The one thing that will make you profitable faster + new quiz

I was emailing back and forth with someone who was considering working with me and she said something really interesting to me that I decided to devote this week’s blog post too.

She was weighing her options and said what she really needs to do is figure out how to make sales. She needed money and even though she did need a website, copy and wasn’t sure what she was doing, that’s a big priority for her.

This is a huge reflection of the industry as a whole. If you look at any Facebook ad or marketing post, everything you see is extremely sales focused. Once you sign up for one of these six-figure blueprint opt-ins, though, you’ll soon realize that the “pre-work” that’s just glossed over or barely mentioned is the stuff that is very important. Questions like:

• Who are you?
• What do you sell?
• Who do you create for?
• Why should they hire you?

OK COOL now that we got that out of the way, the sales blueprint….blah blah blah

HOLD UP. WAIT A MINUTE.

These questions are ESSENTIAL. They aren’t supposed to be glossed over or just covered in the pre-work for a sales plan.

You need to know this stuff so that you CAN make money. I create a video this week that illustrates that point — it’s just 2 minutes and I created it with my phone because I wanted this to be more clear. You can watch this video here.

In case you are busy or can’t watch it, here is a short review of what the video is about

This is a small plain yellow cake.

It also represents MOST businesses.

Most businesses only get enough clarity to get to the stage, where they kind of know what they do, what they are about and they decide to build their business that way. They might have a cool site but it’s not clear and not focused.

Now for comparison, this is a delicious looking chocolate cake.

OMG I KNOW SHENEE WHY ARE YOU TEMPTING ME

Same yellow cake but MORE. This cake represents a branded business. This business is clear on who they are and what they do. They have a clear brand message and content that reflects that clarity.

Look how sexy.

Now, put them next to each other.

Let’s say you did go forward with both cakes, using all of the super sales blueprints and crazy tips and tricks.

Which one do you think you’ll have an easier time selling?

BINGO.

This is why branding is important and why you can’t skip it and just move to the money part. This is also why you’ve most likely wasted TONS of money trying to do that.  Without having a strong, distinctive brand that is 100% your own, the making money part will be a struggle.

So when someone says they are having struggles making cash in their business, I just start with the most basic questions. Despite all of the investments they’ve made and classes they have taken, they can’t answer them.

If you don’t know what you are about or can’t communicate that, why would someone buy from you?

If you want to become more profitable, invest time and energy in getting clear.  — Tweet this

This is a photo from this lawyer office I passed in LA:

Now, whatever. This is questionable but I PROMISE YOU that this company started making more money once it honed in on this market, branded their message and discovered their signature style.

Now ask yourself: are you spending time on the wrong things? Have you covered the basics?

I also created a brand-new quiz in honor of the launch of Hot Brand action, which you most likely have heard of but if you haven’t, it’s a summer-long workshop from July 1st – September 1st with the goal of getting you from 0 to brand by the fall, just in time for your first launch.

We will get you EVERYTHING you need, including a brand message, colors, a website (if you needed) along with content and copy.

Basically, a brand-in-a-box but not because it will be a small intimate environment with feedback, help and plenty of space for fun summer stuff too.

You can take the new quiz here which helps identify what type of business owner you are.

While you are there, just click over to check out HBA