$1M and $10M: What's the Difference in These Businesses?

It may sound strange to hear that there’s not much difference in what it takes to build $1 million businesses and $10 million businesses – but it’s true. The same talents, strengths, and hard work that it takes to build the smaller revenue business is required for the larger revenue business – it just takes a different application and approach. On this episode, Ryan does a collaboration with Jaime Masters of Eventual Millionaire around the subject of offloading the things that you as the owner of your company should not be doing – so that you can do the things you really need to do in order to push the needle forward. This is a live session from Freedom Fast Lane LIVE 2015 that you will find incredibly helpful.

Everything is an investment. Everything.

One of the fundamental mindsets that Jaime Masters has discovered is common among those who are worth $1 million dollars or more is that they see everything – everything – as an investment. That means their time, their hobbies, their work, their finances, their health, their exercise – everything. An attitude like that enables them to evaluate every decision more carefully for the sake of maximizing their life potential. When they are able to do that, everything in their life is amplified. It takes a while to get started with the diligence required for this mindset but once it’s in place you become unstoppable. You can hear some of the ways Ryan and Jaime brainstorm putting this habit in place, on this episode of Freedom Fast Lane.

Asking for help is ridiculously important for growth.

People who build ultra-successful companies don’t do it on their own. In fact, many of them have learned the hard way that the more they try to do everything themselves or have all the good ideas on their own, the less successful they wind up becoming. On this episode, Jaime Masters points out that millionaires are quick to bring in consultants and high-level advisors to give them insight into the things that will move their key areas forward. That’s because they know that the longer they wait, the easier it is to stall out and get stuck in a rut of non-productivity. Find out more about how you can get the help you need at the right time, on this episode of Freedom Fast Lane.

It’s your team that is going to elevate your company.

There’s a saying made famous by Jim Collins that you’ve got to make sure that you get the right people on the bus. That means hiring the right team with the right people in the right places within your company. If you aren’t careful about this you’ll spin your wheels for a long time dealing with team members who don’t fit the role they are in or are not equipped to handle the things they are asked to do. The right kind of hiring process is not easy to create and implement but there are some very important things you can put in place to ensure that you decrease the odds of getting the wrong person on your company’s bus. You can hear some tips about how to set up that kind of process on this episode.

If paying $20 per hour for menial tasks is a threat to your company, something is very, very wrong.

There is a point in every business where you know you need to bring on team members to take the weight of menial responsibilities off of your own shoulders. But often what winds up happening is that you can’t bring yourself to do it because you’ve been necessarily pinching pennies for so long that you feel like you can’t afford to take that step. Yes, it’s risky in ways, but if you can free yourself up to do the activities that really move your business forward you’ll wind up more fulfilled and better able to generate the revenue it takes not only to keep those team members but also to bring on even more. It’s a hard but necessary step and you can learn how to make it on this episode of Freedom Fast Lane.

Outline of This Great episode

[0:06] Ryan’s introduction of this episode with Jaime Masters.
[1:22] Why Jaime Masters was asked to speak to this issue at FFL 2015.
[7:11] Why Jaime began her mission to analyze and understand millionaires.
[9:31] The most common answer to “How Many Hours Do You Work?”
[10:40] Why it’s vital to know your own core strengths.
[15:44] Spending the right time and energy on the right things.
[21:57] Habits Jaime has seen in the high level entrepreneurs and business owners.
[24:20] Moving from driver of the car to the captain of the ship.
[29:42] Asking for help is ridiculously important for growth.
[34:49] One example of a crazy complicated (but effective) hiring process.
[37:23] A hot-seat example to help you get out of your business in order to work on your business.
[52:08] Identifying your lowest ROI activities to purge what’s on your plate.
[56:12] Determining when you need a freelancer and when you need an employee.
[1:01:08] The first steps toward clarity, systems, and processes.
[1:04:46] Figuring out things as you go to build the business from where you are.
[1:06:59] Why millionaires wish they had hired earlier.
[1:07:51] When Ryan felt the dumbest: keeping people too long.
[1:10:06] Making agreements in advance so it’s easier to fire when you need to.
[1:13:29] Parting advice for entrepreneurs: be clear on the activities that make a difference.
[1:15:18] How to handle a team member who needs to be driving their own bus.
[1:22:33] What is the culture index?

Action Steps From This Episode

FOR GREATER SUCCESS: Clarify what is supposed to be on your plate as CEO of the company and ruthlessly figure out how to remove everything else.

FOR GETTING STARTED: Write down everything you are doing right now. Everything. Then put those tasks under headings of what they are – customer service – accounting – marketing – CEO responsibilities, etc. Once you see everything you can begin to see what’s sucking up your time and how you can delegate some of those less important things so you can focus on what is vital.