It’s no secret that many business owners struggle to keep their doors open. Often times this is when they reach out to someone like me for help. When I start digging a little deeper, I usually find that they haven’t given themselves better options in business.
What exactly do I mean by this? Usually, it’s that they are relying on one or two clients to keep them afloat. So when one of them inevitably leaves, they are up the creek without a paddle.
The Importance of Having Options in Business
In order to run a successful (and low-stress) business, you need to put yourself in a position where you have better options. The reason is that when you have options, you have choices.
For example, if you have better options coming in frequently, then you can turn down a project you really don’t want to take on. That’s because you’re not worried about where your revenue is going to come from.
On the flip side of this, a lack of options puts you in a bad position where it becomes more difficult to negotiate and more difficult to say no. In other words, you end up putting up with a lot of stuff.
Now that we have that out of the way, we can discuss how to give yourself better options in business.
Build a brand.
The reason my colleagues and I have so many options coming to us is that we all have brands. This is in addition to the offering we provide to clients.
By building brands through our content, media mentions and networking, we position ourselves as top experts in our fields. This means people come to us because they see we know what we’re talking about.
Create better payment systems.
In some ways, creating better options sometimes has to do with creating better payment systems. Here’s what I mean by this. If we create better payment systems, it’s easier for us to get paid. When we see we have money coming in, then we feel more confident turning down the things that don’t serve us.
Here’s where some business owners experience difficulty with this. Because they don’t have proper payment systems, their money is usually delayed. When their money is delayed, then they feel like they need to take on whatever they can to pay their bills on time.
Have your money coming from different places.
I already mentioned how business owners put themselves in a bad position when they only rely on one or two clients. This is why they need to always be on the hunt for new clients because when you have money coming from different places you give yourself better options.
Additionally, they may want to consider creating different offerings as well. For example, maybe you start doing influencer work or consulting and gain new clients that way. Because, again, this creates a situation where you have better options and your bills are paid.
Final Thoughts
As a business owner, you need to be constantly looking for ways to create better options for yourself. As I mentioned, when you give yourself options you also give yourself the freedom of choices. When you’re in this position, you leverage it to get what you truly want.
