Systems, Strategy, and Scale: How to Grow a High-Ticket Business without Burning Out with Maggie Berghoff

0:01John Lee Dumas:Boom! Shake the room, Fire Nation. JLD here and welcome to Entrepreneurs on Fire, brought to you by High Level, the all-in-one sales and marketing platform. Today we'll be breaking down systems, strategy, and scale, how to grow a high-ticket business without burning out. And to drop these value bombs, I brought to Maggie Berghoff and EO Fire Studios. Maggie is the founder and CEO of a top business mentorship program for health and wellness business owners. She is passionate about helping health business owners build their business while prioritizing their lifestyles. And today we talk about going from practitioner to online entrepreneur, high ticket wins in health, standing out in a saturated market, the hardest part of growth and oh, so much more.

0:37John Lee Dumas:And a big thank you for sponsoring today's episode goes to Maggie and our sponsors. Fire Nation, are you ready to build something special in the next 50 days? Check out my free YouTube series, 50 Days to Something. Short and strategic step-by-step videos by me, JLD. On day 50, you'll have a valuable asset. and the best part is it's completely free. Visit eofire.com slash YouTube and start day one today. Stop duct taping your business together. High Level runs your website, your funnels, email, automation, scheduling, payments, and memberships all in one place. And when you sign up at highleveelfire.com, you get a 30-day free trial plus my exclusive bonus stack that includes weekly office hours with me and much more.

1:21John Lee Dumas:Visit highleveelfire.com. highlevelfire.com. All right, Fire Nation, we have such a fantastic episode today. Maggie is going to be here on the mic talking system strategy and scale. We're talking how to grow a high ticket business without burning out. And Maggie, I want to start by having you go talk about going from practitioner to online entrepreneur. I mean, many health practitioners and coaches too. They feel called to go online, but they just don't know where to start. So how How can someone turn their passion and their expertise into scalable online programs? All right, John. Well, thank you for having me.

2:03And when I went from practitioner, I was a nurse practitioner transitioning to coaching, which like you said, you could also just be coaching, transitioning to online or a practitioner transitioning to telemedicine, all the different routes. But for me, it was truly driven by passion and heart and soul. I just knew with everything in me that I wanted to help humans in this bigger way. And that bigger way involves getting online and sharing your message to the world for all to hear and to be impacted by. So I was following heart and passion and soul, but I wasn't doing it blindly. I was smart about it.

2:40And I surrounded myself with other people who had already, you know, walked this path before ahead of me so that I could learn from them and have an easier path to online success.

2:49John Lee Dumas:And Fire Nation, I mean, I'm not ashamed to admit it because this is the life that we're all living. We're always going to be, you know, having health challenges and something's going to not always feel completely right, you know, might feel a little off here or there. And there's been two separate times that I've been blessed to work directly with Maggie. You know, I've hired her to work directly with me because of certain things that I knew that I could optimize, that I could improve, that I wanted to, to check out and to figure out. And I mean, I can tell you, it was such a great experience.

3:17John Lee Dumas:I mean, Maggie, I'm still thinking back. Like there's multiple things when you took me through your initial program, like this was many years ago now, that we just implemented in my day-to-day that I still literally do every single day, years later, years and years later. And every time I do it, I'm just like, oh yeah, Maggie like told me to do, it was a little thing, but it's something that we do every day, like close the toilet lid before you flush. Like that's just a random one. But like, I literally do that every day now. And I'm just like, oh, Maggie told me to do that. I never did that before.

3:47John Lee Dumas:like little tiny things. And that's why investing in yourself with people who know what they're doing, Fire Nation, is such an important thing to do. But I want to talk specifically, Maggie, about why high ticket wins when it comes to health, because you're such a strong advocate for high ticket health coaching programs, specifically over low ticket offers. And you've even converted brick and mortar owners to this model, which is not easy to do. So why do you believe high ticket is not only more profitable, but actually better for client outcomes? Yeah, it's transformation. I truly believe that people get the best transformations in higher level, higher ticket, more hands-on programs.

4:29And so whether, like you said, whether you are a practitioner in a brick and mortar or doing telemed or doing coaching, instead of doing the low ticket offers where, you know, you have hundreds or thousands of people in some group, you're doing a monthly Q &A, you're giving them PDFs they never look at. I really, really value working one-on-one or in a small group with people in that high-level way. And it's not just because it's beneficial to the business owner for a variety of reasons that we can talk about, but it's beneficial for the client. And I developed this model, John, from my own health concerns, because I was a patient before I became a functional medicine practitioner before I became a business owner in this space.

5:08And I went through a lot of different types of models. And I knew that the things that helped me most that actually created lifelong transformation in myself were the things I invested a higher level for because it provided me, you know, that one-on-one support, even if it's something quick, like a little, you know, text message asking my practitioner or coach a question and getting an answer right then in there. It's like that type of transformation that healed my body forever. And like you said, it's things that stay with you forever. It's not a one undone. These are health habits that transform who you are and how you live your life forever.

5:43And so that's why I'm obsessive about online high ticket programs or in-person high ticket programs. It's a commitment from the patient or the client to truly commit and get the results that they're trying to get. and likewise a commitment from the coach or practitioner to truly partner with this other person to help them transform their life.

6:03John Lee Dumas:And by the way, Fire Nation, when I did this years and years ago with Maggie and then actually a couple of years ago for a second time, I mean, it was such a situation where I'm like, okay, I'm investing in myself, in my health, in my wellness, in my longevity, in my life, for my family, for my children. And the dollar amount is real. So I'm going all in on this. I mean, like I was doing the homework. I was taking the notes. This wasn't like something that I was just going to be like, okay, like 47 bucks, like let's go for it. And you know, if it doesn't work, it doesn't work. No, like this was significant.

6:34John Lee Dumas:So I went after it like it was as serious as I should have gone after it. Because again, it's important. It's your health. It's your wellness. And this is an investment in you, the individual. And I want to talk about standing out in a saturated market, Maggie, because the health and wellness space, I mean, it feels crowded to a lot of people. I mean, anybody can just, you know, flip on their TikTok and like repeat something they heard about fasting or about lemon water or about kombucha or fill in the blank. Is saturation actually the problem or is something else holding practitioners back from success?

7:10Well, practitioners and coaches do feel that it's saturated, but that's because that's what their feed is filled with, right? They're interested in health and wellness. And so that's all they see. But a lot of people still don't even know that high ticket one-on-one coaching is even an option for them. Thank goodness. Now they do. Like I'm talking about the clients and the patients. Thank goodness. Now they do. They are actively seeking this out, which showcases why it's not oversaturated. There's in fact, actually this huge opportunity for health professionals to go into this online world where we're helping people in truly a bigger way than we can in the traditional medical model.

7:45And so it may seem oversaturated because maybe that's what your feed is filled with, or it's because it's in high demand, right? And that's a good thing. But how you stand out from all the other stuff is by that transformation component and you, your personal brand. People are hiring one-on-one coaches and practitioners because they trust them. They like them. They believe what they believe in. They see themselves in their transformation, right? They want what they've achieved in their health story. And so if you share your own personal belief systems and story and how you work with clients and client results, that's going to set you apart from everybody else.

8:25And you'll naturally attract the type of people who align with your message and want to hire and work with you.

8:30John Lee Dumas:Maggie, I love examples. I love case studies. I would love for you to give us one of those. Give us an example of maybe one of your clients or just a practitioner you saw that did this thing that you're talking about, that they really said, I'm gonna stand for this. I'm gonna go all in for this. Like, what is an example of that that you think would be really relevant to this conversation that Fire Nation could really relate to? Okay, it's not because I have thousands. I've worked with thousands of health professionals and they all crush it in this space. So it's hard to choose just one, but I'll give an example of a client, Tiffany, who was a practitioner in a traditional model, and she actually transitioned to coaching.

9:10So sometimes our practitioners stay medicine using their license, and sometimes they transition, I consider it a career change, into a coaching model. And so Tiffany was working two jobs when she found us. She had a husband who traveled all the time on the road for his job. She had little kiddos that she really wanted to be home and present for, but couldn't because she was working all the time. All we did with Tiffany, well, she believed in herself. So what she did was hire us, right? But all we did is help her to turn her current already existing passions and knowledge and expertise into a coaching program that she could create this transformative result for her ideal clients that's run fully from her computer and phone so she can work from home.

9:53And then also she was able to make way more income while working less so much so that within six months with us, starting from zero, she replaced her full-time nurse practitioner income. She was a nurse practitioner. So made over a hundred thousand dollars within that six months. Her husband retired. Um, yeah, her husband came home from his job that he had to be traveling all the time. Her big goal when she first hired me, which this is my favorite part. This is like, I love, I love transformations, whether it's someone improving their health or their career. I just love it. So they had this big dream of traveling all the time.

10:27And so they've done this is like five years ago, they still travel for like two months at a time, all of all over the world with their kids. And it's just her life has completely changed. She lives a new reality, because she made a decision that she was going to follow her heart, try this new way out and help people in this deeper way, while also prioritizing the type of mom and wife that she wanted to be and the life she wanted to live. And I have thousands of these examples, obviously, and everybody's a little different with what their goals are and why they're doing this and their results. But it's truly this transformation.

11:04That's why I am so in love with mentoring other health and wellness professionals, because it's just really cool helping people transform their life in this way.

11:14John Lee Dumas:Giving me the chills, Maggie. I mean, no surprise there. I mean, changing lives, doing things, having impact in Fire Nation. We have so much more to talk about. the hardest part of growth, the shift from solopreneur to CEO, and more when we get back from thanking our sponsors. Fire Nation, are you ready to create something special in just 50 days? If you just thought yes, then check out my free YouTube series, 50 Days to Something. Every video is short, clear, and built to move you forward one intentional step at a time. Clarity, offer, validation systems momentum. By day 50, you are not working on something.

11:52John Lee Dumas:You have built something, something to be proud of. And this is completely free on my YouTube channel right now. If you're done letting weeks just drift on by, visit eofire.com slash YouTube. That's eofire.com slash YouTube and press play on day one. 50 days will pass in the blink of an eye. The only question is whether you'll still be thinking or finally building something special. Fire Nation, ideas are exciting, but systems will allow you to create freedom. That is where High Level comes in. High Level allows you to build and run your entire business from one platform. Website builder and hosting, funnel and landing pages, email marketing, automation and workflows, calendar booking, payments and subscriptions, even course and membership hosting.

12:39John Lee Dumas:Everything works together seamlessly. Plus, award-winning 24-7 support so you are never stuck. And when you go through my link at highlevelfire.com, you unlock my full bonus stack, a 30-day free trial of High Level with full access, a private 15-minute coaching call with me, weekly live office hours with me, a digital copy of my book, The Common Path to Uncommon Success, my 50 Days to Something execution roadmap, and more. Stop piecing tools together. Start building momentum. Visit highlevelfire.com. and start building your something today. Now you're back, and I want to talk about the hardest part of growth.

13:18John Lee Dumas:Because as you scaled your own business, what would you have to say was the most challenging part of that journey? A hundred percent hiring team. I love my private clients, my health clients. I know I'm great at what I do. I just love it. And the hardest thing to do was knowing that I can't be the only one anymore who sees my clients, who runs the business, who, you know, launches the stuff and runs the social. It was just really team. So I had this big point in my career where I was kind of faced with this decision. It's like, okay, I need to hire team members and learn leadership. It's something that really scared me at that level of my business, or I have to just kind of pause.

14:03And I knew I didn't want to pause because I wanted to keep helping more and more people. And so that was the hardest, hardest part was the team build and learning how to step into CEO versus a solopreneur in my business.

14:15John Lee Dumas:It's a good problem to have, be honest, when you're having enough success, you're able to build this out, but it's still, let's do this the right way. And talking about the shift from solopreneur to CEO, I mean, how did your role specifically change, Maggie, when you went from just doing everything yourself to leading a team? My mindset had to shift. I really started thinking that my team are my new clients. I need to pour into them. I need to lead them. I need to teach and train them. I need to make sure they are the best they can be so that the people that they are seeing on my behalf, the clients, patients, whatever, that they are getting even better results without me.

14:53That was my goal. I wanted it to be, you know, not just replace me and definitely not be subpar, but to be even better of a service when working with my team than with me. And so for me, that really, that helped me transition to pouring into my team first and foremost, so that they can pour into our clients. It was really a mindset shift and I did not get it right at first. I messed up a ton, which is something not to be afraid of. Every time I messed up, it built me as a, as a human beyond even a business owner. I'm stronger. I'm a better leader. I'm, I'm more compassionate. I just, I'm better all around because I learned how to grow a team.

15:32And then obviously the impact is so much bigger when it's just not you in charge of this. And you have this amazing A player, high performance team who are waking up every day with your mission, top of mind, you know, continuing to grow with you in your, in your journey.

15:48John Lee Dumas:Let's be a little vulnerable here. Let's be transparent. What was the biggest mistake you made early on with hiring. Tell us that story. I have so many. I think one of my biggest that probably a lot of other entrepreneurs early on need to hear is keeping someone on your team, even when you know they shouldn't be. When I was first starting, you know, those early team members, your friends, you know, they're with you from the beginning. And there's a point in your business where you probably know that this is not the right person to be in your company, but you're, you know, using feelings over facts.

16:25That's something I had to shift, facts over feelings, sometimes in business. And so that was a big, huge lesson. Honestly, I let one person stay on my team for a good year and a half, more than I knew it was supposed to be. And I swore I would never do that again because it's hurtful for the company. It's hurtful for your clients, for the business, for your impact, and for the other team members as well.

16:47John Lee Dumas:Fire Nation, these four words will help you. Hire slow, fire fast. When you know it's time to let someone go, it's best for them too. That person shouldn't be on the wrong team and the wrong role, you know, in the wrong area. I mean, make it happen for them too. Now, let's talk about building an empire, not just a program. I mean, you've built a true health business ecosystem. them. We're not just talking about a single offer. Was this always a vision or did it evolve over time? My initial vision was solely to be a wife and a nurse practitioner, which is absolutely fine. But my vision just expanded and it never was what it is today.

17:31I simply kept following what the very next step was. And so no, if I had imagined like all these different offers and programs and companies and team, I never would have taken even one step forward because that would be overwhelming as heck. But I just knew my very next step was I want to help humans with their health in this deeper way. And I want to stay home with my new baby. That's it. So then the next goal became, okay, build my own functional medicine practice and make it online. And then from there, kind of the next step was, whoa, I want to help some more people who aren't necessarily clients of mine.

18:03Oh, I should write a book, which became an international bestselling book and has helped now tens of thousands of people around the world without having to see me. So then that led to the next step of, you know, more impact or more growth. It was always just a natural next step. And so I think when you're building your business, instead of worrying so much about how it's all going to play out, if you just really are focused and intuitive and aligned with what's happening right now and like staring right in front of you and take that next step, then everything else falls into place from there.

18:37John Lee Dumas:What would you say to practitioners who are listening right now who may be playing smaller than they're meant to? Well, I think just that it's that it can feel scary or intimidating, or you have all these made believe, make believe hypothetical situations that like, what if I go bigger, what will happen? What if people are mean to be on social media? What if a client gets mad, but you have all these things in your mind. And so instead of thinking about those what if situations, I said it so many times in this interview, but that's because it's truly to the core of who I am. If you follow your own heart and passion and fulfillment and genuinely are just waking up every day, doing what you love, you are going to have such a bigger purpose and impact in this world.

19:22And so if you feel like right now that you are made for something more, and usually you do, usually it's like inside of you, you know, whatever you're doing right now, you are made for something more. You are playing small. It's just time to take that next step and to believe in yourself and to take the risk without knowing how it will turn out. That's what you have to do. You just have to take action and not try to figure out how it's all going to play out and just know that you trust yourself to continue to grow.

19:50John Lee Dumas:Maggie, I've consumed your contents. I've read your books. They're awesome. I've worked with you personally. I mean, you're amazing, life-changing results. If Fire Nation is listening and they want to connect with you more and they want to learn more about you and maybe take that next step, what is your call to action for Fire Nation today? Thank you so much, John. I appreciate it. So true. Thank you. Thank you. I am MaggieBergoth.com, MaggieBergoth Instagram, TikTok. So MaggieBergoth is where you can check me out. I do run these amazing summits for health professionals. So if you are a health and wellness professional, happen to be, and you're growing, scaling, building an online business or improving your clinical practice, I have so many great free trainings with even live chat support from my team.

20:37So one of those, hopping on one of those is going to be really, really helpful for you as well.

20:41John Lee Dumas:And what would be the best call to action for that? Is there a URL? Is there a homepage? Yeah. If you DM me on social media summit, I'll make sure you get hooked up with the registration link for the upcoming one. Love that. And Fire Nation, you're the average of the five people you spend the most time with. You've been hanging out with MB and JLD today. So keep up the heat. And for links to everything we talked about, including Maggie's social, so you can DM her, go to eofire.com, type Maggie, M-A-G-G-I-E, in the search bar, and the show notes page will pop right up. And of course, her last name is spelled B-E-R-G-H-O-F-F, if you want to find her, on the socials.

21:20John Lee Dumas:And Maggie, thank you for sharing your truth, your knowledge, your value with Fire Nation today. For that, we salute you and we'll catch you on the flip side. Thanks so much for having me. Hey, Fire Nation, a huge thank you to our sponsors and Maggie for sponsoring today's episode. And Fire Nation, are you an entrepreneur on fire who's looking to share your amazing message with the world? If yes, we are now accepting applications for entrepreneurs on fire. To learn more about becoming a guest, visit eofire.com slash guest and I'll catch you there. or on the flip side. Fire Nation, are you ready to build something special in the next 50 days?