In my post on How to leverage feedback from your audience I share the reason why I’m writing about how to go from 0 to $1k in revenue.

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How to go from 0 to $1k in revenue

My goal here, right now, is to not only share a realistic timeline with you, but also some strategy (five steps) and several mindset tips so you have a solid idea of what to expect on your journey as it relates to generating revenue in your business.

Before we dive in, two things:

1. My #1 book recommendation as it relates to your mindset around money in general is Secrets of the Millionaire Mind by T. Harv Eker.

This book was a complete game-changer for me in regards to how I think about money, and it will help you prepare mindset-wise for generating real revenue in your business.

2. Also, everything I review in this post from here on assumes that you’ve:

– Already established your business idea

– Have been (or are ready to start) creating free, valuable, and consistent content your avatar wants and needs via a blog, a podcast, videos, a newsletter, or other medium.

If you do not yet have a business idea that combines your passions and expertise, and you haven’t started creating free, valuable, and consistent content that your avatar wants and needs, then that is pre-work for before you dive into the steps below.

During this pre-work period you must practice patience. Creating a business does not happen overnight.

During this pre-work period you must seek out and ask for feedback and support. We cannot go at this alone.

And during this pre-work period you must have confidence and continue to overcome and breakthrough fear.

I urge you to practice acting in spite of fear, practice acting in spite of inconvenience, practice acting in spite of discomfort, and practice acting even when you’re not in the mood. ~ T. Harv Eker

The first step to generating revenue

The very first step to generating revenue has nothing to do with actual revenue; it has to do with knowing intimately who your ideal customer is: your avatar.

“…if you want to be rich in the truest sense of the word, it can’t only be about you. It has to include adding value to other people’s lives.” ~ T. Harv Eker

You must understand who you’re creating content, products and/or services for before you’ll be able to convince them they should pay money for whatever it is you’ve created.

So before you start brainstorming WHAT it is you’re going to create that will help you get from 0 to $1k, start by brainstorming WHO it is you’re going to create the thing for.

The second step to generating revenue

Once you know who your avatar is – and you know them intimately (meaning, not just their demographics, but their dreams, aspirations, and their biggest pain points and struggles) – the second step to generating revenue is talking to them individually.

Having 1-on-1 deep dive conversations with your avatar is not scalable. In fact, your first few conversations with your avatar might prove to you that your avatar isn’t actually who you thought they were.

Finding this out now versus after you’ve already started creating something to help you generate revenue will not only save you time, but also money (since you’ll be able to start generating revenue faster if you get this right first).

There is no magic number in regards to how many of these conversations you should be having, but in order to have a measurable goal in place, let’s shoot for 10 1-on-1 conversations.

The secret of getting ahead is getting started. The secret of getting started is breaking your complex, overwhelming tasks into smaller manageable tasks, and then starting on the first one. ~ Mark Twain

During your 1-on-1 conversations with your avatar, ask them what it is they want to accomplish.

Then, listen.

As they’re sharing this with you, start to identify what’s standing between them and what it is they want to accomplish by asking them questions.

The things standing between them and what it is they want to accomplish are the pain points, struggles, and frustrations, which represent the gaps you can potentially fill for them with a paid thing.

If your conversations with your avatar are revealing dreams and aspirations – or pain points and struggles – that don’t align with your business idea or mission, then you need to revisit who your avatar is.

This can be a frustrating time. Identifying and defining your avatar, and then going out and finding them can be tough, and there will probably be times when you doubt your idea.

You might even wonder if there’s anyone out there who cares.

When these thoughts and fears start creeping in, remind yourself WHY you’re doing this.

Print it out on a sheet of paper and put it at your desk; write it on your white board; frame it and look at it every day.

Remember, “The risk of not committing is greater than the cost of making the wrong choice.” – Jeff Goins

Repeat the first and second steps (knowing who your avatar is, and then having 1-on-1 conversations with them) until you’re having conversations with multiple people who are your avatar: who are expressing similar pain points and struggles that, with your passions and expertise, you can help solve.

The third step to generating revenue

The third step to generating revenue is building the bridge for your avatar. This bridge is what will help them start taking steps forward and going from where they are right now, to where they want to be.

As you map out the bridge you’re building, what does it include?

This is where you get to start brainstorming what you’re going to create.

What you create will be a combination of your passions and expertise and whatever will solve the pain points and struggles your avatar has just revealed to you.

The fourth step to generating revenue

The fourth step to generating revenue is getting proof of concept.

Once you think you’ve found the best possible solution for your avatar – the piece of content, the product or the service that is going to help them take one step forward from where they are now to where they want to be – get proof.

There are several ways to get proof of concept, but perhaps the quickest and easiest is to simply go to your avatar and ask them to pay for your idea.

But before you go asking for money, let’s do a little pre-work.

By now, you should have at the very least a small contact list from a combination of:

• The free, valuable, and consistent content you’ve been creating, and
• The conversations you’ve been having with your avatar.

Reach out to them via email and offer them a free download: a checklist, a guide, or some other piece of content that is the first step towards the thing you’ve decided you want to create.

For example:

• If you’re going to write an ebook, then you could offer a download of the first chapter.
• If you’re going to put together a 1-on-1 coaching package, then you could offer a checklist that will help them prepare for your first call.
• Even if you don’t know exactly what the thing will be yet, you should have a solid idea of the content that will help create it (i.e. the content will be around how to embrace fear in order to overcome it so you can do <blank>.)

Whatever the free thing is you’re offering them should get them insanely FIRED UP! When they see it or hear about it, they should be grateful and EAGER to consume whatever it is.

This is a good exercise to go through in order to confirm you’re on the right track. So if you’re sending this free first step out to your list via an email, ask people to hit reply and share their thoughts:

“Is this content helpful for you? Hit reply and let me know so I can continue creating more for you!”

Next, you make the offer with a number in mind.

How many “yes’s” will you have to get in order to make this a WIN for you?

Five?

Eight?

Twenty?

You’ll want to position your offer as an “early bird special”, or a “beta round” where these early adopters will be able to get the lowest pricing available – in exchange for helping you shape whatever it is you’re creating. This set up will not only help you get proof, but it will also be highly valuable as you continuously improve what it is you have to offer in order to continue selling it on an ongoing basis.

If you’re creating an ebook, then how many sales would make this a win for you in terms of revenue generated?

If you’re offering 1-on-1 coaching, how many slots do you have available, and how many would you have to fill in order make this a win for you in terms of revenue generated?

Once you have at least that many people take out their wallet and pay you money for what you’ve created, you have proof of concept.

The fifth step to generating revenue

The fifth step to generating revenue is to create or set up the thing.

Let me be very clear and straight up here: when you’re going from 0 to $k, creating the thing doesn’t involve a complex community, a membership site, or a high-level coaching or training program.

It starts with a simple, yet powerful offering, and this will largely depend on what it is you’re able to provide given your passions and expertise, along with what your avatar wants and needs most.

Here are the first 3 things I see 95% of entrepreneurs make their first $1 from:

• Affiliate relationships
• An ebook
• 1-on-1 coaching

Affiliate relationships

Given the pain points and struggles your avatar shared, what services already exist out there that you could become an affiliate for?

This will largely depend on your niche, who your avatar is, and whether or not you’re able to find an affiliate program for services that can help solve the pain point or struggles your avatar has.

Depending on your location, one great example of an affiliate program that almost any type of business can create a win/win out of (meaning it’s a win for your avatar and a win for you) is Amazon Associates.

But beyond the typical relationship, what’s out there that could be a win/win?

Think outside of the box.

An ebook

This is the first product we ever created here at EOFire.

You have all of the content right at your fingertips. Your avatar’s biggest pain points and struggles: each of those is a chapter title in your ebook, and your passions and expertise is the content within each chapter.

1-on-1 coaching

Once you know your avatar intimately, and you’ve established credibility and authority in your niche through the free, valuable, and consistent content you’ve been creating, offering 1-on-1 coaching can and will help you go from 0 to $1k – and quite quickly.

Don’t sell yourself short.

You DO have knowledge and expertise that other people want and need desperately to help move themselves forward. Don’t be afraid to share it.

A timeline: from 0 to $1k

Going from o to $1k isn’t easy. It’s going to take time. And while I know you don’t want to hear this, it’s the truth: everyone’s journey to making their first $1k is going to look and be different.

If you have a business idea, and you’ve already started creating free, valuable, and consistent content for them that you know they want and need, then getting from 0 to $1k could happen in a matter of weeks by following the steps above.

If you don’t have a business idea, and you haven’t started creating free, valuable, and consistent content for them that you know they want and need, then getting from 0 to $1k could take several months, or even years.

Here’s a realistic timeline for the 5 steps I’ve outlined above to help guide you and set the right expectations for your journey from 0 to $1k.

If I told you that you could go from 0 to $1k in 63 days, would you follow the steps above to make it happen?

You can do this.

Focus on the individual, smaller steps it’s going to take to get you to your first $1,000, and I can guarantee you in doing so, you’re going to get there a lot faster.

It time to decide. You can be a victim or your can be rich, but you can’t be both. Listen up! Every time, and I mean every time, you blame, justify, or complain, you are slitting your financial throat. ~ T. Harv Eker

Bonus: Generating revenue ongoing (beyond $1k)

So you’ve got your early birds or beta members bought in already, and you’ve created the thing. Congrats!

Now it’s time to set up a marketing strategy you can use to continue selling the thing you’ve created in order to generate revenue on an ongoing basis

And whenever that imposter syndrome kicks in, remember that, “If you believe that what you have to offer can truly assist people, it’s your duty to let as many people as possible know about it.” ~ T. Harv Eker