The REAL Truth About Business: Business Strategy for Service Based Entrepreneurs

Hosted by Michelle DeNio | Business Strategist

Business Entrepreneurship

Website RSS feed LinkedIn Instagram

Episodes

389

Latest episode

Nov 2026

Language

About the show

The Real Truth About Business is a business strategy podcast for service-based entrepreneurs, coaches, and consultants who are done with generic advice and ready for data-driven strategic planning that actually works. Hosted by Michelle DeNio, a business strategist based in Sarasota, Florida, this podcast delivers practical insights on business growth strategy, pricing for profit, lead generation, sales process development, and strategic business planning. Whether you're a solopreneur, small business owner, online coach, or consultant, you'll get no-fluff guidance on building a sustainable, profitable business. Each episode covers topics like: strategic business planning, pricing strategy, sales funnel optimization, client acquisition, relationship marketing, profit-focused decision making, and CEO mindset development. Perfect for growth-stage entrepreneurs who want clarity, structure, and results. Michelle is the creator of the Focused Visionary Framework and host of over 300 episodes focused on helping service-based business owners break through revenue plateaus using her three-pillar approach: Pricing, Pipeline, and Sales. For more on how to work together and explore the Focused Visionary Framework, visit michelledenioconsulting.com.

Listen to episodes

60 recent

November 11, 202623 min

You've Cut Every Expense and Profit Is Still Low? It's a Strategy Problem [Ep. 390]

If you’ve cut subscriptions, reduced overhead, eliminated unnecessary spending, and your profit is still too low, cutting more probably isn’t the answer. In this episode of The Real Truth About Business podcast, I’m talking about what happens when service-based entrepreneurs hit their expense floor and still aren’t seeing the profitability, cash flow, or owner pay they need. Cutting expenses is often the first recommendation because it’s measurable, immediate, and sometimes absolutely necessary. But after 9 years of experience working with business owners, I’ve seen plenty of situations where the real issue isn’t spending. It’s business strategy. Your pricing strategy may not support your delivery costs. Your most profitable offer may not be getting enough attention. You may have qualified leads sitting in your pipeline without a strong sales process to convert them. This is why financial strategy and business strategy cannot operate separately. Sometimes the path to better revenue growth isn't another $15 software cancellation. It's understanding what you sell, what you charge, what actually generates profit, and where your business model needs to change. What You'll Learn: Why cutting expenses is usually the first profitability strategy and where that advice reaches its limit How to recognize when you've reached your realistic expense floor Why certain business expenses support growth, efficiency, capacity, and your ability to generate revenue How pricing, offers, lead conversion, and capacity can create a profitability problem that looks like an expense problem Why increasing revenue isn't enough if the additional revenue isn't actually profitable How to connect financial strategy with business strategy to improve cash flow, profitability, and owner pay Episode Highlights: [00:00] Introduction: What happens when there's nothing left to cut? [02:00] Why reducing expenses is usually the first profitability recommendation [04:00] How cutting expenses can quickly improve profit and cash flow [05:30] What happens when you reach your expense floor [07:00] Why some expenses are necessary to operate and grow your business [09:30] When financial strategy needs to meet business strategy [11:00] Pricing, offers, leads, and conversion as profitability levers [13:00] Why increasing revenue isn't automatically the answer either [15:00] Not all money is good money [17:00] Being realistic about expenses you're actually willing to change [19:00] Why financial reports tell you what happened, but not necessarily why [20:30] The bigger profitability picture: pricing, capacity, sales, and offers [22:00] Wrap-up: If you can't cut expenses, look at your business strategy Key Takeaways: Cutting Expenses Is a Starting Point, Not the Entire Strategy When someone wants to increase profitability, one of the first recommendations they usually hear is: Cut your expenses. Cancel subscriptions. Reduce overhead. Stop unnecessary spending. And sometimes that's exactly what needs to happen. When I'm looking at a cash flow or profitability issue, expenses are one of the first places I look too. They're tangible, measurable, and relatively easy to identify. Reducing an unnecessary expense can immediately improve profit without requiring another sale. It can also improve cash flow and potentially leave more money available for owner pay. But there's a limit. Eventually, you reach a point where cutting another expense isn't going to solve the real problem. You Can Reach an Expense Floor I'm currently working with multiple clients who have already gone through their numbers and identified every realistic opportunity to reduce spending. There's nothing meaningful left to cut. In fact, cutting further would actually hurt their businesses. One client has co-coaches involved in delivering her program. Could we remove that expense? Technically. But doing that would fundamentally change how the program operates, and the program itself is profitable. At that point, we're looking for pennies when there are much bigger strategic opportunities available. That's your expense floor. You have reached the point where additional cuts either aren't meaningful or would negatively affect your operations, delivery, client experience, or growth. Not Every Expense Is a Problem I pay for Zoom even though I could technically use Google Meet through a service I'm already paying for. Why? I prefer Zoom. I also pay for Riverside to record this podcast even though I could technically record it somewhere else. Why? Because the features make producing the podcast easier. Could I cut those expenses? Sure. Would the savings meaningfully change the profitability of my business? No. And I would be giving up tools that make running my business easier. Some expenses save you time. Some improve the client experience. Some make your work more efficient. Some support growth. You can't keep shrinking a business indefinitely and simultaneously expect it to grow. Your Financial Strategy and Business Strategy Have to Work Together This is where I see traditional financial advice fall short for many solopreneurs. Your accountant can tell you to reduce expenses. But what if expenses aren't actually the problem? What if your pricing strategy doesn't support the true cost of delivering your service, your capacity, and your desired profit? What if you're spending most of your energy selling an offer that generates less profit relative to the time and resources it requires? What if you already have qualified leads in your pipeline, but your sales process isn't converting them? What if you're undercharging? Those aren't expense problems. They're business strategy problems showing up in your financial results. This is exactly why I believe financial strategy and business strategy need to work together. Look at Pricing, Pipeline, and Sales When you've reached your expense floor, I want you to start looking at other profitability levers. This connects directly to the three pillars of my Focused Visionary Framework: Pricing, Pipeline, and Sales. Your Pricing affects whether the revenue you're generating actually leaves enough profit behind. Your Pipeline affects how many qualified opportunities exist for additional profitable revenue. Your Sales process affects whether those opportunities actually convert. Maybe you don't need another expense reduction. Maybe you need to raise your price. Maybe you need to sell more of an existing profitable offer. Maybe you need to improve your conversion rate. Maybe you need to follow up with the leads already sitting in your pipeline. Those are business strategy changes that can directly affect your financial strategy. Increasing Revenue Isn't Automatically the Answer Either Here's the other side of this conversation. If cutting expenses isn't the answer, it's tempting to immediately say: “Fine. I just need more revenue.” Maybe. But not all money is good money. Let's say you're charging a client $2,000 per month on retainer, but that client requires 40 hours of your time every month. That's $50 per hour before considering taxes, expenses, and everything else required to operate your business. Yes, you increased revenue by $2,000. But is that revenue actually helping the business? That's the question. The goal isn't simply more revenue. It's more profitable revenue. A New Offer Can Create a New Profitability Problem Creating another revenue stream isn't automatically the answer either. Before you create a new offer, ask: How much time will this take to create? What will it cost to deliver? What will you charge? Does your audience actually want it? Do you have the capacity to deliver it? What expenses come with it? How much money will actually be left? A new revenue stream that creates an entirely new set of expenses or overwhelms your capacity doesn't necessarily solve your profitability problem. Again, your business strategy and financial strategy have to work together. Be Honest About What You're Actually Willing to Cut This is a big part of financial strategy that doesn't get discussed enough. You have to be realistic. I worked with a client who regularly works from a coffee shop. We looked at eliminating that expense and discovered it would save her around $80 a month. But she's significantly more productive when she works there. So go work at the coffee shop. We'll account for the $80. I have another client who loves testing different software for herself and her clients. Her software expenses are high, but she also knows she's going to continue spending money there. I can repeatedly tell her to cut software expenses. Or we can acknowledge reality and build a business strategy that supports them. Your financial plan needs to reflect how you actually operate, not an imaginary version of you who's suddenly going to stop spending money on everything you value. Make Sure You're Cutting the Right Expenses There's also a huge difference between cutting an $80 coffee shop expense that improves your productivity and questioning a large monthly retainer that isn't producing meaningful results. Sometimes business owners are cutting the wrong things. You're eliminating small expenses that make running

November 4, 202613 min

Your P&L Is Trying to Tell You Something [Ep. 389]

If you only look at the bottom of your profit and loss statement to see whether you made money, you’re missing most of what your P&L can tell you. In this episode of The Real Truth About Business podcast, I’m continuing my financial strategy series by breaking down how service-based entrepreneurs can actually use a profit and loss statement to make better business decisions. Your P&L isn't just something your accountant needs at tax time. It can show you which offers generate revenue, where expenses are quietly increasing, what’s affecting profitability, and where you may need to adjust your business strategy. After 9 years of experience and with my accounting background, I’ve learned to use financial data as a decision-making tool, not just a historical report. We’re talking about organizing revenue and expenses so they actually mean something, comparing trends month over month and year over year, evaluating ROI, and understanding where your profit is really coming from. When you understand the facts behind your numbers, you can make decisions with more certainty and build a more profitable, sustainable service-based business. What You'll Learn: How to read your P&L beyond simply checking whether your business made a profit Why separating revenue by offer can reveal business growth opportunities and changing buyer trends How to organize expenses so you can identify where your money is actually going Why categories like marketing, contract labor, software, and professional development may need more detail How to evaluate expenses based on ROI instead of simply looking at what they cost How month-over-month and year-over-year comparisons can help you make data-driven business decisions Episode Highlights: [00:00] Introduction: Your P&L is more than the number at the bottom [01:30] The basic structure of a profit and loss statement [03:00] Why I separate revenue by individual offers [04:30] Using your P&L to identify changes in buyer demand [05:30] Breaking down marketing and advertising expenses [07:00] How detailed expense categories can uncover unnecessary spending [08:30] Looking at networking, professional development, software, and contractor costs [10:00] Using percentages to understand where your revenue is going [11:00] Comparing month-over-month and year-over-year trends [12:00] Using your P&L to make decisions with certainty and profitability [13:00] Wrap-up: Your P&L should help you decide what happens next Key Takeaways: Your P&L Is a Decision-Making Tool At the most basic level, your profit and loss statement shows your revenue, cost of goods or services, operating expenses, and net profit. Most business owners look at the bottom and ask: “Did I make money?” That's important. But I also want to know how you made that money. What generated the revenue? What cost you money? Where are expenses increasing? What's changing? What trends are developing? What expenses are quietly eating away at your profitability? Your P&L isn't just an accounting report. It's a business strategy tool filled with data you can use to decide what happens next. Stop Lumping All Your Revenue Into One Category One of the biggest opportunities I see is separating revenue so you can understand where your money is actually coming from. If every dollar is categorized under something generic like “services,” you know your total revenue, but you don't know which services generated it. I prefer separating meaningful revenue streams. In my own business, that has included one-to-one work, the Focused Visionary Accelerator, Back Pocket Insights, and pop-up or cash injection offers. That allows me to see which offers are generating the most revenue and how those revenue streams change over time. Maybe one-to-one work is growing. Maybe group offers are becoming a larger percentage of revenue. Maybe something you barely promote is consistently making money. That's useful information. Let the Numbers Influence Your Sales Strategy I've seen business owners spend most of their marketing energy promoting one offer while the majority of their revenue is actually coming from something else. Maybe you're constantly marketing your group program while one-to-one services generate most of your income. Maybe you're pushing retainers while project-based work keeps selling. Your P&L can make those patterns obvious. This is where financial strategy connects directly with the Pipeline and Sales pillars of my Focused Visionary Framework. The numbers don't automatically mean you have to abandon one offer and only sell another. But they give you facts you can use when deciding where to put your sales and marketing energy. Your Expense Categories Should Tell You Something The same concept applies to expenses. If everything is categorized as “advertising and marketing,” what does that actually tell you? Not much. Did you spend the money on Facebook ads? Google Ads? Pinterest ads? Networking? Sponsorships? Events? Those activities can have completely different costs and returns. I worked with a client who was using several advertising platforms, so we separated those expenses. That made it much easier to see what she was spending on each platform and eventually evaluate the ROI. The goal isn't to create a P&L with 75 categories. The goal is to create enough meaningful detail that the report helps you make decisions. Small Expenses Can Become Big Expenses A $27 membership doesn't sound significant. Neither does $15 here or $67 there. But when you see all those expenses combined over a month or year, the picture can look very different. I experienced this early in my own business with networking. Many of the events were technically free, but attending meant buying meals and spending money while I was there. When I finally looked at the total, I realized I was spending around $70 a week attending these events. Then I could ask the question that actually mattered: What am I getting from this expense? It's not just about the money. There was also a significant time investment. Seeing the actual expense gave me the information I needed to rethink which networking opportunities deserved my time and money. Evaluate Contractor Costs and Other Large Expenses Contract labor is another area worth watching. I worked with a client whose contractor expense immediately stood out to me. It was high enough that I wanted to understand what the contractor was actually doing for the business. When I asked, the client wasn't really sure. That gave us an obvious expense to evaluate and ultimately cut. The point isn't that contractors are bad expenses. It's that you should understand what you're getting from significant expenses. Is there an ROI? Does this person need to be on retainer? Would another arrangement make more sense? Is the expense helping the business generate revenue, save meaningful time, or operate more effectively? Your P&L gives you the starting point for asking those questions. Look at Expenses as a Percentage of Revenue Another useful way to analyze your P&L is to look at expenses as percentages. What percentage of revenue goes toward marketing? Software? Contract labor? Professional development? This can make an expense stand out much faster than looking at the dollar amount alone. If contract labor represents a significant percentage of your revenue, for example, that's something worth understanding. That doesn't automatically mean the expense is wrong. The ROI may completely justify it. But now you know where to investigate. Trends Give You Facts Instead of Feelings One of my favorite things about a useful P&L is the ability to compare periods. Look month over month. Look year over year. What's increasing? What's decreasing? Which offers are growing? Which expenses are creeping upward? Then ask why. This is how you start making data-driven decisions instead of reacting emotionally. You have facts. And when you have facts, you can make decisions with more certainty. That connects directly to what I want to be known for in my work: profitability, sustainability, and certainty. Your financial data can help you build all three. Profit and Cash Flow Are Not the Same Thing There's also an important distinction from our previous financial strategy conversation. Seeing profit on your P&L doesn't necessarily mean you have that amount of cash sitting in your bank account. Cash flow is a separate conversation. That's why I want service-based entrepreneurs to understand these financial concepts instead of looking at a single number and assuming everything is fine. Your P&L tells you one important part of the story. Cash flow tells you another. Together, they help you understand what's actually happening inside your business. Your P&L Should Help You Answer “Now What?” You don't need an accounting background. You don't have to become your own bookkeeper. And I'm absolutely not saying you shouldn't outsource this work. But you should understand your financial reports well enough to use them. If your bookkeeper or accountant hands...

October 28, 202615 min

How to Plan for a High-Selling Season Without Burning Yourself Out [Ep. 388]

A high-selling season sounds amazing until you realize you’ve sold yourself completely out of capacity and still have to deliver everything you just sold. In this episode of The Real Truth About Business podcast, I’m breaking down how service-based entrepreneurs can intentionally plan for high-selling seasons without creating burnout on the other side. After 9 years of experience, I’ve seen business owners plan extensively for the sales and revenue growth they want while completely overlooking what happens after the sale. Your business strategy needs three separate plans: a selling plan, a capacity plan, and a recovery plan. We’re talking about how to identify your natural selling seasons, warm your audience before you launch, set realistic revenue goals, evaluate delivery capacity, and intentionally schedule downtime. This is where strategic planning, your sales process, lead generation, and CEO mindset all have to work together. A huge sales month isn't successful if delivering what you sold requires 12-hour days and burns you to the ground. The goal is to create revenue in a way your business and your life can actually sustain. What You'll Learn: How to identify and intentionally plan your high-selling seasons throughout the year Why your selling plan needs to include audience warm-up and lead generation before the promotion begins How to calculate your actual delivery capacity before setting aggressive revenue goals When to use sales caps to protect your client experience and profitability Why every high-selling season needs a recovery plan and intentional downtime How to coordinate selling seasons with your personal calendar, travel, family responsibilities, and available capacity Episode Highlights: [00:00] Introduction: What happens after your huge sales month? [01:30] The three plans every high-selling season needs [02:00] Identifying your natural selling seasons [03:30] What needs to happen before you start actively selling [05:00] Using visibility seasons to warm your audience before a sales push [06:00] Planning for the possibility that everything sells [07:30] Setting sales caps based on delivery capacity [09:00] Why your revenue goals have to meet your capacity reality [10:00] Planning recovery and downtime after a launch [11:30] Why your personal calendar needs to influence your selling calendar [13:00] Reducing sales intensity without letting your pipeline die [14:30] Building a high-selling season around profitability and sustainability [15:00] Wrap-up: Plan for the business and lifestyle that have to deliver the revenue Key Takeaways: A High-Selling Season Needs Three Plans We love talking about big sales months. The new clients. The successful launch. The huge influx of revenue. What we don't talk about enough is what happens after you sell all of it. I've experienced this myself and watched clients go through it. You have an incredible selling season and suddenly realize you don't have the capacity or energy to deliver everything you just sold. That's why I want you to create three separate plans: The selling plan. The capacity plan. The recovery plan. If you're only planning for sales, you're missing two-thirds of the strategy. Plan Your Selling Seasons Before You're in Them Start by identifying when your natural high-selling seasons happen. Maybe your industry is seasonal. Maybe Q4 is consistently strong. Maybe you love running a Black Friday promotion. Maybe you sell around your birthday or business anniversary. Maybe spring and fall are naturally more engaged periods for your audience. Once you know the season, determine what you're selling, when you're selling it, and what revenue you're targeting. Then work backward. What marketing and sales activities need to happen before the selling begins? Your Audience Needs to Be Warm Before the Sale You can't decide you're having a huge selling season and expect a completely cold audience to immediately convert. Do you already have people waiting for the offer? Do you need a waitlist? Should you create anticipation? Do you need to grow your email list? Should you increase your visibility or appear on other podcasts before the launch? Inside the Focused Visionary Framework, this is where Pipeline and Sales work together. Before many of my clients move into a selling season, we'll intentionally spend time in a visibility season. They may increase lead generation, grow their audience, schedule podcast appearances, or build their email list. Then they're moving into the sales process with people who already know who they are. The season before the sale can have a huge impact on what happens during it. Plan Like Everything Is Going to Sell Here's the question I want you to ask: What happens if everyone buys? Don't build your capacity plan around the assumption that your sales goals won't work. Assume they do. Can you fulfill everything you sell? Is your onboarding ready? Does your technology work? Can people easily access what they purchased? How many clients can you actually onboard? How many projects can you deliver? What timelines do you need? Your operational systems may need attention before you enter a high-selling season. Sometimes you need an operations season before you need a sales season. Your Revenue Goals Have to Meet Your Capacity Reality This is especially important for service-based entrepreneurs. You cannot outsell your capacity indefinitely. If you're selling one-to-one services or project-based work, there is a limit to how many clients you can serve well. That's why I'm using caps on some of the offers inside my own year-end promotion. Some offers can handle more volume because they don't significantly increase the demands on my calendar. Others include more consulting, advisory, or done-for-you support. Those offers have to be capped because I only have the capacity to serve a certain number of people at that level. Selling more isn't automatically better if every additional sale pushes you further beyond your capacity. Don't Sell Yourself Into a Business You Don't Want It's exciting when something sells incredibly well. Then you have to deliver it. If your successful sales strategy requires you to work 10 or 12-hour days for the next several months, what did you actually create? This is where profitability and sustainability matter. Your Pricing, Pipeline, and Sales strategy can't exist separately from capacity. A high-selling season needs to create revenue without creating a delivery model you immediately regret. Know how many clients you can serve. Know what your calendar can handle. Know what level of service you want to maintain. Then sell accordingly. Recovery Needs to Be Part of the Plan Launches take energy. Selling takes energy. Onboarding takes energy. Delivering takes energy. You need to plan for what happens after the push. I've watched clients have incredibly successful launches and then hit a wall because they were already carrying a full workload before adding dozens of new customers or members. Your brain and body need time to catch up. You also need space to look at your data. What worked? What didn't? What converted? What needs to change before the next selling season? You can't effectively evaluate any of that if you're immediately sprinting into the next thing. Your Personal Capacity Counts Too Capacity isn't only about your business calendar. Look at your personal life. Do you have children home during the summer? Are you traveling? Are you attending multiple events? Do you have major personal commitments? Those things belong in your strategic planning too. If you know your capacity drops significantly during summer, that may not be the ideal time for your biggest sales push. If September and October involve constant travel, think carefully about whether you also want to be in an intense launch during those months. Build your selling calendar around your actual life, not some imaginary version where you have unlimited time and energy. Downtime Doesn't Mean You Stop Selling After a high-selling season, you don't have to disappear. I'm in a high-selling season through the end of the year. When January comes, I'm not going to stop selling my offers. I'm going to reduce the intensity. Maybe I'm focusing more on visibility. Maybe I'm following up with people already in my pipeline. Maybe I'm selling behind the scenes instead of actively promoting a major public campaign. You can reduce your output without letting your pipeline die. That's the difference between intentionally changing business seasons and completely stopping. Build the Selling Season Your Business Can Sustain High-selling seasons can be incredibly valuable. But the goal isn't simply to create the biggest revenue number possible. Plan the selling. Plan the capacity. Plan the recovery. Know what you're selling and how you'll warm your audience. Know exactly what happens if everything sells. Know when you're going to pull back and give yourself space afterward. Your business strategy should account for the business that has to deliver the revenue and

October 21, 202618 min

Sales, Discounts & Incentives: Yes, They Actually Work [Ep. 387]

If you’ve been told that discounting your offer means you don’t believe in its value, I want you to question that rule. In this episode of The Real Truth About Business podcast, I’m talking about why sales, discounts, bonuses, and incentives absolutely can work for service-based entrepreneurs when they’re used strategically. The problem isn’t running a sale. The problem is why you’re running it, whether the numbers make sense, and whether you’re operating with integrity. After 9 years of experience, I’ve seen how a well-timed incentive can move an existing lead from considering an offer to actually buying it. But your pricing strategy still has to protect your profitability. You need to understand your margins, capacity, urgency, and the behavior you’re training your audience to expect. This is business strategy and financial strategy working together. We’re breaking down when discounts support revenue growth, when they hurt your positioning, and how to create promotions that feel fun, profitable, and aligned instead of desperate. What You'll Learn: Why offering a discount doesn't automatically diminish the value of your work How sales and incentives can help existing leads make a buying decision When frequent discounting trains your audience to stop paying full price How to protect your profit margin before deciding how much to discount Why capacity matters when running promotions on one-to-one or service-based offers How to use urgency, limited spots, and deadlines with integrity in your sales process Episode Highlights: [00:00] Introduction: Why I disagree with the idea that discounts diminish your value [01:30] The real question to ask before running a sale [03:00] Why incentives help people who are already considering your offer [04:30] How a 50% incentive moved me from interested to buyer [06:00] Why sales can create an easy way for people to experience your work [07:00] When constant discounting becomes a problem [09:00] Running promotions from strategy instead of panic or scarcity [10:15] My upcoming past and present sale celebrating 10 years in business [11:00] Protecting your profit margin before discounting an offer [12:30] Capacity, break-even points, and running the math before a sale [14:00] Integrity, real urgency, and honoring the terms you advertise [16:00] Why people still love a genuinely good incentive [17:30] Full-price value and promotional urgency can coexist [18:15] Wrap-up: Make sales part of your business and financial strategy Key Takeaways: There Is Nothing Inherently Wrong With Running a Sale Somewhere in the online business space, we created this idea that if you discount an offer, you must not believe in its value. I don't agree. Sales work. Discounts work. Bonuses, bundles, early-bird pricing, wait-list incentives, and limited-time offers work. Businesses across industries have used promotions for years because people like a good deal. The more important question isn't whether you should ever run a sale. It's why you're running it. Strategy and Desperation Are Two Very Different Motivators If you're running a sale because you think it's fun, you've planned it strategically, and you want to give your audience an incentive to take action, great. That's very different from thinking: “Nobody will buy unless I discount this.” If you're constantly reducing your price because you're panicking about revenue or believe a discount is the only way someone will say yes, that's where we have a problem. The sale isn't inherently the issue. The strategy behind it is. A promotion should support your business strategy, not become a desperate attempt to manufacture revenue. Incentives Can Help Existing Leads Make a Decision A good incentive often isn't convincing someone who was never going to buy from you. It's helping someone who was already interested make the decision now. I've experienced this myself. I had been following a mentor for a while. I consumed her lower-priced offers and had been considering joining one of her programs, but I hadn't made the decision. Then she offered 50% off the first month. That was enough to get me off the fence. I didn't suddenly think less of her expertise because she offered a discount. I saw an opportunity to experience the offer at a great price, and I took it. That's what a strategic incentive can do. Sales Can Be Part of Your Experience Strategy I've talked a lot about the experience economy and giving people ways to experience your work. A promotion can support that. Maybe someone has been following you, reading your emails, listening to your podcast, or sitting in your pipeline. They already know who you are. A strategic discount or incentive can lower the barrier enough for them to finally experience what it's like to work with you. And that first experience could potentially turn into a long-term client relationship. The discount didn't diminish your value. It gave someone a reason to act. Don't Train Your Audience to Wait for a Discount There is a point where discounting becomes a problem. If you're constantly running sales, your audience eventually learns: “I don't need to pay full price because another discount is coming.” I've done this myself as a consumer. There's a product I buy from a company that runs promotions constantly. They have a sale for nearly every holiday, event, or occasion they can come up with. So when I need more product, I wait. Why would I pay full price when I've learned that another discount will probably arrive soon? That's the behavior you don't want to create in your own service-based business. Your full price needs to remain a legitimate price that people regularly pay. Run the Math Before You Run the Sale Everything comes back to profitability for me. Before you decide how much you're going to discount something, you need to understand the economics of the offer. What's your break-even point? What does it cost to deliver? How much time does it require? What's your current profit margin? If an offer normally sells for $397 and your break-even point is $250, selling it for $200 doesn't create a great promotion. You've eliminated the profit. This is where the Pricing pillar of my Focused Visionary Framework connects directly with your financial strategy. Your pricing strategy needs enough margin that you can create an incentive without turning the offer into something that costs you money to deliver. Not all revenue is good revenue. Capacity Matters Too You also need to know how many people you can realistically sell the promotion to. If you're discounting a digital product, toolkit, course, or another offer that requires little additional delivery time, your capacity may be relatively high. One-to-one services are different. If you only have capacity for five additional clients, you shouldn't create a promotion that leaves you trying to deliver to 20. Before running the sale, know: What does the promotion include? What doesn't it include? How many can you sell? How many do you need to sell? How many can you actually deliver? A successful promotion shouldn't create a capacity problem that destroys your profitability afterward. Don't Manufacture Urgency Urgency can absolutely help people make decisions. Fake urgency is different. If you say there are 15 spots, there should be 15 spots. If you say the sale ends Saturday at midnight, it ends Saturday at midnight. If your audience learns that deadlines don't actually mean anything because you'll extend them every time someone asks, the urgency disappears. People start thinking: “She says it ends Saturday, but she'll probably give me the discount Monday anyway.” That's not the reputation you want. Your sales process needs integrity. Say what you mean, honor the terms you advertise, and let people make their decision. Integrity Applies Before the Sale Starts Too This is another piece I feel strongly about. If you know you're running a sale next week and someone comes to you today ready to pay full price, I don't personally feel good about letting them do that without saying something. I'll usually tell them the promotion is coming or make sure they receive the promotional price. I've done the same thing when prospects were interested in an offer but hadn't seen the promotion I was currently running. Could I have charged them full price? Sure. But that's not how I want to do business. Integrity matters more to me than squeezing a little more revenue out of the transaction. Full-Price Value and Promotional Pricing Can Coexist Your full price establishes the value of your offer. A promotion gives someone a reason to act now. Those two things can coexist. Inside the Focused Visionary Framework, Pricing, Pipeline, and Sales all have a role here. Your pricing needs to protect your profitability. Your pipeline gives you an audience of potential buyers. Your sales strategy gives those buyers a compelling reason to make a decision. A well-designed promotion can support all three. So if you love running sales, run the freaking sale. Make it strategic. Make sure the numbers work. Protect your profitability. Create genuine...

October 14, 202613 min

What do you want to be known for? [Ep. 386]

If someone recommended your business today, what would they immediately say you’re known for? Not your job title. Not your Instagram bio. Not the 17 different things you’re capable of helping someone with. In this episode of The Real Truth About Business podcast, I’m asking service-based entrepreneurs to get clear on the ideas, outcomes, and expertise they want associated with their name. Because being good at a lot of things is very different from being known for something. After 9 years of experience building my business, my own answer has evolved into three words: profitability, sustainability, and certainty. Those three ideas now act as a decision filter for my content, offers, collaborations, and overall business strategy. This isn’t about forcing yourself into an overly specific niche. It’s about strategic positioning and creating enough consistency that people understand why they should hire, remember, and refer you. When you know what you want to be known for, your marketing gets clearer, your strategic planning gets easier, and you have another North Star for building a service-based business that supports long-term revenue growth. What You'll Learn: How to identify what you actually want to be known for beyond your job title or niche Why being capable of solving multiple problems is different from having clear positioning How Michelle landed on profitability, sustainability, and certainty as her three core themes Why being known for something makes referrals, content creation, and business growth easier How to use your positioning as a decision filter for offers, content, collaborations, and opportunities How to determine whether your current audience perception matches what you want your business to represent Episode Highlights: [00:00] Introduction: What do you want people to immediately associate with your name? [01:15] The challenge that made me rethink what I want to be known for [02:00] A quick request to rate and review The Real Truth About Business [03:15] Getting beyond your job title and finding the deeper answer [04:30] My three words: Profitability, sustainability, and certainty [06:15] What certainty means in my business strategy [07:30] Why being known for something isn't the same as choosing a niche [09:00] How clear positioning makes referrals easier [10:00] Asking your best clients what they associate with your name [11:00] Using what you want to be known for as a North Star and decision filter [12:30] Why repetition matters when building authority [13:15] Wrap-up: The three things you want your audience to remember Key Takeaways: Being Good at Something Isn't the Same as Being Known for It A lot of us are multi-passionate. We're capable of helping clients with a lot of different things. We have years of experience, different skills, and multiple areas of expertise. But if I sent your name to someone who knows you and your business, what would they immediately say? That's a different question. What do you want someone to associate with your name without having to think about it? This isn't necessarily about your niche. It's about the lens through which you see your work and the expertise you want people to remember. My Three Words: Profitability, Sustainability, and Certainty I spent weeks thinking about this question before I finally landed on my answer. Profitability. Sustainability. Certainty. Profitability has always been important inside my client work, even when I wasn't talking about it as much publicly. Sustainability matters because I believe a business that isn't profitable isn't sustainable. And if your business strategy isn't sustainable for you, it's going to become increasingly difficult to maintain profitability. Then there's certainty. I want service-based entrepreneurs and solopreneurs to have the tools they need to make business decisions with certainty. I want you looking at the facts instead of constantly making decisions from emotion. These three ideas encompass so much of what I want my work to accomplish. Your Positioning Can Become a Decision Filter Once I identified those three words, they immediately made other business decisions easier. Does this podcast episode connect to profitability, sustainability, or certainty? Does this offer? Does this collaboration? Does this speaking opportunity reinforce what I want to be known for? That clarity becomes a filter. This is one of the reasons I talk so much about having a North Star in your business. Your North Star gives you a direction and helps you evaluate opportunities based on whether they're moving you closer to or further away from what you're trying to build. Knowing what you want to be known for can become another version of that North Star. This Isn't About Putting Yourself in a Box Getting known for something doesn't mean you can only talk about one topic. I can talk about pricing strategy. I can talk about lead generation. I can talk about your sales process. I can talk about cash, offers, capacity, CEO mindset, and strategic planning. All of those topics can still connect to profitability, sustainability, and certainty. The same applies to the Focused Visionary Framework. Pricing, Pipeline, and Sales may be separate pillars, but ultimately they're working together to help you build a stronger, more sustainable business. Being known for something gives all those topics a common lens. It gives you structure with fluidity. Clear Positioning Makes You Easier to Refer This is where getting known for something becomes incredibly valuable for business growth. If people immediately understand what you do and what you stand for, it's easier for them to refer you. They see a social media post and tag you. They have a conversation with someone and think of your name. Someone tells them they need help building a more profitable and sustainable service-based business, and they immediately know who to recommend. That's what you want. You don't want someone thinking, “Michelle does a bunch of business stuff.” I want them thinking: “If you want to build a profitable and sustainable business, Michelle is your girl.” That's clear. And it's memorable. Ask Your Best Clients What They Think You're Known For You don't have to answer this question completely on your own. Go ask some of your best clients: “When you immediately think of me and my business, what do you associate with my name?” Then listen. If their answers align with what you want to be known for, that's a great signal that your positioning is working. If their answers are completely different, don't panic. That's useful information. Now you know there's a gap between how you want to be positioned and how people currently perceive your business. And you can start intentionally closing that gap through your messaging, content, offers, and conversations. Repetition Builds the Association I'll admit this isn't always easy for me. Repetition is not naturally my thing. But if you want people to associate you with something, you have to repeat it. You can't create a completely different message every week and expect your audience to connect your name with one clear idea. This is another reason identifying a few core themes can be so helpful. You don't have to repeat the exact same content. You can approach those ideas from different angles, tell different stories, teach different strategies, and create different offers. But they should continue reinforcing the association you want people to make. Use What You Want to Be Known For Across Your Business Once you've identified what you want to be known for, look at your entire business through that lens. Your content. Your website. Your offers. Your speaking topics. Your bio. Your collaborations. Your conversations. Ask yourself whether those things reinforce what you want to be known for or pull you further away from it. That makes positioning much more than a marketing exercise. It becomes part of your business strategy. What Three Things Should Your Audience Remember? Here's the question I want you to leave this episode thinking about: If your audience could remember only three things about you and your work, what would you want those three things to be? Don't immediately overthink it. Journal on it. Meditate on it. Or answer with the first things that come to mind. Then ask: Does my current content reinforce those things? Do my offers reinforce them? Does my messaging? Would my best clients describe me this way? If yes, figure out how you can amplify it. If not, you don't necessarily need to rebuild your entire business. You may simply need to make some strategic adjustments so what people know you for aligns with what you actually want to be known for. For me, it's profitability, sustainability, and certainty. What is it for you? Resources Mentioned Get your FREE Ceo Income Plan Book a CEO Strategy Call <a...

October 7, 20269 min

A Contact Is Not a Lead... But You Probably Have More Leads Than You Think [Ep. 385]

If you keep telling yourself you need more leads, there’s a good chance you’re overlooking people who are already showing you they’re interested. In this episode of The Real Truth About Business podcast, I’m breaking down the difference between a contact and a lead, and why recognizing buying signals earlier can completely change your pipeline. Service-based entrepreneurs often wait until someone books a discovery call, requests a proposal, or says, “I think I need to hire you,” before considering them a lead. That’s way too late. After 9 years of experience working with business owners, I’ve seen how much revenue growth gets left on the table because potential buyers aren’t being identified, nurtured, or followed up with. Your business strategy and lead generation process need to account for the quieter signals too. Email replies, questions, workshop attendance, content engagement, and conversations about problems you solve can all indicate interest. You may not need significantly more leads. You may need to recognize and intentionally nurture the ones already hiding in your network. What You'll Learn: How to distinguish a business contact from an actual lead in your pipeline Which buying signals indicate someone may be interested before they explicitly ask to hire you Why waiting for someone to request a proposal or sales call can cost you revenue opportunities How to identify potential leads hiding in your emails, DMs, calendar, and existing network Why leads can be cold, warm, or hot and still deserve a place in your lead generation strategy How intentional follow-up and nurturing can improve your sales process without becoming pushy Episode Highlights: [00:00] Introduction: Why you're probably identifying leads too late [01:30] The difference between a contact and a lead [03:00] Buying signals you're probably overlooking [04:00] A real example of someone quietly identifying herself as a potential lead [05:15] Why your pipeline may already have more opportunities than you realize [06:15] Following up doesn't mean immediately asking someone to buy [07:15] How to audit your calendar, emails, and DMs for hidden leads [08:15] Why intentional listening is essential for identifying buying signals [09:00] The difference between treating someone like a contact versus a lead [09:30] Wrap-up: Find the leads already hiding in your business Key Takeaways: A Contact and a Lead Are Not the Same Thing Most of us have plenty of contacts. They're people in our communities, social media followers, people we've met networking, email subscribers, former colleagues, and other business owners we've connected with. But a contact becomes a lead when they demonstrate some level of interest, need, engagement, or another buying signal. That's the distinction. The problem is that many business owners wait until someone says, “I'm interested in hiring you,” books a discovery call, or requests a proposal before moving them into the lead category. Your leads are showing up much earlier than that. Start Paying Attention to Buying Signals Someone doesn't need to explicitly tell you they're ready to buy before you consider them a lead. Maybe they're consistently engaging with your content. They're replying to your emails. They're clicking links. They're attending your workshops or conversion events. They're asking questions about your service. Or they're having a conversation with you and saying something like: “Oh my gosh, that sounds exactly like what I need.” That's a buying signal. It doesn't necessarily mean they're ready to hire you today. It means they've demonstrated enough interest that you should start paying attention. Inside the Focused Visionary Framework, this is an important part of the Pipeline pillar. You need to recognize when someone moves from simply being aware of you into demonstrating genuine interest in what you solve. Someone Can Be a Lead Without Being Ready to Buy There are different temperatures of leads. Some are hot and ready to make a decision. Others are warm. Some are still very cool. They can all belong in your pipeline. I recently had an email conversation with someone while explaining my shift into more profit strategy work. She told me she had no idea whether her business was actually profitable or even how to calculate it. Then she asked me to keep her updated as I continued developing this side of my business. Did she say, “Michelle, I want to hire you”? No. But she literally told me she has the exact problem I'm building solutions around. That's a potential lead. Maybe she isn't ready today. But if that problem becomes more important in a few months, she's eventually going to start looking for a solution. My job is to make sure she knows I can help solve it. Follow-Up Doesn't Mean “Hey, Do You Want to Buy?” This is where people get uncomfortable. You identify someone as a lead and immediately think you have to start selling them. You don't. Following up can mean continuing the conversation. It can mean asking another question. It can mean remembering what they told you. It can mean sending them a relevant resource. Or it can mean reaching out months later when you've created something directly related to the problem they mentioned. You could say: “You mentioned a few months ago that you were struggling with this. I created something specifically around that problem, and I thought of you.” That's not random outreach. You're paying attention. And you're giving someone the opportunity to decide whether your solution is relevant to them. The Best Follow-Up Starts With Listening I've personally told multiple people in recent months that I'm a potential lead for their businesses. Nobody has followed up. Why? They may not have recognized the buying signal because I wasn't explicitly saying, “I'm ready to hire you.” That's why identifying leads requires intentional listening. If someone tells you they have the exact problem your service solves, listen. If they tell you they're interested in what you're doing, listen. If they ask you to keep them updated, listen. People want to feel seen and heard. Remembering what someone told you and following up accordingly can be far more effective than waiting for them to eventually come back and ask how they can hire you. Your Pipeline May Not Be as Empty as You Think When clients inside the Focused Visionary Accelerator tell me, “I need more leads,” I want to know whether they actually need more people or whether they haven't identified the leads already around them. This connects directly to the Pipeline and Sales pillars of the Focused Visionary Framework. You absolutely need new people entering your world. But before you pour all of your energy into more lead generation, look at who's already there. You may have people actively demonstrating interest who haven't made it into your lead tracker because you're waiting for a much stronger buying signal. Don't overlook the opportunities you've already created. Go Find the Leads Hiding in Your Business Here's your action step from this episode. Go back through your calendar. Look at the conversations you've had recently. Go through your email inbox. Review your DMs. Think about coffee chats, networking conversations, workshops, and other interactions. Who has mentioned a problem you solve? Who asked questions about your work? Who said something you offer sounds like exactly what they need? Who asked you to keep them updated? Who has consistently engaged with something connected to your offer? Move those people into your lead tracker and decide what the appropriate next step is. That doesn't mean aggressively selling every person. It means recognizing that they're no longer simply a contact. Treat Leads Like Leads A lead is someone who has demonstrated some level of interest or given you a buying signal. The moment you recognize that signal, it's your responsibility to determine the appropriate next step. Maybe they need nurturing. Maybe they need another conversation. Maybe they need follow-up. Maybe they're ready for an offer. But if you continue treating every potential lead like a casual contact, you're leaving the responsibility entirely on them to eventually come back and tell you they're ready. Your lead generation strategy shouldn't depend on that. Before you decide your pipeline is empty, go find the opportunities that are already there. You probably have more leads than you think. Resources Mentioned Get your FREE Ceo Income Plan Book a CEO Strategy Call Learn more about The Missing Piece Intensive Learn more about The Focused Visionary Accelerator Download the FREE Lead and Conversion...

September 30, 202622 min

Cash Flow, Cash Management & Profit Strategy: What Solopreneurs Actually Need to Know [Ep. 384]

If your business is making decent revenue but you still feel like there’s never enough money in the bank, you need to understand what’s actually happening to your cash. In this episode of The Real Truth About Business podcast, I’m kicking off a new financial series designed to make intimidating money terms actually useful for service-based entrepreneurs and solopreneurs. We’re breaking down cash flow, cash management, and profit strategy in normal-people language so you can understand how they affect your business growth, owner pay, investments, and profitability. After 9 years of experience running my consulting business, I’ve become increasingly focused on the intersection between financial strategy and business strategy because you cannot separate the two. You can have an incredible pricing strategy, lead generation system, and sales process, but if you don’t understand when cash enters your business, where it goes, and how much you actually keep, you can still struggle financially. These aren’t terms only your bookkeeper needs to understand. As CEO, you need to understand them too. What You'll Learn: What cash flow actually means and why revenue doesn't equal cash in the bank How the timing of money coming in and going out can create cash flow problems What cash management means and how to give every dollar entering your business a job How cash reserves can help you prepare for taxes, annual expenses, owner pay, and future obligations What profit strategy looks like for a service-based business How cash flow, cash management, and profit strategy work together to create a financially stronger business Episode Highlights: [00:00] Introduction: A new financial terms series for solopreneurs [02:00] Cash flow: What's coming in, what's going out, and when [03:30] Why timing can create cash flow problems even in a profitable business [05:00] Mapping your incoming and outgoing cash [07:00] Cash management: Money hit your bank account, now what? [08:15] Why a $5,000 pay-in-full isn't automatically $5,000 available to spend [09:30] Using cash reserves for annual expenses and future obligations [11:00] Profit strategy: How to intentionally keep more of your money [13:00] Pricing, offers, capacity, expenses, and profitability [14:00] How cash flow, cash management, and profit strategy work together [15:30] Why successful businesses can still fail because of cash problems [17:30] Action steps: Audit the next 30 to 60 days of cash [19:00] The difference between bookkeeping and managing your cash [20:45] Wrap-up: Find the financial gap in your business Key Takeaways: Cash Flow Is Simply Money In and Money Out Let's make cash flow significantly less intimidating. Cash flow is simply when money comes into your business and when money leaves your business. That's it. The timing matters because revenue doesn't necessarily mean cash is sitting in your bank account. Maybe most of your client payments hit your account after the 15th, but most of your software, subscriptions, and other expenses come out around the first. You could have a profitable business on paper and still feel constantly tight on cash because your money is leaving before your next wave of money arrives. That's a cash flow problem. Stop Looking at Revenue Booked and Start Looking at Cash in the Bank One of the simplest exercises you can do is map when your money actually arrives. Not when the invoice goes out. Not the total value of the contract. Not the revenue you've booked. When does the deposit actually hit your bank account? If you send an invoice on the first but your client normally pays around the fifth and the money doesn't reach your bank until the seventh, use the seventh when looking at your cash flow. The same applies to payment plans. If someone signs a $5,000 contract but they're paying you over six months, you don't have $5,000 in cash available today. Understanding the difference between booked revenue and actual cash helps you make significantly better financial decisions. Cash Management Answers: Now What? Once the cash hits your bank account, cash management answers the next question: Now what? Where does the money need to go? Some may need to become owner pay. Some may need to go toward taxes. Some might go toward debt. Some may need to sit in a cash reserve. And some may need to remain available for future expenses. For example, if a client pays $5,000 upfront for a six-month project, you may need to reserve some of that money because you're going to continue delivering the work for months without another payment coming in. The fact that $5,000 hit your bank account doesn't automatically mean you have $5,000 available to spend. Cash Reserves Help You Plan for Expenses Before They Become Problems I have annual software expenses that renew around the same time because I purchased several things during Black Friday. Those expenses aren't surprises. They happen every year. So I have a cash reserve specifically for annual renewals. That's cash management. Instead of seeing a larger bank balance and deciding I can give myself a bonus or make another investment, I already know some of that money has a future job. You can do the same thing for taxes, annual expenses, owner pay, future investments, debt payments, or other known obligations. The goal is to know what the money sitting in your account is actually there to do. Profit Strategy Is About Intentionally Keeping More Profit strategy is my baby. This is where we ask: How do we intentionally create a more profitable business? Maybe your pricing strategy needs to change because your margins are too low. Maybe your direct costs have increased. Maybe your offer requires too many delivery hours. Maybe you need a more scalable offer. Maybe you can delegate certain tasks and increase your capacity. Maybe unnecessary expenses need to go. Revenue tells you how much you're selling. Profit tells you how well the business is actually working for you. Inside my Focused Visionary Framework, we work on Pricing, Pipeline, and Sales because those three pillars help you generate revenue. Profit strategy asks what needs to happen so that more of that revenue actually stays in the business. These Three Financial Strategies Work Together Cash flow, cash management, and profit strategy aren't three separate conversations. They work together. Cash flow: When is money moving into and out of the business? Cash management: Where should the money go once you have it? Profit strategy: How can we create more money to keep? A stronger profit strategy gives you more money to manage. Better cash management helps you navigate the timing of your cash flow. Understanding your cash flow helps you avoid situations where you continually rely on credit cards or debt simply because money leaves the business before the next deposits arrive. This is the intersection between business strategy and financial strategy that I want more solopreneurs to understand. Good Revenue Doesn't Protect You From Bad Cash Management You can have a successful business and still run into serious financial problems. I've spoken with business owners who made money but didn't understand how to manage what was coming in. The money arrived. They spent it. More expenses came up. The cash wasn't available, so they relied on debt. Then more money came in and the cycle started over. That's why these aren't just nice-to-know financial terms. They're need-to-know business concepts. You don't need to become an accountant or CFO. But as CEO, you need enough financial understanding to recognize what's happening inside your own business. Business strategy can only take you so far if the financial strategy on the other side isn't working. Start With the Next 30 to 60 Days You don't need a complicated spreadsheet to start understanding your cash. Look at the next 30 to 60 days. First, identify exactly when cash is expected to hit your bank account. Then identify when money is scheduled to leave. Next, decide what jobs your incoming cash needs to have. Does it need to pay you? Does some need to go toward taxes? Do you need cash reserves for future expenses? Do you have annual renewals or other costs coming up? Then look at what's actually left after everything is paid. If there's a gap, that's information. Now you can start figuring out how to fill it through better cash management, stronger profitability, different timing, or another strategic change. Understanding Your Money Helps You Make Better CEO Decisions A bookkeeper can provide financial reports and categorize what has already happened. But you still need to understand what those numbers mean for the decisions you're making next. Can you afford the investment? Can you pay yourself more? Why does the business generate good revenue but constantly feel tight on cash? Are your offers actually profitable? Where is your money going? This is why I'm bringing more financial strategy conversations to the podcast. You don't need to become a financial expert. But you do need to understand your money well enough to make informed decisions about your service-based...

September 23, 202625 min

You Don't Need More Followers. You Need More Buyers. [Ep. 383]

If you keep telling yourself you need more followers, more subscribers, or a bigger audience before you can make more sales, you may be focused on the wrong business problem. In this episode of The Real Truth About Business podcast, I’m breaking down the difference between building an audience and creating buyers. Visibility absolutely matters, but followers are a visibility metric. Buyers are a business metric. For service-based entrepreneurs, the real revenue growth opportunity may be sitting inside the audience you already worked so hard to build. After 9 years of experience, I’ve seen business owners assume they have a lead generation problem when they actually have a conversion problem. We’re talking about how to move people through your pipeline, create buyer-focused content, establish authority, give people opportunities to experience your work, and consistently make offers. Before you spend more time and money growing your audience, make sure your business strategy actually gives the people already paying attention a clear path to become customers. What You'll Learn: How to determine whether you actually have a lead generation problem or a conversion problem Why follower growth and visibility don't automatically create revenue growth How to create content that positions you as an authority instead of only educating your audience Why your audience needs clear next steps to move deeper into your pipeline How conversion events can turn followers into qualified leads and potential buyers How to audit your existing audience before investing more energy into finding new people Episode Highlights: [00:00] Introduction: You probably don't need more followers [02:00] Why audience growth doesn't automatically create business growth [03:15] The difference between followers and buyers [05:00] Using Sunday Morning Brew to move podcast listeners deeper into the pipeline [07:00] Followers are a visibility metric. Buyers are a business metric [09:00] Why being known matters more than simply being visible [11:00] Stop assuming you're attracting the wrong audience [13:00] Client example: A large audience with a conversion rate under 3% [15:30] Creating buyer-focused content around problems, desires, and outcomes [17:30] Why authority-building content makes you more hireable [20:00] Giving every follower a clear next step [22:00] Auditing your last 10 pieces of content for conversion opportunities [23:30] Wrap-up: Convert the audience you've already built Key Takeaways: Followers and Buyers Are Not the Same Thing You can add 1,000 followers this month and make $0. Visibility matters. I am absolutely not telling you that you can build something and magically expect people to find it. People have to know you exist. But growing an audience does not automatically mean you're growing a business. Followers are a visibility metric. Buyers are a business metric. Before you decide you're attracting the wrong people and need a bigger or completely different audience, ask yourself: When was the last time I actually gave these people a reason to buy? Because you might not have a lead generation problem at all. You might have a conversion problem. Don't Get Stuck in the Friend Zone I see service-based entrepreneurs create incredible communities full of people who love them, follow their content, open their emails, and enjoy what they have to say. But those people have no freaking clue how to hire them. That's the friend zone. You've done the work to attract them. You've built the relationship. But you haven't created the bridge between follower and buyer. Inside the Focused Visionary Framework, this is exactly why Pipeline and Sales are separate pillars. Pipeline gets the right people into your world and moves them deeper into the relationship. Sales gives them an opportunity to buy. You need both. Don't Confuse Follower Growth With Pipeline Growth My Threads following has grown significantly, but when I looked closer at the numbers, many of those new followers weren't actually potential buyers. Some were bots or spam accounts. If I only looked at follower growth, I could easily say, “Threads is working amazingly.” But engagement and conversion told a different story. This is why your business strategy needs to go deeper than vanity metrics. How many people are actually engaging with you? How many are starting conversations? How many are moving onto your email list, listening to your podcast, attending a workshop, or asking about an offer? More followers can create more opportunities. But attention alone doesn't create revenue. Stop Assuming You Need a New Audience One of my clients kept telling me she needed a bigger audience. She already had more than 1,300 Facebook followers. So I asked her to look at the math. If we converted only 1% of those 1,300 people, that's 13 clients. Would 13 clients help her reach her goal? Absolutely. So before we pour all of our energy into finding more people, let's figure out whether the people already there are actually the wrong audience. Have you made them an offer? Have you made it more than once? Have you directly invited them to buy? Do they understand what you're selling? Have you given them enough time? Have you had conversations with them? You cannot decide someone isn't a buyer if you've never actually given them a chance to buy. A Big Audience With a Low Conversion Rate Is Still a Problem I have another client who is incredible at visibility. She has a podcast with hundreds of downloads per episode, an email list with thousands of people, and an annual event that attracts more than 1,000 registrations. Her instinct was still that she needed a different audience. But when we looked at her conversion rate across those channels, it was incredibly low. The question became: What are we actually selling to these people? We discovered little leaks throughout the sales process. Her offers weren't always available. People weren't consistently being presented with an opportunity to buy. There wasn't always a clear next step. The audience wasn't necessarily the problem. The conversion strategy was. Create Content That Gives People a Reason to Buy You don't necessarily need completely different content to attract more buyers. You need content that gives people a reason to buy. Talk about the problems they're actively trying to solve. Talk about what they actually desire on the other side of those problems. Show them what needs to change. Show them the outcomes your work creates. Then give them opportunities to experience your work. This is why I love conversion events. A workshop, private podcast, audio series, or another deeper experience allows someone to move beyond: “That was a great post.” And toward: “Holy shit. I need help with this.” That's a very different type of engagement. Authority Makes You Hireable Educational content can be valuable, but information alone doesn't automatically position you as the person someone wants to hire. People also need to understand why you can solve their problem. That's authority. Share how you think. Explain how you diagnose problems. Talk about what you believe. Share client examples and results. Explain what you would do differently. This podcast is one of the ways I establish that authority because you get to hear exactly how I think about Pricing, Pipeline, Sales, revenue, and profitability. My Focused Visionary Framework does the same thing. It's a methodology I use with my clients and repeatedly inside my own business. Authority-building content isn't about bragging. It's about giving people a reason to believe you're the right person to help them. Give People Somewhere to Go If someone discovers you today, what happens next? That's the question. Now what? They found your social media. Now what? They listened to your podcast. Now what? They joined your email list. Now what? When do you make an offer? How do they experience more of you? How do you deepen the relationship? How do they know when they're ready to buy? And when they're ready, is it obvious how they actually hire you? Don't make people figure this out themselves. Create the path. Audit Your Last 10 Pieces of Content Before you decide you need another 1,000 followers, go look at your last 10 pieces of content. Ask yourself: How many positioned me as an authority? How many addressed a problem someone would actually pay to solve? How many spoke to the outcome or desire my ideal client wants? How many gave someone a clear next step? How many actually sold something? Then identify where you're asking people to move deeper into your world. Maybe they discover you on social media and move to your podcast. Maybe the podcast sends them to your email list. Maybe your newsletter invites them to a workshop. Maybe that workshop introduces the offer. That's a pipeline. Convert Before You Decide You Need More I'm not saying you should stop growing your audience. Your business always needs visibility and new people entering your world. But before you decide all your time, energy, and...

September 16, 202618 min

Are You Building Toward What You Want or Running From What You Don't? [Ep. 382]

If your latest business decision is being driven by frustration, resentment, burnout, or fear, you might be building away from your past instead of toward the business you actually want. In this episode of The Real Truth About Business podcast, I’m talking about the difference between making decisions to escape something that isn’t working and intentionally creating what comes next. For service-based entrepreneurs, those emotions are valuable information, but they shouldn’t become your entire business strategy. After 9 years of experience, I’ve seen how easily one difficult client, an underpriced offer, or a frustrating sales process can trigger a complete change without enough thought about the desired outcome. Sustainable business growth requires more than knowing what you don’t want. You need a North Star that defines what you’re building toward. We’re talking about pricing strategy, capacity, boundaries, offers, your sales process, and how to use facts from the past without allowing your past experiences to dictate your future. What You'll Learn: How to recognize when you're making business decisions from resentment, fear, or frustration Why knowing what you don't want isn't enough to create an effective business strategy How to turn past experiences into useful data instead of letting them dictate your future What to consider before changing your pricing strategy, offers, boundaries, or sales process How to define the capacity, profitability, clients, and business model you actually want Why your North Star should guide strategic planning as your business evolves Episode Highlights: [00:00] Introduction: Why mindset is one of the hardest parts of business [01:30] Are you moving away from something or intentionally toward something? [03:00] Using resentment, frustration, burnout, and fear as information [04:00] Client example: When undercharging creates resentment [06:30] Why knowing what you don't want isn't enough [08:00] Stop letting your past self build your future business [09:30] Turning capacity and lifestyle goals into an actual strategy [11:00] Making sales process decisions from intention instead of frustration [12:30] Facts over emotion when making business decisions [14:00] Why you can't create a plan without knowing the destination [15:30] Making intentional investments based on where you're going [16:30] Wrap-up: Build toward your evolving North Star Key Takeaways: Your Past Gives You Data, Not Your Destination There’s a big difference between making a decision because you’re trying to get away from something and making a decision because you’re intentionally moving toward something. Maybe you're resentful because you've been undercharging, so you decide to completely change your pricing. Maybe you're exhausted because clients have too much access to you, so you remove nearly all access from your next offer. Maybe something didn't sell, so you decide you're never offering it again. Something may absolutely need to change. But before you make the change, ask yourself: What am I actually trying to create here? Your past gives you data. It gives you facts. Use those facts to make decisions based on where you're going, not simply what you're trying to avoid. Resentment Is Information, Not a Business Strategy Resentment is information. Frustration is information. Burnout is information. Fear is information. A red-flag client is information. I'm not telling you to ignore any of it. I'm telling you to figure out what that information is showing you. I recently spoke with a potential client who was resentful about longtime clients paying significantly less than what she felt her current work was worth. She wanted to honor their existing pricing, and that was a choice she was making. But if she wasn't going to change their pricing, we couldn't build her entire future strategy around being resentful about the past. The bigger question became: What do you actually want on the other side of this? Stop Letting Your Past Self Build Your Future Business If every decision is based on something you never want to experience again, your past is still controlling your business. You might change the offer. You might change the price. You might put different boundaries around it. You might package everything differently. But if you're still operating entirely from what happened before, you're not actually building forward. This is where desire and intention matter. What do you want the offer to look like? How do you want to deliver it? Who do you want to work with? How much do you want to make? What capacity do you want? What profit margin are you working toward? Now we have something we can actually build a business strategy around. “I Don't Want This” Isn't Enough Information If you tell me, “I don't want to work this much anymore,” I understand what you're moving away from. But I still don't know where we're going. Do you want to work 25 hours per week? Do you want to stop working by 4:00 because your kids are home? Do you want fewer one-to-one clients? Do you want a group program because you no longer have capacity for individual delivery? Those answers give us direction. Inside the Focused Visionary Framework, your Pricing, Pipeline, and Sales strategies have to support that direction. Once we know what you're building toward, we can determine the offers, capacity, customer journey, lead generation, and sales process required to get there. Don't Burn Down a Strategy Because You Didn't Like How You Were Doing It Maybe you're completely over sales calls. Your immediate reaction could be: “I'm never doing another sales call again.” But is that actually what your future business needs? Maybe you don't hate sales calls. Maybe you hate having unqualified people on your calendar. Instead of eliminating them completely, you could change the process. Have conversations in the DMs first. Create a qualification process. Require an application before someone gets on your calendar. Be more selective about who gets a call. The lesson from your past doesn't have to be, “I'm never doing this again.” It can be, “I'm going to do this differently, and here's how.” Facts Over Emotion Doesn't Mean Ignoring Emotion I talk about facts over emotion constantly, but that doesn't mean emotions don't matter. They do. If you're frustrated because clients have too much access to you, there may be a legitimate fact underneath that frustration. Why do they have too much access? Did you create unclear boundaries? Is the communication channel the problem? Do you actually enjoy being accessible but need to structure that access differently? For example, I want my clients to have access to me. But I don't want client conversations mixed into my personal text messages, so I use a separate messaging platform. The solution isn't necessarily removing access. The solution is understanding the actual problem and creating something better. Ask Yourself Which Direction You're Moving Here's the reframe I want you to use: Am I making this decision to get away from something, or am I making this decision because it's moving me toward something I want? Sometimes the answer will be both. That's okay. Just get very clear on the second part before you make the decision. Resentment might show you that something needs to change. It shouldn't necessarily decide what you change it into. You Can't Create a Strategy Without a Destination Imagine telling me you want to take a road trip and the only information you give me is: “I know I don't want to go to Georgia.” Okay. Where are we going? Tennessee? South Florida? Somewhere completely different? Knowing where you don't want to go doesn't give us enough information to create the route. Business strategy works the same way. If you only know what you don't want, you don't have a destination to build toward. That's why your North Star matters. Your North Star can evolve as your business and life change. But you need a direction before you start changing offers, pricing, marketing, or investing money into another solution. Build the Next Version From Desire and Intention Before you hire another coach, change your messaging, rebuild your offer suite, or invest money trying to fix something, ask yourself what you're actually trying to create. What do you desire? What does the next version of your service-based business need to look like? What income does it need to generate? What capacity do you want? What kind of clients do you want to serve? Then create the strategy. Your past experiences matter. Learn from them. But don't let your past self build your future business. Use the information you've gained to intentionally build toward what you actually want. FREE WORKSHOP REGISTRATION - THEY FOUND YOU...NOW WHAT? Resources Mentioned Get your FREE Ceo Income Plan <a...

September 9, 202619 min

How to Close a Sale Without Being Pushy: Sales Closing Techniques That Actually Work [Ep. 381]

If asking someone to buy makes you immediately worry that you’re being pushy, your definition of “closing the sale” probably needs to change. In this episode of The Real Truth About Business podcast, I’m breaking down sales closing techniques that help service-based entrepreneurs guide potential clients toward a decision without manipulation, pressure, or aggressive sales tactics. Closing isn’t about convincing someone to hand over their credit card. It’s about listening, understanding what they actually need, making the right recommendation, asking for the sale, and following up intentionally. After 9 years of experience, I’ve seen how often business owners generate plenty of leads but lose revenue growth because they never confidently move those leads through the final stages of their sales process. We’re talking about what to say on sales calls and in DMs, how to establish follow-up before the conversation ends, why proposals can hurt your conversion rate, and when to stop selling completely. What You'll Learn: How to redefine closing as guiding someone toward a decision instead of convincing them to buy Why listening is one of the most effective sales closing techniques How to recommend the right offer based on what a potential client actually tells you What to say when someone tells you they need time to think about your offer How to establish follow-up expectations without feeling like you're nagging or chasing Why proposals, overselling, and continuing to pitch after someone says yes can hurt your sales process Episode Highlights: [00:00] Introduction: Why “closing the sale” feels so uncomfortable [02:00] The aggressive sales tactic that inspired this episode [04:00] Step one: Stop talking and start listening [06:15] Step two: Make a recommendation based on what you heard [08:30] Step three: Ask for the sale without burying the ask [10:00] What to say when someone needs time to think [12:30] Setting the expectation for follow-up before the conversation ends [14:00] Why I'm not a huge fan of sending proposals [15:30] Stop selling when the client says yes [16:30] Why a no is still a successful sales decision [17:15] Auditing your sales process and handling hesitation [18:15] Wrap-up: Intentional sales don't require aggressive tactics Key Takeaways: Closing a Sale Is Not About Convincing Someone The phrase “close the sale” has picked up a lot of baggage. It can immediately sound aggressive, manipulative, or like you need some magical sales script that convinces someone to buy before they change their mind. That's not how I define closing. Closing a sale is simply guiding someone toward a decision. That's it. You can generate leads, have great conversations, build relationships, and create an incredible offer. But at some point, someone has to make the final decision to work with you. Inside the Focused Visionary Framework, this is why Pipeline and Sales are two separate pillars. Getting people into your world matters. But your sales process has to intentionally move those people toward a decision. Step One: Stop Talking and Start Listening Closing starts with listening. One of my favorite ways to start a sales conversation is simply: “Brain dump me.” Tell me what's going on. What are you struggling with? Where are you stuck? What's creating anxiety? Give people permission to talk without trying to package everything into a polished explanation. Most of the time, they'll tell you exactly what they're struggling with. Your job is to listen and ask clarifying questions. If someone tells me they need more clients, I'm not immediately selling them a lead generation strategy. I want to know why they think they need more clients. Are they at capacity? Are their current leads not converting? Is their pricing wrong? What's actually happening? Listen before you recommend anything. Step Two: Make a Recommendation Once you understand the problem, recommend the next best step. You don't have to present every offer in your business. In fact, don't. Tell them which option you believe is the best fit based on what they just told you. Use their own priorities to explain your recommendation: “Based on everything you told me, here's what I recommend.” Or: “One of the things you said was really important to you was…” You're showing them that you listened. People want to feel seen and heard. When your recommendation clearly connects their needs to the right offer, the sales conversation becomes significantly more natural. Step Three: Actually Ask for the Sale Don't bury the ask. Don't end a great sales conversation by saying, “I'll send you some information,” and leave everything completely open-ended. Ask them how they're feeling. “Based on what we talked about, how does this feel?” “Does this feel like the right next step for you?” “What are you thinking?” Then stop talking. You do not need to immediately fill the silence or start overselling yourself. Their response gives you information. Maybe they have a question about timing. Maybe they've been burned by another coach. Maybe they're concerned about the investment. Let them tell you what's actually creating hesitation. When They Say “I Need to Think About It,” Do This “I need to think about it” doesn't mean you immediately end the conversation and hope they eventually come back. Respect their decision to think about it while establishing exactly what happens next. You might say: “Absolutely. Take a few days to think about it. I'm going to put a note on my calendar to follow up with you next Thursday. If I don't hear from you before then, I'll reach out Thursday. How does that sound?” Now you've established the expectation. When Thursday comes around, you aren't awkwardly chasing them. You're doing exactly what you told them you would do. And then you need to actually follow up. Integrity matters. If you told someone you were going to follow up on Thursday, follow up on Thursday. Stop Letting Proposals Do the Selling for You I'm not a huge fan of sending proposals unless they're actually necessary. Why? Because proposals can disappear into someone's inbox. Or the person opens it, immediately scrolls to the price, and makes a decision without the context of the conversation you just had. If you need to send a custom proposal, consider recording a video walking them through it. Explain what's included and why you made those recommendations based on the conversation you had. And before you send the proposal, establish when you'll follow up. Don't send it into the abyss and hope for the best. When They Say Yes, Stop Selling This one sounds obvious, but people do it constantly. The client says yes. Then you keep talking. You start explaining more features, adding bonuses, justifying the investment, and trying to convince someone who already told you they're ready. Stop. They said yes. Move into your process. Tell them what happens next. Send the payment link. Book the first call. Get them onboarded. You no longer need to sell them. A No Is Still a Decision The goal of a sales conversation isn't to make every person buy. The goal is to help someone make a decision. And sometimes the decision is no. If someone isn't a good fit and you're seeing red flags, let them go. If they decide the offer isn't right for them right now, respect the decision. You don't need to convince them otherwise. Closing is about moving someone toward a yes or no , not forcing every conversation into a yes. Audit Your Sales Process I want you to look at your current sales process and ask yourself: Where am I actually asking for the sale? What happens after I make the recommendation? What are my steps for moving someone toward a decision? How am I handling follow-up? And am I establishing that follow-up before the conversation ends? These techniques work whether you're closing on Zoom, over the phone, through text, or inside your DMs. The format can change. The sales process doesn't have to. Listen. Recommend. Ask. Establish the follow-up. Follow through. And know when to stop selling. You don't need to become more aggressive at sales. You need to become more intentional about helping people make a decision. FREE WORKSHOP REGISTRATION - THEY FOUND YOU...NOW WHAT? Resources Mentioned Get your FREE Ceo Income Plan Book a CEO Strategy Call Learn more about The Missing Piece Intensive Learn more about The Focused Visionary Accelerator <a href="https://links.michelledenioconsulting.com/sz4x" rel="noopener noreferrer"...