The $250K Roadmap: What I’d Do Differently If I Were Starting Over

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Brandi: [00:00:00] Have you ever wondered what others do to hit their goals? What was their secret sauce? Today I am diving in to what I would do if I was starting over. And wanted to get to 250k as fast as possible as a one on one service provider. So in this episode, I'm super excited about it. It was super fun planning.

I'm going over 9, but actually 10. I give you a bonus one. Of what I would do if I was starting from zero today. And I wanted to get to 250k as soon as possible where I would focus what I wouldn't focus on what I would do differently than what I did when I did this and I'm breaking it all down. So no matter if you're an ad manager or social media manager or any one on one service provider, this episode is for you.

No matter if you already have an existing business or you're just getting started, I guarantee you you'll have some takeaways and you'll probably find some holes in your business if you already have one. [00:01:00] And we're going to link up so many resources to help you in any of these areas that you need help with.

So let's jump on into this week's episode of the Serve Scale SOAR podcast.

Welcome back to the serve scale soar podcast, the go to place. If you want to start grow or scale your ad management business, my name is Brandi Mowles. And I am beyond excited to be just sharing this episode today because I'm taking it back to the beginning. I'm going to talk about what would I do if I was starting completely over from scratch?

Where would I focus on? What would I prioritize? What would I not do to get to a 250, 000 in the next 12 months [00:02:00] as a one on one service provider? So if you're starting your business, or maybe you've had your business for a while, but you're just ready to start over, literally start over. And that doesn't mean you're like wiping all your clients out, but you just want a fresh start in your business.

Or maybe you're considering starting a freelance business. Or maybe you're just like, things are just not going the way I want. Let's see if I can apply one or two of these things to my business to see if I can take it to the next level. This podcast is for you. So no matter where you are on your journey, unless you're already doing over 250, 000 a year and you're doing it with ease, this podcast is not for you.

So if you're like Brandi I'm not at that mile marker yet. I'm headed that way. That's where I could see. Maybe you want to hit a hundred K, whatever your goal is, but you're not at your revenue goal quite yet. Then I think you'll be able to find, I don't actually think, I know you'll be able to find [00:03:00] value out of this episode.

So let's dive in and let me start from My story and I don't want to dive too much into this because I want to talk about you and what I would do Differently and I'll talk about my story throughout but when I started we were filing for bankruptcy. We had hit rock bottom I was leaving a MLM business that I was the top one percent spoke on stage drove free cars had all the fancy purses And I wasn't making any money and I was making really bad decisions financially And I'm going to share with you a little bit of advice that I was getting from my mentors.

And I'm not blaming them for it. I was young. I made mistakes. I didn't know what it was to run a business. And so when I started this business, it was literally to pay for diapers formula and a bankruptcy attorney and maybe get out of this hole that we were living in. And some of you may be living in that hole right now [00:04:00] and we'll share, I'll link up all The story of our bankruptcy below, financial woes, all that kind of stuff.

If you want to check that out, but if I were to go back and do it again, I would do a few things differently. But I'd also do a few things the same because I started in July and from July to December I did 30, 000 in revenue. So not shabby and I'm not like making that a small thing. From January to May.

I did 70, 000 and then from the January 2019 to December 2019, I did 250, 000 with just my one on one services that didn't include anything else, just one on one services. And I did it without a team and without working more than 25 hours a week. So what I'm here to do is break down. How can you have those quantum leaps?

[00:05:00] How can you start your business off right so you don't go through all the woes and the hardships that I did? Or maybe you've had your business for a while and you're just ready. What can I do to take it to the next level? So now that you know a little bit about my story, let's jump in. I've broke this down into nine I'm going to be talking about a few things I would do or not do if I were starting over from scratch.

And so number one, I would specialize instead of generalize right off the bat. When I started, I was doing virtual assistant work. I was doing all the things because that's what I was told. And now after mentoring over 2000 freelancers in the last five years and seeing people come in right away as ad managers and completely Hit the ground running having those six figure years their first year and making real big girl money I'm like dang I was doing it wrong I wasn't doing it wrong, [00:06:00] but there's a better way and I started out at 15 an hour doing all the things and I was working a lot And you may be there too.

You may be the unicorn doing all the things working a lot and being like Oh my gosh, this is nine to five grinding and that's not what you wanted. You wanted time freedom. You wanted financial freedom. But yet you're stuck at this like ticking clock and then the better you get at it, the less money you make.

It's so bananas. And That actually brings me up to another one that I didn't even put here and I can't believe it But so I'm gonna make this a two parter One I would specialize instead of generalize and I sure as heck would not start off by charging by the hour I would go right into retainer packages and I'm not talking about like 10 hours at this price point.

I'm talking about like I'm going to run your ads for 2, 000 a month type deal. And I'm not worried about the time because it's not about the time. It's about the value. And we have so many podcast [00:07:00] episodes on that. And so we'll link up those episodes on package pricing because that's such an important aspect of this.

And I can't believe I forgot it. So I would generalize instead of specialize, specialize instead of generalize. And if you're like ads aren't for me, there's other specialties, go build funnels, go do this, Go do podcast management, but start with a specialty instead of being a generalist. And if you're like, but Brandy, what if I don't like it?

Great. You can always pivot, give it 90 days and then you can pivot, give it six months and then you can pivot. You're not stuck, but when you're doing all the things, I'm sure you don't love doing all the things. So it's, Either way, you're going to be stuck doing a bunch of stuff that you may not like, but you'll figure it out and you'll get paid more in the process of figuring it out.

So number one, specialize, don't generalize, and don't charge by the hour. So we're making that a two parter. Two, I wouldn't worry about websites, [00:08:00] branding, logos, all of that kind of stuff. So many people, I see so many people stuck what should I name my, Business, what should I like? What about a domain all these things and it's like Your logo like no one cares what your logo looks like even running A multi million dollar business.

I don't even care what my logo looks Like I make it on canva half the time for our programs You do not need to worry about that stuff. Your colors do not matter Go and find a preset color palette in canva for free. It does not matter. You can change them your name I would your business name. I would just use your name for right now.

If you decide you want to grow an agency down the line or something like that Then go on and have an agency type name But honestly people want to do business with people use your name make it easy Move forward. Don't get stuck on the little things that aren't making you money. Your logo, your website, your branding does not make you money.

And you may change your mind 10 times. [00:09:00] So now I know people who are stuck with like virtual assistant, blah, blah, blah, as their name, because they started with what they were starting then. But I can tell you what you start with now is not what your business will look like five years from now. Just use your name or something similar.

I have a good friend, she's a coach, and so her name is Kasey Jo. So she has K J O coaching. That can be, like, you can run with that. You can do things with that. So if you don't want to be like me and be BrandyMiles. com or Brandy and Company, which is technically our LLC, Then come up with initials something like that, but don't get stuck here.

Move forward Like just move forward because who knows you may completely change your business in the next three months And then you're stuck with some name you're branding your logo. It was all for nothing Now one thing I would get up is a work with me page and a scheduler That's all you need a work with me page in a scheduler.

Maybe a facebook page if you want I don't even know how [00:10:00] necessarily that is But a work with me page and a scheduler scheduler. We recommend either HoneyBook or Dubsado and a work with me page. We actually have a whole deep dive training on work with me page. And we give you a template inside of Canva that you can install into your Canva and use that.

And you just put the button that links to your scheduler. So if you want to grab that, we'll make sure to list it in the show notes, but you can go to the soaring success shop. com soaring success shop. com. And. It's the work with me page deep dive. We give a whole training on how to create a really highly effective work with me page.

And then you can use scheduler. Like we have HoneyBook in a hurry or Delighted with Dubsado if you need help getting those systems set up, but like honestly, a work with me page and a scheduler is all you need to worry about. Forget the logo, forget the website, forget the branding, get those two things.

It's going to be the most cost effective way and the quickest way to get you up and running. So specialize, don't generalize. Don't worry about [00:11:00] branding logos, all that kind of stuff. Just get a work with me page and a scheduler set up. Okay. Number three, race to three clients as quick as possible. Getting your first client is like such the biggest win and it can be the hardest step.

Like that first client is all about building your confidence on so many different levels. All right. So now I'm gonna be talking about the difference between an online sales process and a real sales process. Now, what I'm gonna be doing is I'm gonna be talking about the difference between an the first client is probably the one that you're most comfortable with being able to icing, like you've got it down and you start to build a lot of confidence by that third client.

And then by that third client, you have enough testimonials, proof, results that you can raise your prices pretty quickly. And so I would race to three clients as quick as possible. That would be what I focus on is how do I get to three clients as quick as possible. And [00:12:00] that's where I would put my energy into not all the other systems and the back end stuff and all that.

Focus on getting to three clients as quick as possible. I actually did this when I was getting started. That was my goal. How can I get to three clients as quick as possible? And I, that was like focus, like dead set on that. And I did it within 60 days of starting my business. And then all the other clients came really easily after that.

Cause I've just got into a swing of how I'm getting clients, what I'm doing, what works, what doesn't work. Because if you're, what So if you're doing five discovery calls to land one client, hopefully your discovery call conversion rates a little bit better than that. But if you're just getting started, you have no sales experience.

Let's say it's one in five. You're going to have to do 15 discovery calls to get three clients. You're going to learn really quickly how to do amazing discovery calls. Now, We'll link up in the show notes also our discovery call episodes. We have two of them that would be really, really helpful for you that you can tap into.

[00:13:00] And and we have a freebie that goes with them. So we'll link up all that. So you have that in the show notes so you can race to three clients as quick as possible. Okay. Number four, I would go all in on a marketing platform hard for 90 days. So that's where my focus would be. Like I'm going hard on a marketing platform for 90 days.

So if you're, and you have to make sure you pick the right platform. So if you decide okay, I want to work with chiropractors. Okay. So They may be on LinkedIn. They're probably on LinkedIn. But the quickest way to get to them is going to be cold calling chiropractors. So if you're like, okay, chiropractors, I'm going to cold call or cold email for 90 days.

That's your focus. You're tracking cold calls. You're tracking responses. You're tracking all that. We just had a student who inside of conversions for clients brought me her tracking. How many people had she called email? How many had responded? How many had she booked? And we like literally went through her funnel and were able [00:14:00] to diagnose where the problem was.

And she thought she wasn't doing good, but actually her numbers looked really good. There was just one tweak we needed to make. So when you track your numbers, people can help and support you. And so go hard on one marketing platform for 90 days and make sure it's the right platform. I have a lot of students who work with coaches and course creators.

Their platform's either going to be Instagram or Facebook, and it's not posting or praying. It's active marketing, not passive. Marketing. We have a whole podcast episode. We'll link up on passive and active marketing for you. So you know the difference, but I'm going all in if I'm working with recruiters and I want to work with them, I'm going to LinkedIn.

If I'm working with therapists, I'm going to LinkedIn. If I'm working with like I said, coaches, I'm going to Instagram or Facebook. Like I am going where they are. If I'm working with nonprofits, I'm either calling or I'm getting in person. So [00:15:00] go where your client is hanging out. What is their way? If you want to work with HVAC clients, you need to be calling the owner of the HVAC company.

This is how it's done. Where are they communicating? And we'll also link up the episode with Ashley Monk on cold calling. So if that's a method you want, you have the resources you need right there. Okay. So I'd go all in on a marketing platform for 90 days. Number five. With each new client, I would optimize one system and create an SOP.

A lot of people procrastinate in systems. They procrastinate in the back end because that's the safe. You're safe if you're setting up your systems. I'm setting up my website. I'm setting up this. I'm setting up that. I'm setting up that. Then I'll mark it. No, you're going to market and then you're going to set up systems as you go and you're going to create SOP, standard operating procedures.

I think that said, I always get it wrong, but you're going to outline what you're doing so you can see is this good? Is this the most effective? Now we have a whole [00:16:00] training. It's a new bonus inside of conversions for clients. Wow. On fact wow. Onboarding. We also have it like, if you just want that, it's also in our shop.

So we'll link that up. It's a two hour training with resources on how to create effective onboarding. We'll also link to the podcast episode that we have on that. And have that would be the first system after you get a new client you set up as you're onboarding that client What's the contract look like?

What's the proposal look like? What's the invoice look like? What do you do the first seven days that you're onboarding them you're onboarding? Process should be your first system you set up as you're getting clients. Then you can be like hot dang. I got that one down. So what's the next system and for ad managers?

What does your reporting system look like? How are you doing that? Let's optimize that. Let's create a process for that inside of conversions for clients We have the five predictable Processes. And so with the five predictable processes, I show [00:17:00] you which processes you need. So attacking one of those processes each time you land a client or each month, but we're not doing them all at once because that's procrastination.

We're not procrastinating in our systems because you don't want to market. Remember, we're racing to three as quickly as possible. Okay, so number six is I would focus on my goals. Not other people's goals. Not what they wanted. Not what I believe that I should strive for to have a successful business. But instead, I would focus solely on my goals and what my family needed. And I think that so many times, this is one thing that I did really well when starting my business because I did it really well in my previous business, is I didn't look at what other people were doing, how fast, how slow they were doing it, whatever that looked like.

I really just Head down focused on me and what I needed and that was enough of a push. So many of us get [00:18:00] caught up in the comparison and we'll link up the episode of comparison and how to get out of that mode and how other people's business success is none of your business. And it's because a lot of times instead of inspiring us, it slows us down when you focus on what is my family need right now.

And for me starting out, remember his diapers formula and bankruptcy attorney, I didn't need 10, 000 months. I needed 2, 000. So what did that look like for me? What did I need to get to, to get that? And then once I hit that, my vision got a little bit bigger. It was like, dang, what if I could get to 6, 000 months?

Then once I hit that, it was like, Oh my gosh, I'm so close to 10, 000 months and then 20. And so instead of coming in and being like, I want a 20, 000 a month. Yeah, that's great, but you got to get through 2, 000, 5, 000, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13. Like you got to go through all of that to get to 20. [00:19:00] You don't just skip from 0 to 20.

Maybe if you sign a 20, 000 paying full contract for your first client, which if you do that, dang, come and be on the show. Let's talk. But for most people they got to go through all the other stuff. In order to hit that and so stop focusing on what success looks like from a marketing perspective and I'll tell you I talk about 100k years.

I talk about 250k years because that's what a lot of people find successful. But once you get into my world, you see I'm more about what does success look like for you. What is your next revenue goal? What do you want? What does your family need? And when we can focus on that and put the blinders on, we stop playing comparison and that all comparison is, is the thief of all joy.

Focus on what you need. Put your blinders on, stop looking side to side, do what is right for you. You define success. No one else. If your definition of success is [00:20:00] 5, 3, 000 a month, 2, 000 a month, and you hit it. That's success, my friend. No one can take that away from you. But if you never have the desire to do or have the clients or raise your prices to get to 10k months.

And so you're feeling like, and really you don't even need 10k months and you're feeling like a failure because you're not there, but maybe your family needs 4, 000 and you've hit 4, 000. That's success. Stop taking away your success because it doesn't line up with the mold. And I'll tell you, you already don't line up with the mold as an entrepreneur.

You are not normal. You are unique. You are special. You're creative. You're meant to define success on your own terms. So why are we looking at other people's success for our validation? So number six, I would focus on my goals, not others. Number seven, I would find a community and ask questions and show up so I can move faster.

[00:21:00] Once again, I did invest right off the bat because I value education and I know that when I pay, I play. And so that means if I pay, I'm going to get in there and I'm going to get my money's worth. That is just how I am. And maybe I get my money's worth, like it's a lifetime program. I got my money's worth in this program within three months.

And I popped in every now and then I supported the community, but like after that, it was fine or 12 month programs. I've got joined 12 month programs, got my value back what I needed in the first month and never revisited it, but that's okay. I'm not there to, spend my life there. I'm there to get what I need, hit my goals and move on.

Now, we have people in conversions for clients who have hit their goals, they still show up to calls. I love it. People in strategist society doing big things, they still show up to calls because they still know there's value to be learned. I've never not had a coach. That's not true. I had a, didn't have a coach for one year and it was my [00:22:00] lowest performing year.

Every year that I've had a coach mentor that I'm part of a group coaching, I've had great years. You always need a coach, a mentor, a community to ask questions, show up, move faster. And it's not just enough to pay for the program. You actually have to take action. You got to do the dang thing. One of the things I love about conversions for clients is it's all ad managers.

They're all supporting each other. They're all going through the exact same things. They can all help troubleshoot. There's not many places where you can go with everyone doing the same thing and there's no competitiveness. It's amazing. And find a community, ask questions, show up. I can directly see the people in Conversions for Clients and Strategist Society that ask questions, they show up to the calls, they move the fastest.

They're making the most revenue. And I've noticed this over the last four years. It's always the case. The star students are the ones who show up, ask questions, and move on. Because they're moving fast. They're getting [00:23:00] unstuck quicker because they're asking questions. Don't be afraid to ask questions. Okay, let's do a quick recap and then we have two more.

I would specialize, not generalize. Pick a high paying service to go all in on and charge based on the package, not based on hour. Two, I wouldn't worry about website branding logos. I would set up a work with me page with a scheduler attached. Three, race to three clients as quick as possible. Four, I would go all in on one marketing platform for 90 days.

Five, with each new client, I would optimize or add a system and create an SOP for it. Six, I would focus on goals of mine to find success on my terms, tune out the noise, put my blinders on. Seven, I would invest in a community and ask lots of questions. I would implement money management from the get. So in my previous business, I told you, I made a lot of dumb financial decisions.

There was no financial planning, [00:24:00] help like any training on that. And I was 22 making More money than I'd seen my entire life and I've worked my entire life. I've had to work for everything and I mismanaged it like I didn't know what to do with that. I didn't know that it wasn't when you have a business It's not always gonna be the same.

There's gonna be down months. There's gonna be up months. I wasn't planning for that I wasn't planning for taxes. This is not something that I knew I wasn't planning for the down seasons I thought they would all be good seasons And so one thing coming into this business, I knew I was going to be planning.

I was going to implement money management from the jump. I would take the same amount of pay every single month until I had consistency. For me, I needed, I really needed 1, 000 a month. I took thousand dollars each month for the first six months. I could have taken more, but that's what I needed.

But then at the end of the year, at the end of that year, I got a big old bonus, but the money was in there. I had my money for expenses. [00:25:00] I tracked my expenses. I knew exactly what my profit and loss was each and every single month. The great thing as a service provider, you should be running about 75 percent plus per month.

Profit margins, which is really exciting, but I knew my expenses. I knew my profit. I knew my P and L's. Then I had savings, business savings. So I was putting away money for whatever programs I wanted to invest in, or if I'd already invested so I could pay off whatever I needed to pay off for that program.

So if I started with a payment plan, my goal was always to pay it off within three months of joining. Same thing with now, this is why we actually implement this. It's funny. Most people don't. Realize that we do this, but any of our programs, if you start with a payment plan and you pay it off within three months, we honor the discount you get for the pay in full price and the bonuses.

It's this little Easter egg we have, but that's why it formed because that was always my goal is to start with payment plan. If I didn't have the funds and then pay it back with [00:26:00] my business savings within three months. And I still do that today. And then taxes. I was putting away money for taxes. We have a whole episode that we'll link up with Rebecca, my accountant, and taxes are different for everyone.

Like people who say you need to put back 30%, that's not necessarily true. It depends. Do you have a spouse that has an income? How much are you making? Is this your first year? What state you live in? Cause like when we were in Florida, we didn't have state taxes. I didn't need to put back. 30 percent in taxes.

Now that we live in Georgia, I'll have to reevaluate that with my accountant. How much do we need to put back? Also when you have a great accountant, they can do some fun things with taxes. So I definitely think having someone on your team that takes care of that stuff is like definitely a great investment and it's a business right off.

Okay. So implement money management from the jump. Nine, the last one, do the dang thing and take the messiest [00:27:00] action. You're not ever going to get anything perfect. So you have two choices. You can spend a whole lot of time trying to be perfect and never hit it. Or you can know, this is gonna be messy, this is probably gonna be like, fire fest, but we're gonna make it happen.

We're gonna do the dang thing on the front, I'm gonna have it all together, and then on the back I'm gonna be in these groups asking for support like, Help! I just took on a clan, I don't know what to do now. And that's okay! You'll learn, and you'll learn faster. By doing, by taking on clients, race to those three clients as fast as possible.

In order to do that, you have to take messy action. When I love when we have someone join conversions for clients and the first module is all about getting your client consistent clients. So the first module is start marketing your services today. And a lot of people within the first 30 days land a client and they're like, help.

I did what Brainy said, but now I have no idea what to do. And we're all there to support them. And we're like, okay, send this. Send that. [00:28:00] You have all these resources. Head here. Look at this. Grab this template. And they're taking messy action and I just love it because they get results. They get wins quick.

And the universe favors those who start. The universe favors those who start. If you're waiting for things to be perfect, it's never going to be perfect. Riley always asks me, she's was that perfect, mom? And I'm like, no, and that's good. Nothing will ever be perfect. Stop trying to make it perfect. And so when we can realize hey, it's not going to be perfect, you'll be quicker to take action.

And you'll be quicker to do the dang thing. Because that is number nine, do the dang thing. You've got to take the messy action or you're never going to get there. Or it's going to take a really long freaking time and you're going to get frustrated. Rated. You have to take action. My friends, nine things I would do if I was starting over.

I'll go through it really quick with you and we'll We have so many resources that I suggested, so I'll link those below. One, I would [00:29:00] specialize instead of generalize. And I wouldn't charge by the hour. That's our bonus one. Two, I wouldn't worry about website branding logos. I would get a work with me page and a scheduler set up.

Three, race to three clients as quick as possible. Four, 90 days. Five, with each new client, I would optimize one system, create a new system, or create an SOP. Six, I would focus on my goals, what success looks like to me, not what success looks like to others. Put your blinders on. Seven, I would find a community to ask questions and show up so I can move faster.

Eight, implement money management, profit, expenses, savings, and taxes from the jump. Knowing your money. that I would use to get you guys started with my free videos. This video is part of that. I'll be bringing you guys up to [00:30:00] crosshair It's quick as possible. Honestly, even if I didn't have that big a goal as my number, this is what I would do today.

So I hope you do the dang thing. Take the messiest action, take this and run with it and hit all your goals, whatever success looks like for you. And until next week, my friends go out, serve your clients, scale your business and soar into the success you deserve.