You hear so much about growth, scale, rapid execution, and innovation. All of those things can be assets to a company – and are in many cases. They are the reasons we have advanced as humans.
But what about creating restrictions instead? Could they make your business healthier in some cases, or would it simply stunt its development?
A thought experiment…
Imagine:
- You can only work 4 hours per day
- You can only have 10 clients at a time
- You can only have 1 business for the rest of your life
- You can only offer 1 service for the rest of your life
If it was possible:
- What does that business look like?
- What does your life look like?
- What does you be doing differently?
- Does it allow you to be more creative?
- Does your business be more lucrative?
- Does you be happier?
In a perfect world, I would own the simplest business: Lucrative, not time-intensive, zero complexity, original, creative.
That’s my business utopia – but is it realistic? Probably not.
But can restrictions actually enhance your focus, creativity, and improve your business?
Probably, yes.
Plan of execution…
In 2017, my plan is to trim my service offering at KVNW to the core essentials. Trim the fat, make it more efficient, systemized, and lean. How will I do this?
My first plan is to create products. Specifically, productized services and information products. Less custom work and more fixed-scope work for people who will benefit the most. I’ll still offer custom solutions, but at a higher premium.
It will mean cutting out certain service offerings, consolidating and simplifying what I offer, saying no to certain opportunities, referring out clients who are no longer a good fit, systemizing my process, making work outputs repeatable and consistent, and focusing on my best clients.
I’m sure there will be reports on my progress on this blog, and if it doesn’t work, then I can always return to the complexity of custom solutions with varying methods of delivery.
What will you do to simplify your business, and what restrictions will you put in place to help your business grow? Leave a comment below.