13 Pillars Plan –How to make $1.3MILLION in 2013
by BlessedTrades
Here We Are…Approaching the End of 2012, and The Start of 2013!
Personally and professionally, 2012 was a great year for me, yet a challenging one. I successfully managed my own 3 businesses and was able to generate a combined 6 figures income.
As I have always believed on giving back once one succeed, and also, I haven’t really been engaging enough on the forum so far as I would have wanted to, I decide to make that a top priority on my list for this coming year. And why not start today.
The $1.3MILLION in the title probably caught your attention, and that’s great, because if you apply the following principles in your business in this coming year, you will be able to make that $1.3M or even more, as this is the exact plan I have set for me to take my business from 6 figures to $1.3M in 2013.
Each of the 13 pillars is capable to bring you much more than dollar value to your business, and believe me when I say that. Through my 3 businesses [1. Offline Consulting Business (SEO and Social Media) / 2. Mobile Media Firm / 3. A portfolio of Web Properties)], I have seen, red, and heard pretty much everything from SEO, Adsence, CPA, ppc, ect…and at the end of the day, for all of this to work, it needs to be built on strong grounds.
So, without further delay, here we go:
PILAR 1: The basics: Vision | Plan | Execute
I’m not going to waste to much time on this one, as we have heard it all. But, it’s the most CRUCIAL part for everything else to work correctly. It’s important that you develop a plan for where you want to take your businesses and how you intend to get there. A plan your roadmap to help you get where you want to go- whether that’s to grow your revenue to seven figures or to expand or buy new equipment for your business.
[INDENT][/INDENT]ACTION> Write down your Plan, and Include a performance management section in it to be able to measure and stick to your goals.
PILAR 2: Allow your own brand to shine through in all that you do + EXPAND
If your business is supposed to be a representation of yourself, then what is your business saying? Develop Your identity, and make sure that you carry that identity EVERYWHERE (on your social media channels, in meetings, ect).
No matter what your marketing plan is, the one thing that should NEVER change is the priority to market, publicize and let potential clients/customers and businesses related to yours KNOW that you’re OPEN FOR BUSINESS and meeting the needs of the day.
[INDENT][/INDENT]ACTION> To expend: Begin to develop a national footprint! Expand the number of channels you sell on (That alone, can take your business from $2000/month to $20,000/month, or from $20K/month to $200K/month)
PILAR 3: Review your Training and Development Strategy and Concentrate on what works first
Did you deliver in 2012? Now is a time when you should take some time off to reflect on what you have achieved during the year. If your business has been slackened off or failed to follow up on agreed actions, then take this time to review your T&D strategy and see if your actions are aligned to that strategy – if not, fix it!
[INDENT][/INDENT]ACTION> Don’t abandon tried and tested marketing techniques for the latest (unproven) techniques. If email marketing or paid search works for you – try and optimize these channels and invest more heavily. Remember there is no such thing as expensive or cheap marketing. There is just marketing that works and marketing that doesn’t. (If you fix the bad actions of 2012, and invest($) more on what worked, then again you would be able to take your business from $2000/month to $20,000/month, or from $20K/month to $200K/month)
PILAR 4: Update your LinkedIn profile:
This pillar alone has generated me 35,000$ of revenue this year. For those still in denial about the power of social media, give up. With over 175 million registered users, LinkedIn is the professional network you need to join. An up-to-date LinkedIn profile helps you stand out from the crowd, allows you to market your skills and abilities and helps you build your business and professional contact base.
[INDENT][/INDENT]ACTION> (You can take your business to great levels of $$$ if you take the time to build new connections and new contact on Linkin. If you don’t have time OUTSOURCE (See Pilar 8)
PILAR 5: Join a business organization or networking group specific to your industry/niche:
BHT is a great place to start, especially if you’re in the IM sector. But if you’re in a different sector, you need to ALSO be part of a networking group specific to that niche, in addition to learning great marketing strategies on BHT.
Industry-specific business organizations are a great way to keep up with advances in your field, contribute to the growth of your industry, make contacts and learn from others’ strengths and skills. Other benefits of joining a business network group include:
• Generation of referrals
• Opportunities for joint ventures, presentation talks, business promotion, client leads or sales
• Increased database of contacts
• Increased confidence in yourself, your ability and your business
PILAR 6: Focus on testing and continuous improvement.
Test and Optimize Everything: The returns from your paid search, email marketing and website conversion strategies could always be better. Take the time to test, learn and optimize everything. Don’t fall into the trap of benchmarking your success against your competitors. (AGAIN, that alone, can take your business from $2000/month to $20,000/month, or from $20K/month to $200K/month)
PILAR 7: Be an engager. Online and Offline.
(THAT’s My #1 goal this year) If you do it offline, as I have been doing a lot, great. But online is a must (FBK, TW, Forums, Blog, ect). Spending time looking and reading but not giving feedback is ok (and is the majority of the social web, btw). But if you want your year to be more gratifying, try delivering some engagement on someone else’s wall/forum thread – leave a note, write a well thought-out blog response, or send a private message of gratitude. It’s so easy to be a listener, lurker or voyeur. Let’s challenge ourselves to not leave the party without saying ‘goodbye’ and “thank you”. It’ll go miles.
PILAR 8: OUTSOURCE
Don’t let the physical size of your warehouse or the difficulties in hiring and firing staff to reflect the fluctuations in business throughout the year prevent you from expanding.
ACTION> Go to sites likes Odesk, Guru, Elance, TaskArmy, Freelancer and look for the best quality for the best price deal. And outsource as much as you can, to be able to free yourself for more important tasks.
PILAR 9: Show, don’t tell.
Social media is a very public and crowded place. The Internet is full of white papers, statistics, research, and over 500 million blogs, and content grows exponentially each second. Don’t get me wrong. I love stats and can’t get enough of them. But pay attention to your digital body language and get out there – setup that new blog, or deliver an authentic marketing program that shows you understand how people (not just your customers) use the web to consume. Whatever you do, walk the walk – people are watching.
PILAR 10: Be more efficient.
What products and/or services have you added, deleted or modified this past year? Is there a more efficient way to organize your team or office space? Are you behind on your filling? If you are a mom and pop shop or a sole proprietor, it will be well worth the investment to hire a part time administrative assistant, even just for a few days, to help get you organized before you jump into 2013.
PILAR 11: List Your Top 5 Tech Headaches and Resolve to Fix Them for 2013
ACTION> This one is very plain simple. Make a list, and really take the time to find a solution for each, before you start the year. (ex. Are your employees/outsourcers complaining about out-of-date software/printers not working, the level of cust serv from one of your providers is awful, ect)
PILAR 12. Take care of yourself.
Get in the habit of scheduling a mini vacation for yourself every week. What is your image saying about you?
How is your health? Are you happy with your weight?
ACTION> Invest in yourself: Internet technology allows us to automate a great many aspects of our business lives. Get things lined up and let them run. Watching figures rise and fall on a computer screen will not help you sell more (unless you take positive action to improve them). Try to finish work on time, spend some quality time with the family and enjoy yourself.
PILAR 13: Give back
Make a decision to give something back. It is so rewarding, it might be a donation of money or time to a charity. It might be a sponsorship deal or finding something meaningful to do with your family. What ever you decide, commit to it, because it is so true that what you give is returned to you and then some.
BONUS PILAR: Try something insanely new.
Being in this business a long time now, I’ve heard marketers time and again utter the career-suicidal words, “We’ve tried it all.” There will always be someone out-innovating, out-performing and thinking up out-landish ways to get the attention of their audience (and when you meet them, make friends with them – trust me, it’s in your best interest). Sure, there are programs that work, best practices and proven methodologies. But just think how much more fulfilling, not to mention fun, your job would be if you just tried one thing that is new and different to you. If you have never blogged, ask to guest post. If (God forbid) you’re not on Twitter, join and tweet. There are so many things you could do, but the important part is that you actually DO IT, in order to move the needle.
Over the next couple of days, I will share you some more insights, and some of the specific great tools/strategies that I have been able to use to help me succeed in my business.
