Running a business comes with all kinds of changes – you might take on more work, offer new services, hire someone for the first time, or start thinking about marketing in a bigger way, for example, among many other things. And while that can be exciting, it can also start to feel a bit unfamiliar, and that’s when it gets scary, and it might even stop you from moving forwards.

That’s because in the early days, everything felt very much like you – you knew every customer, you wrote every email, you chose every colour and word and photo, you chose all the services and products, but the fact is that as time goes on and things change, there’s a thought you might have that can be upsetting; you might wonder if your business is even really yours anymore. With that in mind, keep reading to find out more about how to deal with the problem and make sure your business reflects who you are and what you want.

Use Your Own Voice

One of the first things to disappear as a business grows is your voice, meaning the tone, the style, the way you speak about things. You might find yourself using more official-sounding phrases, or changing how you write because you think it needs to sound more professional.

But the thing to remember is that the way you speak about your business is part of what makes it yours, and very often, it’s the reason people trust you in the first place. So if you’re starting to notice that your website or socials or customer emails feel different, go back to how you naturally talk. Plus, it’s also wise to use simple language, clear sentences, and a friendly tone.

Don’t Delegate The Bits You Like

Some tasks are easy to hand over to other people, but others feel more personal. That could be because you’ve always done it, but it might also be that you just love writing your own Instagram captions, or you enjoy replying to customer messages, or maybe you like choosing packaging or dealing with regulars, and so on. Whatever it is, keep hold of those parts for as long keep being a positive thing for you, even if they’re only small jobs that someone else could do if you needed them to.

The point is, you don’t need to drop all the jobs you currently do just because it feels like it might make your business more efficient because if a task helps you stay linked to your business, it’s worth keeping. You can always delegate other things instead, and in fact, it’s probably wise to because it’ll give you more time to do the things you do want and need to do.

Get Help That Understands

At some point, you might start thinking about outsourcing. Maybe it’s your marketing, or your customer service, or your admin, or all kinds of other things – most things can be outsourced or delegated when you think about it. And it can be a really good thing because it takes pressure off, gives you back time, and lets experts handle the bits you’re not confident with.

But it helps a lot if the people you work with actually understand your values and voice and way of doing things, which is why you need to make sure you’re choosing wisely. Take marketing, for example. If you’re thinking about outsourcing SEO, it makes a big difference when the person or team helping you listens to how you want to come across. That way, your content still sounds like you, and your website still feels like yours.

Keep Checking Things

It’s easy to get swept up in the moment and all the excitement that comes with running (and growing) a business, and that means you’ll say yes to a few new opportunities, add a few new services, raise your prices or change your branding… and then a few months later, you look around and realise it all feels unfamiliar and that you don’t recognise your old business anymore.

This happens a lot with small businesses, especially when things start going well. So it’s worth scheduling in some time to take a moment, step back, and answer a few useful questions, like whether or not the business still feels like you, whether you’re happy with how it is and how things are going, and, crucially, if you’re still enjoying the jobs you’ve kept for yourself.

If the answer is no, that’s a sign something might need adjusting, whether that’s using some new software, putting new systems or processes in place, finding a new partnership, hiring new staff, or whatever else it is you need to do.

Trust Your Gut

Sometimes you can’t explain exactly why something feels wrong, you just know that it does, and that’s a worry in itself. It could be that it’s a new offer that doesn’t sit right, or a branding suggestion you don’t like, or a piece of content that technically works, but you just don’t love. And even if that feeling might be unwanted or strange, it’s worth listening to it because it might be able to help you.

The fact is that you know your business better than anyone else, and even if you can’t quite put it into words, your instincts are massively important, and of course, you don’t need to justify every decision because not everything has to be data-driven (even though that’s what we’re often led to believe).

Let It Change

Keeping your business feeling like yours doesn’t mean freezing it in place because the reality is that things will change, and that’s normal, and healthy, and good. But what helps is having a sort of anchor so you’ve got something that stays in place so you come back to it as your business moves forward.

What do we mean? Well, it might be your tone of voice, your values, the kind of experience you want your customers to have… As long as you know what that is, you can let other things change without feeling like you’ve lost your way because something will always be the same, no matter what (and your customers will recognise it too).