Want to take this content with you on the go? Check out The Fighting Entrepreneur podcast episode here, and don’t forget to subscribe!
In my experience (and I have a LOT of experience building businesses), there are 5 keys to generating money…and I’m going to go over them with YOU.
I’m currently running six businesses, and I do around $30 million/year in sales between those businesses. I’ve actually started over 20 businesses in my life, but I don’t talk about most of them because they failed!
While I learned A LOT from those companies that failed, I want to walk you through what has actually worked for me and what has generated money for me over the years.
The thing is, these keys are universal.
All six of my businesses are in different niches and have different target markets, but these five key elements have helped me succeed in all of the ventures. Million-dollar businesses and even billion dollar businesses are using these keys to reach new levels of success, and some of them might even scare you a little bit if you’re just starting out.
And that’s ok.
It's ok because you don’t have to implement all of these at the same time. You just choose one that you want to work on, and you move on to the next once you’ve mastered the first one. However, you’ll eventually need to master all five of them if you want to generate the type of revenue that I generate each year.
And guess what? You don’t need a ton of capital to put these principles into practice!
So, let’s look at the 5 keys to generating $30 million in sales PER YEAR.
1. K.A.P.
Close your eyes here if you don’t like bad words because K.A.P stands for…
KICK ASS PRODUCT.
Listen, you’ve gotta have an awesome product if you want to make real money and set yourself apart from the competition. This is a big reason why I’ve never been huge on the eCom business model, at least the way that it’s taught most often.
I mean, look at dropshipping.
Sure, you can make a lot of money with drop shipping. If you login to #LurnNation, you’ll even see that we have dropshipping courses. One of my best friends kills it in dropshipping and makes a lot of money.
But guess what?
You aren’t going to make $30 million a year or retire early selling the same cell phone cases that everyone else is! That’s why the people who are actually crushing it in eCom are people who are selling truly unique products.
In fact, sometimes just having an incredible product is enough to get people talking about it and buying it. So, you need to have your own unique offer, and you need to produce a unique product that sets you apart. Do you think Apple would’ve become what is today by dropshipping a bunch of cell phone accessories? Heck no. They became what they are today because of unique products like the iPod and iPhone.
I regularly create products that my competitors try to copy, and guess what? That means I'm doing something right.
I sell kick ass products that you’ll only get from me.
Even if you’re in something like coaching and consulting where there isn’t a physical product, are you building offers that are unique that people can’t get anywhere else? If not, how can you create it?
Make sure YOU sell unique products that set you apart.
2. Audience
Here’s the thing—you can have the absolute best product in the world. You could have a product that could literally change lives.
The problem is, no one is going to buy it if they have no idea that you exist!
I mean, take this blog post for example. You’re reading this post because you’re part of my audience. So, when I put something out or release a product, you don’t question it as much because you’ve interacted with my content and you kind of know me.
If you want to build a business, you NEED to build an audience—and you need to keep that audience engaged. When you have an audience, any time you put out a new product or update a product, you’ll have a built-in audience of people ready to buy that product.
There are lots of different ways to build an audience, and you just need to figure out what way is right for you.
The great thing is that it’s so much easier and cheaper to build an audience today than it was 30 years ago. Thirty years ago, you had to spend a ton of money if you wanted to get yourself in front of people to build an audience.
Today, you have…
- Social media
- Podcasts
- Blogs
- Videos
- Education platforms
- User-generated content platforms
There are a million ways that you can build an audience now, so the only reason you could have for not getting it done is that you don’t have the hustle to go out there and do it. So, make sure your audience knows where to find you, and give them a reason to follow you—even if that reason is simply that they know that you sell a KICK ASS product!
3. Depth
Speaking of your audience, what’s the point of having one if you aren’t going to sell your products to them? I’ve heard a lot of people say that they feel awkward or even guilty when it comes to selling to their audience.
This is silly!
While you do need to take care of your audience and treat them well, you’re crazy if you aren’t willing to sell your products to them. If you know you have a kick ass product, why wouldn’t you want to share it with your audience?
If you’re ashamed of your product or don’t think it’ll actually help anyone, then you need to go back to the drawing board because the fact is that people love to buy things.So, sell them what you have to offer, and sell it any way you can.
However, having just one product definitely isn’t enough.I mean, think about all the broke authors in the world. There are tons of them! The reason for that is that most people just aren’t going to sell enough of one book to support themselves. Instead, you need to have a wide range of products that you can sell to people beyond just that one book.
Go buy one of my books and you’ll see exactly what I mean.
I have upsells, downsells, cross-sells—all kinds of different ways to sell to my audience. I have multiple products to sell, and I encourage my audience to buy ALL of them because I know they all have value.
I know my products change people’s lives, so I don’t feel bad at all selling them.
4. Find Your Key
What’s your key?
In other words, what do you have that nobody else in the world has? Everyone has some sort of unfair advantage that sets them apart from the competition.
And yes, I do mean EVERYONE.Here are some advantages that you may have:
- Talking
- Writing
- Running Successful Facebook Ads
- Promotion
- Etc.
For me, I’m great at talking and love to do it. I love to be on video, I love to create podcasts and I love public speaking. You know what I’m not so good at? Making things like Instagram stories and having people follow me around all day for social media.
I know what I'm good at, and I lean into those things to make more money. They are my keys to success. I DON’T waste my time doing things I’m not good at—and you shouldn’t either. If you’re a good writer but are terrible on camera, avoid YouTube. If you love crunching numbers, crunch numbers.
Find what works for you, and work on growing that.
5. Entourage
When it comes down to it, who’s got your back?
If you want to do $30 million dollars in sales, you’re going to need a lot of people to have your back. You need an entourage—which means you need your own team. Now, this doesn’t just have to be employees and business partners.
You can actually build a business this big WITHOUT employees by using contractors.
But you do need people around you that can help you to grow your business and stay on track. You need people to talk to when times get tough, people you can bounce ideas off of and people who will help keep you motivated.
NO entrepreneur can do it alone!
Take Action On These Keys To Scaling A Business Today
Look, these fives keys are really non-negotiable if you want to build a business to the level that I have or any other successful entrepreneur has.
You might already have all five or you might not have any of them.
No matter where you are in your journey, you need to work on building these one at a time until you have all five. You don’t need to focus on all five at once, but you do need to eventually master all of them.
So, choose one and get to work.
To listen to the full podcast on The Fighting Entrepreneur, click here or download on iTunes or Spotify
