You’re here because you want a successful business, right?
Well, let me start by asking you this. What’s the difference between a successful, profit-making business owner, and one who struggles to pay the bills?
If you answered that the successful business owner is prepared, you’re right!
The popular myth surrounding top entrepreneurs is that they are talented and intuitive mavericks who fly by the seat of their pants.
But in reality, successful businesspeople prepare. They research their industry, their market, their competition, and their own offer… so when an opportunity arises, they can grab it with both hands.
To the casual observer, these opportunities seem like risks. To the entrepreneur, they are calculated business moves!
If you want to be a successful business owner, you’ll have to constantly question your assumptions. Not just about your chosen industry and the market you’re operating in, but your own offer.
Each of the Golden Rules below contains a set of essential questions to ask yourself, so you can help lessen uncertainty and risk and do more of what works…
…all of which will, ultimately, help you increase your business profit.
You’ve got a great business idea, and you work hard. Surely that’s enough to make a profit?
Factors like these are important, but they won’t generate success on their own. Business success is all about creating outputs for the customer, rather than inputs from you, the business owner.
Turn your focus to the people who are most likely to buy your product or service. Why would they? How, exactly, will it benefit them?
‘One size fits all’ isn’t a successful business strategy, so you’ll have to get specific about what works for your target customer (and forget the rest!)
First, ask yourself who they are. Then, why would they buy from you, rather than someone else? What else do they need, and how might you provide it?
Analyse your offer in detail. Are there other customer groups who could benefit from your product or service? Who are they, and where will you find them?
Many businesspeople have to steel themselves to look at what their competitors are up to. What if they’re more successful?
But understanding who else is out there, doing what you do, is a golden opportunity for you to do it better!
So, take a deep breath, and get researching. Where are your competitors, and what exactly do they do?
How does your product or service compare… are there any tweaks you could use to make it better, or more unique?
You may have heard of SWOT and PESTLE before.
If not, they are extremely useful tools you can use to analyse and understand your business market.
SWOT helps you identify Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats for your business, while PESTLE looks at Political, Economic, Social, Technological, Legal, and Environmental impacts in the wider market.
Start by grabbing a piece of paper, and try to list at least two thoughts under each heading.
If you need any help with this, why not book a Breakthrough Session so we can talk about it?
Pricing can be one of the toughest decisions business owners make.
But there are some questions that will help you find the right price points. First: which of your products or services make the most profit? Could you raise the price on those now? Which ones could you increase the prices for over time?
Don’t forget to analyse the purchasing patterns of your ideal customer, so you can feel confident about providing them with the right product or service, at the right price.
Do you know how many customers you need to meet your annual turnover target?
(In my experience, it’s surprising how many business owners don’t!)
If not, get a calculator and start crunching those numbers.
You should also think about how much your business costs to run – things like website maintenance, marketing, and professional memberships all count.
Your financial targets should consider the amount you need to make in order to both cover these costs, and have some money to live on.
Now it’s time for some brutal honesty!
Go through your products and services. Are any of them under-performing?
If so, they should be dropped, NOW.
Getting rid of ‘dead wood’ means you can give your time and energy to the products and services that your customers love the most (and the ones that make you the most profit!)
Although this is by no means an exhaustive list, following these Golden Rules should help you plan and prepare for business success.
If you need help answering some of the questions, why not book a complimentary, half-hour Breakthrough Session, and we can talk them through together?