Clarity is Imperative when Starting a Business Project

What I’ve found in working with teams or with even solopreneurs, is there are a few different approaches that people take when they’re starting something new — but while starting a business project it always needs to begin with clarity.

Get It Done: Clarity without Feedback

Some people say, “I want this done. You’re going to do it my way.” The downfall of that is that they’re not really considering the team or the existing business processes (if they have employees they may not have clarity about how the work gets done).

Working with the “I want it done” personality can become an alienated process where people may do what they’re told but the outcome may not be as great because feedback and alternative approaches aren’t considered.

Stop the Analysis-Paralysis

There are other people who really enjoy research. The problem with researchers is that when they go to implement, they clam up or they don’t want to do it. This is often called analysis paralysis. They never get to the “doing place.”

Work Through the Fear

In my work on both large-scale and small projects, I’ve met a lot of fearful people — particularly when it comes to more technical tools and apps. They don’t understand it. They procrastinate on getting to it.

They wait until the last minute to talk to the specialist and they either get an answer they don’t like or the person tells them exactly what they like and they say, “Okay. Go do it,” and there’s no leadership coming from someone who'd typically be your champion on a project. And then, you get mixed results on that end, too, because you need a leader.

I work with the executive or the leader or the owner of a business and we talk through some of that stuff. And we really talk about what it's they’re looking for, what they want because sometimes, mindset issues happen because of a lack of clarity.

Or you can have absolute clarity and it’s about talking through what it’s going to take for that to happen and seeing if we can reframe it so that people understand what it’s going to take in terms of time and money so we can manage expectations.

On the fearful side, it’s really about empowering people to be leaders.

And the way that I always talk about this with people is to say, “Look. If you were going to get your haircut, you don’t go in and say, ‘I don’t care. Do what you want.’” No one wants a purple mohawk. Unless they specifically ask for a purple mohawk.

Remember, You’re Batman

Batman doesn’t let Robin drive the Batmobile and it’s the same way with your business. You have to be Batman but you have to coordinate and champion and have clarity.

The primary thing I help businesses with is laying the foundation for a digital marketing strategy. Many businesses don’t realize that the decisions you make when you form a business chart the course for how big you'll show up online.

I can tell you if you have certain pillars of technology and tools set up as your foundation that really support your business, it'll help you go toward whatever business (and marketing) goals you have.

Depending on a person’s comfort level, a digital marketing roadmap can have humble beginnings.

When I sit down with a client and we go through a business owner’s goals and concerns, I make it as simple as possible. “Okay, here’s the one thing that you can do.” And we do that one thing, and then it has this snowball effect.

Chunk It Out

I’ve seen it work again and again where when you chunk out a project into manageable pieces, then the mindset starts to shift because really, we’re looking for small wins. The business owner sees some small wins and they feel like, “Okay, I get it,” and then it snowballs. And sometimes, for me, it’s about going to where the person lives, and we sit down together, and we knock it out together.

When it comes to marketing tools and apps, that’s the thing that people are most fearful of — that they’re going to totally mess up, get embarrassed, etc.

That failure is absolutely part of the process if you’re going to own a business. If you’re so worried about doing it right all the time or you only do the things that you know, then you’re missing out on a lot of growth because growth happens when you’re like, “Oh, I’m not doing that again.”

When that happens, you go do something else. And that’s the most beautiful part about owning a business.

This blog post is based on Jen’s recent appearance on the Everyday Business Leader Podcast with Gregory Gray, titled “Mindset, Clarity and Action with Jen McFarland.” You can listen using the player below.

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