Latest / The Life-First Solopreneur / 42. Advice on Making Your Business More Successful Through Minor Adjustments

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42. Advice on Making Your Business More Successful Through Minor Adjustments · The Life-First Solopreneur

• 0:00
  Carly Ries: One thing to consider here is that some of these ideas may result in you having more time. So starting with these can make it easier to implement the other ideas because you'll have more time available, to to dedicate towards those.
• 0:12
  Intro: Bigger doesn't always mean better. Welcome to the 1 person business pod podcast where people who are flying solo in business come for specific tips and advice to find success as a company of 1. Here are your hosts, Joe Rando and Carly Ries
• 0:31
  Carly Ries: Welcome to the 1 Person Business podcast. I'm one of your hosts, Carly Ries
• 0:35
  Joe Rando: And I'm Joe Rando.
• 0:37
  Carly Ries: And we are back with not only another segment of the Solopreneur Success Cycle series, but the last one of this series. So today we're gonna discuss adjusting your business and implementing the changes we've previously discussed in other episodes. Now, remember you can listen to these as one off episodes, but we highly recommend listening to the full series to get the most out of it. Those are even episodes 26 and 40. So all even numbers between 26 and 40, the odds are interviews.
• 1:03
  So be sure to check those out. And, Joe, I am ready to dive in when you are.
• 1:06
  Joe Rando: Alright. So today, we're talking about actually implementing the changes that you decided to implement in the decide section of the solopreneur success cycle, which was 2 episodes ago on the podcast. So this is really specific to your business and we can't really help you through the details of your particular business and your particular changes.
• 1:27
  So thanks for listening. Goodbye.
• 1:30
  Carly Ries: Just kidding.
• 1:31
  Joe Rando: Yeah. I'm sorry. But, no, we can seriously help you to think about this. And no matter what you're changing, there are some best practices and strategies that'll make it easier and more successful.
• 1:43
  Carly Ries: Agreed. And this wouldn't be much of a podcast otherwise. So let's continue.
• 1:47
  Joe Rando: So first is assuming you have more than one change that you typically are making, you don't wanna tackle them all at once. Right? You're still running your business. You still need to pace yourself while you do this so you can still deliver your product and make these changes carefully and not rush through them.
• 2:03
  Carly Ries: And assuming your business is doing okay, then this is definitely the best strategy. But if you're really struggling or losing a lot of money, then you may wanna instead hit the process hard in order to turn the corner quickly.
• 2:14
  Joe Rando: So look at the ideas that passed your review in the last stage of the solopreneur success cycle, the the decide stage. And let's, for an example, review Cali's list. If you remember, Cali had vinyl ventures, and she sold used vinyl records online, And she had some changes she wanted to make.
• 2:30
  Carly Ries: And that was the last episode for for new listeners. So be sure to check out episode 40 for Cali's story before this.
• 2:37
  Joe Rando: So she had 4 things that passed her decide stage. The first was to add turntables and tube amps to her product offering. Next was to start selling new release vinyl in addition to the used products she's currently selling on consignment. 3rd was to create a section of her website where people can review products. And the 4th was to move her website to a more robust platform where she can collect more data about her customers and automate certain processes.
• 3:04
  And as you recall, the last idea, 1 on one equipment consultations for customers was rejected because it would adversely impact one of her main goals of her business which was having time for her daughter. So what you wanna do now is you wanna group them. So some of your ideas may need to be done in concert. If this is the case, group them together.
• 3:23
  For Callie, the sale of turntables and tube amps goes hand in hand with creating the review section of the website. So she would group these together and work on them in parallel. That make sense?
• 3:33
  Carly Ries: Yes. Least to me, it does.
• 3:35
  Joe Rando: And then you need to decide on an order. So you need to decide which ideas or groups of ideas should be done first, second, etcetera.
• 3:42
  Carly Ries: And one thing to consider here is that some of these ideas may result in you having more time. So starting with these can make it easier to implement the other ideas because you'll have more time available, to to dedicate towards those.
• 3:54
  Joe Rando: That's a great point. And for Cali, moving her website to a more robust platform is a great candidate for that. Right? As she does this, she frees herself from doing mundane things by replacing them with workflows. This investment of time will pay back in times you can use for her other ideas.
• 4:09
  So she should start with that. Another thing to think about is is new sources of revenue. Doing these sooner is a good idea because you start earning more money sooner. Given this kind of thinking, for Cali, the next one should be the new vinyl records.
• 4:21
  Carly Ries: And then I assume she'll finish off with the equipment and reviews in parallel.
• 4:26
  Joe Rando: Definitely. And that's probably the hardest one for her and that's why it's good to maybe do it last after she's got the savings of time and and the additional revenue coming in. So now we have to actually do this. And as the old saying goes, a journey of a 1000 miles begins with a single step. Some of these changes you're making may be a significant undertaking, so this is the point where you may start to feel overwhelmed.
• 4:52
  But just take the idea and break it into logical steps. So let's look at Cali's sale of New Vinyl Records as an example. The first thing she needs to do is create an agreement with the distributor. She then needs to define the workflow for how she will communicate sales to the distributor and how the distributor will inform her of new releases and then she's gonna need to populate the products on her website. She'll need to revisit this regularly as new products are released.
• 5:16
  None of these three items is strictly what I would call a to do list item. They're more like small projects. So I'd recommend breaking them into smaller pieces as well And you keep doing this until you have to do list items for each. A to do list item may mean different things to different people, but it should be small enough to be, I mean, bite sized if that means anything to anybody.
• 5:37
  So for Cali, let's look at her first step, which is create an agreement with the distributor. To do this, she's gonna need to, 1st, request a copy of their standard reseller agreement. 2, review the standard agreement with an attorney. 3, send comments to the distributor on the attorney's changes to the agreement. 4, negotiate a final draft.
• 5:57
  And then, 5, sign the reseller agreement with the distributor.
• 6:01
  Carly Ries: Some of these might be broken out in, into even smaller steps. And, for example, reviewing the agreement with an attorney might involve actually finding an attorney and then reviewing the document.
• 6:12
  Joe Rando: Right. some of these can get broken down a few times. So now I'm gonna do the shameless plug thing. The LifeStarr app is great for this.
• 6:21
  It's currently in beta but if you'd like a tool that will make this process of executing easier, sign up for the beta and it'll be released pretty soon.
• 6:29
  Carly Ries: Yeah. And we'll actually have a show link for it in the show notes.
• 6:32
  Joe Rando: Cool. Okay. So now you've done all your adjustments. You've made your changes to your business. It's back to executing like we were before, do with a new way of doing things.
• 6:42
  Carly Ries: Be sure to take notes as to what is working and what isn't at this point.
• 6:47
  Joe Rando: As you wrap this process up, pick a date to start this process again in the future and depending on your business, you know, and your nature, it may be 6 months or a year in the future. Really depends. But, pick a date. You can always adjust it. You know, if you feel like you need to do it sooner, you can do it sooner.
• 7:02
  If it's you get to that 6 month mark and you say, nah. I'm good. But to have that as a part just to have that as a part of the process, this is, you know, a cycle and you're circling back to refine reimagining then deciding and then adjusting again on a regular basis, and that keeps your business healthy and serving your needs, not the other way around.
• 7:22
  Carly Ries: And that's why it's called the Solopreneur Success Cycle because it's a continuous process of improvement and adaptation. And we do have a visual for that in the show notes as well, so you can see that there to make it seem a little bit easier. But Joe, I think that is all we have for today. Great stuff. And listeners, thank you so much for tuning in.
• 7:41
  If you wanna listen to other episodes in the series or guest interviews, be sure to visit lifestarr.com/podcast or you can find us anywhere you subscribe to your shows. We'll see you next time. You may be going solo in business, but that doesn't mean you're alone. In fact, millions of people are in your shoes, running a one person business and figuring it out as they go. So why not connect with them and learn from each other's successes and failures?
• 8:08
  Intro: At Lifestar, we're creating a one person business community where
• 8:11
  Carly Ries: you can go to meet and get advice from other solopreneurs. Be sure to join in on the conversations at community.lifestar.com. That's community.lifestar star with 2 r's.com.