Episode 103: Next Right Step

I can't tell you how many times I've spoken to overwhelmed and overworked entrepreneurs who have said these words, I just want to know the next right step.

Now, they've already googled and found a bajillion strategies, promising the results they want. They've already invested in multiple coaches multiple courses, they've listened to all the podcasts and audio books, and they haven't just consumed, they've taken action. They've gone all in on this method or that strategy. But they aren't seeing the results that they want. And they're even more confused and overwhelmed than before. On top of that, their time is becoming more and more limited. They're fed up trying to do it all. And they know they need to focus on doing less. They're just confused about what one next right step they should take. What's the one next right step for them? Is this where you are now as well, if so, here's what you need to know. The next step to scale your business often seems like the most difficult one to figure out. There are so many strategies out there for scaling business, there are methods on methods, perspectives on perspectives. And since your business is unlike any other business out there, it's hard to know which one will work for you. It's hard to know which one will scale, your revenue, suit your desired work schedule, and keep your business fulfilling and joyful at the same time. Now, after more than 15 years of scaling businesses, I can tell you, there's no one strategy that can help you do that. My recommendation for your next rate step is going to be different than what I might recommend for another client. But there are a few foundational pieces that apply to every business, no matter how unique. And one of a kind your business may be. If you understand these three foundational lessons that I'm about to share, you can figure out your next right step to scale your business. First, you need to know that there is a difference between growing and scaling. I've talked about this before. But I needed to remind you right now, because you have to know that what got you here won't get you there. I actually have an entire episode dedicated to this topic. It's episode number 57. If you're curious, the strategies used to grow a business are different than the strategies used to scale a business. And you need to know the difference between growing and scaling. And the difference between the strategies used to grow and scale. Because investing any more time and money into growing isn't going to help if you want to not just make more money, but to do so while working less, in other words, second help you to invest more into growing if what you want to do is scale. And want you to think about what you want to accomplish in your business. And imagine that it's on a private island across the ocean. You've seen the brochure that shows you all the pictures of what it looks like. You can imagine sitting on that beach, and you can't wait to get there. Meanwhile, you're working to build a bike and you keep working on improving your bike. You change out the tires, you add different bells and whistles to it. You're upgrading the seat to make it more comfortable. But why would you keep working to build a bike when you know you want to go to an island? When you know that you need to get across the ocean, you need a different vehicle. You need a boat right to get to the island you need a boat or maybe you need a helicopter, you're going to need a different strategy. So don't keep building a bike to get to the island. Don't keep using strategies to grow your business. When what you really want is to scale your business. 

Again, you got to know the difference between growing and scaling and the difference in the strategies used to grow and scale. Number two, there is no one way. But there are necessary ingredients. I don't believe there's a cookie cutter approach to scaling a business. I don't teach just one way to scale. Because I've been scaling businesses for more than 15 years. And I know that there isn't just one way that will work. I've done in any way that you can possibly imagine. But after all of those years of scaling, what I have found is that there are three necessary ingredients. You might even refer to them as prerequisites in order to scale sustainably. So here's what I want you to think about for this. Let's imagine you want a pizza, you need to have a crust, some sauce, and some toppings, right? Now that crust can be deep dish, or stuffed or cauliflower, or gluten free. Doesn't matter what kind of crust you just need a crust, the sauce could be tomato based, or maybe an Alfredo or pesto, even a barbecue sauce. And then the toppings can be as simple as and cheese or the works. You can put all kinds of things on top of a pizza. No matter what the combination, if you have those three types of ingredients, crust sauce, toppings, people call it a pizza, it's a pizza, right? Same thing with scaling, there's certain ingredients that are necessary, in order to get the result you want. Just like in order to get a pizza. So your pizza can look completely different from someone else's, we can scale your business in a different way, based on what you want, based on your preferences, how you want to spend your time, what you feel like you want to do in this world.

Third, there is an order to approach scaling. If you want it to be simple, and most people are doing it backwards. They're making it harder on themselves in the process. And this is the analogy that I have for you around this, imagine that you want to build a house, but you are doing it backwards. First, you get all the furniture that you want, and you lay it out where you'd like it to be. And then you try to build the walls and install the flooring around all the furniture. And we then to go back and try to install the electrical wiring, the plumbing, all of that after the walls are built. That sounds crazy. But that's what we're doing in businesses. I see it all the time, business owners put certain things in place and then have to backtrack and build around it to try to turn their business into a business that can scale. When instead, if we go in the right order, everything will be set up to scale from the beginning. So keep those analogies in mind. And remember that everyone has a different next right step for them. Each of you are in different stages, you have different goals and preferences. But there is a next rate set for you.