790: How to Scale Your Business Without Losing Your Soul

0:28What is already working for you? photo biz. And now I work from home and run a seven figure online business. I teach you the tried and true secrets to building a career you adore. Shy away from the real talk? No way. Money, hardship, growth, loss and marketing are all topics we discuss here. Think of this as your one stop shop for happy hour with a gal pal mixed with business school. Pull up a seat, make sure you're cozy and get ready to be challenged and encouraged while you learn. This is the Gold Digger Podcast. Are you feeling ready to take your business to the next level? but you're worried about becoming a robot or sacrificing your sanity or worse, your soul in the process?

1:06Well, if so, you're in the right place. My podcast producer and I were going back and forth on the title of the show. And honestly, I felt strongly about saying the words, how to scale your business without losing your soul. Because in nearly 15 years of entrepreneurship, I have watched so many founders fail. So many people quit and worse. So many entrepreneurs build businesses that they hate or businesses that take over their lives. You see, scaling a business isn't just about numbers and profit margins, though we will talk about those and those are important too. It's about preserving what makes your business unique, what makes it you, what brings you joy.

1:45It's about staying true to your values, your mission, and your passion while you grow and expand and doing it in a sustainable way that gives you life and doesn't take it over. In today's episode, I'm going to break down what you can start doing right now if you want to scale your business authentically and sustainably without losing sight of what truly matters. We're going to talk about whether your business currently is scalable, different strategies you can implement, systems and processes you should consider, and how to uphold your core values as you expand your reach, your impact, and your revenue.

2:18Whether you're just starting out and dreaming of the day that you'll scale or you're already knee-deep in growth and looking for ways to stay grounded, this episode is packed with inspiration and practical advice that you can apply to your own journey. Let's dive into today's conversation and discover how you can scale your business without losing your soul. Are you ready? Let's do this. More to do is less time and an infinite number of tools to keep track of. Gold diggers, do you ever feel like doing business has never felt harder? Well, the good news is you don't need a miracle to hit your goals.

2:51You just need HubSpot. Their all-in-one customer platform can make growing your business so much easier. Imagine this, high quality leads, fast closing deals, wildly happy customers, and more benchmark breaking quarters. It's not a miracle, it's HubSpot. Visit HubSpot.com to get started today. That's HubSpot.com. To kick things off, I think it's really smart if we start with just determining if your current business or your business idea is scalable, or if it's in a place to scale. To assess if your business is truly scalable, I want for you to ask yourself this key question. Can you increase your revenue without a proportional increase in your workload?

3:35So if the only way to make more money is by working more hours, then that likely tells us that your business isn't scalable in its current form. So for example, when I was a wedding photographer, I had a few options in terms of scaling. So the first option was if I wanted to make more money, I had to book more weddings, which I did. The first year I shot 25 weddings, then I went to 27 weddings, then I went to 30 weddings and I scaled my business to six figures. But honestly, that was when I hit burnout. That's when I realized like I do not have the human capacity to do more weddings. So my ability to scale and my ability to make more revenue is capped at my human potential, which at the time was very drained.

4:21So my second option being a service-based entrepreneur was to get an associate photographer to shoot for me. And I actually did that for a few years. So basically I could book weddings and someone on my team could also book weddings under me and my brand. And that was a really interesting way to scale my business and it worked really well. But the truth was that while both of these methods scaled the business, there was always this ceiling, this cap to what was possible. Each option also ended up bringing on more work and more time involved in the business. And so while my revenue did increase, it wasn't necessarily without added effort.

5:02So I wouldn't necessarily call it scaling. It was more of an expansion. That was when I really started to consider and think about different business models that were truly scalable. A lot of people don't know this, but way back in the day, and if you've read my book, How Are You Really? You will know this. I actually started a watercolor print shop. It's kind of a long story, but in my season of note, after that season of 30 weddings in a six month period, I started painting just for pleasure. I would literally sit down at my table overlooking a cornfield in Wisconsin and every day set a timer and just paint for 20 minutes.

5:42I needed time away from my screen. I needed to feel creative again. I needed to kind of flex different muscles. And I started just painting for the fun of it, but then I started sharing my paintings online. Then people started asking if they could buy them. And this was my first entry point into a scalable business. And so what I discovered was I could create a watercolor print, I could scan it using our printer, I could upload it to a website, and then that website could sell prints. They could also sell mugs and cell phone cases and all different kinds of products with my watercolor designs on them.

6:18But the amazing thing was is that I could create that print once and sell it 10, 20, a hundred times without extra effort on my part. And once I got a taste of what a truly scalable business was, meaning creating something once and serving it to many without that much effort on the backend, I was hooked. Like my whole mind started changing of like, how can I get more of this in my life? So if you are someone who is either recognizing that your current business or your business idea isn't scalable to the point that you want it to be, or you are someone who has never considered additional revenue streams that are more on the passive front.

7:03And I don't say fully passive because I don't really think any business is fully passive, but more on the passive front. Then these are some questions that you should ask yourself just to kind of assess like, is this actually scalable? So the first question is, can I increase sales without a significant increase in costs or time? So if your revenue can grow without a proportional rise in expenses or working hours, then your business has scaling potential. The second question is, is there a large enough market demand for my product or service? So if there is a growing market with ample customers who need what you offer, then again, you have this potential to scale.

7:43And then the third question is, do I have systems in place to handle growth efficiently. So if you have or can implement streamlined processes, technology, and a reliable team, your business is more likely to scale successfully. And we're going to walk through what all of this means as we continue. These questions provide a quick litmus test for scalability, which can then help you identify whether your business can grow sustainably and whether it is actually scalable. So the first thing that we want to really think about, and I want for you to either think about your current business or a business idea that does pass the scalability test is that you want to start looking for opportunities to automate.

8:26And I am like the queen of simplification and automation. Like anything that can be automated and set it and forget it, like that is my life. Like I should be on one of those Crock-Pot infomercials where they do, they'll like set it and forget it because that is what I love. So automation is just magic. It feels like Hogwarts magic in so many ways as a business owner, because it allows you to do different processes without even thinking about it, right? Like there are so many things in our lives and businesses that we are constantly doing over and over and over again. And there are likely ways that we can automate.

9:02So we want to be looking for automation opportunities. We also want to look at ways that we can streamline and simplify operations. I think a lot of times complexity is the killer of ideas, of businesses, of our brainwaves. When we add in too much complexity, we start to stumble. We start to feel like analysis paralysis and we don't actually start to move forward. And so looking for ways to simplify and streamline is another really good trait to have when we're talking about scaling. And then lastly, leveraging technology. It is just amazing. Even when I think about my journey as an entrepreneur over the last 14 years, thinking about the ways that technology has changed and the way that technology can almost come aboard our teams as assistants and team members and do a lot of the work for us.

9:51I think that we have to embrace that, especially if you want to have a business that scales. So when we start to look at this, again, we want to keep in mind that a scalable business should grow in revenue while maintaining or even reducing the amount of time and effort required. So when I think about scalable businesses, I think about a lot of intentional work on the front end to reap the rewards and the results on the back end. I've often shared this story and I'm just going to share it quickly right now because I think it's just really powerful and just an illustration. But when we were going through the process of growing our family, I experienced two back-to-back miscarriages over a two-year time span.

10:33And at the time, I was solely a wedding photographer. And I was basically trying to plan pregnancies around my wedding season. My work was really condensed to this six-month period. And so I was thinking, okay, I need to get pregnant between these two months so that I'm over the first trimester by this point, that I can still shoot all the way through, then I can have the baby. It was just crazy how I was basically planning my life and my family around my work. And now, hindsight, I can see how back that was, but that was the stage that I was in. And I'll never forget when I got the news of our second loss and that there was no longer a heartbeat, but my body was still carrying the pregnancy.

11:10I literally had to show up and shoot a wedding the next day. And this was when my grief hit like full force with my first loss. I was able to just really feel this piece of like, I meant to like share this and help like ruin the stigma around it and just, you know, share our story to help other people feel less alone. But when the second one hit, I was just angry. I was so sad. I was so frustrated. I was scared. And yet here I am showing up to shoot a wedding. And I will never forget that day and that season of life where I was like, I have to figure out a different way. There has to be a better way because if I don't show up, I don't get paid.

11:47And I've built this really successful business that I'm incredibly proud of. But it's also scary that it relies on me that I can't have a human moment that if I don't show up and I don't shoot, I don't get paid. And like, that was when I really vowed to start to learn different ways of doing business, different ways to create more scalable, more passive opportunities for me and my family so that I can have a life and that I can be a human. And God forbid, I need to grieve. I can grieve in peace without feeling like I need to put on a happy face and show up. And so we want to keep in mind as we talk through this episode to remember that a scalable business can grow while maintaining or reducing the amount of time and effort required.

12:28My business is the biggest it's ever been, and I'm working the least amount possible, but that doesn't happen overnight, right? That happens over time and with a lot of intention. So the first thing that we really want to dig into that we already started talking about is just how to automate and optimize processes. And so the first thing I want for you to consider is like, what is already working for you? The biggest thing about scaling is that if you want to scale your business, I'd argue that you have to start with one offer. You want to have this core competency, this thing that you are known for.

13:06So for me, it was wedding photography. I wasn't shooting seniors and families and babies and grads, I was all in on wedding photography. And when you look at a lot of the multi-passionate entrepreneurs out there, they started with one core offer, one thing that they were known for, one thing that their brand was built around. Pareto's principle is generally true for many small businesses in that 80 % of your results generally come from 20 % of your offers. And so regardless, when we're talking about scaling, I want us to first start with one offer. I think a lot of times we get too many pots on the fire and then none of it works.

13:45And we're like, Hey, this just doesn't work for me, but we're not actually focused. And so I think it's really important to focus on like one core offer. And for me, when I really started understanding scalability and more passive revenue, my one core offer was a course for photographers. It was called the photo lab. And that was that thing where I put in a ton of work on the front end in creating it. But once I created it, I recognized I had a core offer that I created once, but that could serve many. That was like my first dipping my toes in a truly scalable business. So as you look at your offer, my question for you is like, where is time being spent?

14:25And are there opportunities for you to automate or optimize the process, eliminating time and friction for both you and the client or the recipient? I will never forget. It was December 31st. It was years ago. And I was still using very archaic systems as a wedding photographer. I was the kind of person who I would send somebody a contract. They needed to print it out. God forbid. I mean, who even has a printer with ink in it these days? They would have to fill out their contract. They would mail it using the postal service. They would send in their deposit. I would store the contract in a file that I had in my office.

15:04And funny fact, I still have all of those files. Like I should just digitize it and get rid of it, but I just can't throw it away. And so I was like operating from this archaic system that I'd created that was working without recognizing, okay, wait, there's like a way simpler way to do this. So I will never forget December 31st. It's about to become a new year. I wanted to spend some money to get some more tax write-offs and I signed up for HoneyBook and HoneyBook was like new to the scene at the time, But HoneyBook is still to this day, what we use to send contracts, to get deposits, to collect payments from different contractors or different things that we're working on.

15:42And so it's wild because HoneyBook has like grown with us and changed with our business. But I will never forget signing up for that and recognizing, oh my goodness, I have been doing this the hard way for years. I've been making it hard for my clients. I have been taking up unnecessary time. There are ways that I can automate different parts of this process, make it so much easier for me, so much better for my client. And that was like the first dipping the toe in of like seeing that tech can become an assistant, can become a partner in the process. By the way, if you want to check out HoneyBook and how we use it in my business, go to jennacucher.com forward slash HoneyBook.

16:18I have an amazing offer for our audience. But again, this is like what we're using to this day to send out podcast contracts, to collect payments with different partners. Like we love HoneyBook and you can build in different systems so that you can create these workflows once. So say if I was still a wedding photographer, I could say the week before someone's wedding, send them this email, make sure that we have this contract on file, make sure that they have all their payments. It sends payment reminders for you. So you don't have to be the annoying person saying like, Hey, just a reminder, your payment is due.

16:48It's amazing. Anyways, this is the first thing to really look at is like, what can you automate and what can you optimize? If you have not done a time audit lately, I highly encourage you to spend an entire week and just track your time. A lot of times I'll do this with my team where I'll say, spend the next week tracking your time and let's just look at inefficiencies, areas that we can improve, or places that we could potentially invite tech in to help us out, to streamline things, and to get us away from having to do these repetitive tasks that are taking up unnecessary time. So a few different tips would be identify tasks that can be automated to save time and reduce errors, regularly review and update processes to ensure that you are remaining efficient, and consistently look for opportunities to automate or optimize.

17:37Basically stated, if you are doing something more than once, you should either have a template or you should look into how it can be automated. Another example of how we do this in my current business is that we use a program called monday.com. It is our favorite. It is a project management software. It is beautiful. I literally always have a tab of it open. I could not do my job or run my business without monday.com. And Monday allows us to create different templates and workflows and create these repeatable trackable systems for literally everything we're doing in my business. So whether it is a course launch, we have an entire template built out of this needs to happen.

18:15And this is when it's going to happen. And this is who's doing it to even like my weekly to-do list. Like I can see exactly what I need to be working on in my business. My team can see where I'm at with it. I can ping people in it, send them messages, go back and forth. We can store documents. I literally just sent off a video to one of my team members in a task. That way everybody has it. It reduces that back and forth communication. So we love monday.com. If you want to check them out, go to jennalovesmonday.com. But it is the best project management software. In my opinion, we've used a bunch of different ones.

18:46And it's also just like visually beautiful. I think a lot of project management softwares are really ugly. and that really hinders my game. Okay, it is officially that time of year. And if you run a business, you know the holiday rush is no joke. I've done more Black Fridays than I can count at this point. And let me tell you, orders at 2 a.m., inventory updates, refreshing my site, hoping it can keep up. It never stops being intense. That is exactly why I use Shopify. It keeps everything running smoothly when things get their craziest. Shopify is the commerce platform behind millions of businesses around the world and 10 % of all e-commerce in the U.S., from household names to entrepreneurs who will be participating in their first Black Friday Cyber Monday this year.

19:33They've got ready-to-use templates, AI tools, and support available 24-7 so that selling stays simple even during the peak madness. And ShopPay's quick checkout, well, it's a game changer. It means way fewer abandoned carts and way more happy customers. This Black Friday, join the thousands of new entrepreneurs hearing for the first time with Shopify. Sign up for your free trial today at shopify.com slash gold digger. That's shopify.com slash gold digger. Go to shopify.com slash gold digger and make this Black Friday one to remember. Let's be real. As business owners, we know a reliable connection isn't optional.

20:14I've had my fair share of slow and lagging internet. and let me tell you, nothing kills your groove faster. It is the ultimate productivity killer. You can't process payments, you can't talk to clients, and your team feels stuck waiting on you. Back when I started my business, I learned pretty quickly that things only run as smoothly as your connection does. And that's why I love what Spectrum Business is doing. They get it. They know that reliable systems keep your business running, your clients happy, and your stress levels low. Spectrum Business offers internet, advanced Wi-Fi, phone, TV, and mobile services built for your budget.

20:50And here's the best part. You can get free business internet forever when you add four mobile lines. No contracts, no added fees, just dependable service that keeps your business moving forward. Visit spectrum.com forward slash free for life to learn how you can get business internet free forever. Restrictions apply, services not available in all areas. Okay. The second thing to consider, especially if you're looking to scale and not lose your soul in the process, is to not do it alone and to look at who needs to be on your team in order to help you scale and how can you invest in them and their development.

21:29Now, I would argue that if you are looking to scale, you need to be willing to invest in growing your team with the key players that you need. This is something that held me back for years upon years because while I was literally white knuckling my business, there were people that would have been able to come in and help me and to get it to a better, more scalable place faster and more efficiently. And what's interesting is, and a lot of people, I think this is one of our biggest hangups on it is that a lot of times scaling will bring more complexity at first. I think there are so many people out there that are doing a disservice to this notion of scaling or upleveling your business because they're posting, you know, what they're making week after week, but they're not actually sharing.

22:15How do you get there? And what does it actually look like upfront? And upfront, I would argue, it's a lot of work and it's a lot of strategy. But again, if you want to reap those long-term results, then it is absolutely worth it. And so when we think about hiring team members or training in team members, yes, it does add in complexity and it does take up time at first, but in the long run, it is going to save you so much more time. And what's so interesting is when I look at my team, I can very easily connect the dots to what I am paying that team member and how that is helping us earn more revenue.

22:54And if I can't do that, I'm likely not going to hire somebody. And so when you get the right players in the right positions, it's so easy to legitimize what you are paying them because you can see the clear line from point A to point B that is going to allow you to make more money off of what efforts they are bringing to the table. So here's a good example of back when I was still a wedding photographer. I will never forget, I invested in this workshop. Someone was like selling their ticket last minute. I went to this photography workshop. I'd never been to anything like it. It was a husband and wife team that was hosting it.

23:29And I remember they were talking about business and they were talking about how they outsource their editing. And at the time I was like, I could never, I could never. Editing is a part of my art. It is a part of my process. It is why people hire me. It's not just about the photos. It's the editing. It's a whole package. Good for you. Not for me is basically how I left that workshop. And guess what? A few years later, when I found myself tethered to my computer every single hour of the week only to shoot another wedding on the weekend, get more backlogged, be editing like a crazy person to stay caught up.

24:02I recognize, wait, they might be onto something. I did the math and I recognize I could pay somebody$200 to edit an entire wedding and save myself 30 hours a week. What could I do in those 30 hours beyond just like living and enjoying life. I could do one extra shoot and pay for that editor. I could work on my marketing to book more clients. I could streamline my processes. And the cool part was, is that I didn't just outsource all of my editing. I kept the parts that I loved because I still to this day love editing images, but I outsourced the stuff that I didn't love, which at the time was like cocktail hour and dancing photos and family portraits.

24:42Somebody that I hired loved editing all of that and they did it. And the best part was, is that it got my clients, their images back faster. Never once did I have somebody say, wait, did you edit this photo personally? Never once did I have a client notice any difference between my editing and my editor's editing. And it saved me so many hours. It got me back my life. And that was where I first started to see the power in not just outsourcing, but having a team member to do some of the tasks that yes, you can do, but you should not be doing, right? You are better poised in different positions.

25:18For me, it was better for me to be actually taking the pictures or marketing my services than sitting there and editing every single photo bit by bit by bit. Another example of this in my current business was, you know, five years ago, I had this similar business to what I have today, but I came back from maternity leave and I was just so overwhelmed. I did not have a single person in ops or like project management. And so basically what that meant was my entire team would come to me for everything. When they had a question, they would come to me. When they needed direction, they would come to me.

25:52When they needed approvals, they would come to me. When they needed reviews, they would come to me. And I remember coming back from maternity leave, holding this teeny tiny little baby and wondering, okay, I know there's so much that I need to be doing right now. I don't even know what I need to be doing. And then just feeling like I was chasing my tail day after day because everyone is coming directly to me. And that was when I hired Marissa, who is basically like the VP of my company now, but I hired her as an integrator, which allowed me to be the visionary to kind of cast the vision of the business, but allowed her to be more in the weeds, in the nitty gritty with the team so that the team would go to her before anyone came to me.