PODCAST - How to Grow Your Business When You’re Already Overwhelmed
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AI is rising and so are we
Now let's dive in
Do you feel like there's always something new to do in your business? Maybe you read a new book, watch a new video, listen to a new podcast, invest in a new program, a new consultant, coach, whatever it is. It can feel overwhelming. And while you should do all of these things, how the heck are you supposed to have the time to implement any of these new things in your business?
Today on the show, I'm gonna share with you a simple framework that I consult my private clients paying me multiple six figures per year that has changed their [00:02:00] lives. It's also changed my life. Because before I was an entrepreneur, I was working 60 to 70 hours per week as an IT auditor at PricewaterhouseCoopers.
Loved my time there, loved the people. Really, without PwC, I don't know if I'd be where I am today. Well, I was working 60 to 70 hours a week, which is pretty normal for working at an accounting firm or a consulting firm. I was also exploring different entrepreneurial projects on the side for another 20 to 30 hours a week.
So on heavy weeks, I was working 100 hours. Well, I traded all of that in once I was ready to go and create eLearning Partners, and I went from splitting my 100 hours between accounting and entrepreneurship to working 100 hours per week for about six to seven years. And I thought that I had to do this. I thought that working more hours equaled more success.
I thought it was a cool thing to do. I thought that if you weren't working at least 80 [00:03:00] hours, but anyone working 100-plus hours per week had a badge of honor. And even today, I feel like so many influencers and people and, or coaches are out there saying you need to work all the time. Well, I completely disagree.
Well, today, I work less than 32 hours per week, and at most, 12 Fridays per year, and it comes down to two things. Number one, ROI alignment. ROI alignment changed everything for me, and it took way too long for me to figure this out, but it doesn't have to take you a second longer. ROI alignment is return on investment alignment.
What does this mean? This means that all you need to do is look at your business, look at the different stakeholders or people that your business affects, and stop asking, what is the return on my investment and all these things, and start asking, [00:04:00] what is the return on investment that your customers, your employees- And anyone else that your business impacts.
What are they looking at getting? What is their ROI? ROI doesn't have to be a selfish thing. When I was in business school, this is a huge concept that I learned in accounting and in finance, was when we invest in something, when we spend money, what do we get back? Well, did you know that you can not only spend money, but you can also spend time, and you can spend energy.
Well, guess what? Your customers also are either gonna spend money, time, or energy, or potentially all three, or a combination. Same with your employees. They're going to be spending their time and their energy, and you're going to be rewarding them with money and whatever other benefits your company [00:05:00] has.
And then you're gonna find some other stakeholders as well. So if you want to know what to focus on when you read that next book, when you take that next course, when you join a consulting program like one of mine or someone else's, whatever is the best fit for you, what you need to think about is what is the return on investment that you're looking at getting, and what is the return on investment that your customers and employees are looking at getting?
And when you align the return on investment that you are looking at getting with Your customers, your employees, whatever other stakeholders who you impact that are also looking for a return. This helps you make decisions. This helps you cut through the overwhelm and focus on what really matters. And when you pair this with number two, it's gonna become extremely evident.
Now, I actually learned this first, but until I took the pieces of ROI alignment and paired it with the second [00:06:00] principle, I wasn't able to cut my hours. I thought I could, but I didn't really know what to focus on, and this is what my clients ask me. They're like, "Great, the 80/20 rule. I've heard about that.
Also known as the Pareto principle. Yeah, this makes a lot of sense. I've heard this so many times, but Johnny, I try and it just doesn't work for me." Well first, let me tell you if you don't know what this is, what it is, 'cause it may be the unlock you're looking for. But when you pair this with the first piece, ROI alignment, that we just talked about, things become so simple.
So the 80/20 rule, Pareto principle. This guy, Italian economist, saw that 80% of the land in Italy was owned by 20% of people. And further research was done, and he figured out, and other researchers over the years figured out, that this applies to everything. Not just the [00:07:00] land in Italy, but everything. So what does this mean?
This means that 20% of the activities in your business, 20% are creating 80% of results. This means that 20% of what you invest in is creating 80% of income, and vice versa. 80% of what you do in your business is creating 20% of results. Isn't that crazy? When I first heard this, when I was working 100-hour weeks, I was like, "Wow, this makes a lot of sense."
I just gotta identify the 20% now, and that's where I got lost, is I wrote down everything in my business, and I, in theory, could come up with it, but I wasn't always the best at coming up with- What I should focus on. When you combine this with ROI alignment, your customers, your employees, these stakeholders are going to tell you what the 20% is.
One of my mentors, Graham Cochrane, looked at the 80/20 rule and [00:08:00] said, "I see another rule hidden in here." He calls it the 64/4 rule. How do we even get here? Well, let's do a little bit of math. Well, if we take 80% of 80%, we get 64%. And if we take 20% of 20%, we get 4%. So the 80/20 rule is true, then that means that the 64/4 rule is true.
And what this really means is that 4% of the activities in your business are driving 64% of results, and vice versa. Well, I like to look at this another way. Let's bring these over here, and if you're listening to this as a podcast, basically what I'm doing is we have 80% and we have 20%, and then we have 64% and 4%.
Well, if we subtract [00:09:00] 64% from 80%, what do we get? 16%. And if we subtract 4% from 20%, we have 16%. So what does this mean? This is why the 64 four rule is so important. 'Cause if we just did things based on this 80/20 rule, we may still only get linear results. What the 64 four rule is also saying is that 16% of activities in your business are giving you 16% of results.
So 20% is giving you 80% of results, but if you really look within that 20%, 16% are giving 16% of results, and 4% is really where the unlock is. Pretty cool. And then 80% is giving you 20% of results. So if we add all this up, [00:10:00] we're talking that 96% of what you do in your business is creating 36% of results. This is why it's so important to unlock the 4%.
And if you're still feeling overwhelmed, I invite you to my next Plug The Profit Leak Challenge. In just a couple of hours, I have had clients on the challenge unlock more than 100K of profit in their business per year. And it was really because together, during this challenge, what I'm able to do is work with you on identifying what to focus on, identifying what we need to get rid of in our businesses to plug the profit leaks, and what we actually need to focus on by leveraging ROI alignment and my framework ROI PIE, so that you can exponentially grow your business.
But maybe you don't even wanna exponentially grow your business, you just wanna [00:11:00] work less and impact more. Well, that's exactly what we do in my Plug The Profit Leak Challenge. So I invite you to grab a ticket to my next challenge. It is linked in the YouTube description and in the show notes, or you can go to plugtheprofitleak.com.
I would love to have you in my next challenge, because one of the biggest takeaways that my clients like Carla have shared with me on the challenge is that she gained clarity, was no longer overwhelmed, and knew exactly what she needed to do to increase the profitability of her business and to powerfully serve her customers.
I'll see you in the next episode.
Thanks for tuning in to Learning Transformed. Now, if you're designing a transformational learning experience and wanna skip the overwhelm of trial and error, check out our e-learning platform finder. Just answer a few simple questions, and we'll match you with the right platform, plus an extended free trial.
And as a bonus, [00:12:00] you'll get free access to a course that walks you through building your learning experience on your matched platform. Click on the link in the show notes or go to www.e-learningpartners.com/elearning-platform-finder.
I'd also love to hear from you. Leave a review on Apple Podcasts or Spotify, or drop a comment on our YouTube channel. Thanks for listening, and I'll catch you in the next episode
AI is rising and so are we
