Jade Boyd: So starting out this episode, I want to let you in on a little secret about me. I am actually very easily overwhelmed, which might come as a surprise to you. If you are thinking of me as this perfectly organized and productive person, which I would definitely say that I’m an organized and productive person. My life runs on systems and routines and everything has a place, but it is that way because that is the environment that I need in order to function as a human being. And it’s that way I’ve created those systems and that structure for myself, because when I don’t have those things, I become really easily overwhelmed.

And even with those things in place, I still think that I have a lower tolerance for chaos in my life. And I get overwhelmed more easily than most people might, which means that I’ve put a lot of time and energy into figuring out how to eliminate overwhelm from my life, which is really helpful for myself and for my clients and other people that I teach and for all of you listening to this podcast.

But I just want you to know that it’s only that way because of my propensity to get overwhelmed. And one of the biggest causes of overwhelm, especially for modern women who are running businesses and have busy lives and other responsibilities on their plate is complexity. When things are complicated, it becomes that much more overwhelming and frustrating and harder to get things done. And it takes longer to get results and make any progress in things.

Complications or over complicating things in your business or in your life prevents you from taking action and prevents you from getting things done, which ultimately prevents you from being productive because it’s going to inhibit your ability to actually get results and cross things off the list that are moving the needle in the right direction.

So today we’re going to talk about why simple businesses are winning, why simple businesses will win in 2024 and the reasons why I think it’s more strategic for you to simplify things in your business. If you want to make faster progress on your business goals, then to try and overcomplicate things and do a million things at the same time and scatter your efforts and get scattered results.

So throughout this episode, I’m going to give you some different tips and information about how simple businesses can create more profit and how you might be shooting yourself in the foot when it comes to building a profitable business and paying yourself what you deserve to be paid because you might be over complicating things in a few different areas in your business. So we’re going to chat through that today.

And most service providers come to me because they have overcomplicated things in their business and work themselves into this hole where they have to work really, really hard to hit the revenue goals. They have to work really, really hard to generate any results in their business, and they want a way to run their business that feels less overwhelming, that feels easier. And that’s why I help business owners create simplified structures and systems and strategies that actually feel really aligned to the things that they like doing and really easy to implement, to show up and do consistently, because whatever you do consistently is what’s going to drive results in your business.

And if you’re not able to show up and do consistently, the things that you need to be doing to drive results in your business, it’s not going to be easy for you to hit your goals this year. And especially your financial goals, making progress in that direction.

So in my program, I help business owners declutter their business from top to bottom. There’s a bunch of different things in your business that you can simplify in order to make your job easier, in order to get better results, in order to get faster results. From simplifying your offers, simplifying your organization systems, your file management systems, your standard operating procedures, your marketing strategy, and your workflows for your marketing.

I think that’s one of the biggest things for business owners who aren’t showing up and getting the clients are selling the offers that they need to be selling. It’s that they don’t have a system for marketing. That’s simple enough and clear enough for them to show up and do it. So in my program, we do simplify every aspect of your business and dive deep into each of those areas.

But today I want to talk about why that actually works. So if you are feeling the overwhelm or feeling like things have gotten just a little bit too complicated in your business, or I’ve gotten a little bit out of control and they need to be reined back and pared down and clarified a little bit and have a little bit more structure and simplicity and order to your business, this episode is going to help you to understand how you can do that in a way that’s actually going to increase your profit so that you can pay yourself more.

So first, I can’t get away with recording this episode without talking about the 80 20 rule. And if you’ve been around a while, you’ve heard me talk about this before, but the 80 20 rule is something that shows that 80 percent of your results are coming from 20 percent of your effort. So as a business owner, this means that 80 percent of your revenue is most likely coming from about 20 percent of your offers or even 20 percent of your clients.

And so why not focus on the things that are actually working in your business and simplifying things for yourself when it comes to marketing and serving your clients and focusing on that one workflow that’s actually really generating revenue for your business instead of trying to create a million different offers and launching every other month and creating all these complicated funnels that lead to a million different offers and trying to communicate to people what you do when you’re doing something different for every single person who comes into your business and trying to be that person who’s doing everything for everyone.

That is the fastest way to overcomplicate things in your business, and it’s very unprofitable because the actions that you’re taking, they don’t snowball and build off of one another because every new thing that you do, you’re starting from ground zero, really. You’re starting from scratch and trying to gain traction in it instead of doing one thing really well and becoming known for that thing, and getting so good and quick and streamlined in that one thing, that it does become really profitable because not only are you better at it and able to raise your prices, you’re also faster at it and able to like lower the time and energy and thought that it takes you to actually deliver that service.

And I’ve had this conversation recently with a few different service providers who have felt like, this is too easy, I can’t charge that much for this. Like this is so simple, but that really is the sweet spot that you’re trying to get to in your business where what you’re doing feels so simple and easy to you that it almost feels like a shame that you’re charging people for it because it’s just that easy for you.

But that is when it actually becomes most valuable for other people. If you’re working really hard to get your clients results that doesn’t necessarily mean that they should be paying you more money. They should actually be paying you less for that because it’s taking you more time and you’re not as good as it, right?

So when it does start to feel really easy and simple to you is when you should be charging more because you are becoming the expert and you are becoming the go to person and you are able to seamlessly and predictably get clients results because you know what you’re doing and it feels. easy and good to you, right?

So just because something feels simple doesn’t mean that it’s not extremely valuable for other people. Don’t underestimate the knowledge that you have. It’s so hard to recognize that when you’re in it and see how valuable it is to people who don’t have that knowledge, but it’s there. So don’t be afraid to simplify things, and if it feels easy, that is a good sign.

Simplifying in your business also makes you a more effective communicator, whether that is in your marketing messaging, whether that is to your employees or your contractors, to just your friends and family who are curious about what you do. If you can’t explain what you do in a way that’s simple and easy to understand, you cannot expect other people to understand what you do, to respect what you do, or to refer other people to you, knowing how you can help people because you need to be able to communicate that for yourself before you can expect other people to communicate that for you or other people to even understand why they might come to you or hire you for help. And that’s true of any service industry that you’re a part of. There’s misconceptions and false beliefs and objections, that could be easily overcome that you need to be able to communicate in a way that other people can understand. And the simpler that you can make your messaging, the more that you can boil it down, the more that you boil down your business into a simple structure that is easy for someone else to understand.

If someone goes to your website, are they confused by your messaging and what you’re claiming to do for people because you’re doing so many things? That the umbrella statement is just that you provide value to women who are overwhelmed. Like, what does that mean? What are you actually doing for people? Right?

The simpler you can make your business, the clearer it becomes and the easier it is for you to make money because again, the snowball effect, those conversations that you’re having with people, even your family and friends. them understanding what you’re doing is building your reputation. That is free marketing.

So when we’re talking about simplicity leading to profitability, there’s so many easy wins like that that come from people being able to easily understand what you do and who you help. There was an episode, about four episodes ago I think, about simplifying your marketing messaging. So I dive deeper into this concept and five things you need to clarify in order to streamline your marketing messaging and your marketing workflows.

And so I’ll link to that in the show notes, if you want to go deeper into that, but if you can’t explain it, you don’t understand it. So simplifying your business to the point where anybody can understand what’s going on only increases your chances of hitting your financial goals and increasing your profitability.

The number one reason why simplicity is going to lead to profitability in your business is because when things are overcomplicated, they don’t get done. When your systems are really complicated and nobody understands them, things fall through the cracks tasks get missed deadlines get forgotten or not assigned in the way that they should be.

And profit is only going to happen when the needle moving activities in your business happens. So the easier it is and the simpler it is for you to know exactly what to do and actually show up and do those things. Those are two things that are going to prevent you from reaching your goals. I would say the only two things that are going to prevent you from reaching your goals are first not knowing what you should be focused on or not knowing what you need to do in order to reach your goals. That’s a whole strategy and plan in itself.

And then the second thing is not actually showing up to do those things. And I think a lot of women fall into that second category of binging all the content, reading all the resources, joining all the free bundles, like consuming content and consuming information.

All of the time, but not actually doing anything with it. So knowing what you should do or what you could do to move the needle is one thing, but then actually showing up and doing it is a whole nother thing. And so the simpler your strategies and your systems are in your business, the easier it is for you to do both of those things, which is actually going to drive the needle in your business.

And that’s when the fun stuff happens. That’s when profit happens. And again, I think that we fall into this mindset of if I want to reach my goals, then it has to feel hard. It should feel. Difficult. If I want to make more money, that means I have to work harder. And that’s just not true. In fact, I would say that the opposite is true and that the easier you can make things for yourself and your business, the less hard you can work, then the more money you’re going to make, because you are going to be more clear on what needs to be done. And you’re going to show up and do that more consistently.

Okay, next when we’re talking about profitability, the equation really is only two things, right? It’s revenue and then it’s your expenses if you want to make it super, super simple. So we’ve talked about things with simplifying your business that increase revenue, but it also decreases your expenses because when you do have a simple, clear strategy, you have that primary offer that you’re focused on, all funnels lead in the right direction. Then it is easier for you to make investment decisions in your business and be really clear on what is going to help you get ROI on your investments, return on the investment, whether that’s time or money that you’re putting into your business, so that everything that you’re doing Is contributing to your profitability and your overall goal when your business gets really complicated, it becomes really easy to make those smaller purchases in a bunch of different areas in your business that might not actually add up to much at the end of the year, right?

If you’re on a million different channels, and that means you’re getting the automation software and you’re hiring the contractor to do editing here and messaging there and copywriting there and. All of those investments are spread thin over a million different activities in your business. And you haven’t clarified the direction that your business is headed or how everything works together for that simple strategy to create that snowballing effect, it becomes really expensive and your profit margins just get smaller and smaller the more that you do that to yourself and your business.

So by simplifying your business model and being really clear on what you’re focused on, you can easily increase your profitability just by focusing on lowering your expenses and investing more strategically in your business.

And then one more thing on the other side of that equation. So going back to profitability when we’re talking about top line revenue and how that affects profitability again. When your business is simple and easy to understand, and it’s very clear that you’re the expert, you have all of the experience in that area, clients are really easily able to understand the value, they’re willing to pay that much more for your services and the results that you’re giving them because it is clear and simple to them. It’s not complicated.

I’ve had it. a really interesting experience recently with doulas. So we’re expecting in a few months. And as soon as we found out we were pregnant, I started looking for different doulas. And as a business coach, I just want to help them and coach them on how to make this simpler for people because it has been such an eye opening experience for me.

Just seeing the level of complexity and things that do not make sense in their business that are hurting them. And from my perspective as the client, it makes me really hesitant to hire any of them. And in all honesty, even though some of them might be great because their business is represented in a way that makes it look really complicated and confusing, and there’s just like simple things that I need to know, and I’m willing to hire somebody tomorrow, no matter how much it costs, if I know they’re going to deliver that value, my experience in specifically with this industry has just been so fascinating from like a marketing perspective, from a systems perspective, a business strategy perspective, there are just a few things that you need to get right in order to increase your profitability and book clients more easily. And those things are not really hard to get right. If you’re invested in your business and, if you’re clear in your messaging and you know what you’re doing. And I think a lot of business owners are shooting themselves in the foot as far as how much they can charge because clients are willing to pay more for a better experience.

If somebody were, if I were to interview a doula who was very clear and concise and what was included in their packaging and their pricing, they were able to do a discovery call without me having to like text them back a million times and ask, like, where are we meeting? Where are we meeting? And it’s just been a ton of work on my end.

It’s like pulling teeth. It’s like, I want to throw money at you and you’re making it as hard as possible for me. And. I am not willing to pay a bunch for that experience, right? Because that experience is telling me that that is what it’s going to be like to work with them in their service too.

So when we’re talking about client workflow, there’s four different stages that I teach on. The first one is selling. And I think a lot of people forget that that selling stage in your workflow sets the stage for every other part of your workflow. Not only is it important in booking the client and actually getting that revenue into your business, it’s also playing into your brand reputation and how people are perceiving you.

Even the people who don’t book, who might meet with you, they might not be ready for your services or they might not have the budget to afford your services. But if you give them a world class selling experience in the beginning, they’re still going to refer you to other people. And I have that in mind now too, I’m only going to hire one doula. I don’t need multiple, right? But other doulas, if they gave me a great experience in that first stage, I would totally recommend them to other people because I would consider hiring them.

So when it comes to simplifying your business and increasing your profitability, you should have a standard system in place for serving your clients in every stage of that process. And it should be simple for them to understand if you’re just kind of like winging it. And as they reach out to you, you have a different response and are giving everybody different information or changing up your workflow to meet everybody’s needs that can complicate your business really quickly.

And also you’re not doing them a favor by making all of those changes, because then it’s harder for you to execute. And you’re not doing yourself a favor because it’s taking you a lot more time and you’re decreasing your brand reputation by making it different and lowering the quality of experience, because I’m sure there’s helpful information or steps that are getting missed when you’re doing that. And it’s not clear and simple for people what the next step is. So in talking about simplifying and increasing profitability, I just want to remind you that clients are willing to pay more for a simpler experience. Clients do not want a complicated 30 step system to sign up for your offer or to even go through your offer.

The simpler you can make it, the more steps that you can remove for them, the more steps that you can simplify for them, the more you’re going to be able to charge because it’s going to be a better experience and they’re going to have to put less time and energy Into working with you too.

The last thing that I want to end this episode with is that when you perform your business performs, and this is so true for solopreneurs and those who have either small teams or do not have a dream of building a team and know they’re going to stay small and stay as a solopreneur, only have a handful of contractors in the future.

If that’s the vision you have for your business, then it’s so important to understand that your performance is directly tied. to your business performance. And so if you are someone like me, who just does not thrive when things are complicated and are prone to overwhelm in that state of being. And if there’s chaos in your business that easily prevents you from showing up and doing the things that are driving the needle.

Then know that it’s only in your benefit and it’s only in your business’s benefit when it comes to a profitability standpoint to simplify things for yourself so that you can show up and perform at your best, not just getting things done and being efficient in working through the tasks on your to do list, but just the mindset that you’re able to approach each day when I show up, not feeling good and feeling overwhelmed, it is really hard to get things done, yes, but I show up as a different version of myself, and that is not the version of myself that I want to show up as if I’m coaching on a group coaching call and building into other people’s businesses. I can only do that to the best of my ability. If I myself am in a good state of mind and feeling good about where things are at in my own business. Right?

It affects my mental health. It affects my physical health. It affects my relational health. Your business health affects every area of your life. You can’t just isolate any of those parts. They all affect each other. And so when it comes to prioritizing simplicity in your business and really in any other area of your life, just know that those ripple effects are going to happen. And it’s not only going to change. How much you’re able to get done or how quickly you’re able to reach your goals. It’s also going to change just your life experience and your experience of being a business owner and the type of person that you’re able to show up as the type of coach, the type of creator, the type of educator that you’re able to show up as day after day, and it’s just going to feel easier, but it’s also going to feel more exciting. And that’s another one of those snowball effects that when you feel really good about what you’re doing, you get better results because other people play off your energy too. Especially if you’re a service provider, the energy that you give out comes back to you.

And it’s so important to show up with that energy, not only when you’re serving clients, but when you’re meeting with anyone in your life, because all of those interactions are affecting your personal brand and what people know you as.

So I very much feel like I’ve just spent the last 20 minutes preaching the gospel of simplicity, but it’s only because I’ve seen the huge benefits that come from simplifying things. First in my life, before I was ever a business owner, there are huge benefits to creating simplicity in different areas of your life. But mostly as a business owner, that’s what we focused on during this episode. There are so many benefits that come. from simplifying different areas of your business. And like I said, this is what I do in my coaching program from top to bottom, because I’ve seen what it does for my clients and for my own business. When you’re able to get super clear and simple answers for yourself, it becomes that much easier for you to get results without hustling, without giving up your weekends, without being tied to your laptop, without overthinking things or getting wrapped up in perfectionism or thinking about who person A, B, and C is doing.

Simplifying things in every area of your business is going to be a key for success. The more complicated that our world gets because online business, different services, online marketing system, software, it’s all becoming more and more complicated. And our ability to simplify things and use those tools effectively without getting caught up in the over complication of things or getting wrapped up in the, I have to do everything and try everything and see how it works for my business.

The more you’re able to get clear on what you’re focused on and simplify the things that are going to help you move in that direction, the more successful you’re going to be with the least amount of effort and overwhelm on your part.

So I hope this episode has challenged you to think about how you could simplify something new in your business and how you could generate results this year, not by figuring out how am I going to get all of it done and try all these new strategies, but how can you pull things back and simplify them so that your life becomes easier and your to do list becomes shorter.

So until next time business minimalists, I hope that you can take what you learned today and get 1 percent better this week.