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Hey there! The first part of this teeny weeny series is hyah. You should totally read it first.

Should I put the spiral picture in again, I wonder. Yeah, why not, it’s still pretty.

So last time we were introduced to the Foundations Stage and the Action Plan stage. Thus, it’s time for…

The Implement/Experiment/Implement/Experiment Stage

This is by far the biggest stage – it’s the one where the plan is made, and it’s time to Do The Work. You’re running your business, constantly adding  and removing and tweaking your offerings, putting them out there, and then adding/removing/tweaking again. It’s never a static process, but the changes are more controlled.

What this stage is marked by:

• Constant small changes
• Building, improving, refining
• Rhythms of work
• Routines, processes and systems

Challenges to manage while you’re going through this stage:

• Falling into a rut
• Sustainable profitability
• Self-sabotage
• Misplacing the mojo
• Inertia and mediocrity
• Adapting to change

Opportunities to exploit while you’re in this stage:

• Building resources
• Legacy
• Creating a reputation
• Living fully
• Going deep into your subject
• Going wide across subjects
• Generosity

Resources to help you through this stage

I’m collecting resources to help you create and maintain a thriving, soul-nourishing, squoodles-of-cash-and-joy business. There are lots and lots and lots of them.

The ARGH!!! Stage

Eventually, no matter how you polish and refine, your business (and you) has the weary, stale, flat, and unprofitable blues. I’m using “unprofitable” because I like quoting Hamlet out of context, although your business may be doing quite well, financially.

But it doesn’t matter.

It’s busted. The clients are wrong, or the business model doesn’t support you, or you’re not doing anything meaningful, or you’re bored with the work… whatever it is, you’ve reached the point where there is a problem that is not solveable in the business as it currently exists.

You aren’t (necessarily) mad as hell, but you definitely aren’t going to take this any more.

What this stage is marked by:

• Sleepless nights
• Dissatisfaction and irritability
• Going through the motions
• Envy and avoidance

Challenges to manage while you’re going through this stage:

• Accepting that this business no longer works (in its current configuration)
• The temptation to chuck it all in
• Denial and desperation
• Keeping commitments

Opportunities to exploit while you’re in this stage:

• Personal growth
• Insights on how to do it better next time

Resources to help you through this stage

I’m on the lookout for these, because this long dark tea-time of the soul is terribly uncomfortable and extremely volatile. (Especially considering the temptation to burn the bridges, not just behind you but in front of you and even in another country.) As soon as I find some, they shall be found here.

The Foundations Stage (again)

This is a spiral, remember? It’s time to (re)build your foundations in the new iteration of your business. This can be remarkably similar (changing only the Who, What or How*), or a complete reinvention, but otherwise it’s sorta the same as last time.

Except, of course, you’re a different, more experienced, and more awesome person since the last time you were at this stage. You know more, you have more resources, and you’ve had experience in what works and what doesn’t. It’s the spiral, one level up.

All the challenges and opportunities are the same as last time, just on a higher level. It’s handy that you’re one level higher, too.

(Lucky, that.)

By the bye: One seat in the 12 available for The Pilot Light has been filled. Don’t wait until the new year to tell me you’re interested, ‘cos you might miss out. And this is going to be AWESOMETACULAR.

*Riddle me this: Why did I not include the Why in the list of things that change? And when would I be wrong to do so? Answer in the comments!

Progress in your business isn’t linear.

It’s a spiral, in which the same challenges and motifs and yippee-skippy moments and frustrations tend to reappear, each time at a higher and more sophisticated level.

If you think of progress as linear, you tend to feel pissed off, stressed and inadequate when déjà vu shows up. But… but… I did this already! It should be solved! Did I not do it right?

When you think of progress as spiral, that goes away. It’s more, Oh look, here’s this again. I’ve stayed in the game long enough to be back here again. Neat.

The second one is a much nicer feeling. (You’re doing it right, remember.)

But what does the spiral look like? Here’s my theory.

Care of the lovely Ashley, here is it in graphic form.

These are the major stages every business (and business owner!) goes through over and over again. Let’s get acquainted with the first two.

The Foundations Stage

Welcome to Uncertaintyville, population you. This is the stage where the business is invented (and reinvented), where the foundations are set and the great question “So, what’s your business about?” is answered. This stage is both exciting and overwhelming, with the Curse of Potential biting at your toes.

Here you decide on the shape of your Why, What, Who and How. These answers always morph over time, but the essence is decided here.

What this stage is marked by:

• Frustration
• High levels of uncertainty
• Continual change as you refine your ideas
• Indecisiveness
• Alternating waves of manic joy and crippling despair

Challenges to manage while you’re going through this stage:

• Not settling too soon
• Dancing with uncertainty
• Bringing your ideas into cohesion
• How to edit instead of mutilate
• Not driving everyone you love insane

Opportunities to exploit while you’re in this stage:

• Anything is possible!
• No, seriously, anything!
• Integrating ideas in new and amazing ways
• Creating the thing you want to exist
• Stepping up into beautiful authority
• Madly experimenting

Resources to help you through this stage

I’m collecting resources to help you choose the right foundations, and build them strong. Many of the resources are mine, because this has been my thang for quite awhile.

The Planning Stage

Once you’ve built the foundations, and can accurately describe your Why, What, Who and How, then it’s time to figure out the specifics of your business. (To Facebook or not to Facebook, that is the question.) This stage is much calmer, with most of the parameters laid out, but you can still go completely bonkers here.

What this stage is marked by:

• Too many ideas
• Mental vapourlock
• Explaining to the dog
• Sheet after sheet of notes and mindmaps
• Violent iteration

Challenges to manage while you’re going through this stage:

• Opportunity overwhelm
• Envy and comparisons
• The urge to tone it down
• Obsessively filling the toolbox
• Self-sabotage
• Analysis paralysis

Opportunities to exploit while you’re in this stage:

• Breaking the “rules”
• Synthesising information into your own solution
• The beginner’s mind
• Blazing your own trail
• Connecting through energy and enthusiasm

Resources to help you through this stage

I’m collecting resources to help you create an amazing business and marketing plan. The list as I’m writing is small but kick-ass, and it will keep growing as I find and check over more amazingpants possibilities.

That’s enough to chew on for now, I think!

We’ll come back next time and keep exploring the spiral. (Part 2 can be found hyah.)

In the meantime, there are so many things I want to tell you! But I shall be ruthless. (Sorry, Ruth.)

I’ve opened admissions early for my absolutely favouritest course, The Pilot Light. If you’re in the Foundations/Planning Stages, this course will help you build the most soul-nourishing, flow-tastic and profitable business that you could dare to dream about.

There’s only 12 spots available. If you’re ready to create a truly blazing business, then go have a look and maybe apply. (The application isn’t tricky, although you do have to tell me a joke.)

Rock on,
Catherine

P.S. If you’re interested in all the new changes, you can learn more about them here.

We shall never cease from exploration
And the end of all our exploring
Will be to arrive where we started
And know the place for the first time. – T.S. Eliot

You say to me, “I can’t believe this, but I had a look at my old notes, and this new idea I’ve had for this course is actually an idea I had, like, two years ago!”

You say to me, “I’m so embarassed to tell you this, but I’ve realised where I actually want to be is back in my Day Job.”

You say to me, “I’m back at the first business idea I came up with! Why do I have to be so indecisive?”

You tell me this like I’m supposed to pick you up by the scrap of the neck and shake you like a puppy, yelling. As if you are the puppy, sitting shamefaced next to a spreading patch of dampness on the rug.

But you (and T.S. Eliot, except not really) are wrong. You aren’t coming back to the same place. You haven’t gone wandering off to end back where you came from.

Because progress is a spiral, remember? You are coming back to a place that feels familiar, because it’s the same spot on the spiral.

Except this time… you’re a level further up.

This time you have the resources to actually implement the idea you had two years ago.

This time you can articulate the problems that urged you to leave your Day Job in the first place, and know how to make sure they don’t happen again.

This time you’ve quietly filled in the tiny holes in your plan so the new business is actionable.

It’s working. It’s working.

You’re doing it right.

Now go away and kick some more ass.

 photo credit: