Lessons From the Simplest Business

Well over 100 years ago, a curious advertisement appeared in a London newspaper. I've updated the language for a modern audience: "Learn how to make $10,000 a month, working from home, no skills or experience required, minimal effort. Send $250 to this address...."

Each person who sent in the payment received a short reply, "Do as I do."

It's a great example to illustrate the fundamentals that many entrepreneurs I advise spend too little time on. This simple business (for all its ethical problems) has focused on a scalable, repeatable customer acquisition process. That's really all it is.

And the business owner surely optimized the number and placement of advertisements to get the lowest customer acquisition cost and the broadest reach. (Customer lifetime value, obviously, is one sale only).

Most entrepreneurs spend all their time thinking about and improving their service delivery. They worry almost exclusively about delivering a better service, and ignore the funnel that brings in customers.

Smart entrepreneurs spend equal time building a scalable, repeatable way to bring more customers in the door.