By Stefania Aulicino
Enthusiasm is a trait of all successful entrepreneurs. Used incorrectly, it becomes the Achilles’ heal of an entrepreneur’s business model.
The excitement of a new business rallies the Herculean effort of the founding team. People put in 12-hour days for less than normal compensation. In fact you can’t pay for that kind of work ethic. Imagine if you offered to pay your grandmother to cook Thanksgiving dinner for her family and grandchildren: you would actually dis-incent her! You cross the social bounds with commercial bounds.
Yet, trouble starts when the owner builds a business model that continues to rely on Herculean effort instead of shifting to a fully burdened model which can pay cash for value delivered to customers. Pricing is too low to pay for a sustainable team. Customers expect extraordinary service but are not charged a sustainable value-exchange.
So how can an entrepreneur shift from a business model based on enthusiastically generated value (which is NOT sustainable) to enthusiastically generated value-exchange which IS sustainable?
1- Turn each client relationship into an annuity.
2- Use technology to leverage human effort
3- Package what is valued most by existing clients and GROW YOUR OWN ideal CLIENTS
Client annuity. Use the initial enthusiasm to create raving fans who will keep buying; then you have a foundation of predicable income to pay for people using real world wages to deliver your product/services.
Besides having predicable cash-flow to pay for infrastructure, your profits go up as your marketing costs go down.
Technology. Integrate technology into your business model as quickly as possible.
Is it for marketing and brand development with on-line or social media?
Is it delivery- with Skype, conference calls?
Is it tracking- with cloud computing?
Innovation. Ask clients what they want- and let them prioritize your next innovation- and pay with advance deposits. Innovation is not what the customer says they want, it’s what they will pay for.
Translate what they say they want into what you know is possible. Prove it is what they want by only committing to those features for which existing customers will place advance cash deposit. Check writers are more reliable than customer inquiries.
Stefania Aulicino, president of CapitalLinkUSA ensures business owns get cash to keep control of a bigger, more profitable company, faster, safer than they ever thought possible- in any economy. Become a magnet for non equity and equity sources to fuel your growth. Explore our tools, solutions and consulting options tailored for different growth stages and different budgets: www.CashAndControl.com
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