MM#321--Taking Your Business to New Heights with Donald Miller's 'Business Made Simple'

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Welcome to the Theory to Action podcast, where we examine the timeless treasures of wisdom from the great books in less time, to help you take action immediately and ultimately to create and lead a flourishing life.

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Now here's your host, david Kaiser.

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Hello, I am David and welcome back to another Mojo Minute.

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Earlier this week we talked about business and the business of not making noise, about making a symphony of our message to our customers.

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In that book we chatted about building a story brand and the author was Donald Miller.

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Well, today we're going to keep going and keep mining some nuggets of wisdom from Donald's latest series of books.

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Now he's written several there.

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Business Made Simple is the book we're going to cover today.

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There's actually a whole series of books Business Made Simple, marketing Made Simple, negotiation Made Simple.

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So Donald is on a good run with this series and I love his writing.

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Just finished Business Made Simple and it's a fantastic book, and what I really love is how simple yet effective Donald can teach about a particular subject.

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In fact, donald makes the point throughout the book that he actually teaches throughout this book is this book is more important than the degree you possibly got from a major university in business, and he even makes the claim it's far more valuable.

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So for all you business degreed professionals out there, please let me know via email if this book is more valuable than your business degree.

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But with that, let's get into the details.

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Let's dive into this book Business Made Simple with this quote.

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This book Business Made Simple with this quote.

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How do you know whether a business is going to crash or fly?

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To answer that question, you first have to understand the dynamics of flight.

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In the most simple terms, a business works like a commercial airplane.

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For my analogy, I'll show you five distinct parts that'll have to work together in order for the plane to fly.

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Each part will represent an aspect of your business and each part has to be kept in proportion or the business will crash.

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Let's dig in.

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The body is the overhead.

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The body of the airplane is, of course, where you put the people and the cargo.

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This is the largest part of the plane, but it's also the whole point of the airplane.

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The airplane exists to get people where they need to go.

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This is also why a business exists.

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A business exists to solve a problem for customers.

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In exchange for solving their problems, money is exchanged and team members get jobs, health care and so on.

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The body of the airplane represents your overhead.

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Overhead includes salaries, medical benefits, rent, office supplies and so on, rent, office supplies and so on.

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These are the necessary expenses, because it takes people and supplies to solve customers' problems in exchange for revenue.

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Our next key point the wings.

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These are the products and services.

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The wings of the airplane gives it lift.

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When the engine thrusts the airplane forward, the air pressure lifts the wings off the ground, taking the body of the airplane with it.

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Your products and services are what gives a business lift.

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The wings of the airplane represent everything you sell.

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Think the products you sell as part of the plane.

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That gives the airplane lift.

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Without profitable products to sell, no air ie revenue can lift the airplane off the ground.

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No-transcript.

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The engines thrust the plane forward.

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In a single-engine plane you'll likely only have a marketing budget, but in a dual-engine aircraft you'll have a marketing budget and a sales team.

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Regardless, without some kind of engine selling the products and propelling the plane forward, the wings cannot create lift.

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Some kind of marketing system or sales team needs to thrust the business forward and sell those products.

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Our next key component the left engine, the sales engine.

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It's true that a dual-engine plane can fly using only one of its engines, but when you fire the second engine up, the airplane moves with greater thrust and gets even more lift.

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It can now fly faster and farther and the body of the airplane can get even bigger, employing even more people to solve even more problems for customers.

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Very true.

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And our final key component fuel.

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The capital and cash flow.

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Lastly, the airplane will need fuel.

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No matter how efficient the airplane is or how light it is, without fuel it will crash.

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Fuel represents cash flow.

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A business may glide a little when it runs out of cash, but eventually it will crash and everybody on board, the body of the business, will lose their livelihoods.

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So that is a long quotation, but I think a very effective quotation because it's fascinating.

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Is that not a good metaphor and analogy to capture a business?

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I think it's wildly effective.

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The airplane metaphor equals a simple business.

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So, to recap Donald Miller and this use of the airplane metaphor, especially on these complex business concepts, think about this the right engine actually, let's go back to the cockpit, because he really didn't talk about this, but the cockpit represents leadership, crucial for guiding the business.

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Again, he didn't mention it in our quote, but he does so later in the book, so I wouldn't include it In.

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The right engine that symbolizes marketing, the driving brand, visibility in customer acquisition.

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The left engine represents sales, which is essential for revenue generation and to lift those wings.

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Speaking of wings, as we mentioned, these are the products and services crucial for the business's core operations and its value proposition.

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They give the lift to the whole airplane.

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Then the body stands for the overhead and the operations supporting the day-to-day functioning of the business, plus it's cargo.

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It's the whole reason why the business exists to solve customers' problems.

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And then, most importantly, is the fuel tanks, which symbolize the cash flow.

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This is necessary for sustaining operations and growth.

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You're going to need this to go, to move forward.

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Fuel is your go-go juice, your thrust.

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So I think this metaphor greatly helps out.

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Business owners visualize their company as a cohesive unit where each part must function properly for the whole to succeed.

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But more importantly, it helps employees too.

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So many employees have no idea how a business actually operates.

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They just show up and expect a paycheck for work done.

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But employees today, especially in the small companies in the 21st century, they want to feel, and almost need to feel, part of all the decision-making.

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And I think this book helps them to see the big picture.

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It emphasizes the importance of balance and interconnectivity among the different business functions and parts of the airplane that must work together to ensure a safe and efficient flight.

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I just think that's great, isn't it?

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I love how Donald makes the metaphor of our businesses like a plane.

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It's so simple yet extremely effective.

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We all can envision a plane and what it takes for the plane to fly.

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We've seen planes fly and how the plane needs all those components to help it get off the ground and fly high and soar.

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I mean, after all, who wants a plane that could just barely lift off the ground and then comes crashing back down to the ground?

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And if you talk to many business owners, which I do daily in my nature of work uh, I travel across five States talk to many business owners small companies, medium companies, business owners for the most part feel like they're flying an airplane and things can get scary at times when they're flying at 10,000 feet and doing well, and you can almost sense it in their face and in their conversation.

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They have the attitude of kind of don't screw it up, don't crash the plane, because they're looking down at the ground and thinking I have to keep this plane flying high and soaring, not only for myself but everybody else on board.

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I have responsibilities.

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We can't have the engine sputtering and barely working and have the wings doing something different and then one engine not working.

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That doesn't work.

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That doesn't keep the plane flying.

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So here's our nugget of wisdom Whether you're a business owner or not, I think everybody would be the wiser to read this book.

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It's a short book because it helps the lay person and the business owner to understand and conceptualize how businesses actually work.

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And yet the teaching is simple and effective.

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Now let's dig into this mojo a minute a little bit deeper, with some more uh, let's call it advanced, advanced version of this teaching.

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Let's go.

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Let's go business not 2.0, but let's go business 3.0.

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Let's dig in to just talking about the wings, because I think you'll find this fascinating.

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Going back to the book, oh, the wings.

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Is there a demand for products we are selling and are they profitable?

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That's the question.

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It's easy to get confused about what products we should create and which products we should allocate valuable sales resources to.

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Often these are emotional decisions.

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We love the team that wants to create X product and and, to be honest, we owe them a favor.

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Or we doubled down on the importance of creating product Y in the last leadership meeting and, even though sales are low, we've got to chase that decision with further resources or we will look like we made a bad decision or worse, we have an opportunity to generate quick revenue if we put a little focus on product Z and, god knows, we need to pay the bills.

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Ah, there's some good nuggets there, but let's keep going.

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None of these are good reasons to create a product or allocate valuable sales resources and marketing resources to that product.

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The products you create are the wings of the airplane.

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When we sell those products, the airplane gets lift and allows us to fly.

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When choosing what products to focus on, you want to choose products that have two critical characteristics they are light and they are strong.

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Now what do I mean by light and strong?

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They are light, meaning they can be sold for considerable profit or a smaller profit, but at volume.

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Or they are strong, meaning they're in strong demand for the product in the marketplace.

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In other words, regardless of how we feel about a product, we could only invest in products that are profitable and in demand.

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That is, if we don't, we are strapping small, weak wings to an airplane, and that will lead to a crash.

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That is so good.

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Such a great writer, such a great writer Donald Miller is, and this component is crucial because it directly relates to what the business offers to the customers, essentially, what keeps the business soaring, what keeps it in flight.

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So the strategy that Donald lays out in the book is for optimizing products and services, which involves several key actions.

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We've got to align the products with the market needs, ensuring that the products or services offered meet the current demands and needs of the market.

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This alignment is crucial for maintaining relevance and competitiveness.

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It needs to have continuous improvement and innovation regularly updating Needs to have continuous improvement and innovation.

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Regularly updating and improving products to keep up with the industry standards and consumer expectations Innovation can be a significant differentiator in a crowded market.

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And then, obviously, profitability Analyzing the cost structure and pricing strategy to ensure that the products are not only competitive but also profitable.

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So by understanding each of these components and optimizing them, business owners can ensure their operations are efficient, their strategies are effective and their execution aligns with the overall business goal, meaning the wings can actually create lift, and this holistic view is essential for sustained business growth and stability.

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Now that's a super quick summary, but I think a good summary of the wings and business 300 level stuff.

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But don't forget the wings.

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They carry the products and the services which are crucial for the business's core operations and just like the rest of the airplane, is vital.

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So to review Donna Miller's airplane metaphor just one more time, because it's so simple yet effective the cockpit represents leadership, crucial for guiding the business.

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Right engine symbolizes marketing, driving that brand visibility and customer acquisition.

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Left engine represents sales, essential for revenue generation.

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The wings, like we talked about, are the product and services, crucial for the business's core operations and value proposition, but helps to lift the body of the airplane.

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The body stands for the overhead, the operations.

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The cargo also supports the day-to-day functioning of the business.

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And then the fuel tanks got to have the cash flow, which are the fuel tanks necessary for sustaining the operation and for giving it the go-go juice to grow.

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So in today's Mojo Minute, whether you're a business owner or not, this book Business Made Simple is a vital look at how businesses work and why all the parts and components are needed to work together to effectively fly the plane safely from point A to point B.

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You could read this book as a team working for a business.

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That would be instrumental.

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It would be instrumental knowledge for all the employees and also would help to drive a team's culture and to allow them to work more efficiently together.

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Or you could read this book simply as a business owner, because that's essential too.

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It's actually a required reading, without a doubt.

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It's that good.

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So either way, here's to getting your plane off the ground, whether you're the business owner or not, and flying it high and soaring through the clouds.

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Thank you for joining us.

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We hope you enjoyed this Theory to Action podcast.

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Be sure to check out our show page at teammojoacademycom, where we have everything we discussed in this podcast, as well as other great resources.

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Until next time, keep getting your mojo on.

MM#321--Taking Your Business to New Heights with Donald Miller's 'Business Made Simple'

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