I was very excited about how I ended 2010. I finally hit a financial milestone.
However, I wasn’t an overnight success. I started this process in 2005 to transform my business from a one-woman freelance copywriter to president of a copywriting and marketing company.
I’m going through all the things I did so you can duplicate my success. Below are 5 things that worked for me:
1. Started attending events. Now, I’m not talking about becoming an event junkie. But I do believe going to events is key to taking your business to the next level.
There are so many benefits from attending events beyond what you’re going to learn from the speakers — networking, connecting with your “tribe,” getting out of your own little world so you can get some fresh ideas for your business, meeting the “movers and shakers” in your industry and more.
In addition to all of that, you also may discover your business starts to take off because you’re finally taking yourself and your business seriously.
2. Started regularly marketing. This one is tough if you don’t have a support system, but it’s crucial if you want to break the feast-famine cycle (either too much or too little business — when there’s too much you stop marketing because you’re crazy busy and when there’s too little you’re in “desperation marketing mode.”)
If you want to have a steady stream of clients and customers and a full pipeline of leads, the way to do that is by regularly marketing. It’s that simple…and that difficult.
But there are 2 things you can do to make this MUCH easier — change your mindset so you put as much emphasis on marketing as you do everything else in your business and implement a system to make it easier for you to follow through and your team to support you.
3. Got in alignment with what I teach. In my case, it meant making marketing my own business as important as marketing my clients’ businesses. In your case it may look different. But the reality is, you personally need to be in alignment with what you teach or how can you possibly stand tall and value your gifts and your brilliance?
Now, I have an important note about this — do NOT use this as an excuse to not move forward in your business. If you feel like you’re not in alignment, then get yourself in alignment. The only way you’re going to transform your business is if you do what you need to do to be an alignment and practice what you preach. (And if you can’t get yourself in alignment, maybe you need to take a hard look at what you’re providing. You might need to tweak your offering — this could be a message from the universe you’re not doing what you’re truly meant to do.)
4. Surrounded myself with the right people. You can’t do it all yourself. If you want to grow your business, you need to get a team in place to support you. Now this is something else that can feel scary — after all, hiring people is a big commitment. So what I would suggest is start small. Hire a VA (virtual assistant) for a few hours a month or a bookkeeper. Then make sure you use that time for revenue-producing activities.
Eventually, you’re going to reach a point where you have a big team working for you. The only problem with that is then you suddenly find yourself spending a bunch of time managing them. That’s when you want to look into getting a COO or a business manager for your business. I was lucky. My husband has joined the business as the COO and that has made a HUGE difference in being able to grow the business.
5. Did what I needed to do to work through my blocks. You may have heard the quote (and I’m paraphrasing) that the best self-development tool is having a business. ALL your obstacles and blocks will show up as you start and grow a business. And don’t be surprised if some of the biggest blocks show up when everything looks good on the surface.
I have 2 suggestions: First, know this is normal and be prepared for it. Second, don’t stop investing in yourself. Whatever you need to do to keep moving forward and busting through those blocks. Maybe you need a coach, a product, or something else. Or maybe you need to finally outsource something you’ve been reluctant to let go of (your copywriting for instance?)
Chances are you know what you need to do to keep moving forward, so what I want to encourage you to do is honor that feeling start taking action.
Which leads me to the last (bonus) tip:
6. Take action. Nothing happens if you don’t take action. The best advice I can give you (other than marketing yourself regularly) is take action. Get those to-do’s crossed off your to-do list and watch your business grow!