What if I told you that there are seven simple steps you can take to start growing your business from $0 to $1,000,000 this year? As entrepreneurs, we all know how hard it is to grow and scale a business. Let’s face it, most of the time it takes years to start seeing profit for your business, and who has time for that? But I believe that you can grow your business to $1,000,000, and I’ve come up with seven simple steps you can take to achieve your goals. Fair warning — while they may be simple, they are not easy, so get ready for some hard work.
Let’s get started!
#1. Set Your Intention
Oh yes, I mean your intention of making $1,000,000 this year. If you are struggling with that because it feels so far out there, ask yourself, why did you start your business? Why do you want to grow it? You need to know your “WHY” for the Universe to hear your intention and set it in motion. Your intention helps you determine and clarify your vision and your purpose. Are you trying to get to $1,000,000 to buy a new home, or to create a wonderful future for your children so they don’t have to struggle like you did, or to move to a new country?
Okay, okay, so that last intention is mine. This year, I set my intention for my business to be at $10 million 10 years from now. Why? So I can live my dream on the coast of Spain running business workshops and retreats overlooking the ocean. Everything I do today, every goal I set is to help me achieve that goal. So, figure out what your intention is for your business, write it down, and remind yourself of it during every part of the process.
#2. Become a Value-Driven professional
As a Certified Business Made Simple Coach, I recently read Donald Miller’s new book Business Made Simple that just came out this year. Miller talks about the importance of becoming a value-driven professional and after spending years in corporate America, and I completely agree. Also — if you haven’t read his book, Jump on over to Amazon and grab a copy. I also made a book review video for this book about it, so check it out if you’re interested in buying the book.
The one trait that I think is huge in becoming a value-driven professional is to make yourself indispensable. Find out what value you bring the most to the table for your clients and how you can drive ROI for them. Make your impact on their bottom line so important that they have to continue working with you. By doing so, you will make yourself indispensable.
#3. Uncover your Gaps
The third step to take is to evaluate and uncover your gaps to see where you’re falling short. Remember, this doesn’t mean you are bad or wrong. So many business leaders I coach struggle with feeling like their gaps are a bad thing and that is simply not true.
When you identify what is not working for your business, you can leverage other resources to help you grow. You have to have the knowledge to know what skills you need to level up. The hard part is identifying what isn’t working and why it isn’t working. For example, maybe you have a great business and great business model but no idea how to market it. You don’t have the time to learn marketing, so what do you do? This is the kind of stuff I’m talking about – the first step is identifying what’s missing. Only when you uncover your gaps will you be able to create the right plan with the right strategies.
Long-story-short – identifying your own gaps is challenging but is the only way to level up your business. If you don’t know where to start, we have a free 10-minute Business MRI assessment that you can take to find out where in your business you need to improve.
#4. Process and Automation
Next, review and revise your processes and automate where needed. Now I’ll be honest, adding in processes and automating is a technical journey that takes time, a clear mind, and a certain skillset. Just because you don’t have that skill set right now doesn’t mean that you can’t learn it, though. Take it from me – I was definitely not tech-savvy when I started my marketing agency, but I needed to know certain skills to grow and scale my business. I taught myself over 40 applications in one year – something I do not recommend – but it paid off.
My recommendation to you is to figure out what you need first.
- Start by tracking what you do each day.
- Next, look at what tasks you need to do to make you the most money.
- Then look at the tasks you do that are wasting your valuable time and figure out a new way to do that task. Do you need to hire someone to help you? Or would you be better off developing an automated process?
Every step of my business growth required me to level up new skills and develop new processes. When my proposal process was taking 1.5 hours of my time each day, I automated it. Now I can make changes to specific areas of the proposal without rewriting the whole thing each time. Then when my client tracking was taking five hours every Monday to process, I developed a monthly retainer system to save time processing invoices.
Pro Tip:
YOU are your most valuable asset. There are tasks only you can do, which means the rest can be done by an incredible employee or an automated system. Spend time doing the things that you can do to grow your business.
#5. Create Clear and Consistent Messaging
The fifth step that you need to take is to create clear and consistent messaging. If you don’t speak to your customer in a way that they understand and can relate to, you’re never going to make a profit. I see business owners make the same mistake over and over – they think customers buy from them because they have a pretty website or because the customer likes them. I’m sorry to tell you that that is just not true. Customers buy from you because they read and hear words that make them want to buy. It’s your job to take the time to create clear and consistent messaging for your business that tells a story and
invest in marketing that produces results! It doesn’t matter how amazing you are at what you do or how much value you bring to people if you can’t get the word out there.
If messaging just isn’t your thing, don’t worry – I’ve got your back! Check out my video on how to create clear and consistent messaging and join the Brand Messaging Bootcamp coming up soon.
Say, for example, you’re not getting as many leads as you want to be profitable. Your business coach can introduce you to digital marketing strategies that work best for your industry and point you to the resources to figure out how to employ them. Or maybe you need to raise more money for your non-profit organization and you don’t know where to find investors. Your business coach could introduce you to relevant people in their network or point you to a specialized consultant who will help you find funding. See how it works?
#6. Keep Growing and Developing New Skills
To be a successful leader, you can never stop learning! In a fast-paced environment like today, it’s especially important to level up your knowledge and skills – not just on leadership, but on financial aptitude, technology, marketing, mindset, and much more. If you don’t, you risk being left behind and beat out by competitors who took the time to invest in themselves and learn what they needed to know to succeed. Harsh, I know, but it’s true. You have got to keep learning and growing.
Some ways you can do that are by reaching out to people who are successful in your field, reading, and taking courses. There’s so much knowledge and wisdom out there waiting for you, all you need to do is take the time to find it! Trust me on this one – the best investment to grow your business profitably is investing in yourself.
When I started my own digital marketing firm a few years ago, the most important lesson I learned right off the bat was that I couldn’t do this alone. I needed a business coach to lead my way and I recommend that you find a trusted mentor to help show you what you need to learn to level up your skills and succeed.
#7. Get a CPA
The last step that you need to take if you want to get your business to $1,000,000 is an easy one. Invest in your company’s financial health and hire a great CPA. I’m not just talking about an accountant who does your numbers, but somebody who understands and can take advantage of tax strategies. Not only will they help you save loads of money, but they will make sure that your business is in the green where you want it…not in the red.
And there you have it! The seven simple steps to take to grow your business from $0 to $1,000,000. And yes, I know they seem simple, but trust me, they are not easy by any means. So, it’s time for you to get started and take action now.
Happy Evolving!
