Can we talk about the ‘Make £10k in 3 Months’ BS we’re seeing on Facebook!

Now that’s one way to title a blog! I’ve been meaning to write this post for a while so here goes…

Have you ever seen one of those posts on social media which says something like:

“Try my tried and proven method for 10xing your business in 30 days”; or,

“Build a six figure business in 90 days”; or,

“Not making money as a coach? You don’t need to blog, vlog or market your business…you need my tried and trusted model. Here’s what my client Jack has to say…”.

“Retire your husband and spend more time with your kids in just 10 weeks…with my totes legit process”.

Am I close?

We’ve all seen them, right?

People sharing photos of themselves on holiday, by a plane or even just in a local coffee shop on their lap top. And the message that goes with the photo is along the lines of “you can make £10k per month in just three months”.

Well I want to tell you that it’s BS! And if you don’t know what BS stands for…it stands for BULLSHIT.

Do you know anyone – ANYONE – in real life who fell out of bed one day, followed someone’s process off the internet and starting having that kind of success? In three months? Because if you do, please put me in touch haha.

Now don’t get me wrong. In this world of abundance and infinite possibilities, it IS possible to make £10k per month. And of course it’s possible to 10x your business. People do it ALLLL the time. But it takes a lot longer than three bloody months to go from zero to hero, know what I mean?

What these advertisers aren’t telling you about is the sleepless nights, the credit card bills, the failed attempts, the mindset shifts they had to go through, the beans on toast they ate for a year, the fact they filmed this in their mum’s spare room, the two years it took to build up their community. (And yes, I’ve just described my life between 2016 – 2017.)

If they are telling you that, it’s framed like this: “I wasted thousands on Facebook ads, I spent years doing it all wrong and then I found this model and the game changed overnight…let me teach it to you! All my secrets for a £10k launch, in this free webinar”. And then of course they don’t teach you any of their secrets, they just use the webinar (which is 90 minutes of your life you’ll never get back) to pitch their Mastermind Programme or online course, which, by the end of the webinar, sounds oddly appealing *reaches for credit card.

That’s the point. People are making money by making promises and quite often, they’re making their first £10k by charging other people to learn their process and THEY HAVEN’T EVEN DONE IT THEMSELVES YET? Or, they’re telling you they’ll share their secrets so they can get your email and then pressure you with statements like “I’m taking this off the internet tonight”, “Only 3 places left”, “It will never be this cheap again”, “Last change to change your life”.

Omg people, are you feeling me here? I’m thinking faster than I can type!

If somethings sounds too good to be true, it is and I want to share this with you to (a) let you off the hook with those ridiculous targets, (b) help you scroll on past them the next time and (c) encourage you to get on with the work that really matters: growing your network, building your product, learning new skills, testing and improving every day.

NO you’re not a failure because you got into debt trying to build a business.

NO you’re not a failure because your business isn’t profitable after a year.

NO you’re not a failure because you cry yourself to sleep with exhaustion.

Okay, okay I’m not suggesting this is the best way to build a business. All I’m saying is it takes time. And growth. And, did I mention time? There is no quick fix and no perfect process. It’s all trial and error. It’s all work. And it’s all growth.

Oh man!!

On average, it takes between 2-4 years + to build a profitable business. And by profitable I mean, finally, I can pay myself a wage and outsource my invoicing haha. It takes so much longer than you’d ever think to build a business because we just don’t know what we don’t know. We have to go on the journey of entrepreneurship to learn the skills, build our networks and develop our products, right? We need time to grow.

And we can take a lot of insight from nature and agriculture on this one. In farming, there are planting seasons and there are growing seasons. AND THEN there are harvesting seasons. Harvesting comes third. In fact, we forgot to mention the prep that goes into choosing the land, toiling the land, buying the seeds, leasing the equipment. It takes time to harvest your crop. But these ads are just raving about the harvest – the results. They’re not telling you about the time that went into toiling the land and building their skills and confidence and how they managed to afford enough seeds (let’s liken that to a Facebook ad budget) to generate those revenue results.

Of course, we’re not taught any of this in school and considering we spent our most formative years in school, that’s a pretty hard mould to break!

In school, we’re taught ‘how to be a good employee’. Turn up at this time, sit here, fill in this box, aim for the good grade from your teacher. The whole system literally preps you for work. You go from a 9am – 3pm school day to an 8am – 6pm work shift. Your lunch and break times are the same. You trade a teacher for a manager. And you swap a report card for a performance review.

Have you ever stopped and noticed the similarities? It’s pretty scary isn’t it?!

So breaking that mould (the mould of a LIFETIME) aint easy folks. It’s hard graft! Physically, mentally, EMOTIONALLY! And let’s not mention the resistance from family, friends, partners…the bank manager! (Let’s just say, thank goodness for positive affirmations, beach runs and Les Brown on YouTube.)

So let’s be honest. Whilst it IS possible to make £10k a month in three months something stops us…Our networks, our mindsets, our budgets, our brands, our messaging, the sophistication of our products, oue testimonials….They’re just not ready and able to support that kind of result so early in the game.

So guess how you build your network, guess how you save a budget, guess how you build a brand and develop your message and improve your product and gather testimonials???? TIME my friends…it takes time.

I mean think of people you know and admire. Business owners, speakers, athletes, writers. Think of the big names. Now have you EVER heard them come out and say “Oh yer, it only took three months?!”

You’ve see the meme of Beyonce right? “Beyonce wasn’t built in a day”. Preach haha.

If Beyonce took her time, we can too right?

I mean I’ve never seen an oak tree that went from acorn to 20ft in three months.

So…

So what if you have a job while you build your business?

So what if you work into the night in the first year?

So what if your first launch TANKED!!!

You know, it took me 18 months to do my first five figure launch and I just scraped the £10,000 mark. And, I’d built two six figure businesses before that and it STILL took me 18 months to build a brand new business online. So you can take 18 months (to build my new product and brand), add five years of prior business experience and sprinkle in a library of self help books to get me through. Oh, and don’t forget I spent thousands on Facebook ads, vlogged nearly every day and ran events up and down the country to spread my message in the first year. Oh and yes, there were tears and tantrums my friends!! I think it’s going to get easier and easier from here because my mindset has shifted, I’ve grown my network and I’ve got a little more budget for my next launch but it’s still hard.

Bit by bit. Slowly but surely. Over time. This is how you do it.

So next time you see those ads promising the earth, move on by. Look for supportive communities – free and paid. Look for likeminded people – friends and fellow entrepreneurs. Build up specific skills – learn to vlog and build your own web site. Read books or listen to pod casts as you drive. Share your lessons as you go. Build up your own community. Create don’t just consume. Get a job to take the pressure off. Forgive yourself. And above everything else, give yourself time.

This is the journey.

P.s. if you want to make £10k in the next three months, try my proven method. OMG I’m totally joking haha. Too soon?!