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Breaking Through Ceilings
Tomorrow, I’ll be doing my taxes for the 2012 year.
Fun stuff. I’m very, very excited. Especially that it’s going to be a gorgeous sunny day and I’ll be stuck inside.
(Sense the sarcasm)
What makes it even worse is that in 2012, I hit a bit of a ceiling.
And ceilings suck.
I have no problem sharing this, even though I’m a “business growth” guy, because I absolutely know WHY I hit that ceiling.
My problem?
Focusing On Work, Not Leverage
For pretty much the entire 2012 year, I was “on autopilot”, mentally.
Not with my client work, mind you. Last year I produced some of my biggest winners for clients and grew my skills in leaps and bounds.
But when it comes to my own business, I got LAZY.
The first 5 months of the year I was simply too distracted with buying a house.
The process lasted from January until late May due to financial problems with the sellers (i.e. we found a huge lien against the house and it had to be removed before we could buy it).
But that’s really no excuse. I simply got lazy and complacent. Period.
All I did for the year was focus on client work, and forgot about my own business.
5 Shifts I’m Making Now To Fix It
This year I’m focusing on growth. I’m expecting to grow roughly 50% or so and am already seeing the results of my improved efforts to focus on ME instead of just clients.
I’ve already had my biggest quarter ever. And it’s still the beginning of March!
The reason is because of these 5 factors.
1) Better Bookkeeping – This may sound a little strange. But I’ve begun doing my bookkeeping every Saturday (as compared to the day before quarterly taxes are due). Doing this let’s me keep track of my income, expenses and growth on a weekly basis instead of a quarterly basis.
2) More Leads – In any business, the more leads you get, the more money you make. In my services business it’s pretty simple. Getting more leads provides higher demand, which in turn allows me to choose more profitable jobs and even raise prices.
3) Better Systems – I’ve been working on my client-getting system like crazy lately, and it’s already starting to pay off. Again, more leads = more revenue.
4) More Leverage – This one is more of a service industry tip. If you’re in the service industry and YOU are the figurehead in your business, you realize the challenge of only making money when you’re working. So to combat that, I’m spending one hour each morning, strictly dedicating to growing my non-service-business part of my business. I’ve already JV’d with a client and that JV should add probably at least 20% to my revenue growth this year (my goal is 50% growth).
5) More Reinvesting – For the last two years or so I’ve been putting a lot of money into the stock market, and paying off personal debt. Yes, I realize it would have been better to put it back into my business on an ROI basis. This was more of a personal choice because I can’t stand debt. However, now that I’m satisfied with those two things, all excess cash will now be getting reinvested back into the business, which by itself should add another 30% – 50% of revenue even if I change nothing else.
This was just a quick glimpse into my thoughts of how I’m going to grow MY business in 2013. Obviously not all examples will apply to everyone reading this but read through it again and see how it fits with yours.
I’d love to hear your thoughts and what you’re doing to grow your business in 2013.
And remember, it’s OK to admit you were wrong/lazy/stupid! I’m a business growth expert and I made some monumental mistakes last year. I’m not perfect and neither are you. Realizing that is the key to growing.
To more freedom,
