Just popped online to read a featured WSJ article about the benefits of revamping your company strategy at year-end. In expected fashion – the lead-in story is somewhat sad… It’s about an Atlanta business that is closing down their gym come January and going back to the original concept of in-home service provision. The business is losing thousands each month in overhead expenses. Yuck.
Just yesterday, during my early evening conference call, I listened to a very charismatic owner of a multi-million dollar company share that she only has 7 employees working from homes around the country and no full-time office space. It seems that they meet up every once in while on the road. But – quite frankly you would never be able to tell any of this from their empire-sized website. 7 employees – multiple millions. That’s small, nimble and highly profitable.
So clearly, the message to me is to stay small and nimble inside – big and mighty outside. That’s one of the things I ♥ about platforms. They allow for the generation of millions of dollars in revenue – a portion of which is residual. The maintenance and back office work can be outsourced to savvy service providers. Making this particular business model scalable to fantastic proportions with the addition of new products and services. And you can trek over to the computer in your pj’s to check your account first thing in the morning to see all the new sales. You gotta love that right?
In addition, you’re making a huge trade off on things like rent, utilities & CAM vs. Hosting fees or signage vs. logo and ad design. Things like marketing your business (of which you should be spending most of your time) still apply. But if your brick and mortar biz is hemorrhaging thousands every month and you’re focused on keeping the lights on and the bathroom stocked with toilet paper – who has money to market?
I do hope with her move to a small and nimble business model, she reaps success and peace of mind soon.