Scott’s Thoughts

How to Scale from $100,000 to $1,000,000 in 12 Months (THE 29 STEPS)

Let me tell you something that is very important.

It’s easier to build a $1,000,000 business, then it is to build a $100,000 business.

I’m talking really easy.

A $100,000 business is a job.

A $1,000,000 at least has some level of impact.

Here’s the step-by-step process of scaling the business.

Note: You can likely change these steps and I’m no expert or guru on scaling, I’ve just done it enough time in this format that has worked for me.

1. Get clear about exactly what you deliver, take a look at your products and services, then understand the profit margin of those products and services if you had to hire someone else to deliver it. Keep the highest percentage, kill the rest (for now).

2. Get clear on the audience that you are actually serving, your first $100K, typically is built around delivering to anyone who will purchase, now, it’s time to get very specific so people know exactly who you are helping and how you help them.

3. Don’t get to set on a “vision” or a “mission”, while it’s important to understand your product and audience, you may have to pivot, which means that PERSONALLY you can have your vision, but your business should be flexible at this stage, until you prove your specific model, or it will keep you up at night, at many times and deter you away from momentum.

4. Eliminate all other opportunities, once you know you want to scale, I’m talking every other business idea. The compound effect of focus is so high that when you’re starting out, you must be obsessed with taking ALL ideas, concepts and opportunities and throwing them out.

5. Understand why someone will actually buy from you… is it because of YOU as an Entrepreneur because you have a certain “magic” or is it because of the message and process you bring someone through.

If it’s because of YOUR magic, this is a roadblock.

Remember, the sale process is a simple one…

a). Find someone’s pain

b). Find someone’s vision

c). Find the gap

d). Show the commitment for a new reality

You can do this on the phone… via a webinar… via a sales page, however, you must take YOURSELF out of the sale process and build a process that someone besides YOU can do.

I discovered this from Jesse Elder in 2016 and it’s made me millions.

6. Understand what your zone of genius is, this means taking a look at EVERYTHING you do in your business and simply taking out everything that you SUCK at and what you DON’T enjoy doing.

In my business, I’m good at…

– Keeping Money in the Bank

– Ideas, Concepts and Strategy

– Content Creation

– Partnerships and New Channels

– Mediating Attention

– Investing and Advising

– Finding the right fit people

That means everything else…

well, I shouldn’t be doing it.

Now, this doesn’t mean you’ll be able to let go of all of it.

However, you need to know your superpowers and what to let go of..

7. Take a look at where you want to grow, if it’s $1M, take a look at how many customers you need, in order to get that many customers, how many sale conversations are required?

Based on that how many leads at what % of purchasing is needed?

Then, what does your team need to look like in order to deliver that and to be able to run this?

Remember, the idea is to create leverage as much as possible, so if it can be leveraged, make sure you take it off your plate so you can get to #6

8. What type of life do you want? A question that most people ignore when growing a business, based on this, it will largely change either your PROFIT MARGIN or your RATE OF GROWTH.

If you want fast growth, but more free time, your profit margin will suffer.

If you want fast growth, but a higher profit margin, your rate (time) of growth will be lower.

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Now you have a lot of your planning and high-level strategy developed… now it’s on to the next part… which is implementation.

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In order to grow from $100K/yr to $1M/yr, it’s a 10x increase, however, it doesn’t take 10x the work.

9. Figure out which piece your weak on…

Marketing / Sales OR Operations/Finance/Management

and then hire your #2…

This is critical…

You’re either good at one of the two, most aren’t good at both.

If you are good at Marketing/Sales and have no one for the Operations/Finance, you’ll get yourself into a hot mess.

If you are good at Operations, but not Marketing/Sales, you’ll have no customers to buy your stuff.

10. Plan and Implement a Marketing Funnel that can turn strangers into customers, base it on the first part of this strategy, thinking about your product, your sale cycle/conversation, audience and base it on the numbers you need to reach $1M, if you don’t know your finances, you’ll be screwed.

You need some repeatable format for scale or your business will be a house of cards when scaling.

11. Build an audience/community besides just leads… if this means a Facebook Group, do it… Linkedin Group, a Meetup Group… I don’t care HOW you do it.

However, if you don’t build a business that has a community, you’re screwed…

Every single lead coming through the door should have the chance to both become a customer and part of your community.

By doing this, you are future-proofing yourself…

12. Be a “Big” Fish in a Small Pond… This is actually really important, because if you don’t do it, your message won’t get signal in the noise.

It’s important that for those inside your “community” and those that you attract that you’re omnipresent… that you are in front of them always.

You want make them feel like you are the ONLY girl in the world for them 😉.

13. Hire the RIGHT people at the RIGHT time…

If you hire too soon… or hire before it hurts, you’re wasting money and your team actually is less effective.

Hire too late and your operations will hurt and your team will burn out.

14. Invest in Relationships and Knowledge

Invest HEAVILY in Relationships and Knowledge, expect NOTHING in return, but realize you will get a LOT in return.

Invisible ROI is where you should invest a lot of time and money.

15. Get a guide up the Mountain

If it wasn’t for a few key people in my life that has acted like mentors and coaches, I would never have any sort of momentum.

Remember… that business isn’t this unique game… we typically all have the same problems, just with our own perspective.

If you can buy access to solving a problem that would take you 4 weeks, that someone else can solve in 5 minutes…

VALUE that 5 minutes and look at the money and time you’ll save… that you’ll never get back.

16. Double Down on What Actually Works

When you see something working… DOUBLE down and DOUBLE down quickly.

Most opportunities go away quickly for new growth… if you see Facebook Ads working… or JV relationships, DOUBLE DOWN and do it quickly so you can secure that revenue for yourself.

17. Innovate and Iterate QUICKLY

Every single time you do something… do it quickly and don’t make it perfect, this is required for momentum.

Innovate and iterate quickly… always change SOMETHING when your doing ANYTHING so you can compare.

There are two levels of feedback

a). Data

b). Gut

And remember that #B is just as important as data…

You have an amazing ability to look at data, but sometimes before data, you have to make the call of what iterations make sense for your business… this is in your marketing, your finance, in your sales… everything.

18. Pay Attention and DIVE into the DEEP END

Every 30 days, write down EXACTLY WHERE you are… and all the risks and things that are going right and wrong.

Then, look at what you can eliminate in the next 30 days… wherever there are blind spots, share with your team and make sure you are working towards moving away from those blind spots.

19. Drink your Own Kool-Aid (but don’t swim in it)

It’s important that you believe in yourself… so drink your own kool-aid… however, don’t become arrogant enough to swim in it.

Your doing great stuff, but so is everyone else. Stay level headed, regardless of how much #winning you do… someone else will always win more than you.

Respect that.

20. Mitigate your Risk (of Lead Generation)

Don’t rely on one source of lead generation… use multiple sources… partners, Facebook, YouTube, Organic, PR…

Get one working first, then keep expanding… this is SUPER important, as if you don’t do it, it is the SINGLE biggest risk in your business.

21. Mitigate your Risk of Revenue

This means, that you should have a couple different sources of revenue.

You want to be able to ensure that if something didn’t “work”, you wouldn’t be screwed.

22. Do a profit IPO

At some point during your growth pattern, I suggest doing some level of an IPO… this means more than anything, doing a “launch” or something that allows you to generate 3-4 months of cashflow in less than 2 weeks.

This could be launching a new product to your audience…

It could be have a partner launch…

It could be trading some time for money, for example…

However, getting your bank account having 90 days of cash in it… which typically doesn’t happen in fast-growth is CRITICAL so you can make LONG-TERM choices.

23. Use 90-Day Plans

I write myself a letter every 90 days… further, I write down everything I want to accomplish… then I put it on my wall broken down on 30 day intervals.

This allows me to easily know if I’m getting closer (or further away) from where I want to go.

Review this daily, weekly, monthly and then quaterly.

Daily for 5 minutes.

Weekly for 30

Monthly for an Hour

Quarterly for a Day.

This isn’t a goal list…

It’s just what needs to happen next.

24. Stack “Short-Term” and “Long-Term” together

There are short-term choices

and long-term one’s

Short-term keeps money in the bank

Long-term makes you have a sustainable business

In this area, you’ll need to do both…

This means, you may need to host weekly live webinars while still working on your Evergreen marketing system to ensure you hit your revenue goals.

That’s OKAY.

You can stack them here and it’s OKAY.

You need cash.

25. Growth SUCKS Cash

I wish I got to keep all the money we generated… I might actually be rich.

High-Growth SUCKS cash… however, it also allows you very quickly to get leverage and get to a place where you can become very very profitable…

This means, that while growing, you shouldn’t change your lifestyle and keep your expenses as LOW as possible, until you have true sustainability.

Profit at a higher end $ is easier.

Aka. In 2020, I did $5M in profit because it was easy for me to be high revenue from years of growth beforehand.

High growth and high profit is tough to do, not impossible, but generally it’s better to cycle through growth and profit seasons.

26. Remember where you’ve come from

It’s difficult to remember our past… we always want more… remember that EGO is never satisfied.

So, as much as possible and at least every 90 days, have you and your team write down EVERYTHING you’ve accomplished.

Take sometime to reflect and have perspective… pat yourself on the back. You’ve done a good job!

27. Keep taking things off your plate… keep delegating… keep getting to that “zone of genius”. Keep assessing what you do on a weekly basis and get to the place of pure genius.

28. Get a GOOD financial company that just doesn’t do “tax management”, make sure you get someone who is MANAGING your finances and helping you grow the business.

Warren Buffet says the #1 skill you need in business?

Accounting

Most people forget this…

If you don’t know your finances, you don’t have a business.

Your basing your life on dumb luck…

If you make your choices based on what is in your bank account, your screwing yourself.

Fly by numbers, not by sight.

29. Work Hard… Work Smart… Stay Focused

As a last note… work hard, but work smart… further, stay focused. Be yourself, be comfortable in your own skin, don’t try to impress others, just do this because it’s important to have freedom, impact and to have money in your life.

Don’t follow to many people, simply look in the mirror.

You ARE ENOUGH.

And I believe in you.

Written By Scott Oldford

Updated Weekly

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The 21 Laws Of Scaling A Profitable Business

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