The white Mercedes I didn't actually want

Welcome back to Simply Rich Shifts. 🌴💸

They told me to want the white Mercedes.

In a direct sales company I built after selling my franchise in 2017, the white Mercedes was the goal. It was the symbol. It was what you worked toward. Leaders drove them. The stage celebrated them. And for a while, I told myself I wanted one too.

Except I kept struggling to do the work required to earn it. Not because I wasn't capable. Because every time I sat down to push harder, something in me resisted. The answer finally came to me one afternoon: I don't like Mercedes. I prefer an SUV. And I don't like white cars.

Three very specific reasons I was running toward a goal that was never mine.

This shows up in far more places than a car. It shows up in your service mix, in the three engagement types you're delivering because your best referral sources keep sending that kind of work, even though two of them are keeping you from being exceptional at the one you love. It shows up in the quarterly goals you set because you heard someone else announce theirs. And it shows up in the way you keep adding instead of cutting, because somewhere along the way someone convinced you that more options meant more revenue.

More options does not mean more revenue. More often it means a diluted reputation, a pipeline full of the wrong conversations, and a calendar that belongs to everyone except you.

The three numbers that change everything

Before we touch a quarterly plan, before we reverse-engineer anything, I ask every client three questions: What do you want your revenue to be? What do you want your personal paycheck to be? And how many hours do you want to work?

Those three numbers are your compass. Not a benchmark someone posted. Not what your highest-earning colleague announced at a conference. Yours.

When those numbers are clear, everything in your business gets easier to sort. An inquiry comes in and you can ask: does this get me closer? A new service idea surfaces and you can ask: does this fit the business I'm building? A referral source sends you a client outside your sweet spot and you can redirect, graciously and without guilt, because you know exactly what you're building toward.

Without those three numbers, you're sorting by instinct and energy. And instinct and energy in a service business at your volume is an expensive way to make decisions.

The second question I ask, once we have the three numbers, is this: if you could only talk about one thing for the next 90 days, what would it be?

That question lands differently at your revenue level. You've spent years proving you can do many things well. Narrowing feels like shrinking. Like leaving money on the table. Like going backwards.

It is not shrinking. It is the work.

What I did in 2024

In 2024 I looked at my own landscape and made a decision I had been circling for months. I shut down everything running alongside the Legacy Business School and committed to one thing: one program, one price point, nothing else competing for my attention or my marketing.

For 90 days I talked about one thing. Every piece of content, every conversation, every email went back to one program. I stopped trying to be known for a general category and started being known for something specific.

It picked up steam. Enrollment came in steadier. My name started connecting to something people could describe in one sentence. And I had enough clarity in my own delivery to actually serve the clients coming in well, because I wasn't managing five different systems at once.

I am not telling you to shut down every service you offer. I am telling you that the woman running at $700K or $900K who cannot figure out why growth has stalled usually isn't missing a new service. She's missing a quarter where she committed to one thing and let her numbers tell her whether it worked.

What the plan actually looks like

Inside the 16-Hour Owner System, the first thing we do before any planning is look at the last 90 days. Not revenue totals. Profit margin by service. Hours each engagement actually required. What your best clients came in through, and whether you're spending real time on those referral sources or the ones that feel busy but convert to nothing.

Most of the time the data already has the answer. One service is carrying the others. One referral source is responsible for most of the right clients. One type of engagement is where your team delivers best and your margin holds.

The 90-day plan we build starts there. Not with a goal you borrowed. With the number that's already working in your own business, pulled forward into a quarter with intention behind it.

This is the planning session I run at the end of every quarter so the women I work with walk into the next one with a real plan. This Thursday, September 24, noon to 3:00pm ET, we are doing it live and you are invited.

Planning for Profit is three hours, free, and built around your business. Here is what you will walk out with:

• One goal for Q4, chosen from your own numbers
• A monthly breakdown showing exactly what needs to happen by when
• Your income-producing activities mapped against your actual calendar
• A plan built from your inquiries, your consults, and your close rate, not someone else's formula

If you're carrying a business that looks successful on paper and still feels like a job, this is your room. If your referral sources are strong but you can't get consistent traction in one direction, this is your room. If you know you need to focus but keep adding instead of cutting, this is your room.

I'll meet you there.

Remember to live your one life.

💗Sailynn...

P.S. The numbers we work through on Thursday are the same numbers I use with paid clients inside my coaching program. If you've been curious about what that work looks like, Thursday is your preview. Register here →