I remember when I was 24, I’d just quit my job and told my boss the reason was because I’d decided to focus on my business I’d been working on with some random guy on the internet (as you do) who became my business partner. It was an online classified website and we were 100% convinced we were about to become millionaires.
My boss looked at me over her glasses, raised her eyebrows and said ‘running a business is really hard you know?’
I was picking up what she was putting down.
I knew she thought I was being crazy throwing away a perfectly good job and that I would fail in business.
And, you know what? She was half right. Business is really hard but even though lots of things I tried didn’t work out, I never failed because I never gave up. You can’t fail if you keep trying and if you try hard enough, with enough determination and grit you will 100% find that door that opens, just like I did. The key is knowing that you’ll get lots of closed doors, and also lots of open doors, your job is to keep going until you find the open ones.
So firstly, I get that making that kind of confession about my business revenue out in the open will attract different responses. Some will be happy, some will judge, some will make (incorrect) assumptions and some will come out of the woodwork to try and take advantage of it but I say it anyway, because I love sharing what I have learned along the way so you know that you can do it too. I share almost everything in my Facebook group, Remarkable Business Mums which has over 14,000 like-minded business mums so if you want to read my posts in real time, feel free to join my group here.
The most important thing I want to point out is, this is revenue not profit and this amount makes up several income streams, not just one. I have the following income streams in my business:
- 1:1 service where we coach and mentor clients through a really simple but effective strategy to finding and validating a business idea along with helping them create everything they need to launch it, for more details check that out here.
- A short stay two week coaching package with me personally where I work intuitive on your most pressing challenges you need resolved, this is perfect for people who want to start their business and need some extra help or for those who are in business and need help making sales, automating, realigning, or a marketing strategy, if you want more info about this contact me here.
- A Launch Smart DIY business jump starter e-course which takes you through how to find your idea, brand it and set up your website all for under $300, check it out here.
- A quick download workbook along with my e-books on how to find your why, validate your idea and chose the right income streams which you can see here.
- I’m an affiliate for products and services that I love and use myself, such an this amazing gratitude journal and also Siteground hosting which we use for all of our clients websites.
I know the interwebz is flooded with people claiming to have earned 6 and 7 figures and how it is all the hype but this is not one of those posts, I’m going to be sharing the lows, as well as the highs and straight up one of my lows is I have a massive tax bill which I did not prepare for #oops.
Fast or Slow Growth
If you want fast growth like my business has had, you either need to work really hard to grow it organically (sweat labour) or pay for it to quicken your growth. I’ve mostly done the latter with Business Jump and leveraged off FB ads. I’ve spent just on $300,000 on Facebook ads and with that revenue, it is a 9 x return on my investment. I started by investing the amount I earned into Facebook ads at just $5 a day, so don’t feel you need lots of money to get started in advertising, you start small and if what you can and then grow it from there.
The Background Counts
I registered my first ABN and domain name back in 2006. That means it has been 16 years in the making. I’ve stopped, started, worked part time, worked full time, had four kids, gone on maternity leave, suffered depression and anxiety and all kinds of things in between but I never gave up. I’ve been in business full-time for nine years now, and I know without a doubt, if I had to start again with what I know now, I could make it all happen ten times faster and that’s my goal for my clients that I help as I know leveraging off someone else’s experience is one of the smartest ways to get to where you want to go. I also know that the entire 16 years was in the making to Business Jumps fast growth and that life experience is just as important as business experience. Those waitressing days handling customers, those telemarketing days making sales – that experience all came into play. Whatever your experience, I am pretty sure I could align it to a skill you need in business.
Zone Of Genius
I do stuff that is aligned with my zone of genius, for example I like writing, it comes fairly naturally to me and sitting at home, by myself listening to music and writing is my kind of heaven because I’m an introvert, however if you’re an extrovert, you might want to align yourself with going out and networking, collaborations and ensuring you fill your energy cup up that way. This also is important when thinking about your marketing strategy, for example, I hate doing videos and much prefer writing blogs, so I align my strategy with my natural strengths.
Your End Goal
I’ve always had my eyes on the prize, that for me is freedom. I never want to be pegged to a job and controlled by a boss. It is freedom that drives me every day. That is my WHY and this keeps me going when I want to quit and throw it all in on my hard days. You have to know your WHY and then hold true to it and not betray it in the tough times.
Fear is Always There
The fear about not earning enough, or the income stopping never goes away for me because this is business, and nothing is guaranteed. Business owners swap the security of consistent income for the freedom business ownership gives us. However, I just get better at getting on with it and doing it anyway. Imagine if I said to myself before I started Business Jump, ‘I am not going to do this because I am scared I will fail’ I shudder to think what I would have missed out on and where I’d be now.
It Is Normal For Business To Ebb and Flow
Business will always ebb and flow, I’ve had months where my business has tipped over $100,000pm and months where I’ve earned nothing. It is our job to work it out and hold steady in the scary times and/or unpick what is happening and fix it because nothing ever stays the same forever, it is sort of like having a baby, just once we think we’ve got them sorted out and in a good routine they have a growth spurt, or start teething and we need to figure them out all over again and just like being a mum, we get better at it as we go.
Place Yourself In The Profit Producing Areas
Generally, I am always in the profit producing areas. Which means strategy, creative, sales. You can’t grow and scale your business if you’re ‘IN’ the business working on non profit producing stuff, like admin, invoicing etc. I aim to be in the profit producing areas for at least 80% of my time.
Keep It Simple
I keep everything SUPER simple and don’t over complicate things. I do my best to avoid shiny object syndrome and focus on being really good at a FEW things over trying to be good at lots of things. For example, check out my Instagram, it is SO shit. When we take on too many things we dilute our results and spread ourselves too thin, it is all about mastering one thing and then scaling it, not doing lots of little things. For example, pick one social media platform, and focus the majority of your time working out how to scale it, then and only then move onto your next one. After 4 years of scaling my Facebook page (18,000 followers) my Facebook group (14,000 members) and my email list (18,000 subscribers) I am now ready to scale Pinterest! Follow my boards here for business inspiration and ideas btw.
Perfection Is The Killer Of All Good Intentions
Good enough is better than perfect. It is more important to get stuff done and out into the world and then learn, refine, and learn and refine on the go. You’ll learn and grow faster on the ground. Generally as well, perfection isn’t about ‘being perfect’ it is about a fear of {insert your limiting belief here} So there might be some inner work you need to do there. What I have also learned is no one cares as much as you do, as business owners we notice ALL the things but other people don’t. Sure, it can’t be crap but your version of good, is probably other peoples version of perfect because we try so hard!
Master Your Time
I am cut throat with my time, when it is work hours nothing stops me from being laser focused on what I need to do. It means I will generally get 5 hours work done in 2 hours. I don’t even answer calls from my husband, I don’t answer any PMs or check notifications and my team know to 911 me if it is urgent. Which means they put 911 on it and I know that when I do check my notifications I need to attend to that straight away.
You’ll Need To Make Sacrifices Along The Way
I make sacrifices all the time, currently I am working on weekends so I can get two whole days in and then during the week I coast along as I can as I have the twins. Things will change again when they go to daycare. In the past I have sacrificed friends, time with my husband, Netflix, sleeping in, junk food and anything I need to so I can get my work done. These sacrifices buy me a new type of reward like freedom to spend my time in different ways.
It Is Also A Personal Development Journey
Business is just as much a personal development journey as it is a business journey. You HAVE to master the monkey chatter in your mind and work on yourself, as well as your business. Every time my business has dipped, I can track it back to my mindset also dipping. We are all (mostly all) still unwittingly wounded children walking around trying to adult with subconscious fears and beliefs that dictate our thoughts and actions. For example, I wasn’t very popular at school and in primary school went through a stage where I didn’t have any friends. As my client base and social media grew, I used to get very triggered thinking people didn’t like me because of my school experience. If you are interested in this, I love following The Holistic Psychologist on Instagram.
You First, Ok?
This is a hard one for us mums but something I learned while recovering from my PND journey in 2014/2015. Self care is not selfish. For me, self care comes first, I am allowed to put myself first because I matter too. And, yes this means I put my self care over my family (assuming they are happy and healthy) This is because when I am cup full it means everything over flows to my business, my family and life and all those things fall into place a lot easier than if I am trying to do everything from an empty cup. My self care routine to keep me sane is strong, you can read more about that here.
Learn From Someone Who Is Where You Want To Be
I learn from people ahead of me and reverse engineer what they do all the time and try it myself. I then test, refine, master. I mentioned above this entire exercise has taken me 16 years and that is mostly because up until about 5 years ago I tried to DIY everything. Once I started investing time and money into my business education that is when I started to fast track my growth.
Mistakes Are Normal
I make mistakes all the time, especially grammar and spelling mistakes which I try super hard not to but the little buggers still get through. And, I have not always handled everything perfectly with my team, clients and random internet strangers because I am also human and get triggered even though I’ve tried my hardest, but I don’t beat myself up about it, I fix it, make everything right and then move on and try harder next time and as I go, these instances get less and less.
Learn How To Save Time And Also Make Time
Outsourcing and automating is key, I could not have scaled this high without my incredible team whose strengths cover my weaknesses and without learning how to make my business WORK for me with automations.
We All Have Limiting Beliefs We Need To Mindset Through
I don’t feel successful, or any different to how I did 10 years ago. I still fear, I still have insecurities and I still feel lost sometimes but I mindset through it and always go back to the same strategy I teach my clients Mindset > Audience > Traffic > Leads > Sales. If I am struggling, I go back to mindset and then work through everything from a strong mind.
Path Of Least Resistance
I look for the path of the least resistance all the time, where am I going to make the most impact for the least amount of time and energy?
Fact Or Excuse?
I don’t subscribe to excuses like ‘I don’t have the time or now is not the right time’ I have four kids, with seven month old twins and I work at home around them. If you want it bad enough, you’ll figure out a way to make it happen. It is just a matter of values.
Gratitude
Every day I practice gratitude, and not just for the airy fairy things either. I have gratitude for that troll that upset me with their insensitive comment, I have gratitude for the things that didn’t work out the way I expected them to, I have gratitude for the mistakes I made, I have gratitude for the depression and anxiety I have experienced because within it all, it has taught me new skills, perspective and insights that I have then used to keep going and become stronger and wiser. And, of course I have gratitude for all the beautiful things in my life too. I have an amazing gratitude journal I use, check it out here.
Digital Marketing
Understand if your business is online, then regardless of what it is, in addition to your craft you also are a digital marketer and absolutely need to learn how to master digital marketing, and also place yourself in this role, or hire someone really good who can execute a simple but effective digital marketing strategy.
I Don’t Always Feel Like Working
A major game changer for me was the realisation that successful people don’t do things because we always feel like it, we do it because we want the end result.
Flow
I try to always work when I am in the flow, in psychology, a flow state, is the mental state in which a person performing an activity is fully immersed in a feeling of energised focus, full involvement, and enjoyment in the process of the activity. Which also means if I am feeling unmotivated, stressed or overwhelmed I stop and go for a walk or sign off for the day and reset myself. I also invest in myself and take time out to put myself first.
Start Small
Start with just ten minutes a day if that’s all you have, it’s better than nothing, don’t try and be all the things straight up or expect yourself to be perfect, think about it for a moment, if you tried to be a doctor you wouldn’t know all the things straight away. It is the same as business, take the time to learn by hiring someone like me or finding what you need on the internet. Go into it as a learning experience before a money making experience and you’ll grow and evolve as you go and maybe, just like me, shock the hell out of yourself with just what you’re really capable of.
