April 2021 Profit Report: Hiring for Niche Projects and One Lesson We've Learned for Why NOT to Invest
Episode 542: Show Notes
Welcome to another Profit Report episode of the Strategy Hour Podcast! Today, we’re talking about April 2021 and, needless to say, some money got spent, some money got made. We didn’t launch anything new in April, so this report makes a direct correlation with the fact that we have tried to build a profitable and sustainable business that brings in income, regardless of whether or not we are launching something new every month. We were still, however, working on some big projects, so we were certainly knee-deep behind the scenes! Sometimes, when that happens, we will see a dip in profitability, not necessarily in revenue, and that was the case for us in April. In this episode, we share some of the projects we have been working on, such as some exciting shop website updates and a very niche copywriting assignment, and we also discuss the benefits of choosing when not to invest, especially when it comes at the cost of truly trusting yourself!
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Tuning in, you’ll hear about some of the lessons we have learned over the past month, the past year, and the past 18 to 24 months, including the value of exposing yourself to other cultures, perspectives, ideas, and even industries. We also reflect on some of the mistakes we have made in order to help you avoid making the same mistakes in the future, so make sure not to miss this episode!
Maintaining a Focus on Usability
We launched the Creative Template Shop in January 2020 and it was due for a bit of a refresh. There were some user experience elements we wanted to update, some new search functions we wanted to add, and some changes to tagging and categories that we wanted to make, but we also just wanted to do some spring cleaning! These are the kinds of things that we want to consistently pay attention to because we don’t just want to deliver beautiful graphics or provide just another marketing service; we want this tool to be simple to use and easy to navigate so that it can save you time and help you increase sales. That is why we poured so much time, energy, and money into our Creative Template Shop in April. It is a 100 percent worthwhile expense, in our opinion, to continue to focus on usability because, if it’s not usable, why would you continue to use it?
Hiring a Niche Expert for a Niche Project
Even as people who have written so much for Boss Project, it came to our attention recently that there are copywriting niches that not everyone who is good at writing is equipped to write about. Sometimes, it is actually an effective and smart business decision to hire a niche copywriter for a very specific project, rather than trying to do it yourself, because the results you get are going to be infinitely better! In the same way that a graphic designer might be better at branding than they are at web design, a copywriter might be better at writing your ‘about’ page than writing your sales copy. Abigail and Emylee recently hired someone to work on case studies for Strategy Academy and what they loved about the process was that she didn’t just dissect previous interviews or quotes, but really gathered notes and conducted in-depth private interviews with students. This is what she does for a living; and it shows!
A Lesson on Why NOT to Invest
We have invested heavily in coaching, education, and community before and, while there have certainly been important things we have learned and people we have met, it ultimately became tightly intertwined with relying on a group to help make decisions for us. As a result, we strayed from trusting ourselves and something we talk about with our audience all the time: identifying how we want to live and running our company on our own terms and in alignment with the business decisions we make on a daily basis, which includes how we scale, sell, and invest. Oftentimes, Abigail and Emylee find that they gravitate towards an all-or-nothing mentality, so they made the decision to do ‘nothing’ for 18 to 24 months when it came to investing in the education of their community and made the time to get back to truly trusting themselves again! Sometimes, it’s about stepping back, doing nothing, and returning to your core values before making investment decisions.
Breaking Free of Your Echo Chamber
If you are not super intentional about it, it can be easy to run in the same circles and find yourself in an echo chamber of your own creation. If we have learned anything, it’s that we have to expose ourselves to other cultures, other perspectives, other struggles, other ideas, and even other industries entirely. Abagail believes that she often learns more from people who work in an area completely unrelated to hers than those who are trying to launch in the same way, over and over again. After all, wouldn’t you rather borrow from a strategy unique to your industry than rehash the same ideas as everyone else? This also relates to diversifying your business and your investments and ensuring that you have multiple revenue streams, as well as hiring jobs out to niche experts who can provide you with better value and introduce much needed fresh perspectives.
Getting Into the Numbers
The shop is a whopping 59 percent of our business and we anticipate that number will grow closer to 75 percent by the end of the year. Strategy Academy accounted for 22 percent of our business in April, while Trello accounted for 9 percent. Keep in mind that this was a “business as usual” month for Abagail and Emylee, meaning that they didn’t launch anything new. Onto our business expenses, where the cost of goods sold was right where we wanted it at 29 percent, 25 percent of which was allocated to advertising. Our team costs, however, were higher than we would have liked them to be, clocking in at 39 percent, with the caveat that we made some one-time team investments that benefited our company overall. Our goal is to have team expenses within the 25 to 30 percent range, which allows us a little more wiggle room on the profit side and allows us to invest more in one-time projects. We did see an overall profit of six percent, which is a lower profit margin because of the necessary investments we made in our business. Often, when you see results like this, your instinct might be to cut costs, but we are confident that we need to take our team and grow to new heights! We know what we are working towards, and it is totally achievable with the powerhouse team that we are building.
Quote This
Having a $10 million business isn’t the only way to make $10 million.
Highlights
Maintaining a Focus on Usability. [0:03:48]
Hiring a Niche Expert for a Niche Project. [0:09:59]
A Lesson on Why NOT to Invest. [0:16:31]
Breaking Free of Your Echo Chamber. [0:23:05]
Getting Into the Numbers. [0:39:38]
ON TODAY’S SHOW
Abagail & Emylee
The Strategy Hour Podcast
We help overwhelmed and creative entrepreneurs break down their Oprah-sized dreams to create a functioning command center to tame the chaos of their business. Basically, we think you’re totally bomb diggity, we’re about to uplevel the shiz out of your business.
KEY TOPICS
Profit report, Hiring, Business investments, Expenses
