Episode 214: 5 Signs You’re Ready To Scale – with April Beach

You’re listening to the Sweetlife entrepreneur podcast, simplified strategies to grow your service business and launch a life you love faster with business mental and entrepreneur activator, a probate. Hey guys, thanks for jumping into another episode here on this wheat life entrepreneur podcast with me, I am E-Pro beach, the host of your show and business development strategist for entrepreneurs who are ready to design launch,

and scale their business online. Super glad that you have tuned in with me today. This is episode number 214 here on the show, which means that to look up any of the resources I say you can just click over to Sweetlife co.com and search for podcast. Number two 14 today, we’re talking about five signs, you’re ready to scale. So let’s kind of dive into what you can expect out of hanging out here with me for about the next 15 to 20 minutes on today’s show and what you’re going to know at the end of this.

So here’s a little background story as to why we’re talking about this today. So we offer business triaged calls to entrepreneurs. And in the process of this, we ask a few questions before somebody books a call with us. This is my company, this sweet life company. We ask these two questions we ask, what phase of business are you in either launch scale or impact.

And then we ask how much money are you currently bringing in consistently per month? And frankly, more often than not people say they’re in the scale phase almost frequently, somebody will say, yes, I’m in the scale phase, but their revenue is like less than $4,000 a month. And so I thought it would be good to dedicate an episode completely geared towards scale readiness.

And so here it is, who is this episode for this episode is for those of you guys who are in phases two or three of my start to scale up system. So we asked that question in the triage call, but honestly, if you’re not sure where you are in the business launch or growth or scale cycle, if you’re not sure what phase of business you’re in,

I have a self-assessment that you can take this self-assessment will tell you exactly what phase of business you’re in, what you need to do. You’re going to get like a very clear checklist of what you need to do to get to the next phase in that system. And some things to be mindful for as you’re going from phase to phase, you can take that self-assessment simply by,

by visiting Sweetlife co.com forward slash quiz. So it’s really pertinent to what we’re talking about here on today’s show. So this episode is for those of you guys who are in primarily phase two, the launch business phase, but you really want to get to scale, which is phases three and four. There’s different types of scaling we do as we progress through and continue to grow your business.

So there’s a tool for you to find out exactly where you are. This episode is great for those of you who want to scale, but you’re not exactly sure what key markers dictate your readiness. And the summary of what we’re talking about is this scaling your business is absolutely key to your growth, but you may not be sure when scaling is right for you and if your company is ready.

So in this episode, we’re chatting about five different indicators and five different things that you should do and have in line before you think about scaling your business. And then also I’m going to share with you one way, when I say, Hey, throw all those out the window, it’s a cool to break the rules and go ahead and scale your business in this one particular area,

faster, the end of this episode, you’re going to know these five things you should do before you scale. You’re going to know when to break the rules and you are going to have an understanding of some of the most common types of offers that companies are using currently at the recording of this episode to scale their business. So if you’re ready, let’s go ahead and dive on it again.

This is episode number 214, and you can find all the show notes by going to Sweetlife co.com clicking on podcast. And we’re at two 14.<inaudible> Let’s go ahead and first talk about what does it really mean to scale your business? And what’s the difference between growing your business and scaling your business? There are quite a few conversations we have around this frequently.

I do, particularly as a business development in a business scale coach, but the best clear definition I found came from lighter capital.com. And so I’m going to read you part of their description. So what is growth in your business versus what is scaling your business? So growing, according to this resource, which is, I’ll share it in the show notes with you is when companies grow,

you’re increasing your revenue revenue equally as you are adding resources. So that means if a company gains $50,000 in new revenue, you’re turning around and spending that to hire new salespeople. So your company’s gains and losses are equal. The difference now is scaling your business is when you add revenue at a faster rate than you’re taking on new costs. So you can scale your business and you can gain $50,000 in new revenue,

but you might’ve only spent $5,000 on software or email marketing tools. And so your gains outpace your losses and your expenses, and this allows you exponentially scale your business faster. So that’s the difference between growth and scaling. One of the things we do at the Sweetlife company is we help you develop programs and services and offers that scale. And so, of course,

that’s why this podcast is important to dive into. So let’s go ahead and keep moving forward. So in reference to that, in reference to the fact that companies come to me and whether it’s your, a business triaged call or whether it’s through our mentorship and our business strategy programs, these are the things we look at first. And so these are the five areas,

the fifth one being the rule breaker, but also in my opinion, the most important thing for you to consider. So here are the five key areas or the five signs, the five things you need to make sure are in line for you to scale your business. So the first area we look at is your demand. This can be different for every single business as an entrepreneur.

You’re going to feel your demand differently than your neighboring entrepreneur mind. But what we mean by this is have you reached capacity. So have you maxed out your one-on-one services? Are your services in demand, are people hiring and paying you for the result that you deliver right now in your business? And do you have a wait list? So we want to take a look and making sure,

first of all, that your minimum viable product is good, that you have proven your MVP or minimum viable product to be true, that it is needed in the marketplace and that it is giving people Results. We know that because that means that you’re reaching capacity, your services are sold out. You just, frankly, can’t serve people one-on-one anymore or deliver services in the way in which you have been doing it in the past.

Maybe it’s done for you services, maybe it’s one-on-one coaching or consulting services, or just delivering your end result on a one-on-one basis. So the very first area we want to look at is your demand. Have you done a great job and have you reached capacity? Do you have a wait list and is your service in demand? Number two, we take a look at your finances.

So we have to get your books in order and inherently entrepreneurs are not awesome bookkeepers. That’s why I love the episodes, honestly, on this show we have with so many financial planners, because you know, I’m sitting there taking notes, just like you are. We’ve had some like Daniel Hayden has been on the show, you know, entrepreneurs we’re creators. We don’t always like looking at the nitty-gritty of the finances and this becomes a problem when it’s time to scale your business.

So the question that we want to ask an answer is are your finances in order, can you afford to invest in the things that you want to, to scale your business and also grow your business? So can you afford the team? Is it time to increase people on your team? Do you want to grow your team? Do you want to grow your sales people?

Do you want to add on marketers? Do you have the money to do that? Or do you know where we’re going to get this money from? You might not have it right now. And that’s part of developing a scale strategy, but we know when we’re going to have the money, according to a plan that is laid out in front of you.

So you know where that’s going to come from in the future. And do you have the money to invest in the software and the marketing automation and the things that we need to invest in to deliver an amazing client experience online in, in a lot of cases, if you are looking at your finances and you’re not really sure what you’re spending your money on,

you’re not really sure how much it’s going to marketing, how much is going to software. Maybe you’re spending a ton of money in these areas and you shouldn’t be, maybe you have purchased five different softwares that maybe you could consolidate in. Only have one that does it all. We talk to clients all the time, they’re having reoccurring fees and software fees that are going out,

and they don’t even realize that they’re paying for these things or frankly, why they ever bought them in the first place. And so it’s really important area. Number two is to take a look at your finances, making sure that your finances are in order and that you have the money, or you have a plan to have the money to grow. The way that you want to.

The third area is actually taking a look at the software. So when we’re talking about scaling businesses online, the new quote, unquote brick and mortar is your forward facing software that clients come into your business, they experience what you have, and that we can bring them through a client experience online that feels very personal and they love being part of what you’re doing.

They actually feel like you are with them, even though they’re just going to your website. So we take a look at your software and we want to make sure that you have the online platform that’s ready to grow, and that’s ready to deliver the programs and services your clients want, need and expect. We want to make sure that your software is going to grow with the way your company is going to grow.

Just a little sidebar here. One of the number one areas that I work with with clients that come to us and they are ready to scale is their software is like a bunch of different pieces, all spread out everywhere, and nothing is really talking to each other. So having a conversation, making sure your software works for you and with the important experience you want to give to your clients moving forward,

we have to make sure your software plan, I call it your technology recipe because it’s different for every single business, but we’re bringing together the technology. You need to grow the software to give the client experience. And we’re saving as much money as possible. Doing that while still not cutting corners, we have to build out your software intentionally. So the third area we look at as to whether or not you’re ready to scale is making sure that your software houses in order,

the fourth area we look at is your track record. This goes back and it connects to number one, which was the demand. Your track record is this, do you have an established system or method or process or steps of service or program or offer, that’s gotten your client results in the past. Have you tested what you do on a smaller capacity so that when we build it into an offer that is going to scale for you or an online program,

a hybrid program, a custom program, whatever that is for your business, that we’re utilizing a methodology that you’ve tested, and that has gotten people results in the past. If you have never ever done something before it’s best to practice it, I should say it’s called testing and traction. And making sure that you’re getting people results, your job as an expert or a teacher or a consultant or a coach or a deliver of exceptional services is to give a predictable transformational measurable result.

We do this by creating your process or your method or your framework and turning it into your signature offer. We talk about your signature offer all the time on this show because we have a high level program called your signature offer. So I’m always talking about why that is important on the show. What we’re talking about here on this podcast is making sure that you’ve laid out your method and your process,

and that you have a tracker to get a track record of getting people results so that when we scale it into scalable offers, we’ll talk about those in just a sack, but we scale it into scalable offers that we have a process to drop into a framework of business that can grow with you. And the fifth area, the bonus area is this. This is the way where I would say,

okay, it’s totally fine to break the rules. If you find yourself in a place where your life is not working with your business, for whatever reason. So when you are ready to break out of the current operations, that’s happening within your daily business, and re-invent your offers into scalable programs that work for you. This is a very good reason to scale.

So another example of this is we meet with a lot of companies that have been doing business, and it’s probably going to date me. I’m 44 years old, but like the traditional way, where before we had, you know, scalable funnels, online systems and all this fancy stuff, we have an online business now. And there are some amazing industry leading companies that are still establish,

but businesses, maybe not even brick and mortar, boutiques, but established businesses and they’re still doing business one-on-one. And so if you are in that place where you’ve been doing business one-on-one for a really long time, and maybe you don’t have all the demand in the world, maybe you have to sit down there and work on your books and figure out what your finances.

In most cases, you have no idea about the software. You need to scale because that’s a whole nother beast in land. You’ve been so honed in on doing what you’re doing on an amazing level that all the software development and this and that has just kind of passed you by because you’re so busy being good at what you do. And you definitely have a track record of getting people results.

So the fifth sign that it’s time to scale is if this is you, if you have been doing what you’ve been doing for so long, and you’re so freaking good at it, but you might not have the quote unquote step-by-step checklist that, Oh yeah, I’m ready to scale my business. If that’s you, it’s time to reinvent your services, scale your offers and scale your business by developing your signature offer by developing your signature online programs,

whatever that may be for you to be determined. And so that’s the case. When I say, Hey, it’s time to break the rules. Even if not, all of your other ducks are in a row. If you are miserable with the way you’re working and you’re tired and you’re ready to level up your lifestyle, then it’s time to have a really serious scale conversation.

Yes. We’re going to go back and make sure that you have the demand. Take a look at what your most popular services. Yes. We need to look at your finances and probably redirect some money and some resources. And yes, we need to have a software plan for you. But if that’s you, then I highly recommend you step forward and you consider what it would look like to scale your business.

So with that being said, when we scale your business, you do two different things. You scale your systems and you scale your offers. That’s how we scale your company by scaling your systems internally. There’s so many other things, and we’ve actually done so many podcasts on them. There are massive systems that have to be scaled on the inside of your business in order to handle the flow client intake systems,

onboarding systems, marketing systems, there’s tons of systems to scale. We’re just talking really high level here so that I can help you at the end of this show. And about two minutes from now know exactly whether or not you’re ready to move forward and scale. So again, we want to scale your systems and we want to scale your offers. And both of those are needed to have exponential results so that you can scale your business.

So what we talked about today is if you’ve reached the capacity, if your one-on-one services are filled, if you have a wait list of people that want to work for you, or if you just frankly want a better life, I want you to start by looking at the basic set of processes and how you can improve those. And then you can move towards growing your team,

increasing your leads, automating a lot of things in your business. And of course, increasing your profit in a strategic way that enables lifestyle freedom by developing your on line programs. So that is today’s show. I hope that you found this beneficial. I appreciate you hanging out with me here and here is a recap of the resources we have for you. Number one,

if you aren’t sure what business phase you’re in, go take that quiz. It’s a six question. Self-assessment that you can take that@sweetlifeco.com slash quiz. You’re going to get a total rundown of where you are a checklist to grow your business to the next phase. And really just a lot of helpful information so that you can stay hyper-focused to grow your business faster.

And of course, in the show notes of this show, I want to make sure that we leave a link where you can set up a complimentary scale strategy call with our team. That will be in the show notes here by visiting Sweetlife co.com click on the podcast. This is episode number two 14, or you can just go to sweet life co.com forward slash schedule.

And you’re going to get our scheduler link is there. And we would certainly be happy to talk to you review this kind of scale readiness and give you steps to move forward. Thank you so much. I love hanging out with you here on this podcast for years running. I really appreciate you guys listening to this show up arrow in it and sharing it off of Spotify,

wherever you’re listening. We’re now on audible, which is really excited. I think we’re literally on every podcast app that is available. Thank you to my amazing producer, Brittany Felix, with podcasting for coaches, by the way, if you need a podcast producer, she is your girl, and we just really appreciate you guys for always tuning into the show,

your face faithfulness, and the fact that you are growing businesses that are doing amazing things, totally adore you. Join me in a clubhouse room coming up. We’re actually going to be figuring out how to record this podcast, live in a clubhouse room so that we get to take your questions. I’m very, very, very excited about that. So you can look forward to that coming and to find me on clubhouse.

If you’re listening on clubhouse, just look up at April beach and I will talk to you in a room soon. All right, you guys have a fantastic night. Bye. Bye