From the archive: This episode was originally recorded and published in 2021. Our interviews on Entrepreneurs On Fire are meant to be evergreen, and we do our best to confirm that all offers and URL’s in these archive episodes are still relevant.
Allison Maslan, CEO of Pinnacle Global Network, is the Wall Street Journal Best Selling Author of Scale or Fail, endorsed by Daymond John and Barbara Corcoran. Allison has built 10 successful companies – her first at age 19.
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The Scale It Method Quick Start Guide – Download it for FREE! Build your dream team, explode your growth, and let your business soar!
3 Value Bombs
1) You don’t need to work night and day to create great success. It comes faster when you apply creative strategy instead of the non-stop hustle.
2) Scaling is replicating your offering so it can grow beyond you. Find your multiplier.
3) Remember that every huge success started in Phase 1. Stay focused, and don’t let anyone tell you that it can’t be done.
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HubSpot: Scale support and drive retention and revenue all in one place with HubSpot’s all-new Service Hub. Visit HubSpot.com/service to learn how this all-new solution can help you deliver for your customers!
ThriveTime Show: Want to meet me, JLD?! Attend Clay Clark’s 2-Day Interactive Business Workshop & meet me – JLD – Tim Tebow, & Clay Clark this June! Learn More & Request Your Ticket At ThrivetimeShow.com/EOFire!
Ziprecruiter: If you’re hiring for your business, you want to find the most talented people for your open roles before the competition scoops them up. The best way to do that? ZipRecruiter. And right now, you can try it for FREE at ZipRecruiter.com/fire!
Show Notes
**Click the time stamp to jump directly to that point in the episode.
Today’s Audio MASTERCLASS: How to Build your Dream Team and Scale your Company with Allison Maslan
[1:17] – Allison shares something that she believes about becoming successful that most people disagree with.
- You don’t need to work night and day to create great success. It comes faster when you apply creative strategy instead of the non-stop hustle.
- Work smarter, not harder.
[2:56] – What exactly is scaling?
- Scaling is replicating your offering so it can grow beyond you. Find your multiplier.
- Your impact is more prominent.
- Your profits are much higher.
[5:37] – How does one know when it’s time to scale?
- Most entrepreneurs do not take vacations. Their business is running them instead of them running their business, and they get exhausted.
- What got you here will not get you there.
- Do not wait until you hit the wall — plan to start scaling sooner.
[7:41] – Allison shares other key indicators.
- It’s time to scale when you’ve run out of bandwidth and you have hit the ceiling in your growth.
- It’s time to scale if you want to multiply your growth.
[8:49] – Allison shares The 5 Phases of the Scale-It-Method:
- The Seeker
- The Pioneer
- The Ringleader
- The Co-creator
- The Visionary
[14:09] – Allison shares why she loves talking about these 5 Phases.
- Often, entrepreneurs will get stuck at a particular phase, and their business just lives there for years.
- You have to recognize that these are just phases; get the proper support and you can immediately move on to the next stage.
- It gets easier as you go on.
[15:31] – A timeout to thank our sponsors!
- HubSpot: Scale support and drive retention and revenue all in one place with HubSpot’s all-new Service Hub. Visit HubSpot.com/service to learn how this all-new solution can help you deliver for your customers!
- Ziprecruiter: If you’re hiring for your business, you want to find the most talented people for your open roles before the competition scoops them up. The best way to do that? ZipRecruiter. And right now, you can try it for FREE at ZipRecruiter.com/fire!
- ThriveTime Show: Want to meet me, JLD?! Attend Clay Clark’s 2-Day Interactive Business Workshop & meet me – JLD – Tim Tebow, & Clay Clark this June! Learn More & Request Your Ticket At ThrivetimeShow.com/EOFire!
[17:50] – Where do most people get stuck in their scaling journey?
- Having a hard time letting go, choking the growth of the business, and playing small.
- When you let go, you empower your team. You can work on other essential things for the business.
- Making the shift from being a boss to a leader.
- You have to work on your leadership.
- Your role as the leader is to raise the vibe with your entire team.
[20:53] – How do you specifically help them overcome this process?
- For the past 11 years Allison and her team have helped their clients grow and scale their business by utilizing their propriety method – The Scale It Method.
[22:25] – Allison’s parting piece of guidance.
- Entrepreneurs often look at other business owners and say, “They can do it, but I don’t know if I can.”
- Remember that every huge success started in Phase 1. Stay focused, and don’t let anyone tell you that it can’t be done.
- The Scale It Method Quick Start Guide – Download it for FREE! Build your dream team, explode your growth, and let your business soar!
[26:32] – Thank you to our Sponsors!
- HubSpot: Scale support and drive retention and revenue all in one place with HubSpot’s all-new Service Hub. Visit HubSpot.com/service to learn how this all-new solution can help you deliver for your customers!
- ThriveTime Show: Want to meet me, JLD?! Attend Clay Clark’s 2-Day Interactive Business Workshop & meet me – JLD – Tim Tebow, & Clay Clark this June! Learn More & Request Your Ticket At ThrivetimeShow.com/EOFire!
Transcript
0 (2s):
Boom, shake the room, fire nation, JLD here, and welcome to entrepreneurs on fire brought to you by the HubSpot podcast network with great shows like the salesmen podcast. Today, we'll be focusing on how to build your dream team and scale your company to drop these value bombs. I have brought Allison Maslan on the mic. She is the CEO of pinnacle global network is the wall street journal bestselling author of scale, or fail endorsed by Daymond, John and Barbara Corcoran. Allison's built 10 successful companies starting at the age of 19 and today foundation, we will be talking about what exactly is scaling.
0 (43s):
How do you notice time to scale the different stages of scaling and of course, where most people get stuck in their scaling journey and so much more. When we get back from thanking our sponsors, the HubSpot podcast network is the audio destination for business professionals who seek the best education and inspiration on how to grow a business. Whether you're looking for marketing sales, service, or operational guidance, the HubSpot podcast network hosts have your back, listen, learn and grow with the HubSpot podcast network at hubspot.com/podcast network. Alison say what's up to fire nation and share something that you believe about becoming successful that most people disagree.
1 (1m 24s):
Oh my goodness, John, I am so excited to be here and let's see, I would say that you don't need to work night and day to create great success. That success actually comes faster when you're applying creative strategy, instead of the non-stop hustle that you hear about. So it's about working smarter, not harder and in scaling, which is my thing. You want to be asking yourself, what's going to make your boat go faster. So getting where you want to go in the most direct route possible rather than pedaling as fast as you can, 24 7 and burning out like a lot of business owners.
1 (2m 12s):
Do
0 (2m 13s):
I love this, this creative strategy because so many people like Alison just mentioned, they're just nose to the grindstone. They're never stopping. They're never even stopping to breathe or think like my best ideas come during my morning. Meditations come during my morning, journaling come during my morning walks. And I'm just like, oh my God, like that is going to allow me to scale, to leverage, to grow like that is the thing. And so instead of doing things just like pedaling faster and faster, no now I'm like really understanding which levers to pull to really make things happen in my business. And as you heard in the introduction, fire nation, we're talking today all about how to build your dream team and scale your company.
0 (2m 56s):
So Alison let's just start with the basics here. What is scaling breakdown? The actual meeting.
1 (3m 4s):
Yes, because people often misused the term scale. John, they think scaling means just fast growth. And the truth is if you grow too fast without the foundation, knowing how to build a team and delegate and have systems and processes in place, you can actually implode your business. And if you're the one that is delivering the product and service yourself, you really cannot scale. So you have to shift your model. So scaling is finding your one to many. And what I mean by that is replicating your offering your product or your service so that it can grow beyond you.
1 (3m 44s):
So then it's multiplied out to the market. So your impact is bigger. Your profits are, are much higher. And what I mean by finding your multiplier on the revenue side of the business, you can have like memberships or franchises or software or certifications or upsells or on the team side of the business, you can scale by building a team managed company. So for instance, in the early days of my coaching business, that I run now pinnacle global network. I was doing all the mentoring, but there's only so many hours in the day. So I could only help so many people. But now I have 18 mentors who have all built very successful companies and they work with our clients.
1 (4m 29s):
So it's just, it's so much more expansive when I replaced myself. So it is about finding that multiplier in growing the business beyond you. And it doesn't matter whether you have a product or service, the same applies.
0 (4m 46s):
I love that one phrase that I want to make sure that you're absorbing and really thinking about fire nation, find your multiplier. And everybody's going to have a different multiplier. Everybody's going to have that different lever that they can pull. That's going to multiply the opportunities. And I love that example. Allison gave she's now groomed 18 mentors. So now when she's talking to me, I guarantee a bunch of those mentors right now are making her money by mentoring others. And so it's not always Allison having to be doing the time for dollars only making money when she's doing the actual work. And so this is a great example of a great, great way to think about finding your multiplier, but let's be honest.
0 (5m 28s):
Timing is everything it's so important to know when it's the time to scale. So how does one know Allison, when it's time to scale, can you share some of the key indicators that will tip people off that yes. Now is the time.
1 (5m 45s):
Yes. And it's such a great question. Oftentimes, a business owner gets good traction out of the gate and then what happens that they hit this wall of growth and they can't over it. So they keep working harder, you know, keep hitting that wall and they might grow incrementally or they might stay stuck, but they're not getting the big growth. And they just think I'll just work harder. And many people don't take a vacation for years and the businesses running them instead of them running the business and they get exhausted and they get burned out and even jaded. And so there's this idea of what got you here will not get you there.
1 (6m 28s):
Now. You don't have to wait until you hit that wall. So that's great that you're listening to this interview so that you can plan for that scaling sooner. But for instance, a client of mine, his name is Marshall Doyle. He has an engineering company called Cowsert. They do machine calibration and he had 30 employees, but he was still had his hands in everything. He was afraid to let go. And he hadn't taken a vacation. John in 20 years can imagine his very patient wife. So we helped him scale on the revenue side, adding more revenue stream, getting him out of the way, replacing himself.
1 (7m 10s):
Now he has only works 90 minutes a week. His business has grown by millions of dollars and you know, he has many more employees, but basically the business runs without him and
0 (7m 23s):
A much happier wife, which at the end of the day, lesbian, honest, that's important. Your significant other needs to be happy for all the obvious reasons. So we just talked fire nation about how to know when it's time to scale some of the key indicators that are going to be there. Do you want to share any other key indicators, indicators, Allison, before we move
1 (7m 48s):
On really where you've run out of bandwidth and you have hit the ceiling in your growth, like your profits have stalled, and there's a point where you just can't even take on any more business, then it's time to scale. Or if you are at a place you're just like, you know what? I really want to multiply my growth. Then you've got to find your multiplier. And like you said earlier, you don't, you only need one multiplier. And that's what we help our clients do is to figure that out. But it's when they are ready to take the big leaps in their business, create a much bigger impact in the world.
1 (8m 32s):
And, and then it's time to scale.
0 (8m 35s):
1 (8m 57s):
Yes. So there are five phases and this is part of a method that I developed that all of our mentors work with our clients on called the scale it method. And so every business goes through these phases and you might even relate to have, have been there yourself, John, but phase one, I call the seeker. And that is when you start your business, you're out of the gate, you're super pumped up. You're so excited to get your product or service out in the world, but it's pretty much you doing everything. And every business starts at this place, but you absolutely cannot scale in phase one, phase two, I call the seeker and in the seeker, you are starting to get good traction.
1 (9m 45s):
You might be in the five, even six in the six figures in your business. And you probably have a few employees, maybe an assistant, maybe an accountant or an, a marketing person, but you're still approving every single thing that goes in and out of your business. You're, you're kind of, you know, being a bit of the control freak, which we've all been because we're afraid to let go and afraid for people to make mistakes because it's our baby, but you're choking the growth of your business. And again, phase two really isn't scalable because you're the one delivering your product or service.
1 (10m 27s):
Then when you move into phase three, if you move beyond this, I call this the ringleader and this is where it gets fun. And I call it the ringleader. Cause it's a bit of a circus in phase three, because you start to build teams in your business. You might have an admin team or a marketing team or a sales team or customer service and teams can often be like families. And sometimes families don't always get along. And so, yeah, and you're also, you're, you're growing and you might not be super clear on the roles you need to fill. So instead of just quickly hiring somebody because you don't have any time left, you want to stop and think about what is this role?
1 (11m 16s):
What are the expectations of this position? Do what is our culture? What is the type of attitude that I want this person to have and so forth? So the ringleader is when you start to really build these teams, but it's also a good phase two, because you get more clear on your vision. You see the potential for the growth of your business. But the key to move from phase three to four is that you've got to shift from being a boss, to being a leader. And so that means, instead of telling people what to do, you to inspire your team into action, and that's a whole different experience, and you've got to stop the micromanaging because it's not fun for you, and it's not fun for your team.
1 (12m 7s):
And you'll start to really attract leaders when you build a team around collaboration and communication, and that moves you into phase four, which I call the co creator. And that is when your team steps up as leaders. And they start asking the important questions, like how do we increase profits? How do we create a better customer experience? And they really step up and own the vision and run with it. And that's where you start to step back and you're working more on the business than in the business. And then you move into phase five, which is why we get into business in the first place, which is where you are the visionary of your business.
1 (12m 52s):
And it's basically able to run without you. And you're just working on creative strategy. You're out building great relationships with people or on their podcast. And, and then the business can run without you. And you can go onto the next project. You can sell the business and you have a lot of options at this point,
0 (13m 10s):
Fire nation. I love how Allison breaks it down into these five steps. I mean, you know, you start with the seeker and then number three is actually the ringleader where you get to stop micromanaging and build a team around collaboration. Then the last step, step five is the visionary where you actually, again, get to come on podcasts and be that visionary going forward. Like that's a lot of fun for all the obvious reasons. And let's be honest at the same time too. There are times you need to realize that, Hey, the person that bring the broader business from zero to a million dollars may not be the person to bring the business firsthand from a million to 10 or from 10 to a hundred million or so on and so forth.
0 (13m 52s):
If that is the goal of your business. And so there may need to be different roles for you for obvious reasons as well. And Allison, we're going to take a break in a second here and then really end this episode strong with where most people actually get stuck when it comes to scaling. And a few of the things I want to talk about, but first you want to wrap up anything when it comes to these five steps,
1 (14m 15s):
The most important thing, and why I love to share these five phases is that oftentimes people get stuck at, at, let's say phase two or three, and their business just lives there for years, like seriously, 10, 20, 30 years, and often dies there. So if you just recognize that these are phases, not a place that you have to stay stuck at and understand with some tree tweaks and getting the right support, that you can quickly move on to the next phase. And, you know, life gets so much when you're able to do that fire nation,
0 (14m 53s):
It gets easier and it just gets a little funner and it gets a little freer. And that's the process that we're going through as entrepreneurs. And we'll be right back after thanking our sponsors as a business owner. You know what it's like to run your entire business from your inbox and let's be real. Sometimes things can get a bit messy. That's why there's streak CRM for Gmail streak is designed to help you stay on top of each part of your process and your inbox without ever leaving Gmail street provides tools like email tracking, mail, mergers, and Eva snippets to save time and scale up your email efficiency. You could even set up pipelines right inside your inbox to start tracking your contacts and emails through each process.
0 (15m 34s):
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0 (16m 15s):
You need software that can support you for that. There's, HubSpots just a few examples of how HubSpot can help support you in your business. Include HubSpot's conversational intelligence tools, which makes it easy to scale your team. You can view call transcripts and moderate conversations, giving you the ability to provide real-time feedback and support for your team. Another great tool is HubSpot's customizable reports and analytics tools. These help give you a quick and easy look at how your business is performing without having to rely on an operations team. Finally, with 650 plus integrations, HubSpot has tshirt offer you everything you need while giving you the flexibility to add anything that will further support you in your business. As you grow, customize it to meet your business needs without adding complexity, learn more about how you can scale your company without scaling complexity at hubspot.com.
0 (17m 5s):
So Allison we're back and as I kind of teased before the break, I want to talk about where most people get stuck when it comes to scaling in their journey.
1 (17m 15s):
Yes. So two things. One is that the biggest thing is that we have a hard time letting go it, like I said, it's our baby. We started the business. And if that is all of your income, you get little fearful that your employees are gonna make mistakes and they'll, you'll lose a client or, you know, the product will break down. And you're literally on top of your employees, your skin, having them CC you on all the emails and or maybe you're just afraid to step back and have a team work with your customers.
1 (17m 56s):
And you think that you're playing it safe. You think that you're being smart, but you're actually choking the growth of your business and you're playing small and it's, it's really not fun operating that way, but I it's. It is seriously. I have heard this over and over year after year. And I had a hard time with this early on in my business as well until I learned that when you do let go, you know, you actually empower your team and sometimes they can even do better than you, you know? And then you can really start working on the things in the business that you love. So that's the first thing.
1 (18m 36s):
The second thing is, like I said, in the phases is making that shift from boss to leader. And that means you've got to work on your own leadership. And I know you're big on this, John and your leadership is how you show up with your team, how you show up in the world, your own success mindset, your own money mindset, the way that you communicate to your team and your job as the leader is to raise the vibe with your entire team. So if they're having a tough time, your job is to shift the energy and get everybody back and connected to the big picture vision and where you're headed in your business.
1 (19m 23s):
So this really takes a commitment for us to work on ourselves, because if you want to grow for instance, 40% in your business in this next year, then you, as the leader need to grow 60% to be able to carry that 40% fire
0 (19m 40s):
Nation. So many value bombs here. So many great takeaways you need to learn to let go. If you are going to be scaling your business, you need to be able to shift from boss to leader and ask yourself questions. Like, how are you showing up in the world? Now, Allison, you're one of the best in the world talking about the world and helping people make this transition, build this process. Obviously your five step process is incredible for obvious reasons. How do you specifically help people overcome this process?
1 (20m 19s):
So in my company, pinnacle global network, and this is my 10th company, but for the past 11 years, my team and I, these awesome mentors, who've also built their own very successful companies. We help our clients grow and scale utilizing our proprietary method, the scale it method. And so year after year, we have our clients continue with us and we help them to structure their business, move to that next phase of growth, find their multiplier and build this team managed company so that they can replace their there themselves, get their lives back, get their sleep back and just enjoy their life again.
1 (21m 2s):
I mean, whether it's a digital business, brick and mortar, consumer goods, product manufacturer consulting, we just really help them scale fire
0 (21m 12s):
Nation. If you want to learn from the best, if you want to go through a process, that's going to help you find your multiplier, go through those five stages. Avoid of course, getting stuck where most people get stuck. Allison is going to be a great guide for you. So Allison, what I want to do next is really end with a bang. Give us the one takeaway that you really want to make sure fire nation gets from all these Austin value bombs you share with us today. I know you have a special gift in call to action for fire nation. So share that. And then we'll say goodbye.
1 (21m 50s):
I just want to say for all of the business owners that are listening, oftentimes we look at other business owners and we say, you know, they can do it, but I don't know if I can. And I will tell you that every business owner has gone through those types of feelings, but I just want you to know that every big, big success started in that phase one. So stay focused on that goal, walk towards it every single day, and don't let anyone tell you that it can't be done. So I just want to make sure everyone feels inspired that they too can grow and scale the business of their dreams.
1 (22m 32s):
And the gift that I would love to share is my scale. It method quick start guide. It's kind of like the cliff notes to scaling. I don't know about you, but I like the cliff notes. I like to get right to the point of it and they can go get that for free. It's my gift scaleorfail/fire scaleorfail.com/fire
0 (22m 59s):
and just one more time, Allison kind of break down what they're going to get when they arrive with that,
1 (23m 5s):
They are going to going to be able to quickly download our scale it method quick, start guide. So all of the steps that you need to scale your business, we'll take you through the scale at method, which covers strategic vision cashflow Alliance of the team, leadership and execution, everything they need to get started in scaling. Wow, wow,
0 (23m 29s):
Fire nation. It's all in one place. And you know, this, you're the average of the five people you spend the most time with. And hello. You've been hanging out with AM in JLD today. So let's keep up that heat head over to eofire.com type Allison and the bar and the Sheila's page will pop up with everything we talked about here today. Links, timestamps, you name it, it's there. And of course your direct call to action fire nation. Your one single action today needs to be to head over to scale or fail.com/fire. Get all these amazing goodies from Allison. Some of you, I know we're going to take that next step and work directly with her and her team to make sure that you are scaling the right way.
0 (24m 13s):
Allison, thank you for sharing your truth, your knowledge, your value with fire nation today, for that we salute you and we will catch you on the flip side.
1 (24m 22s):
Thank you. It's been great.
0 (24m 24s):
Hey, fire nation today's value bomb content was brought to you by Allison. And one thing that I learned over the years, successful entrepreneurs, they are productive. They are disciplined and they are focused, which is why I created the mastery journal, which is a gorgeous, full other journal that will ensure by our nation that you master productivity, discipline and focus in 100 days, visit the mastery journal.com use promo code podcast for a $15 discount as a thank you for listening to my podcast and I will catch you there, or I'll catch you on the flippity flip side. The HubSpot podcast network is the audio destination for business professionals who seek the best education and inspiration on how to grow a business.
0 (25m 4s):
Whether you're looking for marketing sales, service, or operational guidance, the HubSpot podcast network hosts have your back, listen, learn and grow with the HubSpot podcast network at hubspot.com/podcast network.
Killer Resources!
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