A new teaching I’ve developed for my upcoming event is called The Amplification Cycle. I will use it as the jumping off point for my next couple of articles, as understanding it can really change everything for an entrepreneur. I talk a lot about the idea that having an awareness of where you actually are in your business is critical to staying calm and relaxed, and knowing your next move. When you can ‘be with’ whatever unfolds and make the best next decision for you, where you are, you will ultimately be a huge success. Because higher forces have always got your back and are steering you in the right direction. But, when we don’t have a sense of where we are and we want to skip steps in The Amplification Cycle, it can lead to all sorts of breakdowns!
There are 5 stages to the cycle. Believe, Build, Expand, Retreat, and Sustain.
I originally thought about these as stages of business, but I realized that they actually happen all of the time. If you want to amplify a new marketing message, you’ll experience this cycle. If you want to amplify your impact by serving more clients in a leveraged way, you’ll experience this cycle. In fact, if you’re not in it, you are probably not growing.
For today I’ll outline the stages of the cycle.
1. BELIEVE
This is the starting point of any amplification, and it is the one people most often skip. This isn’t just about believing in what you are doing, but doing a check to ensure that what you are working on is in full alignment with what you truly believe. No skipping over what matters to you.
2. BUILD
This is where you lay the foundation for your business, or your new message, or your new brand platform. You look at the systems or structures that you must put into place in order to lay a solid foundation for what you want to amplify. This may look at mapping out how you will package and price your services. Or, if it is a new marketing campaign idea, you are thinking about where the campaign is leading people. Do you want them to purchase a session with you or attend your new workshop?
3. EXPAND
In the expand stage, you are taking what you learned in the build stage. Ideally you have gotten data, or evidence (even if it is just a handful of clients) that tell you that expanding is a good idea. Perhaps you will move from using one channel to market your new structure, to putting the word out in several channels all at once.
4. RETREAT
This is the other stage that people often skip. This leads to many an unhappy entrepreneur. When you play full out to expand something that matters to you, it’s important to build in a planned period of retreat, whether a day or a week, or even a bubble bath. You’ve got to step back and evaluate the pieces you love and the pieces that are out of alignment for you. This will allow you to actively choose the pieces you’d like to sustain.
5. SUSTAIN
In stage 5 you move your ideas into sustainable systems. This could be as simple as moving your newsletter over to be executed by a virtual assistant, or me creating a monthly budget to run Facebook ads that bring people to your webinar, your new program, and ultimately a higher level of investment with you within the next 12 weeks. There are countless ways you can put specific pieces of your business into a sustainable approach to building that which you truly love.
Now, if you look at the drawing, you’ll note that from SUSTAIN, the arrow leads back to BUILD. Because here’s the deal. If you’re a true entrepreneur at heart, once you create something sustainable, you’ll be ready for the next thing! And that is where you’ll move back into evaluating. Now that you’ve created this cool sustainable offering, what do you NOW believe that you can AMPLIFY next?
You’ll notice the yellow ovals as well. These say “Interruption” and they are the places that people most often get off track and start a backward spiral. I’ll touch more on these next week!
And if you want to learn more about the build and expand stages of the cycle, join me next Tuesday for my new livestream AMPLIFY.
Click here to register
