The Feast or Famine Cycle & How It Kills Scalability.
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So today, I’m going to talk about the feast or famine trap, and this is a scenario that’s really common for all sizes of business and it keeps many entrepreneurs trapped. If its left unchecked, it can delay or even get in the way of you moving forward and scaling your business.
Have you ever felt that sometimes you have periods where you’ve got more work than you know what to do with? And then, it’s like a switch flips and everything goes quiet, and before long you don’t have enough work coming in.
And when you’re in that situation it feels like a vicious and a very stressful cycle that you can’t seem to escape from. And then, sometime later that switch flips again, and everything feels rosy and abundant.
And this is called the feast or famine cycle.
What We Cover In This Episode:
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So today, I’m going to talk about the feast or famine trap, and this is a scenario that’s really common for all sizes of business and it keeps many entrepreneurs trapped. If its left unchecked, it can delay or even get in the way of you moving forward and scaling your business.
Have you ever felt that sometimes you have periods where you’ve got more work than you know what to do with? And then, it’s like a switch flips and everything goes quiet, and before long you don’t have enough work coming in.
And when you’re in that situation it feels like a vicious and a very stressful cycle that you can’t seem to escape from. And then, sometime later that switch flips again, and everything feels rosy and abundant.
And this is called the feast or famine cycle.
And this cycle puts your business in a position where you end up falling into traps where, for example, you can’t afford to say no to new clients, your pricing might yo-yo, you generally feel quite stressed out and your ability to manage your time is usually affected because you start to fall into plate spinning and a hustle mindset.
The world around us is also changing. Our marketplaces are shifting, and you are having to pivot and reframe the way you do business. And this is also going to nudge some of you into a feast or famine cycle.
So, if you recognise yourself in a feast or famine scenario then don’t worry, it’s very common to experience this. Large businesses also go through this, and the good news is, you CAN escape this cycle. Over the next fifteen minutes, I’m going to show you how you can avoid this trap OR leave the trap if you are feeling stuck.
And you can see here the rollercoaster peaks of the feast where you have abundant income and the lows of the famines where that switch flips over, and your income and work begin to dry up.
And the secret to escaping the trap is this, you’re going to start to shift a portion of your feasts into your famines so that your income is much smoother month on month so it will feel much less like riding on that income roller coaster!
So, I’m going to break this cycle out in a little more detail and then I’m going to give you some tips of things you should be doing in your business whilst you’re in the midst of a feast period, and what to do if you’re in a famine period.
And the reason I’m giving you different things to do in each part of the feast or famine cycle is because over time you’ll want to create a balance in your rollercoaster so that your feasts and famines are turned into flat and consistent income months.
OK, I’m going to show you a quick example now of a feast or famine scenario. So, let’s say you’re a Christmas jumper seller. You’ll have seasonal feasts from September to December and famines during the remainder of the year when sales are quieter.
Another type of entrepreneur the feast or famine can strike are online course creators and coaches. If that’s you then you’ll likely be launching one-time payment programs or courses. You enter your feast cycle when you make a glut of sales on launch and then if your sales momentum isn’t maintained, a famine period will follow soon afterwards.
And here’s what tends to happen to your business. I’m going to take you through the cycle in a bit more detail.
During your feasts you work, work, work and things in your business might feel abundant. You’ll have bookings, orders and work coming out of your ears. Although it’s good to make hay whilst the sun is shining during your feast periods it can also affect you negatively.
When you’re super busy, you can fall into habits such as not engaging consistently on social media. You might hesitate to say no or to set strong boundaries because at the back of your mind you have that fear of times falling quiet and your sales pipeline drying up. You might navigate your feasts with a level of anxiety because from experience you know that for some reason your abundant periods don’t seem to last.
Your self-care takes a back seat as you must keep delivering, you must keep up and you feel like you must keep everyone happy because you’re feeling fearful of customers deserting your business if you were to stop doing those things.
And then, it starts to happen, you become aware of the start of the decline in your orders or, if you’re on a launch cycle of an online course or other digital product, you’ll notice the initial intake of new people starts to tail off, or your social media campaigns may start losing momentum.
When the decline into your famine cycle happens, it's stressful and hits you hard. You went through this last time and you worry that this time the dry spell might last longer, or things may not pick up at all. You start to worry that you don’t have a viable business for the long term.
So, at this stage, your pipeline is starting to dry up fast and you sense the dread setting in.
You might start thinking that your current products aren’t fit for purpose and you begin to launch new offerings, or stop what you’re doing, or make changes to existing offerings, or you might even take a complete pivot into a new direction altogether.
So, let’s talk about hustle. Have you ever watched other entrepreneurs? Have you spotted the ones that seem to do well for a short period of time and then from nowhere along comes a new offering which launches, lands and then the next product and then the next product, and then… it kinda goes quiet?
And these products seem to have short-term shelf life before the next shiny thing comes along.
Well, that’s evidence of the feast or famine right there.
And if you recognise yourself here then this is a sign that your business could also be in a feast or famine trap.
And what can trip you up is that experiencing this is naturally going to create stress and overwhelm. And in this mindset, you risk making decisions which you might later regret.
OK, and now, what happens in a famine? In a famine, there’s a tendency to also become inconsistent with how often and how you reach out to your audience.
And unlike the feast cycle where you may fall more silent because you’re busy, in famine your mindset shifts into having to talk to your audience ALL the time to reintroduce yourselves, stepping up on promoting your offers, asking frantic questions in Facebook groups.
For example, asking why your business is in this decline, or asking for advice on what’s going wrong in your business.
And I see the energy of many entrepreneurs change as they slip into the desperation of their famine cycle and this worry is also filtering into their messaging, how they promote and how they engage. And your audiences will be sensitive to any subtle shifts from you, and many of you will feel your audience sensing it too.
And you know what happens then? Your anxiety increases and you feel more stressed and panicked.
So, in your panic you decide to kick start unplanned special offers, new launches and start discounting in an effort to drum up new interest in your offerings and get some cash in the bank.
Now, doing these things is not wrong in themselves, but doing these things when you’re trapped in the feast of famine cycle can trip you up.
My bet is many of you will be doing this and by this time in your cycle you’ll be feeling exhausted, stressed, and unwell. And the way you think in the famine part of the cycle is called a hustle mindset, as you are constantly on the go looking for opportunities, but it’s done in a hurried or a stressful way.
And then, at some point – BOOM! – your hustles paid off and either the season switches into your feast period, or people start to pick up on your offers and you’re on the up again. So now, you’re on that rollercoaster journey back up to your feast zone.
But how are YOU feeling if you’re just leaving this famine? You’re exhausted, right?
You might be feeling uneasy about your recent experience, or even beating yourself up over the original plans you’ve changed, and the planned activities you might have dropped.
If that’s you then don’t worry, there are things you can do to step off this rollercoaster and bring your rollercoaster under control.
So, I’m going to show you the things you should be doing during your feast and during your famine period. And if you double down on these things, over time you’ll see your income rollercoaster start to even out into a more consistent income.
OK, let’s get started with your famine zone first. Here’s what to do. Now you’re working on the principle here that your famine period is your quiet time from a sales point of view.
When you recognise that you’re entering your famine zone, you’ll need to make time to do these things. You’ll need to avoid the temptation to skip these things because the pull to fall into a hustle mindset will be overwhelming!
I’m going to say now that these steps aren’t easy, and they will trigger emotions and feelings, but where you go from here on is your call. It takes hard decisions sometimes to move forwards in business and escape that feast or famine trap, and to settle into a consistent income - and it’s not easy. But the great news is, it’s do-able and possible to leave the feast or famine trap.
If you’re in the feast or famine trap right now and you choose not to take action, then that’s where you’ll stay; exactly where you are…but I’d be very surprised if you actually wanted to stay there!
OK. Here’s what to do.
When you’re in your famine period, I cannot stress enough how important managing your stress levels and your self-care will be. Make sure you are factoring in time into your schedule to breathe, step away from your work and enjoy the good things around you.
Know your big picture dream number, set yourself some new revenue targets, build your cash flow and revisit your pricing strategy.
If you are under-pricing your offerings right now, it will be harder for you to make enough income to cover your famine periods. So, raising your prices is one of the key steps to escape the feast or famine trap.
If you choose not to raise your prices and you’re happy with where your prices are positioned, then you have a few further options to reframe what you sell. You could:
When you focus on your cash flow in a famine period, you’ll need to be conservative with your money and stretch it as far as you can. So, this means cutting any unnecessary spending for now and spreading the cost of your larger expenses if you can.
So, if we just take a quick recap, remember you are aiming to flatten out your rollercoaster highs and the lows that an inconsistent income can bring.
So, what you’ll need to do now is work out ways you can bring a new consistent recurring income into your business. And you can do this by introducing new offerings such as memberships or recurring subscriptions.
And a great way to get started is by looking at the skills you have that you could teach or reframe your one-to-ones into teaching or coaching in groups. Another possibility of building a repeatable income into your business is by selling products customers will need to replenish month on month.
And what I want you to do is, take some time to review what you are offering and how you can make those offerings more consistent with the income they generate. How can you evolve your products to make savvier use of your time, your skills and reach your revenue targets? How can you re-imagine how these offerings are paid for so that they bring in a regular income?
Automate Your Business Workflow and template it as much as you possibly can. And the reason you do this during a famine period is because you won’t have time to do this during your feast period, and that’s only because you’re going to be super busy.
And things you can easily template are:
And now, it’s time to plan out how you are going to navigate your next feast period. It’s a savvy move to make your feast plan during your famine period, because when you start to go up the roller coaster into your feast, you’ll need to be prepared with a plan in your back pocket that’s ready to go at a moment’s notice.
And lastly, don’t forget that during your famine you’ll need to keep consistently engaging and marketing your business. So, set time aside to build know, like and trust with your audience. Network and have fun on social media. Think about how you can showcase your past or your most recent customers during this time, perhaps with interviews or testimonials.
Reconnect with past customers to see how you can continue to serve them. Ask yourself, how can I collaborate with other entrepreneurs, so we are stronger together and tap into new sources of income, or better still, a recurring income?
OK, let’s move on to my tips. I’m now going to talk about practical things you can do whilst you’re in your Feast period.
Now I’m working on the principle that your feast period is your busy period from a sales point of view.
You’ll usually feel the compelling urge to keep all your plates spinning during your busy periods, so try to avoid the temptation to do this.
And your busy period can last for days, weeks or even months. Now, doing the things that I recommend will really help you to even out your income rollercoaster over time to bring in a more consistent income. And when you have that consistent income in place, then things start to get exciting as you will be ready to start scaling your business.
If you remember I said earlier, this is what happens when you are in your feast period. It’s good to recognise these feelings and behaviours as it will help you to manage them; and, to recognise which part of the cycle you’re in.
And as the feast is your busiest time, I’ve kept the actions I’m going to give you here short and sweet, because now is the time to focus on bringing home that income – BUT! - to ultimately leave your feast or famine trap, you’ll need to look at your business more closely during this time.
OK, so let’s get started.
Now is the time to mentally embrace this abundance positively, so get thankful and make gratitude a part of your working day. And it may be that your current feast period right now is temporary whilst you build income consistency, but, the most important thing is to keep a resilient and healthy mindset.
And one of the ways that you can build resilience is through gratitude and setting yourself some positive affirmations to read aloud every day.
I know this is going to feel counterintuitive when you’re super busy, but now is the time to engage with your audience and enjoy the feast wave you’re riding on. Celebrate your busy times.
If you go quiet during this feast and then enter a famine period, it’s going to be more difficult to warm your audience up again if you have been quiet with them.
This is going to be important as prioritisation is going to keep you on track during your feast periods, so find a method that works for you here.
Now, I use the priority picker because it focuses on prioritising income generation. All your focus and activities during your feast period should be on engaging with your audience, working time-smart and delivering a great customer service.
OK, so once you have prioritised your time, then maximise your income and your chance of making sales. And when you have a flurry of activity around your business from your audience during a feast, now is the time to put in place some simple strategies to maximise your income. I’m not going to explain these in detail here, but these are things which will increase the likelihood of bringing more income in.
Now is the time to also focus on generating extra income by offering payment plans for high-ticket offerings, or, at your checkout, you might want to offer upsells or other offers that nicely complement the one being purchased. So, think about that; how can you quickly maximise your revenue at checkout right now?
Again, what you are aiming to achieve here is to squeeze every income opportunity you can during this feast period.
And lastly, just as in your famine period, you’ll need to get on top of your business numbers. Now, as you’ve got this far, you’ll know the way to escape your feast or famine trap is to flatten your rollercoaster and you are going to start to do that now by moving a portion of the income that you make during your feast, into a safe place ready for your next famine period.
It’s important that you do this because this is one of the strategies that will get you out of the trap much faster.
So, think about how much money you can put aside and where you will put this money, in a separate bank account or somewhere else? It’s important to make a commitment now to save and not touch it until you are in your next famine period.
OK, and that’s it. A helicopter view of how you can escape your feast or famine trap in business, flatten out the rollercoaster for a more consistent income!
~ Lor Bradley.
I'm Lor Bradley 🏳️⚧🏳️🌈
No 'je ne sais quois' to be found here! I'm a qualified business strategist, author and I show entrepreneurs exactly what they need to DO to be brilliant in business.
I'm an 8-figure online business mentor & consultant, not a business coach, so unlike most coaches I have the practical experience and geek-ery to show you how to grow your business to 7-figures and beyond.
I'm a non-binary entrepreneur and I’m on a mission to uplevel entrepreneurs from 'spread too thin' and into the CEO of a biz they won't want to take a holiday from!
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