Finding Point B: How Asking Better Questions Can Lead To Business Success
By Doug Bennett aka The Goals Guy® with special guest Nichola Curran
Do you have any health or fitness goals laid out? Have you ever wondered what might happen if you transferred those goals to your business? If you haven’t, maybe it’s time to rethink your entire strategy.
I recently chatted to Nichola Curran, the Creator and Director of The Health & Fitness Business Club. You can listen to our full conversation on the podcast here (it also involves a nifty game so it’s well worth a listen!). Nichola has been in the health and fitness industry for over 32 years and during our conversation, she shared one of the single biggest mistakes that’s prevalent within the industry.
According to Nichola, most fitness coaches spend a lot of time setting SMART goals with their clients, but they end up losing sight of how this very same goal-setting technique can be applied to their business. Just like how doctors make the worst patients, the best coaches still struggle with applying their own coaching principles. Ironic, isn’t it?
And it’s often because they aren’t clear on what they want out of their business or where they want to go. In this blog post, I’ll be sharing how asking the right questions can help you find a clear path forward and ultimately make audacious strides towards business success.
Reverse-engineering your business for success
Nichola: “My purpose as a health and fitness business coach is to help my clients reverse-engineer their business, starting with a simple question: ‘What is it they really want out of it?’ Oftentimes, they’re not completely clear on this. They get into the industry because of the passion they have, and then it kind of just progresses from there. They’re not sure what they want to achieve; they just love what they do.”
I’m sure many of us can relate to what Nichola shared as we’ve all fallen into this sinkhole at some point. It’s common for our burning passion to drive us towards starting our own company, but in our zealous pursuit, we often fail to fully grasp and appreciate the various intricacies involved in running a business.
If you’ve read my book, Think Simple Win Big, you’ll know that having a clear understanding of these bits and pieces is a no-brainer when it comes to turning your side hustle or passion into a full-blown business.
That’s why it’s so important to ask the right questions because better questions lead to better answers. What’s your ideal outcome? Do you have an exit strategy? Having the answers to these questions – as well as proper guidance and support – will help you accelerate your future and forge a clear path to success.
Where’s your B?
Nichola: “I find that a lot of business owners know where their Point A is but have no idea where their B (the end goal) is. In some cases, they may have a rough idea of where they want to go, where they want to be, and what they want to achieve. And then they begin to think about possible routes that may get them there such as marketing, a better team, or even better prices. While any of these routes may lead to the end goal, it’s not a given.
What I like to do first is pinpoint my clients’ Point B. Next, I get them to look at their business from a 360 ° angle to figure out the best way to get there as opposed to just trying to wing it. More often than not, we discover that their business model itself can’t get them to Point B because of the way it has been set up. In cases like this, we then have to take a step back and restructure the model.”
I particularly love this nugget for driving business success and performance. As entrepreneurs, we all need to learn how to work on the business, rather than in the business.
If your model is fundamentally flawed, no amount of Facebook ads or putting your nose to the grindstone will get you to Point B. While you don’t necessarily need to chuck out the baby with the bath water, you’ll need to break the model up, pull it back to the bare bones, and create a new structure for your business.
Why emotional attachment may be killing your business, rather than driving performance
It’s common to feel overly attached to the company you’ve built from ground up. However, as Nichola points out, emotional attachment can blind you to the fundamental flaws within the business, ultimately killing it and preventing you from reaching your overarching goal.
Nichola: “In my first business, I had a pretty decent financial goal. But what I didn’t know at that time was that my business model was fundamentally flawed. Because I was so emotionally invested in it, I kept pushing and couldn’t see that I was working way harder than I should have done or wanted to do.
Eventually, I ended up closing that business after I had somebody help me take a critical look at it. If only I’d done that sooner, it would have saved me all the pain of letting my team go and shutting down completely.”
While brutal honesty can sometimes feel like a punch to the gut, it’s certainly something we all need as business owners. One thing I often ask my coaching clients to do is detach their emotions from the business and ask themselves critical questions. Do you actually have a business? Or is this merely a side hustle that should coexist alongside your regular nine to five?
Seek guidance and support
Invariably, there are many ways to skin the proverbial cat. If you’re stuck between a rock and a hard place in your business, it’s worthwhile seeking support and guidance from an experienced coach – someone who’s been there, done it, and got the t-shirt. As Nichola admitted, she could have saved herself a lot of pain if she had brought in someone with the experience sooner rather than later.
Make your goals a daily reminder
As you already know, I’m big on writing down your goals as if you’ve already achieved them. I used to write down my goals in a tiny red notebook that I kept tucked away in my drawer and I was pleased to hear that Nichola does something similar – although in a much more technicolour and consistent way.
Nichola: “My business goal is the password to my laptop. So every single time I switch on my laptop, I have to type it in and this serves as a daily reminder to me.”
She also shared a rousing final nugget of advice for achieving business success.
Nichola: “Make sure your goal is important to you, for you, and no one else.”
Are your goals for you or are they merely an extension of someone else’s expectations? When you focus on the goals that are truly yours, you’ll be able to prevent yourself from losing steam and ultimately achieve the life you want to live.
Having reflected on what Nichola has shared, how do you feel about your business model? Are you ready to ask the right questions and find your Point B? Are you ready to go into beast mode and rip things back to the foundations of your business?
If you’re in a position to take action and redirect your strategy, please click here to book a complimentary discovery session with me to find out how I can provide you with support and guidance.