280: Shawn Khorrami — The Business Is the Product
We’re diving in on being overly product or service-focused in this week’s episode, and some of the challenges that brings. What should you focus on? The overall machine of the business so that it’s adaptable, and not dependent on -one- thing.
Shawn Khorrami is a Serial Entrepreneur and has run more than a dozen businesses over the years, some of which have reached up to $100 million in revenue. When Shawn was still in highschool, he helped local business owners automate parts of their operations through software, and that was what kick started his entrepreneurial path.
Unfortunately, too many young business owners think that their product will make their business. Their product, or service, is the missing piece to success. That is rarely the case. Just because you have a great product doesn’t mean you have a great business. The important lesson here and the pitfall you want to avoid is: You can not neglect the business side of things, on top of your product.
If you think you are superman or superwoman in your business, chances are you’re hurting your team’s success and their ability to grow. Early on, you have to let people run, mistakes will be made, but you can’t be the point-man on everything as it deeply bottlenecks growth.
What do you do when you have supply chain issues, or something outside of your control happens, and it causes your customers to review you negatively? It’s time to get to work and think outside of the box. One of Shawn’s customer’s experienced this, and by partnering with a CX team and taking the time to respond to every, single, unhappy customer, they were able to get his client back on track. Sometimes you have to lose short term money (giving unhappy customers free subscriptions to your products), in order to retain your reputation and long-lasting customers.
Interview Links:
Sponsored by: Bit.ly/clariontech
Resources:
Scaling Up for Business Growth Workshop: Take the first step to mastering the Rockefeller Habits by attending one of our workshops.
Scaling Up Summits (Select Bill Gallagher as your coach during registration for a discount.)
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Scaling Up is the best-selling book by Verne Harnish and our team for Gazelles Coaching, on how the fastest-growing companies succeed where so many others fail. My name is Bill Gallagher, host of the Scaling Up Business Podcast and a leading Gazelles Coach. Gazelles is the term we use for fast-growing companies.
We help leadership teams with 4 Decisions around People, Strategy, Execution, and Cash so that they can Scale Up successfully and beat the odds of business growth success. Scaling Up for Gazelles companies is based on the Rockefeller Habits 2.0 (from Verne’s original best-selling business book, Mastering the Rockefeller Habits).
