The word “impact” is a strong word. I love the feeling when clients tell me what happened as a result of our work.
But in a small business, we can’t run just on feelings
Impact isn’t grounded just in activity either.
Ask yourself: Is what I’m doing showing up in the bank?
Now you know that I am not all about the money. But you do need a signal, and your bank balance is one.
Here’s the part most people don’t say clearly:
Not all revenue is equal.
Where does the revenue come from, which clients do we want to keep, and what operations aggravate us the most? When we know that, the path forward becomes clear.
Present your most profitable offer to the prospects you most want to work with.
If you’re looking at Q2 and asking, “What should I be doing right now?”—start here.
Who are you saying yes to?
If you want better revenue, you need better clients. And that usually doesn’t come from more leads. It comes from better decisions.
Look at the clients you already have. You know the difference. Use that information.
One client insisted that he had already thought of what we were suggesting to him. Thought about it for years, in fact. He didn't act until we came along. With coaching, in 90 days he had doubled his revenues and had a full pipeline. But he left us, because we were no help. And good riddance.
Those kind of clients drag things out, create extra work, question every step, and are frankly, not worth the effort.
Our best clients consider our advice, pay on time, respect the process, move forward, and refer us new business. Let’s find more of them.
Work on your messaging so it speaks to the clients you want more of. Ask better questions of prospects before you say yes to them. Be willing to change prices or the structure of your work to filter out the wrong fit.
Who you say yes to shapes everything downstream.
Fix what happens right after the sale
A lot of businesses lose momentum right after the sale.
You put in the effort to win the client—and then things slide once the work begins.
What happens between “yes” and the first meeting sets the tone for everything that follows.
Take a hard look at your enrollment process. Is it clear? Is it fast? Does the client see progress quickly?
Sometimes it takes just a few well-timed emails and a quick check-in call, done consistently, not randomly.
The clients you want notice a process that works. And your strong start tells them you know how to create one for them.
Build your business manual as you go.
Stop reinventing work you’ve already figured out.
A long-time colleague, Dave Mason, had it figured out early.
He said: if you write down the processes you use all the time, by the end of a year, you will have built a business manual.
Something you can hand off.
Something that makes you less essential to every step.
Something that even adds value if you ever decide to sell the business.
This doesn’t require a big system overhaul. Start simply:
Maintain your list. Keep client data clean in your CRM. It makes everything easier—marketing, invoicing, follow-up.
Decide who does what. The longer you delay getting admin help, the bigger the gap between what the owner should do and what the owner is doing.
Consistency improves speed, reduces errors, and frees you from being involved in everything.
Eliminate friction points.
Every business has one that keeps showing up.
A delay in approvals. A breakdown in communication. A step that always takes longer than it should.
Fix that first. But don't try to fix everything at once.
Pick one issue a week that affects your work and improve it—just meaningfully, not perfectly.
Four fixes in a month. Fifty in a year.
You’ll feel the difference quickly--more money and more time.
What could you do with that?
Stop leaving money on the table.
Before you try to generate something new, look at opportunities right in front of you.
Past inquiries. Open proposals. Clients who went quiet.
These are often real opportunities—but they don’t respond to “just checking in.”
Be specific. Remind them of the problem they were trying to solve.
Ask if they’ve solved it yet.
One of the fastest paths to the cash is to harvest what you’ve already planted.
Better decisions in the areas that matter most.
This outline is an excellent way to stay on track improving your business. Try it, and I'm sure the rest of this year will surprise you.
If you step back, the pattern is simple:
Less frenzy. Better clients. Smoother delivery. Fewer problems.
More revenue. Higher impact.
And it’s more fun this way!
Making an impact isn’t complicated.
But it does require paying attention to the right things—and acting on them.
Extra . We’ve been talking all year about doing less to get more. So which activities produce the results we want?
Lorette Pruden has helped hundreds of small business owners, sales professionals, entrepreneurs, and community leaders grow their businesses and manage that growth since 2000. She specializes in the Formerly Corporate—so many small business owners who’ve worked with her come from a corporate background that she finally wrote the book on it.
