I can’t stress the importance of what I’m about to tell you enough. If you look at entrepreneurs who have made fortunes – I mean SERIOUS wealth – in almost every case the money came not from inside the business, but from SELLING the business.

You’ve heard numerous news stories of internet companies selling just 1-3 years after their initial start-up. And the businesses you hear about sell for 7, 8 and even 9 figures.

If this sounds out of reach right now, picture this scenario: You start a business today, and in 6 months to 2 years you sell it for 6 figures. Would that make a great payday for you?

Now you might be thinking that selling your business is something you don’t need to worry about until long after you start it. Not so.

If you are starting a business right now, you should also be considering your exit strategy. After all, you could get bored with what you’re doing and want out. Or maybe you need quick cash. Or you decide to go in an entirely different direction. So you decide to sell your business.

If you’ve laid the groundwork, you should be able to sell quite quickly and for a very good price.

Here’s what you need to know:

– Don’t think of it as flipping a website. Think of it as selling a BUSINESS. That’s because buyers don’t want a website. They can build their own website cheap enough.

What they do want is a ready to go, money-generating cash-cow business, so make your plans accordingly.

– Make your business transferable from Day 1. Every product should be its own entity – after all, a single product can actually be an entire business.

Give it a website of its own, its own list, its own customer base, its own affiliate program and affiliate list, etc.

– Don’t brand it exclusively with your name. It’s fine to attach your name to your XYZ product, but don’t call it “yournameproduct.”

In other words, “Bob Smith’s Traffic Gorilla Mania Course” is fine. “Bob Smith’s traffic course” is not. In the first case, the product is Traffic Gorilla Mania, a name that anyone can sell. In the second case, the product is Bob Smith’s Traffic, a product forever branded as belonging to Bob Smith.

Imagine you’re Bob Smith, and you sell your traffic course business to someone else. That person then sells the course. Who do people ask for help? You. After all, your name is on the course.

Then let’s say the buyer alters the course and now it stinks. Who will people blame? You. Now you see why your name needs to be completely separate from the product name.

Yes, it’s a bit strange to think about your exit strategy when you’re just starting a business. But when it comes time to sell, you’ll be glad you did.

One more thing – what if you have a partner?

Write into your agreement what will happen if you sell. Just look at the possibilities and agree on how it will play out if one of you wants to sell to the other, or if you both want to sell to a third party.

You can make a good amount of money by making each of your businesses as stand-alone as possible, and then selling them when the time is right. In fact, selling your business can potentially earn you more than you made running the business.

So plan ahead, and make sure you are building your business-selling exit strategy directly into your business itself!

If you were a college student who never stopped attending school full time… how much would you earn. Likely nothing. You’re too busy learning to earn.

When does a college student start making money? When they leave school (graduating or not, doesn’t matter) and start working.

So why do we think our online marketing businesses are any different?

When you put education in front of ‘doing,’ you’re a perpetual wannabe marketer.

But when you put the doing first, you’re building a business.

It’s a simple mind-shift that can take you from broke to six figures.

I’m not saying you should stop learning – not at all…

What I am saying is you should devote your best hours to working on your business. And devote your ‘spare time’ to learning.

Of course, sometimes you’ll need a crash course in something. Like when you try to build your first squeeze page. This is when you go to Google or YouTube, find a video that walks you through what you need to know, and do it as you follow along with the video. Yes, you’re learning. But you’re doing it in context with working on your business.

Bottom Line: There is a point when you have to put all the courses and programs aside and get busy doing something. And while you’re actively engaged in that, don’t learn anything unless it directly relates to what you’re doing.

Think of doing as your full time activity, and learning as something you do during off hours. You’ll make a lot more money that way.

It’s a New Year – time to plan your best year ever! And before you groan and run away, get excited because we’re going to make this the easiest, speediest marketing plan ever!

After all – if you have to spend a week tediously writing out a 50 page plan – seriously, will you do it?

No.

But anyone can take a few minutes and plan out how they are going to double, triple or quadruple their income over the next 12 months.

Ready? Let’s get started:

1. Choose a goal. A big, fat, hairy, audacious goal is good, just as long as you BELIEVE you can reach the goal. Your deadline to reach this goal will be December 31st, 2021.

2. What are the strategies you’ll use to achieve this goal? You don’t have to know every step right now. But you do need to have a basic plan.

3. Tactics: what are 3 to 5 things you need to do to implement your strategy? For example, build a website, open social media accounts, create a lead magnet to build your list, etc.

4. The to-dos: these are the steps you’ll take to implement each of the tactics in #3 above. For example, to create a lead magnet you might write these steps: Brainstorm topics, choose one, do research, write/create lead magnet.

5. Timeline: How long it will take to complete each step, with deadlines.

Now create your 6 month goals. This is the halfway point between the first of the year and reaching your goals. This will let you know what you must accomplish by June 30th to be on track.

Next, create 3 month and 9 month goals. These are your quarter year marks, and again they tell you what you need to accomplish by those dates – March 31st and September 30th – to be on track.

Finally, create goals for January 31st and February 28th to also stay on track.

When it’s time, you’ll do the same on April 1st for April 30th and May 31st, and so on.

Finally, create a budget so you know how much money you’ll need, especially in the first 3 months. If you structure this correctly, your budget for the remaining 9 months will come out of profits.

That wasn’t so hard, was it?

Now you have a real plan on how you’re going to make 2021 your best year ever.

The only thing left to do is follow your plan and success is yours. Here’s to your advancement and growth in 2021 and beyond!