They asked the same question, but in two different ways. It’s been two weeks since their questions unfolded, but I can’t stop thinking about them.
Writing is the way I process best, so instead of taking to a Google doc, I’m writing this note to share my insights with you.
Question One: A member of my 7-figure mastermind asked how she can scale from $2M to $4M.
Question Two: A member of a mastermind I’m in asked how he can scale from $10M to $20M.
To be clear: There isn’t just one way to scale a business, but I’ve observed definite patterns in business growth, and similar pitfalls entrepreneurs fall into.
One of the most common reasons businesses plateau around $1.5M-$2M is due to the lack of systems and processes.
- You’ve muscled your way to build at all costs.
- You’ve built the offer, you’ve made the sales, you’ve overdelivered.
- You know everything that must be done…but that’s the problem: The process lives in your head.
You’ve become the bottleneck.
Until you can take the process from your brilliant noggin and create a Standard Operating Procedure (SOP), you’ll be stuck doing it all, or—worse—have a heck of time hiring someone because you’ll complain it takes too long to train them.
(Note: if you have a killer SOP, you could cut training time in half!)
Once you have systems and processes in place, you can hire a team to do things you don’t need to do, which then opens time for you to focus on bigger-ticket tasks (new ideas, optimizing systems, executing projects toward your big vision).
Along the way, you’ll be able to hire, train, and build a team that takes your ideas and turns them into a reality.
It’s around the time when your business has scaled to $8M-$10M that you’ll find yourself at another inflection point: How do I scale from $10M to $20M?
When I spoke to a fellow entrepreneur, I explained that he’s built a truly remarkable business (truly), but he manages every department.
ALL. OF. THEM.
He’s the CMO, CRO, CFO, COO…and CEO.
He has a killer team, but he’s lacking a strong leadership suite that isn’t dependent on his ideas, but coming up with ideas on their own to present to him.
These are ideas, projects, optimizations that not only grow revenue, but also could manage costs.
As he scales to $20M, he must have a c-suite that’s better than him in their respective responsibilities. In time, they’ll be creating initiatives and projects for their departments that don’t require his direct oversight of the team and drive growth.
Each step of the way (at $2M, $20M, or $200M), you’ll need to become a new leader.
You’ll need to grow, learn, and stretch into becoming what the business needs from you.
At $2M, you may find yourself still working IN the business (due to lack of systems and processes), and at $10M (if you have a strong leadership team in place), you’ll finally be able to work completely ON the business to scale to your next milestone.
As I work my way through growth, I must remind myself to continually work ON the business, not IN the business…this is the scaling path and if it’s stagnant, I need to do one of two things:
- Build a better system; or
- Hire a powerhouse field specialist to lead an incredible team.
I hope this note serves you well…and, beyond anything else, I hope we realize just how fortunate we are to build.
To Scaling,
j*
P.S. Speaking of building businesses, there’s no one who thinks about the entire process better than Seth Godin who was a guest on my podcast yesterday. If you want to know how to build a world-renowned brand and market it in a way that genuinely serves others… >>go listen right now<<.
