Growing a business is never easy, but I truly had no idea how much it would teach me about myself and my work. In the past year, I’ve tripled my revenue and built a business I truly love. Here are some of the biggest lessons I learned along the way.
How I Tripled My Revenue in One Year
Over the past year, I’ve made some major changes to my business, changes like hiring a team, diversifying my income streams, and even collaborating with fellow business owners. If you want an in-depth look into how I did this, let me know over on Instagram and I just might write a blog post on it!
Lessons I Learned From Tripling My Revenue
These are the biggest (and hardest) lessons I learned from tripling my revenue.
It’s normal to feel guilty.
I always imagined that I’d have to work three times as hard and three times as many hours in order to triple my revenue. And since I was already overworked at the beginning of last year, I couldn’t possibly imagine taking on more work.
So instead of adding to my to-do list, I built a team. Now, I make three times as much while working less than I did when I first started my business. And while it’s a major relief, it also made me feel kind of guilty. How is it fair that I can make this much money while working so little?
As I’ve learned in the past year, this feeling is totally normal. In our hustle-focused world, idle time is considered lazy and unproductive. But I’ve found that the better I take care of myself and the better I manage my workload, the better I can serve my business. Yes, I work fewer hours these days, but the work I’m doing is much more high-level. It all evens out.
Hire before you’re ready.
By the time I hired my first contractor, I was swamped with work. It seemed like there weren’t enough hours in the day to complete my to-do list, and I worked more weekends than I care to admit. I waited until I was desperate to hire.
As soon as I outsourced, though, I realized I should have done it sooner. Not only would I have avoided the overwhelm altogether, but I would have had way more time and energy to transition my new team member into my business.
So my greatest outsourcing advice is this: Do it before you’re ready! Even if you can barely afford it, I guarantee outsourcing will get you closer to scaling your business and increasing your revenue.
It can be hard, lonely, and exhausting.
But you probably already knew this about running a business, right? Every step of my business journey has been hard, but scaling my business to this degree was definitely the greatest challenge.
I worked long hours at the start. I had to step outside of my comfort zone. I said “no” to nights out with friends and lazy mornings on the couch. But in the end, I created a business that allows for the kind of time freedom and flexibility that I’ve been craving for years.
The thing that got me through was focusing on that end goal. I reminded myself every day why I was working so hard, and I celebrated every win along the way, no matter how small.
Systems are your friend.
It might seem silly, but a year ago I started making Loom videos of everything I did in my business. No matter how small the task, I created a process for it. Then, when I finally outsourced those tasks, I sent my contractors those videos and practically let them train themselves.
Having systems like these in my business has saved me countless hours of repetitive work. Instead of answering the same questions over and over again, I can send my team members to our company resource library and let them find the answers themselves. And of course, I’m always updating and improving these systems.
Set firm boundaries.
Looking back, I think the biggest contributor to my 2021 burnout was my lack of boundaries. I worked long hours, answered emails on the weekends, and said “yes” to just about every potential client who came my way.
Now, I can see that these bad habits were borne of a scarcity mindset instead of an abundance mindset. I was afraid I wouldn’t get more inquiries, so I accepted them all. I was afraid my clients wouldn't be willing to wait for their deliverables, so I worked weekends. All this led to burnout and frustration.
Setting firm boundaries protects both your business and your home life. Set real working hours, communicate with clients about your boundaries, and pursue passion projects outside of work.
Community means more than competition.
In the online business space, it can seem like there are thousands of entrepreneurs offering the exact same services or products as you. But as I’ve grown, I’ve realized that there’s more than enough work to go around.
Not only that, but the online business world can feel lonely. To combat that, I make an effort to get to know my “competition.” I’ve made so many friends in the online business community, many of whom are technically my competitors! But instead of competing, we share ideas, refer clients, and collaborate on projects. It’s made work so much more enjoyable, and it’s genuinely helped me scale my business in the past year.
You are allowed to have a selfish why.
For a long time, I had this weird mindset block about earning money. I was afraid people would call me money-hungry if I tried to increase my revenue. When I thought about my why, I genuinely felt selfish.
But the truth is that it’s not selfish to desire more money. You’re allowed to have a why focused entirely on improving your life–traveling more, buying a home, getting out of the paycheck-to-paycheck cycle, you name it! Desiring wealth is nothing to be ashamed of, and it’s certainly not something you should hold yourself back from.
That being said, I still believe in giving back to the community. As I grew my business, I also increased my regular donations to causes I believe in. Doing good makes me feel good!
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