Over the last two years I have interviewed over 250 entrepreneurs discussing marketing, personal branding, mindfulness, routines and systems. (Read all their stories on Instagram.) Here are my biggest take-aways from these entrepreneurs so far.
On Routines and Rhythm
You either choose your own rhythm and routines or let it be dictated by someone or something else.
Time is our biggest asset and to just give it away for someone else to handle is ludicrous. We wouldn’t just give our money away to whoever asks for it, so why is our time any different.
Scheduling time allows you to dictate what is a priority for the week. It gives you ownership of what you do and when you do it.
Don’t be disheartened if you don’t complete everything you said you would in the first week. It’s a process, just keep at it, refining and adapting as you go along. Find what works for you. Keep experimenting and exploring new ideas and ways to utilise your time.
Money is time well spent. How do you spend time well? It starts with a schedule and taking ownership of one of the few resources we all have.
Schedule your time and watch the magic unfold.
On Creating assets to save you time
Once you find that you are delivering results to a client, it is important to put a process in place so that you can replicate this process. I recommend that you take all the answers, all the frequently asked questions, all the things that you use to educate your customers and make assets out of them.
For example: a timeline that you can give to your clients that just says, “Look, this is generally how the process goes, and you can expect that this is going to happen now, and this is going to happen there, and this will be delivered here.”
By creating an asset out of what you repeatedly do means you won’t have to sit there personally on the phone every time and map out the whole thing in a slightly different way every time.
This ensures consistency, gives your clients a sense of confidence in your process and acts as a visual takeaway. You’re empowering your customers more, and building trust at the same time
On harnessing a team to move closer to your vision
There’s only so much you can do on your own. There is a ceiling on one persons’ time, energy and focus. At some point as a solopreneur you’re going to have to take the leap again and find people who believe in you and your vision.
It may feel like you’re giving up control, but you’ll only go so far on your own. It’s natural that you want everything done exactly the way you complete tasks. The easiest option is to do it all yourself. There is another way.
Identify all the tasks that you do, and start breaking down what process you follow in order to achieve results for clients. This will form the basis of your systems and frameworks and will eventually allow you to teach someone else how to do what you do. It will require trial and error, and you probably won’t have the perfect system or process initially. But if you treat it as something that can be revised and improved upon, then you’re onto a winner.
This will free up your time to do more of what you enjoy, as well as growing your business at the same time. Who wouldn’t want that?
On the importance of values and vision
If people aren’t on board with your vision, then you can kiss profit goodbye. #lessons #smallbusiness Share on XWithout clearly articulating your vision and values then you’ll not only struggle to hire people in-line with them, but your existing staff will lack a personal alignment to the business and are more likely to leave in times of stress.
Regardless of whether you’re an employee or Entrepreneur it is paramount that you are clear with what the Vision and Values of the business are that you’re working in.
If you’re lucky enough to be working in a start-up then this process is a little easier as you will be able to mould the vision and values, otherwise it is exceptionally important to understand where the business has come from and what the thought process behind Vision and Values have been to date.
If possible talk to the key stakeholders/decision makers and understand what the vision for the company is.
For example, in Australia, Grill’d lives by the values of Passion, Leadership, Ownership and Trust and will not make a decision without consulting these four values first.
Values aren’t just words on the wall, they should be used as guideposts for decision making. When you’re faced with choices, consult your values first.
On how a recurring income stream can change the game
Having a recurring income stream into your business is like having on-tap oxygen for your body. Structuring your pricing so that you can put clients on retainers makes your income stream predictable and scalable.
Instead of having lumpy payments coming in, you have consistency, which is crucial. Knowing how much income you have on a monthly basis allows you to forecast and predict with more accuracy where you’ll be in 6, 12, 18 months time.
Recurring income, makes you less dependent on having to find who your next customer is, allowing you to focus on making your existing customers really happy, which can lead to referrals and therefore more clients.
Going back to point 3, you can then you can focus on optimizing your system as well. Because you’re like, “Okay, cool, if I’m getting this many clients but my profit margin sucks, like, you know, after taxes I’m only keeping like 25% of the money,” then something’s wrong with your business depending on what a good profit margin for your industry is. You can then work back and figure out how to make your business more streamlined and efficient.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Aidan Vuocolo
I am a Business Angel, helping small business owners simplify, strategise and scale up the impact they are making in the world. Read more about me at www.aidanvuocolo.com.
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