The 5-Minute Exercise That Changed the Way I Run My Business
Is Your Business Is a Machine or a Maze?
Can you spend 5 minutes and draw out your business model on a single sheet of A4?
Nothing more. No complicated sales funnel, no flow charts, no fancy diagrams, just pen and paper.
If you can’t do it easily, if the whole thing turns into a complicated mess of arrows, boxes, funnels, and notes, then it’s almost certainly too complicated.
At one time, I used to be proud of how “advanced” my business model looked.
It had layers of automation, segmenting, content dripping, sales funnels with upsells and downsells.
It looked like I’d let a bunch of crazy monkeys loose with a whiteboard and a box of coloured markers.
But It Had a Big Problem
I couldn’t tell what was actually working and what wasn’t.
And when things stopped working (which they often did), I had no idea of what had gone wrong, let alone how to fix it.
My emails weren’t getting clicks? Was it the subject line? The body? The offer? Was it even reaching the right people?
Who knows!
Eventually, I gave up, scrapped the whole thing and started from scratch.
I rebuilt it from the ground up, keeping only the parts that directly contributed to getting the money in.
It was simple.
A clear message.
A simple funnel.
One product.
Just One Path
Now, if something isn’t working, I know exactly where to look.
I can find the problem in minutes (or even seconds)
Really all this stuff is just common sense.
If no one’s reading your content, have a look at your headline.
If your call to action is not being clicked, look at what it offers.
And if people are clicking but not buying, have a look at your offer.
It’s not always easy, but if your business model is simple, it makes everything else so much simpler to get it working and keep it working.
So do yourself a favour: Spend 5 minutes, get that sheet of A4 paper and sketch out your business model.
Keep it Simple Enough to Fit on One Page
If you can’t, then something needs changing.
Complex doesn’t mean clever.
Simple means clear and clarity is what gets results.