Have you ever felt as though you were stuck in a rut?

I know I have. It’s happened at various times in my career. Sometimes it was because I wasn’t getting promoted quickly enough. Other times it was because I was bored or tired. And still other times it was because I felt as though I wasn’t maximizing my revenue potential.

That’s how I felt a few months ago when I analyzed where I was in my career and came to a few conclusions. After coming up with an action plan based on my conclusions, I’ve experienced a 300% growth in revenues over 3 months, which is why I wanted to share the technique with readers of the 60 Second Marketer blog.

But First, a Little Background.

If you saw my revenues a few months go, most people would say that I made a very good living. I was paid to write books, make speeches and run the 60 Second Marketer (which generates revenue from our sponsored email program).

In many respects, I had nothing to complain about — I was getting paid to do what I love (which, essentially, is to teach people things that will help them improve their lives). Best of all, I was being hired to speak around the globe in spectacular places like Barcelona, Cabo San Lucas, London, Amsterdam, Norway and Puerto Vallarta.

It’s a great gig.

But there was a problem. And the problem was that, even though I was paid well, I wasn’t building wealth.

What’s the difference between getting paid well and building wealth? When I say I was getting paid well, I mean that I was being paid to speak, consult and write on a project-by-project basis. The challenge with project work is that projects run the risk of drying up.

Since there’s typically no recurring revenue for a speaking gig, once I made my speech and collected a check I had to go out and pursue the next speaking gig (or consulting gig, as the case may be). In other words, I could make some money, but I wasn’t building something larger than myself that could sustain recurring revenues and passive revenues.

We’ve covered a little bit of ground here, so let me pause for a second for a few definitions:

• Project Based Business: This is a business that generates revenue from project work. Consultants, authors and speakers live in this world.
• Recurring Revenues: These are revenues that come in from sustainable clients who come back month after month for recurring work or assignments.
• Passive Revenues: These are revenues that are the result of creating one item and selling it over and over again with very little effort. (You could argue that the sponsored email program with the 60 Second Marketer is a passive revenue business.)

Using a 2×2 to Get a Sense of my Business Landscape.

Around February of this year I was asked to speak at a Tony Robbins seminar in Las Vegas. I used the invitation as an opportunity to sit in on his 5 day business mastery course. Tony is often mislabeled as a motivational speaker but his real gift is to get you to think outside of your normal constraints and open your mind to fresh new thinking.

That’s when the idea of getting paid vs. building wealth hit me. I realized that even though I was getting paid well, I wasn’t building wealth.

While sitting in the speakers section at the back of the conference, I started taking notes and sketching out ideas about my business. One of the tools I used was called a 2×2. You’ve probably seen them before, but you may have never used one to visualize the landscape for your own business.

So, while I was in the back of the room, I sketched out the following 2×2 that highlights four different aspects of my industry (which I’ve loosely called the Marketing Thought Leader industry).

Once I sketched out the 2×2, I started adding in the names and the services of my friends in the industry. These folks included Erik Qualman, Dave Kerpen, Mari Smith, Jay Baer, Chris Brogan, Ann Handley, Joe Pulizzi, Lee Odden, Seth Godin, David Meerman Scott and others.

Underneath each of their names, I wrote out how they generated revenue. (Side Note: In many cases, I was guessing, but for the most part, I think I had a handle on how they generate revenues.) Once I sketched out where each person fell in the 2×2, something important hit me, which can be seen in the comment box I added below.

As you can see in the 2×2 above, the people in the bottom left quadrant fell into two categories — people who had a monster best-seller and could make money just from speaking, and people (like myself) who were authors and who had to supplement their speaking income with consulting projects or other revenues.

In other words, I was in the 98% who were making a good living from projects (via speaking gigs and consulting gigs), but I wasn’t in the 2% who were charging a huge premium for their speaking gigs and able to build wealth just from speaking.

That’s when something else hit me, which can be seen below.

By sketching out the 2×2, I was able to visualize my industry which helped me see the problem that I was having and helped me come to a conclusion. What was the conclusion? That I needed to navigate my business into the upper-right-hand quadrant where my friends Dave, Jay, Ann and Lee were.

In other words, I needed to create a company instead of just being a solo practitioner. Which is exactly what I did when I created 60 Second Communications, a full-service marketing communications firm that specializes in metrics-based, ROI-driven campaigns that generate sustainable growth for our clients. (Sorry about the short sales pitch there.)

What have the results been? Scroll back to the top of this post and you’ll see how my revenues have grown since I launched 60 Second Communications in April. We’ve experienced a 300% increase in our gross revenues in just 3 months.

It’s important to keep in mind that all 300% doesn’t go into my pocket. After all, there’s no way to get that amount of work done without hiring employees (which we’ve done) and without increasing your overhead (which we’ve also had to do). The difference is that instead of being a project-based solo practitioner, we’re now a full-fledged marketing communications firm that has recurring revenue from our clients and also has lasting value for our owners.

In other words, I’ve gone from being paid well to building wealth.

How You Can Put a 2×2 to Work for Your Business.

The beauty of a 2×2 is that it can be used in any industry to visualize the threats and opportunities that face your business. Just grab a sheet of paper — go ahead, do it now — and start sketching out the key aspects that drive your industry.

It might look a lot like the one I created above. Or, it may be somewhat different. Either way, once you start sketching your 2×2 out on a sheet of paper, you’ll start to see patterns and trends emerge.

Once you’ve sketched out a 2×2 that highlights 4 different aspects of your industry, see what conclusions you can draw from it. You might even what to white board it out and do a working lunch with some of your staff to see what conclusions they come up with.

After you’ve done that, I’d like you to do a reverse 2×2. With a reverse 2×2, you take all the competitors that are doing great and put them into the upper right-hand quadrant. Then you take all your competitors who aren’t doing great and put them in the bottom left hand quadrant.

Once you’ve done that, try to figure out what the businesses in the upper right-hand quadrant have in common and what the businesses in the bottom left-hand quadrant have in common. That’ll help you write in the different aspects on the four points on your reverse 2×2. In other words, draw some conclusions about the similarities each group of companies have, and then write in 4 industry aspects at the tip of each point.

Once you’ve done that, figure out if your company is in the bottom left or the upper right. If you’re in the bottom left, what can you do to become one of the companies in the top right?

That’s what I did and it changed everything — instead of living in a project revenue world, I now live in a recurring revenue world and, as a result, I’m building wealth.

You can do the same thing. All it takes is a sheet of paper, a pen and some time to sketch out your industry. Give it a shot — and let us know what you figured out in the comments section below. We love helping members of our community improve their business and we love it when they share what they’ve learned with other readers of our blog.

Thanks!

Jamie Turner is the CEO of social media and mobile marketing firm 60 Second Communications and is the Founder of the 60 Second Marketer. He is the co-author of “How to Make Money with Social Media” and “Go Mobile” and is a popular marketing speaker at events, trade shows and corporations around the globe.