The Key Questions to Ask in Each Phase of Business (and How They Can Help You Grow Faster)

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0:38I want to start this episode off by asking two questions. But before I get there, welcome to the Jasmine Starr Show, where you and I get the opportunity to talk about up-leveling our business, marketing, branding, and a whole bunch of mindset, resilience, and, you know, some hot topics too. Okay, back to the two questions. Question number one, if you could wave a magic wand in your business and change one thing, what would it be? Question number two, what is one thing in your business that makes you feel stuck or is like tripping you up? I'm asking this because I've discovered that by answering these two questions, I can easily tell what phase of business you're in.

1:13Yeah, your questions reveal what phase you're in and knowing what phase you're in will give you a clear step-by-step to finding the right answer. The answers to your questions are going to be coming soon, but when I look back at my career, if I had known this sooner, I would have found the answers to my questions so much faster. I was looking at every business question that I asked as if they were the same type of question. They're not. Not all questions are equal. We ask different questions in distinct phases of our businesses, but it's important for us to know which phase each question belongs in.

1:46Why? Because the actions you take in each phase are totally different. Now, I'm gonna break down each of these phases, but first, let me tell you what they are. Phase number one is foundational. Phase number two is stability. And phase number three is scale. So how do you know if you're asking a foundation question? Well, a general rule of thumb is that you're asking questions about new ideas. These are new offers, generally something you've never tried before. And chances are, you know, probably at this time, there's very little demand, probably because people don't know what you're offering since it's so new.

2:20And at this point, a foundational question means that there's not proven product market fit. This is how we would define a type of question that exists in this foundational phase. When you've identified that you're asking a question in the foundational phase, the first thing you should do is focus on the mindset that you're going to go in with. Here are three key mindsets to focus on while you're asking foundation questions. Mindset number one, nothing is permanent. This means that you could change it fast. Now, as a business owner, this is a gift. I'm going to say that again, being able to change fast is a gift.

2:53That is the blessing of asking a question in the foundation phase. Mindset number two, Everything is a test. And guess what? There's no right answers. When you're asking foundation questions, there's no wrong answers. There's just results from the questions. You're just gonna figure out what is going on and then apply what you need to do. And the third mindset that you wanna go in with when you're asking a foundational question is accepting that you won't have it all figured out. You're not supposed to, and that's okay. There's no pressure. So if you know you're asking a foundational question with this mindset, what is the action that you need to take when you're asking a foundational question?

3:35Now let's pause here. Foundational question means, hey, this is a new idea. Hasn't been tested before. I have the right mindset going in. There's not a proven product market fit. So everything is an exploration. So if you know you're asking a question for something that hasn't yet been proven, that it still feels very new, limit your thinking time. Now, you can do all the thinking, but thinking in a foundational phase question, well, it does very little for you except waste time. I want you to set metrics that you're gonna assess. And you're probably like, okay, Jasmine, what metrics? Pick anything.

4:11Set a good, better, best. How many people say yes? Good, better, best. How many people say no? Good, better, best. How many people clicked on the page? Make up things for you to say, oh, this is what I'm going to test and I'm going to use this to help me answer it. Good. Also, when you're asking foundational questions, ask for lots of feedback because this is a new idea. It's a new offer. There's no proven product market fit. Ask anybody and their mother for feedback because the more feedback you get for a foundational question, the more it will help challenge and then kind of like distill the answer.

4:45I want you to focus on more doing and less thinking. Your goal when answering a foundational question is not how many thoughts or plans you have. but how many actions you could take to get results and then continue taking actions until you have answers. And lastly, when you're trying to answer a foundational question, I want you to list the non-negotiables for the week. Like what must get done this week to help me find an answer? In order for me to answer this question, I must do what? You have to force and prod yourself into taking action when you're asking a foundational question. So you have to say, no matter what, hell or high water, I'm going to do these three things by the end of the week.

5:28I'm going to do this one thing by the end of the week. Why? It's getting you into action. Okay. So we just covered how to know if you're asking a question in the foundational phase and then what mindset you have to have when you're asking that question. Let's move on to identifying questions in the stability phase. A general rule here is that you're going to be asking questions about tested ideas and offers. Okay. We'll pause here. Tested ideas and offers. This is stuff that you've kind of put out. It's not brand new, but you're not exactly getting as much impact as you would like. So with these types of questions in this phase, you might be experiencing peaks and valleys of demand.

6:08This is something that you put out there and then people bought it. But when you're not really pushing hard on it, no one's really buying it. You got to be like that force to it. You might probably be still developing product market fit. Okay. So we're going to pause here again. When you are in the stability phase, the idea, the project, the offer, it's out there. People have bought it, but not in the way or in the amount or the frequency that you would like. So not new, but not where you want it. So when you're asking a stability phase question, here are the three mindsets that I want you going into it.

6:43So mindset number one, Hey, it's working, now let's make it better. Mindset number two is to remain unattached to how it's been done, and instead, focus on how it can be done. Now, this opens you up to finding even better ways of doing things in the future. And mindset number three, ask yourself, how do I remove redundancies? Now, this mindset that you're going in this, like during the stability phase, optimization, this is what we're focusing on, optimization. An example here could be, hey, well, if two people are proofing this project, figure out a way to get it down to one person. When you're asking questions in the stability phase, you want to build systems and then adapt quickly.

7:23I can't even tell you how much time I wasted not building a system during the stability phase. Like I wanted to make sure the system was right, so then I didn't build it. Like, listen, let me tell you, build the system first and then fix it and tweak it as you learn. Now, another thing about the stability phase is that you're not getting feedback from everybody anymore. In the foundation phase, you're asking for feedback from everybody. Not right now. Who you're getting answers from comes from people who've paid you. And when you're answering a stability question, I want to encourage you to remove yourself from the process as soon as it's possible.

7:57Because when it comes to answering questions in the stability phase, you must trust that your team can keep the system stable and you don't need to be fundamental to it. This is about looking at the system, pulling yourself away, giving it to the team, and here's the thing. It's really hard. Something that I have been asking myself lately is, am I necessary? Is it necessary that I'm in that meeting? Is it necessary that I'm in that Slack channel? Is it necessary that I'm CC'd on that email? If it is not necessary and I'm asking a stability phase question, I'm going to tell myself, take myself out.

8:34Why? Because I need to make sure that the team can take it and grow it without me. Now, we just went over the foundational phase and the stability phase of questions. And now we're going to move on to phase number three. And these are scale questions. Scale questions are about proven ideas and offers. So I'm going to say that again. Foundational, new, never been out, not sure of like product market fit. Now, the stability, this is, I have an offer out there. I still need to tweak the system. I need the team to run with it. And I'm really focusing on moving myself outside of the process and tweaking the system as we go.

9:13Now, when you're in this scale phase and you're asking like scale questions, at this stage, you're probably seeing an increase in demand. You have found proven product market fit. Now, when you're asking scale phase questions, you're gonna be asking questions about how to take a proven idea and then make it bigger. This means your business is growing on its own, your customers are evangelists, and your retention and your repeat purchases, chef's kiss, they're impeccable. Now, very few people get to this phase. So if you're asking these types of questions, these like scale questions, congrats. Remember, if you're asking scale phase questions, you're thinking about pouring gasoline on a fire that's already burning.

9:52Now you wanna make that fire bigger. So when you're asking these questions, let's go over the mindsets that you should have when you're answering scale questions. Mindset number one, trust the system. I know it's hard, but just because you spent so much time creating and tweaking and fixing it, you can then trust it. Even if it takes more time than you want, you know, you go see these results, ah, you want them faster. You must trust that the momentum will continue to build over time. Mindset number two, take bigger risks because you have a proven offer and you have a proven mechanism of getting sales and you have proven product market fit.

10:27You're actually hedging your bets because you asked the right questions in the stability phase. Now you get to answer these questions in the scale phase. No, you know your offer is spot on and your team has systematized the growth path. So now it's time to get uncomfortable, really thrusting your efforts. In mindset, tip number three, as you're asking scale questions, is to ask yourself, how can I keep growth simple? Now, I know that it feels like you want to do more, but instead ask yourself, wow, what can we do less and still scale? Ask yourself, how do we get users to continue talking about us?

11:04And ask yourself, who can we partner with? And then how do we make it a win for them? So what is the action that you need to take when you're in the scale phase of answering these questions? Well, this is where you go hard on creating content, booking press opportunities, running paid ads and leveraging SEO. go. This is also the stage where you're empowering your team leaders. You are empowering the leaders, not the whole team. Now your team is going to be looking at you, but you are responsible for your leaders and your leaders are responsible for the team. And finally, this is where you build business to business connections.

11:38I want you to actively search and connect with other complimentary businesses that might be able to amplify your efforts. Together, both of your businesses can grow by marketing your business synergies as a benefit to both of your customers. Okay, so now that we're on the same page about what business phase our questions are living in, what I wanna do is reshape the way we're asking questions so that we map our actions to it. So when I said, if I can wave a magic wand over your business, what I'm essentially asking you to do is figure out how, what action will you take to get there? No, the hard truth is that nobody's coming to save you.

12:16I don't have a magic wand, so we could sit here all day and we can just hope and wish for the answers, but they won't come without taking action. You can figure out the action by taking what you're wishing for, think about what you're wishing for, and then asking a question that begins with, how do I? So here are some examples of foundational questions, right? I wanna create a day with no meetings. How do I get a day to create without meetings? I wanna stop the day-to-day hustle. How do I stop the day-to-day hustle? I want clarity on what and when to offer. How do I get clear on what and when to offer?

12:56I want more awareness and I want a bigger reputation. How do I get more awareness? And it's at this point in the conversation where we're kind of like, yeah, but I don't know how. Like, how do I answer that? Well, it's because you're asking a foundational question. Your answer is to stop thinking and more doing. So you want a day to create? Put a big X on your calendar. Now you're done. You now have your day to create. You might be thinking, I can't put a big X on my calendar. What will happen to everything else that's supposed to happen on that day? Well, you figure that out. Then how do you stop like the nonstop hustle?

13:34Set a date of rest. My mentor told me a couple of weeks ago, if you dug yourself in a hole, stop digging. Simply plan when you are going to take a break, even if it feels inconvenient. When you feel tired and stressed and overwhelmed, you might be thinking, it's crazy to take a break, but actually taking a break is what helps you continue pushing over time. You might be asking, how do I get clarity on what and when to offer? You will not get clarity until you offer it. That's it. Pick a date, you make the offer, and then you put it out there. Once the market responds, you now know what to fix and how to make it better.

14:12You might be asking, how do I get more awareness and reputation? Well, look at what other people are doing and ask, how do they do that? How did they get featured in that magazine? How did they get to be a guest on that podcast? Literally go to Google and ask your question. You're gonna get a million ways to get started, take action and test where you wanna begin. After you figure out what needs to happen in the foundational phase, I want you to commit to three non-negotiables for the week. By completing your non-negotiables each week, what are you doing? You're proving to yourself that you can take enough actions to help you answer the foundational questions.

14:48I'll pause because the answer will not come to you. It won't without taking action. Now, after you have asked a foundational question and you've taken us to where we need to go, getting results, those actions, proving what we need to do next. Oh, great. You have earned the right to ask stability phase questions. Now, stability phase questions, Well, these can look like, I want a team in place for growth. I want a solid foundation. I want predictable revenue. I want consistent flow of leads and clients. Great. Now you take action. When you say, I want a team in place for growth, how do I set up a team for growth?

15:30I don't know how to do that. Well, yes, you actually kind of do. You're going to set up your dream team. Like, remember, there's no rules here. You're going to create an organizational chart, a CEO, and then a COO. and then you're going to draw circles in your org chart. Now, these circles are going to be empty. They're not going to have people's names or people even associated with them, right? You're just going to say, this is the team I need. And then you're going to say, I'm going to fill in this person first, right? So you might go to your big org chart with your dream team and most of those circles, they're going to be empty.

16:00That doesn't matter. This means you now have a path on what the roles that you're going to need to hire for. Even if it takes you a while to fill that team, at least you know the team that you're building. And then you could set revenue goals to make a hiring path a reality. Sometimes I'll tell myself, okay, once I hit this revenue number, I'm gonna hire this person for 75 ,000. And then what they're going to bring in, like what is their return on investment? What's their ROI? What they're gonna be value is gonna be a minimum of 76 ,000. All I'm just saying is I can hire them if I know that they're gonna bring in at least$1 ,000 more than I'm paying them.

16:33The focus here is to build a system and then build a team that can take that system and run with it. They can make constant improvements and find new ways to grow. And then all of a sudden, over time, you're now saying, I don't need a magic wand. I need to say what I want, and then I need to set metrics on how to go out and do that. When you're in the stability phase and you say, I want predictable revenue, there are two things that can happen when it comes to predictable revenue. You can either build a business around predictable revenue, like a membership or a subscription, or you have to accept the fact that your business model that you're building is really reliant on promotional periods, a sales team, or around creating launches during specific time periods.

17:13Now, there isn't a right or wrong model, but you must either change your business model for predictable revenue or change your mindset to accept your current business model. When you're in the stability phase and you say, I want a consistent flow of clients and leads, ask yourself, with your current clients, what do I do really well? What results have I gotten for them? And then you're gonna take their results, even if it's just one sentence, and you're gonna build an entire ad campaign about what somebody else said about you. For example, we had a social curator user and she sent our customer success team a chat conversation, something like, I only had 300 followers and I made$3 ,000 in three weeks.

17:50Now, we're gonna use that as content. If you want more clients, then look back at your results to create a clear path to promises for future clients. And that is how you take your I wants in the stability phase and create a plan to get there. I recently met with a group of entrepreneurs and they asked me questions like, how do I get from one circle to the next? I don't have a clear journey. I'm not sure what to do next. I am not sure how to build long-term teammates. I am not sure how to get all of my ideas because like if I have diluted focus, then I get diluted results. They say things like, I don't want to create content.

18:29I don't have enough time for content ideation. Okay, so when I heard these ideas, I started seeing where more seasoned business owners were getting stuck. But this is where I have to ask, if we know where we're getting stuck, what is the action? Spending time, less thinking, and more doing. The only way you become unstuck is by asking how and then testing to see if your theory worked. This is how you move from the stability phase into the scale phase. So let's go over some example questions in the scale phase. How can I maintain quality of my product or service if I expand? What are the potential risks of scaling?

19:09How can I maintain and reinforce my company's culture as it grows? So scale questions are future focused and they are often like really supported around this idea of expansion. Now, remember these questions that are going to be best saved for once you have a proven product or service, where there's consistent demand and there's locked in systems for your team. This phase of business is where you're going to pour gas on that fire. And this is where I suggest you start investing in seasoned partners with experience. You're going to be focused less on asking questions to your clients or customers, but instead asking questions from mentors, consultants, or your board.

19:45You're, you know, you're confident about your growth rate and the business is doing well. So you have extra revenue to invest in people who could save you time and and energy because they have experience and they know what mistakes to avoid. I asked in the beginning of this episode, if you could wave a magic wand in your business and change one thing, what would it be? You must accept and understand that as you grow your business, that you are the magic wand. It's only you. So the next time you say something along the lines of, I just wish somebody would make it all go away. I wish somebody had a magic wand.

20:18I wish somebody could fix it. Ask an open-ended question. An open-ended question isn't, when is this gonna happen? Why am I not moving fast enough? Those are dead-end questions. Like, you'll never be able to truly answer them. Like, not only do you not have the answer, it doesn't actually help you figure out what action to take. Now, if you were to ask, how could I build a team? That's an open-ended question that gives you the space and energy to figure out what you're actually asking. And then you could attribute that question to a phase. Is this a foundational question? Is this a stability question?

20:51Or is this a scale question? Because once we know what phase it's in, it changes our actions. And once it changes our actions, we then can say, okay, what mindset do I need to have? Okay, so just to ensure that you have the simplest steps to take when you're trying to figure out what to do next or get an answer. Number one, ask open-ended questions. Number two, determine if it's foundational, stability, or in the scale phase. Number three, apply the right mindset. And then number four, take action. Remember, questions in the foundation phase are usually new ideas and new offers. There's little to no demand because people probably don't know what you're offering since it's new and there's no proven product market fit.

21:33Questions in the stability phase are usually tested ideas and offers. You might be still developing the product market fit and when you put it out there, people buy it, but not at the rate that you want. Now, questions in the scale phase are proven ideas and offers with increased demand. You're experiencing growth, even though it's slow, but you're ready to pour gas on your prune fire. I hope that knowing what phases the questions that you're asking, I hope that it saves you a lot of time as it would have probably saved me a lot of time. This is information I wish I knew sooner. And I know that your time is valuable.

22:03And you being here and having this conversation with me during this podcast means so much. And I would like to personally thank you. If you could tag me at Jasmine Star on stories and just take a picture of where you're listening. It gives me the opportunity to express my personal appreciation Speaking of personal appreciation, for people who are leaving a podcast review, like the people who are spending 30 or 40 seconds just to leave a note and a review, y 'all, I am telling you, it makes such a big difference. I look forward to reading your feedback, your comments, and seeing where you're listening to the Jasmine Star Show around the world.

22:39It is an honor and a privilege to be here. Thank you.

22:49you