Working IN your Business or ON your Business

 Have you ever heard the expression  “working ON your business or IN your business”.

 

 In simple terms….

 

• Working IN your business is about doing the physical day to day operation of your business. (money today)

 

• Working ON your business is doing the thinking, analysis and actions that will move you (and / or your business) forward beyond what it is doing today (money future)

 

As a solopreneur this can be hard to find the time to work ON your business, particularly when it is the actual doing when you see the £’s coming into your bank account.

 However, it is the working ON your business where the biggest change can happen!!!

Amongst many, many other things it is about understanding the numbers in your business, reviewing the numbers in your business making changes (take action) to impact the numbers in your business etc…. having a marketing strategy, working on your marketing strategy etc…

 A classic example of this was seen recently……….

 After more than 10 successful years in the network I was approached by Chuck and Jack (father and son) in April about how we could help them grow their business further. The pair had taken the time to put together a business plan for the next few years with ideas for growth to achieve their target.

 To give you some context the recent trading history was solid and was generating a steady income for both. But they wanted to earn more but were unsure how, or if, possible it would be.

We discussed the plan and went through some ideas – agreeing some things and changing others -  and at the end of the meeting the plan was to engage in some work with the digital team in some specific areas.

Roll on just a few months and how their business has changed demonstrably…!!

Sales in May, June and July have sky rocketed…. In those 3 months alone, they have achieved more than 50% of their year 1 business plan. Essentially more than doubling their average sales per month.

With Jack leading the way in terms of working ON his business, and working with the digital team they have together taken action that has increased the flow of leads to the business. They have implemented a lot of the core principles that we talk about all the time and really seen a huge change to their sales.

There as another real example last year where a franchisee was struggling financially and needed more work. His solution was to try and spend more money on marketing, whereas a review of his key numbers identified his conversion rate was the biggest opportunity. He spent loads more time analysing every call on a spreadsheet and within 4-6 weeks his conversion rate had nearly doubled and his average order value increased. In all this more than doubled his sales. Amazing results but he had to work hard ON his business and not just IN his business.

To be honest none of us thought that we would see such dramatic change so quickly in both cases but it is a reminder of the potential in so many franchise areas in the network if you are prepared to spend the time working ON your business and not IN your business.

So I would encourage you all to find some time to spend some time ON your business and see if you can identify things within your control that could help your business grow.

 EG. What are you doing to improve or enhance your digital assets – webpages, google business profile

EG. What are you doing to introduce Other lead sources or increasing leads from current sources

EG. Have you got a good picture of you and your van in front of a famous local landmark (Tom’s current TIP)

EG. Are you spending time really analysing your calls – did you win the call, if not why not (and don’t assume).

EG. What can you do to increase your conversion rate..?

 [Note for Pestforce in particular – when you are busy and making lots of £’s, rather than save it for the “quieter months” try investing in a marketing plan for the winter now. That is a great example of working ON your business and not IN your business. 😊 ]

So could you find the time to spend more time working ON your business…?

And remember you can boo some time with me if you give Jackie and a call and book in…