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Break the Ceiling is now Beyond Margins. I’m excited to bring back the show and introduce you to people thinking about operations, finance, and business-building with calm as their top KPI.
Do you know someone who could use a little more calm in their business? Someone who wants to think beyond margins? Share the show with them! And make sure you follow or subscribe in your favorite podcast app.
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Honestly, I don’t really want to 10x my business. There. I said it.
I want interesting work, enough revenue to be comfortable, and 10x the time spent riding my bike or paddling in my kayak.
Maybe that’s how you feel, too.
When you set out to build your business, I bet you wanted to build something you loved that made you money, supported your family, created great jobs for other folks, and gave you freedom and flexibility.
You knew it wasn’t going to be easy… but this?!
You've worked weekends, early mornings, and late nights around your kids' soccer practices, and you've been exhausted and overworked. You've worn all the hats and done all the jobs.
Maybe you’ve been through burnout or burnt it all down (maybe more than once).
Now you just want a business that works for you, that feels fun, comfortable, and calm..
Your goals are similar to mine: you want to take Fridays off, chaperone your kids' field trips, or hang out in the sunshine on a Tuesday afternoon, but still know that the work you’re doing matters.
For all the talk of entrepreneurship leading to more freedom and flexibility, you and I know those things don’t just happen.
But we all want to be financially secure, to build something meaningful and important, to make the right decisions, the smart decisions. And when things aren’t going all that well, or there are just a million decisions to make, or we don’t really know what to do next, you make the choices you see others making.
I call these default decisions.
These are choices we make in our business, based on what everyone else is doing, without really ever thinking about them or whether they're the right choice for you and your business.
Default decisions sound like "best practices," or "what's working right now," or "my step-by-step method to X."
The defaults are hard to escape. They're caused by something deeper - this culture that you probably started your business heavily influenced by, even if you wish you weren't - productivity and achievement culture.
That's where it's about outlasting, out-hustling, growth = success, profit doesn't matter, reinvesting in the business, growth, growth, growth, 10x everything.
And by following these default decisions, you can build a business that is technically "correct" by all external definition. But those default decisions end up anchoring you to a business that's only focused on your sales, your output, your efficiency, your productivity - because, well, that's the default.
Default decisions are based on assumptions—that your idea of success is a permanent island getaway or a Lamborghini in the driveway, or maybe that “doing more” or “crushing it” is the key to overcoming any challenge.
Those assumptions can lead you astray when they are absolutely not the things you want from your business. Remember, calm? Fun? Comfortable?
Relying on default decisions might boost your bank account for a month or juice your social media following, but they won’t get you the calm, comfy business you crave.
Here’s what I’ve learned over 15 years of building my own companies and acting as CFO for others:
Your company is going to end up being whatever your top priority is.
If your top priority—is growth - the default? Well, your company will end up focusing on growth — potentially at the expense of your profit margins, your team's well-being, and sometimes even your ethics.
If you want to build something different, you have to solve for something different.
Instead of solving for growth, what if you solved for calm?
You can’t build a calmer business unless you design it that way. It has to be built into your business's DNA.
It has to be your overriding priority, the thing that you’re solving for, the touchpoint you’re always coming back to.
To build a calmer business, you need to make calm your new KPI.
I’m your host, Susan Boles, and this is Beyond Margins – the show where we geek out about how to build a calmer business with comfortable margins.
I’m a speaker, podcaster, and consultant with more than 15 years of experience as both a CFO and COO in a variety of industries. I’ve worked with major universities, small retail shops, and software companies, just to name a few, and now I focus on working with agencies, consultants, and creatives.
Each episode, we’ll explore:
- Financial strategies that help you build towards something calmer
- New ways to think about your operations to build more comfortable margins
- Team management and leadership strategies to help you support your team’s wellbeing
- Countering default decisions and unpacking productivity & achievement culture
- Building more margin into your business – not just profit margins, but capacity margins, energetic margins, and emotional margins.
You’ll walk away from each episode thinking more deeply about your decisions - and some strategies to help you build more margin and calm into your business.
Join me as I explore what it looks like when you make calm your new KPI.
Creators & Guests
What is Beyond Margins: Build a calmer business with comfortable margins?
Can you build a business based on… “calm?” On Beyond Margins, host Susan Boles looks beyond the usual metrics of success to help you build a business where calm is the new KPI. With over 15 years of experience as an entrepreneur, CFO, and COO, Susan shares the business strategies that lead to a business with comfortable margins—financial, emotional, energetic, and scheduling margins. Join her and her guests as they counter the prevailing “wisdom” about business growth, productivity, and success to provide a framework for making choices that align with your values and true goals. Episode by episode, you’ll get a look at the team management, operations, financials, product development, and marketing of a calmer business.
I don't really want to 10x my business. Honestly, I want to do interesting work, I want enough revenue to be comfortable, and I want 10x the time riding my bike or paddling in my kayak. Maybe that's how you feel too. When you set out to build your business, I bet you wanted to build something that you loved, that made you money, supported your family, created great jobs for other folks, and gave you freedom and flexibility. You knew it wasn't going to be easy, but this? Maybe you've been through burnout, or you burnt it all down, maybe more than once. Now you just want a business that works for you, that feels fun, comfortable, and calm. For all the talk of entrepreneurship leading to more freedom and flexibility, you and I know those things don't just happen. And when things aren't going all that well, or there's just a million decisions to make, or we really don't know what to do next, you make the choices you see others making. I call these default decisions. These are the choices we make in our business based on what everyone else is doing, without ever really thinking about them or whether they're the right choice for you and your business. Default decisions sound like best practices or what's working right now. The defaults are really hard to escape because they're caused by something deeper, something more insidious. This culture that you probably started your business heavily influenced by, even if you wish you weren't. What I call productivity and achievement culture. That's where it's about outlasting, out hustling, growth equals success, profit doesn't matter, reinvest in the business, growth, growth, growth, 10x everything. And by following these default decisions, you can build a business that is technically correct by all external definitions. But those default decisions also end up anchoring you to a business that's only focused on your sales, your output, your efficiency, your productivity, because, well, that's the default. Here's what I've learned over 15 years of building my own companies and acting as a CFO and COO for others. Your company is going to end up being whatever your top priority is. If your top priority is growth, the default, your company is going to end up focusing on growth, potentially at the expense of your profit margins, your team's well-being, sometimes even your ethics. So if you want to build something different, you have to solve for something different. Instead of solving for growth, what if you solved for calm? You can't build a calmer business unless you design it that way. It has to be your overriding priority, the thing that you're solving for, the touchpoint you are always coming back to. To build a calmer business, you need to make calm your new KPI. I'm your host, Susan Bowles, and this is Beyond Margins, the show where we geek out about how to build a calmer business with comfortable margins. I'm a speaker, podcaster, and consultant with more than 15 years of experience as both a CFO and a COO in a variety of industries. I've worked with major universities, small retail shops, software companies, just to name a few. Now I focus on working with agencies, consultants, and creatives. Each episode, we'll explore financial strategies that can help you build towards something calmer. We'll give you new ways to think about your operations so that you can build more comfortable margins. We'll talk team management and leadership strategies to help you support your team's well-being. And we'll talk about building more margin into your business. Not just profit margins, but capacity margins, energetic margins, emotional margins. You'll walk away from each episode thinking more deeply about the decisions you're making and with some strategies to help you build more margin and calm into your business. Join me as I explore what it looks like when you make calm your new KPI.