Make the Decision, then Commit
“I want to double the business revenue this year.”
“I’m only going to work 4 hours a day, 3 days a week so I can focus on my family.”
While there are exceptions — leveraged businesses focused on recurring revenue streams being the primary one — the above are indicative of two different approaches to business:
- “I want to double the business revenue this year” = Growth-focused business
- “I’m only going to work 4 hours a day, 3 days a week so I can focus on my family” = Lifestyle-focused business
I was working with a new client a few months ago who wanted both. The growth and the lifestyle in a business that wasn’t ready for either:
- No foundational systems
- Minimal social media presence/engagement on her chosen platform (LinkedIn)
- My review of her email list and communications showed an affiliate offer in 4 of 7 communications, 1 value-added article and 2 offers to hire her business
During our second session, we discussed the above (and more!) and what her long-term goals are for the business — does she see herself selling it, setting it up to fund her retirement, send her children to college, use it as vacation funding, etc.
There’s no wrong answer and the answer will likely change over time.
We just needed to know what the answer was so we could reverse engineer whether we were focused on a growth-based business plan or a lifestyle-based business plan.
As we enter Q3, ask yourself the following question:
Between now and the end of the year are you, and hence your business, more focused on growth or lifestyle?
If “growth”, what does that mean to you?
- Increasing your email list size?
- Increasing profits?
- Increasing the number of clients you have?
- Increasing the size of your membership program?
- Increasing your team?
- Increasing/Updating/Up-leveling your online presence?
- Incorporating a client retention program?
And if you want to focus on your lifestyle?
- Spend time with family?
- Home school/support children with remote learning?
- Travel?
- Move and shift everything up?
It doesn’t matter which you pick as long as you pick one and commit!
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If you decide on “growth,” first determine which type of growth (see above) and, depending on your decision, ensure the following are in place during in the upcoming quarter:
- Selling B2B? Build your connections on LinkedIn by importing your email list and ensuring you’re connected with everyone on it.
- Identify your best customers and create/start implementing a client retention program.
- Your biz foundation is set for where you’re going, not where you are: Any changes needed to business entity? Financial systems working well? Dedicated nurturing path for new qualified leads in place?
- Speaking of “new qualified leads”, what’s your lead generation plan?
- The proper tools: email marketing system, shopping cart, membership platform, website plug-ins, CRM, etc.
- Do you have a “clean” email list” Do you need to implement a reactivation campaign?
- Create a content/promotional calendar which includes value-add calls to action in addition to purely informational content or offers.
Or, rather than focusing on business growth or lifestyle, you may want to focus on optimizing where you are/what you have before you move on to further growth or “more” lifestyle.
If optimization is your immediate goal, which type: profit margin, traffic-to-lead conversion, lead-to-client conversion, etc.
Or is it a focus on systems such that you can take a month-long vacation without access to phone or internet and your business runs like a Swiss watch?
It’s important to note that there’s no “done” here — particularly in the optimization space. You may reach $1M in growth and be happy or actively work 4 hours a week and be overjoyed. But when it comes to optimizing — for as long as you own your business, there will be things to test, tweak, evaluate, improve and repeat.
You know your business best. What attention/focus does it need from you/your team in order to achieve your desired goals?
My request is that you take whatever time you need to determine your ultimate goal/vision for your business, where you are today and what your next immediate step is.
Not sure and want some guidance? Schedule your 15-minute call or a strategy session with me.
Once you determine what needs doing to achieve your goal/vision, Go. All. In. If there is one thing that the last few years have shown us, we’ve no idea what the future will bring and the only economy/resource we can count on is the one we create ourselves.
What economy are you creating?
I’m Sandra Martini, sharing lessons learned from over 18 years as a business owner partnering with B2B and B2C clients in solving retention and profitability issues while optimizing recurring revenue streams. Get actionable insights and practical training through our Get It Done Right Program at https://smartini.lpages.co/community/
