In today’s episode, Tara shares her top 5 signs that your digital business may be ready to scale (and what to do about it)
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Transcript
Hey, everyone, welcome to today's episode of the course
Unknown:building secrets podcast. I am thrilled you're here today, hey,
Unknown:in this episode, I want to talk about scaling your business and
Unknown:the challenges that go along with that. So when I was first
Unknown:trying to scale my agency back in the day, I knew I had to get
Unknown:out of at least one core function of my business could no
Unknown:longer be everywhere at once I was exhausted, I was trying to
Unknown:figure out how to do all the things, I knew that if I sort of
Unknown:stopped pushing and getting things out there, that all the
Unknown:balls were going to drop, right, I would just had that feeling.
Unknown:But there weren't enough hours in the day, I wasn't able to
Unknown:grow and continue growing, because I was trying to handle
Unknown:it. All right, like I was trying to do all of the things. And so
Unknown:at that point, I had two choices, the first choice was to
Unknown:decide, like, alright, well, let's just stay at the size that
Unknown:we are right now. Right, we're doing fine. I have a small team,
Unknown:and we're able to, you know, help a number of clients. And
Unknown:you know, like, that could be totally fine. Or, I needed to
Unknown:choose that I wanted to create a scalable system, a scalable
Unknown:agency that allowed us to continue to grow, we knew we had
Unknown:people who wanted to work with us, we knew that we could grow
Unknown:beyond where we were, at that time. And, and so, you know,
Unknown:that was the direction that I chose to go, I chose growth. And
Unknown:so because of that, I knew I had to start doing things a little
Unknown:bit different. So that wasn't necessarily easy, right? I you
Unknown:know, not because of the increased workload that we were
Unknown:gonna have when we had more customers. But because I had let
Unknown:go. And I don't know about you, if you've ever been in this
Unknown:position, but when you're doing all of the things,
Unknown:and you've built your company from scratch, and you've, you
Unknown:know, essentially had your hand and every little part of the
Unknown:business, it's really hard to let go.
Unknown:And when I had to let go, the, you know, the challenges of kind
Unknown:of not like, not being the one who was doing all the things
Unknown:was, was really hard, right? So I had to step into being a
Unknown:leader, not necessarily the best doer, right, like I couldn't do
Unknown:all of the things that I was doing with clients anymore.
Unknown:I had to let go of the accolades and the recognition that I was
Unknown:getting from clients. And you know, that they would be super
Unknown:happy with what I provided what our team provided. And I just, I
Unknown:had to be able to let that go and find a different way to show
Unknown:up and serve, I needed to find a way for me to grow, right, so I
Unknown:had to show up differently, I had to, you know, assume the
Unknown:leadership role of the business and not the sort of head doer of
Unknown:the business. And, and so that was sort of the first transition
Unknown:that I needed to make as I moved into growth mode.
Unknown:Now, I'll never forget, the very first time that all of the work
Unknown:that I had done to show up differently in the business
Unknown:actually happened. We were sitting, the team was having a
Unknown:meeting, and we were brainstorming around a new
Unknown:client project. And I was I was in the room. And I was, you
Unknown:know, adding some information I was, you know, kind of
Unknown:spitballing and brainstorming with everyone. But my team had
Unknown:it, I had the right people in the right seats. They were they
Unknown:had the plan, they had the strategy, they had all of the
Unknown:parts and pieces that they needed to do an amazing job with
Unknown:this client. And they didn't need me anymore. They didn't
Unknown:need me to lead. They didn't need me to,
Unknown:you know, to give suggestions and give my ideas. In fact, at
Unknown:one point, I remember someone from my team going we've got
Unknown:this Tara, like, you should go do something else. Because we
Unknown:are you know, 100% confident in our ability to help this, this
Unknown:client and I was like, oh, okay, well, you don't need me like,
Unknown:all right, fine, right. And so at first I felt kind of lost and
Unknown:unsure of how to spend my time I was like, Well, if I don't need
Unknown:to be in the room, what do I need to be doing? Right? Like,
Unknown:this was the dream that I had ever since I first started the
Unknown:business. But I was I was not sure of what to do. So I don't
Unknown:know maybe you have felt that way as well when your team's
Unknown:rocking it and you're like oh, okay, well guess what now I get
Unknown:to focus on something different. And and the thing that I started
Unknown:focusing on is they started fixing things right they started
Unknown:like
Unknown:I'm
Unknown:not necessarily redoing things, but I was fixing I was gonna
Unknown:make things better. And I was going to, you know, continue to
Unknown:figure out how we can grow and build scalable systems and do
Unknown:all of the things. And so if you know what I'm talking about, you
Unknown:kind of know, like when you're lost, you tend to like redo
Unknown:things or fix things or make changes that aren't necessary.
Unknown:And, and so I went through that process, and I was just a little
Unknown:my identity had changed, right. And so I was a little unsure for
Unknown:a little bit. But I finally sort of found my footings and
Unknown:realized that it was time for me to step up as a leader in my
Unknown:business.
Unknown:And then that is when it finally became that freeing moment that
Unknown:I could grow and scale the business without having to be
Unknown:the one person who was doing all of the things.
Unknown:And, you know, I think about this story, and I think about
Unknown:how when I'm helping
Unknown:our customers sort of transition from how they're showing up with
Unknown:their, their customers, right, whether it's they're doing one
Unknown:on one services, or they're doing sort of live coaching, or
Unknown:live delivery of their proprietary methodology, there
Unknown:comes a day when you need to create sort of those scalable
Unknown:delivery and fulfillment systems that help to drive your business
Unknown:forward. And, and so that that experience has served me so
Unknown:well, because a lot of the same kind of behaviors of what
Unknown:happened when I had a team that was finally, sort of working.
Unknown:Without me,
Unknown:this is what starts to happen when people automate their,
Unknown:their digital delivery,
Unknown:is that the some of the same behaviors happen, right? Like
Unknown:they're trying to fix things, or they, you know, create something
Unknown:different, or they're feeling disconnected with their clients.
Unknown:So they jump in at weird times, and try and help and try and fix
Unknown:or, because they don't have a clear path of where everyone is
Unknown:and what they're doing.
Unknown:There's, there's just like a lot of
Unknown:sort of ad hoc things that are happening. And it's all just
Unknown:based on that need that feeling of sort of being unmoored, if
Unknown:you will, when you start to automate your various systems,
Unknown:your various delivery process, and all of the things is, you
Unknown:know, you have to trust the process, right, I had to, I had
Unknown:to trust my team, that I had given them the tools I had done
Unknown:the training, and I had, put them in a position so they could
Unknown:win. And it's that same thing, you have to put yourself in a
Unknown:position to trust the systems that you've set up to trust the
Unknown:automation that you've set up to trust the customer journey that
Unknown:you've created. And then you can create new sort of milestone
Unknown:programs or courses or whatever it is that you want to create,
Unknown:that helps your customer along the path, not so much recreating
Unknown:your signature program, or your signature, kind of series of,
Unknown:of, you know, programs that you've created, or whatever it
Unknown:is that you've created in your business. And, and so what tends
Unknown:to happen, if you aren't trusting the process is that you
Unknown:are rebuilding things, you're,
Unknown:you're again, jumping in, you're creating sort of off tracks that
Unknown:don't match the progression that your people are going to go
Unknown:through. All of these are symptoms that I see almost every
Unknown:day when I'm working with various customers who've come to
Unknown:us and they're like something isn't working with our programs.
Unknown:We've created a training education company, something's
Unknown:not working, our customers aren't converting. They're not
Unknown:ascending. People aren't, aren't participating. They're not like,
Unknown:there's just something that's going on. Or they come to me and
Unknown:they're like, so listen, we know that we have our sales and
Unknown:marketing dialed in. But we're afraid that once we put more
Unknown:people into our programs, it's going to break because it's
Unknown:pretty much put together with duct tape and paper cups right
Unknown:now. So we know that we need a better system.
Unknown:So typically, all of these are symptoms of that scaling
Unknown:process. And it's totally normal, right? Like, I had to go
Unknown:through that. You know, I started a business from scratch,
Unknown:it was all me. And then I started to build a team to help
Unknown:me fulfill and then I had to build a team to fulfill without
Unknown:me, right that's the progression of building a business. And you
Unknown:may also be in that that progression of building the
Unknown:business is at some point it grows beyond your cap can
Unknown:Keep ability to be able to do all the things. So again, if
Unknown:you're in that position, like just know that your, you know,
Unknown:what you're doing right now is normal. And once you can get
Unknown:yourself sort of out of the the swirl of that, right you kind of
Unknown:sit in that uncertainty you sit in that, that place of being
Unknown:unmoored, then you can keep growing, and you can keep
Unknown:scaling. And your customers stay, your customers ascend, and
Unknown:they're all in the right place. And, and so what I want to give
Unknown:you are five signs that you may be kind of in this place in your
Unknown:business.
Unknown:So the first one is that you're overwhelmed, right, you feel
Unknown:like you need to be doing all of the things. And if you don't do
Unknown:all the things, or you stop, and take a break, then all the balls
Unknown:are gonna fall and you're not gonna be able to pick things up,
Unknown:right? Like, you're either gonna disappoint your team, you're
Unknown:gonna disappoint yourself, you're gonna disappoint your
Unknown:customers. Like there's something going on, that you're
Unknown:just constantly on the hamster wheel and you don't feel like
Unknown:you can get off. That's usually the indication that you actually
Unknown:need to stop, right? Like, if you feel like, you know what, I
Unknown:know, I need to do this, but I just don't have time. That is a
Unknown:sign that it's time to stop. And, and really dial in some of
Unknown:the systems that you need in order to keep growing, because
Unknown:it may not be today, but eventually, like, the problems
Unknown:aren't going away, right. So eventually, you're going to have
Unknown:to stop. So before it gets too far out of hand,
Unknown:it's good to stop, get the help that you need, and then be able
Unknown:to move forward. Okay, that's sign number one, Sign number two
Unknown:is, you don't have a clear customer journey. So your
Unknown:customers
Unknown:are confused when they join your program, and they start to get
Unknown:results. So so there's not a clear customer journey, and
Unknown:there's not a clear customer ascension path. So when you have
Unknown:customers who come in and they get a result, do you have a
Unknown:clear next step for them? Like, is there a different level that
Unknown:they get to ascend to because they've completed your first,
Unknown:your first program that you have? So often, I have customers
Unknown:who come in, and they're like, Well, you know, we've got, you
Unknown:know, 5000 people on our list, or five dozen people in our free
Unknown:community, but only a handful of people who have, who have
Unknown:bought, and like even less that are taking our other offers, or
Unknown:you revamp your offers and you you, you know, take all of your
Unknown:customers who have been with you like your juicy people who like
Unknown:follow you everywhere, they like to pay you for everything, you
Unknown:you dump them back into the main program, because you're not sure
Unknown:what to do with them. That's a sign that your customer journey
Unknown:in your customer acquisition plan is a little wonky, right?
Unknown:Like there's something happening there. And chances are because
Unknown:you have that first time where you're super overwhelmed, you're
Unknown:you're just like thinking about getting your thing out there and
Unknown:selling it versus, you know, what happens when somebody
Unknown:becomes a customer because the goal isn't to just churn new
Unknown:customers all the time, right? It's so expensive to do that. In
Unknown:fact, it's like five times more expensive than just keeping the
Unknown:ones that you have. And so the second sign is like customers
Unknown:aren't quite sure what to do. And if somebody has been in your
Unknown:world for a really long time, and they've been you know,
Unknown:getting great results. And and they're like your person, and
Unknown:you put them back into a beginner program, that that's a
Unknown:miss, right? You you have the opportunity you're leaving money
Unknown:on the table because you're you have the opportunity to keep
Unknown:ascending them to higher and higher levels within within the
Unknown:journey. Okay, so that's same two, same three. Yes, you've
Unknown:created and recreated your core program more than three times.
Unknown:So if this is you, and you you've created it,
Unknown:and then you're like, this isn't exactly right. And so you re
Unknown:recreate, you re recreate it, you read it, you recreate it
Unknown:and and you're doing it not because customers are asking for
Unknown:it right like not because they're confused, but because
Unknown:you're feeling like you're disconnected, right? You're not
Unknown:involved in what they're learning. So you just feel like
Unknown:you want to keep
Unknown:keep recreating it. This is just as a side note, this is for live
Unknown:teaching and automated teaching. So if you're teaching your
Unknown:cohort live
Unknown:Like your teaching materials, not the coaching and
Unknown:accountability, which teaching materials, if that is happening
Unknown:more than three times. And I would say, once you have your
Unknown:beta, and your actual, like core curriculum locked in, like, you
Unknown:may have to test it a bunch of times just to get the curriculum
Unknown:set. But once you have the curriculum locked in, if you're
Unknown:constantly repeating the teaching elements,
Unknown:as that could be,
Unknown:you know, put in as assets, that is also you're recruiting three,
Unknown:three times right, in automated if you are just constantly
Unknown:redoing it,
Unknown:without a specific reason for it, this is also a good
Unknown:indication that you are kind of in this place, you're just re
Unknown:recruiting it because you feel disconnected with the process
Unknown:and with the customers. And the thing to remember about this is
Unknown:this is about your customers and the journey that they're going
Unknown:on, not about you,
Unknown:you know, working through your material. And so this is also a
Unknown:sign that we see a lot of is just constant reiteration, or
Unknown:iteration in
Unknown:for only the purpose of being involved in it.
Unknown:There's lots and lots of other things you can be doing in your
Unknown:business, other than recreating a solid program that you already
Unknown:have. And so if you're finding yourself doing that, you need to
Unknown:connect with your customers in one way, shape, or form, not
Unknown:through the the education components, but through coaching
Unknown:or accountability or even checking in or maybe it's time
Unknown:to do a live event. So you feel connected to your community.
Unknown:Because that's a need that you have not so much a need that
Unknown:your customers have, as as they're going through, and, and
Unknown:getting to the milestones that you've set out for them. Okay,
Unknown:so the fourth one is your team and systems aren't working for
Unknown:you things are not working like a well oiled machine. So things
Unknown:are breaking, or things are
Unknown:just constantly,
Unknown:just constantly not right, right. So you're making changes
Unknown:in the systems and team like they can't quite like they can't
Unknown:quite keep up, right? Or you're making a change. And there's a
Unknown:sort of a lack of communication. And that's super common, right?
Unknown:So even if it's your automation, you make a change to an offer
Unknown:and your automation isn't, isn't updated, right? And so like just
Unknown:small things like that, that make a huge difference to your
Unknown:customers, because they're looking at it going well, what's
Unknown:happening, right, like, there's just some basic errors that are
Unknown:going on. And, and that's a really strong sign. A lot of
Unknown:times we see this in
Unknown:I don't know, maybe I'll call it sloppy work, right, like so, you
Unknown:know, examples of this are like emails that are going out there
Unknown:don't make sense, or
Unknown:being invited to join an offer, even if you've already bought it
Unknown:right, like so, there's ways that people should be taken off
Unknown:once they buy an offer. So if you're constantly getting weird,
Unknown:you know, your customers are constantly getting kind of weird
Unknown:messages, or over, over being being over communicated in terms
Unknown:of random things, that's a really good sign that you're
Unknown:kind of in the middle of this too. And then sign number five
Unknown:is your customers are staying ascending and signing up
Unknown:naturally for everything that you have.
Unknown:versus
Unknown:you know, versus they're not staying right. So when you have
Unknown:this symptom, or this sign, it's like, people want to stay people
Unknown:want to be in your world, they in fact, they would probably
Unknown:just give you whatever money you asked for. But they're like,
Unknown:there's too much friction for them to do that. And so there's
Unknown:a lot of confusion of like, well, do I buy this one or this
Unknown:one? Or like, what's that? Or like, why am I why do I go to
Unknown:this system for this and this system for that? And like, what
Unknown:am I supposed to be communicating with the community
Unknown:in Facebook or in circle or in school? Like where am I supposed
Unknown:to be? Right? So there's this sort of confusion as to
Unknown:customers being able to just naturally go through the
Unknown:process, because it's dialed in because it's organized. And so
Unknown:if if you're in that place where you're just sort of like
Unknown:purposefully breaking things, this is another place
Unknown:Where that starts to happen is, and this is, again, like a sign
Unknown:that I get from a lot of customers is they have like,
Unknown:three or four different delivery systems that their customers are
Unknown:in. And so maybe one course is in Kajabi, and another one's in
Unknown:WordPress and another one's in school and another one's in
Unknown:click funnels. And so customers are like, Well, where do I log
Unknown:in to get XYZ, or when do I get access to ABC, right, they just
Unknown:like are so confused, they don't know what to do. And so that's
Unknown:when all of this stuff starts to make a difference. And by by
Unknown:focusing on the strategy by focusing on kind of the bigger
Unknown:picture, while you're leading this process, it allows you to
Unknown:help your team stay,
Unknown:sort of stay on the right path, instead of doing random
Unknown:activities that happen when you're overwhelmed, or they're
Unknown:overwhelmed, or there's no leadership, who's driving the
Unknown:bus of the business, right. And so anyway, so
Unknown:sign signs that that that's happening in your organization
Unknown:are what I just described. So if you're feeling any of those,
Unknown:one, I just want you to know that that's a normal part of
Unknown:growth, it's a normal part of you creating something you will
Unknown:have in your your hands and everything in being able to do
Unknown:all of the things.
Unknown:And then moving to a more leveraged and scalable model,
Unknown:where you have to trust team, you have to trust your your
Unknown:systems, and you have to trust your automations to help you
Unknown:leverage your time in a way that allows you to provide that
Unknown:customer with the best experience that they can get
Unknown:in all of the things that you have. And so the people who come
Unknown:to us are usually you know, they usually have one or sometimes
Unknown:all of those particular challenges. And, and that's when
Unknown:it's important to sort of stop and re assess the strategy and
Unknown:the leadership
Unknown:sort of plan for how to move forward. So hopefully this
Unknown:serves you. This is one of those episodes that's near and dear to
Unknown:my heart, just because I just remember so clearly going
Unknown:through this process, one having to make the decision. And to
Unknown:that day that I was standing outside our conference room,
Unknown:looking at my team rocking it without me and I just felt
Unknown:awesome and completely unmoored all at the same time. And I
Unknown:needed to step in and and solve these complex challenges in
Unknown:order to keep growing and scaling. And we did and and the
Unknown:business was so much better for it. It was so much better for it
Unknown:when I stepped out and and was able to start leading the
Unknown:process instead of doing the process.
Unknown:Just as a total side note, I will tell you, one of the
Unknown:biggest challenges that I had around this whole process was I
Unknown:loved to tinker with. With the time we were building custom
Unknown:courses, I loved to tinker in the in the tech I loved to
Unknown:tinker in, you know how to solve problems, right? I'm a
Unknown:Maximizer, I'm a fixer. And so I needed to have some time where I
Unknown:was doing that or I was going out and finding kind of some
Unknown:cool new ideas and techniques that I thought would be helpful
Unknown:for the team and the clients. And so I reserved at first it
Unknown:was one day a week. And then it became one day a month, I
Unknown:reserved time on my calendar for me to just go in and tinker and
Unknown:do the things that I felt like I was missing when I wasn't hands
Unknown:on in the projects. And that really helped me stay connected.
Unknown:And also stay out of fixing things. And I seen air quotes,
Unknown:fixing things for my team. Right? At one point I remember
Unknown:one of my one of my project managers is like tear out you
Unknown:can't fix anything like you cannot come in right now and do
Unknown:any of these things because you're screwing it up. And I was
Unknown:like, Oh my gosh, you're totally right. And so by reserving that
Unknown:time for myself that I could do kind of more of that strategic
Unknown:tinkering. It helped me stay connected and it didn't it
Unknown:fulfill that need so I didn't feel like I had to go and like
Unknown:fix and change things randomly that we're going to kind of hose
Unknown:up the business. So if that's you and that's your biggest
Unknown:challenge with going through this transition
Unknown:I hear you, I see you put some time on your calendar to just be
Unknown:able to go and, and tinker and play. And eventually, you know,
Unknown:I will tell you that I was able to uninstall all of our
Unknown:elearning software off of my computer. And, and that was sort
Unknown:of another day that was freeing, it's like, I don't actually have
Unknown:to know this, this software, I don't actually have to code I
Unknown:don't have to do all of these, you know, technical things that
Unknown:I was doing when I was sort of growing the business by myself.
Unknown:And
Unknown:and once I was ready, I was able to do that and it felt so
Unknown:awesome to be able to lead the process have a really strong
Unknown:foundational understanding of all of the, the mechanics that
Unknown:went into the business, but I didn't have to be the one
Unknown:pressing the buttons. And so again, if that's you, I hear you
Unknown:and I see you. And so, you know, be you know, dedicate your your
Unknown:time to being able to spend, you know, however much time that you
Unknown:want to,
Unknown:in in whatever mode it is that you think that you're going to
Unknown:miss the most and, and just don't just don't apply it
Unknown:randomly to your programs or your products. Alright, there
Unknown:you go. Hopefully this serves you if you want to talk about
Unknown:this, you know, even just to share your stories. My
Unknown:information is in the show notes. I would love to have a
Unknown:conversation with you about where you are in your business,
Unknown:whether or not you've gone through this, or this is
Unknown:something that you need to go through, because we're here to
Unknown:help. So have a great day.