Which Revenue Breakpoint are You Pushing Through in 2024?

2024 is here, and chances are - your company has set some lofty goals this year.?

If so, that’s exciting. Good for you! That means you and your team have an incredible opportunity to GROW this year.?

You may also be a little apprehensive.?

Change is hard, and going from one level to the next requires you to approach your business differently.?

In my experience leading hundreds of EOS meetings in various businesses as an EOS Implementer?, I’ve seen these elevations present varying challenges.?

Some companies are ready to level up, while others can get stuck because they fail to make necessary adjustments to grow into that next revenue level.?

Keep going to discover? what your business may need in order to push through your next Revenue Breakpoint.?

$1 Million in Revenue

At the $1 million mark, it’s time to shift from a startup mindset to a more structured approach. Challenges at this stage typically include formalizing your strategies for customer acquisition; managing increasing operational demands; and starting to delegate responsibilities. Depending on your business, it is also a smart move to start developing your hiring process. This is the time where building a team becomes critical to your growth.?

It’s also at this point that data becomes a crucial asset for making informed decisions. EOS encourages companies to establish key performance indicators (KPIs) that align with their strategic objectives. Regularly monitoring and analyzing these KPIs - or “measurables” as they’re called in EOS - on your weekly scorecard enables the leadership team to identify trends, assess performance, and make data-driven decisions to support and sustain growth.

$3-5 Million in Revenue

At the $3-5 million level, organizations need to start formalizing and perfecting processes, ensuring their implementation and treating them like the backbone of your business. EOS emphasizes the importance of documenting and updating processes to maintain efficiency. Challenges at this stage often include the need for more sophisticated financial management. If you do not have a Finance Director in house, it may be time to add someone in even a fractional capacity (shameless plug for my friends at Pro CFO Partners). Now is also the time to develop your middle management so that they can support your leadership team.

And since your customer acquisition process was already formalized at the $1 million stage, you can start to enhance it and achieve your higher revenue goals. Lastly, this is the perfect time to revisit your business model and refine it as needed. This is why EOS Quarterly and Annual Planning Sessions are so critical. Each presents an opportunity to revisit your Vision, including your 10-Year Plan, 3-Year Picture and 1-Year Plan to make sure everyone is fully aligned.

$10 Million in Revenue

When you're trying to push past the $10 million ceiling, your business should be running like a well-oiled machine. Now is the time to start upgrading nearly every aspect of the company and taking a more professionalized approach to aspects of your business such as market segmentation; enhanced brand development; more structured governance; and further development of your leadership team. In fact, it’s more important than ever that you have team health, as the leadership team starts to take more responsibilities off of your plate and onto their own. (Your leadership team should also start to do the same with their direct teams, as well.) You must ensure they are working harmoniously. Another critical factor to consider at this time is to legally secure the company, including examining your insurance policies and protection from potential liabilities.?

If you’ve gotten this far, stick with me - things are about to get really exciting.

$20 - 30 Million in Revenue

Scaling beyond the $20 - 30 million mark typically requires significant organization restructuring. Diversification is something to consider at this point. That could include a diversification of products, services or markets. You may need to implement more complex operational systems and enhance your strategic planning processes. (If you haven’t implemented EOS yet, you’re definitely going to need it!) Remember: what got you here won’t get you there.?

You also have a unique opportunity at this level to focus on Right People/Right Seat. In your early days, you may have had to “bootstrap it” and accept the team you were working with or put people into roles that may not have been their BEST fit. However, you should now have the flexibility to choose the very best person to fill each role. And perhaps someone who was able to take you to $20 million does not have the capacity to take you to $50 million in that same seat (the seat has outgrown the person). They could be a good fit elsewhere in the company for a new initiative, or they could potentially be ready for a different opportunity elsewhere.

$50 Million in Revenue

At the $50 million point, your culture will inevitably start to shift. And it’s important that your leadership team is guiding it. Your middle management has never been more important than now, as they will influence the boots on the ground and either steer them toward your goals or away from them. Investing in their training and development is key. Utilizing the Accountability Chart will ensure everyone is on the same page with their responsibilities and to whom they report.

Additionally, you must be focused on consistent quality and customer experience to protect your reputation in the marketplace. While you aren’t able to connect with employees and customers daily, it’s your people and processes that will be able to have a greater impact than you alone. At this point, you can also expect to deal with more complex regulatory and compliance issues.?

$100 Million in Revenue

Breaking past the $100 million mark means operating at a much larger scale - expanding to multiple markets or even going international if you haven’t already. As such, you should be prepared for intense competition and market dynamics. In the face of this, it’s important to be very clear on your value proposition to avoid trying to be like “the big boys” and losing your way. Intense focus on your Rocks and V/TO (specifically, the Core Focus) will ensure you’re running YOUR race.

You can also expect that your company will require a complex organizational structure at this point, and you must have a talent acquisition strategy to help you fill it. Lastly, communication has never been more important than at this level. It must be clear, effective and united.??

Elevate Your Thinking to Prepare for Future Growth?

While it is common to get so deep in the weeds on what is happening in your business TODAY, it’s critical to think about where your business is headed long term. Just when you think your business has finally “got it”, there’s a new level of growth that will stretch you and ultimately expand not only your business, but your team and your own capabilities. EOS exists to support that growth and ensure you maintain traction every step of the way.

In fact, this topic of growth has come up for a number of businesses in our EOS community. How do you prepare yourself for that next level? What can you do today to make that transition a rewarding one??

I’m excited to share that we’ll be exploring this topic and much more at an upcoming LIVE event here in NYC. It’s called Elevate 2024, and I cannot wait to get you more details. We’ll be releasing registration info to you soon. Stay tuned. You do NOT want to miss it!