Engineering Calmer Agencies & Consulting Firms: Calm is the New KPI

I make no attempt at hiding my personal dislike of meetings. I’ve spent more time in meetings about meetings and meetings to prepare for other meetings than I can count. I’ve even suffered through long staff meetings where my boss literally just read printed out emails. I’ve truly felt the pain of being in meetings that could have just been an email. But are meetings really inevitable? All this month, I'm asking the question: does it really have to be a meeting?I am starting off by applying this question to client meetings. Is there a different way to approach meeting with your clients that could reduce time spend in 'update' meetings and drastically speed up results?One way of potentially doing this is through intensives – taking all the work we used to do with clients over several weeks or months and condensed it down to just a few hours or days.In today’s episode, I talked with two founders about their different approaches to this intensive-style of delivering offerings: business coach Ashley Gartland and marketing & operations project manager Hailey Thomas.You will hear that for both of these founders, taking this different approach when working with clients might actually be a more effective way of delivering value than sitting through yet another meeting.In this episode:How both women have taken their own unique approach to managing and minimizing client meetings.How Ashley Gartland adapted her six-month partnership program to a two-week coaching intensive so she could automate her process and serve more people.  How Hailey Thomas offers 3-day work retreats where she and her clients bang out most of the project in one weekendWhat kind of challenges they’ve run into transitioning from a typical client meeting structureHow this change to intensives has impacted their clients What impact the new approaches have had on operational capacityWhat kind of impact the changes have had on them personally as business ownersLinks:Ashley Gartland:The Simplified Intensive  FacebookInstagramLinkedInHailey Thomas:The BrainSpace Optimized PodcastThe WorktreatsLinkedInSusan BolesScalespark Dollars + Decisions RoundtableTwitter @ScaleSparkLinkedIn @thesusanboles Grab the Calm Service Design + Delivery Swipe File here

Even a small, one-person business becomes more profitable and efficient with a solid, repeatable process. So what happens when we double down on process?In our last episode, I talked to Lacey Stites about how she does this in her agency using a revenue share model.Today, we hear how Jake Jorgovan takes a bit of a different approach and focuses on productizing his service delivery so he can operate efficiently at scale. A productized service is a simple, streamlined way of delivering hands-on client experiences without guesswork or customization. Instead of reinventing the wheel with each client you serve, you build a repeatable process that is executed in the same way for every client.Jake’s companies, Lead Cookie and Content Allies, aren’t the kind of businesses that easily lend themselves to automation or scaling. He got around these challenges by productizing his services. These productized services are built on solid processes, procedures, and standardized systems behind the scenes. They ensure that his clients get a consistent, high-quality experience–a core tenant of both of his businesses.In this episode:What the motivational and driving forces behind deciding to start a service business like Lead Cookie wereWhat the biggest operational hurdles were starting outHow Jake tackled those hurdlesHow starting Content Allies was different from starting Lead CookieSome the operational strategies Jake focused on to deliver high-touch services profitablyHow these same strategy decisions made a big difference in how easy the business was to runFor Jake’s blogging, podcasting, and writing:jake-jorgovan.com/And to work with Jake:Lead CookieContent AlliesSusan Boles:Scalespark Dollars + Decisions RoundtableTwitter @ScaleSparkLinkedIn @thesusanboles Grab the Calm Service Design + Delivery Swipe File here

The messages we get about scaling a service business are pretty one-note. We’re told that we can’t scale a service business profitably and sustainably while sticking to a one-to-one service delivery model. We're told to do a bit of client work, spin that into a few digital courses or membership groups, and then sit back and let the money roll on it. But this isn’t a great fit for everyone. And it’s just not how many of us want to run our businesses. So, what else is out there? My guest today, Lacey Sites, uses a revenue-sharing pricing structure that allows her to scale her one-on-one coaching business without adding more clients all while still dramatically growing her profits. This unique model allows her to double down on her investment in each client, create pricing structures that build trust and longterm partnerships, and then, when their work with her pays off, reap the rewards.  On today’s episode:How Lacey’s unique pricing/compensation structure actually works in her businessWhat prompted her to make the change to the revenue sharing structure in the first placeWhat kinds of challenges she has run into transitioning from a typical pricing model How this change to revenue sharing has impacted her existing clientsHow it has allowed her to keep working 1-1 with clients while still growing her revenueWhat kind of impact the new approach had on her operational capacity How this has changed her approach to scalingLinks:alituplife.com/ LITerally Podcast With Lacey SitesScalespark Dollars + Decisions RoundtableTwitter @ScaleSparkLinkedIn @thesusanbolesSocial Media:Instagram: @alituplifeFacebook: @ALitUpLifeFacebook Group: The Lit Up and Loaded Entrepreneur Grab the Calm Service Design + Delivery Swipe File here

What if instead of spending tons of time creating complicated proposals for prospective clients, you just didn't? Maybe you believe your complicated, customized proposals help win you more business. But there’s a good chance you’re sacrificing profit and efficiency--without truly seeing gains in real revenue.All this month we are talking about opting out–choosing not to do certain things in your business as a tool for freeing up your time, money, and brain space for more important things. I started off by talking with Michelle Warner about how she focuses in on just a few services and opts out of selling all the things.I chatted with Brittany Berger about setting boundaries around the expectations of how you work, both for yourself and for your clients. Today I’m talking proposals with Rob Howard, founder of web development agency Howard Development & Consulting and creator of Automatic Freelancer, a mentorship program for freelancers.For Rob, the crux of the proposal process is reducing your sales time. You can quickly spend a ton of time, often unpaid time, preparing proposals to pitch projects to clients even if they never end up hiring you.This time can really suck the profit out of any project. Rob has developed a system that allows him to give accurate quotes on the initial call and send out proposals within 15 minutes of getting off that call. It's a system that saves a ton of time, and dramatically increase his profit per hour without changing the deliverable he’s actually providing to clients.On today’s episode:How Rob’s 30-Minute Profitable Proposal System sets him up to make a quick and accurate decision resulting in a proposal that makes the most sense for the client How having a proposal process that makes clear what you are selling and how much you are selling it for takes away a lot of the stress of selling Why delivering a proposal to your client quickly instills a greater amount of confidence in your abilityHow Rob breaks his proposals down in terms of the size of offer: small, medium, and largeWhy profit per hour per client is the only metric Rob chooses to track on a regular basisAnd how when you develop the mindset of an owner building a business, it sets you up for growth and success down the roadLinks:The 30 Minute Profitable Proposal SystemBetter Proposal StudyScalespark Dollars + Decisions RoundtableTwitter @ScaleSparkLinkedIn @thesusanboles Grab the Calm Service Design + Delivery Swipe File here

We have the freedom to design just about any business we want. We can work with clients in a hundred different ways to deliver our service.  But how that works has a lot to do with the boundaries you set in place.  Boundaries are expectations, guidelines, and frameworks around how we want our work and our lives to happen. They're a really effective way to both deliver better customer service and make your business more efficient. All while building more resiliency into your processes.  Today, I continue our month’s theme of opting-out by talking with Brittany Berger, founder of digital media company Work Brighter.  Brittany’s boundary game is strong.  When building Work Brighter, Brittany made the conscious decision to prioritize the mental health and personal life boundaries that make room for unproductive things like rest, self-care, and fun.  For her, boundaries are a powerful tool for streamlining and increasing her operational capacity. By choosing how she works with clients, when she works with clients, and who she works with in the first place, Brittany is explicitly setting expectations for how they will be working together.  By establishing these boundaries she is not only taking care of herself she is also ensuring that she will continue to have the capacity needed to continue helping high achievers and productive unicorns go beyond just working smarter to a better version of productivity.  On today’s episode:Why Brittany has opted-out of the normal method of doing one-on-one business and instead leverages her strengths and interests in ways that are more profitable. Why she defines success in her business in ways that are not necessarily tied to profit or revenueWhy she only checks her email twice a week so she can focus on deep work and self-careHow she manages energy and focus by doing the hardest thing first, preserving the most energy for sustainable productivityThe transparent guidelines she uses to reinforce boundaries with her clientsAnd how making it difficult for herself to access social media has been a great tool for freeing up space in her business Links:Work With Brittany at Work Brighter@workbrighter on Instagram@thatbberg on TwitterThe Slackification of the Family Home–The Atlantic MagazineScalespark Dollars + Decisions RoundtableTwitter @ScaleSparkLinkedIn @thesusanboles Grab the Calm Service Design + Delivery Swipe File here

Opting out of business-as-usual practices  or deciding to buck your industry trend can be a really powerful point of differentiation for service businesses  When you opt-out of using corporate jargon or ridiculously complicated implementation processes, you can really stand out from the crowd.  And, making this choice can also be a really great tool for increasing your operational capacity behind the scenes.  By opting-out and choosing not to implement a cumbersome or overly complicated process, you free up your time. By choosing to not administrate the process and hire somebody to manage it for you, you save all that time, money and effort that you would have spent otherwise. Today, I am having business strategist, Michelle Warner, back on the show to talk about how we both use opting-out as a tool to help our clients become more profitable and efficient.  We talk about how Michelle helps service providers, coaches, and course creators drill down and focus on what's important, as well as how they can stop spending time on unproductive distractions and start designing profitable businesses. On today’s episode:How Michelle uses an 80/20 framework to harnesses creative energy, turning it into something useful instead of something that can quickly derail us.How Michelle helps clients move away from their startup phase and start optimizing as a companyThe ways that doubling down on a single project has compounding effects and is uniquely beneficial to entrepreneurs  All the ways that entrepreneurs are naturally creators and how they can look to the art world for guidance and inspirationHow you can take your financial metrics and turn them into qualitative choices for what you want your business to be.How we can slow down and build our awareness in our business with tracking and mindfulness practices Links:Where you can work with Michelle WarnerAtomic Habits by James ClearForte Labs - Building A Second Brain Grab the Calm Service Design + Delivery Swipe File here

If you’re struggling to keep your head above water in your business and you can’t figure out how to break the ceiling and scale your business, then you should listen to this Break the Ceiling podcast with ScaleSpark Founder, Susan Boles. In the first few episodes of this series, Susan has focused on tackling default decisions, those decisions that you might have made in your business without thinking about them or realising that you had another choice. “Default decisions aren't necessarily good decisions or the right decision for your business.”In the upcoming episodes however, Susan switches the focus from default decisions to opting out and why she advocates ‘Default to Simple’, the touchstone she uses when trying to figure out the solution to any problem in her own business, or her clients businesses. Because often, the next thing you have to do in your business process is just really simple. But before we go ahead and begin the next chapter, if you didn’t get the chance to listen to our series on default decisions, definitely go back and dig into them because they frame the upcoming episodes on opting out, and get you thinking about alternative options that you might not have considered in your business. On today’s podcast:Why the tech that promises to make your life easier can just be another complicationWhy your business needs processesWhy writing a list allows you to keep it simpleHow to simplify your process to get paid by opting outWhy opting out is such a powerful toolFuture guests on the podcast for the opting out themeLinks:Scalespark Dollars + Decisions RoundtableTwitter @ScaleSparkLinkedIn @thesusanboles Grab the Calm Service Design + Delivery Swipe File here

In this special podcast episode, the shoe is on the other foot - Susan herself is on the receiving end of the interview. And she’s talking to Tara McMullin (who you might remember from the first ever Break the Ceiling episode.)Bottlenecks in a business workflow process and complicated workflows can combine to create huge business growth headaches, not to mention potentially impacting your quality of work, resulting in poor customer satisfaction, or worse, letting things slip through the gaps. So Susan wanted to share this episode (first aired on Tara’s podcast, What Works) because she wants to discuss her experience of default decisions in software and technology. “When you're starting out, you don't know what you don't know.”In this episode, Susan and Tara talk about why and when you should review your software tools, and how you can really use software to help automate your operations and address some operational capacity issues. They also talk about the challenging work of implementing new software and how to make the change a little bit easier and more effective.So tune in to hear all that and more. On today’s podcast:What Susan typically finds is standing between her clients and tripling their revenueThe basis for business default decisionsWhy hiring more people won’t fix an operational capacity problemMistakes small business owners make when they try to use software to expand their capacityWhy software can be another bottleneck to workflow process rather than an aidThe audit process Susan carries out for each individual business to figure out what software could help themHow Susan makes software recommendations for each businessHow to implement a new software system painlesslyCommon mindset problems business owners face when switching softwareLinks:Walk through of how to do a software auditWhat Works podcastZapier - automation platform that connects SAAS toolsXero - accounting toolScalespark Dollars + Decisions RoundtableTwitter @ScaleSparkLinkedIn @thesusanboles Grab the Calm Service Design + Delivery Swipe File here

Are you looking to break the mold with your business model? Are you one of those business people that make very deliberate decisions and knows that default decisions just can’t apply to your business? Then you need to meet Pia Silva. If you haven’t heard of the powerhouse that is Pia Silva, then you’re in for a treat. Pia is the founder of Badass Your Brand and Worst of All Design, and she made a very deliberate decision to step away from the default agency model. She knew she had to structure her business in a way that suited her preferred working style, while ensuring it remained wholly efficient to meet her needs and the needs of her clients. “This model came about because a year prior, a business coach of mine had said to me, ‘you're selling $30,000 projects, you're looking for clients who have $30,000, but you're networking with people who think you're great, yet they don't have $30,000, they have $3,000. So maybe you don't want to keep saying, oh, sorry, you don't have $30,000, so forget you, and instead think of something to sell them. Just come up with something you would sell someone if they had $3,000.”And in the space of just a couple of days Pia had pivoted her whole business from chasing big projects via a traditional agency model, to making more money with a smaller project model. On today’s podcast:Break the ceiling by breaking the default agency modelWhy project management tools don’t work for every businessUsing a lead product and a bullseye productThe freedom of transparent pricingHow to figure out your pricing strategyIncrease your price as you increase your valueFigure out a model that works for you and what you want out of lifeCreate a marketing structure that means you constantly have leads coming upWhy the big agency model can’t work for smaller businessesLinks:Badass Your Brand - the impatient entrepreneur’s guide to turning expertise into profitScalespark Dollars + Decisions RoundtableTwitter @ScaleSparkLinkedIn @thesusanboles Grab the Calm Service Design + Delivery Swipe File here

We’ve been focusing our attention on default decisions in the last couple of episodes- those choices that you make about how to run your business. And a lot of these decisions happen without us even realizing we're making a choice, especially at the beginning of our businesses. But sometimes those choices we didn't know we made come back and bite us in the butt when we need to make the transition from experimentation mode or validation mode into growth mode.I chat with business designer Michelle Warner about business models, because lots of our default decisions are actually built into the model we choose. Michelle helps coaches, consultants and service-based entrepreneurs grow their businesses by showing them how to prioritize what matters and skipping what doesn’t. More importantly, Susan and Michelle discuss how to make that all-important decision of crossing the chasm from experimentation entrepreneur mode to a business model that's designed to grow, and how not to drive yourself crazy along the way.On today’s podcast:Why business design is a hybrid approach to creating your business modelThe inspiration behind moving from a multi million dollar tech startup to business designThe symptoms of knowing when you’ve hit the ceiling in your businessThe decisions entrepreneurs make over and over againHow to choose your business prioritiesFocusing your team to do the 80%, leaving you free to do the 20% fun stuffLinks:www.themichellewarner.comMichelle.warnerScalespark Dollars + Decisions RoundtableTwitter @ScaleSparkLinkedIn @thesusanboles Grab the Calm Service Design + Delivery Swipe File here