State Of The Union July 2018

Today is July 5th and we’re officially halfway through 2018, which is nuts because 2018 just started like yesterday.

I wanted to touch base with all of you and show you a peek inside of my business, and how the numbers are crunching so far.

At the end of 2017, I definitely had some fear that my business might take a financial hit because I decided to invest my time over with Russell and Clickfunnels. I knew that the move to be a part of something bigger with them was a MASSIVE opportunity to learn a ton more about marketing and get into the nitty gritty of funnel creation on a daily basis, but I still worried that the business I love and cherish might suffer.

To make sure it didn’t, I officially took on two of the most amazing people as near full-time employees to help run my business over the day to day. They are seriously two of the greatest humans ever – Emily & Jessie.

I also hired out a team of contractors that do great work:

• Dallin Nead for content creation
• Veronica & Holly & Brittany for customer support and curriculum & community management
• Michelle for Facebook Ads

So in addition to me, the team at Create Your Laptop Life is right now sitting at 7 people.

Here’s where we stand financially…

We came in around $58,000 shy of a $1,000,000 six month period for gross revenue, which is a shame that I can’t technically say I made $1,000,000 in six months. BUT….it doesn’t really matter – because that is amazing!

What I’m even prouder of is the profit margin. Right now the business is sitting at a 49% profit margin after all expenses…and those expenses DO include some hefty salaries.

• My team is costing over $21,000 a month right now. Some months it’s close to $30,000 (or even more).
• I also paid myself (through my payroll) around $100,000 over the last six months (which is also included as a payroll expense since under Trump’s administration, there are additional tax breaks if your salaries hit a threshold % based on revenue).

So where’d the rest of the money go?

• Event expenses – We hosted our first Digital Insiders Live Mastermind in April, and we have another one in October. This first one was a bit pricey (in part because of the location in downtown New Haven)
• Advertising – We’ve spent just shy of $100,000 in Facebook Ads since the start of 2018!
• Travel – This year has been NUTS for travel. With trips to Boise, Funnelhacking Live, plus a BIG giant super expensive trip to Kenya this summer, you see there was almost $30,000 in travel expenses for the first half of the year

Most everything else is minimal.

My goal at the beginning of the year was of course to…

1. Scale my business with automation and a team so I could cast vision and do ONLY the things I needed to (and let the team do the rest)
2. Jump into Clickfunnels with both feet (and hands, and legs, and everything else)
3. Double my business (which I’m on track to do)

This year has been insane. So good, and also hard.

I just want to be really clear that I am CONSTANTLY having to make decisions about people and money and direction and vision and customer service and all kinds of things that are hard and stressful.

Running a business is not for the faint of heart. It’s mentally tiring at a level that is difficult to explain to those who aren’t doing it, even when you have great funnels, amazing team members, good customers, etc.

In the business right now, we as a team are doing so many things…

• We run a 1000 + person membership
• We support a comprehensive digital marketing curriculum, funnel, as well as 1000 students in that program
• We have a high end mastermind with 56 members who receive VIP support
• We sell a Proposal Secrets agency course
• We run a weekly Facebook Live show
• We run a several times weekly Create Your Laptop Life podcast
• We manage several groups
  • 20k person free group
  • 1k person paid group
  • 56 person VIP group
• I’m writing a book on productivity for entrepreneurs (figure I’m now at Expert status with time management)
• I’m helping support over 50 businesses that I love and adore (via Digital Insiders)
• I’m getting ready to launch a course with Cathy Olson on funnel design

Then, moving on over to Clickfunnels HQ, I’m currently…

• Loving the coaching position with the 2CCX crowd!
• I’ve got my hands in the agency helping with funnel projects
• I’m always writing a book about something 😉
• Wire framing new micro-software ideas for Russell (this is something I LOVE – and I had no idea how much I loved UX until Russell pulled me in on these projects)
• Working on UI and app developments by providing user feedback with the engineering team
• Curriculum development for new online programs
• Working on the blog
• Working with Russell on whatever ideas and projects are coming!

The more I work over there, the more invested I get, the harder it is to have  your life split in two places….I am forever and always feeling massive FOMO because the day to day work with Clickfunnels is in Boise and I’m here in Connecticut. But picking up and moving out there is an enormously complicated decision that doesn’t just affect me, and as much as I would get my butt there as fast as I could if it was just my butt, I have five other butts to think about.

It’s hard to not know the future. Which is a ridiculous statement, because no one knows it. But sometimes I feel like I’m forever standing at a fork in the road and I have no idea which road is the one I should take. Whether it’s where to live or what to do with my money, or what business idea I should invest in next…these decisions come all the time, day in and day out. These kinds of decisions aren’t about right and wrong – which is why they are so hard.

What’s hard…

Yep, there are hard things too.

• One of the hardest things is dealing with customers who don’t treat us with the same respect that we treat them. I’ve gotten better at not letting it get to me, but it’s really really hard still.
• Another thing that’s hard is how much I FEEEL stuff. Some people tell me it’s a lack of boundaries. Other people tell me it’s what makes me…me. But I feel things. I feel it when someone is struggling, I feel it with people are overwhelmed, need help, whatever it may be. Whether it’s in 2CCX or Digital Insiders or Russell or my team, I am by nature a massive problem solver. So everything I feel, I want to fix. And I can’t always do that.
• As a coach and content creator, it’s really hard when people blame you for things that don’t work as they expect. As if I have a crystal ball or can predict the market. It’s hard when people blame you even if they didn’t actually do everything you suggested in the first place.
• It’s hard to figure out the line of responsibility with managing money. How to manage it, what decisions are important vs. not important, and how to balance thinking long-term vs. right here and now.

If I could go back and tell my pre-business self what to expect when building a multi-million dollar business, I would say this:

Julie, you’re about to go on the wildest rollercoaster ride of your life. It is going to be the most thrilling, fulfilling, and maddening thing you ever do. Knowing your personality and your drive for security and certainty, it would be good to recognize that no matter how hard you work, how many backup plans you have, there is nothing certain about business. You will need to learn how to love the ride. The process. Even when there are big dips in morale, mood, and money, tell yourself it is only because of the downs, that you can experience the highs. They are absolutely 1000% a part of the process – always teaching you, course correcting you, and giving you the ability to appreciate the times of growth.

Go into business for the mission. For the impact. For the life changing results you can bring to the planet. Do not expect a crystal ball. Do not expect to feel comfortable. Do not expect that things will be “settable and forgettable”. Do not think you’re some anomaly when you feel like you have no idea what your financials will look like in 3 months or 6 months or 9 months. You will have to be your own best advocate, your own best critic, cheerleader, and confidant. You will find some of the most amazing people on planet Earth and you will also be shocked at how customers can treat you.

At the end of the day, no matter what happens or how it happens, you will never want to go back to your old life once you start, even when the hard times get really hard….because building a business is truly the way to change the world.