Adjusting our Expectations of Success

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Episode 49: Adjusting Our Expectations for Success - with Kendra Swalls

You may be doing better than you think!

Hey BRILLIANT Mompreneurs!

How many times have we had an idea, gotten excited about it, spent time and money building something and then watched it fizzle? In today’s interview with Kendra Swalls we talk about the gray area between success and failure, and how what we see as a flop may be a few small adjustments from succeeding! We talk about how powerful tracking our data is and what analytics we need to be paying attention to. If you’re growing a business, developing a product, or growing your audience on social media you won’t want to miss this episode!

"Maybe you went into it with this idea of one end result. And because it didn't get that result, you consider it a failure. When really, it did it help expand your exposure. It did do something; you just need to adjust what your expectations of that strategy are!"

Discussed in this Episode...

How to Evaluate What is Working in our Business

This really depends on what the thing we’re evaluating is. But using Clubhouse as an example; Kendra gave herself two months to really learn it and see what, within the platform, would be the most productive. Instagram is different though! Kendra will test something for two to four weeks there, depending on the strategy. 

The time invested in testing something depends on how big of a piece of marketing it is. Again, using Clubhouse vs Instagram as an example; testing video vs static content on Instagram isn’t quite as big a change as testing a whole new platform. When you’re testing things and deciding what is worth your time and working, it all comes down to analytics. Numbers don’t lie and we love data over drama! 

In order to decide if something is working, you have to first know what your goal is. In Clubhouse, for example, Kendra’s goal is to get more clients. While in Instagram, Kendra’s goal is to grow her authority. Knowing what your end goal is, and then having a way to measure that goal is what is going to tell you if something is worth your time or not. Or if maybe you need to make some adjustments to what you’re doing.

How can we know when to adjust rather than give up on something?

We need to make sure that the results we’re going for are realistic to what we’re doing. Kendra took a course on Facebook ads, and one of the first things they talked about what that if you’re going to create an ad, you have to know what your end goal is like. If your end goal is to grow your email list, that’s a reasonable expectation. People will be willing to download free content, sign up for a free challenge, or something along those lines. But if you’re running an add with the idea of booking a client from it, you are very likely to be disappointed. 

Kendra uses an example of a course that she created, that at the time she thought was a flop. Only a handful of people signed up, and the course dripped out over time. After about the second month most people stopped logging in. Sharing her frustration with a business coach, she was challenged to look at the situation another way. People did sign up and were engaging with it in the beginning. It wasn’t a failure; it just needed to be pushed a little bit further. 

There is something of a gray zone between failure and success. This is the area where you make adjustments and see what happens. One of the podcast Kendra loves is How I Built This. She loves it because you get to hear the stories of successful brands, and how they started. It often isn’t a fledged business in the beginning, but a product or an idea. In these stories there is often loss, and tweaking, and starting with version A, a whole lot of learning and then by version J there is some success. It’s so helpful to learn how messy the beginning phase of business or ideas can be.

More discussed:

  • How tracking data can lead to real results in your business
  • Kendra’s story of building her business while having tiny kids
  • Having realistic expectations of what coaching can provide you
  • How working with a coach can help you navigate product and business development

More about Kendra Swalls:

Kendra is a mom of 2, a photographer, and an educator. In 2012 she started her first business, Paisley Layne Photography, and everything changed. What started as a hobby alongside her teaching career quickly turned into a successful business. In 2017 she left her teaching career behind to run her photography business and start the Girl Means Business brand + podcast. Now she helps women, like you, take their business from survival mode to success-mode using the same relationship marketing strategies that have been the foundations for her business success.

More about Lani Jackson:

Lani is a mom to 6 kids, and wife to her husband of 15 years. She survives on caffeine, laughing with her kids, cooking in the kitchen, hiding in the pantry eating chocolate, and helping other women know they are not alone in the chaos of motherhood & their entrepreneur journey.

She is a Clarity & Strategy Coach for mom entrepreneurs! Helping them to create flexible strategies that adjust and move with the chaos of mom life, but still bring consistent monthly income. Her mission is to help mompreneurs get out of survival mode, release the mom guilt, and create a clear plan of action that will help them reach their dreams of consistent monthly income, flexibility, and freedom.

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