In this episode, Tara breaks down the 4 levels or evolutions for scaling a service-based business. If you started a business or agency by completing projects for other companies and you have found yourself at a growth plateau or crossroads, this episode may give you the tips and tricks to send you into your next level of growth!
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Transcript
Hey, everybody, it's Tara, Bryan, and you are
Tara Bryan:listening to the course building secrets podcast. Whether you're
Tara Bryan:a coach or a CEO, the success of your team and clients is based
Tara Bryan:on your ability to deliver a consistent experience and guide
Tara Bryan:them on the fastest path to results. This podcast will give
Tara Bryan:you practical real life tips that you can use today to build
Tara Bryan:your online experiences that get results and create raving fans.
Tara Bryan:Why? So you can monetize your expertise and serve more people
Tara Bryan:without adding more time or team to your business? If you're
Tara Bryan:looking to uncover your million dollar framework, package it and
Tara Bryan:use it to scale you're in the right place. Let's dive in. Hey,
Tara Bryan:everybody, welcome to today's episode of the course building
Tara Bryan:secrets podcast. Hey, in this episode, this is for my service
Tara Bryan:based entrepreneurs and business owners. And how do you look at
Tara Bryan:growing and scaling your business beyond just working
Tara Bryan:harder, or having a huge infrastructure in terms of team
Tara Bryan:and location and all of the things. And this episode speaks
Tara Bryan:directly into my heart because when I started my agency 16
Tara Bryan:years ago, this is the way that I started. And then the way that
Tara Bryan:I scaled my business so that I could keep growing, I sort of
Tara Bryan:ended up in that place where two things happened. One is I
Tara Bryan:couldn't take on more clients without hiring more people. And
Tara Bryan:when I hired more people that grew my, my expenses in so I
Tara Bryan:never quite got ahead of becoming, you know, more
Tara Bryan:profitable because I had to have more and more expenses as I was
Tara Bryan:growing my agency. And the second thing is, is that we just
Tara Bryan:we were sort of always in that feast or famine, right? So we
Tara Bryan:had to have enough capacity in order to keep the team they had
Tara Bryan:to have the team in order to meet the capacity. So it kind of
Tara Bryan:was always in that chicken in the egg scenario. So I don't
Tara Bryan:know if you find yourself in that place. But what happens in
Tara Bryan:that situation, when other than it being super stressful? Is
Tara Bryan:that you cap out at at a specific revenue number because
Tara Bryan:you can't, you just can't leap over where you are in terms of
Tara Bryan:growth, just by working harder, longer, or putting in more
Tara Bryan:effort, right. So something has to change. So this is a lot of
Tara Bryan:the journey that I went through, but also as we've taken our
Tara Bryan:clients through of how do you package your expertise? How do
Tara Bryan:you package your service based business in order to grow and
Tara Bryan:scale it in a way that you can have that exponential growth in
Tara Bryan:order for you to keep growing, and not kill yourself, by
Tara Bryan:working a ton of hours or building a huge infrastructure
Tara Bryan:in terms of team as you are going? Alright, so I'm going to
Tara Bryan:break this down into various sort of stages or, or levels
Tara Bryan:that you can think about in terms of as you're growing your
Tara Bryan:business. So let our students when you first get started, say
Tara Bryan:you're leaving your corporate job, and you're going out and
Tara Bryan:putting your shingle up or your No, you have, you know, wanted
Tara Bryan:to do something with your expertise. Usually what happens
Tara Bryan:is you start by, you know, just getting clients, right, so
Tara Bryan:you're just doing a bunch of different things, you're helping
Tara Bryan:them you're, you've kind of determined your expertise or
Tara Bryan:your topic from a broad picture perspective. And then anyone who
Tara Bryan:comes in, you're helping them regardless of sort of, do they
Tara Bryan:match that core system that you that you want to create, right?
Tara Bryan:So you're just kind of in this hours for dollars pattern,
Tara Bryan:you're helping people but every single thing that you're doing
Tara Bryan:for every client is just a little bit different, or could
Tara Bryan:be a lot different, right? So when we first started, we do
Tara Bryan:custom learning solutions for large companies. And so when
Tara Bryan:when we started, what would happen is we would have our sort
Tara Bryan:of way that we would work with clients, but all the projects
Tara Bryan:were different, right? different industries, different needs,
Tara Bryan:different problems that we were solving. And so everything was
Tara Bryan:just slightly different. So I had to hire really specialized
Tara Bryan:talent to come in to help actually get to the finish line
Tara Bryan:with the different projects which is great, right like
Tara Bryan:working with a lot of awesome people. But the more specialized
Tara Bryan:your talent, the more expensive they are, the harder it is to
Tara Bryan:make margins, right so everybody was all my clients were coming
Tara Bryan:Again, and we were providing an awesome service and really doing
Tara Bryan:a great job with them. But every single project was different. We
Tara Bryan:couldn't, we couldn't put it into a system or a framework or
Tara Bryan:a formula that was consistently applied all the way through with
Tara Bryan:all of our clients. And so the challenge with that is every,
Tara Bryan:you know, because everything is different, it's really hard to
Tara Bryan:kind of work, work through, you know, the consistency, when
Tara Bryan:you're hiring people, it's really hard for them to follow
Tara Bryan:kind of a, an ad hoc model. It's hard when you're bringing
Tara Bryan:clients in to provide them with a level of security, that
Tara Bryan:they're going to have their project delivered on time and on
Tara Bryan:budget. And, of course, the more variation that you're doing in
Tara Bryan:your business, the harder and more complex it is to run the
Tara Bryan:business. So That's level one, that's usually when people start
Tara Bryan:as they're just trying to kind of figure out either who their
Tara Bryan:ideal client is, what problem they solve, and how can they
Tara Bryan:start to consistently solve that problem in a way that, that they
Tara Bryan:can provide an efficient solution. Okay, so that's number
Tara Bryan:one. So what happens is you get to a level of growth, again,
Tara Bryan:really hard to scale, you kind of end up in that place of like,
Tara Bryan:everything feels like a mess, everything feels really hard.
Tara Bryan:And, and you're not able to get any efficiencies as, as you're
Tara Bryan:going. And so it's just, it's a really tough place to be in at
Tara Bryan:some point you max out. So then you have level two, which is
Tara Bryan:you've chosen a specialization, right? You've taken all of those
Tara Bryan:projects, you're like, Okay, these are, this is the one, or
Tara Bryan:these projects are the ones we love the most. And so you kind
Tara Bryan:of you choose that one and you specialize. When you specialize,
Tara Bryan:what you can do is you can turn that into a step by step
Tara Bryan:formula, or step by step signature framework or
Tara Bryan:methodology that you can consistently deliver each and
Tara Bryan:every time to all of your, your customers. So if you do that,
Tara Bryan:and you're, you know, consistently providing them that
Tara Bryan:level of experience, what starts to happen as you get more
Tara Bryan:efficient, you can document how things go with that step by step
Tara Bryan:system, your team has more predictability, your client has
Tara Bryan:more predictability, you can start to just deliver on that
Tara Bryan:one step by step methodology. And then you can start to think
Tara Bryan:about what comes next. Right. So once you've done that, and you
Tara Bryan:can run all your clients through it, it helps to save time, it
Tara Bryan:helps to gain efficiencies, you're starting to create some
Tara Bryan:standard operating procedures are starting to create some
Tara Bryan:systemized approaches for how things happen. And it becomes
Tara Bryan:something that it can be scalable, because it's more
Tara Bryan:streamlined. And it's it's one way of doing it versus sort of
Tara Bryan:ad hoc, everyone's a little bit different.
Tara Bryan:But it requires some discipline, because it requires you to just
Tara Bryan:choose that one thing and move forward with that one thing and
Tara Bryan:and really start to, you know, just hone that one process as
Tara Bryan:you're going through. So choose the one that sort of your
Tara Bryan:signature methodology that solves the problem that you like
Tara Bryan:to solve the most. And then start saying no to everything
Tara Bryan:else, what that will do is it will attract the right people to
Tara Bryan:you who need that solution, and give you the opportunity to
Tara Bryan:start honing in on just that focused area. So as you're
Tara Bryan:starting to, to grow in this area, what you'll see is you're
Tara Bryan:able to hire easy, easier, you're you're able to attract
Tara Bryan:the right clients who aren't asking for all sorts of crazy,
Tara Bryan:wacky new things, and your profitability will start to go
Tara Bryan:up because you can have a little bit more predictability in how
Tara Bryan:you're delivering and how you're getting other people to help you
Tara Bryan:deliver as well. Alright, so That's level two, is if you are
Tara Bryan:in that place where everything is totally different, and you're
Tara Bryan:solving different problems for every single client that comes
Tara Bryan:in, start to think about which one you like the best start to
Tara Bryan:put together kind of that signature methodology, right. So
Tara Bryan:step by step process from point A to point B, that helps to
Tara Bryan:define how you're helping people each and every time. So for us
Tara Bryan:in the agency, we came up with a five step framework, and in that
Tara Bryan:framework, we took all of them through the same process. So I
Tara Bryan:was able to go out and and talk to prospective clients and say,
Tara Bryan:Listen, I can I know that how long this is going to take, how
Tara Bryan:much budget it's going to take and what the schedule is going
Tara Bryan:to be based on the fact that we have a proprietary framework
Tara Bryan:that you can feel confident that we're going to go with through
Tara Bryan:and get results. Because we have that level of predictability, I
Tara Bryan:was able to get about 90% accuracy with everyone's
Tara Bryan:projects because of that, because we had such a specific
Tara Bryan:methodology that we were going through, it helped. It helped
Tara Bryan:everything. And that was the first big transition point in
Tara Bryan:the agency that allowed us to keep growing. And keep growing
Tara Bryan:in a way that was sustainable. Okay, so then the next level is
Tara Bryan:how do you take that step by step methodology, and start to
Tara Bryan:package it in a way that allows you to deliver it in some some
Tara Bryan:interesting ways, that allows you to save time to save effort,
Tara Bryan:and not repeat yourself, this is sort of the the game we get into
Tara Bryan:I call it 51st dates where every single time we're working with a
Tara Bryan:customer, we're repeating ourselves, we're making up new
Tara Bryan:things. Once we have that step by step signature methodology,
Tara Bryan:now we can start saying, okay, so how do we bring customers on
Tara Bryan:onboard? Consistently? How do we get them set up? How do we put
Tara Bryan:them in the system? How do we help them learn the different
Tara Bryan:components that they need to either, you know, be a part of
Tara Bryan:our done for you service, or start transitioning them in this
Tara Bryan:phase into done with you. So perhaps, they just want the
Tara Bryan:system and some coaching and accountability, but they have a
Tara Bryan:full implementation team who can implement, they have a full team
Tara Bryan:who, or they want to themselves, do the work to implement, right,
Tara Bryan:so you can give them the system, and then they're able to go in
Tara Bryan:and, and actually, you know, complete what needs to be done
Tara Bryan:because they have the step by step path. And so this opens up
Tara Bryan:a whole new revenue source for people who are either, like I
Tara Bryan:said, have a team or they want to do it themselves, but they
Tara Bryan:want to use your methodology. So again, you can start packaging
Tara Bryan:that you can give them your standard operating procedures
Tara Bryan:that you use with your team, any templates or tools, coaching and
Tara Bryan:accountability, this starts to shift the conversation from just
Tara Bryan:done for you, to done with you. And allows you to start
Tara Bryan:packaging your expertise in a completely new way. And like I
Tara Bryan:said, serve a new audience. And then once you have done that,
Tara Bryan:and you've been able to help them you have something that's
Tara Bryan:packaged, you've kind of learned all the pitfalls. We call it
Tara Bryan:controlling the dip, which allows you to create an
Tara Bryan:experience that is highly leveraged using systems and
Tara Bryan:technology, and still provides an awesome experience that
Tara Bryan:allows people to participate and get results and have sort of
Tara Bryan:that coaching, and, and help as they're going. In Level Three,
Tara Bryan:once you've done all of that, then you have a whole new
Tara Bryan:opportunity to package all of that into maybe a do it yourself
Tara Bryan:option. If somebody wants to take your system and apply it on
Tara Bryan:their own without any intervention from you, they have
Tara Bryan:that opportunity either as a full program, or you can pull
Tara Bryan:out pieces of your core program and just give them parts that
Tara Bryan:they can start to implement on their own. So you can sell them
Tara Bryan:on their own or sell them as part of a package. And so when
Tara Bryan:you look at that progression, what it does is it starts to
Tara Bryan:take you from that ad hoc will do anything, anyone who comes
Tara Bryan:in, we're gonna say yes, to a very strategic growth model that
Tara Bryan:helps you continue to grow and adds additional levels of
Tara Bryan:customers that you may not even be able to see yet today,
Tara Bryan:because of the way that you're just doing done for you
Tara Bryan:services. So imagine if you didn't just have the done for
Tara Bryan:you services, but you also had additional ways to serve people,
Tara Bryan:you would have additional customers and members if you
Tara Bryan:have a continuity model, but you also can still have your core
Tara Bryan:done for you services, as well, that are more streamlined based
Tara Bryan:on the problem that you're trying to solve. And it
Tara Bryan:simplifies your entire business model gives you revenue from
Tara Bryan:additional sources and eventually allows you to grow in
Tara Bryan:scale in a way that is sustainable and, and grows
Tara Bryan:beyond you as the business owner. So if you're in that
Tara Bryan:position of trying to scale your services, or you're just in a
Tara Bryan:position of you're just not growing anymore, you've reached
Tara Bryan:that ceiling. I know that the first time I reached that
Tara Bryan:ceiling it was about an 800,000 in annual revenue. And I just
Tara Bryan:couldn't get back past it. And so we had to start looking at
Tara Bryan:these other levels in order to maximize our efforts that we had
Tara Bryan:as a business. So that we could not only grow or continue to
Tara Bryan:grow revenue, but also grow our profitability. Because as you
Tara Bryan:know, if you have, you know, a great top line revenue and
Tara Bryan:terrible profitability, you don't really have a sustainable
Tara Bryan:business, right. And so this allows you to do both. So if
Tara Bryan:this serves you today, I would love to get your feedback on
Tara Bryan:this, because I know that when I was a struggling service
Tara Bryan:provider, this is one of the the answers that I would have loved
Tara Bryan:to have had, I just didn't know the right question to ask,
Tara Bryan:right. And so, so often, it's, it's just put more people on it
Tara Bryan:put more, you know, you can work on your operating system, put
Tara Bryan:more people in it, get a new office, get more clients, all
Tara Bryan:those different answers. But looking at how you're offering
Tara Bryan:your services and how you're productizing your services
Tara Bryan:actually provides you with what you need to unlock those new
Tara Bryan:customers, and unlock the ability to help people and have
Tara Bryan:it completely removed from your time right from recreating the
Tara Bryan:wheel every time from having that 51st state scenario. And so
Tara Bryan:hopefully, this serves you because I know that it made a
Tara Bryan:huge difference in my business as I was kind of at that, that
Tara Bryan:point of growth. And if you are trying to create your program,
Tara Bryan:and you haven't actually gone through these levels, it may be
Tara Bryan:interesting to think about the fact that maybe you need to
Tara Bryan:start by going out and helping you know, maybe five different
Tara Bryan:customers that you can just help serve them so that you can
Tara Bryan:uncover your signature methodology and start to package
Tara Bryan:it, it's really hard to start with the you know, trying to
Tara Bryan:package or put a course together, or a program together
Tara Bryan:without having that sense of how you're getting them from point A
Tara Bryan:to point B, right? How are you solving their problem in the
Tara Bryan:fastest and most efficient way. Because at this point, like if
Tara Bryan:you haven't worked with customers, you're just sort of
Tara Bryan:guessing right, or you're using your own experience, which is
Tara Bryan:great. And so but you it may serve you to just jump in the
Tara Bryan:game and start, you know, taking people through your signature
Tara Bryan:methodology, one on one or in a small group, so that you can,
Tara Bryan:when you are packaging it, when you are automating it, you are
Tara Bryan:able to provide that level of service in a simulated
Tara Bryan:delivery method. So that you are you know, making sure that
Tara Bryan:you're getting those results, making sure you're helping
Tara Bryan:people solve that problem. And, and it helps to really expand
Tara Bryan:your ability to serve. So that's just a side note. If you're kind
Tara Bryan:of starting from level four, you may want to fill in a little bit
Tara Bryan:with level two and three, I wouldn't go back to one, but
Tara Bryan:going back to two and three, from a short time perspective so
Tara Bryan:that you can dial in some of the SOPs, some of the the details in
Tara Bryan:your signature methodology. It will really help you as you are
Tara Bryan:growing and scaling. So there you go. That is your course
Tara Bryan:building tip for today.