“The superior man understands what is right; the inferior man understands what will sell.” — Confucius
If you’re like every other wild-eyed entrepreneur out there, you’re likely enthralled in the 9-to-5 hustle, trying to make a mark and a name for yourself with the goal of building a multi-million dollar business. Yet, with so many entrepreneurs immersed in the struggle to build a notable business, very few survive, let alone make it to the proverbial apex of the mountain.
The truth is that it’s downright difficult to build a multi-million dollar business. It’s a constant and never-ending rat race that often seems to blow up in our faces. With so many financial obligations, most people not only fail to build their multi-million dollar business, but they also fail to keep the doors open.
The hard facts and statistics are working against us. Statistics from the Department of Commerce tell us that approximately 7 out of every 10 businesses fail in the first year of operations. When we extend that timeline, even those that make it past the first year never actually hit the 10-year mark. Only 4 out of every 100 businesses are still around after the first decade.
Now, if that doesn’t frighten you, then not much will. Clearly, you’re in it to win it. So the question then becomes, what sets the winners apart from the losers? How do certain individuals know just how to build a multi-million dollar business from the ground up with little to no cash to begin with? How do they bootstrap their success, pushing past barriers and breaking through limitations?
It’s not easy. I’m not going to sit here and tell you that it is by any means. But it is simpler when you employ the right habits in business. Habits offer up the pathway to the achievement of our goals. They put things on autopilot, allowing you to inch closer and closer every single day, without much added effort. It’s behavior that’s ingrained into our minds.
Naturally, it goes without saying that when you have the right habits, you can achieve just about anything. When a person has good eating habits and they constantly work out every single day, drink enough water, and watch what they eat, they lose weight almost effortlessly. It’s not a diet, it’s a lifestyle. Similar things apply for making money by consistently investing or avoiding extraneous expenses.
So, what are the best habits for building up a multi-million dollar business? How do you go from zero to hero? And how do you do that on a shoestring budget? Now, consider the fact that building a multi-million dollar business is a big goal. I would liken this to losing hundreds of pounds in weight or some other massive and seemingly unachievable effort. It’s not easy whatsoever. But it is possible.
Whether or not you’ve already incorporated your business, or you’re simply planning to do so in the future, it’s important to focus on certain habits to help you build your business from the ground up if you’re serious about creating a multi-million dollar empire. It won’t be easy, but with the right amount of focus and effort, it will be possible.
What are the best habits to have in business?
No matter what line of work you’re in, whether you’re selling products, services or information, there are some habits that trump others when it comes to building up your business. Clearly, you have to avoid bad habits like the plague. Bad habits will hold you back and deter you from achieving your multi-million-dollar-business dreams.
However, since we’re talking about a multi-million dollar business here, and not just some standard operation, excellence will be demanded of you. You’ll need to master your behavior if you’re serious about pushing into seemingly uncharted waters that require an acute sense of skill and dexterity, along with persistent determination and action.
#1 — Set daily business goals
Okay, let’s start from the ground up. Even before you make the foray into business, you need to set some goals for yourself. Not only do you need a set of long-term goals for your business, but you also need to create a set of daily business goals. How? Break your long-term goals down into milestones.
Milestones are bite-sized versions of your bigger goals. They’re like markers on the pathway towards achievement. By splitting your goals down into milestones, you have a short-term target. Often, it’s hard to just focus on the big goals. In fact, it’s frustrating thinking about how you’re going to get from one point to the next and achieve such a massive goal.
Daily business goals are simply milestones that you set every single day and work towards their achievement. For example, in sales, you might have the goal of selling a million dollars worth of product in a year. But when you break that goal down into daily goals, it becomes less enormous.
When the daily goal is to sell $2,739 worth of whatever it is you’re selling (if you’re working 365 days a year that is), it doesn’t feel as insurmountable as thinking about $1 million dollars over the course of the year. So, you would take your day and consider what you needed to do to achieve that goal.
Maybe you need to make 20 sales calls or maybe you need to send out 100 emails or maybe it’s something else. Whatever it is, you can better track that with daily goal setting. But if you fail to set daily goals, you’ll likely lose sight of that bigger prize by feeling frustrated and all-consumed by the enormity of a million other tasks that need to be done.
#2 — Wake up early every single morning
If you’re at all serious about building a multi-million dollar business, you need to wake up early every morning. Period. Without question. You cannot build a multi-million dollar business by being lazy or waking up late. It simply isn’t possible. There is so much that demands your attention throughout the day that if you can’t wake up early, you won’t have the time or mental capacity to deal with all the tasks required of you.
The mornings offer you a reprieve from the chaos of the day. It’s when the world is so still and silent, allowing you to press forward with building out your master plan, whatever that might be. It gives you a sense of awareness and an acute understanding for everything that needs to be done throughout the course of the day.
Waking up early takes some effort. Especially if you’re not a morning person to begin with, you’ll need to train your body and your mind to wake up early. How? Use the micro-changes approach. Start by setting your clock back 15 minutes for the first week. Ensure that you wake up 15 minutes earlier than usual, but do it every single day for 7 days straight.
The next week? Another 15 minutes earlier. However, the key to this is not missing a single day. If you miss a day, tack on an extra day for the day you missed before moving 15 minutes earlier each week. Do this for 8 to 12 weeks straight until you’re waking up 2 to 3 hours earlier than you usually are.
3 hours sounds extreme doesn’t it? Again, that’s the long-term goal. However, 15 minutes is easier to consume, isn’t it? That’s the beauty of focusing on micro changes. You can do a little bit each day to move you closer to the bigger picture of what it is you really want. Remember, these are all means to an end.
#3 — Chase and eat the frog
Mark Twain is famously quoted as saying, “If it’s your job to eat a frog, it’s best to do it first thing in the morning. And If it’s your job to eat two frogs, it’s best to eat the biggest one first.” By telling you to eat the frog, he’s talking about tackling the bigger items on your to-do list first. Get those out of the way, then move forward.
If you have two important items on your to-do list, do the bigger one first. By doing this, you’re making big strides early on in the day. In a book that I wrote called, “Chasing the Frog: How to Achieve Success In Life By Building An Empowering Morning Routine,” I talk about this concept and specifically how to achieve success by implementing this tactic.
There’s a certain amount of momentum that builds up when you chase and eat the frog. You don’t realize it until just after that frog has been eaten. You gain this courage and motivation to push through all the other small stuff that needs to be done. In short, it gives you a big win at the very start of the day.
Chasing the frog is also one of the best ways to ensure you’re pursuing your long-term goals by focusing on the things that will move you closest to them. These are the items on your to-do list that might not be urgent, but they are most certainly important. This single habit is one of the best habits to have in business if you’re at all serious about creating a multi-million dollar company.
#4 — Effectively manage your time
One of the best habits you can have in business (and in life) is to effectively manage your time. We all have the same amount of time in this world no matter who we are. Not one person has more time than the other. That’s why it’s the greatest equalizer. However, not everyone uses their time effectively.
Those that are ineffective with their time are often faced with an uphill battle. They might say they want to build a better life for themselves and create the next million-dollar or even billion-dollar business, but when it comes down to it, they fail to take action. They waste and squander their time away, essentially throwing their dreams out the window.
If you’re at all serious about building a big business, you can’t waste your time. You have to use it wisely. Leverage a system for managing your time such as the quadrant time management system, which breaks your time down into four different quadrants based on two metrics: urgency and importance.
Things are either urgent, important, or some combination of the two. The trick is to ensure that you’re not engaging in the time wasters, but rather putting your attention towards the items that will help you move forward and make progress on a given day while also doing your best to avoid things like interruptions of your time.
#5 — Start blogging like the wind
Okay, it goes without saying that a big business needs a professional website. However, when it comes to actual habits, you should get into the routine of blogging and creating excellent content for your company’s website on a regular basis. Why? Blogging is one of the key ingredients in expanding your audience, building your authority and gaining visibility through search engines like Google.
Building a blog is also one of the most cost effective ways that you can gain the attention of prospective customers around the world. This is not something that you should be overthinking. Simply start writing and you’ll just get better over time. Like any other practice, this involves repetition and persistence.
If you don’t have a blog, you need to start one immediately. If you lack the skill or knowledge to setup that blog, find someone that can assist you. Do whatever it takes to get this up and running immediately. Ensure you have a great domain name for your business and start educating people about your industry or niche. Teach them things. Give away the farm.
It sounds counter-productive. I know. But it’s not. This is how you build a multi-million dollar business. However, don’t expect this to pay you returns quickly by any means. It will take time. But it’s well worth the time that you’ll invest. As long as you put care and detail into the posts, and you ensure that you deliver enormous amounts of value, you’ll gain traction slowly.
#6 — Measure and track everything
If you’re serious about building a multi-million dollar business, you need to measure and track everything. And I mean everything. How much does it cost to manufacture or produce your product? I mean the exact cost. How about to provide a service? Including all your insurance costs, taxes and other overhead.
How many sales calls do you make in a week? How many of those result in sales? Who are your biggest customers? What was your profit and loss the last 6 months? What’s your conversion rates and your other fixed costs? What does it take to keep the proverbial lights on? I mean everything.
The more you can measure and track, the more you can understand what needs to be done to move closer to your goals. If you fail to track and you ignore certain things, you’ll surely fail. It’s only inevitable. Even if it hurts to face the financial truth at times, it’s an important part of the process if you’re serious about achieving your dreams.
Setup spreadsheets so that you can track all of your progress. If you set proper long-term goals, and you’re setting your daily business goals, then measuring and tracking should help you gauge the effectiveness of your work every single day. Assess you progress at the end of the day and see just how close you came to your daily goals.
#7 — Deliver enormous amounts of value no matter what
Yes, this is a habit. Get in the habit of delivering value. I mean real value. Don’t look at ways to cut corners or do the least amount of work for the greatest return. You won’t succeed like that. Look at delivering huge value. I’m talking in everything that you do. Right down to the over-exuberant customer service you give your clients.
The world’s most successful businesses and successful individuals have delivered the most amount of value. Plain and simple. That’s how it works. Deliver huge value and you’ll win. Period. However, all too often, people fail to deliver value. They overlook this habit by trying to do the least amount of work for the greatest return.
You cannot build a multi-million dollar business by faltering in the value department. You simply can’t. I’m not just talking about value to your customers. I’m talking about breathing value into everything that you do, right down to the very core and fiber of your being. It can’t work any other way.
Delivering value also involves paying attention to the finest details. It means being meticulous in your approach to your business. It means taking care of your customers and going quite literally out of your way for them. That’s what’s involved in building something notable. Do that and you will prosper over time.