How I Grew My Business From 0 to 10K/ Month
From Solopreneur To Entrepreneur
Unlike what a lot of influencers want you to believe, getting to 10k per month is not easy. The good news is that, when you reach that point, scaling up is going to be easier; this is because it means you have good processes in place, your offer is right for your ideal client and the way you're running your business is working, so scaling higher isn't going to be as hard as getting to 10k.
In this article, I’m going to share how I got from 0 to 10k & I hope it'll be useful to you if you have started a business recently.
Getting to 10k is a lot of hard work, I won't sugarcoat it but I will tell you what made the whole difference for me.
You need to validate your product or service: it means that you have customers, that you've identified who your ideal client is and that you're working to serve them as best you can.
If you haven't figured that out yet I think you should start there, but if you have and you know that your product is working, keep reading!
01. CONSISTENCY
Consistency is probably the most important of the five points. You have to be prepared for a long and hard process, nothing comes easy and you have to know that it's the consistency of what you do every day that's going to make the difference.
Imagine that you want to lose a few pounds. You know that you can’t go to the gym three times and be done. You need to go to the gym consistently every single day, or at least a few times a week, for a couple of months or even a year before you get to where you want.
It's the same in business, I worked consistently for almost a year before I got real results. When you think people are not watching, they are, and if they're not, keep going because they will start to listen and they will tell you what it is that they need. The more you listen, the better you'll serve your ideal client because you will become a solution to their pain points.
If you're promoting your business on instagram or facebook, be consistent. Posting once a month isn’t going to be enough, people need to hear from you, they need to get answers to their most common questions.
There are going to be a lot of ups and downs; when you start a business, be prepared to handle those, business is not a linear process. When I'd get a couple clients in one day, I'd think, that's it, it can only go up, only to get disappointed because I'd make no money for the following months. Do not get discouraged.
If you believe in your business and that it'll work, you are half way there.
02. REVIEW REGULARLY
Which platform(s) are you using to market yourself? Is it the right platform? Are you sure that your ideal client is using the platform to get information they need? Or do you need to switch platform?
You could be producing a lot of valuable content but if you share it on the wrong platform, your ideal client won't see it.
What services do your clients buy the most? Which ones do they never get? How can you improve your offer based on their feedback and on the numbers - some services that aren't bringing much but taking up a lot of time should be eliminated. Spend more time on the services that bring the biggest ROI (return on investment). Ask feedback regularly, ask what your clients need, what they struggle with and keep fine-tuning your services/ products.
Take time every month to assess what is working and what isn't in your business.
Side note: What you do can sometimes feel like nobody cares.
On my instagram page, I only have a thousand followers, an average of 20 likes per post; any marketing expert will tell you that my reach is low and my content not good enough.
The reality is that I currently make between 8 and 10k per month just on instagram using organic traffic. The other thing is that when I talk to my clients and prospects, they always comment on how "my content speaks to them", "I am your ideal client", "your business is going to be a game changer for my business". Listen.
03. PLANNING
Having a strategy is so important and you can’t have a business without having a proper strategy. Invest your time and money on the things that are going to take you closer to that goal. As a business owner, there are so many things that you could be investing in and not all of them are going to be important for you right now!
Especially when you start a business, your cash flow might not be ideal so it's important that you only invest your money in what will help you get to your 3 to 6-month goal.
04. ORGANIC TRAFFIC
When you are starting, you don't need to spend a lot of money on paid ads.
I used to believe that investing money in ads would build the business for me and I couldn't be more wrong! You got to do the work, be consistent, be patient and believe it's coming :)
Later on, once you know that your business model is working, that you are already making money and that have good testimonials, you can talk to someone about investing your money in paid ads.
When I started my business, I spent 5k on Facebook ads in the first 4 months and I only got one client from it; imagine what I could have done with the 5K instead.
On my youtube channel, there is an interview with Sarah, a Facebook ads expert, and she shares a lot of tips about how and when to use ads in your business. Click to watch the interview.
05. MINDSET WORK
While you are building a business, thinking about what lifestyle you dream of for yourself is essential. Are you happy to work 70 hours per week and do everything yourself? Or do you want the freedom and flexibility you thought starting your own business would bring? If that’s the case, doing everything on your own is not going to take you there.
We often overlook mindset when it is the one thing that will get you to take action to move the needle forward in your business or completely derail your growth.
As we move outside our zone of comfort, we will get new mindset blocks that will challenge us; understand them, work through them and keep growing. Some common mindset blocks are based around money (eg. seeing delegating as spending instead of investing), losing control, imposter syndrome, thinking it is normal to struggle as a business owner...
When you work on your mindset, you start seeing that a CEO is not meant to do everything alone, but in fact should be doing less to focus on the very few key tasks that will build a sustainable business. It's also not about being in control of everything and everyone; getting help from other experts is what will make your business successful.
If you want to scale your business, you need others. You don't need to hire employees - you can hire freelancers or an outsourcing firm - like ours - but others will help you build a business that is going to be sustainable, profitable and scalable on the long-term.
Since most of your time is going to be spent planning, reviewing, connecting and marketing, delegate as fast as you can. You're not going to have the time to do it all: focus on what will help you get to your 3 to 6-month goal.
KEY TAKEAWAYS
If you are starting a business or want to start one, you accept that the process might be slow, difficult and everything but linear.
I made close to nothing for almost a year and then went from zero to 5k/ months.
If you validated your offer and know your ideal client (niche) needs what you sell, be patient.
If you don't believe in what you have to offer, why would other people believe in it?
I went from solopreneur (or freelancer!) to working with a team of 6 in 6 months. I don't do most of the day-to-day tasks, which is great because when I don't feel well or go on holiday, the business is still running and serving clients.
My best month was the one that I burned out and went on holiday, which means that I didn't work for three weeks. The months I focused on getting my systems and processes set up, that I hired the right people and took the time to train them had paid off.
Doing everything in your business is not going to be sustainable and it's also not going to give you the life that you dream about. You're not going to have the mental bandwidth to give the best service that you can, you won't have time to improve your services, might miss deadlines and not give your clients the experience they deserve.
By delegating, you step into your CEO role and stay in your zone of genius while others do what they do best to help you build your business.
Stick to what you do best and hire other experts to do other tasks better, faster and cheaper than you.
I have plenty of videos about the subject on my Youtube channel so make sure you check it out.
See you next time!
Kristell Valentina Mouriès
Director, KVM Design