What We Learned From "Un-Scaling" This Year
Oct 25, 2024In a recent episode of "Keep What You Earn," Shannon delved into an unconventional yet effective business strategy: unscaling. This year, Shannon's focus was on simplification—stripping down operations to focus on what truly matters. This journey led to the revelation that unscaling can be as impactful as scaling, especially for early-stage businesses.
Shannon distinguishes between growth and scaling. Growth involves adding resources to increase revenue, while scaling means multiplying revenue without a proportional increase in costs or effort. Many early-stage businesses stress too much about scaling when they should focus on growth. For instance, Shannon's team initially set up barriers to accessing her directly, assuming she couldn’t handle an influx of sales calls. However, when she made herself more accessible, more meaningful sales conversations followed.
One of Shannon's key lessons is the importance of maintaining a personal touch. By flipping her onboarding process and making it easier for potential clients to book calls with her, she found that the human element significantly boosted engagement. "The easiest way for people to purchase our services and work with me is to meet me as soon as possible," Shannon explains.
Another crucial insight is prioritizing high-impact activities over automation. Shannon emphasizes spontaneous gifting and personalized communication. While these actions aren’t scalable, they significantly boost customer engagement and loyalty. Additionally, Shannon realized that her business had overbuilt processes designed for hypothetical future growth. Simplifying these processes allowed her to focus on current client needs, thereby improving overall client experience.
Instead of building elaborate systems for a hypothetical future, Shannon advises handling the current scale effectively. This approach allows for immediate feedback and adjustments, ensuring that systems evolve with the business’s needs. For business owners looking to apply Shannon’s insights, the first step is to assess and simplify current operations. Ensure you’re accessible to your clients, and prioritize activities that significantly impact customer satisfaction.
Shannon’s experience underscores that success isn't strictly tied to scaling. Sometimes, taking a step back to simplify and personalize can provide more substantial and sustainable growth. As she says, "Do what's not scalable until it's not scalable." This episode of "Keep What You Earn" offers valuable insights for any business owner feeling pressured to scale prematurely. In an entrepreneurial world obsessed with scaling, Shannon Weinstein's refreshing perspective reminds us of the power of the personal touch and practical simplification.
What you'll hear in this episode:
03:59 Making it easier for clients to meet Shannon.
07:00 Build scalable systems; include personal follow-up calls.
09:35 Achieve growth to scale effectively and strategically.
12:43 Manually handle outreach to stand out effectively.
If you like this episode, check out:
Don't Make This Huge Mistake with Goal Setting
Don’t Stop Playing the Long Game
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