In this podcast I share the story of how we made what felt like a Titanic change in our business. Here’s the truth: anytime you are making big changes professionally and personally it can feel like you are moving the Titanic!

For the first few years being in business I worked with dozens of consulting clients on retainer and so many of them were amazing. I was on the phone constantly pitching, sending proposals and working around the clock for my clients.

And then… I started feeling burnt out. I had gone into business for myself but was feeling like I was losing that flexibility and quality of life. Looking back, there were some people we worked with that maybe weren’t the right fit so we knew it was time to make a shift. In episode 7 and 8, I shared how we launched our #GetSocialSmart Academy and as that grew, it became more and more fulfilling and it also led to a more scalable and sustainable business. Now, don’t get me wrong, I love consulting (and big shout-out to so many of our amazing clients), but what I learned is that you have to be the right fit for the client and they have to be the right fit for you.

Here’s the truth: when you first start a business – you say ‘yes’ to a lot of things because if you are like me, you are figuring it out as you go and figuring out what you want to do (and what you don’t want to do!) I learned that saying "no" allowed us to say "yes" to opportunities that were more in line with our mission. Reading the book The Year of Yes inspired me in so many ways in this journey. (I loved this book so much I bought it for so many people over the year!) Side note - I also learned the value of having strong referral partners!

However, making change is scary! I remember a few years back attending Social Media Marketing World and being in the audience listening to Amy Porterfield share candidly how she made a similar change in her business. I remember distinctly the graph she showed with the dip her business took the year she made that change but then how much it accelerated afterward. Seeing that truly put the right expectations in place for me and we experienced that dip. But  now, we are so excited to say that we are experiencing that big upswing. It took time – for us it took about 18-24 months and the good news is that when we rang in the New Year in 2019 we could raise a glass and say, “We did it! We made that change!” And now, we still offer consulting from time to time if it’s the right client, but now the majority of our business comes from our #GetSocialSmart Academy. A big reason why we were able to make this change too came from the people on our team… that’s the next episode!

Lessons learned:

• Just because you can do something, doesn’t mean you should. You don’t always have to raise your hand!
• Say YES to saying NO. Our time is our most precious asset. In the beginning, you have to say YES but at some point, it’s ok to say NO!
• Be protective of your time. We only have one life to live.

Additional resources:

• Visit me at KatieLance.com for more info about my speaking, consulting and our #GetSocialSmart Academy
• Follow me on Instagram for more behind-the-scenes into my life and business @katielance (Enjoying this podcast? Tag me on IG and let me know!)
• Check out Social Media Marketing World *affiliate link
• Connect with Amy Porterfield here!
• The Year of Yes book *affiliate link