📓 Discover the Secret Recipe that Microsoft Uses Every Day to Earn Billions

📓 How to Build Your SMaC Recipe

Hi there, Solopreneur! I hope you’re having a sensational week and that you’re moving into the holiday spirit. There are less than two months left in 2023!

I’m running to the finish line right along with you.

Operating a one-person business is tough. My purpose as a strategist is to help you simplify it and turn your skills into solutions people buy.

To this end, I occasionally share resources that had a tremendous impact on my 14-year solopreneur adventure.

This week’s issue is a 4-minute read.

One gem I recommend putting at the top of your holiday wish list is the Collins-Mortensen masterpiece, Great by Choice.

Great by Choice sits next to my laptop.

I read a few pages each week for business insight and motivation.

The book unveils powerful business ideas and accompanying data (the hallmark of Collins’ books) that illustrate how many of the world’s most innovative companies found success.

The most compelling chapter to read for your solopreneur journey is Chapter 6: SMaC.

SMaC, in a nutshell: ⁽¹⁾ 

• 👉 SMaC = Specific, Methodical, & Consistent

• 📝 A recipe of consistent, sturdy operating principles

• ✅ ⛔️ The recipe includes what you will and will NOT do in your business

Here’s how you build one: 👇

👉 Get Specific

A consistent challenge I see with new solopreneurs is their struggle to define and implement a specific set of operating principles.

Yes. A mission and vision statement are helpful, and I encourage you to write them.

Yet, a mission and vision statement won’t tell you specifically how you should operate or which guidelines create success day after day, year after year.

🛩 In the book, Collins and Mortensen illustrate a true-life SMaC recipe via Howard Putnam, the former CEO of Southwest Airlines.

Check out how specific Putnam gets in his actual SMaC for Southwest.

• ✈️ “Utilize the 737 as our primary aircraft for ten to twelve years.” ⁽²⁾

• 📦 “Do not carry air freight or mail; only small packages, which have high profitability and low handling costs.” ⁽³⁾

• ⌚️ “Remain a short-haul carrier, under two-hour segments.” ⁽⁴⁾

⛔️ As solopreneurs, we often take on atypical clients and random projects to pay the bills. This feels great for a day and causes long-term problems.

The problem is that these random projects disrupt your normal operating guidelines and compel you to move in different directions. It’s not smart.

Keep away from the ‘one-offs’ and the ‘just this once’ routines for various projects.

They steal your time, disrupt your flow, and fail to create a repetitive process that yields excellent results.

Whether you produce a product (online courses, blog posts, or websites) or deliver a service (coaching, writing, or consulting), take a moment to re-engineer your process and get specific on the guidelines that create the highest value for you and your customer.

🔑 Takeaways

• Start at 1,000 feet and look at your business from a fresh perspective. Be honest about the one-offs and ‘just this once’ steps you take in your business. Eliminate them and replace them with sturdy guidelines that illustrate specific principles that you can repeat.

• Start with 3 specific guidelines (like Putnam above) and expand it to 8–10. Include guidelines you won't follow.

📝 Be Methodical

Whether your business is 1, 100, or 1,000 days old, you’ve seen huge changes in your industry.

AI, competition, and customer trends frequently change, and you might make exceptions in your operations during stressful times in your business cycle.

🏔 In the book, Collins and Mortensen describe how David Breashears used his SMaC recipe for extraordinary filmmaking on Mt. Everest.

🎥 Breashears diligently practiced each of the steps (loading film in the camera, mounting the camera) under horrible conditions since he knew he’d have to withstand extraordinary challenges in the Himalayan mountains. ⁽⁵⁾

When the conditions worsened during his actual filming, Breashears leaned on his SMaC process to stay on point and create an exceptional product. He knew what would work and what to avoid.

SMaC brings you calm and clarity despite the industry challenges and obstacles you’ll encounter.

🔑Takeaway

• Draw a straight, horizontal line with vertical dashes at intervals across the straight line. Under each dash, write one of the steps you need for a key part of your business (writing a post, creating a home page, conducting a client interview). Stick to this process during difficult times and let the waves of chaos roll by.

✅ Stay Consistent

📊 Great by Choice presents incredible business data to underscore key themes.

One of the most compelling (and key to your solo biz) is how successful companies have adhered to their SMaC recipe despite decades of industry upheaval.

You’d think the most enduring companies would constantly alter their SMaC and adjust to changing conditions to remain competitive, profitable, and customer-centric.

😕 The opposite is true. Collins and Mortensen show us that the most successful companies across various industries changed their SMaC recipes substantially less than their competitors.

Their consistent dedication to their specific SMaC brought them decades of stellar results despite constant industry disruptions.

🔥 Check out the small percent changes these exceptional companies made to their SMaC recipe despite decades of industry change.

• Deregulation in the airline industry (Southwest changed ~ 20% of its recipe) ⁽⁶⁾

• New technology in the personal computer market (Microsoft changed ~15% of its recipe) ⁽⁷⁾

• Keen competition for new insurance products (Progressive changed ~ 20% of its recipe) ⁽⁸⁾

🙃 Does change in your industry compel you to adapt and change portions of your SMaC recipe? Of course.

The key is to remain crazy consistent with the bulk of your guidelines during periods of change.

Once you determine and document the key principles and processes you use to create high-quality products and services for your customers, stick with them!

🔑 Takeaway

• Build your SMaC recipe and stay open-minded during times of change. Certain customer, industry, and product changes may require you to slightly amend your recipe with new ingredients.
  

• However, resist the urge to abandon your SMaC simply because social media changes its algorithm or your competition launches a new product. Consistency wins, even when your industry changes.

🎁 Put Great by Choice on your holiday list. You’ll love it.

A SMaC recipe is your ticket to less stress and more success in 2024!

Have a terrific week. Drop a note if you’re wrestling with your SMaC.

I’m happy to brainstorm with you ([email protected]).

🔑Stay curious and keep opening doors.

-Erik

Endnotes:

⁽¹⁾ Jim Collins and Morten T. Hansen, Great by Choice, New York: Harper Collins, 2011, pp. 128

⁽²⁾ Ibid., pp. 126

⁽³⁾ Ibid., pp. 126

⁽⁴⁾ Ibid., pp. 126

⁽⁵⁾ Ibid., pp. 129

⁽⁶⁾ Ibid., pp. 133

⁽⁷⁾ Ibid., pp. 133

⁽⁸⁾ Ibid., pp. 133