Running a business is exciting, terrifying and rewarding all in equal measures. Some people are cut out for the life, others are not. And there is no shame in that.
Most people, myself included, use a terrible business plan when they first start.
You have basically no plan, you get a few customers, things spread by word of mouth. You have feast or famine. The emotions are on a rollercoaster and honestly you are not sure if you can get off.
This was my business about 4 years ago. It was something I had to fit my life into and most of the time my life didn’t win.
In my best sales year, I did 6 figures in revenue, and I only spent at home in my own bed 40 nights of 365. Every other one was spent in a hotel, on a plane or driving. Honestly even when I was home I would be exhausted and not be great company for my husband.
Then I had the critical moment where I lost someone very special to me and I missed saying goodbye by 20 hours because I didn’t catch an earlier flight home. I thought I could fit it all in, keep the clients happy, make it in time to say goodbye, mourn and not skip a beat. How wrong I was.
I ended up at breaking point, almost lost my business and had to start again. With a new plan, new stratgey, new way of working.
And this time I swore I would do better, I would build a proper business, one that fitted my lifestyle and gave me the freedom I wanted when I left my 9-5 corporate job.
The core strategies you need:
Whether you are looking to set up or start again, I have the 6 strategies I used that I want to share with you.
- Work-life balance
- Clarity Wheel
- Value Ladder
- Money
- Full Sales Process
- Bullet Journaling
These are the things that made a difference for me, and now help my clients to create success in their own businesses.
While I have written some great points below, you can get a recording of a live webinar where I talk through all 6 of these points. Click here, drop an email address and I’ll send it straight over.
But back to it now.
Work-life Balance
Finding balance is about starting with a strategy that suits your life. So think about how you want to live. How do you want to structure your days, what do you want to fit work around. Is it kids, family, hobbies, friends, even pets? Anything you want really.
Then think about how you look after yourself. I advise people to focus on 3 core areas:
Mind, Body and Soul.
Each of these areas will help you run your business well, they will increase how well you show up and how consistently you can do that. By building in time for each every day you will be more balanced and be able to perform better in your business. (watch the webinar for tips on how)
Clarity Wheel
My next strategy is the clarity wheel, this is all about being clear on the business and how it is going to move forward. So you look at 4 core areas:
- Why you are in business
- Who you are in business for
- What you are in business to deliver
- You in your business
I love this strategy because it is simple yet elegant, it deliver a clear picture to move forward from without being to complicated for a business owner to do alone.
So you start with Why – think about the life you want to live once your business is running, the measures of success that you want to achieve and when you have got everything, what will life look like?
If you have a good driving focus behind your why, you are more likely to succeed in business.
Next is your Who. I love this area, this is thinking about who you want to work with and serve. Now the key here is to know that you need to be able to limit the crowd. And the best question to ask is not Who can I help, it is Who do I want to help. Take strategy, every business needs one, but I choose to only work with single or small business owners – why because I can make the biggest impact. Being able to limit this will work in your favor. For more tips on limiting your who, sign up to get the webinar replay.
Value ladder
This is all about your What. The way your products align and the journey they take your customer through.
A customer needs to take the most natural path to the ultimate end result. Instead of trying to get them to do a huge leap, we build a few steps to take them on the journey. Which will help them naturally become loyal customers and repeat purchases.
And it all starts with something free. So you might have an ebook, that leads in a self-learning program, that leads into a group coaching program. Or a top tips guide, that leads into a paid 2-hour consultant call, that lead into a larger project. How about a 3 part video series, that leads into membership, that leads into high ticket one to one work.
There are a million options and variations but the simple strategy is always the same. You want to step people through the levels like you are taking them up ladder runs. Remember the Customer journey is always important, the better the journey the easier it is for a customer to say yes when you offer value. Watch more about this at 38.00 minutes in the webinar, it shows you a visual of this and I give more examples.
Money
Talking about money is key in business. You have to get comfortable with what you want to earn, how you are going to earn it, and how you are going to invest and spend it. Without this insight, it will be hard to get money into the business. Without this insight, it will be hard to get money into the business.
I have an activity in the webinar (49.14) to help you understand how to earn what you want – click the link here.
But it is also important to think about sales generation activity. How much time do you spend on sales activities? Making offers, direct messaging potential clients, putting out proposals, or contacting previous clients?
Most small business owners has said they spend less than an hour a week doing this. When this should be a high priority item. Not only to do, but to build so well that you can automate and run at any time.
Sales process
I bang on about my 7 containers. The things you need to build to continue to deliver success on repeat. They are a way to generate clients, turn them into customers, and then help them give you repeat business by adding continuous value. Without a process like this in place, your business will never build continued momentum.
The containers are
- Lead Magnet landing page
- Lead Magnet
- Thank you page for Lead Magnet
- Mailer sequence 1 – Know, Like, and Trust
- Mailer sequence 2 – Offer
- Sales page
- Thank you page for the Sales page
Watch at 1 hr.04 mins in the webinar to see more detail and an example of these. This will help you understand exactly what you need to create in your business to get consistency in sales and income.
Bullet Journal
Journaling is great in so many levels. But bullet journals are in a league of their own. I have seen a sharp rise in my focus and outputs since starting to use a bullet journal over normally to do lists. So I recommend that everyone has one and uses it to develop their businesses.
The core idea of how to use a bullet journal can be found in the webinar at 1 hr, 18 mins, 4 secs and I have also included the video below from my YouTube channel that shows you my journal and exactly what I use it for.
So what next?
If you have not downloaded the webinar, honestly it will make a huge difference in your business. I have had countless people contact me after the webinar and tell me about wins in their business. So it is worth in time investment that you will make.
Then I would love to invite you to drop me an email in return to the webinar video and let me know your biggest takeaway, learning or ah-ha moment. This is why I do what I do. So please do get in touch.