November last year was six years in business.
This video is for the podcast but also specifically for the mastermind group. Sofia is a legendary business coach. She is doing over 100k a month, which is crazy numbers. We met a couple years ago and spent a few days jamming. I wanted to ask you about doing the hard stuff.
I think the coaching business and the magic business are different, but very similar in the early phases. You cannot afford to hire people. You cannot afford to spend lots of money on ads knowing the ROI will be great in 18 months. You have to do bootstrappy things.
For us that is cold emails using software, contacting past clients and doing the reps.
One big problem members have is this is their first time being a business owner. You could go a week and a half without genuinely doing any work and then wonder why nothing is growing. You say cold email does not work, but you sent 200 emails. That is a joke. That is not a real sample size.
So talk to me about the transition from doing comfortable tasks to actually doing revenue generating work.
In the beginning everything feels like hard work. You think you are doing a lot. Then you compare yourself to someone doing bigger numbers and realise you are not doing that much. It is a numbers game. Roughly 2 percent of your audience at any given time is ready to convert, if you are doing a good job.
You have to do the reps.
I realised I was playing a big game in my head. I was changing messaging, tweaking branding, building my website, doing nonsense tasks. I was not doing revenue generating actions.
What helped me was tracking. I had a simple tracker. If I posted that day, I ticked it. If I messaged 10 plus people, I ticked it. When I signed a client, I could see that I had done all the right tasks. When I did not do them, I did not sign clients. It trained my brain. Message people, sign clients. Post content, sign clients.
If you dabble, you stay in that season longer. My mindset was if I want to hire a VA sooner, I need to hustle now. Wake up early, go to bed late, do the reps.
The best time to hire is when you have undeniable proof something works. If you send 10,000 emails and book three gigs worth 7,500 dollars, you now have data. Someone else can do that job. But you have to master the simple thing first. Do not dabble.
You cannot say something does not work if you gave it a 5 out of 10 effort for 13 days. You have to give it a legit 10 out of 10 effort for a legit period of time to say it does not work.
Sometimes it is not that the strategy does not work. It is one part of it. Maybe it is the audience. Maybe it is the copy. Maybe it is the timing. Test and iterate.
We also talked about pricing.
The first time I coached a client, I charged 1,200 dollars for 12 weeks. I was 22. I had never run a business. Even saying that number was terrifying. I remember walking down my driveway saying it on the phone. She said yes.
Now I do not think about price as an hour of my time. I think about the outcome. I care about the bigger picture. That is why I do not sell random one off sessions. I sell transformation.
When raising prices, it was always scary. I would walk around my house repeating the new investment out loud until it felt normal. I only needed one person to say yes to believe it was possible.
On sales calls, you say the price and you shut up. You do not justify it. Sometimes you mention payment plans, but you anchor the full price first.
Then we talked about systems.
You do not need complex systems at the beginning. A spreadsheet is enough. I did everything manually until around 100k in revenue. What broke was onboarding. Sending contracts manually, welcome emails manually. That is when automation made sense.
Do not automate something that is not yet a problem. Do not get ManyChat when no one is DMing you.
We also talked about brand.
In the beginning, brand is not the priority. Leads and sales are. But at a certain stage, brand matters subconsciously. A beautiful website signals professionalism. It builds trust. It does not replace leads, but it supports them.
Organic content is another conversation.
For four years I grew organically because I did not know ads. Now ads are the main engine. Organic is not my primary lead source. It supports brand and credibility. Some people build 100k months organically, but they post three times a day, every day, for years. Pick your path and commit.
You cannot complain about organic not working if you are not doing 90 posts a month. And you cannot complain about ads not working if you are not willing to spend enough to test properly.
We also talked about profit margins.
When you hear 100k months, it sounds insane. But I spend more on ads per month than I made per month five years ago. To grow, you spend more. The flex becomes how much you can invest, not how much you can hoard.
Early on you bootstrap. Later on, fear of spending money often causes plateaus. It is usually one hire away. One investment away.
Momentum matters. The time you waste thinking about a 50 dollar tool or a 3,000 dollar programme costs you more than the investment itself.
Overpaying is often the cost of growth. You test things. Some do not work. One does. That one unlocks the next level.
Business is like the gym. You cannot dabble and expect results. You need reps and quality. You get what you pay for.
