159 | The Reason Your Service-based Business Stalled After Launch And The Two Things That Get It Moving Again

Speaker A: I want you to picture this. You have your brand new dream car packed in your driveway, just sitting in your driveway. It is fully loaded. It is spotlessly clean. It is top of the line sound system. I mean, every single thing you could think of adding to the package for that car, you added it. You spared no expense because of course, it's your dream car. It's GPS programmed. It has the heated seats, it has the backup camera. When you're trying to reverse, the seats are adjusted, uh, perfectly. Like, just think of everything you could put in your dream car. It's sitting in your driveway. It's beautiful, it's ready, every detail attended to. But guess what? There's no gas in the car. So it doesn't matter how perfect that car is. If there's no gas in that car, that car is going nowhere. That is exactly what happens after you launch your business. You've built your offer, you've registered the llc, you've opened, uh, the account, you have the systems to deliver the offer. You have your lead magnet, you have all those things built. And this business is a perfect machine. But guess what? There's no gas. There's no gas to move the business forward. And that's exactly what we're talking about in today's episode. We're going to talk about the only two things that put gas in your business so that it can keep moving forward every day. If you're excited like I, uh, always am, tune out the distractions, lean in and let's get started.

Speaker B: You're currently working a 9 to 5, but you know you're called to do more. You feel unfulfilled at a job you've clearly outgrown. You ignore the quiet nudge prompting you to move in a new direction because you're afraid of losing your predictable income and stepping into something God sized. If that resonates with you, you are in the right place. Welcome to Start that Business podcast where you will find the clarity, strategy and systems you need to start your service based business without leaving your job yet. My name is Chichi Okomadou. I am a business strategist, an execution coach and a Jesus follower. I knew I was called to start a business, but I struggled with lack of clarity, self doubt and the fear of losing a predictable income. My lack of courage kept me stuck until I traded it for obedience to God's calling. I left my job, built a 7 figure service based business and ran it for 13 years. Now I help other Christians working a 9 to 5 do the same. You don't have to stay stuck in unfulfillment, fear, doubt or lack of clarity. It's time to partner with God and step boldly into your calling to start that business. You know the one I'm talking about? Yes. That one you've been putting off for a long time.

Speaker A: A few months ago in the neighborhood where I live, I noticed that there was a new sign that said coming soon McDonald's and a ah, new McDonald's franchise was coming soon in this new strip that is close to my house. And I notice that as I drove past where they were building the McDonald's every day, I noticed there was progress going on. So they started with the foundation, then before we knew it they had framed it and before we knew it they had roofed it. And before we knew it we saw the equipment coming in and then we saw the lights in there and the menu outside for the drive through. We could just see the pieces of the business coming together. Launching a business is such a massive milestones because of the different pieces you need to put together to create the business before you can put up your sign that says I am open for business. So it's such a huge milestone because it requires a lot of upfront work to create things that didn't exist before. And it's a milestone that should be celebrated, which is one thing I do in the Start that business accelerator program. When my clients go live with their business, we celebrate that day. I am always so excited. They're even trying to calm me down. I'm always so excited when I see a new business birthed and um, is launched into the world. Now the work that matters most begins after you launch that business because you, you can spend all that money. McDonald's can spend all that money opening a franchise. But if they don't do the work that comes after the launch, then it will just be that they have this beautiful new location that is just sitting there and looking pretty. Now the two most important post launch uh, activities you need to do to, to keep your business going, any business, is to generate leads and to close sales. Those are the two most important things after you launch. Because if you don't focus on getting leads into your business and closing sales, you will just have a pretty business that nobody is coming to buy anything from. Everything else, refining your website, tweaking your brand colors, adding a new system. All those things are secondary until you have paying clients. So the initial work you do to build those things to launch is more than enough to carry you until you have paying clients. Then you can now start refining those things. But a lot of new entrepreneurs, they resist this. Two post launch activities are so important and they hide behind doing busy work like tweaking their brand colors, refining their website, adding new systems. Those things can come later because what you already have launched with is more than enough. Nothing kills or uh, discourages a new entrepreneur as much as lack of momentum from generating new leads and closing sales. Momentum is what drives the early stage of business growth. Not perfection, not trying to perfect the things you already created, but building momentum in terms of generating new leads, closing sales. It encourages new entrepreneurs like you can never imagine. Now why are uh, leads and sales the only two post launch activities or metrics that matter, uh, the most? The first reason is revenue is the lifeblood of a business. What that means is without revenue you don't have a business, you just have a hobby. You need revenue to keep running that business, to keep doing the things you need to do in the business. A uh, business without revenue is like a fancy car that is packed in your driveway and without gas in it, it can't go anywhere. Another reason is your leads at uh, the top of the funnel. So if you don't have leads, it means there's no sales, it means there's no revenue, it means there's no business. So the leads is what starts that funnel. Leads turn into sales, sales turn into revenue. Revenue means you still have a business to keep going up. Also sales are uh, the conversion mechanism. So this is where the leads turn into sales. Without leads, you don't have anyone to sell to. So leads without sales is just, you just have a list that is not helping you do anything. Now systems support the business and help things become sustainable. But systems don't actually generate revenue. So a lot of new entrepreneurs get it twisted because they want to keep tweaking their system and they just stay lost in their system. So you build the system so that it can support the business. And after you launch, you focus on the two things that need to put gas in that business so that it can keep going. So after you launch your business, the order of operations is leads generate sales, which generates revenue, which fund better systems. So whatever systems you launch with is enough to carry you through until you have more and more paying clients. Then you have the funds to get better systems to keep going. So the two things you need to focus on to keep moving after you launch your business is one, leads and two, sales. So the first focus area is focusing on what I call the lead generating activities. Now lead generation means any activity that Brings a new potential client into your business world, into the knowledge that your business exists. And um, it is based on the user attraction strategy that you selected. In episode 1 56, I spoke about three user attraction strategies that you can choose to launch with it's organic collaboration and paid ads. Those are three user attraction strategies. So your lead generation is based on any of this strategy you pick or maybe a combination of one or two of this or even all of them. Now some examples of lead generating activities are publishing your content that drives traffic to your lead magnet, pitching a podcast guest spot or collaboration, maybe pitching to be on a summit, a virtual summit, running a targeted ad to your lead magnet landing page, showing up consistently on your chosen social media platform with a uh, clear call to action to go download your lead magnet or register for your freebie or register for what you're trying to sell. Hosting a free workshop or webinar. These are all examples of lead generation or lead generating activities that you can engage in. A good rule of thumb, um, is every, every day, do at least one lead generating activity. Every day, spend time doing at least one lead generating activity. Now lead generation is not passive. It requires intentional, consistent effort, especially in the early stages. In the early stages it will feel like, oh, you're grinding every day. You're showing up, you're putting in word out there, making, but it's going to compound and it's something you have to get used to doing. Especially as a first time entrepreneur. It might feel uncomfortable, it might feel like, oh, am I bothering people? No, you're not bothering people. You are showing up, um, because you have a solution that helps someone and you are trying to look for them so that you can connect and exchange that value. Now the second focus area is to focus on sales generating activities. Now sales means converting a lead into a paying client because you have a valuable solution that solves their number one problem or gives them their number one desire. Now some examples of sales generating activities are following up on a discovery call inquiry. Maybe someone fills out your contact form or books, uh, a discovery call with you and you go ahead and have that call with them, answer their questions, questions they have about your offer or your services. So that is a sales generating activity. Another sales generating activity is sending proposals or offer to someone who expressed interest. So you are a web designer or you're a graphic designer and somebody emailed you saying, oh, I'm interested in creating new logo for my brand. Then you respond to that email, you send them a proposal, you send them an offer that is a Sales generating activity. Another example is running a, ah, sales email sequence to your email list. So you create an email sequence to take your leads through a journey so that you can sell your offer to them. That's another sales generating activity. Another one is hosting a sales conversation, a sales call, either in person, via dm, via Zoom. You schedule a sales call and the the lead comes on the call and you pitch your offer to them and at the end you say, oh, does this sound like something you're interested in? Do you want to sign up? And you send them your link and they're able to sign up. Another sales generating activity is making a clear offer at ah, the end of every piece of content you put out there so that your content is working for you and it's not just this cute thing you post on Instagram or Facebook. But no, it's every content is working to convert the lead into a sale. Now the rule of thumb here is if leads are uh, the seed, then the sales activity is the water. The sales activity is you watering the seed so that this seed can grow. So you have to tend the relationship. So, so that's how you need to view the sales generating activities. The sales generating activities is what waters the seed which is the lead and that's what grows into becoming a sale. Now everything I'm teaching you right now, the lead generating activities, the sales generating activities, the daily rhythm of running a business while working a job. This is the work I do inside the Start that Business accelerator. Now the accelerator is coaching and execution program for Christians who are ready to go from a business idea to launching their first service based business so that they can start generating revenue. Now if you are ready to do this with a coach, with a proven framework, with the execution done for you services, then the only way to get access to apply to this accelerator, uh, is to attend the Start that Business workshop. Now the Start that Business workshop is happening on 5-2-2026 at uh, 12 noon Central Standard Time. To save your seat, go to from jobtobusiness.com so that you can save your seat so that you can get access to the replay of that workshop and also get the opportunity to apply to the Start that Business accelerator. Uh, now a lot of people might say oh, why should I focus on sales and leads? Why can't I focus on building more systems, tweaking my website? The thing is, momentum is very key at the early stages of starting a business. Momentum can make you quit on that business or help you keep going. And when you get your first client, it Builds and um, boosts your momentum so that you can keep going. And this momentum builds over time. So getting your first client is, is momentum. Your first client will teach you more about your business than any course will do, than any book, than any system, because you're actually delivering live. So they're testing this thing out live and you're able to get live feedback to be able to improve your business. That is momentum. Early momentum creates confidence and that confidence creates more consistency, consistent action, which creates more clients. So do you see why the momentum is very important at this stage? Because it's like gas. It keeps you going so you don't have to wait until you feel ready. Readiness is built through doing, not through perfecting or preparing. No, when you start doing, you get more experience and it builds momentum. Momentum becomes a compounding effect. Now, God doesn't always call the equipped. He equips the call, but he equips them in motion. Because if you look through scripture, if you look through Bible characters that uh, God has worked with, whether it was Gideon or uh, Moses or David or Joseph, you notice he equipped them in motion. It wasn't, they were not waiting until everything was perfect. They got going and as they did one thing, it built momentum and they were able to do the other things. And it kept going like that. So since you're working 9 to 5 while you're launching this business, how do you balance the lead generation activities you need to do with the sales activity you need to do daily? Now, a good recommended framework you can use. I always talk about the power of 15 minutes. How you can do things in 15 minute increment. You can start with 15 minutes a day and focus 15 minutes on doing lead generating activity. You can pick one lead generating activity that you commit to daily and you say, okay, I'm going to do this lead generating activity for 15 minutes every day. And you do the same for the, the sales activity. You pick one sales activity and you do it for 15 minutes every day. So that in a day you have at least 30 minutes. You focus to doing 15 minutes on lead generation and 15 minutes on sales. And the goal isn't to do more. The goal is to do the right things consistently. We are just trying to do the right things consistently so that we can build that momentum and that creates the next result. And you might be saying, okay, what if I do this and my leads are not converting to sales? A lot of first time entrepreneurs, when they are doing the lead generating activities and it's not converting the first thing they want to do is go change their offer. They're like oh, this offer is not working. So don't immediately assume that your offer is the problem. Diagnose first. Study the pattern, see what is going on. Is the problem the number of leads? If it's the number of leads, then that's a lead generation issue. Is the problem the conversion? Maybe you're getting the leads but they're not converting to sales. Then that's a sales issue. That is not an offer issue. So don't jump and assume oh my offer is the problem. Then you go and start tweaking your offer test and see if the leads are low. Go back to your user attraction strategy. Maybe you need to change your attraction strategy. Maybe you need to combine two attraction strategies to increase your lead generating or your lead generation. If the leads are coming in but they are not converting, like I said, look at your lead nurture email sequence. The emails you are sending out, what are those emails are ah, they focused on their number one problem and their desire or are you focused on talking about yourself a lot? You want to review that because that's the piece that is not. That's where things are falling through the cracks. And you look at your sales conversions also. So these are the things you need to diagnose and keep tweaking until you find or get the results you're looking for. Don't fix what's not broken. Diagnose first before you start tweaking your offer or rebuilding or doing anything. Like I said with momentum, momentum has a compounding effect. When your leads grow, everything grows. More leads create more chances to convert, which creates more revenue, which creates more resources to invest in your systems and to scale your business, to hire people and do all that growth that you want in your business. Now the early stage of business growth is not exponential, it is compounding. So it's small consistent actions that built on each other, built day by day that compound into this business that is thriving. Making six figures, seven figures. This is how you you get there. The entrepreneurs who win in year one are not the ones who build the best systems. They are the ones who showed up consistently and they sold day after day. They put their offer in front of the right people day after day. They focused on the lead generation activities day after day. They focused on the sales generating activities day after day. Those are the entrepreneurs that thrive in the business space and not the ones that spend time tweaking the things that don't matter. One of the things I've realized in the course of doing business for over 13 years is that business is actually a call to stay stewardship. When you, you come into business or you answer the call to start a business, you are answering the call to steward the business. So treat it like a gift that it is a gift you've been given to steward. Ah, this idea to create this solution, to create this services or ah offer. You didn't launch the business to keep it empty. You launched it to make impact and income. And impact and income comes from generating leads and making sales. Every day you're not generating a lead or pursuing a sale. It's a day that the people who need what you have to offer have to wait longer to get the solution they need. And it's not about pressure, it's not about hustling, it's about purpose. It's about generating the leads and sales so that the people that need what you have to offer can get the solution you need. Lead generation and sales is actually an act of service because you have something valuable and you're looking for other people you can partner with who have the problem that you have a solution to so that you can engage in a value exchange. You have been given this gift. It's a skill, it's a service, it's a solution that, that someone out there, like I said, desperately needs. Now your job right now after you launch your business is to get in front of as many of the right people as possible and invite them to say yes. Invite them to say yes, I'm ready to work with you because they know that you have a solution for them. So stop trying to perfect your offer, stop trying to took your website or your brand what you have right now. It's enough to get going, get the gas you need to get that business going, get your lead magnet in front of as many people, get people into the room to have a sales call with them. Your leads and sales are uh, not distractions from your calling. They are actually the way you steward them and they are part of your calling. And if you're ready to stop going at this alone, if you want a coach, if you want a proven framework, if you want the done for you execution, the start that business accelerator ah is where all of this happen. And the only way to get access to apply to the accelerator is by attending my live workshop on May 2, 2026 at 12 noon Central Standard time. To save your seat, go to from job to business.com. you launched your business for a reason and uh, you're not done. As a matter of fact you're just getting started. So stay in motion, generate those leads, close those sales. Because the breakthrough you are looking for is in the doing and not in perfection.

Speaker B: Thank you so much for listening to today's episode. I pray it made you feel seen, taught you something new, and encouraged you to take action. If it did, please hit the follow button so you are notified when a new episode drops. It will be a huge blessing if you left a review for this podcast on whatever platform you are listening from right now.

Speaker A: It's the number one way I know

Speaker B: this podcast is serving you and it helps more Christians just like you find this show and take that first step toward, uh, their business. Until next time, Remember, your expertise is needed. You're calling it real, and I'm here to help you make it a reality.