How I Doubled My Turnover in 3 Months (3 Steps!)

Posted on 14. Feb, 2012 by + in Business growth

Catchy title right? Well, I don’t claim this stuff just for traffic, I only report when I really had a breakthrough. A good example of that is when I reported on me publishing a book in 11 days after writing it in 3. That’s a true story, and it spawned my first successful blog giving me an audience and an ear with some of the best blogs in the business today.

Well, success is not easy, and with the fair bit of success I DID muster over the last 18 months blogging, I have really only ONE secret, and that is that everything takes time. So, if you plan on quitting your job and you DON’T have a mentor, give yourself between 9 and 18 months to build your business, network and brand. Don’t set your goals before that.

However, once you DO start breaking through in certain areas, you’ll start building clientele and word will spread about you and your business/blog. This is what I’ve experienced in recent months. I must say that most of my success has been because of confidence.  Success (even mild success) builds confidence. And success is why I wrote this post.

What is success to me?

Well, I would take my own success as being able to build a business from earning nothing to earning $3000 in around 5 months. I’ve also managed to solicit the services of 2 staff members to date, that’s not talking of the many freelancers I solicit orders from for my business.

I have been around for a long time, but only when I’ve been retrenched have I caught a fire under my ass to make a success of it.  It’s that drive and hustle (otherwise you don’t eat right?), that has helped me to work out a plan for growth in my own business. ‘Cause I don’t just want to earn money for myself, but I want to create opportunities for other people to also build soemthign exciting.

So, without further adieu, let’s look at how I managed to double my turnover in 3 months.

Diversify.

My dream is to solely make money from blogging every day. And I will get there soon. In the meantime I’m building up my client base to take care of day-to-day costs and pay salaries. South Africa is a pretty easy country when to comes to salaries. So, we can get away with paying a good minimum wage (above what a lot of people earn) but still not break the bank.

So if you want your business to grow, you have to diversify your income. That means that you have to look at different income streams for your business. Some of those streams come from the following sources:

Or, that’s our main sources. We will soon be adding graphic design and video production to our services. So, I know all of us have the dream of making money solely from blogging. The reality is that very few people do. If you look at the income reports of Dean Saliba, Justin Germino and Ana Hoffman, you’ll see that they don’t make money from one source. And if you want to grow your business and double your turnover, you have to diversify.

Outsource.

As you diversify, your business will grow. Guaranteed. Because there is a lot more ways to make money. As work rolls in (and as you prove you are worth your salt, it will), you may not be able to handle everything. There’s always admin, invoicing and then tasks that has to be done daily. And most daily tasks are there to keep customers happy. Those tedious tasks can eat up your time you can spend on seeing new clients, building your network or building new income streams.

VALUABLE TIP! If you make a certain amount of money on certain tasks that may be paying all the bills, you’ll carry on comfortably, but you won ‘t grow or increase. You’ll eventually get bored and lose interest completely.  You need to be challenged. Need to learn new things. Need to grow and learn new skills. For this to happen, you need to free up your own time.

To free up your time, you need to outsource. Whatever you spend the most time on, outsource it to someone else. Here are some examples of what  did:

  • When I realized I won’t grow past my current client base or income because I’m tied up, I looked at what I spend most of my time on and realized it was posting content on my own and client sites. So, I assigned a content manager to the task and I pay him exactly half of what I make.
  • Then I realized I’m spending a lot of time on producing content for the sites, so I assigned a content creator to the task. And I started outsourcing a lot of that to freelancers I built relationships with all over the world.
  • Now, I realize that a lot of people are starting to make vlogs (which has been a bit of an edge for me), and now I’m gonna step up my game. I am meeting with a video editor this week. So, I’ll record videos, and this video production manager will edit the videos, process them and post them for me. CHUNK of time saved. He will also work on my courses and process them.

Specialize.

I stared my career branding myself as a self publishing expert. And did fairly well with that. It didn’t exactly bring me in any income worthy of accounting, but what I’ve realized recently is that my business (which focuses more on web design and services than anything else) started specializing.

Most of the sites we build and manage happen to be in the mining business or somehow connected to it. I didn’t plan for it and I definitely didn’t study or have any knowledge in that direction. Somehow though, we (as a company) managed to attract customers in the line or field of this business.

We have a couple sites we manage in the mining industry, and we are busy negotiating signing a new building and management deal for a new site. So, we are definitely working in that direction. Let’s look at what will specializing do for your business:

  • You will produce content in the same field, which means you will know more and more what you’re talking about.
  • It will be easier to produce content, as you’ll know freelancers specializing in that field, and as your knowledge grows in that field, you will produce content with more depth.
  • You will attract people in the same field, because of word of mouth.
  • You’ll feel more comfortable approaching customers generally, but more so customers in the field you start specializing in.
  • Because of specializing, you will see certain solutions and marketing methods that would work only for (or specifically for) the field you work in.

I have one rule for my business though: I don’t work on sites for companies with directly conflicting businesses. I generally think that would be a very bad idea.

Conclusion.

I would say that’s the rhythm I’ve been working on for the last couple months. And having seen this growth path it makes me hungry to hustle more and grow according to the same projections. I have doubled in three months, but I think I have to fine tune this formula and work very hard and scientifically to do it again. But for you to double your income from your last figure, this is what I suggest you do.

Your Turn.

Do you think my three steps makes sense? Do you have faith and the drive to double your income in three months? Do you have some steps or tips you’d like to share with us on how we could achieve more growth in our business. Weigh in below!

Image courtesy of Scott Chan.

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19 Responses to “How I Doubled My Turnover in 3 Months (3 Steps!)”

  1. The Bad Blogger

    14. Feb, 2012

    Well, every business have a different model, and though you did it well with 3 steps, not everyone can, if you ask me, I believe outsourcing to professionals is my specialize field, I mean you had to choose the right person for the job, or else it will crush.
    But still, it’s great to hear how you double your turn over in just 3 months, I mean as I said not everyone can, even me… so congrats!!! :)

    And thanks for letting me know about this post, and is great to share something of a great value :)
    The Bad Blogger recently posted..5 Reasons Why You are So Insanely Wrong About Guest Blogging!My Profile

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  2. Ana
    Twitter:

    14. Feb, 2012

    I think you are carving out a great niche for yourself, Ivin – in demand, diverse, and has longevity.

    Thanks for the shout!
    Ana recently posted..Internet Marketing ToolsMy Profile

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  3. Nimsrules
    Twitter:

    14. Feb, 2012

    Quite impressive Ivin, perseverance always pays off. Doubling your income in a short span of 3 months is not a joke after all. I’m still trying to build my blog to get a steady income.
    Nimsrules recently posted..SEO Terminology Part 1My Profile

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  4. Nimsrules
    Twitter:

    15. Feb, 2012

    Great. You’ve plans for future too. All the best for that and I love the minimal design of your blog :)

    Reply to this comment

  5. bbrian017
    Twitter:

    16. Feb, 2012

    Hi Ivin, Amazing work buddy. You have the talent so I knew you would be doing amazing online. I know you have worked hard to get where you are today so you deserve everything you have right now.

    Imagine what you will be able to accomplish over the next 3 months or even six month. the sky is the limit my friend.

    Reply to this comment

  6. Justin Germino

    17. Feb, 2012

    Your success is coming in short order Ivin, congrats on all the hard work that is paying off.

    Reply to this comment

  7. Kimberly Gauthier

    18. Feb, 2012

    I love the buttons that you have at the end of your post directing people to hire you. I think that’s very well done.

    I didn’t realize we could get paid for commenting. I’ve never heard of such a thing. I think it’s awesome that you’re building this great business.

    Very inspiring, because I’m trying to do the same thing.
    Kimberly Gauthier recently posted..Launch by Michael Stelzner | A Helpful Read for BloggersMy Profile

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  8. Astro Gremlin from voice recognition guru

    19. Feb, 2012

    Ivin, your success seems to derive from a hybrid set of businesses and pure blogging model. That’s certainly a great way to become independent. I’m trying to figure out how much income can be generated by blogging alone (freelance or consulting work not counting). You make a good point when you say, “Everything takes time.” And since not everything works, you have to try everything. :) I’m getting my best results from affiliate marketing — pennies a day!
    Astro Gremlin recently posted..Leave More Comments with Dragon PowerMy Profile

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  9. Dave Steffensmeier

    24. Feb, 2012

    Ivin,
    Great article, yes to continue with the path of success you need to diversify and outsource. It’s important to not have all your eggs in 1 basket. You also need help from a trusted team. Outsourcing saves time so in the long term you make more then doing everything yourself which is a double bonus.

    Keep up the great work!
    Dave Steffensmeier
    Dave Steffensmeier recently posted..Residual income streamsMy Profile

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