Meetings. And a reprise of Customers vs Clients.
 

I used to dislike meetings. Especially in corporate settings. Anyhow, I had two FUN meetings over the weekend, my semi-annual meetup with NEO lottery club, and also NEO (NorthEast Ohio) Entrepreneurs.

Lottery players, what a hoot. You would think they are KGB agents working for POTUS, keeping their "secrets", systems and lottery methods very close to their vest, I don't know, but I don't think any of them have won anything significant.

But it was fun listening to their theories, each guy thinking his is the best, and leaving as they came, NOT interested in any other opinion. HA!

Entrepreneurs, on the other hand were both eager to share, and willing to listen. One guy caught us a little off guard, he being a successful consultant and all, one of the more successful ones in the group.

But, he admitted to being tired of CLIENTS, he wanted to get away from them and go to CUSTOMERS.

His difference definition: Clients you DO FOR, work with...Customers you sell to.

He is tired of trading his TIME for dollars, albeit they are significant dollars most of us would gladly trade for.

But even those guys, the 2 to 5k an hour guys, who have to DO, or trade time, can get bogged down. He mostly manages his established business, but he has reached the point where the putting out fires is eating his time.

He wants to sell something (not his time) and be done with it, or just keep selling the same thing to the same people, month after month...via a membership, auto-ship, drop ship concept.

So we spent a lot of time kicking around ideas. Some of the younger guys who are just getting started in their consulting businesses, had an AH HA, light bulb moment as they could see themselves twenty years down the road.

We listened intently to the guy who has built his little empire of PASSIVE income, via ownership of several small hands-off franchises.

We also discussed a lot of Harvey Brody TOLL POSITION concepts.

For me, it is good to see younger people THINKING ahead, thinking through their biz models while their time tank is on full, and considering a different route right from the get go.

We almost all agreed CUSTOMERS beat CLIENTS. Even a young lawyer, who is striving for those HIGH hourly fees, understood the time element, and related that almost all of his senior partners were diversified, many with Real Estate holdings. I asked him how many held VIRTUAL properties, like web sites? NONE.

Interesting.

I think if you are just starting out in your business, whatever model you choose, it is OK to take on a few clients, but from what I know today, if I had to start over, I think CUSTOMERS, along the line of Harvey Brody's 100+ customers, who repeat buy (some for over 60 years) without all the slop and mess, is the way to go.

So, THINK customers over clients.

Then get picky. Customers with money. Repeat buyers. Buyers of quantities. A consumable. A basic desktop paper shuffling business which doesn't take up much of your time, ONCE you have it set up and running.

But if you have a different opinion, and love your clients, let us know, eh?

Gordon

Customers vs Clients... another example!
 

Hi Gordon,

As I mentioned recently, I have a friend who moved to Bali and has a business (actually, more than one business) there...

He has a business with clients - business coaching. And a business with customers - a bottled high-end fresh juice business (he sells the bottled juice wholesale to restaurants, who put it on their menus). (He has also created and run many other businesses in the past.)

His take was - you can make more money faster with a "client"-type business, where you are selling your time. So if you need more money fast, that is the higher-probability way to go.

However, with a product-based business - where you have customers - it is easier to get yourself personally "out" of the business. That means, get it to a stage where you need to spend very little of your own time to keep the business going.

In the case of his bottled juice business, he partners with local farmers who grow the produce that go into making the juice. He has employees who actually make and bottle the juice. He has restaurants who repeatedly buy the juice, over and over, every day. He's set it up so that now, he has to spend very little of his own time to keep it going. And it's profitable.

So, those are two insights I came away with... If you need money fast, a service-type business (with "clients") might get you there more quickly. But for the long term, a product-based business (with "customers") could be better for your lifestyle - you can get yourself "out" of the business more easily, which means you can keep it running on "autopilot" while you do other things (like build more businesses), or you can more easily sell the business.

So, I don't think there's a right or wrong... It might depend on your situation, and what you need at that point in time...

But I agree, for the long term, the "customer"-based business probably makes for a better lifestyle! More free time is good... :)

Best wishes,

Dien

Re: Meetings. And a reprise of Customers vs Clients.
 

Very helpfull this article, thanks..
Regards,

Good news, we're getting more traffic, BAD news...
 

It seems as if the new person to the forum, only wants to do a drive by posting a one, short sentence thing and a link.

New people will learn, and most go away, which is fine with us, this type of post doesn't get tolerated.

It is ok to be lurk, be silent, and in fact, ok if you don't visit anymore, fine by me...but participation should be more than just a link to something, OK?

Gordon