The Importance of Creating a Sustainable Business

Natural selection: What does this mean for us as entrepreneurs? Many businesses are in a constant state of survival, and that’s never been more apparent than observing the current impact of the coronavirus and its impact on business.

Some businesses will not make it through this time; some will come out battered and bruised—but stronger; and some will come out absolutely thriving.

On today’s show, Dr. Sabrina and Mike explore the importance of creating a sustainable business from Day One. They discuss what we can do to get our businesses through this time and come out stronger. Listen in for some strategies that can help you weather this (and any) storm.

Profit by Design is a Tap the Potential production in collaboration with Small Business Consulting Group.

Show Highlights:

  • Mike shares the definition of “natural selection” and applies it to the business world.
  • Dr. Sabrina shares acceptable modes of competition, the danger of competing on price, and the importance of building margins into pricing.
  • Traditional thinking advised setting aside three months of cash reserves, but current thinking is that six months is probably safer.
  • You should be able to answer “YES” to each of these questions:
    • Are you bringing in work from your top clients?
    • Are you doing work that aligns with your strengths?
    • Is it work that can be systematized?
    • Does this work align with your immutable laws?
    • Does it move you closer to your vision?
  • Some businesses are going through a “creative destruction” right now, letting go of team members that are not a good fit, creating a culture that they want to implement going forward, etc.
  • Dr. Sabrina explains the 80/20 principle, which involves focusing on increasing business from our top 20 percent of our clients that are responsible for 80 percent of the revenue in the business, and the financial impact it can have.
  • There are a lot of business owners who incorporate Profit First, who have been in a good cash position coming into this crisis. As business slows down, they may find it tempting to stop Profit First until after the crisis has passed, but now is the time to ramp up your good habit, NOT stop it.
  • Dr. Sabrina addresses business owners who entered this pandemic crisis with debt and have added more debt.
  • Dr. Sabrina and Mike discuss options for struggling business owners.
  • Powerful questions to consider when projecting into the future:
    1. What do we think is going to be happening four months from now?
    2. Which competitors of mine will be gone four months from now?
    3. What opportunities does that create for us as a team?
    4. What kind of clients would we want to go after that our competitors served, but we could serve better?
    5. What team members would we need to go after that kind of business?
  • After this crisis, people will not want to go back to grinding it out. They will want to be much more intentional about quality time with family and integrating that time with work better. Businesses will also implement virtual work more readily than ever before.
  • Maintain good habits, pay attention to getting clarity around sustainability, and stay focused.

Links and Resources:

Taking care of yourself is important more now than ever. Are you ready to take your life back from your business?

The FIRST STEP is taking our Assessment at:

https://www.tapthepotential.com/assessment

NEXT, meet with our Success Team Lead to debrief your results.

THEN, join our Better Business, Better Life program!

Tap The Potential Strategy Session for Entrepreneurs Impacted by COVID-19

https://www.tapthepotential.com/strategy

Get the Book!! How to Hire the Best – Contractors Edition
www.TapThePotential.com/book

How to Hire the Best Toolkit

www.TapThePotential.com/Toolkit

Get Your 2020 Action Planner Now!

The Pumpkin Plan Action Planner 2020

https://www.tapthepotential.com/planner

Dr. Sabrina’s WEBSITE

Dr. Sabrina’s PODCAST – PLEASE RATE & REVIEW!

Profit by Design, a Tap the Potential production in collaboration with Small Business Consulting Group

For Resources & Tools from Sponsors – https://www.profitbydesignpodcast.com

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Facebook Group: https://www.facebook.com/groups/ProfitByDesign/

Books Mentioned:

The Game of Work: How to Enjoy Work as Much as Play by Charles A. Conrad

Profit First: Transform Your Business from a Cash-Eating Monster to a Money-Making Machine by Mike Michalowicz

About The Author

Dr. Sabrina Starling, The Business Psychologist and international best-selling author of the How to Hire the Best series and The 4 Week Vacation™, is the founder of Tap the Potential and host of the Profit by Design podcast. At Tap the Potential, we work to free business owners from the constant demands of a growing business.

We believe work supports life, not the other way around. Clients in our Better Business, Better Life coaching program have more time for what matters most and more money in their bank account than they’ve ever had. Next, we send them off on a 4 Week Vacation™ to celebrate their hard-earned journey to take their life back!

Dr. Sabrina and her team at Tap the Potential are on a mission to change the story of entrepreneurship from one of long hours, grinding it out, to one of sustainably profitable businesses that support and enhance life. The Tap the Potential Solution™ and our Tap the Potential Family of Business Owners are disrupting small business as usual. We are on our way to making the Tap the Potential Solution™ the mainstream model for growing business.

By 2023, 150 Tap the Potential clients will have taken 4 Week Vacations. These are the trailblazers, role modeling what’s possible for entrepreneurs. In many entrepreneurial circles, it is becoming more and more common for one entrepreneur to ask another, “Have you taken a 4 Week Vacation™?” (as opposed to asking “How many employees do you have?” or “What is your annual revenue?”). Taking a fully unplugged 4 Week Vacation is rapidly becoming the recognized symbol of entrepreneurial success.

Never one to accept the status quo or back down from a challenge, Dr. Sabrina’s How to Hire the Best series grew from her desire to solve the toughest hiring challenges interfering with her clients’ growth and profitability. What sprang from her experience working with entrepreneurs in rural areas catapulted her into becoming the world’s leading expert in attracting top talent in small businesses—no matter what hiring challenges those businesses are facing—and earned Tap the Potential’s reputation as the go-to resource for entrepreneurs committed to creating Great Places to Work with thriving coaching cultures and highly engaged team members working from strengths.

As The Business Psychologist, and with her years of driving profit in small businesses, Dr. Sabrina knows what it takes to find, keep, and motivate exceptional performance out of your biggest investment—team members.