50 Million Dollars

When I started making about $300,000 a year in my business, making a million was not a goal I had seriously considered.

Then I heard Amy Porterfield talk about making a million dollars in a year.

Her willingness to say the number out loud gave me a possibility I had not been thinking about.

In 2014, I set the goal. In 2015, I made a million dollars.

That is one reason I talk openly about money. I want other women to consider what could be possible for them, even if they do not choose the same goal.

In this episode, recorded at the end of 2022, I celebrated The Life Coach School reaching the $50 million milestone and reflected on what it took to get there.

Enjoy the first part of the journey

Making that first million was exhilarating.

I had so much drive, hunger, and energy for the possibility. I was willing to meet failure and keep going.

When I talk with students working toward their first $100,000 or million, I encourage them to enjoy that part.

It may feel difficult now. But there is something about pursuing that first possibility that you can miss after you have moved beyond it.

Do not make arriving the only part you allow yourself to enjoy.

The next goal changed the preparation

After making a million in 2015, I made two million in 2016 and five million in 2017.

My attention was already on ten million. I was not only trying to improve a little each year. I was preparing for a much bigger result.

In 2018, the business made seventeen million. That growth required a transformation of the business and of me.

There were growing pains. As we grew, we moved away from small in-person events and direct access to me toward more online coaching and video.

Some longtime students were upset by that change. My concern about disappointing them almost stopped the growth.

Coaching helped me see that I could care about their disappointment without making it a reason to stop serving the people who had not yet found us.

I could understand their frustration and still move toward the future I wanted to create.

Notice when growth becomes closing a gap

After seventeen million, I set a goal of one hundred million.

The business then made twenty-six million in 2019, thirty-seven million in 2020, and forty-two million in 2021.

During 2022, I began thinking about how to make eight million more to reach fifty million.

I did not immediately notice how focused I had become on that gap. I felt tense and caught in hustle energy. My team was stressed, and I was pushing them.

Eventually, I called a meeting and told everyone to stop trying to reach fifty million that year.

Our larger goal was one hundred million, and we had given ourselves more time for it. I wanted us to relax and return our attention to doing the best work for the people already enrolled.

For Life Coach Live, that meant focusing on the teaching and the experience rather than trying harder to sell tickets.

That shift helped me become more creative and focused on the people we could help. By the end of the year, we had passed the fifty-million milestone anyway.

Making the goal bigger and giving ourselves more time changed how I felt and how I worked.

Live from the future you have decided on

When people ask how I did it, part of my answer is that I decided.

I did not only want the result or think it would be nice. I made a decision and started living from that future.

Instead of identifying only with my past and current abilities, I imagined my future capacity.

I thought about the person who could create the result and began making decisions from that place.

I ask students what life would be like after reaching their goal. Often, they have not considered it in detail.

That tells me they are not yet living from that future. They are still mainly looking at where they are now.

The work is not always improving the current version a little. Sometimes it is being willing to transform it and leave parts of the previous version behind.

Create a product that delivers value

The second part was creating products that help people change their lives.

I was my own student first. I studied self-help, coaching, the mind, behavior, and emotions. I read, practiced exercises, and applied what I learned with myself and my students.

That work became the material I could offer.

I keep asking how to provide value and overdeliver so customers are delighted.

Dean Jackson taught me a question I use: what if you only got paid after the customer got the result?

That changes how you think about the product and its delivery.

My customers do not necessarily need more time or more material. They need work that is effective, easy to digest, and simple to learn and apply.

The product itself is part of the marketing when people get results and talk about their experience.

Learn the marketing that brings people to the work

Learning direct response marketing was one of the smartest things I did.

I developed a combination of skills: coaching, marketing, and creating a company with people who could run it.

That combination mattered.

I also built a business that could fund its growth from its cash flow rather than rely on venture capital or continuing loans.

At the time of this episode, I explained that I was willing to spend more to acquire a customer than the customer's initial payment because I trusted the value we delivered and considered the longer customer relationship.

That approach depended on the product, the business structure, and the customer's ongoing experience. It was not simply spending money and hoping.

Build a team and respect what you do best

The fourth part was building a team that could run The Life Coach School.

We created a management structure, communication filters, and high expectations for people who worked hard and smart.

I also needed to distinguish what I loved and did well from what was not my strongest skill.

I love coaching, teaching, recording the podcast, and connecting with students. Managing people and organizing details are not my strongest areas.

As the team developed, I wanted to move out of managing more of those details and focus on the work our students wanted from me.

That meant allowing time for the people and culture to develop rather than pursuing the fastest possible growth.

The process included things that did not work

I failed, struggled, cried, and became frustrated.

We tried funnels that failed. We tried other approaches. Some companies we hired were helpful; others were not.

I could focus on all the things that did not work and use them against myself. Or I could recognize them as part of finding the people and approaches that did.

I kept returning to the people who did not yet know about coaching or the Model.

When an approach did not produce the result, we tried something new.

Celebrate what the money makes possible

I was proud of the milestone and proud of my team.

Part of the joy was sharing it with the people I love and seeing how proud my children were.

There were also experiences I could offer: trips with family and friends, gifts, help with college, generous dinners, and charitable donations.

I loved being able to pay an extraordinary team well and watch people grow beyond what they had thought possible.

But the most meaningful part was hearing from students about the changes in their lives: more love, repaired relationships, less struggle with their bodies or drinking, and a different relationship with themselves.

That is the work I wanted to create.

I want you to think bigger about what you could earn and, just as much, about the value you would need to create to earn it.

The number is an invitation to consider your future. The work is how you begin creating it.