In the third installment of our series on the Cash Flow Cure Phases, we’re taking a Deep Dive into the Customize Phase. You can find the first article in this series here.
Now that you’ve taken the time to Crystallize your business, we’re ready for the next phase in our journey to Cash Flow Cure. Phase Two: Customization! Far too many businesses try to be everything to everyone and fail miserably. But you know better.
Customization will help you determine the best products and services to offer to support your journey to Financial Freedom. This phase helps break through the noise and distractions so you can focus on what’s most important. We call this selection of offerings the Magical Mix of Products.
But how do you know what to add to the mix? We’re going to start with the end in mind, and use four criteria to help you create your own unique Magical Mix of Products.
How To Have Impact.
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What is the ultimate Impact you want your business to have on the world? In other words, evaluate how each of your products and services will create the greatest impact in the market.
If what you offer to your customer isn’t relevant to the transformation you want to create, put that idea on hold. Your time is far too valuable to be spent on a product or service that doesn’t help you fulfill your potential. You want your business to stand out—to make difference in the marketplace.
Does your product solve a problem that no other product is currently solving? If the answer is yes, keep that one. Put more time and energy toward development. If the answer is no, if your product is indistinguishable from all other offerings, stop wasting your time. Drop that product. Or make significant changes so you stand out from the crowd.
What’s Your Inspiration?
You need to be Inspired by what you’re offering in your business. If what you’re selling doesn’t interest you, why would customers want to buy from you?
Instead, spend your time focusing on the parts of your business you most enjoy. In the early stages of your business, you’re trading a lot of time for money. So you can’t afford to get distracted by what doesn’t inspire you.
Building a business is hard work. You knew that when you started and when you committed to the long haul. But you’ll burn out quickly if what you’re doing doesn’t inspire joy and excitement. The Inspiration provided by commitment to your cause can sustain you through tough times.
Time To Automate!
Use technology to help automate those tasks that you don’t want to spend your time on. If the task cannot be fully turned over to technology then delegate. Find a person you trust and who is qualified to run those aspects of your business for you.
A good question to ask yourself here is, “What is something that only I can do?”
If you run a coaching business, the answer may be fairly obvious. The one thing that you and you alone can do in your uniquely gifted way is coach! This is where you should be spending the majority of your time and energy to build your business.
Anything that does not fall into this category should be automated or delegated.
Need to send an email newsletter? Choose one of a number of scheduling programs that can do this for you. Need to send out invoices or process payments? Choose either accounting software to take over this role for you, or hire a bookkeeper.
The idea is to set up as much of your business as you can to run without you. That way, you can focus your time only on what you’re passionate about, what only YOU can provide for your customers.
How’s Your Profit?
Do you know the key difference between profit and revenue? Revenue is how much money your business brings in. Profit is how much you get to keep. There is a world of difference between being able to say “My business did $100,000 in revenue last month,” and “My business made $100,000 in profit.”
Profit is crucial. Without it, your business is not sustainable or able to meet your financial needs. The products and services you offer have to be profitable for you to create Financial Freedom. If you have a Profit Business Model, this means being able to pull out profits along the way. For a Legacy Business, profit allows you to build assets to sell your business at the highest value.
Customize Your Financial Freedom
The ultimate goal of your business is your personal Financial Freedom. The products and services you create will either move you closer to or further away from your goal. When you use these four criteria, you’ll build your Freedom as quickly as possible.
You’ll design a lasting Impact that Inspires you, and use Automation to ensure you only focus on things that matter. When you do this, Profit is an almost inevitable result.
Community Question: What’s one product or service you want to offer but currently don’t? Why? Your Resident Community Coaches in the Business Owner Only community are waiting to hear!
image credit: Bigstock/88studio
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Dr. Tony is the co-founder of MindShift.money and the best-selling author of three books on personal and business finances. Having achieved Financial Freedom at 27, Dr. Tony believes that through Financially Fit Bootcamp and Cash Flow Cure everyone can get there. He has made it his life’s mission to help others live a life where their money works for them—not the other way around.