Episode 135. Step-by-Step Guide (Part 3): If You’re Growing to 6 Figures

Today, we are diving into Part 3 of our 3-part series where we are going all in on sharing super specific and practical tips and step-by-step action items or frameworks that you could consider implementing for your own business, today.

For this 3-part series, we will be dedicating each of the upcoming 3 episodes to those of you at different parts of your business and thought leadership journey:

For each phase, I will offer some practical tips and action steps you can start to implement after this episode. I will also touch on some of the biggest blocks that I see come up for our clients who are at each of these stages.

And even if one particular episode/stage may not initially seem relevant to you, I promise there will still be some really foundational nuggets in each of these 3 episodes that will be applicable to you irrespective of which stage you feel like you identify most with.

I sincerely recommend listening to all three episodes of this series.

Let’s dive in.

In This Episode:

Master these 3 skills to take your business to the next level + practical tips

Clients who are at this stage will literally come to me and say, “I’m ready to take it to the next level”.

What often drives this is now that the client has been building their business for many months now, sometimes even at least a year or two, they really want to become even more known for their work and thought leadership.

They want their brand to attract even bigger opportunities besides just growing their coaching business, which was their original goal but now they’re ready to pursue other goals and dreams. They also want to be known for their mission and vision – the why behind why they do what they do.

Honestly, it usually gets pretty deep at this stage. Because now, more than ever, the client is super connected to their work. This stage is so, so exciting. 

When you’re in this stage, you already have evidence that you’re good at your craft, and that people are willing to pay for your work. I have observed that clients at this stage are ready to be even more bold in their messaging. Because their purpose for their work is stronger than ever. And they are so connected to growing their impact and income even further.

For our clients inside The Side Hustle Club (now Thought Leader Club) who are at this stage, where they are growing to their first 6 figures, have already worked on everything we talked about in Part 1 – If You’re Trying to Sign Your First Clients and Part 2 – If You’re Not Signing Clients Consistently of this 3-part series.

Now that they’re ready to grow to their first 6 figures in their business, whether that be lifetime sales or sales per year, there are three skills that I personally leverage in my own business to create 6 figures a year in my own coaching business.

That is exactly what we’ll talk about in this episode.

Skill 1: Become known for your unique thought leadership

In the past two episodes of this 3-part series, we’ve already touched on thought leadership and building a body of work that reflects your thought leadership several times. In this episode, we’re going to turn things up a few notches.

Up until this point, while you’re building your body of work and showcasing your thought leadership in that body of work, my guess is that you’ve been primarily focused on showcasing the THOUGHT component of your thought leadership.

For example, you’ve been sharing the ideas and perspectives that are on the top of your mind and practicing communicating your ideas clearly in a way that lands and is digestible for your audience.

But now, as you’re growing to your first 6 figures, it’s time to also bring out the LEADERSHIP component of your thought leadership. 

The questions I want to offer here is: What is the message you’re leading with? What is the mission you’re building all of this for? What are you willing to lead, to go first? 

At this point in your business journey, you might have hit certain income goals like your first 5k or 10k month. You’ve signed a number of clients and when you look at the numbers, you have evidence that you can create your first 100k or even a 100k year. 

Now that you’re gearing up to 6 figures, it’s time to think bigger and step into the role of a leader for your people and for what you’re building in this world. When we look around at all the coaches and entrepreneurs who have created 6 figures or 7 figures or beyond, they all stand for something. 

Be willing to take risks and step outside of your coaching niche or coaching industry as a whole, as you clarify your message, your movement, your manifesto.

Start looking within and beyond what everyone else around you is doing. 

Leverage what’s already innately in you and what has shaped you into who you are today, and be inspired by ideas and perspectives from beyond your niche and industry.

Take risks in your body of work and thought leadership to create something that no one else is doing.

Consider my program, The Side Hustle Club (now Thought Leader Club). The message that my program exudes and embodies is that people like us care about building our business in a way that lets us make time for the other parts of our life.

People like us? We know how to work hard, yet we still care deeply about being present for areas of our life that don’t immediately have a monetary return-on-investment (ROI), like our health or spending time with our loved ones, or volunteering for causes we care about.

We have big business goals and dreams. We have a vision for the business and brand we want to build.

But we are not willing to do this or do it in a way that comes at the expense of our health, wellbeing and time. We work hard, rest hard and play hard. 

This message rings clear through to my audience and clients because I’ve weaved this message, this movement, this manifesto through my podcast episodes, Instagram content and every other touchpoint I have with my people. This is what my program, The Side Hustle Club (now Thought Leader Club), stands for.

It is abundantly clear to my people that when you’re inside my container, you’re surrounded by others who share these values as well.

What do YOU and your programs or your work stand for? How can you infuse this message, this movement, this manifesto into your content and all the touch points you have with your people?

That is how you start to not just share your thoughts, but also lead with your thoughts. 

The first two questions I want you to unpack for yourself is:

• Why do you and your clients as well as your community at large do what you do? 
• Why do you all care about this? 

Start there first. That will give us insight as to what your message/movement/manifesto is. This is what you want to spend time crafting a body of work around, so that over time, people know you for this. 

Once you have an answer to this, I want you to think about two more layers to this:

• First, what is your story that led you to develop this message?
• Second, how does this message influence the way you help clients inside your program or services? 

Your answers to these two latter questions will give us information into the particular pieces of content you can create and share, so that you can communicate your message to your audience and clients. 

For instance, going back to how my program is known for its emphasis on doing the bare minimum number of things really, really well, so that you can ultimately make time for the other parts of your life that matter.

Firstly, my personal story that led me to develop this message stemmed from my own business burnout in 2019/2020. When I literally burnt out and quit my business for 7 months, before deciding, “You know what, I want to try this again. But this time, I’ve got to do things differently.”

This whole message/movement/manifesto literally stems from my personal experiences. My truth about my business has now shaped the entrepreneur that I am today and how I run my business.

Secondly, regarding how this message now influences the way I help clients inside my program is pretty self explanatory when you look at my core philosophies as a coach and what I teach my clients.

In layman terms, I help clients build a simple business and learn to become super efficient at their business activities like creating marketing for their offer or building their body of work on a weekly basis.

These concepts I’m known for, such as building a simple business and being efficient at your work, stem from my own story and it has now shaped how I help my clients. So my audience can clearly understand why I teach what I teach.

These things that I’m now known for, they may not necessarily be the most innovative or groundbreaking ideas. Many coaches and mentors teach you how to build a simple, efficient and profitable business, just as I do.

But the reason I’m still known for this is because:

1) What I talk about and what I teach, all stems from MY story, my truth and my experiences. People can see that link. They can see the meaning all of this holds for me. I’m not just teaching it because I saw someone else teach it and now I’m copying them or ripping off someone else’s process. There is a genuine story behind my process.

2) Because my approach and my coaching has actually helped clients and helped them create results in their business and brand. It’s as simple as that. It works and it helps people. Over time, it is another contributor to why I’m known for this. 

Right now, as you’re turning up your thought leadership by a few notches, remember that your thought leadership doesn’t necessarily have to be original or groundbreaking or revolutionary.

But it has to stem from your truth, your own lived experiences and it has to be helpful to your people. This helps you fully embody your thought leadership because it is truly yours. When you’re embodying what you teach and preach, your audience and clients can tell.

For our client Betty, thought leadership is the skill that helped her to make the transition to full-time entrepreneur AND to make back 2x the investment of our program in both rounds of working together. Even as a brand new coach!

She started her coaching business from scratch and also made a brand new Instagram account. By the end of our two rounds of working together, Betty made the transition to full time entrepreneur. She also made back 2x the investment of our program both rounds of working together. Even with less than 300 Instagram followers at that point in time. 

What we worked on to achieve this:

1) Really showcasing Betty’s thought leadership even though she was starting her online presence from scratch.

Through our coaching together, Betty created some really cool concepts and frameworks that specifically resonate with her particular target audience.

She was able to draw inspiration from her past personal and professional experience to create very thought provoking content that allowed her audience to see that Betty not only gets them, but that Betty is also a really, really good coach.

2) We also helped Betty build her brand new body of work and being highly intentional with it. We focused on quality over quantity and managing her energy and capacity. Because Betty was still side hustling during our coaching together so it was of utmost importance to not burn out.

So, so good.

So much is truly possible when you’re known for your unique thought leadership and when you build a body of work that reflects that thought leadership.

This is also why thought leadership is the first of three skills that I’m advocating you to master and hone as well if you’re now growing your online business to your first 6 figures.

Skill 2: Soft launching and build a simple, time efficient business

When you learn to leverage soft launching in your business, not only will you book sales calls and get applications to your programs and actually sign clients to your programs, but you will also be able to build your business on just 0-2 hours a day.

And ultimately be able to make time for the other parts of your life that matter to you, while growing your business and making money.

But what on earth does soft launching even mean? Soft launching simply refers to learning to talk about your offer and how you can help your clients in a way that compels people to actually take the next step (ex: book a sales call).

It’s about creating the “soft launch” content that people want and need to see in order to understand the value of your offer, right now.

In my definition, there is no “requirement” to talk about your offer every single day, which is generally what you might choose to do if you’re launching within a specific time frame.

In a soft launch, you get to talk about your offer here and there, whenever your capacity allows you to or even whenever you feel really excited to talk about your offer. There’s no need to sell your offer every single day. 

Whereas, in a typical launch, you feel pressured to generate as much demand as possible during a short time frame. So you essentially go all in on your marketing efforts during this short time line, which usually will mean you’re selling your offer every single day during your launch.

That is the exact reason why “traditional” launches are often described as “really stressful”. Because of the pressure of signing clients during a short timeframe. This stress from the short timeline is precisely why I teach soft launching inside my coaching program.

Doing a launch successfully and managing your thoughts and emotions during a launch are two entirely different and much-needed skills, so we opt to do soft launching instead to simplify your business.

To help you to think about what soft launching content can look like in your business, I want to share with you the two types of soft launch content I teach inside The Side Hustle Club (now Thought Leader Club) program: 

1) Content that addresses your ideal client’s questions, hesitations, and objections
2) Content that showcases your offer as the “Dream Offer” for your Dream Client

For the former, I want you to start thinking about:

• What are their questions, hesitations, or objections about your offer?
• What are their questions, hesitations, or objections about you as the coach?
• What are their questions, hesitations, or objections about themselves?

The purpose of this first type of soft launch content is to address what they think is difficult and complicated, but it’s actually simple and doable.

How can you help them open up their mind to the possibility that it could be simple and doable, especially with the tools, coaching, and processes you teach and offer inside your program?

What are all the inner dialogue or external blocks that are really getting in their way from even trying to take the first step, that you can help to dissipate?

How can you help them see that what they’re currently thinking is the case, actually doesn’t have to be the case? And there’s always another way of looking at things or doing things?

This is exactly the first type of soft launch content to create.

Please take some time to answer those questions and then create content based on your answers.

Then for the latter: 

• How is your offer designed to facilitate client results? 
• How is your offer designed for your specific ideal client’s circumstances? 
• How is your offer different from other options on the market? 

The goal of this type of content is to highlight what’s possible as a result of your program, the coaching you offer, and everything else you teach or include inside your program.

Because more often than not, clients are hesitant to invest in coaching because they think it might not work for them.

Maybe they’ve already tried several different approaches or courses or programs, but they still didn’t get the results they were hoping for. Now they’re really doubtful of whether your program can help them, specifically them.

How can you create content that showcases the efficacy of your coaching? That no matter what circumstances the client has or limiting beliefs they have about themselves, your coaching program or services is still going to be helpful for them.

This is the second type of soft launch content to create.

The common thread between the two types of soft launch content is to help the client strengthen their belief in what they want, and help them make that stronger than all the doubts that they hold about why the thing that they want isn’t possible or isn’t going to work for them.

Your job as the coach or entrepreneur is to hold that belief and communicate your belief in why it’s possible for the client to create the results they want and no matter what their unique circumstances or limiting beliefs are, that they can still do this.

What this essentially means is that you first have to work on your belief, so that you can show up and lead with that energy and belief. Otherwise, how can your clients feel confident about investing in your program if they can’t even sense your confidence and belief as the leader?

Put another way: Confidence. Confidence sells. That is no exception when it comes to soft launching for your offer.

Fun fact. Soft launching is the specific skill that helped our client Jennifer make back 2x the investment of our program in 3 months in 2023, after going through a long client drought period in 2022.

When Jennifer first reached out about working together, she was in a long client drought in 2022. This led to decreased sales and confidence in her business.

In just 3 months, Jennifer had already made back 2x the investment of our program in 3 months. Right now, it’s the end of July as of recording this episode, Jennifer has booked over 40 sales calls as someone who creates websites for professors, coaches and academics for their online presence. Most of those sales calls have moved forward to become actual clients.

How we were able to help Jennifer do this:

1) First, we coached Jennifer on soft launching and creating content that builds demand for her offer.

2) Second, we coached on Jennifer’s confidence in selling and making offers (After a long ‘client drought’, we had taken the time to rebuild Jennifer’s confidence in talking about her work).

3) Finally, we coached Jennifer on closing sales calls and also rebuilding her confidence and calmness on sales calls.

Jennifer’s results alone speaks volumes as to the impact of soft launching as well as the importance of rebuilding your confidence, especially if you’ve gone through a season of low or no sales in your business. AWESOME.

Now, let’s chat about the third core skill for entrepreneurs who are growing to their first 6 figures.

Skill 3: Build a uniquely differentiated brand

By leveraging and implementing the skills of thought leadership and soft launching, you’ll already be building a brand that is genuine and honest to you, and uniquely differentiates you.

Both thought leadership and soft launching require you to be proud of what you’re saying, what you’re doing, how you’re selling and so on. When you’re truly backing what you’re saying and doing, people can tell, and this reflects positively in the overall brand that you create.

That said, what does brand really mean? How do you actually build a brand? 

In my opinion, the way I view a brand that is “working” is when:

• You’re known for something
• People actually think of XYZ when they think of you (and you’ve intentionally positioned yourself to be known for XYZ)

I personally feel these are the three primary components for building your brand:

• Decide what you want to be known for 
• Build a body of work that showcases that 
• Express yourself

Your brand could be built using so many tools. And the tool that comes to mind most is visual branding.

How are your visuals? Whether it’s the colors or fonts you use, or how your brand photos and website look, how is your visual branding capturing attention and expressing what you want it to express?

And beyond visuals, your brand could be built on how you are demonstrating your leadership skills. How are you walking the walk? How are you taking care of your mind and body, beyond just work and business and making money?

What is the energy that your content gives off? What body language do you exude when you’re on video? And so much more.

The way I see it, everything is a tool for us to build our brand. Everything you’re doing or who you’re being, translates into this elusive thing called a brand.

While there are endless ways to “build a brand” because everyone can be considered a tool that helps you “build a brand”, I think it might be helpful for us to have a discussion on how NOT to build a brand.

A very common thing I’ve coached clients on is whether their brands are too personal or not professional enough.

Let me address this by first sharing my experience. It’s been 4.5+ years since I started my coaching business, and nearly 5 years since I started creating content online.

Throughout the years, I’ve gotten numerous comments from my audience, colleagues, and people I know in real life about what I should/should not do in my brand and unsolicited advice on how I can better my brand image.

For example:

  • You share too many cats on your Instagram, it might make your clients think you’re not professional.
  • You shouldn’t use the word “Theory” for your concepts – How about the word “framework” or “success blueprint” instead?
  • Your Instagram stories are too text heavy, people don’t have the time or patience to read what you write.
  • Your Instagram feed aesthetic is quite messy and chaotic, maybe you could plan it out more? It might help your audience if they’re scrolling through your feed.
  • Maybe you shouldn’t talk about XYZ – It might be too personal / too much / etc.
  • And so on…

Each time, my immediate reaction is usually to freak out and think that I need to change things NOW.

But I also quickly recollect myself and remember that while the other person has good intentions and wants to help me, I need to think for myself first and foremost. I see where they’re coming from. I get the logic behind people’s specific suggestions for me.

But will I apply their suggestions? Sometimes. It depends.

No matter what, I always need to review my brand first and what I want my brand to be, before making any decisions.

One of the biggest pitfalls for coaches, entrepreneurs, thought leaders, and side hustlers who are building a brand is that they lose their voice amidst the noise of people saying you should do this and/or you shouldn’t do this.

When you don’t ground into what you want your brand to be, you end up making drastic changes to your brand and start to lose self trust in your ability to build a compelling and authentic personal brand.

The more we take on other people’s suggestions rather than trusting our own voice, these tends to follow:

  • We end up sounding and looking like everyone else on the Internet
  • We no longer captive our people’s attention or “stop the scroll”
  • Our brilliance cannot shine through because of all the “shoulds” and “should nots” that we impose on ourselves
  • We may even become a commodity in the marketplace, where clients will gauge whether to work with you based on whether you offer the cheapest option (versus if you stood in your brand and owned your voice boldly and confidently, clients can see that you are THE best and only option for them)

In my opinion, the biggest consequence is that we ultimately stop trusting our thoughts, ideas, opinions, and perspectives. That is a really shaky foundation to build our business on.

Here’s the homework of the day for you:

1) What % of your brand do you want to be more “business-focused” and professional?

2) What % of your brand do you want to be more personal and relatable?

Remember: You get to choose the ratio of [Business : Personal] for your brand. Some people might lean more towards 70% professional and 30% personal, some might be 50-50 and so on.

You also get to choose what constitutes “business content” and what is “personal content” for your specific brand. For example, showing my cats and going to cocktail bars for date night is an integral part of the personal side of my brand, but you will never see me share much about my family members (or even their faces) to protect their privacy.

It’s truly up to you. There’s no right or wrong, no better or worse. Ultimately, it needs to align with your values and your long-term goals for your brand and business.

As you start to think about the different tools you can use to build your brand, be highly aware of the “shoulds” and “should nots” you’re unconsciously subscribing to, which are actually limiting the potency of your brand.

When you’re able to build a uniquely differentiated brand, you’ll be able to stand out in a sea of competitors, start taking steps towards your 3-5 year vision and dreams such as attracting speaking opportunities, creating ultra high brand awareness and demand for your signature programs. You’ll also feel proud of your online presence and what you’ve built so far.

This is exactly the work we did with one of our clients, Kim.

Prior to working together, Kim was able to sign several clients here and there, but not consistently. She was also charging less than $1,000 USD previously and spending 29 hours a week working on her business, on top of her traditional full-time job!

Through building a uniquely differentiated brand, Kim signed her first 16x high ticket coaching clients.

What we worked on specifically for Kim include:

1) Cultivating a uniquely differentiated brand that is an honest and genuine reflection of her (Kim told me that her “CPA” credential stands for both Certified Public Accountant and Certified Party Animal LOL). Kim used to struggle with feeling like she needs to look and sound like all the other coaches in her niche, create similar content as them, and so on. 

When we first started coaching together, I was quickly able to see that Kim’s genuine personality is a lot more vibrant than how she portrays herself on social media at the time. 

So we coached Kim a lot on making small tweaks in her content, marketing, messaging and overall brand so that it not only reflects who she genuinely is, but is also much more captivating and resonates deeply with her audience and hence clients.

2) We added more structure to her business and cut down her hours by half, so she can actually have time to go live her life. Finally, we helped Kim become a known thought leader in the financial coaching industry and she was even invited to speak on the Dr. Phil talk show.

Ultimately, when it comes to leveraging the skill or BRAND to grow your business to 6 figures, it really comes down to what kind of energy do you want to emanate through your brand?

Make a decision on that, and then leverage different practical tools such as visuals to really exude that energy and let it shine through.

Going after ALL of your life, career, and business dreams, beyond just building a successful coaching business

When you are able to really master these three skills: signing clients, helping people and making money – these are the immediate goals.

If you’re building any business, making money and ideally making money doing work that you genuinely enjoy, that’s the immediate goal. 

But my goal for you and for our clients extends beyond that.

I truly, truly hope that as you continue this journey, you will start to have the capacity and resources to:

1) build your dream lifestyle that lets you have a blend of work and life

2) create global impact and be recognized all around the world

3) to go after ALL of your wildest dreams and pursuits, beyond just the coaching or online service based business you’re currently building today

Here’s why this all matters, a lot.

Whether you want to continue building your business alongside a traditional career, or you want to take your business full-time, my goal is for you to have the option to choose. 

From the many clients I’ve worked with over the years, I also know that they deeply desire having an international presence and work with clients from all around the globe.

Many of them see my business as an example of what’s possible for them. They see that my clients and community come from all over the world, and that gives them a glimpse into the type of impact that they, too, want to have in this world.

This is highly possible when you’re in this game of entrepreneurship for the long run and are committed to sharpening certain skills that will take your business and brand to the next level.

Finally, I know that for you all who listen to this podcast, as much as you identify as someone who has a relentless work ethic and knows how to put in the work, I know that you still want to have the time, energy and financial capacity to pursue things besides just work.

I sincerely hope that you’ll stay committed to this journey of building and growing your business so that you can soon reach a point where your business allows you the option to create the capacity and resources to pursue everything that matters to you, in addition to your big audacious dream of creating a highly successful online business.

I hope that this 3-part series has been helpful to you in some ways, and has given you something to think about and implement in your own business and brand, irrespective of the stage of business you’re in.

Listen to the first 2 parts of the 3-part series:

Thank you so, so much for taking the time to listen in on this episode and the rest of this 3-part series. I truly appreciate you and your support for this show. I’ll see you all very soon. 

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