Tina Tower [00:00:00]:
Hello, and welcome to her Empire Builder Show. I am your host, Tina Tower. And today we're talking about one of those business conundrums is when to stick it out and knowing when to give up, which can be quite a difficult choice because. Because sometimes I do think that people will give up too soon if they're onto something and they're just going through the hard before it's going to get good. But then other times, you don't want to be in the situation where you're, like, pushing shit uphill and the idea is never going to work. And so today's episode, I want to talk to you about how to know the difference between those two things so that you don't end up sticking to something that you shouldn't be, but also so. So that you don't end up throwing something out that could be the absolute winning idea. So one of the hardest things that you will face is quitting too soon or staying too long.

Main Episode

Tina Tower [00:01:09]:
We want to find that sweet spot, so we are going to give you clarity in that today. So whether you're hitting resistance because you're close to a breakthrough, or it could just be time to pivot into something even better. Let's explore. All right. So first thing that we're going to look at is understanding that the struggle is normal, but it should be leading somewhere. So the myth often is, if it's hard, it must be wrong. Or for a lot of people that I talk to, they think it's so much harder for them than it is for other people, because often we don't share the hard. You just see people's highlight reel, and so it can be really easy to be in that trap where you're thinking, it's so much harder for me than it is for everybody else and thinking that you're doing something wrong.

Tina Tower [00:01:58]:
And what I want to tell you is all good things, all things that end up successful, they started hard. Like, I always think making your first sale is your hardest. Then it's making that first hundred thousand dollars. Once you've done that, everything is so much easier. But that beginning can be really hard. And that's the same with every new idea. I mean, even for me, as I make over a million dollars a year from our online course. But when we put out a new offer, the same can be true.

Tina Tower [00:02:29]:
I still have to use those same metrics to figure out idea going to turn into a winner, or is this something that I need to politely kill? And so what we've got to figure out is, are you facing Growing pains, like a new challenge or a new skill, or is it dead ends that we're coming against where there's no traction at all, where there's no joy, where there's no alignment. And so we have to have to really figure that out. And so how we do that. Let's move into number two, which is measuring effort verse evidence. Now what I mean by that is if you are putting in the effort, if you are consistently working on the idea, if you have given it time, like I mean six months of focused strategic action. And by that I don't mean sharing it a couple times on Instagram and saying like I put it out there, no one came, like, I mean giving it a red hot go. I mean actually being strategic about it in talking to people, having discovery calls, actually connecting with people so you can get that immediate feedback and you're looking for if you have any signs of life. So in that six months, are you having, you know, have you got leads coming in through the lead magnet? Have you got engagement happening on the ads or on the organic socials that you're putting out there? Are you getting any conversions happening? And if you are, if there are those signs of life, then I would be looking at all of the different strategic actions in there and going how can you tweak each of those to improve? But, but if there's nothing, if it's like flatlining, then it may be time to pivot.

Tina Tower [00:04:10]:
So we want to stick it out if there's traction. But slow growth, because slow growth can still mean you're learning the ropes of how you're doing things. If you're already established, then you can make these decisions way quicker and easier because you know the mechanics, you know the technical parts of it. So you'll be able to know whether your idea is a winner chicken dinner or whether it needs to be put on us much quicker than if you're in the beginning stages. An example of this is converting through webinar. I can run a webinar on something and I'll know if the conversion rate isn't good, then the offer or the message was off. That is one thing that I know. I know it's not because of the way that I present.

Tina Tower [00:04:49]:
I know it's not because of the tech. I know we had enough opt ins. I know we had enough conversion rates, like all of that sort of thing. They're the parts I know. So it makes it way easier to test and measure an idea. Whereas when I started, when I was at the beginning, the variables, man like you could look at something if something didn't work. If I didn't get enough sales from the webinar, the list is long on what that could be. It may be the offer, it may be the message.

Tina Tower [00:05:15]:
It may be that people had trouble getting on. I remember once I forgot to turn the password off and no one could get on the call and I didn't share the password with anyone. It could be that. It could be you didn't send enough reminder emails. Like, it could be so many different things. And so what we want to ascertain at the beginning is, is it technical, is it strategic, or is it the offer and the message? And that's the tricky part that we're coming in there. So we want to stick it out if there's traction but slow growth. But if you've put in time, effort and strategy and there's still zero response, then it is definitely time to pivot.

Tina Tower [00:05:48]:
Because effort without results, it's not failure. It will give you information so. So that you are able to do better next time. So if you do something and an idea doesn't work and I mean, I put things out, this is the thing. I've been in business for 21 years. I've been in online for nearly eight and going through that. I'll still put out new offers or ideas that kind of flop. So you never get it right, but it's all.

Tina Tower [00:06:15]:
You never, always get it right, I should say. I shouldn't say you never get it right because sometimes you really, really do. But it won't be 100% of the time. But people don't often see the mishits like the ones that don't work out. But I want you to know they're there. They're there for me. I've had some courses that will fly. I've had some that don't so much.

Tina Tower [00:06:36]:
One of the ones we've had do so great is AI for course creators. When that came out, it did great straight away. But then I've had another one that I thought would fly, the lead magnet Client Attractor, to make your perfect lead magnet. It didn't do as well. And so for. Sometimes it's just not the right thing at the right time. And so you want to take all of that as information and feedback so that you can make those adjustments and then do better next time and you'll improve your success rate. Number three is reconnect.

Tina Tower [00:07:08]:
If you're in this situation where you're like, I think I'm going to have to pivot you want to reconnect with your. Why not just the idea that you're working on? Because there are many different ways for you to get there. So what I find is sometimes people will fall in love with their offer instead of their mission, which means that it makes it hard to disconnect from it. It makes it hard, if it's not really working very well, to be able to go, you know what, I need to pivot this, I need to tweak it. I'm going to drop this part, I'm going to redo this part, I'm going to rename it. I'm going to like, rinse and redo and repeat again. And so you want to stay committed to the mission, who you want to serve, and the problem that you want to solve, but don't stay that committed to how to get there, because your audience will get a lot of that feedback that will get your winner. The biggest winner in my business is her empire builder.

Tina Tower [00:08:00]:
Our membership was built on that information that came from clients. So when I was launching Idea to launch, which was all through 2018, 2019, I then had people saying, this isn't enough. What do I do after this? I want to have ongoing business support from you. And that is how her empire builder came about. It wasn't actually an offer that I came up with myself. It was something that people were like, this is what I want. And I was going, okay, do you want to have a masterclass and a Q and A? And then, yes, that's what we started with. But then we've added on other things as the market has changed.

Tina Tower [00:08:37]:
So, for example, now we put in an AI implementation session every month because AI has become such a huge part of the job that we do that my clients need to see stay ahead of the curve with that. They need to be able to implement it. And so the offer is forever evolving. I am not wedded to the offer of exactly how we're doing things now. I know that next year there is a way that we could be doing it better. And so I'll always adapt and change to give the result, the transformation, what people are looking for. Without going, I'm never going to change anything. So hold the offer loosely, but be really committed to your mission.

Tina Tower [00:09:18]:
So ask yourself, like, what problem are you really here to solve? Who are you here to help? And if your why is still lighting you up, then just find a better offer, find a better way or a better strategy to be able to express that number four is to look for the energy drain verse Expansion. Now, what I mean by that is there's red flags and green flags as to whether to stick it out or whether to let it go. So red flags is you are dreading the work. If every single time you go to do it, it feels really, really heavy. If you are fantasizing about quitting daily, then it's big red flags. If the thing you are building is taking more from you than what it is giving back. And by that, I mean in all the areas like emotionally, spiritually, mentally. If it feels.

Tina Tower [00:10:13]:
Feels like this big, energetic drain, then sometimes that has to do with effort and burnout and exhaustion. But most of the time that is because it's no longer aligned with you. And so if you're feeling like that, that usually can't be fixed. It usually needs to have a new offer. So the thing. Sorry, the green light things. So the good things, if we're wanting to stick it out, then we're looking for. Even when it's hard, you're still feeling pulled forward.

Tina Tower [00:10:43]:
Like, even when something doesn't go right. Like, you know that feeling that happens in the pit of your stomach when you're like, I can do this. Like, for me, it's always the. The narrator in the background and the. The music that happens in the background that it's like, you know, the narrator said she was down, but she knew this wouldn't last long. Hey, and you can, like, go and rise from there. So if you're feeling that, like, you know you're down, but you're not out, you know that you love this. You know that if you could just unlock that offer, if you can just figure out what it is, you know, this is what you want.

Tina Tower [00:11:22]:
If you're feeling, like, still that motivation and that inspiration in your core, then that is a really good sign to stick it out. So you want to do that where you are. Like, if you're tired, but you're still excited. Green flag. If you're frustrated, obviously, that it's not working yet how you want it to work, but you're still committed. Green flag. So burnout from effort can be fixed. If you've just been grinding and hustling and trying and trying and you're really, really tired, you can fix that.

Tina Tower [00:11:53]:
You can take a break, you can refocus, you can get back in tune with your mission. But if you're burnt out from misalignment, then that usually does need a bigger change. If it's misaligned, I find that there's really no fix for that. If you're like, this is not what I'm enjoying doing. This is like, big red flags, it's time to move on. Don't stick it out. Alignment is the best. So number five is to then ask yourself better questions.

Tina Tower [00:12:22]:
So instead of saying to yourself, this isn't working, should I quit? What questions I want you to ask yourself is, what would need to change to make this work? What would need to happen to make this work? And then you're looking at, are you willing to do those things? Because often when I'm coaching people, I'll ask them, what are three things that you can do that will bring you business results in the next 30 days? And never have I ever spoken to someone who says, I have no idea. Never. People will always tell me, I know I need to put on a live webinar. Or I know, like the people that have been inquiring, I haven't been calling them or messaging them or like getting in contact. I've been kind of hiding a little bit. Everybody knows what they can be doing. And so when you ask yourself, what could you do to make this work, then ask yourself, why aren't you doing those things? Because that's a bigger question that you need to be able to solve. The other question is, have you truly gone all in, or are you one foot in, one foot out? And this is where it's really difficult.

Tina Tower [00:13:33]:
Because to protect ourselves from failure, we will often dip our toe in, have one foot in, one foot out, not be all in. Because then it's almost like this heart protection that if it doesn't do well, that we can kind of go, well, I didn't do this, this and this. So that's why, rather than feeling like I did absolutely everything and it still didn't work, does that make me the failure? And I talk to people all the time that do this. My, my pet peeve is I soft launched. Oh, soft launch. Like where they go, you know, I did that and that, but I didn't do all the emails, I didn't go live, I didn't follow people up, I didn't run a webinar. I didn't do all of this stuff. I just soft launched.

Tina Tower [00:14:22]:
I'm like, why? Why didn't you go all in? And I know why. I know it's because we're trying to protect ourselves. But if you're feeling like your offer isn't working, before you kill it, I want you to ask yourself, did you go all in? Did you go full ass, not half ass? And if you did that and it still didn't work. If you can, hand on heart, say, you know what? I did all the things. I went all the way in. I put all of the energy, I put my whole heart out there. I was super vulnerable. I did it all, and it didn't work, then the offer's probably wrong.

Tina Tower [00:14:54]:
Another question to ask yourself is, if you started again from scratch today, would you do anything differently? And if you would, I want you to know that you can change direction at any time, at any point in time. If you're like, you know what, with what I know now, I think I could do this offer so much better. You can reinvent it at any point. It may cost you a bit, but it may make you even more. So. I want you to know that. And then the other question is, if I didn't have to do this, would I want to do this? And that is a really interesting question, because I do believe that sometimes, often in business, we have to do the things that we don't want to do in order to get ourselves where we want to go. Like, there's.

Tina Tower [00:15:46]:
It's an impossible expectation to feel like we will always love the things that we're going to be doing in business. However, if it is very weighted towards doing things that you don't want to do, then it's a sure sign that it's misaligned and you should be changing that direction. A lot of these questions, if you give yourself some thinking time, some journaling time, they'll give you that clarity. Okay, number six is give yourself permission to change without shame. Now, one of the things that I think I do quite well is change. I will pivot sometimes too quickly, because often I'll see the market changing or the season changing or like, my preference is changing. And I will put in new offers, I'll kill old offers. I'll change existing offers to stay ahead of that curve, to stay relevant.

Tina Tower [00:16:41]:
And I find often the opposite is true for most people because people are worried that they'll look flaky if they change their mind, that it will look like, well, if she killed that, did that. Like, did she fail? Did that not work out? What will people think if I pivot? And I want you to know that entrepreneurs pivot all the time. Like, all the time. The only way we grow, the only way we stay at the top of our game is to be willing to be adaptive. And it is the best thing that we can be adaptive. Like, we don't have big ships to steer. We've got these nimble little speedboats. So Where a lot of big companies or, you know, big successful course creators, with these big massive teams that are planning out years in advance, it's much harder for them to turn that ship.

Tina Tower [00:17:39]:
The advantage that we have, as, you know, solopreneurs or people with small teams, is that we can change direction really quickly and be focused faster and be better. And so if you feel like you want to change but you're too concerned about what it looks like to the outside world, as long as you're coming back and you're doing something even better, and it's genuinely like, I just found a better way to do it, then congratulations, that makes you an awesome entrepreneur. So your identity, I want you to know, is not tied to your offer. A little bit of an example of this is, you know, throughout my career, I've changed. I've changed identity like a few times. I'm 41 now. I started my business when I was 20. I started an educational toy store and birthday party place.

Tina Tower [00:18:31]:
It grew more into the tutoring center side of things. But at the start, I was the toy shop lady and we started tutoring. I was a qualified primary teacher. I was going to uni at the same time. So by my second year of business, I was a qualified primary teacher. So then we built the tutoring center. Inside of that, I wrote a curriculum that we taught. And then after I closed Reach in 2008, I then started licensing that curriculum.

Tina Tower [00:18:56]:
So that was a whole identity shift. From going from where I was running a retail store seven days a week to I was at home with two little kids and I was selling my licenses online. And then I started franchising the identity shift to them becoming a franchisor. I was 27 when I became a franchisor and I was the youngest female in Australian history to ever start a franchise system from scratch. The identity shift that I had to take on to be able to be the person that could hold that was huge. But then I hated it. So I was in this situation where I was practicing what I'm talking about right now, where I was no longer aligned with it, where I wasn't just doing the things that I didn't want to do that was going to make it worth it. But most of it, like the actual day to day job was dealing with a lot of people.

Tina Tower [00:19:49]:
We had 120 staff across all of the locations dealing with legalities, franchise agreements, leases, all of the day to day stuff. I was like, ugh, how did I sign up for this? Like, how is this my life? This isn't fun at all. And so most of the things that I was doing I knew I didn't want to do anymore. And a lot of people that I spoke to thought I was batshit crazy because it was on a very big growth trajectory. We were getting offers for international expansion that if I could just learn to love it, it would have been very financially lucrative throughout the coming years and the coming decades. But for me, it just was no longer aligned. Instead of worrying about people thinking I couldn't hack it or that I wasn't tough enough for it, I parted ways with that, lovingly knowing that by moving on, the next thing would be even better. And lo and behold, that is when online courses came along with the online courses, I started out with different sorts of online courses that I was running.

Tina Tower [00:20:55]:
I was running Scale up was my first membership, which was systems for service based businesses, like how to systemize your business to build, scale and sell, because that's what I had previously done. Then I started getting into the business of online courses itself because I wanted everyone to have online courses because I'd never seen a business model that was so leveraged and so scalable. And I was like, everyone needs to have this tacked onto their service based business and so your identity can shift along with it. And what I really want to get across with that is often we are scared to make that change because we feel like the amount of times I've spoken to women, they're like, oh, I don't want to start from scratch again. But you're never starting from scratch. You're building on the foundation that you've already built. And it means that when you're no longer loving what you're doing, when you're no longer feeling what you're allowing aligned with, you're able to then springboard that into the next adventure. And we get to change whenever we want, which is so beautiful.

Tina Tower [00:21:56]:
Okay, so number seven is sticking it out. So these are the things I want you to be aware of. If these are present, this is a sign that you should be sticking it out and not moving on. So if you've seen traction, but it's not scaling how you want it to yet. So what I mean by that is if you're getting good traction, if you are putting your posts out and people are commenting on them, there's the engagement there. If people are registering for your webinars, but they're not necessarily converting yet, that is often like your message is good, you've got them there. So it's usually then either how you're presenting or the contents of your webinar, things like that. So if you've got there and you're like, you know what? I can see traction.

Tina Tower [00:22:41]:
Like, I can see there's people buying into it, there's people that are getting engaged, there's people that are getting excited. I'm just not getting the results I want yet. It's probably more strategic than anything else. So I would stick with that and then test and measure all of your different cogs to make sure that you can get that going. Next reason to stick it out is if you are excited by the future, even if the present is feeling a bit murky. So if you're feeling right now that frustration where it's like, I'm just not where I want to be yet. But if you're still really excited about it, if you're excited about, like all of us are in the business of solving problems, that is, every successful business solves a problem. If you're still looking at that problem that you're solving with excitement and you're like, you know what? I want to get into that.

Tina Tower [00:23:27]:
I want to figure it out. If you've still got that fire in your belly, then it is worth sticking it out and just changing the how. Don't change the why, just change how. If you've been consistent and you know the foundations are being laid. So we are sold this idea that overnight success is possible. You know, I had a conversation with someone last week about Idea to Launch. Idea to launch is my beginner, beginner product program. So it's when you may have a service based business or a traditional business, or have been a consultant or something, you're like, I want to start my very, very first course.

Tina Tower [00:24:04]:
And so I had this conversation with this woman and she hadn't done what she was going to do in a course in any professional capacity ever. She had read a little bit about it, she had gone through it personally and wanted to make a course on her personal experience, which is totally, totally fine. I know a lot of people that have been successful with that. But where her question was, was what made me go, oh my God, like, this is so unrealistic and it's just not going to work out for her. Was she was saying, I want to create the course, the website, the marketing, everything, and be launched in eight weeks. I've never ran a business before, I've never taught the content before. I don't know how I'm going to teach the content, but I need to have made $10,000 in the next eight weeks, is that possible? And to me, I go, I mean, yes, it is possible if you're a full goer, but for a lot of people, it's going to take longer than that to figure out the foundations the first time, for example, you're going into Kajabi and you're going, what button do I press? How do I even get this together? How do I send out an email broadcast? How do I take tag my audience and how do I filter those tags? How do I set up a lead magnet funnel? What even is a lead magnet funnel? How do I optimize that funnel? How do I do a webinar? There are so many things to learn outside of just what am I going to teach? How am I going to find the audience? And that will usually take someone longer than eight weeks to be able to find that traction. Eight weeks to lay the foundation.

Tina Tower [00:25:35]:
Yes, but then we're in a marketing game, then it's going okay, all right. How do you get known you're this one person on a big wide Internet in this big wide world? How do we connect you with the people that you're trying to serve? And so for that you need to know, like, if it's not working, like if she was to go ahead, for example, I did tell her it's probably not the best thing and she should keep a job. Because I'm like, you need to be committed to the long game. And having that much desperation and unrealistic expectations, I think can be really detrimental. And so when you are starting, if you're there going, you know what, I'm laying the foundations right now and I just need that time, I just need more consistency to take hold, then you can stick it out because it's likely to come in time. Then the other is if you are evolving as a leader and you still believe in the outcome. So what I mean by that is if you are starting to gain traction. I'm thinking of one of my clients who started from scratch, very similarly to this lady that I was just referencing.

Tina Tower [00:26:42]:
So for Belinda, she's starting and she's like, I've got no reputation in, I'll give her a little plug. So she runs Sober Sparkle for people that are curious. Like sober curious. And she's gone from running a retail store into running this program. She's done a lot of work work, studied to be a life coach, done a lot of work on the sober environment. She's also gone through that journey herself. So personal experience is there. All of the experience is there.

Tina Tower [00:27:10]:
Credibility is there. But she hadn't yet built that reputation. And so she knows it's going to take time. She knows that she needs to build up her reputation. And so what she's been doing, she's been getting into Mamma Mia. She's been getting into art articles, she's been going out and getting that consistency to be able to build that trust and that exposure. She's evolving as the leader in her space because right now it's like most people, they've never heard of her because her following is really low, because she started from scratch where everybody starts. But if she keeps going the way that she's going, she can see that traction.

Tina Tower [00:27:47]:
She can see, okay, the people that she serves, like, so far, the people that have taken her program, loving it. And so they're like, okay, I can see the traction. I can see it's there. She's frustrated because she wants that success early, which we all do. But she's also like, I can see it's going to work. I can see it helps people. I believe so wholeheartedly in my mission and she will get there. And so if you've got that where you're like, you know, I can see myself becoming more prominent, I can see myself becoming the leader in this space, then it is probably something for you to stick out now.

Tina Tower [00:28:20]:
Let it go. If let it go, if it drains you more than it fulfills you. So if you're feeling more drained on days than you are fulfilled, it's probably an idea to let it go and find a new offer. If it no longer aligns with your big mission, if you're there and you're looking at the mission for your life, if you're looking at the mission for your business and it just, just doesn't fit anymore, it's time to move on. If you've done the work, not just the dreaming, but the work, if you've put the work in and it still isn't resonating, then the offer is probably off. Just get a new one. It's not a thing on you. It is probably a thing on the messaging.

Tina Tower [00:28:58]:
Like I said before, it's not the mission, it's just how. It's just how you're getting it across. If you're only holding on because of fear of what people will think or because you're too proud to let it go. And again, worried about what other people will think or worried about what you will think of you or the other one is like your sunk cost. If you know, I've seen someone before where they put so much into it. They put all of this money into building their website, starting a podcast, getting it all there. But the message was just off. The offer was off.

Tina Tower [00:29:35]:
It just wasn't aligned with them or with the audience that they were trying to attract. And so if you've done that work and it's not working, then we know it's probably better to let it go and move on with a better offer. But because she'd put so much into this, she was like, I can't let it go. I've got like those sunk costs there. Like, I need to make this work. But I don't want anyone in the situation where you're pushing shit uphill where you need to go, okay, if this boulder is too hot, like, let's just get a lighter one. Let's, like, business is all hard, but make it as easy as it possibly can be. So there's Omar Zenholm, who is a friend of mine and a really great businessman.

Tina Tower [00:30:18]:
He built webinar Ninja, has a great podcast called $100 MBA. He told me this analogy of imagining that you've got all these balls lined up to kick through the goal. So one ball is a bowling ball. One ball is like those bouncy, big bouncy balls that you get from the cheapy shops that just fly when you kick them. One is the basketball. Like all balls of different weights. It's like, why not kick the ball that's going to go through the goal the easiest? So many people stay stuck on the bowling ball trying to so hard to get it in when you could just take the easier route. And so if you can pick the one that's going to be the path of least resistance, it's still going to be some resistance.

Tina Tower [00:31:03]:
But if you can take the path of least resistance, your life is going to be much more enjoyable and your business is going to flow much better. So either way, whether you are sticking with it or whether you are going to let it go, you win. Because choosing to stick, stick it out will build your resilience. Choosing to let it go builds your wisdom. It shows you that you can move on. It shows you that no matter what, if something doesn't work out, you can have the confidence that you can build again. You can start from anywhere and take an idea and build it into something. Once you have that confidence, you're unstoppable because it means that you're no longer in that fear space where you're like.

Tina Tower [00:31:45]:
Like. I know. For so long, I felt like I was in the space. If this doesn't work out, I'm going to be destitute. Like it's all going to come crumbling down. I'm going to lose my home, I'm going to lose this. Now I know I could lose like the Internet could cease to exist tomorrow. My whole business could disappear.

Tina Tower [00:32:03]:
I have no doubt with the amount of times that I have created something from nothing that I will find something else. I know that I'm the type of person that can have ideas, create something and serve people and help them and solve problems. And so once you get really good at staying committed to your why and holding loosely the how, you become unstoppable. So trust your gut. What I want you to do is listen to your intuition, but also validate it with strategy and with self awareness. Persistence is noble, but discernment is what is most powerful. So if you are looking to know more about the strategy behind business, if you want to be able to build the engine behind it, if you know that you've got the excitement, you've got the mission, you've got the alignment with your offer and you're like, you know what? I just need the strategy to know how to grow this. Then jump onto our wait list for her empire builder.

Tina Tower [00:33:08]:
We open it a couple of times a year and it is perfect for people that go, I've got my offer, I just need to grow my audience. I just need to grow the engine of the business behind it. It's a whole community filled with women to be able to do that. Because every time I see someone with an awesome offer that really believes in what they're doing, I so badly want it to be successful for you. And strategy is where it is at. So whether you're sticking with it or when, whether you're letting go, it's time to re evaluate, feel fine either way and continue on. Because know that we're on this beautiful cycle and it's always changing and you can change right along with it. Have the best day.