Dec 11, 2019
It took me 6 years to grow a business that makes over $2M in annual revenue. Today I want to share with you my 8 key lessons on how to grow a multiple million dollar business.
Lesson 1
Stop thinking and start doing.
This is lesson is true, no matter if you are just starting out or already making a million dollars. Overthinking can kill any business and we women are prone to overthinking. I see overthinking as a form of procrastination and self-sabotage.
I wasted about 18 months overthinking my business idea before I was ready to put myself out there and tell people what I do. Of course you need to think things through in life and business and make a plan but then you get to work and take action. I spend 2 days a year planning my multiple million dollar business, that’s all it takes.
Still today, I sometimes go into overthinking mode but I don’t stay there for long because I realise that I am doing it and I quickly snap myself out of it again. And if I cannot do it alone, I ask for help. And if I feel I am starting to get stuck, I ask for even more help. Key is stop thinking and start doing, at every level.
Lesson 2
Invest forward.
This lesson applies at any stage of your business. If you want to grow then you need to invest. If your business is not growing, it is dying. Investing forward is a sign to your subconscious that you are serious about growing your business.
I doubted the need to invest in myself. I had already bought 2 online courses in my first year of business and I thought to myself that I first needed to see a return on those courses before I invested more. But I struggled to figure out how to grow my business without more help. I had been a CEO for 10 years and had an MBA and I had to admit to myself that I needed more help.
My first year in business I invested $5K into a business coach who taught me how to launch. I was a good student and made $55K in 3 months. 10x return in only 90 days! Overall I made $74K in my first year of business.
My second year in business I did not work with a coach or join a mastermind but I had a client who was already making $600K and by being her business coach I learned a lot. Overall I doubled my business and made $164K in my second year of business.
My third year in business I decided to hire my client, the one who was already making $600K. I joined her mastermind for $20K and by the end of the year I had added another $200K to my revenue, a 10x return! Overall I doubled my business and made $340K in my third year of business.
My fourth year in business I was aiming for my first million and decided to join another mastermind. The investment was $25K and by the end of the year I had added $660K to my revenue, a 26x return! Overall I tripled my business and made exactly $1M in my fourth year of business.
My fifth year in business I wanted to double my revenue and continued in the same mastermind. The investment was $30K and by the end of the year I had added $500K to my revenue, a 16x return. I did not double or triple my business as I had a lot of catching up to do from the fast growth from the previous year. Overall I made $1.5M in my fifth year of business.
My sixth year in business I wanted to work with a new coach but then my previous coach surprised me with a new 7 figure mastermind so I ended up joining two masterminds which is not something I recommend you do (unless they are very different). Instead of investing $50K I ended up investing $90K into the two masterminds and by the end of the year (now) I’ve added over $500K to my revenue, a 5.5x return. If I had only been in one mastermind the return would have been over 10x. Overall I will make $2.2M in my sixth year of business.
Return on investment is a concept you need to take into account when you invest into yourself and your business. When I look back at my six years in business there were times where I had a bigger return because I could execute faster and there are times where I had a lower return because I had some catching up to do in my business. Overall I always had a good return on my investments also after the year was over.
So here’s my rule of thumb for investing:
Invest 10% of whatever number you are aiming to achieve.
If you want to add $500K to your revenue you need to invest $50K.
That’s why RED CIRCLE is a $50K investment.
RED CIRCLE is a brand new program I am offering in 2020.
RED CIRCLE is for women who are already making $500K or more in revenue and wand to cross the million dollar mark in 2020, and add another $500K or more to their revenue next year.
RED CIRCLE is more than a mastermind where you make a million, it’s for women on a mission who want to create a movement.
Book a call with my team about RED CIRCLE.
Lesson 3
Have a mission
This lesson is more important once you make multiple six figures. When you start your business it is about achieving a certain lifestyle, whether it is being able to work from home and take care of your family or to live in two countries. But once you can cover your lifestyle, you need a mission. Building a business just to make more and more money is not a mission.
In my first 2 business years my biggest goal was to replace my previous income. Once I achieved that my husband suggested that he could retire, since I was on the fast track to replace his income too. I thought he was joking but he wasn’t.
In my third business year the Universe provided and my husband lost his job. I got extremely motivated to replace both our incomes and have a freedom lifestyle together where we could live in two countries and travel together. I started to set a goal of making a million dollars.
In my fourth business year as I was aiming for the million, I realised I had already achieved all our lifestyle goals and this million wasn’t about me. It was about my why. I had been clear on my why from the start but I hadn’t tied to a money goal until in year 4. I wanted to show women what is possible. I wanted to be a role model for women who want more in life.
In my fifth business year I got even clearer about my mission. I realised that my mission was so big that I couldn’t achieve it with online business alone. I needed to create a movement and start with an international conference for female online entrepreneurs who are all self made. The idea for the Selfmade Summit was born.
In my sixth business year I shared my mission with the world and found a much larger resonance that I would have ever expected. Talking about my upcoming conference in Reykjavik, Iceland has opened up doors to more publicity than my business story ever would. People care more when you have a big mission - and it has a positive impact on your business too.
But with a big mission you need the next lesson.
Book a call with my team about VIP.
Lesson 4
Grow a team
This lesson is for any stage of business, even if you feel you are not ready to hire and grow a team.
I hired my first virtual assistant long before I felt I was ready. I was in my first year of business and didn’t have consistent income yet. Still, I knew that I had to hire help so that I wouldn’t have to do all the repetitive tasks that had emerged in my business.
In year 2 to 4 I had many virtual assistants come and go but one person stayed on my team the whole time and is still with me today. I wasn’t really thinking of building a team but just thinking of outsourcing all the different tasks that needed to get done.
Outsourcing and hiring a team are two different things. It isn’t until you really commit to building a dream team that you can start to feel the true power of having help in your business. This started to happen end of year 5 for me but really became true this year, in year 6 of my business. The earlier you focus on building your dream team the better, I waited almost too long to build my dream team because I thought I could or should do it all on my own. Start today if you haven’t already.
Lesson 5
Create a process
This lesson is for any stage of business, even if you are not making any money yet. It’s all about taking something you do in your business more than once and create a process for it. When you do something for the first time it is a project, when you do it for the second time it should be a process.
When I did my first webinar in 2014 I had to do a lot of different tasks. The second time I did a webinar I started to write down all the tasks and the order in which they had to be done. By the time I did the third webinar I had a process of 60 steps! My process included everything from coming up with the topic of the webinar to sending out the replay. Today, webinars are easier to do but still I have a process with all the steps.
Creating a process can only be done after you do it once as a project - and successfully. Ideally you do it the first time yourself so that you know all the steps but then you can outsource it to someone else or if possible, automate it. Once you have a process you are going to be faster, you are going to make less mistakes, and you can eventually hire almost anyone to execute your process.
Do give you a few examples of what is a process in my business, here’s a short list for you:
Instead of trying to create processes for everything in your business, look at the key areas of your business; your marketing, your sales, your operation, your team and content creation and start with 5 key processes that help you grow your business every single day.
Lesson 6
Network
This lesson is for any stage of business, the networks will change but not the need for networking. Online business is great but nothing replaces meeting people face to face. Networking is the fastest way to more clients and partnerships.
I was a year into my business when I went to my first live event in London where I met over 200 like-minded women. I was immediately hooked and the same year I went to two more live events in the USA. It was a big investment in terms of time and money but still today I benefit from connecting with the people I met 5 years ago!
Attending live events I have built relationships with people who have become my clients, others became mastermind buddies and yet others have been guests on my podcast. Without meeting those people face to face I would not have built these relationships.
As you and your business grow you want to evaluate what type of networking events you go to, whether they are conferences, seminars or workshops. Today I don’t go to the same events that I went to a few years ago as they don’t serve me in the same way anymore.
The Selfmade Summit is for women who want to make good money and change the world at the same time. It’s a conference for self made women who want to take their life and business to the next level. The speakers are all self made women who are bold and have done brilliant things - and will share exactly how they did it so that you can do it too.
Tickets for Selfmade Summit go up on January 1, 2020. If you haven’t secured your ticket, then get your Early Bird Ticket now.
Lesson 7
Vision
This lesson is for any stage of business. Creating a vision is the first thing any entrepreneur should do for their life and business. Without a vision, you have no idea where you will end up. With a vision, you know what you need to do - and more importantly who you need to become.
I’ve created visions since a was a child. My preferred way to create a vision is to physically be in the place that I want to be once the vision becomes true - if that is at all possible. Then I visualize myself being the person that has already achieved all the things I want to achieve.
Already 11 years old I decided to become an architect, I visualized studying in Germany by actually being in Germany. For the next 9 years all my decisions where focused around this vision. And despite being discouraged by family and boyfriend I made it happen. In my mind I was already there and it was done, I just needed to execute it.
The same goes for the Selfmade Summit. I decided to become the person who holds a conference for 1000 women in Iceland. I decided it as I stood inside the concert hall where the conference will take place. I put a date on my dream, the rest is just logistics.
Have you put a date on your dream?
Lesson 8
Focus
This lesson is for any stage of business. It’s so easy to get distracted when you are building an online business but the key to success is to become a focused entrepreneur.
I was all over the place in my first year of business. It wasn’t until after I had worked with a coach for 6 weeks that I got clarity and started to focus on one thing. And within weeks I was fully booked with 1-1 clients. Over the years I have added new programs and stopped other ones.
When you are in the first years of your business and don’t yet have a strong team to keep you focused then you definitely need outside accountability that helps you stay on track.
That’s what we do in the Momentum group coaching program.
Momentum is for women who have started their online business, have an online program and are making some money but are not at six figures yet. This is where many entrepreneurs are prone to get distracted, create too many programs and making too few sales. Momentum solves that.
Book a call with my team about Momentum.
These were my 8 key lessons:
What is your biggest takeaway from my 8 key lesson of building a business that makes $2M in annual revenue?
Let me know by tagging me in your Instastory or Instagram post, using my handle @sigruncom and the hashtag #sigrunshow.
Come to Iceland in 2020 for the Selfmade Summit 2020
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Early bird tickets are now available for the largest international conference for women entrepreneurs - The Selfmade Summit 2020!
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