Building a seven-figure business is a lot like becoming a world champion race car driver.

You need to have a highly skilled driver (that’s you), behind the wheel of the right vehicle (your business), who runs races with a well trained pit crew (your team).

And in this guide, I’m going to teach you the proven processes and principles you must implement in your business to go from six to seven-figures.

In fact, I’ve personally used these exact strategies to build five different seven-figure businesses in five different industries.

I’ve also taught these principles to dozens of other business owners who used them to successfully scale to seven-figures in dozens of different (and often bizarre niches).

I promise, if you take the lessons I’m about to share with you to heart and put in the work, you can and will build a million dollar business faster than you previously believed possible.

Let’s dive in.

Part I: The Driver

Until Elon Musk successfully rolls out his new line of automated Teslas, cars, especially race cars don’t drive themselves.

And neither will your business.

To create 7-figures worth of value in the marketplace, you must first become the type of person capable of generating 7-figure value.

In this section, I’ll teach you exactly how to do this…

1. Get Your Eyes Checked  

Have you ever seen a Formula 1 race?

If you haven’t, let me assure you it’s nothing like American Nascar where drivers simply turn left for a few hundred laps… The tracks are filled with hairpin turns, tight corners, and narrow straight aways where tiny errors can result in catastrophic consequences (more than 50 F1 drivers have died on the track since the sport’s inception).

As such, it’s essential that drivers have perfect vision while behind the wheel.

Because if they can’t see the race track clearly, they stand no chance of winning.

In your business, it’s the same way.

If you can’t see clearly, if you don’t have a definite and compelling vision for where you want to be in your life and business over the next three, five, and ten years…you stand no chance of competing against entrepreneurs who do.

So before you think about writing your next lead magnet or marketing on Instagram or improving client retention (all important things), step back and ask yourself: “What is my vision for this business and how it will impact my life?”

What sort of impact will this level of revenue allow you to have? What will it do for your lifestyle? What are the visceral and compelling reasons you must earn your first million?

Will it:

• Give you the freedom to finally pay off your debt and live without constant stress?
• Allow you to give more money to the charities and causes you support?
• Help you pay for your children’s college or give them startup money to pursue their own entrepreneurial vision?
• Help you retire your parents, enjoy a higher quality of living, and do all of the things (like that trip to Paris or that extended backpacking trip across America) you’ve always talked about but never been able to afford.

What is your vision?

Before you do anything else, take a few moments to think deeply about this question and write down your answer.

Don’t leave any details out.

From the number of employees you want to have to the solutions you want to provide to the amount of work that will be required from you to build and maintain your 7-figure (or larger) empire…write down exactly what you want and why you want it.

And then come back to this guide and let me show you how to turn that vision into your reality.

2. Don’t Drive Drunk (Or Tired)

Can you imagine what would happen if, at the next Formula 1 race, one (or more) of the drivers showed up hammered after a long night of drinking?

It would be chaos, right?

Or, what if the driver was sober, but the members of the pit crew all showed up high as a kite?

He’d be out of luck if one of his tired flattened or something in his engine needed fixing.

And just like the drivers and pit crew members must be on their A-game (e.g. not drunk or high) in order to win races, so too must you keep yourself in peak mental, physical, and emotional condition to build a 7-figure business empire.

To earn a million dollars, you must develop the millionaire habits that ensure peak performance and give you the energy, focus, and discipline you need to succeed.

Now, before I go any further, let me clarify something…

There is no “one size fits all” prescription for peak performance.

Humans, for all of our similarities, are remarkably diverse and individual creatures. What works well for me and allows me to execute on my vision with insane productivity could be counterproductive for you.

So instead of telling you to wake up at 4 a.m., lift weights six days a week, eat a paleo diet, or write out your goals with some arbitrary structure, I’m going to share a few principles of peak performance that will help you stay at the top of your game and become a highly productive, goal-crushing machine.

1. Rest, Recharge, and Consume the Right Fuel

One of the most common mistakes high performers and aspiring 7-figure entrepreneurs make is to push themselves too hard for too long.

Your mind and body, like anything else, need time to rest and recharge to perform at their best.

As such, you must take your recovery just as seriously as you take your work and learn to implement habits and routines that help you feel great and bounce back from stressful weeks (of which you will have many).

Here are a few recommendations to help you get started.

• For two weeks, go to sleep when you get tired and wake up when your body is ready. This will help you determine how much sleep your body needs and what your ideal sleep/wake schedule is (because, again, everyone is different).
• Work on a timer for 50-90 minutes and then take a 5-20 minute break and engage in a restorative activity like walking, yoga, reading, meditation, or playing with your dog.
• Turn off all electronics at least 90 minutes before bed and spend time doing something you enjoy that isn’t watching the latest episode of Game of Thrones (this will work wonders for your sleep).
• Take at least one day completely off of work and electronics each week and try to sneak in a 3-day weekend doing something you love at least once a month (studies have shown that people who take regular vacations are happier and more productive than their #hustlenonstop peers).

As simple as these habits might be, they will pay massive dividends in your productivity, focus, and general well being. Don’t ignore your recovery.

An important, and often overlooked, component of recovery and performance that deserves a bit more explanation is the food with which you fuel your performance.

Just like race cars can’t run on low grade fuel, neither can you perform at your best if you’re consuming a steady diet of crappy “fuel” in the form of processed foods, alcohol, or tobacco.

To perform at the highest level, you must protect your energy with your life and ensure that your body is primed and ready to go every day.

Now, I won’t give you any specific dietary prescriptions because this is probably the area where people vary most widely.

But as a general rule of thumb, try to consume fewer than 3-5 alcoholic beverages per week (at least 3 hours before you go to bed) and get most of your calories from whole foods–if it has more than two ingredients it doesn’t count.

Play around with different diets, meal frequencies, and supplements until you find a routine that works for you.

Remember, the more energy you have, the faster you can move towards your million dollar dream and the better you’ll be able to enjoy the freedoms it provides when you turn that dream into a reality.

2. Plan Everyday the Night Before and Every Week on Sunday

If you were to visit a racetrack the night before a big event, you’d notice something odd.

On the sidelines, in the stands, and indeed sometimes on the track itself, you’d find many of the competitors examining the track, looking at the turns, and mentally rehearsing the following day’s performance.

The reason is simple. The best performers all know that success is contingent on proper planning and preparation.

By taking a few minutes every evening and a few hours every Sunday morning to plan your days and weeks, you will dramatically increase your chances of success.

Here are a few pointers to help you through this process.

• Remember: Less is more. You should have no more than three main priorities for each day and do your best to eliminate everything non essential from your schedule.
• Be sure to schedule “buffer time” to account for any distractions or obstacles you may encounter during the day. If you work for 8 hours a day, plan only 6 hours of work.
• Schedule your “big rocks” like date night, workouts, family time, and magic time FIRST and then fit your meetings and administrative work into the cracks (this prevents you from doing too much or doing things you shouldn’t do).

And here’s a quick video detailing how to conduct your daily planning.

Now, I’ve written an entire book on the topic of planning your perfect day (and I’m in the process of writing another about planning your perfect week).

So if you want a deep dive into the tactics and strategies I personally use to plan for success click here and grab a free copy of my best-selling The Perfect Day Formula.

In the meantime, however, let me share the two simplest but most powerful ways you can prepare for success.

3. Push Your Body to Push Your Mind

I’m going to say something controversial here…

Most of the entrepreneurs I know should be exercising less not more.

The reason is simple. When exercising for peak performance (not for a bodybuilding show or physical competition), it’s very easy to hit a point of diminishing returns very quickly.

After a certain point, your workout program serves only to steal your time and drain your energy. In fact, I’d argue that most of you reading this should be in the gym for fewer than three hours a week.

But that being said…you should get yourself into the gym.

Hard physical training gives you an outlet to alleviate the anxiety you (will very likely) feel around your business and gives you the opportunity to harden your mind by doing things that are uncomfortable.

I suggest that you schedule three hard workouts each week and go for a few short walks or do some light yoga on your ‘off’ days.

This will keep you healthy, ensure you have high energy levels, and allow you to spend most of your time focused on growing your business, not just your biceps.

4. Follow the “Farm Boy” Morning Routine

Listen, most people I know use their morning routines as perverse forms of procrastination.

They convince themselves that they need to spend three hours journaling, dancing, stretching, chanting affirmations, visualizing, and getting in touch with their emotions before they can sit down and work.

STOP.

Just stop.

Science has shown that your mind is most focused and alert in the hours immediately after you wake up, making those hours the most valuable hours of your day.

Don’t waste them on long winded and unnecessary routines.

Instead, follow what I call the “Farm Boy Morning Routine.”

Get up, get outside for a few minutes to help you get energized, get your coffee if you drink it and GET TO WORK.

Crank out 3-4 hours of highly focused productive time and then feel free to spend the rest of your afternoon dancing, journaling, and affirming away.

If you will do this tomorrow, I promise it will be a game changer for your productivity.

5. Learn to Manage Distractions

The final peak performance habit you must develop to make your first million and build the business you’ve always wanted is the habit of managing distractions.

Listen, I’m a huge proponent of eliminating distractions whenever possible. Distraction is costly (some studies suggest that it takes a full 17-minutes to get refocused after a distraction), and great things are only created by those with the ability to focus ruthlessly on the things that matter.

This is why, as I’m writing this, my phone is in another room, turned off, and shoved into the back of a drawer.

It’s why my Editor downloaded the app Freedom to block his internet and protect his focus whenever he’s working.

And it’s why high performers are notorious for saying “No”, locking office doors, and taking several hours to respond to texts and emails.

However:  

Even if you do everything in your power to eliminate distractions…you will still get distracted.

It’s simply the nature of life.

The key to success, therefore, is not simply to eliminate distractions, but to learn how to manage distractions when they inevitably arise.

To do this, I encourage you to write out a game plan for how you will deal with distraction when (not if) it arises.

Specifically, I suggest that you build buffer time into your day to account for those times when something pops up. Instead of expecting yourself to work straight through from 8 a.m. to 6 p.m. and scheduling 10 hours of work, realize that you are going to get distracted. You’ll probably accomplish only 6-7 hours of real work during that ten hour block.

So plan for this. Prepare for it. And schedule your day around it.

Furthermore, I encourage you to create a “distraction protocol” clearly articulating how you will get refocused when you do get distracted.

For example, you might write down, “As soon as I realize that I’ve gotten distracted and I’m [surfing the web, texting a friend, talking with my spouse], I will indulge in this distraction for 10 minutes before shutting it off and immediately returning to my work.”

This simple strategy allows you to get back on the rails when you veer off and prevents you from beating yourself up and thinking that you’re somehow a terrible person for falling prey to human nature.

If you want a deep dive into the psychology of high performance, here’s a video from last years’ Perfect Life Retreat where I detail the top ten habits of high performers.

Remember: The quality of your life will always be equal to the difference between your positive habits and negative habits.

So take this seriously and do whatever you must to develop those high performance habits required to succeed.

3. Put on Your Seat Belt  

The final facet of peak performance you must master to build your first (or next) 7-figure business is the art of self-leadership.

To effectively lead a team, you must first learn how to lead and manage yourself.

This art of self-leadership serves as the proverbial “seatbelt” that will prevent you from flying out of the windshield whenever your car goes veering off the road or smashes through a roadblock.

But how do you actually go about implementing this?

By implementing and adhering to a set of personal rules and boundaries.

On your path to 7-figures, things will get chaotic.

Payroll will be late, employees will leave, investments will flop, products won’t perform…Shtuff is going to happen.

And when it does, you must have hard rules and boundaries in your life to keep you on track and ensure that you’re living in alignment with your values and keeping your eyes on the vision you set for yourself.

For example, in my life, I have the following personal rules:

• I go to bed and wake up at the same time every day (8 p.m. and 4 a.m.)
• I create a to-do list at the end of every work day and spend time updating my gratitude and achievement journal.
• I write for at least 60-minutes first thing every morning
• I accept that everything that happens to me–good and bad–is my personal responsibility
• I act politely and courteously (and don’t swear).

(You can read my full list of personal rules here)

However, your rules might look a bit different.

For example, if you’re a busy parent and spouse trying to build a 7-figure business while taking care of your family and yourself, your rules might look like this:

• I will take my spouse on a date night every Wednesday at 7 pm, no exceptions.
• I will pick the kids up from school every day and spend three hours investing in their growth and development.
• I will take six hours every Saturday morning to engage in self-care and solitude to ensure I’m fully recharged and capable of performing at my best.
• I will sit down to work every day and 7 a.m. and finish work no later than 3 p.m.
• I will not work on Sundays. This is my personal sabath where I spend time with the family, enjoy my hobbies, and relax after a long work week.

Here’s a quick video where I detail some of the most important structures you can have in place to ensure proper work/life balance while you build your empire.

When you have rules and boundaries in place, everything in your life becomes easier. You’ll know how to act and have clear “SOP’s” for how you will show up in your life and business.

Set your rules, implement your boundaries, and then protect them with your life.

Once you’ve done this and taken action on the previous points, you’re ready to shift your focus to the vehicle that will drive you to your first million. Your business.

Part II: The Vehicle

Even the best driver in the world stands no chance of beating his competitors without the right vehicle.

And no matter how focused, productive, and energized you are…you can’t generate your next 7-figures without the right systems in your business to ensure profitability and scale.

In this section, I’m going to walk you through the tactical steps you need to take to grow your business, generate more leads, close more sales, and make more money.

Let’s dive in.

1. Find Your First Race

To become a professional racecar driver, you must first have one thing…

Races.

You can be the baddest driver in town, own an uber-customized car with all of the latest bells and whistles, and even have a perfect pit crew filled with some of the highest performers in the industry.

But if you can’t enter into a competition with other drivers…you can’t win any races.

In business, the same principle applies.

You can be the most knowledgeable expert in your field, have the most amazing product in the world, and have a superstar team of employees.

But if you don’t have a consistent and predictable method for regular acquiring new leads (races) and getting your product in front of potential fans, you’ll never be able to break through the 7-figure (or even 6-figure) mark and will struggle unnecessarily just to make ends meet.

Luckily, generating a steady stream of high quality leads that are eager to buy is nowhere near as complicated as most gurus would have you believe.

In fact, it’s probably the simplest (note: I didn’t say ‘easiest’) part of the Empire building process.

Here are a few quick ideas to help you get started.

1. Leverage Instagram

Instagram is, by far, the most powerful and underutilized lead generation tool that most small business owners are missing out on.

In fact, over the past two years, I’ve generated more than $1.2 million in sales from Instagram alone. .

But here’s the thing…

You can’t just post pictures of your family or photos of your new shaker bottle (seriously, if you’re in the fitness industry stop doing this!) and expect an influx of new leads.

You must post content that is:

1. Valuable
2. Shareable
3. Purposeful

Every post, video, and story must provide real value to your audience and help them overcome a major pain point with which they’re struggling.

But it must also be shareable. That is, your content must look good and be easy to consume so that your audience is more like to share it with their friends.

Finally, your content must be purposeful. Everything you publish should serve a specific purpose inside of your marketing strategy. Whether that’s to educate, entertain, drive new leads, close sales, or increase the number of followers you have, your content must serve a specific purpose.

Here’s a video breakdown explaining a bit more about this.

Now, if you’re thinking that this all sounds “too hard” or that you don’t know what to say, let me share two quick notes with you.

1. When I first started using Instagram, I’d never used an iPhone and still ran my life from a 2010 Blackberry (I was the very definition of a technophobe).
2. I have an exclusive program where I’ll teach you exactly what posts to create, what to say, and how to say it on Instagram to drive new leads and generate more revenue (you can learn more about that here).

Instagram really is the last remaining social media gold mine and, if you use it right, you can accelerate your business’s growth faster than you ever thought possible.

2. Share Your Expertise in Targeted Facebook Groups (Or Create Your Own)

Another free and simple strategy you can use to drive new leads into your business is to leverage other people’s audiences through targeted Facebook groups.

Listen, there are literally millions of Facebook groups you can join–like my Perfect Business Formula group (click here to join...it’s free!)–that are filled with active and highly engaged individuals who would likely be a perfect fit for your business.

And the best part?

If you do it right, you don’t have to actively pitch your services or share any sort of promotional content inside of these groups.

In fact, you can get new leads by simply showing up and sharing your expertise with people who need it.

For example, if you find run a digital marketing firm that specializes in helping brick and mortar stores break into online marketing, find a Facebook group dedicated to helping small local businesses improve their digital presence.

Spend 15-30 minutes a day engaging with top questions. Provide valuable answers that solve people’s biggest problems for free and stand out from the sea of comments by taking the time to provide a comprehensive and well thought out response.

If you’ll do this–for less than half an hour a day–I promise you can expect to generate at least 2-3 high quality leads, automatically, every single week.

3. Grow Your Following With Powerful Guest Posts

Another tactic to expand your influence, establish credibility, and leverage other people’s audiences to drive more revenue into your business is to contact the Editors of blogs and websites in your niche and offer to write a unique and highly valuable guest post for them.

Now here’s the thing. In 2019, guest post pitches are a dime a dozen.

Just ask my Editor. Working with two major online magazines, he receives dozens, often hundreds of pitches each week…80% of which are promptly deleted.

To stand out in the gatekeeper’s crowded inboxes, you must do three things.

1. Make It Easy for them to Say “Yes”:

Editors and blog owners tend to be overworked (and often underpaid) as it is and the last thing they want to do is agree to a pitch that makes their life more challenging. Before sending a pitch make sure that the topic is relevant to their audience, write out a complete draft that is congruent with their brand voice and content structure, and include topics for three further articles you could write if your first draft is not accepted.

2. Go Above and Beyond to Show Your Expertise

Like responding to questions in a Facebook group, the key to successfully leveraging guest posts to drive new leads to your business is to clearly showcase your expertise and provide as much value as possible.

The more value you can provide in your post and the more tactical your content is, the more likely it is to be accepted for publication and, more importantly, the more likely it is to compel someone to connect with your business.

3. Mention Your Company, But Don’t Promote It

Promotional pitches (that are unpaid) are rarely accepted by other sites. However, there’s no point to writing a killer guest post if people don’t know where to follow up with you and learn more.

The best way I’ve found to get over this speed bump is to lightly mention the name of your brand when establishing credibility early in the article.

For example, “When I first took over my company, Early to Rise, from Mark Ford I…”

This simple sentence will ensure that your efforts aren’t wasted on generating leads for other people’s businesses and will give readers an easy way to follow up with you and learn more about what you do.

I recommend that you write no more than one high quality guest post a week–unless you’re paying someone else to do them.

4. Ask for More Referrals

By far the easiest and most underutilized way for entrepreneurs to drive new leads to their business and claim thousands of dollars in “hidden profits” (without spending a dime) is to ask for more referrals.

Listen, if you have existing customers who love your product or service and have experienced amazing results in their life from using it, they are going to be happy to refer friends and family who might benefit from your solution.

However…

You have to ask.

People are busy. They have mortgages to pay, kids to feed, jobs to do, and life’s to live. The simple truth is that you and your business are not a top priority in their life, no matter how amazing the results you’ve delivered might be.

If you aren’t actively asking for referrals and making it easy for your clients to give them to you, you are leaving thousands of dollars of revenue on the table every month.

You can click here to read an article where I detail several of my favorite referral scripts, but in the meantime, you can send this simple email and ask your clients to fill in the blanks when sending you a new referral.

Hey [Name],

I want to introduce you to [your occupation…e.g. Trainer, coach, marketing genius], [Your name].

[Your name] has helped me [achieve specific result] [Your name] meet [referrals name] [Explain their relationship with the referral and what that person needs support with]

I’ll let you two take it from here.

Sincerely,

[Name].

For example, in my business, this referral script looks like this:

Hey Joey,

I want to introduce you to my coach Craig Ballantyne.

Craig has helped me double my income in the past six months while working 10 fewer hours a week and making more time to spend with Rosa and the kids.

Craig, meet Joey.

Joey is a former co-worker of mine who told me that he needs help scaling his business beyond six-figures without putting in crazy work weeks.

I’ll let you two take it from here.

Sincerely,

Rob

If you will implement this consistently, you can increase your lead flow and income by 15-25% in the next week.

5. Pay to Play

Finally, for those of you with businesses that are already close to or exceeding 6-figures in revenue, you can generate new leads on command by leveraging paid traffic and marketing.

I could write an entire article, heck…and entire book on the nuances of paid advertising and the different types of ads you can run, but for our purposes, I’ll keep it simple.

The two best types of paid traffic are:

1. Facebook Ads

Facebook ads, for the time being, are one of the easiest ways to quickly generate hyper-targeted leads without spending a small fortune.

To execute a successful lead generation campaign through Facebook, here’s what you’re going to do.

1. Create three quick and easy lead magnets. Stick to checklists, blueprints (like my 90-day planner here), or 1-2 page PDFs. People don’t want 10,000 word eBooks. They want something they can implement right away.
2. Set up three different ad campaigns targeting your demographic and test each of these lead magnets on a small budget until you find the winner.
3. Once you have your winning lead magnet, create three variations for the image and copy of the ad and continually test them until you find the highest performing result.
4. Research Facebook advertising strategies and continually refine the audiences you target, the creative elements of the ad, and your follow up sequence (more on that in a minute) until you are generating a positive ROI.
5. Scale until you have more leads than you know what to do with.

Although this is a gross oversimplification, this is the process you should follow with your advertising.

Once you have a strong grasp of the platform, you can start playing around with retargeting, tripwire offers, long sales funnels, and other more complex strategies.

But until then, run ads to your lead magnet, test, optimize, rinse, and repeat.

2. Affiliate Marketing

My buddy and client Joel Mario, the “$100 Million Man” who grew Biotrust from $0 to $100,000,0000 in revenue in less than 18 months (and who later built a $10 million side hustle with only one employee in 6 months), built his entire business through paid traffic and affiliate marketing.

And here’s why…

Whenever you use affiliate marketing (e.g. paying someone else to promote your product or service and giving them a percentage or all of the revenue from that promotion) you are basically generating customers for free.

Especially if you offer a digital product.

For example, let’s say that you have a $97 product on fat loss and you find an affiliate who will promote that product to their email list of 100,000 people.

During the promotion, you get 5,000 customers and give 100% of the profits to your affiliate.

Now here’s the cool part.

Even though you didn’t make a penny on the front end, you just closed 5,000 new customers for $0.

You lost nothing, but gained 5,000 new customers, many of whom will buy from you again in the future.

Now, if you can convert 50% of those existing customers (remember: people who have already paid you are more likely to buy again in the future) on a $197 offer later during the year…you just made $985,000 off a $0 lead generation campaign.

I don’t know about you, but I think that sounds like a pretty solid return on investment.

Although it will require effective follow up, persistence, and possibly a short term loss in revenue, affiliate marketing is still one of the fastest ways to grow your business in 2019.

And it’s also one of the cheapest.

2. Start Your Engine

If lead generation is the ability to show up to a racetrack and compete, your ability to close those new leads is the engine that will drive you to the finish line and secure your 1st place trophy.

Without an effective system for converting a new lead into a paying customer, all of your efforts will be wasted and you’ll find yourself with a huge list of prospects…that don’t make you a single penny.

To build your 7-figure business, you must master the art and science of closing.

Whether it’s in person, over the phone, or through killer copywriting.

Much like the habits you use to fuel peak performance, the specific words, phrases, and systems you use to convert leads will vary greatly depending on the people you’re targeting and the solution you’re offering.

And while I encourage you to invest some time into learning more about the sales process and the psychology of closing (specifically, everyone of you should read “Sell or Be Sold,” “The Psychology of Selling” “The Ultimate Sales Machine” “Breakthrough Advertising” and “The Ultimate Sales Letter”) there are only three primary rules you must follow to increase your close rate and keep the revenue flowing:

1. ABO: Always Be Offering

The first, and most insidious mistake most entrepreneurs make when it comes to sales and closing is that they aren’t even making offers in the first place.

They spend all of this time creating valuable content and showcasing their expertise, but they never let people know that they actually have an offer they can buy!

As such, the first and most important rule of closing is to always be offering.

Notice, I didn’t say always be closing. I said, “always be offering.”

When you try to close people to aggressively and too frequently, you will turn off many prospective buyers and earn yourself a reputation as a sleazy salesperson.

However, by simply putting offers in front of your leads and letting them know that they have the opportunity to buy something from you, people who are interested in your offer will naturally follow up with you and ask to learn more.

To do this effectively, I encourage you to use my three step call to action when ending your articles, Instagram stories, or Facebook posts.

1. Tell them WHAT you’re offering (and what specific problem it will solve).
2. Tell them HOW to get it (click the link, send a DM, email me, etc).
3. And tell them WHY they must get it NOW (the course is closing, we only have three spots left, the price goes up at midnight, etc.)

As simple as this formula is, it’s been on the primary drivers behind the multiple 7-figures I’ve generated online over the past two decades.

2. Understand the REAL Value You Offer

The second cardinal rule of selling is to understand the real value of what you offer.

Here’s the deal…

Most entrepreneurs don’t really understand the value of the solution they offer. They think to themselves, “I’m ‘just’ a [business coach, fitness trainer, copywriter, marketing specialist, etc.].

But they fail to realize what they’re really offering to people.

If you’re a fitness professional who helps high performers lose fat without living in the gym or killing themselves with a restrictive diet, you aren’t selling fitness coaching…you’re selling:

• The confidence and sense of personal fulfillment that comes from having your body reflect who you feel like on the inside.
• The energy to perform at their best and enjoy the physically demanding hobbies they’ve long since given up.
• A deeper and more intimate relationship (because your health has a dramatic affect on your love/sex life)
• The likelihood of a longer life so they can spend more time with their kids and loved ones and never miss out on opportunities because of their lack of physical fitness.

And when you realize what you’re really selling, you can speak to that during your calls or in your copy.

So take a few minutes right now to figure out the real benefit of your solution?

What tangible results will your clients experience beyond what you’re promising in your offer? When you can answer this question successfully, your conversion rate will skyrocket.

3. Sell Only to People Who Need Your Solution

Finally, and quite counter intuitively, one of the keys to becoming an exceptional closer and trusted adviser is to only sell your solutions to people who really need them.

Listen, your job isn’t to close as many sales as possible. It’s to deliver as much value as possible.

And I can guarantee you that there will come a point when you’re having a conversation with a prospect to whom you have no value to offer.

I talk with prospects all the time who simply aren’t a good fit for my coaching services or who need a different, more specialized professional to help them achieve their goals. And when I have these conversations, I always refer them to another coach or company who can help them more effectively.

While it might sound odd to turn clients away, in the long term, this strategy will build more trust and ensure that you have an endless stream of powerful case studies from clients whose lives genuinely changed as a result of working with your company.

3. Get on the Track and Put on a Good Show

Just like a good race car driver knows that he must put on an exceptional show to build a following of raving fans (who bring in the best sponsors), as a small business owner you must “put on a show” for your existing customers to ensure you keep them once you’ve closed them.

Here are a few ways to do that.

1. Implement a Consistent and Effective Delivery System

The first, and most important way to retain clients is to give them what they paid for.

Common sense, I know. But remember, common sense isn’t always common practice.

All too often, I see entrepreneurs who over promise and under deliver. They write checks they can’t cash and end up with thousands of disgruntled customers who receive a subpar product or service that fails to achieve the result they were promised.

I know guys who offered $10,000/year mastermind memberships and then failed to host the quarterly meetings or became so overwhelmed with other projects that they weren’t able to give the 1-on-1 coaching they promised.

I know other entrepreneurs who sold $2,000 online programs, but failed to guarantee the delivery system and had to issue dozens of refunds simply because their tech department didn’t deliver access to the course to new customers.

And I know dozens of service based entrepreneurs who took on too many new clients too quickly and were unable to deliver any of the agreed upon results to those new clients, resulting in the implosion of their business and the demise of their reputation.  

So before you worry about anything else on this list, ensure that you are able to effectively deliver your base offer to your new clients.

Create clear and simple systems to get your solution into the hands of new buyers as quickly as possible and make sure that you have the resources at your disposal to deliver on the promises you made.

To do this, you may have to slow down the scaling process to ensure you have the employees and technology in place to deliver your solution. But, in the long run, this will always lead to a longer lasting and more effective business.

2. Over Deliver on Your Promises with “Secret” Bonuses

One of the best ways to retain clients–other than simply delivering what is promised–is to deliver more than you promised through “secret” bonuses.

The idea here is simple.

In addition to creating a compelling offer with plenty of bonuses (that you announce) go above and beyond to include “secret” bonuses that customers only learn about once they’ve purchased something from you.

For example, if you run a marketing firm that sells copywriting, don’t just write a sales page for your new client.

Write the sales page and then create a 5-email autoresponder series that will help them get more eyeballs on that page.

If you offer an online course, don’t just provide the promised material. Include an unannounced mini-course that addresses some of the biggest problems facing your customers.

Go above and beyond to create what my millionaire client Jason Capital calls “An 11-star offer” and you will earn the loyalty of your customers for life.

3. Focus on Implementation Over Information

One of the simplest ways to improve your client retention is to focus on the ease with which clients can implement your solution.

For example, if you offer an information product that helps high performers improve their relationships, don’t simply overwhelm new customers with information.

Instead, systematize your solution so that it’s easy for them to consume and implement into their lives. Give them small action steps that are easy to take and help them achieve results fast instead of trying to give them everything you know all at once.

Or, if you run a service based business that offers marketing solutions, focus on implementing the highest ROI systems first before focusing on the minutiae.

Your best clients are the ones who get the best results.

This is why all of my coaching programs and courses include “done for you” scripts and marketing templates.

It’s why I don’t share everything I know on the first call.

And it’s why 80% of my focus with new clients is holding them accountable to only 2-3 key action steps instead of overwhelming them with a list of a dozen to-do’s.

To deliver on your promises and keep clients for life, you must make your offer easy to use, simple to implement, and fast to generate a return.

4. Keep Your Vehicle Up to Date

In 1952, the fastest car in existence was the Ferrari 250 GTO which clocked in at a top speed of 158 MPH.

Today, in 2019, the fastest car is the Hennessey Venom F5 which boasts a staggering top speed of more than 300 MPH, almost double that of the ‘60s Ferrari.

If you were to pit these two cars against one another, regardless of who was driving them, which one would you bet on?

To answer anything other than “The Hennessey Venom” would be insanity.

And it’s no different in business.

Technology and “best practices” are changing on what feels like a daily basis. And the information and skillset required to succeed in the game of entrepreneurship in 2019 is drastically different from what it was in 1969, 1999, or even 2009.

As such, you must commit to what Tony Robbins call CANI™ or “Constant and never ending improvement.”

You must continually refine your craft, learn about developments in your field, and upgrade the proverbial equipment driving your business. If you don’t, you’ll be left in the dust.

Every day, attempt to become 1% better at your craft. Educate yourself about new technologies related to your field. And constantly seek to become better and better at what you do.

This is the only prescription for ensuring that your business stands the test of time and remains relevant in a world that pushes you towards obscurity.

Part III: The Pit Crew

The third and final foundational pillar of a 7-figure business is your “pit crew” or the team that supports you along the journey.

In the same way that the best race car driver (with the fastest car) cannot hope to compete without a savvy pit crew capable of quickly changing tires, filling the car up with fuel, and tending to mechanical breakdowns. The best entrepreneurs know that they are only as good as the team they lead and the individuals they have in their corner.

In this section, I’ll teach you who you need in your “pit crew” and, more importantly how to find them.

1. Find Your “Tire Flippers”

Can you imagine what Nascar or Formula 1 would be like if the drivers were responsible for changing their own tires anytime they got a flat or wore out the tread?

Other than turning otherwise exciting spectacles into boring events, it would distract drivers from focusing on the thing that matters most–driving.

And the same is true in your business.

To grow to 7-figures, you can’t be spending your time doing $10/hour jobs.

You must hire the right people who can offload the busy work and free up your time so that you can focus on refining your strategy and executing on the highest-profit activities.

In my own business, I have team members who:

• Upload content to social media, post articles on my website, and ensure emails go out on time.
• Write or edit content for my marketing channels
• Respond to low-importance emails
• Close new leads
• Manage the technical side of the business (my achilles heel)
• And handle all of the important tasks that I don’t personally NEED to do.

As a result, I have the freedom to focus on the most important activities required to scale the business even further.

And you must do the same thing.

If you’re still uploading your own blog posts, scheduling your own Instagram videos, or even cutting your own grass, you’ll struggle to break through to the million dollar mark.

So right now, I want you to take a few minutes to identify the 5-10 most draining and unnecessary tasks which you regularly have to complete and commit to hiring someone to handle them this week.

Now, before you try and tell me that you don’t have the money to hire someone, STOP.

For $10/hour, you can hire someone on UpWork or Freelancer to handle 80% of the tasks you don’t need to do. And the only way to generate more profits is to spend more time on profit generating activities (which you can’t do when your entire day is ruled by busy work and administrative tasks).

You don’t need dozens of people on your team to scale to 7-figures.

But you do need to make a few strategic hires so that you have the time and freedom to focus on the most important activities in your business.

2. Hire Your Mechanic

In addition to hiring team members to take on the tasks outside of your area of genius, you need to bring in someone who can provide an objective set of “outside eyes” on the daily operations of your business.

Just like a race car driver needs a knowledgeable mechanic who can quickly identify problems with their vehicle and determine the most expedient solutions, you need someone who has “been there, done that” who can provide you with feedback on your business and ensure you aren’t making any big mistakes.

Specifically, you need a coach or a mentor who has already achieved success in your industry (or a similar industry) and can quickly identify problematic parts of your business or areas of opportunity.

Here’s a quick video where I’ll show you the five step process to find the right person for this role:

When you have the right “mechanic” in your business, it’s like putting nitrous in your fuel tank and pressing the little red button.

You’ll experience a massive (and almost immediate) influx of revenue and quickly resolve any problems you might be facing.

For example, my friend and mentor Rob Hanly, a renowned business consultant, is known for his uncanny ability to help business owners quickly identify their weaknesses and strengths and reorganize their efforts to ensure massive profitability.

He’s helped clients increase their revenue by 20% in a day simply by analyzing a sales page, changing a lead magnet, or fixing a faulty Facebook ad set.

To break through to 7-figures, you need someone who can look at your business objectively. Someone who isn’t involved with the day to day operations and can quickly identify areas where you’re screwing up or where there’s room for improvement.

Oftentimes, making the leap from 6 to 7-figures is far simpler than you might imagine.

But you currently lack the experience and knowledge necessary to identify those 2-3 simple shifts that will result in 100-200% returns.

Whether you decide to join my coaching program (which you can learn more about by emailing support@earlytorise.com) or hire another coach in your industry, you must have someone on your team who has walked the walk and knows how to take your business from where it is to where you want it to be.

3. Find Your Sponsors

Like most of the players in major sports, few race car drivers make their fortunes by actually racing. Instead, they make their millions by signing huge sponsorship deals with relevant companies.

And in your business, most of the money you make won’t come from your marketing, advertising, or sales funnels.

It will come from the connections you develop with big players in your industry.

When you have a Rolodex of high performing entrepreneurs who are playing the game at a higher level than you are, not only will you be inspired to perform at a higher level, but you’ll gain access to “insider knowledge” that will allow you to cut your growth curve in half.

This is why I pay my friend Bedros for professional coaching each year and why I just invested $100,000 into Joel Marion’s “The $100 Million Experience” (an exclusive mastermind with 22 instructors who have either generated $100 million or views).

Every time I’ve experienced dramatic growth in my business, I can trace that growth back to a specific connection I made with another entrepreneur or high-performer.

As the old saying goes, “It’s not what you know, but who you know.”

Luckily, and despite what many people will tell you, meeting the right people isn’t as hard as you might imagine. It simply requires a willingness to invest in your network.

Specifically, I encourage you to invest in:

• High end masterminds
• One-on-one coaching (especially if you know that the coach in question is connected with other high performers)
• Seminars like Unleash the Power Within or The Perfect Life Retreat
• And charity events

You might scoff at the idea of spending $10,000 to meet with a ten other entrepreneurs three times a year, but I can tell you from personal experience (running a $20,000/year mastermind filled with some of the most hard charging entrepreneurs around) these are the environments where deals are done, knowledge is earned, and money is made.

That $10,000 investment can easily turn into $100,000 or even $1,000,000 in new profit if you take the time to find the right group or event and commit to showing up eager and ready to participate.

Conclusion

There you have it.

If you will follow the steps outlined above and take action on what I’ve just shared with you, you’ll be well on your way to your first or next 7-figures.

Now, over to you.

What is your #1 struggle scaling from 6 to 7-figures? What is the most important lesson you learned from this guide and how will you take action on it this week?

Let me know in the comments below.

And, if you found this guide helpful, please pay it forward by sharing it on Facebook so together, we can help more people achieve the impact and income they deserve.