If your business was perfect in every way, what would it look like?
Not many people actually ask themselves that question, yet it’s extremely important for you to know what you are aiming for; your gold standard, if you like. In today’s post, I’m going to show you how to get a lot closer to your ideal business and the results you want.
Let’s start by breaking that opening question down a bit, so that it’s easier for us to actually work on!
What would my client list look like now, if it was perfect in every way?
Many of you work with people that are a pain in the ass or who pay you too little or both. This is not something you have to put up with. In fact, I would make it a top priority for you to fire your bad clients and replace them with people who fit your ideal client profile. I love working with my clients. I hand-pick them, which means I only work with great people. I actually look forward to working with them, which means “work” for me is extremely pleasurable and professionally rewarding.
Decide who you want to work with and adjust your marketing accordingly, so that it attracts inquiries from the kind of people you want to work with. If your marketing is currently attracting people who don’t value your time, change it.
What would my working week look like, if it was perfect in every way?
Most small business owners spend the majority of their waking hours working. Many have areas of their business, which cause them stress or leave them feeling unrewarded. Others work way too many hours. Some suffer with both! Now, even if you love what you do, working for too many hours is a bad move; especially if you have family or friends that you know you don’t spend enough time with.
Draw up a plan of what your ideal working week would look like, if it was perfect in every way. Think about commercial activities that need to be done, but which you could delegate to someone else. Even if you have no employees, you can outsource things that frustrate you or take up too much of your time. For example, it’s often a lot less expensive to hire someone to do your accounts correctly, than for you to have to either work late or neglect areas of your business, trying to get the numbers right.
What would my finances look like, if they were perfect in every way?
In other words, what turnover and profit figure would you like to achieve, in order to have the lifestyle and security you want? Now, here’s a second, even tougher question to ask yourself:
“How realistic is it, for me to expect my current method of business to generate that figure?”
I speak with small business owners all the time, who are working their butts off, yet earning nothing like what they should be. There are 2 main reasons for this:
- They are working hard, doing the wrong things extremely well. If they are missing key points out of their marketing or business development, no matter how hard they work, they will reach a very low income ceiling and stay there until they do something about it.
- They are doing the right things, but incorrectly. Some business owners have the basics of business development in place, but their implementation is poor. For example, they know they need to be using content marketing, so they get a blog, write some marketing emails etc – But they do it incorrectly.
If you currently work hard and are not seeing the results you want, I can assure you that you fit into one of those 2 groups. Thankfully, once you get the specialist help you need, all that hard work can be channelled in the right direction and you can start seeing the bankable results you want.
The great thing about running your own business, is that you get to decide how your business is run.