A whopping 18.4% of businesses fail in less than 12 months. And 90% of small businesses fail, period – due to money running out, being in the wrong market, lack of research, bad partnerships, ineffective marketing, and not being industry experts.  

That’s a sobering statistic, but I think it’s important to give that harsh reality – to not sugarcoat the entrepreneurship journey or let Instagram make you think it’s easy, because it’s not. It can get crunchy sometimes.

But I’m here to share the 6 major shifts that allowed me to hit six figures before my first year in business. Make sure to save this blog post in your bookmarks folder and get ready for some gem-dropping!

If you’re in a season of building and unsure of the next steps to level up, these 6 things changed everything for me – brought in dream clients, kept me sustained, and allowed me to thrive for 3 years and counting as a business owner.

• Shift #1: My Faith
• Shift #2: Community
• Shift #3: Investing in Self Through Coaching
• Shift #4: Leveraging Social Media
• Shift #5: Systems & Processes
• Shift #6: Consistency

Shift #1: My Faith

I’m a God girl through and through. Faith has been integral to my journey. There are so many moments in entrepreneurship where it looks like things won’t work out – no one coming to your masterclass, not hitting numbers, etc. 

You have to have faith to keep pushing when it doesn’t seem to be working out for your good yet. The faith that the vision you were called to, the influence meant for you, the business you’re supposed to build – it will come to pass.

I had faith this would be a multimillion dollar business impacting tons of female entrepreneurs. In the crunchy moments, I relied on journaling, praying, worship music before lives. Writing down my visions then watching God allow me to cross them off my journal has been so beautiful.

Shift #2: Community

You can’t do entrepreneurship alone! If you think you’ll build your dream business – whether making $100 or $100 million a month – by yourself, you’re wrong.

Early on, immersing myself in communities solidified my confidence to be myself and create my own. In the beginning with no money to invest in paid communities, my “community” was free Facebook groups. Reading posts, engaging, meeting likeminded people. 

Remember Clubhouse? That was another early community space for me to grow relationships for free. Don’t let lack of funds be a barrier from surrounding yourself with people on the same wavelength.

There are so many free/affordable community options – don’t isolate yourself on this journey. Build your own through a Facebook group or putting a community component into your paid offers like I did. Having a support system to encourage and stretch you is inevitable.

Shift #3: Investing in Self Through Coaching 

Coaching has been life-changing for me since starting my business. When I launched in 2020, I had no idea what this would become. I found my first business coach, Nosheba, through a referral from my VA. I put that $2500 investment on my personal credit card – I was shook but knew I needed to be poured into.

That first coach taught me to think differently. Before her, I was only doing done-for-you client work like content creation, graphics, etc. She showed me I could get paid just for the ideation and strategy behind all of that! Mind blown.

Being coached stretched me to dream way bigger. I started learning about people making $5K, $10K, even multiple six-figures per month from their businesses. It directly impacted my decision making and strategies.

From that first coach, I’ve invested at every stage – in automations, landing corporate contracts, building my own group program, and more. I’m an advocate for coaching because every investment, if it feels good putting money towards it, is a lesson – even if the promised results don’t manifest.

Maybe you reap the program benefits, or maybe you learn how you wouldn’t run things based on a negative experience. You shift to, “Because I said yes and I’m committed, I’ll make this work no matter what.” That mindset with any investment is game-changing.

Shift #4: Leveraging Social Media

Taking social media seriously from all angles – connecting with my audience to converting them – changed everything. In the beginning, I was terrified to talk “business” on Instagram. It took me months to even announce I had a business! All my clients came from Facebook – groups, pages, me giving nonstop value.

I paid for a $97 monthly standout membership in one global group just to go live weekly, promote weekly, pour into people. I’d wake up at 6am to hit all time zones with my lives! It was intentional, consistent value and wow did it work.

Then I brought that energy to Instagram with my 3 C’s framework: clarity, content, consistency. Making my announcement, posting with intention – it was a gamechanger. If you haven’t been serious about social media yet, get my free Profitable Content Roadmap and start ideating how you’ll show up consistently.

Shift #5: Systems & Processes

I know, I know – the words “systems” and “operations” make you want to run away! But having basic systems in place made a huge difference.

In the beginning, that was simply tracking expenses in an Excel P&L doc, writing down content ideas and client info. Creating a basic framework for how I did repeatable tasks. When I brought on VAs, all they had to do was follow the docs I’d created.

Start documenting now the things you do over and over, even if just in a Google doc. It’ll create structure and be crucial when you have people to systematize things for you down the line.

Shift #6: Consistency

This one may seem obvious, but consistency has contributed to my success more than anything else. Consistency in how I show up authentically for my clients. Consistency in mapping out my business activities, sending emails, investing in myself and self-care.

Consistency builds the business. Too often we’re consistent with external things that don’t actually move the needle for our business. We aren’t consistent in creating content, selling, following up on warm leads, launching new or repeated offers.

And then we wonder why sales are slow! If you can lean into consistency and trust the process, success is inevitable.

Write down one thing you’ll be consistent with this week. Creating content? Chunking your calendar? Sending emails to your list? Following up on things you’ve been putting off? Going to the gym for your mental health?

Decide that one thing, then take it a step further – share this post in your IG stories, tag me, and declare what you’ll be consistent with. We’re closing out the year STRONG. We’re about to be her now. Let’s get consistent!

Conclusion:

To recap my six shifts to six figures quickly:
1) My faith
2) Community
3) Self coaching/investing
4) Leveraging social media
5) Systems and processes
6) Consistency

If content is what you need to be consistent with, get my free Profitable Content Roadmap – just DM me “roadmap” on Instagram or check the link in the show notes.

I want to keep being a light for others to dream big, because there have been so many lights inspiring me to go for it too. If I can hit six figures before one year, believe you can do it too. Why not you?

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