True Profit Business: How to play your bigger game without burning out

By Karen Skidmore and Dr Joanna Martin

*SHORT-LISTED FOR THE BUSINESS BOOK AWARDS 2020!* 

We need to change the way we do business.

 If you’ve decided to go it alone and grow your own business, you’re probably finding it tough to make things work.

The pace of life is getting faster, our benchmarks for success ever higher, and thousands of micro-business owners are facing entrepreneurial burnout, trying to cover up their stress and exhaustion with ‘love-my-life’ smiles and filtered images on social media.

 It’s not just the cashflow that needs fixing: your mental health and well-being are at stake here.

 If you are ready to make money, make an impact and thrive in the process, True Profit Business gives you a simpler, more connected path to business success:

·     Clarity – understand what your bigger vision of success looks like and how business growth really works

·     Structure – get clear on the five Growth Pillars to ensure sustainable growth

·     Flow – discover when to Lean Back and when to Lean In to enable an effective energy flow between thinking, planning and taking action

·     Process – discover which of the five True Profit Business Models will enable you to thrive.

True Profit Business not only helps you diagnose what’s going wrong for you, it focuses you on your bigger game and shows you the building blocks – the processes and people – you need to turn your expertise and talents into a purposeful, playful and profitable business.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Practical Inspiration Publishing
• Release date: Sep 26, 2019
• ISBN: 9781788600866

Karen Skidmore

Karen Skidmore has achieved what most coaches and consultants feel is impossible; to create a profitable, flexible and fun business which enables her to run an international coaching and consulting business around her family, health and wellbeing. Karen resigned from her corporate career in 2004 to start up on her own on the same day her eldest daughter started school and never looked back. Over the past 14 years, she has created a variety of scalable income streams and run her business on a number of different coaching business models, including a hugely successful membership site, created and sold dozens of different online courses and group programmes, with prices ranging from £30 to £15,000. Her mission is to give every small business owner a plan and a process to grow their business, without burning out along the way.

Book preview

Introduction

We need to change the way we do business.

The pace of life and our benchmarks for success are becoming unattainable and most people who decide to go-it-alone and to start and grow their own business are finding it harder than ever to make things work.

Technology should be improving our ability to thrive but it seems to be that it’s just helping more of us to strive. Even those who seem to have it all sorted are covering up their stress and exhaustion with happy smiles and hashtagged, filtered images.

There’s no doubt deciding to go-it-alone is mentally challenging. We strip ourselves bare and face our innermost fears and doubts when we decide to turn our passion, ideas and talent into a business. And yet, we aren’t allowed to express them because we have to appear successful for us to be successful.

It’s not just marketing problems that need fixing now. Our mental health and well-being are at stake here.

When I first started writing about True Profit Business three years ago, I came from a background in the practicalities of marketing and business processes. It all began by teaching different business models because people were getting distracted with the sudden growth of digital opportunities. I could see the fundamental lack of business strategy and infrastructure knowledge, and I wanted to make a difference and stop people chasing after passive income dreams and digital product ideas which weren’t working for them.

But over the past few years of my research into what actually works for a go-it-aloner like you to make their own business a success, it has become more and more apparent to me that business success has to be an inside out job. Through my own journey into discovering what was holding me back in my own bigger game journey, I have been able to see how mentally destructive business growth journeys could be.

I have burnt out in my quest to grow my business. And, after speaking with other business owners over the years, it seems I have not been alone.

We are seeing a new breed of business owner starting up and growing a business. More go-it-aloners; people following their callings to support cancer patients, empower teenage girls to be more confident, bring meditation into the boardrooms of corporations, help menopausal women get the right medication, and mentor suicidal young men. These are just some of the incredible and awe-inspiring missions and visions I’ve heard about over the past few years from various business owners, all wanting to play a bigger game.

But it’s not just the missions that are incredible; it’s also the fact that this new breed of micro-business owner is creating significant economic power.

In a House of Commons briefing report from December 2018, it was reported that in the UK, there were 5.7 million SMEs (businesses with fewer than 250 employees), which was over 99% of all businesses. But far more interesting to know is that, of these, 5.4 million were micro-businesses (businesses with just 0–9 employees) in the UK in 2018, accounting for 96% of all businesses.¹

What this means is that you matter.

You are part of a hugely significant economic power, which means the changes you are able to make when you play bigger in your business can have a huge impact on our world. And no matter what size mission you have, or what difference you are here to make, we cannot afford to let you burn out and not do your best work.

This is my motivation behind this book. True Profit Business has evolved from the initial practical ‘how-to’ approach, focused only on seeking external answers from best practice marketing campaigns and new product ideas, to an inside out approach, which brings together the energetic connection to yourself alongside the right business structure framework and processes to enable your potential to play a bigger game.

We can’t afford to have any more entrepreneurs, micro-business owners and go-it-aloners like you, burn out before you achieve your missions and visions. We need you to be able to fulfil your potential. We need you to make your difference on our world.

And this is why business needs to change.

Business doesn’t need more profit. We need True Profit. We need you.

Who this book is for

It doesn’t matter whether you are just starting out or have been running your business for ten or more years, if you sell your expertise, knowledge, skills or talents, then this book is for you. You may be an accountant, financial advisor, coach or trainer. You may be offering to build websites, provide technical support or PR services. You may have turned a passion into an online business or a mission into a social enterprise.

You may be selling yourself by the session or hour, as a freelancer or therapist. You may be running live events, retreats or group programmes. You may have already digitalised your expertise and created online products, courses and membership communities. You may be looking to scale your business by hiring associates or want to sell licences or franchises of your business concept.

Whatever it is that you are selling, the one thing you have in common with all True Profit Business owners is that you are selling YOU.

If you want to make a difference, you want to make an impact on the world around you and you want to play a bigger game, whilst still making good money, then I’m glad you’re here.

Over the past few years, I’ve seen more business and marketing advice become overwhelmingly pushed towards turning your business digital. And it’s burning you out. If you have been growing your business and wanting to play bigger for the past year or more, then you’ve probably already experienced the tantalising messages from marketing gurus and business coaches promising you a laptop lifestyle, six or seven figure businesses and passive income streams. You may already have been trying to get many of these ideas and marketing funnels working, and you’re now exhausted.

I’m not here to tell you that having a successful online business isn’t possible. Because it is. And I’m not here to break the news that making money and doing good is mutually exclusive, because you can absolutely have a hugely profitable business whilst still having an impact. What I want to share with you here in this book is two things. Firstly, a reality check on what systems, processes and team you need to grow bigger using digital strategies, which will better equip you in your business growth journey. Secondly, and I believe more importantly, an inside out approach to your thinking around your business growth.

What do I mean by an inside out approach? I mean that the decisions and direction you choose to take you and your business start from within; from what your intuition and instinct are already telling you. It’s from here that you then look outwards for answers on how to make that happen.

How to use this book

This book gives you a step-by-step approach to putting the right systems, processes and team in place to allow you to grow and scale your business, without burning you out.

The first two chapters deal with the doing and being of business; how we’ve let technology, time and information rule our decisions and the direction we take.

I then introduce you to the True Profit Business Model and take you through the five Growth Pillars needed to give you strong foundations and structure for your growth journey.

In Chapter 4, you’ll discover how growth really works and how to use your Leaning In, Leaning Back and Grounding energies to flow with the cycles of your business.

Next, you’ll be creating your True Profit Compass, which will be your navigation tool to help you make sound business decisions based on what’s right for your money goals, the time you have available, your personality type as well as the difference and impact you want to make through your business.

In the final chapter, you will be bringing together everything you’ve learnt in this book about how True Profit Business works to help you decide which of the five True Profit Business Models will work best for you. You will see how to grow a Freelancer business into a scalable Consultant business, as well as dive into the detail of what it takes to grow a Digital or Agency business.

You will find lots of exercises to work through in each chapter. I’ve designed the content so that this is more than a passive reading experience; I want you to take action and implement what I’m teaching you here.

To get the most out of what you will be learning here, I’ve created a downloadable workbook that you can access for free. It has all the exercises contained in this book and gives you the space to keep a record of your progress as you work through each chapter.

You can download your copy from:

www.KarenSkidmore.com/TrueProfitBusinessWorkbook

You may also be wondering what other support is available, once you have read this book. Our business growth programme is called Momentum, which gives you the accountability, community and support needed to help you implement what you learn here. If this is something you want to know more about, take a look at the back of this book where I have listed the available options for where you may want to go next.

In the meanwhile, I wish you all the success in designing and creating your True Profit Business. But, most of all, I wish you all the fun you need to make this business adventure of yours a joyful and fulfilling experience.

Do less. Be more. Play bigger.

Karen

Chapter 1

Playing your bigger game

The sound of the Pied Piper

Emma’s been at it for a few years now. Sure, it’s been a roller coaster experience but she’s hung in there; put in the hours and hustled for the business. If you look at her Facebook feed, you’d get the impression everything is going well. There have been photos of her at various events, of her laptop lifestyle at local cafes and the appropriate smatterings of #ilovemyclients posts.

On the outside, Emma looks successful. If you met her at one of those events posted on her news feed and asked her how business was, she would beam from ear to ear and tell you how busy she was.

But on the inside, she is knackered, beginning to feel disillusioned and often feels alone and confused. When she’s alone in her office at home, she sits at her desk and stares at her screen.

‘Why haven’t I got there yet?’

Emma’s not alone. She represents a new breed of going-it-aloners; parents starting up in business to create a flexible career around their children, professionals taking redundancy and deciding to fulfil a dream of being their own boss, and freedom seekers inspired by the opportunity to make a difference and change other people’s lives for the better.

It’s never been easier to start up a business, and yet this new entrepreneurial dream is beginning to feel like a scene from the Pied Piper of Hamelin; thousands of hard-working business owners chasing a story of hope, without realising the potential burnout waiting for them.

This is what’s driven me to write this book. I’ve been in the game for more than 15 years, going-it-alone in 2004. The first ten or so years of this new world were inspiring and exciting. But a lot has changed in recent years and the scale of quick-and-easy marketing ideas and digital opportunities being presented to hard-working business owners like you has been disturbing me.

Many of the passive income streams, set-and-forget marketing funnels and six and seven figure dreams that are being sold to you today have been the sounds of the Pied Piper’s flute, and the burnout stories that are epidemic now are the result. It’s killing the entrepreneurial dream and it’s now, more than ever, that we need people like you to be successful and able to make the positive changes in this world that we all so desperately need.

When you are alone in your office, it’s easy to feel confused about which direction you should be going in, and what you should be doing each day to enable your business to grow. I get that you want answers. But when your fears and doubts about how to grow your business are being used to sell you the idea that business success only comes from hustle and grind, and that a specific marketing or digital product idea will be the answer to your six-figure success, I get angry.

How your fears and doubts can be your greatest strength

Everyone doubts themselves at some points of their business journey. Sometimes feelings of fear and doubt can come from nowhere; one day you’re feeling great and then suddenly you’re reminded of an idea or a decision you haven’t taken action on, and you feel cross with yourself. You may have been scrolling down your Facebook news feed and up pops someone, pictured holding their new book. Now you may not have really wanted to write a book, but suddenly this image triggers a feeling of inadequacy.

‘How did she manage to do all that AND find the time to write a book?’

Everything you have achieved so far fades away in your memories. You get frustrated with your progress. You berate yourself for having not worked harder or taken bigger action. You then get confused and feel unsure which direction to go in now, or what action to take next. You become constipated with fear and doubt. You procrastinate, pull back and hide yourself away.

How many times have you sat at your desk, staring at your screen, and asked yourself whether you really have what it takes to do this?

Your fears and doubts can be felt in all sorts of different places in your body. Perhaps a knot in your stomach or a pain on your left side or a tingling sensation at the back of your skull. Sometimes the anxiety buzzes inside of you for weeks, at just enough vibration to keep you on edge and make you question everything you do.

Sometimes, your fears and doubts make you take decisions for your business that you know, deep down, aren’t the right ones. Perhaps there’s an online course that promises a new income stream that is being marketed hard to you. You ask yourself if it really is the right thing to do right now. But, as you feel you don’t have the answers and you are being told that if you don’t buy now you won’t get access at this price again, you feel you have to take action on something. So your fears and doubts spur you on to chase marketing tactics and buy into online courses and programmes in the hope that they give you answers and a path to follow.

It’s exhausting.

I have had my fair share of fears and doubts. They’ve shown up in bucket loads over the years and have often appeared as a gentle tight grip on the inside of my throat; almost like a child’s hand trying to silence me. I used to let this feeling in my throat silence me and pull me back, like a bungee cord. I’d come up with an idea that initially excited me; I let my mind play with it for a short while but then the bungee cord would snap me back. Each time I’d either dilute the idea to end up with a smaller, simpler version of it or would decide not to do it at all.

Yes, these bungee cord moments have been frustrating phases in my business. But it’s been my journey and these moments have provided valuable lessons to help me learn how to feel into my uncomfortableness; the feeling of vulnerability, shame, guilt and whatever else my inner shit throws up at me every time I want to play a bigger game.

That gentle tight grip on my throat has become my sign that whatever I was thinking when I felt it, was actually the right thing for me to do. As I’ve written certain sections of this book, I would feel it appear again, more gently than in years before, but it still shows itself to me which only proves to me that what I was writing at the time, was the right thing for me to share with you.

Much of this book focuses on the practicalities of business structure, systems and processes, but I will also help you go within and discover the power of your potential in order for you to know which path to take your business on. Throughout this book, I would like you to feel into any uncomfortableness of fear, doubt, shame or guilt whenever it appears, and see it as a sign of your potential power. These feelings don’t have to allow you to buy into the story that success only comes from pushing through and by hustle, but become aware of when you may be allowing yourself to pull back and play small. Feel gently into the knot or the pain or the grip or the buzz that you feel, because its job is to warn you that you are potentially stepping up and it’s trying to keep you safe. Safe is a lovely place to be on a warm, cosy Sunday afternoon, but if you want to make a bigger impact on this world around you and play a bigger game, then staying safe will only hold you back from fulfilling your potential.

What does playing bigger mean to you?

Your version of playing big is what is important here. It’s not my job, nor anyone else’s job, to tell you what ‘big’ should look like for you. There is no one definition of success because success means different things to different people.

Whenever I’ve asked this question to my community, there has always been a real mix of answers.

‘I want a life outside of work.’

‘To be the best version of myself, with a flexible business that keeps my family comfortable and location free.’

‘To have my business big enough for my husband to leave his job and join me.’

‘To have plenty of large clients with busy pipelines and a great team working with me to deliver fabulous and profitable events.’

‘To be able to sell my business within the next 10 years, which would allow me to retire.’

‘Having someone else manage the business for us, with a steady stream of good contacts always coming through.’

‘Having my business give me flexibility and