I think coaching is one of the best investments you can make in your business. You’re essentially paying for someone else’s experience — which means that you can move forward a lot faster and go a lot further.
There are a few things that really stuck out for me in coaching that I implement in my remote local cleaning business MaidThis.
Here’s what I learned.
#1: How to be a Planner
You have to figure out your financial goals and then actually plan to make them happen.
When you start a business, a lot of your decisions are going to be reactive. Something will eventually go wrong and you’re going to have to react with emotion. You can avoid all of this by creating a budget with your own personal EOS, or entrepreneurial operating system (learn about mine here and here).
Start with your 10-year goal first: “In 10 years I want this amount of money and this amount of customers.” Make it a big goal.
From there, you can determine where you need to be in three years to hit that 10-year goal. Then, where you need to be in one year to hit that three-year goal.
After that you can get even more granular and start to think about things in quarters. What do you need to hit every quarter to hit your goal this year? This type of planning takes away the emotion — you’re focused on achieving the concrete goal that you set for yourself instead of reacting.
I’m not saying this is easy (I’m still working on it myself), but I recommend everyone try to do it no matter how small your business is.
#2: Know Your Key Performance Indicators (KPIs)
You have to know your KPIs. These are the metrics that drive your business.
Major drivers for us at MaidThis Franchise are:
- How many phone leads did we get?
- How many bookings did we get?
- What’s the close rate?
- What percent of those bookings are recurring?
- How do we onboard labor?
- What percent of workers showed up for the second round interview?
- How many Google reviews did we get this month?
- What’s the repeat customer rate?
If we track these main metrics for our business, then we know how we’re benchmarking.
It also makes it so easy to troubleshoot any issues in your business. You’ll be able to see where you need to improve more clearly, and it will make managing your people a lot easier.
#3: Figure Out How Much Your Time is Worth
Don’t be afraid to delegate the tasks that you can.
Some of the best advice from a business coach I ever got was to spend three hours per day on strategy and working on my business. If you do, you’re going to be lightyears ahead of your competition.
I recommend time blocking in the morning, say from 8am-11am to hone in and work on your business. That doesn’t mean catching up on emails, it means building systems so that your biz can run without you, coming up with marketing ideas, and figuring out what I can outsource to other people.
I used to do all of my admin tasks. I kept things like accounting on my plate for way too long even though I hated doing it. The second I paid someone to get it done, I felt so much better.
Every morning I think: can I eliminate this, can I automate this, or can I delegate this? It’s been a game-changer.
#4: Focus on the Big Levers
The reality is, 20% of your efforts that will result in 80% of your results.
I recently realized that our repeat customers’ rebooking rate was very low. I knew that if I increase that just slightly, I’ll have way more revenue.
Now I’m aware that if I decide to only focus on that other fires will happen that will need my attention. But I also know that if I can solve this one issue it will have a really positive impact on my business.
There will always be an unlimited list of tasks that you can do — and maybe eventually should do — but not all of them are made equal. Figure out what’s going to be the biggest driver in your business, knock it out first, and only then move on to the next fire on your list.
#5: Your Business Will Only Grow As Far As You
The more you invest in yourself, the farther your business is going to go.
I’ve always noticed that a business can only go as far as its leader, and the most successful ones are run by people who know the importance of investing in themselves.
Go get coaching, read all the books, try to make yourself a better person, and I guarantee there will be a direct correlation with your business as well.
Yes, I spent $50k on coaching so you wouldn’t have to. But, I would encourage each and every one of you to find a business coach. Not only will they hold you accountable, but they’ll also be able to help you see through the weeds when it comes to reaching your goals.
And I think everyone can benefit from that.
Photo by Drew Beamer on Unsplash
This article was written by Neel from MaidThis Franchise, a remote-local franchise opportunity for people looking to escape the rate race and reach financial freedom. Learn more here.
