Welcome to part 4 of the Path to Predictable Profits Series! In this series, we’ve walked through the essential strategies to grow a predictably profitable business to $5K+ per month. Here’s a recap of what we’ve gone over so far:
1: How to Start a Business (And Get Paying Clients ASAP)
2: What to Focus on FIRST with the Ultimate Business Growth Checklist
3: How Designing a Baseline Revenue Gets You Paid Every Single Month
Now, if you haven’t read the previous posts in this series, then I highly suggest following the links above to make sure you’ve laid a solid foundation for growing your business.
Ready? Awesome. Let’s get started!
Statistically, 80% of new businesses are going to fail within the first few years… so how do you make sure that you’re going to beat the odds and succeed?
How do you make sure your business is going to stick it out through the startup stages to get to the success stage where you’re finally making consistent revenue?
It comes down to FOCUS.
In this episode, I’m going to share how you can get more focused so you have to achieve your business goals. It’s all about simplifying your business strategy.
Let’s look at three areas you should simplify to grow a predictably profitable business.
1: Are You Attracting Your Dream Client?
If you are still in stage one and going into stage two of the business growth checklist, you need to be 100% focused on one type of dream client. One kind of dream client who has a particular problem or challenge that you can solve.
I know what you’re thinking, “Rach, but I can serve so many people!”
The problem is, it becomes tough to stand out. It becomes incredibly hard for people to understand who you are and if they’re at the right place if you’re the right person to help them, if it looks like you offer everything for everyone.
I attributed so much of my early success in my business when I started it in 2008 – 2009, as I was under the brand, The Yogipreneur.
That brand conveyed a very clear dream client. People instantly knew when they landed on my website that they were in the right place or not. And that is one of the key catalysts to my business taking off so quickly.
Another example is my client Hannah Branigan, who is an incredible dog trainer. Hannah helps other dog trainers and enthusiasts who want to earn their first medals, their first titles, in obedience training with positive reinforcement.
It’s such a definite, specific niche, which if you happen to be a dog trainer who believes in positive reinforcement, and you love going to these obedience competitions or agility competitions, you land on her website, you know instantly if you are in the right place.
I want to encourage you to start your business with one dream client in mind… and know that your dream client may evolve over time.
That is precisely what has happened for me as I’ve shifted away from the Yogipreneur brand to my personal brand Racheal Cook.
I started getting other people who were not yoga teachers, or their business was not predominantly teaching yoga. And they resonated with what I was saying, and realized they could apply the same concepts to their business.
Starting with a specific type of dream client was the key to gaining momentum quickly in my business.
Ask Yourself: Who are you serving? What problems can you solve for them?
2: Do You Have a Signature Offer?
A mistake for a lot of entrepreneurs and a lot of small businesses? They try to offer too many products and programs and services.
In fact, if you go to their website, it reads like a menu at a restaurant. There are tons of options for how you can work together… but it’s not really clear where to start .
Your potential clients don’t know what you have to offer, what you really do, how you really work, what problem you solve. And that is just one part of the problem.
The second part of the problem is, now, you have got to figure out how to market and sell each of those offers individually.
It takes time to learn how to get it in front of the right people effectively. It takes time to learn how to sell enough of it so that you achieve your revenue goals in your business.
This is why simplifying by growing one signature offering, is such a game-changer.
If you missed the episode all about creating baseline revenue, make sure you go and watch it, because that is what this is all about. This is about creating a signature offer that you get known for.
When you create that signature offer, you simplify so much of your business and marketing strategy.
You learn how to deliver that offer.
Keep in mind – the first time you create a program, the first time you create a product or a service – the first time is not the best it can be.
That comes after the first time you offer that product, program, or service.
Once you get feedback from real clients, then you can update it, improve it, and help your clients get better and better results.
If you watch the entrepreneurial space, it often seems like people are constantly launching something new. They announce a new product, program, or service but then announce a completely different offering the next time.
They never get known for anything, because they are continually launching first drafts.
It’s easy to feel like your offerings aren’t successful if you listen to the online noise raving about six-figure launches or reaching and making millions. It’s easy to feel like if you don’t see those results right away, then you’re doing something wrong.
But getting those kinds of results is about mastery. It’s about committing to making your offering the best it can be so your clients see the kind of results they really want.
It takes time to create it, to edit it, to update it, to tweak it, this is a process.
The best part about committing to making your program or offering the best it can be? You also learn how to market and sell that offer. It becomes easier to promote and sell your offering!
If you’re continually creating new products, new programs, and new services, that means you’re continually writing new sales pages, new email copy, creating new webinars, doing new workshops, doing new challenges, doing new things all the time.
You’re increasing your workload.
Creating one signature offering allows you put the pieces of the puzzle in place that help you achieve your predictable profit plan.
Ask Yourself: What signature offering are you going to double down on and grow to six-figures this year?
3: What Is Your Core Marketing Strategy?
Here’s an opinion that might not be popular… more marketing is not the answer.
We are in a world where all you hear about is marketing and how marketing is going to save your business.
You need to be doing Facebook lives; you need to be writing a newsletter, you need to be blogging, you need to do, like, a list of 40 different things every single week to market your business.
It might seen counterintuitive, but more marketing can quickly become a distraction.
The problem with that is you don’t end up doing anything particularly well… and it’s incredibly hard to stay consistent. And when it comes to marketing, consistency is key to your predictable profit strategy.
Doubling down on a core marketing strategy is one of the smartest moves you can make in your business.
Pick one primary marketing channel for your business. Decide how often you are going to show up on that channel. Create a community around that channel.
In my business, my weekly show Promote Yourself to CEO is my core marketing channel. Everything else that I do is designed to support my weekly shows, attract new people to the show, and nurture the community around that show.
Ask Yourself: What one marketing strategy are you going to double down on? And what are you going to let go of that’s honestly a distraction?
Are You Making Any of These Mistakes?
- Am I focused on one particular type of dream client?
- Am I focused on one particular signature offering that I’m getting known for?
- And am I focused on one core marketing strategy that I can be consistent with?
If you are answering no to any of those things, I want you to make a commitment.
Make a commitment that you’re going to get focused, and stay focused for at least the next six to 12 months.
If you stay focused for the next six to 12 months, and you don’t see results, then chances are, there are some other foundational issues you need to address in your business model (return to the Business Growth Checklist Stage 1).
But we can’t get troubleshoot any foundational issues – we can’t help you figure out if your messaging is off, or if your sales strategy isn’t converting for some reason or another – if you can’t stay focused on these three things.
This has been part 4 of the 6-part series: The Path to a Predictably Profitable Business.
If you’re ready for that consistency, you’re ready to know that your business can support you and your lifestyle with ease, while also helping you do the work that you love – here’s a title summary of what this series has to offer:
1: How to Start a Business (And Get Paying Clients ASAP)
2: What to Focus on FIRST with the Ultimate Business Growth Checklist
3: How Designing a Baseline Revenue Gets You Paid Every Single Month
4: The #1 Mistake Keeping Women Entrepreneurs From A Predictably Profitable Business
5: Do You Have a LEAK In Your Predictable Profit Strategy
6: My Go-To Strategy to Plan for Predictable Profits
If you loved this series – you’ll love The CEO Collective! The CEO Collective is an online mastermind and mentorship experience designed to help you create more sustainable success. Get on the waitlist now!
Keep learning! >>> Check out the next post in this series: Is There a LEAK In Your Predictable Profit Strategy?