You Don’t Need A Complicated Recipe To Create An Extraordinary Business

There’s a mason jar of flaky salt that has a permanent place on my kitchen counter.

If you’re not familiar with flaky salt, I’m very excited for you–and I’m excited to be the person to tell you about it.

Flaky salt is just what it sounds like: big, crystalline, pyramid-shaped flakes of fragile sodium chloride.

And while the shape is quite remarkable when compared to ordinary table salt, it’s what flaky salt does to food that is truly extraordinary.

(I know, I sound like a complete Millennial right now–which I am, so just go with it.)

Flaky salt takes unexceptional food–say, some radishes, or chocolate chip cookies, or a salad–and kicks it up no less than 7 notches.

What starts as something simple turns into something bursting with complex flavors and interesting texture. It makes every little ingredient work a little harder.

I know that I can prepare a really simple lunch like eggs and toast and still have a full-on gourmet experience because I can pluck some crystals of flaky salt out of my mason jar and sprinkle them across my plate.

Honestly, my mouth is watering just thinking about it.

Preparing food doesn’t have to be hard or complicated to be extraordinary.

And neither does how you run your business.

All too often, we (and I am completely including myself) go looking for a complicated recipe for generating more sales, developing a new product, or planning our projects.

We assume that the things that work have to be elaborate–after all, if it was simple, we’d have figured it out by now, right?

And once we have our complicated business recipe, the one with ingredients we don’t have and techniques we haven’t yet mastered, we file it away for “some day” when we have more time or a better handle on things.

What if we kept things simple and just added some flaky salt?

What if we stopped waiting to get started on unwieldy projects and, instead, doubled-down on what’s already working, adjusting one or two things to amplify results?

Here are 3 ways I’ve been adding flaky salt to the things I know work over the last few years:

  • Repurposing content from this newsletter and the What Works podcast (that’s what’s working) into valuable Instagram content (flaky salt) so I’m not constantly coming up with something new to share
  • Turning internal resources like templates and standard operating procedures (what’s working) into things I can share with clients & customers or turn into products (flaky salt) so we can do the work once and benefit from it in many ways
  • Leveraging successful projects or campaigns (what’s working) into repeatable processes and routines (flaky salt) so we can focus on getting better instead of reinventing the wheel

The key to building a stronger business isn’t cooking up more complicated recipes for success. And it’s certainly not collecting cookbooks and never turning on the stove.

Take simple ingredients, do what works, and then add a little flaky salt to kick it up a few notches.


The What Works Network is devoted to helping you find the simple ways to make your business stronger.

We don’t teach complicated recipes for business-building. Instead, we help you build habits and make small adjustments so that you can build a more profitable, resilient, and sustainable business.

We’ll give you the focus, structure, and support you need to intentionally and strategically develop an exceptional business. Learn more and join us–click here!


Cover of What Works book by Tara McMullin

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