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One of the most successful small business coaches in the country, Howard Partridge, explains how to grow your business without being a slave to the 24/7 burnout that so many business owners endure.
It’s all about relationships. He’s used the non-digital affiliate marketing concept to create personal relationships with referrals. An eloquent hack he employed was to find out what the person likes — donuts, espresso beans, etc. — and then send them a food package and ask for five minutes of their time to see how they might help each other. But wait till you hear the one question he asks himself every day that recently led to a 1000% increase in profits in the first 2 months of 2016!
About Howard Partridge
Howard Partridge with co-host, David G. Johnson. Photo: Jake Mavella
[clickToTweet tweet=”Your business exists for one reason only: to be a vehicle to help you achieve your life goals.” quote=”Your business exists for one reason and one reason only: to be a vehicle to help you achieve your life goals. – Howard Partridge”]
Howard Partridge grew up on welfare in “lower” Alabama (“LA”). After spending some time waiting tables, he started his first business out of the trunk of his car with all the money he and his wife, Denise, received as wedding presents. After 13 years in business, it had grown $30,000 month in revenues, but he was a slave to it 24/7.
That’s when he learned two powerful truths after reading a book that changed his life.
Shortly thereafter, he began to experience freedom in his life and business, and began coaching other business owners about how to implement systems in their businesses to accomplish the same thing in their lives. Today, that business he began out of the trunk of his car is a multi-million-dollar-a-year business, and Howard has written 4 top-selling books, is the exclusive small business coach for Ziglar, Inc., and runs 4 conferences every year that help business owners achieve profitability and effectiveness in their businesses.
Show Notes
- Howard’s business life began to change when he read The E-Myth Revisited by Michael Gerber
- Zig Ziglar’s last book, Born To Win: Find Your Success Code, includes a chapter written by Tom Ziglar which features business systems built around this quote from Howard: “Your business exists for one reason and one reason only: to be a vehicle to help you achieve your life goals.”
- Howard talks about the one question that recently brought about a massive increase in profits for his business. Read about it in The ONE Thing: The Surprisingly Simple Truth Behind Extraordinary by Gary Keller
- Pick up a free copy of the audio of Howard’s book: 7 Secrets of a Phenomenal L.I.F.E. at SecretsOfAPhenomenalLife.com
- We also shared stories out of Profit First: A Simple System to Transform Any Business from a Cash-Eating Monster to a Money-Making Machine by Mike Michalowicz
- Get the free audiobook of your choice by visiting AudibleTrial.com/dream — support Grow The Dream Show and improve your business! (We recommend The E-Myth Revisited or Profit First, since you can get a free copy of Howard’s book at the link above!)
- A “system” for your business is, “a group of working parts that duplicates results consistently.”
- Five major systems in every business:
Marketing → Everything you do to attract prospects into your business
Sales → Everything you do to convert prospects into paying customers
Operations → Everything you do to service your customers, clients, patients or members
Administration → Everything you do to track the numbers and protect yourself legally
Leadership → Everything you do to plan your business, lead your company forward, build your team - There are 5 vital components of a system:
Vision → Mission, Values, Purpose
Organizational Chart → Outlines roles & responsibilities
PRD (“Performance Results Description”) → Clearly articulates outcomes
Procedures → The step-by-step components of the system
Policies → Guidelines to help you fulfill your vision & your values
- Howard’s system for targeting influencers to help bring you new referral business. First: identify your prime “referral source” prospects (look at people who have supported you in the past, people who have complementary businesses, etc.) and target that industry/niche. Second: (if they’re local), you show up with goodies (doughnuts, cookies, popcorn, chocolate, etc.), introduce yourself, hand over the goods, and turn to leave. Third: send them a nice greeting card with a box of brownies (hint: use Send Out Cards)
- In an industry dominated by low-price advertisers, Howard’s service company took the opposite route and focused on the high end. By building relationships with top referral sources, they ended up receiving the highest quality referrals possible.
- Get free resources from Howard and learn about the upcoming conference in May by visiting HowardPartridge.com