Biggest Mistakes I Made While Growing a Business to Six Figures

So my twin brother and I managed to build a 6-figure business just using LinkedIn. Now, that's not me gloating. We're not millionaires by any stretch of the imagination, and success is of course subjective, but I'm pretty proud with the direction that we're heading in. We're getting some fantastic results for clients, and we can both live quite comfortably. So today, guys, I wanted to share a few key lessons that I've learned in the 3 years of building this company, and I also want to reflect on some of the things that I maybe would have done differently. So the first thing I would have done differently was the content side of things. Now, some people know this, some people don't, but Ben and I actually posted pretty rigorously for an entire year, and we didn't get many results, if any, for that entire year. Nothing. It was pretty abysmal. And it was only when we got to the end of the year did we really sit down and be like, wait a second, you know, all our efforts have been in vain. We haven't really got any business through the door. And I guess our biggest mistake in hindsight was measuring our content based on views, likes, and comments. We assumed we were doing well when actually, as we learned very clearly from that entire year of not getting anything, that you can produce content, you can get loads of views, but it doesn't necessarily lead to business. So if I had a magic button and I could press it right now and go back in time and and do something different, this is what I would have done. Instead of leaving it a whole bloody year, I would have sat down with Ben on a monthly basis. I would have reviewed all the posts that we'd done collectively, and I would have firstly sat down and seen the analytics and seen, um, which of our target audience liked which post. You know, that's a really key indicator to see whether your posts are hitting the mark or not. Are you getting absolute randos— bakers, bike riders, um, yoga teachers. Nothing wrong with any of them, but are you getting random people liking your stuff, or are you getting your target audience? I also would have sought out a much clearer plan in terms of what types of content to post. During that year, Ben and I were producing anything at all that we thought might rack up the views, when actually now in hindsight there's a very clear journey that you can take your customers through with your content to increase your chances of getting inbound leads. Another thing I wish I did a lot earlier in our journey was diversify, um, to another platform, specifically YouTube. If we had started YouTube 3 years ago and posted just 1 video every week, our income would probably be triple what it is now. Now the reason I say YouTube specifically, guys, is because of a number of different reasons. Number 1, The organic reach, once you've clocked the algorithm, is absolutely phenomenal. You know, just like LinkedIn, I don't need to pay YouTube to get my content out to my target audience. And since 2022, the algorithm has changed quite dramatically, guys. So if you're a small creator, this is the best time to be producing YouTube videos. Number 2 is that it's absolutely free, just like LinkedIn. I don't need to pay a penny. All I need to do is produce the right content for the right audience, and YouTube will take care of the rest. And if you're consistent, guys, you're essentially building, like LinkedIn, a free lead generation machine that only gets stronger over time. The third thing that's absolutely brilliant about YouTube specifically is that when you post a video on YouTube, it can continue getting you leads for many years to come. It's not like LinkedIn where if you post something, it will hit a peak and then it will pretty much disappear off the face of the planet. YouTube is a search engine. And so as long as there are people searching up that video that you've created, you'll continue getting views on it, and therefore you'll continue getting leads. So it's a very, very different way of looking at lead generation. The other thing I would have done a lot sooner, a lot, lot sooner, I would have started systemizing elements in my business a lot sooner. And what do I mean by creating a system? I mean writing down on paper step by step how you perform a certain task. This is so bloody powerful for a number of different reasons. Firstly, by writing something down, you're forced to analyze how you do something, and when you're forced to analyze something, you get a much clearer idea of how you do it. A lot of the things that Ben and I started systemizing were actually mini breakthroughs as well. We finally discovered patterns to certain things that we were doing, and therefore it improved our understanding of it and also made us able to teach it in a better way. The second thing that systemizing does for your business is it allows you to start delegating tasks a lot sooner. Why delegate? Well, it saves you so much time, and the time keeps ticking. So why do business owners not delegate? Well, two reasons that I found. Number one is they struggle to let go of control. I've definitely been there, I can assure you. But number two is they haven't systemized anything. And if you haven't systemized anything, it's up there and you can't pass it on to anyone else, and therefore they won't know how to do it. I can tell you now though, I wish I did that a lot sooner. Delegating certain tasks has saved Ben and I hours and hours of time, and we've been able to focus that time into building other important areas of the business, which means we can get better results for our clients and make more money. It's a win-win. So guys, that is just a few of the things that I've learned along the way and things I would have done differently. I could probably sit here for the whole day and go through a whole list of things I would have done differently, as we probably all would. You know, hindsight is a beautiful thing. But those were probably the most potent and powerful ones that came to my head straight away that I thought would be the most useful for you. Anyway, hope that was useful. Have a lovely day, and I'll see you on the other side. Peace out.