How I Bootstrapped My Way To Millions Per Year...

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Having worked in Asset Management, I understood the stock market…

But only when I was invited to start investing in businesses around 24 months ago, did I realise that people raised money to start and scale privately held companies.

Now I’m on the other side, I can see what I did differently than those that raise funds. And I’m very glad I never took a single penny.?

1 - I need accountability

If a company goes public on the stock exchange, “being happy with 20% to 40% growth” is not adequate. Investors need proper, realistic forecasts. And plans to get there.

Without investors, no one holds you accountable.

As entrepreneurs, we are easily excitable.

That’s why I ensure I have coaches at all times to hold me to the things I say I’m going to do. And, I empower my assistant and COO to challenge me and prioritise things based upon our company’s vision so I don’t screw up the day to day with my crazy ideas.

2 - I say no to a LOT

I’m not going to say this is easy…

But when you do the ‘grunt work’ of building a product offering people want, you have a machine which you can put clients into which produces results.

Having the strict discipline of saying no to the other various different things I could be selling was the hardest thing for me.

I got rid of my lead gen agency, low ticket offers, and even the software I spent hundreds of thousands of my own money building.

3 - If I need money, I make an offer

Now, Impact School has two core products and if we want to bring in a boatload of cash, we make an offer to a segment of our audience.

Our best “investors” are our clients. We give them what they want (guaranteed) and we get money in exchange. No outside capital needed.

4 - I am very careful with my expenses

With investors, it’s easy to think “well we raised $500k so hiring Sally as a new marketing assistant for $40k per year isn’t much.”

But that $40k could be used to join a coaching program, launch a lead gen campaign, hire a recruiter to find World Class talent…

Without investors, any money you don’t spend is yours (as the business owner).

When it’s your own profits, you are much more careful and think things through fully.

5 - I focus on cash flow

Switching to a high ticket model changed everything for me.

Our margins are higher and Impact School now exclusively gets clients who are hungry for results…

We ensured we mastered one lead source, one conversion mechanism, and one offering before adding more.

KISS = keep it stupidly simple

When you have investors, you can burn through cash to find product market fit.

Without investors, you have to make sure you have something people want and will pay for.

And once you have found product market fit, it’s about finding a way to leverage the product so it can work at scale without needing you, the founder.

It all starts there - That’s why we typically support Impact School clients with this the moment they start with us, and through tweaking the ‘thing’ they sell, our clients (on average) make 1.7x their typical monthly revenue during their first 3 weeks with us.

6 - Have a vision so big that other people’s fits within yours

I heard Andy Grove (founder of Intel) say something along those lines and it stuck with me.

When you’re bootstrapped, you can’t pay people the huge salaries they may otherwise get (in the early days at least.

I’ve learned that getting A-Player talent comes down to ensuring that your team can see where their future is headed and that you’ll invest in their growth to get there.

The world needs to know that you have an exciting mission that’s important and which aligns with their values so they feel like they’re doing something more than just a job.

7 - As you scale, people will want to claim your success as their own

I was speaking at a popular marketing event a couple weeks back and someone went up to Noor (Impact School’s COO) and mentioned “Oh yeah NAME is an investor in Impact School” and she was like… wat?!

Made us laugh but these are things you have to be prepared for.

People will want to invest, take equity, do rev shares.

All these things are things which I am happy I am not tied into.

Tried a couple rev shares a couple times - ended up being disastrous and almost cost me my company.

8 - I like maintaining all the control

Very grateful I am not a slave to investors.

Means I can sleep at night.

I built this business for freedom and fulfillment. Not just to make money.

That’s what I value.

9 - Hiring coaches is critical

When you don’t have investors, investing in people who have systems, strategy and processes which are total blindspots to you is arguably the most valuable thing you can do.

10 - Systems are very very important

I remember when my COO said to me, “Lauren, you can survive in chaos but your company won’t for much longer,” it hit me like a ton of bricks.

That was a couple of years ago. And this kind of ties back into the first point…

When you don’t have investors, it’s easier for things to get sloppy as you’re not being “audited.”

Now, systems are what Impact School is known for.

My business philosophy is “let systems run the business and let people run those systems.”

And when you have the right systems, people do better work, it’s easier to reach and convert leads, and your clients get better results.

In summary, I like investing in companies and I’m glad I don’t have investors in my own. I always invest in my own business before I invest my money elsewhere because that’s where I have the most control.

If you are nervous to invest money into your business then, what we’ve seen with 500+ clients is that it’s because there’s a lack of certainty behind the business itself (volatile revenue/team/client base) meaning it feels ‘flimsy’. But that’s normal. And that’s why Impact School is the Ally to fast growing entrepreneurs who are ready to turn their existing business into an asset ready to scale.

11 - Never stop cash flowing while building systems

At Impact School, what we help with is taking the entrepreneur out of the day to day through systematizing & automating client acquisition/lead generation, client fulfillment, hiring, and the day to day runnings. We give you all the systems, SOPs, and processes and train you/your team on how to implement them.

The aim is to ensure the business is growing without you, the entrepreneur, having to jump in and put out fires.

We don’t expect you to be able to figure this out on your own. In fact, the 1:1 support you get with Impact School is unlimited, and that’s because every program I’ve ever joined myself was not personal enough.

We’ve even added 5+ live sessions per week which up to 3 members of your team can attend so we can train them on lead generation, sales, and automation… so you don’t have to.

I basically built what I would have wanted when I was on my journey to getting to millions in cash collected per year…

Sounds interesting?

→ You must already be doing $20k/month

→ What got you here won’t get you there (you must be coachable - we will likely need to change your offers, even if they’ve been working until now)

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Let’s let systems run your business and let people run those systems (in a tagline, that’s what we do… while increasing cash flow and profitability!)

Looking forward to serving you,

Lauren “Impact” Tickner