Recently, my bike had a bit of a spruce-up (stick with me…). The bike itself is a sweet ‘ladies’ style one I bought when we were on a campervan holiday in France years ago.
I had still been using an old Saracen mountain bike that was a bit rubbish and really uncomfortable, and in a bid to make bike rides fun again I bought this new one. I let the old, uncomfortable one go and it felt good.
This new bike made the holiday SO MUCH MORE FUN for me. I was excited about riding again because the ‘sit up’ style of the bike and the comfier (wider ?) seat meant I wasn’t in pain after every ride.
I bought a cute basket for the front from an outdoor market and we rode to the bakery and back again for baguettes and pastries in the mornings. I was living the dream.
Fast forward to when we got home again to our rather hilly area of North Wales. My low budget bike meant that the thing is made of steel and is HEAVY. That’s no bother when you’re cycling along the flat, but it makes life a lot harder when cycling anywhere means you have to ride up hill all the way back home ?
My lovely new bike sat in the garage gathering dust. Cycling just wasn’t fun again.
Now, my Dad is really into his bikes and cycles for miles up and down dales, and in a bid to get me back on mine again, he and my husband hatched a plan to fit it with a motor and battery and turn it into an e-bike for my birthday.
What a bloody brilliant idea – they did an epic spruce-up of my bike and it certainly did the trick!
A pregnancy and a newborn baby meant it sat for a little while longer until we found a kids seat that fits over the pannier and battery at the back…but now I’m all ready to go and am EXCITED and looking forward bike rides again.
I was reflecting on this and it made me think of our businesses and how they can either serve us well and feel light and FUN, or when things are no longer serving us they can just feel like a real hard slog.
Things change over the years, and our businesses need to shift and change with us. Things should feel exciting and light and fun and if they don’t, we need to think about how we can make moves in the direction of excitement again.
I’m not talking about ‘shiny new things’ necessarily. Sometimes ‘new’ is what’s needed, and sometimes it’s just about letting go of some things, sprucing some things up, and doing more of what feels light and enjoyable.
Here are some ideas for sprucing up your biz world and for tuning into what feels light and enjoyable!
Let it go (Let it go… ❄️)
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Are you on ALL the social media platforms? Are you trying to do ALL the things to market your business? This can just make you feel scattered because you’re spreading your energy too thinly. Doing a couple of things well and with great energy is so much better than trying to do everything. Which social media platforms do you enjoy? Stick with those.
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Go further and think about which features inside the social media app you enjoy using. Yes it might be true that apps like Instagram ‘reward’ (for want of a better word) those that go all-in and use every feature, but what’s the ‘reward’? A bigger following? Can you stay engaged with that following or are those numbers just a vanity metric? I’m absolutely not telling you to not try each feature. Please do try them all if you want to and have the headspace to do so. But find out what works for you and let go of the rest.
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Do a digital de-clutter and shut down the profiles that aren’t serving you. I’m taking my own advice and shutting my twitter account down. I don’t really get it, it doesn’t serve me, and my mind will feel less cluttered with it gone. Remove people from your following if they don’t engage with you, and unfollow anyone that doesn’t inspire you.
Spruce it up
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Sometimes brand new is necessary, but not always. It’s amazing what a little spruce up can do, you could feel renewed and excited again. Refreshing your branding is an obvious one (you know I’m here for you for that ?) but there are so many other things like making improvements to your website or refreshing the things you share or the ways you share on social media. Mix it up!
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Refresh your product offering, client packages, or process. Especially when you’re delivering services you can repackage things in a slightly different way perhaps with a refreshed process too, and suddenly it might click with people who have been following you but haven’t bought from you or invested yet. This happened for me with this new offering. For products, you could refresh your packaging and make the experience of buying from you even more magical.
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Repurpose past things you’ve created/written. With a few tweaks it could feel like something totally new ??. Think about new ways of delivering what you’ve already created. I recently discovered HelloAudio (affiliate link) which is a way to create private podcasts. You can create audio content, or repurpose video (they’ll do it for you, just upload the videos) and create a link that will allow your audience to subscribe and get the episodes in their own podcast app. No specialist app needed, most podcast apps work – it really is like a private podcast feed! You could provide it for free, as part of a course you’ve created, or it could be a standalone paid offering. This is something I want to take advantage of because it means people can take your content AWAY from the screen and listen to it whenever, wherever ??. Even things that need visuals can work – it takes some of the overwhelm away just consuming the content with one of your senses first. Then people can look at the video or visual elements afterwards when they feel ready alongside the audio.
Something new?
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If there are some things you’ve let go of, can you start something new that feels aligned with your values and the way you want to run your business? I want to encourage you to experiment. Ask yourself ‘What would happen if..? and insert your own crazy new way of doing things that might just actually work. Sometimes we have to offer our audience NEW ways of working with us, at different price points. Sometimes people have been following along and for ages and are just waiting for the right time and the right thing to invest in.
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If the way you’re presenting yourself and your brand online feels particularly misaligned maybe it is time for an overhaul. A new brand identity that perfectly shows the heart and soul of your business will make you feel excited about showing up and sharing your magic again. After working with me on her branding, Katie said “I’ve adored the experience of working with Meg on my branding and I’m totally in love with the final result. The concept she came up with is so stunning and so me – I still can’t quite believe it’s mine! I can’t wait to start using it.”
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Is there a new tech tool or some new hardware that’s going to make your life or your work easier and more efficient? I invested in a macbook pro earlier this year which is loads more powerful than my desktop computer (and so is quicker with many tasks) and allows me to work away from my desk. That’s invaluable to me – I need ultimate flexibility because we want to travel soon and I’ll be working on the road more. Just because something is expensive it doesn’t mean it’s not the right thing to invest in. Reflect on what will make your life/work/business easier, more efficient, or more enjoyable and invest in that.
I hope this has helped you to think a little differently about your business. If you feel like you need a little clarity I can help you un-muddle things via a 1to1 session.
