0:07

Welcome to the Entrepreneur to Employer Podcast

0:09

. I am your host , brian Montez , founder

0:12

of Scalosity Works and the Entrepreneur

0:14

to Employer Coaching and Membership Community . So

0:16

congratulations is in order . If you've built

0:18

a successful freelance business that has grown to

0:20

the point where you need to hire , you have achieved

0:23

a huge milestone . If you're

0:25

already past the point of making your first hire and your

0:27

team is now growing well , congratulations

0:29

is in order to you as well . So

0:31

, regardless of where you are with scaling your team

0:33

and your business , whether you're at employee number

0:35

one or employee number 100 , this

0:37

podcast focuses on everything related to people

0:40

operations . We'll cover best practices

0:42

, strategies and solutions to help you build a

0:44

sustainable and scalable business that is fueled

0:46

by great people and a great culture

0:48

. So if you're enjoying listening to this Entrepreneur

0:51

to Employer Podcast , please subscribe

0:53

, give us a like and give us a review . Your feedback

0:55

will help us grow this podcast and we'll

0:57

be able to positively impact more employers to help

0:59

them build better work environments . Welcome

1:10

back to another episode of the Entrepreneur to Employer

1:12

Podcast . I am your host , brian Montez

1:14

, founder of Scalosity Works . So

1:16

if you're an entrepreneur , chances are you've considered

1:19

scaling your business for various reasons . It

1:21

might be for the continued growth of your company . It

1:24

might be for your brand . It might just be part

1:26

of your exit strategy that you want to build your business

1:28

, get it to a certain level profitable

1:30

, of course and then sell it . So it

1:32

could be a variety of reasons why you aren't thinking about

1:35

scaling your business . Whatever that

1:37

reason is , scaling your business will

1:39

take you to new heights , but to get those benefits

1:41

, you got to execute well , and

1:43

you know it's very popular for business owners to say

1:46

, well , I'm ready to scale . But before

1:48

you can start scaling your business , there's two things you

1:50

have to have . You have to have a

1:52

solid foundation in your business with SOPs

1:54

, procedures . You've got to have all

1:56

of that built out , or most of it built out , and

1:59

you got to have consistent revenues . Those are the two foundational

2:01

pieces before you can really say I want to start scaling my

2:03

business . So today we're

2:05

going to talk about the best practices for scaling

2:07

your business and we're going to get into the

2:10

different things you need to do to be able

2:12

to start to really grow that business

2:14

. And so , by time you're done with

2:16

this podcast episode , you will

2:18

have a list of the things you need

2:20

to execute well on in order to scale

2:23

your business . All right , let's

2:25

get into it . So , number one , you're

2:27

going to need to get your leadership team on board

2:29

Before you can scale your business . You

2:31

need clarity on your vision and you

2:33

need to be sharing it over and over

2:36

and over again . Sharing your

2:38

vision just one time is not

2:40

going to cut it . People are not going

2:42

to remember it , they're not going to embody it

2:44

, it's not going to come in grain . That

2:47

vision needs to be something that is constantly

2:49

reviewed , constantly in

2:52

front . It needs to be in front of everybody constantly

2:54

so that they remember what is the vision . Where are we

2:56

headed ? Why are we doing this ? So it's vital

2:59

for everyone to understand the why behind

3:01

why you want to scale and what's behind

3:03

it . And again , when you craft

3:06

this message the message

3:08

of why you want to scale and where the business headed

3:10

can't be because I want to build this business and I want

3:12

to sell it in five or 10 years , because then

3:14

your employees and your leadership team are going to take a step

3:16

back and go . What's in it for me ? If he's just

3:18

going to exit and sell this thing , why should we help him or

3:21

her grow it ? So you have to make sure

3:23

that , when you discuss

3:25

your motivation for scaling , that

3:28

you are putting yourself in your leadership team's

3:30

shoes and your employee's shoes and giving

3:32

them a reason of what's in it for them reason

3:35

as well . And once you've done

3:37

this , the answer to that question of why are we scaling

3:39

is going to help you navigate other key questions

3:41

, such as how you want to scale and what

3:43

value you want to add by scaling . And

3:46

once you cast this vision and get your

3:48

team on board with the why , the how and the

3:50

what , that

3:52

is what will start to drive

3:55

it . Once they understand the why , the how

3:57

and the what , and once they understand what's

3:59

in it for them , now you have that

4:01

vision cast and you can move forward . It's

4:04

been said that you know when you get tired of repeating

4:06

your vision . The team is now just

4:08

starting to hear it , or maybe just starting to take it to

4:10

heart . Right , they've got to become fans

4:13

of the expansion . They have to be behind

4:15

the scaling process and the reason

4:17

why , and they have to have clarity

4:19

on direction so everyone can move forward together

4:22

. Community among your leadership

4:24

team is critical to successfully scaling

4:26

. Okay , the second thing that you need

4:28

to execute well on is going to be keeping a

4:30

pulse on your company's culture . Okay

4:33

, culture , in my opinion , is

4:35

everybody's responsibility , but it starts

4:37

from the top . It absolutely

4:39

starts from the owner . The founder , the CEO

4:41

, whoever is at the top of the food chain has

4:44

to keep a pulse on company culture . And

4:46

culture , good or bad , stops , you

4:49

know , stops with you , right , you can

4:51

set that culture in motion to be good or

4:53

you can set that culture in motion to be bad

4:55

. Culture is paramount

4:57

in companies and a healthy culture

4:59

is the foundation that will help you successfully scale

5:02

. If your original , if

5:04

your culture has , is built on negativity

5:07

and you're trying to expand , that

5:09

culture will seep into the new

5:11

employees , new locations , right

5:13

, whatever that framework of expansion looks like , that

5:16

negative culture is going to flow in

5:18

there and , surprisingly enough , a healthy

5:20

culture isn't necessarily transferable from one

5:22

location to another . So if you

5:24

are a brick-and-mortar type business or you're a multiple

5:26

location manufacturing company , you

5:28

could have subcultures . You could have a situation

5:31

where the culture is not the same throughout

5:33

, right , look at how hard Chick-fil-A

5:36

and In-N-Out have worked to keep

5:38

their cultures consistent , and I'm sure there's , you

5:40

know there are one-off situations and there's

5:43

there's , you know , store locations that are

5:45

having problems because nothing is perfect

5:47

. But look at how hard that

5:49

organization has worked to keep the culture

5:51

consistent throughout every

5:53

location . Right ? If you want a Chick-fil-A

5:56

, what's the standard response ? My

5:58

pleasure . I mean 99.9%

6:02

of the time that is the response we

6:04

get when we go into a Chick-fil-A and we

6:06

ask for something and we say thank you , it's

6:08

a my pleasure . They're very consistent

6:10

in the culture that they've built . Now

6:13

, just like repeating the vision to your team is vital

6:16

. Keeping a pulse on the status of your culture is

6:18

of equal importance . A unified

6:20

team will hold the same values , thus embracing

6:22

the importance of a healthy culture . However

6:24

, through the process of scaling , a variety of emotions

6:27

can derail your team before your very eyes

6:29

. New responsibilities exist

6:31

among your direct reports that will breed anxiety

6:34

as things start to get more . As things

6:36

start to get busier and a scaling process happens

6:38

, anxiety will start to creep in , right

6:41

, they'll have increased stress , a lot

6:43

of frustrations , right , and that can all impact

6:45

culture if you're not dealing with it regularly

6:48

. So I cannot stress how important

6:50

it is to consistently evaluate the morale of

6:52

your team as you go through this growth process

6:54

. Remember you can't successfully scale your company

6:56

alone . You need a team in

6:58

which to do it . You need your team to be operating

7:00

at their highest capacity , with a very

7:02

healthy approach . Your

7:04

leaders and other team members need to have good communication

7:07

with each other . There needs to be transparency

7:09

and accountability in the communication and

7:11

the work itself . Team members

7:13

should be building each other up , not tearing each

7:15

other down , and if you notice any issue with your company's

7:17

culture , address it and correct it

7:20

before the real scaling

7:22

starts , because all you're going to do is create a

7:24

negative culture if you don't do this and

7:26

remember toxicity

7:29

kills growth . I'm

7:32

going to say that again Toxicity kills

7:34

growth . You've got to get rid of any toxicity

7:37

within your organization . If you have toxic

7:39

employees , they cannot be part of

7:41

this journey . They need to move

7:43

on . You need to make them move on

7:46

. You need to make the decision . As a business owner , as a

7:48

CEO , as a leader , I'm not going

7:50

to allow toxicity in my organization and

7:52

if this person is going to be toxic , they are no

7:54

longer going to work with us . Alright

7:56

, number three Don't assume what has always

7:58

worked will always work . Okay

8:01

, the reality is that your original

8:03

business plan has a unique

8:05

blend of factors , such as team

8:08

members , customer base and location

8:10

. Chances are the processes , the systems

8:12

you put in place worked well

8:14

because of certain factors in the beginning , but

8:17

as you grow and as you expand

8:19

, you may need to take a step

8:21

back and realize that what

8:23

got you to a certain level let's just

8:26

say what got you to one million may

8:28

not be what gets you to five million . Okay

8:30

. So you have to be willing to take a look at

8:32

any dependencies or

8:34

roadblocks that could impact that growth

8:37

and that what used to work to

8:39

get your sales , or used to work

8:41

to build your culture , or what used to work to keep

8:43

client satisfaction , may not continue working

8:46

. So you're gonna have to pinpoint

8:48

pain points , limitations in your current systems

8:50

and you're going to have to highlight those

8:52

and start to develop new processes

8:55

or enhanced processes or continuous

8:57

improvements so that you can continue

8:59

moving forward . Number

9:01

four strike a balance between

9:04

uniformity and variation . As

9:06

you discover which systems and processes are

9:08

and are not working , you will likely make some

9:10

changes , but you don't have to apply

9:13

every change to every location as you scale

9:15

. You should strike a balance between uniformity

9:17

and variation and again , obviously I'm saying this

9:19

if you have a brick and mortar location

9:22

, you can also be scaling

9:24

a business that doesn't have brick and mortar locations

9:26

, but you have employees all throughout the

9:28

country or even throughout the world . So

9:31

, regardless of whether it's physical locations

9:33

or locations of employees

9:35

, you have to be aware that

9:38

you have to strike a balance between uniformity

9:40

and variation because , let's face it , how

9:43

some people process and work things

9:45

in Georgia maybe different than California

9:47

versus the Philippines versus Sri

9:49

Lanka . So you have

9:51

to be aware of that and develop

9:53

compromises to make sure that you

9:55

strike a balance between uniformity and

9:57

the variations that are going to naturally occur

10:00

due to either geographic locations

10:02

or physical location differences . So

10:05

when we balance uniformity and

10:07

variation , we are ensuring that the

10:10

workplace , even though it's growing , is

10:12

not a free for all and there's consistencies

10:15

between groups , between

10:17

departments , between locations , and

10:20

by having that we can still make sure

10:22

, as we move forward , we're not micromanaging things . The

10:26

next thing you need to be aware of and

10:28

conscious of as you scale your business is

10:30

be mindful of internal competition . When

10:33

business leaders think of competition , they might be more

10:35

likely to consider external competition , right

10:37

Competing companies , indirect competition

10:40

outside . When you scale your business

10:42

, you will start to have internal competition

10:44

that will develop your new locations or

10:47

your expansion into different

10:49

parts of the country , your hiring of team

10:51

members might start competing

10:53

with your original ones , and you will see that

10:56

start to happen . A great

10:58

example of this is I

11:00

had a meeting this past week with

11:03

one of the largest food distributors

11:05

in the US , and

11:08

they are six billion in annual revenues , and

11:10

one of the comments that the executive team

11:12

made is that

11:14

they sell against each other . Right

11:16

, so they have a

11:18

division that sells proteins

11:21

, meat , beef , things like that that

11:24

they are procuring from farmers

11:26

and from ranches , but they also

11:28

acquired a meat division

11:30

, a meat processing company that

11:33

they've acquired , and due

11:35

to the fact that this meat processing company

11:37

tends to raise higher level

11:39

, higher , more

11:42

gourmet stakes if you will right , they're raising a higher

11:44

end cattle they

11:47

have kept that division as a standalone

11:49

division . So now you have

11:51

sales reps that are selling

11:53

more

11:56

middle of the market type stakes

11:58

and meat , and then you have the other division within

12:00

the same company selling higher end , and

12:03

so sometimes they're calling on the same customers

12:05

and they're competing against each other . So

12:08

that's a great example of internal

12:10

competition starting to happen . They're

12:13

selling against each other , so they're not selling . You know

12:16

, they're selling against Cisco and they're selling against US

12:18

Foods and all the others , but they're also selling

12:20

against themselves , and

12:22

so the sales team

12:24

has to be aware of that . So make

12:26

sure you understand and you're paying attention

12:29

to internal competition that can

12:31

start to develop as you grow your business

12:33

. All right , so those are the

12:35

things that you have to be thinking about when

12:38

you decide to start scaling your business . So let's

12:40

just recap those to make sure that your

12:42

list is complete . So , first

12:44

, you've got to make sure you have your leadership team

12:46

on board , and you have to make sure that your vision

12:48

is crystal clear and that you reinforce that

12:50

vision and , most importantly , make sure

12:52

that vision includes in it what's in

12:54

it for them , because all you're

12:56

doing is telling them you want a scale so that you can exit

12:59

as a you know multi-millionaire

13:01

in 10 years . It's going to be hard to get

13:03

your team on board with that if there's not something in it

13:05

for them . Number two , make sure you

13:07

keep a pulse on your company's culture , because

13:09

company culture can get very squirrely

13:12

, especially as you expand . Number

13:14

three don't assume what has always worked is going

13:16

to continue working . What got you to one million may

13:18

not get you to five million , so make

13:20

sure you are aware of that and you are constantly

13:22

driving continuous improvement . And

13:25

number four make sure you strike a balance between

13:27

uniformity and variation , because

13:29

as the team expands , more variables

13:32

will come in and you've got to have a framework to keep

13:34

things consistent . And number five

13:36

make sure you are mindful of internal

13:39

competition that will develop as the company grows

13:41

. You have external competition

13:43

and you will have internal competition , and that

13:46

is a normal occurrence when

13:48

you start just to grow a business . So

13:50

I hope you've enjoyed today's episode

13:52

of the Entry to Employer podcast . If you have

13:55

, would love to leave . You love if you would leave a review

13:57

. Give me a five star review , four

13:59

star review , and leave a comment . I

14:01

do take all the comments very seriously and

14:03

utilize them to improve the podcast . And

14:05

if you believe somebody would benefit from listening to this episode

14:08

, grab a link to the show

14:10

, text it over to them and say hey , I just listened to this episode

14:12

on what we need to be thinking about if we're

14:14

going to start scaling our business . I think you'd benefit from

14:17

it and send that link to them . This

14:19

will . The more you share this podcast , the

14:21

more business owners we can help impact to help

14:23

them scale and grow their business . That's

14:26

it for this week's podcast . I hope you've

14:28

enjoyed it and we will see you next week

14:30

on the Entry to Employer podcast .