9 arch-enemies of online business '2022 edition'

As more businesses roll out their online tentacles, the arch-enemies have revealed their faces in full.

When we shine a light on these, it doesn’t make them wither away and die.

But it does help to loosen their grip on our work.

(Part two to come, with the 'top 9 superpowers' that are key anti-dotes to our enemies below.)

Here we go:

** The formidable funnel dream. If the ‘funnel’ is just right, people can magically be converted into paying customers. Symptoms - we obsess with site traffic, lose sleep over social media bio's, or have multiple click-funnels subscriptions, before there is a clear business

** Lack of endurance. AKA 'tickling the tip', or short-sightedness. Just like in the fitness game, this seems to be hitting all time highs. We know this enemy is around when we stop after a month or so of marketing a new offer.

** Rogue virtue signalling. Random virtue-signalling well outside of the realms of the particular business, in the hope that the 'good energy' will be met with reciprocity. While dressed up as virtue, this subtle 'power' move more often than not yields negative returns and frustration.

** Over-complicating. This enemy tricks us into taking the business messaging, and flipping it into a birds nest, that people don’t understand. The coaching industry is fraught with this, but it can be in any niche.

** Not solving a problem (not creating a particular change). There needs to be a reason for the business to be there. Whether we spot the problem or change we want to make before starting, or we get clearer after things are rolling can depend on the biz.

** Lack of confidence. Possibly our biggest internal barrier. Unfortunately, no quick fix here, besides taking action. Confidence comes from having options, and having options comes from building capabilities, assets and skill-sets.

** Lack of energy. It takes less energy to follow the crowd, drift, or just 'relax' and not do the work. Some call this arch-enemy a 'motivation' problem, I point the finger at energy. We need a fair load of energy to build a business online or offline.

** Distraction. AKA illusion - typically this pops when it comes time to sell a new offer, or ‘push through’ on marketing an old offer. It either means there’s no true ‘aspiration to grow’ with the main business, or we lack follow-through in general.

** Tactics before strategy. The TL:DR movement, Tik Tok, IG reels, and short term metrics means we often lack a clear strategy. This was a huge arch-enemy for a lot of businesses in 2022.

The common thread with these buggers is they are like parasites, and they feed on us not knowing that they exist.

Once we shine the light on 'em like this, they tend to loosen up and back away, so we can get on with our work.