Deciding Where To Take Your Business? Look Here 1st!
Business ideas are super easy to come by. But what do you do with them once you have them? First - we have to take a look at what is happening in your business today. We have to know what’s going on and where to build from, and what works best for you.
Are you like me? Do you settle into an evening and think about the day that just passed? The future days ahead? This time of year, everyone - and I mean everyone - is thinking about the next year. Will it be more of the same? Or will change really happen? Will you do anything that is exciting??
There’s something about the holiday season that tells us to lapse on life and in business. But man oh man there is also a very strategic power movement happening too.
You know the quote “Work hard in silence, let your success be your noise”? Many entrepreneurs are doubling down today so they can hit the ground running tomorrow. Right now, they are doubling down.
I have had so many conversations like this lately, I want to get you started in the right direction.
First, let’s talk about IDEAS and what to do with them.
Business ideas are super easy to come by. Well, for me they are super easy to come by. I read like a maniac. I work with people in all sorts of fields and industries. I love having the insider knowledge of how businesses operate. I soak it in like others soak in US Weekly. My IT experience had me working with CEOs and CTOs of government agencies and Fortune 500s - even Fortune 100s. We were building kick-*ss systems to keep us safe and to protect our people abroad, to keep Americans healthy - like legit healthy, to help our Vets in very real ways, and yes to also manage hundreds of millions of dollars. Now I get to work with the most amazing entrepreneurs who are not shy about wanting to build build build in this online world. It’s a random combination, but nothing short of a whole lot of fun!
Where to Start? With your Deep-Dive -> Ideas and Needs -> and then your For What & Gut
You know in marketing when people tell you that you have to do the research on your ideal client or figure out your avatar. You nod your head and slightly roll your eyes saying, "yeah yeah, I already know that." Then, not until you have done that actual work do you realize how amazing and important that activity was?
Well, my first steps here are as important to follow through on as figuring out the ideal client and avatar is for the marketer.
First - we have to take a look at what is happening in your business today. We have to know what’s going on and where to build from, what works best for you.
When you take a deep-dive look into your business, you want to be honest. You want to go into the data and write out what is working, what’s not, and where the improvements need to be. How and where you need to improve your business in the current state. Look at your sales, presence, exposure (2 different things), and your purpose. At the end of your review, you will know where you are awesome - where you are rocking it! And quite frankly, where you have room for improvement. Within this review you will also get a clear understanding on what you want - what your ideas and needs are.
For example:
There is this amazing designer out that has an almost 7-figure business strictly through word-of-mouth referral business. 7-figures and no advertising whatsoever. What’s even more amazing is that this designer gets referrals from Billionaire to Billionaire (yes with a B) and from Celeb to Celeb. His work is as gorgeous as the clients are high-end. But get this, the man has no (none, zip, zero) social media presence. No Facebook page. No Twitter account. Has no email list. Has no outreach program. Crazy, right?
It’s so crazy you kind of love that, right?
But listen to this, he also knows he’s losing business because of it. He knows the “younger kids” look to see what he’s doing online and when they see nothing, they move on. He also knows that he’s missed client work and then even partnership opportunities because he has no presence. One of his designer friends, who has a decent social media presence, partnered with another brand to make window coverings.
Boring, right? Not so much.
Not until you hear those window coverings bring in over $10,000 / month.
FOR WINDOW COVERINGS.
That’s real money. That’s less clients you have to take on. Less time out of your busy schedule.
So, you start with an understanding of where you in your business currently, review and understand your needs and does this line up with your "for what"? When you have this information, you understand how to lay the foundation and where you need to build from. Make sense?
You understand how your business is currently operating. You know what you should do. Now what do you want to do? What are your natural extensions? What do your customers want? What do you want to do?
How oh how will you choose?
2 Ways:
- You have to look at the numbers. There is no way around it. Numbers do not lie.
- You have listen to what your gut is saying.
When we run the numbers behind creating a new project or product, we take a look at time, effort, materials, and marketing and we compare that against a conservative and an aggressive sales or impact outlook. You are in the business to make money. Will this effort and investment be worth it?
Where can find quick wins? Where do we want to be long-term?
Let’s say you’re thinking about pulling together booklets, notepads, and stickies! There are short term projects here and there are long term projects here.
When you look at the numbers - customer base? Conservative sales estimate? Margins vs investment? Is the initial design and maintenance worth it to you??
In the short term, this could bring in a few hundred to a few thousand dollars - more even. Is that worth it to you? Then thinking long term, is this a good tool to use for additional customer acquisition?
Could these new products drive traffic to your other products and services? What is the cost acquisition for a low cost product vs a high cost product? What conversion estimates can you determine from one to the other?
For example:
Maybe planners and scratch pads are not thrilling for you, per se, but what if I told you the one-time design and product has KILLER margins. You know there is a reason why you see so many pads and planners in the stores. What if I told you these low-cost items that are sold in the aisles at big box stores account for as much as 30% of their annual revenue and bring in the highest margins. There is a reason why when you’re standing in the checkout line that you’re surrounded by these goodies.
A real, specific reason. People want to BUY more.
THEN, not sure if this is of interest to you, but as an example, I know several specific people who market their lower priced items like the workbook / planner / stickies for revenue AND customer acquisition purposes. Planners and pads bring in revenue yes but they also help create new client relationships from which you can build. These women bring in decent monthly revenue from their products and then also use this as their starting point for a killer sales funnel for their more expensive products and services too. All in all bringing in 7-figures a year.
And then suddenly are you going to look at the sticky pad a little bit differently aren’t you??
(And now you know why I soak in business stories like they are an US Weekly!)
And if you still don't care, that brings me to my final point.
If you just don’t care, then you just don't care, and not a minute more needs to be spent on it... at this time. No effort or time will be worth it. This is when you have to go with your gut. This is when you have to be honest with what excites you, what doesn’t, where you want to spend your time and not.
Everyone has different business ideas, different goals and is coming from a different starting point. The quick wins are different for everyone. The long-term build is similar, but different for everyone.
That’s why I want you to 1) do a deep-dive of understanding into your current business 2) know where the ideas are 3) know what the needs are (from your data) 4) know what really excites you and for what you doing this work for.
Your information, your data, and your gut will tell you, if you listen to it, where oh where you should go next year!
Once you know where you want to go, you have to make room for it! Click here to sign up for my Make Room for Revenue 8 Step Checklist. You don't have to be 1 thing. Not at this stage. Not anymore.