One of the worst things you can do is just grow because you think that you’re supposed to grow.
You need to know why you want to grow.
So, for example, if you’re going to grow your business, you need to know why you want it to be a $20,000 a month, $50,000 a month, or $100,000 a month business.
Here’s the truth about money: if you don’t know where it’s going, it won’t come to you. I guarantee you this.
I have made tens of millions of dollars, and I did not have tens of millions of dollars in my bank account.
If you do not know why you are making the money, you will look at your bank account at the end of the year and be like, “Where did all the money go?”
Furthermore, if you don’t know why you’re working so hard to make all that money, you won’t have the conviction to make sound long-term decisions, so you’re going to end up making the wrong decisions and you’re going to sabotage yourself.
The vision has to be bigger than your obligation or your feeling of obligation.
So sit down with yourself and think about your why and your conviction.
To be selfless, you need to be selfish first and fill your cup.
You need to have focus, which is what allows you to execute the strategy.
When you’re blindly following ego and money is when you should NOT grow. And you already know how to formulate a strategy.
Once you have that focus, that’s when you’ll achieve excitement and alignment, and that is when you should grow. That is when you have found your true north.
So you need to be clear on your why, have a clear plan, and then have alignment.
But how do you fuel your growth?
How to Fuel Your Growth (And Not Be In Debt)
So far I’ve talked about marketing and scaling your business without talking about how to fuel your growth… without getting into debt like I did.
It won’t be fun to find yourself paying for debt instead of focusing on generating revenue to scale further.
You may even need to sell your business and discontinue it as I did with my agency. Trust me, you don’t want to be in that situation.
And when it comes to fueling your growth, it comes down to four sources of funding: cash flow from your business, savings or inheritance, credit cards and loans, and investors.
For most people who are reading this blog, having an investor might not be the best thing unless that investor is your significant other or your parent.
You shouldn’t get an investor in your business unless the business can be sold at some point, because if it can’t, the investor won’t get their money, so this leaves us with three options.
Cash Flow
This is the most common way to scale your business.
You want to go to the next level and you have enough cash flow to cover expenses. That’s when you take that extra cash flow and invest back into your business.
Growth is expensive, you need systems, advice, and mentorship, and you need to hire people and spend money on ads.
You can spend your cash flow on any part of the growth of your business as long as you ensure that you’re generating enough revenue to cover your expenses.
You could also do a launch like I did where you launch a high-ticket program and get payments up-front to have more cash flow to invest in your growth.
That is why I love to do launches.
Savings
Investing your savings isn’t always a bad idea, but you can’t just invest your savings into any old part of your business.
Don’t invest your savings to hire a team.
I wouldn’t even put it into ads or anything related to the cost of running the business.
That isn’t how you should invest your savings, from my point of view.
You need to think of your savings as an investment.
You shouldn’t be investing in random parts of your business, or you will spread your money too thin.
You need to be precise and move your money from one account to another to achieve a very specific result.
Usually, it should be to access knowledge, talent, and experience that you can’t get otherwise.
Credit and Loans
I know a thing or two about using credit and loans so read this part carefully if you don’t want to go one million dollars in debt.
You should only spend credit on growth-focused activities.
For me, it’s usually spending it on ads when you have a working funnel and you know that you’re going to see returns from every dollar you spend over the upcoming thirty to ninety days while still building the waterfall effect.
Don’t spend it on infrastructure or hiring your team.
It takes about ninety days for someone to understand their role and for you to start seeing a return from them.
This was my mistake, so don’t repeat it.
Spend on infrastructure from your cash flow only. Don’t hire someone to build a funnel for you using credit.
Allow your business to fuel your business.
Don’t hire too many people and end up having such a big business that your cash flow can’t cover the expenses.
The core reason why I got a million dollars in debt is that I had a business that didn’t work and I had hired fourteen people.
I was relying on government programs and I was also using some of my savings, which is what started the whole death spiral.
Every single month, I was losing eighty grand.
So, I started using credit, but even with the credit I still had to use my savings in order to keep the business afloat.
My ego deluded me; that’s why you need to know when to scale.
And never ever max out your credit, either, even if you know that you’re going to get returns.
You need to have some money in reserve because you never know what surprise situation you might face unexpectedly.
So, that is, in brief, how you should fuel your growth so you don’t fall into the debt trap like I did.
And if you want to know more about how to do your finances as an entrepreneur, check out my recent 60-day Finance Upgrade program for entrepreneurs.
