Do what you love is great idea and a deceptive tagline to inspiring entrepreneurs. Our purpose, the reason we jump off the proverbial cliff, is the love that fuels our entrepreneurial engines. Yet it's the every day “do” that keeps most of us from successfully landing and becoming a thriving impact business.

The harsh reality of the startup world is that fifty-percent (50%) of entrepreneurs will fail after five years and only 30% make it to 10 years (according to the Small Business Administration). For social impact entrepreneurs, the statistics are worse. According to a study in Mexico, reported on by the World Economic Forum, only 8.7% of social impact companies make it to six years, and 5% make it to a decade. Yikes.

The shared obstacle among social entrepreneurs and general tech entrepreneurs? Lack of funding, poor management, and inability to market adequately. Or, as I like to think: lack of focus, attention, and discipline.

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#1. Your ability to focus directly correlates with your ability to raise funding

There is a famous quote by a Buddhist monk about what happens before reaching enlightenment and what follows after. Both states are the same: chop wood, carry water. Among the successful billionaires out there, many share similar traits: an insatiable desire for money, relentless work ethic, and an extraordinary ability to stay hyper focused.

As social impact warriors, our "billions" in returns are the measurable impacts we hope to make to improve our little sector of the world. From voter turnout and creating financial stability to planting trees and helping students in debt, impact founders can’t fuel their missions with hope and determination alone. Capital, revenue, and a profitable business model is fundamental to building a successful and longstanding platform of impact.

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What do you do before reaching enlightenment?
Chop wood, carry water.
What do you do after reaching enlightenment?
Chop wood, carry water.

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Your first step as an impact business founder is no different than any other business leader: be incredibly focused on your solution and wrap your mission with a viable financial model, revenue strategy, and customer acquisition plan. If your service or product isn’t perceived as valuable, no one will pay to use it or invest in it to help scale.

In the world of "doing good", staying focused is one of the hardest parts of your job. Where to start? Who to help? What will make the biggest difference? Start with what makes you get out of bed in the morning, hone in on that one mission, and don't wander into the fields of endless possibilities.

Your social impact business plan needs to be able to answer the following questions: 

• What is your value?
• Who will buy it?
• Why will they buy it?
• How many of them will buy it?
• How long will it take to buy it?
• How long will it take to cover your costs?
• How long will it take to reach profitability?
• What information can you provide to support these assumptions?
• Who is willing to cover the costs needed to get from point A (determining your value) and Point Z (profitability)?
• How much of your company are you willing to give away to help you scale?

These are the questions you must remain focused on until you have received your answers in the form of revenue and market share. In social impact, there is no either/or. You must figure out the both/and - how do you accomplish your mission and achieve profitability? Focus on this relentlessly.

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Focus is not a gift, it is a practice, and one you must practice daily.

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‍#2. How your company operates is essential.

After running marketing agencies for nearly 20 years, I learned more about operations than I ever did about marketing. Operations impact every facet of your business, including customer satisfaction, employee retention, and marketing effectiveness.

My front row seat offered insight into leadership who paid little attention to its operations and those whose focus on ops were integral to its success. No surprise here: those who didn't concern themselves with team happiness, product quality, or customer service had dismal marketing returns. Those that did? Every dollar they invested in customer acquisition had great returns because they also invested in retention. In the investment world, they call this compound interest. Leaders who invested more into marketing were like buyers of fancy new cars. Very pretty - but loses its values the moment it leaves the lot. Leaders that invested in both marketing and operations are like builders of an entire transportation system.

• You and your business partner disagree on vision and day-to-priorities? Get into alignment before you get any further.
• Your employees hate coming to work and are complaining to your top customers? Sit down and figure out how to change this.
• Your top customers won’t renew their contracts or services? Find out why and create a resolution strategy.

Every operational facet of your company impacts your ability to meet revenue goals, contain overhead costs, and build a healthy culture for both your employees and clients.

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#3. Disciplined marketing strategies prioritize messaging, customers, and effectiveness.

Unfortunately for everyone “build it and they will come” is not an effective marketing and sales strategy, especially when no one knows you exist.

And while you might successfully bring a horse to a trough, you can’t make them drink. This is among the top reasons founders fizzle out. Marketing isn’t just your sales strategy or logo. Marketing is the essence that connects your customer to your product.

• Over promising and under delivering? That is marketing.
• Not connecting with your audience? That is marketing.
• Is the product difficult to use? That is marketing.
• Is the pricing strategy preventing them from committing? That is marketing.
• Are you slow to address customer concerns? That is marketing.

How can you make marketing work for your business?

1. Stop treating marketing as an afterthought. Ensure you have at least one advisor who’s core expertise can help educate you on how to to think through your marketing strategies right at the beginning. And listen to them.
2. Remember the first three questions from section one (What is your value? Who will buy it? Why will they buy it?)? This is not only central to your business strategy, it is core to your marketing strategy.
3. Conduct rigorous customer insights and figure out why your early adopters are using your platform. Are they happy? Will they buy it again? Are they satisfied? (Why are they satisfied?)
4. Figure out how to find more people that look like your early adopters (because unless you are water and oxygen, no, your product is not for everyone).

These insight will inform your brand strategy, go to market plan, design philosophy, and channel partners to minimize marketing spend and maximize effectiveness.

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I've witnessed how lack of focus, ego, and inability to trust experts keep amazing founders from making the impact they were born to make. "Doing good" isn't a good enough reason to start an impact-focused business. Becoming a phenomenal business leader is essential to building every solution our world still needs.

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