It’s so easy to chase the latest shiny object. This includes using “powerful” marketing and persuasion principles, but doing it the wrong way. Basically, you need to deliver what you promise…
Don’t catfish your customers…
Cheap Customer Service doesn’t save you money.. It costs you current and future earnings at multiples much higher than the small margin you save by shortchanging the most important facet of your business.
10 pretty simple steps on the surface but which can help you scale and free your business from relying on you, and so allow you to get your life back.
Building and selling a business requires two types of discipline: 1) Focusing on your niche to build an independent, scalable and successful company, and 2) Focusing your actions and decisions on those that build the most valuable and least risky asset. The type of asset a future buyer would pay the highest money to acquire.
Before looking to sell your business, have you considered the mental, financial, and business readiness that will determine if you get the full price, half or nothing?
After a frustrating low valuation, Laura Steward executed a simple 3 step program to introduce recurring revenue and step back from day to day sales. As a result, she sold her company two years later for 4x the original valuation price.
After doing the hard work of winning customers, how you onboard them will determine if they stick around.
Forgetting or overlooking cash flow is not only a risk to the viability of your business, but can often reduce the value of your business. Instead if you can drive up your cash flow you will often drive up the value of your business and reduce your stress in the process.
Many owners had to take on too much at their own businesses during COVID. This article shows 3 steps you can take to get your life back.
8 facts to help you determine if you own a business or an expensive job. if you own a business than you own an asset that others might want to buy from you. If you own a job, than most likely your business ends when your self employment does.
The Music Industry Illustrates the sometimes exponential value of owning a unique brand. Artists like Bruce Springsteen who own their name, Amazon who owns their distribution experience and Peloton who owns a unique community all illustrate how these unique aspects drive up their respective values.
If you are a business owner you will often have to “fire “yourself from the day-to-day grind of your business so you can truly unlock the value of your business.
To Grow the Value of my Business requires more than just increasing profits. It requires me to optimise my business on the 8 key value drivers a potential buyer would look at.
Use the art of bundling both your expert and general services to capture customers, build their lifetime value, and drive up the value of your business.
Despite having no grapes, vats or wineries of their own – nor experience in the industry – Michael Houlihan and Bonnie Harvey were able to create, grow and sell Barefoot Cellars for millions. 15 lessons they shared from this experience are listed below.
As you know, it is far easier and efficient to cross-sell a new product to an existing customer than it is to market and find a new customer for that product.
If you are looking to just grow your top line revenue, then cross-selling is a very effective technique.
However, you do have to be mindful as to the extent of your cross selling and how it affects your revenue diversification. In some instances, if you cross-sell your existing customers too much stuff, it could make your business far less valuable.
Amazon Prime is arguably one of the most successful examples of a company transforming its repeat customers into repeat business subscribers on the planet.
Not only did the average customer life time value (LTV) more than double, the the success drove tens of thousands of non Amazon customers to subscribe and engage with the company off the bat as repeat subscribers.
As Amazon knew (and clearly illustrated) repeat business drives the value of a company, but not all repeat business is the same.
“I wasn’t being strategic, I was going through a divorce!”
Divorce often sinks a company but John the owner was able instead to transform his company into an independent asset. Today he works 90% less hours, his company is growing, and he enjoys the business much more.
is your business independent or does it own you?
10 Questions Often Asked When Looking to Sell Your Business One of the most intimidating aspects of selling your business can be facing the barrage of
Wisdom is not the same as Intelligence or even technical knowledge. Thousands and tens of thousands of very smart business owners were technical experts at what they produced and should have had business success, but their companies lie in unmarked graves across the economic landscape.
Lack of market demand is the primary reason provided for many start ups failing, but that does not fully explain why 50% of SMEs fail within five years.
“Prepare the business for a sale even if no intention to sell currently or in the future”
Why ? Because if you are preparing to sell from now (even if you do not intend to actually bring the business to market anytime soon), you will position your business to provide you multiple options when it does come to exit. That can mean passing along a well-functioning business to your children (instead of a lemon that prematurely ages them as they struggle to deal with its inherited issues and problems), selling your business at a premium (due to multiple and/or strategic buyers) or other options in between (minority sell off, etc)
Why did you decide to become an Entrepreneur? If you’re like most owners, you aspire to have the freedom that comes from owning your own independent business. This desire for freedom often leads owners to aspire for a bigger business, which they think will give them what they want. Unfortunately, most owners who strive for more revenue or profit as their primary goal often end up with less freedom as slaves to the day-to-day grind of their business.
There’s an alternative to get you closer to what you want..
Excellent Service drives up the value of your business. In this article I illustrate how Amazon solved an AED 1,835 issue for me that generated over AED 400,000 in business value for them. It’s a formula (excellent service – repeat customers – high multiples) they practice again and again.
The Major Blind Spot Blocking Business Value “…Do not think you are wiser than you really are” (Romans 12:16) I wrote an article last month
Financial Freedom – “You Proofing” Your Business In a previous post, I spoke about the Freedom Point and the risk in holding on to your
Are you Achieving Financial Freedom through your Business? When did you last calculate how much of your net worth is tied to your company’s value?
Have you struggled to identify a recurring revenue model that will work in your business?
If so, you’re not alone.
Most owners understand the benefits of recurring revenue, such as predictable cash flow and an increase in their company’s valuation, but struggle with where to start. Just changing your pricing from a one-time transaction to a smaller, recurring fee does not make a sticky subscription model.
Chasing all types of revenue by offering a wide array of products and services is common among growth companies. The easiest way to grow is to sell more things to your existing customers, so you just keep adding adjacent product and service lines.
However, there can be two drawbacks: First, you offer a wide range of products and services without any deep expertise in any of these products and services.
Second, a wide range of products and services can just confuse your customers and lead them to look elsewhere.
Should you Sell your Business Now? 5 Reasons why 2021 might be the time you look to sell your business Have you been thinking about
How practicing Situational Awareness adapted to your business can protect you against the unexpected as well as increase your business value.
Ever tempted to make a quick buck? Does making 10% more on a deal make sense 100% of the time?
We thought we had a good partnership—until a sudden change made us rethink everything.
It wasn’t the money that left a bad taste, but the mindset behind it.
What’s worth more: a one-time gain or a long-term relationship?
One decision can cost you far more than you imagined. See how easy it can be to fall in that trap.
Ever get the urge to just tell someone off—whether it’s a playground bully or a demanding client? My 5-year-old daughter mastered the “teacher voice” and got her peace.
One of my clients?
She fired her biggest (and worst) customer, and within 30 days, she had three better ones.
Business freedom is about choosing who deserves your time. Curious how to make that leap?
Being a business owner can feel like you’re on an island. Your friends and family don’t quite get the mental ups and downs, and somehow, you’re working harder than anyone, yet paying yourself last—if at all. Sound familiar?
But here’s the thing—you don’t have to go it alone. The smartest entrepreneurs know where to turn for insight, support, and the right questions.
Find out more inside.
Ever been promised 1,000 leads without anyone knowing who your ideal customers are? Sounds impressive, but is it really worth your time?
In a recent conversation, this exact scenario unfolded, highlighting a crucial point about quality vs. quantity in business. If you’re tired of chasing numbers that don’t add up to real value, you’ll want to rethink your approach.
Curious to learn why? I explore this further in my latest post.
What if one common belief about business success doesn’t hold up when you look closer? Many people follow it without question, but it might not be as helpful as it seems. This article explores a surprising perspective that could shift how you approach growth and connections in your business.
Two women, one having travelled across the world in search of investors, left a meeting before realising the person they needed was sitting right next to them. Sounds strange, doesn’t it?
It’s a story of missed opportunities, the price of a limited perspective, and how what we don’t see might be precisely what we need.
Curious about how this unfolded and the lesson it holds for business success?
Feeling overwhelmed by the day-to-day grind of running your business? Many entrepreneurs end up stuck in a cycle of tasks, buried under work that doesn’t build real wealth.
Here, I explore how business owners create and bury themselves in these “tunnels” and what it takes to break free. Discover how now to be an hostage to your own business. When you delegate, automate, and finally lead your business from above—you discover where the real freedom lies.
There’s a hidden asset in your business that could 5x your profits—and chances are, you might not be using it.
No, it’s not your product or even your team. It’s something most business owners overlook, yet the smartest ones use to dominate their markets.
I’m not spilling the beans here. But if you’re ready to unlock this game-changing asset, join the Owners Club and get access to the free course: “The Key Asset to 5x Your Profits.”