September 9, 2020
People will tell you a lot about a lot when it comes to starting your business. Everyone thinks they have the answer, the magic sauce, the key ingredient, the missing link. Honestly- the online business world has opened my eyes in a major way about how to sort through information effectively.
What is a Business Model? In short, a business model is the way in which your business makes revenue OR accomplishes it’s mission.
Well then, what is a Business Plan? Your business plan outlines the goals and financial strategy of the mission of your business. The business model is the center piece of your business plan.
I am not saying there isn’t value in what others have learned along the way; as a matter of fact, there is so much value that it is hard to decide how to sort through it.
I preach all day every day about building out your master plan (a clear plan and vision board combination) so that you have a strong foundation to come back to in all of your decisions as an entrepreneur. For more on that, and to get help click below. If you don’t have a Business Plan, you need one right now.
When modeling out your business, there are endless things to consider, 100s of decisions of all sizes to make, and only your intuition and experience to guide you. If you’ve never started a business, you are probably relying a little more on your intuition at this point, which makes a master plan necessary and invaluable. When you’re first starting out, you’re probably trying to make the most out of a little bit of cash, DIY as much as you can, and get a couple of sales before reinvesting back into your business.
Ok I’ll get to the point now.
In modern society, tried and true traditional business methods are skipped, overlooked, or discredited. But this one is the real deal.
Here it comes.
You need to build a model that is predictable.
What does this look like? Well, it’s different for every business because your services or products can offer different things at different times.
If you run a retail clothing business, the freedom of predictability likely comes down to seasonality, so your model will revolve around a quarterly strategy.
Coaches, online service providers, and even gyms and personal trainers prefer monthly memberships for predictability.
These are mostly in regards to finances, but there are so many other areas of your business that you can systematize in the interest of predictability.
Finding creative ways to make your business predictable will create a steady routine and promote consistency in your brand. One of my favorite ways to do this is to create seasonality in your business model. For example, my personality type and management style (yes this is important as an entrepreneur- read more about that here) have led me to create a momentum building business model. Starting the year off with a high focus on marketing campaigns that slow down through Q3. Q4 means wrapping u any unfinished clients, and moving my pipeline into a planning mode.
Full circle, we’re back to sales and marketing! We’ve all heard about the “know- like- trust” model. Trust is the hardest to earn from your audience, so creating this type of seasonality increases your confidences, gives you the ability to speak to what your client can expect from you, and naturally creates urgency without being shady.
I challenge you to make one thing in your business predictable today. If you are just starting out, keep coming back to this checkpoint when making the tiny decisions in your business, you will thank yourself later.
For help, head over to the contact page and let me know what you’re struggling with.
