Part 3 - The Most Omitted Element Of The Business That Causes You To Keep Spinning Wheels

No strategy. No results

If you’re reading this, then you must be wondering how to be a Strategically Focused Entrepreneur and not a “squirrel-entrepreneur”, the Tactical Opportunity Seeker.

Before we go there, let me say: congrats! You read through 3 long pages of text because you are hungry! I went into details and examples and ranting on purpose. I wanted to make sure that whoever reads this last page sees the problem and wants to fix it.

Most people who are drinking the “I’m just going to growth-hack this” kool-aid probably dropped out on page 1.

So, congrats on making it through this.

Your life is about to change because when you stop being a victim of “shove it down your throat marketing” and fake scarcity and urgency and you become a Strategically Focused Entrepreneur, you will start to see results. 

Results like Efren, who closed his client after implementing this new thinking pattern...

Like Ariana, who closed 3 new (highest-paying-ever) clients in just two months...

Like Claire, who put her strategy in place to build new streams of income for her business...

Like Richard, who is on his way to 7 figures after being stuck in the 5-6 figures zone for years...

Like Daniel, who got his strategy built and finally has a business model that makes sense after years of struggling as a super talented artist and activist…

Like Jessie, who applied the Revenue Masters strategic approach and sold 7 spots to her new online course in just one week, making $2.5k.

Like myself, having gone from running in circles building a marketing agency, selling physical products, selling consulting and online courses, to focusing on one thing and going deep and hard to build one solid bridge to success.

It doesn’t matter what your industry or product is. All it took for those folks above to succeed is to go back to basics and build the foundations of their business. 

This is how you do it

Here’s how you do it (a glimpse into the Revenue Masters program). 

Step 1. What are your values and goals for the business? What do you want to accomplish?

This is the “WHY” and “WHERE” you want to go. Based on this, you will build the path (strategy) and choose the tools (tactics) to get there. When you start with this step, you will prevent being a Shiny Object seeking Squirrel Entrepreneur.

Step 2. To build the strategy, you should start with understanding what you already have in your business. What are the building blocks that are already available to you? 

I call it an Extracting Phase as we’re looking at what’s “below the surface”. This is a vulnerable moment where you need to be "dead-honest" and transparent with yourself.

In the Extraction Phase, you should have mapped:

• All past results

• All skills and competencies

• All good and bad about their business

• The current business situation and the goal

• The reasons why you want to achieve the goal

• The elements that work and don’t work in your business

• What are the strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats?

• What is the value proposition - what do you offer and how are you different from others?

• What are the problems in the market, and how are you solving them?

• Who do you sell to, and how do you get customers?

The reason you identify this is to know what are the missing pieces and gaps, and what do you already have available to move forward. This will tell you what you need to make the strategy work. 

Step 3. Now it is time to enter the third phase. The final piece is the Goal Pyramid, but my students like to call it a Gold Pyramid.

This is the final piece of the puzzle - a one-page document/drawing that shows your full strategy, with your main goal, the paths, and all the elements to get there - including to-do lists and tasks you put in your calendar, so you actually implement.

The Gold Pyramid is how you build your Bridge To Success.

The Gold Pyramid is what will save your life and your business.

Whenever you have an idea or a new opportunity shows up on the horizon, you can take the Gold Pyramid and compare the new idea with the building blocks you have mapped out. 

If the idea supports them, great! You can go ahead and implement it. If it doesn’t, it goes to a Pile-Up Zone. 

You’re no longer a Squirrel Entrepreneur because you have a very clear path to build your bridge to success. It’s such a liberating feeling not to feel FOMO (Fear Of Missing Out), not to feel like you need to do all those things, and not to feel you are spinning your wheels and not getting anywhere. 

Having a strategy is knowing EXACTLY where to go and how to get there - then you can choose the tactics because you’re working on building your business, not focusing on the gimmicks. 

Strategy Is The Bridge To Success

In 2018, I asked myself, if I’m doing all the things gurus are telling me - following all the recommendations and tactics, putting all the hard work in, enduring 60 hour weeks - why the fuck am I not seeing results? Why are there businesses that make it, and some that are in constant hustle-mode?

I became obsessed with researching the root cause AND the solution of what resulted in keeping people stuck in their businesses. It took me quite some time, and I didn’t even realize I had found the solution until I got my tax report from my accountant.

I was like, “WTF just happened?” I went through all my notes and retraced the steps I took to get me that kind of growth. I put it all in the “flow” of actions, exercises, mind-shifts and epiphanies - the flow that took my business from -$20k to $180k.

I then tested the flow during 1-1 sessions to see if it was a fluke or a repeatable solution to a repeatable problem (of 500+ online entrepreneurs).

It worked and the above 3 steps are how I made it happen. And this is how the Revenue Masters framework came to life! 

TAKEAWAYS