Do you feel that the progress you make in your business really just amounts to small, quick wins?
You think “I’m finally getting there!” when these small wins happen, but the results are usually short-lived, and you find you’re back to where you started, or feeling even more depleted and exhausted.
Most operations lack strategy and simplicity and end up keeping a business from scaling sustainably instead of enabling it.
There is so much bad advice being given to coaching, consulting, and service-based businesses that leads to unnecessary complexity, and that causes things to be dependent on you instead of getting you out of the day-to-day operations.
What does sustainable really mean?
If you only focus on short-term results, you will likely find yourself struggling with cash flow, feeling like you are on a roller coaster of revenue and constantly in a place where you're working too hard. That is the exact opposite of what we want.
So how do you actually create sustainable success?
Really, this starts with getting clear on what your version of a Rich Fulfilled Life is - What does THAT mean?
Very simply, it's spending time in the business on the things that are most important while also creating the space for the things that are important outside the business.
When you look forward at what your rich fulfilled life and vision is, not just now, but into the future, what do you need to lean out and let go of in order to make that possible?
Answering some of these questions below will help you start to think about your definition of what a Rich Fulfilled Life is to you…
- What do you want to create protected space for?
- How many hours a week do you want to work?
- When do you want to take time off?
- What does your ideal workday time and structure look like?
- What are those things that fuel you that are your zone of genius that make you just feel so alive ?
- What are personal activities in your life that you want to create space for?
Defining this Rich Fulfilled Life vision is the beginning point in ALL my programs since this becomes the anchor you reverse-engineer and make decisions from. Think of it this way - the things that you have done have brought you to where you are today. And so, if you don't change things, you're going stay right where you are today. Instead, you want to be thinking about what can you do differently, and the best way to make those decisions is to put yourself in the mindset of the person who's at the next level that you want to be at (aka: the person you will be, living your RFL)
I want to add an important note before we go even deeper, and this is that I truly believe you can grow and scale your businesses in your own way.
However, if you're really serious about scaling your business, I have found there are five critical, non-negotiable components to setting up your Scaling Ecosystem that fall under the acronym SPSTI.
They are...
- Strategy
Do you have an aligned business model to support your vision, your rich fulfilled life, and your profit targets? This means looking at your offer suite, at your resources, your partners, your financial resources, your team resources, your marketing, your sales funnels, your channels. This is looking at everything that you do and all the decisions that you make about how you are going to go after Your Vision in your business. - Planning
This is all about connecting the vision you have established (above) to the day-to-day activities that you do in the business. Planning is where you have goals and activities that align back to your vision. This is how you and your team can work within the capacity that you have and deliver what needs to be done (without overworking). Further, having a solid plan means you know you're focused on the right things, but you also have the ability to pivot and adapt when things change. - Systems
Are you using systems to work smarter, to streamline, to optimize, to automate? How are you leveraging systems to repeat the results that you want in your business and to achieve the outcomes that you want, but faster and better? Your systems include everything and everyone you need to successfully deliver results. - Team
Very simply, how do you lead your team? And do you have right people In the right roles at the right levels, and moreover, are you creating a high-performing team culture where everything is not dependent on you? Looking closer at your team is important for your scaling ecosystem because a team is a really big expense. And because they're a big expense, a lot of times people don't hire people or don't hire the right people. Keeping too much on your own plate will not only end up costing you revenue lost but will leave you feeling exhausted. - Insight
Finally, let's look at insight. As a business owner, you're making small evolutionary changes and improvements in the business regularly. However, are you conducting regular reviews and retrospectives? Are you measuring what matters and making data-driven decisions? And as you're making those decisions, are you looking at not just the quantitative data, but also the qualitative data? In doing so you can achieve predictive ability with confidence to see what may be coming in the business based on what has happened historically.
So, what is the point of all of the successes that we are trying to achieve in our business if we don't ever get to enjoy it, if the only thing that we do is hustle our butts off, work around the clock, and end up so stressed out and unable to enjoy this incredible business that we built?
Getting clear on what a Rich Fulfilled Life means for you is the critical first step - making sure that you have the space for the things that are the most important to you, both inside your business and outside your business, This will allow for any ecosystem that you create for scaling in your business needs to be rooted in that Rich Fulfilled Life.
Want to dive deeper?
I invite you to take the free scalability assessment which will help you look at how simple, how sustainable, and how scalable your business currently is. It includes personalized recommendations of where to focus to get your time back, increase your impact, increase your profits, and ultimately step into your Rich Fulfilled Life.
by Crista Grasso
Crista Grasso is the go-to strategic planning expert for leading global businesses and online entrepreneurs when they want to scale. Known as the "Business Optimizer", Crista has the ability to quickly cut through noise and focus on optimizing the core things that will make the biggest impact to scale a business simply and sustainably. She specializes in helping businesses gain clarity on the most important things that will drive maximum value for their clients and maximum profits for their business. She is the creator of the Lean Out Method, 90 Day Lean Out Planner, and host of the Lean Out Your Business Podcast.