From $0 to $1Million Run Rate in 12 Months Despite a Worldwide Pandemic!
By: The Kristen David
Tags: Success, Growth Mindset, Business Strategy, Business Growth, Business Development

As I close out the last week of my first year in business, I am both in awe and feel so very blessed at the same time. From $0 to over $1M annual run rate in 12 months, in spite of a worldwide pandemic that has disrupted the US economy.

So how did I do it?

Like Napoleon Hill says, “Create a definite plan for carrying out one’s desire and begin at once, whether you are ready or not, to put this plan into action.”

A GOOD BUSINESS PLAN

Before I opened my virtual doors for business, I took some time and sat down and mapped out my plan. I started with where I wanted to be, both in terms of my new business and my life, at 12 months and 24 months, and started working on what I would need to do quarter-by-quarter to get there. Then came the strategic plans and their tactical implementation for products and services, plus the necessary staffing, that would support the target month-by-month and quarter-by-quarter revenue growth that I had set as my goals. My plan was to be a mixture of coaching services, online programs, and a membership site that delivered even more value for the members. Spoiler alert: it didn’t always go as I had planned!

Key was the staffing: I mapped out where I expected to hire based on the numbers, as well as based on knowing I would need certain people to grow.

Armed with my plan, I moved on to map out the marketing that would need to be done to support the business growth.

BUILDING A MARKETING PLAN

I went back to basics and wrote out my personas (categories of people I wanted to work with that need my help) and then built out the avatars — fictitious people that are the exemplars for the categories. Based on my experience and knowledge, I was able to put a great deal of detail into the avatars. I projected exactly what they did hour-by-hour throughout their typical day and throughout various phases of their lives. For example, ultimately, Paula the Professional with her wife and two children, became almost real as I fleshed out their pain points, challenges and goals. All of these tools helped me to craft a marketing message that I thought would resonate. Spoiler alert: your first try isn’t always the best version!

I then decided which marketing vehicles I would use to get my message out to all those ideal clients. For example, I knew social media and video were big areas of opportunity. I also knew that busy business owners need bite-sized nuggets to learn what they need to know and then start executing. Thus, I planned my content to be in the same vein, short and sweet!

TAKE ACTION

On Launch Day, I went big with a Facebook Live and lots of supporting social media and emails to everyone I knew — after all, the best core group any entrepreneur has are those in the industry who know you well and know your value to them. I didn’t have a lot of money to put into the launch, so it was imperative to close clients quickly. Thankfully, within the first few days, I was able to sign up several initial clients, and soon I hit my goal to make $10,000 in month one. Those initial clients have stayed with me on this journey as I’ve rolled out additional product and content, in part based on asking them for feedback and always taking their earnest feedback into account.

PIVOT AND IMPROVISE

Some of the packages that I originally thought would do well didn’t do as well as I thought, while other things, like selling Virtual VIP Days, went way better than expected. People knew they needed help building their business systems and marketing plans. Thus, I pivoted to what worked and away from what didn’t work for my customers, and soon capitalized on that market feedback.

I was able to build the coaching program while building out various systems manuals and standalone systems packages in a very synergist approach, that obviously my clients and customers valued.

I knew a goal was to make sure I was up over the $1 Million Run Rate by the end of year one. I overachieved and am extremely delighted that in Month 12 I collected over $100,000 in revenue for that month alone, which is a run rate of $1.2M of revenue per year.

GROW YOUR TEAM

A key to this success was building an amazing virtual team:

The admin and marketing team came first. They helped me crank the marketing wheel and get the little things off my plate, freeing me up to deliver products and services, plus evolve the business strategy as we tested things in the real-world market. Many of these initial hires were virtual and part-time, in different capacities. For instance, my social media marketing assistant cranks the wheel every single month with just a little input from me.

Next was bringing on other part-time coaches who had specialties to help our clients (Sales coach, Marketing coach, Exit Planning coach).

As we started to thrive on our success, then came the positions I was really excited about and which took more off my plate as the business got busier and busier!! Those were:

Our Client Happiness Coordinator: imagine having someone 10 hours a week doing nothing but reaching out and helping you create raving fans with your clients and customers, plus collect and respond to their all-important feedback. In fact, our Client Happiness Coordinator does such an amazing job we packaged what she does and the whole 50-page policies and procedures manual with all the scripts, email templates, and spreadsheets into a systems package that we now sell. It is awesome to not only build it for us to have a well-working business, but I love that we have been able to use our very own processes, systems, and learnings to help others replicate it and fast-track their business to thrive in the same way without having to re-invent the wheel by themselves.

Client Engagement Specialist: imagine having someone there to help you with all the sales, answer questions, and follow-up with prospective clients when you don’t have time to get to them. J Find someone who resonates with your products and services and who “gets” your customers, and you will be leaps ahead.

GIVE AND THEN YOU GET

A key to success is helping enough other people get what they want, and that will, in turn, help you get what you want. We have helped so many business owners build thriving profitable businesses this year… some of whom have doubled their revenue in 5 to 6 months! As a result of helping so many others, we have grown and hit the goals I set for my company. Of course, this is not without work! There have been many late nights and early mornings, and even some occasions when I had to be RELENTLESS to hit my goals, but in the end, it is so very worth it!

Being an entrepreneur takes a vision and commitment to do what it takes to build out that dream, but it is possible to build that amazing lifestyle and help lots of people in the process.

Kristen David, a former trial lawyer and partner who went from working 85 hours a week and taking home way too little money in her law firm, built it up to a million-dollar-plus business, then sold her shares and pivoted into a business coach guru. She is now an international speaker, bestselling author, and operates a successful new million-dollar-plus business, empowering business owners to build thriving, profitable businesses that are self-managed with systems. She helps busy business owners build those systems by implementing policies and procedures the Fast Track Way. Kristen splits her time between Seattle, Washington, Paris, France and traveling.