Learn what your true business needle movers are and how to prioritize them each week to maximize your effort and your paycheck.

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What Does Moving The Needle Really Mean?

When it comes to business needle movers, what are we really looking at? Well for starters, we are looking at how we can reach your goals. Earning revenue is the #1 goal of any business. It is the vessels that businesses use to reach their goals that look different.

If you’re a wedding photographer, and I ask you what your #1 goal is for your business, maybe you tell me it’s to serve couples with a white label experience that includes top customer service, quality photography, and genuine support through their wedding planning journey. 

This is not your goal. This is the vessel you use in which to meet your goal of earning revenue. 

When we talk about needle movers inside our business, we are talking about the tasks, efforts, or methods we use to make a significant difference in performance to affect our business goals. 

There are a lot of metrics out there used to measure the health and performance of your business. And inside this episode we are going to talk about the difference between true needle movers and vanity metrics. 

When we talk about moving the needle inside your business, this is the brass tax of truly impacting success. And for that, there are two factors I consider. Leads and revenue. 

Inside almost every business, leads and revenue can be your two most important factors to consider when measuring success or looking at where your needle movers are. 

When you move the needle inside your business, you are affecting revenue and leads, or something that directly impacts revenue like leads. 

Therefore when we are making sound business decisions that “move the needle” inside our business… we will be looking at how this impacts money flowing in. 

Why Prioritize Needle Movers?

So why do we prioritize needle movers inside our business?

If there are 10 things we can do every day to make our businesses grow, why not do all of them? Why should we just look at what is considered a needle mover?

Wouldn’t it be better to complete needle moving tasks and all other tasks?

Well yes, in a perfect world with all the time to devote to your business, completing everything you need for your business to grow would be a dream come true. 

However, it’s not a concept that I’m even 100% aligned with at that point. 

As a business owner, you should be prioritizing your bottom line. No matter what. And even if you’re a solo-preneur doing all the things, adopting the mindset of prioritizing your needle movers will give you so much more success compared to treating all tasks as if they are equal. 

When you prioritize the tasks inside your business that directly affect revenue and/or leads, this keeps your business in the green, or inching toward the green

Identifying Needle Movers Inside Your Business

You can identify the needle movers inside your business at almost any stage. So if you’re listening to this and you’re just starting your business or your business has been off the ground and running for years, your needle movers are there and we can identify together. Right now!

The first thing I want you to ask yourself is… “what brings in revenue for my business?”

You can take things a step further and determine what is your most profitable product or service? If there is an offer that you have that you’re able to earn more income in less time or by doing less work?

Or maybe look at the bread and butter of your offer suite. Meaning what is your most popular offer that provides a consistent income?

Notice here how I’m talking directly about your products or services. I want you to look at direct revenue. Not followers. Not even your email list right now. But direct offers. 

Your offers are going to be the heartbeat of your needle movers. This goes back to your #1 goal inside your business. 

Prioritizing This Within Your Business

So you have your needle movers. You know what they are, and I’ve convinced you that they deserve extra attention that non-needle mover tasks inside your business. After all, they do bring in the money. So why not give them a little extra love right?

But what does that look like? How do we truly go about prioritizing our needle movers? Well it starts with our available commodities. 

As business owners, you have three buckets that you can pull from. And no matter what, you will have something in at least one bucket. You either have time, energy, or money. 

So when it comes to running your business around what is truly moving the needle, when you pull from these buckets; time, energy, and money, they should be centered around your needle movers. 

New projects that require energy and creativity – how can you center them around revenue and getting more people directly to your revenue invitation?

Your limited time, especially if you’re a side hustler or a solo-preneur, you don’t need me to tell you what it should be spent on. If you have only 5 hours a week to run your business, this time needs to be spent on what is truly bringing in revenue versus what indirectly may lead to revenue. 

And if you have funds to invest into your business- consider investing them into growing your needle moving strategies. How can you allocate funds to create a strategy that increases your ideal people receiving a direct invite to take the next step with you?

Using your time, your energy, and your funds is how you can go about prioritizing your needle movers inside your business. 

Letting Go of Non-Needle Movers

So we have talked a lot about the needle movers inside our businesses. I want to talk a little bit about breaking bad habits and gently letting go of some non-needle moving tasks. 

Again, this is something I really struggled with inside my business at the beginning. 

I spent so much time trying to look like a business rather than being a business and executing the things inside my business that would lead to income and execute a client journey worth repeating. 

Maybe it’s an Amy thing or maybe it is an entrepreneurial thing, but I think we can get so lost in building a business rather than looking at sales. 

A few examples of non-needle moving tasks that may or may not be inside your business include social media, logos and color palettes, web design, brand photos, or maybe even company or offer names. 

Now are these things important? Absolutely! Some more than others but they are important. Are they directly connected to income? No. 

Part of being an entrepreneur is pride. We want to put our best foot forward and be the best. And so this leads to a lot of us spending too much time on tasks like these, to feel like our best selves, rather than income related tasks. 

Non-needle movers absolutely deserve time, energy and money. Just not before the tasks that directly impact income. 

This may require some sacrifice. Like not having the best website template out of the gate when you open your business. Or putting together your own branding assets instead of hiring someone, but it can all be well worth it. 

When you start making money more easily (aka through needle movers)… you will experience a mental shift and want to focus more on what’s truly working compared to what’s not. 

Getting Started Today

If you’re like I was, you may need to shift, remove the fluff, and get down to the brass tax of making money. 

Because guess what… the person giving you money does not care as much as you do about your color palette or logo design. They care about the transformation your product or service can give them. 

Allow that to give you grace, alleviate some pressure, and bring you to the center of what moves the needle inside your business. 

And if you want someone to hold you accountable to only work on needle movers? Then let’s work 1:1!

Explore my 90-day coaching programs here. Together, we can help you determine your needle movers and create a custom plan centered around bringing you more income.