Here’s the thing: starting an online business can be a numbers game. It’s not just how many followers you have, how many people sign up for the masterclass, or how many applications you have. It’s really about how to buy a pipeline of ready-to-buy leads.

Further reading: Lead generation systems, a case for lead generations

What Numbers Matter?

When it comes to you and your business, sales is revenue. Revenue helps you fund this adventure. So, it’s not wrong to focus on how many more leads. 

Where most people go wrong is building their audience and not realizing that they are just collecting people with no realization of HOW to monetize that audience the entire way through the process.

Further reading: making $5k sales day with a small audience, signing clients even with a small audience

Why people follow you

Your audience is following you because you are a trusted expert; this doesn’t mean they are ready to buy from you at any time because you are building it up. 

You could have 100k followers on TikTok and realize that you are STILL trying to fill five spots for 1×1 coaching and struggle. What you think

Followers = more money 

having the right audience

When in reality, it’s not about the audience. It’s about the right audience. 

So followers ≠ more money, unless you have a sales plan

So, instead of focusing on building the audience and making sure you get the swipe up, think about this instead. Your audience is your pool of leads for your programs and services. As you grow your audience, anyone who doesn’t fall in that pool of leaders shouldn’t be there. 

Further Reading: How to find your ideal client, creating a sales plan for the month

Some people NEVER buy

Naturally, you have 1-5% of your audience that will NEVER buy from you. This will be the people who tell you that they love your stuff but just aren’t interested or just don’t buy. That’s okay; those people are great for being referrals in your business. 

With the 99% – 95% of people who will buy, you need to focus on seeing if they fit. This means if you have an audience of 100 people. 1-5 people will never buy from you 

But 99-95 people COULD be your leads; you have to prequalify them. 

Say 10 of those people are non-ideal clients; you remove them from the list. That leaves you 89-85 people to qualify. 

If you convert at a 30% rate (the average business owner converts between 10-50% TBH), you could have 27 people in an offer who are ready to buy AND a good fit.

having the right audience

The problem is that if you don’t focus on building an audience of leads, your conversion rate may be lower because you aren’t targeting the right people. 

Followers don’t make you make that much money. The most significant truth is that you probably have enough people in your audience TODAY to fill your offer; you’re just focusing on building your audience/following. 

Conversion is the key to more money, not the followers

Conversion is where you make more money, not followers. 

1% better is the reason why you aren’t seeing the growth that you want

Books like The Compound Effect and Atomic Habits have popularized the 1% rule. (both are excellent books if you have never read them). It’s this idea that you seek daily improvements for overall growth rather than looking for a significant change. 

After I read both books, I was curious about where this idea came from. Like was this a moment that both authors realized that success came from small changes, or was there a principle they were following? 

The Kaizen Principle

The answer – is the Kaizen Principle. This idea came from Japan with the concept of continued improvement even if you were already good at it.

It’s stating that as you are working on things, focus on the small details to create a larger, better experience, which is easy to apply to business. 

When I started online in 2019, I wanted transformation and overnight change. I tried to wake up and have 10k followers, 100k business,, and just be different. When it didn’t happen repeatedly, I was left feeling defeated. 

How I Created $100k in My First Eight Months of business

My realization came after working hard for eight months and crossing that sought-after 100k mark: It was all about the small details (even down to what foods I eat and how I feel in the morning). My big goals are quickly broken down by the daily, weekly, and monthly tasks I am doing. 

Here’s the thing – most people are not willing to do the same thing over and over to get better. It’s boring. What used to be fun tasks were exciting because routine was typical and boring. 

Yet that is the difference between where you want to be and where you are right now. The practice that makes you so good that you cannot be beat. 

When thinking about your business, break it down to the basics. In Scale to $5k, you do a time audit to help you figure out what you are doing and what is working it. 

Your daily tasks create your weekly progress, which makes your monthly progress. 

Success can be simple if you break it down into what you do daily. 

Further reading: Scale to $5k Launch recap, from $500 to $100k in Sales in Six Months , Why Does Everyone Hate sales