Do you want to grow your service business? If so, grab a pen and paper and get ready to make notes because I’m about to drop some insight on you…
When Rob and I first started our service business, we struggled. You’ve probably heard our story. Then we figured things out and turned things around.
We went from making less than a million a year to more than a million… to $10 million… to $20 million… to $30 million.
When we sold our service business in 2017, we were over $30 million a year.
The thing is: when people think about growth, they think of growth as being one straight line upward. But it’s not. That’s what I discovered as we ascended toward $30+ million a year. I was under a delusion that my service business would great steadily like that but I discovered the reality was something different.
The reality? There are dips and curves along the way, and most businesses really grow from dip to dip.
Getting to a million is a big goal that people have but as soon as they hit it, they encounter a mental block and can’t grow beyond. Why? Because $1 million is a round number and a big target for a lot of people and once they hit that target they just can’t think about what’s next.
Then some people get over that mental block and keep growing. They grow to about $5 million and stop again. Why? Because it’s another big target for a lot of people and once they hit that target they just can’t think about what’s next.
In fact, if you asked the people who grew from $1 million to $5 million, they’d tell you that the things they did between $0 and $1 million were VERY VERY different than the things that took them from $1 million to $5 million.
And that’s true as you ascend up the financial scale to $15 million, $20 million, $30 million, $40 million (and so on… all the way up to $100 million and beyond).
You see, the delusion is: it’s a straight line of growth and as soon as you figure it out, you’ll keep making more money.
But the reality is different: there are dips and curves as you grow. Each dip occurs at a point you hold as a precious target that you were working toward. And it becomes a dip for two reasons:
The first reason it happens is that, in your mind, you achieved your target and everything you’ve been working toward has now come true. Your mindset and psychology and inner drive says “We did it! We can stop now!” even though you are looking farther up the growth curve and want to head there.
The second reason it happens (which is a little less psychological and a little more practical) is because the systems and processes and strategies and tactics and methodologies that got you to that point are probably insufficient to get you higher.
This goes back to something you hear me say all the time: “The thinking that got you here won’t get you to where you want to be.”
That goes for both the mindset that got you to where you are, AND the systems/strategies that got you to where you are; both of those types of thinking got you here but are not enough to get you where you want to go.
The thinking that got you to $1 million isn’t sufficient to get you to $5 million. The thinking that got you to $5 million isn’t sufficient to get you to $10 million.
This is true even outside of the world of money: remember back to the very first crush you had on a guy or girl back in school? Your palms were sweaty, your heart raced, you stammered on your words. That thinking (eventually) got you a first date. But if you wanted to progress in relationships beyond that, your thinking had to change.
From that first crush to the first date, to the first serious relationship to the first serious commitment… all the way to having children together and growing old together. The thinking that got you from one stage to the next isn’t enough to get you to the next stage.
(I’m just mentioning that to give you an example outside of the world of business growth and money to show how this is true in other areas of life. But now back to how it impacts your business…)
The impact on your business of these “dips and curves” is: rather than growing steadily upward, you grow and grow until you hit that dip and then you plateau. Then you break through that plateau and grow and grow until you hit the next plateau. Hitting the dips is unavoidable. Worse yet, most people can’t get beyond more than two dips/plateaus in their lifetime. The truly successful people move through many more dips.
Do you want to be more successful in your service business? The surprising, little-known secret is this: the more effectively you can power through the dips, the better. A key question you should always be asking as a service business owner is: How can I accelerate up to a dip, and then power THROUGH a dip as quickly as possible?
I’ll give you 3 strategies here:
Strategy #1 is awareness.
You need to be aware that these dips occur, and that they will occur for you, and they are unavoidable. You will hit plateaus. Maybe you are very fortunate and don’t notice each of the plateaus that I’ve mentioned here but you will hit some. Fortunately, just by reading this article, you are already one step ahead of your competitors who aren’t aware that these dips occur.
Strategy #2 is knowledge.
You need to always be learning and building and growing. Never stop learning. The moment you stop learning is the moment you agree unconsciously that the next dip will be the last one you’ll ever encounter, and that the next plateau is the plateau you’ll ride out for the rest of your life. Always strive to learn more. This is why our Warriors are always growing—because they have committed to ultra-deep, ultra-practical learning that prepares them for the next dips.
Strategy #3 is reverse engineer.
If you want to be really successful to power through each dip then you need to ask yourself: “What exactly is needed 2 stages above where I am now?” Then you need to reverse engineer those systems and processes and strategies and tactics into your business. If you really want to grow, you need to build your business for what it will look like 2 stages from now. (Not just 1 dip from now but 2!)
For example, if you are currently striving to hit $1 million and you really want to grow, then don’t keep thinking the same things; instead, look 2 stages up: past $5 million, to the $10 million dip, and ask yourself: “what does a $10 million dollar company do? What does it look like? ? What systems, processes, strategies, and tactics does a $10 million company do? How does a $10 million company owner act? What kind of team does a $10 million company have?
Read that again
Once you have those details, become bold and build your business for it now. Yes, it seems risky and scary and even a little crazy (people will laugh at you ?) but you’ll accelerate up through each of the dips faster than anyone.
This is such a powerful, game-changing strategy yet almost no-one knows about it… and even among those who do know about it, very few actually do anything about it. So if you take action on this, you’ll grow bigger and faster than most.
Want to really nail down this concept and understand how it works? Want to see what a $30+ million company did (and have it reverse-engineered for you)?
Come to my next Service Business Growth Intensive.
I’ll share this strategy with you in more detail, and then I’ll give you all the systems and processes and strategies and tactics (and even the swipe files) that Rob and I used to grow our business through the dips and curves from $1 million all the way to $30+ million before we sold it. You’ll get everything, reverse-engineered for you, so you all you have to do is implement. Oh, and at Service Business Growth Intensive we help with that too because you’ll get a step-by-step action plan that is customized for your unique situation so you know exactly what and when to implement.
There’s no risk to come to Service Business Growth Intensive, thanks to my Million Dollar Guarantee that promises you’ll get at least $1 million in value or you get a full refund.
And if you register right now at ServiceBusinessGrowth, I’ll even give you a second ticket totally free so you can bring your spouse or business partner to get maximum alignment.
The dips and curves strategy is powerful. Follow the steps I’m sharing with you and come to Service Business Growth Intensive. You’ll power up through the growth curve, and power through each dip faster than ever to get more wealth, freedom, and market domination.
