The easy way to use EOS

Heyo,

EOS is all the rage for entrepreneurs. It stands for Entrepreneur’s Operating System (it comes from the book Traction by Gino Wickman).

It’s supposed to help you run a small business with systems, meeting formats, score keeping, planning, the works. And it DOES work, but here’s the truth: it’s kind of a bear. I guarantee you will be completely overwhelmed by this system the first time you read it.

If you have a team of 10 or fewer people on your team you don’t need it all. Or if you do have a team of more than 10 this is great place to start.

You need just two pages. It’s a yearly and quarterly planning sheet and its great.

It’s called the Vision-Traction Organizer and it’s really the backbone of the whole system. Do this and you’ll have the 80/20 of the thing down.

Ready? Let’s dive into how I use it.

First up, download a copy of it right here.

Core Values: First off, don’t just put a bunch of crappy values in here that everyone uses. Yes, we know you value ‘integrity’. Everybody does. Even the people making cigarettes think they have integrity. Those are table stakes, you have to have them to even be in business.

Give it some real thought. What do you want this company to be? Should it be fun? Creative? Customer-centric? Should you balance work and life? Do you want to learn new things? Are you looking for freedom?

Michael Girdley thinks it should be core behaviors. Think like “treat customers like family” “do the right thing no matter what” “do good work and be home for dinner” “everybody sweeps the floor”

You decide. This is the real stuff, not ‘honest communication’. No one sets out to lie to their coworkers.

Here’s some from one of my companies (I do this exercise for all my companies btw)

1. Freedom

2. Fun

3. Creativity

4. Speed/Agility

As with ALL of this stuff, don’t get too wrapped up crafting a perfect document. The whole idea here is that this will change with time.

Core Focus/Passions: This is where you talk about why you’re doing this, the outcomes you want for your clients and yourself, and who your clients are.

Here’s an example for my supplement company:

Purpose/Cause/Passion: Help 1 million people/yr feel better and live longer, naturally. Our Niche: American seniors and Baby Boomers looking to achieve freedom from health issues.

10-Year Target: What will this look like 10-years from now? Don’t worry about numbers right now, that comes later. Here’s another example:

Build a sustainable, fun businesses that helps ownership, staff and customers achieve freedom, good health and wealth.

Marketing:

Target Market/The List: This is one reason this sheet is a powerful exercise because it forces you to think about “What are we really doing here?” “Who are we really serving?”

A word to the wise: if you don’t have a niche, you won’t have customers. The more laser focused you can be on who you are serving and do exactly what they need done, the more successful you will be. No, ‘everybody’ doesn’t need your products and services.

Find that niche, and be the best at it.

3 Uniques: Ok, what makes you unique? What can you offer that no one or very few others do? Are you faster? More affordable? Better quality? More attentive/flexible/willing to serve?

In general, the more unique your offering is, the more you can charge. Or if you’re competing on price, what processes do you have that makes it more affordable for the end user?

You need some way to stand out from the crowd. Find it.

Proven Process: you may not have this when you’re first starting out, but the best companies have a formula for success and are constantly improving it.

Guarantee: I see a ton of consumer product companies that miss the point on this. A wily old marketer once told me: Your guarantee should scare you. Because it will do the exact opposite for your customer, and THAT is how you stand out. 

So we’ve gone to a lifetime guarantee on our supplement products and now it’s written into our DNA: you get a refund anytime, no matter when you bought it. Our competition still does 30-60 days. Which company is more confident in their products?

3-Year Picture

Now for the fun stuff. Pick a date 3 years in the future and set a goal for revenue and profit. For some of you this will be easier since you have a track record for you to look back on. If you’re starting out, this is pretty much a wild-ass guess.

BUT it’s still instructive and worthy of your time. Make it a stretch goal. Make it some thing that you’ll have to use everything you’ve got to reach, that it seems a little crazy.

No small goals here fam.

Measurables are things like employee head count, building space, inventory, equipment, product stack and things you can project out based on your goals. Don’t get too in the weeds here, but you should have a rough idea of what this will look like if you actually get there.

Here are some of ours:

• 10-15 high-quality products that really work

• Robust profitable back end: continuity, call centers, email lists, SMS, mailings

• <15% returns and chargebacks

• >$1M revenue per full-time team member

• Team full of A-players

• Data-driven 

• Having fun!

• We will not obsess over revenue growth!

That last one is important. DO NOT focus your efforts on simply growing the top line. Focus on bottom line growth! That’s a whole different deal.

Ok, that’s a lot. That’s plenty to think about for the next week. Grab your copy, set aside some time to THINK, and we’ll tackle the next page next week.

Don’t worry, once you get through this first page, the system gets a lot easier…

Also: if you don’t have a business yet, you can do this for your family and yourself with the Personal/Family VTO.

In the meantime, let me know: is this helpful?

Kriss Berg