231 | Is Rushing to Scale Slowing Your Growth? with Paul Zelizer

This week on the pod is a solo episode with Awarepreneurs founder Paul Zelizer.  Paul shares 3 questions to help you honestly assess whether early 2022 is the right time for you to move forward with a scaled business model (membership community, app, online course, book, etc).  And whether it is or is not, Paul has some suggestions for you based on the observations of what's worked for 1000's of other impact oriented entrepreneurs.

Resources mentioned in this episode are:

• Masami Soto interview

• Kat Houghton interview

• The Awarepreneurs Community

• Paul's coaching site

When is the Right Time to Scale Your Business in 2022? Episode with Paul Zelizer

SPEAKERS

Paul Zelizer

Paul Zelizer  00:01

Hi, this is Paul Zelizer and welcome to another episode of the Awarepreneurs podcast. This podcast is all about the intersection of three things, conscious business, social impact, and awareness practice. Today is our solo episode. It's me, Paul Zelizer, the founder of Awarepreneurs And today our topic is: Is Rushing to Scale Slowing Your Growth? Before I do that, I just wanted to say happy 2020 to everyone. It's a little weird to be back in the podcasting seat. I took a two week break and it's like, oh, yeah, wow. It's been a little while. So it's wonderful to be back. I hope you got to rest. I visited family in another state. So feeling refreshed, relaxed and ready for a new year. I hope you were able to get some restoration time in as well. So I'm thinking of two stories that helped me frame this episode. One is in episode number 191 of the Awarepreneurs podcast, we interviewed Masami Soto. And she is the co founder of the B1G1 which stands for the buy one give one business model that's become quite popular in the social entrepreneur business for good space. Pretty classic example of that is Toms Shoes, you buy a pair of shoes, they give a pair of shoes to somebody you need. The reason I'm thinking about Masami and the B1G1 - that episode was called big impact through the power of small, and B1G! recently just crossed a very momentous couple of lines in their business growth, they started in 2007. They're now 15 years old, they now have over 500 organizations that are dedicated to this business model. And together, they just recently crossed the line, over 270 million. That's right million, what they call giving impact, whether that's giving somebody a pair of shoes, or planting a tree, or providing a meal, everybody who's using this model has some clearly defined when you buy from us, we will do these certain things. And they call them giving impacts. And it's over 270 million of them. That's mind blowing. Congratulations to Masumi and the team. Notice that that interview title, big impact through the power of small, there's a lot of wisdom there. And one of the things we talked about in that episode, and one of the things that's on my mind a lot as we're going into 2022, I'm seeing a lot of people who want to leverage the power business for good, you know, get excited, and there's a certain energy that happens as we go into a new year. And in the entrepreneur space, people oftentimes are using the word scale. Many of you want to scale your business. And I like scale, I want to have it personally and I want to amplify the message of people who are doing good, we're helping significant number of people a matter of fact, that's actually one of the things we look for in a podcast gas to have what we call market tested experience, is already helping a number of people. And so I certainly understand that inclination. And I grew up Jewish. And though I'm not religious, it's certainly a big part of my cultural identity. There's a story in the wisdom tradition of certain lineages of Judaism. And there's an elder wise elder, who is talking to a group of young people who are really excited about a project that's about making the world a better place. And the wise elder says, you know, we only have a small amount of time. So we're short amount of time. So we must be sure to move very slowly. Sometimes in the wisdom tradition, this is said, you know, in order to move fast, get good at going slow. So I just wanted to, you know, have some thinking, or some good thinking to help us think together about when moving towards scale makes sense. And when actually pushing or rushing for scale can actually slow you down. Because I've seen this happen. And I've had quite a few conversations with clients and colleagues going into 2022, who are pretty excited about scale. But as I was listening, then here's certain foundations in place. And so in this episode, what I want to do is look at three questions to consider about scale. And are you ready for scale? And let me just widen back a little bit and say, the specific things I'm seeing people want to move towards scale is in their business model. You know, things like membership communities and online courses. building an app or, you know, launching a book, these are things where there's a lot of upfront work. And when you create a well, and when you have a clear audience, and you have a good relationship with that audience, you know, you write a book, and potentially millions of people can read that book, you create a membership community. And if you have, you know, courses or master classes, hundreds upon hundreds of people could take advantage of that content. So it's a very different business model than let's say, a one on one consult, consulting, or coaching or healing model. So, scale is, you know, these are some of the common ways that people that in my networks are thinking about scale. And, again, I'm a big fan of that when it makes sense. But when we had don't have certain things in place, I see people struggle and actually not make as much money and not help as many people. So let's talk about three questions that can help you kind of assess where you are in relationships at scale. In this some of these more scaled business models make sense for you? Or might there be a way to get up to speed in a way that you're actually earning more money and helping more people while you're building your capacity to then launch something at scale? So let's talk about the three questions. Let's talk about a couple of scenarios. My goal here is I want to help you help the most people but also live the best quality of life that you can in 2022. So three questions to consider when you're thinking about scaling. I'll read them, too. And then we'll unpack them a little bit. Number one, how clearly defined is your ideal client? Or two, ask yourself the question. How clearly defined is my ideal client? Number two, how well do I really know this person and their needs? Again? How well do I really know this person and their needs? And number three, what kind of evidence do I have about product market fit for the product or service that I'm thinking about offering to this person? Again? What kind of evidence do I have about product market fit? In regards to the product or service? I'm considering offering this person? So let's unpack that one by one, some suggestions or some things to think about with each of these questions? And depending on how you answer them, you might be in a position to Yes, go out and launch that thing, build it, launch it, rock 2022 with a scale business model, or maybe consider some ways you can build your ability to get there and not waste a lot of time and energy and feel frustrated, make more money, help more people while you're getting to the place that some of these more scale business models make sense for you. So question number one, again, how clearly defined is your ideal client? You know, we're in a time where I would say if you go back 20 years ago, I started my business 15 years ago now and go back aways and you know, there were just a lot less offerings in the business for good conscious business space. And it's grown a lot. And I'm thrilled about that. But what that means is, you know, back in the day, if somebody wrote a book, or did a class, and there just weren't that many classes with these kinds of approaches, with these kinds of issues, that people who listen to this podcast tend to congregate, or it was it was easier to get some traction. And a mature market just means there's more people doing this kind of work. I still think there's tons of opportunities. But what it means is, people are really, you know, there, it's not as hard to find somebody on LinkedIn, or Instagram or with a podcast talking about these issues. There's books, there's courses, there's memberships, they're much more nuanced than were available in the past. So we want to make sure that we really understand who our ideal client is, and our ideal client feels like we know them really well, because we do know that we're not pretending because we care about what is going on in their life. It's aligned with our values to help it and makes the world a better place. So it makes sense that we want to have a little more nuanced understanding of our ideal client, the marketplace is asking for that. And one way to just kind of guide you through these questions. It's, it's meant in a different way. It comes from the world of motivational interviewing, which is something I'm trained in is something we call scaling question, right? In other words, putting a one to 10 number. That's a simple way to think about scaling, although there's many more ways to do it. So how clearly defined is my ideal client? Do I really know who this person is? Both in terms of demographics, in other words, things that would show up on a census, where they live, what their occupation is, their gender, their age, their zip code, etc, etc, right? These are things that are, you know, there's boxes to check on many forms that talk about who we are identity wise, that the world sees, and can somehow quantify or create boxes to check. Those are demographics, their psychographics, the kind of attitudes and hobbies and norms and values that certain groups of people tend to live their lives by. So when you're thinking about your ideal client, thinking about that demographic, and that psychographic, you know those categories, oftentimes, I'll say to folks, you know, who are thinking about offering something with this kind of a leveraged business model? Those are things where we really want to know our ideal client quite well. And just a simple way to give yourself some idea is how many bullet points in the demographic and psychographic categories do you have in terms of, you know, getting to know this person? If you have one or two or three? My guess is, that's pretty low on that one to 10 scale. If you have seven or eight or 10, or 12, then now you're you know, have a pretty nuanced understanding of who that person another, so So, take a look at the demographics and the psychographics. And, you know, see what is what are you aware of when it comes to this person? Who's your ideal client, that you're really excited about helping? So once you know, do I actually have a clearly defined ideal client? The second question I want you to ask is, how well do I really know this person and the needs their specific needs that they have around the issue that I want to help them with? So it's Masami Soto in our team, it's about helping people who want to use the buy one, get one business model, get really good at it, learn how to use it, learn how to articulate it, well learn how to use it to get more traction and build excitement about their brand and how they're making the world a better place. Another person that came to mind from our podcast, I don't remember what episode I'll look it up. Cat Helton, who is a psychologist did a lot of work with families with autistic kids or a family member who is somewhere on the autistic spectrum, in cat had done that work for a long time and really loved those families. And when she partnered up with a tech partner, they kind of created like a Facebook for families with autism. And it's, you know, HIPAA compliant, it's, you know, in other words, it's confidential, and it's secure. And basically, families would share what's going on. And then the software would share resources, as well as other families could share resources. Here's something that helped us when we were dealing with something similar. But that was a book or a kind of therapy or a nutritional change or lifestyle thing, right. So it's both the software provides resources in the community provides resources, before cat had built that software should work. That was sort of her saucepot, her clinical training years and years of working with families with autism. And she had a pretty good sense of what the common problems, what the repeating patterns were, what the big questions were, what the challenges were. So she knew whose families were who are dealing with folks on the spectrum. And she knew with some significant nuance who these folks were and what their big challenges were. So, second question is, okay, do you know who they are with some nuance? And second, do you really know this person in their knee? And again, think about a scale of one to 10 cat and I don't know where she would put herself but listening to her talk about how much passion downbeat experience she had, to me, it sounded like a nine or a 10. Right. And they didn't do a ton when they launched the software for the company. They didn't do a ton of market research because they were counting on the fact that cat already had many, many, many years and worked with many, many, many families with these specific issues. So if that's not true for you, then don't stress Right, keep breathing. But let's be honest about that. And maybe now in early 2022, isn't the best time to go full force into a very scaled business model matter fact, I would encourage you to hang on, and I'm gonna offer some suggestions in a minute. So just be mindful of where you are, and not try to pretend that you're somewhere else, because I'm seeing some folks, you know, rushing partially because they see colleagues launching things at scale. Partially because sometimes business coaches and consultants, you know, get people really excited about scale, it's amazing to think about helping a lot of people. If you're interested in social entrepreneurship and conscious business, you're wired to want to help people. And that's a good thing, in my opinion. But if we're not mindful, we can sometimes get ahead of ourselves and actually slow down your ability to do Masami Soto calls. Big Impact through the power of small. Alright, so the third question, let's take a look at that. If you do if your answer is honestly, I don't really have dialed in who my ideal client is, and or I don't really know what their needs are. But some degree in nuance, okay, then just hold that thought, push pause, and trying to run out there and build or sell this like, very leveraged thing. So just hold on, I have some suggestions for you in a minute. If you do know them pretty well. Then the third question I want to ask you is what evidence do I have that product market fit is in place for me with the product or service that I'm building? So that membership community as you start telling people about it, you know, oh, my gosh, that sounds amazing. I'm so excited when cat was going out telling people about this new software, she got a lot of interest. And people said, Please, please tell me when that's going live. If that's what you're experiencing? Okay, great. That's not what you're experiencing. Hmm. Okay, I thought I knew these folks pretty well. But maybe there's a way in which the product or the service I'm talking about building, or that I've been iterating on isn't quite there yet. So let me not, you know, rush out again, I put all this energy, product market fit is such a huge focus for me in the past couple of years, when I work with people whose business ideas, habit, they grow with ease, it's fun. It's not that stressful. I mean, there's still work to do, but it gets done. And people respond and they make a good living. Life is good. And Product Market Fit isn't there. Just uphill all the way. And it never changes. Because that fundamental energy as you haven't quite dialed in what you're offering to your ideal client, and how it helps their specific needs. So what evidence might you have? And on that same one to 10 scale? Like, is it? Uh, oh, my gosh, you know, as soon as I go live people, I got a line of people who are super excited to hear about it, and can't wait to buy this thing? Or is it telling people but I'm not getting a lot of, you know, it's like, oh, that sounds cool. But people aren't really responding with interesting, this is for me, and I want to buy it. So think about that one to 10. When you put those three scaling questions together, how clearly defined is my ideal client? How well do I really know this person? And what kind of evidence do I see from them that product market fit is in place? And you put those three together that could give you a tremendous, you know, sense, but is the scaled offering in 2022? Are these the beginning of 2022? A great idea for you right now. If it is, go for it. And please let me know how I can help. If you're seeing, you know, lower numbers than is ideal. If you're seeing fives and sixes or twos and threes and one, then let's address that, before you go off and put a lot of time energy and money into creating something scaled in early 2020. If you have some idea of who you want to serve, if you don't, that's a whole other question. And you know, getting clear on your idea, and your who I call it, your ideal client. That's a little bit beyond what I can cover in this particular episode. So, you know, feel free to send me an email and there's other resources or we can talk about your situation. But you have some idea who you want to serve, and you don't know them well yet. I just did a session with somebody recently, and they were reconfiguring their business and part of the work that we were doing was helping this person dial in on their ideal client, and they got super align, they looked at their values and found a way to sync it up with what they were offering. And it's connected to how they want to make the world a better place. And these folks, you know, have specific needs, and they have a decent, you know, they make a decent livelihood, for the most part. So they'll be able to afford to buy products or services was a nine step. But one of the things we noticed is this person didn't yet have a great degree of familiarity. It's not like they knew hundreds of people like this, they, they were adjacent to this audience, and they knew some, but they didn't know him tremendously well, right. And this person had a scaled offering in mind that they wanted to bring into the world in 2022. One of the things that we just, you know, we explored and this person decided to do is to get paid to learn, this is one of my favorite things. If you don't know the person, you can do informational interviews, where you sit down with them and ask them questions about what it's like to be them. And some of the issues that they struggle with, what are some of their challenges, etc, that's great. If you have a skill set, and you can find a way to provide value to that audience, either by working for somebody in that space, go be a marketing assistant, or business or consulting firm that worked with these kinds of folks, or a company, you know, find a way to provide value. Or if you have skills where you can consult or coach or do some kind of support work for folks who are in that scenario in a way that you feel comfortable around. That's what this person decided to do. You know, before I started a membership community, called the wire printers community, which I, you know, did a lot of one on one sessions. It, it took extra work, especially at the beginning. And you know, I but I was able to leverage what my training was a master's degree in psychology and training in modalities like, you know, motivational interviewing, and short term therapy, which coaching borrowed, hugely from etc, etc. I knew how to support one person at a time, even if I, you know, had to do a decent amount of work between sessions to wrap my head around the business goals, as I started working with conscious business owners and social entrepreneurs, so that that's a case where I was getting paid to learn. And I wasn't ready to offer a membership community and know what the master classes were and all the technologies that was too complicated, but I could help one person and as I started to help one, and then another, and another, and then I started my first mastermind group, and at one point, I had three of them all for conscious business owners and social entrepreneurs. Over the years, I start working with quite a few people, and it doesn't have to take years, but you get the idea. I was getting paid to learn, I was getting paid to help people. And then when you're ready on your terms, when it makes sense for your situation, then think about the more leveraged offerings, the more scaled off. So I know that that might not be as shiny object and as sexy, as Oh, it's a new year, get your scale, get your fill in the blank scaled offering out there this year, right? If it is, you know, check, check, check. I know who I want to serve. I know what their needs are, I have a product or service that fits their needs, and people are excited about it. Go for it. If not, I want to be a voice of ease and a pathway out of some of the noise in the marketplace that you know might not be a might not have your best interest at heart. I hope listeners that you know me well enough by now to know I care about you. I want you to be around for the long haul. And if it takes six months or a year or two years of a last scaled offering, but you're making money, you're learning, you're making growth towards what the ultimate product or service is. It's going to help a lot of people. I think that's a fabulous thing. It's exactly what Masami Soto was suggesting about big impact through the power of small when we're starting. We're starting and to rush past where we are in the process. Oftentimes, we can do damage to our brand. But also we just don't get the results because we're not there yet. You don't know the space. You don't know the language. You don't have the exact product market fit. So give yourself compassion and let yourself in be where you are on this journey. And let's try to make sure that you are thinking about scale in a way that fits your situation where you are right now. And when you're on your deathbed, you're looking back and say, that was the right decision for me at this time. So if you could use a thought partner in this whole question of scale, and coming up with a business model that fits you and where you're at in the journey, I offer a strategy session package. It's affordable. You don't have to sign months of coaching, and 1000s and 1000s of dollars. It's a 90 minute session where we do some work before the session, we go deep in the session, unpack where you are, who you want to help where things are in terms of product market fit, how will you understand their needs, and then help chart out a very specific tailor to your situation plan about how you can move the needle both on your impact and your income goals. Take a look at it. It's called a strategy session package. And if you have any questions, it's a fit for you. Please, I'd love to hear from you. So for now, I just want to say thank you so much for listening. Please take really good care in these intense times. And thank you for all the positive impact that you're working for in our world.