Use Leverage to Love Your Business

Welcome to Business with Barrett

I am grateful to the 3,300+ members that are a part of the Business with Barrett community. I'm excited to begin this journey and will do my best to provide you with actionable insights that will be thought provoking to help you unlock leverage in your business. I believe every entrepreneur should love their company, but many don't and my goal is to change that!  

Lastly, if you find this helpful I ask that you please forward it to your friends so the community can continue to grow! 

Have ideas or a topic you want covered? Shoot me an email, I'm all ears. 

What Can You Expect? 

Every Week I'll dive into the following (and provide an SEO tip to help you win online):

1. SMB and startup growth tactics

2. Search engine optimization

3. Building an audience to 100K+

4. Overseas talent

5. Business breakdowns

6. Other business-related content

Today's Topic: Using Leverage to Love Your Business:

Studies that show up 72% of entrepreneurs experience anxiety or depression and are 30% more likely to experience these symptoms than non-entrepreneurs. I firmly believe these feelings are rooted in a secret hatred and disdain for a self-created prison that was supposed to be a business. 

The early days of entrepreneurship are fueled by the dreams of free time and unlimited earning potential. After about 6 months reality sets in that business is hard, more expensive, and more time consuming than anticipated. 

At this point, operators take on more responsibilities until they generate enough cashflow to invest in a team/systems. But it rarely ends there and it's actually the beginning of a cycle that creates resentment, rather than love, for their business. 

more responsibility = more reliance on you = harder to get out of the day-to-day = more time = more resentment 

It's a dark picture full of doom and gloom -- but it doesn't have to be this way. You can build a business you love that also rakes in cash. In my opinion it looks something like this:

• Doesn't require an unreasonable effort from the owner

• Owner draws a salary AND profit distributions

• The top and bottom line grow without the owner micromanaging day-to-day

• Trustworthy and reliable team who think for themselves

• Processes and systems that minimize surprises and fires

• Owner can take a vacation and things move forward

In order you achieve this you need....

LEVERAGE. 

In 2019 modern day philosopher Naval Ravikant recorded a podcast where he discussed leverage and how to use it to maximize your output while shrinking input. He explains that there is old leverage (labor and capital) and new leverage (code and media). 

Labor and capital leverage are pretty obvious — hire good people and make good investments that free up time and increase cashflow. The one caveat here is hiring overseas talent which is a newer form of labor leverage. By arbitraging the cost of living between the USA and Philippines or India you can hire competent employees. More employees for the same/lower cost creates leverage not available to previous generations. I've done this with great success and HIGHLY recommend doing it. 

But if you really want to love your business you need to use modern day leverage. 

Code (Technology):

Technology has dramatically reduced the cost of getting things done. For example, a simple CRM system with Zapier automations keeps track of all customers, deal pipelines, customer follow ups via email or text and more. The cost savings from inexpensive technology is the greatest ROI available to SMB owners. What used to take multiple employees now costs a few hundred dollars per month in software tools (that top engineers spend their time improving). 

**caution: do not build custom technology unless you NEED it. It's almost always a waste of time and money for SMBs. Out the box SaaS will work in 99% of situations.** 

Technology also makes it possible to check in on your business from anywhere, removing the need to spend 60+ hours per week at an office. 

When you combine lowers costs, better organization, and location independence the leverage via tech is obvious. 

Media: 

Traditional media companies can no longer control your access to your target market.

Building a social media following or attracting organic website visitors (SEO) allows you to build your own distribution to attract your market. In the past newspapers, expensive agencies, etc. we're gatekeepers of your market. 

In 2022 sharing helpful content on the internet will bring your market to you — for free. Becoming an industry leading authority requires good ideas and the courage to share them, not millions of dollars and connections like the "good ol' days." Focus on building Twitter, LinkedIn, Facebook Groups, organic web traffic, Instagram, TikTok, etc. and your ideal customers will come to you. Pick 1-2 channels that make sense and go all in!

Media leverage leads to lower customer acquisition cost and makes connecting with your market a matter of quality, not budget. 

Summary: 

Building a business you love, one that works for you, requires leverage. We're lucky to be entrepreneurs in the greatest time in history where leverage is plentiful and accessible.

For further reading check out this thread I wrote:

SEO Tip of the week: 

SEO is a high leverage activity because search engines can work 24/7 for your business and bring ideal customers inbound. The best part? When organic searchers find you, they are 10x more likely to close and become customers.

Create Relevant and Clickable Title Tags: 

Rather than stuffing keywords into page titles, create engaging titles that hook searchers into wanting more information. Too often the focus is on jamming keywords into titles, and while that's important, don't forget the goal is to satisfy an algorithm and a human being. Be sure to flex your copywriting skills here!

Good: Actionable SEO Tips and Strategies That Work 

Bad: SEO Blog | SEO Tips

How you can work with Barrett:

Brightline Media:

My SEO and Backlinking service Brightline Media has serviced 100+ clients over 5 years. We're a boutique firm focused improving business outcomes by dominating Google. Check out the site here.

Audience Coaching: 

If you're interested in growing an audience on Twitter or LinkedIn I coach 2 people per month. The goal is to cut your learning curve by 12+ months. The cost is $5,000. 

Please feel free to email me at [email protected] with any questions, feedback, ideas or opportunities!