How to build a business guaranteed to succeed
97% failure rate in business? We’ve heard the statistics about the failure rate in business being somewhere between 60 and 97%.
The business support industry is the only industry that has such an abysmal success rate and yet has done nothing to change. Sure there have been new tools and technologies added, but there hasn’t been a change in the approach to business. The current model for business is the MBA model. The MBA model came out of research done in the early part of the last century on how to manage large businesses.
The |MBA model barely works for big business and it definitely doesn’t work for small business. And yet, it’s the only model we use.
Is this your experience? You want to start a business so you open your computer to do some research and find an overwhelming assortment of information scattered everywhere. Overall the consensus is, write a business plan, get funding, design your marketing and get customers. Sound familiar?
Over the last several decades I’ve worked closely with 100s of small business owners and reached 1000s through my work. I’m a serial entrepreneur and I ran a my bookkeeping business for 15 years. I’ve organized business events and partnered with business support organizations in designing and delivering programing.
In that time, I noticed there were some business owners who thrived and some who struggled. I decided to study these two groups to see what the difference was and I found it.
The thriving ones were ignoring the advice we were giving them. The struggling ones were trying to follow the conventional path.
How could that be? At first I thought it was an anomaly, but I kept finding the same thing. I grew disenchanted with my field and stepped back to study what was happening.
It wasn’t enough to find out what wasn’t working I had to figure out what was working and how to apply it to you, too. I did it! I cracked the code. I know what you need to do in your business to make it not just successful, but effortless.
All of a sudden I could see it everywhere. Listen to any podcast or interview with a successful business owner and you will hear a story of an unconventional path. Every one! But it’s presented in the language of MBA speak so that it sounds like they are following the program with some minor exceptions. We listen and say to ourselves,”Well of course it worked for them, they’re (successful business person)”
It’s subtle. Which is why it’s hard to see. We can be looking right at it and not see it.
Think of a business you know that is thriving. You like going there. They do what they promise and they make you happy, even delighted. You talk about them and hear about them. They are the ones everyone goes to for whatever they do. What they charge isn’t an issue.
What do you picture when you think of them?
It’s the people, right? Regardless of what they do, it’s the people. The atmosphere is relaxed, the staff are friendly and helpful. You feel confident you will get what you need.
How do they do that? They focus on people. That’s the secret hiding in plain sight.
The challenge is that we’re told to follow the MBA model which is not about people. The MBA model pays lip service to people. “We do people-centric marketing” “We care about our staff and have human resource retention strategies” (does that give you a warm, fuzzy feeling?) “Our operations are optimized to give our clients fast efficient service.” (does that sound delightful?)
The MBA model is about efficiency and profit optimization. It’s about turning people into leads and increasing the numbers as you run them through a funnel. An MBA model business is always focused on getting the next customer.
Think about that thriving business you know. Do you ever feel like a number? Did you ever feel optimized? Are they struggling financially? How much marketing do they do?
Everything I am about to tell you about how to start, build and run your business comes from researching what works for the most successful business owners, some of whom you know, many you don’t. They are the ones quietly doing their work and making their lives, their customers’ lives and their team’s lives better. And making a great living doing it.
Small Business Operating System
There are three people in your business: you, the owner(s); your customers and your team.
Each takes a journey through your business that starts with attraction, leads through engagement and finally to your business delighting them. The three levers you have to do that are experience, environment and value exchange.
The MBA model has you juggling your time and resources between marketing and serving your clients. What if serving your clients was your best marketing? The way to attract new, great clients is to tell the success stories of your best, delighted clients. Engagement isn’t moving them through a funnel, but rather taking them by the hand and helping them until the right-fit clients are eager to buy.
The best way to get more great clients is to focus your attention on delighting your existing clients.
Your Effortless Business
What if your business drew from your strengths so that you could spend most of your time in flow?
What if your business supported you in living your Good Life, however you define that?
What if your business made your community better?
What if your business had raving fans instead of customers?
What if your business made your team’s lives better than when they started with you?
What if your business gave you meaning, mastery, autonomy, connection and made you proud of what you built?
That’s what your Effortless Business can be. Of course you work hard, it’s just that it doesn’t feel that way.
The 6 Stages to Building Your Effortless Business
Stage 1 Owner’s Journey
You build your business for you.
Your business can only grow to your ability.
Building a business takes emotional labour above all
Your business can be whatever you want it to be, so make it work for you
It all starts with you, so your business journey starts with you. You need dedep clarity on why you are doing this. This knowledge will guide you and keep you going when things get tough and they always get tough.
You need to know what you are bringing, what you aren’t bringing and what you need to get out of this.
Stage 2 Discovery Dance
This is the real secret. Listen to every origin story and you will find that the business owners had customers before they built the business, many times before they even built the product. You get to that place by talking to people before you start designing your product and your business and especially your marketing. Keep talking to people until you have customers.
Stage 3 Official Start
Don’t start your business until after you have proof of concept. In fact, this is the time to choose your name, your url and your marketing. After you have customers, you know who they are and the words they use to describe what you do.
This is the when you look to fundraising if you need it.
Stage 4 Customer’s Journey
Your first customers are special and you will do what is unsustainable as you figure out what is most important to them. Go with it. In this stage you focus on getting more intentional in how you attract, engage and delight the next customers. You’re not looking for perfection or even efficiency, but on effectiveness. Experiment, test and measure to find what works.
Stage 5 Team’s Journey
Once you have your customer journey working, you will see how building your team makes sense. To be clear, your team is bigger than the people you pay in your business and with them you have the opportunity to do good work and to align with others to bring about great things. This is where it is very important to be clear on your why and your vision.
Stage 6 Essential Eleven Algorithms
An algorithm is a set of instructions giving a predictable result. Here is where we make it all effortless. In the previous 2 stages you found what works for delighting your customers and your team. Now we are going to put it all together into a business that feels effortless.
The saddest part of business and the reason so many business owners struggle even as they are running their businesses is that they stop working on their business before they reach this stage. This stage is essential in taking your business that last 20% to making it really work and really profitable for you.
Essential Eleven Algorithms
FOUNDATIONS
Owners Plan
Check back in with your journey. Look to your end game. Make a plan to get you from here to there. You have enough information to see what is possible for you.
Strategic Plan
State your intended outcomes. Set measurable goals for each. Decide on the best strategies to reach those goals. Choose the tactics that work for you, your customers and your team that will meet those strategies.
Financial Plan
What financial resources will you need, when and how will you make sure they are there when you need them.
CUSTOMER’S JOURNEY
Attraction
Create a process for capturing and sharing your best customer’s stories.
Engagement
Put a value-packed path in place that will guide people to want to take the next step to working with you.
Delight
Ask, measure, test and keep trying to find out what it takes to delight your customers. Most customers leave, not because of price, or service or guarantees, but because they feel unappreciated. It doesn’t take much to make sure your customers know how you value them.
TEAM’S JOURNEY
Attraction
Create a process for capturing and sharing your best team member’s stories.
Engagement
Put a value-packed path in place that will guide people to want to take the next step to working with you. Onboarding is key in setting your culture in place.
Delight
Ask, measure, test and keep trying to find out what it takes to delight your team. I love what Richard Branson says “Clients do not come first. Employees come first. If you take care of your employees, they will take care of the clients.”
MAKING IT WORK
Solution Delivery
This is your high-level view of how you deliver on your promise. Whos is responsible for what, when, why and how? How do all the pieces fit together? No silos!
Feedback Mechanism
This is what separates the innovative companies from the rest. Everyone has a role in gathering and sharing ideas. Innovative companies have a formal process for examining, testing and implementing new ideas.
Your business can’t help but be successful if you follow this process.
Here’s what I know
It’s a lot to take in
You’re wondering why you’ve never seen business laid out in this way before
As you read this you’re nodding your head because you see that it all makes sense
You don’t need more theory, or more information, or more 101 classes, or more tactics presented as strategies
You need a way to apply this to your business
If you follow the conventional path you will end up with the conventional results of trying to jam your small business into a big business mold and that 60–97% failure rate looming over you
You can’t do this on your own. You need a band of fellow travelers and a guide who’s been there
Click here to find out how you can learn more. Plus you’ll get the Small Business Operating Manual and the 6 Stages to Building Your Effortless Business guide.