You’re self-employed or a solopreneur and you’re looking to be something MORE. Maybe you feel trapped. You’ve created this business and now you are spread so thin that you aren’t having fun.

I’ve been there.

If you’re tired of wearing all the hats and losing your own life in the midst of it – it’s time to learn to scale and optimize your business.

If you already started and you started without an end in mind – it’s time to start again. You need a business that can run without you unless you want to run on that hamster wheel for the rest of your life.

I don’t.

What you need to do is spend time setting up your business so well that you’ll eventually (soon) be able to back off and still watch it grow – that’s scaling and optimizing your business and creating a legacy.

WHERE TO START

No matter where you are right now, you have to think outside the box. Take a step back. Are you stuck? It’s probably your mindset. You are probably stuck in the muck of ‘this is my business I have to work it.’

You don’t.

You are a leader growing a company. It’s about everyone else, not just about you. If you make it just about you – you’ll never stop working. It’s time to be a leader.

Entrepreneurs do many different jobs – sometimes the job of 8 different people. Purposefully scaling and optimizing your business takes thought, not work though – that’s your first step.

Ask yourself these key questions:

• Are you diversifying too much?
• What are your profit margins on each product or service?
• Are you spending too much on training?
• Is your inventory sucking the money out of your business?
• Is the equipment you need too expensive to produce the profit margins you need?

Find the ‘holes’ in your business. The areas that are sucking the life out of your finances, and making you work harder than smarter. Double down on what’s working and stop adding products or services just to ‘grow.’

Scaling and optimizing means growing in things that are working and cutting the fat, aka the things that aren’t!

CUTTING BACK

Ask yourself, can you increase volume or offer better service in an area? What can you grow that already exists?

Maybe you can expand in an area that doesn’t require you to add to your team or increase your expenses.

For example, if you offer a service – can you turn it into a course? You work hard ONE TIME and sell the course over and over again. You just stepped back and worked less, but made more money.

Step back and see what systems and strategies you can develop from all aspects of your business. If you’re a brick-and-mortar store, is it worth it? Can you do the same thing online, but even better? It will cost less and you may have higher profit margins, not to mention a much larger audience.

Can you sell larger packages or sell them to a larger niche? You’ll have greater income working with fewer clients – you’ll grow without working harder.

Only 1.7% of women-owned businesses make more than $1 million per year. That’s so small. And that’s up 46% over the last decade. You haven’t adopted that next-level mindset or next-level strategy.

THINK ON YOUR BUSINESS, NOT INSIDE IT

It’s time to take a step back from your business. Take a day or take an entire weekend. Step back and chart your business’s path.

If you want to scale, you must:

1. Take the time to map out the strategy
2. Get yourself to the next level mindset
3. Chart out what it looks like – who can you delegate to our outsource with?

It’s time to get out of the day-to-day operations. The next level is there and waiting for you. The world is abundant. Don’t let your circumstances keep you back.

Set aside time to work on your business, not in your business, it’s the best investment you can make. Stop operating from a place of reaction and instead, proactively dictate.

It’s time for you to become a visionary. Don’t do the tasks that aren’t income-producing.

If you don’t design your business blueprint as you grow, your business will eventually plateau and keep you stuck. You will be bored and unchallenged and eventually uncommitted.

WHAT DOES IT TAKE TO MOVE TO THE NEXT LEVEL?

Here are the typical stages of self-employment. Where do you stand?

1. You are self-employed – You work for yourself – you do all the tasks and bring in around $100,000 – $200,000 doing it.
2. You and a few – You’re still in it every day but with a few others (assistants). You still run the show, but you have support.
3. Business owner – You have under 10 people working for you and you’re still doing 80 things. You’re doing more than you want and you are spread too thin. You are in it every day and some days you don’t know how you do it, but you’re closing in on 7 figures.
4. Emerging Leader – You’ve identified systems and have a structure for your team and even tiered management. You have people picking up the things you can’t do. You finally aren’t doing everything.
5. CVO – You are the Chief Vision Officer. You created the vision and direction. You have a bold and exciting mission. Your team, employees, and customers are excited about what you’ve created. You know that the 1 thing you must do to scale is to get out of your own way. Let the people that do it right do the tasks.

Keep this in mind – there’s always another level. You have to step up. You have to get clear on what you enjoy. What are you good at? What aren’t you good at?

Whatever you aren’t good at, outsource. Let others do what they’re great at and let your business grow.

If you’re ready to take it to the next level – you need a group of like-minded people. You need to surround yourself with people who want to take it to the next level too. Do your research. Find a group that’s curated by someone who has ‘been there done that’ and dig deep into it. Surround yourself with positivity and support – read books by these successful people, add them to your social channels, and live it day in and day out. Before you know it, you won’t be a sole proprietor, but rather a CVO with a prosperous business.