The 1-Page Marketing Plan: Get New Customers, Make More Money, And Stand out From The Crowd

by Allan Dib

To live through an impossible situation, you don’t need to have the reflexes of a Grand Prix driver, the muscles of a Hercules, the mind of an Einstein. You simply need to know what to do.

This is one of THE major mistakes made by most small business owners. They go from working for an idiot boss to becoming an idiot boss! Here is the key point—just because you’re good at the technical thing you do doesn’t mean that you are good at the business of what you do.

you must resolve to become good at the business of what you do—not just the technical thing you do. A business can be an amazing vehicle for achieving financial freedom and personal fulfillment—but only for those who understand and master this vital distinction and figure out what they need to do to run a successful business.

It turns out, the 80 /20 rule holds true for more than just land ownership in Italy. It holds true for almost anything you care to think of. Some examples: 80% of a company’s profits come from 20% of its customers. 80% of road traffic accidents are caused by 20% of drivers. 80% of software usage is by 20% of users. 80% of a company’s complaints come from 20% of its customers. 80% of wealth is owned by 20% of people. Woody Allen even noted that 80% of success is showing up.

success = more money while doing less work.

So we take 80% of 80 and 20% of 20 and end up with the 64 /4 rule. So 64% of effects come from 4% of causes. Put another way, the majority of your success comes from the top 4% of your actions. Or put yet another way, 96% of the stuff you do is a waste of time (comparatively).

Struggling business owners will spend time to save money, whereas successful business owners will spend money to save time. Why is that an important distinction? Because you can always get more money, but you can never get more time. So you need to ensure the stuff you spend your time on makes the biggest impact.

If you want more success, you need to start paying attention to and expand the things that give you the most leverage.

The marketing plan ended up being the 20% part of the business planning process that produced 80% of the result.