If You Can’t Explain Your Business Model in Two Sentences, You Don’t Know Your Business

Jun 05, 2023

Can you explain your business model in two clear sentences?

Not a rambling answer about how busy you are…
Not a list of services…
But a plain-language breakdown of:

Who you help
What problem you solve
How you deliver your solution
And how the money flows

Most business owners can’t.

They get stuck in the weeds — talking about features, staff, or client chaos.

But they don’t have a clean answer to:
“How does your business actually make money — and is that model sustainable?”

Your Business Model is the Engine — Not the Paint Job

We get distracted by the shiny stuff: websites, logos, ads, hashtags, funnels.
But the real power?
Comes from what’s under the hood.

Your business model connects everything:

Your ideal customer
The problem you solve
The offer you sell
How you deliver it
The channels you use
How you earn money
What it costs you to deliver
The tools, people, and partners that support you
The activities that drive results

If even one of those is misaligned or unclear — the whole thing starts to wobble.
You’ll feel it in your cash flow.
In your sales.
In your stress levels.
In your ability to scale.

Symptoms of a Broken or Blurry Model

Still not sure if your business model is working?
Here are a few red flags:

You’re offering too many things to too many people
Some services feel like more work than they’re worth
You’re not sure which clients are actually profitable
You keep tweaking prices because you don’t feel confident in them
Your business feels custom every time — but not in a good way

Sound familiar?
That’s not just a marketing or pricing issue.

It’s a model issue.

A Simple Framework to Get Clear

Here’s a quick way to pressure-test your business model:

We help [ideal customer] solve [specific problem] by delivering [solution] through [method], and we get paid [revenue model].

If you can’t write that clearly — without fluff — your model needs work.
And that’s not a problem.
That’s an opportunity.

Why It’s Worth Fixing

When your model is clear:

You spot your most profitable services
You cut what’s not working
You make better hiring and pricing decisions
You scale smarter — not harder
You build a business that can survive without you in every detail

It’s like switching on the headlights after driving in the dark.

Want a clearer picture of where your business might be leaking profit or losing momentum?

Take the free Business Health Check — 50 multiple-choice questions to help you spot the gaps and focus on what matters.