If there is one thing you should do to skyrocket your business...

[Speed112]

Have you stopped to think about it recently?

What's one thing you have failed to do but KNOW that it would skyrocket your business? If only it would just happen.

You don't know what you don't know, so I'm not asking about some random ephemeral thing that's missing.

But the one thing you've seen as a big driver of success and is within your grasp, but for one reason or another, you've not done.

What's your honest excuse?

In my case, it has to be "focus", in the shadow of Gates and Buffet.

But I don't necessarily mean focusing on one activity or discipline, but focusing on the right audience and one of their particular pains. Distilling what I'm doing. Finding my niche. Specializing.

Because I've always been quite a generalist. I've been jumping around activities, industries, fields of study. That helps with copywriting, as general knowledge and a broad outlook on life and the world makes for better writing...
But it sucks when building a solid business, and makes scaling a nightmare.

Specifically, I can't really identify a subgroup of people I relate to in particular, since I want to help pretty much everyone. And I can't really identify a particular problem I can solve from a specialist perspective, as my skillset is so broad.

My solution I'm exploring but haven't committed to yet is to go down ideological lines. Narrow down my focus to people who primarily value freedom and niche the wrapper, rather than the expertise. Not 100% on how it's gonna go yet.

It's something I gotta do, though.

So how about you guys?

@MTF @Andy Black @Black_Dragon43 What's your take on this?

I've seen people struggling with idea validation recently, so maybe learning how to quickly test things and move on is one thing.

Others have been looking to reach a wider audience and monetize their work -> content?...

What is the next piece of the puzzle that will reveal the bigger picture for you?

And why haven't you fit the piece in yet?

Let me know because I'm really curious about the one thing YOU should do.

 

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[Woosah]

When it comes to my eCommerce/distribution business, probably have to say is being more productive around hiring/training salespeople. That's the one thing that's kept us from scaling to the next level.

When it comes to the coaching/consulting business, I relate to yours. Having a wide range of interests has equipped me with a broad spectrum of knowledge and skills, which has helped me to reach a lot of different kinds of people and help them with various things, but getting to the next level is going to require specializing.

In life, I'd say is being more assertive in pushing my own plans forward. Being understanding of other people's situations and lenient is starting to cost me. For example, I have a storage shed in my yard that a friend's stuff is in, but I also have a separate storage unit at a facility that I pay for. My friend is now fully capable of renting his own storage unit and moving his stuff there but has been "too busy" to get his stuff out so I can empty out my paid unit and bring my stuff to my shed. An extra $450 a month I shouldn't be paying now that my friend has a job and can get a storage unit for himself.

 

[Black_Dragon43]

Well, as I always say, my biggest problem is lack of FOCUS - meaning what should I be putting most of my energy on? What should I let go of?

In the past 1 year or so I’ve been doing too many things at once, which means in many ways that I’m standing still. I never feel like there is enough time in the day.

 

[Andy Black]

Ha. I should probably spend less time in the forum. But I can’t help myself.

In all seriousness though, I should probably stop selling courses and focus on productised services.

 

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[Itizn]

Not going "all-in" on marketing
Working on improving that though.

 

[Black_Dragon43]

Ha. I should probably spend less time in the forum. But I can’t help myself.

In all seriousness though, I should probably stop selling courses and focus on productised services.

Courses are hard to sell aren’t they @Andy Black ?

 

[MitchC]

Ha. I should probably spend less time in the forum. But I can’t help myself.

In all seriousness though, I should probably stop selling courses and focus on productised services.

This is an interesting answer, not that I’d ever thought about it but I’d say you’re 100% right.

Have you got a progress thread for this? I think I’ve heard you say you don’t really have much of a website etc you just work on referral?

I think you could read 100m offers and take the approach in there to a productised service and really have some scale and impact.

On this subject, someone sent me a video the other day of Sam ovens. He’s been away a while and he’s back, I’m not sure how true it is and I’m questioning it because it’s almost unbelievable, but he basically said he was making no money even though he had scaled his course to the moon ($30m a year maybe?). He’s back now with some software.

Alex Becker did the same, switched from courses to software. I guess really that’s even the course selling guru king himself russel Brunsons main business model.

As for my one thing, after reading the op I think it hit me, I think I need to work on providing a more valuable and expensive product/offer. My aov is around $60. I’m reading 100m offer at the moment and it’s something I’m working on. But I’ve definitely been distracted with other business ideas, different ad platforms and channels, scaling ads, optimising ads and website, and the idea of scaling internationally. All those things help and are good but really, I think I need to focus on this first.

 

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[MTF]

Super cool question. It shows that we usually know what we should do, yet for some reason choose not to do it.

I have a few things in mind but I think that the main ones are:

1. Build better relationships - I'm a lone wolf by nature and want to figure out everything by myself. But I bet I could grow way faster if I found people who have achieved what I want to achieve and listen to them. This is what I do in my personal life (I have several coaches for different things I'm learning) but I don't do it enough in business.

2. Build a personal brand - not sure about it as I really don't care about online "fame." I'd rather have solid relationships with top players but not necessarily be known to everyone else. Still, I can't deny that it would probably help a lot. At the same time, it could have a negative impact on my lifestyle so I'm conflicted about this one.

@Fox curious about your answer.

 

[Andy Black]

Courses are hard to sell aren’t they @Andy Black ?

I don’t know. I’ve not really tried to sell mine. I placed a couple of marketplace ads and I get some sales via word-of-mouth. I’ve probably averaged $1k/mth in course sales for the last 5 years.

I haven’t tried to scale because it’s not as passive as I’d like it to be. I have a community backend to it and I get asked questions regular enough. I love helping people but they’re only paying $25/mth.

Plus, people who buy courses to DIY it are a very different market than those who pay for a DFY service. So I’m splitting my time serving two different markets with two different types of products.

The way I’m currently doing it seems like trying to catch two rabbits.

 

[Andy Black]

Build a personal brand - not sure about it as I really don't care about online "fame." I'd rather have solid relationships with top players but not necessarily be known to everyone else. Still, I can't deny that it would probably help a lot. At the same time, it could have a negative impact on my lifestyle so I'm conflicted about this one.

Contrary to what some might believe, I’m not trying to grow a big personal brand. My forum and social media handles are all the same, with the same avatar.

It helps when people referred to me go online and check up on me. Google for “andy black google ads” to see what I mean.


Some have said I *should* set out to become THE Google Ads Guy on YouTube, except that’s not how I currently get business and I’m more than busy enough as it is.

Plus that’s been on my task list for years and I’ve not done anything about it - so I blatantly don’t care enough to do it.

I do like figuring stuff out (hence all the progress threads) but don’t always want to get traction with them. (What can I say… I’m a geek. My excuse is that it helps me help my clients more when I’ve actually had a go at various things I talk about.)

 

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[Edgar King]

Well, as I always say, my biggest problem is lack of FOCUS - meaning what should I be putting most of my energy on? What should I let go of?

I've found making progress on achieving a long term goal is about putting one foot forward in the right direction.

How I'd do it is to first write down a SMART goal. This goal must be specific, measurable, achievable, relevant, and time bound.

Then, I write down the key milestones (events) that would logically lead to this goal being achieved while also being SMART goals.

Then I break down these milestones to a few key tasks I'd have to do to achieve these given a logical time frame to achieve them.

This way, I can ask if the action I'm about to do is in line with achieving this task, and therefore hone in on the actions that move the needle.

Every day, I can then dedicate just an hour or more to achieving these tasks, because if I do that, it'd be inevitable to reach the milestones, and therefore, my big goal. if I do get stuck achieving this task, I set about a few minutes from the time available, to find out the reasons I'm not moving froward on it, and focus on solving these mini tasks to solve this task. Else, I'd be stuck on that task forever.

A little step every day, goes a long way after all. This way, I'm always moving forward no matter what.

 

[Speed112]

This is an interesting answer, not that I’d ever thought about it but I’d say you’re 100% right.

Have you got a progress thread for this? I think I’ve heard you say you don’t really have much of a website etc you just work on referral?

I think you could read 100m offers and take the approach in there to a productised service and really have some scale and impact.

On this subject, someone sent me a video the other day of Sam ovens. He’s been away a while and he’s back, I’m not sure how true it is and I’m questioning it because it’s almost unbelievable, but he basically said he was making no money even though he had scaled his course to the moon ($30m a year maybe?). He’s back now with some software.

Alex Becker did the same, switched from courses to software. I guess really that’s even the course selling guru king himself russel Brunsons main business model.

As for my one thing, after reading the op I think it hit me, I think I need to work on providing a more valuable and expensive product/offer. My aov is around $60. I’m reading 100m offer at the moment and it’s something I’m working on. But I’ve definitely been distracted with other business ideas, different ad platforms and channels, scaling ads, optimising ads and website, and the idea of scaling internationally. All those things help and are good but really, I think I need to focus on this first.

Yeah It's quite interesting. I've perused the idea of having a course and I've bought a whole bunch of courses myself over the year, worked with people to help them sell their own courses, etc.

It's VERY HARD. This form of intangibles, even when you do it right and it ends up working, is just hardmode.

So I never truly considered the option for myself.

If I'm going to do something like that, it would have to be a really high-ticket program with multiple modules and a lot of things I can delegate and scale, with certifications and actual tangibles. Like a MBA. Collab with some institute or slowlane university for leverage and authority.

Sounds like a chore.

1. Build better relationships 2. Build a personal brand

Hey that's what I'm doing! Haha. Although better relationships would be with my clients. I'm way too transactional and don't keep in touch with people as much as I should, so my business relationships are ephemeral usually.

My attempt to niche down is through a personal brand, but I have to overcome some things along the way.

 

[Black_Dragon43]

I've found making progress on achieving a long term goal is about putting one foot forward in the right direction.

How I'd do it is to first write down a SMART goal. This goal must be specific, measurable, achievable, relevant, and time bound.

Then, I write down the key milestones (events) that would logically lead to this goal being achieved while also being SMART goals.

Then I break down these milestones to a few key tasks I'd have to do to achieve these given a logical time frame to achieve them.

This way, I can ask if the action I'm about to do is in line with achieving this task, and therefore hone in on the actions that move the needle.

Every day, I can then dedicate just an hour or more to achieving these tasks, because if I do that, it'd be inevitable to reach the milestones, and therefore, my big goal. if I do get stuck achieving this task, I set about a few minutes from the time available, to find out the reasons I'm not moving froward on it, and focus on solving these mini tasks to solve this task. Else, I'd be stuck on that task forever.

A little step every day, goes a long way after all. This way, I'm always moving forward no matter what.

That's all well and good, but how do you pick the right goal/path? You see, when you're first getting started with something, your options are very limited, and it's easy to pick a goal. But for me, I could work on scaling my agency, I could work on taking my agency in a new direction, I could work on building a world-class podcast, I could work on building a personal brand, I could work on a different business altogether, and so on. Money isn't pressing me, so what should I do? What should I focus on? I obviously can't fulfill ALL goals, there have to be some things that you let go of to focus more fully on others. On the other hand I do want to make as much money as possible and fill up my coffers till overflow

 

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[Edgar King]

That's all well and good, but how do you pick the right goal/path? You see, when you're first getting started with something, your options are very limited, and it's easy to pick a goal. But for me, I could work on scaling my agency, I could work on taking my agency in a new direction, I could work on building a world-class podcast, I could work on building a personal brand, I could work on a different business altogether, and so on. Money isn't pressing me, so what should I do? What should I focus on? I obviously can't fulfill ALL goals, there have to be some things that you let go of to focus more fully on others. On the other hand I do want to make as much money as possible and fill up my coffers till overflow

In that case, what's your why? What does your dream life look like? Can you get really clear on it?

Maybe it's loads of money after a multi million dollar exit.

Maybe it's making boatloads of money while you're sipping a drink on the beach.

Maybe it's as simple as having a vineyard.

What goal(s) do you have to achieve to get that?

Then double down on those, and cut out the rest that don't lead you closer to your dream life.

 

[Black_Dragon43]

In that case, what's your why? What does your dream life look like? Can you get really clear on it?

That’s the thing… that’s not always easy to predict in advance. When you’re struggling to put food on the table, your why is easy - i want to get rid of the pain.

But when you’re not in a painful state, what will make you happier is HARD to know. I can form some images sure… Yeah, I’d like to own a yacht, fill up my coffers, wake up and never have to work another day, make a dent in the universe bla bla. It’s not hard to dream… But the question remains, will that really make me happy? I for one am not very good at predicting what will make me happy. Many times I’ve thought that achieving XYZ would make me happy and when I finally got it, it was lackluster.

Then double down on those, and cut out the rest that don't lead you closer to your dream life

And this part isn’t easy either, because there are multiple ways up the mountain. For example, I could make $100M with a podcast - look at Joe Rogan. I could make it with a lead gen business - look at Alex Hormozi. I could do it woth a SaaS. I could do it with an agency. Everything I’m involved in almost could get me there. Still, picking one path to the exclusion of others is something I haven’t yet managed to do, though every day I’m looking for ways to integrate them into potentially one big thing.

When you’re in a painful state, things are easier. You just pick the most convenient, fastest way to get rid of the pain. Because you’re not concerned about happiness, just avoiding pain. But when there is no pain, and you’re trying to maximize happiness, it’s much harder.

Just my experience.

 

[Andy Black]

Have you got a progress thread for this?

I've waaay too many progress threads. Do you mean for a productised service, or ... ?

I think I’ve heard you say you don’t really have much of a website etc you just work on referral?

For years andyblack(.)net was a redirect to my LinkedIn profile. If someone reached out to me I'd email them from andy@andyblack(.)net knowing they'd likely check out my website.

I've changed it to be a list of links, and links to some of my social media profiles.

I picked up a new consulting client last week and that was all via a referral and conversation over Facebook messenger. We've not even spoken over the phone or hopped on Zoom.

 

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[Andy Black]

I don't know if this thread is related:

• How to get unstuck

 

[Andy Black]

I've waaay too many progress threads. Do you mean for a productised service, or ... ?

@MitchC ... I posted something in one of my INSIDERS progress threads here.

 

[Edgar King]

That’s the thing… that’s not always easy to predict in advance. When you’re struggling to put food on the table, your why is easy - i want to get rid of the pain.

But when you’re not in a painful state, what will make you happier is HARD to know. I can form some images sure… Yeah, I’d like to own a yacht, fill up my coffers, wake up and never have to work another day, make a dent in the universe bla bla. It’s not hard to dream… But the question remains, will that really make me happy? I for one am not very good at predicting what will make me happy. Many times I’ve thought that achieving XYZ would make me happy and when I finally got it, it was lackluster.


And this part isn’t easy either, because there are multiple ways up the mountain. For example, I could make $100M with a podcast - look at Joe Rogan. I could make it with a lead gen business - look at Alex Hormozi. I could do it woth a SaaS. I could do it with an agency. Everything I’m involved in almost could get me there. Still, picking one path to the exclusion of others is something I haven’t yet managed to do, though every day I’m looking for ways to integrate them into potentially one big thing.

When you’re in a painful state, things are easier. You just pick the most convenient, fastest way to get rid of the pain. Because you’re not concerned about happiness, just avoiding pain. But when there is no pain, and you’re trying to maximize happiness, it’s much harder.

Just my experience.

What do you forego if you don't achieve these goals? 3 years from now, 5 years from now and even 10 years?

Maybe there's no pain. But if you think you'd regret not achieving any of these in that time period, I'd reckon that's the fire under your belly you can use to motivate yourself to achieve these goals.

But If you're not sure which would make you happier, try them all I'd say! And pick the one you like doing the most, after all, you're already accomplished, you can enjoy life anytime and anyhow you want without the risks

 

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[André Casal]

To be honest, boredom.

I've got my product, marketing and sales nailed down. I'm just bored doing it. Any advice?

 

[Speed112]

To be honest, boredom.

I've got my product, marketing and sales nailed down. I'm just bored doing it. Any advice?

If you're bored doing it... stop doing it? Build a team to do it for you.

If everything is running smoothly then you should be able to standardize the processes and delegate them, or even automate them with some RPA or 3rd party SaaS solution.

The more you can detach from the processes, the more you can focus on scaling the business in other, more creative ways. And if you're detached enough you can prepare yourself for a potential exit as well. So you can solve the boredom by cashing out and investing in a more exciting project.

Interesting issue.

What parts of your business do you find exciting? Can you focus on doing just those and having other people or tools do the boring parts?

Sounds like a very solvable bottleneck.

Good luck!

 

[rdahl]

I've found making progress on achieving a long term goal is about putting one foot forward in the right direction.

How I'd do it is to first write down a SMART goal. This goal must be specific, measurable, achievable, relevant, and time bound.

Then, I write down the key milestones (events) that would logically lead to this goal being achieved while also being SMART goals.

Then I break down these milestones to a few key tasks I'd have to do to achieve these given a logical time frame to achieve them.

This way, I can ask if the action I'm about to do is in line with achieving this task, and therefore hone in on the actions that move the needle.

Every day, I can then dedicate just an hour or more to achieving these tasks, because if I do that, it'd be inevitable to reach the milestones, and therefore, my big goal. if I do get stuck achieving this task, I set about a few minutes from the time available, to find out the reasons I'm not moving froward on it, and focus on solving these mini tasks to solve this task. Else, I'd be stuck on that task forever.

A little step every day, goes a long way after all. This way, I'm always moving forward no matter what.

I totally agree Edgar. I like to add that MJs "My Fastlane Daily" is a great help to keep that focus after the planning has been sorted out and established. It's lika a compass and a chart at the same time.

/Robert

 

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[rdahl]

I've found making progress on achieving a long term goal is about putting one foot forward in the right direction.

How I'd do it is to first write down a SMART goal. This goal must be specific, measurable, achievable, relevant, and time bound.

Then, I write down the key milestones (events) that would logically lead to this goal being achieved while also being SMART goals.

Then I break down these milestones to a few key tasks I'd have to do to achieve these given a logical time frame to achieve them.

This way, I can ask if the action I'm about to do is in line with achieving this task, and therefore hone in on the actions that move the needle.

Every day, I can then dedicate just an hour or more to achieving these tasks, because if I do that, it'd be inevitable to reach the milestones, and therefore, my big goal. if I do get stuck achieving this task, I set about a few minutes from the time available, to find out the reasons I'm not moving froward on it, and focus on solving these mini tasks to solve this task. Else, I'd be stuck on that task forever.

A little step every day, goes a long way after all. This way, I'm always moving forward no matter what.

I totally agree.

I found MJs "My Fastlane Daily" to be a great help to keep focus on "that one thing"! If you follow that process and make a habit of it you wont stray much from your course.

View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2EgdIpa3FLM&t=471s


Thanks, great input, Edgar! I will revise my planning and make muy goals even SMARTER"

/Robert

 

[André Casal]

If you're bored doing it... stop doing it? Build a team to do it for you.

If everything is running smoothly then you should be able to standardize the processes and delegate them, or even automate them with some RPA or 3rd party SaaS solution.

The more you can detach from the processes, the more you can focus on scaling the business in other, more creative ways. And if you're detached enough you can prepare yourself for a potential exit as well. So you can solve the boredom by cashing out and investing in a more exciting project.

Interesting issue.

What parts of your business do you find exciting? Can you focus on doing just those and having other people or tools do the boring parts?

Sounds like a very solvable bottleneck.

Good luck!

I appreciate your input, it made me think!

Let me explain my contextual background. I'm recording technical courses for software engineers. Because of the large body of knowledge required, I don't think I can delegate this task. But the process is very efficient: I just record, review, and upload.

Marketing and sales used to be challenging, and therefore fun, but I don't enjoy them as much anymore. I could delegate marketing and sales and just focus on recording/teaching. I'd welcome advice on how to find good, trustworthy, affiliate marketers.

As for the boredom, I think I'm in a bubble at the moment, doing pretty much the same things every day (working out, reading, recording, going out with friends) and there's little room for serendipity.

I think I need to spice things up a little

 

[Guest-5ty5s4]

Time. If I wanted to scale my product business more, I would get serious about spending more time in person at offline events, like market days, meetups, vendor fairs, trade shows, etc.

I've been busy with life and working for my family's biz instead (seems polygamous, but I don't have equity). But I know that thing has wheels. Just haven't been giving up enough of my weekends.

Nobody wants to spend every weekend driving 3 hours both ways to hawk their products under a canopy, but that has been my number 1 method of selling, getting the word out, and finding wholesale, long term customers (like shops who stock my product).

You can't get around the real work.

 

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[Zwelethu]

Training new employees
Launching a new service - Value proposition