Episode #196 The 75% Rule
There’s lots of confusion. What really matters to grow your business?
Is it finances, sales, admin, social media, marketing, photography, pixeling your website, cleaning the dirt under your fingernails from that red rouge buffing compound…?
The list is endless. The answer is simple…it’s the 75% rule.
In fact, when I first presented the 75% rule – jaws were dropped.
When I was asked about the 75% rule at the Gold Conference, same thing… I got a lot of weird looks.
Here’s why…
Most “creative-maker-designer” types love creating and making.
So they start a business and continue to create – make – design (oh yeah and do a lot of busy work) and wonder why their business isn’t growing?
If you want your business to grow, you have to spend your time on revenue generating activities.
That’s where the 75% rule comes in.
Finding the levers in your business to sell jewelry online or land those massive wholesale accounts requires a commitment and focus on the “RIGHT” activities.
Your ability to double your jewelry business’ sales starts with today’s episode.
On today’s episode, I am going to share why you should be saving those $10 and $20 tasks for someone else to do and focusing at least 75% of your time on making your VISION and GOALS a reality.
I am also going to help you identify the things that are not moving your business forward.
Check out Episode #196 The 75% Rule to get started!
SPEND TIME ON THE HIGHEST LEVERAGED ACTIVITIES
Let’s start here: how are you spending your time?
Break down your daily activities into pay grades (start with $5/hour all the way up to $1000/hour
I talk about how to break down the pay grades in the episode (hint: listen in).
You should be focused on the $500/hour tasks (not the $5/hour tasks).
What are the things that you do to actually bring in that kind of revenue?
Here’s a few ideas: sales activities that train your customers to buy from you online, strategic partnerships, loyalty outreach, and the marketing activities that bring in sales.
Start by documenting your time for two weeks.
You’d be surprised at how much time you might be wasting!
HIRE FREELANCERS FOR HELP
Whether your biz is making $500k or you’re making less than $50k a year…
You can find affordable help everywhere
Since the 90’s, I’ve built my biz with the help of contractors and freelancers better equipped to deal with admin tasks and low leveraged activities..
Things like website updates, organizing, uploading images, etc.
The less time you spent on admin work, the more time you have to leverage your skills and bring money into your business.
(Another hint: that should be 75% of your time).
You can hire an offshore virtual assistant who can actually work for $5 an hour or find an intern or college student to start for minimum wage.
It is a great way to get stuff off your plate that doesn’t require your brilliant business mind while keeping the business moving forward.
GET PRODUCTION HELP
Here’s another example: I went from earning $50-200k during the first three years of my biz.
The only way I was able to do that was to hire production assistants who helped produce my orders and eventually contracted manufacturers.
You can do this too with piece workers, contractors, small batch manufacturers, outsourced labor or CAD designers, college interns, and the list is endless.
The key is to have a production and product manual and training videos in places so you can easily outsource the work.
Spend 75% of your time doing the activities that grow your business…that’s all.
There’s even more advice on building and growing your business on episode #196 The 75% Rule.
Happy listening!
xo, Tracy
SPONSOR SPOTLIGHT
I’m on a mission to help ambitious, independent jewelry brands use digital technology to increase their direct to consumer sales, improve their wholesale flow and to ditch the “art” shows that are sucking up their time, creative energy and profits.
Do you want to be one of those people? Click here to apply for our Strategic Online Success (SOS) Accelerator
Links:
Apply for our Strategic Online Success (SOS) Accelerator!
Jewelry Brand Marketing Hub → Join our discussion on Facebook!
