When you already have a product or service to sell, you only need two things to run a profitable business. You need:
1) A method for attracting new prospects
2) A scalable system for converting those prospects into profitable clients and customers
And that’s it.
Get these two things right and I believe you can reach the six figure mark. And if you master it, you could probably do more, and yes, Be The Exception.
Get them wrong and you’re toast.
When I talk to entrepreneurs, instinctively they know this. They know they need to attract prospects and convert them into clients and customers…
…but I find they spend their time on things that they either a) things that don’t matter or b) things that they don’t control.
And this is true for both new and experienced business owners.
I’ll explain…
Things That Don’t MatterThings That You Don’t Control
Last year, I was considering an expensive move to a top tier email service provider. I told myself it was vital for my business until a friend gave me a proverbial slap in the face. “You don’t need that yet,” he said.
A top tier email service provider, the one Fortune 500 companies use, would have been nice…
…but when I ran the numbers, how much did I really stand to profit from the move? I couldn’t calculate it, and when I compared it to other things I could spend my time on, I knew it was a huge mistake.
What’s funny is, at first, I lied to myself. I said, “Social Triggers is a seven figure business! What I do is different. I NEED THIS!”
But I made the same mistake that many business owners make when they’re looking to generate their first six or seven figures. I was about to waste my time on something that doesn’t matter.
And that’s a problem. You see, when you’re building your business solo (or even with a small team), you must be RUTHLESS with how you spend your time. You don’t have much, and you must make every second count.
You might be tempted to get the perfect web design, split test your landing pages, create 100 social media accounts, and more…
…but that would be a mistake.
Can this lead to new clients and customers?
Maybe.
If you’re getting a flood of prospects who go to your website, and then say, “Hey, I’m not hiring you because your web design stinks,” then yes, maybe you need a new web design.
But chances are that’s not happening. And that’s why you’re better off spending your time on things that WILL lead to new clients and customers.
(Especially if you’re still looking for those first six figures).
And in my experience, that means you need: 1) a reliable – and repeatable – method for attracting new prospects and 2) A scalable – and effective – method for converting those prospects into profitable clients and customers.
That’s it.
I’ll cover in more detail later this week. So keep your eyes peeled.
But first, before you commit to what I’m about to share with you, you must be willing to table things that don’t matter so you have the time to execute on things that do matter.
And that leads me to…
As of January 1st, Facebook declared war against anyone who wants to use their business Facebook page – the page they built with their time and money – to promote their business.
I don’t fault them for that. It’s their platform. They make the rules. But this change likely HURT a lot of business owners.
And that’s because they spent their time on something they don’t control.
You see, they had the illusion of control. “If I just put the time in, this thing will pay off.” But what they didn’t realize was that they were building their house next to a volcano, and that volcano was about to bury them. And bury them it did.
As another example, Rachel Scott, an entrepreneur who sells services, had a huge problem. In her words, “I recently lost my biggest referral partner who had been referring 30% of my clients. It was really a wakeup call that my referrals could disappear at any time.”
And while this is a little less obvious, Rachel also relied on something she didn’t control… the referrals people sent her business.
As a business owner, we’re lucky to have any referrals. And sure, we can make strides to try and generate referrals, but at the end of the day, we’re still relying on some third party that we do not control…
…and that’s a mistake.
When you want to build your business, you MUST focus your time on things that you control 100%. Things like the content YOU create, the content YOU promote, the sales copy YOU write, the sales calls YOU make, the activity that leads directly to revenue in your pocket.
And that’s exactly what Rachel did. She said, “I really needed to diversify and find more ways to attract clients to my brick and mortar business through my website…” And when she focused on just that, she said, “my new approach got a client signed up for my highest priced $1200 package.”
But I’ll share more on what she did later this week. For right now, before we focus on what you should do, we need to stop you from spending time on things that don’t matter and things that you don’t control.
Doing this first will give you the time and space you need to start doing things that do matter.
So, for right now, here’s what I want from you:
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