Transcript - Week 18 · Here is what you are going to learn in today’s video. First is I’m going to show you a very simple business distinction that will help you focus your efforts

Week 1 Transcript The Entrepreneur Journey

©2013 Dental Practice Solutions www.dentalpracticesolutions.com

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Dental Consultant Master Academy evolve ■ emerge ■ influence

Transcript - Week 18

The Entrepreneur Journey



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Hello. This is Debbie and welcome to this weeks training video.

WOW! We are almost half way through our journey. Today we are talking

about the Entrepreneur’s Journey. This is a three stage model that I have

developed for you to take a specific path as an entrepreneur from the

beginner, to an intermediate, to advanced.

I call these three stages Evolving, Emerging, and Influencing. As you look at

your action plan for this week can you identify where you are in these three

stages? Place a check mark or circle where you are today and then write a

date next to this stage. I want you to look at this action plan again or better

yet – write this on your calendar and in three months and six months write

a note on your calendar to check in with where you are in these three

stages.

Set goals in three month increments to check back and see if you are on

track with your successes.

Now let’s get started with this week’s module.

Here is what you are going to learn in today’s video. First is I’m going to

show you a very simple business distinction that will help you focus your

efforts so you get easier and faster results.

I am going to be showing you how to hold a long-term vision while

centering and focusing on what is going to bring you the immediate profit

in your business. I am doing this by introducing these three-stages of a

business growth model and where you fit in right now in your business.

But before we begin, I always like to put the learning into context for you,

which means I want you to think about a situation in your own life that you

had to grow and develop your skill around. So for a moment, you might

want to pause the video after this too and simply think and reflect for

yourself what’s a skill or a hobby that you’ve mastered in your life.



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It might be a musical instrument you play. You may have learned an art or

a sport. Simple things, even like riding a bike, or more complex things like

parenting. Just choose something right now that you’re really, really good

at and that you had to learn how to become good at.

What I want you to do is simply remember back to when you were an

absolute beginner at that. What did that feel like? What was your

experience of being a beginner at that? Because now you’re looking back in

hindsight. And then, as you got better at this craft or this skill, you move to

a more of an intermediate level.

Do you remember when that happened? They blended, right? I mean, you

started as a beginner, but before you knew it, you kind of knew what you

were doing and things were going nicely. And then it gently

transitioned into you really became a master at that particular thing. You

became really, really good at it.

How long did that whole arc take you? And I just want you to reflect back

at that whole experience of growing and developing through stages of

development in some area in your life that you are currently a master

around. Because what I want to do for you is to reflect back to now and say,

“Hey, you know what? This is exactly how it happens when you grow a

business. Really is no different.”

You’re going to go through stages of development and we’re going to

outline what those are here in today’s video.

One of the things I want to address right out of the gate is this myth around

“instant success” because you hear this all the time. You know, you hear

that, “Oh, so and

so, they were an overnight success.” Because that’s what you perceive.

You see that person on stage, or you see that person excelling in their

business, and they just kind of came out of nowhere, right? But what you

don’t hear is the truth about it, which is they were an overnight success

that was ten years in the making.



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What you don’t hear are the hundreds of clients that person actually

worked over years and really became masterful at their craft. What you

don’t hear is the everyday in the trenches, working, trying to figure what

they’re doing and growing this business of theirs, dealing with their team

and staff issues and marketing issues.

What you don’t hear about are the thousands of hours that person spent

not only becoming masterful at their craft, but also becoming a really solid

business person.

What we do hear, however, is, “Oh, I did internet marketing and I became

rich overnight.”

I just want us to take a deep breath here and put all of this into context into

how it really works in real life. How it works in real life is what I’m calling

the Way of the Trades, these service professions that have been around

literally for centuries now, even back in the middle ages. They were

carpenters and blacksmiths and if you look at that ancient model, it’s

absolutely true today. The blacksmiths started out as a young person and

they were an apprentice. They worked with a master and they got to know

what this whole thing of blacksmithing is. As time went on, years, then they

become a journeyman, like an intermediate level. They knew their tools.

They knew the language. They knew how to do things. But they were still in

a kind of growth and learning process. But then one day, they equaled their

teacher, their master, and then they themselves become a

master.

In the arts, you know that stage has happened when you’ve mastered your

basic skills and you take things in a new direction. Maybe you work on your

voice.

Your style really starts to come out. And you look at all the professions that

are out there--auto mechanics, dentists, doctors, pilots, firemen--they had

to learn how to become masterful at their craft.



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When you think of a dentist , she graduates from dental school, but is she

really a dentist at that point? The piece of paper says so, but is she really a

dentist? No, not really. It’s only after years of actual hands-on work that

she can truly claim, “Yes, I’m a skilled dentist and really only now work in a

dental office. But have I ever learned about business?

This is very true for your skill level as an entrepreneur. You’re going to grow

as a business owner and develop your skills around how to run a business;

how to do marketing, manage your team, grow your product line, and

services.

It will take you some time and allow yourself to take time to really master

the skill of being an entrepreneur? This is also the way of nature. Allow

yourself to grow into this. The process is joyful.

Your business growth also has stages of development. Each one is distinct

and each one has its focus on where you need to put your energy and

attention to fully go through that stage, learn what you need to learn at

that stage, and then move on.

Now, here are the three stages of business growth. First is what I call

evolving, second is emerging, and third is influencing. I’m going to now

break these down into specific examples for you so you can start to identify

where exactly are you.

Now, another thing to note is that these are not steps really. Think of this

as more like a wave. You gradually evolve from one stage to another. It’s

not like you take a step to get into there. It just happens organically and

naturally. So don’t be so rigid with this model and understand that they

blend together. There’s going to be overlap here.

Okay, so let’s start with the first one, which is emerging. Now, first off, let’s

talk about the emerging state of mind. This is when you’re just starting the

idea of being an entrepreneur and whatever your product and service is.



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You’re really excited. You’re motivated by what’s possible here and you

have these dreams in your mind. You can have a vision of a better life for

yourself. And yet, you have some idea about, “You know, I think I want to

start to be a social media expert,” or “I think I would like to become a coach

or a consultant.” “I think I would like to start a product line and sell that

online.”

It’s the seed of an idea. This is the stage when you’re really starting to, as I

say, throw the spaghetti on the wall and see what sticks. You know you are

evolving if you don’t know exactly where to start, right? I mean, you don’t

know where to start. You’re just new to this. You don’t even know the

language, the details of this. All you have is the seed of an idea.

If you’re business is service-based or even if you have products, but quite

possibly you don’t even have any clients or customers yet, or just maybe a

handful. You’re in that early stage. A lot of what I’m saying here is about

the throwing the spaghetti on the wall and you are experimenting with

what is the right business and business model for you.

I can tell you for myself, I actually spent about two years in this evolving

stage. I just got out there in 2000 and we took a second mortgage on our

house. I knew that I needed to prove myself as an expert. I knew I had to go

out there and speak, write for dental journals and do all of that so I started

my own speaking courses. At the time I was living in Southern California

and I spent thousands of dollars on marketing various conferences all over

the state of California each month. I began writing for RDH Magazine and

went to all the major dental conferences in the US. I would go to all the

major corporations like Oral B and Proter and Gamble, Orascoptic, 3M. You

name it and I met the corporate executives. They quickly became my

sponsors and helped pay for those conferences I held all over California.

Then in 2005 my husband and I moved to Oregon and I was speaking all

over the US and Canada. It was a lot of fun but I quickly fell into a unique

opportunity to start a dental Hygiene school in Portland. I had to put a halt

to all my speaking and fun travel.



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The accreditation and starting the school became my focus. Then once the

school was up and running I thought I could go back to where I was but in

2009 the economy began to take a dive. It was not as easy to step back in

so I started throwing spaghetti on the wall again until something stuck and

you know what? Everything I threw on the wall STUCK! Good news, bad

news.

So all of these things were in an attempt to find, “Well, what’s my true

niche here?”

That’s what you have to allow for yourself to do in this evolving stage.

Allow yourself to experiment and try on different sets of clothes to see

which one really fits for you and which one is your style, because at this

stage, that you probably don’t really have a business niche yet. That’s what

you’re here to explore.

At this point you may not even know exactly who your ideal client is and

that’s okay. You have to start somewhere and try it out. Take a few steps

into that direction knowing that you’ll figure that out as you grow.Assuming

it’s the right business model for you. You have to start somewhere so if you

have felt paralyzed until now I want to encourage you to take the first step

forward now.

If you’re in a service-based business or even having products, you don’t

even have any clients or customers yet or just maybe a handful. You’re in

that early stage. A lot of what I’m saying here about the throwing the

spaghetti on the wall is you’re experimenting with what is the right

business and business model for you.

I can tell you for myself, I actually spent about two years in this evolving

stage.

When you are in this evolving stage you need to allow yourself to

experiment and try on different sets of clothes to see which one really fits

for you and which one is your style, because at this stage, you don’t really

have a business niche yet. That’s what you’re here to explore.



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You may not even know who exactly your ideal client is and that’s okay.

That really is okay. You’ve got to start somewhere and try it out. Take a few

steps into that direction knowing that you’ll figure that out as you grow.

Assuming it’s the right business, you have to start somewhere, take the

step.

The challenge that people have at this evolving stage is, yes, you don’t have

clarity around your business because you haven’t done it yet and that’s

fine, but just allow yourself to be confused and not know which direction is

really the right fit. It will happen if you keep persistent with it.

That’s the only thing that makes the difference between those who really

succeed and those who don’t is you’re just persistent enough to keep going

at it. As you try these things out, you will start to get direction. You’ll move

forward in that business.

The other thing that happens here is that you get really distracted by what

is called the bright, shiny objects syndrome. You have this great idea and

you think, “I’m going to make a membership site and I’m going to have

products and I’m going to have all this big fancy stuff in there. I’m going to

do live events.”

Well, you’ve got to start somewhere, and it’s probably more important for

you to actually connect with your potential ideal clients and really explore

it. It has very little to do with how your website looks. It has everything to

do with you getting out from behind your computer and actually interacting

with people.

I don’t know anybody who really got past the evolving stage without

connecting face to face with people and really see is this the right fit or isn’t

it? The key way to move past this emerging stage is to take action,

persistent action. It might be confused, it might be messy, but that’s okay.

Just move forward. Try things out and not try to make them perfect. It’s not

going to be perfect. It’s supposed to be messy.



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So know that you have to get your hands muddy a little bit here. As you

move forward though, there are rewards to this. What happens is things

pick up. You find your niche. You do find your ideal clients after

experimenting enough. And you become your own boss. You start making

money with your business. You start developing and growing your client

base.

As that happens, you feel more confident, more solid in what you’re ready

to do. You’re really now ready to expand into a bigger business.

What’s going to hold you back from getting these rewards is thinking that,

“If I just had the perfect header on my website,” or “I’m active in social

media, I’m active on Facebook, why am I not getting clients?”

Well, it’s because you’re not actually interacting with human beings. I’m

here to tell you that most businesses, almost all of them, start out as word

of my mouth businesses. Even Apple. Even Hewlett Packard. When they

say, you know, the classic garage story, started in the garage? Well, yes,

and they went out there and hit the pavement. They went out and

communicated and developed relationships with key people. They

weren’t putting ads or making brochures. They were interacting with

people.

So you need to know that. The key here is getting more word of mouth in

your business. Get out there, network, and get referrals, and become good

at what your craft is because that’s the other part of this. In the evolving

stage, you’re also developing your skill at what you do. That takes time, just

like I said with dentists who go to dental school and then begin working in a

dental office.

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So finally, your top goals here are, number one, is you just want to start

making money as soon as possible; getting out there and doing it. As you

work with clients, one by one, you’re going to start to identify your passion.

All of that is going to help you get clear about your niche, your ideal client,

and you can now start to really shape and design what are your true

products and services that you’re going to stick with.



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You really start to move towards developing a client and customer base.

I’ve seen this happen. Time and again, this happened to me too, that once

you do get that niche, that everything lines up, things really do then start to

expand and take off quickly. But like I said, for myself, it took me two years

of throwing spaghetti on the wall before I found the thing that worked for

me and for the audience, for the market.

So give yourself time. Allow yourself to really fully emerge in this stage and

experiment with different things. Don’t worry. It’s all going to start to shape

if you’re persistent enough. Things do get clear but they’re not going to get

clear if you’re just spinning and thinking in your head, hiding behind the

computer every day.

Okay, let’s move on. I want to talk now about stage two, which is Emerging.

Here, there is a wonderful state of mind that occurs, is that you’re really

owning the fact that you’re now a business owner. This is no longer just a

hobby or a passive thing. You’re thinking now, “Oh My Gosh I have a

business! I’m really going to do this!”

Your goal is you’re really now starting to maximize on profits from what you

have. So in other words, you started with a base; maybe it was working

with some one-on-one clients; maybe selling some product at an initial

level here. You want to maximum your efficiency. How do you get the

maximum number of clients? How do you maximize your sales on that

product? That’s where your attention really goes.

As you develop that and you build your systems, which include potentially

building your team, which might be assistants, bookkeepers, CPAs, web

people, now you can start to also develop multiple streams of income for

yourself.

As .you develop and you have the base systems in place, and the team in

place, then you can start to really expand further and add on more

products and services. Ultimately, this is leading you towards designing this

profitable business that allows you to live the lifestyle you desire. It’s

starting to really happen here.



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So you know you’re in this stage when you really do have some niche. Now,

even in the Emerging stage. There may be some tweaking within the niche,

but basically you know what you’re good at and you know what people are

buying. Yes, you may not know in the beginning what exactly your

particular segment of that niche is, but you’re in the ballpark.

You already have clients. Things are moving and you’re moving towards--at

first in the evolving.stage, you might just have a few handfuls of clients. But

as you move forward, you’re going to have a full practice of clients. Then as

you move forward beyond that, you’re going to look at I got to add on

other streams of income to do this because I don’t want to just work for

hours and dollars all the time.

You’re starting to sell your products and things are really starting to scale

up.

A lot of this emerging stage is simply building the systems to support your

growth, because you’re starting to step into expanding this business of

yours and not just limited to a handful of clients.

So this does happen about midway through the emerging stage is you do

hit the ceiling of, “I’ve got a full practice. I’m working with a lot of clients

each week and it’s great. I tapped into the six figures here.” Usually, you’ve

broken 100,000 at this point. But now, you’re looking to expand that even

further. You got bit by the bug and you want to grow and leverage yourself

better. So you start offering different types of programs that

maximize your time better--group programs, selling more products,

leveraging your website.

Yet, here, you’re really developing the team to support you with all of this.

So part of this issue of being in emerging mode is learning how to manage a

team and hire the right people.

You might have to go through a few people, right? I mean, that happens a

lot. You don’t find the right fit for you, just like when you’re in emerging,



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trying to find the right niche for yourself. You have to throw some spaghetti

on the wall and not all of it stuck.

Same when you build your team. You’re going to try out different virtual

assistants, bookkeepers. You might have to go through three, four, five of

them before you find the right one. That’s normal. That’s okay. That’s part

of doing business.

So the challenge here is--and this is really a big one--is you’re excited now,

right? You’re starting to make some money and it’s really easy to get

distracted with all the things you could be doing, instead of focusing on

what’s going to generate the maximum profits for you right now.

This one I really see time and again, people in this stage they start to add on

more things onto their plate, more offerings in their business, before

they’ve truly maximized what is their true money makers.

You hear me say this all the time: focus on the lowest hanging fruit. Put all

the other things aside. Put it in a folder. You might get to it one day. But

focus on what is the lowest hanging fruit that’s going to give you the

maximum profit with the least amount of effort.

If you do that in your emerging stage, you’re going to make more money

faster. Don’t worry about these other things. Just because they’re there

doesn’t mean you should do them.

So this relates to the team is that you’re taking on more than you or your

team can really handle because expanding means growth. And sometimes

it’s really fast.

So you’re working late nights. You’re developing your systems. You’re

working and training your team. All of that is happening in expanding

mode. Honestly, it can get quite messy, but it’s also exhilarating. That’s the

fun of having your own business.

But think about it. If you’re, let’s say, a service professional, you’re working

with clients, you have a full practice, and now you’re also trying to leverage



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yourself, build your systems, create your shopping cart, your merchant

accounts, your website. Well, you’re not only now just a technician in what

you do, but you’re also a manager in what you do.

You’ve taken on another role in your business. And those things typically

overlap. You’re going to be busy.

Now, as you move through this, there are rewards of going through this

expansion stage. You really do hit some sweet income levels. You’re going

to be breaking past 100,000 and moving even into multiple six figures here

and beyond.

You have that team. Once you get the right people, it’s a godsend, right?

They’re wonderful. You have a team that’s harmonized with each other.

You’re connected with them well. There are really a few things that are

better than that. I can tell you from experience. It’s part of the joy of

actually being in business is working with an awesome team.

You have a website. Very likely, you’re now leveraging the online world and

you have a website that converts visitors into leads, and leads intoclients.

And you’re developing that list. You’re developing a following of people

who know, like, and trust you.

Now, at this stage too, the reward is you have systems in place. So the

business can start to run without you having to be there to manage it all

the time, which means, you really start to now tap into that ideal lifestyle.

Now, let’s talk about your top goals here for the emerging entrepreneur.

Again, maximize profits with what you currently offer. I can’t tell you again

that if part of this is you’re still zigzagging, you’re still experimenting with

what to offer and what not to offer, hey, that’s okay. But I encourage you

to focus at least 80%, 70% of your energy on the true money makers in your

business and make those as profitable as possible.

Maximize on that profit before you start jumping ship and trying out all

these other things that you could do.



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As you develop that though, you are going to develop multiple streams of

income where it’s appropriate, where it fits in your business growth.

You’re really focused on systematizing your marketing and your business

overall. That’s where you actually are spending a lot of your time as an

emerging entrepreneur is systems because you want to scale up now your

business. You want to leverage yourself.

Systems include how you intake clients, creating the forms to do that; how

you’re going to work with your staff, your virtual assistant, your

bookkeeper, your CPA; how you organize and design your office space so

you become efficient, maximal efficiency with minimal clutter and

distraction. Maybe that means a system of you getting out of your home

and renting an office space somewhere. All of these things, that’s all

systems-based.

Okay, now, let’s move on and let’s talk about now influencing, stage three.

Here is a wonderful experience as well. You’re starting to step into a bigger

game here. You really become a role model whether that’s national or

international. And people really look to you towards leadership and you

really start to feel it. I mean, there is a perception of you out there, and it’s

almost like a glow happens.

You go to the events and people know you because you’re the industry

leader. That can be a little scary at first, I can tell you. You keep reminding

people, “Hey, it’s still me. I’m still real.” But people look at you differently

because you’ve really proven yourself.

Again, look at the dentist who is established, let’s say, after ten years.

People respect that doctor because she’s done amazing work and she’s

really proven herself over years of

work.

Here at this stage, too, you really have a very powerful and big vision. It

might even scare you at this stage. It gives you really owning responsibility

and being out in front, on the frontlines. This means you’re really holding

your opinion even stronger. You’re taking a position.



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And the downside of the influencing part is you will get attacked. People do

get jealous and they don’t want you to succeed. This actually happens in all

three stages but especially here. People are perceiving you as like, “Well,

who is she to think that she can do that?”

So just be prepared for that. You’re going to get some slings and arrows

shot at you and they hurt. There’s no denying that they do hurt. But again,

when you have the right support and systems in place, you can manage

that better.

You do have that restless feeling that there is something more for you; that

you have this passion, this bigger vision that is drawing you towards

something beyond just where you are right now and you’re really setting on

a multimillion dollar business. It is a decision, I would say, to step into this

influencing stage. You really are committed now to bringing that bigger

vision into the world.

Now, I’m going to talk about this a little later in this video, too, and I want

to bring it up right here. The influencing stage is not for everybody. Just

because that stage exists doesn’t mean you actually have to go there.

Being in emerging mode and maximizing this stage is for most people is

actually just fine. You’re making multiple six figures, you’re doing great. It

doesn’t mean you have to now step out into the spotlight and be a

superhero. You are a superhero to your small niche

and those community that just adores you.

But as you step into a more national, international stage, the game

changes, and it really isn’t for everybody. So again, hear what I’m saying,

just because it exists doesn’t mean you have to go there. You have options.

So now, you’re in this influencing stage if you already have a very solid base

of revenue stream. You’re making, I would say you’re at least a quarter

million, half a million at this stage. Your income is very steady and

consistent. You’ve got solid team in place. You’re stepping into the spotlight



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more than ever. Your team is there. Yes, you keep growing your team

because as you scale up, you need to bring on more team, but the

base team is all there and they support you and they’re the right people

in the right positions.

Competitors actually start to copy you more and others are going to model

you. Modeling is better. But when you deal with those competitors copying

you, sometimes they do cut and paste copy, and you have to do legal issues

here, too. A lot of that comes up. Even in expanding that comes up, but you

really have to stand for your brand, your copyright, and you have to bring in

legal counsel oftentimes here at this stage, too.

Now, here’s where the challenges arise in this stage is there’s too many

opportunities and ideas to consider. It’s another exhilarating time because

you’re making money.

I know a lot of people in influencing stage when they start to make a few

millions of dollars, they just go crazy. They start spending on things that

they kind of don’t look at the bottom line, which turns around and bites

them after a year or two. Because they have so many ideas and they’re like,

“Oh, we can do this. Let’s just bring on staff to help with this.”

It’s kind of like blindly going into this growth mode without really being

concrete on, “Well, what’s my core business? What do I need to focus on?

And what’s still being thoughtful to profit, to net profit?” Not just to “I’m

making a lot of money.”

That’s one of the biggest challenges actually in influencing and in the

emerging stage is forgetting that bottom line, forgetting net. Net is the key

word. It’s not so much income. It’s what you actually take home with you.

So you’re growing too fast. You’re spreading yourself out too thin. And

you’re saying yes to things just because you could. You have the resources

and the money, and so you start taking on projects that, again, are not truly

aligned with your core business.



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I tell you, this happens oftentimes for people in the influencing stage. It’s

very common.

The other challenge here is that you’re fishing in the same pond as

everyone else. You generally or typically create your own competitors.

And people start modeling you, copying you. The pool gets a little more

crowded now, doesn’t it? So you have to keep innovating and holding the

position as leader in your industry. That takes energy, doesn’t it? It’s very

easy to lose your lifestyle for the sake of the business.

Again, I see this one as extremely common with people in the influencing

stage. The business starts to really take over your life and you lose that

personal touch of your life and your lifestyle.

Now, I’ll say that there are, if you look at the bigger arc of your business

growth, there are going to be phases and maybe years where you are busy.

I mean, you’re in growth mode. And that’s okay, just as long as it’s not

overwhelming you. You have to make sure it’s the right balance for you in

your life and what your personal life is. Maybe you have kids and it’s

actually more important for you to spend time with the kids than it is to

grow the business like a mad woman.

You have to make decisions here to decide what are your true values, and

even if you are in growth mode in a heavy way, then you have to

give time for yourself to be in contraction mode just as much. Do you see

what I mean with that? You have to allow yourself to connect with yourself,

with your family, with your life again without being consumed by the

business. As I said here, the challenge is you get excited by the gross profits

rather than net profits.

So the reward of going through this stage is you really have a brand now.

You can make your decisions in your business easily because of your clarity

around who you are, what your business is, what the core business is that

produces profit for you.



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You’re speaking more and more freely. You’re being even more authentic

than ever before. You’re pissing people off because you are holding a

position and you’re outspoken about it. That’s really what’s necessary to

stand in that national, international leadership position.

You are known internationally. You’re getting invitations and opportunities

endlessly. You’re starting to get those FedEx boxes in the mail of people

wanting to share their product with you or have you promote their stuff.

Again, that’s why in the emerging stage, you have the systems in place to

help you clean up these opportunities, because you can’t say yes to it all.

Your income continues to grow smoothly without your business imploding;

meaning that the smooth growth is truly the longer term strategy. You can

see--I have seen this many times too--that the companies who just really

burst out fast and they start getting tons of business, but they don’t have

the support, the staff, the systems in place, they implode.

That happens a lot, too. So these are all the things you got to manage as

you become

more of a CEO and less of a manager.

See, at the influencing stage, you’ve definitely at this point brought on a

COO, chief operator for operations, and a financial operator. So you’re not

dealing with that stuff. You’re the CEO who is managing the vision and the

drive of the business.

You still might have your hands in the marketing because that’s your

business. That’s where the money is coming in. But more and more, some

of the bigger tasks in your business are being sent out to other people --

that’s their strength.

You really are becoming aligned with your deeper mission and you’re really

starting to speak your message. It’s almost like your dharma, your gift in

this world.

The top goal here is you want to line up your business mission with your

personal mission. In other words, you’re not losing sight of your life as you



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grow this bigger vision and you become in a way more famous. Your

business growth and impacts are growing. The business is growing with

your income. In other words, you’re not spending more than you’re netting.

I mean, there might be dips where that happens, where you’re spending a

lot and you’re not really bringing a lot home. But you’ve got to think long-

term, like how am I going to keep the net profit solid and have the net

profit grow?

You’re really the top of mind name of your industry, and you’re really

starting to step up in who you’re networking with. So you are starting to

hang out with the other big players in your industry and you’re one of them

now. You’re starting to really leverage your opportunities. You’re definitely

having more products of services, multiples streams of income here and

things are really starting to step up for you.

Now, I mentioned I wanted to talk about this. This is a really important

distinction and I want you all to think about this. As we’ve looked at now

the three stages of business growth and that is you’ve got to think, what I

call, an empire. An empire is when you have this kind of business that’s

making either multiple six-figures, but typically it’s in the millions by now

and it’s the kind of business where you have at least 8 staff members and in

some cases 10, 20, 30 and up.

You’ve really built an empire here. I just want to remind you all that that is

not necessarily the right path for you personally. You don’t have to build an

empire to be somebody. Let me explain this. When somebody says, “I have

a $2 million business.” Okay, that’s gross. What are they actually taking

home after they’ve paid their 10 staff members and they’ve paid for all

those vendors and all the stuff that they have to pay for?

They might actually walk home with maybe $300,000, maybe $200,000 out

of $2 million. Well, this is my take on it. I can make that $200,000, $300,000

without all the staff without all the complexity and the intricacy of running

that kind of a business. By keeping my systems and my offerings at a simple

level, I can bring home the same amount, but with dramatically less



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complexity because I’m actually bringing home that same amount without

all of the expense attached to it.

Do you see what I mean? You want to really look at this. Some people, it’s

their destiny to become empire-builders. It’s oftentimes easy to spot them.

They just have that drive in their eye. They can’t do anything but build this

big business. That’s totally fine. We need people like that. That’s great.

What I want you to look at is that you? If it’s not you, that’s okay.

You might really start to think about, “Hey, I just want to have a nice solid

business that generates a quarter million a year net or with minimal

expenses on that and just live my life and enjoy my life. Travel the world

instead of this complex intricate machine that might make $2 million, but

requires $1.8 million just to operate.” All I’m saying – my message to you

now is you have a choice.

It’s a lifestyle decision really. It’s looking at your longer-term vision of what

you want. As we’ve looked at these three stages of business development

keep that in mind. How complex do you want this business to be for

yourself? It’s a values decision more than anything else. Like I said too, on

the other hand, there are people this is their destiny.

They are supposed to build empires. That is their value and that’s cool too.

Now your action steps. I want you to determine which stage of business

growth you’re currently in right now and own it. It’s okay to be there. Know

that, “Okay, I’m in this stage and I’m moving towards the next stage.” Now

you have a bit of a context and scope about what that would entail. Decide

really how big you want to expand your business.

How big do you want this business? Do you want an empire or not?

What do you then need to focus on right now to maximize what you’ve

already got going for you? This is so important. Now, that you’ve seen the

whole picture, come back down to where you are now and focus on what

needs to be done right now. If you keep doing that you’re going to naturally

grow and the business will grow with you. You don’t have to force it.



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How I want you to think about this in context to your everyday life now

again is I want you to put about 5% of your attention generally in your

average, everyday business operation on the future vision of where you’re

going. But, the rest of your 95% of your attention is going to actually have

to be focused on what needs to happen today to maximize profits and

efficiency.

Hold the vision out there, but put the majority of your time on your day-to-

day operations, streamlining your systems, building your team, maximizing

your profits

OK. This is Debbie signing off. Everyone, have a wonderful day and I will see

you on next weeks video. Bye for now.

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Transcript - Week 18 · Here is what you are going to learn in today’s video. First is I’m going to show you a very simple business distinction that will help you focus your efforts