Name: GoBeyond SEO
Address: Charlotte, NC, 28105

Making a mindset shift from survival mode to moving your business forward is imperative for your growth. Staying in survival mode isn’t sustainable, and it won’t help your business evolve and flourish.

When running a business, focusing on your survival should be a last resort, not a permanent mindset. Of course, our current times have made focusing on anything other than survival feel like a luxury. But it isn’t.

How Does Survival Mode Hurt Your Growth?

Survival mode, when not fully necessary, is actually really wasteful. You waste time, energy, and money. You don’t move forward. You don’t enjoy your time. You don’t truly live, you survive. It’s accepting crackers when life’s buffet is still available.

Survival mode is an absolute trap designed to keep you small.

It’s true: thousands of businesses go under every year. Maybe you feel like you’re in a place where you can’t focus on anything other than survival. Isn’t it insensitive at best, and reckless at worst, to tell you to get out of survival mode?

Your mindset dictates your behavior. It’s not your fault that bad things happen in life. It’s not your fault that the pandemic happened or that the market need shifted and your business took a hit. It really isn’t your fault at all.

That said, it is 100% your responsibility to move forward and that WILL require a different way of looking at your situation.

So How Can You Get Out of It?

What are the three key mindset shifts you can use to get out of survival mode? These are truly challenging and go deeper than the “look on the bright side” state of mind!

Mindset Shift #1: Seek Constructive Criticism, Not Praise

This transition can be one of the most humbling and the most profound. The praise-seeking mindset can be extremely limiting.

Instead, try to see criticism as a window into where you may want to improve. Criticism is the fuel to greatness. Praise alone makes us soft. Seek out improvement, not abatement.

“Why waste time proving over and over how great you are, when you could be getting better?” – Dr. Carol S. Dweck

Mindset Shift #2: Be Intentional, but Like, for Real

“Be intentional” is a pretty typical mindset catch-all phrase, so let’s break this one down so you can see how it can work out in real life.

Survival mode often makes us anxious and reactive. Many of us, especially those who provide a service to our clients, are taught to always anticipate the needs of our clients. This mindset is exhausting and often leads to meltdowns when something goes wrong.

Even though you may have survived these mindsets and situations, this isn’t you living your best life or being the person you want to be. And maintaining this mindset isn’t going to help your business get better.

Instead, try to be proactive in your business endeavors and, wait for it… wait for it still… respond.

Put small amounts of money away in a savings account for when bumps (or global pandemics) come along. Be proactive.

Organize your offerings by profit margin. Wide profit margin offerings require the lowest investment from you (usually). Knowing which offerings require less from you, but still turn a profit, can help you figure out how to move forward when things get tough. Again, this is being proactive in a healthy way.

When possible, don’t let any one client be the lion’s share of your revenue. If they go away, where will you be? Don’t leave your fate in the hands of a client. Again, proactiveness, people!

When you get in the practice of being intentional about running your business and your life, you give yourself space to not freak out.

Mindset Shift #3: Confidence Is a Muscle, Not a Birthright

Confidence is not a personality trait. No one gets off this planet without moments of doubt and fear. Recognizing that discomfort is not the same as danger is an absolutely critical mindset shift.

Being nervous is not a reason to avoid a challenge. In fact, it’s a cue to try it. Confident people are not fearless people. Bravery and confidence do not exist without fear. Confident people acknowledge the fear, and rather than withdraw, they prepare. This is the ticket.

The moment you realize that thoughts and emotions are not actually facts, but rather interpretations of stimuli and, more than that, your thoughts are within your control, you’ll realize that confidence is something you can build within yourself.

It changes the game!

There are other mindset shifts, but these three are especially important for business owners and stepping into the next iteration of the life you’re creating. Mindset shifts can come gradually or can flip like a switch. Recognizing the need for the shift is the first step. For everything.

Let Us Help You Shift Your Mindset

At GoBeyond SEO, we know just how important it is to be proactive and have the right mindset when it comes to your business. Let us help you shift your mindset and get out of survival mode so your business can flourish—book a free strategy session with us today!

These days, it’s not enough that you have an office to meet clients. You have to have a strong online presence. Check out this guide on law firm marketing.

Every lawyer who ventures out on their own has a vision of a bustling practice and nailing one case after another. In reality, most find themselves with less action and more thumb-twiddling, than they’d like to admit.

The field of law, including family law, is a saturated and competitive industry. Why are your competitors getting more business than you are? What are they doing that you aren’t?

One of the most effective ways to build your practice is to have the right digital marketing strategy. After all, 85% of people hit the internet when they’re looking for local businesses, so a strong online presence goes a long way.

For a more effective and revenue-boosting strategy, check out these law firm marketing tips.

Family Law Firm Marketing Tips for Your Digital Strategy

Using the online world to gain business requires a few elements. You need people to know who you are. You need them to find you. And you need to be able to convert them to clients. Start with these steps.

1. Make It Easy

Before you jump headfirst into trying to get more visitors to your site, make sure your site has what it takes to convert those visitors into clients. Your key goal should be to make it easy for clients to make that conversion.

First, you need to guide clients toward taking the next step. Every page of your site should have a call-to-action. For instance, maybe you have a page about custody arrangements in divorce. At the end of the page’s content, invite users to contact you about their own custody case. Display a button they can click to do this.

Next, make it as convenient as possible for them to get in touch with you. The days of instructing clients to call you during hours of your convenience are over. Offer a way for them to contact you online with their questions. With that information, you or your staff can call them when you’re in the office.

2. Know How to Use Social Media

Every marketer talks about the importance of social media marketing today. They’re right, it is important, but it’s not just about whether you have it: it’s about how you use it.

On your social media pages, you should focus on spreading information. Your posts shouldn’t sound like sales pitches, because readers will tune out in a heartbeat.

Instead, your goal on social media should be to establish yourself as a trusted expert in your field. If you do this, you’ll be the one people will turn to when they need a lawyer.

3. Get Your Speed Up

It’s not just the content of your website that matters but the technical performance as well. After all, do you stay on a site that isn’t loading or one that doesn’t work well? Neither will your clients.

One of the key statistics you need to check is your website speed. If your site doesn’t load within two or three seconds, about half of users will head elsewhere.

When users leave your site so quickly, it raises your bounce rate which hurts your search engine optimization, or SEO. Even those users who stay are already starting to get frustrated, so they won’t have the best impression of your site.

4. Blog and Blog Well

Blogging is an important way to improve your digital marketing. The frequent updates and valuable content will improve your search engine optimization, and each blog post is providing content for your social media pages.

Those are just the benefits you get from posting each blog. When people actually read them, your articles will display your knowledge as an expert and will establish a connection with the reader and a growing trust.

Of course, not all blogging practices will give you the same benefits. Make sure you post blogs on a consistent basis and that the content is valuable and well-written. Focus on topics your clients really want, like tips for negotiating a custody agreement.

6. Get On Camera

If you don’t already use videos in your digital marketing strategy, now is the time to start. Videos are an engaging medium that users love, and there are so many ways to use them to market your firm.

You can start with simple “talking head videos,” in which you’re sharing your knowledge about a particular subject. You could also use videos to share a tour of your office or to discuss your recent interesting cases (with confidentiality of course).

After you have a video ready, post it everywhere. We’re talking about YouTube, your own website, and your social media pages as well.

7. Get Help from the Past

There’s a lot of trust involved when a client chooses a lawyer, and especially a family lawyer. One of the best ways for new clients to see that you’re trustworthy is to hear it from your past clients.

Encourage your happy clients to post reviews for you on Google, Yelp, and other sites. You can even ask them for a brief testimonial that you can post online. In many cases, reviews and testimonials are a client’s deciding factor when they choose their lawyer.

8. Prioritize Local Search Engine Optimization

One of the most common mistakes local businesses make is forgetting about local SEO. For instance, they optimize their site for keywords like “family lawyer” and “family law firm” rather than “Charlotte family lawyer” or “family law in Charlotte.”

As a law firm, attracting site visitors in California might help your statistics but it won’t bring you clients. Be sure to incorporate local SEO into your digital marketing strategy.

Building Your Client Base

Many lawyers think that if they do good work, the clients will follow. That’s not often the case. As you build your reputation as a great lawyer, you still need to spread the word about your business. The law firm marketing tips above are a great start.

If you’re ready to really jumpstart your growth, contact our digital marketing experts for a more comprehensive plan.