Editor's note: This is the third in a series of blog posts about Ron Carson's business growth. To read the first two parts, see S-curve explosions and How to take your business to the next level.
From 1997 to 2000, Ron Carson's business grew from $2.4 million to $5.8 million in revenue. He says "passion prospecting" is the secret to this s-curve explosion.
Passion prospecting is designed to create client events that would ignite his clients' passions. For example, he set up a short-game school for his golfing enthusiasts. He would hire a golf pro to teach a handful of his clients and their friends how to improve their putting and chipping.
The most effective results come when you set up your passion prospecting events around passions that you and your clients enjoy. So what is it that you enjoy doing when you are not working? Think about creating events around your passions. Maybe you enjoy skeet shooting, golfing, wine tasting, hunting or fishing. Whatever your passion is, you can create events that build deeper friendships and have more fun while you are building your business.
From 2000 until 2006, Carson Wealth Management gross revenue boomed from $5.8 million to $7.06 million. This all happened because the company built five scalable money management models.
After two years of stagnant revenue growth, the company decided to revamp how it models investment strategies. Because of the setback in revenue for those couple of years, great things happened. Better processes were developed around the company's investment management models. Staff began meeting often to talk about adjusting the models to adjust to the market, the economy and the world.
How about your business right now? Are you facing any stiff headwinds in your business? If those challenges don't break you, they may make you better. Often times, out of the deepest challenges in life, we find our greatest improvements. It's always darkest before the dawn. So don't give up! Find a way to improve your products and services. Find a way to improve your way of being through these difficulties. When the pathway gets rough, you may discover that only God can make a way for you. He wants to be glorified in your life and work. Where God guides, He supplies!
Imagine having your business sitting at the place where it just cleared $7.06 million in revenue. Would you be content with that? Well, Ron didn't stay idle at that level. From 2006 through 2009, his firm's gross revenue grew to $10.74 million and then retreated to $8.98 million. There wasn't as much innovation during that time period, and the growth wasn't as sustainable. The firm's advance-and-protect investment strategy worked well from 2006 to 2007, but it actually fell out of favor a bit as the bull market resumed.
