Episode 358: How to Build a £10 Million Business
Allowing yourself to be a student, overcoming fear, and embracing self-improvement are all important aspects of becoming successful in any endeavor.
In this episode, Adam Stott talks about the secrets behind building a £10 Million business. Along with Chris Cook, Adam shares his journey of resilience, learning from failures, and the key strategies that led him to success not once, but multiple times.
From obsession and work ethic to marketing and sales, Adam emphasizes the importance of strategic advice, teamwork, and continuous self-improvement in achieving significant business growth.
Show Highlights:
- Empowering work ethic and relentless determination are key ingredients for entrepreneurial success.
- Understanding marketing and utilizing it to drive sales conversions is essential for business growth.
- Developing a strong sales capability and effectively selling the business vision are crucial components.
- Building a talented and cohesive team is imperative for scaling a business to eight figures.
- Being open to mentorship, learning, and overcoming ego are vital for sustainable business growth.
Links Mentioned:
Get your Business Growth Secrets SUCCESS PLANNER for FREE and profit like a pro: https://adamstottplanner.com/free-book47315172
Adam’s website: https://adamstott.com/?el=Pod
Watch the Episode on Adam’s YouTube Channel: https://www.youtube.com/adamstottcoach?el=Pod
Connect with Adam on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/adamstottcoach/?el=Pod
Join Adam’s network on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/adam-stott-coach/?el=Pod
Coaches, consultants, and business owners – lower your marketing costs, increase ticket prices, and get more high-ticket clients: https://3daybrandbuilderworkshop.com/start-here?el=Pod
Transcript:
Please note this is a verbatim transcription from the original audio and therefore may include some minor grammatical errors.
[00:00:00] Adam Stott: How do you build a 10 million pound business? That is what today’s episode is all about. So if you’ve ever dreamt about building an empire, being in control of an empire, you are going to love this episode right now. It’s going to be incredible. That is what today’s conversation is all about. Let’s jump right in.
[00:00:25] So welcome back to another episode of business growth secrets. Chris has got a question that he’s going to be asking today. So let’s let him jump straight in and let’s get to work on what should be an awesome episode today. Business growth secrets.
[00:00:40] Chris Cook: Okay. Big one here. So What I want to ask is, many business owners have great ideas, they’re investing in their personal development, their business development, um, they’ve got a good product, they’ve got good services.
[00:00:52] Yeah, statistics show, most of them are going to fail. Brutal! That’s the statistics. 99. 6 percent of them, I wrote it down here, don’t get to 10 million. 99. 6. So 0. 4 percent of businesses that start will get to the eight figure mark. Okay. What I want to know is you’ve done it twice. Yeah. You’ve rode the ups and downs.
[00:01:18] You’ve done it twice. You’ve defied the odds. What’s the difference between you and those that haven’t done it? How have you been able to do it more than once where the vast majority Won’t get anywhere near it even once.
[00:01:36] Adam Stott: Okay. So that’s a really, really good question. So I’m going to try and like break this down.
[00:01:40] Cause it’s quite a, that’s a wide question. Quite a big one. Right. So, um, first business I started, um, I started it as zero zero based, uh, startup, just an idea. I went through the pain that. Everybody goes through in the beginning of trying to figure out how to find their client acquisition, how to build their brand, you know, how to, to go and get clients in the business, how to build cashflow into the business and do all these things, you know, that we, that a business owner has to do.
[00:02:13] And, you know, I went through all of that pain and actually the first business. Way, way tougher, like way, way, way, way more difficult because I had to learn all, all the lessons. Um, and there’s so many, you know, uh, pain, uh, can be a great teacher, right? And I, and I certainly went for a lot of pain in that, in, in my first business, uh, for sure.
[00:02:33] Um, and, and, and also had a lot of joy and a lot of success. It’s kind of like both. Um, so the, if I’m trying to look at these, cause I’ve done this, as you say, a few So if I look at my first business, Perhaps where the learning lessons can be bigger for the audience. So, so in my first business, I started it in 2008, um, in the middle of a financial crisis, didn’t really, good time to start.
[00:03:01] Yeah. Good time. So I didn’t really know what I was doing. And when I first started it out, I started as a finance business. And that was the first business I started. And what I was doing is I was lending money on behalf of financial organizations to people that wanted to buy assets. It was an asset finance business.
[00:03:20] What I’ve realized pretty quickly is that, you know, most finance companies didn’t want to lend. So I was going to have to change the model. And I moved into an automotive business and I built that automotive business up, uh, and, and that, that automotive business, I had one, you know, one business, one business in that I had in Chelmsford, which was doing, um, many, many millions per year.
[00:03:42] And then I expanded that out to having five different ones. So eventually combined that group was doing around 40 million pounds a year. We then also had, um, Automotive servicing centers. We had automotive, um, paint shops. We had all these other ones that were on their own. It was pretty much an eight figure business on its own as well.
[00:04:01] So let’s do that. And now I have the events, the seminar business, which, which is an eight figure business as well. So I’ve done this a few times. Um, as you say, so what does in the first business, the thing that got me there is two, if I really were to maybe three things, there’s probably more than that, but there’s three things that I think that stand out for me in the first journey, because it’s like, see like cycles, the first journey.
[00:04:29] So the first thing that stands out for me is an absolute will and determination. And I feel like if I went back to them, that I was more driven. More determined. And I mean, you work with me every day, you know, driven. Yeah, absolutely. Yeah. If I go back then. Relentless, I call it. Yeah. Relentless. But I feel like my first business is more of an obsession.
[00:04:51] Okay. I sacrificed everything in my life. I, I sacrificed relationships. I sacrificed, you know, time. All I ever did was work on the business, work in the business and, and the business was my life, you know, so that definitely, and look, I’m not recommending that. So just anyone who’s watching, I’m not telling you to do that, but I am telling you that’s what I did.
[00:05:11] There needs to
[00:05:11] Chris Cook: be a degree of obsession. Yeah. So,
[00:05:12] Adam Stott: so, okay. Well, if we say that, then yes. Would you say? Yeah, I think so. I think, I think. If you want to get to that eight figure point, there’s a degree of obsession. Well, actually, I feel that now I know what I know. And now I’ve had experience. I don’t need to have as much obsession as what I did in the beginning.
[00:05:34] I really feel like, you know, I can build eight figure businesses. You know, we could build a marketing company tomorrow and take it to eight figures without me being obsessed because I understand client acquisition. You know, I understand it so well that it wouldn’t really matter. You know, I understand building teams and I’d say, well, it wouldn’t really matter.
[00:05:52] So I understand building management teams, which I didn’t understand then. And building a management team and running a management team running that properly and getting that to eight figures could do it without me being obsessed truthfully. But in my first business, I was obsessed. So that was quality number one, which helped me.
[00:06:10] Um, hopefully that’s not what people take out of the video because it’s not something I advise now. I know some other men that people will advise that you’re gonna be upset. You go to this, you go to that. And it definitely helped me. But actually, I don’t think it was the healthiest way and the best way to build a business from a life balance perspective.
[00:06:30] But let’s be straight with you that I had the obsession and still I work hard. It takes so this substitute obsession for a serious work ethic, work ethic. Yeah. Okay, so let’s say one serious work ethic. Okay, two, I would say marketing. And a, a very, very good understanding of client acquisition, a very good understanding of using marketing to drive inquiries and sales.
[00:07:04] Yeah. Right. To drive inquiries that turn into sales. You’re always talking
[00:07:07] Chris Cook: about advertising into money.
[00:07:09] Adam Stott: Advertising sort of stuff, advertising to profit. If you understand advertising into profit, building an eight figure business. If you actually understand it. And the funny thing is we have. Thousands of people that come to seminars, events, obviously, we run hundreds and hundreds of events per year, and you can tell them this, and they will have heard it, they’ve probably heard it from me, but then other people that are really successful, because it is the thing, how do I know that, because I’ve done 350 podcast episodes with other people, and all those other people say the same thing.
[00:07:40] Right. Once you understand how to turn advertising into profit, your life is going to be so much easier. Mm. Because you’re then gonna be driving lead flow into business. Right. So that for me is like, definitely, definitely, definitely. If, if work ethic is one that is 100% number two. Okay. Advertising into profit, for me it’s a secret.
[00:08:00] Chris Cook: Broadly speaking, it’s marketing and understanding that.
[00:08:03] Adam Stott: Yeah. So broadly, broadly speaking, without going deep into that, because that could be its own, speak for days on that. Right. But broadly speaking, it is understanding how to use money to drive inquiries that turn into sales. So how do you take a pot of money and how do you invest that money?
[00:08:22] To drive you new inquiries that turn into more money. Mm-Hmm, . So if we take 1000, we build inquiries, you know that we get a thousand pounds, and from that we get a hundred inquiries and those a hundred inquiries turn into 20,000 pounds in sales. And then you can do that every single day. Then you are all the way to the bank, right?
[00:08:42] And that is, is critical. Okay. So number three, this is business one. Uh, number three is sales. Yeah. So we’re talking work ethic, marketing, sales, being able to. Um, and being able to sell the vision of the business, sell the vision to the financiers and to be able to sell, uh, to sell the vision, the commitment, the products, the services, sales is, is definitely without a shadow of a doubt.
[00:09:18] And then, you know, the next one of course would be team. You ain’t going to do it alone. No, forget it. If you think you’re going to do it alone, cause it ain’t going to happen. Um, you said 0. 4, that was the statistic. 0. 4 percent we’ll, we’ll get to eight figures. Yeah. And let me tell you, 0. 0 percent do it, do it on their own.
[00:09:37] Chris Cook: Yeah.
[00:09:38] Adam Stott: You have to have a team, right? So you’ve got to go and, and I don’t even know that he’s the right statistic. I am telling you. I don’t know anyone. At what
[00:09:47] Chris Cook: point do you need to do that recruitment drive? You’re always recruiting,
[00:09:53] Adam Stott: you’re always recruiting, um, as a business, you’re always recruiting. So I’ll come to that.
[00:09:58] But what we’re going to do is we’re going to move through because that would be, say, business number one and two, right? Um, which would be, you know, automotive and then the servicing, the body shops, all the other stuff, right? So then we go to, you know, the business three, which would be, uh, the, the seminar coaching events business, right?
[00:10:16] So what have I learned here? I’ve learned that, and a big shout out to who’s been a great mentor for me, Sarah Willingham, is that this can be done with a life balance. You know, I, when my little boy was three years old, he was diagnosed with autism and I realized that I wanted to Not just build a great business.
[00:10:35] I wanted to be a good, really good dad. You know, I want to be a great dad. So I wanted to do the school runs. I wanted to spend time with him. I wanted to be there for him. And I think that sometimes people don’t think that you can have it all. And I think meeting Sarah and learning from Sarah and her husband, Michael.
[00:10:50] She, they really helped me to understand that actually you don’t need to be obsessed, obsessed. You don’t, you have to have a good work ethic. You don’t need to be relentless. You need to work through people. So this time round, I would say. And it’s slightly different. So I would say one being strategic and having strategic advisors.
[00:11:11] Chris Cook: Okay.
[00:11:11] Adam Stott: All right. So you, I’ve definitely grown up as a business person, right? Is strategic advisors, coaches, mentors, um, looking at the moves we make, not just making moves for the sake of it, uh, reducing the amount of errors. Being more profitable, strategic advice would
[00:11:30] Chris Cook: be
[00:11:31] Adam Stott: number one for me now.
[00:11:33] Chris Cook: So speed, speed of action is important.
[00:11:35] You always talk about that, but actually strategically. Speed of action. Yeah,
[00:11:40] Adam Stott: you, you figure the move out, but then once you figure the move out, you make it fast. Yep.
[00:11:45] Chris Cook: Yeah.
[00:11:45] Adam Stott: Right. And actually, you know, you just said one that I hadn’t said, but speed is super important. Right. Okay. Okay. And, and, and then, so, so I would say strategic advice, come back to the market, Come back to the sales essential and then even more so this time around teams, you know, realizing that you’ve got to build a great team of people that you want a great culture.
[00:12:08] Um, and I think that is so important. So, so important. And, and I think a lot of people miss it. You know, you’re not going to do this on your own. Uh, there is no, I hate, I think that my perception of it, I think actually, uh, A less mature person in business, um, a less mature person thinks it is all about them and they are the genius with 1000 hands.
[00:12:36] So what they do is they recruit the people underneath them to do everything. And you know, like they, it’s their vision and everybody else has to do everything that they say, and that is like a less mature. Version. And I think that probably was the version of me originally. Okay. I think the new version, the 2.
[00:12:51] 0 version is actually that you get amazing people and the amazing people are better than you at the different segments. And I mean it this time, because I could probably say that to you 10 years ago. I actually mean it now. Yeah. Like I want top, top, top quality people, the best of the best to be able to bring the ideas to the table, to be able to take the actions, to be able to do the things.
[00:13:20] There is no one perfect business person. There’s no one perfect person. There’s no one amazing person. Like, let me tell you, there’s things I’m good at. I’m great, great at sales, great training salespeople. I’m great at speaking. I’m great at training speakers. I’m great at marketing. I’m happy to tell you what I’m great at, right?
[00:13:35] Yeah. But let me tell you what I’m not great at. I, um, and I’m less organized than you might think, you know, I am very organized, but I’m, I’m definitely less organized than that. It’s definitely like a bit of ADHD there. I jumped from thing to thing to thing and bounce around, you know, um, certainly not perfect.
[00:13:56] I’m not the perfect manager. I never have been the perfect manager. I’m not the most operational manager. And it’s important because, um, you You know, these different things, the things that I’m not great at, you got to have people that are great because they’re essential. And then when you get those things covered, it makes for a great business.
[00:14:14] It’s really interesting. Was listening to someone talk about Steve Jobs. Now, Steve Jobs was the visionary was the, the person that, you know, visionary grew Apple. And when he grew Apple for the first time, a, he nearly took Apple into bankruptcy and it failed. Yeah. And the next time he came back to Apple, a lot of people thought.
[00:14:33] Steve Jobs has grown up. He’s now become the perfect business person, and then he turned Apple into a trillion pound company, but actually, I was reading recently that actually what happened was Steve Jobs came back with his vision, but the second time around, he had Tim Cook and Tim Cook operationally was the man who That could make the trains run on time.
[00:14:56] Yep. Okay. And now we’ve got visionary with the man that can run the trains on time with Steve Wozniak as well, who can do the, the, the, you know, the genius creative and make those bits and now you had the perfect team and that’s what made Apple great, you know, and, and I think that’s really my understanding of that this time around, it’s about finding great people, working with great people, working Big shout out to Sarah.
[00:15:22] She’s helped me to, to realize that as well is that we got to keep finding great people working with great people. So there’s a fairly long answer and a multifaceted
[00:15:33] Chris Cook: answer. There’s definitely a few things there. Obviously it starts with the, the strong work ethic. Yeah. Um, uh, marketing is a really. And understanding marketing is a really big thing.
[00:15:44] And I’ll go
[00:15:44] Adam Stott: one last thing. Cause I think this is a flaw. It’s not a flaw. It’s a horrible thing to say about anything, but it is a flaw that I often see in business people. Um, a couple of flaws that I think is actually look at some other traits that I think I definitely don’t have that can hold people back.
[00:16:05] Um, I’m not afraid, you know, and if I do get, I do get afraid cause everyone gets afraid. But when I’m afraid. I learn, right. So I think the resourcefulness and being willing to learn and being willing to be fearful and doing it anyway is very, very important. A hundred percent. And then the ego, I definitely think I had the ego in the first, I definitely don’t have the ego as much now, you know, I don’t care what people think.
[00:16:39] Not that you said as much. No, everyone’s got a bit of an ego. Like it’s not a joke that everybody has a bit of an ego, but they’re not anywhere near as much as I had. But if there’s people. People watching that want to succeed and they want to do that. Yes, they’ve got to have the work ethic. They’ve got to overcome fear.
[00:16:55] Uh, they’ve got to be relentless. They’ve got to become a marketer. Uh, they’ve got to be able to learn and embrace selling. And I think that even as I’ve talked through, I’ve now come to probably the most important one. Um, and the most important one for me is they have got to have. And if there is any obsession that I do have, they’ve got to have an obsession about developing themselves and I definitely have that.
[00:17:19] Yeah, I definitely have that. I’m obsessed. I will learn from anyone. I’ll put my ego aside. I don’t care. And I will say I am the student. Um, in this scenario, you are the master. I want to learn from you. And I will do that again and again and again and again and again and again and I will not let my ego get in the way I see it as a floor in people 100%.
[00:17:40] I see talent. Do you know what it is? I’ll tell you where it’s the floor is that I see it more. We obviously run the events. We have hundreds of people come to the events and and great people and the women that come to the events are very open. They’re very coachable. They’re very don’t have huge egos.
[00:18:03] Okay. And if they want to learn and they’re saying, I’m willing to learn, but I see a lot of young guys, um, that actually have strong ego where they want to figure it out themselves. I want to do this. They want to be the man. They want to make this happen. And let me tell you, this is for the young guys.
[00:18:21] Cause I’ve been still a young guy, but I had been really young guy, you know, 20, 30 building businesses that didn’t want to listen to anyone. It ain’t going to get you nowhere. Open up, be coachable, and I promise you that will be, um, a great thing for you to, to develop because I think a lot of people go, well, I like personal development and I listen to podcasts and I do this and I do that.
[00:18:44] But yeah, are you investing in mentors? Are you sitting down and zipping it and listening and taking notes? Because I don’t think that many people do. And that is one thing that I do is, is I’m a mentor. I’m shut up, listen, I write notes. I consider the questions I’m going to ask and I listen. And I’m open.
[00:19:04] I find the right people and I listen to them. And I think if, if people do that, I think you’ll go a hell of a lot further because this is what we call the transference of knowledge. If we’ve got somebody here that’s really, really successful and we can listen to them and that person can transfer their knowledge to you, then guess what?
[00:19:21] You can be where they are. And, and that for me has been one of the great secrets and one of the great things for me to be able to do. And I think people think they’re getting it. I think they’re getting it often on the, on the podcast and stuff like that. And look, the podcast of great value. Um, you know, you’re here, you’re listening, you’re getting lots of tips.
[00:19:38] There’s information. There’s, there’s different perspectives. You’re building knowledge. You’re building acumen by listening to this, but nothing beats sitting down with a mentor and being told we call it the loop. The elusive obvious is the obvious thing that you cannot see. And when you’re in the picture, you can’t see what’s going on in the picture, right?
[00:20:01] It’s the elusive obvious and being able to say, it’s like, Hey, yeah, listen to what you said, but you still haven’t built that thing. Okay. Yeah. Or I haven’t. And actually being, being able to be mentored in that way to put your ego aside, I think is incredibly important. That’s definitely something I’ll do.
[00:20:20] And, uh, yeah, hopefully that’s been. So that’s,
[00:20:22] Chris Cook: yeah, it’s a great last point there. Basically be prepared to be a student and listen. Yeah. Okay. And I hope that, I hope that helps a few people. Lots to unpack there.
[00:20:32] Adam Stott: It might not be what you’ll want to hear, but that’s what I’ve got to, got, got to say, you know, cause it’s not necessarily the sexiest thing, but let me tell you, it’s the truest thing and hopefully you found some value from that.
[00:20:43] So great, great answer. Yep. Thank you. Yeah. Brilliant. So hopefully you enjoyed today’s episode of business growth secrets, some great tips on how you can become a And I figure business owner, you can make more money. You can build your businesses. You can get better results. If you’ve enjoyed this, tell us in the comments, be great to hear from you.
[00:21:01] You know, perhaps there’s some things you want to add to that, right? You know, there’s some things you questions you want to ask. I’ll be more than willing to help you and really guide you on growing your business. So tell us in the comments and I look forward to seeing you on another episode of business growth secrets very soon.