Who Else Wants to Build a Million-Dollar Business in 18 Months? | 747
Who else wants to have a million dollar business in just eighteen short months? That's right. If you wanna cross the million dollar threshold in eighteen months, I'm going to share with you my seven step formula for doing that, and I'm going to reveal it for the first time ever on this edition of the Inside BS Show. Hey now. I'm Dave Lorenzo.
Dave Lorenzo:I'm the godfather of growth. And today, I'm revealing my seven step formula for going to a million dollars in annual revenue and beyond. At Exit Success Lab, we work with three categories of business owners. We work with people who are at the $1,000,000 mark and they wanna go to $5,000,000 in annual revenue. And we can do that with them in eighteen months.
Dave Lorenzo:We also work with people who are going through the valley of death from 5,000,000 to 10,000,000 in annual revenue. And we work with people who do 10,000,000 and above in annual revenue, and those people, their focus is on not only scaling but also potential acquisitions and planning an exit strategy. The value of death people from 5 to 10,000,000, that's all about scaling the business and removing the business owner from the day to day operations. The 1 to 5,000,000 is about systems and processes and making sure the foundational elements are in fantastic shape. Now, if you're below a million dollars in annual revenue, I'm gonna give you the seven step formula that will help you get to a million dollars in eighteen months so that you can come and work with us.
Dave Lorenzo:In fact, we put on workshops, we put on clinics for people who are below a million dollars in annual revenue just to help them, just to get them started, jump start their business program. We can get you to a million bucks in eighteen months. And if you're interested in this program, you can reach out to me. I'll share my phone number with you at the end of the show. We can tell you when our next accelerator program is going to be to help you go from zero to a million dollars.
Dave Lorenzo:Here are the seven steps that you need to follow to get to a million dollars in annual revenue regardless of where you're starting from. You can start at a hundred thousand in sales. I'll help you get to a million with these seven steps. So step number one is that you must be able to permanently solve a problem. You have to be able to solve a problem forever.
Dave Lorenzo:So your business needs to provide a service that solves a problem forever or your business needs to provide a product that solves the problem forever. Let's say you're a barbershop and you want to be a million dollar barbershop. You have to be able to give a haircut to somebody and be that person's barber forever. You have to deliver the haircut exactly the way they want it and you have to be able to do it forever. Let's say you're an intellectual property attorney and you do trademarks.
Dave Lorenzo:You have to be able to get people the trademark and make sure that you have a program in place that will apply for the mark, survive all the office actions, get the mark registered, and then put them in a program so that you remind them with all the deadlines and thresholds to keep the mark registered over time so that mark is registered and it's done forever. Your business, your service, your product must solve a problem forever. Now, I know what you're thinking, Dave, I'm an exterminator. My business is killing bugs. I got to come back every month and kill the bugs all over again.
Dave Lorenzo:Yes, but if they call you and they keep up with your service, the problem will be solved forever. You see what I'm saying? You're their solution. The phone call they make to you is solving the problem forever. That's the solution.
Dave Lorenzo:So that's step one. You must be able to solve the problem forever. Step number two, you only solve one problem when going from zero or wherever you are now to a million dollars in annual revenue. This is the hardest pill for the business owners we work with to swallow. You're only allowed to solve one problem.
Dave Lorenzo:That's it. Let me go back to the trademark attorney. Trademark attorneys are intellectual property attorneys and sometimes they do trademarks, they do patents, and they do copyrights. And you may think to yourself, that's three problems. No.
Dave Lorenzo:It's only one problem because you protect intellectual property. If you are a corporate transactional attorney, you handle the formation of companies, you handle setting up new entities, you handle buy sell agreements, you handle operating agreements, you do partnership agreements, you do corporate transactional work. If you're a corporate transactional attorney and you're doing less than a million dollars a year and you decide you also want to do trademarks, I will stop you and I will say, don't do that. Solve one problem. Either pick intellectual property or pick corporate transactional work and master solving that problem.
Dave Lorenzo:Become known as an expert, the go to person for solving that problem. You solve a problem forever, that's step one. You only solve one problem, that's step two. Until you get to the million dollar mark in annual revenue, you only do the one thing over and over and over until you're absolutely the undisputed expert at that. Step number three, have an ideal client in mind.
Dave Lorenzo:You must have an ideal client in mind and you must be able to tell me with absolute certainty the industry and the person who is the ideal client. The more information you have about your ideal client, the better this program will work, the faster you will get to a million dollars in annual revenue. You must have an ideal client. To start, you're only going to have one and you're going to know everything there is to know about that ideal client. You're going to know what he or she eats for breakfast.
Dave Lorenzo:You're going to know what conventions they go to. You're going to know what they read. You're going to know the clothing they wear. Literally, you will know everything there is to know about your ideal client. Step number four, you are going to focus exclusively on targeting your ideal client until you get to a million dollars.
Dave Lorenzo:All of your conversations will be with people who look like your ideal client. All of your marketing messages will be developed for people who look like your ideal client. The more narrow your focus, the better you're going to be at targeting them And we are going to match your marketing message to that ideal client directly. We're going to know everything about them and you're going to focus on targeting them ideally. So I'll repeat these four steps again.
Dave Lorenzo:Step number one, you're going to solve a problem forever. Step number two, you're going to solve only one problem. Step number three, you're going to have an ideal client that we will be targeting. And this could be a specific type of business, a specific decision maker in that business, in a specific industry for a specific reason. These are the people who have the problem you know how to solve.
Dave Lorenzo:These are the people who have the ability to pay you to solve that problem and they are decision makers. You're going to target just one ideal client until you get to a million dollars and you're going to focus exclusively on targeting that ideal client. Step number five, the experience you provide for your clients is exceptional. The experience you provide is so unbelievable that they feel compelled to tell their friends about it. You are going to ask them the entire time you're servicing them, would you recommend me to your best friend?
Dave Lorenzo:Would you recommend me to your best client? Would you recommend me to the most important person in the world to you? If at any point they say no during the service delivery, during the product delivery, you stop and you say, what could I do better? And you refine your service delivery until every client has a remarkable experience working with you. This is so important, I cannot stress this enough.
Dave Lorenzo:Customer turnover, churn will kill your business. We cannot market, sell, or advertise our way out of bad customer experience. The service delivery, the product, it all has to be exceptional. The client has to feel like he or she is the most important person in the world to you at all times. They must feel like they're the most important person in the world to your business at all times.
Dave Lorenzo:You have to provide an exceptional experience. Now to that end, step six is you must create 100 raving fans. If you want to get to a million dollars in annual revenue, you have to create 100 people who feel like they got such a great experience, they had such a fantastic experience, got a great result working with you, enjoyed your product so much, enjoyed your service so much that they want to make a TikTok video, that they want to write a letter, that they want to post a Yelp review or a Google review, or they want to tell a hundred people and have it captured on video. You need 100 of those experiences, 100 testimonials or letters of recommendation. You have to capture in some way 100 raving fans experiences, and that's your goal.
Dave Lorenzo:Don't worry about the million dollars. Worry about creating such an exceptional experience that 100 people write you letters of recommendation, make TikTok videos about you, Write all kinds of stuff in Yelp reviews that is an absolute rave. 100 raving fans. The faster you get to 100, the faster you get to a million dollars in annual revenue. In fact, that should be your goal.
Dave Lorenzo:Create 100 raving fans as quickly as possible. And then step number seven is you must master your numbers. And in addition to knowing how to read a profit and loss statement, in addition to knowing what a balance sheet is, in addition to knowing and understanding cash flow, you must also master these three numbers. Write this down because this is essential. What is your client lifetime value?
Dave Lorenzo:How much is your client worth to you? What is your customer acquisition cost? How much does it cost for you to acquire one customer? And then what is your churn rate? How many of your customers have gone away forever?
Dave Lorenzo:Now if you're in a business that doesn't have recurring revenue, it might be difficult for you to measure churn. So if you're in a business that doesn't have recurring revenue, the first thing we're going do is work on developing some recurring revenue for you, but let's set that aside for right now because that's for the next tier for going from 1,000,000 to 5,000,000. But in this tier, if you don't have a business that's a subscription based business or have recurring revenue, instead of measuring churn, we're going to measure something called net promoter score. And that's whether or not somebody is likely to recommend you. On a scale of one to five, with five being I would absolutely recommend you all the time and with one being I would never recommend you, what score do you give me?
Dave Lorenzo:How likely are you to recommend me to someone else? Five being the highest. And we track that score. Those are the numbers you need to know. Customer lifetime value, customer acquisition cost, and either churn or net promoter score.
Dave Lorenzo:These are the seven steps and I'll repeat them again. Solve a problem forever. That's step number one. Step number two, solve only one problem. Until you get to a million dollars, you don't get to diversify your product line.
Dave Lorenzo:You don't get to diversify your service line. If you want to open a bakery, start, get to a million dollars by selling one type of cake. Start or get to a million dollars by selling one type of cookie. If you can get to a million dollars selling one type of cookie, then you're allowed to diversify and start selling cakes and muffins. Sell the cookies out of the back of your car to get to a million dollars if you need to.
Dave Lorenzo:Scaling that business to a million will be the best thing that you can do for your bakery in the long term because it will teach you how to do it. So step one is solve a problem forever. Step two, solve only one problem. Step three, have an ideal client. Pick an ideal client.
Dave Lorenzo:Have an avatar but know exactly where you're going to go to find these clients. Step number four, focus exclusively on targeting the ideal client. Focus exclusively on targeting the ideal client. You don't sell to everyone. You only sell to your ideal client.
Dave Lorenzo:If other people come, you take their money, it's fine, but you don't waste your time going after other people. You only go after your ideal client. Step number five, focus on creating an exceptional experience. You got to get people raving about your experience and that's step number six, create 100 raving fans. Create 100 people who are so motivated that they make TikTok videos about the experience they had at your business.
Dave Lorenzo:100 people who are so motivated, they write letters of recommendation to others about you. And then step number seven, master your numbers. Know how to read a p and l, know what a balance sheet is, know and understand the importance, the critical nature of cash flow, make sure you understand and know what your client lifetime value is, make sure you know what your customer acquisition cost is, and make sure you know what your churn is, and make sure you know what your net promoter score is. Those are the seven critical steps, and these are the seven things that I am pounding into our clients if they want to get to a million dollars in annual revenue. I promise you, if you focus on these seven things, the exclusion of everything else, these seven things, this is what you're doing all day, every day, when you eat, sleep, and breathe.
Dave Lorenzo:If you wanna do a million dollars in annual revenue, these seven things will get you there in eighteen months or less. This is what we do in Exit Success Lab. My name is Dave Lorenzo, and I'm the godfather of growth. And these seven steps are more valuable than anything you're ever gonna learn in business school. I can't wait to share the next set of secrets with you tomorrow.
Dave Lorenzo:You gotta join me at 6AM for that. I release these secrets every day at 6AM, and I can't wait to see you tomorrow at 6AM. Until then, here's hoping you make a great living and live a great life.