4 strategic modifications that may take your enterprise to $1 million

The New Year is always an exciting time; The clock is reset and entrepreneurs have a new opportunity to achieve goals, earn more money and further build their empires.

Of course, generating more revenue is a popular New Year’s resolution, along with audience and customer base, and 2022 is your opportunity to grow sales past the seven-figure mark. While money may not be the be-all and end-all, it certainly eliminates financial stress and gives you more choices.

As someone who has built businesses to multi-million dollar sales levels and helped more than ten thousand customers thrive, I’ve outlined four strategic shifts that will help you get to that height, as well as putting key elements in place, to make sure you reach it and keep climbing.

1. Go deep instead of chasing trends

Crypto, NFTs, virtual real estate, opportunities in the Metaverse, and other trends sound exciting but can ultimately be distracting for entrepreneurs without an established business model. And you’ve no doubt seen them already, the ones moving from trend to trend, constantly popping up on your social media timeline with a new angle on business. One week they’ll be a clubhouse expert, the next month they’ll be teaching you about NFTs.

However, some of the greatest entrepreneurial minds and established companies took a different approach – one of going deep, planting your flag in the ground and saying, “This is what I do,” and then continually working to build it up.

If you chase trends because you think this is the key to cracking the revenue generation code, you confuse an audience and confused consumers won’t buy. You’re not seen as an expert on anything because you keep changing things, so pick a topic, pick a model, and dig deep. Build social proof for your work, continue to be a student of your craft, and show yourself with content that showcases your expertise.

Related: 3 reasons your business hasn’t grown during the pandemic

2. Balance value with maintaining premium content with paywall

Publishing value-based content is a great way to build trust with consumers and demonstrate expertise—using material on social media, your blog, podcasts, YouTube channels, and other places your ideal target customer frequents. However, while you constantly want to add value, you should save the good stuff for those who pay for your products, services, and offerings. The reason too many entrepreneurs don’t generate revenue from content marketing is because they give away too much.

If you reveal the steps of a solution, consumers will try to figure out the rest for themselves. A large proportion of them still believe that they can gather free information and use it to build a business, but experienced entrepreneurs invest in expert advice because they understand its importance. So give away value but save yourself the process and other essentials for those paying to join a premium community. Create curiosity and awareness with your content so consumers want to know more.

Related: How experts use content to create brand authority and increase sales

3. Be consistent and focus your keywords

It takes a lot of grunt work to build a million-dollar business—long periods of time completing seemingly boring tasks, and that tedium is where too many entrepreneurs become distracted and unfocused. Great companies are built by entrepreneurs who adopt focus and consistency as default settings, with an unwavering eye on creating a path and clear goals.

It’s important that you do the same: be consistent and stay focused on the tasks that are building your business. Just remember to keep that steady focus on a path that makes sense for you, not just emulating what worked for someone else.

4. Use “Blue Ocean” tactics to build audiences

Does it sometimes feel like you’re seeing the same things from the same people, trying to attract the same customers? It’s not just your imagination, in part because social media algorithms are programmed to show us a lot of it; we tend to see others doing what we do. The rub is that building a seven figure business happens when you build an audience and customer base outside of our immediate circle of contacts, also known as the “Blue Ocean” audience.

So do some market research and find out which groups, social media networks and other online places your ideal target customers frequent. Then look at what other (and broader) service providers are out there and how they serve their market, and determine what’s worth your time based on market saturation.

Reaching the million dollar mark this year is entirely doable with the right focus, strategies, and level of consistency. All you have to do is figure out what works best for you and dig deeper into what you do best.

In this age of second pitches, we’re all surrounded by flashy images of success, but remember these are highlight films, not complete pictures, so don’t let business opportunities distract you. Instead, focus on proven strategies that companies have built since the early days of entrepreneurship.

Related: 4 ways to build a seven figure brand and salable business