629: How to Grow Your Business, with Donald Miller

36 snips

May 8, 2023

Donald Miller, a New York Times bestselling author, shares his journey of growing his business from scratch to nearly $20 million. He emphasizes the importance of effective marketing, focusing on clear messaging over aesthetics. By positioning businesses as guides rather than heroes, leaders can connect better with customers' needs. He also highlights the essential role of profit for sustainability and offers practical insights for small businesses and nonprofits to thrive.

Ask episode

AI Snips

Chapters

Books

Transcript

Episode notes

ADVICE

Focus on Customer Needs

Focus on how your product helps customers survive and thrive.
Identify your customer's problems and position your product as the solution.

ANECDOTE

The Two Chefs

Two chefs offer the same service, but one frames it as solving the problem of families not eating together.
This chef sells more, demonstrating the power of problem-focused marketing.

ADVICE

Keep It Simple

Communicate your message simply because the human brain prioritizes simple information for survival.
Use simple soundbites to get attention and invite further engagement.

Get the Snipd Podcast app to discover more snips from this episode

Get the app

Donald Miller: How to Grow Your Small Business

Donald Miller is The New York Times bestselling author of Building a StoryBrand and Business Made Simple. He has helped thousands of businesses grow with his powerful framework. In 2010, Don started the business he’d always dreamed of. Although his business was doing ok, he quickly realized it wasn’t what he thought it would be. Everything depended on him, and he was drowning in the mundane day-to-day.

For years, his business struggled to produce dependable, predictable results. Over years of fits and false starts, Don grew his business from nothing to nearly $20 million. In the end, he realized there were six key parts of a business, and if they were managed well, the business would fly far and fast. He’s captured those lessons in his book How to Grow Your Small Business: A 6-Step Plan to Help Your Business Take Off*.

A huge percentage of businesses fail before they have any significant success. One key trigger is failure to market the business effectively. In this conversation Donald and I discuss how to power the marketing engine of your business by using the key elements of the StoryBrand framework.

Key Points

Most small businesses think more about how their marketing will look rather than what their marketing will say.
People are attracted to what helps them survive and thrive…and it helps to communicate those message simply.
People buy products and services to solve problems, not because they care that much about the business.
The customer is the hero. Never play the hero; always play the guide.
People who are insecure talk about themselves. People who are confident talk about others. Talk about yourself only in the context of how it helps the customer.

Resources Mentioned

How to Grow Your Small Business: A 6-Step Plan to Help Your Business Take Off* by Donald Miller

Interview Notes

Download my interview notes in PDF format (free membership required).

Related Episodes

Serve Others Through Marketing, with Seth Godin (episode 381)
How Leaders Build, with Guy Raz (episode 491)
How to Quit Bad Stuff Faster, with Annie Duke (episode 607)

Discover More

Activate your free membership for full access to the entire library of interviews since 2011, searchable by topic. To accelerate your learning, uncover more inside Coaching for Leaders Plus.