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The 5 Pillars Of Sustainable Grow(th) To Seven Figures And Beyond

TRANSCRIPT

TRANSCRIPT AUTOMATICALLY GENERATED Hey, Hey. Well, it is finally 2023. Happy new year. I hope you had an amazing break over the holidays and that you've come back to work, feeling really refreshed and focused. And, a lot of people at this time of year, I have some really big goals for growth in their businesses. And today I'm going to walk you through the five pillars you need to have in place for that growth to be sustainable. At seven figures and beyond, and I'd be willing to bet that most people are missing pillar to pillar five. So let's dive in. Let's think about how people usually. Said about growing their business. So you've taken last year's revenue and you've maybe added a percentage to it. Maybe you've gotten really bullish and you've decided to two X or three X or 10 X. Or whatever X your business. Yes. I see you over there. What normally happens once we have that goal is that we spin around and start looking for opportunities. We're looking for what is the next big thing that's going to help us hit that additional revenue? And there's two problems with this methodology for growing our businesses. Number one, it's not a great way to set goals. And number two. You're focused only on an opportunity and you're missing steps. So how do we do this in a more structured? And they enforced sustainable way. Well, First of all, I want you to think about. When was the last time that you stepped back and really thought about what you want from your business? It's probably time, money, maybe it's stability, maybe it's legacy, maybe it's impact. But when was the last time that you actually centered that again in your business? And then I want you to ask yourself if you're actually enjoying your business . Not now on. January fish when everything feels new and shiny and bright, but how did it feel on December 7th last year? How much fun were you having? How excited were you to get to work every day? Have you been so caught up and striving for a dollar goal. That you didn't notice. That somehow 90% of your time was spent doing things you just don't really enjoy in the business. Or were you so caught up in making that mandatory goal? That stress and anxiety and burnout has become the new normal. So the first pillar, I want you to think about. Is. What do you want your work life to look like? Not work-life balance your work life. What do you want to feel? About your business. What do you need from your business? What do you want from your business? You are the linchpin of your business and everything else rotates around you. So it's really important that this becomes the center of the model. Okay. Once you're clear again, once you've taken that step back. And you've worked out what it is you want from your work life. We're now ready to step into goals and we're able to set goals from a place that is different from last year, plus 10%. Two X last year. But to really set goals from your vision for your business. I want you to start to think about goals as a mile marker on the road to your vision. So in a year, In 90 days, what is going to feel like you have made really good progress towards your vision? And those become your goals. They become progress markers for you versus the thing that you're chasing. And if you listened to last week's episode, you know that this is vital to motivating everybody else around you on this journey towards your vision. Nobody K's that you want a two X your revenue, but they can be inspired by your vision to help you get there. So we have taken your work life. What you need from your business, what you want from your business. And we've used it to cost a vision and then use it to set goals that a mom markers on that journey. So now we have the goals. Now we can do the opportunities right now. We can get excited about all the new shiny things, right. Unfortunately, not. And this is the step that nearly everyone misses. Before you go looking for the new, new, or chasing the next squirrel. You need to refine what you already have in the business. And there's a couple of reasons for this. Number one. Chasing the next thing. The newest thing. Is hard work. Think about how hard it is to get a new customer from cold, you have to attract their attention. You have to draw them in. You have to nurture them. You have to put just the right offer in front of them. Adjust the right time. You have to build all that know like, and trust you have to have all those touch points ready to go. That is a lot of work. Versus thinking about what you can do with the customer base that you already have, whether that's current customers or past customers. Think as well about the effort it takes to launch a new offer. Right. I think about all the development, the systems work, the testing, the beta run of it. Think about how long it takes, I think to really get up and running and make all that money. Versus how you could refine what you already have to bring in some of that money. Chances are you are already leaving money on the table. Your current funnels offer Swede customer journey is. leaking money in certain places. That if you tightened it up, would already set you on the path to that goal. So that's that first reason. Number one, refining. What you already have. Way easier than trying something new. The second reason, and this is crucial. when your business grows. Things will break. So if all you do is chase the new and the, the initial growth from the new thing. Eventually. Everything behind that is going to crack and break and fall apart. And it's going to cost you in time and money and energy and mental capacity. To fix it. So refining what you already have both front facing client related, but also in the back end allows you to stabilize the growth that you've already achieved. We need to stop thinking of growth as this like straight diagonal line on a graph. Growth is much more about growing stabilizing, growing again, stabilizing. That's how it becomes a sustainable trend. Over time and doesn't become a, a diagonal up and then a diagonal down when everything breaks. so we've put your work life at the center. We've set goals based on it. We've looked at what we can already refine to support the growth that we've already created in our business, and to bring in additional revenue towards that goal based on what we already have. So now you're stable, or at least you've got the team plugging those gaps, refining what you already have which has then freed up your focus to now look for those new opportunities. But it is not as simple as looking for new opportunities. Finding the right opportunity is crucial. It's not about the shiny object. It's not about the first squirrel that you see. You need to have a clear process. Where you can take all of the ideas and all of the shiny objects and ring fence, all of the squirrels together. And evaluate them to find the one that is the best for your business and the path that it's on. I want you to think about big business for a second. Think about like all the departments that are discussing a new idea. if you're sitting there as a CEO, you've got people warning you about the trade offs and the potential risks. Of going with specific ideas. for example, maybe your new idea is this brand new, big marketing. Idea to bring in new clients. If you only look at that from the marketing perspective. You can start to see dollar signs. You can see those new people coming in and you know what your conversion is. So you start to see the money off the back end. Right? The problem with that is, is going to encourage you to bring in leads and not focus on the quality. And what happens when you don't bring in quality leads, your conversion tanks. So the dollar signs that you were seeing I know where reflective of the reality of the situation. If you weren't a big business, your marketing department will be shouting about their great new idea, but your sales department will be going, hang on a second. Like, how are we qualifying these leads? When you're thinking about a new idea, you need to be thinking about it from every angle of your business, front facing, back facing. All the departments. You might be better off focusing on something that's less shiny because it's more profitable in the long run. It's going to give you that growth, even if it isn't as sexy. we're doing well so far, we have figured out how to grow right. We're going to set goals. We're going to. Refine what we've already got, Then we're going to see good opportunities to expand, and we're going to send to all of that around you and your work life. And that's great. If all you want to do is grow. But to get sustainable growth over time, you're going to need a team and more importantly, you're going to need to build a healthy team. So what does that mean? Okay. So a lot of the times when we go out to hire, we're thinking about. Finding people who can support you going towards your vision. It is about finding people who can help you. In the business who can take things off of your plate so that you can think about expansion. But it doesn't stop there. And this can be really tough because you are probably spending a lot of money on your team. You want to pay them? Well, you trying to be a good boss and maybe it feels like you're not getting that back, but here's the deal. In Hertzberg motivation theory. He talks about hygiene factors and motivation factors. And a hygiene factor is something that needs to be there that's necessary. But not actually motivating. So if you think about the salary as a hygiene factor, if it's not there, if you underpay someone, they're going to be unhappy. But just paying them. Isn't enough to motivate them. It's a baseline level that you're setting. And you might be thinking, well, I let them have flexibility and this and that. And I want you to really think about those other things that people get from working with you as a small business that they wouldn't get from working for a big business. Where potentially their salary could be higher. A lot of those things like the hybrid working or the flexibility is becoming the norm even in big businesses. So that's starting to become a bit of a hygiene factor as well. So what this means is that for you to have a healthy team, It's not just about paying the salary. It's about you investing in them, in their development, in their mental health and helping them create a work-life that feels good. And the good news is that when you do this, it has major, major, bottom line impact. So major impact on your growth. Studies have shown like actual research, not anecdotal have shown the teams where people are happy and healthy at work. Three X the revenue over teams where that isn't the case. They're 20% more productive, 21% more profit and 38% less likely to leave. Right? If you thought getting a new customer was hard, work and expensive in terms of time and money. Thinking about how hard it is to replace somebody on your team. Your team health is really a multiplier for your growth. It takes all the other parts and expands them. Think of it as like an exponent. Remember in math, when you had like two to the power of three and it meant two times, two times two. It's the same way, your team health multiplies, the other full parts of growth that we've talked about. But you have to be careful because the same way. If you have a negative exponent in maths, it becomes a fraction, if your team is unhealthy. It impacts everything else. It will contract your business. Instead of helping it to grow. It will work against you. So I do get that your team is probably one of your biggest expenses. And that you probably had sleepless nights wondering how you're going to make sure that they can keep their jobs and that everything is floating in the business. And you really feel like you're a good leader and you're giving 150% and maybe not feeling that in return. And so. Me telling you that the secret to turning that around is for you to invest even more, feels like a giant. Nope. I get it. Even with the stats, it probably still feels like a. Like a, a pretty hard, no, for you. So I want to reframe this a little bit. Because we see those salaries or, you know, payments out your contractors on a monthly basis. It feels like. An expense. And we can forget that actually our team is an asset. And if we think about other assets in our lives, You don't buy a house and pay the mantle utilities. And then step back. You know that it needs some TLC to stay in tip top condition. it needs renovation. It needs cleaning. It needs repairs. It needs extra investments. In order to provide a safe, comfortable. Living place for you and your family. The same way. When you go and buy a car, you don't put gas in it every month. And then wonder why you're sitting on the side of the road with the engine having seized up because you've never bothered to take care of it. No, , you put oil in it. You put like washer fluid in the windscreen wiper spray thing. Very technical terms over here, you can tell I'm a car person. Now I get that people are not the same as objects, right? I'm not suggesting that your team is a material asset. What I want you to see is that yes. All of these other things require monkey payments as well. And in addition to all of that, you're putting in extra time and money and energy to ensure you get top performance from that asset. And your team is no different. Yes, you're paying them a salary. And that guarantees you, that they will do the work you give them. But if you want high performance, that team has to be happy and healthy. So you need to measure planful and invest in your team health. So that, that time and money and impact and stability and legacy that you were thinking about at the beginning. Comes that much easier and that much smoother and is sustainable. So if growth is on your agenda for 2023, let me remind you of the five pillars. They are goals. Refining what you've got. Opportunities the right ones. Your work life. And team health. And you will notice that they'd very conveniently spells growth, so it should be easy for you to remember. As you go into 2023. This is the framework that I use with clients when I'm looking at their business, this is how I work through everything. So growth is a focus for you in 2023, there were a couple of really easy ways that I can support you. if you've been listening to this episode and you're like, oh my gosh, I would just need to figure this out. From day one and let's get moving. You can go to Diane mayer.com forward slash growth. And you can book a I think it's 25 minute consult call with me where we will really work out where you need to focus first. Or if you're more into the DIY, you went ahead to Diane mad.com forward slash 2023 is a 2 0 2 3. And sign up to receive the growth series. And what that's going to look like as a couple of emails every week pointing you in the direction of steps that you can take in this growth framework. That's going to start next week on the 9th of January. I suggest you head there right now, before you forget ima.com for sash. Dash 2 0 2, 3, because you don't want to miss any of the elements of this framework.


When growth is on the agenda, most entrepreneurs miss at least 2 of the pillars. Check out numbers 2 and 5). 

Key Takeaway

Most entrepreneurs' mouths say GROW but their actions are all about the GO. 

In This Episode

  • How most entrepreneurs try to grow their business
  • The 4 pillars to grow your business 
  • The final pillar that multiplies the others

Note:

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Disclaimer:

The information contained above is provided for information purposes only. The contents of this podcast episode and article are not intended to amount to advice and you should not rely on any of the contents of this article or episode. Professional advice should be obtained before taking or refraining from taking any action as a result of the contents of this article. Diane Mayor disclaims all liability and responsibility arising from any reliance placed on any of the contents of this article.