Imagine if there was a proven, step-by-step method to take your business from wherever it is now to the point where it was a cash-generating machine that could work entirely without you!
There’s no need to imagine anymore. Here it is!
The Ultimate Business Recipe: How to Cook a Profitable Enterprise Without Burning It Down
The 7 Proven Principles to Business Success will overcome whatever limitation you have. Think of it as a recipe for business success. All you have to do is, first of all, learn what the seven principles are and then apply them in order. When you follow this recipe, all of your challenges will fade away.
Why do you own a business? Isn’t it because you want a lifestyle? You didn’t intend to work long hours, be stressed, have little time off and be hassled with staff and customers, did you?
Embracing Change: Because Stagnation is Just So Last Century
Isn’t it time you made some changes for the better? After all, if you want to change some things in your life, you must change some things. If you’re ready for a change, here’s the magic recipe you must follow.
Principle 1: Work on yourself to understand people.
Business is all about people, isn’t it? You have them as customers and employ them, but few people have realised the absolute key to success is understanding people at a much higher level. Your sales and marketing skills are determined by what you know about people. Your leadership skills with your staff to get them to perform as well as you do is determined by your knowledge on people.
So what’s the best way to learn about other people? Easy, learn about yourself! You’re a people and the more you learn about yourself, the more you automatically learn about other people.
Principle 2: Learn business success principles.
There are so many principles to business success, but I’ll emphasise just a few. One is, you’re in business to make a profit, not just turnover. Turnover is a job, whereas profit gives you a LIFESTYLE. Your aim should be to increase your net profit percentage of turnover, as this allows you to grow and pay yourself whatever you desire.
Net Profit percentage comes from improving everything you do, not just doing more of what you already do. How you answer the phone, greet people face to face, write your ads, and improve your communication and leadership with your staff. All of these are areas to improve.
Another principle of business success is cash flow. Cash flow means having the cash in your bank account that should be in your bank account. If customers cost you money before you get any back, that’s negative cash flow; if you get cash before you incur a cost, that’s positive cash flow. The better you get money upfront with deposits and get people to pay on time, the better your cash flow.
On Business Success Principles:
“Remember, in business, it’s profit over turnover. In other news, the water is still wet, and the sky is blue.”
Principle 3: Set goals and have a plan to achieve them.
Until you set a goal, you don’t have a reason WHY you will improve your business therefore, the HOW doesn’t matter. People have to know why before how. You’ll want to know how to grow your business once you have set a written goal.
The Secret Sauce of Strategy: Because Common Sense Isn’t So Common
Principle 3 unveils the mystical realm of setting goals. It’s like finding a treasure map where ‘X’ marks the spot of common sense.
When you have a goal, it’s time to look at the relevant strategies for your business, I know of over 300 strategies, but most people only think of about a dozen. Strategies are like tools. If you build a house with just a hammer, a saw, and nails, you will build it for a long time. Business is the same.
When people don’t know what strategies are available or suitable to them, how can they effectively grow their businesses?
A Business Growth Plan is the order of implementing those strategies, beginning with the highest priority strategy. When you have documented goals for 3, 6, 9, 12 and 24 months with a list of strategies, you have a Business Growth Plan that makes growing your business EASY!
Principle 4: Turn your staff into a TEAM.
Unfortunately, business owners are trying to do it all on their own. They often don’t train their team regularly with team meetings or one-on-one allocated time every week. You have one role as a business owner: to be a great teacher! Your aim should be to teach everyone in your business how to do everything you currently do better than you do! And what does that then make you? Obsolete!
On Building a TEAM:
“Turning your staff into a TEAM is the business equivalent of a caterpillar turning into a butterfly. Except here, the butterfly learns to do your taxes, bringing sales in and some other cool stuff.”
When business owners think no one can do their job as well as me, they are digging a big hole for themselves that they will never get out of. Then they wonder why they are stressed, tired, and work long hours, which happens increasingly as the business grows. TEAM stands for – with the Training Everyone Achieves More!
Principle 5: Build foundations for growth.
On Foundations for Growth:
“Building foundations for your business? It’s like preparing for a moon landing, but instead, you’re just selling homemade cookies.”
If you want to build your business to provide a lavish lifestyle, you must put foundations in, just like any building. You don’t need foundations if you don’t intend to increase your profits. You must have firm foundations if you want to seriously increase your net profit percentage (even without increasing turnover).
“When they build a skyscraper, they don’t build up; they dig a big hole down.”
The foundations of business are 2 things. First, having documented systems. A system is the best way of doing something everyone knows and uses that has been identified and written down. It helps consistency and efficiency, and as you grow, people are accountable to the systems, not to you, the owner. That means you save time checking on everyone. Systems only work when you have worked with your staff to turn them into a TEAM.
Secondly, measuring everything is part of building foundations. If you haven’t measured your Key Performance Indicators, how will you improve on them? Increasing Net Profit percentage of turnover comes from improving everything you currently do, remember?
I could write a book on measuring; it’s so important, I can’t emphasise it enough. When you’ve measured all your KPIs, you’re ready for…
Principle 6: Implement EFFECTIVE Sales and Marketing.
Everyone in business is already doing sales and marketing, but how effective is it? When you have effective sales and marketing, here’s how: You won’t get so many price shoppers as your marketing team has already “sold” them on buying from you. Your marketing is so effective you only have to run it a third as much because you can’t handle the increase in customers it brings you. And you’ll know your sales and marketing is effective because you put your prices up 20% and increase your conversion with the price rise!
People in business don’t take responsibility for their sales and marketing, and as a result, they don’t get the desired results. If you learn sales and marketing by paying a professional for a few months, it will be your best investment. Once you learn the principles of success, you can add to them yourself, but often, you need an expert to get you started.
Principle 7: Manage the business.
Unfortunately, businesses aren’t managed well at all. You can tell by these examples… decisions aren’t based on numbers, there aren’t documented systems, regular weekly team meetings aren’t happening, nor is weekly one-on-one team training.
Management is all of the above; it’s making decisions on numbers. e.g. you measure how many customers you serve in a week for each team member, measure the number of new customers each week, and then work out how your team can service 5 customers each week. That means if your marketing can produce 5 new customers and you’re at maximum service capacity, you need to think about getting a new team member very soon.
“This is what management is: training your team weekly, documenting systems, measuring numbers, making decisions on numbers, setting goals, and helping your team achieve their own.”
Effective management involves a range of activities that aim to improve the performance and productivity of a team. These activities include regular team training sessions to enhance their skills and knowledge, documenting processes and procedures to ensure consistency and clarity, measuring and analysing key performance indicators to make informed decisions, setting realistic and achievable goals to motivate the team, and providing support and guidance to help team members achieve their individual goals.
Create a positive work environment that fosters growth and success for the team and the organisation.
Business team giving a high five
From Zero to Hero: The Magical Business Principles That Will (Probably Not) Turn You Into a Billionaire Overnight
When you dedicate time to learning and then following all 7 Principles, in the order above, anything is possible. I’ve had clients increase their monthly turnover by 1,000% in just 5 months when the business wasn’t growing at all, and the owners did it with ease and grace, no stress at all!
What’s your growth potential? Do you realise it yet? You may not grow as fast as possible if you’re not growing at 50%-100% a year!
Benefits To You
Having solid foundations for business growth is essential for success as it provides several benefits, such as:
- Increased efficiency: When you have documented systems and processes, you can quickly identify areas for improvement and streamline your operations.
- Better decision-making: By clearly understanding your business goals and priorities, you can make informed decisions aligning with your vision.
- Improved scalability: Strong foundations allow you to scale your business without compromising quality or efficiency. This is important if you want to grow your business sustainably.
- Increased profitability: By improving your net profit percentage and cash flow, you can increase your profitability and enjoy a better lifestyle.
That’s the full crescendo of this financial rock opera, my friend! Remember, adopting these 7 principles is not just about avoiding mistakes; it’s about taking control of your financial destiny. Embrace the power chords, keep rocking, and watch your business hit the highest notes on the chart of success. Now, go out there and make some financial noise!
Rock on, financial rockstar!