Reverse Engineering Your Business

Business Planning

Question of the Week

Reverse Engineering Your Business

Hey all,

Happy Friday! You may have noticed I missed last week. I took a boys’ weekend to Miami and was reminded of how lucky I am to have the freedom of being a business owner.

I’m back this week with another wonderful Mission Driven Business episode. I talk with Anna N’Jie-Konte, founder of fee-only financial planning firm Dare to Dream Financial Planning. Anna believes in empowering entrepreneurs and tailors her business to serve the needs of 30- and 40-something women of color who want to live boldly and make a lasting impact.

In the episode, Anna shares why she left corporate America to give other women like her the blueprint for building successful businesses. She also breaks down how she navigates leading a company and a family and why it’s important to reverse engineer your pricing.

 

Episode Highlights

A mission-driven business is bigger than you.

Anna defines a mission-driven business as one that is bigger than you. That doesn’t mean the business has to be altruistic or charitable in nature, but it does mean the business has to have a purpose or driving force.

“That’s really the foundation of what you’re doing,” Anna said. “I find that my clients have something that’s really pushing them to work so hard and reach those next levels of success.”

 

Set your intention first.

Anna uses a three-part framework with her clients, and the first step is intentionality. She asks her clients to get intentional about what they want out of their businesses and personal lives to know they’re following their joy, having an impact, and not crossing any non-negotiable boundaries.

“There are millions of ways to build a successful business and to be successful financially,” Anna said. “There’s no box that everybody’s going to fit in, so we have to figure out what that is first, then get to the technical stuff.”

 

Reverse engineer your pricing.

Pricing is a huge hang-up for entrepreneurs, according to Anna. Many business owners don’t set their prices high enough to account for taxes, operating expenses, and a quality personal life.

“What I usually do for clients is have them set themselves a salary that accounts for whatever personal goals they have and make sure they have take-home pay to match that,” Anna said. “Maybe the profitability is not there on the business side, so we’ll try and work towards that. But I want to start with what they need and what they want to be doing.”

Business owners undersell themselves by setting an hourly rate, especially one that doesn’t fully account for their skillset and business needs. For instance, Anna argues that business owners provide more value if they can do something in one hour when it used to take them three.

“Hourly pricing is oftentimes a disservice for folks if they start out that way,” Anna said. “If I need $100 for every hour that I work for me personally, the business needs $40, and profit is another $10. Then you just build the pricing from there.”

 

Quote of the Week

“Maybe the profitability is not there on the business side, so we’ll try and work towards that. But I want to start with what they need and what they want to be doing.” – Anna N’Jie-Konte

 

Task of the Week

Many of you have already responded and resonated with what Anna had to say. If you haven’t listened to it yet, make sure to check it out!  You can also find out more about Anna in the links below.

 

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