Lessons

Lesson Info

Change How You Think About Your Business

Let's talk a lesson one it's time to change the way you think about your business so there is a difference between a business that makes one hundred thousand dollars a year and a business that makes a million dollars a year it's probably not the difference that you think it is the difference between a business that makes one hundred thousand dollars a year and a business that makes a million dollars a year if the a number of checks the business rights, in other words, you've got to spend more to make more now, this may seem a little unrelated to our topic of the day, but this is the key difference you are going to find in being able to shift your mind set into a place where you're ready to invest in creating a product from the service that you're currently offering. The difference between a business that makes one hundred thousand dollars a year and a business that makes a million dollars a year is the amount it's willing to spend. A business that makes one hundred thousand dollars a y...

ear probably writes about fifty thousand dollars in checks, right? Maybe thirty thousand dollars in checks when my business was making about one hundred thousand dollars a year that's about how much I was uh expensing about thirty thousand dollars a year which left me with the really nice salary was more money than I'd ever made in my life it's you it was really exciting and you know what I did? I would fight tooth and nail to hold on to that seventy thousand dollars and that left me for his abundant as I felt on a regular basis that actually left me fighting for my business from a place of scarcity and that was not effective ah business that makes a million dollars a year is probably writing checks in the neighborhood of five hundred thousand to seven hundred and fifty thousand dollars a year now do the math if you're willing to write checks in the neighborhood of five hundred to seven hundred fifty thousand dollars a year that leaves you with two hundred fifty thousand dollars that is a significant pay increase would you like that kind of pay increase? Yes I would my business does not make a million dollars a year but it's on a path to being able to do that and one of the ways I've been able to do that is investing in the products that I create and the marketing systems that I use and getting comfortable with writing bigger and bigger and bigger checks in fact I'm gonna pick on bridget for a second because bridget is a partner with me in quiet power strategy and she last year on this year I have to do it like students we get offstage today. Last year I wrote bridget one single check that was more money than I used to make in a year at my day job it was mind blowing it was I mean, doing that is a mindset shift in it of itself and it's exactly the kinds of things that you need to think about in terms of building a product. Now what I don't want you to get the impression of is that building a product is x expensive because building a product doesn't have to be expensive. This is about shifting the way you think about your business so that you're able to build that product because right now the investment you need to make is actually cutting back on the services that you offer it's maybe charging a little bit more and taking one or two or three less clients so that you have time to build this product that's a big investment that's an expense that you need to make in your business so that you can grow so that's where this change is all about now. Like I said, I don't think that you're unwilling to spend that much money I think you guys all you know in your head intellectually analytically it makes sense would you spend five hundred thousand dollars to make a million? Yes, we all would obviously but it's not that simple it doesn't make sense to you yet on a daily basis in terms of investment in terms of your planning it doesn't make sense to you yet and here's why there's a big difference between revenue and income the big difference between revenue and income one of the biggest changes I made that allowed me to make exponential growth in my business was realizing that my income was not the same thing as the revenue for my business. Now that sounds obvious right like this is accounting wanna one here people is like high school accounting but so often as self employed people as very small business owners our income is kind of the same or similar to the revenue that we bring in on our business is right the difference between one hundred thousand dollars and seventy thousand dollars isn't that great and so we equate those two things together and we think you know, the more money I bring in the more money I make um and any expenses that I make is a debit against the income that I bring in from today on I don't want you to think about expenses as a debit against your income I want you to think about expenses and envy vestment as a tool for making mohr money so let's continue with this idea because really what we're talking about is the difference between owning your job and owning a business loading a job and owning a business now when I got into business all I knew was having a job so I made myself a new job I made myself something that I needed to show up for I made myself something that put me at the whim of other people I made myself something where I would get a kind of regular paycheck and that's totally normal if you're used to a corporate job if you're used to a retail job if you're used teo really any kind of job it makes a lot of sense when you break into business into working for yourself that you create yourself a brand new job but that is not going to get you where you want to go so let's examine the difference between self employment which is owning your job and business ownership self employment looks like having a job that you show up for every day and you love doing the work you get paid for doing the work you try to make yourself invaluable indispensable you put everything you can into associating you with that job so that you never get fired right and so hopefully you got a promotion on you have a difficult time pricing your work because you are so invaluable and indispensable you also feel like you can't get ahead does this resonate with you guys? Yes this is what self employment looks like it's where most of us are but there's something different and that's business ownership that's why we're here that's why you're here we are ready to become business owners this is what mohr looks like you manage the business not your job you get paid regardless of how much you do the work you own an asset and the system for distributing that asset you work hard to make the business invaluable and indispensable and you make objective decisions about the operations and future of your business this is control this is mme or this is where you need to be to turn your service into a product without this mindset without you claiming today I am the chief executive of my business none of the rest of this is going to make sense so that's what I'm going to ask you to do today make yourself a commitment if you have not already committed to this mindset I want you to commit to it today I am the chief executive of my business I make objective decisions I make my business indispensable and invaluable I manage my business not my job make those commitments to yourself today now here's what they have in common because you might feel like you know I don't know if I'm ready for that I don't know if this aligns with what I want out of my work I let me show you it can so here's what they have in common you make authentic connections with her customers just because you're a ceo just because you're a business owner doesn't mean you have to sit in the c suite and forget about the little people you can still make authentic connections with your customers you also imbue the business with your personal values just because you're a ceo doesn't mean your personal values are what is guiding your business on a daily basis your personal mission informs the work that you d'oh what's important to you it's still what's important to your business and finally you set the tone for marketing sales and customer experience just because you're the ceo doesn't mean you have to do everything the way everybody else does in fact I would highly recommend you don't so instead you khun set the tone for marketing sales and product development customer experience everything about your business can still be guided and inspired by what's important to you but it's the shift from going toe owning your job toe owning a business that's going to set you up for success now I love this quote from michael garber who basically wrote the book on this stuff it's called the myth and the myth is all about thinking of your business as the product instead of the product as the product and I love that idea obviously get very excited about it but like I said I love this quote if your business is to change and you guys have all said I want my business to change that's why you're here if your business is to change as it must continuously to thrive you must change first if you're unwilling to change your business will never be capable of giving you what you want that's key because what that means is that it is you your mindset the way you're approaching things right now that's in your way of getting the more that you want you're here because you're ready for more that means today with this class you need to make a change and in you changing your business to check can change and it can give you what you want you can build it to give you what you want but you have to change first so we've done something a little different on this particular class with our in studio audience about half of our audience is students, students, students and about half of our audience are sort of stupid expert case study panelists I gave them a cz many hyphens this possible when I was thinking about how this was all going to work and so this side of the room it is a group of five people some of us some of them will be here the whole time some of them will be a little bit in and out but they're people who have already started to do this they have built a product they've built an experience they've built a methodology something that allows them to bring in money outside of delivering a one toe one service and you know everyone here is still students I'm still a student we're all still learning we're all still growing but I brought these people in to give you an idea of the diver verse array of experience the diverse array of possibilities that you can imagine and play with over the course of this class and so I'm actually gonna have them come up one at a time and introduce themselves right now they're going to tell you who they are where you can find them online I'm telling them this too at the same time you can tell us who you are where we can find you online tell us what it is that you've created the experience the product, the asset, the program and I want you to tell us what had to change about you that allowed you to change your business that's that's the kicker question all right, so let's start with the bridge and I'm not actually going to start with you because you're most comfortable on the creative live stage come on up to tell us who you are where we can find you all that good stuff that I just said sure my name's bridget lions and I am a media strategist pure expert and I met the letter b think forward dot com online all right and what is it that you created yeah, I created a workshop called breakthrough messages, and this workshop basically takes people through the process that we use with our clients when they come to us and say, you know, I'm not sure that my message is resonating with my customers or we're starting a media project and we're looking at what kind of messages will resonate for them in the media beautiful and you've run this workshop once now, right? But it's kind of been part of your ongoing work. Yeah, it's been run once and we're actually in the process of launching it again. Yes, okay, awesome. So what had to change about you so that you could change your business? I had to stop thinking I was so complicated I think it is perfect that is perfect, because that is also something that I had to dio I also had to stop thinking I was flicking it. Yeah, the process that we dio can be a little mysterious to people. Most people don't know how media works, and in fact, I never thought that I was that good at messaging until my client's reflected back to me that I was giving them great insights. And so our service work evolved into a product with actually my client's telling me what they valued out of my work uh huh. And then paying attention, tio with subsequent clients, how we did it. And that's how we developed the course it's like you had the course outline or something and set me up perfectly for later on I'm going. Yeah. So hopefully at home, your gears are starting to turn. Are you stock feeling like man? My service is just too complicated. It's too mysterious that's. A really common roadblock and something that we will absolutely get over over the next few lessons. And I you know this idea that your client's reflected back to you what was most valuable? I think this is something that often we ignore largely out of plaster complex on dh. So I think yeah, that's that's a perfect example. Thank you, bridget. Thank you. Tear all right, jan, you're next. Come on up, jen. All right, tell us who you are, where we can find you on the line. My name is john bebb, and you can find me at what if conference dot com on twitter at at what if khan excellent and in your former life you were a professional photographer. Yes, very opera, po for our creative live audience on tell me, tell me about what if conference, what if is a conference that creates transformative experiences for a diverse group of creative people? What had to change about you to change your business and be able to create what if conference, I'm still changing. Yes, obviously. And evolving. I think when you mentioned imposter complex that's bang on for me. Like, who am I to lead this community and this group, but whom I not too. Yeah, absolutely. Yeah. Cool. Thank you. Thank you, marie. Come on up. So great. Hi, I'm marie pullen. I'm a designer and digital strategist. And most recently, I built digital digital strategy school, which helps designers transition into doing more strategy work and creating more value for their clients. Yeah, and you've launched it a few times. A few different ways, right? Yeah. It's, sort of in his third generation. Perfect. Yes, we'll talk more about that, eh? So what had to change a? Well, first, tell us a little bit about what digital strategy school is. Yeah. So it's essentially teaching the process that I was going through with my clients to other designers, that creating more value for for your client's, perfect on what had to change about you to change your business. For me, the impostor complex was pretty huge and like, I'm not the expert digital strategist out there, I'm not necessarily well known for that, but I was seeing enough change from the people that I was helping kind of on the down low, either through facebook groups and that sort of thing that I saw. Um, I still do have something to teach, even if I don't see myself is the ultimate expert. Perfect. Thank you. All right, jennifer, I am a jennifer wilson. You could find me a simple scrapper dot com I'm an educator in the paper crafting industry fantastic and tell us a little bit about what simple scrapper is. I have a membership community, and I helped scrap pickers, provide them with tools and supports that can take a more purposeful approach to their hobby and find that me time they really need and really want fantastic what had to change about you to change your business? I really had to remember that I could be myself and bring my own strength to the process. A lot of people in my industry focus on design and technique, how to make your scrapbook pages pretty, which is really important, but I saw this problem of scrap pickers buying supplies and not actually doing anything with them, and so I helped them find that time so they can be a scrapbook and really enjoy their hobby. Fantastic. And it is all of my kind of my magic skills as a scientist in my background. Teo, help them be more analytical about it. Yeah, that's what I've always loved about you is that you I kind of have this. You know, this hobby based business it's not a hobby business, but it's a hobby based business, yet you bring the super analytical skills. I've always seen you as very much the executive of your business, and I think your skills in that area really gotten honed over the last few years, which is has been incredible to watch. Now. Jennifer is a great example for anyone out there who's watching and is thinking, well, I don't really deliver a service, but I've got this idea or I really like to do this thing, and I have no idea how to turn it into something that I can sell over and over and over again because it's not like you were selling one to one scrapbooking services no, no, but I know people who have who have done that, but you represent sort of taking that thing that you love and turning it into something that you can sell and scale in mass and I didn't want it to be just a block that was advertising base because that is being a very much a time for money I'm too that's trying to sell that ad revenue space yeah perfect thanks right last but not least we're going to bring up a creative live all star student shaking it sasha has only missed one of my creative life well I guess you missed the last one but yeah the main one majority majority you've been here okay tell us who you are what you do and what it is that you've created over the last year or so um my name is sasha keagan and I'm a writer on the founder of the quirkyalone movement which is for people who prefer to be single rather than settle and I have a passion for tango and quirkyalone intersex and away that you have to understand more deeply if you come to one aside days because the product I created is the tang azem adventure where women come for seven days and they learnt about tango and tango as a metaphor for personal growth in life and business and relationship fantastic so what had to change about you to be able to create the ten gasam adventure I think it was more what I had to change to make it sustainable and it was really this shift is seeing myself as a business owner and not the service provider because it's seven days and I was getting terribly burned out being with people because I'm sort of an introvert and it was just that idea of like, it was less ego really and more I can hire great people and it's okay that there with them more of the time than there with me and then I'm like the guest star special person fantastic I love that that's because that's a little bit different of a shift from what we've heard about other people and I think that's been instrumental for me as well knowing that I could trust my clients and my customers to other people on dh be able to turn that into still something that had me written all over it and how they had the results that I could create written all over it but not my time right and the choosing of those people is my stamp I choose great people so they have a great experience but I don't have to be with them all the time. Awesome thank you, sasha. All right, so that should give you an idea of the wider range of things that we are going to be potentially creating we've got an online workshop, we've gotta conference, we've got a non line course, we've got a membership community, we've got retreats, there are all sorts of things that you can do to get out of that constant time for money cycle