The Simple Secret To Sustainable Success

TRANSCRIPT AUTOMATICALLY GENERATED [00:00:00] Hey, Hey. So I thought for the December episodes, I would chat through some themes that I'm seeing happening with clients and peers. And just generally in the industry for 2024, to give you some ideas about what you might want to think about as you go into that fresh brand new start of the year. Or that you might even want to start implementing now. So this week, I want to kick off this series with something that I think everybody could benefit from. And that is simplification. We invite a lot of complexity into our lives and into our businesses that maybe we no longer even notice. You're so used to doing stuff a certain way. That that's just the way it is. What I'm seeing a lot of from discussions with peers. And in the industry, is people really chasing a simpler way of doing things in 2024. And this can show up in their office suite. It can show up. In their business model in general, I'm seeing people, streamline teams. I'm seeing people want to streamline the back end. To just make life a little bit cleaner and easier in 2020 full. In my business, it's showing up in a couple of different ways. The first being my office suite So that's getting a little bit of a judge for 2024. But more on that later. And the other place is right here on the podcast. And I've looked at that from two different angles, one from a format perspective. What is the most effective way? To help you, the listener grow your business. Get the information that you need make better decisions. And then I looked at it from my own perspective because I've been doing the show for three years. I've tried lots of different formats. I know what feels the smoothest for me as the creator. And so you're going to see some pretty big changes to the show coming in January or February next year. But you could be listening to this and you might be in one of two places, you might be in the place of going, oh, wait. Do I need to [00:02:00] simplify. I haven't really considered it. Or you could be in the place of going, I desperately want to simplify. I'm wanting you to do is walk through some things that you can think about for each of those. Potential situations. So let's do, do I need to simplify, how do I decide that let's do those kinds of questions first? And there are a few things that I want you to think about. First of all. I want you to just take a step back and think about your business as a whole. And ask yourself. Where are things the most complex? Hint, it's probably in your funnel. If it's not in your funnel, it's probably in your delivery mechanism. That is the place that we entrepreneurs love to make things complicated. Now, some of that complexity might be necessary. But actually some of it might not be. So when you find that complexity, I want you to ask yourself. Is the value that that adds the complexity, whatever it is. Is the value that it adds worth the extra effort that the complexity requires. So let's say the complexity requires you to do a bunch of manual. Work in the back end of your funnel to get somebody set up and into your course. Does the manual work adds something to the onboarding. That makes it extra special. Or is it just complicated because you haven't automated it. Are you making something that's should be simple, complex. Or is something complex because it adds wow. Factor to that part of your business. And you might have to get really honest with yourself yet. Sometimes we make complicated things because we love them. But do they really add that much value? Next, I want you to think about what that complexity. Is maybe doing to your team. The person who has to do that manual work. Or the person who has to fix the problem when complexity goes wrong. I also want you to think about what is the impact on your client or your customer? We'll stick with the onboarding process, but are they giving you a feedback that your onboarding process is so complicated? [00:04:00] Because it's got 10 different emails flying at them and they have no idea. Whether they've done everything they're supposed to have done for onboarding. Could they have a better experience with less flash? And a more straightforward process. So how your team coping with having to deal with the complexity? And then what does that complexity feel like to your clients? On the other side of it? Then I want you to think about where this complexity has come from. Has it come from? Business growth. When we're growing really rapidly, we're just trying to like plug things together. We don't always have time to step back and go, okay, what's the best process that we can do here. We're kind of sticking things together on the fly. So if that's the case, it might be time to take a step back and think about how do we systematize this. How do we make this into a process? On the flip side, if you're like me, some of that complexity might come from you. We have so many apps and softwares that are capable of doing so many things that it's really easy to get excited about doing all the things. And then suddenly you have this really complex piece of your business. That actually, if you took a step back and went. Did I really need a complexity or did I get overexcited? And the process is the same. Do I need to process. Do I need to just simplify it completely. But I think it's important to understand where it's coming from. Because if it's the second one, if it's you, if you have a love of complexity, it's important that you realize that so that when you build your next funnel or have your next idea, you can keep asking yourself, is this the simplest way to do it? There's an amazing quote. I think it's Leonardo da Vinci, which is a simplicity is the ultimate sophistication. As a chronic complexified. I like to have that on a post-it. On my desktop. So that when I do go off on one of these, let's build the most complicated process in the world. I can remind myself. It's really easy to build something that's complex and does all the things you wanted to do. What's [00:06:00] really hard to do is get the same amount of value in the simplest way possible. So, if you're thinking about simplification, if it's flagged on your radar, I'm going to invite you to have a deeper dive, because it probably means there's at least one piece of your business that could use a bit of a discerning eye that could use some simplification. And you're not alone. I'm seeing some big well-known names. Going through this exact process in their businesses. So now if you've gone through those questions, you know, like, Yes. Okay. I do need to simplify, or maybe you're just the person who already knew that. And I've just confirmed it for you. Let's talk about how you could identify the areas to some fine, what you could do to get some quick wins that will get you a bit of momentum and get you into the groove of simplifying. This is not like a weekend project. I mean, if you only have one complex funnel, Maybe . This is more like, do I need to plan for this in 2020 full? Which pieces do I want to look at in 2024? So for me, when I was thinking about the podcast, I was like, one Jan, it's going to happen. Everything's happening, rebrand, all the things. And it's like a friend saying to me, Do you want to do it on time? Would you want to do it right? Okay. I'm not flagging any of this for you as a, like, this must be done by the 31st of December. This is something that I want you to think about whether you want to approach it in 2024. Or as you do new things in 24, making sure you're not adding complexity into the mix. So if we want to simplify. Let's go back to the question that I was asking in. Do we need to simplify, which is where do you have complexity? That doesn't match the value that it creates. What are those key areas in your business? And that's where we want to start. If we have complexity and it's generating value for us. If it's giving us a bottom line impact. At least it's paying for itself. But where we have complexity that isn't adding value. That's where we want to start. So it's identifying, where do you want to hit complexity? I'm a big fan of [00:08:00] ranking. Like how complex is it? One to 10 with 10 being the most complex. And how much value does it add? From one to 10, with 10 being loads of value. One being no value And then this will help you to rank them. In terms of like, oh, this one has the least amount of value. And the most amount of complexity let's start there. Once you've identified where there's complexity, that isn't adding value to your business. You can ask yourself a few questions. is this something that you could eliminate entirely? Do you even need to do that process? If it's not adding value, why are we doing it? Or could you delegate this to somebody else to manage, especially if this is using your time. Your time should not be in. In non-value added activities. You can also ask yourself, is there a tool or software that could facilitate this being simpler for me. Yes. It might be free quote unquote, for you to do it yourself and your business. Versus paying a monthly fee for an app that does it for you. But remember your time is not free. Your team's time is not free. So if there's a tool that can get rid of that complexity for you, this might be the time to invest in it. And then on the flip side of that, so it's easy to get really excited about this. The simplification. But we want to also think about like, what are the risks? So if something's not adding value, there's probably not a lot of risk to removing it. But if it's adding some value, maybe your really high value clients who send you loads of referrals, love this particular thing. And if you remove it. It might not have a direct value impact, but it could have a knock-on value impact. So you can start to think what are the risks of me simplifying this complex? Situation. And if there is a big risk, then what can I do to mitigate it? Is there another way to deliver that thing to the client who loves it and who sends you loads of referrals? Do you need to have a conversation about why you're doing it? And in this risk as well. I want you to think about your team. How are they in? React to something just [00:10:00] being deleted. Or simplified or is simplification suddenly going to become their job? Are they equipped for that? Do they know how to do it? Do you have a skill gap? And then how will you manage that? How would you communicate with them? Why we're doing it? How will you decide who is responsible for the simplification? And how will you define success? Simplification is a very relative term. I want to simplify this. What's simple to me. It's not necessarily what simple to you. And vice versa. So being really clear on what successful simplification would look like when you're chatting to your team. It's important to hear that. You don't make rash decisions about simplifying. You want to critically assess what is happening in your business? Whether the complexity is. Value add or not. And where it's not balanced between value and complexity. What could you do to simplify it without taking a knock in something essential to your business. Not just your business operations, but your business fields, your business culture to your client experience. And because I know there'll be some people like me who love complexity and it's their happy place and their comfort zone. I'm going to challenge you to make a note in your notes app on a posted. In your ideas book, wherever it is. One thing that came to your mind. In this episode. The thing that you secretly know is too complex and could be way simpler. That you want to investigate a little bit more. It doesn't mean you have to simplify it. But I also don't want you to kid yourself that the opportunity to simplify. Just doesn't exist in your business. remember that simplification could be in. Your final in your operations and your delivery in your team, in your decision-making. In your role as CEO. In your overall business model. Everything's on the table. Just make sure that it's a [00:12:00] strategic decision and not simplification. For simplification sake.