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“Give me a lever long enough and a fulcrum on which to place it, and I shall move the world.” ~Archimedes
CONGRATULATIONS!! You did something very few people will ever do. You started a business! You came up with a business idea, you took action on your idea, and you persisted until your dream became a reality.
Do you realize just how insanely awesome you are..?
Seriously, though… This puts you in the top 2% of cool human beings…
You ROCK!! Let's GOOOOOOOOOO!!!!
BUT as great as it feels to "live life on your terms," if you're being totally honest, something still feels off.
Starting a business was supposed to be about FREEDOM!
But, you're working more than ever and not making as much money as you'd like.
You feel stuck and you're not sure where you went wrong or what to do next.
Your "dream" is starting to feel more like a self-inflicted daily torture sentence, and you're just not feeling as excited as you were in the beginning.
In fact, it kinda (ok, REALLY) sucks!
But the worst part is you can't tell anyone because then you'll really feel like a loser, and they'll think you're a fraud, and you can't hang, and they'll know how you much you actually do suck, and…
Whoaaa there Nelly! Hold your hoogly boppers for just one cotton pickin’ second!
Take a deep breath… we gotchu!
The good news is we've been in your shoes and are here to tell you, that YOU my friend, are RIGHT on track.
In fact, you've made it through 6 of the 7 steps of growing your business and it's time for the final step! It's time to automate and scale your business.
And the only way to do that is by using leverage. Taking this next step won't be easy.
Just like each step before, you'll have to dig deep. You'll have to overcome different obstacles and challenges. The BIGGEST one is your mind!
BUT, you've gotten this far, haven't you..?
It's time to implement leverage into your business.
In this post, we'll cover 5 points of leverage that will help you break through that elusive glass ceiling and take your business (and your bank account) to the next level.
One of the hardest things about this level is that very few people get here. It doesn't make it any harder than the other levels. It's just different. But it's also the most exciting!
You will have bigger challenges… but the rewards, if you're willing and able to stick with it and work through those challenges, will yield exponential (we're talking GENERATIONAL LIFE-CHANGING) results.
You in..?!?!
Ok, let's do this!
If you feel like you’ve hit a “plateau” in your business, or like there’s an invisible “revenue ceiling” you just can’t break through, then this post is for you!
Point of Leverage #1:
Other People
Leveraging the time, knowledge, and resources of other people is – by far – one of the best ways to grow your business.
A perfect example
The other day, I was talking to a guy who works as a mobile mechanic.
I asked him how business was doing, and the guy said, “oh, it’s busy, I’m swamped. I don’t even have time to go to all the people who want me to come to their house and work on their cars.”
I asked him, “Oh, have you ever thought about hiring people?”
The mechanic replied, “Yeah, I’ve thought about it, but…”
Then he brought up all sorts of different excuses and reasons why it wasn’t possible.
And I just shook my head and thought: “Man, this guy… he’s figured out how to make $100 an hour…”
“But because he can’t get over the mindset hurdle of bringing someone else on, and paying them $30 an hour…”
“He's kind of stuck.”
This mechanic has created a decently-paying business… but his income is limited by the amount of hours he can physically work.
He’s trapped himself in a job.
The only way to scale his business and his revenue from the limits of a one-person operation is to bring on new people.
But – that process isn’t simple or painless.
Growing Pains
If you can scale your business the right way, you can make more money than you ever need to live.
To clear this hurdle, you’ll have to take massive action.
You’ll have to learn to outsource, partner with, hire, and train the right people.
People are incredible resources.
Once you put the right people in the right places, and get them doing the right things, you’ll wake up one day…
And (speaking from experience) you’ll think, “...what am I supposed to do today?”
Because the people you’ve put into place will be running the day-to-day of your business for you, while the money rolls in.
It’s an amazing feeling.
That said, learning to manage people can be challenging, especially for newer entrepreneurs.
So if it doesn't work out the first time…
…that's totally fine.
Learn from it and keep growing, because clearing the “people hurdle” will change your life.
Figuring this out might take a few years at most.
But all you have to do is figure it out once, and it will change your entire life forever.
If you can learn to manage people effectively, you’ll be a better boss, employer, and partner – and you’ll run a better company.
If you’re struggling with any of these points, check out episode 40, where we talk about all of the above in-depth.
Point of Leverage #2:
Systems and Processes
If you see any problem consistently coming through your business, you can simplify and automate it.
Then, you can train your employees to follow this system, and repeat as needed.
You want to minimize the time and energy spent solving everyday problems.
Fast food chains are built on this principle.
Their processes and systems are so simple… the entire restaurant can be run by teenagers!
Let’s use Chick-fil-A as an example...
When you go to Chick-fil-A, they’ve got a system for everything.
You come in, each order is made the same way, every single time
The employees all have scripts for what to say, the menus stay the same, and the processes for cooking the food stay the same.
They know who’s cooking what and how to package the food and hand it off.
It’s simple, seamless, and scalable…
It’s a well-oiled machine!
As a franchise, Chick-fil-A then applies these systems across thousands of restaurants, scales up, and repeats.
Simply put: they don’t reinvent the wheel every day!
How to apply this to your own business
Take a look at your day and ask yourself:
“What are the things I’m doing every single day that I have to re-iterate, re-explain, or re-train?”
Then note these things, break each down step-by-step, and turn them into systems.
You can use any method you like to do this – videos, Google Sheets, calendars… as long as the system is saved somewhere, and easily followed.
After some trial-and-error, tweaks, and adjustments, you can use that system to train others.
Our example: flipping houses
This is the same method we used to flip a hundred houses a year – without ever seeing them!
We took everything repetitive in the business, automated it, and focused on specific areas.
We always tried to flip one certain type of house. We knew what kind of paint we wanted to use on each house, the flooring, how much we were willing to pay contractors ahead of time…
We even found ways to minimize interaction with technicians and repairmen as much as possible.
Everything got turned into a system!
We got it to the point where we didn’t even have to know anything about the house until we had it under contract – which is crazy to think about.
With systems in place, you’ll be able to reach more people and get more done in a shorter period.
Preventing Overwhelm
A word of advice:
Don’t spread yourself thin by creating systems for theoretical problems that don’t exist yet!
The point of creating systems is to solve problems that are overwhelming you right now, today.
So start small by taking those basic actions we mentioned:
Note your current problems, identify their parts, and start with small systems.
Then build them up and evolve them over time. After that, you can delegate to the right people.
Point of Leverage #3:
Tools and Software
Think about a business that relies on physical tools.
With the right machinery, they can produce a ton of leverage.
Trucks, bulldozers, and other vehicles can crank out way more productivity than if the workers did everything by hand.
The same idea applies when it comes to software and online businesses.
But instead of physical machines, you’ve got tools like CRM's, email autoresponders, AI-automated review systems, and much more.
(Just think of how long it would take to email thousands of people separately!)
Take the Millionaire University Podcast, for example:
Our microphones are attached to a mixer hooked up to the computer, and we use Adobe Audition to record and edit each episode.
Once the episode is ready to publish, we upload it to our website and to other platforms such as Apple Podcasts and YouTube.
We leverage all of these pieces of software (and hardware) together to create and distribute each episode.
Platforms
Media platforms let you leverage communication from one person to many people at once.
Social media software is an example of this – YouTube, Instagram, and so on.
You can use software to record videos and put them on a platform like YouTube where thousands of people can see them.
Then you can drive traffic to your content, sell courses with follow-up emails – and then automate those emails!
Using media platforms in your business is not always simple, but anyone can learn to do it.
And if done right, you can leverage these platforms to grow your audience in ways that would otherwise be impossible on your own.
Point of Leverage #4:
Media
More on the concept of “one-to-many”:
In the pre-media age, we were stuck communicating one-to-one.
Now, with the ability to leverage media tools, we can communicate with an almost unlimited amount of people at once.
Let’s use the Millionaire University Podcast as an example again:
Just like a TV station, thousands of people will hear our episodes. That’s leverage.
The same goes for interviews.
We were interviewed by Erik Fisher (Beyond the To-Do List) recently. This means we used our media to get in front of tens of thousands of people – who are not our audience – to share our message.
The power of media tools is what makes all this possible.
The Information Age
If you've got access to the internet (and I assume you do, if you're reading this post!), then you have very few limitations when it comes to communication.
The sky's the limit.
If you're willing to work hard and put time and energy into making media work in your favor, then you can accomplish anything.
You don’t need to utilize media off the bat in your business…
But know that you’ve got an essential point of leverage at your fingertips and that it will be there when you’re ready to scale up.
Oh, and let’s not forget:
Building a Following
This is one of the biggest advantages of leveraging media and platforms.
As you grow your audience, you’ll get to take advantage of the compound effect:
Your money-making opportunities grow exponentially with the size of your audience.
When you first start out, you’ve got to trust the process…
Because at the beginning, it might feel like you’re getting nowhere – the money and the audience will grow slowly.
But as you take action on your business, and start to implement all these points of leverage, they’ll start to build on each other, and your results will multiply.
It takes a little faith – but you’re not going in blind!
We’re in your corner every step of the way.
Point of Leverage #5:
Money
You don’t need a ton of money to start a business, but it is a huge point of leverage.
Money can help multiply your efforts if used correctly.
And it can speed your efforts up, especially when paired with massive action.
But first, you’ve got to…
Nail It Before You Scale It
Back in episode 36, we talked about ROI (and buying a baby racehorse!)
Let’s dive a little deeper into ROI with a hypothetical example:
Let’s say you sell kitchen pans through e-commerce.
It costs X amount to advertise a pan, Y amount to make it, Z amount to ship it.
You tally the numbers up and see that for every $1 you spend, you can make $5 back.
But if you don’t have dollars to spend… you’ll miss out on this 5x return!
Partner with someone if you need to
Borrowing money can be a great way to capitalize on opportunities as in the example above.
Let’s say you borrow $10,000 at 10% interest (or for a certain percentage of equity in the company, or for some other incentive they agree to).
You then re-invest it into covering advertising, manufacturing, and shipping costs…
And for every $1 of that borrowed money you spend, you make $5 back.
That means you turned $10,000 into $50,000 -- and only owe $1,000 in interest from your initial investment!
But, you could take it a step further:
You could annualize that $10,000 loan, which means instead of paying that flat $1,000 in interest, you will pay only $83.33 each month for 12 months.
So if you borrow the money for just 3 months, make a profit, and then pay the loan back right away... you will end up owing only $250 ($83.33 x 3).
You can then do anything you want with that leftover $750... like using it to buy and sell more pots and pans!
As you can see, it becomes much more than just a 5x return -- the ROI compounds like crazy!
The Flip Side of Investing
If you have plenty of money already, you can fund other people’s businesses in the same way.
You’re just on the other side of the table now – and you can set it up so the interest on that investment earns you a tidy passive income.
That’s leverage! Everybody wins.
Note: Don’t go out and borrow large amounts of money recklessly! You should have a solid business plan in place first, and consider the risks before borrowing anything.
Taking on large amounts of debt can be stressful and dangerous.
So start small, and prove that the business model works before investing anyone else’s money, or investing yours in other people’s projects.
That’s what we mean by “nail it before you scale it!”
Tying It All Together
If you feel stuck in your business and like you’re not reaching the amount of income that you want…
Then it’s likely because you need to implement at least one (or multiple) points of leverage.
These principles can feel overwhelming, but don’t fret!
You don’t have to put every point of leverage into practice right this second.
Just implement one at a time as it makes sense for you and your business.
It’s fine if you take it slow because once you learn this on a deep level, you’ll get to keep that knowledge with you forever.
Identify each point one at a time, execute correctly, and the results of your hard work will start to compound fast.
Your cash and your business will start to work FOR you, instead of the other way around.
For more knowledge about getting your business off the ground and moving in the right direction (or to learn how to get it started), check out our FREE BUSINESS COURSE, where we’ll give you all the tools you’ll need to turn your business idea into a reality!
Want to keep the learning going? Be sure to check out Episode 54: Fail Forward Fast where we talk about the most powerful ways to take fast, effective action in your business!