Hey there.

I am the first to admit my headline sounds a bit cocky and that I might have more to learn from you than you have to learn from me.

However, I decided to challenge myself with a question. If my life depended on it if someone held a gun to my head and told me I must make your business thrive, what would I do?

I came up with six non-negotiable principles I have come to believe are decisive for your growth and success. I will elaborate on them below, but you can also listen to my latest podcast episode where I discuss them more in detail.

If you have been reading or watching my content before, you might know that I am passionate about helping entrepreneurs turn their potential into greatness.

I believe strongly in entrepreneurship as a force for positive change in the world. I wish more people would turn their talents into thriving businesses and move the world forward.

So why do so few create something extraordinary? Why do so few even break even?
Over my 20+ year career, I have had the privilege to work with thousands of people, and I have come to learn what the biggest obstacles to growth and prosperity are.

So I asked myself, what are the most important ways in which I could help ANY entrepreneur and company succeed? Could I?

In a nutshell, here is what I would do to ensure that you would achieve great success. To be clear, we would not work on all things at once, but these principles would work as the checklist to ensure you reach your dreams.

1. I would make sure you adopt the mindset and identity of a game-changing entrepreneur
It is surprisingly rare to come across entrepreneurs who think and act like entrepreneurs, meaning you understand that risk is part of the equation, and so is the reward. I would work with you to strengthen your confidence and start showing up like an entrepreneur, not an employee who works mainly in the business. I would have you work on clarifying and connecting with your entrepreneurial spirit and develop a strong, ever-expanding entrepreneurial identity.

2. I would make sure you find your space and own it
Positioning is the most critical concept in business but also the most ignored. I would make sure you don't play somebody else's game but instead change the game or invent a new one. Being the leader in a growth category is the best recipe for profitable growth. You want to become the only choice for your ideal clients.

We would work on your positioning, then your branding, ensuring that you show up as a leader in your space. The best place to be in business, the best positioning to own any positioning that makes your clients think of you as their only viable choice.

3. I would have you create a No-Brainer Offering
The only way you generate cash is by exchanging value for money. Yet, most offerings are way too vague, generic, and similar. I would convince you that a great vs. a mediocre offering is what separates a great vs. a mediocre business. We would work on creating and validating your offering to the point of obsession, knowing it will move the needle faster than anything else.

I would push you to productize your offering because with high levels of standardization (vs. customization), you would be able to make higher margins, and you would be able to scale beyond yourself or the immediate team around you.

I would introduce you to our Beta™ model, which forces you to stop overthinking it and replacing analysis with experimentation. As a result, you would have a business asset that would fuel your growth for years to come.

4. I would help you design and operate a Client Acquisition MachineRelying on random referrals is a recipe for unpredictability and constant stress. Trying to grow a business based on anything other than systems and processes (however boring it may sound) is like running vs. driving a car.

You might pull off some great sprints, but then you must stop and rest. In business, consistency is king. Ok, cash is king, but consistency is what generates consistent cash.

I would help you build simple processes, focusing on the few things that would bring you fresh leads and prospects, and consistency.

And we would measure your progress and all your key metrics, so we would know when to add more fuel to the engine. This would do more to your growth than anything else you do.

5. I would obsess about building simple systems and hiring the right people to run them
At the risk of annoying you, I would reinforce the idea that your systems will make or break your business and that you become a business designer, not just an operator. I would introduce you to The Simple Company™ Method and simple processes, where you break down all your major tasks into simple processes following the 1+2+3=Result framework.

You would love it, and your business would be able to grow profitably. We would high-five each other after you would have recovered from all my bitching about how your systems will save you. You would experience a new level of freedom, and you would never want to go back to running your business as you did before.

6. I would coach you like a champion
I'll close with the part that would make all the other parts happen. Well, in addition to your mindset, beliefs, and identity continually expanding, you would experience some gentle ass-whipping and accountability.

Or maybe not so gentle, whatever would be needed. I would sell you the ass-whipping as your benefit, and you would buy into it, giving me permission to show up like a top-performance coach, not someone who listens to and buys into your own bullshit. You know what I talking about.

As a consequence, we would develop healthy, habit-building practices that would have you running your business and life like clockwork.

Wouldn't that be great? Wanna do it?

No?

This is where the doubt and lack of confidence kick in for most people. " Yes, but it would probably not work out anyway…"

So you'd go back to things, as usual, doing the things that have not worked so far. Some people, however, see things differently.

They are willing to bet on themselves, they are willing to move toward the unknown and take it on, whatever happens. They understand that growth always comes with risk and investment, whether they do things by themselves or with the help of partners.

They are called entrepreneurs.

They are rare, but they are the less than 1% that created much of the greatness that we have come to take for granted in this world we live in. Have a great rest of the week!

Tobias