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You can absolutely double, triple, or even quadruple your business if you’re committed, but make no mistake, it’s going to take a gut-wrenching, monumental effort. So if you’ve got the stomach for it, put on your helmet, fasten your seatbelt, and follow this plan.

Steps to a Massive Business Increase

Step 1: Start With What Built This Country Many Years Ago

In other words, start with a lot of blood, sweat and tears. No whining, no complaining, no entitlement, just hard work, self-discipline and a great attitude.

Hard work is the reason why the average legal immigrant to this country is four times as likely to become a millionaire as someone born and raised here. The most successful people on the planet are still the hardest workers. Michael Phelps, eight hours a day in the pool, Oprah Winfrey, Bill Gates. All very successful and still extremely hard workers. In your own business, you’ve got to work especially hard and put in a ton of hours. You have to push yourself harder than anyone else. You have to be a self-starter. There are no magic bullets or shortcuts.

Regarding self-discipline, you have to show up and do what needs to be done whether you feel like it or not, because there will be days when you don’t feel like it. Failure comes from what you fail to do. You have to put your plan together and be committed to work the plan everyday regardless of how your day may be going. By the way, will power does work. If you’re on a diet, you’re either going to eat that donut or you’re not based upon a simple decision that the economy, your boss, or your spouse have nothing to do with.

Next, you have to have the right attitude. You’ve got to have passion. You need a dogged determination and a drive to succeed. You have to be extremely persistent. You need a blue collar mentality and you’ve got to be hungry. You have to have a thick skin, you can’t take things personally, and you have to keep getting up no matter how many times you get knocked down.

Along with passion, you need conviction. You can’t fold like a lawn chair or a cheap suitcase when someone comes up with an objection or brings up the competition. You’ve got to believe in yourself, your product, and your service and know that people need you and are better off because of you. Next, you have to be committed. Your attitude must be “all-in,” “failure is not an option,” “I’ll make it or die trying.”

Finally, you have to let go of excuses and stay away from negatives and negative people. Where you end up in the future will come down to two things: what you put in your head and who you hang out with.

Step 2: Put Together a Grand Plan

You can make your business linear. How many new customers and business from current customers do you need? What actions do you need to take? How many prospects do you need? How many phone calls do you need to make, how many doors do you need to knock on to significantly grow your business? You need annual, monthly, and weekly goals, all broken down to daily activity. Think 80/20 Rule. The only activities that pay you are prospecting, presenting, closing, and account development. Delegate everything else.

The fastest way to build business is by calling on people in-person or on the phone. Not e-mail. You’ve got to get out and network, meet people, knock on doors, and ring phones. Your biggest problem is obscurity, no one knows who you are because you are not talking to enough people, so you don’t have enough prospects, and thus you don’t have enough business. Do everything necessary to get a ton of qualified prospects including cold calling. Business and sales is a contact sport, it’s a numbers game. The more people you talk to, the more business you will do; even a blind pig finds corn.

When you talk to people you have to get their attention. In addition to your competitors, you’re competing with e-mail, voicemail, the doctor’s appointment, school. Everything. What are you doing to be heard through the noise? Why you? What’s your value statement? What’s your differentiator? Get creative and have a value statement that isn’t based on price and doesn’t sound like your competitor.

Also, there is no new relationship selling, it is and always has been all about personal relationships. Always work on building and advancing relationships. You want prospects to become customers and customers to become close friends. Stay in touch, communicate often, do more than expected, go above and beyond, and always do what’s right for them.

Step 3: Realize You’re at War But It’s a War You Can Win

It’s a tough world out there. There are stock market crashes, economic downturns, Boston Marathon bombings, natural disasters, then you’ve got the personal stuff: health issues, flat tires, family and relationships. There’s always going to be something or someone getting in the way or trying to stop you, the competition and people will be against you. But if your motivation is strong enough and you have powerful reasons why you absolutely must succeed, then you’ll continue to show up every day and swing away, and eventually the law of averages will end up in your favor. Remember, at the end of the day your life and your business are up to you.

MANA welcomes your comments on this article. Write to us at [email protected].