Today kicks off a 3-part series I’ve been super excited to share with you ever since I asked what you were interested in knowing more about, and so many of you shared that you wanted to learn more about the behind-the-scenes of how we run our business!

So, I present to you the Business Love Series which starts today – Valentine’s Day, of course – and runs through the last week of February.

Let’s start by diving into the philosophical shift we made in our business that’s helped us add 20,000 people to our email list in 6 months, hit 7 figures in revenue for the first time, step into the work that we feel like we’re truly here to do, and make space to welcome a second child into our family.

Doing less.

I understand that it may be hard to wrap your head around getting better results by doing less because we all have been programmed by a culture that celebrates hard work and putting in more hours above all else.

But I invite you to entertain the idea that doing less can actually make you more money (and help you have a greater impact) because not only does your business growth depend on it, so does your sanity and wellbeing.

Now, doing less is nice as a philosophy, but it won’t do you any good unless you know how to apply it. Because doing less randomly won’t get you better results.

Doing less in strategic ways will get you mind-blowing business results, however.

Here are 3 ways that we employ this philosophy in our company daily:

1. Pick the low-hanging fruit.

The low-hanging fruit is the ripe, heavy stuff that you barely even have to nudge for it to fall off the tree and into your hand. Most business owners are so busy trying to get to the stuff that requires a brand-new marketing strategy, entirely new content, complicated software, and from-scratch webinars, emails, and promotion materials that they ignore low-hanging fruit. In business, the low-hanging fruit is defined as the things that you can do to get the biggest return for the least amount of effort. (Juicy, fresh fruit in your hand by barely lifting a finger.)

An example for us was realizing we needed a better system to attend to failed payments for products and services people already wanted. We’d already done the work of creating the program, marketing the program, and successfully securing a new customer. Now that customer’s credit card had expired or they weren’t paying for some other reason, and we didn’t have a solid system in place to capture that revenue that we’d already done the work to earn.

So we put an automated system in place with an email sequence to capture that low-hanging fruit revenue.

Other examples of low-hanging fruit might be following up with your customers to see if they’d like to reorder around the time that their product might be running out (if you sell consumables), offering existing customers a more advanced program after the one they’ve just completed and raved about, or beginning to charge for a service that people are already asking you for.

A great touchpoint in business is that it’s way less expensive and takes way less time to keep an existing customer than it is to secure a new customer, so looking at ways to increase your customer retention and serve the people you already have is a great place to look for low-hanging fruit.

2. Reduce, reuse, repurpose.

Mike was sitting with one of his business consulting clients and suggested that she rerun the same promotion that made her $20K the last time she did it. She immediately started thinking about who she could hire to run the promotion for her, but Mike reminded her that she had already written all of the emails, had already created the launch strategy, and already had the course ready. All she had to do was literally rinse and repeat. Her mind was blown.

We ran a promotion last year and changed only one minor thing from the year before and brought in more revenue than we had the previous year with the exact same promotion.

As entrepreneurs we’re obsessed with reinventing the wheel and unfortunately it leaves us spinning our wheels. 

As you look at your plans for your business over the next several months, ask yourself:

• Where can I rinse and repeat?
• What can I repurpose? (Can a blog post or a podcast become a downloadable freebie lead magnet? Can a module of one course become a bonus for another? Every time you create something new, think of at least one other way you could use it in addition to the original intended use.)
• Where can I reduce the number of steps and get the same (or better) results?

3. Focus.

When Mike and I started working on one project at a time and bringing it to completion before starting something else, it revolutionized our business. Now that our team has grown and we have more going on, it’s not always possible to work on only one project at once as a company, but as an individual within the team, this remains my M.O.

How many times have you started on a project (like creating a course or launching a coaching program or creating a giveaway) only to get distracted by a new idea? You abandon the project you were working on and get started on the new, shiny object. Then you get an email from one of your mentors about the power of webinars and you abandon the second project so you can get your webinar funnel up and running. Then someone tells you about the power of creating a free Facebook group so your webinar project gets abandoned and now you’re lost in Facebook land.

You have 5 projects all started. All of them have great growth and revenue potential. But due to your lack of focus, none of them has been completed and therefore, none of them are generating any results for you.

A completed project, no matter how imperfect, will get you more results than one you never finish.

The best way to increase your results by spending less energy is to get focused on one thing at a time and bring it to completion before starting something new.

(Not sure where to start focusing? Click here to get a free video from my friend, online business mogul Marie Forleo, on the 6 pillars that every online business needs in order to thrive so that you can identify where to get started!)

Focus is magnetic. 

The Universe will send you mind-blowing gifts in the form of opportunities, connections, and ideas that wouldn’t come to you if you were all over the place. I promise. I’ve experienced both realities and the focused, devoted one is not only way more profitable, it’s way more satisfying, too.

Want a print-out of the 3 keys to doing less and making more so you can be reminded when you slip into the old habit of doing more?

Having the mindset of doing less as the bedrock of our company has literally changed everything. I know it will do the same for you if you’re willing to check your obsession with busyness at the door and divorce your self-worth from doing. When you do, you’ll not only be able to deliver more value, you’ll also be happier and healthier in the process.

Next week I’m delivering part two of the Business Love Series and sharing why you don’t necessarily need a niche – despite every business book and course telling you that you do. If you’re not on my list yet make sure to get on it so you don’t miss it.

OVER TO YOU:

Which of these 3 strategies for doing less to make more are you going to start implementing in your business? How are you going to implement it? Tell me in the comments and feel free to drop a question there, too! I’m happy to answer it.