Every business owner dreams of making money while doing what they love, but this dream is rarely met. In reality, it is very difficult to create a sustainable business, and that is because so many business owners fail to create a strong business model early on.
Setting your business up for success begins long before you start selling. The best businesses are built upon a strong foundation and a well-designed business model. The key is to craft a business model that is adaptable to the kind of life that you want to live.
A successful business model involves many critical elements and careful planning. In our many years working with clients in all industries, we have gained insight into the elements of a successful business model.
Read on to learn more about how you can create your very own successful business model.
Three Primary Elements for Building Your Business Model
When you are in the “thinking stage” of your business, there are three primary things you want to focus on for your business model. Even if you have already gone downstream a little bit and realize the way you are working is not sustainable or scalable then, you should also return to this stage and evaluate these three elements. Every successful business model includes:
Economics
The first thing you must think about is economics. Economics is the math behind your business. Within economics, there are three key components that you must look at and think about.
- Deliver results. First and foremost, you must deliver and over-deliver what you are promising.
- Time. Time is what you have to deliver to your customers. Time is what you spend on doing the task you are hired for.
- Money. Money is what your customers are willing to pay for your time.
Here’s an example of what we mean by these things and where your economics can fail without them.
This model works with any industry, but imagine you are a coach or consultant.
When it comes to delivery, you must ask yourself if you can deliver in a group or if you really need to do it one on one. Will clients only accept your direct help? In some extreme examples, it is economically feasible to work with people one on one. However, many of us are doing this at a price point that is not economically feasible. If each client pays only a small amount per session, you would need more individual sessions to earn a sustainable amount of money. The challenge most consultants run into is that they run out of bandwidth to handle any more clients, and they are spending too much time per client for not enough money.
In this case, you would need to ask if you must significantly raise the price to make that more reasonable, or if you can think of some type of group program. This way, you can deliver the same or better result. Regardless, you must an economic decision to charge more money or bring in more people to scale in a group format. Too many coaches charge a little amount of money for all of their time. That simply won’t work in the long term and will set your business up for failure. You cannot even worry about attracting more clients with your book if the economics are failing. It’s not scalable or sustainable, so before attempting to attract clients you would need to fix the economics.
Oftentimes, group settings are an excellent solution. You can deliver something powerful within a community within a couple of hours a week. This does not mean the price is incredibly low, the client pays for delivery and will pay for the results in a group setting. People want the result that you can deliver to them.
The takeaway is that if the economics do not work, you need to change them before considering the rest of your business model. Sound economics offer a scalable solution and meet your financial needs.
Strengths and Desires
After you have sorted out the economics of your business model that works, then you have to think about your strengths and desires. Each of us has different talents and interests. What we want to do within our businesses will be different for all of us for example, maybe your strength is speaking. Or maybe your strength is writing.
If you love speaking and being on the road, then maybe it is something that you want to keep in your business. Conversely, if you do not enjoy speaking and it is not a strength then you may not want to do that, and instead, you may be great at writing or marketing. Strengths are only one portion. You must also consider desire. Maybe you love speaking, but how often do you want to be on the road? Your desires will also help guide the way that your business model works.
Take the speakers as an example. Eventually, those people who love speaking want to get more speaking engagements and earn more for their speeches. At this point, we must revisit economics. If someone tells us they want more speaking engagements and higher fees, we have to consider economics carefully. Someone may want to get at least $10,000 per speaking engagement, with a goal of $500,000 per year. In that case, they would need to be on the road and away from family for 50 weeks out of the year. Is that feasible? Probably not. Some people may be true road warriors who love to constantly travel, but for many people that is simply not an option.
If the economics do not align with the strength, we have to consider how to have the two collaborate. For the example with the speaker, we may need to focus on them speaking 10 weeks a year, but make the engagements a place where they are selling something at a much higher value than the $10,000. The person can use their engagements and best-selling book to sell their service to the audience at the speaking engagements. Consider both your strengths and desires to evaluate how to make them fit economically.
Attracting the Right Clients
Lastly, you must think about how you will create a business that attracts the right clients that fit into your economics and then your particular strengths and desires. Once you have a scalable system in place in terms of economics and interests, then you need to start bringing in more clients. How can you use your book to actually attract your clients?
This is the last thing in the model to focus on. You cannot worry about attracting new clients until you know that you have a model you can scale. Additionally, you may have a model that is a very high ticket, but you need to attract a few qualified clients. As long as you have the economics and strengths in place, then you know what you need to attract and can start creating a powerful marketing strategy.
There are many different options for attracting clients. You can attract using events, including live events or online events. Another option is funneling, which could be free+ shipping, a challenge, an opt-in, a webinar, or anything in between. Lastly, you attract clients through media (mass media). Although media is typically a lesser-used option nowaday, financial advisors or attorneys find success in using their book and mass media to attract clients.
Remember, this is the LAST step in your business plan. Only once you have nailed the economics and your strengths/desires can you worry about which area of attracting clients you can fit in.
Your attraction method must be focused on your book because your book is what gives you credibility and authority. Whether it is events, funnels, or media, your book should become the centerpiece of your client attraction method.
Consider a funnel, especially a challenge funnel as an example. Let’s say you decide to a challenge funnel. First, you need to use your book in association with it. Your book gives you status and authority in your space and makes you stand out from the competition. Try to wrap your funnel around your book, always.
In the case of a challenge funnel, first, you must find a way to adapt your book to the funnel itself. Next, find a way within your funnel and traction to ensure you meet the economics of your business. In the case of our Best Seller Publishing funnel challenge, we did not sell a course for a couple of thousand dollars like most people do because that is not our business model. Instead, we offered something much higher in value which was a service for $7,000 to $10,000. The challenge funnel was a massive success, and we offered that because it fit economically with what we do. We had to make the attraction funnel fit our economics and strengths and desires to do online speaking.
Do You Have a Scalable Business?
Evaluating your business model is crucial for the long-term success of your business. You need to closely look at your business model to determine if it is economically viable and fits within your personal interests and goals.
To be clear, you always start with economics. You have to deliver great results and know the amount of time that you will spend and the amount of money to charge. You can go for one on one or opt for a group setting to save time and offer your service at a price that is more accessible. If you go with one on one, then you need to charge a premium dollar. Only once you have done that do you determine how your strengths and desires will fit in. After both the economics and strengths are settled, then you figure out what you will do to attract clients. These are the things you need to think about when building your business model.
Now is the time to start asking yourself some serious questions about your business model. If you are just starting out, pay careful attention to each of the three elements of your business model, and flush out the details before you get started. If you realize your current model is unsustainable or unscalable, revisit the basics and get down to the basics of your model. Plug your numbers and strengths into the model we described to figure out an ideal model that will actually work for your business.
Getting more clients is not the first step, it is the last step. If you do not have a scalable business model, you must first fix the economics and strengths before we can address client attraction.
BSP Will Help You Attract More Clients with Your Best-Selling Book
Once you have created a strong business model with sound economics and your strengths in mind, then you can focus on the last step of attracting more clients. As we mentioned previously, the key to any client attraction campaign is your best-selling book. Your best-selling book positions you as an industry leader and offers unparalleled authority. Every single offer you make from funnels to events to media should be centered around your book. Your book is the differentiating factor that will help you successfully attract more clients.
To effectively use your book within your successful business model, you need a well-written book and strategy. That’s where we can help. Best Seller Publishing has a team of experts who have helped businesses of all kinds perfect their business models and attract more customers with their book. We help you at every stage of the process from creating to using your best-selling book. We are here to help you evaluate your business model and ensure you are ready to start attracting more clients than ever before. Learn more about how we can help your business grow by scheduling your free strategy with Best Seller Publishing at (626) 765-9750, info@bestsellerpublishing.org, or HERE.
