Have you got a business or a job?
And the Process to Profit that will set you free
Source: Merbe/Getty Images
Businesses need work. You’ve heard the saying, “Nothing works unless you do”; however there’s a massive difference between doing the work required for a business to run profitably and having the business run you!
It’s a story many business owners are well-acquainted with especially those who have made the transition from a corporate job to a business that keeps them trapped in constant overwhelm and overwork.
It’s the proverbial 6-figure hamster wheel when you finally feel like you’ve got a business that works, but you’re feeling like you’re always going a million miles an hour…
Wondering when you’re going to have a break.
Wondering how you’re going to have to take a pay cut if you don’t keep juggling 20 different ‘jobs’.
Thing is, most entrepreneurs in this situation know they are the bottleneck.
They have fallen into the trap of believing that they are needed 24/7.
They believe only they can do ‘all the things’ in the business that keep it ticking along.
They certainly believe that it’s quicker if they just get it done now.
And most of all, they believe that they simply have “no time” to hire the right peopel or walk them through the right way of doing things.
So they build a business around ONE highly indispensable person – the entrepreneur themselves!
That’s not a business. That’s a job!!
And it’s impossible to scale if you’re stuck in this hamster-wheel existence.
You’ve got to break the circuit otherwise something will break.
I don’t recommend waiting for this to happen, but yes, it’s usually the catalyst for the change that is required.
Here’s what I do recommend you can start with right now.
1. Productise
Source: Harvard Business Review
When you’re so busy doing…well, just everything, it’s overwhelming to think you’ve got MORE to do.
I guarantee this will do just the opposite.
Productising pulls together some of the best elements of your current offer so that you can create an efficient and effective delivery framework.
Productised offers are sold like products, with clearly defined features, benefits and pricing.
This applies equally well to services where your clients still receive a service, but with the appealing predictability of an off-the-shelf product.
Productised offers are repeatable and scalable. This buiness model enables you to grow your income without drastically increasing your expenses as the delivery process can be honed over time to increase efficiency.
Productised offers can be refined over time, enabling your customers or clients to get progressively better results, and faster as your delivery process is optimised.
Productised offers showcase your expertise. You’ve solved for someone’s problem so many times that you can navigate the process better than anyone else.
Need more?
Productised offers are easier to buy. WIth a fixed price and known deliverables, it’s a transparent process that delivers a high-quality outcome in a cost-effective manner.
Productised offers can be taken over and managed by someone else if you ever need to step back from being hands-on in the day-to-day.
When you think about your business in terms of productised offers, it becomes exciting to see the opportunities for scale.
2. Process
Automate your marketing and sales processes.
Most entrepreneurs know that they have to automate to increase efficiency, effectiveness and even their margins, and but they often resist the process in the fear that a certain level of intimacy is lost.
That’s understandable to want to maintain the connection and sense of community. It’s possible when you automate but retain a human touch.
Automation ultimated creates a consistent, repeatable marketing and conversion process that works with or without you.
When you do this right you’ll start to see a lift in revenue that you can continue to optimise for higher profits or reinvest for higher growth.
Some of the key steps for automating your marketing and sales processes you might already be familiar with and area already utilising in your business:
- Identify your target audience: Before automating your marketing and sales processes, you need to have a clear understanding of your target audience. This will help you create personalised and relevant marketing messages for your entire customer journey.
- Develop a marketing funnel: A marketing funnel is a series of steps that a potential customer goes through before making a purchase. Automating your marketing funnel can help you capture leads, nurture them with email marketing and convert them into customers.
- Implement a CRM system: A customer relationship management (CRM) system can help you manage customer interactions and automate sales processes with lead scoring, lead nurturing, and sales follow-up.
- Monitor and optimise: It’s important to monitor your marketing and sales automation processes and optimise them for better results with analytics tools to track your website traffic, email open rates, and conversion rates. A/B testing allows you to test different variations of your marketing messages and see what works best.
If this sounds like a lot of work, I’ll be honest, it can be.
But the good news is this is support is readily available. Book a call with one of our team to see how we can help you 2-3X your business by automating your marketing and sales processes.
3. People
Develop A Specialist Team for Delivery and Management
Once you’ve productised and automated, as much as possible, then you can start building teams around the delivery and management of your business.
Note: It’s done in this sequence because only at this stage will you be clear about the roles and responsibilities needed.
- You can then focus on hiring the right people who don’t just have the technical skills and experience but are also passionate about your mission and share your values.
- You’ll be able to provide the right training and support because you know what your team need to deliver your productised offers and manage the systems that have been created.
- You’ll be able to set clear goals and expectations that go hand in hand with building a culture of accountability.
- With these important elements in place you’ll be able to empower your team to make the right decisions and take ownership of their work, moving the business forward towards your vision.
Developing the people within your business is a critical step in scaling a business.
This phase done well, effectively frees you up from the daily grind and creates a business that no longer relies on your personal efforts to generate results.
This is ultimately the work we do as entrepreneurs …
We work on our business by systematically productising, building processes and leading the people required to help us run the business.
You can build a highly profitable business with this approach working just 2-3 hours per day.
It’s a simple but very effective business model, because…
✅ Effective systems are repeatable and scalable
✅ Effective teams don’t drain your time or energy
✅ Decision by trackable numbers = Oversight. Not overwhelm
This level of ease and flow may not feel like it’s possible right now, but it’s all within reach with the right mindset shift and the right guidance to start.
When you’re ready to elevate yourself out of your business, we’re here to help you make that transition. More on our system to do that here.
