Stella Orange, WORDSMITH Uncommon copywriting & strategy to make your cash register sing

Of business and butterflies

Is the "message" of your business clear and ready to take flight?

There's something I see many business owners, coaches, and entrepreneurs going through, and it's time to give it a name.

As a business owner and entrepreneur, your livelihood bubbles up from the cold water spring of your core. You're a manifesting engine (even if you don't *like* the word "manifesting"). You're a factory of ideas, messages, and happenings.

You are the recipe, the cook, and the kitchen.

What all this means is that you are much more likely to stop dead in your tracks and say "HEY! This isn't the right direction anymore!" than people who are called Employees. This is called being in alignment with your work, and as an entrepreneur, you sometimes find that what you've been doing for awhile isn't awesome anymore.

And when that happens, it's often kind of scratchy. Uncomfortable. Inconvenient.

So I'd like to remind you of another shape-shifter, in the hopes that its life might offer insight into your own.

Enter the butterfly... or really, the caterpillar. This is a different sort of butterfly effect from the "a butterfly beats her wings in South America and there's a dust storm in Tehran" thing. It's about what phase of business and creating you're in.

Caterpillar Phase- You're out of the egg and crawling, life is good, you're moving along just fine, feeling the sun on your back. In this phase in your business, you have harvested an earlier idea, direction shift, or strategy and have "grounded" it into your habits & way you do business.

Cocoon Phase- The day comes when it's time to build a little chrysalis around you, and withdraw from the outside world. In this phase in your business, you see or learn something that triggers you, or calls you deeper into your practice, service, or business. You may notice that what you used to love doing isn't "doing" it for you any more.

"Liquid Goo" Phase - Did you know that a caterpillar actually melts down inside the cocoon? It's neither caterpillar nor butterfly... it's just ooey-gooey goo. In this phase in your business, you may feel lost and utterly out-to-sea. You know that your heart isn't in what you used to do, sell, or offer, and you may also have a sense of where you'd like to go. But there's also an "oh, brother" irritation with all the change on the horizon. Do you *really* have to go back and redo your message and all the stuff you've already created?

Butterfly Phase - Time passes, the sun rises and sets, and lo-and-behold, the goo has congealed into a majestic, beautiful butterfly, with bright, vivid colors... and the ability to fly. In this phase of your business, you are ready for an audience--and ideal clients! You are clear on your message, you know how to package your products and services, and you have a vision for the support team and budget you need to emerge in your shimmery-winged splendor. People see this, and feel the energy behind what you are doing. As a result, they are drawn to your marketing, programs, and products (it almost looks like magic).

Can you recognize which phase your business is currently in? If you've been having trouble marketing your products and services lately, there's a good chance that you are in Liquid Goo Phase. And your difficulty attracting clients and closing sales is because you are trying to pilot a cocoon. Your message isn't fully developed, you're not totally clear or comfortable with what you're up to, and so you're putting mixed signals out into the world.

No matter the phase your business is in, knowing where you are can only help. It keeps you from spending on projects that you're not ready for. It prevents you from being hard on yourself. It gives you insight into how to best spend your time, or whose help you need to move your business along to the next phase. And, perhaps best of all, it reminds you that eventually, once you have gone through each phase completely, you are bound to fly.

Photo courtesy of me, and my trip to the Miami MetroZoo, one of the coolest zoos I've ever visited.