My Business Growth & What I Did Right

There are certain things that are going well in my business and that I think I’ve done right, and that’s because of my work on myself. I focus more often on celebrating my wins and looking back at what I’ve accomplished. Because, so often, I tend to be that person who is always fixated on what’s next. And what’s next. And then, what’s after that. 

I’m sure there’s plenty of you that can relate. Hopefully, what I share here can inspire you too. I’m sure, like me, you get so inspired by updates from your clients. Both current and past, I get the most amazing feedback. I even put a story on my Instagram recently! This client left corporate to start her own business. She didn’t expect to grow this exponentially, but she did so in 3 months over an accelerated coaching journey. She doesn’t have special certifications or courses under her belt; she just had the drive. We worked, one on one, and we framed out what was possible for her. 

Admittedly, I keep pushing her to the next level. She’s going to blow her first-year revenue goal out of the water within a couple of months. That makes me so excited. She’s actually in my UpLevel Lounge Facebook group. 

These kinds of updates make me so excited. It’s important to celebrate the wins, to look back and say, Oh my gosh, look what I did. That’s what I wanted to share today. This isn’t about bragging on oneself. This is about being proud. Looking back allows you to know what’s possible in terms of your business and what you can focus on right now. It’s made a big impact on me, to say the least. 

Celebrating my Wins & What Worked for Me

The top things I see when I look back – that contributed to my growth – were:

I invested in myself after the OBM certification – I got a coach. In hindsight, I wish I had gotten a coach first. Coaching was so transformational for me and it was exactly what I needed. I needed someone to tell me what was possible. 

I needed that accountability. I needed it because I was overwhelmed by all of the possibilities. So, having somebody who could see what was possible for me, and say, This is what you do next, was incredible. And in full disclosure, there’s a lot of mentoring. That’s a lot of what I do in my own coaching. 

Coaching tends to be such a buzzword, but in reality, mentorship is the additional component. The mentor in your life goes, here’s how I did it. Here’s the process that I followed. This is what you need to go focus on right now. If this is what your goals are, this is how you approach your next steps. 

Building a Team

Speaking of next steps, my next step was my team. I started building a team before I was ready. That jet-fueled my growth. I remember thinking, I’m barely making $3,000 a month right now. But when I hired a VA, that was incredible. It forced me into the CEO role of my business. It made me think of my business as a real business. It made me think about like, oh, what are the systems and processes that I need to be documenting. So often, I always worried about making sure everyone else’s business was taken care of. So, hiring a team member was the first real step in terms of biz ops that made me think like a CEO.

When I say I hired a team member, it was very much part-time. I think my budget was about $200. It was someone who was also just starting out, and we worked together to achieve a lot of great things. Was it perfect? No. In terms of the actions we took, did I go back and redo things later? Yes. I didn’t redo the foundational pieces, but a lot of stuff just needed tweaking as I grew. 

I got a team member before I was ready. But, that propelled me forward – it allowed me to start thinking about what was possible. And this next part is really important: because I got a team member, I now don’t put pressure on myself to be good at anything outside of my zone of genius. I started realizing that I could do ALL THE THINGS in my business, but what was the point of that mode of operating? That was diluting the energy that I could give to being really good at what I do, which is showing up to coaching clients in their businesses. 

This growth didn’t happen overnight. This was an evolution. You see, we are all taught – growing up – the opposite of what we SHOULD be thinking about in terms of an entrepreneur mindset.  We’re taught to be great at everything. How is that possible?! It’s not POSSIBLE to be great at all the things. Instead, we’re only marginally good at all the things versus great at a few things. 

Being Great at My Niche vs. Good at ALL The Things

We shouldn’t be looking, as entrepreneurs, to get all straight A’s across the board. Instead, we’re looking to get an A in the area we really excel at. That’s a big part of niching down – we bring our unique value to the table, making sure we serve our clients like nobody else. We’ve got to find that zone of genius for ourselves. A team is important to meet that goal. 

AND! When I started realizing what I’m really good at, and what I could do more of, it got really exciting. That allowed me the third thing I’ve been able to do really well in my biz: give myself permission to pivot. And hey, I’ve pivoted more than once. That’s what’s been happening with my coaching clients lately: around month 3 or 4, they pivot…and they do so successfully. 

So many clients come to me and say, I want to do it. I want to build this booming business; I want to only serve clients in this capacity. And so, in coaching, we start out exploring. We focus on your business first, but that also turns into the potential to pivot, which happens time and again. You know what? That’s a great thing! Pivoting means you’re getting back into your zone of genius where you should be and you’re showing up in a place that’s going to be sustainable for you. It’s going to bring you joy when you get out of bed in the morning. 

So, to recap, first I built a team before I was ready. That pushed me further than anything into my CEO role. For you, that may mean you need help setting up your Dubsado. You may need website help. You might need a VA. Be sure to offload whatever it is that is outside your zone of genius. Where could you get help and really feel that ROI for your investment? 

Because remember, ROI isn’t just about money. It’s about time and energy. You ask yourself, how can you get more of your time back? How can you get more of your energy back?

When it comes to the team, I’ve started worrying about the little things. Don’t think I had this all figured out right out of the gate. I worried at one point, is my team getting too big? But in reality, I myself have been the person who had to do it all for a client and I hated 90% of it. I don’t want a team member in that same spot. I don’t want to push anyone into that space. 

But back to the recap, I gave myself permission to not be good at everything. I didn’t need straight A’s in all things entrepreneurship – I needed to get A’s in my zone of genius. And the way I can do that is to continue to perfect my skills to stay in that space, and I can’t stay in that space if I’m doing all-the-things in my business. I can’t stress this enough: no matter where you’re at in your business growth journey, it’s time to start thinking about building a team.

Is it scary? Is it uncomfortable? Yes. And sometimes people outgrew me or I outgrew them. That’s okay. The person that you choose to work with today, where your business is, that does not mean it has to be the person you’re always going to work with. 

Make sure you’re having open and honest conversations with the people you’re bringing onto your team. They also should stay within their zone of genius. You want people who will grow with you, but also you want people to be happy and develop their skills. Ideally, you’d have them find out what they want to do more of in your business. That keeps them happy, fulfilled, and ready to grow with you as you pivot.

Pivoting Isn’t Failure 

Pivoting doesn’t mean you’re failing. It also doesn’t mean you have to blow everything up. It means you’re getting closer to your ideal place (interacting with clients you want to serve or producing the products you want to produce). Pivoting is all about getting to a place of enjoying what you do every single day. I, admittedly, didn’t always have that with every OBM or VA client I worked with.  I had to do a lot of pivots to get to this path. And during those pivots, I had to ask myself questions. 

I’m not going to say this was an easy process; it’s hard to self-reflect. But, it was worth it. It’s an exciting space to be in right now. And I did some fundamental things that helped me get things right. Admittedly,  I also simultaneously saw the things my clients didn’t do correctly. And I often thought, how am I going to get that right? How can I bet better? You can learn this stuff even from your worst clients. 

Become the CEO of Your Business 

When you harness the CEO mindset early on, you’ll soon find that you want someone who can do the task better and faster than you, as well as someone who enjoys it more. It can be such a relief to delegate (your social media is a perfect example). Doing that handoff can confirm you’ve made the right choice so you can continue to grow and serve your clients as the best version of yourself. 

I tend to be an overachiever – I want to do ALL the things. But I don’t need to do that. That limits my power. I tell this to my coaching clients all the time: stand within your zone of genius. Offload to your team, and fulfill the CEO role in your business. I promise it’s worth it. Just sharing my business journey with you, and sharing those wins, feels really rewarding and affirms my mindset.