Breanne Dyck, Founder of MNIB Consulting Inc., is here on Episode 164 to reveal a few tips which could help you to scale your business without losing any (or all) of your sanity. Breanne generously shares what this framework looks like and how she helps freelancers and businesses to "scale up without burning out." She also shows us how these methods are both sustainable and realistic!

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Breanne shares with us:

Sometimes we underestimate how hard it really is to scale a business. Many of us fail to take a closer look at our business model before we get started and then we are overwhelmed when everything starts to take off all at once. But it is possible to scale your business with your sanity intact.

Don’t Follow the Crowd
Breanne speaks from first-hand experience when she tells us not to follow the crowd. There is more than one way to scale your business, so don’t simply create a course just because that’s what everyone else is doing.

What are the alternatives to this? And what are the ways you can scale up your business… How can we get some of those benefits without having to divorce ourselves completely from the reality of running a service?

When Breanne got her start as a web development entrepreneur, she noticed a huge discrepancy between designing courses and scaling. She herself took some courses to help her begin scaling but realized that they weren’t the best. In fact, according to her, they were “really, really, bad.” That’s because many freelancers create courses simply because it seems like the obvious thing to do to make some extra money. But you don’t have to copy everyone else’s scaling model just because it’s the easiest option. As a freelancer, you have the luxury of choosing a business model that works for you.

The Venn Diagram
In order to uncover your ideal scaling model, Breanne wants you to draw a Venn diagram. The three circles will represent profit, team and client experience. These three aspects are important to creating a well-balanced business and for the scaling process to become much more simple for you.

If you want to actually have a scalable service business… it comes from your ability to have your profit, your team, and your customer experience all dialed in and working together.

With this visual aid, you can see how each section of the Venn Diagram is going to influence one another. Breanne goes into detail about how much your profit depends on the team you build and the experiences they create for your clients. If you want the ideal profit structure, then you need to make sure your team is working well and is having the right impact on your clients.

Revenue is a result of getting this stuff right in your business. It’s not the thing you go out and directly create.

You can create more impact and serve more people by improving the results you bring to them by having a stronger team. A stronger team means more positive client experiences, and those experiences will be what ultimately build your business to its max. When all of these things are working together, you’re going to earn the profit that feels better than exchanging time for money.

The Three ‘R’s’ of Customer Experience
Client experience is one of Breanne’s favorite topics and the most important piece of your Venn diagram. When she first started her business, it was this lack of attention to the customer experience that really motivated her. She shares why a client’s experience is important by breaking it down into what she calls “The Three R’s”.

First, referrals are what keep people talking about your business. The better your client’s experience, the more likely they are to recommend you to friends and colleagues. A positive word of mouth can build a very successful business.

Secondly, retention is what keeps clients from disappearing on you in the middle of a contract. You and your team’s engagement with a client will be what inspires them to stick around. Even if you miss the mark on the first project, clients are more likely to see it through with a consultant they enjoy working with.

Thirdly, you want to ditch the old model of one-and-done projects and start building a bank of repeat clients. Like retention, you want to keep your clients around by creating a team that’s easy and fun to work with. This creates what Breanne calls “lifetime value” or “LTV”, which means these same clients keep coming back for more simply because they enjoy the experience of working with you.

When you do all of those things and bake that into your client experience, making it intentional instead of an afterthought, then you’re in a position to actually use the service you provide as a catalyst for growth.

The client experience should create more value in your business. You can change the way you create the experience by focusing on it with intention. The experience should be the first thing you do instead of something you do after the fact. Breanne discusses the ways you can build your client experience so you can start to charge more.

Show Me the Money
Before you start charging more, Breanne wants you to look at how you earn money. Freelancers assume that all the money that comes into the business is theirs. But if you want to build a team and scale your business then you need you start investing instead of pocketing the profit.

If you want to be able to scale your business, you need to start separating out in your head the money that the business makes and keeps for itself, and the money the business makes that you get to take home.

Breanne dares you to think differently about your salary. Not all of the money that you earn is yours. In order to scale, you need to invest in and pay for the team members that are going to help you grow your business. Therefore, you need to set rates on your projects that reflect how much money you are actually investing. You don’t want to end up taking money from the business in order to pay yourself and your team. That is not how you make a profit.

If you feel like you don’t have enough money… go and look at your prices, go and look at where that money is going on a per product basis, and start fixing it. Because if the math doesn’t work on paper, it’s not going to work in reality.

There are fun ways to manage your money, which Breanne shares today. And she offers advice on how to set rates that truly reflect the work that you do and the team you are investing in. The costs of your business should be reflected in the rates that you charge, and clients should be willing to pay when their experience working with your team is worthwhile.

Teamwork Makes the Dream Work
When you think about building a team, don’t think about delegation. That is the one word you should ignore when it comes to scaling. Instead, Breanne wants you to focus on creating a team that is better than you could ever be on your own.

Ideally, you want to hire people that are better than you in different areas of your business. And since there are so many different elements that go into your business and your products, it's true that when you are scaling up you wouldn’t possibly be able to do it all. Instead, you should focus on what you’re good at and build a team around the other elements.

We want the team to be better than we are in aggregate so that everyone can shine. Our clients can shine, our team members can shine, and we can shine too.

If you don’t know when to start hiring, don’t stress. Breanne breaks down business into five different areas so you can look at the bigger picture. For example, if you are "the visionary," then hiring a team for product operations and administrative work may be a good option. With this model, you can stay in charge of design while your team takes care of the paperwork.

The most important element of team building that Breanne talks about today is delegation. You do not want to create a team simply to manage them. Hire people who are good at managing themselves. You want to create a team that takes initiative and responsibility for the task at hand so you are free to focus on the elements of your business that truly need your attention.

Resources mentioned:

• Gay Hendriks
• Ready, Fire, Aim by Michael Masterson

Find Breanne Dyck online:

• Website: mnibconsulting.com
• Make an appointment with Breanne
• Cheat Sheet: The 4x4 Scale Sheet