As a business owner, whether you've just started your business or are contemplating beginning one, the journey to growing it into a million-dollar business may initially appear daunting. It's not until you've achieved $1 million in revenue that you realize the most challenging aspect was changing the way you viewed business.
This, by far, is the most demanding part, and I won't set you up for failure by letting you think otherwise. If you're not mentally ready to follow these steps, it doesn't matter how many strategies we provide; success will remain hard to achieve.
But if you're serious about increasing your business's revenue, here are the steps needed to do so
STEP 1: MINDSET
You must change the way you approach business. As you may have learned recently, the way we approach business has to be different. We cannot make business owner decisions with the mindset of an employee, and we cannot keep asking employees important business owner questions.
STEP 2: JOURNEY TO SUCCESS
Every successful business has followed these proven steps to make their business successful. They didn’t take shortcuts because they understood when looking down from 30 thousand feet above; they saw the roadmap to getting their business to make millions.
Every successful business has:
A Business Plan: A guide on how to make the millions they desire to have.
Business Identity: Every successful business has its own separate identity apart from its owner. This includes the business having its own email domain, business address, and business phone number.
Business Registration: Each business is a legal separate entity registered with the Secretary of State, which has all of the business's information and not the owner's personal information.
Branding: To be successful, every business must have a brand that represents the business as a whole. This includes having a Business Logo and a Business Website. In order to reach a broader market, you need tools to help you do that, and having a website is what is needed.
Business Credit: Every successful business has business credit that is not associated with the owner's personal social security number.
Bookkeeping: This is by far one of the most overlooked steps in the entire journey. So many business owners run their business off a whim and not actual data. Without a proper bookkeeping system in place, reaching a million dollars is unlikely.
Business Contracts: Having business contracts in place along with being registered with certain entities is crucial to the credibility of the business.
Business Protection: Business Insurance is a very important necessity in business. Not only does it protect your business, but it also is a tool to help you leverage against any losses you may have encountered throughout the year. Additionally, having copyright and trademarks, along with forming a Business Trust, provides your business assets the coverage it needs to help you build a legacy.
STEP 3: NETWORK
Being part of a Business Community that has other like-minded business owners is extremely important in reaching your million-dollar goal. This is where you get help to work on your business rather than working in your business. Being intentional about the way you allocate your time is very important.
STEP 4: TEAM
It is extremely difficult to build a million-dollar business alone. You will need a team of people to help you along the way. Often, people confuse team and systems when, in fact, having systems in place to automate your business can also be viewed as having a team. This, coupled with hiring the right help, is vital to the business's overall success.
I have seen many business owners ‘think’ they cannot afford something when the reality is it's costing them much more by not having a team and systems in place.
Whether it be hiring people or a company to help you with the day-to-day or month-to-month tasks, there is no way you can reach your financial goals by yourself, as running a business is much more than waking up and doing a job.
This is what employees do—you are not an employee! You are a business owner who sits in the CEO chair of your company.
STEP 5: TAXES & COMPLIANCE
Having your taxes filed properly along with proper monthly financial reports is how successful businesses remain successful. They do not wait until they get a letter from the IRS or the Department of Revenue before they take action. They proactively work with their accounting & compliance teams to help them stay ahead of things that may cost them in the future. This is why it is important to stay compliant with the Federal Government and the State, which are two separate entities.
Each year, a business must comply with the Federal Government (IRS) by filing tax returns and the State by filing an annual report. We have seen so many businesses miss out on opportunities to grow because their business was not in good standings with the Secretary of State. Having your Annual Report completed on time keeps your business in compliance and also helps your business reach the million-dollar revenue goals.
These five steps are the key to your business reaching the million-dollar revenue goal. Without these five steps, it will be extremely difficult to reach your business's financial goals.
Often, business owners will say that money is the problem when, in fact, money only does what we tell it to do. If we tell money to go other places and not in our businesses, we reduce our chances of the business being able to give us the financial freedom we’ve been searching for. You can reach your financial goals by following these steps. As we begin 2024, make a plan to have all five steps completed and watch your dreams unfold.