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In the ever-evolving world of entrepreneurship, the overwhelming amount of advice and strategies to start a business can leave you feeling like a hamster on a wheel, endlessly chasing your goals without knowing where to start.
With a decade of business experience under her belt, Yvonne Heimann shares valuable insights, debunks common coaching myths, and provides actionable steps for building a successful business in 2024.
The core pillars of her advice revolve around the implementation of repeatable processes, diversifying offers, and simplifying business approaches. Let’s dive deeper into these concepts.
The Importance of Repeatable Processes
What Are Repeatable Processes?
Repeatable processes are the backbone of a scalable and efficient business. These are systematic, repeatable methods that allow a business to function smoothly and consistently. Heimann asserts that whether you’re engaging in organic marketing, advertising, one-on-one consulting, or group coaching, each of these areas requires a repeatable process to be effective.
Why Repeatable Processes Matter when you start a business
- Scalability: Building the same thing over and over again isn’t scalable. Establishing a process streamlines the creation and implementation phases, making it easier to duplicate success.
- Error Management: Regular practices reduce the chances of errors, ensuring consistent quality. The more you refine a process, the fewer mistakes occur.
- Continuous Improvement:A repeatable process allows for constant tweaking and improvement, optimizing efficiency and effectiveness over time.
- Customer Satisfaction: Reliable delivery builds trust with your customers, making your business more dependable.
- Market Adaptability: If something isn’t working, a structured process allows you to identify, isolate, and correct the problem faster.
Debunking the Niche Down Myth
A common piece of advice from business coaches is to “niche down” to one customer, one product, and one promotion when starting a business. Heimann challenges this advice, stating that when you’re just starting, you need to test different markets, offers, and promotion strategies to gather valuable data.
Instead of niching down prematurely, Heimann recommends a balanced approach:
- Test and Learn: Try different target markets and offers to see what works best. This trial-and-error approach is essential for discovering both what you enjoy and what resonates with your audience.
- Multiple Offers: Diversify your offers to create multiple streams of income. Heimann serves the same entrepreneurial market but offers VIP days, a membership, and a three-month program. This diversification meets various needs and budgets while mitigating risk.
- Risk Reduction: Relying on a single offer is risky. If that offer fails, your revenue stream dries up. Multiple offers provide safety nets.
- Creativity and Flexibility: Multiple offers foster creativity and flexibility, allowing you to adapt to market changes without a total business overhaul.
Simplifying Your Business Approach
A simplified business approach makes operations more efficient by:
Streamlined Operations: Implementing repeatable processes reduces complexity and optimizes workflows.
Automated Tasks: Tools like ClickUp can automate daily tasks, reducing the mental load and freeing you up to focus on higher-level strategies.
Focused Effort: Clear boundaries set by knowing your core values prevent the “squirrel moments” that can derail your focus.
Conclusion
Implementing repeatable processes, diversifying your offers, and simplifying your business approach are essential strategies for building a successful business in 2024. These actions not only make your business more efficient but also ensure it’s adaptable, scalable, and ultimately, more profitable. By following this pragmatic advice, you can turn your passion into a thriving, streamlined, and burnout-free entrepreneurial venture.
If you’re just starting to implement these strategies, check out Yvonne’s video on the most crucial business processes and grab the accompanying workbook to put these insights directly into action. Don’t forget to subscribe to her channel for more valuable tips and insights to help you build a successful business in 2024.
Video Transcription:
Yvonne Heimann [00:00:00]:
You might be tired of doing this hamster wheel ways of running your business, or maybe you are ready to turn your passion into profit, but there’s so much information out there and you don’t know where to start. Now, in this video I’m gonna share ten years of business experience. I’m gonna debunk some of the coaches advice that’s out there and I’m gonna give you specific action items that you can take today that I wish I would have known ten years ago if I would start a business again in 2024. Hi, I’m Yvonne Heimann, aka Yvi, with askyvi.com, a business efficiency and automation strategist helping entrepreneurs turn their passion into a profitable automated business by teaching you repeatable systems and processes. Now, there’s a lot of information out there when talking about what I would do if I would start a business in 2024. You have a lot of business coaches out there, you have a lot of mentors out there and everybody says their solution is the solution and you have to do this. I’m gonna tell you, you don’t have to. And I’m really gonna be honest with you.
Yvonne Heimann [00:01:06]:
Having listened to some of that advice, having listened to some of this training, have spent thousands and thousands and thousands of dollars for coaches that promised one thing and delivered nothing. Let’s talk first about something I already hinted on: repeatable processes. What does that mean? That means that yes, one on one coaching works. Courses work, group coaching works, organic marketing works, advertising works, they all work, but they need to work for you. So first off, what are your core values? What are you trying to accomplish? And then we need to build a repeatable process around it. If it’s organic marketing, there is a repeatable process behind this to make it work over and over and over again. The same with ads, the same with one on one consulting, the same with group coaching, the same with courses, the same with templates. Everything behind that success is, is not what they do, but how they do.
Yvonne Heimann [00:02:06]:
They implemented a repeatable process to continuously deliver and continuously improve what they deliver. So let’s dive a little bit deeper into repeatable processes. Why do repeatable processes matter? Simply repeatable process means you can scale this thing. If you were building the same thing over and over again, you got to build it over and over again. How long did it take you to figure out how you want to structure your vip day? How long did it take you to figure out how to build out that course platform? If you have to do this over and over and over again, how do you want to scale this thing? There’s also a risk management involved with that. You reduce errors and ensure consistency. If you are doing a thing over and over and over again, it means you are checking it over and over again.
Yvonne Heimann [00:02:56]:
You are polishing it over and over again. Now the risk of something going sideways becomes smaller and smaller and smaller. And as I already mentioned is you’re continuously improving on what you are doing. That’s why repeatable processes are so amazing and literally at the core of a simplified business that doesn’t burn you out. It also means your customers are more happy because your delivery is actually reliable. You built that trust because you do and you do and you do. It also allows you to be more adaptable to the market and your needs. You have a process that you have run over and over and over again, which means you are going to see if something suddenly doesn’t work anymore.
Yvonne Heimann [00:03:41]:
If you can’t deliver, you take that piece of the process, you adjust it, you clean it up and now it’s working again. Simple example I had a quick turnaround possibility to promote my podcast automation template. I got connected with BC Stack. I needed to have a landing page, I needed to have an email follow up, I needed to have the checkout process, all the things ready to go. Literally within 24 hours I was able to do so because I was able to literally just take that landing page that I know is converting , duplicate it, adjust it for that specific offer, do a couple of tweaks and there we are, done. Within 24 hours I was able to join this promotion that was literally already pre selling without batting an eyelash. That’s what repeatable processes do for you. Now I want to hear from you.
Yvonne Heimann [00:04:30]:
Have you already implemented repeatable processes? And if you have, did you run into any issues running those processes? How are you doing? Does this repeatable process idea connect with you? Are you like, yeah, no. I want to do everything over and over again. I like to be a hamster in a wheel. I’m just joking. I know we all want to build a business that runs on autopilot and doesn’t burn us out. Let me know below. What processes have you implemented? What processes are you planning to implement? Now that we talked about repeatable process, let me debunk one of the biggest BS coaching messages out there. Niche down.
Yvonne Heimann [00:05:08]:
Niche down. Niche down. One customer, one product, one promotion, not when you are starting your business. I’m sorry, you are not getting any data if you are just doing one target market, one offer, one way of marketing yourself. It is a lot. Don’t get me wrong. I’m not saying be on all social media platforms and put 10,000 different offers out there and talk to 5000 different people. That’s not what I’m saying.
Yvonne Heimann [00:05:34]:
I’m saying when you are starting out a business, you need to test. You need to jump on that bike, paddle a little bit, fall over, adjust, paddle again, and by the second or third time you get the hang of it. With that, yes. Niche down on who do you want to serve. I serve entrepreneurs that are wanting to turn their passion into profit. And we do so by implementing repeatable processes. Because that’s the only way you can set your business on autopilot. That’s my niche. But I’m not just selling one offer.
Yvonne Heimann [00:06:06]:
What if I only sell vip days? That means I constantly have to bring new people into those vip days. I’m constantly marketing. Why would I do that? Why would I not, just after the vip day, add a little membership where I can stay connected and I build residual income around this. Be smart about your offers, but don’t just do one offer. You can so easily diversify opportunities by serving a similar market. I’m still serving the same entrepreneurs. They still have the same goal. They all want to turn their passion into profit and they want to make their life easier.
Yvonne Heimann [00:06:38]:
And the only way to do that is repeatable processes. However, there is a membership. Meaning if you are just starting out and you don’t have the budget. Cool. We have a 49 dollar membership. You really want to get into that intensive and really clean up your business. Perfect. We have automate to dominate a three month program.
Yvonne Heimann [00:06:56]:
Done. Let’s do it. You don’t want to wait for that. And you have the budget to do it. Great work. One on one with me. All of these three offers fit perfectly with each other. Do I always promote all of them? No, but I know when to promote which.
Yvonne Heimann [00:07:09]:
And I always have an upsell and a down sale. And I’m always talking to the same people. So stop falling into those niche limitations. If you are following this example, you easily can adapt to changes in the market. You don’t just suddenly “vip days don’t work anymore. Great. Now I don’t have another stream of income” It diversifies your opportunities.
Yvonne Heimann [00:07:28]:
You can explore, you can test what works, what doesn’t work. What do you like? It’s not just all what the client wants or needs, it’s also what do you like doing? I don’t know if I like vip days. Maybe I do, maybe I don’t. Let’s test it. You also have that reduced risk of three different offers means three different ways of generating income. If one falls short or suddenly breaks, you still have two other ones. It also allows you to play around with it and test, be creative and play around and develop new ways of delivering your product or your service or marketing it. You also attract a wider range of customers, from low budget to high budget. Find three specific offers rather than just one.
Yvonne Heimann [00:08:15]:
Now last but not least, simplify your business approach. Yes, we want to have three offers. Yes, we want to have one target market. But even farther than that, you need to be really clear on why are you doing what? What are your core values? My number one core value is safety. That means VIP days are an add on but not my main income. Because it means VIP days I constantly have to bring in new clients. That doesn’t serve my need for safety. It also allows you to really be clear and put those blinders on.
Yvonne Heimann [00:08:50]:
What am I going to do? What am I not going to do? Do I want to do this offer? Do I want to do this masterclass? Yes. No. Having this clarity is really, really helpful to stay on track and not get all wiggle woggle squirrel moment. Simplifying your business also allows you to be more efficient. As we already talked about, simplifying your business means you can implement repeatable processes over and over and over again. You can streamline your operations, which now means it’s really easier for you. It optimizes your workflows, it allows you to automatically generate tasks in ClickUp, and you don’t even need to think about what you need to do today. It also allows you to focus.
Yvonne Heimann [00:09:31]:
And by focus mean, yes, repeatable systems. And really simplifying your business approach and getting really clear on it puts you in a box. However, let me explain something here. This box is not actually boxing you in. This box sets boundaries to what do you want to do? What do you not want to do? Now suddenly your brain is free from questions of do I want to? Does that help me? Can I? What? How? Where? All of those voices suddenly are quiet. Because you have this boundary box and rather than being boxed in, you are actually free to be creative again, to play, to take the afternoon off because you know your business is running on autopilot. Because you simplified your business and you put it onto repeatable processes, now you get to be creative. Now you get to play around with your community and really be there for them.
Yvonne Heimann [00:10:21]:
Not having to worry about the next thing you need to do. And all of that together allows you to scale your business without burning yourself out. Because it’s a rinse and repeat. It’s a rinse and repeat. Kind of like a dishwasher. Put it on the dishwasher, click the button, done. It’s one process. It’s a really simple process.
Yvonne Heimann [00:10:39]:
And you can just like that, set up your business too. Plug it in, turn it on, and it runs on its own. Now, if you’re still watching and you’re enjoying this video, please hit that like button and subscribe. So others that are maybe struggling with building a new business or getting really clear in their business in 2024 can find this video too. And so you don’t miss out on future videos coming up. We just talked about squirrel moments, tools. I definitely have shiny objects when it comes to tools. We need to cut down, we need to look at how efficient are our tools? Meaning are they actually doing the job that we need them to do? And can they integrate with other tools seamlessly? My preferred way to integrate make.com be able to really reduce this manual data entry and all the things that often has to happen behind the scenes.
Yvonne Heimann [00:11:27]:
That whole admin work of all the stuff, being able to really make the best out of your tool and integrate your tool stack continuously with each other. Priceless. So many hours saved. It also makes it cost effective. Make.com is $10. If I can automate this, I don’t need a team member that actually has to do all the things. Not only that, when walking through your tech stack and really consolidating it and looking at it, does it do the job? Does it do the job the way I need it to? Does it connect to my other tools? You can clean up and really simplify and clarify your tech stack and consolidate it. And now suddenly, the chances that things are breaking are smaller.
Yvonne Heimann [00:12:08]:
People know exactly, your team, you, know exactly which tool to do for what. And you get insights faster too. Not having all the stuff everywhere. You get your insights faster. You can make decisions faster, you can upgrade faster, you can scale faster. All of the above. Now, implementing these strategies is not just about optimizing your operations.
Yvonne Heimann [00:12:28]:
It’s also about creating a foundation for a long term, successful business. Once you have that machine running, scaling that machine and adding to it and delivering more and really growing your business is really, really simple. By mastering repeatable processes and simplifying your approach, you are equipped to drive your business more efficiently and to growth you might not even be able to even imagine right now. Now with that, chances are you’re right. In the beginning of implementing your repeatable processes. I got a video for you right here that talks about the most important business process. You need to pay attention right now. And yes, there’s a workbook for you, too, so you can take it right into action.
Yvonne Heimann [00:13:15]:
And don’t forget to subscribe because I want to see you in the next video.
