Second Year in Business Review

It's time to do my Second Year In Business Review! Technically I've been a coach for 2.5 years, but I went ALL IN on my business 2 years ago, so I’m excited to share what I’ve learned along the way.

This year has been huge. I finally had the breakthrough I’ve been waiting for (and it feels surreal to say that!). It finally all clicked.

2 years ago (when I started), here is where I was at:

1. I started my business right after travelling Europe for 5 months and draining most of my savings. 

2. I paid for an expensive certification program with all the money I had, and then missed my flight from London to Arizona (where the training was)– I had to buy a new one on my boyfriend's credit card for $2000 on the spot. All he had $15 left over to get the bus home (I don't know what I would do without him. Surround yourself by people who believe in you!).

3. I wore prescription sunglasses inside for an entire month because I had broken my regular glasses and couldn't afford new ones. The world seemed both metaphorically and literally dark. I ended up getting a freelancing job so I could afford food (and glasses).

4. He was also paying my rent and food for about 4 months. I racked up $5000 in debt to him in a couple of months.

5. I created the occasional client, but I had no idea how to do it again. I thought it was just luck. I believed the marketing gurus who told me I needed some kind of crazy funnel strategy. I would re-strategize my (non-existent) funnel every single day. Seriously. Instead of working IN my business (creating, serving, coaching), I was always working ON my business (funnels, websites, logos, etc).

6. I made about $6000 in my first year in my business. And I was working on it 16 hours a day.

7. In conclusion, in my first year in business, I was broke and confused.

1 year ago, here is where I was at:

1. August: I had 3 private 1:1 clients.

2. I created a membership site and pitched it for a week to my 17k followers on Instagram. 3 people signed up for $27 per month each.

3. I was desperate to get out of debt, so I got a dreaded j-o-b. I walked to work over an hour each day in the freezing British winter, making £7 an hour. I got out of debt, built up a little savings, and then ran away.

4. Then with determination and discipline, my Facebook Group exploded and my business started to grow rapidly.

5. I moved back home to New Zealand.

6. I started getting requests to work with me coming from Facebook, Instagram, YouTube, and even offline.

7. I started signing clients rapidly. 5 new clients per month.

8. I created a viral post with 31k likes.

9. I added 900 new group members in a single day.

10. I asked strangers at the mall to subscribe to my YouTube channel so I would hit my goal of 600 subscribers in July.

Where I am today:

1. 16 private 1:1 clients (almost full capacity)

2. 5 figure months (whaaat?! I've dreamed of saying that).

3. A Facebook group of 2300 girls crushing their goals and supporting each other.

4. 700 subscribers on YouTube (that might not seem like many, but clients come from there and it's growing!)

So what changed?!

• I joined a brilliant business program and figured out what ACTUALLY mattered for creating clients: Growing an audience, showing up as a role model, and reminding people daily that I can help them.

• I got hella disciplined. I understood the power of doing things DAILY. I started blogging daily, and growing my audience daily, and making offers to my audience daily.

• I decided I was Michael Jordan. I asked myself every day in the shower "Now that I am MJ, what do I do? How do I solve this issue I'm facing?"

• I learned to show up no matter what. I committed to the outcome, and made hitting it non-negotiable, like the way you'd commit to picking your kid up from school.

Mistakes I made:

• I fell into the trap of thinking I needed to have 20 different offers and be “launching” all the time. I thought that if something was inexpensive, people would be more likely to buy it. I was totally wrong. People don’t necessarily just want inexpensive things. They want their problem solved. You can sell the cheapest thing ever but it doesn’t solve a problem, no one will buy it. Lesson learned.

• Selling a membership site in the beginning when my audience wasn’t big enough. Do you know how many $27 memberships I would need to sell just to pay for my groceries every month? 15. Yikes. That’s just of the things I need. Don’t create a course or a membership until you’ve got a massive demand and your private offer is sold out.

• Thinking that audience size equals demand rate. I thought that because I had lots of Instagram followers, selling would be automatic and easy. Wrong. Your audience has to be the right people, who actually want what you’ve got to offer.

If I could go back to my self when I started my business, this is what I would say:

1. Find out the ONE thing that will DIRECTLY get you the result you want.

2. Do it every day, no matter what, no exceptions. Make it non-negotiable.

3. Remove everything else, even if it's fun or you want to do it. If it's not essential, it's holding you back.

P.S. If you’re ready to make money doing what you love, I can help you. I spent two years figuring it out so that you don’t have to. We’ll go right for the results. We don’t mess around. We create results FAST. Book a free consultation with me here.