I Shut Down My $1M Business

About this video

Martell explains why he shut down a coaching business in 2017 and started over focused only on software founders. He says he had built the earlier business over two years to dozens of clients after selling Clarity and moving to San Diego, starting a YouTube channel to give back, and that it grew through calls and referrals into a group with two or three events a year. Three questions from mentors gave him clarity to close it overnight. First, the value question, prompted by Todd Herman asking why he was coaching non-software founders when, in Herman’s view, he was unusually qualified to help software founders start, build, scale and exit: how can you create more value for your customers than anybody else in the world? Martell concluded serving all entrepreneurs capped his value, while the last, distinctive part of his value was for software founders. Second, the results question from Dean Jackson, met at an event by his coach Taki Moore: what would you change if you only got paid if clients got the promised result? That pushed him toward building focused tools and playbooks only for B2B SaaS founders. Third, the seasoned buyer question: if an expert buyer bought your business today, what are the first two or three things they would change, and why have you not made those decisions? He says those questions led to what became, in his telling, a multiple eight-figure coaching business, SaaS Academy.

Key takeaways

• Ask how you can create more value for a specific customer than anyone else in the world to find your true niche
• Use the results question — what would change if you only got paid when clients get results — to focus and productize a service
• Use the seasoned buyer question to surface emotionally charged decisions you are avoiding
• Serving everyone can cap value at a general level and prevent going deep for the customers you can help most
• Follow the question ‘why haven’t you made that decision?’ with decisive action once the needed changes are clear

Episode details: published January 24, 2023 · 8:17 long. Summary written by Self Growth Videos from the episode itself. Business results and any income figures mentioned are Dan Martell’s own claims, shared for education — they are not typical or guaranteed.

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