As someone who interviews successful entrepreneurs on my podcast Success Hackers; as well as coaching business owners around how to achieve ultimate success in my coaching practice, I’m around high achievers all day long.

High achievers possess a blueprint they’re constantly using when evaluating their progress.
We all want to achieve incredible things in 2017. We want to have a bigger impact, create more growth and reach new business heights.

Creating this isn’t going to happen by accident, it’s going to happen because you make it happen.

In order to do that, you have to show up like never before for your goals and dreams. So how are you going to do that throughout the year? Below is the 6 step blueprint to creating a breakthrough in your business.

1) Get clarity: What does success look like for you?

Believe it or not, if you ask most business owners what success looks like for them, most of the time they won’t know. They’ve been working for such a long time in their business, they’ve forgotten to start working ON their business. Is your success based on a revenue number, or is it based on the type of lifestyle that you want to create?   If it’s a revenue number, be specific about the number. If it’s a certain lifestyle you’d like, what does that lifestyle look like.   Clarity is power. My advice is always the same: you should be able to explain your goals to a 10 year old. If your goals are too jumbled, then you’re not clear enough.   You need to be clear on what it is that you want to achieve. Close your eyes and imagine it’s the end of the year. You’re thinking about the year that’s just passed and you feel amazing, because you accomplished some wonderful things.

2) Get your marketing right

Marketing is the lifeblood of your business. Without knowing how to market effectively, you’re leaving a boat load of money on the table. When it comes to marketing, most business owners do the wrong things. They try a bunch of different “stuff” and see what sticks. When thinking about how to market your business, simply choose (3) different ways to market. For ex: you might choose LinkedIn, networking, and speaking as your core three. Or, you might choose: loyalty programs, FB advertising, and direct response. Your goal should only choose three, and then, master those three. I see too many business owners spend a ton of money on radio/tv/google, and they get nothing in return. Once you know which mediums you’re going to use, your next goal is get “strategic with your messaging”. One of the areas I coach on is how to say the right things, to the right audience. Start thinking about who your audience is, and what their hot buttons are.
Too many business owners are using “jargon” and “platitudes” in their messaging; sounding like everyone else in their industry. It’s never about how great your product/service is; it’s always about how you can help/serve your target market with those products/services. Learn how to get inside the minds of your prospects with the proper messaging ,and you will never again have to worry about whether or not you’ll have enough leads coming into your business.

3) Understand your blind spots

You’re not going to be great at everything; nobody is! Let’s say that you’re a plastic surgeon. You need to focus on being the best plastic surgeon you can possibly be. You might never be amazing at marketing, lead gen, or even answering the phones; and that’s OK. As the business owner/plastic surgeon, your focus is to surround yourself with other people who are better than you at those other areas of the business. When I work with my business owner clients, they don’t realize that they are the “bottle neck” when it comes to growth. Here’s an exercise: look at yourself in the mirror and ask, if I were to relinquish some authority in my business to others on my team, would my business grow?” The answer is always YES.

4) Start saying NO

Building a business is not for the faint of heart. It takes time, dedication, an un-wavering commitment, and focus. When you first start out, you’re saying yes to everything: coffee meetings, lunches, drinks, giving talks, networking opportunities, chamber events, BNI’s, rotary meetings, etc, etc. In the beginning, your sole goal is to make sure you’re meeting potential customers and JV partners. However, once you have built up some good momentum, you’re goal is to start saying NO to things. As business owners, you realize that time is money. The more time your spending saying YES to everyone and everything, the less time you have on focusing on your “income producing activities”. One of the areas I work with my clients on, is getting crystal clear on what those (3) income producing activities are. When you have those figured out, you’re goal is to spend 75% of your time focusing on these activities.   It won’t be easy at first to say NO more often; but over time, you will realize its one of the best decisions you could have made for your business.

5) Hiring Sooner

I just recently interviewed John on my podcast. I asked him what he wishes he would have done sooner in his business. Without even hesitating, he said: “I wish I would have hired sooner.” He mentioned that 6 months after hiring his first employee, the revenue grew 35%. I asked him why he thought that happened. “I had more free time to focus on what really matters”, he said.   Thinking about your first hire, whether part time or full time, can be a bit unsettling. You’re constantly asking yourself, “do I have enough cash flow. Will this person work out? What if I make a mistake? Is my business ready?”
All of these emotions and questions are normal; it’s the embarking on the unknown that scares most business owners. Rather than focusing on what could go wrong, start focusing on the positive. Think about how much time this will free you up to pursue new business.   Once you find the right person, with the proper qualifications, go ahead and pull the trigger. It will be one of the best decisions you’ve ever made.

6) Thinking Big

What holds most people back, whether in business or life, are the beliefs we have about ourselves. All of us have a story. We can either use our story to propel us forward, or hold us back. Think about it like this, why is it some people who grew up in privilege and abundance can’t seem to get out of their own way; versus, those who grew up in complete poverty are now multi-millionaires. The story you continue to tell yourself is the same story that will either hold you back and having you blame everyone; or, it will be the same story that you use to take you to the next level of financial success. Let’s say you’re worth $100,000. You have a friend who’s worth $10million dollars. That person is not 100x more skilled in marketing than you. That person is not 100x more skilled in sales than you. The difference is, your friend started making decisions around his/her business that generated that type of revenue. Most of us hold back. We limit ourselves based on our current net worth. We make decisions based on what’s currently in the bank. To grow exponentially and scale a business, you must think and act in a wildly different way than you are currently operating. 10X thinking is the mindset you must have. Use this approach to operate at new and higher levels than you ever imagined were possible. The right acts, followed through at the correct levels, persisted over time will guarantee your success..

Your breakthrough is right around the corner.
The only way this doesn’t happen for you, is if you quit.

Scott Hansen
Grab a FREE spot for the new class:  “How to grow a multiple 7 figure business”

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