TODAY, IN 4 MINUTES OR LESS, YOU’LL LEARN:

1. How the 80/20 Rule can transform the way you spend your time, money and effort
2. How to weed out ineffective marketing strategies, time-consuming tasks, and clients you’re not aligned with
3. How to laser in on the vital few activities that are generating the most ROI for your business

Ever wish you had a secret weapon in your business, that would help you know *exactly* where to focus your time, energy, advertising budget, content creation and more?

Good news: such a thing exists. It’s called Pareto’s Principle, aka the 80/20 Rule.

It’s delightfully simple, but don’t let that fool you — it’s also crazy powerful (and spookily accurate too).

Here’s how to use it…

Pareto’s Principle Explained

The 80/20 Rule says that in any given circumstance, 80% of outcomes are due to 20% of causes. 

If that sounds confusing, think of it this way: a fraction of your efforts really does produce the bulk of your results.

In your entrepreneurial journey, this translates to:

• 80% of your sales comes from 20% of your offers. 
• 80% of your income is generated by 20% of your loyal clientele. 
• 80% of your leads come from 20% of your marketing channels.

So how can you use this formula to transform your business?

The true value in doing an 80/20 analysis is figuring out what people, activities or opportunities are giving you the best ROI in your business — whether that’s on your time, money, effort, whatever.

Knowing the true ROI of things has massive implications for almost every area of your business, including — 

Your Products:

Which ones are your real showstoppers? The 80/20 Rule can show you which products are driving the bulk of your revenue, and allow you to readjust your launch schedule and advertising budget accordingly.

Your Marketing:

Busting your gut on 5 different marketing channels? The 80/20 Rule will reveal which ones are paying off, so that you can prioritize those channels and waste fewer resources on the others.

Your Social Media:

An 80/20 analysis will show you which types of posts are resonating with your audience, so that you can focus on creating more of them (and less of the stuff that’s missing the mark).

When you’re applying this rule, the exact percentages don’t matter so much as identifying the minority cause and majority outcome. And the figures don’t need to add up to 100% exactly.

So maybe for you, 25% of your products are responsible for 70% of your sales.

That’s totally cool. The spirit of the rule will reveal more than the specifics.

This principle is sometimes dubbed ‘the law of the vital few’ because as you can see, it highlights which vital few activities are giving you the most results.

Which leads us to the most powerful application of this law…

The 80/20 Rule is a ‘cheat code’ for how to prioritize your resources.

As an entrepreneur, your time, energy and budget are finite. 

Learning which “vital few activities” you should spend them on is therefore one of the most crucial skills you can develop, and can mean the difference between hitting your income goals for the quarter… or working long hours with nothing to show for it but a big old case of burnout and an empty bank balance.

But that’s not all this rule can do for your biz…

The 80/20 Rule can also help you unmask problem areas.

Want to know which areas of your business are more trouble than they’re worth? 

With the 80/20 Rule, you’ve now got a proven, reliable way to find out that information.

For example:

Say Goodbye to Anyone Who’s Not a Dream Client

You’ll likely find that the majority of your client-related issues come from a small percentage of your clientele. 

These could be clients who are perpetually late, repeatedly delay payments, or demand a disproportionate amount of your time and attention.

Action Step: Got a few clients springing to mind? Once you’ve identified the culprits, evaluate whether the potential long-term value they bring to your business outweighs the drama they cause. 

In some cases, bidding them a polite yet firm farewell might be the best option to reduce the strain on your resources… and your sanity!

Reduce Time-Consuming Tasks

Beware! 20% of your tasks might be consuming 80% of your productive time. 

Common culprits include administrative chores, obsessive email checking, repetitive low-impact tasks, and inefficient processes.

Action Step: Pinpoint these time-draining tasks and consider automating, delegating, or eliminating them entirely so that you can focus on growth-driving activities.

Eliminate Customer Problems

It’s likely that a vast majority of customer dilemmas, questions or complaints are due to the same 20% of recurring issues.

Action Step: Pinpoint these recurring glitches, and then build solutions that not only counteract them, but that enhance the overall customer experience. 

This could mean: providing better instructions in your on-boarding process, resolving tech bugs, writing a detailed FAQ page for your website, or providing more training to your team so they’re better equipped to resolve things.

Note that the goal here isn’t to cut out problems blindly, but to understand them better and make more informed decisions.

And though it might take you a little time and effort to apply this rule and do this assessment, the end result is SO worth it. (I mean, come on: 80% less stress? That’s a giant ‘heck yes’ from me!)

The Key Take-Aways

• The 80/20 Rule is a powerful lens through which you can view various aspects of your business. Whether it’s amplifying positive results or mitigating negative ones, it can help you prioritize your precious resources and empower you to make better decisions.
• By regularly applying this rule, you can streamline operations, reduce headaches, and increase overall profitability, setting you on a path of consistent growth and success.
• In the world of entrepreneurship, it’s not about doing more, but about doing what matters. And this rule will help you figure that out. 👊

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Til next time, sending so much love,