How To Go From Struggling to Success – Fast!

One of the question if I’m constantly asked in my business is how did I grow my business so quickly? Because, in case I haven’t told you before, I went from making $16,000 to making $120,000 in one year’s time.

Mind you, this was at the very beginning of my career, back when I was just starting out but, no matter when it happened, that was a huge amount of growth. And still, it is a great source of pride for me that I made such a tremendous leap in income in such a short period of time. 

See, back in 2013 (how was this almost 10 years ago?), I was still teaching high school English from 7-4 every day. Photography was my side business. And while my day job wasn’t exactly going to allow me to the book the Ritz for my next Parisian vacation, it did pay the bills and it was a steady source of income.  

And while my photography was the dream, it was only bringing in around $16,000 a year, not nearly enough to live on. 

So just how did I go from making $16,000 a year to making $120,000—in just one year’s time? How was I able to quit my job and grow my business this quick?

Burn the Boats

I really attribute my growth to the phrase that says: If you want to take the island, burn the boats. 

While this phrase is generally attributed to Tony Robbins, I learned, after a bit of research, where this phrase really came from. 

Ages ago, Julius Caesar—yes, Shakespeare’s Caear—was taking a Roman army to conquer England. As they pulled into the English Channel, they saw thousands and thousands of English warriors standing along the coast, ready to defend their island. 

And these Roman soldiers, who, up until that point, had been confident and pretty cocky, started to doubt themselves. The army went to dock their boats and decided to do so in a way that would make it easy to escape, just in case the battle didn’t go in their favor. 

Well, Julius Caesar saw this and he decided to take one radical action. He burned all of the Roman’s boats. 

Yes, he burned their own boats and took away any chance of them escaping. 

This made a very clear statement to the Romans. The Romans knew they would have to either conquer the island or die. There was no other option available. There were no escape routes. 

And if you know anything about the history of the British Isles, you know that, against all odds, the Romans conquered the Celts. (You didn’t know you’d be getting a history lesson today, did you?)

The Psychology of Options

That’s the funny thing about human nature, when we have other options available to us that are easier and more comfortable, we will take those—even if it goes against what we want. 

When the options are succeed or go bankrupt, succeed or be homeless, succeed or (insert whatever you stand to lose)—that is when people succeed. When the only other option is absolute defeat, your chance at success increases drastically. 

What this means is that if you want to be successful, if you want to bring in more money, and if you want to experience rapid growth, then you must leave yourself No Way Out.  Say goodbye to your plan b, your backup plan, or your safety net. 

For me, that meant quitting my secure job.

I knew that I could slowly grow my business—going from 16k to 20k, maybe even 24k—but if I wanted to grow my business quickly and create a business that actually supported my dream lifestyle, I knew that I had a decision to make. 

And for me that decision was to quit my day job and put every ounce of faith, every ounce of hard work, and every ounce of my intelligence into making my own business, my dream, my reality. 

And all of this came from, if you want to take the island, burn the boats. 

How to Grow Your Business Quickly

First, I’m not necessarily telling you to quit your day job. 

It’s not always an option—you have kids to feed, mortgages to pay, etc. I’m not advocating going bankrupt on my advice. 

But what I am saying is that you need to find that urgency. You need to burn a boat that takes away your escape route.  

You must take a risk.

Sucess is rarely, if ever, found within your comfort zone. 

Often, I have coaching clients who are married and their spouse has a steady income. They’ll tell me, “Well, I can take this risk because my mortgage will always be paid.” 

I tell them, very bluntly, that they are in the best position and in the worst position. They’re in the best position because their needs will be met no matter how their business does. But they are also in the worst position because they will not channel that hunger to take their business to the next level. 

Channeling that ambition when you have a secure outcome becomes more difficult. 

It’s almost like it’s the insecurity that keeps us waking up, keeps us energized, and keeps us moving forward. 

And its not necessarily money, although that is the big one, that will keep us moving forward.

Maybe the boat you need to burn is found in a relationship.

Maybe that boat you need to burn is a habit that is distracting you from your purpose.

Or maybe that boat you need to burn is worrying too much about what other people think of you. 

Whatever it is, you need to harness that one thing and use it to motivate you through all of the hard moments, the overwhelming moments, all of the moments you ask yourself – what the fuck am I doing. 

If it happened to me, going from $16,000 to $120,000 in one year, it can happen to you. It’s about taking the consistent action making the right moves and marketing and innovation and following trends and doing those things that will grow your business..

So if you want to take the island, you have to burn the boat.

If you want to grow your business quickly, you have to find what is holding you back—and burn it to the ground.

What boat do you need to burn to start playing it brave and living your dream?

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