Profitably Grow and Sustain Your Business with Mike Cassidy

0:02Who's ready to rock today, Fire Nation? JLD here and welcome to Entrepreneurs on Fire, brought to you by High Level Level, the all-in-one sales and marketing. platform. Today, we'll be breaking down how to profitably grow and sustain your business. To drop these value bombs, I have brought to Mike Cassidy and the EO Fire Studios. Mike is a corporate CEO, entrepreneur, educator, and an author. Today, we'll be talking about idea generation as a strategy, forming and sustaining your business model, and making money every day and oh, so much more. And a big thank you for sponsoring today's episode goes to Mike and our sponsors.

0:36Are you ready for the ultimate all-in-one platform for entrepreneurs, marketers, coaches, and agencies. Build funnels, automate follow-ups, manage clients, and even white label your own software. Say hello to our featured partner, High Level, and visit highlevelfire.com to start your free trial today. Fire Nation, is this your year to take your business to the next level? Attend the world's highest rated business growth workshop taught personally by Clay Clark and now featuring football star and entrepreneur Tim Tebow and President Trump's son, Eric Trump at thrivetimeshow.com slash EO fire. Again, request life changing tickets today at thrivetimeshow.com slash EO fire.

1:23Mike, say what's up to Fire Nation and share something that you believe about becoming successful that most people disagree with. Well, thank you for having me, John. And hello, Fire Nation. So I hope it's okay, but my answer has three very short parts. Is that okay? That's great. Just dive right in. So first, I say don't start or run your company with the objective to make money. A lot of people I know do that. I'd say rather have your primary objective always be learning how to best satisfy your customers. because making money in truth is a result of satisfied customers. So that should be your primary objective.

2:08And if you do that, you make money. And as you know, John, doing this isn't a thing. It's really a journey for you and your company. Fire Nation, we are all about the journey to profitably grow and sustain our business, which is exactly why I brought Mike Cassidy on the mic today. And I want to start the conversation by talking about how opportunity is the driver of profitable growth. Mike, how does spotting the right opportunity serve as the true driver of profitable business growth? Good. Well, to get us aimed right, let's just be clear that opportunity means there's demonstrable demand for something new.

2:49And you can prove that. And that's really the journey that you're going to be on because profits, of course, require demand. And so it really requires the entrepreneur to get good at knowing how to seek and find possible opportunity. And in my book, I offer a lot of guidance on that. But that's step one of the journey. And that takes you to then the following steps, you know, idea generation, proof of concept of your idea and its profitability. And then lastly, the capacity to produce what you're coming up with. So that's the journey sort of all in one. Well, I do want to talk about idea generation specifically as a strategy.

3:31So how can entrepreneurs, our audience, Fire Nation, how can they use idea generation, not just for creativity, but as a core growth strategy? Say you have discovered what you think is a possible opportunity. So in my way of thinking, what you want to do to really zero in on that is have you and your team analyze that and say, OK, let's understand it. Who is impacted by what we are seeing out there? What do we think the opportunity is? So who is impacted by that and why would they have demand for what we're seeing? You really articulate, get zeroed in on what's the link between who is our possible customer and why, understanding why will they have demand.

4:22And then lastly, of course, is what is the best response we can think of? So that starts your strategy right there, your product strategy, your company strategy, whatever it is. What is it we're going to pursue, for whom, and why? Now, I want to talk about confirming demand and profitability because I think this is an important step to understand for all entrepreneurs going through the process. So, how can, Mike, entrepreneurs quickly validate market demands and ensure their idea will be profitable? And why don't you give us a little example while you're at it? Yeah. Well, first, let me remind everyone, you have a preliminary idea from the exercise we just went through and you have to understand that's your preliminary it's what you think the market wants so to confirm the demand you really it's time now to bring your customer into the into your analysis so you don't want to sell them your preliminary idea because the answer could be no so i say really script out a meeting with them and your idea is to basically ask listen and learn you know the old 80 20 sort of process where you talk only 20 of the time asking questions and your questions are strategic so they're answering 80 of the time with you know really what do they want why do they want that you're asking them who do they i actually script this out you know so do you buy these things why do you buy them what are you really looking to do you know on and on and then oh great who do you buy from now oh why them so i'm learning now i'm starting my competitor analysis i'm like what strengths do i have to match you know and i ultimately get to why you know they can't satisfy you all the time what maybe could they do better so you're learning some weaknesses you could exploit but you must bring to confirm demand you must bring your customer in because basically they're going to guide you to your final they're going to you're going to ask them questions they're going to tell you exactly what they want exactly how they want it and that gets you right to crafting your winning value proposition because you know by the This might take two or three interviews.

6:28Maybe it's prototyping, sampling, whatever it would take. You've gone from your idea that might look more like, I don't know, since there's no video here, it might look like a computer mouse. Where they take you to looks more like a PowerPoint pointer. You just didn't quite have it right, but you're bringing them in to guide you to be exactly right. Fire Nation, we've been going through this process right now about talking about the opportunity being the driver of profitable growth, idea generation as strategy, and confirming demand and profitability. If you think we're even close to done this process, you've got another thought coming.

7:11We have so much more to come around this conversation when we get back from thanking our sponsors. Okay, let's talk about a platform that's completely changing how entrepreneurs are running their business, and they are also our featured partner, HighLevel. If you're an entrepreneur, coach, agency, or course creator looking to grow faster and smarter, HighLevel is the all-in-one platform that replaces your entire tech stack. Seriously, think ClickFunnels, Calendly, MailChimp, Kajabi, and even your CRM all rolled up into one powerful white-label solution. You can build funnels, send SMS and email campaigns, schedule appointments, manage pipelines, run memberships, and even launch your own branded mobile app.

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8:22So visit highlevelfire.com to start your free trial and see why thousands of businesses are switching. That's highlevelfire.com, where marketing, sales, and automation finally come together. High level, join the revolution. Fire Nation, is this your year to take your business to the next level? Are you looking to learn the proven processes and success systems that have been used to create thousands of millionaire success stories? See thousands of success stories and testimonials from real people just like you who Clay Clark has mentored and coached into prosperity at thrivetimeshow.com slash EO Fire.

8:59Clay's proven business coaching program is month to month and it costs less money than hiring a minimum wage employee. Yes, it's month to month and costs less money than hiring a minimum wage employee. Schedule your free personal 13-point assessment with Clay Clark himself today at thrivetimeshow.com slash eofire. Because Clay only takes on 160 clients and only allows 300 attendees to each business conference, you will interact with Clay directly. See thousands of real success stories and learn about attending the Thrive Time Show two-day in-person workshop featuring football star and entrepreneur Tim Tebow and President Trump's son, Eric Trump, at thrivetimeshow.com slash EOFire.

9:37Become the next success story. Schedule a free consultation and request tickets to join football star and entrepreneur Tim Tebow and President Trump's son, Eric Trump, at Clay Clark's next business conference today at thrivetimeshow.com slash EOFire. Mike, we're back, and I want to talk about forming and sustaining our business models. What's the most effective way to build a business model that not only works today, now, next week, but actually lasts, stands the test of time. Yeah, so that's good. So where we've come so far is we have our team, and a team should be really interdisciplinary because every step of the way, when you're learning from your customer, what do they want?

10:22You have your financial people are estimating costs, you're getting your pricing right. So when you have your prototyping done, you already have an idea that it's profitable. You're at that stage right now. You're confirming not only demand but profitability. And your team is also wondering, well, what's it going to take to get this done? So your product starts your business model. That's really what you're going to do. And now you have to focus on, okay, how are we going to do that? To get this thing done, where we've ended up, can we do it? Do we have the right competencies? What might we be lacking in?

10:58Your team is all there and you can brainstorm, continue your brainstorms and get your idea around, okay, to get this done, this is how we have to do it. So that could be new people or more training. It could be new processes. But you really create your path to complete your business model to get to where you can fulfill the promise your product just made with your customer. And you know you can do it profitably. So all along, you've been looking at everything, every step. There's no guessing. you're well-informed, you're well-guided, and your team is competent now, and you know this is how we're going to do what we've set our strategy on.

11:37Mike, one thing that you're really good at is making money every day. So let's talk to our listeners. Let's talk to Fire Nation. Let's talk to entrepreneurs about what strategies we can use to generate daily revenue, not just these occasional sales. Yes. Well, you know, if you get involved with this process, this journey we have so far, we have our customers involved. We're creating great relationships with them. So we get an idea on how we can expand with them. We have our team looking for new opportunities to pitch. But to make money every day, I have a simple formula. And I basically take your income statement and put it in your pocket.

12:19You know, your profits are really your revenue times your contribution margin ratio. And I don't want to get too deep in the weeds, but that's just your selling price minus your direct cost. That's your margin. So you multiply your revenue times your minus your fixed cost. So why that matters, and that's a simple formula, but you have your team. If you think about that, those are just four variables I've given, you know, unit volume times price. and your direct cost and your fixed cost. So your whole team is responsible for one or more of those things. And so when you look at that and you have that equation, you can what if everything.

13:00And you can make good decisions and not guess. What if we spend$50 ,000 in advertising and can grow revenues 15 %? Well, you just, you know, you increase your unit volume by 15 % and you just take out the extra 50 grand. You know, you see where I'm going with that. Oh, yeah. Those four variables are right there. Your income statement is just that simple. Your team is in charge of them. And you sit there and you what if every day and you no longer guess, you make well-informed strategic decisions. Mike, I want to talk business plan as well as financing. How detailed should a business plan be when we're seeking funding?

13:37And what exactly are investors looking for? Well, of course, investors are looking for a return on whatever investment you're asking them to make. But my advice on business plans, a lot of people say, oh, you have an idea or new idea, make your business plan. And I say, no, go through this journey first. Get to where we've just gotten to in our discussion so far, because now you have an authentic, compelling story of demand. You can tell whether it's your banker or whether you need outside investors. You can even show the map. This is where we started. This is where we ended up. This is why. This is who's going to buy it.

14:15This is what they've said. This is our value proposition. We got there because. And so now whatever you're asking for, you can demonstrably convince your financing audience that you have relationships with customers. You know what you're talking about. There's no assumptions in your plan. You're authentic. You have a good, compelling story to tell. And we've all pitched for money. And if you have fewer assumptions and more, this is what my customers say, you're going to get the financing. Mike, in the second half of this conversation, we've talked forming and sustaining business models, making money every day, business plans and financing.

14:56Fire Nation's probably pretty stoked about this content. So if they want to connect with you, if they want to learn more, tell us about how to connect with you. Tell us about your book. Give us a call to action as we close this chat. Well, thank you so much. I have written a book called The Profitable Entrepreneur, and who doesn't like that, right? Right. But I wrote the book, and I purposefully have not done it as an audio book because my book has a lot of illustrations that can take you through everything in a very simple format. But what I've written is a very practical, simple guidebook resource to take entrepreneurs on their journey.

15:36And I've written, I've had it printed with scholars margins to leave plenty of room for your notes in the margins as you're highlighting your go to chapters. And it's really a book for you and your team to have forever to take you back. And it's written for you to create your journey for your unique business, for your customers in your market. So it's not about a bunch of basic academic platitudes, but it's really in the weeds, getting good customer relationships that will sustain your business profitably over time. And where does Fire Nation go? What is your call to action? Find me at theprofitableentrepreneurbook.com.

16:25Fire Nation, you're the average of the five people you spend the most time with. You've been hanging out with MC and JLD today, so keep up that heat. And for links to everything we talked about, visit eofire.com. And just type Mike in the search bar and the show notes page will pop right up. Mike, thank you for sharing your truth, your knowledge, your value with Fire Nation today. For that, we salute you and we'll catch you on the flip side. This is my pleasure. Thank you. Hey, Fire Nation, a huge thank you to our sponsors and Mike for sponsoring today's episode. And Fire Nation, over the last decade, I've interviewed more than 4 ,000 of the world's most successful entrepreneurs, and I've created a revolutionary 17-step roadmap to your financial freedom and fulfillment.

17:04I put it all into my first traditionally published book, The Common Path to Uncommon Success, which is personally endorsed by Seth Godin and Gary Vaynerchuk. The Common Path to Uncommon Success is the step-by-step guidance that you need to achieve the lifestyle of your dreams. Visit UncommonSuccessBook.com. I'll catch you there or on the flip side. Are you ready for the ultimate all-in-one platform for entrepreneurs, marketers, coaches, and agencies? Build funnels, automate follow-ups, manage clients, and even white-label your own software. Say hello to our featured partner, High Level, and visit highlevelfire.com to start your free trial today.

17:47Fire Nation, is this your year to take your business to the next level? Attend the world's highest rated business growth workshop taught personally by Clay Clark and now featuring football star and entrepreneur Tim Tebow and President Trump's son, Eric Trump, at thrivetimeshow.com slash EOfire. Again, request life-changing tickets today at thrivetimeshow.com slash EO fire.