2022: The Year to Simplify Your Business and Why
Strategy is the allocation of scarce resources to the highest priorities. It’s the definition I use for strategy most often; but like most intelligent things that come out of my mouth, I don’t claim credit for its origin. Ten years ago, when I started my job as a Strategy & Operations person, this was my boss’s definition of strategy. Translation? Most businesses (try to) do too many things. Whether you’re a corporation or a solopreneur, it’s a universal truth and problem. The solution? Simplify your business.
I do know firsthand that it sounds both counterintuitive and scary. Also, to quote my friend and yoga instructor, “It’s simple, but simple doesn’t mean easy.” There’s a difference between the two. Another way to put it when I’m feeling spicy: “Say no to grow.” So today, as we kick off 2022, I’m going to share a bit more about what I mean by this and why it’s important – but hopefully in an accountable, we-practice-what-we-preach way: by sharing Ellevated Outcomes 2021 results. In other words, what a focused strategy of simplification did for our business last year.
But let’s start with how it feels to not have a simple strategy. It feels like you’re spread thin. You’re doing too many things. You’re doing a lot, but you feel like you’re not doing them well. Some people say it feels like you’re on a hamster wheel: you’re running fast, but are you moving forward? (Please know though: my tone isn’t one of superiority. As an entrepreneur, we all go through cycles; definitely myself included! The key is: do you have the tools to work on your business and reset when you find yourself pulled back into one of these periods?)
And often, the most impactful, tangible thing you can do, to start, is a technical exercise I learned 12 years ago: product segmentation. In non-business jargon English, it means: analyze which of your products or services…
(a) builds on the strengths of your business and
(b) makes profit (not just revenue).
Then, cut or modify the rest and ensure that the pricing for the remaining products or services is the right match for your target market.
What would it feel like if you were able to eliminate 30% of your workload but make 50% more money?
I know that it sounds crazy, and you’re probably thinking: “If this works, why isn’t everyone doing it?” There is a technical process to this methodology (which I share in the Target Market article referenced above). But I hypothesize that most of us don’t do it because our human nature is to solve problems by adding more, instead of taking away. It’s hard to believe that we can achieve more by doing less (of the right things).
And lastly, this isn’t a one time exercise. The first time you do it, it will pay compounding dividends into the future. But I also recommend refreshing every couple of years. Your business will continue to evolve, and we’re major proponents of the test, learn, and refine philosophy in business (another principle I learned from a boss 10 years ago).
In 2021, Ellevated Outcomes had a strategy with 3 priorities:
- Accountability: We treat out business with the same respect & action, as we would, a client’s.
- Profitability: We attract 36 new, ideal clients.
- Product: Ideal clients stick: >25% of revenue is in our evergreen Strategy Manager service.
Though I won’t bore you with the 9 tactics that these priorities break into, our focus was to refine and simplify 3 key things (they will sound familiar ;)):
Eliminate 1 product.
We now have 1 product for new clients and 1 product for existing clients in our Advisory Platform. Offering just Achieving New Outcomes and Strategy Manager is simple, clean, and profitable (and gets massive results).
Clarify our ideal clients.
Though we’ve been fairly tight on this for the past couple years, this year we made a shift that we no longer work with new businesses. We’ve learned the hard way (and through no fault of theirs) that it’s harder for a brand new business to see the value in what we do. We’ve experienced that our work is most valued when someone’s had time on their own for awhile.
Match our pricing to our ideal clients.
Eliminating a product and saying no to non-ideal clients (always respectfully and generously, of course!) means that we can charge the right price for our work and outcomes – and it’s received well by clients where the value exchange makes sense.
By the numbers, this translates to 59% revenue growth, 83% new client growth, and 16% renewal client growth. Oh – and it also means that we’ve been able to hire 2 new people and launch a new business (which will help small businesses with the product and pricing segmentation process).
This all has financial outcome, but it has real meaning too. Working this way feels like focus, clarity and moving forward – to me, to everyone on the team, and to our clients. By doing fewer things, we’re able to provide them with even more connection and integrity.
