Richelle Shaw: [00:00:00] So often the hardest part of business. The three biggest problems are, number one, finding customers. Number two, finding money. And number three figuring out what to sell. You know, oftentimes we wanna sell what we like instead of selling what people really wanna buy.

So this way of doing business solves it, you know, finding a customer. Well, the first thing that I do when I walk into. To a business, if I’m consulting with them is I say, okay, who else has your customers, you know, who do you know in your business that also sells to your existing customers? And right off the back they’ll tell me, well, you know, we have, you know, if it’s a realtor, well I have a mortgage person and the insurance person.

I’m like, okay, great. You know, if it’s a dance studio, it’s, well, you know, folks who sell dance gear soccer folks, you know, cause soccer moms often have dancing daughters. So, you know, number one is it solves that problem of where to find a customer. You know, I mean, how many people would like more customers raise your hand?

[00:01:00] Absolutely. So this way of doing things. So speed is a book that’s all about helping you find that right customer. So here’s the other thing, the most expensive thing that you’re gonna do in your business is finding a customer. It’s not getting the product cause once you have a customer to pay, then if you charge correctly, then you could pay for the product, right?

It’s not setting up an office because now you know you can do it outta your house. As long as you have an internet connection, you can have a free phone, a free everything. You know, you basically have to pay for the internet connection. And if you don’t have money to pay for an internet connection, then maybe being in business is not what you should be doing currently.

I’m just saying. Okay, so the part of this process is finding a customer is really not finding your customer is finding who already sells to your customer. Because if you can find them, you can get a boatload in a hurry. [00:02:00] That will change the trajectory of your business. Change how quickly you can make money.

*How do we fix your business? You know, When I notice that things are going wrong in the business, I ask, okay, so what piece of the business are you working on? And I get a blank stare. All right, so let’s talk about what pieces of your business are really important, right?

So in the million dollar equation, we have several variables, but each variable is attached to a piece of your business. So your business is in three major pieces. Right, the first one is how to get customers, how to attract them, how to get them to come to your business, how to get them to know you, how to educate.

And the second piece of your business is the experience. What happens when they’re ready to buy? What do you do? How do you talk to them? How do they get access to you? What happens from [00:03:00] that step forward? And then the last piece is the nurture. What happens after they buy from you? You know, that’s the most critical piece because that gets them to buy from you again.

So remember, we talk about the three ways to grow a business, right? Get new customers, get your existing customers to come back more often and get your existing customers to spend more money while they’re with you. Well, the last two, other than getting a new customer, starts with the experience. Right, the second section and then the third section, which is your nurture.

What happens after they’re gone? What happens when they come back? So here’s your assignment today is I want you to decide on which segment you’re gonna work on your business, and then once you decide, then start with there. So I’d love for you to start with after they buy, because if other than a brand new customer, that’s where you really need to start.

That’s gonna be your fastest way to money. As if you start after a customer [00:04:00] buys from you, and then start talking to them about what they should do next. Remember the three Rs, reactivation, retention, and referral, those should all come after. The customer or patient buys from you.

*Part of this is that you need to have a budget. So this should be a day in the speed challenge is you need to have a budget of what you are going to invest in your business every single month, even if it’s $20, you need to know what that number is. So let’s talk about that though. If it is a very low number, like $20, okay.

It’s hard to build a million dollar business with $20. It’s hard to build a million dollar business, spending a hundred dollars a month, you know? Are there free things that you can do? Absolutely. But here’s [00:05:00] what I want you to consider. It’s not. A free podcast, right? It’s not those things that are gonna be your investment.

It’s number one, having proper tools so that your business can run automatically without you. Number two, it’s in the speed and building your business. Your potential partners want to see that you are investing in your business. You see if your potential partner who has your ideal customer is investing in her business, then she wants to see that you’re investing in yours, especially when you offer to partner together.

Right? She’s gonna look at you and say. Okay, well, look, is this just a gift? Am I just helping you build your business? Well, if that’s the case, then you need to pay for it. You need to pay [00:06:00] for the coaching, you need to pay for or you need to invest in my business, and then yes, I will give it to you.

Right? So you’ve gotta create a way that. It appears that you’re investing. So that’s why I said, you know, come up with a standard number that this is the amount that you spend every single month, you know? Even if you’re spending it on ads. So for example, if you want to invest, or let’s say you’re doing a podcast and you want to interview somebody who’s really nice or who’s got a really big list, right?

And you say, okay I’d love to interview. And I say, well, what’s in it for me? If you can tell them that, here’s what we’ll do is that I will make sure that this interview gets seen by 50,000 people. I say, oh, okay. You know? Well, yeah, absolutely. So how do you do that? How do you guarantee it? Well, let’s do Facebook [00:07:00] ads, right?

With just the interview and we make sure that it gets seen by 50,000 people. Well, when you do that requires an investment. So that’s what I’m saying. You need to know exactly how much this is gonna be and you need to have that every month. So one of the things that we’re doing tomorrow is we’re gonna check your traps.

That’s what I call it. We’re gonna check. You know what you have available and if you are interested in having more available, then I do have a program where we, number one, we can fix your credit. Number two, after we fix your credit, see, cause you, we forget that I failed bankruptcy, I lost it all. I’ve lost it all twice.

*So I had to rebuild back. So I kind of know how to build your credit. In addition to building your credit I do have a couple of lenders who are very lenient and who can have [00:08:00] and show you the ability so that you can raise some capital for your business. Now, oftentimes that comes as a form of credit, right?

And so I would never tell you to go and get new credit without having a plan for your speed. So number one, you’re in the right place for the speed challenge. And number two tomorrow we’re gonna work on all of that, but. Here’s what I want you to focus on today is I want you to focus on making sure that we’re running this as a business, not a hobby, and a business requires investment and it requires monthly investment.

So let’s talk today about how to build a really successful business and why people struggle at, and so most of the times people struggle because they left their job thinking that running a business would be easier. They get [00:09:00] into the business, and the reason why the business is struggling is because you’re not being a really good employee to the business.

You know, the number one thing that makes your business amazing is consistency and discipline. The things that make you a great entrepreneur.

*They ask me questions about money and I explain how that works. But here’s what I want you to focus on, is that you get famous way before you get rich. So your goal should never be just to get on tv. Your goal should be, how can I build my business and how can I use this segment on television to build my business? Right? So here’s the thing. When you are pitching tv, to be there is that they don’t care about you.

Who they care about is the person watching your segment. And so they wanna know what are you bringing to the table? Why should we have you on our station and how are you [00:10:00] going to provide value to our viewers? Yes. So that’s way more than a, you should just get me on tv. And most people don’t think about that.

So remember, you get famous way before you get rich, and you really wanna be rich. You don’t wanna be famous.

*Hey. So yeah, I was 29 years old and at 29 years old, I became the only female African-American public utility owner in the nation. Yeah, I owned a telephone company here in Las Vegas and. You know, I had only had one job in my whole life. Like one real job. I had, you know, little things here and there, but one where I had benefits and, and whichever.

And now I was the owner and I was scared to death and I was like, oh, what can I do? Well, I ended up taking that business from 300,000 to 36 million in about four years. But then I lost it all after nine 11. And I said, you know, cause it was [00:11:00] a fluke. I didn’t really know what I was doing, I wasn’t sure what I was gonna do next.

And I was like, well, maybe I’ll go look for a new job. Well, I ended up rebuilding back my million dollar business in about five months. And thought, okay, well maybe this still is a fluke. Maybe this still is a fluke. And it wasn’t until I had sold that business and I said, okay, you know, now I can maybe help other folks.

And my first client was an obgyn and I go, are you kidding me? How in the world am I supposed to sell a pap smear? I don’t know. That is the hardest thing ever. Ugh. It, it was just really, really tough. And I said, well, well, I’m not really sure until he wrote me a big check and I said, well, okay, let me try.

And I wrote down like step by step of the things that he needed to do, and we took his business from 384,000 [00:12:00] to 1.2 million in nine months. And at that point, it was at that point that I knew. That I knew how to build businesses. And from there I started writing the million dollar equation. And the rest is history.

You know, now I’ve helped over 15,000 entrepreneurs build their own million dollar businesses are on the way to building their million dollar businesses. And I knew that I needed to share that with folks. And so that’s what I get to do now.

*So when you understand that building a business is, there’s only three ways. Only three ways to build a business. So the first one is to go get new customers, new patients, new clients, whatever you wanna call them, right? Go get new every time. So that’s where a lot of entrepreneurs stay.

You know, they’re constantly replacing, they get a customer. They fulfill it, they sell it, they close it, [00:13:00] they service it, and then they go get another one. Well, part of building a million dollar business comes from understanding that you have to have systems in place, systems to make it easier to grow. So let’s keep going.

So the first way is to go get a brand new customer. Second way is to get your existing customer to come back again and buy something else. Yeah. And the third way is to get your existing customer to spend more while they’re with you. So you ever think of, you know, you’re in the grocery store and you’re walking down and they’ve got the gum and the mints, and they’ve got the magazines, all of those things.

Well, that’s the reason, because they want to increase your transaction size. So they know that there’s only three ways. To grow, right? You’re already in the store. Let me have her buy more stuff while they’re there. So your assignment right now is to go look at your business, go look at it and figure out.

Okay. What are you doing to make sure that you’re getting your existing customer to come back [00:14:00] and that you’re getting them to spend more with each transaction? Right. Additional product, additional service. Add warranties. You ever go buy a car and they give you the extra warranty? That’s because they understand this principle.

There’s only three ways to grow. So hey, it’s Richelle Shaw again from The Million Dollar Equation. Have a go.