Success Secrets Exposed - The Metrics That Matter to 2X Your Business This Year

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Welcome to Success Secrets Exposed with Sally A. Curtis, where we share stories of challenge, success, and inspiration along with practical tips and strategies to move you forward to your success. And now here's your host, Sally A. Curtis.

Good evening, good morning, and g'day to you all, and welcome to another episode of Success Secrets Exposed. Today we're going to be talking about the metrics that matter to double your business this year. So for those that are actually new to the show, a little bit of background on myself. I'm a marketing strategist for speakers, coaches, and consultants, and I specifically specialize in content repurposing, which is the gift of turning your existing collateral into new profitable bite-sized content chunks for your social media, etc. So it's my role to amplify your voice, your message, and your impact. And I'm super, super excited to share with you today a very, very special guest, Lainey Booth, who is the CEO of a data and dashboard expert. And you know, I get excited about data and dashboard, and she has a company called The Project Booth, which is a business growth agency that uses proven metrics to help small business owners rapidly grow their business. She's extremely passionate about it and has over a decade of in-the-trenches experience. So she's very, very much a guiding light, and she helps those successful growth-minded business owners eliminate the overwhelm and brings clarity into their business that'll help them grow with their teams, helps them with their capacity, and also helps them increase their profits. So they can get back to running a business that they love. So we're gonna be talking about doing less, demanding more profit, and using killer KPIs. So please help me welcome to the show, Lainey Booth. Hello. Hello. Thank you for having me, Sally. You're very welcome. I'm very, very excited to be sharing your inner genius around data and dashboards and elements that make a significant business grow and very very rapidly. So thank you very, very much for joining us.

Yes, my pleasure. It wasn't until, you know, recently that I realized not everyone loved data as much as I do. So I think it's going to be a fun conversation.

Yeah, very much so. And I must admit, for myself, it wasn't something that I was passionate about, passionate about probably, I'm going to say 5 years, but it's at least that last 8 to 5 years. It wasn't until I realized that there was magic in the information and that I could find leverage and ways to simplify things and get back to doing other things that I really got the appreciation of systems and data. So I'm a little bit of a data geek, obviously don't understand it as much as you do, but I know the magic that it can bring a business owner from a clarity and a scaling perspective. So as I said, super excited to share that with you. So tell us a little bit of your backstory, where you started and why you do what you do now.

Absolutely. Thanks so much for asking. So, you know, for me, I was always a bit of a number nerd growing up, even through high school, and went to college for engineering and got my first job in manufacturing and supply chain. And so for, for that type of role, we were constantly trying to make more product better, faster, less expensive, increase quality. So we were always looking at the numbers to see how much progress we were making, how much we were improving. And so I did that for over a decade across a couple of different companies, some major Fortune 500 companies as well. And they sent me all over the world to look at the data, look at the numbers and see what we could do. So I've been to Panama, to Switzerland, and Appleton, Wisconsin. Um, you know, really looking at, um, different segments of the business to see what— where were the opportunities, how could we, you know, find some of the leaks happening in these different, uh, segments of the business and actually get them to grow. Uh, and I really enjoyed what I did. And then I started having, um, little ones and wanted a little bit more free time to myself.

Yeah.

And so I got really interested in creating my own business and what How could I translate, you know, what was happening, what was so successful for these large corporations? How can we make that applicable to small business as well? And so that's where I started basically asking people, like, if they had trouble figuring out where, where their business was going. Did they feel like they knew what their team— if their team was focused on the right things to grow their business? Did they feel like they were, you know, robbing Peter to pay Paul? Yeah. You know, with cash flow struggles. And the answer to most of those questions was yes, yes, yes. And so that's where I found, hey, we've got an opportunity here to specifically for small businesses. It just seems like that's such an underserved support right now that we can really dive into the numbers to make smarter decisions to scale faster and really support small business growth.

Yeah, brilliant. And why— I'm going to come back and ask the why dashboards. Now, so if I can get you explain what you mean by a dashboard. I get it, but lots of people out there that are listening won't actually understand the value of a dashboard. So talk us through what a dashboard actually is as well.

Yeah, such a, such a great question. So a dashboard, sometimes called a scorecard, especially if those of you might be in the circles of the EOS system, the Entrepreneurial Operating System, great book, Traction, by the way. Um, to explain that. But, um, essentially, you think about a dashboard like the dashboard in your car. It has a speedometer. It's telling you how fast you're going. It's telling you if the engine is overheating. It's telling you how much fuel you have left to go. That's the same sort of concept, but for your business. So we want to know how much, how much cash is in the bank? Um, are we, are we hitting the goals that we need to hit? Are we hitting the mileage, you know, that we Expect to hit along the way. So it really comes down to what are those core 10 to 15 metrics in business that can allow you to see what's happening and know if it is green light good or red light bad. And we need some attention here.

Brilliant. Um, and with, um, the metrics and those sorts of things, because you mentioned some of the, um, the problems that lots of business owners face as it relates to not knowing the leaks and also not seeing the opportunities. What are the top, I suppose, 3 mistakes or 3 to 5 mistakes that you repeatedly see in a small business or in an entrepreneur's business as they're growing, which is where your solution helps them? What are the most common, I'll call them speed bumps or hiccups? Sometimes they feel like a hiccup. Sometimes they feel like a massive speed bump.

Yes. So I will say the number one thing that I see is that they're not demanding enough profit for their business.

Yeah.

And what I mean by that is, you know, oftentimes, you know, business owners are starting as a solopreneur or it's just them or a small team at one point in time. And the, the business is running enough, but oftentimes they're not taking a salary or they feel like they can't hire or they feel like they can't, you know, seize opportunities to maybe bring on some more marketing efforts to grow the business because they simply just don't have enough profits coming out of their services, products, offers as well. And so this is a— it seems very simple, and yet at the same time it's so often overlooked, probably because it is so simple, that it's time to go back, look at your offers, look at your products or services, whatever you are selling in the business, and make sure it is profitable enough To sustain growth. So it doesn't require just you being, you know, the solo person in your business forever so that you do have capacity to hire teams. So you do have capacity to invest in software and other tools that are going to allow you to grow your business.

Yeah. And do you have a formula, um, that is a sort of a standard formula that, uh, that people can use as conversions? I know when I did some consulting work, um, for a bakery, they had a, um, I think it was a 3.5 times or a 4 times, whatever their capacity was. Do you have sort of a formula like that, um, for, um, I suppose that speakers, speakers and consultants that are in that, you know, they're selling that IP or their, their giftedness or their expertise. Is there something similar?

I can share with you what, what we tend to see most often in the clients that we work with. So, um, a couple of different segments as well. The industry is definitely going to play a big impact here, but, you know, for, for product-based businesses, we want to see, you know, at least 30% margin coming out of their products. So you have enough, um, you know, to actually purchase the product and, and sell it and, and have that margin. For more of the service-based consultant speakers, we're typically wanting to see closer to 50%. So if you're bringing in $10,000 in revenue, $5,000 of it we want, you know, coming back to, to the business owner. And then services, especially brick-and-mortar, things start to get a lot tighter because you have Rent, you have more team members, you've got to have, you know, receptionists on staff. Um, so we tend to see those get much tighter somewhere in the, in the 10 to 20% range, um, of profit in those areas is a good place to target.

Yeah. Thank you for sharing that. I think that's, um, giving people a sense of where they should be, could be, uh, or can be, um, is very, very relevant. I know in, um, in my marketing circles or from an agency perspective, we have anything from 4 times to 15 times. So it just— there's so much variant depending on the person or the service and those sorts of things. So an example of somebody coming new into my industry, they go, well, is it 4 times or is it 15 times? You know, where do I go? And often, as you've said, somebody will ask somebody in a completely different industry and that number, that starting benchmark number is completely not right for that industry. So that was a really good place to give people a bit of context as to what they should be considering for themselves. So let's have also a bit of a talk about how data and dashboards actually help people do less.

Yes. So this is really the, the second tip that I want to, to share with folks here today. You know, one of the next biggest symptoms that we see is that entrepreneurs, small business owners have been doing so much to grow their business that they've got all this baggage still left with them in the closet that they haven't cleared. So once they found ways to start winning, ways to grow the business, they're still doing all the things that actually hadn't worked for them this very long time. But they're holding onto it because they don't know if it's actually working for or against them at this point. And so looking at the data actually gives you the answers. It tells you, yes, it's working or no, it's not. Mm-hmm. So one of the best ways that we do this for our clients is to literally do an audit of what's been happening over the past year in their business. What does it look like from a financial standpoint? How has their social media performed? What are maybe some of their internal operational metrics over that time, and essentially be able to find out what has been working. So I like to break it down into the 80/20 rule, specifically to do less. So this is a great way, you know, something that you can do after listening to this show here today is to go back, look at your, just your revenue for the past 12 months and look at what brought in 80% of the revenue? More than likely it's going to be a very few of your offers and you're going to have 20% of your revenue coming from quite a few brainstorming ideas or tests or other ideas that you had along the way. And they don't need to stick around. It's okay to turn those off and to say, I'm glad I tried those. I'm glad I have the data now and I can let those go and really wanna focus on where I'm already winning. Because that is where I have technically the most opportunity. Uh, what I had an example one time where a client was like, let's see, I think she was trying to get stuff done on Pinterest.

Mm-hmm.

And I was like, well, I can see from the numbers that Pinterest isn't doing anything for your business right now. Like it's, it's not creating any revenue, um, or very little. And she's like, well, but it doesn't take my assistant much time to do it. I was like, okay, well, how much time would you say? Maybe 2 hours a week. Okay. Would you like to continue paying your assistant 2 hours a week to not see progress on Pinterest, or would you like to pay her 2 hours a week working on something that we do know is working? So what, what kind of impact might we have if we just add more fuel to the fire of the areas that are already winning for you? So, um, that is a great example of, um, just being able to recognize What's not working and then making sure that you're taking action and clearing it for that 80/20 rule there.

And isn't it so easy, um, to, to do, to justify in that manner? Because I've absolutely heard myself say exactly the same thing. Oh no, it doesn't take them, you know, it only takes an hour a week. Um, but you know, that hour, as you said, that hour a week, A, over, um, you know, 12 months is a considerable number of hours that you're just putting down the drain potentially, um, and not leveraging or maximizing because it's, you know, it's only an hour. Um, and that's the definite— the, I suppose, the devil in the detail. When you know whether it's a hell yeah or a hell no, or it's a definite yes or it's a definite no based on what you're looking at, it makes those— what I'm going to say are emotional decisions, or in that case, habitual decisions. Um, much more, yes, we need to move on from it, or no, no, we don't. Um, and in my arena, just going back to the, you know, uh, the 80/20 rule, we're often, um, taught to, um, create a signature program. Lots of speakers and consultants will create a signature program and then often hope it sells. That's the first one problem, or they, um, create lots of programs or variations, which is that testing and measuring scenario that you talked about where you fail forward fast and then stop, um, you know, tweak it and bring something else out. So we innovate regularly to bring new things out each year and to test the market to see what sticks and what actually does sell. Because we all love that creation, we actually, uh, we actually keep a lot more of them than we really need to. Um, and as you said, you have all of these, um, these programs or products that aren't doing the bang for the buck. Um, and we're focusing wrongly in the wrong areas. So I think that's Um, a great conversation to really highlight for people is really looking at that, um, that 80/20 rule as to what is actually being— bringing in, um, the revenue and really sort of, um, assess it from there. Mm-hmm. So in that situation, you've also talked about the, you know, doing, uh, doing less and demanding more profit, and that sort of ties into sort of the demanding more profit. When you actually know what is working and what's not working, and that as a result will create, um, more time, what do you suggest people do with that more time?

Ooh, that's such a good question. Um, so I think it's, it's honestly, it's a great time to pause and reflect on what you want. What are your goals? Because sometimes people just want to grow, grow, grow, scale, scale, scale. And some people want to enjoy lifestyle and enjoy extra time and freedom. And, um, it really does come, come down to probably realigning to your goals. Unfortunately, that's one thing that we do see happening is as business owners are seeing growth, they just get into this loop of filling it with more growth activities. And that may not have really been the, the reason that you started your business in the first place. So, uh, first thing I would suggest is actually pause and reflect on what you want, what is going to help you achieve your goals. Is it, you know, more, more hours to, you know, pick up the kids and be present for, um, you know, Christmas parties and things? Or is it to, you know, grow to the next million in your business? Mm-hmm. And, um, so depending on that, is this is your perfect time to To start making those, um, you know, micro adjustments for growth.

Yeah. Beautiful. I'm really glad you expressed it that way. Cause I, um, was asked a very similar question, uh, this week in a conversation we were, um, at a dinner party and it was a conversation, a conversation going around the table. And that was, are you in the scaling? Are you, um, are you a scaling, scaling, scaling driven or driven person? Are you a lifestyle person in that you, you know, you're very conscious, conscious of having that balance, or are you a combination of both, or are you one, one or the other at the moment? And that's a timing thing. And I thought that way, as you've expressed, you don't, when you're in it, um, and having been in that scaling where you just get into that mode and then you get into that, um, the adrenaline and the hype. You actually forget because you're on the, a different version of it, you know, a hamster wheel, I suppose, in a sense, you actually forget, uh, as you said, why, why you started the business. So that's such a great, um, opportunity when you do get the opportunities to do less is actually to reflect and realign, um, the, the things that you're doing for the reasons that you're doing them. Brilliantly. Thank you. Well said. So let's also now have a look Um, and a discussion around, we've got the dashboard, we've got the visibility over the data. Let's talk a little bit about systems as well.

Awesome. So when it comes to systems, I mean, we talk about being able to do less. We talk about being able to demand more profit to use the dashboard. One of the reasons that people aren't using the numbers now is because they're so darn hard to get to. Uh, they are buried in your emails. They are buried in social media stats. They're, they're, you know, trying to triangulate what happened on Facebook to Instagram to Pinterest and everything else in between. You know, the stats are just everywhere. And so one of the most beneficial things you can do is put things into a system, an automated system, to where it can do a lot of the heavy lifting for you.

Mm-hmm.

And so that's where, you know, you absolutely can have fun in some spreadsheets. If, if you want to. But one of the most beneficial things that we have found for our clients is having up-to-date information automated, and that is through the use of cloud-based software, uh, that hooks on essentially to the Social Media Matrix. It hooks on to QuickBooks or Xero. It hooks on to Asana, Trello, you know, ClickUp, these other tools. Mm-hmm. So that when you Log in Monday morning to see how your business is doing. You have one source of truth, one dashboard that you can pop up and see exactly what is happening, what happened last week versus last month versus last year, all in one spot and doesn't require any manhandling in order to get it there.

2 key things there that I've loved. One version of the truth, which we often talk about as it relates to data when you're talking data to anybody. But I also love that the manhandling it because For somebody that hasn't loved numbers and hasn't, hasn't loved data, the only reason I do now is because I've probably got a marginally better version of corralling it. But that the ability to not have to manhandle it, not have to hunt for stuff, having it all come through into that one, one dashboard makes it a very a sexy opportunity to actually get involved with because it's just so easy and becomes much more effortless.

Yeah, it's, it's become such a difference because, I mean, most, most of our clients, I will say, you know, entrepreneurs tend to be very creative, very, um, you know, new idea driven. And so to, to have dashboards as well, to have that information at your fingertips, but also the other benefit is to have them in a visual way. So we're looking at a pie chart versus, you know, a spreadsheet table, or we're looking at graphs or bubbles, you know, telling us how things are doing. And it's so much easier to like remember that in your brain as a snapshot of the day of how, how am I doing in the business versus, you know, trying to have a photographic memory of a, of the spreadsheet that your assistant sent you this morning. Yeah.

Beautiful. And I think that's so true. Um, obviously the space that you work in and the, the creative space I work in, I'm often saying I've got great clients. It's just like herding cats. And sometimes those cats, if they've got— if they're in an ideas bubble, they're like herding cats that are on steroids. You know, they're just driving through. But for them to— and correctly, they're often quite visual. They actually want to know, but they want to know like that.

Mm-hmm.

And the dashboard that's colored in a pie chart gives them that information and enables them to have that recall. So they're keeping the focus on their business as well as keeping the focus, um, on the ideas as, as they're popping up as well, which I think, uh, would become very, very exciting for them. Can you, um, I'm probably putting you on the spot a little bit, but, um, can you tell, uh, share some of the stories where you've worked with some clients and, um, sort of share, I'm gonna call it the chaos that they've been in to the, the transformation that they've then come out when they've, when you've been able to Go through the audit process with them and create something for them?

Mm-hmm. Yeah. Um, love to. So one of our clients in particular was a, a blogger and influencer. So she had a lot of content. Mm-hmm. In many different places. And at the end of the day, you know, income is coming from affiliate revenue. Mm-hmm. So how can we look at where all this traffic has been coming from? Because at the end of the day, if they land on her website, they read her blog. People tend to click through and purchase the products that she's talking about. Um, but because she was sending social media traffic there, she was sending, you know, Instagram, Pinterest, YouTube, Facebook, all the things, it was a concern for her on, well, I'm, I'm present in all these places. Do I need to be?

And what—

Because I'm paying people in all these different places, these independent contractors, to be a support and help me here. So, um, one of the most powerful things we did was really dial in and look at the behind the scenes of her Google Analytics. So if you have a website, that's another tip for the day— please do get Google Analytics hooked up there so that we can track where your traffic is coming from. And so that allowed us, uh, to, to really look into and see, all right, how much of the volume is coming from these different segments and do we need to continue? Um, and so for her in particular, we, we wanted to keep presence in, in all of the, all the different platforms, but what we paid people to do and focus on shifted. Yeah. So we pay people more, more hours to, to focus on YouTube, to focus on Instagram. We paid, you know, we tried to shore up and, and reduce our contracts and some of the other segments. So she was able to actually totally reduce her, her expenses happening each month, but she was able to start seeing 20, 30, 40% growth month over month very quickly because we were finally focused on the right things. We knew what was getting traction in these platforms and was really able to dial that in. So yeah, she, she has grown. I mean, 30, 40%, um, you know, month over month for, for a while now. And it's—

Yeah, yeah, absolutely. And being able to track, because normally, um, that is all those platforms and what's coming from where is the absolute chaos of unknown, unless you're tracking that and pulling in that data, you really don't know. And sometimes the best guesses or our own assumptions are so far off, um, off the reality. And that's where the data comes into, um, to be able to show that firstly and then be able to leverage it into more profits, as you've said, for sure.

I would add to that too, you know, one thing, um, that I hear from, from folks sometimes is, well, there's already data and dashboards built into these individual platforms. Like YouTube's going to tell you how awesome your last video did compared to So on. So Facebook's gonna tell you how awesome your last post was, but there, those types of dashboards and updates are there to keep you on the platform. They're not necessarily there to help you independently decide if it is the best fit for your business.

Yeah.

So they are gonna try to show you the metrics that are looking advantageous on the, on the vanity front, but they're not always actually helping your, your business grow.

Yeah, brilliantly said. Thank you very much. Once the other area that I'd like to explore is the team side of things and how dashboards can help teams, because I think teams often in this entrepreneurial world are often the unsung heroes of getting everything done. They're the ones that get— make things happen. They're the ones that are in the background with actually quite an incredible amount of insight that we often also tap into. So talk to us about how dashboards will particularly help a team member. Um, and then as it, as it helps the business owner.

Yes, I love this question. So one of the things, um, I often say to folks is your team wants to help you win, but they can't do that if they're playing in the dark. And unfortunately, so many team members aren't clear on what winning looks like. They don't know how their role actually impacts the bottom line, the profitability in your business. And so let's do, most people are familiar with the, you know, social media manager. So let's just say someone's in charge of, of that. What is their deliverable? Is it, do you want them to increase followers? Do you want them to increase engagement or do you want them to drive clicks to your website? Like we have to get really clear on what what winning looks like for you. And that can depend on if you're an influencer or if you are a blogger or if you are a marketing agency. Like, the deliverable could vary across the board, but I think it's very important for you, that role, that team member, to know what is most important for the business to grow and how are they contributing to that in their role specifically.

And I often think from the voices and the conversations I hear that often it's the, we just need posts out there, we just need, we just need activity. But there's nothing that follows that up. So it is just somebody hired that's for social media, as a social media manager. And often when somebody is getting a new person in the likes of first team member, they often want the super VA, you know, there's somebody that can do the numbers, that can do the marketing, that can follow up the clients and that, you know, so straight away there's several different types of inner genius there that are often, um, in separate people, in separate people. They don't all come in that one, that one person. So again, that's that. I just need all this stuff done with no thought about, you know, what is the reality of the role. What does that role help us win at in the business, et cetera? So as it relates to that with a team and not knowing that when somebody's at that growth point in their business and they're starting to look at the dashboards and the data, say for example with you, and then getting, looking at a team member, is there a, is there a better way to go with team member and then dashboard, or is it dashboard and data and then team member? Is there a preference or how do you handle? I suppose those 2 variables with what you do.

We've seen some things come before and some things come after. There's no hard and fast rule there. I will say more often than not, we are already helping them build the dashboards and then we notice that their team members aren't owning any particular metrics. So to add on to that, once you are clear on what their deliverable is, I mean, if you had to just button it down at the end of the day and say, What is this one person responsible for? If, if there was one thing I could track and I know that that was going to help me, you know, grow my business, what is that one thing? And let them own that one thing. So, you know, it might be how many bookings get, um, placed per week or per month. It might be, um, how many— how much traffic volume do we get in the website? It might be, um, the open rates on the email platform. So What is that one thing? And let them own that. And man, will you see that number start to go up? Yeah. Because once they're clear on what winning looks like, once they're clear on how they can actually impact that, that's the most empowering piece, honestly, is, is how can we empower them to do well in the job that they are already good at? Just they need a little bit more clarity on, on what that looks like. So you're really empowering them to make better decisions and then they get to see the results of their own metrics going up week over week.

Beautiful. And I think that's such a beautiful question. You know, what does winning look like? Because you often hear, um, in my arena, you know, making sure that, um, team members are profit centers versus expense centers, which sounds logical and lovely, but how do you actually do that? And when you start asking, well, how do I actually do that? That in itself is a null and void question because there's lots of different things. But when you ask that same question in a, what does winning look like? And you start to get some fundamental elements around that, that then actually helps you, as you said, finding the one thing for each of those team members to latch onto. And when somebody knows what their racetrack is, magic happens. Brilliant.

Yes. One of the, one of the things I would love to add to that, Sally, is, you know, one of the questions we get is, well, how do you get buy-in for this? Because, you know, you know, Lane comes in looking at, you know, business owner's business and says, hey, your teams need metrics. That's not really the most advantageous way to approach this. Yeah. So one thing that we have found is to include them in the process. So Let them know that, hey, we want to be able to showcase how, how you're contributing. We want to be able to pat you on the back when, when you do get some big wins here. And we feel like right now it's not very clear. So, you know, we would love to get some feedback from you. Like, what do you consider the most important things that you're doing for the business right now? Are there some metrics that would actually help you make better choices for your role? So like being able to ask them a little bit more about their business, making it a collaborative thing versus a, here's, here's a new to-do item for you on Mondays, uh, is also a big win.

Yeah. Beautiful. Thank you. And Carrick, continuing on that conversation as it relates to, I suppose, keeping in touch, um, being, um, strong on your communication, how do you transpose that? Because I remember one of your tips was around communicating Um, regularly, uh, with your, uh, your clients, et cetera. So talk us through, um, how the dashboards and the data and those strong relationships with the team member then transfer over to the relationships with the clients as well.

Yeah. So this is actually such a powerful piece, particularly because most, many small business owners are not using data right now. This is a time to overcommunicate what What is happening. So yes, while the dashboard may be bringing the information to you, what we found to be super helpful is to give some bite-sized aha moments on a weekly or monthly basis as well. So being able to jump in and say, hey, here's where we see your wins are for the week, here's where we see your watchouts for the week.

Oh, nice.

Or month as well, because business owners, honestly, like, guys, we just need to give ourselves a pat on the back because we're doing amazing things. And so,

um,

to, to share those wins, uh, kind of bolsters confidence. It proves that some of the things you've been testing are finally working. So we need that moment to, to kind of pat ourselves on the back. Mm-hmm. At the same time, we also want to continue forward progress. So where are some of the watchout items? Did, uh, you know, deposits not go through? You know, last week, did we see a dip in some of our marketing metrics? Did we see a team member's metrics start to drop? So those are some, some key pieces that we see in communicating with clients. And then on the team side of things too, this is their opportunity to, now that they own their metric, that they report in on it each week as well so that they can share. Mm-hmm. and give context. So maybe the number was the same, but they tried 3 new things last week to see if the number could improve. You know, I wouldn't be able to see that just from a trend line on a graphic. So being able to add context as to what's happening, the qualitative pieces are very important to go in tandem with the quantitative pieces.

Yeah, beautiful. And I think too that the celebrating of wins, both for ourselves, our teams, and our customers is such, uh, underutilized, it's such a powerful thing. And I'm totally guilty of this. And I actually have a book now where I write my daily wins down in, because if somebody asks me at the end of the week, you know, what wins have you had? I'll go, oh, that and that. But there's actually a hot— when you actually record it on a daily basis, there's actually so many that we overlook. And therefore we actually don't think we're progressing or we don't think things are changing or we think we're still where we are. are. But we're growing so much. And I think that absolute awareness for ourselves is dramatically powerful if we take the time to acknowledge that. But just from the team's perspective, when they know that they're now winning and they're actually helping you win, that just makes for a whole new level of collaboration. And you see that sort that uplift. So being able to give them tools to create that, you know, that mat would be a magical uplift because that's sort of obviously where the momentum and that sort of 2 times in comes in because you get your benchmark and then you, with that added advantage, you sort of literally have that, um, flip up, um, extra as well.

It's like compound interest. It just, it starts to take on a life of its own.

Yeah, absolutely. So is there any other, I suppose, major lessons or particular KPIs that you would like to share with the audience just to give them some additional context to help them move forward?

Well, I would like to share with you kind of our KPI framework. So KPIs, by the way, are those key performance indicators. These are typically, you know, the real movers and shakers of your business, the most important metrics. And oftentimes we get asked the question, well, which ones are they? Yeah. And so we invite folks to think about the ABCs. This is our ABC framework that we teach folks. So A is all about analyze. We need to analyze what's happened in the past to know something we need to monitor in the future. B is tying it to the bottom line. Does this number help you make better decisions for your bottom line growth, that profitability? profitable growth? And then C, does it provide clarity? So, you know, there can be numbers that you can get to, numbers that maybe your team member likes, but at the end of the day, does it help you make clear decisions on what to do next and have those data-driven decisions to grow your business? Mm-hmm. So that, that's our ABC framework to analyze bottom line and clarity to see if this is a metric that actually does need to be front and center on your radar on a regular basis.

Yeah. So it is actually just, I suppose, choosing the right ones for the right business at the right time. So some of those KPIs would change, I would imagine.

Absolutely. So, um, you know, we, we walk our clients through, um, an audit and a goal setting process. So, you know, kind of, kind of like the question you asked me earlier, Sally, like if you had more time, what would you do with it? And it depends on if you want lifestyle or if you want scaling, if you want a bit of both. Same thing for, for the metrics. I will share too, one thing that might be helpful for listeners is we do tend to break things down in 3 major categories where number one is finances. We want to make sure that you are seeing profitable growth. So metrics around your finances month over month, year over year tend to be something very common on most dashboards. So. What was your monthly revenue, um, coming in? How does that compare to last month, last year? Um, another key area is in the operations space. Mm-hmm. It's one of the most overlooked areas, uh, because it's a little bit harder to get to the information sometimes. Yeah. That's where your team members come into play. That might be, you know, membership churn, that might be, uh, appointments being booked. You know, some of those internal pieces. Mm-hmm. That make the business run. And then the third area is in the sales and marketing platform area. So what is that outbound outreach looking like? Where are you present? Where are you getting visible? And is it, is the call to action being taken at the end of that phase as well? So those are the 3 main categories that we help dial in for our clients.

Yeah. Beautiful. And for those that are listening on the call, we've just got going across on the ticker, the opportunity to get a free download from Lainey today, which is a 12 metrics checklist and a mini course. And that's at www.12metrics.com. So you'll be able to grab that and that'll be on the social media channels as well. So I think it's really important. I just wanted to come back to the operational side of things and That is such an often untracked element. And I'm sure we had a conversation at one point, or it'll be a combination that would be relevant to you, where somebody had their membership site and that they realized that there was drop-off at a certain stage within their cycle and when they were actually able to identify that, they were able to put things in place that changed that result. Was that you? That was me.

Yeah. Good memory. Yeah.

Would you mind just sharing that? Because for me, that was, um, such a forgotten element that can make such a massive difference to somebody's profitability. And all it takes is actually knowing it and putting a few little new, you know, new emails or touchpoints in place. So. I won't be a spoiler alert anymore. I'll let you share it.

Absolutely. So yes, so we were working with a fantastic membership provider at one point in time, and you could pay month to month and enjoy the membership perks inside there. And so what we were finding though was that by tracking the data, we found that, hey, after about the 3 to 4 month mark, people start dropping off. They start canceling their membership. And so the— we're like, okay, well, now that we know that it's there, what can we do to fix it? So some of the things that we did were, you know, initially, you know, ask them, you know, why, why were you canceling? But then we also put some incentives in place. So, you know, each quarter, you know, there were some new and exciting live trainings that were happening in addition to the, you know, the already preloaded content. for the members area. And so just implementing some networking events or implementing a special training on a quarterly basis kept them coming back, kept them staying in. And they were able to go from 3 months to 6 months on average very quickly. And then I know they've also continued to improve that on top of that as well.

So not being necessarily a good numbers person, that would've indicated a 25% percent growth, wouldn't it?

I mean, that's double if you go from 3 months to 6 months.

Yes, it's 50%. Yeah. Yeah. They said, told you I need to check, cross-check numbers. That's that. And that's brilliant. You know, with just a couple of additional things implemented, doubling their revenue growth and target. That's brilliant. Thank you for sharing that. I really wanted to highlight that because there's lots of people that are looking in my community at looking at doing membership sites. And there's lots obviously that have membership sites. But there's so many, you know, little tiny tweaks that you can do to make a huge difference with all of your communities and audiences when you know the magic that's actually in the data, which is brilliant. I'm just conscious that we're just getting close towards the end of the show. So what I'd like to do very, very quickly is just nip to a very quick commercial break and then we'll come back. And wrap up and get ready for next week.

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Thank you very much. So I've just— that gives me a chance to look at my notes, and I've got a page full of notes from today. So thank you very much, Lainey. And I think, I think for me, it's And for the audience, it's really asking yourself the question, do I really want to maximize all of these opportunities I've got? Do I also want to know what my leaks are so I can get rid of them, so I can actually look at 2xing my business in the next 6 months as we go into the end of the year and then prepare for that new year? And being able to acknowledge your wins. And know what your watchouts are. And being able to ask your team members and yourself, what does winning really look like for us? And what does winning really look like for you and me working together when it comes to your team members? So I think that was some of the key things that I've taken away from today, as well as the, you know, the 80/20 rule and the different ways of looking at your revenue. So you are making sure that you are getting the profitable elements in your business that you're wanting as well. Anything else that you'd like to share in closing, um, Lainey?

Yeah, I would just share, you know, when it comes to scaling, it's really the best time to bring the data and not the drama. It's, it's time to, you know, really know your numbers so that you can grow your business profitably.

Yeah. Beautiful. Love that. Not drama, but data. Yeah. Brilliant. So just as a quick wrap-up, um, for next week's show, we have Shane McLean coming on. Now he's a fascinating gentleman and we're going to be talking about the thirst from within. He's an Academy Award winner, a bestselling author, and he works with high-level CEOs and entrepreneurs who believe that they are here for more than just the everyday rut scenario. He actually brings shamanic practices, um, into— and marketing practices into the CEO world. So he's crossing both boundaries. He's got a foot in both the spiritual arena as well as the corporate arena, and very, very strong background in marketing and storytelling. So it's going to be a fascinating, um, show with Shane next week. So we look forward to seeing you next week. on another episode of Success Secrets Exposed. And can you please help me thank Lainey Booth from The Booth Project for joining us with and providing such fantastic information and insights to enable us all to move forward, be more profitable, have more time, and have more fun in our businesses. Thank you very, very much.

Thank you, Sally. It's such a pleasure.

Thank you. Thank you very much, Lainey. You have a great day and stay warm and enjoy your evening.

All right. Thank you.

Take care.

Bye. That's it for this week's episode. Thank you so much for joining us. I trust you got some inspirational tips to move you forward. See you next Thursday at 7 PM Eastern for more Success Secrets Exposed.