587. The 7 Things I Did to Generate Over $10 Million in Revenue

I've invested in the Masterminds because I've seen that this is the number one way that I was able to get to a million dollars to multi millions, generating over 10 million in revenue. Hi, I'm Jacqueline Snyder and this is the Product Boss podcast. I've helped launch and grow thousands of product based businesses, even one of my own. And over the last 20 years, I've seen behind the scenes of businesses just like yours. Whether they are makers, manufacturers, artists or food and beverage businesses. I have spent so many hours studying it all. I've discovered what makes them successful, what are mistakes they could avoid, how did they turn an idea into successful business? And what are strategies they have used to make more sales and be discovered by more customers. This is what this show is all about. Whether you're just starting out or you're looking to become a million dollar product boss, or I'm here to give you the permission to chase your dreams no matter how big or small. All you need is the right mindset, a little courage, strategy and support and you too can be the next million dollar product Boss. Let's do this. Hey, hey, Product Bosses. All right, so, wow. There have been some amazing things happening over here at the Product Boss. Just so many incredible things. I'm getting so many messages from all of you. How much are loving the coaching calls that are happening on here. I'm so glad that they're inspiring you. If you feel called to do this, would you mind pausing this episode right now and following the show or leaving us a review? Wherever you're listening. It would be so helpful to reach more people now. The other thing that I'm so excited about are my inner circle masterminds. So I have two cohorts right now, Cohort 1 and Cohort 2. And they are. I mean, I love my students, but I love my masterminders because I get to work closely with them and I got to kind of see behind the scenes and see what's working and what's not working. I get to see them resourcing each other. We have an event coming up for one of the cohorts. It's just so good. We're going to be hanging out in the sunshine in California and bonding and creating community and I'll be able to mentor them. And so as I'm really thinking about what this session is going to be focused on this in person event and retreat that we're having, I started thinking about what are the seven key pillars that product based business owners need to focus on in order to Grow their business and especially to grow their business to a million dollars. Now as you hear me talk about this, what I think happens is whether you're just starting out, you started making a few thousand dollars in your business to having hundred thousand dollar months or multi six figure months, right? This is all possible. So no matter what level you're at, I'd love you to listen because I think the other thing for us to know is what's possible. That's why I like to share the coaching calls on this show because you get to actually hear different ones. Like people who are just starting out, people who have ideas, people who have been selling and they're selling a little and they wanna sell more. And people who are having six figure months that feel like they're struggling, feel like they're hitting a wall, looking for different ways to grow. Because guess what, the problems kind of stay the same no matter what level you're at. They just need different places of focus or different ways of strategizing about it. So one of the things that I see like one of the hardest parts for product based business owners, but especially those of you that I work with that are in the six figure, multi six figure, seven figure space. The hardest part is uncovering what needs to be focused on and finding the time to focus on that. So if you listen to any of the calls, any of the coaching calls, you've seen that some people I've encouraged, you know, they already have team and we're encouraging leadership on their team. There's other people that you've heard that have multi six figure companies and they're still a one person band, right? And so there's different things to focus on as we're thinking about like where we're at and where we want to go. And we all have different capacities. So some of us have a really high capacity to do a lot of different things and we're willing to do it and others of us are, you know, I know what I'm really good at and I know what I'm not good at or my bandwidth or capacity for time or learning new things, right? So the privilege that we get when we have these businesses that are growing the are making six figures, multi six, seven figures is honestly we actually have the resources to start to invest in ourselves, to start to invest in team, to have better operations, to have better product development, to have all the things that are better. Now the other problem here again happens at all levels. But one of the things that I focus on with my masterminders is a Lot of times. And you probably feel the same way too. It feels like everything needs our attention, literally everything. And the worst for me is like heading into the times that we're heading into is like May and June when there's end of year stuff for our kids, schools. It just seems to be like a lot of wrap up, a lot of celebrations. It happens again, I feel like at the holidays where home life and personal life needs attention plus business needs attention plus all the other things. But a lot of times we get overwhelmed and we think like what do you do we need to pay attention to? So I think, and you've seen this in the coaching calls, working with a mentor, having a mentor or an expert, they can help pinpoint and guide you to figure out what to focus on so you can move faster with more ease. And I think you've seen that in some of my coaching calls where at the very end I wrap it up and be like, hey, what are we focusing on? We can talk about all the strategies and all the things in the world, but what are we going to focus on? What's going to have the biggest needle mover moment in the result in the dream outcome that you're looking for? So I want to share with you today, what are some things that you can think about that if you might need a mentor around this or key pillars that I see for people who are growing their businesses that have big dreams of becoming a million dollar business, or maybe you are a million dollar business already and you're like, okay, what do I need mentorship around? What do I need to focus on? And I'm telling you this from my own experience, from being someone who had a half million dollar company with my other business to someone who started a product business that hit us six figures in my first year with the product Boss, we were 90,000 in our first year. Right. And made multiple millions off of these companies together. Right. Like at this point, I think my revenue has like that we've generated over the years is like over $10 million in revenue, which is bonkers. I'm so proud. Yet it's kind of a scary, weird number to share. Right. But, but I know that I would have been stuck with the $500,000 company that was going into debt had I not found a mentor that then helped me focus. And then these are the key things that I've seen have been the biggest needle movers for me, the biggest needle movers for people who I coach and especially my masterminders, that will be the things to focus on. So that you can move faster. Okay, so here are the seven things. Ready? So the first thing that I would say is bad. The biggest impact on my life is mentorship, on myself, my mindset, my personal development, my growth. And I put that as number one. Because we are literally the biggest bottleneck. We are the thing getting in our way of all the things. We're either the thing that's going to get us exactly where we want to go, but we also have all the mindset junk, all the past history, all the other things that come forward that we need to constantly be aware of, work on, focus on, because at every level something else is gonna pop up. So I think I've told this story before, but I come from scarcity and insecurity and money to me was safety. And I just wanted the a hundred thousand dollar a year salary that was for me back then. What my safety was. So cut. Two years later, we hit like a million dollars in revenue and I start to have panic attacks, literally. I was staying at my in laws. This is during the pandemic. We had a room upstairs, my kids had rooms, and then my husband and I were upstairs. I say the room upstairs because it's not my house. Like my only space that was mine was in my in laws house. And I appreciate it because we didn't want to go through the pandemic alone. And we came back to California, whole story. Nonetheless, in the corner of this bedroom, we grow this business into a million dollar business. And I'm like, oh my God. We hit it and then, oh my God. I just remember I put my shoes on. I'm like, I think I'm having a panic attack. And I walk out of the house and they're by the woods and I walk into the woods and there's this huge rock boulder. And I go to the boulder and I go behind the boulder and I sit down and I like root myself into the ground and I'm like, catch my breath. Why am I freaking out? I've just made the money that I never thought was possible. What is actually happening? And thank God I had Stacy, my life coach, that I was able to message like, I think I'm having a panic attack and I don't understand. I had panic attacks before because I was afraid I was going to run out of money. And now we've made the most money ever in our business and what is actually wrong with me? And it was kind of. And I know I laugh about it now, but it was just so dramatic. If I watched myself from the Outside. But it was a true state of I don't know what to do with this. My mind and my body could not connect. And so that's when I doubled down. I was like, stacey, I know I talk to you twice a month. Can we talk every week? And she's like, yes. I was like, raise my price because I need you every week. And then she's like, yes. And then you can, you know, have access to me. So so much of that part for me was like mentorship of self. And I'm continuing to invest in the different ways that I can explore myself. Okay. The second key pillar to focus on when you are growing a million dollar business is your wealth. So unless we grew up in a wealthy family that shared what it was like to make money and, and to build wealth, a lot of us may not have any experience or understanding about this. So again, coming from me, I'm a daughter of immigrants. My dad couldn't read or write English. My mom, she would save. That was like her thing, right? But she like was married to a gambler who would lose everything. So how did that work out? But still to this day I'm like, I'm looking for the adult. Can someone tell me what to do? Can someone tell me what to do when I actually start making money like people? Because I was an entrepreneur for so long and I wasn't making a ton of money and I was just feeling like I was surviving. I didn't have a 401k, I didn't have a retirement, I didn't have any ways of saving money. Cuz even though I worked for other businesses, I didn't work long enough for big companies for me to have established any of that. So a lot of us out there that are solopreneurs, that are entrepreneurs, that are business owners, we have not probably started saving for retirement. Cause right now we're just trying to get by. We're trying to make enough money to pay ourselves decently and to pay team. So when you start to make money, a big thing that you need mentorship around is how to build wealth. What do you do with the money you have? What do you keep in your business? Right, from a savings perspective, what do you have in your business to reinvest? What do you take out and invest into something else? What do you put into your own home, your own family life? What is the salary paying yourself? How much do you have to pay other people? What is your profitability? That's a little bit into operations and finance. But wealth building is something that I get overwhelmed with a lot. I'm just like, I don't know, what does this mean? And I'm still learning and I'm still learning what to do when I do make money to invest in things. And I'm going to learn what works for me and my family. And you're going to learn what works for you and your family. And the thing is, is though, when we start to be stewards of the money that we've worked so hard to get and to build and to build these beautiful businesses, then we want to know how to steward that wealth into a way that can be there for us when we need it and potentially can create legacy for our families. Right. Something we can pass down. So that is a major thing that you want. Mentorship around another place that I see. This is a big one. This is like when you start to do this like you. It's like sometimes the being of our existence is team. No one teaches you how to be a boss when you're in school. When I went to fashion design school and I got my bachelor's in fine arts, they taught me how to be a fashion designer, to go work for other people. They taught me how to be a team member, but not how to run a team. So when we're dealing with hiring, firing, all the things. So let me tell you. So back in my younger days with my other company, I had a team of five people working for me. This is the one that was half a million dollars. It was my consulting company and I had just joined a mastermind myself. This was where I was working one on one with a coach. And I couldn't afford to keep working with her one on one. But she had a mastermind and she's like, I'd love for you to join. It was six figure women business owners. So we were all at the same level, we were all women and we were all like trying to grow to a million dollars. And I just remember there was someone I kept on my team that really should not have been there. But I didn't have the courage. I didn't know what to say. I didn't know if I was doing it wrong to let her go. So. So I remember I had like pony walls, like half walls in my whole office. And I was in the quote unquote conference room, but it wasn't a real room. And I remember whispering into the computer and being like, she's here and I need to fire her and I don't know how. And everyone started laughing cause they were in my earbuds so they're trying to coach me. So like, and this happens in my mastermind all the time. I have, you know, students that are like I have to step out or I have to whisper because that person is there. Right. We need mentorship on our team. Because one and you've heard this on the coaching calls, it's one, who are you missing on your team that's keeping you stuck and not growing? Because team members are an investment and they should have a return on their investment or who is actually unhealthy for your team or not working in your team and then everything in between from hiring, onboarding, benefits, key performance indicators that they need to measure up against. Right. And then also letting go of people. So in my mastermind that we host for my inner circle mastermind team comes up a lot, A lot, a lot. You've heard it on recent calls that we've had. It's like, who do we need to hire? Who do we need to fire? Who needs to be moved? Are they in the right seat? You're not expected to know this unless somehow you had a background in management and operations working for another company. And if you have that, that is your superpower. And that is awesome because we all have a superpower. And all the things I'm going to list to you, we might be really good at one of them. Right? But there's other things we need to learn. So that's a key pillar. Because if we're going to be the boss of our business, if we're going to grow to a million dollar plus business, we need to know how to manage a team and all the things that go with it. Hey. Hey friends. All right, so I am calling all product based business owners who are making over a hundred thousand dollars dollars in their business now. Yes. If you are making over a hundred thousand dollars to multiple millions in your business, this is for you. If you are ready to level up your business this year, I have a free masterclass for you. Yes siree, it is awesome. It's called your three step framework to build a million dollar product based business in 2024. That's right. I'm going to be walking you through three steps in a framework that I have created to build $1 million product based business in 2024. Now before I get into any more details, did you know that only 12% of women led businesses make it to $100,000 a year? And what's even crazier is that only 2% make it to $1 million in revenue. Well, my Friends, this is where we have to change these stats. I am on a mission to change these stats for product based entrepreneurs like yourself. So if you're at this level and you've shown you've got what it takes, but what got you here is not going to get you to that next level. It's time to learn some new tricks and strategy. So if you're ready to take your business to that next level, I invite you to join us in this exclusive free masterclass, the three step framework to build a million dollar product based business in 2024 where I will teach you the proven system we and other million dollar businesses use to grow stable businesses, increase profit and remove yourself from the day to day so you can do what you love with the people you love. So if your business is making more than a hundred thousand, maybe you're a multi six figure seven figures and multi seven figures and you're ready to kick your business up a notch, get some of that stress off of your plate and really enjoy great growing your product based business. I invite you to secure your spot@the productboss.com provenpath it's the productboss.com provenpath. Let's make this your breakthrough year. Okay, so the fourth pillar to focus on I mentioned a little bit earlier, but is operations. Yes, operations, the unsexy word for creatives that are like what do you mean operations? Give me a spreadsheet. I don't even know, I don't want a spreadsheet. I want someone to show me a spreadsheet but I don't want to create a spreadsheet. That's just not how my brain brain works. My brain is like creative ideas, making, marketing, selling, but not the operations. So knowing that one, I needed mentorship on understanding the baseline of operations and understanding why that's critical, important to my business and what kind of operations to do. I am constantly investing in mentorship for operations. So what does that look like? It might look like a course or a program. It might be working with a mentor that is further ahead than me or an expert. So again why I'm in certain masterminds for myself is like I want to learn from them. So I'm currently in a mastermind of an eight figure business owner. She's my mentor and I might ask her like hey, for this, how do you run that with operations? And then she'll share it. That's kind of the beauty when you join a mastermind and you have a mentor and like they're open to sharing stuff. It's not every mastermind, it's how I operate mine. It's what I look for when I join ones as well. The second part of this goes back to team is who do you need to hire that can run operations for you? What do they need to know? Who's the key player? And especially for product based businesses, what are the operations you need to focus on? What are the different parts? It is so different than service. So if you have a mentor, a coach, an expert that has never worked in product based businesses, their version of operations is going to be very different than what you need. So make sure that you are working with people that understand physical products. Operations is totally different. It's why you're listening to this podcast in the first place. Right. So then the fifth thing that is a focus pillar and this is something that we talk about inside of my mastermind is product development. So product development is that idea of what are we going to ideate and make and bring to market and why. We talked about this on one of the episodes with Shanti and she has someone that runs her product development, which means Shanti can operate as creative director and then she has hired somebody that's going to take her big ideas. But can they manage and handle all of the development which is like design sourcing, dealing with the designers or artists and then getting you to the point that you have the product created, that now you can sell it. It doesn't mean your production. Production tends to happen within operations, but product development is the development of the products you're going to sell. So as fashion designer, for example, I would have technically been in product development. I would have been overseen by the creative director and the merchandiser. That's, you know, when I did bathing suits, it's like inspired by Rio de Janeiro at New Year's. It's all going to be white, right? Maybe they're coming with like the concept or the idea and then they're coming to us as the designers to design according to that inspiration, to design, develop, come up with samples and get it to the point that we're ready for photo shoots, we're ready to take it to market, all the things, right? This is all pre production. So when you are scaling your business, I've seen it happen in two ways. One, what I know is what's gotten you this far is not going to take you further a lot of times. So what I've seen with the businesses that I've really coached and work with that I've gotten them from six figures to multi six figure to seven figures, to multi seven figures is a lot of time. It's actually dropping certain styles or skus and not making everything and getting better at the things that they're known for. Or it's adding on a category that you are now prepared and ready to handle. But nonetheless, I laugh because like, I'll take Mastermind calls or you might have even heard it on some of these coaching calls. And I'll take Mastermind calls and be like, Jacqueline, you're not going to be happy about this, but I've decided to do X and it's like totally left field random thing. Now listen, you're all going to do what you do. It's your business, it's your life. You do everything right. And I'm just here to kind of guide and mentor. But sometimes it's like I sell tea and now I'm making T shirts. Like why? Well, cause I think people might want to wear T shirts that say things about tea on them. I'm like, do they though? So when it comes to product development, you may be adding on. So I have one student that was a pottery company. She's a masterminder that's a pottery company. She figured out how to then take some of her best sellers and use a different material that made it like more dishwasher safe, everyday use product. So product development in that way and expansion made a lot of sense. I've also coached people that are, I have a tea company and I want to do T shirts. And I'm like, hold on, why? And then we go back in and say, but what do we have happening in the tea company? And what can we actually double down on here versus you adding stuff on. So there's either ways to make money and more money through product development. There's also ways to lose money if you're making the wrong thing. A good example is when Susie Weiss Fishman of OPI Nail Lockers was on the podcast. She talked about a million dollar mistake. So we OPI the nail lacquer brand and she said that one year they decided that they were going to make matching lipsticks to match the nail colors. And not only did they not sell, she tried to ship them in the summer and they all melted. It was a million dollar mistake. They've never made lipstick again. Why? Well, sure, they thought their customers might want to match their nails to their lips, but in fact it was not what they wanted. They needed to just keep doing more of what they were good at. So I say that because mentorship around this can save You a million dollars. I actually just did this for somebody else. A mastermind that I'm in. There's a few product based businesses. In fact, one of them was one of my masterminders years ago. But there's this other woman that is a service company and she's coming out with a product business and she had all her ideas for developing this product business and she brings it to the table and everyone's masterminding on it. And then you're like that kid in the back of class that has their hand up and I'm like, me, me, me, pick me, pick me. And finally I got picked on. They're like, Jacqueline needs to. I was like, okay. She had this whole plan to get investors and to make all these products for toys for kids and all this stuff. And I was like, hold on. These are all the reasons why the types of toys you're talking about are going to be a liability that are going to take much longer than the time you think it's going to take. And to take way more money and it's going to cost you a bunch of stuff. Instead, why don't you try it like this? And then the mentor that runs this mastermind, remember the eight figure mentor, she goes, oh my God, Jacqueline just saved you a million dollars. Like, yes, I did. So knowing that, right? These are the things that when you work with people that are product based business experts, because the rest of the room was coaching her and being like, yeah, yeah, yeah, great. Again, that's why I think it's really important to be in a space of people making and selling the same stuff that you're selling. Doesn't have to be the same product category, but they're in product. Okay, all right. Six pillar to focus on are marketing strategies. So mentorship is so essential when it comes to marketing because things are constantly changing. And some of us are really good at marketing via email marketing on social, doing brand affiliates or partnerships, ads. Maybe we all have different marketing strategies, but we don't want all of our eggs in one marketing strategy bucket. So when we focus on this, we always are testing, trying, tweaking. Things that used to work maybe aren't working. And so I think that when you get mentorship around this, it's like, what strategies am I missing? What are other people doing that are working? And so that's why I love to work with experts that are in this. That's why I think being coached by an expert. For example, when I host my inner circle mastermind, I'm working with 40 different companies. Plus because we've got multiple cohorts. I have years and years and years of working with other 6 figure, multi 6, 7 figure product based businesses that I know the different strategies I've seen behind the scenes of so many companies. So if someone comes to me and they ask me, they're like, I'm doing it like this and I'm not sure. I've had so many behind the scenes peeks into what's working and what's not working. I'm able to say like, I know someone else and this kind of strategy is working for them. Not giving away anything proprietary or secret, but more like I've seen this person run their own ads and then some they brought someone on and their ads did better. Or, or I saw somebody do this on Amazon and maybe this is a clear way of doing it on Amazon. Or this one tweaked to an email yielded X amount of revenue. So it's getting you strategies and then also sourcing strategies from each other. And that's what I see in our groups. They'll ask each other, they'll walk each other through it. In fact, one of my masterminders was just telling me that a couple of them have done this. They'll be like, hey, can you review my website and tell me what you think of it? Does it make any sense? Hey, I've got new packaging and logos. Can you take a look at this? I have ads that my ads don't feel like they're working. Oh, let's jump into your ads manager and go through it, right? I don't have the answer to everything, but each of us can be mentors to each other, which is why I have such an application process to joining our mastermind, for example. And then I've had to go through application processes to get into other people's masterminds. Because the goal of a good mastermind is that people are curated and they're bringing stuff to the table. We need go givers, right? We want go getters and go givers. We don't want takers, we don't want the people who only take information. Like the dynamic of back and forth and sharing is so essential. And that's such a part of the groups I curate, for example. All right, and then the seven pillar to focus on is brand development. So what is the concept of brand development? Right? The thing here is like, how do we keep growing you as a brand, right? How do you keep standing out in the market? What is next for your company at every level? What got you to six figures is not gonna get you multi six. Then what gets you to multi six is not gonna get you to your first million. And what gets you to your first million is not what's gonna get you to your next million. So we really have to explore different ways of growing your brand. What are new markets you can explore, new sales channels you can explore partnerships. What else can happen or needs to happen. So in thinking about all of this and the seven pillars of mentorship, what I want you all to think about is do you have a way to be mentored or learn to help you set specific strategies for your business? Because what you want to do, the whole goal of this is that you avoid mistakes. It helps you be a little bit braver because it makes things clearer to you. You kind of know the steps and you know there's someone there waiting for you to help you if you feel like you trip up. And it also helps you make smarter choices so that you can grow more confidently. And that's really what I've seen change my business and why I've constantly invested into one on one coaches, VIP days. I've invested into group type things, I've invested into masterminds, all the things. Because I've seen that this is the number one way that I was able to get to a million dollars to multi millions, generating over 10 million in revenue. And so for you, whatever stage you're at, you might think like, okay, maybe a VIP day does sound like something amazing to you because you want like totally dedicated attention. But VIP days are an investment. So maybe you're like, okay, I'd like to first get into courses or programs or maybe just maybe if you're making six, multi six or seven figures, you're like, you know what, I really want to be in a mastermind with people at the same level as me, with physical product based businesses that have lots of amazing information, plus guided by a mentor and expert. So really it's for you to choose what is the thing that you feel like resonates most with you and then go out and get it. Because beautiful thing that I didn't have when I started my business was access to education and information and coaches and experts and groups. I operated for 10 years completely by myself. And the most I would get into a group was going to a trade show or, or market and watching a trend presentation. But there was nowhere that like supported each other. And so that support of community, getting that mentorship and expanding your experience is really, I believe, the only way to grow a successful Profitable business that is stable, that fills you with joy, right. That you can do this no matter what happens in the economy and you don't hit burnout or if you do, you're supported and you don't feel isolated because you're supported and and you're ultimately getting the thing you want, which is financial freedom and time freedom. So I hope that this helped. Think about where do you need to focus, where you might be looking for mentorship and if you are called to it and your business is making that six figures. Multi six. Seven. Multi seven. I would love to invite you to learn more about the Product Boss Mastermind. If it feels called and you're serious about this, we are taking applications, we have like about five spots only for this next cohort. So you can head to the productbossmastermind.com if that feels like something that you're called to do. Otherwise, I'm always here on the podcast for you twice a week trying to support you with all the education and all the programs that we have. All right my friends, so until the next one, see you there. Thank you for being here and listening all the way through the Product Boss podcast. If you love our show and it helped you in any way in your business, would you mind doing two things for us? Subscribe to the show so you never miss an episode and leave us a review. Reviews help other product entrepreneurs know that this is the place to be to grow their businesses and realize that they're not alone. And we know that you all know that a five star and honest review helps you sell more products to more people. So you know that your reviews help us reach more listeners around the world. 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