If you blinked, you might’ve missed it. But glossing over it would be a mistake.
We’re talking about a sentence in yesterday’s edition of The Daily(ish) Advocate.
(The short version of that email: we screwed up when relaunching this newsletter because we didn’t take the time to think about who our ideal customer is.)
In yesterday’s email, we wrote…
“… we’ve spent a lot of time this past month thinking, writing, talking and brainstorming about who our ideal customer really is.”
It’s worth digging into that sentence a bit deeper. Because spending time IDing your ideal customer is some of the most valuable time you may ever put into your biz.
One of my (virtual) marketing mentors is Perry Marshall. He started out as the “AdWords Guy” but has proven to be way more than that in the marketing world. Perry is a deep thinker who has earned the respect of many top marketers like Dan Kennedy and Jay Abraham.
Of the things I’ve learned from Perry over the years, this may be THE single most important concept…
… One he’s covered in emails, his newsletter, and his book “80/20 Sales and Marketing: The Definitive Guide to Working Less and Making More”.
The concept is this:
In your business, there’s $10/hr work, $100/hr work, $1,000/hr work and $10,000/hr work.
The amount of money you ultimately make is directly proportional to how much time you spend doing each.
$10/hr work includes things like:
Building and fixing stuff on your website, running errands, talking to unqualified prospects, working social media the way most people do
$100/hr work:
Managing PPC campaigns, outsourcing simple tasks, doing social media the right way, writing emails to prospects/customers
$1,000/hr work:
Writing sales copy, building your sales funnel, planning and prioritizing your day, creating PPC campaigns
Then there’s the $10,000/hr work:
Figuring out who your ideal customer is lands here. As do things like improving your Unique Selling Proposition, creating new and better offers, negotiating major deals and public speaking.
The irony is doing this $10,000/hr work often doesn’t feel like “work.”
It may involve…
… a discussion with a business partner or trusted advisor…
… sitting down and brainstorming with a pencil and notepad…
… deep, focused thinking…
… All done with directed attention, intention, and an ultimate goal in mind – IDing your ideal customer avatar. Honing your USP. Crafting that offer.
You know what it DOESN’T involve?
Obsessing over your Inbox, making updates to your website, accounting tasks, most meetings, posting to so-shill media, dealing with needy clients, troubleshooting IT issues, etc.
These things may make us feel like we’re doing something productive. Like we’re “working” and making progress in our business.
Yet they ultimately distract us from the truly important, moolah-making tasks a business owner should focus on.
This isn’t something I share as the “guru on the mountaintop,” being all preachy, trying to shame those of you who spend too much time on these tasks.
Just the opposite.
I’m one of you. Each day I spend way more time with email, QuickBooks, and other low-value tasks than I should.
I understand the struggle – firsthand – of trying to escape the grip all this busy work holds over us.
So I share this concept as a reminder to both myself – and all of you – to make more room in our days for the $1,000 and $10,000 an hour work.
The time spent IDing our ideal customer, how we can best serve them, and what offers would be the most valuable ones for them…
… was HARD work.
But as I was doing it, I knew, deep in my bones, it was some of the most productive time I’d spent in a LONG time.
Time that will pay off way more than if I’d been at my desk, in front of my computer, doing the usual day-to-day tasks.
Now, you may be thinking, “that’s all well and good, but I’m barely keeping my head above water as it is with work and personal commitments. How the heck am I supposed to find time in my day for the $1,000 and $10,000 an hour work?”
Well, depends on your situation. Maybe you could:
- Outsource or automate some $10/hr tasks.
- Get up an hour earlier each day or do a better job prioritizing your To-Do List.
- Cut down on so-shill media or obsessively doomscrolling through the news ticker for the “breaking” news of the hour.
I’ve also found it helps to erect immovable barriers around some things. For me, I won’t give up family time or exercise to work more. So I know I have to carve time for high-value work out of other parts of my day.
You just have to find what works for you.
At the very least, thinking about how you spend your time each day is a worthwhile exercise.
Think about which tasks are the lower value ones and which are the $1,000 and $ 10,000-an-hour tasks that, if you spend more time on, can add some more zeroes to your income.
There’s good reason this concept gets an entire chapter in a book about working less and making more… Use it wisely!
