Andrea is a vivacious serial entrepreneur. She’s narrowed in on the few things that she’s really good at–hiring great people and starting new businesses. Her work ethic, embrace of healthy risk, and reliance on skilled talent has proven significant on her journey to success.
However, she’d hit a wall in one of her businesses.
When she came to me, she wanted to discuss ways to improve profitability of her lawn care business. She’s always prided herself in providing exceptional service at a competitive price, even though there’s always some individual selling his services on Craigslist for a slightly lower price.
Up until now, she’s been reinvesting her profits into the business, allowing her to continue scaling and gaining market share in her area. She’s hunted for ways to tighten up the business, and she’s done everything she can to continue to drive down her costs.
When she first called me, she wondered if she’d gotten into the wrong business. She wasn’t facing a crisis, but she wasn’t seeing the profitability that she’d hoped for either.
As we dove into the tactical pieces of her business, we discussed her expenses and her processes. We knew that because of the excellence she provided, her costs were higher than her competitors. However, if we’d hoped to find a gushing artery, we were disappointed.
Halfway through the meeting, our conversation shifted towards her entrepreneurial vision. It took her less than 30 seconds to name six business that she’d thought about starting in her area. Yes, she’s a full-blooded serial entrepreneur.
I’ve found my best consulting calls always have an unpredictable element, and when she started to describe the other businesses that she wanted to start, I began to paint a picture for her.
I started to describe an entire ecosystem that she could build–multiple businesses feeding into each other–allowing her not only to eventually drive down operational costs but also allowing her strong competitive advantage as she continued to scale. We discussed specific marketing tactics that she could use to feed customers from one business to the other.
As we talked, she suddenly began to see the true asset that she had built–one piece of a bigger puzzle that would serve to firmly embed her in the business landscape of her area.
My prediction? While it’s going to take time, if you come back in ten years, you may just discover that Andrea has built a juggernaut network of businesses that her customers absolutely love…and that create a healthy profit for herself.