How Paul Higgins went from 60+ hour workweeks to having the freedom to take an 8-week vacation with his wife and kids

27 June, 2019
Meryl Johnston

Meryl Johnston

4 minutes
Paul Higgins podcast episode

In 2011, Paul Higgins was diagnosed with a non-fatal kidney disease. This motivated him to leave his job as Marketing Director of Coca-Cola. Paul views that event as “the push I needed to finally pursue my dream of running my own business”.

For five years, Paul slaved away, working 60+ hours a week. In that time Paul built four businesses that clients loved, but every cent that he made went back into the business. That meant that he had no time for his family, and to make things worse, no money to show for it.

Desperate, he gave up trying to do everything himself and reached out for help. That’s when his breakthrough happened.

In early 2016, he joined a group of like-minded founders, which was led by a successful business owner who had been through similar struggles and had found out a way to break through.

Using 5 key profit drivers Paul quadrupled his revenue within 6 months. Even better, he built systems so that his businesses ran without him.

That eventually meant that he could go traveling for 8 weeks with his wife, daughter and son and the only work that he had to do was an occasional sales call.

Helping others break free

Paul saw many clients struggling with people, process and platforms. So he did a smart thing and found a solution for himself and then provided it to those clients.

Paul’s primary business is a paid mastermind with a subscription model.

What he delivers to his clients are weekly calls, the pooled knowledge of mastermind participants, as well as a supportive community.

Paul is also involved in a second business run by his business partner Scott Gellatly, Podio Zen. They offer training to entrepreneurs on how to systemise their operations and create a sustainable business using Podio (a software platform with a centralised team task feature).

podiozen

Recurring revenue streams

At time of writing Paul’s businesses generate high 5-figures per month.

In the past 12 months his recurring revenue has come from subscriptions to his mastermind and the PodioZEN community.

He also receives income for Podio Services and affiliate fees.

Balancing cash flow with delivery

Paul shares that his biggest challenge has been managing cashflow:

“I’ve been too optimistic as to when the revenue will come in to offset the increase in people to deliver (our services). Outsourcing has helped, but managing these peaks and troughs is hard. We have not gone to the market for funding.”

The 5 key profit drivers

Paul helps his clients work systematically through the following 5 key profit drivers:

1. Personal productivity

Many entrepreneurs get buried under admin.

Paul says: “if you want to cut admin tasks from your day-to-day, all you need are two things – a virtual assistant (VA) and simple technology tools.”

Many entrepreneurs get buried under admin. Learn how to NOT be one of them. Click To Tweet

2. Your ideal client

Paul says: “businesses that scale fast know exactly who their ideal client is.”

In his ebook “5 Key Profit Drivers For Scaling Your Business” Paul offers a process for working out who your ideal client is, and getting clear on their biggest challenges so that you can offer relevant solutions.

He also suggests that you can also survey people using techniques from the bestselling book ASK by Ryan Levesque.

Businesses that scale fast know exactly who their ideal client is. Click To Tweet

3. Your business model

‘Often, I see founders working their fingers to the bone for little financial return. They think the solution is to “work harder”. But if you’re trying to get to the top of a mountain and are unknowingly walking in the wrong direction, the solution wouldn’t be to “walk faster!” You’d want to step back, assess where you are, and execute a new plan.’

Paul suggests that business owners work out which business model will work best for their unique situation, and the key is to decide on a business model that incorporates simplicity, recurring revenue, scalability and pricing that allows founders to get paid for all their hard work.

The solution isn't to work harder. Step back, re-assess, and execute a new plan. Click To Tweet

4. Sales

Paul suggests: “As a founder, you’re the key person responsible for sales. But that doesn’t mean you need to do all the steps in selling yourself.”

You can automate your sales appointment bookings, follow up emails and reminders and have a virtual assistant do a lot of the grunt work so that your time and energy is freed up to focus on converting sales.

5. A high-performing team

When your business is generating enough revenue to be sustainable, and if you truly want the time and financial freedom that having a leveraged business can give you, then it makes sense to start building a high-performing team who can do the heavy lifting.

Paul Higgins headshot

Recommended business growth podcasts

Paul is a fan of several business podcasts:

Tip: Paul usually listens to podcasts at 2.5x speed, because he’s all about making every second count!

The Bean Ninjas advantage

Paul shared that the biggest advantage of having Bean Ninjas manage his books has been three-fold:

“Accurate reporting, easy to manage capacity, and my team can do other value adding tasks.”

Want to learn more about the 5 key profit drivers and how you can apply them in your business? Grab a copy of Paul’s free ebook and join his next online training.

To see how Bean Ninjas can save you time, money and headaches with your bookkeeping refer here.

Posted By

Meryl Johnston

Meryl Johnston

Meryl is a Chartered Accountant, entrepreneur, and surfer! The Bean Ninjas mission: Creating freedom for entrepreneurs through stress-free business finances.

Related Articles