Pod Insights The $100 MBA Show MBA2578 The One Thing Every Great Business Has That You’re Missing About this episode Is your business not performing the way you'd hoped? If you're feeling frustrated with your current results, today's episode reveals a game-changing insight that could transform your approach. Omar shares a powerful lesson from his journey with WebinarNinja, breaking down a critical element that separates thriving businesses from those that struggle. You'll discover a proven principle that successful companies consistently apply – and learn how to implement it in your own business. Ready to unlock this essential business secret? Hit play at the top of the page to discover what might be the missing piece in your business puzzle. Watch the episodes on YouTube: https://lm.fm/GgRPPHiSUBSCRIBEYouTube | Apple Podcast | Spotify | Podcast Feed
Transcript 0:00 Speaker 00 Small business owners, listen up. You started your business, but you can't do it alone. And that means you have to hire people to help. That's where Justworks comes in. Justworks is the payroll, benefits, and global hiring platform to unburden your brain from all the complicated small business stuff. They handle the things you can't afford to get wrong, so you don't have to worry. So you can focus on the parts of running a business that you enjoy, knowing everything else is running smoothly. You don't have to worry when it just works. Ever invest in something that seemed incredible at first, but didn't live up to the hype? For example, I really wanted to love the show Mad Men. I really tried to watch it and love it, but it just didn't do anything for me. As a marketer and business person, the show was a little bit of a disappointment.
0:45 Speaker 00 Marketers know that feeling. They optimize for the numbers that look great, like impressions. But then we don't see revenue. LinkedIn has a word for that: bull spend. Instead, you can get the highest ROAS of major ad networks with LinkedIn ads. Cut the bull spend, advertise on LinkedIn. Spend $250 and get a $250 credit. Go to LinkedIn.com/MBAShow. Terms apply. Are you struggling with your business right now? It's most likely because there's one thing that you don't have that every great business does. It's not funding, it's not flashy marketing, it's not even a groundbreaking idea. Today, I'm going to show you what that one thing successful businesses have that you
1:29 Speaker 00 probably are lacking, and it's holding you back from scaling and succeeding.
1:38 Speaker 00 Welcome back to the $100 MBA Show. I'm your host, Omar Zenhome, where we deliver practical business lessons three times a week, Monday, Wednesday, Friday, to help you start, grow, and scale your business. In today's lesson, we're talking about the one thing every great business has that you're missing. And here it is: laser focus. If your business feels chaotic, or you're feeling like you're spread too thin, or you're not seeing results, this episode is for you. I'm going to break down- Why this is so important, how to get laser focus? What does that even mean? And the results you will see because of it? Let's start with the power of focus.
2:18 Speaker 00 Every successful business I've seen, whether they're large or small, making $100,000 a year or millions upon millions a year. They focus on three things. One problem that they solve, one audience that they serve, one clear solution that they provide. One problem, one audience, one clear solution. Can you see how that's already very clear and very focused? When you try to do too much for too many people with too many products or services, you dilute your efforts, you confuse your audience, you make it harder for you and your business to grow. If there's one thing I learned in 20 years of entrepreneurship, it's this.
3:00 Speaker 00 Clarity wins and confusion kills. So why do most businesses lack focus? Why does this even happen in the first place? Well, here's a problem. Most entrepreneurs are afraid of focusing. This is the truth. They're worried about narrowing down. They feel like they're going to lose opportunities or customers. But the opposite is true. Focus actually gives you momentum. Let me give you an example. I started my software company, Webinar Ninja, which Nicole and I grew for 10 years. And then we just recently got acquired by ProProfs. I didn't try to build a tool that did all things for all people. I learned very quickly in my entrepreneurial career that I need to focus.
3:40 Speaker 00 So I focused on solving one big problem, which was making webinars easier for businesses to run. Not any kind of business, but small businesses, people that have, you know, teams of five or 10 people. They can't afford to have a whole production team. The person that's running the webinar is going to be the only person on the webinar in terms of a host. The rest will be attendees and they need to manage the whole thing themselves. That focus helped us attract our ideal customers. Customers that were bootstrapped, that were gritty, that needed help with the marketing side of things and needed things for the post webinar side of things like email automations. We were a dream for them because we built it for them. So the first step to get Laser focus is to identify one problem to solve.
4:24 Speaker 00 I know it's tempting to try to solve a million problems because you feel like if I solve more problems, I can sell more products and I'll have more customers. No, you need to really nail one problem first. Really do great at that. The best businesses solve one specific problem exceptionally well. Once you've done that, you can move on and we'll talk about that later. But right now, let's just focus on solving one problem. Customers don't care about you. They care about how you solve their problem. This is something I learned the hard way. If you can't articulate the one problem you solve very, very well, they won't see the value in what you're offering. If you don't understand what they're going through, if you don't understand their pains, if you don't understand what they're enduring, they're not going to believe
5:07 Speaker 00 that you will have a solution for that pain. So as an action step, you could take action right now. Write this in your notebook. What's the single most important problem your product or your service can solve for your customers? Write it down and get specific. Let's say you run a meal delivery service, like my favorite meal delivery service, Live Fit Nutrition. No, they're not a sponsor. They're just the meal service that Nicole and I use. Shout out to you, Terry, who's the founder. Absolutely love Live Fit. Let's say you're Live Fit Nutrition and the problem that you have isn't people need food. The problem they solve is they deliver healthy, delicious food to athletes.
5:51 Speaker 00 That is their target demographic. That is the solution to the problem. Super clear. So we're going to get really focused. Live Fit is solving the problem of time poor people. They have money, right? They're busy professionals. They don't have time, but they want something that tastes good, that's healthy. They don't need any food because they can go to McDonald's if they want to, but they don't want to go to McDonald's because they don't want to trash their bodies. So one problem to solve. Step two, focus on one audience. Great businesses know who they're serving. They know exactly who they're serving. When you speak to everyone, you speak to no one. This is something I want to drill in your head. I want to tattoo to your. Right? I want to make sure you know this like you know your own name.
6:34 Speaker 00 Okay, when you speak to everyone, you speak to no one. You're vanilla, you get ignored. And the worst thing in business is being ignored. A specific audience allows you to tailor your message, your product, your marketing, your everything to meet their exact needs. So they feel like you created something exactly for them. Where you've been all my life, you're speaking my language. These are all the things they're going to say about you and they're going to fall in love with your product or service because you've built it and you've created everything around it just for them. So here's an action step and you can do this in your notebook, write it down. You're going to create a clear profile of your ideal customer. Who are they? What are their main pain points? And how does your solution make their life better?
7:18 Speaker 00 For example, my business, $100 MBA, my audience is clear, aspiring and growing entrepreneurs who want practical, no fluff business lessons to take their business to the next level. I know who they are. I know their main pain point is that they don't have a lot of time. They're in a job, they're a professional. They need something that's straight to the point. My solution makes their life better because I allow them to change their life by building a business that allows them to fund the lifestyle they want. Today's episode is supported by Rosetta Stone. I absolutely love Rosetta Stone because it's helping me learn Italian faster than I can ever imagine. Why do I want to learn Italian? Well, who doesn't love Italy? But of course Nicole's family is Italian and I love to have some quick Italian conversations with her mom.
8:02 Speaker 00 And Rosetta Stone just came out with Rosetta Stone Sapphire, their biggest launch in over a decade. One of the coolest features is chat missions, which turns conversation practice into a game. With chat missions, you're put in interactive scenarios and given three objectives. A mission to accomplish, like asking how much something costs, ordering a cold brew coffee, or getting a wifi password. Along the way, you get real time corrections and feedback to help you sound more natural and confident. It's a supportive way to build confidence before putting your language skills to use in real life. I've been using Rosetta Stone for over two years and I actually can have some small Italian conversations. With Nicole's mom now. Just the other day, she asked me, when are you traveling? And I said dopo domani mattina, which means after tomorrow morning.
8:46 Speaker 00 She was incredibly impressed. I was able to answer in Italian. How could you put a price tag on a happy mother in law? If you want to take your language skills to the next level, don't wait to try Rosetta Stone Sapphire. The $100 ratio listeners can get 20% off the Rosetta Stone Sapphire subscription when they sign up today. This gets you access to Rosetta Stone Sapphire in 25 languages. The holidays are the season business owners get pulled in six directions. More calls, more requests, more chances for things to slip through the cracks. Hoping you catch it all isn't a plan. That's why today's episode is brought you by QUO, spelt Q U O. The business phone built so you never miss a call or a customer. Ever have a lead call or text at 10:00 PM? QUO's AI agent handles both 24/7.
9:31 Speaker 00 It answers questions, gets to the details and can text them a link to book an appointment. By morning, you've got the summary and can jump right in. And nobody should have to ask customers to repeat themselves. In QUO, every call, text and voicemail lives in one thread. So anyone on the team can jump in already knowing the whole story. If you have a business where your customers call or text you, this is a no brainer. You must have QUO. Money is on the line. Always say hello with QUO. Try QUO for free plus get 20% off your first six months when you go to quo.com/mba. That's Q U O dot com slash MBA.
10:10 Speaker 00 Step three, we're going to create one clear solution. One clear solution to the problem that this audience has. Your product or service should be super clear to your audience. This makes it easy to market, easy to sell and easy to scale. When it's simple, when it's easy, when they don't need to figure out, what is this again? What are they trying to do? What's this product? No, it needs to be so clear. They're like, oh, this is pretty cool. Let me share something that I learned the hard way in my 20 years of entrepreneurship. Customers don't want 10 options. They don't want 10 options. They want the right solution to their problem. The clearer and simpler your offer is, the easier it is. For people to say, yes, I want that.
10:52 Speaker 00 Most people struggle with making a decision. So when you make it simple for them, it's easy for them to make the decision to say yes and buy your product. So you want to simplify your offerings and that's your action step. Look at what you're offering out, think about what you're about to offer. If you have too many products or services, I want you to focus on the one that really solves their problem the best. The one that delivers the most value and solves the biggest pain point. Okay, don't try to do everything. Deliver something that's high, high value that they're going to be so thankful for that they wish they can give you more than money. Right? They wish they can, you know, how can I give a testimony? How can I give a review?
11:35 Speaker 00 I'm going to tell 10 people about your product or service because I love it so much. That's what you want to do. Think about Apple when they launched their first iPhone in 2007. They didn't try to sell 20 different products. They focused on one groundbreaking advice. In fact, when the iPhone came out, they had a limited number of products. They had a computer, desktop computer, they had a laptop computer and they actually had the iPod. And they knew when they launched the iPhone, that when we launch this phone, the iPod's going to go bye bye. They know that they're cannibalizing their own product, but they knew that they're solving the problem for the customer better with the iPhone. So we don't need that product anymore and we're going to sell more of the iPhones than we ever sold with anything else. And that became the reality of Apple's future.
12:20 Speaker 00 And by the way, yes, we're on iPhone, whatever 16 now, right? But iPhone, the first one was just one iPhone, one option, no Pro, no Max, no storage, you know, options. It was just one phone. Start simple and then when you start growing and expanding and making millions each year, you can start diversifying your product line. There's so many benefits of being laser focused with your business and I want to share some of them with you. The first one is it makes it easy for you to stand out in a crowded, busy market. You become the go to expert, the go to product in your space. Customers know exactly what you offer and why. They should choose you. Number two, it allows you to grow faster. Focus eliminates distractions
13:05 Speaker 00 from you, wasted effort, wasted money, wasted time, and you can pour all the energy, time, and money into what works, driving results faster. And lastly, one of the things I love about being laser focused is that it builds trust and loyalty for you and your business. When you solve a problem better than anyone else, your customers stick with you and they refer you to others and it makes it just easy for you to grow. So if you're feeling stuck, if you're overwhelmed, if you're not seeing results and you want that change, it's time to focus. Identify one problem to solve, define the one audience you're going to serve, and then create one clear solution that they need. This is the foundation of every great
13:46 Speaker 00 business. Get this right and you can create some serious momentum, some serious clarity, and growth in your business. This is one of those things, one of those times, you just gotta trust me. Okay, I've been there. I've done this for a very long time, two decades, and I know it feels counterintuitive to get laser focused. You want to go wide, but trust me, you've tried it your way. You're probably struggling right now. Give my way a shot and see how it goes. Thanks for tuning into the $100 MBA Show. If you want more helpful business lessons like today's, all you gotta do is hit subscribe. You'll get them automatically. Whether you're listening on Spotify or Apple Podcasts or any podcast player or on YouTube, hit that subscribe button. You'll get our next episode right away. We publish three days a week, Monday, Wednesday,
14:31 Speaker 00 Friday, and don't forget, we have over 2,500 business lessons in our archives. So you can scroll back to our back catalog and check out all the great stuff we got for you. I'm Omar Zanom and I'll see you in the next episode.
14:50 Speaker 01 Mazda has been named Consumer Reports safest new car brand. It starts with our approach. Every Mazda comes standard with proactive safety features. So you're more aware of what's around you, more focused on the road ahead, and ready before problems ever start. Mazda, more of what matters most to you. Go to MazdaUSA.com to learn more. Consumer Reports does not endorse or promote any product.
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