Lesson 2: Your Profit Picture
Profit Picture: Which products or services are the most profitable? Not necessarily financially, but emotionally, and spiritually too. If something makes money but your heart's not into it and it creates a lot of stress for me and my team, it is not sustainable.
Will this endeavor be enjoyable? Serve my people? Follow my values? And make Money?
All business is, is an exchange of value, you provide value and in exchange, money is given, which has value.
Sweet Spot-What you most want to deliver meets with what your customers most want to buy.
"Your greatest vocation in life comes from where your joy meets the world's greatest need." -Frederick Beauchner
Strengths are things that come so naturally to you that when you do them, you actually feel stronger, you feel energized, you feel alive, and simultaneously you want to do for other people.
What's my customer's dream scenary when interacting with my product? What would make them say, "Oh my goodness, wouldn't it be cool if..." What would thrill them, delight them, excite them? Another way to ask yourself is.. What bothers you about the way other people run their businesses or existing products or services that are being offered or that are in my space?
What do people really want, what do I really want to deliver?
Notice where the money comes from in your business. Know where the money comes from so that you can build up what is working.
Fun Sheet:
Part 1: Your Sweet Spot
How do you most often help others? How do you love to spend your time? What comes so naturally to you that it doesn’t feel like work at all? What do people thank you for all the time that you also enjoy doing? Write down at least 10 ways you provide value to others. Don’t censor yourself, the goal here is just to articulate your strengths, skills and unique abilities. Write down the things you enjoy doing that also benefit others. There are no “wrong” answers, just do your best. Remember our motto #progressnotperfection.
1:I most often help others by answering their questions. I feel like people come to me for advice, counsel, recommendations, etc...
2: I also help others with my skills, so I know how to do this or that and I'm willing to help and/or teach them to do the same.
3:I help others and love to teach. I love to teach about what I'm learning about and thinking about. My central theme generally revolves around my areas of focus, religion, food, health and wellness, thoughts and behaviors, and relationships.
4: I love to give advice, doesn't feel like work at all.
5: I love to cook delicious healthy food that people enjoy eating.
6: I love to help with short term projects when people are in a bind. Ie... watching Henri, taking julie to the dr., house projects with Rachel
7: I love to be kind, people notice all of the time.
8: I love to spend my time in the kitchen creating, studying my scriptures, exercising, reading, listening to podcasts, a lot of non-fiction.
9: I love to learn so that I can apply and also help others by teaching.
10: I listen to others, I love to listen and observe others. I feel like I have a knack for hearing what they say underneath what they say, or to be close enough to the Spirit to be able to discern and respond.
2: What is your customer’s dream? In her ideal world, what’s her ultimate fantasy of how your product or service would be delivered? Write down whatever crazy ideas come to mind. It doesn’t matter whether you could realistically deliver or create these experiences, the goal is simply to unlock your imagination and challenge yourself to step into your customer’s shoes and see things in a new way.
In my customer's ideal world, she'd have everything she needed to get started on my course. She'd have a clearly laid out plan and materials, she'd be able to go online and access her course at any time of day she wanted. She'd be able to attend class in her jammies with her husband. They'd watch the videos and gain the insights and talk together about what they learned. Then, they'd individually go to their notebook or journal and write about what they learned. Everything would be really straightforward and easy to understand and they'd feel connected. This couple would love having relatable, simple concepts without too much fluff. They'd like to have a date night to watch the videos and then do their study on their own throughout the week, talking about it every so often. They'd think it were really cool if they could watch on their phone, access the workbook from anywhere, and know what they were supposed to do. They'd like everything to be easy for them so that they could complete the study easily and efficiently each day. They'd also like me to trim down the long stuff, or segmenting things into smaller sections so that they could feel like they've made progress. They'd like to celebrate little wins, they'd like to be able to share what they're learning with their friends, they'd like to feel hopeful and empowered after their study each day. They don't want it to be too complicated. They want to feel like they can complete the course in a reasonable amount of time. They want to know that what I teach is in harmony with the church and the gospel of Jesus Christ. They want it to be scripturally sound and accurate. They'd want to know how to apply the teachings in their lives. They want something do-able. They'd like to be able to ask questions and get answers. They'd like to be able to share what they're learning (or she would). They'd like an easy way to share it with their friends. They'd like it to be affordable so that they feel they can share it with their friends and it won't burden them, it will be a no-brainer.
3: What frustrates or totally bothers them about the current options available in your industry? Probably that they have to leave the house, get dressed, and go to a church. A lot of times the content can feel repetitive or dry. They get tired of the same old way of doing things.
What drives her bonkers about how these products or services are delivered right now? Inexperienced/ill-prepared teachers. Not enough balance between study and thought. Uncomfortable sharing personal experiences/feelings in an unsafe class setting. Forget the action steps immediately after the instructor sits down. Questions too simple, the answers are obvious. Need more time to dive in. Checked out.
Now, go back and underline the ideas from the first question about your strengths and skills that you believe customers would want to pay for or that could help you add more value to existing customers.
Next, underline ideas from questions two and three that you might want to provide or could possibly incorporate into your offerings. These are potential sweet spots where you can provide immense value doing things you love to do, that customers would be happy to pay for. Write down your new sweet spot offering ideas, if any came to mind.
Highest Priorities:
Will this endeavor be enjoyable? Serve my people? Follow my values? And make Money?
All business is, is an exchange of value, you provide value and in exchange, money is given, which has value.
Sweet Spot-What you most want to deliver meets with what your customers most want to buy.
"Your greatest vocation in life comes from where your joy meets the world's greatest need." -Frederick Beauchner
Strengths are things that come so naturally to you that when you do them, you actually feel stronger, you feel energized, you feel alive, and simultaneously you want to do for other people.
What's my customer's dream scenary when interacting with my product? What would make them say, "Oh my goodness, wouldn't it be cool if..." What would thrill them, delight them, excite them? Another way to ask yourself is.. What bothers you about the way other people run their businesses or existing products or services that are being offered or that are in my space?
What do people really want, what do I really want to deliver?
Notice where the money comes from in your business. Know where the money comes from so that you can build up what is working.
Fun Sheet:
Part 1: Your Sweet Spot
How do you most often help others? How do you love to spend your time? What comes so naturally to you that it doesn’t feel like work at all? What do people thank you for all the time that you also enjoy doing? Write down at least 10 ways you provide value to others. Don’t censor yourself, the goal here is just to articulate your strengths, skills and unique abilities. Write down the things you enjoy doing that also benefit others. There are no “wrong” answers, just do your best. Remember our motto #progressnotperfection.
1:I most often help others by answering their questions. I feel like people come to me for advice, counsel, recommendations, etc...
2: I also help others with my skills, so I know how to do this or that and I'm willing to help and/or teach them to do the same.
3:I help others and love to teach. I love to teach about what I'm learning about and thinking about. My central theme generally revolves around my areas of focus, religion, food, health and wellness, thoughts and behaviors, and relationships.
4: I love to give advice, doesn't feel like work at all.
5: I love to cook delicious healthy food that people enjoy eating.
6: I love to help with short term projects when people are in a bind. Ie... watching Henri, taking julie to the dr., house projects with Rachel
7: I love to be kind, people notice all of the time.
8: I love to spend my time in the kitchen creating, studying my scriptures, exercising, reading, listening to podcasts, a lot of non-fiction.
9: I love to learn so that I can apply and also help others by teaching.
10: I listen to others, I love to listen and observe others. I feel like I have a knack for hearing what they say underneath what they say, or to be close enough to the Spirit to be able to discern and respond.
2: What is your customer’s dream? In her ideal world, what’s her ultimate fantasy of how your product or service would be delivered? Write down whatever crazy ideas come to mind. It doesn’t matter whether you could realistically deliver or create these experiences, the goal is simply to unlock your imagination and challenge yourself to step into your customer’s shoes and see things in a new way.
In my customer's ideal world, she'd have everything she needed to get started on my course. She'd have a clearly laid out plan and materials, she'd be able to go online and access her course at any time of day she wanted. She'd be able to attend class in her jammies with her husband. They'd watch the videos and gain the insights and talk together about what they learned. Then, they'd individually go to their notebook or journal and write about what they learned. Everything would be really straightforward and easy to understand and they'd feel connected. This couple would love having relatable, simple concepts without too much fluff. They'd like to have a date night to watch the videos and then do their study on their own throughout the week, talking about it every so often. They'd think it were really cool if they could watch on their phone, access the workbook from anywhere, and know what they were supposed to do. They'd like everything to be easy for them so that they could complete the study easily and efficiently each day. They'd also like me to trim down the long stuff, or segmenting things into smaller sections so that they could feel like they've made progress. They'd like to celebrate little wins, they'd like to be able to share what they're learning with their friends, they'd like to feel hopeful and empowered after their study each day. They don't want it to be too complicated. They want to feel like they can complete the course in a reasonable amount of time. They want to know that what I teach is in harmony with the church and the gospel of Jesus Christ. They want it to be scripturally sound and accurate. They'd want to know how to apply the teachings in their lives. They want something do-able. They'd like to be able to ask questions and get answers. They'd like to be able to share what they're learning (or she would). They'd like an easy way to share it with their friends. They'd like it to be affordable so that they feel they can share it with their friends and it won't burden them, it will be a no-brainer.
3: What frustrates or totally bothers them about the current options available in your industry? Probably that they have to leave the house, get dressed, and go to a church. A lot of times the content can feel repetitive or dry. They get tired of the same old way of doing things.
What drives her bonkers about how these products or services are delivered right now? Inexperienced/ill-prepared teachers. Not enough balance between study and thought. Uncomfortable sharing personal experiences/feelings in an unsafe class setting. Forget the action steps immediately after the instructor sits down. Questions too simple, the answers are obvious. Need more time to dive in. Checked out.
Now, go back and underline the ideas from the first question about your strengths and skills that you believe customers would want to pay for or that could help you add more value to existing customers.
Next, underline ideas from questions two and three that you might want to provide or could possibly incorporate into your offerings. These are potential sweet spots where you can provide immense value doing things you love to do, that customers would be happy to pay for. Write down your new sweet spot offering ideas, if any came to mind.
Highest Priorities:
- Everything she needed to get started on my course.
- clearly laid out plan and materials
- be able to go online and access her course at any time of day she wanted.
- Attend class in her jammies with her husband.
- watch the videos and gain the insights and talk together
- they'd individually go to their notebook or journal and write about what they learned
- really straightforward and easy to understand and they'd feel connected
- relatable, simple concepts without too much fluff
- date night to watch the videos and then do their study on their own throughout the week
- watch on their phone, access the workbook from anywhere
- everything to be easy for them so that they could complete the study easily and efficiently each day.
- trim down the long stuff, or segmenting things into smaller sections
- they could feel like they've made progress.
- celebrate little wins
- share what they're learning with their friends
- feel hopeful and empowered after their study each day
- feel like they can complete the course in a reasonable amount of time.
- what I teach is in harmony with the church and the gospel of Jesus Christ.
- scripturally sound and accurate
- how to apply the teachings in their lives
- ask questions and get answers
- share what they're learning
- easy way to share
- affordable so that they feel they can share it with their friends and it won't burden them, it will be a no-brainer.
Part 2: Money Tracking
Which offerings are really making you money and which you need to change or eliminate. The most important part of this exercise is to keep it simple!
1: List the offering or revenue stream and how much gross profit it generates per year.
KH4H- $1200 per year
Course- $600,000 per year
Physical Book- $96,000 per year
E Book- $48,00 per year
2: After expenses, how profitable is it?
*Typical expenses include the cost of the product, the cost to produce the product, cost to store the product, marketing, advertising, general and administrative expenses, salaries and wages, etc.
KH4H-After expenses, it's about $1200 per year
Course- After expenses (Expenses: $100 per month for teachable, $100 per year for website, $40,000 per year advertising($10,000 per quarter), $100,000 per year salary, $150,00 per year taxes, $10,000 per year equipment, $10,000 per year education, $10,000 per year storage and CRM, $30,000 per year admin. assistant salary ), it's about $250,000 profit.
Physical Book- after royalties, total revenue is about $67,200
E Book- after royalties, total revenue is about $38,400
Total yearly profit after expenses: $356,8000
This is selling 45 courses per day, 5 days per week for an entire year. Selling 20 physical workbooks, and 20 ebooks, per day, 5 days per week for an entire year. Along with serving Melissa and Brianna with KH4H.
3: How much time and energy do you invest on this revenue stream daily, weekly, monthly or yearly?
KH4H- 4-8 hours per month
Course- 20 hours per week
Physical Book- ~1 hour per week to check status
E Book- ~1 hour per week to check status
4: On a scale of 1-10, how much joy does this revenue stream bring you?
KH4H- 9
Course- 8
Physical Book- 4
E Book-4
5: Does this offering cause you or your team stress? If yes, why? And what, if anything, can you do to eliminate that stress?
KH4H- Yes, because I know it doesn't produce much income. It requires me to set aside working on my course to serve someone else. I can eliminate it the stress by allowing myself the pleasure of serving people in this way and to be ok with the time it takes.
Course- Yes, because I feel like I am always climbing uphill. I feel like such a novice and there's always so much to learn and do. It's challenging for me to continually push myself and learn and explore new things. Also, everything seems to take longer than I plan, and I find that I lose sight of the value of the project and put other things first.
Physical Book- Not anymore, it did when I was creating it. It took several drafts and revisions. I like that I've got it automated.
E Book-Not anymore, I feel like now that it's all done, it should be the easiest of all.
6: Is this offering scalable? If so, what resources or know how would be needed to scale it? If not, is that OK with you? (Not everything has to scale. Remember, bigger isn’t always better.)
KH4H- Not really, I enjoy the work and don't want to scale it.
Course- Yes, totally. The only restriction is finding a customer tracking system that can keep everyone straight, servers to handle the workload, and my ability to create content.
Physical Book- Yes, print on demand allows as many or as few copies to enter the world.
E Book-Yes, digital copies can flow out of every digital device.
8: What are the biggest insights you’re taking away from this exercise? Write them down here.
I've lost so much money in losing sight of the profit. I have been working on this project for 2 1/2 years, dinking around. I feel as if I'm ready to take it to the bank. I'd love a $600,000 per year revenue and a $100,000 per year income. I will be thinking about this when I make decisions about how I want to spend my time. I want to get this project done, this kind of money can flow through my business and my home and serve so many people. I have been wasting so much time. Gahhh! I'm so naive, such a newbie. Also, that marketing is going to be where it's at. If I'm going to consistently sell 45 courses per day, 5 days a week, I will want a very consistent marketing strategy. Also, I don't think I want to take the summer off, until I've gotten a handle on things. I'd like to make it evergreen so that it almost runs itself and I can work on other content, like emails, blog articles, and the next course.
9:Now turn your insight into a strategic action plan. What change can you make in your business to free up time and energy, starting now?
I can be careful and consistent and keep a daily log of what I've done so that I can pick up again the next day. I can stop being vague and be very precise and realistic about what I can do. I can get real with my time. If I want to dilly dally and waste my time and take Fridays off, I can calculate how much that's going to cost me and how many people's lives aren't going to be impacted. Let's see, 45 people wouldn't be purchasing my product, that's $25,000 in one day, not including the sales of the workbook and e-book. Once my course is up and running, I can ease up a little but, financially, that's an expensive trade off, not to mention the 45 people who's lives aren't going to be impacted and changed for the better, the families that won't have stronger bonds, the relationship with the Savior that could improve, and so many more benefits. The old hurts that won't be let go of, the self-worth that won't improve. It's an expensive trade off for fear.
What long-term strategy can you put into place to make sure you’re running the business you really want to run?
Set reasonable office hours and keep them. Most employers expect their employees to be at work, regardless of whether or not they slept well, got everything done, and/or don't feel like being there that day. Let's just say that I am employed, I'm being paid $25,000 per day and I need the money. No naps during work hours. Prep food, practice piano, balance the budget, exercise, and do all personal things outside of work hours but you do work part time, so you can fit it all in. The only things acceptable during work hours are training (B School, profitable author, any work related growth, research-not extensive) and working on the course (platform, email strategies, video recordings, slide shows, marketing materials, etc...) . Make exceptions only for things I would take time off of work from. Doctor's/dentist appointments, taking Julie to the doctor, sick kiddos-as needed, holidays, vacations, and illness that limits my ability to work. Don't sign up or volunteer for things during work hours. If I were at work, I wouldn't be able to babysit, read with kids, or do home improvement projects. Once my course is profitable, I can be more lenient in these areas.
Write your action plan here and include the specific dates and places you’ll start making it happen.
Starting Today:
Daily Tasks:
- Schedule my next day before I finish working. Honor my schedule. Only volunteer for things that don't fit in work hours. Continue to care for my body, mind, spirit, and soul by keeping my hours reasonable and efficient. Don't work past my scheduled hours, but start on time. When setting up the schedule for the next day, be real with what needs to happen.
- Log what was done and where to start on the following day. Schedule this into the day so it gets done.
- Create objectives for the week, be real and make sure they are do-able. Get them done. If you don't, plan to work outside of work hours to complete your do-able, self-assigned objectives. This is how things get done.
- When you're not working, completely engage in what you're doing without feeling any guilt. As long as you're present at work, you may be present everywhere else.
Weekly Tasks:
- Mondays-Set three objectives for the week in these three areas:
- DACCL Course Completion
- Website Set Up
- B School Completion
- Fridays-Check in on objectives and brainstorm about next weeks objectives in daily log.
Monthly Tasks:
- During the Follicular Phase, plan the upcoming goals for the month. Be as specific as possible to make it easier as you move through the phases.
- During the Ovulatory Phase, write emails, blog posts, marketing messages, record videos, and be the face of the company. Do your best to fit all of your communication messages in this week. It's also great for B School or educational opportunities, plan more time for thoughtful study this week than in the Luteal Phase.
- During the Luteal Phase, Complete the background stuff and tedious things that haven't gotten done. Make sure you are taking the time to write lists and check things off during these two weeks.
- During the Menstrual Phase, spend the week looking through the logs and seeing where you can improve. Finish up small things that will help the month feel closed out. Reach the goals you set for the month in the Follicular phase. Take one day off to recharge during regular business hours.
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