Want to listen in as I go through this training in more detail? Click here to listen.
Whenever I do a survey, one of the biggest questions I get asked is how do you know what to do to grow your business without getting overwhelmed and in what order… I just want someone to tell me what to do first, second, third.
Of course, growing your business by a strict formula doesn’t always work, but there are 3 phases most online businesses go through. The problems arise when you jump around from one phase to the next too soon, or skip over a phase completely.
Don’t worry. It doesn’t have to take too long to go through the phases if you’re clear and strategic. And if you really want to streamline your success, remember this:
Growing your business is much simpler when you learn how to build on the successes you’ve achieved at each phase of the journey.
Imagine you’re learning how to cook. You’re not going to start by cooking a gourmet meal for a group of 20 friends. You’re going to start by learning basic techniques, flavor and ingredients.
Then you’ll move into the second phase of growth. Now you’re cooking basic meals to serve your family. The third phase is excellence, where you’ve perfected your techniques and are ready to throw a dinner party.
What happens if you skip the first steps and go straight to throwing a dinner party? You might succeed in getting people to the table, but you won’t have happy guests and they likely won’t come back again.
The same is true for your business. Each phase builds on what you learned in the last.
Build on your success so your confidence grows as you move forward, and you’re getting results instead of getting overwhelmed.
The other key is the mindset of taking smart action at each phase. Smart action is action based on solid strategy. Too often we get caught up in tactics. You see something cool and jump on it. Why? What are you trying to achieve? Will it help you reach your goals or is it a distraction? Also realize that it’s only through implementation that you can perfect your results. Be okay with taking action and improving as you go.
Now that we have some key mindset elements in place, let’s go through each phase.
1. Foundation
This step is all about clarity. You want to get clear on the strategic foundation for your entire business. That means you have to know your:
- Focus: Who you help, what you help them with, what results they get, and why they should work with you
- Message: A messaging platform that connects with the hearts and minds of your ideal clients, including your Core Message (heart), Marketing Message (head), and Magnetic Message (head and heart)
- Client Journey: A clear description of the steps you’ll take your clients through to get them results
A word of caution: If you try to skip ahead or skim over this phase, you will end up spinning your wheels. It’s essential! It’s the strategic foundation for your entire business.
I have a wonderful proven system to help you create the strategic foundation for your business success. Click here to learn more.
2. Growth
Now that you have your foundation in place, you’re ready to start getting your message into action. At this stage, you’re growing your email list, and inviting prospective clients to discovery sessions or consultations.
It’s really important to start with offering one on one services. Why? It’s the easiest thing to sell, gives you the biggest inflow of income, allows you to get to know your ideal clients, and refine your marketing.
You don’t even need a website to start getting clients and growing your list. All that you really need are:
- Landing page. Also known as an opt in page or squeeze page, this is where you send people to get your free gift in exchange for their email address.
- Thank you page. This is where you send people after they opt in to your list. You can use this page to allow them to download your gift and/or invite them to take some other action, e.g. join your Facebook group, apply for a discovery session, answer a question, invite to a webinar, etc.
- Email management system. You’ll create a series of emails they automatically get after they opt in, as well as broadcasts you send out in real time.
- Giveaway. You need a hot giveaway to inspire people to get on your email list. It should be valuable to your ideal client, easy to consume, and let them know what to do next.
- Discovery session application page. You can include a discovery session application right on your website (here’s mine if you want to check it out).
- You can actually create your landing page, thank you page, discovery session application page and even your email management system all with one very cool tool. It’s the one I use and love. Check out Leadpages here.
Now that you have your list building infrastructure in place, you want to choose list building strategies that make sense for you. A word of caution here. Don’t do them all at once.
Choose 2 list building strategies and get really good at them. If you try to do too many things at once, you’ll dilute your efforts and get into major overwhelm.
I recommend you choose one strategy that is a “slow and steady” technique, and one that is a “fast and furious” technique. Slow and steady means you’ll add people to your email list slowly and steadily. Fast and furious techniques can give you a big growth spike fast.
Here are some examples of each:
- Slow and steady: social media, video marketing, seo, blogging, etc.
- Fast and furious: speaking, webinars, joint ventures, telesummit, giveaway event, Facebook ad, etc
3. Leverage
At this point, you’ve worked with clients, you’ve refined your Client Journey and your marketing. You’re working hard but you’re starting to realize that there isn’t enough time in the day to help everyone and still enjoy your life.
You are now ready to earn more leveraged income and help more people. You’re ready to create your first online program. Yeah!
If you’re like many people, while you’re excited about creating your online program, you’re intimidated by the idea of not only creating it but launching it. I urge you to keep it simple. You don’t have to do a big fancy launch to have great success.
You can fill your first program with ease when you’re clear on your messaging and you build on your success.
How? Start with a pilot program and do a very simple launch. I’ve helped many clients do this and it’s a fantastic way to get paid to create your program. You’ll get valuable feedback and testimonials, and have an asset you can grow for many years to come.
- Run a pilot and get paid to create your program.
- Get feedback and testimonials and refine your program
- Do a very simple launch as you build on the success you created with the pilot
- Keep growing your list and joint venture relationships so you have a bigger audience to launch your program to next time
- Relaunch your program adding another marketing element to further expand your reach
That’s it! A 3 phase roadmap that will allow you to attract your dream clients and earn leveraged income. Do you have to follow these exact steps in this particular sequence to create a successful business? Of course not. We each have our own style, preferences and goals.
No matter what phase you’re at, your business is a living, breathing thing that you have to nurture. Just like raising a child you have to be consistent, love it, and be patient with it. It will surprise you, frustrate you and delight you. Be prepared to continually grow and learn, to adapt as you 
go along.
Get the help you need when you need it, and never stop growing yourself as you grow your business. And above all, enjoy the journey. After all, if it’s not fun, then there’s no point in doing it.
Which phase are you at? Foundation, Growth or Leverage?
Where are you stuck? How can I help you move forward? Click here to talk with me privately so I can learn more about you and we can explore how I can best support you.
Leave a Reply