The Circle Principle For Business Growth

Discover the principles that will support your business growth in the short, medium and long term. Business circles help you to focus your time and energy to best effect and impact for your stage of business. This is one of a series of talks on the energetics of business, find more on my profile.

Transcript

This talk is centred in achieving sustainable business growth.

Sustainability isn't just about repeatable gambits that bring in income.

Chasing income is a fraction of what matters in business growth.

Your business can only grow if you,

As a human being,

Can hold the growth in your energy.

And there is a rhythm and pattern that supports ongoing growth.

Growth is consolidation.

In nature,

This means deep roots through which life is nourished consistently.

Most business chatter is an invitation to ride a rollercoaster of boom and bust,

Not to consolidate income,

Experience and potential into ongoing growth.

Growth does not happen in the now.

It happens in the actions of now that open the door to the future.

When you chase clients to sustain your business,

You cannot move out of chase mode because your business has instability built into its design.

Different models,

Things like passive income courses,

Big launches etc,

They try to build stability of client attraction.

But if the foundations and roots of growth aren't there,

They can't work properly.

Sustainable growth is created from a long-term view.

All businesses have to start somewhere,

And obviously your focus will always be on stable income in the beginning.

But that doesn't mean that you can't prepare for the long-term growth.

I always advise adopting the Pareto principle,

The business strategy.

80% of your outcomes come from 20% of your inputs.

So that 20% of time you put into long-term development gradually shifts your outcomes into stability and consolidation.

Giving you more time to focus on the future and expansion.

It really helps to have clear structure to guide you to put your energy where it matters.

I use the concept of business circles to offer clarity on your thinking and action that will have the biggest impact.

Circles describe your relevance and connection to people and the focus of your energy for different business activities.

There are a minimum of four circles in business.

The inner circle is your clients.

These are people or organisations who pay to work with you.

The next circle is your community.

These are people or organisations who are actively engaged and supporting you.

That might not be through paying you.

Any financial exchange is likely to be at a lower level.

The next circle is your audience.

These are people or organisations who are aware of you and your business and have a similar ethos.

The fourth circle often straddles these three.

And that is your peer or stakeholder circle.

This is your support network that greases the wheels of business.

Circles follow nature's energetic principles of energy exchange to bring energy into your business through connection,

Income and outcome.

It allows you to weave your expertise into the experiences of others.

Energy exchange is like a breath.

You create and you receive a reaction.

You express and you receive a response.

When energy extends,

There is a response.

It doesn't necessarily come back in a straight line.

Hence circles which have 360 degrees.

It is important to be open to receiving in order to create growth.

I have a couple of practices here on Insight Timer that may help you with this.

The first is the art of receiving.

And the other one which would be valuable for you is cultivating energetic presence in your business.

Now,

How do you work with circles?

Each circle moves at a different speed,

Has subtly different needs and works for your business in different ways.

Your inner circle holds your clients.

They are looking for a very specific energy and outcome.

Clients boost your income and help you to create direct impact.

People who will move into this circle are ready to help.

They are ready to invest in themselves,

In you.

They have reached a milestone in their own development that makes them ready.

The language you will adopt to speak directly to clients is specific to their state of being.

That's the range of thoughts,

Feelings and actions that currently make up their lived experience.

Your client circle is where you need to focus at the very beginning of your business to generate the income to sustain your business.

Find out also how your work is received.

It's how you make an impact and create the footprint of success.

How do you get clients?

This depends on your stage of business.

At the very beginning,

You need to be getting in front of people to demonstrate your skills.

Rarely with the hard sell,

High social proof approach.

But more about the energy you bring,

Your ethos and approach.

Direct conversation is the best way to achieve this.

Posting endlessly on social media will get you very little traction and drag you into seeking clicks and likes over prioritising how your content is received.

One-on-one conversation fast tracks your understanding of how to position your business.

When you are more established,

You will have cultivated a community around your business,

Perhaps a mailing list,

An online following,

A digital footprint of expertise,

Such as podcasts,

Articles or similar.

Your community have some degree of investment in your energy and approach.

They like being in your sphere and they're happy to make small investments to stay there until they reach a point of development where your direct help makes sense.

How you speak to this circle and your client circle is different because they aren't there yet.

If you've got a mailing list that's eerily quiet,

The chances are that what you're saying resonates but isn't landing because their state of being doesn't match your client's state of being.

Does that mean they will never buy?

No,

It simply means they aren't ready and some may never be ready.

But they're still working for your business.

Having a community around your business creates a space others want to be in.

The engagement they bring sets the tone for everyone,

Especially those who will go on to be a client.

The journey from being on a mailing list,

To joining a free event,

To making a small investment,

To becoming a client happens at their pace,

Not yours.

When you need more income stability,

Don't bust a gut trying to convert your community.

Get really specific about the state of being for clients and speak to that.

But when you're stable,

You can speak to earlier stages of the journey and show people what comes next.

And you know the pitfalls and challenges ahead of them,

So help them navigate them.

When they see what you know,

It builds trust and credibility.

That leads to more word of mouth,

Which leads to more clients.

Create content that educates and empowers the forward journey so they feel guided.

Create opportunities to connect directly.

Have those conversations that make all the difference.

Be generous with your support without overstepping your boundaries or burning out.

In the medium term,

This will pay off.

And as you become more established and begin to introduce products and support mechanisms like courses or books,

For example,

You have a community ready to respond.

This circle helps you diversify your income streams in the medium term.

When you throw a pebble in water,

There are ripples that travel far and wide.

And that's the visual I use to understand business design.

Beyond your community ripple is your audience.

These are people who know you,

See you,

Recognize your energy and what you share,

But do so mostly silently.

This is a group of people waking up to what you can offer them.

But maybe they need a period of adjustment,

Or maybe they will be your unknown advocates and sharers.

Your audience is seeking leaders of thought and action,

A pathfinder,

A way-shower,

A navigator.

Someone who can interpret things in ways that make sense to them.

Someone who can help them filter,

Sort out and organize their thoughts,

Feelings and actions.

And show them a future that makes sense.

Your audience is where your authority is built.

It's where you are the expert without agenda to sell,

Just share.

Your audience filters into your community.

Your community filters into clients.

Each circle is connected with fuzzy gray areas of transition,

But it's a whole,

A holistic system.

It's the path of gentle,

Consistent,

Sustainable growth.

And it's the opposite of going viral and the explosion strategy that blows up your systems and energy.

It's growing like a tree,

Stable and gradual,

Consolidating each step forward with more strength and resilience.

To put circles to work for your business,

There are a few things you need to do.

The first is to map out the states of being someone moves through on their development journey,

Relating to the issue you help them with.

Think about key milestones they will reach and the challenges they're going to face.

Look at their responses.

How will their thoughts,

Feelings and behaviors be impacted?

When you know this,

You can map your support and solutions to each state of being.

Then you can refine your talking points and messaging to be pinpoint accurate to their state of being.

It gives you nuance in your content.

It might be that you use different platforms to talk to people at different stages,

Making self-help videos,

For example,

To pay for people who are in the early stages of their journey,

Which links to content on your website for next steps.

You might have a primary platform for your audience where you cover broader content and another for your community where you can engage more and your client spaces might be something entirely different.

This is an approach that I use and Insight Timer bridges my audience and community circles.

In my client circles,

I approach this topic differently.

Weight your energy focus according to your stage of business development.

Build from the inner circle outward so that you can create impact,

Build credibility and become an authority.

And then the return wave will follow.

Reviews

Thank you Polly. This makes so much sense and it’s very encouraging. I’m going to listen again and make some notes. 💙🙏