The 3 Things You Need For A Successful Profitable Business
Tell me something…
Did you start your business to lose money? To incur debt and spend your savings?
Of course you didn’t!
You started your business to create a better lifestyle for yourself. And a HUGE part of that is being able to turn a good profit.
The thing about profit is that it doesn’t happen by accident.
There are key things that you need to do to ensure a successful profitable business.
So, what are those key things?
Well, when I work with my clients, there are three key areas that I get them to focus on. And I am going to share them with you today.
Let’s jump in!
Finding A Path Through The Maze When you first started your business, you probably didn’t expect to be where you are now.
If you are anything like my clients, you would have expected to be churning through the sales and raking in the moolah within 6 months of starting out.
Unfortunately, things don’t always pan out that way.
Suddenly, you find yourself one, two or three years into business, feeling utterly overwhelmed by all the things you “should” be doing.
You feel like you should be an expert in everything. Yet there are so many things that you don’t know enough about. It is all too easy to feel like you are trapped in a maze, trying to find the magic way out - the path to a healthy, successful, profitable business.
Do You Know Enough? Clearly, if you can’t find your way out of this maze, you don't know enough, right?
You tell yourself things like...
I'm not qualified enough.
I haven't got enough experience.
I don't have a master's degree in business.
I've never run a profitable business before. Who the heck am I to try and run one now?
You end up in self-sabotage mode before you've even begun.
It's time to stop doing that!
And, you can make it happen by bringing things back to the simplest core elements. Doing this means you can then just focus on the core things you need to have in place in your business, and forget all the other stuff (for now). So, how do you do that? Well, today I wanted to share with you the three things you need in order to have a successful profitable business.
3 Things You Need For A Profitable Successful Business Before we jump into the first of these three things, there is one caveat we need to start with. In order to create a profitable, successful business, you need to have a product or service, that's valuable enough that people are prepared to pay for it. Right? Otherwise, you are simply wasting everyone’s time - yours included.
However, if you offer a service or a product that's valuable to people, that solves a problem and people are prepared to pay for it...
You have a business! Now, how profitable or successful that business is, will depend on the other three components. So here they are, the 3 things you need to be able to do are:
Deliver to and delight your clients
Have a profitable pricing model.
The ability to be able to market and sell your product or service
At first glance, those three points might seem scary. But they are actually quite simple to implement. So, let's go into the three core things in a little bit more detail.
#1 Deliver To And Delight Your Clients
Not all people will put this particular aspect at number one. But for me, being able to deliver a quality experience and a quality service to your clients is a top priority.
Because ultimately, a quality client experience is what keeps them coming back for more, being others with them and being prepared to pay what it's worth!
Spend some time thinking about all the ways that people interact with your business. Will they have a good experience at each step of the journey?
Remember, you are wanting to create raving fans, so think about the things that are important to your clients and where you can deliver the most value. Focus on creating quality service and a quality experience for your clients.
#2 Have A Profitable Pricing Model
Once you have the client experience nailed, it’s time to make sure you are charging the right amount.
It’s one thing to delight your clients, but it isn’t going to be very delightful for you if you’re earning less than minimum wage and working 60 hours a week!
Number two is that you need to have a pricing model that actually generates reliable profit. It's also important that your pricing model enables you to generate reliable profit that doesn't burn you out in the process!
You need to get clear on things like:
What does your ideal work week look like?
How many hours do you want to work?
What salary do you want to earn?
What tasks do you want to outsource?
How long do certain tasks take you to complete?
What's the cost of running your business (aka. overheads)?
What cost of materials, contractors or employees do you need to factor in?
Once you have all of this information on hand, you can use it to set your pricing. That pricing will be at a point where you can deliver your services profitably in a healthy way.
In short, you're creating a sustainable, scalable business.
If you are stuck on how to create this profitable pricing model, then simply reach out to me. This is exactly what I help my clients achieve on a daily basis.
#3 Sell And Market Your Business
Alright, so you are delighting your customers and delighting your own bank account, now you need the third piece of the puzzle.
It's time to get the word out about your business by selling it and marketing it in the right way. When it comes to choosing your clients, you want to pick the ones you love to work with, that you get the best results with, and that understand your value and are willing to pay what you are worth.
As much as we would love them too, those clients aren’t simply going to fall into your lap.
Marketing and selling your business is about getting enough clients in the pipeline and being able to fill your capacity at the right price point. You want to use the right messaging in the right places, to attract your ideal kind of client.
If you can do that, you will be earning reliable, consistent profit in your business, without having to burn out.
Which Thing Is Most Important?
Many people ask me which one of the three things they need to focus on the most. Like, what's the magic bullet?
The truth is, there is no magic bullet.
There is no ONE thing that you need to have in your business in order for it to transform into a profitable, successful machine.
You literally need all three things.
However you don't have to do all three things at once!
As a general rule of thumb, I recommend:
Validate you can delight your customers and get real results
Build a solid pricing model so you know what you can invest, and as you continue to grow you do so without burning out
Scale up by investing in sales and marketing
However everyone is different, so also think about where YOUR knowledge gaps are so you can address those.
Where Should You Start?
When I began my business, I already knew how to deliver. I'd been helping businesses deliver for 20 years. I was confident in my ability to deliver a service and a transformation for people.
Clearly, I knew how to price my services in a way that meant I was able to support my family financially, only working the hours I had available.
For me the gap was, I didn't know how to sell.
I've always been in the background helping transform businesses. I've never been the front line person. Selling is something I've had to learn how to do. For me, in order for my business to be a success, sales and marketing was the area I needed to invest in first.
This might not be the case for you. If you are a social media expert, you probably don’t need to invest in learning how to sell and market your business. You already know how to do that!
In fact, quite a number of my clients are already so good at marketing and selling that they end up having more work than they can handle!
They are providing value for their clients, but they are