Double Your Results by Using The Pareto Principle in Business

It’s been a while since I’ve published a post on productivity. I just asked myself one of the simplest and yet most important questions in business, and it’s such an eye-opener and time saver, that I decided to write about it.

It’s about using the Pareto principle in business, also know as the 80/20 rule. It can be applied to any aspect of life and it helps you cut most of what you’re doing and double down on what’s actually working.

But the thing is… we often don’t know what’s working.

We post content on many platforms, we have many offers in our product suite and keep creating new ones. There are many freebies we’re offering, and possibly many topics we’re covering and many ideal customers we’re targeting.

The result?

We’re exhausted, we don’t see the results we want, and we often don’t really know what’s working.

So here’s the solution.

Ask Yourself This One Question

What is the 20% of what I do that brings 80% of my results?

Everything changes when you answer this honestly.

You don’t need more ideas.
You don’t need more platforms.
You don’t need more hustle.

You need clarity. And this one question can give you exactly that.

Sometimes, gaining that clarity also means strengthening your decision-making skills. Whether through experience or structured learning like an online master of science in analytics, understanding how to interpret data can help you clearly identify what’s working and what’s not, making the 80/20 rule even more powerful in practice.

Using The Pareto Principle in Business

The Pareto principle states that roughly 80% of the results come from 20% of the efforts.

That pattern shows up everywhere, including business.

In practice, not all work matters equally. Some actions create most of your revenue, growth, or impact.

That can look like:

A few clients generating most of the income;
One or a few products driving most sales;
A few pieces of content bringing the most traffic;

The mistake most bloggers and business owners make is doing more. Maybe that’s more offers, more platforms, more tasks, etc.

Pareto says do the opposite. Find what already works, then double down. Cut or reduce the low-impact 80%. Put time, energy, and focus into the few things that compound.

Examples

Let’s dive deeper into some examples on how this productivity principle shows for bloggers and content creators.

Long-form content – For many bloggers, a few blog posts bring most of the traffic. If that’s the case for you, identify what these are and update them often. They should also give you an idea of what content format works well for your site, and what topics convert well. Also, the way you optimized them obviously works, so keep following those SEO principles for future blog posts too;
One core offer – Many business owners have a massive product suite (10+ offers), and think creating new products will be the solution to growing their revenue. But the reality is that 1 or 2 of their existing products actually do well, and the rest are just sitting there gathering dust. In those cases, you can either invest your energy into changing your messaging for the other offers or the pricing or the marketing. Or you can retire them (or just stop promoting them actively), and see how you can get the ones that bring in enough revenue in the hands of more people. This shift in focus can double down your revenue this year;
One traffic source – You may be investing dozens of hours in Pinterest monthly, taking courses, paying for tools, and pinning like crazy. But do you actually get blog traffic from that? If not, and if those few random Reels on IG or TikTok led to more results (like a product sale, a brand to collab with, a coaching client, etc), then you better double down on that and leave Pinterest behind (at least for now);
One target reader/customer – When you speak to everyone, you speak to no one. I’m guilty of that. And that’s why this year I’m narrowing down my ideal audience. I want to reach the people I can help the most, and that’s bloggers interested in earning from blog sponsorships;
One sponsored client/brand – Or a few. That’s the case for me. Most of my revenue actually comes from a few regular clients most months. So, I ask myself: How can you nurture that relationship? What else can I offer them to maximize this collaboration? Maybe I can create a special package for them, or offer them my second blog so they can keep it in their database and consider it for sponsored content in the future;
One lead magnet – What’s the one freebie that leads to the most sign ups, and brings the most qualified leads? Once you know that, you can remove the rest (as it takes effort to keep promoting them, to have sequences and opt-in forms for them, etc.) and only focus on the one or two that actually grow your audience and revenue (directly or indirectly) and think of ways to help it reach more people;
One main platform – Where should you be publishing content the most based on the results you get? Even if you’re good at repurposing content, it takes effort, time and energy to show up on different platforms, please different algorithms, and create strategic content for the people on each platform. But if you double down on the one that works best for you (and which you enjoy the most), you might see your follower count increasing this year.

Ready to 80/20 your business?

Not all effort is equal.

Some actions compound. Most just keep you busy.

Use the Pareto principle in business to your advantage.

The examples above are just the beginning.

Keep asking yourself the one question – What is the 20% of what I do that brings 80% of my results? – for every little thing you do as a blogger and content creator.

Don’t do it just for the lead magnets, but for the email sequences, opt-in forms, welcome emails, tripwire offers, and anything in-between.

Don’t do it just for the top blog posts on your site, but for your top YouTube videos, podcast episodes, Pins, Instagram posts, TikTok videos, or any other type of content you create. Analyze the ones that perform best and see why that is, then use that knowledge to recreate the effect.

Let me know how you’ll use the Pareto principle as a business owner this year, and how it can save you time and effort while growing your revenue, audience and impact.