How To Achieve Explosive Growth

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.

As my late friend Sidney Friedman used to say; "When you're green, ya grow. When you're ripe, ya rot!" Innovation and growth is imperative for maintaining growth as a firm. Always be improving your wealth planning, management and services for your clients. Through a process of rigorous systemization, constant improvement and quality control, you can move your firm to the next level. Dream big and take some risks — or you might look back at your life years from now with some regret.

The largest growth spurt Carson Wealth ever experienced was when the company made its models available to other advisors, creating Carson Institutional Advisory. Now, it markets unique investment strategies through other advisors around the country. The company created its own iPhone app for clients and advisors. The company created investment meetings every morning and wrote "Trade Notes" that updated clients on the latest move and the rationale behind each move. The new investment platform builds trust, transparency and accountability.

This caused a 68 percent growth rate for Carson Wealth Management in two years. The business went from $8.98 million to $15.08 million from 2010 to 2012. For additional information, read Ron's book, "Tested in the Trenches," or look into his coaching program at www.joinpeak.com.

For more from Brent Welch, see: How to take your business to the next level S-curve explosions 5 ways to charge fees