Today I travel all over the world supporting THOUSANDS of business owners in America, Canada, the UK, Europe, Australia, New Zealand and more. All in all at last check, we now serve clients in 91 countries. Supporting all these folks and working with our amazing team of business success coaches here at NPE, I get an interesting birds eye view of what makes people successful, and areas that keep many folks struggling.

Your Best Learning

I believe our best “learning” and personal growth comes from good reflection. You know, those times where you find some solitude and ask questions that require you to think and reflect deeply. Most people are too lazy, and lack the personal courage to ask themselves these kinds of questions, let alone take action on the answers they discover. But when you do, it’s amazing the answers that evolve out of the process.

Are You Asking Yourself The RIGHT Questions?

Everyone’s got questions. And the questions you’re focused on are what drive you. If you’re got a ton of random questions about all kinds of different things, then I would wager your behavior, and therefore results in your business, are also random. Which is not good. You must be focused, and take focused action consistently to change your world.

Here are the 3 questions I believe every business owner and entrepreneur needs to spend a lot of time carefully considering. Find the answers to these questions, and everything falls into place pretty simply about the path forward for your business (and your life).

QUESTION #1: What is my dream lifestyle?

This is really a question of your values, your passions, and your VISION for a living a life that gives you complete fulfillment in every area. I think discovering this answer is a process and takes time. From my own personal experience, 5 years ago at age 30, I don’t think I could have given you a very good answer. But having just celebrated my 35th birthday in September, I think I’ve now got a pretty good answer to this question. Keep asking the question until you’ve found the answers you’re looking for. You’ll know you’ve got the right answer to the question when you find it. And yes, your answer will evolve over time. That’s ok.

The point is you’ve got to clearly identify your passions to fuel the “hard work” that nobody really wants to do. And it’s also very important to make sure when you’re climbing the ladder of success, that you’ve got it leaning up against the right wall.

QUESTION #2: What is my business model and how many clients are required to create the NET PROFIT result needed to live my dream lifestyle?

As you can see, the answer to question #2 builds on your answer from question #1. Your work should be something that you LOVE doing. However, the purpose of owning your own business is to fund your dream lifestyle. Once you know the net profit result needed from your business to fulfill that purpose, and the other components of dream lifestyle like the amount of freedom you desire away from your business, then you can shape your business model and organization to deliver that needed result.

No one really thinks about their business model when they get started. They think “get some clients, charge them something, pay some bills, repeat.” This will get you off the ground. And too much thinking here will not START your business. Make no mistake; businesses are started by a lot of gusto and CAN DO blind charging forward into uncomfortable areas that bring a lot of pain and frustration. If you really thought too much about things here, you probably wouldn’t do it!

However, AT SOME POINT, to advance beyond banging your head into the wall you must do some good thinking and most importantly some good MATH. A business model is essentially a mathematical equation. A very simple expression of this equation can be illustrated as follows:

We can play with the equation until we determine the working model that gives us the needed result. We manipulate your average transaction size by tweaking your services menu, packaging, and pricing. We manipulate expenses by playing with your rent, overhead, labor costs (which are also influenced by fulfillment model- i.e. group, semi-private, private). And we can influence the number of clients by your marketing strategy and activities. But all of that MUST be drilled down to a very SIMPLE answer in the end.

In a coaching/training service based business, the single number that will give you much needed focus in your activity is the total number of clients needed to give you the NET PROFIT required to live your dream lifestyle. And that’s the kind of focus you need to be successful. You MUST have a single focus that when accomplished, connects everything in your business to live your dream lifestyle.

QUESTION #3: What is the fastest and easiest way I can get X number of clients to reach my goals?

There are lots of marketing activities we can all do in our businesses that keep us busy. But the most IMPORTANT activity we must consistently do is service business 1) GENERATE and 2) RETAIN clients. Otherwise you don’t really have much of a business at all… you have a bunch of friends coming over to workout with you today. And the FASTER you generate the number of clients needed to live your dream lifestyle WHILE building a solid team to fulfill services and deliver tremendous value to those you serve, the better.

So again, you can see the answer to this question builds on your answers from questions #1 and #2. Those 2 questions are pretty set once you’ve answered them (until you expand your vision of dream lifestyle or decide to change/adjust your business model). But Question #3 is where you should be spending most of your time right now. Wake up with that question in front of you every morning, and go to bed with it every night. X number of clients.

What’s the BEST way you can hit that target quickly and efficiently without wasted effort? SPEED matters. You could spend 3-5 years screwing around and NEVER hit that target OR you can get VERY clear and focused on that target and hit it in 6 months. Which makes more sense to you? I hope you answered the latter!

Bottom Line

When you’re walking around in a fog, doing random acts of business development, business and life is pretty frustrating. You haven’t defined a destination for your journey. Wandering is cool sometimes but not in business. You must be focused and disciplined.

Take a few minutes today (right now would be great!) and pull out a blank sheet of paper. Write down these 3 questions.

1. What is my dream lifestyle?

2. What is my business model and how many clients are required to create the NET PROFIT result needed to live my dream lifestyle (write out the mathematical equation to this answer!)?

3. What is the fastest and easiest way I can get X number of clients to reach my goals?

Give them some thought and write out your answers. I’d love to hear what comes out of this process for you.