Yesterday I talked about things that go wrong as you scale.
Million to one shots that happen every month, for better or worse.
Today I want to talk about things that are already wrong, and when to fix them.
I just brought in an intern on a job after he pitched me with a big review of stuff he thought he could improve.
In truth a good 30% of his list was just moving parts that have gone wonky as the business grows.
For example we split tested a webinar, picked a new winner, and then one of the follow-up emails (which weren’t part of the test) didn’t make any sense.
But we’d still made more than 15% improvement in the new webinar, and because we didn’t have to bring the email copywriter back in again, we made that improvement in 2 months, not 4.
So if you were thinking “ooh sloppy, I wouldn’t work with someone who left things like that behind”, then, well, good.
I left attitudes like that behind when I started my own business 11 years ago and haven’t looked back since.
Like Mark Zuckerberg said,
“Move fast and break things. Unless you are breaking stuff, you are not moving fast enough.”
You know Zuckerberg? The guy whose business is growing faster than yours and makes more money than yours?
Him.
I’ve been focussed on ramping up traffic & conversions in one place (the biggest one) and have done a boss job of it if I say so myself, but there’s always stuff that gets left behind.
In truth, most of it we knew we were leaving behind, and we made a conscious decision to move on anyway.
Here’s why
The trick is remembering when a 1 day job that would make a 1% difference is actually worth doing. i.e. not when you’re doing £5k months, but when you’re making £50k months.
Early on, you’re not looking for 1% changes. You’re looking for 10%, 100% (if you can get it), and those changes are usually in front of you, not behind.
Trailblaze, break new territory, then go back and pave the cowpaths.
If you want to know what the steps are that lie in front of you, my ClientStream programme can guide the way.