The Secret to Scaling Your Business That’s Almost Too Obvious

I don’t need to tell you that the pandemic was good for almost nothing. I say “almost” because, for many businesses that survived, the pandemic had a silver lining, namely, it forced them to learn some new tricks. Those tricks are still proving to be very useful.

I outlined a lot of these “tricks” in my most recent book–the one I wrote during the pandemic–Your Small Business Boom. One of my favorite tips is also one of the most obvious, but it’s also one that many entrepreneurs miss.

My good pal Paul learned it the hard way.

My buddy had ridden the Southern California real estate gravy train for many years. The market in L.A. seemed to go nowhere but up, up, up. Getting clients was a breeze. His income was in the mid-six figures for many years, and he thought he was a real estate whiz kid.

Until there was an unexpected and fairly sudden dropoff in the L.A. real estate market, that brought Paul back to reality. Suddenly, deals were very tough to come by, and his income took a big hit. 

It was against this backdrop that Paul learned this business secret, one that I would like to share with you today.

Not knowing what to do, Paul set up a meeting with his mentor, an old real estate pro. My friend explained the problem, and this is what the master told him:

“Paul, markets go up, and markets go down. Obviously, we are in a down market, and I don’t see that changing for a while. So, if the market isn’t going to change, you have to. Here is what I suggest: Put your time, energy, effort, money, marketing, and resources into doing bigger deals. It takes just about the same amount of effort to do a deal for a commercial property at $5 million as it does to do one for a house for $500,000, but you will get paid 10 times as much. If you are only going to do a few deals a year now because of the market, make sure they are big deals.”

So that is what my friend did. He dug in and learned everything he could about commercial real estate. He took marketing classes. He learned about selling to corporate clients. And it paid off. 

Though he did only two deals the next year, his commissions were enough to keep the dream alive. Now, a few years later with his real estate market growing again, Paul is sitting pretty. “It was a tough lesson,” he told me, “but a very valuable one. I am a better person, and business person, because of it. I have three agents working for me now, and I am making more money and having more fun than ever.”

So, how does this relate to you?

Look for bigger clients.

The answer is that you too should consider looking for bigger clients, ones with bigger budgets that have bigger needs. Bigger budgets mean bigger paydays. Who are these bigger clients? Typically, they are corporate clients, government agencies, and/or high-net-worth individuals and partners.

I believe in this strategy so much because not only does it make a lot of sense, and not only have I seen it work for others like my pal Paul, but it has worked for yours truly as well.

I am in the content business. We create small business content–articles, blogs, webinars, videos, podcasts, and so on. There was a time when I focused my marketing energy on selling to nonprofits like associations and chambers of commerce because, well, it was easy. That was the low-hanging fruit.

But the problem with nonprofits is that, well, they don’t have much profit to spend, do they?

Then I remembered Paul’s story. Duh! The answer was right in front of me. I pivoted, changed direction, and began to focus on selling to corporate clients instead. It has made all the difference. My business had a giant leap, we more than doubled revenues from the previous year, and I have never looked back.

Maybe it’s time to fish for bigger fish, no?