There's No Right Way to Run a Business, So Stop Chasing the 'Shoulds'
There is no one way to run a business, and no single definition of success either. Sam Thurlow, founder of business support agency In Collaboration, spent years chasing the 'shoulds' until burnout affected her eyesight. Here she makes the case for building it your way, and how she grew her agency threefold once she stopped.
You start your business to do what you love, to do the specialist task you’re great at. Then you realise you’re juggling at least five different roles. With 73% of us business owners having taken on more roles than we expected, it’s no surprise that 84% of small business owners say they feel like a jack of all trades.
Photo: Sam Thurlow
Juggling all the roles is a significant amount of pressure. The unachievable expectations I placed on myself to do everything perfectly by myself eventually broke me, causing me to lose my vision through severe burnout. I cycled through mini burnouts for years, ignoring the warnings and pushing harder believing that stress was a normal part of life… until finally I couldn’t ignore it anymore, I was broken.
More than half of small business owners find that extra responsibilities take them away from their core business tasks at least weekly. This leaves most business owners without enough time, or the skills, to do all of the tasks required. So most of us rely heavily on advice and examples of success and support from others, to find the best, most effective way of running a business.
However, this comes with a risk. With so much information available, it’s no surprise that you can find a contradictory statement for every useful piece of advice online.
We hear it all the time… The ‘best’ way to grow, the marketing you ‘should’ be doing to gain more traction, the founder routine that’s ‘essential to success’.
But there is no one way to run a successful business… There isn’t even one definition of success.
So how do you break free from the ‘shoulds’ in business?
Build your own vision of success
The first and biggest step to carving out your own way is to work out what that looks like. When we accept that there is no one version of successful business, and every business is completely unique, we're presented with an interesting challenge of creating our own picture of success.
For some founders being the next multimillion CEO is the goal, but for others it’s to have a sustainable income that provides a nice life and allows them to work flexibly around their family. Those are two very different goals, so the way to get there looks entirely different.
Throw out the marketing handbook
An unusual statement, coming from a marketer, but it’s one of my favourites. One of the most common complaints I hear is how business owners hate marketing. How they can’t be consistent, they hate creating it or they can’t keep up. Most of the time when we dig into this it’s because they’re forcing themselves into the ‘shoulds’ and hating every moment.
There is no right way to market your business and going viral isn’t the answer unless it actually brings you clients. I used to get over 100 likes on every Instagram post, now I get under 20 but my turnover is 3-4x as much. Vanity metrics mean nothing, so instead of forcing yourself to be everywhere and get as many likes as possible, change the focus to what works for you.
What content feels good and authentic to you? Where do you enjoy showing up, how do you enjoy connecting with your people? That’s where to put your time and energy.
What kind of business owner do you want to be?
Decide how you want to run your business, what is right for you? What fits your personality and allows you to be authentically you as you grow, rather than trying to fit into the box of what a business owner ‘should’ look like, sound like and act like.
Thankfully, the idea of needing to be a formal, corporate suited business owner at networking events has eased. Yet many of us still feel a pressure to show up in a particular way. But most industries are full of competitors doing what you’re doing… So what makes you stand out? Yes, your business USP and customer service are metrics to consider, but for many of us it’s actually us… our personality, the connection and relationship that makes the difference.
Once we start showing up authentically, not only does it become more personally sustainable, we also start connecting with the right kind of clients. Making real relationships built on authentic connection and confidently putting yourself out in the world is one of the fastest and most sustainable ways to grow your client base. When I started letting go of the ‘shoulds’ I recovered from my burnout, recovered my eyesight and also grew my business, In Collaboration, to three times its previous size within six months.
When you show up as yourself, growth feels more aligned and connections happen naturally, without a need to force them.
This is your business created to build you the life you want. No matter what that looks like, you can build a business your way… there is no blueprint to successful business.
