Ep 85: How to Scale to Consistent High-Income Months

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Dawn McGruer:

Welcome to Episode 85 of Dawn of a New Era, with myself, Dawn McGruer, speaker, author, and trainer. And this week I am celebrating something truly special, something magical that has happened in my business, and I’m going to be sharing a little bit of behind the scenes about how I scaled to consistent high income months. Because yesterday in the Post, something truly magical and very, very precious to me arrived. And although I knew what it was, it was still absolutely amazing opening this thing. Now, what is it? It is my award.

Now, you may have seen on social media if you follow me, that a couple of weeks ago I attended an award ceremony in London, and I got an award in recognition for my achievements. Now, this award marks something really, really important because it marks that I actually made over a million in the training industry. Now, why is this so special? Well, I started my business at 21 and I’m 43 now. And when I made my first million, that marked a huge milestone for me, but also did a huge amount for my own confidence, for the way that I showed up online, the way I worked with clients.

Fast Track Digital Academy Course

And why is this? Well, I thought about it a lot when I was creating the behind the scenes for this episode and I thought, “Well, if I could share with you the journey that I took to actually get to a million, then you can see the different actions, the steps, and kind of the exact blueprint that I took to get to this point.” Now, it isn’t my first million, but this is marking a million for a particular product. Now, this product is my signature program and it is called the Fast Track Digital Academy Course.

Now, the Fast Track Digital Marketing Course, it’s certified, it allows people to become a digital marketing powerhouse, somebody who is skilled and has the expertise in all areas. In fact, it covers eight powerful ways to market your business online. Now, this is a monumentous program for me because when I created it, it was my first ever framework. And my framework is my model, and it basically is the eight modules that I cover in the two-day Fast Track, which I host in London, Manchester, and online multiple times a year.

And even now, years later because this started way back in 2015, it’s still a very popular course because it’s evolved and developed. But when I created this framework and I launched it, it actually failed the first time the messaging was off point. It wasn’t called the Fast Track, it just didn’t land. Now, as I tweaked the framework and I came up with the Dynamic Digital Marketing Model, I actually won framework of the year for it.

Now, because this became the foundation of my course, it also became the foundation of my book, my best seller, published by Wiley, Dynamic Digital Marketing. So this is why it’s so special because the first time it launched, it didn’t land. But then 17 months later if I tried, tested, relaunched, we hit a million pounds.

Now, this award that I’ve won was in recognition for obviously achieving over a million, and we are on our way to eight figures. I can’t even believe I’m saying it. And this is a really, really big part of what I’m doing because it’s not just about the money, it’s about what it means in my business, and what it’s allowed me to do. So obviously as my business has grown, I’ve always marked my products in terms of obviously when I’ve hit my first 100K, when I’ve hit my first million, and so on.

Now, getting this award, I decided to share with you how I actually scaled my business. And it’s not just getting consistent cash months. I’ve included in this one, this particular episode about high income months because I teach a framework and the Dynamic Digital Marketing Model was my first, and many have come from them. But within my coaching and mentoring side of the business, when I’m working with clients whether it’s one-to-one or whether it’s on our marketing, mentorship, and mastermind program, the same thing happens. I use a framework called the Marketing Money Map.

Now, there are three areas within this, and it’s all about how I scaled and growed. Now, when I grew my business, I decided, first of all, that the first thing that I had to really understand was kind of the niche, the marketing, the messaging, et cetera. And that came down to the branding for me as well as my product. And you will see that if you go onto dawnmcgruer.com, my branding is super clear. I am the business growth coach. It says what I do. My tagline is that I help CEOs scale and grow so people start to connect and understand what I do, how I do it, and who I help.

CEO Strategy

Now, going further into that, I started to think about, “Well, okay, what are the products and services? How do I present the propositions?” And within my marketing, you will see that I always focus in on three key areas. So I have, yes, my mentoring side of the business where I work one-to-one, and within group programs for my mastermind, I also have my Strategise & Energise retreats, yeah. And the third thing is, is I have my CEO Strategy School.

Now, these three core elements, these are the three things I offer, and it’s very simple to see because the way that I present them. Now, this is a key part of how I scaled because once I really honed in and got super clear on who I was, I started to talk differently, and I connected with people in a different manner. People really started to kind of refer a business to me.

I started to show up more consistently online because I was really clear about my messaging, and how I was talking with my audience. I started to really kind of look at as well, after I’d branded myself, the business growth coach, what my framework was about, and I got super clear on the blueprint within it. So that when I was working with clients, people could really clearly see the results, what to expect. Within 30 days, 60 and 90, I started to get clear on the averages. In 30 days, on average, my clients increase their sales by 20%.

Now, all of this just getting the clarity, and the certainty, and the confidence behind what I was doing in my marketing changed the way that I showed up because I started thinking about, “How did I get clients, how were clients coming to me right now? What was working?” I started to really declutter and get laser-focused in on just the activities that move the needle in my business, and that actually generated impact. So marketing was a big piece.

Now, the second part of the blueprint is the model. Looking at the fastest way to scale, it took me a long time to understand that you couldn’t just create something that people could buy once. And the energy behind that to market, to get visible was huge. I had this Fast Track signature program, it done a million, but there was a lot of effort, a lot of marketing, and a lot of money that went behind that to get to that point. So we had the qualifications as well within the academy.

So we had this amazing certification, we had this qualification, and then we had the mentoring. And it was the mentoring side of things that I started to think, “Ah, okay, instead of working one-to-one, there’s only one of me. Yes, I have a team of 17, but how can I push this further forward? How could I really start to work with people?” Well, first of all, I started working with group programs and that was when my marketing, mentorship, and mastermind program was born.

And I absolutely love it because it’s the community, it’s the support, it’s groups of amazing, inspiring women who are pushing forward in their business, and have this unreal kind of, I guess, way of working with each other, and pushing, and lifting each other up. So we pull that in with the strategic side, the marketing, the model, the money side of things, and we’re getting amazing results. But also from a business model point of view, we’re getting recurring revenue.

Then I started to think about my one-to-one, my private clients, and on average when I looked at results, there was different results. So like 30 days, 60 days, 90 days, six months, 12 months, and I thought, “Well, okay, let’s think about how my program would work, and let’s think about the most effective results.” And again, it was the recurring income side of things that worked in a model, but also worked in terms of client results. At the end of the day, my programs are only as good as how they help improve my clients achieve their dreams, their goals, and their objectives.

Are your targets achievable?

So when I got a winning model that was achieving amazing results, it was then that my business started to scale. And the fastest way to scale is definitely recurring revenue. So ask yourself the question, “Does your model work?” Are you looking to achieve the amount of clients in a month? That’s, yes, it’s going to hit target, but is also achievable. Because when you look at things like six-figure income and you think about adding another like 100,000 to your revenue, that’s another 8,000 a month. Well, 8,333, another 2,083 a week, 417 a day, or 52 pounds an hour.

So you’ve got to think, “Are you setting your targets and expectations in a way that actually meets reality in a way that’s achievable that’s not going to hit burnout?” So I know on a recurring model, I need around three clients a month that hits a million pounds. Now, that is on a group recurring model, so that’s just one of my three. And you’ll notice that when I’m talking about models, I’m relating it back, I’m tying it in all of the Time with the marketing. I’m looking at the sense check.

And the last thing is money. Understanding that my income can’t fully come from just me. There has to be things happening in my business. There has to be a ripple effect of marketing. There has to be a visibility piece. There has to be a delivery piece that’s not just me. And it was about looking at the operations within the business and really understanding the systems, the structure, the flow, how everything worked to know what I had to do. And again, it comes back to delegating, decluttering, and designing my diary and getting super focused, not just on who I am and what I do for clients, but what do I want? How do I want to work?

Because if I’m doing the things energetically I love and I’m working my genius zone, absolutely I’m going to perform at the highest possible level. But how about things that are weighing me down and procrastinating over? Those things will be gone. And I’ve learned that the sooner I actually drop those, and get rid of the things that don’t serve me, and only focus on the things that impact, then my whole business and life changes, things flow with more ease, and the energy within me and my business and towards my clients is in flow.

You see, it’s different. It’s energetic and it feels dynamic. Now, the last piece, as I say, is money. So we have models, we have money, and we have the marketing. When we look at the money piece, you have to have the belief fully that success is possible for you. Because I used to fall into the trap, you may be able to relate to this, but I’d look at other people and think, “Wow, they are doing amazing things, bigger and better things that I will ever achieve.” And I would have that voice. I would think, “I could never achieve those things.”

Accept your failings

As soon as I dropped that mindset and I did some work on my beliefs, and I looked at my success barriers, I started to understand that I was my own worst enemy. And when I started to focus only on the things that served me, and I realized that success was relative to me and what I wanted in my dreams and goals, I started to understand where my success milestones were, and what was success for me, and relationship with money. And forgiving myself for all of those past mistakes, and the biggest advice I can give you is to drop those things, drop the mistakes, and use them as massive learnings.

Sometimes it’s quite painful to think of financial mistakes or if you’ve had the feast and famine flow, some people I know in business who’ve been in business for many years have gone from amazing businesses to environmental changes, customer behavior impacts on what happens in the business and they find themselves many years later in feast and famine. It is nothing to be ashamed of. It is something that can serve you, you learn from, and you can move past.

It is entirely possible to step out of that feast and famine, and scale your business if you get your marketing models a money right because I did that exact thing when I was 21. I went through it for 18 months, maybe a bit longer. Then I went through cycles where everything was on the up and then I came back into it. I know, and it has been a moving feast in those early stages of business in my 20s.

But then after that, I have made some epic failures and I’ve fallen into massive pitfalls along the way, but I’ve learned, but I’ve still managed to step up, walk through it. And a big part of that was understanding my certainty number, knowing my numbers, and what number I had to earn to not just scrape by on the bread line, but actually to be living a life that I really, really wanted with holidays, with things that were important to me, experiences, travel, and working out what that number actually was rather than just paying myself the minimum.

I did this in my 20s and I think I truly stepped into it by the time I was kind of late 20s, early 30s because I was mortgage-free at 33. Now, at 43, it’s a whole different revelation because what I wanted and my why has changed. So what my certainty number was in 20s and 30s is different, and that will be the same for everybody.

So to round up on this amazingly happy day for me is that I reflect back, and I look back at times of business, and sometimes I get quite emotional about some of the not so good times. And some of the times I get really, really excited about some of the successes. But these are the things that happen as a business owner. No one has the perfect business, no one has the perfect life. What we’re doing is we’re trying to connect with our why, and understand our purpose of why we created our business in the first place so that we can move forward in a way that feels right.

And we are living every single day because happiness is not conditional. You should never set targets, “If I just hit this, I will be happy.” We have to think about all of these achievements and break them down into micro tasks. As long as we’re still moving and we’re gaining momentum, things will happen. And often as we put these efforts in the ebb and flow every day, if we’re focusing on the right things and we’re taking one step closer to achieving our goals and dreams every day, then we’re winning.

Resources on offer

But there’s never going to be a perfect balance. But I wish you the best of luck, and I hope you can join me in this amazing celebration. It means a lot to me. And if you are looking to scale and grow your business, come and check out dawnmcgruer.com. We have amazing resources on there. There are opportunities to have free resources, access other podcast episodes, masterclasses and guides. All of the things that will help you start, grow, and scale your business, as well as unique opportunities of working with me. All you’ve got to do is reach out, book a call, and let’s look at how you can discover how you can achieve your dreams, your desires, and your goals through working with me.

Now, we have got some great things coming up. We’ve got the marketing mentorship and mastermind program, which is open for enrollment. We have private client one-to-one mentoring, and we have currently, I think one space available for that. And we have the Strategise and Energise retreats coming up. We’ve got Tuscany in May and we’ve got Marrakesh in September. I think we have around about four places on Tuscany and six left on Marrakesh.

So get in touch if you are looking to make the shift, make the change, just imagine what it would be like in 30 days if you could have a financial impact whereby you’ve increased your sales by 20%. We’ve had clients whereby 90 days they’ve tripled their income through recurring income, and having these recurring streams in place. So sometimes it’s just you know where you want to be, but you need the specific steps, the strategy and the blueprint, and that is definitely something that we can help you with.

So I hope you enjoyed this episode, take care and remember to check out dawnmcgruer.com. And, of course, remember to subscribe to the podcast so you get notified of future episodes. So have an amazing day and week, and I hope I to see you on your journey soon. So come and connect with me on social media and let’s see what we can achieve in the coming months.

Thank you for listening to Dawn of a New Era Podcast. And for your free checklist to find out how to boost your business for growth, profit, and success, and join our community, go to dawnmcgruer.com.