I recently had a chance to sit down (virtually!) with 5 powerful women entrepreneurs who have one thing in common: They all make a yearly 6-figure income in their business. For so many women who own businesses, this is the goal. The chance to make not just a supplemental income, but a comfortable living from our businesses.
During our LIVE panel (hosted in my private Facebook community, Audacious), I asked these women a series of questions to get to the bottom of exactly what these online service providers did (and didn’t do!) to reach consistent 5 and 10k months and 6-figure years.
As we talked, themes and similarities emerged from our discussions. So today I want to bring you a condensed version of our conversation – boiled down to the recurring themes we discovered. If YOU want to be a 6-figure business owner, these are eight of the qualities and actions you should evaluate in your own life and business.
They all embraced a season of (very) hard work.
Something that came up over and over again was that creating a 6-figure business from scratch is a lot of work. Like, a LOT of work. Most of these women had an extended period of time where they worked 40-60 hours a week, and really threw themselves into establishing their business.
They demonstrate patience.
Building a 6-figure business isn’t achieved in a month, or sometimes even in a year. Most of the women I spoke to all achieved that coveted income threshold in the 2nd or 3rd year of business.
You’ve seen the promises of quick results and easy money online. That is not the reality for most entrepreneurs. There are no rules and there is no time limit, which means you can absolutely achieve your income goals in less time than this, but a realistic outlook can help you remain patient as you build your business. Be prepared to put in a lot of front end work, so that compound effect can really take over down the road.
They embrace flexibility and change.
Another similarity that I found among 6-figure business owners is that most of them made a shift or pivot in what they offer or who they offer it to within the first year or two of business. Sometimes it’s difficult to know what iteration of your skill or offer will turn out to be your passion. You’re looking not just for the service that brings you the most joy and fulfillment, but that also creates the best income and income potential for your business. It can be almost impossible to hit the nail perfectly on the head right out of the gate. Be open to changes, and be willing to evolve. 6-figure business owners know that action leads to clarity.
They value mindset work.
“I had to work on my mindset.” During my chat with these successful business owners, I heard this phrase again and again. You will have failures. There will be mistakes. You will feel frustrated, unworthy, and have days where you want to quit. These are universal feelings and they are no less prevalent when you have a full-time business. If you are not committed to squashing these negative mindset blocks, you’ll have an extremely difficult time reaching your income goals.
Mindset coaches are probably the thing I personally scoffed at the most when I was first starting my business, but now I couldn’t feel more different. Mindset work (and personal development) is THE thing that will help you bust through roadblocks that you didn’t even know existed for you.
They are willing to invest.
Deciding to hire a coach requires humility and trust. Humility, because you must admit that you don’t know what you don’t know and that others that have gone before you can teach you new and effective methods for your business. Trust, because making a financial investment in your business requires you believe in yourself and trust that you have what it takes to succeed.
Outside of business coaching, there are a million other ways to invest in your business. Some of these women re-invested their profits into hiring a team or subcontractors so that they could scale faster. They outsourced what they either couldn’t do, didn’t like to do, or didn’t have time to do so that they could focus on their zone of genius and maximize their time.
They aren’t afraid to niche *way* down.
We’ve all heard about niching down…to the point that we’ve started to tune it out. But it is STILL one of the best ways to build and scale a 6-figure business. Having an extremely specific target market and offering a very specific service is a business basic, and NONE of the 6-figure business owners I know are a jack of all trades.
They charge a lot of money.
This one directly ties back into mindset work. Charging based on the value not the time it takes to deliver your services starts with believing that your services are highly valuable. It also requires the confidence to believe that there are people who WILL pay premium prices for a premium service. Both of these require a mindset shift that few women possess when they enter the business world.
They understand what a scalable business model looks like.
Trading dollars for hours only works for business growth if you have unlimited hours…and NONE of us do. Understanding what it means to scale and how you can effectively shift towards a business model that allows you to make more and work less is the KEY to a 6-figure business. The plan, the method and the actions you need to take to build a scalable business is probably information you need to obtain before you can implement.
6-figure business owners know that identifying the framework for this model is better done sooner than later. Much like baking a cake, putting all the right ingredients into the pan will eventually result in a delicious dessert you can enjoy later.
Pssst… I teach you how to build a scalable business that allows you unlimited growth potential inside GROW Business & Marketing Academy.
What do you need to change?
If your financial goals for your business include reaching a 6-figure income, have an honest conversation with yourself. As you read through this blog, where did you see yourself in these eight qualities? Are you winning some and losing others?
A 6-figure income is available to everyone. There are so many different paths to achieve this particular goal. It’s up to you to decide if you are willing to adapt the mindset and habits of a 6-figure business earner BEFORE you are making 6-figures. Show up like a powerful CEO, and you will BECOME a powerful CEO.
Want to hear this conversation for yourself? This panel (and many others!) is available inside my private FB community, Audacious.
