Since 2001 I’ve built (and sold) companies in a variety of industries
including software, real estate, online education, consulting and
professional services.
After growing my first few companies, I realized there are really just 4
things we need to get right as founders to build our businesses to $10M
in revenue and beyond.
In this chapter, I wanted to share them with you.
Here they are:
1. Understand the PAIN in your market and show them your “pain
killer”
You’ve probably heard this before, but it bears repeating — the best
products don’t win, the best marketing does.
So how can you market better than your competitors?
Well, you need to start by “finding the pain” in your market. What is the
single biggest pain point they are experiencing right now in their
business or life?
Once you understand that pain in excruciating detail, you need to
“regurgitate” it back to them in a way that’s clearer than they can
describe on their own.
You then need to talk about your “pain killer” (the product/service you
sell) and how it will eliminate their pain quickly.
2. Build a predictable, scalable customer acquisition “machine”
You can have the most amazing product in the world, but if you can’t
reliably capture leads and turn them into paying customers, then what’s
the point?
Every company that’s grown to $10M in revenue and beyond has
figured out their own version of what I call a customer acquisition
“machine”.
And the machine is different for every business, depending on what you
sell, your price point, etc.
— For an ecommerce business it might be Facebook Ad -> Online Store
-> Purchase
— For a restaurant it might be Google AdWords -> Online Reservation
-> Purchase
— For a professional services firm it might be Facebook Ad -> Webinar
-> Lead -> Call -> Client
At the end of the day the point is the same — you need to “architect” a
constant flow of leads and customers to your business that just works.
Day in, day out.
3. Use leverage to get yourself out of the day-to-day of your business
I don’t know about you, but I’m not a fan of working 14 hours a day, 7
days a week.
Now don’t get me wrong, I LOVE working, but I also love seeing my
family, going on holidays and just living life in general.
I don’t “live to work”. I work to live.
The trick is to understand the leverage points in your business and how
you can use them to get more done while you spend less time in the
office.
The most common way to gain leverage in any business is to start slowly
hiring great people who can take some of the work off your shoulders.
As they prove themselves and you feel confident in their
abilities — and your sales start growing much faster — you continue
to hire more and more people.
Within a few short months, you’ve delegated what I call your “low
value” tasks to your team. This gives you: 1) a lot more free time and 2)
time to work on the business instead of in it.
When you work on your business, you get clarity. You see new
opportunities for growth. You attend conferences, events and
roundtables and meet smart founders who help you come up with even
better ideas.
And your business starts to grow faster while the time you spend in your
business continues to drop, month on month.
4. Surround yourself with people who have “seen the movie” before
Back in 2006 I was trying to grow one of my companies to $1M in sales.
But it just wasn’t happening, no matter what I did.
Then I got my first business coach. That year we did $2M in sales and
the following year we did over $5M.
So I doubled down on what was working and went to the best — I
hired 2 “master coaches” from personal development legend Tony
Robbins’ company.
Fast forward a few short years and not only did my business top $20M
in sales, but I was transformed as a founder. As a person. And as a
leader.
It was incredible.
Now whenever I want to accelerate my progress in ANYTHING
(especially business), I always remind myself of this quote:
2X Thinking Is “What Can I Do?”. 10X Thinking Is “Who Can Help
Me?”