I made a bold claim that EVERY business needs to a Blueprint.
And I wholly stand by that because it honestly makes a difference. I see it all the time in my clients and today I wanted to share a story about one of them.
Stacey Macdonald – a.k.a. The Modern Storyteller; is a self-confessed disorganised procrastinator. Stacey and I met each other in March 2020 and I’ve been working with her ever since.
Stacey is a creative type, a true storyteller, and runs her coaching business from the idyllic Isle of Lewis in Scotland. Pre-Covid, Stacey was hosting face to face training sessions, workshops, and consultations with groups and individual clients. Stacey’s ability to draw out of people their message and articulate it in a way that impacts their business is not in question.
Stacey’s business was born out of a desire to leave behind the corporate world (like so many of us) and use her storytelling skills to help small businesses and entrepreneurs communicate better in the world today. When we first met, Stacey was very clear on her skills and how she could help people but was very unsure about how to transfer her business online. Working week to week with clients was fine, but trading without long term goals, targets or even a big picture vision was definitely holding her back
I like to question my clients, delve deep into their ‘why’, and set about finding this out with Stacey. Over a series of Zoom meetings, I challenged her to really think about why she wanted to leave behind the corporate world, and what was she trying to achieve. I asked her to think about the lifestyle she wanted for her & her family and what financial goals would help her achieve that. I wanted to understand the single driving force behind the woman and to be clear that this was being put to best use in her business.
There is never an easy way to challenge people, and often times it can lead to difficult conversations. Sometimes it takes more than one conversation to get to the bottom of things and this is what Stacey needed. Eventually, she blurted out that she wanted to earn enough money so that her husband could stop working and run their croft full time. Her a-ha moment. As much this is was hard, it was approached with support and encouragement. Whilst finally getting to the fact that her goal was selfless, it was only the starting point of the journey that followed.
I asked Stacey to qualify what income was required to meet the goal. How much money did she need to earn to meet her target? This had to be the starting point. By understanding this, only then were we able to put a strategy in place to meet the desire she had.
I encouraged Stacey to think beyond the next month. This was always going to be hard, and I had to meet the resistance head-on. There was never going to be a plan without thinking long term. Stacey’s personality and personal life had lead to her being very much an ‘in the moment’ type of lady, but she came to realise that in order to achieve the desire she wanted, she had to undertake the planning task I was asking of her.
Together we worked out a plan to hit the required income goal in the next 2 years. There was no quick fix magic wand in my tool kit and she fully accepted this. Breaking down her income target into smaller 6 monthly chunks made the daunting task much more manageable. There was a clear pathway developing that she could follow over the coming months and years, all totally focused on the one goal.
From this point, I was able to help Stacey focus on how she could meet the target and truly work in alignment with her skill set. She loves to work with clients on a face to face, one to one basis, so we explored the various ways in which this could be achieved.
One concept that was entirely new to Stacey was my Value Ladder idea. Her face was a blank picture when I first mentioned it. I took her through the idea of staking products and services, one on top of the other, in order to take clients along a buying journey. Together we were able to come up with a list of ideas and possible services that could be offered to her ideal clients. It was also a great opportunity to ask Stacey to think about the client journey – how they came on board with here and what their experience would be like after working with her. The idea of having a ‘bolt-on’ offer at this end-stage was also brand new to her.
Over the past 4 months, using my Blueprint to Business model, I’ve taken Stacey on the journey to future proof her business, by ensuring that her foundations are solid. Without these firm building blocks, her business would never be sustainable nor scalable.
Stacey says “Jacky knows just how to ask the right questions at the right time, and she was never going to let me make an excuse or give her a woolly answer! She impressed upon me the absolute necessity of getting the basics done right for my business and I can’t thank her enough. By challenging me to focus on what I really want, and want I really love doing, I now have a business that will take me forward in the next years and a business that will deliver my dream! That I am 100% certain. And all of this was done in a straight-talking but really supportive way. Thank you Jacky!”
This is just one example of how a Blueprint can help you grow your business. This week over on my socials I have been sharing about the different stages of the Blueprint and will continue to do so. If you want to catch up – and get a sneaky look at some of the images yet to be released you can download a full PDF version here