Happy Birthday?
I had a birthday this weekend.
It reminded me of a recent conversation I had with a prospective client who is my age and wants to sell her business when she is 60. This gives her more than a few but less than a dozen years to prepare (you really didn’t think I’d tell you my age, did you? 😅). She has a creative passion that she wants to pursue as her next chapter. I love how well she has articulated her needs and intentions. Both are essential to planning a successful and happy exit.
Since I am my own avatar--the female founder of a professional services firm who wants to sell her business someday to fund her next chapter and/or legacy--this birthday milestone was a reminder to drink my own Kool Aid.
I am, frankly, all over the place on the when and the what. I’ve got a lot of work to do in that area.
What I can do, starting yesterday, is make sure I am mindful of where I am and my progress on the journey from Hourly to Exit. So for my birthday, I did my own self-assessment. Here are my results, with green, yellow, red representing where in the journey I am currently in each category. (If you don’t have the Self-Assessment, find it here to follow along.)
MINDSET: CEO Mindset. I am super proud of my team who keep the business on the rails.
AUTHORITY: Viewed as an expert. My decades of IP experience places me in the expert category. My challenge is to get to the authority position, which will come with launching my podcast in April and my upcoming book, Hourly to Exit.
NICHE: Sub-niche. I have niched by industry (intellect-based services firms) and psychographics (female founders).
SPECIALIZATION: Limited Scope of Services. Still a bit of a moving target, but generally limited to IP-related asset building, protection and leveraging.
BUSINESS MODEL: Sells solutions, not time. I am cutting the strings with my last time-focused client!
EXCLUSIVITY: Exclusive framework. A work in progress that gets better with every client interaction. Most importantly, I am building it from the ground up, specific to my niche and specialization.
VISIBILITY: Revenue varies widely from month to month. I do not have revenue visibility yet. This will come with a more mature sales process.
STANDARDIZATION: Delivery and key operations processes are standardized. Thanks to my crack team, these are being put in place as we grow.
RISK MITIGATION: Has a risk mitigation process. What can I say, I’m a lawyer.
DELEGATION: Delegation of non-revenue generating tasks. This is a tricky one for me because, what can I say, I’m a lawyer. I don’t have another lawyer on the team, so some things can be done by me only.
CLIENT QUALITY: High client concentration. Whale clients are both a cushion and a crutch.
PROFITABILITY: Increases in revenue has potential to increase in profitability. The foundation of SOPs is in place, but revenue is still owner dependent, which flattens profitability.
FOUNDATION: Standardized signed contracts. Por supuesto.
EFFICIENCY: Automates operational tasks. I am still customizing parts of the framework on a client by client basis. Until this settles, automation will be minimal.
REPLICATION: Owner-dependent services. See above.
SALES PROCESS: Sales leads independent from referrals. No complaints! I love the referrals. Thank you to those who sent people my way. But my number one priority this year is to develop a pipeline that is independent from referrals.
REVENUE MODEL: Leveraged business model. I hesitate to put this in green. Yes, my model is leverageable. Currently, the leverage comes from increasing my efficiency rather than through delegation.
CASH FLOW: Paid in installments / Paid upon engagement. Currently, this depends upon the client and the services.
LEVERAGE: Income decoupled from founder's time. My services are either a published flat fee or per custom proposals, but never based on time.
Maybe I can add an anticipatory element to (to supplant the dread of) to my future birthdays with an annual celebration of my progress on the Hourly to Exit journey. Yes, that would definitely be a Happy Birthday. 🎂
Interested in where your business is? Find the Self-Assessment below.