Ep 177: Year to Date – 5 Things 2023 Has Taught Me So Far

Taking the time to review what’s been, gives you insights for what will be.” – Darnyelle Jervey Harmon

Episode Summary

This episode is powered by the Move to Millions Book

Early in my career, I learned the significance of reviewing the data and making data driven decisions.  This skill has served me extremely well both personally and professionally. When I became a real CEO of my own company, I went back to my training as a data scientist and configured the process I would use to leverage the data to move my company forward.  By looking at the data, I can make decisions without the emotion that often keeps the average business owner stuck or holding on to a process or program longer than they should. If you haven’t already, you should be spending some time this month to complete your version of a Year to Date Report. To demonstrate what I mean, I will use this episode to share five things that 2023 has taught me so far this year and how I intend to take what I have learned and evaluate how to leverage it to move my company forward. One thing I know for sure is that time spent in review gives us the energy will need to accelerate results. Grab your pen and Move to Millions Podcast notebook and listen in now to discover:

  • 5 trends I’ve observed this year in my own business and that of my clients and what you can take away from each to review for your own
  • Why your marketing strategy must include video in short, mid and long form content
  • How to shift your consistency to stay top of mind with prospective clients  
  • And so much more

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FULL TRANSCRIPT

The clients that I serve who desire to scale and sustain businesses to and beyond the million dollar mark are not in a recession. They understand the significance of investing. They understand the significance of making money move. And they want money to move. So they are investing and they are being investable. Money is an energy, it is a current. That means it always needs to flow. And it is flowing. People are still spending money. So if you have been telling yourself that we’re in a recession and you need to lower your rates in order to get clients, that’s a lie.

You’re listening to the Move to Millions podcast with Dr. Darnyelle Jervey Harmon, the Place to Be for high level conversations about all things Millions, your mission, mindset, methodologies, mandate, movement, messaging, marketing, metrics and most definitely your money. I am your host. Spiritual business growth coach. Dr. Darnyelle J. Harmon. Join me each week for inspiring stories, powerful interviews and business growth strategies to help you experience abundance in your life because of your business. If you’re ready to move to your next level everything, let’s get this party started.

This episode is powered by Move to Millions, the book. Listen to me. If you are an entrepreneur or a small business owner that truly desires to scale and sustain your business to and beyond the million dollar mark, you need this book. Go now to www.movetomillionsbook.com to get your copy and to come back and tell us about your purchase so that you can join the Move to Millions Book Squad, which will entitle you to special bonuses and incentives as a part of our preorder launch. I am so excited for you.

I am literally fresh off of our quarterly Move to Millions Mastermind retreat with our clients. We literally just wrapped three amazing days together. We get together every 90 days so that our clients get an opportunity to work on their businesses. One of the things that we find to be true is that often because they are busy working in their businesses, many of our clients, when they join the Mastermind, are still the primary and in some cases the only service provider in their business. So they’re spending the majority of their time delivering service to their clients as well as marketing to bring new clients inside of their businesses. But every 90 days, they get to take and put their service provider hat on the seat beside them and they get to show up as the CEO of their own company and they get to strategically preside over their business. It brings me so much joy to spend three days with them every 90 days watching the lights come on while also celebrating everything that they’ve accomplished over the last 90 days. This phenomenal group of men and women in the last 90 days, and this is only those who reported their results.

We always have some stragglers who submit their quarter end results late, but those who submitted their results in time to be counted at our quarterly retreat. They did a combined $2.7 million in the last 90 days. And as you think about that number, which, sure, it’s a big number, I want you to keep in mind that those results that are reported are only the reflections of approximately 18 members of our Mastermind. Right now, we have around 32 members active in the Mastermind. So that means 18 people did $2.7 million in the last 90 days. We know that it’s more than that. We just don’t have the results from every single person at this particular point in time. It makes me so happy to think about this, because their lives are completely changing, their businesses, the way they run them, their ability to hire team. We spent a lot of time at this retreat talking about team. We have this process that we have them go through as a part of our Move to Millions planner. Every 90 days, they evaluate how they’re working in their business and decide what are the things that they are now in position to begin to delegate to other members of the team. And we help them to identify who their next hire is going to be. I just get so much joy. It lights me up. I’m so excited.

I’m literally finished doing three days with them, and I’m still on fire. And I came back to my office really quick to record the podcast episode that you will get to listen to on Move to Millions Monday. So in this episode, one of the questions that I was asked from a client during the Mastermind retreat were, what are some of the things that I am observing that’s happening this year? And it is officially half time, right? So we are about halfway through 2023. We finished the first six months of the year. One of the questions that came up that I thought would be really great for you to hear, and so I’m turning it into this week’s podcast episode is what did the first six months of 2023 teach me in my business? What am I observing? And as a result of that, what am I going to be doing differently in the second half of the year? And so I answered this question, and I’m going to share with you five things that 2023 has taught me already this year and how I’m going to take each of those things and apply it to my business over the course of the next six months in order for us to continue to scale and sustain. And just to talk a little bit briefly about our business’s trajectory, So if you’ve been listening to the podcast for any amount of time, you’ve heard me share pieces of this before. And if this is your first episode that you’re listening to, welcome. We’re so excited to have you make sure you subscribe rate and review the podcast so that you’ll be notified every time we drop a new episode on Move to Millions Monday.

So to go a little bit into my backstory so 2014 was our first million dollar business year. We did $1.8 million that year. 2015, we did $2.8 million. 2016, we dropped substantially. And I won’t get into the whole backstory just in the essence of time, because I want to try to keep this episode as tight as I can. But the long and short of it is I hated my million dollar business. It was a monster that I couldn’t kill. And so the only thing I knew to do was to be willing to give it all up.

It was at that particular point in time that I stopped chasing the number, stopped chasing this million dollar arbitrary number, realized that my validation wasn’t going to be tied to the growth and success of my business. And instead, I started focusing on building a business that served me. So for 20 16, 20 17, 20 18, we did not have a million dollar company. 2019, we came very close to the million dollar mark. Over $970,000. 2021, we were over the million dollar mark again. 2022, multimillion dollar mark. 2023, we will be over the multimillion dollar mark again in the company.

And so I say that just kind of as a frame of reference for the five things I’m about to share with you about what 2023 has taught me already. You’ve heard me share about my new book, Move to Millions a gazillion times. Well, now you can preorder your very own copy. The book officially releases November 7, 2023, and if you preorder your copy now, you’ll help us make history. Move to Millions, the proven framework to become a million dollar CEO with grace and ease instead of Hustling Grind is already an Amazon bestseller. Grab your copy and our bonuses [email protected] and things that we’re going to continue to do throughout the rest of this year. And as we go into our planning in August of every year as a team, we fine tune our strategic plan. We run our company on a three year strategic plan.

So that means at all times we know what we’re doing in the current year and the next two years by the quarter, what our big stakes in the ground are, and what we’re going to be doing to move the business forward. One of the things so let me start with my list. The first thing that I realized at the top of 2023 is that we had a concerted opportunity to streamline again. If you are taking notes, this is what I want write down the fastest way to make the Move to Millions is to focus. Focus is an acronym. You heard me do a whole episode on focusing. Follow one course until success is the result. And what I realized in the first part of this year, as we were coming into the year, still feeling like I was feeling like we were doing too much.

And so I took some time to really streamline and hone in on what it is that we are going to be doing inside of this business. And what I realized is that we really have two major plays, or you might call them campaigns or launches that we run every single year. We have two major things. We have our Move to Millions live event. We have our God Girls making Millions event. Speaking of God Girls Making Millions, if you consider yourself to be a God girl, I invite you right now to join our Waitlist for God Girls Making Millions. We will officially open the waitlist in just a few weeks and we will only offer the opportunity to enroll and join us at www.GodGirlsMakingMillions. You will only be offered that opportunity if you actually are on our waitlist.

So you’ll want to make sure that you go to Godgirlsmakingmillions.com and join the waitlist. So realizing the need to further streamline is going to take us into the five things that I want to share with you that 2023 has taught me so far this year and what we’re going to continue to do in order to leverage them. Number one, you can’t go anywhere without hearing about AI and new AI solutions are popping up every single day. And what 2023 has taught me is that AI is not a distraction. It is actually an opportunity to multiply your business. I will probably do an entire episode on the podcast of how I am leveraging AI, how my company is leveraging AI and the difference that it is making for us. But I think when we first heard of Chat GPT, people were just going crazy. But here’s the thing.

Chat GPT is only one AI solution that is currently in the marketplace that is making a difference for me and so many people. I’ve got fireflies that comes to my meetings and take notes, right? We use Descript and Castmagic.IO and Oasis and we use all of these tools. And what I’m realizing as I think about and as we are working on and tightening our marketing and sales teams inside of our organization, we can leverage the power of AI along with our human connection and emotion and understanding of who our clients is, to multiply our efforts around marketing and content creation and distribution. That’s the first thing that I want to share with you about what 2023 has taught me so far. And so while I was first skeptical of Chat GPT, and now we’re actually using many AI solutions and we’re seeing really great results, they’re not an absolute. We’re not doing them by themselves. They’re being done in conjunction with humanistic viewpoints. I’ve always believed as a CEO, this is another nugget I want you to write down if you’re taking notes.

I’ve always believed that as a CEO, you should be looking to have someone do about 85% of most tasks, and you do that last 15%. And so that is one of the ways I’m going to be using AI going forward. I’m going to let AI do 85% of the work, and then I’m going to come in and I’m going to put my darn yell on the last 15% to produce something that we can share with our clients that will actually get traction and results in the marketplace. So that’s the first thing. The second thing that 2023 has taught me already is that buyers are more discerning, some might even say more skeptical. So there was a point in time where you could literally say anything online and give people a link to buy, and they would do just that. And while that might still be happening for lower end products and services, those things that are under $3,000, that might be still happening readily, it is not happening for those of you who currently offer premium, mid, and high ticket products and services. If you offer them now, what that means to you, it means something different to everyone, right?

Again, if you’re an OG listener, you’ve heard me say before that for me, low ticket is anything less than $5,000. Premium is anything priced between 5000 and $10,000. Mid ticket is anything priced between 10,000 and $30,000, and then $30,000 or greater would be high ticket, and then ultra high ticket would be $100,000 or greater. Right? And so because we now know that buyers are more skeptical, there are a lot of articles and studies that have come out recently about marketing, marketing trends, marketing conversion, and marketing impressions, and when they lead to that conversion, when we used to see nine to eleven attempts and we could get excited about that. Now, some articles I’ve been reading have reported as many as 52 touch points before a person is willing to take the next step. What does that mean? It means you’re going to have to be consistent. It means that you can’t be a willy nilly marketer. It means that you can’t post once on social, send one email, and expect to get sales. People are looking for consistency.

Another thing that I’ve realized this year is that the buyer that you want, if you sell higher end products and services, the buyer that you want is probably more of a lurker than they are. A person who’s commenting, and I’m just using social media as an example because it’s always the easiest thing to gravitate towards, right? They’re a lurker. They may not open your email and click the button. They may not do that, but they’re paying attention to your consistency. So what we are doing, and what I’m going to invite you to do also, is to make sure that you are being uber consistent inside of your marketing efforts. Really creating a marketing calendar and sticking to the task that needs to be done inside of that calendar. Leveraging the power of scheduling tools as often as you possibly can to make sure that there is no disruption in your marketing inside of the marketplace. But buyers are way more skeptical and discerning, and as a result of that, what used to work, it isn’t working anymore.

So you cannot be willy nilly. You are going to have to show and demonstrate proof and validation of the results that you can bring to the lives of those that you serve. Another thing that 2023 has taught me so far is that video and video content, long and short as well as mid size, is going to continue to be a force to be reckoned with in the marketplace. I was at an event a few weeks ago where I was a speaker and also there to serve and support a client that I’ve worked with for a couple of years, specifically on their live events. And while I’m sitting at the event, it was the first time that it dawned on me. So you may have observed this if you’ve been outside, right? So now that COVID is over and we’re back outside and events are happening again, you may have noticed that when you go to certain places, there are people there. These people may be influencers or any CEO entrepreneur that now has a person with a camera following them and documenting every single thing that they do. I don’t know about you, but I have always thought that these things were obnoxious.

I’m like, why in the world do they have a camera following them? No one is that important, right? And I was resistant. And we know that that which we resist will persist, right? It doesn’t go away. It just gets bigger in terms of the necessity of understanding the significance of it. So I’m literally sitting at this event and it finally dawns on me why every single moment that these particular people are experiencing, they’re documenting, is because video is essential if you want to connect and eventually convert your contacts into clients. You’re going to need video, and you’re going to need all three forms of video. You’re going to need some short form video in three different increments. You’re going to need a set that is less than 30 seconds. You’re going to need a set that is less than 60 seconds, and you’re going to need a set that is less than 90 seconds.

You’re also going to need mid form content, which is anywhere from two to five minutes, and then you’re going to need long form content that could be ten minutes or greater. You’re going to need all of these things. And the other thing I realized as I’m at this event, before I spoke, people who recognized me, and absolutely after I spoke, people were coming up to me and expressing the life changing paradigm shift they had experienced while I was on stage. And because I didn’t have anyone following me around to capture every single thing that was happening many of those moments were missed. That content could be used to help me to secure another client, to get on another stage and have them pay my keynote fee.

Stuck on the six figure plateau it’s time that you cross over the million dollar milestone with grace and ease. Part memoir and part methodology. Move to Millions the proven framework to become a million dollar CEO with grace and ease instead of hustle and grind helps entrepreneurs and business owners simplify their processes to multiply their profits. Known for breaking down complex topics, I equip you with all that you need to leave the headaches of scaling your business behind so that you can be empowered and edified without compromising any of your values in the process. It is time for you to make the move to millions. Grab your copy today at www.movetomillionsbook.com.

And so I realized in the first half of the year that video is absolutely essential. So much so that now we are preparing to hire our own in house, full time video team. Someone who will capture and travel with me and capture every single thing that I do. It listen, I don’t think I have to tell you this, but I’m going to say it anyway brilliant. And when I am in alignment and flow, what comes out of my mouth and comes into people’s lives, it ushers in change and it also helps them to make money.

And we’re going to start capturing all of third thing or fourth thing that I have learned in the first half of the year is that people are still investing. Yes, I know that the media wants to lead you to believe that we’re in a recession and listen, we might be in a recession. Just because the economy is in a recession doesn’t mean you have to be in one. I am not in a recession. The clients that I serve who desire to scale and sustain businesses to and beyond the million dollar mark are not in a recession. They understand the significance of investing. They understand the significance of making money move and they want money to move. So they are investing and they are being investable.

Money is an energy, it is a current. That means it always needs to flow. When it is flowing, people are still spending money. So if you have been telling yourself that we’re in a recession and you need to lower your rates in order to get clients, that’s a lie. That is a bold face, bald headed, funky breath smelling lie and you need to stop telling yourself any such thing because it is not true. Instead, what you need to do, you don’t want to lower your prices, you want to raise your positioning and your promoting. You want to market and you want your message and your marketing to be stronger, to cut through the noise, to be contrarian and to overcome the objections that your clients might be thinking that would prevent them from investing in themselves through your product and service. And then the last thing I want to share with you in this episode about what 2023 has shown me already and what we’re going to continue to do into the end of this year and into perpetuity if I have my way is that being is everything you want to make the move to millions.

It is not strategy that’s going to take you there. You already have an amazing strategy and that strategy will work. When you are in alignment and a surrendered vessel, fully content on being who you must be. To watch millions of dollars come into your bank account and allow you to serve clients and create legacy for your family, you need to be it. The reason I love the model of abundance so much is because the first question they’d ask you is, who must I be? B is an identity word. When I think about the Bible and I think about Genesis one in 26, when God says, let us make man in our own image and likeness, he told us who we be, that we be the image and likeness of Him. And when we are fully boldly present in that right now reality of being it, we will it to us.

Emerson, I believe, said it best. He says, once you decide, all of the universe rearranges itself to bring you what you decided, you only have to decide. Deciding to be and then being it. Being it, no matter what you see happening around you, being it, no matter what might go wrong in the process, being it, even when it is delayed in becoming your reality, is the key to really maximizing not only your life experience, but taking your business to the next level. So when I think about 2023 and what I’ve learned already this year, what I will be leveraging going forward in this business, in this company that I am growing, with an amazing team of people who support my efforts, it would be that AI isn’t a distraction, it’s a multiplier, that buyers are more skeptical and more discerning. So that means I have to be more consistent. That video is absolutely essential in all different types of video. So prepare to get sick of me with someone following me with a camera when you see me outside, because it’s going to happen. People are still investing in themselves through products and services that solve problems that they have been unsuccessful at solving on their own and being.

Deciding to be it in order to become it is exactly what it is that you need to do in order to make the move to Millions. I pray that this episode has served you and I’ll see you at the million dollar mark. Until next time, take care.

Thank you for joining me for the Move to Millions podcast. If this episode has impacted you in any way, would you please take a moment and rate and review. Doing so helps us to deepen our impact and expand our reach around the world. And if you are ready to start your very own Move to Millions, I highly recommend that you order your very own copy of my brand new best selling book, move to Millions the Proven Framework to Become a Million dollar CEO with grace and ease. Instead of hustle and grind, you can get your copy and our bonuses today at www.movetomillionsbook.com.

Until next time, remember, millions are your birthright and to access them, you need only move. I’ll see you next time.