Growing an online business beyond 6-figures of yearly revenue is what a lot of entrepreneurs are aiming for. In this digital era, with the help of the internet, it is totally possible to scale your business beyond 6, 7 or even 8 figures!

Most entrepreneurs start with 1:1 work and move on to online courses and programs in order to scale, but then they reach a ceiling they can’t seem to break through. Depending on your prices that is below or above 6-figures and to be clear, the revenue isn’t an indicator of growth or success. It is what you have in place that defines your success and further growth options.

If you want to go from start-up to scale-up to established, there are a couple of essential things you need to have in your business

5 things you need to grow your online business

1)    Strategy

Without a clear strategy, all initiatives are doomed to fail. You need a clear mission and vision to relate your goals to. Having a clear strategy enables you to evaluate whether new ideas are in alignment with the mission and contributing to the goals you are setting for your business.  

For visionary entrepreneurs this can be challenging, because their creative genius comes up with so many great ideas. But before you start creating and implementing, ask yourself the following questions:

-       What is our mission? Does this idea contribute to our mission?

-       What is our goal this year? Does this idea contribute to that goal?

-       Is this something our clients want & need? How does it help their journey/transformation and is it a logical step for them right now?

When you have asked yourself these questions and you feel it’s a good idea, go ahead and rock it! 

2)    Proven and scalable products and services

Six-figure businesses have one thing in common: a scalable model. Although working 1:1 or offering customized services may bring you to 100k a year, there will be a limit to the amount of hours you can put it. Either you would have to raise your prices a lot and only offer VIP products and services, or you would have to create something that is scalable.  

Online courses, programs and masterminds are all scalable offers and most 6 & 7 businesses have these in place. Think about your process or method and create a signature course out of it that you can launch and sell to larger groups.  

When you offer group programs with a live component, you have to think about what you will do when your groups are filled up with more participants than you can handle. How are you going to grow your team to support you?

3)    Systems 

Every business needs systems. But the reality is that most business owners don’t have them in place and don’t want to spend time on system creation. While it may seem unnecessary admin tasks in the beginning, a lack of systems will become the bottleneck in your business when you are growing. When you want to grow beyond 6-figures, it is absolutely necessary to have systems in place. 

So what are they? Systems are documented processes that happen in your business. Think about repetitive tasks like sending newsletters, scheduling social media posts, onboarding clients, scheduling appointments, sending invoices, etc. If you are doing everything on the fly or reinvent the wheel every time a tasks needs to be done, you are wasting valuable time. It is impossible to outsource and train team members without systems, and you will always become the liability within your business when the how-to is in your head and nowhere else. Plus, taking a vacation is out of the question. Do you want space and time to create? Build your systems.

4)    Project Management Software

Another important but often lacking piece within growing businesses is project management software. A lot of entrepreneurs work with to do lists, either in their head or on paper, and when they hire team members, they tend to communicate through email, Slack, or even worse, voice messaging… This is a recipe for mistakes and missed deadlines. 

A 6-figure business needs project management software in place to be able to document ALL tasks that need to be done to complete projects and ideas, with a deadline (and email notifications) and a responsible team member. When you are a solopreneur, that might be only you, but at least you have everything in one place and are not relying on notepads, lists, planner pages and more where things get lost. When you are working with a team, project management software is an absolute necessity.

There are many good tools on the market, I recommend ClickUp to my clients, Teamwork and Asana are also good.

5)    A (virtual) team

I still have to meet a 6-figure business owner who can do everything themselves without going crazy. 

With a growing business, you absolutely need support. Not only is it impossible to stay on top of everything yourself, you are sacrificing your time and energy by doing tasks that are not in your zone of genius. Think about what you could create when you would delegate admin tasks, invoicing, customer services, and more. 

To build a team, you need to think about what you are going to outsource exactly, and for this, it is extremely important to have documented processes in your business. That way you can create a clear job description and hire and train successfully. Start with a general VA to find out what is working and what is not working. Always provide a specific task description.  

When you need more specialist support, you can start working with contractors, like website designers, video editors, or copywriters, or hire experts to build something for you or help you with paid advertising for example. The more your business grows, the more you are likely to delegate and hire support for. 

When you come to a point that you are spending your days managing your team, constantly checking in on their work and you are overwhelmed by all the things happening in your business, it is time to hire an Online Business Manager (also known as Integrator) who can help you manage your team, projects like launches, and who is your strategic right hand who makes sure things are getting done and goals are achieved.

 

If you would like to dive into one of these 5 essentials with me to see where you can grow, I’m here to help! Apart for being an OBM for 6 & 7 figure businesses, I offer Strategy Calls to entrepreneurs who want to grow beyond 6-figures. On a Strategy Call we will create a 90-day action plan so that you know exactly what to do to go to the next level. 

Connect with me here.

I’m looking forward to our conversation!

Willemijn

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