Scaling Up Business with Bill Gallagher

Ever wondered what makes a story stick? Do you have trouble getting your messaging to sound just right? Are your pitches just plain boring? Today’s guest is all about electrifying your story so that it’s on everybody’s minds.  Neil Gordon works with entrepreneurs, executives, influencers, and thought leaders to overcome their messaging struggles. He helps them streamline their message to convey their value in unexpected ways. Prior to his work as a communications expert, Neil worked on the editorial staff of Penguin Random House. He is also the VIP contributor for Entrepreneur with three of his articles making it to #1 spot on the website’s most popular posts.  Still finding his path in life, Neil read a book by John Irving that ended up shattering his worldview. This and through his love for reading, he landed himself at Penguin Random House and that was just the beginning of his storytelling journey.  In business, we get really immersed in strategies and tactics, but ultimately, when we return to our most basic sense of humanity, that’s really where we make some of our most profound decisions. At the heart of that, that's where the meat of the story lies.  Neil believes some of our greatest catastrophes in life are some of the greatest opportunities for success. So, what makes a story worth telling? It boils down to a specific time, place, and scene so that the human brain can easily picture and remember it. However, you have to add twists, a lesson of sorts, so that it catches the passive listening ear off guard; there has to be something in it that makes you stop and go, ‘Wait, what?’ When you incorporate something unexpected, it makes heads turn.     Interview Links: Sponsored by: Bit.ly/clariontech Neilcanhelp.com Neil on Twitter Neil on LinkedIn A Prayer for Owen Meany by John Irving   Resources: Scaling Up Workshop: Interested in attending one of our workshops? We have a few $100 discounts for our loyal podcast listeners!Scaling Up for Business Growth Workshop: Take the first step to mastering the Rockefeller Habits by attending one of our workshops. Scaling Up Summits (Select Bill Gallagher as your coach during registration for a discount.) Bill on YouTube   Did you enjoy today’s episode? If so, then head over to iTunes and leave a review. Help other business leaders discover the Scaling Up Business Podcast so they, too, can benefit from the ideas shared in these podcasts.   Scaling Up is the best-selling book by Verne Harnish and our team for Gazelles Coaching, on how the fastest-growing companies succeed where so many others fail. My name is Bill Gallagher, host of the Scaling Up Business Podcast and a leading Gazelles Coach. Gazelles is the term we use for fast-growing companies.   We help leadership teams with 4 Decisions around People, Strategy, Execution, and Cash so that they can Scale Up successfully and beat the odds of business growth success. Scaling Up for Gazelles companies is based on the Rockefeller Habits 2.0 (from Verne’s original best-selling business book, Mastering the Rockefeller Habits).  

Back in 2008, we found ourselves dealing with some pretty serious financial events. Sometimes these experiences are collective; the whole economy felt the impacts of the 2008 crash. The same was true in 2020. Because of the 2008 crash, Bill had tools and strategies already prepared that when 2020 hit, he was able to pull out his toolbox and adjust accordingly. The first step is to triage the situation. Where can you buy some breathing room to really assess the situation? You want to begin to preserve cash, and hold on to the core of your business as best as you can. The next step is to use the SWT tool (say "SWEAT"). It’s a little bit of a more strategic version of the SWOT analysis tool. SWT focuses more on upcoming trends and gaps in the company. And then finally, we want to connect the dots. Now that you have this information, what’s the most logical move forward?   Resources: Scaling Up for Business Growth Workshop: Take the first step to mastering the Rockefeller Habits by attending one of our workshops. Scaling Up Summits (Select Bill Gallagher as your coach during registration for a discount.) Bill on YouTube   Did you enjoy today’s episode? If so, then head over to iTunes and leave a review. Help other business leaders discover the Scaling Up Business Podcast so they, too, can benefit from the ideas shared in these podcasts.   Scaling Up is the best-selling business growth book by Verne Harnish and our team of coaches. My name is Bill Gallagher, host of the Scaling Up Business Podcast and a leading coach.   We help leadership teams with 4 Decisions around People, Strategy, Execution, and Cash, and the 5th Decision about what kind of leader you want to be. Our purpose is helping you Scale Up successfully and beat the odds of business growth success.  

How do you grow your business without losing your mind? How do you find balance when being an entrepreneur is so chaotic? This week’s guest has some insight. Sarah Dawn is a Business Growth Expert and host of The Blissed Biz Podcast. She helps entrepreneurs and professionals create the business of their dreams that supports a lifestyle they love. A seven-figure entrepreneur herself, Sarah was burned out and overwhelmed in the beginning. Despite checking all the boxes, she sacrificed her health to achieve it. Sarah knew she had to forge a more sustainable and fulfilling path for herself if she wanted to successfully scale. Sarah was hell-bent on making “this” work. Whether that be putting herself through law school or building up a successful firm, nothing was going to get in her way. It was an unhealthy obsession to be successful. Sarah had walking pneumonia five times within a year. She wore it like a badge of honor! “Look at me, I’m sick but still working.” Sarah wanted to transition from being a lawyer to being a coach. At first, she wanted to hide it from her existing clients. However, she found out that they were just as excited as her for going in this new direction. People want purpose in their life. Are you miserable and overworking in your business? If you have “control freak” tendencies, then there’s a chance you’re not empowering your employees to succeed. If anything, you’re giving them an insecurity complex. To help you ease control and let other people get stuff done, you want to delegate the results, not necessarily the tasks.   Interview Links: Sponsored by: Bit.ly/clariontech Sarahdawnconsulting.com Sarah on Twitter   Resources: Scaling Up Workshop: Interested in attending one of our workshops? We have a few $100 discounts for our loyal podcast listeners!Scaling Up for Business Growth Workshop: Take the first step to mastering the Rockefeller Habits by attending one of our workshops. Scaling Up Summits (Select Bill Gallagher as your coach during registration for a discount.) Bill on YouTube   Did you enjoy today’s episode? If so, then head over to iTunes and leave a review. Help other business leaders discover the Scaling Up Business Podcast so they, too, can benefit from the ideas shared in these podcasts.   Scaling Up is the best-selling book by Verne Harnish and our team for Gazelles Coaching, on how the fastest-growing companies succeed where so many others fail. My name is Bill Gallagher, host of the Scaling Up Business Podcast and a leading Gazelles Coach. Gazelles is the term we use for fast-growing companies.   We help leadership teams with 4 Decisions around People, Strategy, Execution, and Cash so that they can Scale Up successfully and beat the odds of business growth success. Scaling Up for Gazelles companies is based on the Rockefeller Habits 2.0 (from Verne’s original best-selling business book, Mastering the Rockefeller Habits).  

There are certain types of people in life that you just can not click with. You just don’t like them and you actively avoid them. However, is this the best way to deal with it? Bill has some thoughts. One of Bill’s clients found himself really triggered by an employee. He had no real idea where this was coming from. Everything about this person just rubbed him the wrong way, and it felt weird and wrong to just let the guy go when there was no clear reason as to “why.” Bill wanted his client to go deeper. Who else has triggered him like this in his past? Bill also asked his client to examine himself, too, when he felt a trigger happening. What was going on? What was he doing in particular? Let’s get to the bottom of this. At first, he was overwhelmed. As he developed more self-awareness of himself and his surroundings, he noticed these traits in people he loved the most. Instead of tackling it straight on and letting people know that he didn’t like something, he would instead write it off like it wasn’t a big deal. This caused a mini-cascading effect to happen within himself that he didn’t realize he had. Once he realized this trait, he was able to correct for it and make changes where it would not affect him as much, and use communication to set better expectations with people around him.   Resources: Scaling Up for Business Growth Workshop: Take the first step to mastering the Rockefeller Habits by attending one of our workshops. Scaling Up Summits (Select Bill Gallagher as your coach during registration for a discount.) Bill on YouTube   Did you enjoy today’s episode? If so, then head over to iTunes and leave a review. Help other business leaders discover the Scaling Up Business Podcast so they, too, can benefit from the ideas shared in these podcasts. Scaling Up is the best-selling business growth book by Verne Harnish and our team of coaches. My name is Bill Gallagher, host of the Scaling Up Business Podcast and a leading coach. We help leadership teams with 4 Decisions around People, Strategy, Execution, and Cash, and the 5th Decision about what kind of leader you want to be. Our purpose is helping you Scale Up successfully and beat the odds of business growth success.  

We’re diving into mindset today. Get your head in the right frame of mind to grow and succeed. Today’s guest has some actionable tips to help you get started if you’re feeling a bit sluggish and down in the dumps. Hanneke Antonelli is an author and award-winning Certified Life Coach with 16 years of experience growing businesses in various industries. Hanneke draws on her business degree, Wall Street sales experience, and her decade as an entrepreneur to help business owners upgrade their leadership skills and focus on sustainable growth. Hanneke followed what was destined for her and she joined corporate. Although it was glamorous, she found herself absolutely miserable. She had struggled with depression in the past and ended up in a psych ward in South Africa. This experience really shaped her dramatically and planted a seed for the work that she does today. Hanneke has experienced a lot of painful and traumatic adversity in her life, but the blaring light through all of it was her support system and her coaches supporting her, and believing in her. After a successful entrepreneurial career, she wanted to pay it forward by becoming a coach. You might not have had an experience like Hanneke had to go through, but we’ve all had our challenges and adversity. How do you work with your mindset when everything seems to be crumbling around you? The first step is to just ask for help. If you’re struggling, there is no reason why you should be going through this alone. Mental health is a huge problem and it’s so overlooked in entrepreneurship. We have lost so many people to the dark side of pushing yourself beyond your limits and not taking pause to breathe and put on your own oxygen mask. You don’t need to suffer in silence.   Interview Links: Sponsored by: Bit.ly/clariontech Hannekeantonelli.com Hanneke on LinkedIn   Resources: Scaling Up Workshop: Interested in attending one of our workshops? We have a few $100 discounts for our loyal podcast listeners!Scaling Up for Business Growth Workshop: Take the first step to mastering the Rockefeller Habits by attending one of our workshops. Scaling Up Summits (Select Bill Gallagher as your coach during registration for a discount.) Bill on YouTube   Did you enjoy today’s episode? If so, then head over to iTunes and leave a review. Help other business leaders discover the Scaling Up Business Podcast so they, too, can benefit from the ideas shared in these podcasts.   Scaling Up is the best-selling book by Verne Harnish and our team for Gazelles Coaching, on how the fastest-growing companies succeed where so many others fail. My name is Bill Gallagher, host of the Scaling Up Business Podcast and a leading Gazelles Coach. Gazelles is the term we use for fast-growing companies.   We help leadership teams with 4 Decisions around People, Strategy, Execution, and Cash so that they can Scale Up successfully and beat the odds of business growth success. Scaling Up for Gazelles companies is based on the Rockefeller Habits 2.0 (from Verne’s original best-selling business book, Mastering the Rockefeller Habits).  

Today’s conversation is about keeping things clear. It focuses on how to keep that vision clear while you’re busy scaling so that it doesn’t get murky along the way. Your special guest also talks about motivation and how to keep on your vision path when you’re feeling uninspired. Chris Burns is a men’s life coach and helps them activate their purpose, power, and prosperity. He has been coaching men, entrepreneurs, leaders, and professionals for almost a decade and has helped them level up to their fullest potential. Chris’s core message is community. Although he specializes with men, for our female listeners out there, don’t tune out as there is still a lot of value in this show! Chris actually used to work with women up until a year ago. The reason for the shift is that Chris looked around and noticed that there weren’t a lot of men-only support groups out there. It’s gotten harder for men to find their tribe and seek a space where they can be vulnerable. Bill notices with his guy friends, there’s a very specific purpose for when he hangs out with his friends. They’ve got a problem or particular issue that they want to talk about. He and his buddies never just ‘hang out’ the way his wife and her female friends do. Males tend to bond more when they’re doing challenges or activities together vs. sitting and chatting. It feels to Bill that men need more of an excuse to hang out. Come over because there’s a game happening, but inviting a guy friend over just to hang out and talk, seems a bit… weird? There always needs to be an activity in between in order for him to tap into the vulnerability.   Interview Links: Sponsored by: Bit.ly/clariontech Menmastermind.com Chris on LinkedIn   Resources: Scaling Up Workshop: Interested in attending one of our workshops? We have a few $100 discounts for our loyal podcast listeners!Scaling Up for Business Growth Workshop: Take the first step to mastering the Rockefeller Habits by attending one of our workshops. Scaling Up Summits (Select Bill Gallagher as your coach during registration for a discount.) Bill on YouTube   Did you enjoy today’s episode? If so, then head over to iTunes and leave a review. Help other business leaders discover the Scaling Up Business Podcast so they, too, can benefit from the ideas shared in these podcasts.   Scaling Up is the best-selling book by Verne Harnish and our team for Gazelles Coaching, on how the fastest-growing companies succeed where so many others fail. My name is Bill Gallagher, host of the Scaling Up Business Podcast and a leading Gazelles Coach. Gazelles is the term we use for fast-growing companies.   We help leadership teams with 4 Decisions around People, Strategy, Execution, and Cash so that they can Scale Up successfully and beat the odds of business growth success. Scaling Up for Gazelles companies is based on the Rockefeller Habits 2.0 (from Verne’s original best-selling business book, Mastering the Rockefeller Habits).  

A brief summary of this episode

Do you have a bad relationship with your business? Is it time to get out? Today’s guest has some insight and some answers on when it’s really time to call it quits before you get burned out. Jess Chan is the Founder & CEO of Longplay, a full-service email marketing agency for DTC e-commerce brands. At Longplay, Jess has helped brands increase email revenue by 639% within 90 days and increase average order value by over 67%. Jess has been featured in Entrepreneur, Influencer Hustle & Thought Catalog. Jess has a background in actuarial science and economics but was going through panic attacks and an identity crisis on where, and who, she truly wanted to be in life. She knew insurance wasn’t the answer. On a whim, an ecommerce brand that Jess liked had a job opening for a marketing assistant, so she applied and ended up getting the job with zero qualifications! After college, she got offered a promotion to run a multimillion-dollar ecommerce company. Jess sees it all the time with her clients when they're starting a new company. We lose ourselves in the business. We come from a mission-centric place, but as we begin to grow, we start to lose ourselves and we go further and further away from our core mission. As founders, our business is an identity for us. We take a piece of ourselves and try to create something great out of it, but as the business scales and grows, it’s important to take care of your mental health, take breaks, and consciously redefine our relationship with it. You are not your business!   Interview Links: Sponsored by: Bit.ly/clariontech Longplaybrands.com Jess on LinkedIn   Resources: Scaling Up Workshop: Interested in attending one of our workshops? We have a few $100 discounts for our loyal podcast listeners!Scaling Up for Business Growth Workshop: Take the first step to mastering the Rockefeller Habits by attending one of our workshops. Scaling Up Summits (Select Bill Gallagher as your coach during registration for a discount.) Bill on YouTube   Did you enjoy today’s episode? If so, then head over to iTunes and leave a review. Help other business leaders discover the Scaling Up Business Podcast so they, too, can benefit from the ideas shared in these podcasts.   Scaling Up is the best-selling book by Verne Harnish and our team for Gazelles Coaching, on how the fastest-growing companies succeed where so many others fail. My name is Bill Gallagher, host of the Scaling Up Business Podcast and a leading Gazelles Coach. Gazelles is the term we use for fast-growing companies.   We help leadership teams with 4 Decisions around People, Strategy, Execution, and Cash so that they can Scale Up successfully and beat the odds of business growth success. Scaling Up for Gazelles companies is based on the Rockefeller Habits 2.0 (from Verne’s original best-selling business book, Mastering the Rockefeller Habits).  

Do you have a difficult conversation coming up? Perhaps there's a conversation that's long overdue? How do you approach it? Bill has some thoughts and tip on how to gracefully navigate those rough talks in this week's episode!   One of Bill's clients, Alex, had to have a conversation with his board about budget issues. He just knew that his board would not be happy by this news and was dreading the conversation. Bill decided to take some pressure off of his plate by doing a series of role plays to help Alex accurately prepare for a wide range of emotions. The result? Alex felt comfortable when the conversation was going badly with Bill and could still keep his mind and his points on track. Bill was a tough fictional board member! In one instance, Bill just flat out said 'no' to whatever proposal Alex threw at him. This led Alex to get creative with his requests. By the end of the session, Alex felt more confident about the upcoming conversation.   The fundamental lesson here is to roleplay! Play with the fear! Go through different scenarios and see what fits you best. You'll be surprised by the end-result after it's all over.   Resources: Scaling Up for Business Growth Workshop: Take the first step to mastering the Rockefeller Habits by attending one of our workshops. Scaling Up Summits (Select Bill Gallagher as your coach during registration for a discount.) Bill on YouTube   Did you enjoy today’s episode? If so, then head over to iTunes and leave a review. Help other business leaders discover the Scaling Up Business Podcast so they, too, can benefit from the ideas shared in these podcasts.   Scaling Up is the best-selling business growth book by Verne Harnish and our team of coaches. My name is Bill Gallagher, host of the Scaling Up Business Podcast and a leading coach.   We help leadership teams with 4 Decisions around People, Strategy, Execution, and Cash, and the 5th Decision about what kind of leader you want to be. Our purpose is helping you Scale Up successfully and beat the odds of business growth success.  

Need more eyes on your business? We all understand the power of having something go viral, but where business owners fall short is that they are willing to do anything, no matter the costs, to get that attention. Here’s how you can be strategic in your quest for more attention and get the right kind of attention. Why is it that Elon Musk comes out with a cyber truck and the world stops and goes absolutely crazy? Why is it that, when SingularityU came out, it became a sold-out event almost instantly? How do these things happen so “easily”? Moral value and positive value are of no interest to the media. So what gets their intention? Novelty. Shock also adds value. If you can grab attention for your product in a new way, then the media will be ready to pounce. What are some of the ways you can grab the attention of the media? What’s your novelty angle for your product? In this Tuesday Tip, Bill breaks down how some of the greats were able to make their events/products go viral.   Resources: Scaling Up for Business Growth Workshop: Take the first step to mastering the Rockefeller Habits by attending one of our workshops. Scaling Up Summits (Select Bill Gallagher as your coach during registration for a discount.) Bill on YouTube   Did you enjoy today’s episode? If so, then head over to iTunes and leave a review. Help other business leaders discover the Scaling Up Business Podcast so they, too, can benefit from the ideas shared in these podcasts.   Scaling Up is the best-selling business growth book by Verne Harnish and our team of coaches. My name is Bill Gallagher, host of the Scaling Up Business Podcast and a leading coach.   We help leadership teams with 4 Decisions around People, Strategy, Execution, and Cash, and the 5th Decision about what kind of leader you want to be. Our purpose is helping you Scale Up successfully and beat the odds of business growth success.