Business Empire Magazine provides how to's and articles for entrepreneurs by entrepreneurs

In fact the reason why most small business owners fail is because they overcomplicate the process. They confuse complexity with "good planning" when in fact, complexity is usually the symptom of bad thinking.

I've spent my career studying small businesses (and starting my fair share too) and I've been able to boil down ANY money-making business into 4 Steps.

Get these 4 Steps right and you will have a profitable business that will sustain itself in good times and bad.

Here are your 4 Steps to a Profitable Business. I dare say - that these steps work every time.

Step 1: Attract Visitors

Attract the right visitor. It doesn't matter if you run an online business of a brick and mortar boutique; you must attract a steady flow of quality visitors. If the door isn't swinging then the cash register will not be ringing.

I often tell my coaching clients that they should find out - fast - how much money it takes to get one visitor through their door. Remember, it's easy to flood your store or site with "anybody" but it's a bit more difficult to fill your store with a special somebody.

You get a gold star if you track which ad brought which customer

Get this right and move to Step #2.

Step #2: Create Leads

Turn that visitor into a sales lead. Don't fool yourself into thinking that you can run a successful for-profit business without selling. Don't even try to duck, dodge, and avoid this. You are in sales from day 1 and you need to turn as many visitors into leads as you possibly can.

Most businesses mess this step up and have poor results to prove it. Take a hard look at your visitor to sign-up number to evaluate how your business is doing. I use 10% as my benchmark; that means 10 out of every 100 visitors become a sales lead.

Calculate your number and jump to Step #3.

Step #3: Close Sales

It's time to make some money. Step #3 is all about turning the leads you created in Step #2 into profits.

My friend this is where you sell your heart out.

Again if you are uncomfortable with selling then do not go into business. If you have a problem with asking people for money for honest to goodness service then go into social work. But if you are in business to win then learn to love this step.

Tracking how you are doing here is fairly easy. How many of the people on your lead list turned into customers?

Here's a ninja move. Go all the way back to Step #1 and take find how much you spent on a specific advertisement. Let's say $100 on newspaper advertising. Now count up how many people visited your site or store as a result of that ad. Let's say 10, then your cost per visitor was $10.

Now how many people became a lead? Let say 5 (50% conversion rate - wow!) then your cost per lead is 100/5 or $20.

Now how many people bought your product or signed up for your service? Plug-in 2 people to make it easy, your cost per sale is $50.00.

Now let's turn your business into a money-faucet.

Step #4: Get Referrals

Get Referrals/Testimonials from Current Contacts and Customers

Just about everyone just flat out ignores this step. And it is the most important for the future growth of your business.

You see Steps 1 to 3 require you to invest some of your hard-earned cash up-front. You need to buy some advertising to attract traffic. Once your ad gets old you need to buy more advertising to keep your sales pipeline full and happy.

This can get expensive (especially in the beginning).

Step #4 is all about encouraging your leads and customers to refer other people who might be interested in your business. Businesses that put this step on auto-pilot watch their business grow day-after-day with little to no extra marketing investment. 

Here's the real kicker, treat your customers right and you can build your entire business on referrals (or word of mouth). Take a look at Amazon, when was the last time you watched an Amazon.com commercial. That's right - never. I rest my case.

When I put the Amazing 4 into motion for my business I saw my overall sales explode almost overnight - ($20,000 in 6 months)

These Steps are simple. Work them every day and you will see results.