Flip-flopping is killing your success

Let’s discuss why flip-flopping is killing your gains.

Welcome to the SPS Newsletter.

“There is no such thing as life in-between.”

- Pat Riley

“Unless commitment is made, there are only promises and hopes... but no plans.”

- Peter Drucker

Flip-flopping Sucks

Before creating a coaching business I flipped-flopped a lot.

Back in 2016, I had this idea to be a coach. I had no idea what to do. I only knew that I enjoyed helping people overcome barriers.

From 2016 to 2021 I did a lot of things but try to coach people:

I started a YouTube channel and posted over 200 videos.

Started Amazon FBA with two friends selling tea accessories.

I moved careers, took bigger leadership roles and kept putting my hand up for promotions and projects. I spent $10k of my own money to become a certified Project Manager. I was also planning to complete the PMP certification.

Then I discovered Twitter in early 2020 at the start of the pandemic.

By the end of that year, I had 5k followers. I sold a guide about how to use Stoicism tactically. Then for a short period, I was helping people with Twitter growth and doing some affiliate marketing.

Oh, yeah, I also built a leadership program which didn’t sell well at all.

5 years had passed and I had spent no time building a coaching offer or business.

I had spent a lot of time flip-flopping over what next “thing” could work for me.

In 2021, I left my 6-figure corporate role to give the online business game a go.

Was I coaching?

No.

But I was making a few grand selling guides and affiliate marketing.

Was my plan to start asking people if they wanted coaching?

No.

My plan was to build a mini-program with a coaching upsell.

F**k me.

Looking back now, I can tell I liked making things complicated.

I was losing money during the first 6 months of my solopreneur journey. My runway of cash was getting low. I felt stressed and thought I might have to return to a corporate job.

Then in the summer of 2021, I did something crazy.

I asked people who followed me on Twitter if they wanted performance coaching.

Guess what?

People said YES.

Over the last 18 months since that happened, I have been focused on my coaching offer.

I committed to making it work.

I committed to creating a coaching business.

And it has changed my life.

I stopped flip-flopping from one idea to the next.

I started doing what I was meant to be doing.

But here’s the thing…

I noticed a common trend as I started coaching other business owners and leaders.

There’s a lot of flip-flopping going on in the world.

I was not the only person who had this bad habit.

And I was also able to clearly understand the damage flip-flopping does to a business and a life. Personal experience included.

Simply put: Flip-flopping with your business goals is a surefire way to kill your business gains.

Here are 6 reasons why you need to break this habit if you want to make real progress in your business:

1. It wastes time and resources:

It’s like driving with your foot on the gas and brake pedal.

Instead of making progress, you go nowhere.

You spend weeks or months working on one strategy, only to abandon it for something else.

This falls into the dumb sh*t category. I’ve been there. Clients who hire me have been there.

Don’t do it.

2. It makes you less productive:

You’re chasing after the latest shiny object or fad.

This makes you less productive because you’re not focused on achieving anything specific. You jump from one thing to the next without real purpose or direction.

Did anyone fall down a crypto hole and lose months of progress in their business?

Is anyone currently falling down an AI or ChatGPT hole and losing momentum?

90% of this is pure distraction and it’s killing your performance.

3. It damages your reputation:

Your customers or clients become confused by your direction.

They lose confidence in your ability to deliver on your commitments.

This will damage your reputation and make it harder for you to win new business.

I went from offering a Stoic guide to a leadership program to performance coaching in 6 months.

It takes time for the market to see and understand your offer or product.

Changing it all the time slows down your income.

4. It leads to burnout:

Flip-flopping is the precursor to being overwhelmed and frustrated.

You work on multiple projects at the same time. You pursue too many opportunities at once. This 100% leads to burnout.

It hurts your health and well-being.

My clients read this newsletter and I know they would agree they all had too much going on when they first hired me.

Not all of them were doing massive flip-flops with goals.

But they were flip-flopping and not committing to key pillars in their life and business.

Without specific goals, you will head toward burnout.

5. It leads to missed opportunities:

You are so focused on chasing after the latest shiny object that you overlook opportunities right in front of you.

You also miss out on the magic of compounding.

You start doing something, get good at something and then you stack wins.

It’s how success works.

Flip-flopping stops this from happening.

6. It undermines your confidence:

You begin to doubt your ability to achieve anything.

This hurts your motivation and enthusiasm. You become hesitant to set new goals. You stop pursuing new opportunities because you’re afraid of failing again.

If you look at any successful business or solopreneur they have a core message and mission they have been crafting for years.

You don’t get that kind of confidence from shifting gears every few months.

My confidence has been at rock bottom a few times over the last two to three years on my business journey.

But I can tell you it happened because of flip-flopping and a lack of commitment to high-value activities.

Conclusion:

Flip-flopping with your business goals is a bad habit that kills your business gains.

If you want to make real progress in your business, you need to set clear goals and stick to them.

When you do this, you’ll be able to achieve your goals and make real progress in your business.

Don’t be the hungry guy at the restaurant who changes his order before his food arrives. Then complains he’s starving.

When you’re flip-flopping, it’s all on you.

Trust me I know.