How can creators like us, who are new to building online businesses, who have high-value skillsets, how do we scale our monthly recurring revenue (MRR) to get us the freedom we desire? That is the question, and this newsletter will give you the answers. Be sure to subscribe if these are the type of answers you seek.
My name is Boysie Gordon, and welcome to Boysie Talks Business.
Welcome to episode 16!
In the last episode, I broke down my client’s journey to booking her first meeting. In only two days, she booked her first prospect meeting. I was excited to share the behind-the-scenes journey.
Man, I love working with passionate people!
Today, I want to discuss arguably the most important skill a business owner can have… patience. Yes, patience but I want to dig a little deeper in this episode and zone in on delayed gratification. It’s a lost art in our society…
BUT
It has an actionable use case in virtually every part of a business’s infrastructure!
Customer Acquisition
Business Strategy
Motivation
Before I get into those, we should talk about my discovery.
I Couldn’t Book Clients
It was January 2020, and I was just starting out as an account manager.
My job description was simple: Close business and manage accounts.
We had quotas, managers, call logs…everything you’d expect in an inside sales job. I had just come off a recent low (car repossessed, no place to live, no money), and this job was supposed to be my comeback story.
I NEEDED this to work. So, I stayed late every night. I was dialing as many numbers as possible every day. I did everything I thought I needed to do.
2 weeks in… I had nothing.
No clients, no meetings, no leads. Everyone else was closing, and I wasn’t.
I put my head down and tried to figure it out…
1 month in, I closed my first client, a mulch dye company.
I got 2 orders and made about $275 in profit (Quota was $1,000).
2 months in, I managed to close 2 more clients.
I’d finish the month with $2,500 in profit (Quota $2,000).
This would be the last time I even acknowledged the quota.
Over the next 3 months, everything exploded!
Month 3 - $8,500
Month 4 - $19,500
Month 5 - $29,000
Then the COVID-19 shutdown happened and I had to change my strategy!
But not before I got to the bottom of my problem…
I was RUSHING THE PROCESS.
My pitch: “Hey stranger, buy from me.”
My strategy: “Oh no, I need to change my niche.”
My mindset: “What is everyone else doing?”
These are all things I kept thinking about on repeat.
My earlier days were filled with anxiety and concern. Once I slowed down, the sales began flowing in, and that lesson remains true to this day.
Delayed gratification saved my career…
Sales and Outreach
This is the most critical to the initial part of business success.
You need to generate buzz around your offer and outreach is the only way to do that. Most of us know this and immediately begin selling to prospects, but there is a problem we usually face…
The problem is that most selling is unnatural.
We want to win business, so we put our offer in the face of as many people as possible. It’s portrayed as hundreds of people in a bullpen making calls nonstop. The car dealer trying to get you to spend an extra $10,000 on your vehicle.
Manipulation
Immoral
Scam
That’s what society thinks of sales.
This is also what the default “I’m new to sales” person tries to emulate.
And the more creator businesses there are, the more this outlook is going to spread. It’s going to be a rough time for people who don’t adapt their strategy.
But that presents another problem..
People want success now, and it shows in how they sell. Manipulation, lies, and scams, all products of people shortcutting the process.
This is where delayed gratification will help a seller stand out.
Do not try to go for gold right away. The successful will thrive by networking and making connections until an opportunity presents itself.
Be okay will having conversations that don’t lead to immediate business.
Business Optimization
This is a portion that often gets disguised as innovation.
Most of the time, it’s just impatience. Most things in business have a cycle of at least 90 days. Don’t get me wrong, sometimes the signs appear well before that, but not every time.
Truth is, most of us don’t like to believe in the power of compounding.
But it is a requirement of a successful anything. The little actions we take amount to bigger things once we do them for a long time. Delayed gratification…
When it comes to making a business adjustment it’s imperative that you have the feedback. Not just making emotional decisions out of frustration, but an INFORMED, logical decision.
You get the information by doing things even when you don’t see results on day 7.
Can you wait until day 30, 45, 90 to change your business strategy?
Passion and Hard Work
And here is the hardest pill to swallow.
Most people don’t work hard because they lack passion. They want the money, the fame, the nice things… but that isn’t enough. And 2 days of hard work isn’t going to get you those anyway.
Professional athletes dedicate their lives to their sport before they even see a penny of profit.
They train every day.
They eat only the right things.
They wake up early or stay up late.
Through the distractions that come from being young and dumb…
They still remain committed to the grind. While we were partying, sleeping in, hanging with friends… they were investing in an opportunity.
EVEN THOUGH THEIR DREAM ISN’T A GUARANTEE!
Why?
They love what they do.
They aren’t counting the reps.
They aren’t counting the years.
They aren’t counting the money.
They would do it all for free…
I mean, it’s not like they get paid to train in the early stages anyway.
Would be doing your business if you weren’t going to get paid for it?
For me, I have been helping people with their businesses for free for a while.
Even before I started my business consultancy. And even when I started my business consultancy, I wasn’t making any money…
At least not enough to keep the lights on!
Passion changes delayed gratification from a form of torture to a form of hope!
If you are passionate about what you do, just keep going.
Keep learning.
Keep getting better!
Put your head down and grind!
Success is for those who outlast everyone else…
If you’d like some guidance along the journey to help you achieve your goals faster, then join my waitlist!
We can hop on a strategy call and see if we are a good match!
Once I open more slots, you have priority.
If you are interested, reply “scale” or DM me on X or Substack!
P.S.
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EP. 16 I Failed to Book Clients and It Highlighted the Key to Online Business Success.