Building vs. Growing vs. Scaling: What Stage Is Your Fitness Business In?

The internet is full of business advice for fitness and wellness professionals. The problem is, most of it skips the one thing that determines whether a strategy will actually work for you: context.

In this episode, Ariel Belgrave breaks down the three stages every fitness and wellness business moves through: building, growing, and scaling. She shares how each stage requires different decisions, different support, and a different way of thinking as an operator. Because what works in one stage can create confusion, burnout, or wasted effort in another.

If you have ever found yourself wondering why a strategy that worked for someone else is not working for you, this episode will help you understand why.

IN THIS EPISODE, YOU'LL HEAR:

• The difference between building, growing, and scaling a business
• How operator thinking can help you make better business decisions
• Common mistakes to avoid in each stage of business
• The questions to ask yourself to figure out what your business needs right now
  
  

SHOW NOTES:
In The Sweat & Equity Insider, Ariel will break down how her 28-Day LEAN program moved from 1:1 coaching to group coaching to evergreen to corporate licensing, and what each stage looked like behind the scenes. Subscribe to get notified when it's released.

ABOUT SWEAT & EQUITY: 
The Sweat & Equity Show is for fitness and wellness professionals who want to build sustainable businesses with more ownership, leverage, and longevity. Hosted by Ariel Belgrave, the show explores what it really takes to grow your income and impact in this industry, with honest conversations on business models, revenue, partnerships, burnout, mindset, and the shift from practitioner to operator.

CONNECT WITH ARIEL:
Instagram: @sweatandequityshow
Gym Hooky Instagram: @gymhooky
LinkedIn: @ArielBelgrave

JOIN THE NEWSLETTER:
Subscribe to The Sweat & Equity Insider for deeper business breakdowns, behind-the-scenes examples, and frameworks for fitness and wellness professionals building with more strategy and less guesswork.

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Creators and Guests

Host

Ariel Belgrave

What is Sweat & Equity Show?

The Sweat and Equity Show brings insights, clarity, and tactics for the modern fitness and wellness business owner to grow and thrive on their terms. Global speaker, advisor and wellness entrepreneur Ariel Belgrave, peels back the curtain on about what it takes to build, grow, and sustain an enduring business in the industry. No gatekeeping allowed!

Ariel Belgrave: I'm gonna hold
your hand while I say this.

Just because it worked for their fitness
and wellness business doesn't mean.

It'll work for yours, especially
if it doesn't align with the

stage your business is in.

Let's talk about what that really means.

Hey y'all.

Welcome to the Sweat and Equity Show.

I'm Ari, and this is where we have
real conversations about building

sustainable businesses in the
fitness and wellness industry.

If you haven't listened to episode
one, I highly recommend that you

do so because that episode lays a
foundation for why the show exists.

As for today, episode two, I wanna
get into the nitty gritty about

how our businesses naturally evolve
as fitness and wellness pros.

Every business in this industry,
whether you are coaching one-on-one,

running a studio, hosting retreats,
building a product, leading a

community, we do a whole lot.

Every single one moves through
stages and most of the confusion,

most of the why, this isn't working
in my business or frustration.

When you're trying to level up your
business comes from not knowing

which stage you're actually in.

So you're out here taking advice,
watching other people on the internet

trying to figure out what applies
to you and nothing quite fits.

You are thinking you're missing
something and honestly, I don't think

you're missing anything but context.

So in this episode, I'm excited
to give you that context.

I'll be geeking out on several
things, but definitely spending time

on breaking down the three stages.

Every business goes through the building
stage, the growing stage, the scaling

stage, what they actually look like,
and how your role changes in each

one, and most importantly, how to make
decisions that fit where you actually

are right now, not where you think
you should be, where you actually are.

Let's get into it.

Now I gotta start off with talking
about something that makes me cringe

a little bit when I hear fitness
and wellness, business advice

being given on these internets.

I feel like.

It is talked about as if business
strategies apply to everyone in

the industry equally, someone
shares what's worked for them.

It gets edited into a real, it spreads
fast and boom, it becomes positioned

as the way to build your business.

As a fitness and wellness professional,
you gotta scale your business.

You gotta stop trading time for money.

You gotta diversify your income.

You gotta build something
that doesn't rely on you.

Okay, cool.

I hear that on the surface
that advice sounds brilliant.

It's dope and could very well be the
answer to your business challenges.

But oftentimes what's missing is context
because a strategy that perfectly

works for one person can totally flop
for another depending on the type of

business you're running, the stage your
business is in, and the capacity of

the person that'll be you operating it.

I've personally had to
learn this the hard way.

There were moments in my business where.

I try to apply strategies I saw other
people on the internet using, only to

realize later on that it didn't work
out because I executed them poorly.

'cause listen, execution
is my middle name.

I'm just saying they weren't successful
because they didn't match the

stage my business was actually in.

And when no one explains that part,
we internalized the wrong lesson and

put a ton of pressure on ourselves.

So let me give you some examples 'cause
I wanna make sure you hear me on this.

Say you are a studio owner, you hear
someone online talk about scaling

through digital products or membership,
and you start wondering if your

in-person model is making you behind.

But what doesn't get talked about
is that your business has physical

overhead, staffing considerations,
leasing agreements, and just a

community dynamic that changes how
scaling even works for your business.

Or maybe you are a one-on-one coach,
you hear, stop trading your time

for money over and over again.

So you feel pressure to create a course
or a group program before you've even

fully understood your client patterns.

Your client needs objections, and when
it doesn't sell, you're not questioning

the timing, you're questioning yourself
thinking you ain't doing stuff right.

Say you are running retreats
or live experiences.

You might hear advice from someone
building a digital first business,

and suddenly you're wondering if the
high touch, high impact work you do

is somehow less legitimate because
it's not scalable in the same way.

But retreats operate on a
completely different rhythm.

Speaking from experience,
different margin, different energy,

different demands, different
decision making timelines.

Say you are a community
builder, Hey, I see you.

Maybe you run a run club, a walking
group, or a local wellness collective.

You're creating massive impact, but
maybe monetization doesn't feel as clear.

So when you hear advice about
adding funnels and ads and recurring

revenue, you feel like you may
be missing something, right?

Lots of fomo when in reality your
business model requires trust.

It requires time and proximity before
you even get to a point of scaling.

And last one.

say you work in corporate wellness,
you do speaking partnerships.

Your decision making is influenced
by contracts, timelines, external

stakeholders, advice about launching
quickly or pivoting a whole lot.

It just, it's not applicable in the
same way because your business doesn't

move at the speed of social media.

Now, in these instances, what
usually happens is you don't hear

the nuance behind the advice.

You just hear the outcome.

So you start applying the strategies.

That high key may not even fit your
model, your capacity or your stage.

And when things feel harder
instead of easier, you assume

you're doing something wrong.

You start thinking, maybe I'm not cut
out for this entrepreneurship life.

Maybe I need to just get
another certification.

Maybe I need a new offer, but
most of the time, the issue

isn't what you're capable of.

It's truly this messy middle that
many people don't talk about, and

it's just that you don't have context.

Now, what is this context, Ari?

Oh, I thought you never asked.

I got some thanks to share.

Now, as someone who has built a successful
fitness and wellness business across

different business models, across
different brands, I've learned that every

business moves through three stages.

I briefly mentioned them, the
building stage, the growing

stage, the scaling stage.

Each stage typically asks something
completely different of you.

And when you don't know what stage
you're in, it's so easy to feel stuck,

be overwhelmed, or just unsure of what
needs to happen next in your business.

But when you do have that clarity, mm-hmm.

Mm-hmm.

Decisions start to feel lighter,
you'll generally feel more aligned and

intentional as you run your business.

Let me tell you, that's a good feeling.

That's a real good feeling.

Now, before we dive into the
stages, I know I'm gonna get there.

I'm gonna get there.

I do want to give you a lens for
understanding them, because without

this, the stages are just information.

I'm not just trying to
give you information.

I want them to become a framework
that you could actually use

over time in your business.

That lens is operator thinking.

For a long time, I didn't really
have the language for what

I was doing in my business.

I was just doing, I was working hard.

I was building, responding,
fixing things as they come up.

And if you're listening to this, there's
a good chance that you are maybe in

this mode or you are once here, at some
point in your business, you wake up

thinking about your business, you fall
asleep thinking about your business,

your calendar determines your income.

Your energy determines your capacity.

Your presence determines whether
things are moving or stalling in

your business, and that's normal.

That's what comes with
building a business.

But at some point, something shifts,
you realize that you are not just doing

the work anymore, you are managing
the consequences of the work that

you've already done real deep, right?

That's personally when I learned what
it meant to think more like an operator.

And while we're here you're gonna hear
me use this word operator a whole lot

on this podcast, so I do wanna be super
clear on what I mean, since it'll be

our shared language, we hear, when I
say operator, I'm not talking about

becoming less human in how you build.

When I say operator, I am talking
about your ability to take a step

back, look at how your business is
actually functioning, not just what

you're doing in the day to day, but
how all of it works together over time.

An operator doesn't just ask,
what do I need to do today?

You're typically asking, what is
this business asking of me over time?

And that shift from being the doer,
the coach, the trainer, the fitness

instructor, you still could do those
things, but you still need to shift

to the operator and it's everything.

It's what allows you to notice
patterns in your business instead of

reacting to every moment to understand
where your energy is actually going.

To see where the money.

Is consistent versus not, and to
recognize when your effort is actually

producing results or if you just.

Are doing to do most of us in this
industry, I'd say, , are trained to

be really good doers, but very few
of us are taught how to think like

operators and why does this matter?

Operating thinking looks different
depending on the different stages you are.

In your business, if you are on the
building stage, it helps you simplify

instead of overcomplicating things in the
growing stage, it helps you reduce instead

of keeping on, adding more stuff, and in
the scaling stage, it helps you protect

what you've built instead of chasing.

Every opportunity.

So I'm gonna walk you through each
stage and as I do, I challenge

you to listen through this lens.

Not asking which stage just sounds
best, but asking what does my business

actually need from me right now?

Alright, pen and paper
friends, I'm gonna get into it.

Now every business starts somewhere.

And for most people, that
somewhere is that very first stage.

It's the building stage.

The building stage will
absolutely be the season.

When your business relies
heavily on you, boo.

That's your time, your energy, your
presence, your body, depending on

the profession that you're in, in the
industry, basically, if you don't show

up, the business slows down or it stops.

And I wanna say this because I
don't think we hear it enough.

That is not failure.

That is information.

That is what early stage businesses do.

In this stage.

You are the engine, you
are the delivery system.

You are often the brand, the service
provider, the marketer, and the ops team.

So yes, everything feels
personal when a client cancels.

You feel it when a month is slow
and the money is not money and

you feel it when you are tired.

Your business is tired too.

So what does this look like?

In real life.

I wanna give you some examples.

If you're a coach, this might look
like your income being directly tied

to the sessions on your calendar.

If you are a studio owner, it might look
like teaching classes while also covering

staff gaps, while also managing schedules,
while also handling issues real time.

If you are someone who bills
in the community, maybe you

are organizing everything.

You're energizing everyone while
also holding the culture together.

If you are hosting small events or even
doing retreats, you might be involved

in every single detail from promoting
it to executing it, to following up.

There's usually a lot,
generally that's happening, a

lot of juggling in this stage.

You might be working a job.

That was my case, when I was side
hustling that coaching early mornings

or evenings, you might be teaching,
creating content, answering dms, handling

admin work, trying to be consistent.

With getting clients all at the same time.

And because you're doing so much,
it could actually feel like you

should be further along than you
are 'cause dang you putting in work.

Right?

But the reality is the work of the
building stage is not just about growing,

it's about learning and listening.

This is the stage where you really
gotta gather data, literally.

You're learning who your ideal
clients are, what they're willing

to pay, what does success look like?

What do clients say they want
versus what they actually need?

What drains you?

What energizes you?

What kind of offers feel aligned?

Which ones already feel heavy?

This is true whether you are running
one-on-one sessions, leading group

workouts, piloting a product, hosting
popups, or building a small community.

When I was doing one-on-one coaching,
this stage taught me everything, not

through theory, but through repetition,
through patterns, through listening

, through noticing what questions
kept coming up and where my clients.

Struggled even when they were motivated
and me just launching this podcast.

I am absolutely in the
building stage right now.

So you are legit watching this real time.

Now let's talk about what the
building stage typically feels like.

Oftentimes.

Whole lot.

Your calendar might be full, but your
income may not always be incoming.

You might be booked
but mentally exhausted.

Trust me.

I hear you.

I feel you.

I see you.

Because if you stop, everything stops,
and that creates low level anxiety

or maybe high level, the questions
in this stage usually sound like, how

do I get more clients consistently?

How much do I charge or
am I even charging enough?

Why does it feel like I'm always
working, but still unsure?

Should I add another offer Now,
what are some mistakes I typically

see operators make in this stage?

I'd say there are two things
that immediately come to mind.

one is just making things far more complex
than they need to be early on in the

business, the reality is this stage can
be uncomfortable af and when you are not

getting the revenue you hope for upfront,
listen, I know you got bills to pay,

or when the leads may not be rolling in
the way you hear about it on Instagram.

The discomfort of this stage can lead
many to look for certainty, and instead

of finding certainty through clarity
and repetition, they try to find it

through more, adding more offers,
using more platforms, writing more

ideas, expanding to more audiences.

But when your attention is spread
too thin and too many places in your

business, you're never gonna actually
build enough depth into that one

thing and actually learn what works.

I see it a whole lot in the fitness
and wellness professionals I've

advised, trying to automate scale a
diversify before even proving that

you have demand building systems for
businesses that don't even exist yet.

Spending money on all these tools and
branding and strategies instead of

spending time understanding their clients,
what that creates over time is fragility.

When income dips, there's no
core offer to stabilize it.

When your energy is low, there's
no simple system to lean on.

Everything feels effortful a
whole lot because nothing has been

refined in the building stage.

Complexity is the enemy, and
I will say busy is not a KPI.

The second big mistake I
see in the building stage is

underpricing and overgiving.

I feel that to my core, I'm definitely
guilty of this, especially when the

scarcity of my mindset was at an
all time high when it came to money.

Woo.

We convinced ourselves that
charging less will make things

easier, when in reality it usually
creates resentment and exhaustion.

You start doing more for less,
telling yourself that it's

just, it's just temporary, and
you end up with PETA clients.

Pain in the ass clients and you're
frustrated when they ask so much

of you, or they don't respond
well when you increase the prices.

The real cost here isn't just
financial, it's your confidence.

Now, how exactly should an
operator move in this stage?

In my opinion, I got two words,
simplification and observation.

One clear offer, one clear outcome.

One clear path for someone
to become a client.

Not rushing to scale, not.

Copying the 50 11 thing someone
else is doing, but committing long

enough to see patterns to take it
to another level in your business.

Now with that said, I'm sure you can
agree that there is a lot of advice

you'll hear on the Internets on how to
generate more income and yada, yada, yada.

So instead of sharing with you
the advice I would listen to.

If you identify as someone in this
building stage, I, I wanna share with

you advice that is a personal hard pass.

Nah, ain't it for me.

Okay, here it goes.

One, you need to be
everywhere on social media.

No, you don't.

Mm. Unless you've mastered the social
media game, I'd encourage you to

be consistent in one or two places
where your people actually are.

Pick the platforms, know where
they are, show up there, master it.

Then think about expanding.

When you're in the building stage, your
intention is your most valuable resource.

Spreading it thin across multiple
platforms means you're never building

real death or trust anywhere.

And death is what converts,
not necessarily reach speaking.

From experience.

Okay.

Two, automate everything.

Automate what you are
still learning what works.

Automating too early means
you are scaling confusion.

Manual is fine right now.

Manual teaches you things.

Automation never will.

Every time you personally respond to a
dm. Every time you walk someone through

your offer, every time you troubleshoot a
client struggle, that is data that is t.

That's you learning the
language your clients.

Actually use the objections
they have and the transformation

they actually care about.

You can't automate your
way to that knowledge.

Three, create a course or group program.

Not yet one-on-one or small group
work in the building stage isn't a

stepping stone to something better.

It's the foundation.

You need to know what
questions come up at week two.

What resistance shows up at week four?

What breakthrough happens at week six.

A course created without even
understanding that is just

guessing and guessing doesn't sell.

Don't shoot the messenger.

And lastly, you should have
multiple revenue streams.

Ah, you should have one revenue stream
that works, in my humble opinion.

Then maybe another Diversification
is a growing or scaling strategy,

not a building strategy.

When you are trying to prove that
people will pay for your work.

Adding more offers just creates more
things to market, more things to

deliver, and more confusion for potential
clients about what you actually do.

One clear offer that works consistently.

It's worth more than five offers
that each make a little money.

Sometimes the building stage
isn't about doing more.

It's about learning more.

Now at some point, if you stay in the
building stage long enough and you pay

attention, something shifts, things start
to work, clients come more consistently.

Your name carries weight.

Yes.

I love that.

For you, there is momentum and
that's when you enter stage

two, which is the growing stage.

The growing stage is
where momentum shows up.

It's also where you can get
confused as an operator because.

This stage doesn't feel like how it's
expected to feel, especially when it

comes to success from the outside.

This stage often looks great.

You're making more money.

More people know who you are.

Your offers are filling up.

There is demand, but internally,
this is where you may feel

more stretched than ever.

This is the stage where you realize
that growth absolutely has weight.

More clients need more delivery.

More visibility means more
expectations, more income often

means more responsibility.

So what does that look like in real life?

Let's talk about it.

Say you're a coach.

This might look like being booked out
solid, but you are mentally fried.

If you are a studio owner, it may look
like adding classes, staff, or even

locations before systems are even stable.

If you sell a product, it may
look like an incredible increase

in sales, but you don't even have
enough hands to ship those orders.

If you host retreats or events,
it may look like higher demand

paired with longer recovery time.

If you work in corporate wellness
or speaking, it may look like

bigger contracts with longer sales
cycles and more stakeholders.

It's super easy in this state to think I
should be grateful while quietly feeling

overwhelmed af because technically
things are working, but the cost of

making them work, it keeps rising.

Trust me, I have been there.

I. When my 28 day lean became a group
coaching program for me, this was real.

The demand was high, my cohorts
were filled, but I was live

launching every single month.

What looked like scale was actually
way more intense than I could handle

because I was on a hamster wheel of
my own creation every single month.

I was coaching the cohort
through the 28 days.

I was hosting a weekly
group coaching call.

I was leading webinars
to sell the next cohort.

I was the one creating
and posting the content.

I was the one answering the questions.

I was content creator, the
coach, the marketer, the seller.

And yes, I had an assistant health
coach, and that was one of the best

decisions I made, but I still needed help.

Side note, I do take you through the
behind the scenes of how I took my

28 day lien program from a one-on-one
coaching program to a group coaching

program, to Evergreen to corporate
licensing in my weekly newsletter,

the Sweat and Equity Insider.

I'll drop the link in
the show notes below.

Be sure to take a look if you're
curious about how I did it.

Okay, this leads to my next question.

What does the growing stage
expose about your business?

Ooh, two words, weak systems.

It shows you where you are overextended.

It shows you where your business
only works, if you are always on

and in it, it shows you, , that
you need to expand your team.

The questions in this stage are, are
different than the building stage.

Now it's why am I burning out?

What do I need to stop doing?

How do I protect my energy?

Why does everything still rely on me?

And trust me, I know it's real.

It's so real.

And here's what I'll say that
I don't think gets said enough.

Your business can be
successful and unsustainable.

The growing stage is not about adding
more, it's about making decisions

that reduce that pressure over time.

This is where boundaries stop being
personal and start becoming strategic.

This is where access
needs to be re evaluated.

A whole lot.

This is where you realize that
doing everything yourself is

no longer a badge of honor.

It's not noble.

It's limiting The stage often
comes with identity shifts.

You're no longer just a doer.

You're becoming a decision maker,
and that can feel uncomfortable if

your sense of worth has been tied
to your effort, your responsiveness,

or just simply being needed again.

Guilty.

Guilty as charged prince.

The big trap here is ignoring the
warning signs because things are working.

You tell yourself the exhaustion
is just a part of growth.

Like I'll overcome it.

The consequence shows up solely.

You start dreading things.

You used to love your creativity drops,
your patience gets thinner, and eventually

you start fantasizing about quitting the
very thing you work so hard to build.

So how exactly should you be moving
in this stage to avoid those things?

Two words, discernment and reduction.

What stays, what goes.

What needs structure, what needs
support growth without these

decisions doesn't lead to freedom.

It leads to straight burnout.

Trust me again.

I know now, similar to the building
stage, I wanna share internet advice

that I personally would be like, eh, no
hard pass if I was in this stage one.

Just push through.

Everyone feels tired when they're growing.

Listen, being tired is normal,
but being burnt out and

resentful, that's a warning sign.

If you are dreading.

The thing you built,
that's not growth fatigue.

That's a systems problems
disguised as a mindset problem.

There's a difference between the good tire
that comes from doing meaningful work and

the bad tire that comes from doing things
that shouldn't be on your plate anymore.

When you find yourself
avoiding client emails mm-hmm.

Or feeling dread before a session
used to absolutely love, that's not

something that you push through.

That's something you need to redesign.

Two saying yes to every opportunity.

Now, this my friends, this is how you end
up with a business that looks successful

on paper and on LinkedIn, but feels
chaotic to run every yes has a cost.

In the growing stage, you need
to get really good at saying no.

Every speaking gig, collaboration,
brain picking, partnership,

quick favor takes energy.

It takes attention.

It takes time away from which you
should actually be focusing on your

business and what makes it stable.

The growing stage isn't about
collecting opportunities, it's also

about protecting the ones that matter.

Three, hire someone to
do what you're doing.

Hmm.

I'd rephrase this.

It's more like hire someone to do
what shouldn't be done by you anymore.

There's a difference.

Don't just replicate yourself.

Redesign the work.

If you hire someone to do exactly what
you've been doing, you just create

a bottleneck in a different place.

Instead, ask, what part of
this work actually requires my

specific expertise and what part.

It is just task execution.

Separate those higher for the latter.

and now for the final stage, stage three.

Eventually, if growth continues
with redesign and all the things

I just mentioned, you hit a
moment where the questions change.

It's no longer, how do I keep this going?

It becomes, what am I
actually building for?

That's the entry point into scaling.

Scaling is the most misunderstood
stage because people think it's

about your speed or your size.

It's not.

Scaling is about design.

This is the stage where you
stop asking, what else can I do?

And start asking What is this
business meant to support for me?

Scaling started when I had to confront the
hard truth about my 28 day lean program.

When it existed, it
depended on me way too much.

Especially my live energy.

It worked, but it required
me to be constantly present.

That realization forced a
different kind of thinking.

How could this experience exist
without requiring the same level

of real time involvement from me?

How could it respect my capacity more?

How could it reach more
people without burning me out?

That thinking led.

To me, making it evergreen.

And then another question
followed, how does this extend

beyond direct to consumer?

That's when IP licensing and corporate
conversations came into play.

Now, how might this look across different
business models for a studio owner?

Scaling might look like leadership
development curriculum, or systems

that outlive your daily presence.

Yes, give your kick
your butt to the curve.

For retreat hosts, it might look like
fewer, more intentional experiences

of doing a whole lot of retreats.

For product business, it might
look like refining distribution

instead of launching something new.

for a corporate operator, it may
look like long-term partnerships

instead of one-off engagements.

This is a big one, but the real
shift here is not tactical.

I do believe it's mental
because the scaling is where

you typically become selective,
more intentional, less reactive.

You start thinking in terms of
longevity instead of momentum.

The questions here sound like
what deserves my attention now?

Okay.

What can exist without me?

What kind of life is this
business meant to support?

What am I willing to let go of, even
if it looks good on the internet?

I, I feel like I keep saying that this
stage generally just requires restraint.

And restraint is one of the
hardest skills to build in an

industry that rewards visibility.

Your output, your constant expansion.

Two of the biggest mistakes I'd say
operators make in this stage one is that

opportunity can become a distraction.

Listen, I love opportunities
for you a whole lot.

You just need to have more discernment
on what opportunities to accept.

Is it in alignment with your
business goals for the year?

Will it give your
business more visibility?

If that's a goal?

Is it a personal goal
related to giving back?

Is it a paid speaking opportunity?

When you start saying yes, because
you can, you are saying no to parts

of the business that need you chasing
things that sound impressive, but

pull your business off course at that
point is built for ego, not longevity.

Another common mistake And scaling is
refusing to let things run without you.

You've built the systems,
but you don't trust them.

You've hired help, but
you keep stepping back in.

You've created leverage, but you're
still micromanaging, and that

absolutely creates a bottleneck.

The business can't grow past your
capacity because you won't let it.

So how exactly does an operator
need to move in this stage?

Two words, alignment and restraint.

Not every opportunity
is meant to be pursued.

Not every idea deserves execution.

Scaling isn't about expansion
at all costs is about protecting

the integrity of what you built.

As far as advice that I would be
like, hard pass in this stage one is.

You need to keep launching new things.

Actually, I think you need
to protect what's working.

New isn't always better.

Sometimes the smartest move is
deepening what already exists instead

of expanding into 50, 11 million things.

Okay?

When you're constantly launching,
you're constantly in bill mode.

You'll never get to really refine,
improve, or fully leverage what

you have already created, and
that's where nobody tells you.

The business is always launching new
things, often does because they're

never committed long enough to make
the existing thing really great.

Two, if you're not growing, you're dying.

This is hustle.

Culture disguised as business advice.

Sometimes the most strategic thing
you can do is plateau, intentionally,

consolidate, strengthen, let things
stabilize before the next move.

There's a version of growth
that's sustainable and a version

that's just impressive sounding.

In the scaling stage, you've earned
the right to be selective of which one.

It is right for you in this season.

Growth for the sake of growth often
means you're building a business

that looks successful, but feels like
you're running on a treadmill on The

scale and stage isn't about building
bigger, it's about building better.

So what does this mean for you?

It means that it's time to make
some decisions in your business.

Boo.

If you are someone with more than
one product offering, it is super

normal to be in more than one stage.

It's definitely my case.

Often, you can be building one part of
your business while growing another.

You can be scaling one offer while
rebuilding the structure somewhere else.

What matters isn't.

You labeling yourself perfectly.

What matters is making decisions
that actually match what

you're building right now.

I'd encourage you to use this guidance
per product to gain more clarity

on where you are with each one and
just start asking better questions.

If you're in a building season, the
question isn't, how do I scale this?

It's what am I learning here?

What patterns keep showing up?

What's working consistently,
even if it feels small, what

drains me faster than it should?

If you are in a growing season, the
question isn't, how do I add more?

What's creating pressure
in this business right now?

What would feel lighter if I
were to structure it a little

differently or a lot of differently?

What am I holding onto out
of fear instead of intention?

Where am I the bottleneck?

You are in a scaling season, the
question isn't, what else can I build?

It's what actually deserves
my energy at this level.

What can exist without
my constant involvement?

What kind of life is this
business meant to support?

What am I willing to stop
doing, even if I'm good at it?

And there you have it.

I hope this episode gave you more context
and perspective, and most importantly, I

hope you're walking away with more clarity
on where you actually are or what your

business actually needs in this season.

You absolutely got this.

If you are someone who learns
best by seeing how this

all plays out in real life.

I'd encourage you to subscribe
to my newsletter, the Sweat and

Equity Insider, where I give you
the T on how each of these stages

showed up in one specific product.

In my business, my 28 day lean program,
I walk you through how it started

as one-on-one coaching, how it moved
through different business models,

where it worked, where it burned me
out, 'cause that absolutely happened

and how I redesigned it to scale.

Eventually becoming evergreen and
licensed on the corporate side.

I've dropped the link
below in the show notes.

Be sure to check it out.

Also, be sure to subscribe and one ask
of you is to share this episode with

three fitness and wellness professionals
in your network who is building, who

is growing, who is scaling and needs
to be a part of this conversation.

I do believe that when we have these
conversations with each other, it allows

us to build stronger, build in community.

So yeah.

That's what I got for today.

See you on episode three friends.