How I’m Evolving My Independent Publishing Business to be Even Better for the People we Serve
If you run a business — small or large — you’ll know that it can settle into a rhythm that’s both good and bad for you and the people you serve.
Good because that rhythm probably means you’ve found a way to efficiently and consistently deliver a product or service. Bad because rhythms can get stuck in your head and be hard to break, even when better tunes come along. And you never want to miss out on those better tunes!
My publishing company has been happily serving aspirational authors for 14 years — something I’m proud of — and this is exactly the challenge I’ve been confronting over the past twelve months.
In that time I’ve learned so much through masterminds, coaching, mentoring, and probably too much introspection.
The outcome is a significant re-appraisal of what the business is, who it serves, and why. An evolution that motivates me, takes the business in exciting new directions, and readies it to scale so we can better serve more of the people we love working with.
Let’s say I’ve done the hard yards while nobody was looking.
So in this article I’ll outline the 3 central changes I’m making to my business. But I’ll also be offering some insights and questions at each stage to help you think about whether you might do the same, wherever you are in your own business journey.
Let’s dive in…
1. We’re becoming an education company
In 14 years you cumulatively learn a lot about your industry or niche — independent publishing in my case — but can rapidly forget the value of that knowledge.
The truth is that the information we hold — in resources we’ve created, in problems we’ve solved, even in the knowledge stored in our heads — is of huge value to a lot of people setting off on a journey which by now is familiar to us. That’s not an arrogant position to take. It’s a simple consequence of doing something well over an extended period time.
We’ll be making more of that information through courses, coaching, and a whole bank of free resources.
Could you do the same in your business, or leverage the work you already do for someone else, so that the valuable knowledge you hold is not locked away?
2. We’re targeting authority in a bigger way
I love working with people who excite me and who share my excitement about the value that publishing can add when it’s done well!
That motivating truth is seeing us focus our company on authority in two distinct but overlapping ways. First, by working increasingly with people who are — or seek to be — recognised leaders in their field, we’re helping big thinkers to achieve big things because our services add value to their businesses. Second, by making more of our own expertise we similarly position ourselves to make a greater impact than we otherwise might.
We’ve already helped so many great clients to do exactly this, the difference now is that it becomes our focus.
Think on this: what’s your Authority Play, and how might you optimise that to help more people? Is it not your duty to do so?
3. Our service prices are increasing
With the best of intentions we’ve kept our prices too low for too long.
While the service we offer has improved immeasurably over years of professional development, repetition, improved knowledge, and skill building, the price we charge has not even kept up with inflation. Yet if prices remain too low, we don’t get to spend the time we’d like to really help each client in all the ways we can.
I’m here to help people build their own business empires by adding publishing into the mix, not push pixels around a screen.
That’s the work I find satisfying. That’s my value. And that’s the value that our pricing should reflect.
So we’re not moving out of the service game by any means. But we are taking steps to avoid being sucked into the commoditised service game which is a thankless race to the bottom.
If you have a skill that’s valuable to others (and you do!) think about whether you’re truly recognising its value, and the harm you’re doing to yourself and your clients when you don’t.
By doing these 3 overlapping things we evolve our business by building on its strengths.
Of course the challenge is to make space for all of this while not losing sight of the fundamentals that have made the business so sustainable for so long. But the hard work we’ve done over the past twelve months to ready us for this evolution has put us in a good place for that.
Yes, we’ll take some wrong turns along the way. But we know the destination. We have a clear route mapped out to get there. And we have some great tunes ready to play on the journey!
I hope this little article was insightful in some way, and that the questions posed help to stir thoughts in your mind about your own business — current or planned. Perhaps you already managed to transition a business from a position of strength without throwing out the baby with the bathwater? I’d love to hear what you did — and how that journey played out — in the comments below.
Thanks for reading.
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