If you’re frustrated that your business results don’t match the goals you’ve set, it might be time to look at the choices you’re making along the way. In this episode of The Real Truth About Business podcast, I’m breaking down one of the most important principles in business strategy: you get to choose how you run your business, but you also have to accept the trade-offs that come with those choices. You can choose your pricing strategy, how much you work, whether you build a team, how you market, and how aggressively you pursue revenue growth. But you can’t make one choice while expecting results that require a completely different one. After 9 years of experience working with service-based entrepreneurs, I’ve seen how quickly this disconnect creates frustration and revenue plateaus. The goal isn’t to make the “right” choice. It’s to understand the reality of your choice, build the strategy around it, and own the results that come with it. What You'll Learn:How to recognize when your expectations don't match the business choices you've madeWhy every pricing strategy comes with trade-offs around volume, capacity, and profitHow to build a business strategy around the lifestyle you actually wantWhy choosing to market less can create a less predictable pipelineHow staying a solopreneur impacts capacity and revenue growthThe one question to ask before making any major business decision Episode Highlights:[00:00] Introduction: Everything in business is a choice [02:00] Why there really aren't many rules in business [03:00] Pricing for profit and what happens when you choose not to raise your prices [05:30] When your pricing choices don't support your revenue goals [07:30] Building a business strategy around the lifestyle you actually want [10:00] The question to ask: If I choose this, what else am I choosing? [12:00] Choosing not to market consistently and accepting a less predictable pipeline [13:30] Staying a solopreneur and navigating capacity constraints [15:00] Making a choice, owning it, and building the strategy around it [16:30] Wrap-up: The three takeaways for making better CEO decisions Key Takeaways:You Get to Make the Choice, But You Don't Get to Skip the Trade-OffOne of the greatest things about owning a business is that almost everything is a choice. You can choose what you charge. You can choose how many hours you work. You can choose whether you grow, scale, hire employees, stay a solopreneur, post every day, or completely rethink your business model. There really aren't that many rules. But here's the part we don't talk about enough: you don't get to make a choice and then opt out of what comes with it. Every yes has a trade-off. Every no potentially closes a door. The problem isn't necessarily that you're making the wrong choice. The problem is when you're expecting a result that doesn't align with the choice you made. If You Choose the Price, You're Also Choosing the VolumeI recently attended an SBDC event where we were talking about pricing for profit. Someone raised the concern that his clients would look at the numbers and say they simply couldn't raise their prices because the market wouldn't support it. And my immediate thought was: that's their choice. You can absolutely choose not to raise your prices. But then you also need to understand what that means for your revenue, profitability, capacity, and workload. If you choose a lower price, you're also choosing the client volume required to reach your revenue goal. If the lower price requires more clients, that means more delivery time and potentially reaching your capacity ceiling faster. Inside the Focused Visionary Framework, Pricing cannot exist separately from Pipeline and Sales. Every pricing decision changes what the rest of your business needs to produce. Build the Strategy Around Your Actual LifeI have a client who told me point blank that she likes living a lazy life. And I loved that she owned it. It isn't my job to convince her that she needs to work harder. My job as her strategist is to ask: How do we build a business strategy around the lifestyle you actually want? If she doesn't want a calendar full of calls, we're not going to build an offer ecosystem dependent on tons of one-to-one delivery. If she doesn't want to market everywhere, we need a simpler marketing strategy. Maybe growth happens more slowly. That's okay. The disconnect happens when you say you want to work less, don't want to market, aren't interested in selling, and want to double your revenue in six months. Depending on the business, those choices probably don't support that expectation. Ask: If I Choose This, What Else Am I Choosing?This is the question I want you to start asking yourself: If I choose this, what else am I choosing? If I choose not to raise my prices, I'm choosing the volume required at my current price. If I choose not to market consistently, I'm choosing a less predictable pipeline. If I choose not to build a team, I'm accepting that capacity may eventually create a ceiling. If I choose not to use Instagram, I need to choose another way to consistently market my business. There are two sides to every decision. Your job as CEO is to understand both before deciding whether that choice actually supports the business you want. There's a Strategy for Almost Every ChoiceYou don't want to be on Instagram? Fine. Where do you want to market? You don't want to sell constantly? Okay. Could retention, recurring revenue, or repeat clients reduce the number of new sales you need? You don't want to raise your prices? Fine. Can you handle the volume required at your current price, or can you improve your costs and profitability somewhere else? You want to remain a solopreneur? Great. Then we need offers that allow you to increase revenue without continually adding more delivery hours. This is why I always say that every strategy works, but they're not all going to work for you. Your job isn't to follow someone else's business strategy. It's to understand your choices well enough to build the right strategy around them. Your Expectations Have to Match Your ChoicesThis is where facts over emotion matters. You can look at the numbers and decide you aren't comfortable charging the price the calculator recommends. That's okay. But if that lower price means the big wish-list goal you've created will take longer to achieve, you need to be willing to accept that too. You have two options. Change the choice. Or change the expectation. What doesn't work is holding tightly to both when the numbers tell you they don't coexist. Make the Choice and Own ItThere are three things I want you to take away from this episode. First, you are the business owner. You get to make whatever choice you want. Second, you have to be willing to accept what comes with that choice. Ask yourself, “If I choose this, what else am I choosing?” Third, once you've made an informed choice, own it. Don't immediately second-guess yourself because someone else is doing something different. Don't abandon the strategy because somebody got in your ear. Constantly changing your mind makes it incredibly difficult to build a predictable pipeline, market consistently, and maximize your profitability. Make the choice. Understand the trade-off. Build the strategy around it. Then take action. That's what it means to operate like the CEO of your business. FREE WORKSHOP REGISTRATION - THEY FOUND YOU...NOW WHAT?? Resources MentionedGet your FREE Ceo Income PlanBook a CEO Strategy Call Learn more about The Missing Piece IntensiveLearn more about The Focused Visionary AcceleratorDownload the FREE Lead and Conversion TrackerSubscribe to the Sunday Morning Brew Newsletter About the Host: Michelle DeNio is a business strategist based in Sarasota, Florida, specializing in helping service-based entrepreneurs break through revenue plateaus using her Focused Visionary Framework. With over 300 podcast episodes and 9 years running her consulting business, she helps coaches, consultants, and service providers scale sustainably through strategic planning, pricing optimization, and sales process development. Connect with MichelleWebsitea...
