The symptoms of Groundhog Day Syndrome are:
- Feeling like you are on a Sales/Marketing/Operations rollercoaster
- Inconsistent sales and profits
- Stress and anxiety
- Feeling that you have been here before (because you have)
Solopreneurs know the Sales/Marketing/Operations rollercoaster well – market a lot, sell some stuff, then stop marketing so you can do the work that you sold. Then start the process all over again.
I have also seen many bigger companies fall into the same trap. There are 6 pillars of a business: Sales, Marketing, Finance, Operations, Team and Products/Services. Companies get stuck when they work on only one or two pillars of their business at a time, and outgrow the other pillars. This results in lopsided and inconsistent results. Or they work on the pillars without working on the foundation (which is you and your leadership team), and the foundation collapses when the pillars get too big for the foundation to support. Then you have to start building everything back up again.
So what can you do about it?
The cure for this is simple – schedule time for you and your business to work on the Important but not currently Urgent tasks. This includes planning, learning (learn more to earn more), marketing (even when you don’t need more customers right now), financial management, budgeting, and team development.
Your #1 client is your business, and secondarily you. If you don’t take care of your business, it can’t/won’t grow sustainably, and you will live on the business roller coaster forever. The business version of Groundhog Day.
When you start treating your business like your #1 client, you can avoid the rollercoaster, smooth out the peaks and valleys, and grow your business and your profits steadily and continually, without ever falling back.
If you need help setting your business up as your #1 client and avoiding Groundhog Day Syndrome, please don’t hesitate to reach out.
Author: Mark McNulty, Business Coach