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- [00:06]
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You know, back in the day when we were at the Trailblazer stage, we were selling millions of books. I mean, we're making money, awesome culture we got on Oprah. We had plenty of growth, plenty of momentum. But we didn't have the leadership team or the systems in place to keep it from falling apart. The business was scaling so fast that our three vice presidents and I became a giant bottleneck. We were making all the decisions, departments were playing tug of war over people and resources, and our processes were stuck in the stone age. And that drove me absolutely crazy because I knew that we had the potential to serve so many more people. But we couldn't take advantage of those opportunities because we weren't being strategic enough. I know some of you can relate to that. So today we're going to break down what it takes to make progress in this stage of business, which we call the Trailblazer stage. Entree Leadership's John Felkins will show you what it takes to develop high quality leaders, organize your processes and scale your business.
- [01:09]
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As a trailblazer, most Trailblazers experience one major problem. You lack the plan and leadership team needed to scale your business. And that typically shows up in three ways. For starters, you're just stretched too thin. And the biggest reason you're stretched too thin is you haven't developed enough leaders under you. You might have a VP or two, but the true weight of leading the company is still sitting squarely on your shoulders. Instead of being free to cast a vision and focus on growth, you're stuck in the weeds acting as the go to leader for everyone and everything. That lack of leadership depth means the business can only move as fast as you can personally handle. And eventually that becomes the lid on your growth. Next, hiring more people to solve problems doesn't work anymore when core systems and leadership structure aren't in place. Just adding people creates a bigger logjam. Instead of speeding things up, it creates more communication gaps, misaligned priorities, and dependency on you to untangle the mess. Finally, Trailblazers processes and systems aren't strong enough to support their vision. Simple processes can get the job done for a small business. But as you scale those duct tape solutions collapse under the weight of actually your success. We used to process all of our payment stuff by hand at events, but the crowd started to get so big it just became a big logjam. We couldn't actually serve people, and that was because the system wasn't designed for scalability. What worked when we had 20 clients, that breaks down when you have 200 clients. So to sum it all up, trailblazers have problems scaling. You see plenty of opportunity in the market, but your business doesn't have the horsepower to get you there. We'll get right back to the episode, but first, do you remember when you only worked 40 hours a week? Now that you're in leadership, you do that by Wednesday afternoon. Look, you want to be a part of something meaningful. You want to make an impact and still have a life. But as your company grows, your calendar fills up, meetings stack on top of each other and you're doing more work that better doesn't require your expertise. You don't have time to lead anymore. That's where Belay comes in. Belay matches you with qualified US based executive assistants, marketing assistants, and accounting professionals. Real people who can help you protect your time. So you can delegate what doesn't require your leadership and focus on the work only you can do. Because growth doesn't come from doing more. It comes from doing what matters most. If you're ready to build a business that runs without running you into the ground, download Belay's free resource, the 40 Hour CEO Work Week Planning Guide by texting ENTRE to 55123. That's ENTRE to 55123. Now let's get back to the episode. You see plenty of opportunity in the market, but your business doesn't have the horsepower to get you there. So what do you do? You should have one goal in mind. Assembling a leadership team that can execute on a solid strategic plan to scale the business. To make that happen, you need to focus on four main areas of your business. Number one is intentional culture. Creating and maintaining intentional culture means you as a leader, take the core values you've already defined and make sure they're alive in the daily life of your business. They have to be woven into everything that happens in simple, consistent ways. Like repeating values in meetings, celebrating when team members embody them, and correcting misalignments quickly when you see them. Because when culture is enforced and encouraged, it becomes the backbone of hiring accountability and developing new leaders. It unifies the team, prevents drift, and creates the clarity and consistency you need to grow. Number two is leadership development. At this point, you already have team members in place and now it's time to get them to level up and help you lead this thing. That means coaching them in real time and walking alongside them so they learn how to lead the way you do, which allows you to share the weight and create margin. It shifts the business from a one person show to a team of leaders who are aligned with the mission and able to act with confidence. You don't want to just be Santa Claus in his shop with a bunch of elves. You need a team that can help you make this thing happen. As others step into real responsibility, they bring stability and scalability to the business. This helps you get to a place where you have a team of leaders making strong decisions and driving results without you needing to hold their hand. And number three is strategic planning. You got to get up above the business. Strategic planning is all about slowing down, taking the time to decide where you're going to go and how you're going to get there. By now you've proven you can hustle and make things happen. What you need is clarity, and a strategic plan at this stage of the business makes all the difference because this organizes the chaos into a roadmap your team can follow. A strategic plan acts as a filter. It helps you say yes to the right things and no to the wrong things. It unifies the team around what really matters and prevents you from spreading yourself too thin. With a clear plan in place, your people know where the business is headed and how their work contributes to the bigger picture. If you want a complete roadmap for how to navigate strategic planning effectively, check out the Free Entre Leader's Guide to Strategic Planning. It's packed with everything you need for making an actionable plan that'll make the vision you have for your business a reality, and you can download it by clicking the link in the show notes. Now number four Repeatable processes. This might not sound exciting, but it's crucial. Repeatable processes in the trailblazer stage are about taking the things you're already doing and often in a reactive, last minute, oh crap kind of way, and turning them into consistent systems your team can run without you. A perfect example is bookkeeping and accounting. In the early days, you might be stuffing receipts in a shoebox, reconciling bank accounts just once in a while, or calling your CPA in a panic at tax time. That kind of winging, it works for a season, but it creates stress, leaves you blind to the real financial health of your business, and will never make you a peak performer.
- [07:39]
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The trailblazer stage is exciting, but it's also exhausting if you try to carry it all on your own. The good news is, you don't have to. With the right leaders beside you and the right systems underneath you, growth doesn't have to come at the expense of your sanity or your team's energy. Your business has already proven it can create momentum. Now it's about building a structure that lets you sustain it. And when you do, you'll free yourself to lead at the level your company really needs, and you'll finally see the future you've been working toward take shape. If you enjoyed today's episode, be sure to like, share, and subscribe for more great leadership content. I'm your host, Dave Ramsey, and this is Entree Leadership.