The #1 mindset shift I made in my business that fast-tracked my growth.

There's so much information out there for business owners — do this, do that. Don't do this and definitely don't do that! It's overwhelming and can be so daunting.

As business owners, especially when you're on the cusp of something great, on the verge of your next major breakthrough, there's one thing that no one will tell you. It's also something that not a lot of business owners do, but they definitely SHOULD BE!

This is how I went from feeling lost, confined and controlled by my business to being confident, making leaps and bounds and knowing exactly what my next move should be! It also helped me grow at a rapid pace.

You want your business to grow. You want your business to be successful (whatever that looks like to you). You want to speed it all up so you can just BE there already. You want the freedom, the financial independence, the luxury of choosing when to work. And you can. You just need to start doing this one thing.

It's so simple and doesn't cost a penny! And this is my little secret weapon. All you need to do is...

Reflect.

Yep, that’s it! On your business, your challenges, your learnings, your processes. Every single time something happens in your business is a chance to take a quick moment and think about what happened. Take the time to understand what did and didn't work. Evaluate your decisions after you've made them (objectively, of course!). Understand why a challenge occurred and how you can eliminate it next time.

Challenges occur to teach us something. But it's how we react, respond and learn from them that's the true test of you as a business owner. Your resilience in the face of adversity is what will set you and your business apart. It will help you make those leaps and bounds you've been wanting.

Because we don't gate keep, here's one of the biggest challenges I faced, my reflections and how it impacted my business growth.

I've dealt with my fair share of red flag clients. This client was difficult all round, but taught me a lot. In particular, she would consistently change the scope of the project. I would allow it to happen, because she was a high-ticket client and I wanted to do a great job. I was stressed, strapped for time, losing money and impacted my other client work, my downtime and made me second guess my skills and processes.

I kept doing what she asked and let her walk all over my boundaries. She began to take advantage and it got worse from there. At the time, I pushed through, because I thought it was the right thing to do.

After the project was all said and done, I knew something had to change. I knew that I did not want to feel that way again and I would not, under any circumstances, let another client make me feel insignificant, like a hired hand or make me question my worth. So, I took 3 months off client work.

I took the time to analyse the project, from start to finish. What went wrong? Where was the communication breakdown? Where could've X, Y, Z have been clearer so that this wouldn't have happened? What was my contribution to the issue? How can I change my mindset, my processes, my communication to ensure that future clients don't experience the same thing?

It was a lot of rehashing, going over old emails, mapping out the process and where breakdowns occurred. It was a lot of notes, ideas, conversations with other people and most of all, taking the time to really understand how things could've been better. This led to a total overhaul of my project management system, a refresh of packages and pricing structure, evaluating the process and ensuring my client experience is top notch. Updating all my documents, answering any and all FAQ's and pre-empting a client's questions, concerns and objections.

This wasn't for the faint of heart.
But it was a necessary moment of growth.

This isn't to say that every time there's an issue, you need 3 months and a total overhaul to fix it! Sometimes, all it takes along the way, are simple tweaks and refinements to ensure consistent evolutions and improvements.

It's those little moments of reflection that lead to a 1% growth every single day.