If you’ve been feeling stuck because any of these limiting beliefs and thoughts continue to race through your head…
» But I’m Not Ready Yet!
» But It’s Not Perfect Yet!
» But I Need a Magic Formula to Follow!
…then the Unsexy Secrets to Sustainable Success series is here to get you unstuck and out of that Top Secret Entrepreneur Lab so you can finally start seeing consistent clients and cashflow!
Before we dive into how you can escape the spinning INFORMATION OVERLOAD inside the Top Secret Entrepreneur Lab, I want to share a story about one of my amazing clients Xonna Clark.
A few years ago, Xonna decided to launch her second career as a nutritionist and health coach after going through her own personal health journey.
One thing to know about Xonna is that she’s an incredibly smart woman. She went to Harvard and has a law degree from University of Pennsylvania, so when she decided to go into the world of health and nutrition, she took the time to get the education and certifications.
In fact – she is has a master’s degree in health and wellness coaching, therapeutic herbalism, and integrative nutrition, is a certified nutrition specialist and licensed dietitian-nutritionist, has additional training in functional and integrative nutrition, AND is a natural gourmet chef.
With all of this education and training, you would think that she’d be ready to hang her shingle and start her business, right?
Not quite yet. Xonna decided that first, she wanted more practical hands-on experience before she launched her business, so she took a job with another healthcare organization for a few years.
By the time that she was ready to launch her own business, she had the training and experience to really get results for her clients.
She just wasn’t sure how to get those clients!
And there was a TON of confusing and conflicting information about what she should do to get her business up and running quickly while she was still working her full-time job.
» She didn’t have time to do much marketing.
» She didn’t have a massive audience to sell to.
» She didn’t really have an online presence at all!
When she attended the very first CEO Retreat in January of 2018, she told me,
“Racheal, I’m ready. I want to leave my job in six months. I need to be able to bring in about $4,000 a month within a few months to replace my salary. What do I focus on?”
With that clear goal in mind, she built a plan during that CEO Retreat to help her ramp up her business over the next six months, so when she finally left her full-time job, she had a revenue-generating business waiting for her.
The CEO Retreat was when we introduced her to The Business Growth Checklist, which really helped her simplify her strategy and bring in enough clients to generate $4,000 a month within a few months of leaving her job.
At the next CEO Retreat she attended – a month after leaving her job – she shared that she had exceeded her goal.
She brought in $5,000 her first full month in business.
Xonna was crystal clear on exactly what she needed to implement to bring in that first group of clients without an email list, social media following, or really any online presence.
Within 18 months, her business was generating $8,000 to $10,000 per month in revenue.
What I love about Xonna’s business is the SIMPLICITY of it.
She made the commitment to get out of that Top Secret Entrepreneur Lab, stop letting the information overload overwhelm her, and start implementing a strategy that worked.
Once she had that strategy,
it was rinse and repeat.
Xonna didn’t let not having a custom, fancy website slow her down from getting clients.
If you check out XonnaClark.com, it takes you to a very simple page she created using Practice Better, a client management software designed for health and wellness professionals.
Xonna didn’t worry about having a big social media following… she only has a couple hundred people following her on Facebook!
But she is getting great engagement from them because she shows up with valuable content via Facebook Live each and every week.
If she didn’t have a list, social media following, or even a website, how in the world did she get those first clients and grow to $5K in her first month of business?
She started with people she already knew, who already had an existing relationship with her work as a dietician and health coach.
» Several of her first clients followed her from her former job into her own private practice.
» Several more came via referrals from clients and colleagues.
Then, Xonna started building on her existing relationships to host workshops, grocery store tours, and cooking classes in her local community.
Once Xonna had those first paying clients in the door, she was able to not only deliver amazing results for her clients, but those clients had rave reviews, leading to referrals and repeat business.
What has worked incredibly well for Xonna are tactics that are not talked about much in the online business space.
In fact, it was all the advice in the online space that was keeping her stuck in information overload, not sure what the right next step was to get clients and grow her business.
What was working for Xonna was a more high-touch approach::
» Meeting people in person
» Hosting grocery store tours and other collaborations
» Hosting cooking classes
» Asking for referrals
» Having sales conversations with potential clients
With those clients coming in the door and a baseline revenue established for her business, Xonna has been able to layer on more online marketing to steadily grow her business.
The key to her success? Starting with the Business Growth Checklist and focusing on consistently implementing 2-3 tactics to move her business forward, instead of ‘throwing spaghetti at the wall’ and trying to do everything at once.
Are You Ready to Go From Information Overload to Implementation Mode?
Start by downloading The Business Growth Checklist::
The Business Growth Checklist is broken down into three key stages of business growth
1. The Startup Stage
2. The Success Stage
3. The Scale Stage
You’ll find the key to-do’s for each stage of business growth, complete with a description so you can start taking action immediately.
The Business Growth Checklist is a powerful tool to help you get out of the Top Secret Entrepreneur Lab and start working with clients, because it helps you see exactly what the right next step is based on your current stage of business.
When you have that clarity, you can stop seeking more information and start focusing on IMPLEMENTATION.
I know how easy it is to let the feelings of being ‘not ready yet’, perfectionism, or fear of failure keep us stuck, especially when you’re someone who has high standards, integrity, and values mastery.
But here’s the unsexy truth::
You’ve Gotta Embrace Taking Imperfect Action!
It’s time to get out there, start working with real people, and IMPLEMENT consistently.
As you’ll see in The Business Growth Checklist, once you’ve worked with ten paying clients and implemented the basic business foundations in the Start-Up Stage, your business is ready to make the leap to implementing next-level strategies and start building sustainable success.
But… Am I Really Ready to Grow My Business?
There is a lot of messaging out there that ‘you just need to be a couple of steps ahead of your client’ that I believe is not only wrong, but potentially unethical and harmful to potential clients.
Many of my clients are in the life, health, or wellness coaching industry, which is completely unregulated. Anyone can say they are a coach, even if they have no experience beyond their own personal results.
While sharing their journey can be helpful and inspiring, it doesn’t mean that they are equipped to help their clients navigate challenges they’ve never faced themselves.
That’s one reason I love Xonna’s approach.
She saw amazing results in her own personal health journey, but she went back to school to complete a master’s degree and gained hands-on experience working for another health care organization, where she had access to guidance and support from other nutritionists and health care providers if tricky client cases showed up.
So if you’re still feeling like you’re not ready yet because you’re MISSING that experience and expertise in your field, take the time to go get some.
However, chances are, you are expert enough if you’ve worked with (and gotten results for) ten clients and have any of these credibility markers under your belt::
- You have a degree (or multiple degrees) in your area of expertise.
- You have completed in-depth training or certification in your area of expertise.
- You have years of relevant work experience.
- You have been recognized with industry awards or honors.
- You have been featured in industry publications as an expert.
- You have written a book in your area of expertise.
- You have been interviewed about your area of expertise.
- You have been a speaker/presenter about your area of expertise.
- You have created content (blogs, podcasts, etc) on your area of expertise.
- You developed intellectual property (framework or process) on your area of expertise.
When my clients are spinning in the ‘I’m not ready’ or ‘I’m not expert enough’ drama, I challenge them to sit down with this list and check off their own credibility markers. They quickly see that they are truly ready to take the next steps towards growing their business.
It’s Time to Get Into Implementation Mode!
If you’re still hearing excuses in your head that are keeping you stuck in the Top Secret Entrepreneur Lab, hoarding courses, and endlessly tinkering as you spin in information overload…
… write a list of all the reasons you are a credible expert, and see that you are more than ready to start taking steps towards creating that predictably profitable business you’ve been dreaming of.
In the next part of The Unsexy Secrets to Sustainable Success, we’re going to talk about how we prioritize our planning so that like Xonna, you can consistently show up, implement, and see results in your business. This is the practical, profitable strategy that’s helped many of my clients make the jump to $5K, $10K, and $15K months without the hustle and burnout.
TLDR
1: Despite all of the online claims that you need a complex funnel or massive audience – you can build a thriving business by keeping things simple and strategic.
2: Consistently implementing 2-3 tactics will ALWAYS WIN overthrowing spaghetti at the wall trying to be on every platform and do everything.
3: Not sure if you’re ready to go all-in on your business? If you’ve gotten results for at least 10 clients and have real credibility to back you up, it’s time to get into IMPLEMENTATION MODE!