20% Of Your Hustle Accounts For 80% Of Your Results
If you’re ready to start moving in the right direction and become amazing at getting things accomplished then let me explain this concept to you. It might sound simple but take the time to actually think about it. Let it sink in. I believe this concept needs to be understood by every business person out there.
I often get asked how I managed to grow my business so quickly and I can say that it had to do with a lot of things. One of them is reading a lot. I’ve never been able to get lost in storybooks, but hand me a book on business and I can’t put it down. I soak it up like a sponge and then piece it together to make it fit my life, my business, and the way I run my business. Something about business fascinates me, and I love reading how things work, how ideas succeed, how they fail. I love reading stories about others that built a business empire out of a simple dream.
I remember reading about something called the 80-20 rule. It’s actually a really simple concept, but to me, it was absolutely mind-blowing. For the past few years, I have applied this rule to running my own business and it has helped me in so many ways. It helps me make decisions quickly and always reminds me of the big picture.
Most people believe that when you put hard work in, you get the same return. If you put 50% of hard work, you’ll get 50% in results. The problem with that concept is that it usually doesn’t actually work out like that. People that have this mindset all too often spend time on the wrong things and move forward a lot slower than those who understand the concept of the 80-20 rule.
The 80-20 rule will teach you to focus on what’s really important in your life and your business. You can apply it to almost every aspect of your life and business and below I’ll list a few ways photographers can think about the concept.
The 80-20 rule states that 20% of inputs create 80% of the outputs and that 20% of the effort leads to 80% of the results.
Here are 20 ways you can apply this rule to your photography business;
CLIENTS & BUSINESS
80% OF BUSINESS COMES FROM 20% OF YOUR CLIENTS
Figure out who your top 20% clients are – these are your superstar clients!
80% OF YOUR NEW CLIENTS ARE REFERRED OVER BY 20% OF YOUR CURRENT CLIENTS
Who are your top 20% referring clients? They bring in over 80% of your NEW clientele!
80% OF CLIENTS COME FROM 20% OF THE BUSINESS REACH
What is your top 20% business outreach strategy? It is bringing you 80% of your clients!
80% OF COMPLAINTS COMES FROM 20% OF YOUR CLIENTS
Unhappy clients are hard situations to deal with but realize that it’s only 20%. (Although in the moment it might feel like 80%)
SALES & SESSIONS
80% OF SALES ARE GENERATED BY 20% OF YOUR CLIENTS
This is KEY – Who are your most loyal clients? They generate 80% of your sales!
80% OF YOUR BOOKINGS COME FROM 20% OF YOUR SESSION TYPES
What sessions do you book most of? It accounts for 80% of your total bookings!
80% OF PRODUCT SALES COME FROM 20% OF YOUR PRODUCTS
What are your BEST sellers? Those items account for 80% of product sales!
80% OF REVENUE COMES FROM 20% OF YOUR CLIENTS
Again – Who are your BEST clients? They account for 80% of your entire business revenue!
TIME MANAGEMENT & OFFICE WORK
80% OF BUSINESS IS DONE IN 20% OF THE TIME (YEAR, MONTH, WEEK OR DAY)
Know when your busy season is and make sure work extra hard during that time – it brings you 80% of your business!
80% OF RESULTS ARE ACHIEVED BECAUSE OF 20% OF THE TASKS
KNOW what your important tasks are – 80% of results come from those tasks alone! Don’t waste so much time on the little things.
80% OF EMAILS ASK 20% OF THE QUESTIONS
Do you get a lot of repeat emails from a lot of people? Save yourself time by creating email templates. 80% of ALL your emails are looking for the same information!
80% OF YOUR TABS OPEN IS 20% OF WHAT YOU SHOULD BE DOING
How many search browser tabs do you have open right now? 80% of them are unnecessary!
SOCIAL MEDIA & BLOGGING
80% OF YOUR INTERACTION COMES FROM 20% OF YOUR FOLLOWERS
Who are your most AWESOME fans? They make up 80% of all your interactions!
80% OF YOUR TRAFFIC COMES FROM 20% OF YOUR KEYWORDS
Know what your TOP keywords are – they bring in 80% of all your traffic!
80% OF SOCIAL SHARES COME FROM 20% OF THE SOCIAL UPDATES
What posts get the most shares and attention? They get you 80% of all shares!
MARKETING & ADVERTISING
80% OF SALES COME FROM 20% OF YOUR ADVERTISING
What advertising method works best for your business? It brings in 80% in sales!
80% OF BOOKINGS COME FROM 20% OF YOUR MARKETING
What marketing method works best? It brings in 80% of your bookings!
POST PROCESSING
80% OF YOUR POST PROCESSING IS DONE IN 20% OF THE TIME
Learn to focus on one task alone and you’ll get done a lot faster!
80% OF YOUR FINAL GALLERY IS 20% OF ALL THE SHOTS TAKEN
Know what your BEST shots are and put together the BEST Gallery!
Hope you enjoyed this post! And always remember the most important rule of all:
80% OF SUCCESS IS SHOWING UP
Here's a pinnable image for those of you who's like to pin it to Pinterest!