Black Entrepreneur Blueprint 519 - Jay Jones - How To Save A Failing Business

[00:00:12] Welcome to BLACK ENTREPRENEUR BLUEPRINT, the number one podcast and resource for black entrepreneurs.

[00:00:19] I'm your host Jay Jones and BLACK ENTREPRENEUR BLUEPRINT was created specifically to educate and inspire black entrepreneurs to launch, build and grow successful, sustainable businesses.

[00:00:32] Join us as we help build an economic power base in the worldwide black community by building and supporting black owned businesses.

[00:00:41] If you're currently an entrepreneur or want to be an entrepreneur, you're invited to join us each and every week here at BLACK ENTREPRENEUR BLUEPRINT.

[00:00:50] Welcome to the B.E.B. family and get ready to elevate your entrepreneur IQ.

[00:00:56] Well, go to the black entrepreneur blueprint episode number five hundred and nineteen.

[00:01:06] I'm your host, Jay Jones. And today we have another outstanding and informative show in store for you.

[00:01:12] Today's show topic is how to save a failing business, how to save a failing business.

[00:01:19] I'm going to give you guys four steps or four techniques to help you save a failing business.

[00:01:26] Now, unfortunately, there are many businesses that are on the brink of failure or they're not producing enough revenue to even continue to operate.

[00:01:35] Now, there are a lot of factors that play a part in that.

[00:01:38] And today I'm going to dissect and discuss four things that you can do for actionable steps that you can take to help save your failing business.

[00:01:48] Now, before we get to today's content, let me just share a few things with the black entrepreneur blueprint family.

[00:01:54] First and foremost, I want to welcome all first time listeners to black entrepreneur blueprint.

[00:01:59] Welcome to the B.E.B. family.

[00:02:01] Please stick around until the end of today's broadcast.

[00:02:04] And I'm going to share all my social media contact information and resource links, such as the link to the new revised revamped B.E.B. Academy.

[00:02:14] Go to new B.E.B. Academy dot com for more information.

[00:02:19] If you want all the resources to help you elevate your entrepreneur IQ, they are inside the academy, which is our online learning portal.

[00:02:28] We have online courses, we have group coaching and we also have tons of content to help you guys build and scale successful, sustainable businesses.

[00:02:39] Also, don't forget productivity template dot com.

[00:02:43] If you're having a problem with productivity.

[00:02:46] I did an episode on this about two weeks ago where I talk about disconnecting from the Internet and using four hours per week to actually be more productive.

[00:02:58] So a lot of people think that that's counterproductive by taking four hours away from your business.

[00:03:03] But actually, guys, it's going to help you.

[00:03:06] So make sure you go to productivity template dot com for more information and I give you a template and I actually use this template every week to help me become more productive.

[00:03:17] I talked about it on the show two weeks ago where I actually only work four days a week now, Monday through Thursday.

[00:03:25] I'm taking Fridays off. I'm enjoying the fruits of my labor and that's how I'm going to keep rocking, you know, as long as possible.

[00:03:33] And it's been super successful using my productivity template.

[00:03:37] So go to productivity template dot com for more information.

[00:03:42] You can do more in less time.

[00:03:44] You can become more efficient and become more productive.

[00:03:48] Now, let's get ready for today's show content.

[00:03:51] So today we're going to discuss how to save a failing business.

[00:03:55] Now, as I mentioned at the top of the show, it's unfortunate, but many of our businesses are failing and it could be due to a myriad of different reasons or a combination of reasons.

[00:04:07] But today, what I want to do, guys, is I'm going to give you four ideas to help you save a failing business.

[00:04:14] Now, these ideas are not groundbreaking, but they're simple ideas that just need to be implemented.

[00:04:20] And that's what's going to help you save your business.

[00:04:23] The problem is a lot of times we don't take the remedy to the problem that we haven't actually implemented.

[00:04:30] And I've seen it time and time again as a serial entrepreneur for over 25 plus years and a business coach for over 20 plus years.

[00:04:39] So many times with my clients or prospective clients, when I do an interview or intake before we decide to work with each other, I'll ask them a series of questions.

[00:04:50] And a lot of times the answer is already there, but they just don't take the time to create and implement a plan that's going to actually save their business.

[00:05:00] I know that sounds kind of silly, but I've seen it on numerous occasions throughout my business coaching career.

[00:05:07] You just don't have or some people just don't have that gumption to continue to fight through and do what is necessary to make your business successful.

[00:05:16] So today I'm going to give you four ideas to help save your failing business.

[00:05:21] And when I say failing, it doesn't mean that you're about to go out of business per se, but your business may not be churning out enough cash for you to be able to live off of it.

[00:05:32] Maybe you're not hitting maximum efficiency and you can't break through.

[00:05:37] OK, so remember, guys, I always talk about your business is never standing still.

[00:05:42] It's either going forward or backwards.

[00:05:45] OK, there's no such thing as standing still.

[00:05:48] So that's why you have to continue to hone your craft as an entrepreneur and keep your business moving forward.

[00:05:56] So you can use one, two, three or all four of these things in conjunction based on your situation.

[00:06:04] But let's start out with idea number one.

[00:06:07] And these are very simple ideas, but the implementation is what makes the difference.

[00:06:12] Number one, cut expenses, look at your expenses and cut out the things you don't need.

[00:06:18] Now, it's funny because I'm actually in the process of doing this.

[00:06:22] My businesses are doing well, but I can always cut expenses.

[00:06:26] Now, I'll give you a real life example in a minute.

[00:06:29] So put your expenses in three different categories.

[00:06:32] The must have expenses, want it, but can do without it expenses and the don't need expenses.

[00:06:40] Maybe you can do it yourself and trade your time for actual dollars.

[00:06:45] So, for example, if you're trying to create a landing page or website as opposed to spending or investing two thousand dollars in that,

[00:06:53] maybe you could learn how to build it yourself if you have the time to do that.

[00:06:57] OK, or you can do something manually that you would normally pay somebody else for.

[00:07:03] So remember, there are three categories of expenses and this is just what I use.

[00:07:08] OK, must have category.

[00:07:11] That's something that you have to have.

[00:07:13] Then the other category is want it but can do without something that you like to have, but you really can do without it.

[00:07:20] And the last one is the category of I don't need it.

[00:07:23] A great way to track your expenses as an entrepreneur is by using software, financial software.

[00:07:29] So I use QuickBooks for all my LLCs and businesses so I can literally go in and track how much did I spend on domain names?

[00:07:39] How much have I spent on web hosting?

[00:07:41] How much have I spent on whatever category I want to look at now that allows you to actually break the numbers down and see where you're spending money.

[00:07:51] I did this about 25 years ago with my personal finances.

[00:07:56] So QuickBooks also has a software called Quicken, which is used for your personal finances.

[00:08:03] I don't know if they change the name of it now, but I use something else now.

[00:08:07] Anyway, I would go to my office and usually a normal day look like this.

[00:08:13] I would stop to grab something to eat and I would pick up three newspapers.

[00:08:17] Right. Then at lunch, I go out and grab something to eat for lunch and then I come on home.

[00:08:23] So now what I noticed was after I started tracking my money, I would spend anywhere from about twenty five dollars every morning for my three newspapers that I bought.

[00:08:35] Philadelphia Inquirer, Wall Street Journal and USA Today.

[00:08:38] This is obviously before the Internet. Right.

[00:08:41] And I would read those papers while I ate so I could stay up on the news and what's going on in finance.

[00:08:47] And so that was about twenty five, even thirty dollars a day.

[00:08:51] And at the end of the month, I'm looking and I'm like, my goodness, I spent about three, four hundred dollars a month just eating, just going to breakfast in the morning and grabbing lunch.

[00:09:03] And these are the type of things that you can do to cut your expenses.

[00:09:07] Many times we spend money and we really don't allocate or think about where where it's going and how much it adds up to.

[00:09:15] You know, another time what I was doing back in the day is I was calculating how much money I would spend on beer and alcohol.

[00:09:23] So if I was out at the club or after work, you know, function or whatever back in the day when I was out there, you know, young and ripping and running.

[00:09:31] And I'd be like, damn, I spent that much money on drinks and and going out and it adds up.

[00:09:38] So idea number one or tip number one is cut your expenses.

[00:09:43] And I'm telling you guys right now, if you have a business and you don't have an accounting software, please get one because it's really going to open your eyes.

[00:09:53] Also, it makes it that much easier when you need to do your profit and loss statements and everything for your CPA or accountant to do your taxes.

[00:10:02] So be it quick books, fresh books.

[00:10:05] They have all types of different software out there that can track your expenses.

[00:10:10] Number one tip cut expenses.

[00:10:13] And this isn't rocket science, guys.

[00:10:15] This is basic stuff that people do not implement.

[00:10:19] All right.

[00:10:20] Number two tip increase revenue.

[00:10:23] Duh. Right.

[00:10:25] So if your business is failing, you want to make more money.

[00:10:28] You want to make more sales.

[00:10:29] Right. So increase revenue.

[00:10:31] Look at how you can increase your revenue without increasing your expenses.

[00:10:35] Like, for example, increasing the price of a product.

[00:10:39] So you may sell a product for twenty four ninety five.

[00:10:42] You may increase the product to twenty seven ninety five.

[00:10:46] Something that's not it's almost not perceptible for your customers.

[00:10:52] It's a little different.

[00:10:53] So I can tell you right now, if you guys were in a room with me and I asked you to raise your hand, if you've seen a product that you usually buy all the time in a supermarket, if you've seen the price increase and ninety nine percent of you guys would raise your hands.

[00:11:08] Now, the question is, do you continue to buy it?

[00:11:11] And the most of you would probably say yes.

[00:11:14] So increase your prices just incrementally will make a big difference on the income.

[00:11:20] So increasing your revenue.

[00:11:22] So that's one way.

[00:11:23] Another way is market affiliate products or services to your audience.

[00:11:28] And I've talked about this before.

[00:11:31] So if you have a database, which you should of your customers and prospective customers, because you always want to have a lead generation system, you can actually increase your revenue by literally just sending out an email.

[00:11:45] So say, for example, you are in the physical fitness space, say you're a personal trainer and you train online, you train in person or and you generate revenues by training.

[00:11:57] Say, for example, you found an affiliate product for some type of supplement that would help your clients.

[00:12:04] So now you become affiliate for this.

[00:12:07] You have your database and all you do is send out an email to your database periodically.

[00:12:13] Hey, this is a product that I found that I think will help you lose weight, gain muscle, whatever it is.

[00:12:20] And now you put that affiliate link in and literally when your customers or your prospects buy it, you increase your revenue.

[00:12:28] You don't have to ship anything.

[00:12:30] You don't have to pay for anything.

[00:12:31] You don't have to track anything.

[00:12:33] All of that is done by the affiliate.

[00:12:36] Super simple.

[00:12:38] So that's the importance of having a customer database, a lead generation system.

[00:12:44] And if you want to look at it kind of like Amazon Prime Days and I've used this example on the show several times to Prime Days, literally are days that Amazon two, three X's their revenues.

[00:12:59] And all it is is they have a database and they have a promotion and they're able to turn on that revenue faucet by just sending an email.

[00:13:08] Hey, is Amazon Prime Day?

[00:13:10] Check out some of our great deals that you might like.

[00:13:13] And what do we do?

[00:13:14] We go on Amazon Prime, go on Amazon.

[00:13:17] And with that Prime Day, we start buying.

[00:13:20] So literally you can create your own prime days with your affiliate products or just your current products.

[00:13:27] OK, and what we're talking about, guys, is how to save a failing business.

[00:13:32] Another way to increase your revenue is by adding new products and or services.

[00:13:38] So if you're in a physical product space, if you sell physical products, can you add a service to that or can you add another complimentary product to that?

[00:13:48] For example, if you are a copier sales person or you have a copier business and you sell copiers to companies, you can create a warranty, which is a service warranty.

[00:13:59] That's additional income based on something that you currently sell.

[00:14:03] It's synergistic.

[00:14:05] It just makes sense.

[00:14:06] So can you create additional products and or services that you can sell to your customers?

[00:14:13] And you want to think about things that complement your current customer base, something that makes sense for them.

[00:14:20] You can also create a new product by bundling individual products so you can create a promotional product where now you're taking two or three different products or services that you have and bundling them together.

[00:14:34] And now you're selling that as a new offer.

[00:14:37] So you're not really creating new products, but you're creating new offers and you may have a discount for that bundle.

[00:14:45] You guys seen it all the time by to this, this and this.

[00:14:50] And it's only going to cost you one hundred dollars versus buying them separately.

[00:14:54] It'll cost you one hundred and fifty dollars.

[00:14:57] So you can also create bundles or separate or special packages that you can sell also to help you increase your revenue.

[00:15:06] So that's number two.

[00:15:08] Tip number one, cut expenses.

[00:15:10] Tip number two, increase revenue.

[00:15:13] Tip number three, increase your qualified leads.

[00:15:17] Qualified.

[00:15:19] That's the word.

[00:15:20] Increase your qualified leads.

[00:15:23] And you do this, guys, by building or retooling your lead generation system.

[00:15:29] And if you do not have a lead generation system, that's the first thing you want to do.

[00:15:35] That's the reason that you're probably about to go out of business or your business is failing.

[00:15:40] You need a systematic approach to generate qualified leads every day.

[00:15:47] OK, it could be a simple sales funnel where you're running traffic to a landing page to give away a free report.

[00:15:55] Watch a video, some type of lead capture where you then can start marketing to this.

[00:16:01] This new database, your prospect database.

[00:16:04] But you need to have a lead generation system in order to get qualified leads on a daily basis.

[00:16:13] OK, now one of the things that I'm not going to go too deep in is a lot of my people tell me, man, it costs too much to generate a lead.

[00:16:22] And I don't have enough money to for paid advertising.

[00:16:26] But Bob, but Bob, but Bob, guess what?

[00:16:28] No leads equals no sales equals no business.

[00:16:32] So there's a thing called self liquidating leads.

[00:16:36] OK, so this is something where you actually do a small sales funnel and you make a small what we call tripwire offer to offset the cost of advertising.

[00:16:48] So let's use the example of the personal trainer.

[00:16:51] And this is just a simple formula for a funnel that I'm making up on the fly.

[00:16:56] So you're spending money on Facebook and Instagram to drive people to a landing page.

[00:17:01] And on that landing page, you have a lead magnet.

[00:17:04] And that's content that people in your audience want.

[00:17:07] And just say that content is 10 steps to lose belly fat.

[00:17:12] So now it's a PDF download.

[00:17:15] So when somebody puts in their name and email address, they get the download.

[00:17:19] They also get an offer for a quick five minute video to help you to be able to lose that belly fat.

[00:17:28] Five exercises to help you lose belly fat.

[00:17:31] You have that video.

[00:17:33] That video may be nine dollars and ninety five cents and they can have this small or mini workout plan to help lose the belly fat.

[00:17:41] And that's the reason they already responded to your lead magnet.

[00:17:45] Right. So now that may be nine ninety five or whatever you want to sell it for.

[00:17:49] But you're giving them an offer as soon as they opt in for your lead magnet.

[00:17:55] And that's what's called a self liquidating offer.

[00:17:58] So now, of course, not 100 percent of the people are going to buy that quick video tutorial.

[00:18:04] But enough people may buy it where it offsets the cost of you spending money or investing money in advertising with Facebook and Instagram.

[00:18:15] So if you get 100 people that come to your page, come to your landing page that day and 10 percent of them actually take you up on that offer, that self liquidating offer.

[00:18:26] That's nine ninety five times ten people.

[00:18:29] That's ninety nine dollars and 50 cents.

[00:18:31] So just say your ad spend for that day is fifty dollars.

[00:18:36] That means you've actually made money.

[00:18:38] OK, so you've made, you know, forty nine dollars and 50 cents.

[00:18:43] And that's what's called a self liquidating offer.

[00:18:46] It allows you to advertise or market your products or services and you recoup that money because you provide an offer right away.

[00:18:56] OK, so increase qualified leads.

[00:18:59] And that's what we're talking about.

[00:19:01] You need a lead generation system.

[00:19:04] Guys, you have to have that.

[00:19:06] OK, so also if you want to increase qualified leads, this is number three.

[00:19:12] You have to also look at your marketing campaigns and do what's called a split test so you can have two different lead magnets.

[00:19:21] OK, I just gave you that example.

[00:19:23] So one could be 10 ways to lose belly fat and you can have an image of a man on there.

[00:19:29] The split test B could be the same PDF download, but you can have an image of a woman on it.

[00:19:36] You change that. Which one gets the best traction?

[00:19:39] Which one gets downloaded more?

[00:19:42] You can change the headline.

[00:19:43] You can change several things on your landing page to determine what what pulls best.

[00:19:50] And that's why I always talk about you have to look at entrepreneurship from the aspect of being a mad scientist.

[00:19:58] You got to figure out the code.

[00:20:00] You have to figure out what works.

[00:20:02] And the only way you figure out what what works, guys, is by trying different things.

[00:20:07] Now, when you're doing a split test, an A B split test, you only change one component of the ad at a time because you want to know what makes the difference.

[00:20:18] So in that example, the first thing you may change is the title of the of the free report, the download you're given.

[00:20:27] OK, you might change the video that's on that free report.

[00:20:31] You might change the image. You might change the wording.

[00:20:34] But you always do one thing at a time, one component at a time, because once that component is changed and you see an increase, you'll know, hey, this is what made the increase.

[00:20:46] I changed the image on the PDF download.

[00:20:49] I changed the title. I changed the video, whatever it is.

[00:20:52] So when you're talking about increasing qualified leads, you always want to split test when you have the opportunity.

[00:21:00] OK, but if you don't have a lead generation system, guys, you might as well hang it up.

[00:21:06] It's a wrap. You need to have qualified leads coming in daily.

[00:21:11] I say this a lot on the show because it's super important.

[00:21:15] People always wake up. Entrepreneurs wake up.

[00:21:17] They look at the money in their bank account.

[00:21:19] That's not the first thing that I look at every morning.

[00:21:22] What I look at is how many people have I added to my database and I have multiple databases for multiple businesses.

[00:21:31] And what you're going to see, the correlation is the more people you add to your database that you continue to market to, the more money you're going to make.

[00:21:41] So I know if I'm running a campaign and I only get two new people on my database, I know my bank account probably isn't going to look that good.

[00:21:50] Right. And not everything is day to day, but you'll see the trends.

[00:21:54] OK, so the more people on your database that you consistently market to, the more money and more revenue that you're going to make.

[00:22:03] So if you don't have a lead generation system and you don't have a database, you might as well go out of business today.

[00:22:10] You have to have that if you want to be not just successful, but sustainable.

[00:22:16] That's the key, guys. Everybody can be successful at one time or another.

[00:22:20] It happened to me before. That's why I understood about the the component of sustainability.

[00:22:27] I've made tons of money in certain months based on being successful.

[00:22:32] But was there sustainability because there's ebbs and flows in businesses?

[00:22:38] So a lead generation system is going to give you predictable income.

[00:22:43] It's going to give you a predictable range based on the fact that you have a good lead magnet and you have a good offer.

[00:22:51] And that's where I talk about being a mad scientist and testing things out is the difference.

[00:22:57] So understand that. And what we're talking about today, guys, is how to save a failing business.

[00:23:02] Tip number one was to cut expenses. Tip number two, increase revenue.

[00:23:07] Tip number three. What I just talked about was increase your qualified leads.

[00:23:12] And tip number four, look for a strategic partner or partners.

[00:23:18] Let me start off by reading the definition of a strategic partner.

[00:23:22] A strategic partnership is an arrangement between two or more companies that agree to support each other in an effort to help both parties succeed.

[00:23:32] The best strategic alliances offer clear benefits to the audiences of both brands.

[00:23:38] When a partnership appeals to both audiences, then the two businesses are able to expand their reach and generate more sales.

[00:23:46] It's a win win strategy. Now, I'm going to give you guys a couple of real life examples from big companies.

[00:23:55] And then I'll talk about what you can do to form strategic partnerships.

[00:24:00] OK, so the first one and I'm actually going to read this because this came from an article that I was reading and I just kind of copied it and condensed it.

[00:24:10] But let's look at Uber and Spotify. So it says Uber's partnership with Spotify lets Uber riders easily stream their Spotify playlists whenever they take a ride.

[00:24:21] This makes the Uber experience feel more personalized and encourages Uber riders to subscribe to Spotify premium for more control of the tunes on both inside and outside of Uber.

[00:24:35] Uber's rivals don't have a similar personalized music experience. So this gives the ride share giant a competitive advantage over Lyft and other similar services.

[00:24:46] And since not all Uber riders have Spotify and not all Spotify users ride with Uber, both brands gain access to new broad audiences in this business alliance.

[00:24:58] So that's a great example. Uber and Spotify. Now, let's take a look at another strategic alliance. And this one is Starbucks and Target.

[00:25:07] So one of the most well-known strategic alliance examples is the Starbucks and Target partnership.

[00:25:13] As soon as you walk into Target, there's a Starbucks counter waiting to blend your favorite drink.

[00:25:20] Target and Starbucks know their brands share a similar audience. Busy shoppers looking for affordable slash luxurious and a quick escape from the everyday.

[00:25:31] The strategic alliance was formed all the way back in 1999 and is still going strong.

[00:25:37] There are thousands of Target stores that host Starbucks cafes to help fuel people's target runs.

[00:25:43] And Target customers know if they get hungry or thirsty during a shopping trip, Starbucks have has them covered right in the store.

[00:25:52] Strategic alliances, mutually beneficial partnerships or alliances.

[00:25:58] And that's something that you guys need to look at. Strategic partnerships. Now, that's super big publicly traded companies.

[00:26:07] But let's talk about how you can implement this in your business.

[00:26:11] So just look at I'm back in the mortgage game. So I'm a mortgage broker and I have a strategic alliance with several insurance agents.

[00:26:22] OK, so when you buy a new home, you need homeowners insurance, right? Perfect synergy, right?

[00:26:27] So you're going to need new homeowners coverage. Now, for me, the benefit to me is when I connect with one of my insurance agents, clients, their homeowners.

[00:26:37] They know that I only deal with homeowners or people looking to buy houses. Maybe I can do a refinance.

[00:26:42] I'll ask them about their mortgage. So that's a great strategic alliance.

[00:26:47] Another one is to be family members that are friends of mine that I connected.

[00:26:52] One of them owns a watch company and the other one owns a bow tie company.

[00:26:56] So they're both accessories. OK, so we put them together and I believe that they actually did some type of strategic partnership.

[00:27:05] Another example is an alarm company in a home improvement company.

[00:27:09] So when I had my ADT dealership, you know, 20 some odd years ago, I would partner up with home improvement companies.

[00:27:17] They're in the homes, they're doing home improvements. People are investing money in their homes.

[00:27:22] They probably want to protect their homes, too, if they don't have an alarm system and vice versa.

[00:27:27] I go in and I have a new alarm customer. One of our sales reps, we had it all down where they would ask him if they were interested in any home improvements.

[00:27:36] And we would refer out those leads to the home improvement company and vice versa.

[00:27:42] Now, financial advisors and CPAs. Now, many financial advisors are on the investment side, per se, and not necessarily adept at taxes.

[00:27:53] You know, so you can be a financial advisor and you can have a strategic partnership or alliance with the CPA.

[00:28:00] Also, here's another example. And this is a real example. I put together two other B.E.B. family members.

[00:28:07] There's a gentleman who has his own sunglass brand and I connected him with a brother that has his own clothing brand.

[00:28:14] So now sunglasses and clothing go together and they've done some strategic partnerships.

[00:28:20] So these are the things, guys, that are mutually beneficial to you and the other company.

[00:28:26] And they're synergistic and they just make sense. You have the same similar type audience, but you're selling them different products and or services just like mortgage broker and insurance agent.

[00:28:39] And right now I'm dealing with I have partnerships with about three insurance agents and I'm giving them a ton of leads and they're giving me a ton of leads.

[00:28:48] And it all boils down to guys being smart and efficient in doing business.

[00:28:54] Before I get to the last segment of the show, guys, let me just share my social media contact information and resource links.

[00:29:01] And I'm going to keep this super simple, guys. Everything I'm about to tell you is on the website.

[00:29:05] Black Entrepreneur Blueprint dot com. So I mentioned at the top of the show, guys, the new revised revamp B.E.B. Academy.

[00:29:14] Go to new B.E.B. Academy dot com for more information and to enroll, to help elevate your entrepreneur IQ.

[00:29:21] If you want to become more efficient with your business, go to productivity template dot com for more information.

[00:29:28] Once again, this is the template I use to work four days a week now, not five days, because I'm super efficient and productive.

[00:29:37] Now, if you want to connect with me, guys, anything long hit me on my email.

[00:29:41] Jay Jones at Black Entrepreneur Blueprint dot com.

[00:29:44] J.A.Y.J.O.N.E.S. at Black Entrepreneur Blueprint dot com.

[00:29:49] Facebook Black Entrepreneur Blueprint. Instagram. I have two IG accounts.

[00:29:54] The first one is Jay Jones for real. J.A.Y.J.O.N.E.S.

[00:29:59] The number four R.E.A.L. Second one is Black Entrepreneur Blueprint on Twitter.

[00:30:05] Guys, connect with me there. Jay Jones zero zero one J.A.Y.J.O.N.E.S. zero zero one and LinkedIn.

[00:30:14] Please connect with me there, guys. Just go to search LinkedIn.

[00:30:17] Jay Jones Black Entrepreneur Blueprint. Connect with me there.

[00:30:21] Also, don't forget to subscribe to the YouTube channel.

[00:30:24] I have additional content on YouTube that is not on the show.

[00:30:28] So go to YouTube, type in Black Entrepreneur Blueprint and hit that subscribe button.

[00:30:33] Also, don't forget to utilize the website Black Entrepreneur Blueprint dot com.

[00:30:38] We have all types of resources on the website to help you elevate your entrepreneur IQ.

[00:30:44] Go and hit the learn tab. There's a drop down tab.

[00:30:48] We have all types of resources on e-commerce, scaling your business strategy and mindset.

[00:30:54] Everything you need to help elevate your entrepreneur IQ and build a successful, sustainable business.

[00:31:01] Now, let me get to the last segment of the show.

[00:31:04] And I just want to give you guys a recap and a short story.

[00:31:09] So we talked about ways to help save a failing business.

[00:31:13] And as I mentioned earlier, your business doesn't have to literally be failing.

[00:31:18] But if you've hit a plateau and you can't grow and scale, this is still applicable to you.

[00:31:24] We talked about the four tips. Number one was cut expenses.

[00:31:28] Number two, increase revenue. Three, increase your qualified leads.

[00:31:32] And four, look for strategic partners or partnerships.

[00:31:37] OK, all common sense things, guys.

[00:31:40] The problem is most of us don't implement the stuff and that's really where we're failing.

[00:31:46] I'm going to tell you right now, cutting expenses is very easy if you're using a financial software like QuickBooks,

[00:31:55] because it tells you where your money is being spent.

[00:31:58] If you don't know where your money is being spent and if you don't track it, you're not going to know where to cut expenses.

[00:32:04] Now, you have to think about some of the things that you don't need.

[00:32:08] Remember, I broke it down into three categories. The must have, the wanted but can do without it and don't need.

[00:32:16] So in my personal business, I cut out a lot of software that I was using.

[00:32:21] A lot of it was redundant. Some of it I barely used but was paying a crazy subscription each month.

[00:32:28] So I cut out a lot of expenses. All right. Increase in revenue.

[00:32:33] We talked about that. Increase your prices.

[00:32:35] You can also create an affiliate relationship with a product or service that has synergy to what you're already selling.

[00:32:43] And literally all you're doing is sending out an email with an affiliate link that can generate additional revenues.

[00:32:49] We talked about increasing your qualified leads. I talk about a lead generation system ad nauseum.

[00:32:56] If you don't have a lead generation system, guys, you literally don't need to be in business because you're just throwing crap against the wall hoping it sticks.

[00:33:04] You need systemization. That's what grows and scales your business.

[00:33:09] And tip number four, look for strategic partners or partnerships.

[00:33:15] What type of business or industries make sense to have the same type of audience that you do but sell a different product or service?

[00:33:24] I gave you the example of Uber and Spotify and also Target and Starbucks.

[00:33:29] So these are some things, guys, you can do to get your business out of a rut.

[00:33:33] You'll be able to hopefully save your business and you'll be able to grow and scale.

[00:33:39] I'm telling you guys right now, entrepreneurship is not that difficult if you are consistent and you're systematized.

[00:33:48] Find out what works. You have to once again work as a mad scientist until you get the formula.

[00:33:53] OK, this works. I'm generating sales from this.

[00:33:56] I'm going to add resources to this that's making me money and I'm going to take away resources from other marketing that's not making me money.

[00:34:05] You have to have a viable product and or service.

[00:34:08] I also want to reiterate when I talk about increasing revenue, guys, you can pre-sell products or services to see if people even want them.

[00:34:17] And you can do that as many times as you want. So just like people pre-sell a book or they pre-sell whatever.

[00:34:24] I just bought some tickets to Jerome Boutzenis, right? A pre-sale.

[00:34:28] So I bought it before they hit the market. Right. But this is something that you can do to generate revenue instantaneously.

[00:34:35] You can pre-sell your online course that won't be ready for 60 days.

[00:34:41] You'll get the money today, but you don't have to deliver the product until 60 days.

[00:34:47] Now, what that does, it allows you to throw different offers out there and the offers that nobody, nobody responds to.

[00:34:55] Guess what? Instead of building an online course that nobody was going to buy.

[00:34:59] Now, you know in advance so you don't have to build the course.

[00:35:03] If you get a great response for your pre-sale on your online course, now you have to go and build it and fulfill it within those 60 days or whatever time frame that you let your customers know.

[00:35:15] So these are ways to generate revenue or increase your revenue.

[00:35:21] OK, so once again, guys, it's about being smart, working smarter, not harder.

[00:35:26] Being efficient. OK, that's what I talked about my productivity template.

[00:35:31] You can go to productivity template dot com for more information.

[00:35:35] I'm working four days a week, but I'm actually being more efficient and getting more done in four days than I am five.

[00:35:43] And it's all about not what you do. It's how you do it.

[00:35:48] And that's super important for entrepreneurs. So don't slip on that.

[00:35:52] Now, before I go, guys, I say this each and every week we get more and more downloads because of you, the B.E.B. family.

[00:35:59] I appreciate you guys so much. Please continue to spread the word about the podcast, the website.

[00:36:05] Please use the website. We spent a ton of money investing in the website to give you guys these resources.

[00:36:12] Also, the whole ecosystem, the online courses, the B.E.B. Academy, everything is designed to help you elevate your entrepreneur IQ.

[00:36:22] Remember, it's not about me. It's not about you. It's about us.

[00:36:26] It's about building an economic power base in the worldwide black community by building and supporting black owned businesses.

[00:36:33] Love you guys. See you same time next week. Peace.