My Ideal Client
My ideal client is a business owner that has been in business for at least two years and is producing more than $500k in annual revenue. Of course, this can vary by client.
An ideal client is typically facing one or more of these five challenges:
Challenge #1: The business relies on the owner or it all falls apart
- The owner is wearing all the hats
- In fact, they may be wearing hats that they don’t want…nor are they particularly good at.
- They need to spend most of their time on the things that they’re good at and want to do.
Challenge #2: The business owner is constantly battling a ‘catch-22’ situation.
- They can’t grow their business without more money
- …but they can’t get more money without growing their business
- They started this business to create freedom of time and money
- But, when there’s not enough profit (even if they are making a big top-line number…sales, it’s natural to think the way out is working harder and doing more yourself)
- Until they can remove themselves from the day-to-day operations, they are going to be frustrated…AND THEY WILL BE THE BOTTLENECK
Challenge #3: The business owner doesn’t have a simple way to understand what’s working – and what’s not – in their business
- The typical financial reports (like the P&L, Balance Sheet, etc.) are made for accountants…not business owners. They are downright confusing…and they don’t tell the whole story.
- It’s hard to understand exactly what’s working – and what’s not working just by looking at these reports.
- To make matters worse, the ‘numbers people’ (like their accountant and bookkeeper ) seem to always be speaking a foreign language.
- How can business owners make decisions when they don’t understand what’s going on in their business?
- Plus, the accountants and bookkeepers aren’t getting paid to help improve profit and cash flow.
Challenge #4: The business owner does not have clear goals
- How does a business owner know if they’re making progress if they don’t know where they want to end up?
- Most business owners don’t have clear and well thought out targets.
- Specifically, they don’t have clear targets for revenue, profit and the bank account.
- This is the equivalent of getting in the car and driving without having a clear destination. You’ll waste a lot of gas and a lot of time.
Challenge #5: The business owner does not have a clear path to follow to have a growing and more profitable business
- There are thousands of things that a business owner could be doing in their business each day
- But only a handful that will actually make a difference…
- …in the three things that really matter: revenue, profit, and their bank account.
- Once a business owner knows where they want to end up, they need to know how to get there.
- Most business owners don’t have a solid plan of what to do or how to do it so that they can achieve their targets.
- Because of these challenges, the business owner needs help. Specifically, they need someone who understands the entire business and can help them improve it. They need you.
If the business owner doesn’t solve those 5 key challenges they will typically experience a range of emotional problems:
They will experience frustration:
- A business owner typically will resign to coming into work everyday and work in the business.
- Then, they look up a year or two later and realize they haven’t made meaningful progress.
- They are nowhere close to achieving the freedom of money and time that they desperately want.
- Instead, they are left with a very stressful job that they happen to own.
- A very stressful job that doesn’t provide the type of income that the business owner deserves – especially for the long hours and the sacrifices that they made.
They also experience stress:
- This is an emotional struggle. When things are not going well for a business owner it affects them emotionally:
- They become stressed over money;
- They feel defeated because they end up having to work harder while losing more freedom and time;
- They get angry at their in-ability to make money (“everyone else is making money – why can’t I?”)
- Relationships with their spouse, family, and friends deteriorate;
- They’re embarrassed (clients will tell us things their spouse doesn’t even know);
- Their mood changes;
- They become less confident in themselves;
- They think about what others may think of them if they fail;
- They doubt they’ll be able to cross the “financial finish line”.
They also experience isolation:
- They are desperate for help.
- Their accountant is not getting paid to help them (they are compliance oriented);
- Their bookkeeper is not trained to help them;
- Their spouse is not equipped (mentally or emotionally) to help them; they may encourage them, but they don’t have the tools to help solve their problems.