It's the Year of Twos: How to Double Your Revenue in 2022 With the right mindset and strategy, it's well within reach.

By Nick Gilmour

Opinions expressed by Entrepreneur contributors are their own.

It's been a wild couple of years, and no doubt your business has been affected in some way or another from the recent lockdowns and crippling economic downturn. As business owners, we've had to adapt (we've heard that word so much lately) to everything being thrown at us. But we've persevered.

As we enter another year, we should no longer have to persevere. Instead, we need to focus on prospering. If you saw a dip in revenue, remained the same or even saw some growth in 2021, you can double your revenue in 2022. All it takes is the motivation to do everything you have to do to get there — and following the advice of those who have the knowledge to get you there fast.

Related: Double Your Revenue Using This Simple, Time-Tested Technique

Doubling your revenue isn't solely based on setting metrics

The obvious fact is that doubling your revenue means you need to double your sales, decrease costs and find more clients. Each of these, of course, can be easily measured with the right KPIs (key performance indicators) set in place. Actually reaching these metrics takes a lot more than writing them down.

For small businesses especially, it's actually up to you to put the time and effort into growing your revenue. If your revenue for 2021 was $40,000, and your business goals remain the same, so will your revenue. You might even see a decrease in revenue because the marketing you did last year may not work in 2022. Clients you had in 2021 may not return again this year.

Above all else, a commitment to yourself to put in the work is necessary for success. Write it down if you need to. Share it with friends, turn it into a poster and stick it above your desk. Make this the most important goal for the next year, and you won't be disappointed.

Double your revenue by doubling your efforts

People sometimes think there's this next great idea or some huge epiphany that will come to them, and suddenly they'll see this windfall of money. Unfortunately, it's the grind behind what you're doing that's going to get you to your goals.

It's got to be a smart kind of grind. It's not going to work if you decide you're just going to put in more hours. Yes, putting in more time and effort to double what you're doing is important, but those hours need to be spent working with a purpose.

Whatever your industry is, you really need to focus on where it's going. Focusing on what your competitors are doing might be your first instinct, and it might be what you're told to do by marketing bloggers. If you only imitate, though, you'll only be as good as your competitors, not better. Look instead towards the industry or market as a whole, glimpse where it is headed and try to steer your business in that direction.

Related: I Doubled My Revenue in 12 Months by Analyzing These 3 Types of Data

If you're ahead of the game, you're always going to attract new clients and be able to offer more to current clients. You're always going to be ahead of the curve, which is super important for any business. If you're not growing, you're dying.

I've never met anybody who has become extraordinarily successful or had a thriving business he or she built from scratch who hasn't suffered along the way. You're going to have to really feel the pain and go through trials and tribulations to get to your goal.

It always takes a long time, and it's truly hard, but you have to sacrifice some or many things by putting the goal of doubling your revenue first. Making that commitment is the only way to put you on track for success.

Understand where you're going — and write it down

Have a written and thorough plan for how you're going to double your revenue in 2022. If you did $100,000 last year and want $200,000 this year, how are you going to reach your targets? Are these goals and milestones possible?

How much will your revenue need to increase and costs decrease to reach these goals in 2022? What are you going to do to get there? It's a lot of hows and whats, but without a clear plan, it will never happen. This is where you can stick to those metrics you created: Write them out step by step.

If you need to increase revenue by $100,000 in 12 months, how much per month is that? (It's about $16, 666.67, in case you were wondering). Write that down. Keep very close track and push it. If you don't meet the goal before the end of the month, it gets moved to the next month, and you have to push harder to get there. Don't let that set you back or accept failure too early. It only means you need to refocus your goals and come up with a set plan that will get you there next month.

Related: Got $3,000? These 3 Stocks Could Double Earnings Over the Next Few Years

We hear a lot of people who say you need to try, and if you fail, that's okay. You can't be afraid to fail, but you also can't say failure is an option to soften the blow if it does happen. Failure cannot be an option because sticking to that ideal is what drives you to succeed. Setting goals but thinking in the back of your mind, "If I don't get there this year, it's still fine," will always demotivate you from pushing as hard as required to double that revenue. When you decide failure isn't in your future, you'll get where you need to go — and much faster.

Wavy Line
Nick Gilmour

Entrepreneur Leadership Network Contributor

CEO of Gilmour Group

Nick Gilmour is a serial entrepreneur with over 10 years of experience with business startups in the retail, real-estate and manufacturing industries. He has an accelerated-growth mentality with a "grassroots" business approach.

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