How To Build Your Business To Attract Your Ideal Customers

Is a business model important? YES… although not in the way (and for the reasons) that you likely assume!

If you’re like most people, you associate business models with long-winded plans and documents.

It’s the kind of thing you have to create for your bank manager or potential investor.

They don’t matter in the real world, and it isn’t something you want to waste your time on.

And, for the most part, this is true…

BUT it’s not the whole story.

This is why I wanted to write this article because if it opens your eyes as it did for me, it will change everything for you!

This is what we’ll explore today:

• How To Build Your Business To Attract Your Customers
• The Levels of Consciousness and Your Business Model
• 1: Reactive
• 2: Willful
• 3: Intellectual
• 4: Intuitive
• Conclusions & Next Steps

How To Build Your Business To Attract Your Customers

Your job as an entrepreneur is to have a huge impact on those you serve.

This involves creating the right product, the right marketing (as I dive into in this article), and providing the support they need when they need it. As such, there is no single formula or blueprint. A business model you can print off and complete won’t help you.

It’s why much of the advice you find is average at best.

It works, for some people. But chances are it won’t work for you because you’re living a unique situation that few other people can understand. You have a unique set of skills. You have a unique personality. You also have a unique audience that needs you to step up in a relevant and specific way.

Unless you’re happy creating a generic business you have to reinvent every six months, you need to build one that aligns with you and those you serve.

Yet this is easier said than done. I know because I struggled with this for a looooooong time.

All that changed when I read Frederick Dodson’s book, Levels of Energy.

Reading this book shifted my entire outlook. Not just on marketing and sales, but how I approached business overall. It had a massive impact on my personal life, too, and how I showed up for those I love—including how I showed up for myself.

I won’t go into it all here because I dive much deeper in the article: https://scottoldford.com/2023/02/15/the-4-hidden-levels-of-consciousness-for-marketing-your-online-business/

As you’ll see, it centers around four levels of consciousness:

• Reactive: This is the level we see most in the online space, full of heavy-hitting tactics that focus on scarcity, FOMO, and quick fixes.
• Willful: This is the level where someone opens their eyes, pushing fear to one side and feeling highly motivated toward a vision or goal (most associated with hustle culture).
• Intellectual: At this level, someone moves away from tactics and focuses on strategy, not wanting to work hard, but rather work smart so they can be more efficient in their pursuit.
• Intuitive: This final level is when someone lives in the present, feeling whether they should or should not do something.

I encourage you to study these four levels in greater depth before you move on—check out: https://scottoldford.com/2023/02/15/the-4-hidden-levels-of-consciousness-for-marketing-your-online-business/

In this article, we’ll look at how these four levels affect your business model and the business you build…

The Levels of Consciousness and Your Business Model

Before we go on, let’s get something clear: this isn’t about some document you create for your bank.

If that’s what comes to mind at the sound of business model, wipe it clear now.

The point of this article is to explore the different ways you can approach your business depending on the type of person you serve—and the level of consciousness you (and them) are at.

All this then impacts the types of products you create, your marketing, sales funnels, team, culture, and much more. Yet this is something hardly anyone talks about because it isn’t easy to teach.

At least, it isn’t easy to produce some downloadable template you can replicate…

But you don’t need some downloadable templates. What you need is the right knowledge so you can build the right business for you and your audience. 

In a few minutes, you’ll have that.

So let’s dive in, starting with the first level of consciousness: reactive.

Reactive:

The person at the reactive level of consciousness is at the mercy of their emotions.

Often, they feel lost and in pain, desperate for their situation to change.

It may be a very real danger/problem (ex: they have no money to pay their bills) or a perceived danger/problem (ex: they feel inadequate compared to other people).

Either way, they’re in a situation they don’t want to be in.

A business model at this level of consciousness is both simple and complex…

It’s simple because you create a single product that takes them from A → B

You don’t want to give them options. You don’t want to complicate your message. Everything focuses on their pain and how your solution solves it. Simple. Easy. Obvious.

Yet this business model—from your perspective—is arguably the most complex of all because this person needs A LOT of support. They need accountability. They’ll send emails and ask a lot of questions. They want to jump on a call with you all the time.

In short, you need to take them by the hand and guide them through the whole process.

It’s a far from ideal business model, and it’s one you have to reinvent over and over because people at the reactive level of consciousness jump from one trend to the next. It’s exhausting, and it’s near impossible to develop loyalty with this group.

You can make money, sure, but it’s the quick-fix funnel hacker BS you likely see all the time.

I never recommend anyone to stay here for long, which brings us to the next level of consciousness…

Willful:

Someone at the willful level of consciousness is slightly more evolved, no longer only focused on their pain, but on the solution ahead of them.

They may not fully understand what this solution is.

They may not even appreciate what it is that they want.

But they are willing to put in the work, hustle, and DO the things!

This gives them tunnel vision. They struggle to focus. As such, you have to keep your business model simple. One offer that takes them from A → B … similar to the reactive level, but this time your messaging changes from their current situation to what life will look like in the future when you do X.

It’s important to keep everything clear and simple for them, though. You don’t have to take them by the hand as you do with someone at the reactive level, but you do have to provide one step followed by another. As such, you can create both an effective and profitable business model here.

But it is one you’ll have to constantly tweak and adapt because this person still doesn’t know what they want. They want you to tell them and give them templates and blueprints they can copy. They don’t want to figure out their own path… They want to copy yours!

Again, loyalty at this level is hard to come by because they get distracted and move on to the latest trend, method, framework, etc.

For loyalty and longevity, we need to move on to the next level of consciousness…

Intellectual:

Once someone moves into the intellectual level of consciousness, they’re no longer at the mercy of their emotions. By definition, they logically think about the big picture. They don’t just buy. They don’t move from trend to trend. They carefully consider how everything impacts them and their situation.

These are the people that already know their current problem and what they need to do.

By the time they have a call with you, they know ninety percent of what they need to.

They just need a little help. They need a specific action. They’re conscious of their next steps.

From a business model perspective, this is when you have to branch out and create a more complex one. A single offer won’t cut it. You need two, three, or four offers that give them different levels of support.

One offer may take them from A → B because that might be what they need right now.

Yet you also need another offer that takes them from A → Z because they’re in big picture mode.

This is also the person that needs proof that what you offer works. Not in the form of emotional testimonials (they work at the reactive and wilful levels) but through facts, figures, and results.

They want case studies. They desire deep-dive exploration calls. They need detailed webinars.

The good news is, once you onboard this person they need less support than the others. You don’t need to guide them by the hand. You give them the material and they tailor it around their unique situation. 

You say, “I’m here when you need me. Just get in touch when you are…”

Done right, this is by far the most profitable business model because it not only involves higher-priced products that require less hands-on support, but those at the intellectual level are more loyal.

They grow organically with you. They’re more focussed. They are more realistic and measured.

They don’t expect huge ninety-day transformations like someone at the willful level does. They desire consistent and continued success; a genuine relationship that helps them now and in the future.

Sometimes they stay at this level, but sometimes they (and you) evolve one final time…

Intuitive:

Someone at the intuitive level lives in the moment and is VERY conscious of their feelings.

In many ways, they share a lot in common with those at the reactive level because they’re at the mercy of their emotions. The only difference here is that they understand their emotions and therefore are in greater control—it’s not reactionary, but rather natural and intuitive (as the name suggests).

This person knows where they’re at.

They understand what they have and what’s missing.

They are the sort of person that wakes up and makes immediate decisions based on their situation.

As such, it’s hard to build a business model around those at this level because each person needs something different. Your job is to attract them with content that speaks to them and then tailor a solution on the spot.

It *can* be very profitable because those at this level are often happy to drop six figures on a six-month coaching program. But there’s no funnel you can build. No program or product. It’s a completely tailored approach that makes life tricky for you and your team.

Conclusions & Next Steps

As you can see, these four levels of consciousness have a massive impact on the type of business you build. It’s why nobody can give you a blueprint to complete because every situation differs.

The way I see it is a great mentor takes you down your own path and doesn’t try to adapt you to theirs.

That’s my aim with this article: to not give you the answer, but to empower you to find your own.

In my experience, the most effective, efficient, and profitable business models serve those between the high end of wilful consciousness to the low end of intuitive. 

Those at the reactive level (or low end of wilful) are too reactionary and at the mercy of their emotions. Whereas those on the upper scales of intuitive are the same—it’s a different kind of emotional reliance, but equally difficult to manage.

Yet none of this is to say you cannot build a successful business for any of these levels.

And there’s nothing stopping you from building a business that serves more than one!

That’s the whole point of this article… to show you that you have the power to build what you want.

It doesn’t exist in a blueprint or downloadable framework. None of the experts you follow have the answer you need. Mentors can help you, as can programs and courses. But it all comes down to YOU!

You and your unique situation…

You and the level of consciousness you’re in (and want to be in)…

You and your audience, and how you can best serve them…