Ok. So now that I've spent the last month drilling into the importance of STRATEGY. And if you've been following along closely enough, you'll know that I'm talking about strategy and tracking (analyzing your strategies to optimize them) in every aspect of your business (marketing strategies, finance strategies, inventory buying strategies, and so much more).

There are some things I want to make sure I share with you too. That are, perhaps, even more important than strategy or tracking. I know. Wait a minute, what could be more important than the strategies behind your business?

Analysis Paralysis or FOMOMO (fear of missing out on marketing opportunities) is a real thing. And it can seriously hurt your business. Strategizing, tracking your data, and optimizing is super important, but not if it stops you from actually taking action in your business. In other words, don't spend so much time planning and analyzing (existing or new ideas) that you miss out on what actually brings revenue in. Maybe one day, you will have a team taking care of the day-to-day tasks so you can focus on the bigger picture? But if that's not the case (yet), someone still needs to take care of those individual marketing activities (the posts, the emails, the live sales, etc). It's OK (great even) to set aside time each week to focus on the bigger picture - as long as the stuff that moves the needle is actually happening too. It's a tricky balancing act, especially for those of you that wear all the hats.

This one may seem obvious. And actually the goal of all true strategy should be profit. So this may sound redundant. But I want to bring this up because it's important that you don't throw out what is working in the hopes that something else will work better! Optimization is all about doing MORE of what is already working in your business. So before you jump into a brand new marketing idea or sales channel, are you sure you've even maximized what is right in front of you? For example, if live sales are killing it for you, could you spend 6 more hours (of prep and live time) to add another live sale to your week instead of spending that 6 hours trying to learn pinterest? I'm not saying it's not worth it to add Pinterest, eventually. But make sure you are focusing on what you KNOW works for you to it's fullest first (or at the least, it should be where you are spending most of your resources).

And on that note, if something like live sales are your bread and butter, have you also optimized all your other marketing strategies to SUPPORT that one? Think of it like this: you should have one primary marketing strategy (you know what it is, it pays your bills right now). And all your other strategies should really be aiming to support that primary marketing strategy. SO, if it's live sales (as the example here), is your website pushing visitors back to where these live sales are happening? Do you have text, email and push notifications setup to remind, and entice your followers to tune in? Ok now we are getting back into strategizing again. But the point is: spend your time and energy on what's already working before you bring new strategies into the mix (that will take time, trial and error and precious resources to figure out)!

Ok. Hear me out on this one. I joke around a lot about how you don't want to just throw jello at the wall when it comes to marketing your business. And IF you aren't really bringing in revenue (like if you can't even truly pinpoint a primary marketing/revenue source), then absolutely - you need to sit yo a** down and come up with a plan! BUT if you actually are bringing in a decent amount of revenue, are you really just throwing jello at the wall and seeing what sticks? Or have you been strategizing all along, only you just didn't realize it or call it that? This is easy to do because sometimes we are so 'in the weeds' in our own business, we don't see that all those tiny decisions about when, where and what to post (and what wording to use, what sort of photo or video to use, and so much more) IS actually strategy.

We may not be tracking properly, and there may be room for us to grow here. But what you are doing IS actually working. So the point here is to give yourself some grace. You are doing hard things! And while you may feel like you don't have everything all figured out, if you are a profitable business (with overhead and employees, especially) - you are doing something RIGHT! Don't doubt yourself on that. Instead refer back to the two points above again with a different viewpoint about what you've been doing so far. And consider that maybe for you, 'throwing jello at the wall' IS what is working. And in that case, well then - how can you get even better at throwing that effing jello, girl? Embrace the jiggle! Ok maybe that was too far, but hopefully ya feel me!