Do you want to change the world and build a business that makes a difference? A good place to start is to take a look at someone who has done that very thing utilizing the SAS model
One of the best examples of someone who built a “difference-making-business” is Matt Mullenweg. Mullenweg is the creator of WordPress, which is a tool you use to build websites. I use WordPress to manage my own website. You are reading this blog on a WordPress powered website. The great thing about WordPress is how easy and flexible it is. It lets you create things that you wouldn’t be able to create on your own. At least not without some mad coding skills.
WordPress now powers 25% of the internet. It makes money by taking a commission when a web developer sells a theme or a plugin built on the WordPress platform. As a result of this business model, Matt is very successful, and he has enabled countless individuals to build successful internet businesses. He is making a difference.
But is this something you can replicate?
Productizing Services
The idea behind WordPress was remarkably simple: Matt was looking to put himself out of work. How did he do that? He productized a service. In other words, he replaced the web design service he provided with a tool that cold do it for him.
This is how a huge number of SAS businesses are born. SAS is ‘Software As Service’ and it means that you’ve written a piece of software – often B2B – that will provide an important service to the end user.
Another example of this might be a fitness app that trains the user. This has taken a service usually provided by an individual (a personal trainer) and turned it into an app that is can run on a smartphone.
Why SAS?
The advantage of SAS is the convenience that it offers the user as well as the scalability it offers you. Imagine attempting to build 25% of the world’s websites. At the time of this writing, there are 1.2 billion, and that number is growing by the second. The number of man hours required would be extraordinary. But with a piece of software that builds websites? It becomes possible.
As a result, people like you and me can launch a website for almost nothing. All the while Matt Mullenweg builds a thriving and world-changing business. Oh, by the way, the thriving businesses we launch on WordPress can make a huge difference in people’s lives too.
So now it’s time to ask yourself: can you turn your service into a product? Could a program do what you do for a living? Make sure you invent it before someone else does!