Starting and growing a business takes a lot of work. There are many moving parts and a never-ending stream of work. Business leaders are using today's technology and access to consumers to build multi-million dollar businesses. Advances in AI and the internet have made it easier to reach consumers and show them why they should do business with you.
As a business builds, more logistical considerations become necessary to continue and sustain growth. (Many companies go out of business due to rapid growth.) To get to the next level, any 8-figure+ business needs strong leadership.
Entrepreneurs know that leadership inspires the individual talents of their employees and drives the continued growth and development of their company. Embedding leadership into the organization of a startup is a key strategy.
3 Leadership Strategies for Building a Successful Business
There are hacks that any business leader can use to grow and scale their company. Here are three leadership strategies that have helped companies grow revenue to over $10 million.
1. Solve a consumer problem
As a leader, you will talk about yourself and the passion behind the business you started. Your personal brand is the foundation on which you build your business. But at some point, you need to change your message.
Consumers want solutions that solve their problems. The branding and messaging you built your business on will need to evolve to grow into a multi-million dollar business. To achieve eight-figure sales, you need to solve a big problem for a group of consumers. Having a message that focuses on the consumer, not yourself, will draw them to your business and make them want to tell others about it.
One of the key leadership secrets is to focus your message on solving problems for consumers and employees. Influential leaders who build eight-figure businesses focus on being people-first leaders.
“For companies looking to scale to multi-million dollar scale, a key strategy is to identify and solve a problem. This approach establishes a strong market need and positions the company as a valuable contributor to societal progress,” said Dionie Winter Punde, a business leader and attorney who is founder and CEO of the Winter Immigration Law Academy.
“A focus on problem-solving allows companies to develop unique, impactful solutions that resonate with customers and differentiate themselves from competitors,” says Winter Pfande. “This also creates partnership opportunities and builds credibility and trust in your brand.”
2. Build a team of great leaders
As you grow your business, there are many things you can do on your own. But when you have limited time, things can go awry. You can run a multi-million dollar business alone, but to build a $10 million business, you need to hire a team.
Rapid growth means developing others to be like you when you can't be everywhere. You need to develop a team of high-performing leaders who are self-managed, self-motivated, and share your vision for the business. This team is as committed to their own personal growth as they are to the growth of the company.
A business is a collection of systems that must be managed by an efficient team, and trying to do it all alone will leave you frustrated, exhausted, and stressed to the point where you want to give up on it all.
“It takes grit, determination, and a strong product to build a million-dollar company, but scaling to a multi-million-dollar company requires mastering the critical leadership skills of hiring, coaching, and retaining the right people,” says Jeff J. Hunter, founder of VA Staffer. “In a small company, a founding leader can drive growth through willpower and good execution alone. To sustain rapid expansion, responsibilities must be delegated to a talented team that shares the founder's vision and values. Identifying, empowering, and aligning your leadership team is key.”
“As your business enters its hyper-growth phase, having a leadership team that works well both personally and professionally goes from being a nice-to-have to being a necessity,” says Hunter. “Prioritizing team leadership allows founders to not just be in the business, but in the business – crafting the vision, strategy, and culture, and empowering others to execute tactically.”
3. Use mentorship to accommodate and sustain growth
It's hard to understand how to get somewhere you've never been before. Growing a business to $10 million requires different skills, systems, leadership, and other growth strategies that are unfamiliar to you if you're not already at that revenue level.
You need leaders who have already done what you want to do, and that's where mentorship is essential. Mentorship combined with strong leadership creates the types of companies we see in the news every day.
Living in the digital information age means having convenient mentorship available without wasting precious time. Mentoring can come in the form of coaches, training programs, leadership and business growth courses.
Periods of rapid growth can devastate companies that aren't prepared for them. Hiring an outside mentor can help you get up to speed quickly and put the right measures in place to help you manage the growth of your business.
“The right mentorship saves you time, effort, and money because you're learning from someone who's already doing what you work hard to do,” says Lori A. McNeil, business leader and founder of Lori McNeil International. “The right mentorship can save you years of work and be the key to creating a multi-million dollar business.”
“Be sure to vet your mentors. Find out what results they've had for others and validate their results. The right mentorship at the right time can help you accommodate and sustain rapid business growth,” says McNeill.
A strong business is backed by a strong team
Business leaders tend to think the next growth stage is more sales, more funnels, or more tactics. Growth happens when leaders lead, retain, and support smart people. Warren Buffett had Charlie Munger and Steve Jobs had Tim Cook. And they had teams of great people under them who bought into the vision of their influential leaders. You can learn from their examples and use them to build a $10M+ business.
Photo by Jacob Lund/Shutterstock.com
