Every successful online business grows in phases.

This is the journey of entrepreneurship;

Solve a problem > which creates a problem > solve that problem > which creates a new problem. Repeat.

While this may seem obvious, it’s hard to see when you’re in the middle of running your own business:

Taking calls, creating content, and remembering to pay yourself. I get it.

It’s all too easy to get lost in the details, trying to figure it out by yourself.

Before you know it, you’ve swapped a 9-5 for a 24/7.

Time, energy and money are your most valuable assets.

Today, I’m going to show you how to allocate them when growing.

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The 5 Phases of Growth

Each phase has its own challenges, criteria and requirements.

Below, I've dissected each phase so you can understand them, zoom out, recognise where you are, and then take the appropriate action.

Phase 1: Acquisition

In the beginning, you are learning; about your customers, your business and yourself.

This is why you start with acquisition.... learning to sell.

Who they are? What do they want? How can you sell to them?

And yes...

• You'll make mistakes.
• Things will be messy.
• Things won't be perfect.

That's ok! You won't run out of people to sell to (I promise)

This is where most people fail. Because it's the ugly stage.

• Selling things no one wants.
• Not putting it in front of enough people.
• Or ignoring the data - numbers don’t lie.

Consider this to be a Rubix cube. The colours will align eventually, it's a question of how many twists and turns.

Here are two tips for surviving the Acquisition phase.

• Condense your efforts. 1 Channel, 1 Avatar, 1 Product/Offer.
• Validate EVERYTHING. Do not overcommit without proof.

It doesn’t matter how many times you change your niche, your offer, or your product, you WILL have to solve this eventually. It’s a question of whether you will pay with time or money.

Once you have a true understanding of your sales mechanism, move on to phase 2.

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Phase 2: Retention

Seeing some traction? Controllable revenue? Now it’s time to focus on retention.

Why? Profitability.

The easiest customer to sell to is the customer you already have. You cannot scale efficiently in the absence of loyalty.

By selling more to existing customers:

• More profit for growth.
• Improve your customer experience.
• Happier customers = More referrals.

Here are two main focuses of the Retention phase.

• Email & SMS Marketing: You’re reading this email. No further proof is needed. (I’m also betting on WhatsApp Business for 2024)
• Surveys: Stop guessing what people want, ask them and then go and create it. Validate with people who have already paid you.

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Phase 3: Diversification

Great, you've solved those two fundamentals. BUT you can't stay reliant on one channel for new customers. It's too risky.

The extra profit from retention needs to be spent on testing and diversifying. This is my favourite part of business (and my not-so-secret sauce):

Fail Fast. Have a heavy bias for action, overload yourself with information so you can make better decisions.

It’s a 5-Step Process:

Ideate > Prioritise > Execute > Evaluate > Repeat.

I can promise you this: people less intelligent are more successful than you because of this.

If you test ideas quickly, document lessons/learnings and use data to inform decisions, growth is inevitable.

This is the foundation of a growth strategy, I’ll be covering this phase in more detail next week on LinkedIn.​

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Phase 4: Systemise

It sounds like an oxymoron, but systems will set you free. There is only so much you can do; think of them as processes to produce predictable outcomes.

Some of my key systems and their outcomes:

• Content System: 1 Email, 1 Growth Guide, 5 Li Posts per week.
• Semi-Automatic Client System: 5/8 Inbound leads per week.
• Rapid Fire Testing System: Idea to execution in < 3 days.
• Fulfilment System: Stops me drowning in client work.

So how do you create systems?

Anything that will be done repeatedly, can be systemised with this process.

Document > Template > Automate

Automation comes down to a person, a project or a process.

Imagine getting all the ideas out of your head, and being able to have them executed the way you want.

This = Leverage.

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Phase 5: Consistency [+ Team]

The boring bit. Do the work, consistently.

Follow all phases sequentially and you will have a clear business model.

• You'll be able to acquire new customers
• Create profits to future-proof your business
• Enjoy more freedom

Well done. Keep going.

If you get to this stage, your priorities shift into 3 things:

• Future Innovation/Efficiency.
• Solving Problems.
• Leading A Team.

It’s more about staying in the game, than intentionally scaling.

In Summary

I like to think of business in years, not days.

There are seldom things you can do on a daily basis that will significantly move the needle.

So keep in mind these phases can take time; success (in anything) is about playing the long game.

The phase you are in is not tied to your revenue. It is based on the problems you are encountering in your business.

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→ Your action item: Read this growth guide and diagnose where you are right now.

• Consistently making controllable revenue from 1 channel? Phase 1
• Have a mechanism for Increasing profits from each customer? Phase 2
• Have an additional budget to start testing new channels? Phase 3
• Are you the bottleneck to the business? Phase 4
• Completed phases 1-4? Phase 5

Find the relevant suggestion and choose just one thing to move forward within the next week.

If you’ve found this useful, let me know on LinkedIn.

Happy Friday!

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P.S. Before I go, one quick thing…

If you need help diagnosing which phase your business is in, book a Free 'Founder Clarity Call'. Next week only. First-come, first-served.

​> Book A Call <​