What Is the
Fastest Path
to Money?
It’s no secret that bright people – the majority of business owners – like to create mischief for themselves, precisely because they are bright. Complicating things makes things interesting, after all! But it’s not the best strategy to creating more money and meaning in life.
If we had our way, all business owners would ask this question of themselves and their teams, at least once a month:
What is the fastest path to making money today?
Then – again if we could have our way – the business owner would make a list of the answers, and choose one that resonates most and get to work.
Author of The Art of the Start
Focus on cash flow, not profitability. The theory is that profits are the key to survival. If you could pay the bills with theories, this would be fine. The reality is that you pay bills with cash, so focus on cash flow. If you know you are going to bootstrap, you should start a business with a small up-front capital requirement, short sales cycles, short payment terms, and recurring revenue. It means passing up the big sale that takes twelve months to close, deliver, and collect. Cash is not only king, it's queen and prince too for a bootstrapper.
If you are in business for yourself and don’t have a sizeable amount of money in savings as a cushion, or a husband or wife’s salary you’re relying on, you are a bootstrapper. A sizeable amount is the amount you need to earn in one month to live, multiplied by at least six to twelve.
What does complaining do for you?
Many – MANY – business owners complain about not earning enough money. This has to be the number one stress point for any business owner, especially if you’re new.
But if you have been complaining about it for more than one month, then not earning enough money is not really an emergency for you.
Somehow, some way, you are surviving without more money. Yet you are still complaining, or worrying, or not sleeping at night because of it.
Our advice is to either stop worrying about it because you’re clearly making it somehow, or else come to realize it is a truly serious problem and do something about it.
In coaching terms, it’s common practice to say, "People do what they do, because they have nothing more compelling to do." Only you can really know if this is true. Is it?
Let’s get back to the question at hand.
What’s the fastest path to money in your business, right now?
Answer: Sell something you don’t have to prepare to existing customers who already trust you. We’re talking about something you already have or something you can create, just once, then sell and get money in your bank account.
The existing customer part is as important as the what you sell part because you must be able to communicate with these customers today. So either you have their email addresses or their phone numbers, and you can contact them with a reasonable expectation that they will be happy you did.
If you are new in business, change the phrase "existing customers who already trust you" to "people with whom you have a previous relationship and who trust you." This means people you know from your last job, social circle or professional network.
What’s the fastest path to money for you today? Make a list. Act on the one that feels right.
"Act on" means nothing more or less than "ask for the business." You must build the fortitude, courage, and/or habit to ask for the business. Lucky thing, you can read more about that in my book Money, Meaning and Beyond: Chapter 8, "Nagging your way to success" for a shift in that arena.
Learn more about all of this at the ACO conference in Chicago, May 4-6, 2007