Work Less PROFIT More Business Podcast

You don’t have to look very far to hear about entrepreneurial burnout – you can read about it in major news outlets, major magazines, and podcasts and you’ve probably heard from someone close to you about how they’ve ended up in the hospital or tanked their relationships because of it.

If it’s so prevalent – why does it happen?

In this episode, I outline 7 common reasons/myths I’ve seen that lead to the dramatically overworked business owner!

As I’ve been coaching the overworked and often underpaid business owner, I have seen that to significantly reduce their workload – the answer doesn’t come from productivity apps, webinars, or complicated planning journals. 

This episode is the background to my upcoming 5-part masterclass series entitled The Ultimate Focus & Freedom Masterclass….. and it’s free!

Starting Monday next week, I’ll be releasing 5 episodes to help you dramatically reduce your workload and reclaim 10+ hours a week, without hiring an employee. 

Be sure to subscribe so you won’t miss this valuable content.

Head over to www.dianalidstone.com/takenotes to download the workbook!

OTHER EPISODES related or mentioned:

• Ep. 71 – 99% Of Small Firms Don’t Do This?
• Ep. 72 – Unsexy Truth About Building A 7-Figure+ Small Firm
• Ep. 43 – What my husband’s retirement taught me about my own business growth

ACTION STEPS:

1.  Be sure to subscribe on your favourite platform so you won’t miss this series!

2.  Mark your calendar for next week’s 5-part, free training series – The Ultimate Focus & Freedom Masterclass

3.  Grab your workbook here - www.dianalidstone.com/takenotes so you can follow along and customize your strategy.

Here’s the graphic of my GROW Equation.

Share your feedback with me by clicking here and leaving a short voice message!

If you’ve been listening to my podcast for a while, you know that I’ve taken a strong stand – you don’t need social media to grow your business.  It’s true – you don’t need to USE social media as a lead generation tool – a tool to attract clients.

So if you don’t need to be on social media to attract clients, why should you be on LinkedIn?

My special guest, Iris Culp is a LinkedIn specialist and we have a great time talking about:

• As a ‘brand’, it’s important that you control your brand narrative or your LinkedIn is part of that strategy.
• 53% of people who know they need to make a business decision, use LinkedIn as their first research source.
• Why cookie-cutter marketing doesn’t work and what to do instead.
• We laugh over the term ‘defensive googling’. 
  • Try this exercise – Google your name: The first ranking will probably be LinkedIn (so what does your profile say – the right things about you, I hope)

Iris left us with 3 tips to quickly improve your LinkedIn profile and brand consistency:

1. Headline – There are now 220 characters you can use to increase searchability.
2. About Section – This is really a mini-website.
3. Banner – Like a visual billboard; most people use too many words.

ABOUT IRIS
Iris Culp began her career as a writer and has 20+ years in communications, marketing and organizational development. She has spent a decade as a marketing consultant. Her current focus is specialized on LinkedIn. Her signature program is: “LinkedIn for Business: 6 Weeks from Questions to Confidence”.

She focuses on brand message clarity to create custom marketing strategies. Shas helped business owners double revenue in less than 24 months with no paid ads. 

She is a single parent to two college-aged daughters and enjoys making landscapes beautiful with flowering plants and reading a good book. She believes one can never have too many flowering plants or books.

LINKS: 

• Receive Iris’ weekly PRO-Tips: 
  • 4 min. video nugget:  https://tinyurl.com/2hdk8v4p
  • 6 Weeks From Questions to Confidence on LinkedIn:  https://tools.yourlinkedinexpert.com/XCLSales 
• www.yourlinkedinexpert.com
• [email protected]

CONNECT WITH ME HERE:

1. Leave me a voice message here
2. Book a Growth Strategy Session here
3. Be a guest on my show Profit Potential Audit here 
   
   

P.S. Feel like you’re Chief Everything Officer in your business?

Sick and tired of constantly putting out fires?

Are you finally ready to earn explosive profits and take multiple guilt-free vacations?

If you’ve answered YES to any of the above, then I believe you’d be a perfect fit as a guest for my Profit Potential Audit interview on my podcast.  Not only will you get at least one concrete strategy to move your business forward, but you’ll also have the opportunity to increase your business's visibility when you share about the awesome work you do.

APPLY here:  Book a Profit Potential Audit Interview here

Share your feedback with me by clicking here and leaving a short voice message!

My daughter is the ultimate 2nd hand shopper, and she just had a baby.  So true to form she bought lots of things 2nd hand.  However, before she purchased anything major – let’s say a stroller – she did a couple of things.  She asked friends who had children AND then she went to Google to look for customer reviews!

If you are looking for a new fridge or set of tires, what do you do?  Well, you might ask your friends for recommendations but I’m guessing you would also go to Google and look for brand reviews and recommendations.

Well – your clients are doing the same thing when they are looking for a lawyer to write their will, an accountant to do their year-end taxes or a financial advisor to place their new inheritance.

I found this statistic surprising, but according to Inc.com – 84% of people trust online reviews as much as they trust their friends & family's opinions!

There’s a difference in business between just getting found and ultimately getting chosen.  The right Google reviews can play a huge difference in you getting chosen over your competition.

In this episode, I: 

• Share my findings from a 5-Star Attorney: A proven system any law firm can use to earn more reviews, attract more qualified leads and increase profits (by Andrew Stickel).
• Outline a 6-step process for using Google reviews for your business to attract more qualified leads and increase profits.
• Share the 6 magic questions I ask all my clients that will help you get better reviews and killer testimonials.

 I hope you’ve enjoyed the other podcast episodes in this series including:

• Ep. 79 – 7 Powerful Ways to Retain Existing Clients and Increase Profits in Your Small Firm with Guest Anthea Mumby
• Ep. 80 – The Pickle Effect with Guest Expert, Shari Doherty            

ACTION PLAN:

Here’s the graphic of my GROW Equation.

Share your feedback with me by clicking here and leaving a short voice message!

Do you know the story about the shoemaker’s children not having any shoes?  It seems that there are a few business owners who feel like the shoemaker!

This Profit Potential Audit interview with my long-time friend and business broker, Ron Wiebe, reveals something that many business owners have discovered – there are things they know they should be doing but just aren’t setting aside the time to actually get those things done!

I asked Ron the $64,000 question: If we were having this conversation 6 months from now and everything has gone perfectly for you, what would your business look like

Ron’s answer is like many owners of small firms, he would love to do more of what he loves (i.e. networking) and less of the day-to-day (i.e. entering data into the computer).

His 2nd point is that he would love to have the peace of mind that he could leave his business, take unplugged vacations and know that his properly trained staff could take care of everything.

After completing the GROW Success Calculator for small firms, Ron and I discover that his phase of business growth is what I call Chief Everything Officer!  As he mentioned above, he is still doing a lot of the daily administrative tasks.  He is caught in the messy middle or the Small Firm Growth Trap!

In order to escape that Trap, we discuss the importance of having an Employee Handbook with a clearly written mission, vision, values and standard operating procedures!  He notes how important a handbook like this is when business owners go to sell their business – he knows this is one of the things he ‘should’ be doing but finds his time is taken up with other things.

Ron’s one action step is to set aside time in his agenda for a weekly CEO Date with himself where he can focus on more growth-orientated tasks.

Here are 2 downloads to help you and Ron achieve more:

1. Weekly Checklist for CEOs (here)
This is your time to wear your CEO hat. Here’s a quick checklist to help you stay focused on your important CEO-level tasks.

2. Think Like a CEO (here)
This is a downloadable chapter in the book with Brian Tracy that will help you get off the hustle hamster wheel, explode your profits and enjoy your life.

CONNECT WITH Ron Wiebe:

• Investiprise
• LinkedIn

Did you listen to Episode 75 – Profit Potential Journey?  (Listen here)
This is where you’ll find the explanation of the different stages of business growth (Unknown Expert, Chief Everything Officer (Small Firm Growth Trap), Visionary Leader and Legacy Leader.

Also, make sure to check out my Profit Potential Journey and The GROW Equation.

Share your feedback with me by clicking here and leaving a short voice message!

Welcome to another round of Coaching Week.

In each Profit Potential Audit (PPA) episode, I help one super smart business owner identify ONE key actionable strategy to move their business forward.

I’ll use both my Grow Success Calculator and Profit Potential Journey (see diagram) to help identify potential profit losses and then offer simple strategies to shift those losses into profit.

Our guest today is Sheila Winter Wallace.  

Her contact information is:

• Website: here
• LinkedIn: here

In this interview, we identified that Sheila still feels like the Unknown Expert and is having difficulty getting more of her ideal client to find her.

Here’s what we discussed:

Sheila’s best communication style (Ep. 24 – Fall in love with your marketing)

• How to get her more visibility despite not loving social media
• How to quickly create a content plan from her Flagship Framework that she could easily use for 10 weeks or more

Sheila’s action step:  

• Choose a software like Streamyard or Restream to allow her to do lives across multiple channels simultaneously thus saving time.  
• Commit to doing 2 lives per week – practice makes perfect

If you’d like to apply to be a guest on one of these Profit Potential (PPA) interviews – www.dianalidstone.com/audit

Share your feedback with me by clicking here and leaving a short voice message!

Did you know that at A&W, you can ask for NO PICKLES? 

In this episode, find out what having no pickles on your hamburger means for your business profit.

The pickle effect and magical moments are strategies that my guest Shari Doherty uses to create a lasting impression and to improve her customers’ experience so that she gains long-time customers and more referrals.

For more joy, profit and freedom in your business, give your customers the Disney experience, and you’ll not only be saving time, money and energy, but you’ll be adding to your bottom line!

ABOUT SHARI
Shari Doherty had an extensive career in insurance and customer service. This combined with several other entrepreneurial endeavours and more than 30 years of experience made the transition to real estate a natural and easy one. Shari is on fire for customer satisfaction and is excited to serve the Kingston and Eastern Ontario communities.

After raising her own family and multiple moves, she has learned how important a happy, comfortable and vibrant home is as the foundation for family life and a fulfilling future for all.

Shari's goal is to help you find the perfect home that sets the stage for the story of your life.

Connect with Shari:

• Website (here)
• LinkedIn (here)
• Encore Podcast (here)

In last week’s episode, #79, Anthea Mumby & I discuss 7 powerful ways to retain existing clients and increase profits in your small firm (here)

CONNECT WITH ME:

• Leave me a voice message here
• Book a Growth Strategy Session here
• Be a guest on my show Profit Potential Audit here

P.S. Feel like you’re Chief Everything Officer in your business?

Sick and tired of constantly putting out fires?

Are you finally ready to earn explosive profits and take multiple guilt-free vacations?

If you’ve answered YES to any of the above, then I believe you’d be a perfect fit as a guest for the Profit Potential Audit interview on my podcast.  Not only will you get at least one concrete strategy to move your business forward, but you’ll also have the opportunity to increase your business's visibility when you share about the awesome work you do.

APPLY here:  Book a Profit Potential Audit Interview here

Share your feedback with me by clicking here and leaving a short voice message!

Today so much of business conversations are around client acquisition – but why not more around keeping clients when acquiring a new customer costs 5x more than retaining the customer you already have.

According to Mr. Google – increasing customer retention by as little as 5% can increase profits from 25-95%.

With me for this conversation is my friend and long-time business owner, Anthea Mumby.

We discuss and give tangible examples of 7 simple and powerful ways you can improve your customer’s experience and keep them for the long term, thus increasing CLV (customer lifetime value).

As a reminder, I’ve created a checklist for you to download.

Here are a few of the things we discussed:

• Welcoming clients right from their start with you
• Staying top of mind with various strategies, not just email
• Sharing wins
• 10 word email
• Asking how you can help?
• Ways to delight your customers during the year
• How getting involved in your ‘community’ is a useful strategy.

LINKS: 

• Anthea Mumby – Dream Team Consulting (here)
• Download:  Client Retention: 7 Easy Strategies to Implement For Your Small Firm (here)

CONNECT WITH ME HERE:

1. Leave me a voice message here
2. Book a Growth Strategy Session here
3. Be a guest on my show Profit Potential Audit here

P.S. Feel like you’re Chief Everything Officer in your business?

Sick and tired of constantly putting out fires?

Are you finally ready to earn explosive profits and take multiple guilt-free vacations?

If you’ve answered YES to any of the above, then I believe you’d be a perfect fit as a guest for the Profit Potential Audit interview on my podcast.  Not only will you get at least one concrete strategy to move your business forward, but you’ll also have the opportunity to increase your business's visibility when you share the awesome work you do.

APPLY here:  Book a Profit Potential Audit Interview here

Share your feedback with me by clicking here and leaving a short voice message!

As a professional expert, lawyer, accountant, or financial advisor, there comes a time in your business when it's time to stop the hustle – time to stop chasing more clients; because more clients don’t always mean more profit.

My conversation with Roger Knecht, Universal Accounting, led us to discuss:

• His definition of a ‘premier accounting business’
• The MAP acronym
• Why revenue is vanity and profits are sanity
• Becoming a specialist doesn’t mean you won’t work with others
• How leveraging technology & systems can increase profits
• The importance of systematizing your onboarding for a better client experience
• Giving yourself permission to say no
• 3 D’s – document, duplicate, delegate

About Roger Knecht:
For more than 20 years Roger has personally helped 1000's of accounting professionals start and build their businesses. In that time he's created programs to address each aspect of running an accounting business and helped author "Red to BLACK", the how-to guide for accountants to help clients with the most common challenges faced in business - cash flow AND "in the BLACK - 9 principles to make your business profitable".

LINKS: 

• Roger Knecht – LinkedIn here
• Universal Accounting here
• Free resources from Universal Accounting here

Other episodes of Work Less PROFIT More podcast on similar topics:

• Ep. 64 – Want to Make More Money: Niche Down (listen here)
• Ep. 51 – Profit Talk 1: A 7-figure Business Means Nothing If You Don’t Have Profit (listen here)

CONNECT WITH ME HERE:

1.   Leave me a voice message here
2.   Book a Growth Strategy Session here
3.   Be a guest on my show Profit Potential Audit here

P.S. Feel like you’re Chief Everything Officer in your business?

Sick and tired of constantly putting out fires?

Are you finally ready to earn explosive profits and take multiple guilt-free vacations?

If you’ve answered YES to any of the above, then I believe you’d be a perfect fit as a guest for a Profit Potential Audit interview on my podcast.  Not only will you get at least one concrete strategy to move your business forward, but you’ll also have the opportunity to increase your business's visibility when you share about the awesome work you do.

APPLY here:  Book a Profit Potential Audit Interview here

Share your feedback with me by clicking here and leaving a short voice message!

Each month, I release several Profit Potential Audits which are interviews with smart business owners who are seeking to find areas in their businesses where they can raise their profits.

Prior to the interview, entrepreneurs complete my GROW Success Calculator which helps us identify their stage of business growth as well as potential profit areas.

In this episode, I interview Carl Richards, founder of Podcast Solutions Made Simple!

Since Carl’s vision is to grow his business into an agency model, he completed the GROW Success Calculator for a small firm, rather than the solopreneur.

We identified that Carl’s business was in the growth phase meaning:

• He is still focusing his efforts on attracting new clients
• He is still doing most of the delivery work himself
• He has very few ‘systems’ in place in his business

One of Carl’s biggest challenges is the long lead time in his sales process.

One action step that he could implement rather shortly would be to create a self-assessment or podcast-readiness audit to help increase the ‘urgency’ of starting their podcast sooner, rather than later.

>> Click here to see the Profit Potential Journey

1.   Validation  – Testing to see if you have the right offers for the right audience.

2.   Growth – Focused on attracting new clients but uncertain what is the right method for you or for the prospect. Often feel like the ‘Unknown Expert’.

3.   Messy Middle – Revenue and profit don’t seem to increase no matter what actions are taken; feeling like Chief Everything Officer – overwhelm and heading to burnout.

4.   Scale – Revenue increases without a substantial increase in expenditures, foundations are in place, messaging is clear, and business has simplified, systematized and standardized. Become the Undeniable Authority or sought-after expert and clients come to you expecting to pay premium prices.

LINKS: 

• Carl Richards (here)
• Podcast Solutions Made Simple (here)

CONNECT WITH ME HERE:

• Leave me a voice message here.
• Book a Growth Strategy Session here.
• Be a guest on my show Profit Potential Audit here.

PS. Feel like you’re Chief Everything Officer in your business?

Sick and tired of constantly putting out fires?

Are you finally ready to earn explosive profits and take multiple guilt-free vacations?

If you’ve answered YES to any of the above, then I believe you’d be a perfect fit as a guest for a Profit Potential Audit interview on my podcast.  Not only will you get at least one concrete strategy to move your business forward, but you’ll also have the opportunity to increase your business's visibility when you share the awesome work you do.

APPLY here: Profit Potential Audit Interview

Share your feedback with me by clicking here and leaving a short voice message!

Each month, I release several Profit Potential Audits which are interviews with smart business owners who are seeking to find areas in their businesses where they can raise their profits.

Prior to the interview, entrepreneurs complete my GROW Success Calculator which helps us identify their stage of business growth as well as potential profit areas.

In this episode, I interview Chantal McIntyre, leadership coach and founder of Chantal McIntrye.

Chantal is already a client and in this episode, we use the GROW Success Calculator as a benchmark for her progress.

We identified that Chantal’s business was in the growth phase* meaning:

• She is still focusing her efforts on attracting new clients.
• She is still doing most of the delivery work herself.
• She is still working on putting into place her foundational elements including her Flagship Framework, her offers, and her marketing.

Chantal and I identified one of her biggest challenges is her marketing.  She knows that videos are her preferred communication style and that she wants to show up on LinkedIn as an undeniable authority.

Her challenge is that she struggles with content creation. 

Her action steps are to:

• Review her Flagship framework which is the WAKEUP framework.
• Create 2-3 questions or topics around each pillar of the framework.
• Add at least one case study or testimonial for each pillar.
• Voila – she would have 20+ topics to start her off with respect to her content plan.

>> Click here to see the Profit Potential Journey

*There are 4 basic phases of business growth:  

 1.   Validation  – Testing to see if you have the right offers for the right audience.

2.   Growth – Focused on attracting new clients but uncertain what is the right method for you or for the prospect. Often feel like the ‘Unknown Expert’.

3.   Messy Middle – Revenue and profit don’t seem to increase no matter what actions are taken; feeling like Chief Everything Officer – overwhelm and heading to burnout.

4.   Scale – Revenue increases without a substantial increase in expenditures, foundations are in place, messaging is clear, and business has simplified, systematized and standardized. Become the Undeniable Authority or sought-after expert and clients come to you expecting to pay premium prices.

LINKS: 

Chantal McIntyre (here)


CONNECT WITH ME HERE:

• Leave me a voice message here.
• Book a Growth Strategy Session here.
• Be a guest on my show Profit Potential Audit here.

PS. Feel like you’re Chief Everything Officer in your business?

Sick and tired of constantly putting out fires?

Are you finally ready to earn explosive profits and take multiple guilt-free vacations?

If you’ve answered YES to any of the above, then I believe you’d be a perfect fit as a guest for a Profit Potential Audit interview on my podcast.  Not only will you get at least one concrete strategy to move your business forward, but you’ll also have the opportunity to increase your business's visibility when you share the awesome work you do.

APPLY here: Profit Potential Audit Interview

Share your feedback with me by clicking here and leaving a short voice message!