Nicole: Hi, and welcome to the Lead Better Podcast. I'm your host, Nicole Harlow, and I want to start a little differently this time because this is something I don't think I've ever fully set out loudly. So for a long time, every time my business started to grow, like really grow in a way that I had been working towards things like more clients, more revenue, more momentum. I would always hit some kind of wall. And sometimes it looked like burnout, sometimes it was anxiety that was would keep me up at night. Sometimes it was this feeling of just being completely overwhelmed and not wanting to look into my phone or not wanting to look in my inbox, like just complete shut it and just pretend like it doesn't exist.
Nicole: And sometimes it was physical, like my neck and shoulders would start hurting, and I would feel like my body was physically just pushing it away. And if I'm being honest, like there was times when it was all three at once. And I want to share this with you because at the time, and it's just happened in waves, it's not like it just happened once. There you'll go through seasons as a CEO, as an entrepreneur, business owner, whichever term you really like, connect with. You'll go through seasons, and this was something that I could see and I can look back and I can see that it was habitual, right? Every time the business would grow, I would have a mini or a big breakdown, depending on the growth, really.
Nicole: And it was confusing because on paper, everything looked like it was working. Like the business was growing, people were coming in, things are moving in a direction that I had really wanted for so long. So that seems like that would be an exciting time. But behind the scenes, it didn't really feel good. It felt I think if I'm honest, it really felt like everything depended on me in a way that was just not sustainable. And it took me a really long time to unpack what was actually happening there. I kept thinking the problem was me. Like I needed better time management, I needed more discipline, I needed to just get better at handling more.
Nicole: That kind of spiraled into thinking that I needed a team, building a bigger team. And then the problem was still me because I felt like I was a bad manager. I would want to just even just the thought of managing my team was stressful to have to go in and just figure out like what do they need to do. So there's I feel like there's so many levels. And I want to share this with you because I eventually realized that there was one thing in my business that was completely missing. And missing until I want to say embarrassingly, until the last year.
Nicole: Because if you know a little bit about me, you know that for 10 years I ran and I'm still running a branding agency and a web design agency. And that was just feast or famine on the brand better side. I've sold over $1 million of sales. Maybe it's close to 2 million. I feel like I have to just go and do those numbers because it'd be really fun to know that. I'm an introvert, I don't like sales. It's a cool number to be able to know that I've sold that many people in yeses. So think about how many sales calls were no's, right? So we're talking like just hundreds and hundreds of sales calls at this point. But that business was always feast or famine.
Nicole: And we would get like a flurry, everything would always come in waves. So we would get like the feast part is like we'd get a ton of work all at one time, and that would be so overwhelming because now there's all of these clients that we need to create deliverables for and the team to manage. And yeah, so leading us up to right now, there was one thing in my business that was completely missing. And once I fixed it, everything changed. Not just how the business grows, but how it feels to grow it. And that's really what I want to talk about today because I want this to be relatable to you trying to scale your practice.
Nicole: So if you're trying to scale your practice, and that might mean getting to 20k months, 30k, 50, and beyond, there's one thing that you need to fix first. And I want to start like in the past, I didn't really talk so much about the money, but I feel like that's something that you're gonna hear me talking about more, these like 20k months, 30k months, 50k months. It's not so much about the dollar amount. And we could do six figure months beyond, right? It's not the dollar amount so much as it's an anchor point to like understanding what you need to do to get to that point.
Nicole: So I think scaling your practice can feel pretty vague and growing. But what does that mean? What does that mean for you? Where are you at now and where would you like to grow to? And what does you know a 50k month feel like for yourself and your family and for your team? For some people, that still feels like breaking even, right? For another person, that could be like living like a queen at 50k months. So I don't want to use these numbers as like anchor points. So I would say apply this to your business in the way that's what would scaling mean for you? Like what would be that number that feels like if you you might be at 5k per month right now and you'd love to get to 15 or 20, you might be at 20 and feel like 50 is reachable or six figure.
Nicole: So let's just use these numbers as an anchor point as like a big step for you in your business. So if you want to get to that scaling your practice to that number, especially if you're going from 5 to 10k a month to 50k plus or even 20, 30, 50 plus, there is one thing that you need to fix first. And it was the thing that I fixed. And most people don't. Instead, they focus on getting more leads. You think you have to post more content, you gotta like constantly tweak your offer, you're on like shiny object syndrome, so you're just like jumping over to the next thing all the time. You might be trying to be more consistent with marketing.
Nicole: And none of those things are wrong, but they're actually not the first thing. Because if your business isn't set up to handle your growth, more leads don't actually solve the problem. They actually just put more pressure on something that's already stretched. What you need to fix first is the fact that your business still depends on you to function. And I don't mean that in some abstract way, this in a really real, everyday sense where you're the one following up, you're answering questions, you're keeping track of who needs what, you're making sure that nothing slips between the cracks.
Nicole: And if you have a team, you might just be the one where all of the decisions they go up the chain to you, right? Or you may be the one that's still holding all the pressure, right? You're like the pressure valve. So even though the team might be doing the implementation and the deliverables and they're like they're working at the front desk, like all of the pressure for the business like still relies on you. So if I sat down and just watched how your business runs for a day, I'd probably see a lot of small moments where something only happens because you stepped in and made it happen.
Nicole: And that works at the beginning. That was like my whole experience for a really long time as a CEO, is feeling like things only are gonna work because I step in and make something happen. And that works in the beginning. That's probably how you got your first 5K, your 10K, even 15K months. You're close to everything, you're in all the conversations, you're making sure all the people are taken care of, you're building a team, maybe at this point. But at a certain point, that stops being an advantage, and that's really where you start being the bottleneck because now your growth is directly tied to how much you can personally hold.
Nicole: And that's where things start to feel heavier because things are still routing through you, and you start to feel it in small ways. Like you're checking messages more often than you want to. You think about follow-ups when you're not working. Like it's like the business in loop in your mind, like never turns off. You have this constant awareness that there's things that you need to stay on top of. It feels like you're just holding all the proverbial plates, you know, at one time. When you think you're growing, there's a part of you that knows it would just mean more of that. That's all it was for me.
Nicole: But until I that was a big part of structuring and considering how to structure lead better, learning from the brand better mistakes and saying instead of having a high-ticket offer where people work with us once, how do we the first question was like, how do we move into monthly recurring revenue? And then the question after that, which is with the stage that I'm at right now in building, is like how to make that scalable because it's still the first iteration of Lead Better was still very in very deliverables heavy. Like we have clients that we create things for every month, but it's based on the Lead Better platform. So that's awesome because we have that is the scalable part of this model.
Nicole: And so that's what I've been toying with as I'm still working on like how to build a more completely scalable business, something that eventually I can step out of completely because I think part of my goal is not to not work, but to have the business lead me, need me yet less and less. So that's one of having freedom, and part of the freedom for me is the business leads needs me less and less. But you feel like as it grows, it really starts to feel like scaling comes with a cost. And for me, that cost was like heading me in the wrong direction.
Nicole: Every time we grew, like it was literally felt like the opposite of what I wanted in my business. I started a business to to be able to have freedom, but also to enjoy life. And the amount of pressure and stress that it would put on me would make me subconsciously not want to grow any bigger than like just the smallest little business. And that wasn't that's not what supports myself and my family. It's not what supports my dream, it's not what supports my freedom and my mission. So I always feel like it's going in the wrong direction.
Nicole: And you might think that the solution is to get like more organized. This is where you kind of start like thinking I have to hire someone, I just have to manage it all better. But the shift is actually much simpler. And the shift is that you have to stop being the system. So what I find with most of the practitioners that I work with, and that this is myself as well, is you are literally the system. You're not just the bottleneck, you are the system. But your business needs something underneath it that handles the things that you're currently holding.
Nicole: And when I say system, I don't mean something overly complicated or overly technical. I mean a way that your business runs where things happen because they're built that way, not because you remembered or you stepped in or someone on your team had to remember or you had the pressure of did this person on my team remember? It runs because it's built that way. So instead of you following up, there's something that follows up. Instead of you answering the same questions, there's something that handles that. Instead of leads sitting in different places, there's a clear path that they move through. And once that's in place, everything changes.
Nicole: The system changes everything. Because now growth doesn't add pressure in the same way. And we could also have a side conversation, maybe this will be another podcast episode about like how to design your offerings, how to design your packages and your offerings in a way that like helps the scale too. Because the first layer is having this growth system in place. But I think another layer after that is really like how to like position package your offerings so that they are scalable as well. Because once that system's in place and everything changes, growth doesn't add pressure in the same way. It just moves through a structure that's already there.
Nicole: I am like ruthless at this stage of my business at just looking and saying, like, where is, and this is where I'll quote Alex Hormozi because I think he's been really like, like him or not like him, he does have some really like for me perspective changing things that I really refer back to like over and over in my business. And one of the things that he said in a video that really stuck with me, what if you this is like a thought exercise. If I was just like, hey, I want you tomorrow to start spending $1,000 a day on ads. And if you're already spending $1,000 a day, just amp that up, right, to a number that feels like what no, ten thousand dollars a day or something like that.
Nicole: So if I was like, hey, what if I was to coach you to start running a thousand dollars a day to ads, like where would your system break? Because that's where the constraint is. For me, that was really easy to see, like even with lead better. If I could start doing a thousand dollars in ads tomorrow, I didn't have my offer set up to be able to work with that many people. That would be even to do that many sales calls, to do that many onboardings, to have that many marketing clients, to build that many systems, right?
Nicole: So I was able to look at iteration V1 of Lead Better and say, well, this still isn't scalable because if we were to get 20 more clients, which seems like that would be a bonus and I would be super excited about that, that actually just causes so much stress in my psyche because we just don't have the resources to handle that many clients right now. But also, like I don't have the desire to manage a team that's that big because that's just not that's not part of my goal.
Nicole: So back to the drawing board like, how do we sell lead better in a way that is exciting and feels fun and helpful for our clients? And that's where I really had just the idea that's coming in the last couple of weeks of okay, we have the platform, that is our biggest set a scalable asset because we could literally have as many customers on the platform as we want it. And then the question is, okay, how to support them? What kind of resources would they need? Okay, but I'd like it to be a little bit more. Then we're just positioning ourselves as a platform, and that's not really a hundred percent what I want.
Nicole: I want to be able to have like I've built businesses over the years with a high touch experience. Like brand better is very high touch, podcast better is very high touch, right? You record the podcast and we listen and we're like we're a part of people's businesses. And so I'm not really personally interested in having like a SaaS company where it's like we just sell the platform like a MailChimp or Kartra or Keep where it's anonymous. Like I want it to still have a high touch feeling to it. So that's where the idea of running these like group cohorts where we would, I would bring in a group where it could be a group of 20, 30, 50 plus people, move them through how to build this gross system, like I'm talking about in this podcast.
Nicole: It's like the foundation of what you need, the system. Use no automations in our platform, use AI tools if that's part of your vibe. And no, not everybody is like wanting to use AI for their business, but it is something that can definitely supercharge your business. And then how to install like a 24-7 coach who's able to like within the lead better platform, like answer questions on like how to build lead magnets, but also co exist as like a business mentor at the same time that's trained on your business. So I'm like, I want this to be more high touch than your average SaaS platform because I think that's what it's really gonna help us stand apart, besides the fact that we connect with a HIPAA compliant EHR, like with Practice Better and Serbo right now. So that's something that nobody else really has too.
Nicole: So we've got the platform, but I'm like, I want it to personalize and high touch without everything needing to rely on my energy and my brain power and then even relying on a team. So just a little segue right there. But I like to talk through like my thinking process around like building the business because I think it can help and there are some parallels to like building a practice. And I think for me it all comes down to that question. If I was to ramp up my marketing efforts, I think ad spend is a really easy lever to say because it's just, oh, if we were to just throw a thousand dollars a day into ads, which would presumably increase the amount of people who are interested in your services, would you actually be able to facilitate that?
Nicole: Because unless you have that system in place that can facilitate that, like you don't have any business like throwing a thousand dollars or even a hundred dollars a day in ads unless you have the system built. So I want to help people grow that system. That's really come down to just like the main thing I feel the most excited about with Lead Better. And so I'm just talking you through my process of like how can I help more people without totally burning myself out like I've done in the past. So, like how to be respectful to myself and to the fact that I want to have a day too. I want to, and I also don't want to be in front of the computer all the time.
Nicole: So while I'm building, I want to make sure that through this podcast, this is a place where I'm I'm just kind of sharing like my own thought process and also like how I'm building, why I'm building. And so the first part of the for me, the that thinking, yeah, the thought experiment was like, okay, I feel like I launched lead better and got myself into the same situation that I was in with Brand Better. It's more positive because it's monthly recurring revenue. So clients do have a reason to stay with us every month, and that's really cool. And we love the clients that we work with. I'm it's not about the work itself.
Nicole: It's like I look at that and I go, okay, I couldn't take on 20 more people unless I build a bigger team. And I don't want to be an agency with a big team. I'd rather keep it small, I'd rather keep it really scalable. And so then I'm like, okay, the group program thing, I'm really excited about that. And then it's like, how do you add in within the group program things like automations and AI tools? Cause I want to be able to use those in a really cool way for the business. And that's where the idea of I thought this is something that I could see our clients and customers using within Lead Better for to kind of supercharge their program, like where each person that comes into your program has their like individual coach.
Nicole: Like it's an AI coach run off of the Lead Better platform, trained on your methodology and your frameworks and you know how to answer questions. And it really can help people in the over-reliance of you and they're able to literally trust in the systems and the framework, right? So this is an idea unfolding. We're definitely gonna be implementing it within the first cohort that's coming up at the end of this month. Grab get on the waiting list if this seems like something that you like to work together to do to build this system.
Nicole: But just wanted to just talk a little bit more, just wrap it up around this first thing that I feel like you need to build if you're scaling. It's you know, the I think this building a system and having the structure foundation, it's really is the difference between a business that feels like it it works, but it's a lot to manage. I feel like that's where I've always been in business, is it feels like the business works, but it's a lot to manage. And adding more clients would feel like it's just more to manage. And adding more team members would also feel like it's more to manage. And a business that actually feels scalable.
Nicole: And most people don't realize how much mental energy they're using, just holding it all together. That was like my main storyline. It's not always visible, but it's always there. It's this pervasive loop that's always open. It's the background noise of your business. And when that gets removed, it's not just about saving time, it's actually be about creating space. Space to think, space to lead, space to actually grow the business instead of constantly managing. It could be space to build more businesses, it could be space to just do more clinical stuff that you love, right?
Nicole: What I know about practitioners is they tend to fall into different camps, right? Like some want to be thought leaders, some want to be business builders, some want to be clinicians, some like the systems, right? And like putting all like the pieces together. So if you're in that place right now where things are working, but it still feels heavier than it should, this is definitely where I would look first. I don't think it's your content, I don't think it's your offer, I don't think it's your lead flow. Those are all things we could work on after this, but I want you to look at where your business is still depending on you.
Nicole: Like where do you where are you missing that system? Where are you the one making things happen? Where are things inconsistent unless you step in where you keep repeating yourself? You got to keep track of things mentally because those are the exact places that need to be replaced if you want to scale. It is impossible to scale otherwise. It's not fully impossible, but the sacrifice that you make is yourself, like your sanity, your stress level, and then how that that dominoes into like health hormones, family relationships. There's just a lot, right? And you know that. If you're listening, you know that.
Nicole: And the moment you start building something underneath that, everything does get easier. Your marketing works better, your conversions improve, your time opens up, and growth just really stops feeling like something you have to brace for. It just becomes something your business can actually handle. And that's what I'm working towards. I feel like I'm closer there than I ever have been. It's what I've seen the practitioners that I've worked with over the years install in their practices to be able to actually scale this.
Nicole: And if you're listening and you're thinking, yep, this is exactly where I'm at, whether you're at 5K and wanting to get to those 50K months or you're at 20 and you want to get to six figures, right? I want to invite you into something that I'm hosting. It's a live training called the 5K to 50k shift, how to scale your practice without becoming the bottleneck. And I said becoming the bottleneck, you may already be the bottleneck. Inside that, I'm gonna walk you through what this actually looks like in a real business. Not just the idea of building a system, but what that system actually is, what it needs to include, and really where my most practices are breaking down without realizing it.
Nicole: Because once you see it clearly, you start to understand why things feel the way they do right now and what actually needs to change if you want to grow without everything falling back on you. What we're gonna do is we're gonna look at the exact points where your business is still depending on you, how it's slowing down your growth, and what it looks like to start shifting out of that in a way that actually holds as you scale. This is really the linchpin that like underpins like it's the webinar is the framework of how do you scale your practice without becoming the bottleneck, obviously. And with actually how about enjoying your life? How about enjoying your success?
Nicole: That was really the one of the biggest aha moments for me was like, we may have just had a like 60K, 70K month. That's freaking awesome, but I don't feel like I get to enjoy it at all. So if you're somewhere in that five to 10k range or even a bit beyond that, and you know you want to grow, but you don't want more chaos or more pressure or more in your plate, this is gonna be a really important conversation. So I want you to grab your spot in the link in the show notes. Come join me live. And I think this is a really important message that I hope that when you've listened to today's episode and has really sparked something in you. And I will see you on the next episode. Thanks a lot and have a great day. Bye.