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There’s a lot of pressure on entrepreneurs to be doing All. The. Things. “Are you on this new social platform yet?”, “When are you live launching your course?”, “You need to write a book to build authority!” But let’s not forget that we’re humans—we’re not designed to be machines.
With a background in corporate leadership, Jessica Lackey knows what it’s like to be forced into hustle culture. Now, she’s combining her deep experience in consulting, leadership, and coaching to help businesses grow without sacrificing wellbeing. Listen in to our chat with Jessica for valuable tips on how to make sure your business’s processes are working *for* you when building the business you envision.
Looking for closed captioning or a transcript? Watch the episode on YouTube!
A Sneak Peek at the Episode
[2:47] Our hosts are joined by Jessica Lackey, a strategy and operations advisor, who bridges the gap between traditional business practices and a thirst for creating sustainable businesses with a human centric approach.
[4:29] When it comes to scaling a business, Jessica sees business owners often making two mistakes. Firstly, they conflate growth with scale. And secondly, they don’t recognize that scaling a business fundamentally changes the business model.
[5:33] While growth and scale are related, they are not the same thing. Growth means adding revenue at the same pace as you are adding resources, whereas scaling means adding revenue at a much greater rate than cost.
[6:54] By identifying your business model and archetype and understanding the implications of growth or scale, you can make more informed decisions about the direction of your business.
[10:08] Jessica advises being stable in one business model before adding another. If you do diversify, make sure it has a purpose in the client journey and you’re not cannibalizing your offer.
[14:01] As your business scales, financial and energetic metrics also change. As we start to scale, we often have to invest more time and money initially. Shifting from hands-on work to strategic leadership can also be a daunting change for some.
[17:19] To avoid creating a desk job for yourself, it’s important to understand why certain tasks end up on your to-do list. Are you nurturing new ideas before delegation, or is there a flaw in your systems?
[19:42] Before choosing to outsource a task, Jessica encourages us to consider whether to outsource to a generalist, requiring you to manage the process, or to a specialist who can manage you with their expertise.
[22:34] So many business owners think, “I have a problem. I’m going to hire someone” without actually stepping back and establishing the level that this employee needs to be operating at.
[27:21] Translating your expertise into trainable processes can be challenging. Before hiring a long-term employee or contractor, consider hiring a short-term expert to extract, document, and systemize your genius.
[28:47] Instead of resorting to short-term fixes, slow down and use the “five whys” technique to delve into symptoms and diagnose the root problems in your business.
[32:07] Human-centered practices acknowledge that humans aren’t machines and operate in cycles of rest and growth. Recognizing your natural rhythms and energy levels can help you avoid burnout and maintain sustainable work practices.
[38:48] As business owners, it can feel like we’re letting ourselves and our businesses down if we’re not goal setting. If goals feel limiting, prioritize your vision over numerical targets and focus on activities aligned with that vision.
Mentioned on this Episode
Related Links
- 6 Ways to Know When It’s Time to Hire for Your Small Business
- The First Step to Hiring the Right Person for Your Team
- Case Study: Prioritize Your Health and Profitably Run a Business
- How to Avoid Business Freakouts and Solve Any Challenge
- Work on Your Business, Not in Your Business
Must-Hear Takeaways
As with every episode, we highly encourage you to listen to the entire conversation! But, here are a few of the highlights:
“What are some of the fundamental mistakes that you see people making as they’re thinking about scaling their business?” “Yes, I think there’s two really fundamental mistakes I see, one is we conflate growth with scale and the second one is we don’t recognize that scaling our business fundamentally changes our business model and it changes the role that you play as the business owner. And so in pursuit of scale, we can sometimes end up with a business we’re not sure we wanted and not sure if it’s as profitable as we want. It’s the trap of oh I’m going to scale a business so that I don’t have to work in the business but then I’ve created an entirely different type of business.” Nicki & Jessica
“I think the biggest takeaway that I want people to have—and I know this sounds like a privileged statement if you’re not making sustainable revenue—is to slow down. Because trying to water 15 plants at once and trying to grow 15 plants at once is going to leave all of them shriveled and sad. But picking two, going to the root and picking one or two projects I’m going to work on.” – Jessica
“We are conditioned for speed and quick results because of the environment that we come from, because fast growth is celebrated, and slow and steady growth is, I don’t want to say something to be ashamed of, but these overnight successes—it took them 7 years and then they became an overnight success. How did I make 50k in a month? Well, I built an audience for 6 years and then I sold them something. I think more celebration of the making slow and steady progress, on activity building, recognizing that the results might not be linear to the effort at the get-go. And then on the other side, once you do get the scales, the results are also not linear to the effort because it’s that transition curve.” – Jessica
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About the Energize Your Online Business Podcast
Are you sick of the stress, chaos, and risk of trying to keep up with the next big thing in digital marketing? And what about the confusion of trying to scale, build a team, and still try to make sure your business is worth the effort it takes to run it? You are not alone.
Join Nicki Krawczyk, a 20-year marketing veteran and owner of a multi-seven-figure-per-year digital training company and her co-host Kate Sitarz as they bust through the online business industry echo chamber to talk about how to make consistent, predictable sales and how to scale your business with simple and stress-free systems.
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