The Million Dollar Reset

We work with enough entrepreneurs scaling businesses that often we start identifying clear patterns of what happens in a business as you grow it? And today I want to share with you a clear pattern of what has created success for the companies we work with, including ours, as we scaled through $1 million and head towards $3.

I'm Alex Charfen and this is The Momentum Podcast, made for empire builders, game changers, trailblazers, shot takers, record breakers, world makers, and creators of all kinds. Those among us who can't turn it off and don't know why anyone would want to. We challenge complacency, destroy apathy, and we are obsessed with creating momentum, so we can roll over bureaucracy and make our greatest contribution.

Sure, we pay attention to their rules, but only so that we can bend them, break them, then rewrite them around our own will. We don't accept our destiny, we define it. We don't understand defeat, because you only lose if you stop, and we don't know how. While the rest of the world strives for average and clings desperately to the status quo, we are the minority. The few, who are willing to hallucinate there could be a better future, and instead of just daydreaming of what could be, we endure the vulnerability and exposure it takes to make it real. We are the evolutionary hunters, clearly the most important people in the world, because entrepreneurs are the only source of consistent, positive, human evolution, and we always will be.

I am having one of the most unique experiences of my career in my life right now. I've scaled tons of businesses. In my 20s, I had a consulting company, and prior to that I had a financial firm with a friend of mine. We didn't really scale that business, but that was the first business that I started with somebody else. I had a window washing company before that. Then after that, Cadey and I started ... We opened five different businesses that have exceeded $10 million, and we now have a business that's exceeded $2 and a half and headed towards $3, and we know we're going to go from the $3 to $10, scaling again, and then $10 to $30, again.

And this experience is so different this time, because I've now done this enough, and done this so many times, that ... By the way, let's remember, I'm doing it again. So, I'm not bragging about how many times I've done it, I wish I was bragging about the billion-dollar company that I built that I started in my 20s, but what I'm talking about is a period of successes and failures and a lot of learning. But this time is so fundamentally different, because I have the tools that our coaching company uses, and I have the Billionaire Code. The Billionaire Code is so revealing and so simple, to tell you exactly what you need to focus on in your business at any given time, and it's so clear.

What it's done is it's given me a completely different insight into how to coach and help entrepreneurs. That's why the companies that we're working with are doing so phenomenally well. It's also given me a completely different insight into how to run my business, and what I need to do, and it's helped me way more accountable to doing the things in the business that must be done, and must be in place in order to scale. It's also helped my clients much more accountable.

I've done podcasts before on how difficult it is once you hit a million dollars, because at a million dollars, here's what happens. At a million dollars, you are selling enough that you have a ton of responsibility and exposure, but you're not selling so much that you can get a ton of help and support and leadership around you. So, you're still in that position where typically your team either is not scaling fast enough, because you don't have the systems and structure in place to scale the business as fast as you want, and you're typically also in that place where you know you could be doing more and achieving more and getting more out there, but you just don't have the support in place and the systems in place to do it as fast as you want.

So, here's what I'm seeing over and over again that our clients are doing to create massive success, and there's an opening conversation in my coaching groups about this. Also, what Cadey and I have done, we did it $1 million, but that we're also doing again right now at $3 million, is we've done this reset of our delivery systems. It's like the million-dollar reset of delivery.

Here's what I mean by this. Around a million dollars, if you're growing a business the way that I've grown a business, and I'll share with you explicitly what I mean by that, we used one product and one sales system up to a million dollars. So, we made it very simple. And then at a million, when I say that we did a reset on delivery, we actually reset the entire coaching product that we were focused on and came out with a different product to sell, because we realized that what got us to a million was not something that we really wanted to scale, so we reset and we launched Billionaire Code Accelerator.

We realized that in the Grow And Scale group I have a lot more involvement, and so, it wasn't scalable. So we launched the Billionaire Code Accelerator, and that's what's gotten us to about a $3 million run rate. And now we have to do this reset again, and the reset is to make sure that your delivery is completely consistent, and predictable, and the same for everyone in your products. What this takes is, often, for you to slow down in order to go fast.

What this took for our company, what this took for several of the companies I'm working with, what this has taken for several of the friends of mine that I know that are scaling businesses, is to actually take your foot firmly off the gas and invest the time that you need to actually go through your product and document the product. Draw the entire customer experience in a flowchart so that you understand exactly what's going on with the clients. Draw in the detail. Link in the detail so you can see what's happening with the people you're working with. What's happening with your systems. What are the interdependencies. What's really going on.

Just going through the process of doing this will have you dramatically improving your delivery systems. Just documenting them the one time will functionally change a ton in your business. Even if you have very simple delivery systems, once you start documenting, you're going to be shocked at how, really, well, one, they're not as simple as you thought, and two, how much opportunity you have for efficiency. And documenting means getting out a program. We use Lucidchart. There's a lot of other ones out there. You start creating flowcharts of your entire delivery process, and go through and ask yourself what are the things that are not predictable? What are the things that are inconsistent? What are the things that are challenging you? And then ask yourself, is this delivery system giving the same opportunity to every client? Is the delivery the same for every client that is getting this product?

And that goes for everybody. If you are a retail products company, is the product the same no matter where it gets shipped to in the United States? When I was back as a consultant, that was actually a real concern. People don't realize this, but if you have chocolate or any type of confectionary, foods, or a lot of foods that include butter or oils, and you ship them to some of the hotter parts of the country, there's a huge issue. So, at a million dollars, you're going to start scaling and you have to understand, if you have any types of issues in the consistency, predictability, or the experience for every person that is consuming your product ...

So, if you are a coaching company or a information products company, this is where this is really important. And this is why it was so important for us, and why it's been important to do it again, as we approach $3 million, is that when you have a product that you are scaling, you're putting it together, most of the time, as you go. You're making adjustments on the fly. You're making improvements. You are taking suggestions, and you have to give yourself the time to go back and look at everything all at once as one cohesive, holistic product delivery system, and customer experience, and understand what's really there.

If you do this, typically you're going to need to have this done right at around a million. And if you're one of those people who's saying, "Well, Alex, it can't be the same for everyone because we're done-for-you services, and we work with all different types of companies, and our deliveries are always different and they're always going to remain this way," what I will tell you is you are choosing a very difficult, very uncomfortable, very inefficient and unnecessary way to scale a business, because if you can put the same types of business owners and the same product, or if you can put the same types of customers in the same product, what ends up happening, and it doesn't matter if you're selling to business owners, or business to consumers, but if you have a product that is for a specific niche, then you can specialize your delivery more, then it's easier on you, and your business will scale faster.

So, when I say consistent, predictable and the same for everyone, it inherently is that you also have to stop doing a different thing for everyone. I want to just, if you're in that place where you have a million dollar plus business and it's the Afghan bazaar where you do a little of this and a little of that and some of this and some of this over here, you know, and a lot of people are under a million doing the same thing, I know how it feels. I've been there. I did the same thing. I got to times in my past where I was doing way too many different types of things, and I didn't realize I was doing it, and when I did and when I finally would pull back and get really focused, and make things easier on me, scale would happen on its own.

Here's another reason this million-dollar and $3 million reset, and then you're going to do it again at $10, and then you'll do it again at $30, and then you'll do it again at $100, you'll do it again at $300, and you'll be doing it in between, but those are the times where I've just watched companies feel it. And I don't know why the math works that way, but it just works on the levels of the Billionaire Code.

Actually, there's a reason why it works that way. Go look at the levels of the Billionaire Code. Those are where you're making the biggest changes in how you lead the company. Like, when you go from before a million to a million, that million-dollar threshold is where you're going to lead the company by putting a team of people around you. That is a massive change, and so you have to simplify so that you as the CEO can deal with the change and complexity of working with people on your team.

And then, at $3 million, you're going to have to scale the team with now not just a team but a leadership team with teams. In order for you to deal with the complexity of a leadership team, you have to simplify all of your deliverables, everything that you do. Again, make it easier on you. And then when you get to $10 million, you get to the place where you have a leadership team who has managers and team members, and you're scaling to another level of leadership. That's another level of complexity. That's a place where you now have to have solid systems in place to understand what's going on in the company, so you must simplify and make it easier on yourself again.

The title of this podcast is The Million Dollar Reset because that's where I think most of the people listening to this podcast are going to feel it, but if you're at $3 or at $10, or at $30, or approaching those thresholds, you should be thinking about how simple is this? Is it consistent? Is it predictable? Is it the same for everyone? And if it's not, then here's what's probably going on, is that the avatar you're using right now, the number of people you're calling on, the client base that you have designated, is probably too big for the level that you're at right now.

Because, if you are able to simplify, if you had a simple avatar, if you had a consistent person coming towards you, you would be able to simplify, is what I meant. And if you have a consistent avatar and you can simplify delivery for that avatar, it actually gets easier. And then you can expand beyond that in order to go up the Billionaire Code, if you need to. But if you feel like your delivery's too inconsistent, if you don't feel like it can be predictable, if it isn't the same for everyone, you're probably offering too many different things to too many different people.

If you're in that place, if that's your million-dollar reset, then go look at everything that you've sold back to the beginning. Sit down, probably for the first time, and really assess what you've been doing, and ask yourself, you know, now that you're at a million dollars a year, what is it that's gotten you to a million dollars a year? What is the thing that you really do? And if you're willing to sit down and take the time to look at your work in its totality rather than in the glimpses that you get as you're doing it, what you're going to find is there's probably some type of consistency there, and there already is an avatar where you've had the most success and you've made the most margin, you've had the most fun, and it would be the most scalable. So go find it, because that's your reset.

Because if you scale past a million in a business where there isn't a clear avatar, and there isn't consistency in delivery, it can be done, it's just so much harder than it needs to be, especially in today's market where you can laser-focus on marketing to exactly who you want to talk to, as long as you have a clear avatar and you understand how to go find them. It's easier to advertise exactly to who you need than it ever has before. So get clear and get tight, and you'll find that you can make your delivery consistent, predictable, and the same for everyone.

If you've grown a business to a million dollars, congratulations, you've made it to the 3% club. If you're at a million dollars a year or more, only 3% of businesses ever get there. And getting to $3 million, it's a fraction of that. Getting to $10 million, it's a fraction of that. So, congratulations if you're approaching any of these thresholds, or if you've passed them. Even if you've gotten to $300,000, it's such a massive accomplishment. There's 22 million businesses in the United States, about 24 million of them are under $300,000. 22 million are under $100,000. So if you've hit $100,000, you're still crushing it. But if you're at that million-dollar threshold, it's time to really simplify.

If you're at that $300,000 threshold, it's probably the exact same answer as well, and even at $100,000, the biggest catapult you're going to have is to simplify your delivery, make it consistent and predictable and the same for everyone, tighten up your avatar, make sure you know who you're talking to, so that they hear the exact solution from you and they know it's for them. And that's how you're going to scale your business. That's how you're going to advance your growth. That's how you're going to make it easier on you and that's how you're going to make it so that when you grow, you don't feel pain. Because when you simplify and you make it easier on yourself, you can put the right systems and the right people in place, because your answers become a lot more consistent. The questions are a lot more consistent. It makes it easier for you to grow. It makes it easier for you to have a team around you. And when that happens, here's this dynamic that you unlock, possibly for the first time in your career as an entrepreneur, is that it will not hurt you to grow.

You know how you can grow a business when you experience pain and frustration and operational drag with every sale. You know you can do that. Can you imagine what it would feel like to grow a business where you didn't experience operational drag and frustration and pain with every sale? Where you could scale because it was simple, and you had a team around you, and where you could just go out and stand on the accelerator pedal? That's where I want you to be.

If you're ready to do this faster, if you don't want to do it on your own, you don't have to. Go to BillionaireCode.com/Apply, fill out the simple application form that we have there, and jump on a call with a member of my team. We have coaching programs for entrepreneurs that are scaling businesses, typically over $300,000. We do make exceptions, so apply if you're under. But if you want to understand how to scale a business faster, put the right team around you, plan in a way that's strategic and actually build a team where you know what you're doing, you don't feel intimidated by the growth, you're okay with having the people around you, and you know how to communicate in a way that you're heard, go fill out the application. Let's talk.

In the first conversation that we have with you, we'll give you more clarity about where you are in your business today than anyone in the market will give you, and we'll share with you how we can help. BillionaireCode.com/Apply. We look forward to connecting.