Losing millions of dollars in proposals? Yes, I am talking about losing millions of dollars in proposals to normalize the journeys many have. Many times, before we get to the million and before you see the people that are creating six figures, there have been so many times that they have fallen down flat on their faces.
Overnight success often takes years. Read that again.
Of course, sometimes things may happen seemingly quickly aka overnight. Reflect or remember all the actions that had to happen to get to that moment. There are all kinds of possibilities, limitless possibilities for that to happen. The journey is filled with what I call winning or learning...a lot.
LOSING MILLIONS OF DOLLARS IN PROPOSALS
When we are children ourselves, or when we watch little kids walking or trying to walk, we show joy and cheer on others. I've got pictures of me stumbling around on my little fat legs running around places. When my parents and I were in a refugee camp in Italy, everyone cheered me on as I learned to walk (from what my parents told me!). They would say - que bella bambina in Italian. Translation - what a beautiful baby girl.
Somewhere along the way, when we are teenagers or adults, we sometimes lose our childlike selves. Life happens in an imperfect world. So many times as we grow older, we or others out of their lack of faith, insecurity, fear, and belief in their life and world, try to keep us small.
We may be guilty of those behaviors as well.
Let's stop pointing fingers. Let's celebrate when we try something new, just like a baby learning to walk.
The World Hits a Pause and Shifts with the Global Pandemic
Hello, Pandemic! 2020 was undoubtedly challenging for me in every single direction. Sometimes, we feel like we have faith, take action, and yet things are not changing as fast as we like. I am learning to trust that every action leads to long-lasting transformation over time.
Years ago, I cast a vision to travel the world full-time, and never imagined it would be in the midst of a pandemic. I decided to leave to travel for years of full-time travel at the end of 2020.
So, what did I learn from losing millions of dollars in proposals? If you rather tune in and see all the behind-the-scenes, watch my YouTube video.
At a glance, the priorities I have focused on within the last 90 days include Chief Marketing Officer, Influencer Management, and Online Course Launches.
As of the video, within the last 90 days alone, I pitched ongoing Chief Marketing Officer work totaling over $7 million dollars.
Full disclaimer: No, I'm not at six or seven figures yet. I am at five figures right now, like many of you out there.
I am a Limitless Global Girl who has limitless faith and action.
Run Your Business Like a CEO
To go from Creator a CEO, running our business like a CEO changes everything. It is about prioritizing purpose and impact. One of the ways I shifted from a Creator to a CEO includes using ClickUp, a project management tool.
In ClickUp, I created two dashboards (and teach others to do it in my courses and Lifestyle Brand Like a Boss program!). The dashboards I created include a 90-Day Plan and a Creator Dashboard.
The 90-Day Plan includes tracking my 7 Steps to Success including financials.
My financial key performance indicators include everything from opportunities to lost proposals.
The financial metrics include B2B2B - business to business to consumer. The metrics include proposals, online launches, and travel and. media opportunities.
I constantly challenge myself on what I am learning from the insight from the data and the dashboard. Then, I adjust, scale, and teach.
I ask myself all the time,what am I learning from this?
What am I learning from this opportunity?
What am I learning from this platform?
How may I help others shorten the learning curve?
How may I make it simpler and faster?
I have learned over and over to whom much is given, much is required.
I get excited wondering if a situation is this challenging, what is on the other side?
In my entrepreneurial journey, I have put in more mentally, spiritually, and practically than I did years ago in corporate. I trust it is all unfolding in the perfect way and timing for my journey.
5 Things I Learned from Losing Millions in Proposals
There are many lessons I have learned from the millions of dollars in proposals. The five lessons I want to focus on include identifying who you serve, how you want your community to feel, persistence, simplify to amplify, and automation and delegation.
1 Identify Who You Serve
The clearer we are on who we serve, the easier it is to communicate with them online and in real life. For example, I serve two primary communities.
The first community includes mission-based women entrepreneurs who are 9-5 ers with and without side hustles, with and without extensive social media presence who want to create a scale that they love with freedom.
The second community includes mission-based brands in wellness, marketing, business, and travel who desire to have a strategy, marketing, financials, and operations to increase their purpose, people, and profits.
Getting to this level of clarity is a game-changer. There is an overlap between the two communities. At the same time, shifts in communication are required too.
For example, how I communicate on a proposal to a cryptocurrency company for influencer management is from a different position from how I communicate to influencers seeking ongoing influencer management.
2 Create a Feeling with Experiences
Before I create anything, I set intentions for how I want others to feel with an experience. I pray and take aligned action to create experiences with that feeling.
Imagine the feeling you want others to experience.
What is the transformation with your offers?
What are the benefits included?
What are they receiving?
What are the steps?
So lay it out like a menu, lay it out like your favorite dish.
What's the main course?
What are the sides?
You know, if you have a dessert, what's the dessert-like?
My dessert would be a smoothie bowl.
3 Decide You Will Persevere
Deciding to persevere no matter what happens is everything.
Life will happen when you are an entrepreneur, creator, and CEO.
Sometimes, we think the answer is solely action, when it may be taking a moment, a day, or a week to be still. At other times, it may be that a new environment or experience in your life will transform a challenge into an opportunity.
I have learned many important life lessons through my transformation from the inside out during my journey.
One of my life lessons is that my identity and worth are not in my work, my status, or my achievements. Neither is yours.
Read that again.
At the same time, transformation is required to create a life + business you love, and don't forget it!
4 Simplify to Amplify
When we simplify to amplify, things move faster. In the video, I included this as the last lesson. However, I realized it increases clarity and scaling when editing this post.
Ask yourself how may you simplify something in three to five steps.
How may you organize the steps for purpose, priorities, and profit?
For example, I have simplified B2B2C focuses monthly in 3-5 steps scaling with automation and delegation. I scale my business with tools including Kajabi, ClickUp, Social Curator, and Virtual Assistants.
My challenge: Reach six figures in effort in less than 90 days no matter what your business is.
When you exceed six figures in pitches or proposals in less than 90 days, tag me on a reel or stories @katrinajuliafit and leave a review on my show and I will shout you out + share too!
5 Scale Your Business
Scaling your business will help you focus on purpose, priorities, and profit exponentially. When you start to automate and scale your business, I recommend starting with lower-priority tasks to free up your time. Once you automate or delegate those, channel your time on top-priority tasks to move the mountains.
Scaling your business is life-changing. I can't tell you how many moments or days I have had when I need time for me for self-love, and things keep moving without me.
The business has scaled at over 75% with automation and delegation. I use incredible tools to create and scale what I love like ClickUp, Kajabi, and a team of Virtual Assistants currently. I started automating in 2017 with Kajabi step by step. In 2020, I started delegating tasks. Now, over 100 tasks are done monthly by others.
Whether it's B2B tasks like LinkedIn Sales Navigator, Fortune 500, Social Media Manager Lists and Outreach, or B2C tasks like Kajabi running automated launches or VAs scheduling content on Later Media, scaling the business has given me comfort on the days I am not at 100%.
Lately, my focus has been on proposals via platforms like Indeed, Upwork, and BrainTrust. I track those on ClickUp and a ScoreCard to ensure I am taking action to move towards financial freedom.
My next step in scaling higher-priority tasks includes reviewing AI platforms that may submit proposals, create content, and/or have my VAs submit proposals to free up my time. In comparison, in lower priority tasks, I am increasing repurposing content across social media platforms and will be increasing delegation with Later Media and my VAs.
Your priorities or perspective may differ.
We all have the freedom to choose.
Whether you work with brands or entrepreneurs 1-1, focus solely on social media, and/or want to shift from a Creator to CEO, automating and delegating will change your life.
What I Learned from Losing Millions in Proposals
The #1 thing I have learned is that losing is learning when we allow, invite, and act on the lessons.
We may choose to be a victim in fear, shame or guilt or we may rise up to fight for our freedom to be a victor.
The important thing is that we not only have the desires of our hearts - Psalms 37:4, but that we act upon them.
What is your biggest takeaway from what I learned from losing millions of dollars in proposals?
Share + tag me on @katrinajuliafit @fitlifecreation and/or tune in on the show + leave a review!
CREATE IN OUR COMMUNITY
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