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You are listening to the Grow youw Local Business podcast, where local marketing expert and life coach Leslie Presnol shares the strategies and the mindset to help you reach more people in your city and bring in a steady stream of clients. All right, let's dive in.

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Hey, welcome to episode 73. Today we're going to talk about down times and slow seasons in your business and really how to think about these times when you are expecting them or when you're really going through them so you can get better results. So this was a topic that I spoke on and coached on at a photographer retreat last week that I wanted to bring to the podcast because I think everyone is experiencing some version of this right now. So this was a retreat held by a photographer and coach, Krista Robinson. She teaches photographers how to make more money in their business by selling products. She has a program called Uncapped. I'll link that up in the show notes for you. But Krista, like me, realized that she was giving her photographers in her program a lot of the strategy, a lot of the how to, but she was noticing how they're thinking and how their mindset was really limiting them, especially when it came to selling higher priced products that were several hundred or several thousands of dollars. So Christa and I recently got connected through a mutual student that's in both of our programs. And I've gotten to coach inside Krista's program a few times and really bring in that mindset piece. But most recently for this retreat, Krista had mentioned a few times when we were kind of brainstorming what we wanted to talk about. She had mentioned a few times that her students were concerned about the downtime that we were in with the economy and how that really affects their business and their bigger goals that they're setting. And I wanted to bring it to the podcast today and talk on the same topic because I don't think that this is just a photographer problem. I think it's just a business owner problem. And I really see downtimes show up in our business across the board with all my clients in all industries, from photographers and home organizers to personal trainers and esthetician. So I just wanted to talk about it today and share some of what I talked about during the retreat. And I wanted to address it in two ways because I think down times show up in two different ways for us as business owners. And the first way we experience a downtime is obviously just the economy in general. Right? So we can look at the facts, we can look at the news and we can see that we are factually in a slower economy or that, you know, we just kind of skirted going into a ret. Into a recession. Like, that's a fact. That's the circumstance. That's just the situation that we're in now. There are circumstances in the world or in our business, like, there are the situations, there are the facts, things that happen. And all that really happens is we have thoughts about those circumstances or about those things, about those situations, then those thoughts make us feel a certain way. And then from thinking and feeling a certain way, we take certain actions, we do certain things, or we don't take action, and we don't do certain things. But here's what's the most important part. Circumstances or situations are totally neutral. They don't actually create our results for us. So if our economy is just a circumstance, it's just a situation. It's a very neutral thing. It's not actually creating the results. We just have thoughts about the economy. And the reason we know that the state of our economy is just a neutral circumstance is because I see so many businesses having totally different experiences within this economy. Like, so many of my students last year had their highest year ever, or, you know, some of them are having their highest quarter or highest month ever. And I've also been around other business owners, even in my own mastermind of coaches, who are totally just killing it, highest year ever. But at the same time, there are people who had lower years last year or who are having a harder time right now, or it feels harder to sell and to meet their goals right now. So I just want to give you a different way to think about the economy right now in a way that I think can really serve you. So again, the state of the economy or being in a downtime isn't actually creating our results in our business. And we know that because, again, we have people having both their best and worst years and highest and lowest revenue. So how can both be true? If the economy is to blame and it's because the economy is not to blame, the economy is not actually creating our results. Our thoughts are. There are just your thoughts every day and the actions that you're taking or not taking that are creating your current results. So we have thoughts about the downtime, or we have thoughts about the economy that either serve us or don't. So some of us may think like, well, you know, this is just a slow time. This is just a downtime. I can't make money right now. No one is spending money right now. No one's willing to invest or spend more right now. And then when you're thinking these things, these thoughts, you probably feel discouraged, stuck, doubt, worry, fear, incapable, kind of out of control. And when you're thinking and feeling like this, how do you show up? You probably don't show up. Like there's probably a lot of sitting and spinning and worrying and doom scrolling looking at what everyone else is doing, thinking about, you know, changing your prices to see if that'll work, if that'll bring more people in. You're not marketing yourself consistently, not making offers, not sticking to to your offers or your pricing, not fully committing to your goal and thinking everything is out of your control anyway. So as a result, you actually create your own downtime. But notice it was just because of your thinking that affected how you showed up in this scenario, not the actual economy. You just had thoughts about the economy that then affected how you showed up. Because on the other hand, we could have someone else see the economy in a downtime and they may not think anything about it. They may think, you know, I can still hit my goals. People are still spending money on things they value. People want what I offer no matter what. My ideal people have money. My ideal people are spending money. My ideal people aren't affected by the economy or they're still spending their money on what they want the most and they want what I offer the most. What I offer is invaluable. So this person thinking like this, they feel confident, they're very in service, they're determined, they're committed, they're excited. And then how do they show up? They follow through, they post on social media, they're out there meeting local people, they're figuring out how to stand out and get noticed and get their name out there and how to talk about their services or products. And they're sticking to their prices and to their offers and they're out there selling. So as a result, they have a profitable year. The economy downtime doesn't actually affect them. So the economy, the downtime, it's all neutral. It's a neutral circumstance. It doesn't affect you or your business until you have thoughts about it, or until you indulge in it, or until you think you can't get certain results because of the economy. All of that's just your thoughts, like not the economy itself. And here's what's also true with buyer behavior right now. Like there are people like your potential clients who are very affected by the economy right now. They have a lot of thoughts about it. They Know what's going on, they're keeping up with it. Maybe it is directly affecting them and they aren't spending as much right now. These people are not your target clients right now. Right? Like, we don't want to spend all of our energy trying to sell to people who just are not buying right now or who, who are not willing to buy right now. And that's okay. This doesn't mean that they won't ever buy, just not right now. They can still follow along, watch us, engage with us, be on our email list, attend our events, all the things they're just not willing to buy right now. So that's the first group of people within buyer behavior right now. Then there's a second group of people who are impacted by the economy and maybe they're watching their spending, but they are still spending on things that are important to them and on things that they want. They are spending just not as much or maybe not as quickly. Maybe they just have to be sold a little bit longer and nurtured a little bit more. But maybe they just need to see more from you, have more touch points, but they are still buying things that are important to them and things that they value. Then there's a third group of people who are not affected by the economy at all, like they are still spending normally. So in your marketing, you just want to be speaking directly to these second two groups, like the people who are spending. You have people right now who are follow you, that are in your audience that are watching you, who are ready and willing to buy right now. Then you have people in your audience who do still want what you have. They just need a little bit more right now. And that's where you can just keep showing up, keep being visible, keep talking about the value of what you do, keep talking about the problems that you help them solve. Just keep showing up for them. The problem is when we think everyone in our entire audience is in the first category and we lump everyone together and say like kind of these blanket statements like no one is spending right now, or people just aren't spending as much. Because that isn't true. If this is something that you want help with, like tailoring your message, showing the value of what you do, nurturing your people, and just selling in general. Definitely. Come join us inside the LocalPreneur Academy so I can help you with this. And so we can identify any of those limiting beliefs that you currently have about the economy or selling so you can think new things on purpose and start showing up how you want in A really powerful way in your business so you can still get results. Okay, so I mentioned there were actually two ways that downtime shows up for us. So the first is the economy, and the other is our personal down times or slow seasons in our business. Every year, we all have our own version of a dip or a downtime or a slower season throughout the year. Like, think about retailers. They're always like, oh, the dreaded J months. And they just say, you know, it's just slow this time of year. And again, we can look at the facts, like, we can look at the circumstance. We can look at your stats and your revenue from last year, and we can see which month or months were the slowest and which months you had the lowest revenue. And again, we can indulge in that. We can make that mean something, or we can just have totally different thoughts about it. Because a down month or a slower season, again, is just a neutral circumstance. It's a fact. But it doesn't have to stay that way either. Just because it was a slow month last year doesn't mean it has to be a slow month this year. And in fact, it's when we believe and play into it being a slow season that we actually create the slow season year after year. One of my clients in the local Preneur Academy is a photographer. He shoots a lot of corporate events, local events, headshots, photos for businesses. And I may have told a story before on the podcast, but last January, I believe he was saying that, you know, January is just my slow month. And he was saying it like he was just reporting the news. And I was like, okay, factually you're right, that may be true. Like, totally. We can look at January 2021, January 2022, and we could see that, revenue wise, those were lower months on paper. But I don't think there's any value in you just repeating that to yourself over and over. Because when you think it's just a slow month, how do you think you show up? So we realized that when I asked him this question, he wasn't out there making as many connections. He wasn't making offers and marketing consistently. So actually creating the slower January year after year, just from his belief that it was a slow month, he just indulged and played into that, which keeps creating that over and over. And I think we all do that. So I challenged him. I was like, listen, first, our past does not have to create our future in any way. And we could see how, you know, you're actually creating the slow month just by believing that it is a slow month. So what if you just stopped believing that or just stopped telling yourself that? Like, what else is possible? And then he got to work and he actually made January one of his higher months of the year, all because he didn't let the past decide his future. And he could see how it was his thoughts and beliefs and the actions that he was taking to recreate that slower month year after year. So it was actually all in his control the whole time. He just decided to believe it could be a higher month. He decided to think differently and take different actions, and he got a bigger result. So our thoughts are everything. Our thoughts drive our actions, which create our results. So what do you want to be thinking about? The downtime of our economy or slower seasons? In your business, you can think however you want about it. And I challenge you to see how you show up differently when you think different thoughts about the economy or your slow season. And again, if you notice that you get caught up in this and you have a lot of limiting thoughts that are really stopping you from taking action and selling because you're thinking people aren't willing to buy now or that people aren't spending or you have certain times that people don't buy as much, come join us in the local preneur academy so we can help you. When you join, you get mentorship for life. You get me as your coach for life so we can keep coaching on any new limiting beliefs that come up in any given given day. Because, you guys, we have 60,000 thoughts a day. Most of them are negative and most of them are repeated from the day before. And this is why coaching is so important, so you can think on purpose and so you can have more awareness of what you're thinking every day and then what that creates for you, what results you create every day just based on what you're thinking and how that affects how you show up. That's exactly what we do. We coach on the mindset and on the strategy. So you get the best of both worlds and you have everything you need to grow your local business. So I'm going to link up the localpreneur academy in the show notes so you can check it out and you can come join us. Today's a great day to join. Now's the perfect time to get bigger results in your business. Hey, if you enjoyed today's episode, I want to invite you to check out my program, the localpreneur Academy. This is the only program for small business owners who want to become the local go to in their industry with a steady stream of clients. You can find more information@lesliepressnell.com and I'll see you inside.