What Biz Decision Increased My Profits?

Lorna Doone Brewer over on the Freelance Parent blog asked a question:

“What business decision did you make in the last year that resulted in the biggest increase in revenue?”

She said we could answer the question with a post on our own blog so I’m going for it here.

Without a doubt, the biggest decision I made in 2007 that increased my revenue was letting go of a project that I had a lot of personal love for but that was sapping my profits with each passing month.

That was The WC Mini Mag, a print magazine for work at home moms that I started in 2005.  I tried three different subscription/advertising models and while all of them had ’some’ success, none of them had enough success.

When I charged for it, I reached a plateau of subscribers that I couldn’t break through to make it profitable.

When I made it free, subscribers came out of the woodwork but advertiser support was weak.

It was hard to drop the project.  Like I wrote above, I had a lot of love for it.  I enjoyed putting it together and received great appreciation from subscribers.  I loved being a publisher but I had to admit to myself that I did not enjoy the business of selling print advertising.

By giving it up, I was able to return my attention to online concerns which carry less overhead and return a higher profit.  This means I work smarter, not harder for my dollars and that has increased my income.

So how will you answer Lorna’s question?