How to make a service business scalable

The best advice I received from a night of “speed mentoring” 

The fastest path to the cash is always about “tuning in” to your “signal” and following the insights that you receive everyday–whether that comes from your own visioning, conversations with mentors, or masterminding with peers–no one entrepreneur succeeds on their own.

If you are like many I know, women entrepreneurs in particular get caught up in their heads–struggling with ADD and facing a myriad of decisions, it’s hard to see the forest for the trees.

“I’m so busy fulfilling my client work and bringing in money that I’m not doing what I need to be doing to build my next offering,” said a woman in my mastermind group.

I know how she feels. There comes a time when you pass the six-figure mark on your way to seven, that you hit that wall. There is not enough time to do what needs to be done to grow your business.

The solution lies in the answer to this question: How to make a service business scalable and stop trading time for dollars?

You need to think beyond growing clients and revenues. You need to scale. And that requires leverage. But how do you make a services business scalable? By the very nature of selling a service, you are trading time for money.

Finding an answer to that question was my objective in attending a “speed mentoring” event at The Spur – an innovative co-working space founded by entrepreneur and investor, Ashley Heather.

“Speed Mentoring” literally gave us 10 minutes with a leading entrepreneur or investor to ask one pointed question and get a 10-minute response. Since I was always paired with another rising entrepreneur, I had to absorb the best advice from these masterful minds in 5 minutes or less!

I doubted this was going to be worth my time. After all, investors and accelerator mentors are looking for the next unicorn–that one business that will return 30x in five years when the founders exit.

“What can I possibly absorb from these rockstar status entrepreneurs in all of five minutes? That barely covers, ‘Hello, what’s your business?’” I wondered…

My expectations were low.

Complicating things is my business model. I’m not your typical Shark Tank investment. It takes a unique investor to invest in a service business to help it scale.

Everyone says, “You need leverage. Create once and automate, and sell it over and over again.” I’m sure you’re familiar with the model.

I’ve chosen to deliberately buck that trend of leveraging my business through automated courses and doling out advice in social media, in favor of deep teaching and hand holding in the basic skills needed to launch and grow a business.

And so far, I’ve mostly bootstrapped the entire operation with a couple of small investors.

I’m no unicorn. I’m also over 50.

But, I was curious. What could I possibly hear that I hadn’t already been told?

So I asked each mentor the same question…

“I have a virtual incubator for women entrepreneurs who want to launch and grow a sustainable business. How do I scale my own business and stop trading time for dollars?”

Here’s what I learned about how to make a service business scalable…

Mentor #1: “Create an app based on what’s unique about your content,” said Jasmine Pizzimbono, a Pipeline Angels investor. In my case, that meant focusing on what no one else in the space is dong.  My formula is mindset + mechanics + metrics = money. While there are many places you can go to get training and coaching in how to launch a business, the hardest part of this journey for women is maintaining the courage and confidence to succeed.

Answer: Develop A Mindset App

Mentor #2: Attorney Alon Kaplan, said, “It’s tough to earn back enough quick enough to pay back a debt offering. You’ll have to scale by bringing your content online.”

Answer: Leverage online one-to-many training and skip the mentoring.

Mentor #3: “Bring on trainees and create a blend of principals and lower level talent to get the work done (a la a McKinsey Model), said Hedge Fund CEO and investor, Andy Brindle. “There is a lot of tailwind right now for women” as a result of #metoo–you can capitalize on that. “Write a book. Start a show on your own YouTube channel.”

Answer: Become a voice for the movement. Write a book and start a show.

Mentor #4: Entrepreneur and startup expert, Michael Rothbart, known for money mentoring and maximizing profitability said, “Explore the revenue sharing idea of packaging your content through other distribution channels. Who has done it before? Does it work? Do the projections.”

Answer: Find a revenue sharing distribution model to validate it works and do the numbers.

Mentor #5: “Become a personality in the space of women entrepreneurs,” said James Egan, founder of JEMC and a marketing strategist focused on leveraging disruptive and creative concepts in both digital and traditional business models. “Write a book. Do videos. Create a co-working space for women only.”

Answer: Write a book. Cut some videos. Launch a coworking community for women entrepreneurs only.

Mentor #6: Porter Bibb is a charming, old school, merchant banker with serious business chops as a mentor and advisor to tech startups and was my favorite conversation fo the evening. He’s also a former White House correspondent for Newsweek and the first publisher of Rolling Stone. “Big banks are looking for a new cadre of customer (e.g. women),” he said. Leverage their marketing with a minority investment as partners. Structure a five-year exit with a buyout.

Answer: Think bigger. Leverage partnerships for investment and a marketing channel, with a five year buyout.

Was I surprised? Yes.

Not every mentor in the room had an innovative idea for me, but that’s ok. Having received some consistent messages (write a book and get an online show) and some out-of-the-box ideas like creating a co-working brand, leveraging partnerships and a shared distribution model, they gave me plenty to think about.

If you could be in the room with a group of successful entrepreneurs and investors, what one question would you ask? Post your question in the comments below. 

Talk soon,

P.S. Whenever you’re ready… here are 4 ways I can help you to launch and grow your business:

1. Join the Launch Lab for Women Entrepreneurs – It’s our new Facebook Community for women turning their passions into profitable businesses – Click Here 
2. Apply to The Passion Project Incubator and get hands-on, step-by-step training and mentoring in how to launch your business – Click Here 
3. Join our mastermind group and be a part of a group of amazing women entrepreneurs who are sharpening their product and marketing skills to get more of their ideal clients – Click Here to apply and tell me a bit more about your business
4. Work with me privately – If you’d like to work directly with me to take you from trading time for dollars to leveraging your time and money to create a business you love… tell me a little about your business and what you’d like to work on together, and I’ll set a time for us to chat – Click Here