The Time It Takes (Part 2)
In a previous post, I introduced the concept of three hidden timelines in your business:
The Marketing Timeline
The Build Timeline
The Business Focus (or What the Heck Am I Actually Doing?) Timeline
Realizing that these timelines exist and knowing where you are on them can help you make better decisions, get better results, and find more peace and enjoyment on the journey.
To get up to speed, check out The Time It Takes Part 1 – The Marketing Timeline.
The Build Timeline
This is the time it takes to create marketing and sales assets, put together offers, set up systems, and acquire the know-how that allow you to run a sustainable, joyful business.
The Build Timeline is at least 6 months—but often longer.
You’ll have to go through iterations and optimize.
You’ll have to experiment and throw stuff out.
You’ll have to overcome the inevitable mindset blocks that keep you stuck in stages of confusion, overwhelm, and pursuit of perfection.
Put simply, you’ll have to get over yourself.
I haven't even factored in unexpected major life events like illness and death.
This is why the whole “6-figures in 90-days” message has always been utter shite.
But it’s a dream any business owner would want, even if a pipe one, and people have made millions selling with that hook in the online business world.
Rarely, RARELY do those hawking get-rich-quick schemes or even those promoting legit next-level strategies account for the time it takes to create or uplevel the assets needed to run their strategies.
In addition, with a low barrier of entry and minimal start-up costs, people are still under the impression that it won’t take long to get an online-based service business spun up.
If you’ve been in business for any stretch of time, that bubble burst for you already.
You know it takes time—that creating offers, assets, and systems always take more time than you originally thought.
The Build Timeline is unavoidable; everyone goes through one and the best will go through several.
If you’re in business for years, you’ll be on the Build Timeline more than once. (I’ve been on a Build Timeline myself for the last 2 years.)
Truthfully, some aspect of your business will always be on the Build Timeline because there will always be room for improvement and optimization. You keep evolving as a human, thus your work evolves; therefore everything you use to communicate and sell your work needs to evolve, too.
You can absolutely enjoy working with great people and making good money while you’re on the Build Timeline.
However, you'll find your resources are naturally stretched because while you're on the Build Timeline, you're also serving clients and running the other parts of your business.
I mean who here has access to unlimited capital and can create everything they want and need for their business without the distraction of other humans? And animals!
Wouldn't that be nice?! A Perfect Island of One where no one needs you therefore you have all the time in the world to build out everything in your heart's desire!
Back to the real world, being on the Build Timeline means you're in a season where you might be putting in more hours than you care to and investing more than you feel comfortable with in people and tools to help. It might mean reduced take-home pay.
The trick is to see where you can minimize the angst, overspend, overwhelm, and spinning wheels because left to their own devices, some people stay stuck in the create stage of the Build Timeline where nothing ever quite gets shipped and consequently, nothing ever really happens.
So what can you do to make the most of your mental state and limited resources when you're on the Build Timeline?
Get clear on your vision for the next 6-12 months (you don’t have to figure out the endgame for your business, just where you want to go in the short-term)
Confirm your strategies are well-matched to your business model
Hire people to help you create your assets (i.e. leave design to designers; your time is best spent on revenue-generating activities and the stuff that no one can do but you)
Sort out your messaging (nothing sucks worse than investing time and money into a website, setting up an email nurture sequence, or creating offers that don’t work because your messaging stinks)
Pace yourself and plan for things to take longer than you’d probably like
Address the mindset stuff that results in a fog of confusion, overwhelm, and decision paralysis
We ALL need accountability, outside perspective, and hands-on help when we’re on the Build Timeline.
Things can quickly get overwhelming when you're managing Build projects while also responding to new business opportunities which often uncover more Build projects.
For example, when you went to create the proposal you remembered that you need better sales language and how useful it'd be to have updated case studies. Now instead of the 3 Build projects you already had underway, you have 2 more and which ones should be prioritized???
I, too, invest in outside help because I’ve experienced what happens—or rather what doesn’t happen—when you don’t have support and the acceleration that happens when you do.
Are you on the Build Timeline right now?
My goal is to help clients get to a point of readiness with their stuff so we can ship it, get market feedback, iterate, and optimize.
Together, we address everything from the messaging in your head about why your stuff isn't ready (when it is) to the messaging across your communication channels and how well it works to generate connections and conversions.
It involves accountability, minimizing your distraction by Shiny Objects, and dealing with the nitty gritty of digital marketing tech so you don't get stuck in Tool Town.
If you’d like this kind of help for your business, I recommend booking a call so we can discuss what kind of support would suit you best given your goals.
In the meantime, if you’re on the Build Timeline consider where you are so you know what to do next.
