about choices and chances and change and how that's scary.

When we finally see why making that scary change, why choosing that as less of a

chance, but that it is a very purposeful trip plan leading to the destination

that is really good for your future.

The term exit, strategic planning, bankruptcy, closure, shuttering,

they all conjure up all these kinds of emotions for us, right?

But it truly shouldn't be any different than the beginning process, the same

steps as when you started your business.

I'll walk you through the logic around that.

Like a beginning, there should be a planned exit, and how do you

recognize the signs, the signposts, the cues, the clues, that's the

right exit ramp for you at this time.

It may not be your exit, but what I do encourage you is to stay with us,

and learn more about the other choices and decide then which one is right

for you at this stage and this age.

This could be tempting and seductive because it's so easy

to say, yes, go big or go home.

Yes.

I want a bigger business.

I'm going to scale up because that's what I'm supposed to do.

It's a success marker.

Company's bigger.

My friends are doing it.

The people on Instagram are doing it.

The people in the success magazine are doing it.

After all, if I'm really a good business owner, that's the trajectory, that's

the next move I'm supposed to make.

And I don't want to discourage you from thinking about that, strategizing

it, and creating a plan around it.

But I do want to caution you that scaling isn't right for everybody all the time.

I am all about women entrepreneurs growing and being more successful and

having greater impact and influence.

Absolutely.

It's one of the tenets of Lift As You Climb, because the better we

become, the greater we are ourselves in our ability and our resources,

the more we have to give to others, the more we climb, we can reach back

and lift others or empower others.

So it is really a big deal for me to succeed, to grow, to expand, to push

the limits, to raise the ceiling, and to create more opportunities for other.

However, the decision to do that requires very thoughtful consideration

and planning, and that is why I created a module that addresses the emotional

and relationship commitments, decisions around making that next move to scale up.

I hope that you will decide to join the Crossroads Solutions program and, listen

to my stories and examples about scalable moments when it was good and successful

for me and when it wasn't, when I went right off the side of the mountain.

And also to read the case study of someone else who went on this journey and through

this process of scaling their business.

And then, do the work yourself.

be honest and answer the questions in the workbook about

is this your next best move.

Scaling a business has got a lot of very positive attributes in terms of

creating opportunities for others, more financial freedom for yourself,

more personal growth and development, more opportunities for you to expand

your skill and your strengths.

And the other side of that comes from making choices on what on the balance

scale or the teeter totter, as I describe in Lift As You Climb has to go down, so

the scale of your business can go up, I can help you with very good examples of

how to make those decisions and maintain balance that works, not the unattainable

work life balance as an equilibrium, but the blend of work, business, life, future.

It's an integration and making choices purposefully at the moment.

There's just so many opportunities and so much demand in the world.

I do hope that in some way, whether it's this business or another

business or in another capacity, that you increase your influence

and your contribution to the world.

But before you make that decision to scale up your existing business, please, join

me and learn about the journey that I share in the Crossroads Clarity Solution.

For those of us who have a business that we've been operating,

growing, building, nurturing, cultivating, creating for years, decades, for some

of us, why is it really important to recognize that change will come and how

to be prepared to make a decision on what is the best next move for your business.

That was the introduction to this series about navigating business

crossroads and knowing which way to turn.

Understanding that it's different for us all at the different stages

and ages and priorities of our life.

This one is an entirely different and it's a more complex conversation.

It's about the decision to sell your business.

And that was the reason we all started in business, right?

Here is the interesting fact.

In my own survey of many clients, my peers in my mastermind groups, my own

coaching and in networking it seems that when we start our business, very few,

almost none of us are thinking about when we're going to end our business.

So whether that means closing the business, quitting as we talk about

in Module 2, or selling it, very few of us are conducting ourselves

and moving forward on our journey with that destination in mind.

And that's unfortunate.

And if I can help you now start thinking differently about that, then I

feel I have done a very good deed for womanity, for female entrepreneurship.

Because as we create a business and we build such a beautiful thing, we should

be thinking about the day that we sell it and be rewarded for what we have

created and be able to pass it along to someone else to continue that legacy.

We shouldn't be grinding it out for decades, to make enough to live on

and then not getting any ROI from all of that time, wisdom, creativity.

And that's a big shift in thinking I find for most women entrepreneurs.

In fairness, I think it's because we weren't really thinking about

ourselves as legacy business owners.

Until just a few decades ago, up until a few years ago, most of us were

thinking that we were either going to be nurturers of families and young

people and supporters in relationships, or we were going to be in a career.

And when we began not too many decades back to become entrepreneurs, we

didn't have a lot of role models.

We didn't have a manual that said begin with the end in mind, even

though that is the logical thing to do.

Module number four of the Crossroads Clarity Solution really dives in deep

to that transformational thinking about why is it the right decision

to sell your business, and what are the things you need to do to prepare

not only the business for maximum value, but prepare you emotionally,

strategically, for that decision.

Because selling your baby will cause you a lot of emotional growth.

And I know.

I did it and I wasn't prepared.

No one prepared me for it.

No one shared with me what I am going to share with you inside this program.

So hopefully you are one of the people that are ready to receive

a return on your investment and I have some things that will help you

maximize that positive experience.

We talk about the power of transforming your relationship with your business.

This has been such a good road trip with you and I am delighted to be a guide

and co pilot with you on this journey through navigating business crossroads

and helping you look at things with a different perspective, whether that's

through the windshield in front, the side mirrors or the rear view mirror, and get

the wisdom out of all that experience.

We're going to talk about transforming your role with your business.

in fact, transformation is, the root of all the other crossroad solutions.

transforming how we feel about ourselves and how we feel about ourselves impacts

the decision we make with our business.

specifically, I want to talk to you about your thoughts about being the

operator of your business versus the visionary leader; how those different

perspectives transform you, but also yield the results and Whether those rewards

for you are emotional, or financial, or evolutionary, it all does come down to

how you view yourself in the capacity of the founder, manager, and leader of the

business, who is ultimately transforming into the chief shareholder, the chief

investor of the company, and making decisions from that perspective instead

of the got a grip on every activity and thought and action in the business.

I speak from experience on this.

until I had a coach who helped me loosen up my grip on being the

helicopter business owner with my team, my business was, at a ceiling.

Once I learned to step back, think much more strategically empower a team and

be open to coaching and the collective wisdom of mentoring in a peer group.

Talk about adding some jet fuel additives in my tank.

Transforming how you think about your role as a business owner essential.

Transforming your role with who you are in your life with all relationships

is also a part of what we address in Module 5 in the Crossroads Clarity

Solution because it's not how things get done in your life, it's who you

choose to be on the team to do that.

But even more important, it's why you are making those choices.

that's a wholly exciting and terrifying conversation.

the opportunity is, the caterpillar and the butterfly, it can be extremely

ugly and uncomfortable in those transformational periods, but when

you make the right choice and come out of that period, your wings are open.

It's such a beautiful feeling.

there are some things I want to talk to you about like how You have evolved

over time and how those changes are impacting where you are right now

and how you use those to leverage where you're going in your future.

This is a version of lifting yourself as you climb.

It's one of my favorite parts of growing myself and working with my clients.

It's figuring out that transformation model.

, in this program, we're talking about how you transform the way you think about

yourself as the leader, the founder, and the chief shareholder of your business.

Please take your time to really absorb the case study and then the journal

prompts and give some thought to it.