Building a Six Figure Business
In my opinion, building a 6 figure business is the first step towards actually achieving your dreams with your business.
You’ve heard it all before; most small businesses fail, it’s hard to succeed in business, most small businesses never make 6 figures and never grow much.
That’s why I believe that a 6 figure business is a key milestone for every small business to cross. It’s not just because of the money but because the money will allow you to actually expand, delivering better value to customers, hire new employees, and ultimately it’ll help you achieve your dreams and personal goals.
We all got into business for one of these reasons:
- Do something we loved doing
- Have more control and freedom over our life and work
- Make more money while doing it
In order to do this, you need to put some foundational elements in place so your business can actually generate a substantial revenue and turn business profit. $100,000 in sales is that first milestone, and in this article, I’ll walk you through how I believe you can get to a six figure business. This isn’t a get rich quick scheme, a network marketing “opportunity”, and this isn’t a shortcut.
Rather it’s a business process that requires serious focus and work to ensure you’ll hit this 6 figure business milestone. It’s only focused on earning 6 figures in revenue for YOUR business. Let’s dive in.
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Step 1: Take Inventory
The only way you’ll make money and hit the Six Figure Business milestone is if you deliver enough value to enough people. Simply put, you must sell more of your products and services to more customers. The first step in this process is to figure out, “what am I selling?”.
That may seem like an obvious question to answer but you’ll be surprised. Most small business owners try to sell everything to everyone. That’s a huge mistake. You’ll confuse your potential customers by trying to sell them everything at once. You’ll also make it harder to make your marketing and promotion efforts work if you’re not clear on the message and product/ service you’re providing.
The fastest way to make 6 figures is to focus on selling just a handful of profitable products or service. Here’s how to determine which products/ services you should be selling.
Make a list of the products and services you’re offering
If you’ve been in business for more than a few months, pull a list of all your customers in the past 3 to 12 months, depending on how long you’ve been in business. Then, see which products or services those customers are actually buying and for how much.
What if you haven’t been in business that long, make a list of what you’re intending to sell and be very clear on the price you’re intending on it sell it for. Your first mission at this stage should be to get your first 10 customers. This will validate your business and your ideas. The key is you MUST sell something and you MUST make it a priority to get your first customers. Otherwise all of this is hypothetical.
The market will tell you what it want’s if you just listen.
Who are your customers?
It’s important to also define who your ideal customers are. As I said, it’s a mistake to try to sell to everyone. Instead, focus on a small core group of customers you love serving. Ask yourself how you got acquired these customers, what their desires are, what their pain points are, and why they bought from you that specific product/ service.
This will be crucial for step 3 when we talk about how to get more customers for your six figure business. And it’ll also be crucial in creating the marketing materials in step 2.
Step 2: Focus on the Product/ Service That Will Build Your Six Figure Business the Fastest
I recommend focusing on the most expensive thing you sell, if people are buying it. If your customers are buying your $1000 service, focus on selling that over your $100 service.
Selling a $1000 service, you only need 100 customers. Selling a $100 service, you’ll need 1,000 customers. It’s easier to get 100 customers than it is to get 1000 customers. If your marketing is focused, your product is valuable, and you’re talking to the right people, you’ll succeed.
Not getting enough sales for your $1000 service compared to your $100 service? That may be simply because you’re not promoting your $1000 service enough or you’re scared to charge more.
Most small businesses are tempted to compete on price. You assume that if your price is lower, more people will buy. That’s often not the case. Why do people pay $5 for a bottle of water at the movie theatre, buy luxury watches, or donate to charities?
For different reasons of course, and it’s up to you to figure out what those reasons are. My point here is this; people buy stuff as long as they see value in them, so don’t be afraid to focus on selling on the expensive stuff if people are buying it.
Create Your One Page Sell Sheet and Marketing Materials
It’s time to create marketing materials around your product. You don’t need anything fancy. A website, a sales funnel, an order for, or even a simple 1 page sell sheet that tells the customer what they’re getting and why they should buy. The key is for them to be focused on the product/ service you chose and it must speak directly to the desires and pain points of your ideal customer.
Then, it’s time to find your predictable sales channel. Where do you find customers?
Step 3: Find A Predictable Sales and Marketing Channel That Will Get You To A Six Figure Business
With digital marketing, there are a lot of ways to reach your ideal customers. Wether it’s through social media marketing, or paid advertising on Facebook Ads or Google Ads, you now have the opportunity to reach customers instantly.
However, when thinking about your marketing strategy for your six figure business, chances are a lot of your customers will come from only a handful of places. If you ask most small business owners, they’ll confirm that most their customers come from a few sources wether thats referrals, or Google, or social media marketing.
For your six figure business plan pick only a handful of places to try promoting your business. I’ve left you a list of where to find customers below. Then go to working testing different messages and targeting.
Personally, I started out by simply going to networking events and shaking hands to let people know what I did. This strategy, along with referrals and leveraging my reputation by requesting reviews, resulted in my first six figure business. Now, we advertising using Google Ads, Facebook Ads, email marketing, and organic search engine optimization, yet still leveraging reviews and our reputation continues to be a bedrock of the businesses I run.
There’s no silver bullet or secret marketing strategy that will work for everyone. You can also get my book “The Client Acquisition Blueprint” here. It’s 200 pages on how to create a marketing strategy that can bring you customers.
Step 4: Stay Motivated To Build Your Six Figure Business
Mindset, it’s where everything starts and it should be step 1 but most people underestimate the power that mindset plays in hitting your six figure goal.
The strategies and tactics can be pretty simple and straight forward, yet you’ll be surprised how many people give up too soon. When things get tough, when you go months on end without being able to pay yourself because you’re investing in your business, when you try a marketing strategy and it doesn’t work, that’s where you’ll be tested.
How bad do you want it? Can you stay motivated enough to push forward towards building your six figure business?
You have to figure out what drives you and then find ways to keep yourself mentally strong and motivated to keep growing.
The best way I’ve found is by surrounding yourself with great business people. Find a networking group, attend business conferences, join mastermind groups and get around people striving for more.
Another way to stay on track is by hiring a business coach. They’ll help you work through the business challenges you face and give you guidance. It could save you years of trial and error, and they’ll also keep you accountable to make sure you’re doing the work needed to build a six figure business.
Your Business Deserves to Succeed and Hit Six Figures
Most small business do fail, but that doesn’t mean your business will fail. Hitting six figures can help you invest in your business to strengthen it and also deliver more value to your customers through better products and services.
“We don’t build services to make money; we make money to build better services.” – Mark Zuckerberg, Founder of Facebook.com
I wish you massive success on your six figure journey. Post in the comments your biggest takeaways, biggest business challenge, what’s working for you, or any questions. Our mission at SMBResources.com is to help more small businesses succeed. Also, check out the 30+ video training program here on how to make your next 6 figures in business