Subscribe
Share
Share
Embed
Unbound is a weekly podcast, created to help you achieve more as a leader. Join Chris DuBois as he shares his growth journey and interviews others on their path to becoming unbound. Delivered weekly on Thursdays.
0:00
On today's episode, how you can scale growth and impact as you plan the architecture of your business. Are you a leader trying to get more from your business in life? Me too. So join me as I document the conversations, stories and advice to help you achieve what matters in your life. Welcome to unbound with me, Chris DuBois. The author Shalit is the growth architect and founder of the woman's code and provides visionaries and leaders with proven strategies, blueprints and growth maps that provide clear steps to improve business systems strengthen leadership skills and teams so that our clients and audiences can maximize profits and scale their impact. She is the podcast hosts of the business growth architect show and listen amongst the top 100 global thought leaders by people hum and one of the 50 must follow women entrepreneurs by HuffPost. Beata Welcome to unbound I'm so
0:56
excited to be here, Chris. I can't wait. Yeah.
1:01
This This episode has been a long time coming. Oh, yes,
1:04
yes, yes, yes. But they say all things that take time a good, right.
1:08
Yeah. And so here we are, let's, let's jump right into your origin story.
1:14
Well, you know, I, I've been in the creative arts my entire life. So I started out as a photographer, I realized pretty quickly that I was better at the business side of things. And then took my, my creative talents and helped visionaries and thought leaders in the simplest way to land planes. Because I've, I've always been, I've always found it painful when you see these colorful, non conforming, crazy, intelligent, smart, talented people. And then they can't for the life of it land a plane, you know, and then they circle their plane and their circle their plan, eventually, they crash and burn. So I have been helping really people to grow their authority and scale impact. And my impact is measured in how many people I helped make their impact. So people would typically come to me are, you know, people that want to, that have ideas, and they need to figure out a business model, or they need to figure out what their differentiation factor is and their signature growth system, or they need to figure out what their plan is. And I was afforded Elle magazine went to the United States emigrated, became a photographer, representative, and still photography production company, then I lost everything, you know, I had what we call the decade of bad luck, build up a stock photography syndication for architecture, interior and celebrity homes, a licensing business license this into 97 countries. And that's a company that I eventually sold for Bill Gates for millions of dollars and had a really nice exit. Awesome.
2:54
So first question is, I guess, why growth architect.
2:59
So when I think about what business owners come in, they struggle with it is the idea that they're so unique. So yes, you're extremely unique. But the way businesses are built is pretty predictable. There are many different business models, and we can customize this business models, but the components are not different. So it's like architecting growth if you want to. So I want you to imagine that when you build a house, right? That's why I came to the term growth architect. You have to build a foundation, you know, foundation. No, boy, no, it's not good. Then you need to decide how many people need to live in this house. Are you looking for 1000? Square foot? Is it a cabin? Is it a getaway? Is it a second home? Is it the main residence? Is the mother in law going to be there? What are all the things that need to go in this house? That's deciding the house and you need to look at the style of the house? What fits you Is it a Victorian a modern? Is it a contemporary? Is it a traditional a townhouse? What is it? And then you you know, once you've sort of built these these parameters, then we go to the furnishings? I mean, are we going to go high end, we're going to take cooler appliances, and the MILA whatever $5,000 Washing machine are you going to put the General Electric $500 washing machine and so there's a lot of decisions that you need to make to architect the way you want to live. So there's a lot of decisions you need to make on how to architect how you want to work. And that's why I decided to call it growth architecture.
4:41
Right now, I bet there's a lot of questions you're asking, excuse me that business owners haven't really thought about it at that point, even if they could be years down the road, right having run their business, and they just haven't thought about these things because they didn't necessarily prep. I guess for the business they they're probably good at something maybe They built something. They said, Oh, I can turn this into a business and they started executing. So what kind of things? Are you actually asking them? Like business wise, right, in order to get them thinking the right way? Because
5:10
I'm gonna ask the most shocking of all questions first. What do you want? And then typically I get kind of, uh huh. Well, funny that you asked that. I've been wondering the same thing. So if I look at this question, which is really relatively simple. So when your wife asks you, Well, Chris, what do you want? Then you go, huh? What do I want? Well, I want you to love me, I want you to respect me, I want you to care for me. I want phenomenal intimacy, I want connection, I want us you know, if you choose to have children to be excellent parent, I want us to have good communication. So you kind of like start to thinking through the list. When you have a business and somebody says, What do you want, people don't know what they can ask for. Because the business code, the existing business code, how it is written, says, you're going to have to work hard and a lot, you have to sacrifice everything. You should be lucky if your wife will still talk to you in five years, while you go through the building stage of this. And your children recognize you. And it comes at a high price. But that's the only way you can make money. So that's what we've been programmed to think. So now if I say what do you want? It's almost a country victory question to the parameters that we've been told that we can have, you know, son, you know, if you want that house, you got to work really hard. And you got to be really committed. But we really focused on that. Because I had to work really hard. And, and you have to work really hard. And my father had to work really hard. Okay, so we are programmed in our DNA to believe a certain set of predetermined assumptions that other people have. And now somebody comes and says, What do you want? And it renders us helpless? So the first question really is, and this is, you know, a question for all your listeners right now. What is it that you want? Do you want balance? Do you want to grow your business through speaking through podcasting? Do you want to get your leads through Facebook ads through Google ads? Do you want to get you leads by networking events? So you're going to join proadvisors? Or BNI? Or entrepreneur organization? Or how are you going to building these connections to get you the best? That's one decision? Another decision is what's your conversion? Are you is your conversion, are you going to be making the phone calls or somebody else who's going to making the phone call. So there's so many micro decisions to say, what you want this business to actually look like. So it does work for you. And then if you're in it, what works and what doesn't work, because there always is a point of where in order to get the freedom you got in entrepreneurship in the first place, there has to be a point where you have to make yourself obsolete, and systematize what you do. So these components can be taught to other people that are then subject matter experts in these smaller categories. But that only works if you actually allow somebody like me, you know, that's one of the things that we do is the signature growth system I talked about, we had crawl into your head, I pull the pieces out with you, we organize them. And then we can determine Oh, that's a sales position. That's an operational position. That is a customer service. That is the that's the piece that you and only you keep, because that's the safety on not teaching other people on how to do your business. So you're absolutely correct, these micro decisions are endless. But first, we have to establish the parameter. What's that house that you want to architect look like?
9:21
Right. So I think what you said something right at the start of that, know what you can ask for. I think that's really important. Because, yeah, 10 years ago, I think the environment look completely different than right now. Where, right now I have multiple people in my phone who are solopreneurs making over a million dollars with their company. And I would have never thought that was possible years ago. But so now when I'm creating my own business, and I'm thinking okay, I gotta bring team members on so that I can, you know, make more money. It's like, Well, really, I don't need more team members. I think I want more team members because I like working with teams, and that's a lot more fun because I I enjoy that type. have communication but like, the revenue producing side isn't necessarily directly correlated, depending on what I'm doing. And it's like it shifts kind of the way you're thinking. And so I like that just being able to ask yourself that question early. So you know, what, what is it that I want?
10:16
Yeah. And I'm glad you picked that number, because the 1 million is the burnout number. So you can get to a million pretty much by yourself. But if you go above that you're in burnout at it. That's just, you know, don't ask me why. That, that just seems to be what I've seen in my career. And in my life, that, you know, I know one person who's got it to pretty much by themselves to 2.3 million, but that's ugly.
10:48
Yeah. And they're probably very busy at that point. Because there is a cap, right for how much you can actually do this. But I think then again, asking what you want, if you are a solopreneur, and says, No, I want to be able to make a million bucks. And I'm good with good with this verse. Actually, I want to impact as many people as possible. Now that's going to shape how you're architecting your business? Yes,
11:11
it does, and, and impacting people is correlating to a revenue goal. But we say impact versus money, because we found that a lot of people are, you know, want the money, so they can not worry about bills. But that's not really what creates that high energy vibration. A high energy vibration is a sincere desire to be of service, and to provide, you know, excellence. Now, if I tell people, you know, let's say, How much is your service? So let's say your service is $5,000 a month? And I say, Well, how many people do you want to impact? Can we focus instead of you making a million dollars on impacting the number of people that would that would represent that number in the end? Right? I think that will be like what 15? I'm just, you know, very roughly calculated would be like 15 people paying you $5,000 a month, something something along the line of 2020 people, then would that be? Would it be easier for you to think about it? You know, all I need is 15 people, 17 people, 20 people that pay me that much. I want to impact that amount of people. And that gets you to your revenue goal? Or is it easier for you to say, million dollars? That's it? Maybe that's where I want to be, but that is again, in the temperament of the business owner and in the mindset of where they are? What's easier for them to believe in? So
12:44
I guess, as you're helping people with scaling, and whether the impact or just purely revenue, what are some of those roadblocks that you're seeing them run up against? That you need to counter?
12:56
Yeah, so so. So there's three stages. So there's the building, there's the growing, and then there's the scaling? So in the scaling part particular, it comes at a, the questions that we asking now is, what do you want to scale it to? And why? So if you want an exit, then we need to ask the question, what's your exit number, because then we can reverse engineer from where you want to go to where you are today. So let's say you want to exit a 10 million, or you want to exit at 20 20 million, let's say you have $5 million business, or let's say your million dollar business, and a million dollar business, unless you really, you know, just discovered some crazy AI stuff, you're not going to get a 20x valuation right now. I mean, that tech boom is gone. But we did have that at some point. So if you want a 20 million exit, but you make an a million dollar revenue right now, then we know exactly what we need to do to reverse engineer that to get to the valuation at that at a factor that we believe is reasonable in this market. And then we can look at a million and we know exactly what we need to do. So if we need to get to, let's say, 5 million, and we believe we can get a four a 4x valuation, then what we have to for x the 1 million so we know exactly how, you know now we know what we need to do with the organizational structure. We need to put in a lot of um, find the sales. We have to look at what the business units are that are making money, where we set the priorities, we put 18 months plans in place, because right now, business is moving so fast. You can't do a five year plan. We're doing 18 to three the most.
14:57
So as you're looking at You know, creating those efficiencies, operationalizing more of the business so that you can kind of reverse engineer that plan and make sure you're hitting those targets. What are some of those leadership skills that you're helping to push on people so that, you know, they can actually run the team to be able to execute on? That
15:15
is such a sneaky question, Chris. Yes. So often times, the leader became sort of the accidental leader, just because it's the person that had the idea that set up the business and then became successful, boom, they're there. Then they do a cobia 360. You are Myers Briggs, or whatever that is, or, and they think they're Gandhi. And having told their Perak, that's, that's a shock, right? Because you're like, well, but but I'm what everybody tells me, I'm so good. Being a leader of a larger company that's heading toward an exit, is very, very different than leading your one or $2 million business, where you still the god to everything, the objective of you know, you cannot lead from behind. So you cannot be the one who pushes everybody, you have to be the one in front of everyone. So now the question is, if you want to exit a $20 million company, what does someone like that need to know, be your do to be able to do that? Now you're realizing that there's tremendous gaps in your leadership skills. Because if you want to get from 1 million to 5 million, you need more people, you need better systems, you need better operational structures, you need to have an organizational chart that is, you know, room for growth, you need people, leading people. And you you cannot do this all by yourself, because you have to figure out what you're best at. And what, where you create biggest value for the company. And maybe you're not even the leader, maybe you are better as the chairman, or the CEO, and you need a president or a CEO, or CFO who runs things, because that's just not your skill set. I mean, Elon Musk is a pretty shitty leader. But he's a genius. Elon Musk should not lead people. Because he believes that his his focus on on this singular idea that he gets so obsessed about is how everybody else thinks. And he believes in people should live and sleep at the office to help him achieve that one singular focus. Well, we see that it isn't so by the class action lawsuits and you know, all the stuff that's happening. So Elon Musk is smart enough to bring people in that he knows are subject matter experts at certain things. So he can do his how do we get people to Mars? IDEA? And has other people run the day to day operation? So what to answer your question, what happens in scaling is that there's a misconception of the leader of what their actual true capabilities are. And at that point, nobody wants to tell them the truth and then inevitably leads to some sort of a plane crash somewhere where the leader you know, we have one person that is a phenomenal marketer, and he just markets and markets and markets and markets and closes deals and closes deals. He's not an operational person and not a financial person. So now there's cashflow issues. Now there's operational holes because the whole foundation we were just talking about that we built a house on just doesn't exist. We're in the penthouse of a dream house. And now Now this owner is in real trouble. So you want to be very careful about surrounding yourself also with people that hold you accountable or that call you on your shit if you don't mind me saying it bluntly. As i Dude, you're full of it is never going to happen. Great idea. But no, we need to build this first. Yeah, it's easy to go in the penthouse. I want to drink champagne in the penthouse. Are you kidding me? Who wants to be in the cellar? Plug the hole from the plumbing with a stinky stuff? Nobody.
19:30
So as you're looking at it and working with leaders, like what are the systems I guess you start prioritizing to make sure that you don't run into some of those blocks that you often see leaders run into.
19:41
Yeah, so the blocks typically are Believe it or not, that there still is, you know, what's commonly referred to as imposter syndrome. worthiness love ability, or, you know, do I even still have a right to be here? Like, I got there so fast or this all happened to me? You know, they I don't cover this up by this grandiose gesture that is so transparent that you say, Dude, you know, get a grip on yourself, nobody believes that, or, or they are, or they're covering for their insecurities through some sort of some sort of method, you know, either being angry or overworking or hiding behind certain things. So the first look that I always do is at the leader in the capacity of the leader. And I say, Well, what is it that you want to create? And then let's take a look at you, where are you with that? I have a client that is in the recycling a clothing recycling business. And it is such a, it's such a fabulous, you know, it's, it's, it's to women. And, you know, and I look at this, and I can see how they're just stepping in and making the hard decisions. Sometimes it's very difficult, because they're not taught how to do that. So I can only help them to get the business to where that business needs to go, if I also help them as leaders, as women leaders to step into that part where they don't feel that they're mean, or unjust, or that they're not the nice girl. So what does a leader of a company that has a $10 million revenue look like? You need to become that on whether you're a man or a woman or whatever, or however you identify. And then we can build it. But so the personal leadership is one thing. The second thing is the systems that systems have been built, that haven't been looked at for a really long time, and you carry all this baggage of, you know, well, we used to do it that way. Well, that was 10 years ago. Do we have a process that we can build for now, that is automating that? So we need to look at the processes? And then finally, what is the vision? Again, where do you want to go? And then is who we have and what we have adequate. And when that happens, especially in the scaling because that Yassa, Chris has happened that a lot of the people that got you through the build and grow phase, don't want to scale. And now suddenly, you have the guys that have been with you for all this time leaving, and you go and it feels terrible, that what brought you here isn't going to get you there. So you have to get clear when there is who you need to be and then reverse engineer what gets you there.
22:47
Yeah. So I guess in that process, what like KPIs things are you looking at within the company? Because I know, not every entrepreneur knows what numbers to look at. And so one, there's probably a good education process, right? Like, these are the numbers and this is why they're important. But are there certain ones that you kind of go to regardless of the industry or the space that that businesses working in?
23:10
Well, I actually know Jeff Smith personally, who is like one of the fathers of the KPIs and I had him on my podcast. And in Jeff explains KPIs not as, as as measuring people's performance. But first getting really clear what the KPI is that actually matters, and then getting clear why that number matters. So if you say, we are measuring our KPI, one of our KPIs is outbound calls, then you would have to say, why, why does that number matter? Would it not be more important to measure the, you know, the how long it takes to close the sale? And on whether or not we need to shorten that? So we can calculate a pipeline? And why is that important? So the KPIs change from company to company? Because what what is it that we want to measure in the origins of order of importance? So the order of importance is if we're changing, if you're realizing that we have a high earning potential in a particular business line, then we need to look at that and we say, what do we measure that actually gives us relevant data for this particular business unit that will help us to make decisions on how we need to operate more efficiently. But if I say I'm measuring outbound calls, then my inclination is going to be to look at my Salesforce and say, Chris is just not cutting it. The guy's just not making enough calls. You may however, be the guy who closes the most Chris and then you go well, other people just on the phone, but they don't close. I knew half the calls, but at close two times as much. So why are we measuring outbound calls, it doesn't even make sense. So that's the logic you you really have to think through this. What makes sense for you'd measure?
25:02
I think, like, in that example, we're looking at outcomes versus outputs. Right. And I think a lot of businesses do fall into the, the output, like, what number can I influence just directly that we can like, check a box? That number is right. And it's like, does that actually get you the goal, though? So? Yeah. So, you are listed as a thought leader, global thought leader, someone that everyone should follow everywhere. Congratulations. I guess, what advice would you have for others, just try and do the same build up their personal brand and like, you know, get people to listen? Yeah. So
25:43
becoming an authority in your subject. Matter is not as it's not a celebrity is not an influencer. And especially in our world, in marketing, we are often so drawn into the Gary v's and the, you know, Brendon Burchard, and the in the grand cardones. And we look at the TEDx and this and that and the that you have to get very clear. Do you want to be a celebrity? Gary V's business model is celebrity not influencer? Not authority. Gary V's model is celebrity. You know, it's gonna be Gary Vee vodka because Gary Vee has an opinion on everything. I don't even know what his business model is. I mean, if I would work with Gary Vee, I'm like, Dude, you know, what are we even doing here? But it's it's a personal elevated brands. So it's a celebrity model. Then you have somebody like Grant Cardone. So that is an authority and an influencer. So he has model is kind of like to be, you know, at the top of at the top of his game, most people like us, most people that are listening to this podcast, are probably going to be subject matter experts. So get clear. What are you a subject matter expert on? I am a subject matter expert on architecting growth in these three categories grow, build scale, I, myself am an authority on women leadership. And I've spoken extensively about this. I love working women. I am that is what I focus on. That is my authority. Yes, I can talk on speaking from stage, but I'm not an authority in that. Yes, I can talk about podcasting. But I'm, while I might be an authority in that it's not what I choose to be an authority. And so in order for you to become a thought leader or to get recognized as an authority, you have to determine what you want to be an authority in and what your actual subject matter expertise is, then you have to find the outlets. You know, right now, I highly recommend podcast guesting or podcast hosting, which he swept beyond this call, because both you and I follow that model. Because it gets you in front of other people's audiences. And you'll build a level of trust over the duration of this interview, because now I'm not a stranger to your listeners anymore. In this whatever, half hour, 45 minutes that we're speaking, people are going to be pretty clear on whether I'm full of it, or whether I know my stuff. I mean, there is no hiding here on on whether what I say oh my god, I've heard this 1000 times before, or that's a really good point. So that's authority, but you got to hone that skill and say, What is my opinion on this? I have a bunch of opinions on things, you know, like I have this idea about niches sizing. So niches sizing, and this is just to give an example on how you build authority. So niches sizing is everybody else says you have to get rich in the niche. I think that's bullshit. And here's why. Because the longer you work, Chris, the more you know. And now suddenly I come to you and say, Chris, sorry, dude. You know, I know you know, a lot, but let's just disregard 90% of everything you know, and just focus on 10% You're gonna go without it. It's just not feeling right. So what if I instead can come to you and say, You know what, Chris, here's how we're going to do this. We're going to do super smart, we're just going to take everything that you know, we're going to put it under one umbrella. And we're going to take this umbrella like growth architecture, we make that the niche. And within that everything that you can do has its purpose. So I am anti niches sizing, because I think it is a disservice and it creates a lot of confusion. So I can speak as an authority on that. But you have to have an opinion. And authority requires you to have an opinion on something you have to be for something and you have to be against something so that people know on whether or not what you say makes sense to them or doesn't make sense to them. When you get on Restaurant. You say I want to eat Italian. But most likely you don't know you want the burrata ravioli. But when the waiter comes and says we have these burrata ravioli with a truffle sauce, and you go, Ooh, that sounds really good. So a lot of times, our followers, our listeners, our tribe does not know until they come to us and they hear something that they can agree or disagree with.
30:29
Right? Awesome. All right, we're gonna move into the final three questions here. With the first being besides your own. What book do you recommend everyone should read?
30:40
I like Darren Hardy compound effect. I like the Challenger sale. Those are the and I like the million dollar the 100 million dollar sales. Sales book. I'm reading right now, for some reason that full title escapes me. Yes, but not No, it's not her mercy. You know, recently, I've actually, you know, been been looking at the linchpin book from from Russell Brunson who couldn't stand for the longest time. But now that I get deeper into it, the man is a genius. And I'm just gonna, I'm just gonna say it as it is, the man is a freaking genius. Yeah.
31:22
Yeah, I would agree with that statement. Next question is what's next for you professionally. So
31:30
I'm gonna get really personal in this now. So I just got back from an Ayahuasca trip. And for those of your listeners who don't know what that is, it's a psychedelic, it's a medicine and you go on a journey. And it helps you to really kind of get clear on connecting with the universal energy, the life force, the one source that rules everything, which is in us, and everywhere around us. And as I got out of this, the first thing that happened is like, literally a day later, my Facebook accounts been hacked and completely deleted. All of it, the meadowsweet the pixels, I mean, it's all gone. Chris is just like Gone, gone. 15 years, all the ads all the date, it's all gone. And Facebook, let's just say it's not very cooperative on this. So. So what's next for me is to allow myself to get really clear on what is it that makes me the happiest, most fulfilled? And where do I make my most impact? One of the things that stands out, you know, and I was really big on the high ticket stuff, and you know, system creation, and I have clients that I work with, but it's an intensive work. So you, it's not something where you can do 50 at a time. And it's, I don't really want to do that. But I realized that there's a huge change in the market. There's a lot of people coming into entrepreneurship into business ownership, and they have no clue what they're doing. So I, I went to a program called Turn your talent into business. And so I'm really focusing on helping people to build these business models, these structures. And it's not an online program, it's a done with me over three months program, because I realize they're doing COVID People kept buying courses in the sitting on hundreds and hundreds and hundreds of hours of stuff that they can never do because it is too complicated, too time consuming. So they want somebody to be there and guide them through. And so that's what I'm really focusing on to say, Where do I make the most impact and you make the impact on the ground up? And maybe that is why I'm so interested in Russell Brunson. Because what if there was a piece before what I was doing that I pardon me? Pardon me? What if there's a piece before this that I was missing? that I needed to get to this next level? Because I was only focused on this other level? So my point is in the what's next question, and I really want to make this so clear to your audience, is this is definitely a time in in with this economy, where we are at this time energetically in this world, where you must step back and look at what you do and say, Is it working? Is it making me happy? Is there resonance between what I do and what I want to do and the impact that I'm making? And if it isn't, if there's a problem, you must fix it because the consequences of this are Dima brother almost died of a heart attack in September so that was a pretty big wake up Call from my family. He's only 60. And you think about this and you say, Well, where am I with this? What am I doing? How do I show up in the world? And then you sit down, you say, what is next? What is next? It's definitely impact making more impact. And trusting that. You know, I'm leaning into, you know, Michael singers Untethered Soul, the surrender experiment highly recommended for everybody listening. It is, what if you stopped pushing, and you lean into Yes. And you allow things to unfold? So that's kind of where I'm at right now. I don't even know if that's an answer, Chris, but but I'm just gonna put it out there.
35:47
It's great. So finally, where can people find you? Yes.
35:50
So for anybody listening, if you heard something, we say I should talk to her, please go to uncover session.com and schedule, your complimentary 15 minute session, make sure you mentioned this show. While we're at this, I urge all of your listeners, please go to wherever you pick up this podcast, give it a five star review, and subscribe to it and write a comment. The comment is absolutely critical, because it tells the algorithm, the opinionated AI algorithm that has no human element to it whatsoever that this show matters. So even if you just put a heart in it, the algorithm goes like all people love it great, or they listen to the entire episode. So do this for Chris, because it's a labor of love and give him some love back. And the second thing you can do is you can go to a quiz that we just launched. And that's called What's your talent worth? Where you can calculate I actually create a mathematical formula to tell you what your talent is worth in this market. It gives you an actual number.
37:01
Awesome, we'll get those linked up in the show notes. And everyone else can go check that out and make sure to leave those hearts comments. That'd be great. Don't
37:09
you love that? It's like I think it's like, I don't know if it's a Purple Heart or green heart that signals that they listen to the entire episode. So everybody can do that.
37:19
There's a whole coding system. I didn't learn something every day. Yeah. Awesome. All right, beato. Thanks for joining me. It's been great.
37:27
Thank you so much for having me Chris.
37:32
If you enjoyed today's episode, I would love a rating and review on your favorite podcast player. And for more information on how to build effective and efficient teams through your leadership visit leading for effect.com As always deserve it
Transcribed by https://otter.ai