The Importance of Launch Systems

In the fast-paced world of online business, launching a new product, service, or course can be both exhilarating and daunting. You’ve poured your heart and soul into creating something truly remarkable, but what happens when your launch doesn’t go as planned?

As an empire builder, you understand the importance of proactively removing bottlenecks and systemising operations to scale your impact.

However, a failing launch can feel like a roadblock, leaving you questioning your strategies and doubting your abilities. Fear not, for in this comprehensive guide, we’ll explore practical strategies to overcome launch failures and position you for long-term success.

With a wealth of experience in launch management, Leanne Woff addresses common concerns, such as low sales, ineffective ads, and lack of engagement, providing actionable strategies to troubleshoot and optimise launch efforts. Whether you’re a seasoned entrepreneur or just starting out, this episode is a must-listen for anyone looking to navigate the complexities of online launches with confidence and success.

What this post covers:

• If your launch isn’t working midway, don’t try to fix it, focus on learning for the next launch.
• Define what success and failure look like based on realistic goals, not comparisons.
• Consider the number of launches you’ve done – results can vary based on launch experience.
• Understand that buyer behaviour and the market can change, impacting launch results.
• Assess who is running your ads, what the objective is, and if expectations are realistic.
• Ads are not a silver bullet – they need to work within your entire marketing funnel.
• If people aren’t showing up, re-evaluate how you’re promoting events, not just the format.
• If there are no sales, revisit your messaging and offer to resonate better with your audience.
• Systemise your launch process to reduce stress and overwhelm.
• Get help if launches feel chaotic and last-minute.

Listen now:

Redefining Failure and Success

Before diving into solutions, it’s crucial to reframe our understanding of failure and success in the context of online launches. Often, we base our perceptions on unrealistic comparisons or arbitrary metrics that may not align with our unique goals and circumstances. When you find yourself caught in the trap of feeling like a failure, take a step back and ask yourself: Who defined what constitutes success or failure for this launch? Is it based on realistic, measurable goals or influenced by external factors beyond your control?

“If you’re in the middle of a launch right now and you feel like it’s failing and scrambling to try and work out what you need to do, stop. It’s too late. If you’re in the middle of a launch and it’s not working, It does not matter what you do at this point. There is no rabbit you can pull out of your hat that is going to magically fix it.”

Understand the Launch Cycle

It’s essential to recognise that launch results can vary significantly based on your experience and the current market landscape. Your first launch may yield impressive results as you capitalise on low-hanging fruit, but subsequent launches may require reaching higher and adapting to evolving buyer behaviour. Embrace this natural cycle and resist the temptation to compare apples to oranges. Instead, focus on continuous improvement and adapting your strategies to align with the ever-changing market dynamics.

Evaluating Advertising Strategies

Advertising, particularly through platforms like Facebook and Google, can be a powerful tool in your launch arsenal. However, it’s crucial to approach advertising with a clear understanding of its purpose and limitations. Assess who is managing your ad campaigns, what the specific objectives are, and whether your expectations align with realistic outcomes.

“Ads need the full journey like any other marketing thing needs. The same as email secrets. Sequences. The same as social media. There’s that whole funnel that your ads will help lift and need to be involved in to get results.”

Ads are not a silver bullet; they must work in tandem with your entire marketing funnel, nurturing prospects through the awareness, consideration, and decision stages.

Engaging Your Audience

If your launch events or communications fail to resonate with your audience, it’s time to re-evaluate your approach. Instead of fixating on the format or channel, take a step back and analyse how you’re promoting and communicating about these events.

Are you effectively capturing their attention and articulating the value proposition? Consider leveraging personalised outreach, such as direct messages or targeted emails, to cut through the noise and establish a genuine connection.

Optimising Messaging and Offers

In the absence of sales, the culprit often lies within your messaging or offer itself. Conduct audience research, seek feedback, and test different messaging approaches to ensure your language resonates with your target market.

“Are we pulling the right language and are we really communicating what this transformation is? Is the message right for the audience? And what is making up our offer? Maybe our offer and the way it’s all pulled together and how we’re selling our thing is the issue.”

“Maybe we don’t have the right ingredients. Maybe we need to add something in or take something out. If you’re not getting sales, ask your audience. What would you love for this to work with? Do some messaging testing.”

Additionally, re-evaluate the components of your offer – is it truly addressing their pain points and delivering transformative value? Don’t be afraid to make adjustments or seek outside perspectives to refine your offering.

Systemising for Seamless Launches

Launches are inherently high-stakes and emotionally charged endeavours. Without a systematised approach, the stress and overwhelm can quickly escalate, hindering your ability to execute effectively.

“Systemised launching works so much better because emotions are high and launches their high capacity Jobs. There’s so much going on that we need to be across and so many things that happen at the same time that we need to be able to navigate and so many things that we need to prepare.”

Invest time in developing a comprehensive launch system that streamlines processes, assigns clear responsibilities, and enables you to navigate the complexities with confidence. This proactive approach not only reduces chaos but also positions you for consistent, replicable success.

“Caveat, I originally created this just to be a masterclass. And then a template. And then, as I kept going, I realised that there’s no one template that’s going to fix it. It’s this suite of tools that you need, and the way that you operate it, that you need to make launching easy.”

Seeking External Support

As an empire builder, you understand the value of surrounding yourself with a talented team. If launches consistently feel chaotic and last-minute, consider enlisting the expertise of professionals who specialise in launch management or online business operations. Their fresh perspectives and proven systems can alleviate the burden, allowing you to focus on your visionary role while ensuring seamless execution.

The Bottom Line:

Overcoming a failing launch is not about quick fixes or magic bullets; it’s about adopting a strategic, long-term mindset and continuously refining your approach. By redefining success, understanding the launch cycle, optimising advertising and messaging, systemising processes, and seeking external support when needed, you’ll be equipped to navigate the complexities of online launches with confidence and resilience.

Remember, every launch is an opportunity to learn, adapt, and grow, embrace the lessons, celebrate the wins (no matter how small), and stay committed to your vision of creating a distinguishable, multi-million-dollar brand that positively impacts lives.

If this blog post resonated with you or you’re seeking more insights into mastering the art of online launches, we encourage you to listen to the full podcast episode above. Our host’s wealth of experience and practical strategies will undoubtedly inspire and empower you to overcome obstacles and achieve remarkable success in your next launch and beyond.

Over to you

What has been your biggest struggle or learning experience with online launches so far? We’d love to hear your story and insights in the comments below.

Leanne Woof delves into the common reasons why entrepreneurs struggle to successfully outsource and delegate tasks to virtual assistants (VAs) or online business managers (OBMs). With a wealth of experience as an OBM herself, she shares her determined nature and problem-solving mindset, offering a fresh perspective on why outsourcing may not have worked for you in the past, and how you can finally make it work. Whether you’re feeling frustrated, overwhelmed, or simply stuck, this post provides invaluable insights to help you overcome the bottlenecks and achieve the leverage you need to scale your business.

As a visionary entrepreneur, you’ve poured your heart and soul into building a thriving business that impacts lives and shapes communities. However, as your venture continues to grow, you find yourself increasingly overwhelmed by the day-to-day tasks, leaving little time for strategic thinking and creative exploration. Outsourcing to a virtual assistant (VA) or online business manager (OBM) seems like the logical solution, but if you’ve tried it before with little success, you may be tempted to write it off entirely.

But what if the key to unlocking sustainable growth and regaining your freedom lies in understanding the hidden reasons behind your past outsourcing failures? In this insightful blog post, we’ll delve into the mindset blocks, communication breakdowns, and mismatched expectations that can sabotage even the most well-intentioned outsourcing efforts. By the end, you’ll have a clear roadmap to overcome these obstacles and finally find the perfect VA or OBM fit for your business one that empowers you to scale your impact without sacrificing your life priorities.

What this post covers:

• Delegation is a long-term game, not a quick fix. It requires consistent work and the right processes to thrive.
• Mindset issues, such as the inability to relinquish control or trust others, can sabotage your outsourcing efforts.
• Finding the right personality fit between you and your VA/OBM is crucial for effective communication and collaboration.
• Unrealistic goals or a mismatch between your desired outcome and the outsourced person’s skills can lead to failure.
• Self-awareness and open communication are essential for identifying and resolving outsourcing challenges.
• Sometimes, the issue isn’t you or the VA/OBM but the incompatibility of your working styles and personalities.
• Experienced VAs/OBMs can provide valuable context and guidance on achieving realistic goals.
• Be open to exploring different approaches or seeking alternative experts to achieve your desired outcome.
• Don’t write off outsourcing entirely if it hasn’t worked in the past, with the right mindset, team, and approach, it can be a game-changer.
• Continuous learning, adapting, and seeking support are key to making outsourcing work for your business.

Listen now:

The Mindset Hurdle

One of the biggest barriers to successful outsourcing is our own mindset. As visionary leaders, we’re used to having complete control over every aspect of our businesses. The thought of relinquishing that control to someone else can be daunting, even paralysing. We may harbour fears about trusting others with our baby or doubts about their ability to execute tasks to our standards.

“And so if you have this conflict inside you, where you want to be able to scale, you want to be able to expand what you’re doing, But you can’t let go of the control, you’re constantly going to have This war inside, and you’re not going to see the result because we’re not focused on an outcome here.”

However, it’s important to recognise that this inability to let go of control can severely limit our ability to scale and achieve the leverage we crave. As our host eloquently puts it, “The longer you hold on to that control, the harder it is to delegate and create leverage. That’s just the reality.”

Overcoming the Control Dilemma

The key to overcoming this control dilemma lies in self-awareness and a willingness to shift our mindset. We must understand that delegation is a long-term game, not a quick fix. It requires consistent work and the implementation of the right processes to thrive.

“If you find that you’re out of capacity right now, you have zero time, bringing in somebody is going to give you relief. It is not going to give you relief tomorrow. It is not a magic wand. It’s not a silver bullet. There is work that goes with it, like everything else.”

Instead of viewing delegation as a loss of control, we should embrace it as an opportunity to empower others and focus our energy on the strategic, visionary aspects of our business. By letting go of the day-to-day tasks, we create space for creativity, innovation, and growth.

The Personality Puzzle

Even with the right mindset, outsourcing success hinges on finding the perfect personality fit between you and your VA or OBM. As our host emphasises, “The personality matches are really important if you want this to work and you want it to work successfully.”

“Someone who you can communicate easily with, somebody who gets it, and someone who you get. The personality matches are really important if you want this to work and you want it to work successfully.”

A mismatch in personality can lead to communication breakdowns, frustration, and a general feeling of being misunderstood, even if both parties are highly skilled and well-intentioned.

Finding Your Kindred Spirit

The solution lies in taking the time to find a VA or OBM whose communication style, work ethic, and overall approach aligns seamlessly with your own. This may require interviewing several candidates and being unafraid to politely pass on those who don’t quite fit the bill.

“And so you find these clashes and you can end up in this position where it’s a matter of standing there and going, why doesn’t this ever work for me? Like These are good people and I think I’m a good person, so maybe this just doesn’t work for me. But no, it actually just has to do with that combination.”

Once you find that kindred spirit, someone who “gets” you and can anticipate your needs, the outsourcing process becomes infinitely smoother. Open communication flows naturally, feedback is welcomed, and a genuine partnership forms, allowing you to achieve far more than either of you could alone.

The Goal Alignment Conundrum

Even with the right mindset and personality fit, outsourcing can still falter if there’s a mismatch between your desired outcomes and the skills or expertise of your VA or OBM. This misalignment can stem from unrealistic goals on your part or a lack of understanding of the specific capabilities required to achieve those goals.

Bridging the Gap

To bridge this gap, it’s crucial to have open and honest conversations with potential VAs or OBMs about your goals and desired outcomes. Don’t be afraid to ask probing questions about their approach and seek their professional input on the feasibility and best path forward.

“And so if it’s not worked for you before, maybe it is that what you’re trying to achieve doesn’t really match with the person or the skill that you’re trying to achieve it with. And you’ll only uncover that by talking to more people by saying, Hey, this is what I want to achieve. How would you go about it? Or who is it that I need?”

By embracing a growth mindset, being open to feedback, and surrounding yourself with the right team, you can overcome the bottlenecks that have held you back and finally experience the freedom and leverage you’ve been craving.

The Path to Outsourcing Mastery

Mastering the art of outsourcing is a journey, one that requires continuous learning, adaptation, and a willingness to seek support when needed.

“If you’re still stuck, and you cannot work out why it doesn’t work for you, DM me, at Audacious Empires, I want to talk to you, I want to help you.”

In some cases, you may discover that your initial goals were misguided or that a different type of expertise is required. This is where the value of experienced VAs and OBMs shines, they can provide valuable context, suggest alternative approaches, or even recommend seeking additional expertise to ensure your goals are achieved efficiently and effectively.

The Bottom Line:

As a visionary entrepreneur, your time and energy are precious resources, ones that should be dedicated to the strategic, creative aspects of your business that truly light you up. By overcoming the mindset blocks, finding the perfect personality fit, and aligning your goals with the right expertise, outsourcing can become the game-changer you’ve been seeking.

Imagine having a team of skilled professionals who not only understand your vision but also have the capacity to execute it flawlessly. Imagine regaining the time and mental space to explore new opportunities, forge deeper connections with your audience, and amplify your impact in ways you’ve only dreamed of.

The path to outsourcing mastery starts with a single step, a willingness to confront the obstacles that have held you back and a commitment to finding the solutions that will propel you forward. Take that step today, and watch as your business soars to new heights, fuelled by the leverage and freedom you’ve always craved.

Over to you

What’s been your biggest challenge in outsourcing and delegating tasks to a VA or OBM? Share your experiences in the comments below, your story could provide the inspiration someone else needs to finally overcome their own outsourcing hurdles.

What does being agile in business mean? What’s moving too fast and what’s moving too slow?

As a visionary leader driving impact through your professional services, you’re used to big ideas and bold moves. But in the fast-paced world of business, staying agile is key to outmanoeuvring the competition. Strategic agility allows you to pivot proactively, capitalising on emerging opportunities while avoiding potential pitfalls.

“So it’s how we move in business, it’s how we make decisions and it’s the ability to be able to make decisions ongoing. This definition also highlights that agility is constant because change is constant. So if things are constantly changing, we have to be able to constantly either react or know how to navigate those changes.”

But what does it really mean to be an “agile” business? And how can you balance responsiveness with operational consistency? In this post, we’ll explore practical strategies for smashing your goals through purposeful agility. You’ll learn when to forge ahead versus pull back – giving you the edge to scale your impact exponentially.

What this post covers:

• Agility means planning work in a way that understands making changes is part of the job to account for market shifts.
• Too much agility creates haphazard turbulence with little focus or results.
• Not enough agility means getting stuck doing things the same way and missing opportunities.
• Listen to your audience, clients, and team to identify intelligent change opportunities.
• View feedback through a rational lens – don’t overreact to one person’s opinion.
• Give your team space to identify inefficient processes and suggest improvements.
• Adopt a testing mindset, try new approaches systematically and learn from results.
• Persist with promising ideas/assets for more than just 1-2 attempts.
• Set clear benchmarks to define success for new initiatives before writing them off.
• Understand your capacity, don’t constantly chase every new shiny object.

Listen now:

The Rising Imperative of Business Agility

In today’s dynamic marketplace, an agile mindset is essential for survival. The definition states that agility means “planning and doing work in a way that understands making changes as needed is an important part of the job.” Why? Because “constant change is the new dynamic of the global economy.”

Consumer demands, technological innovations, and market forces are shifting constantly. If you remain stuck in legacy modes of operating, you’ll quickly become antiquated and irrelevant. Rigidity is the enemy of growth.

On the other hand, pivoting haphazardly without clear intention is equally unproductive. The key is finding the strategic sweet spot of purposeful agility.

The Downside of Extreme Agility

While being responsive is vital, reacting to every slight market fluctuation is unwise. Moving too quickly and changing directions constantly creates:

• A feeling of haphazardness and lack of focus
• Wasted efforts from initiatives being abandoned prematurely
• Misguided prioritisation from overreacting to isolated feedback
• Instability and inconsistency that undermines quality and results
• Missed opportunities from being insular and short-sighted
  

“If we are focused on constantly changing, adding this layer, adding this layer, I’ve just created this thing, I’ve released it, one person has said something, so I’m going to go change that. Okay, now someone else has said something different, so I’m quickly going to go and change that. I’ll just update the page. I’ll change the link. I’ll post it here, maybe I should have packaged it differently. I’m going to tweak the design. And all of a sudden, we’re using more time and more energy than we anticipated on this asset.”

The downside is clear: unrestrained agility ultimately becomes agility in name only. You’ll find yourself thrashing unproductively, stuck on a perpetual hamster wheel of frenzied activity with little to show for it.

The Perils of Stagnation

On the opposite end of the spectrum, an utter lack of agility is perhaps even more dangerous in today’s climate. If you tenaciously hold to the way things have “always been done,” you’ll quickly be outmanoeuvred and outpaced:

• Customer needs and desires evolve, but stagnant businesses can’t adapt
• Emerging technologies and processes get adopted by competitors, not you
• Big opportunities are missed from being inwardly-focused on legacy models
• Inability to improve leads to results hitting a ceiling or even declining  

Being too rigid and inflexible means sacrificing your competitive edge and growth trajectory. You get stuck and stall out, squandering your potential.

Mastering the Strategic Agility Sweet Spot

So how can visionary leaders like yourself strike the right balance of strategic agility? By being purposeful, data-driven, and maintaining a foundation of core operational consistency. Here are 10 key strategies:

1. Actively Listen to Your Audience & Clients

Pay attention to the feedback, questions, and needs being voiced by those you serve. This illuminates emergent trends to proactively address. But don’t overreact rashly – view feedback rationally through a comprehensive lens, not isolated anecdotes.  

2. Leverage Your Team’s Vantage Point

Your team is on the frontlines, giving them a unique perspective. Explicitly give them space to identify bottlenecks, inefficiencies, and opportunities for optimisation you may be blind to. Then collaboratively explore agile solutions.

“There was a story someone was telling me…and they were working in a team and the manager said to everybody, Hey, these are the new things we’re going to implement. And someone in that team has gone, Oh, okay, great. And the manager said, Oh, you don’t seem very excited. Is there an issue with these changes? And the person on the team said, no, there’s no issue with the changes and the changes themselves are great. But right now I spend half a day a week, half a day doing this one process. Every time I do it, it takes me half a day.”

3. Embrace an Experimental Mindset

Don’t be afraid to systematically test new approaches, tools, and processes. A mindset of continuous exploration keeps you ahead of the curve. Experiment judiciously, analyse results impartially, and refine or dismiss accordingly.

“So have that mindset for testing. New things are great. New approaches are great. And sometimes we lean towards just doing things the way that we’ve always done them because it feels easier. Because new is a bit scary. Because we don’t know what the outcome will be if we’re testing something new.”  

4. Show Persistent Tenacity

All too often, potentially game-changing initiatives get prematurely abandoned after 1-2 initial attempts. Show resolute persistence with promising ideas and assets, adjusting tactics rather than scrapping everything at the first sign of underperformance.

5. Set Clear Success Criteria 

Before launching any new process, product, or service, establish clear, empirical benchmarks for defining success or failure. This gives you an objective lens for evaluation versus operating off gut instinct and bias.

“The fifth thing is to set benchmarks for new creations. We will hear feedback from our audience all the time. About whether something is good or bad or things that they need. And this can be great. This can give us new ideas and it can help us really be delivering what our audience needs all the time. But it also can sidetrack us.”

6. Understand Team & Resource Capacity 

“The final thing is to understand capacity. We only have so much capacity and if we don’t change anything, we might find that we have a bunch of capacity but our results are dwindling. Or if we change things too much, you’ll find that you never have enough capacity because new is great, but new also takes the overhead at the beginning to ideate, to create, to launch, to test this thing, to test six other things.”

Constantly chasing each new, shiny opportunity inevitably leads to overload. Be rigorous about tracking your organisation’s available capacity so agile shifts are purposeful and sustainable versus reckless overextension.

7. Maintain an Agility Cadence  

Strategic agility isn’t a one-and-done endeavour. It’s an ongoing discipline and operational rhythm. Schedule recurring check-ins to assess what’s working, identify friction points, and align on areas for optimisation.

8. Proactively Upskill Your Team

As your offerings and processes evolve, invest in upskilling your team with the latest capabilities and tooling. This keeps your organisation’s skill base contemporary and agile versus becoming obsolete and stagnant.

9. Future-Proof Through Partnerships

Strategic partnerships allow you to capitalise on emergent opportunities by leveraging external expertise and resources in an agile, scalable way. Identify partners who fill white-space gaps in your organisation’s capabilities.

10. Systemise for Scalable Agility

While individual processes, services, and assets must stay agile and open to change, your overarching systemisation, automation, and operational frameworks should facilitate agility versus inhibiting it. Audit and refine these core foundational systems regularly.

The Path to Sustainable Scaling

Ultimately, mastering purposeful strategic agility gives you the best of both worlds – the ability to capitalise on opportunities through responsive pivots while maintaining consistency, focus, and quality where it matters most.

It’s this delicate balance that allows true empire builders like yourself to smash goals, realise your loftiest ambitions, and leave a distinguishable positive impact. Implement these strategies to unlock exponential and sustainable growth for your business.

Ready to embrace the power of strategic agility but need support getting started? Listen to the full podcast episode on Smashing Business Goals Through Strategic Agility. Then schedule a consultation to explore how the Audacious Empires team can help systemise and streamline your unique operations for scalability.

The Bottom Line:

For visionary entrepreneurs and thought leaders, being strategically agile is essential for outpacing the competition and scaling your impact exponentially. But finding that perfect balance of purposeful pivoting without sacrificing quality or succumbing to haphazardness is challenging.

By proactively listening to your audience, leveraging your team’s viewpoints, embracing experimentation, persisting past initial failures, setting clear success metrics, and closely monitoring capacity – you can master the agility sweet spot.

It’s this duality of responsive adaptability coupled with operational consistency that allows you to both navigate inevitable market shifts and capitalise on emerging opportunities before your competitors. Sustainable, stratospheric growth becomes achievable.

Over to you

Where do you currently fall on the agility spectrum? Are you seemingly changing directions at every slight market whisper and getting stuck in a frenzied, unproductive cycle? Or have you remained stubbornly committed to your original approaches and business models, unable to evolve with the times? Please share your experiences and insights in the comments.

How to scale your million dollar business to multi millions

As an ambitious, driven entrepreneur, you’ve worked tirelessly to build your professional service, coaching or consulting business to the seven-figure mark. Congratulations, that’s an impressive feat that few achieve. However, the real test lies ahead, as you now face the challenge of scaling your enterprise to new heights.

The path to multi-million-dollar success is paved with obstacles that many business owners struggle to overcome. In this revealing blog post, we’ll explore seven lesser-known secrets that can help you break through the seven-figure ceiling and take your impact, influence and income to the next level.

What this post covers:

• • Silence your inner critic and replace negative thoughts with logic and confidence.
  • Be ready to embrace change and strengthen your business systems as you scale.
  • Think bigger and make bolder decisions to access greater opportunities.
  • Guard your focus to stay committed to your growth goals.
  • Flex your boundary muscles to create the space you need to scale.
  • Recognise and relish in the growth you’ve already achieved.
  • Delegate with determination, even when it’s challenging at first.

Listen now:

Silence Your Inner Critic and Embrace Confidence

As an accomplished entrepreneur, you’ve already proven your mettle by building a successful seven-figure enterprise. Yet, the path to greater heights is often hindered by the same nagging self-doubt that plagued you in the early days.

“Your body is designed to tell you new is scary. Different is scary. Change is scary. And the unknown is scary,” Leanne explains. “And what you need to do is when those thoughts come in and tell you, you shouldn’t do something. You can’t do it. You won’t ever be as good as. Maybe this was a crazy idea that needs to be put away.”

The key is to recognise when your inner critic is activated and replace those negative, fear-based thoughts with logic and confidence. After all, you didn’t achieve seven-figure success by playing it safe. Leanne emphasises that to continue scaling, you must be willing to silence that inner voice and take bold, courageous actions, even when the outcome is uncertain.

Be Ready to Embrace Change and Strengthen Your Systems

Many entrepreneurs reach the seven-figure milestone by flying by the seat of their pants, making it up as they go. However, Leanne cautions that the strategies and “sticky tape and glue” approach that served you well in the early days may no longer be sufficient.

“What got you to this point is likely not what’s going to get you into multi seven figures. Because there’s less grace here. What you need to do is a little bit different. It’s not harder. But it’s different.”

As you scale, your business will face increased pressure and scrutiny. Systems that previously held up may now spring leaks, and the time has come to strengthen your operational infrastructure. This may involve bringing in specialists, implementing new processes, and embracing a more systemised, data-driven approach.

The key is to avoid clinging to the comfortable, familiar ways of doing things. Instead, adopt an open mindset and be excited by the prospect of optimising your business for greater growth and impact.

Think Bigger and Make Bolder Decisions

One of the hallmarks of successful seven-figure entrepreneurs is their ability to think and act big. Leanne has observed that many business owners get stuck in a mindset of making micro-decisions, focusing on smaller opportunities that keep them confined within their current limitations.

“If you keep looking at the micro and you keep making decisions based on small things, the email that you should send and the format it should have, how many communications there should be, five or seven, whether it should go to this page or that page, you’ll only ever be presented with opportunities in that space because that’s where your focus is.”

The Challenge of Maintaining Specialised Skills

While OBMs are versatile professionals, the expectation of mastering a wide range of skills, from content creation to financial management, is simply unrealistic. Specialisation is the key to delivering high-quality, impactful work. By acknowledging the limits of a single person’s expertise, you can build a team that collectively possesses the specialised skills required to drive your business forward.

“If you have an OBM who’s promising all of those things, they might be able to do it, but they are going to be able to do it to a surface level. They are not going to be able to do every single component of those things to a deeper level. And that will have impact.”

To scale your business to new heights, you must train yourself to see the bigger picture and make bolder strategic decisions. This may involve exploring new revenue streams, expanding your service offerings, or even pivoting your business model. By shifting your mindset and broadening your perspectives, you’ll unlock a world of untapped possibilities.

Guard Your Focus and Set Boundaries

As your business grows, it becomes increasingly easy to get pulled back into the day-to-day minutiae, allowing your emotions and external demands to hijack your attention. Leanne emphasises the importance of guarding your focus and setting firm boundaries to protect your time and energy.

“Your focus is important. If you want to be able to hit those goals, to get bigger possibilities, get bigger opportunities, and roll with them, you need to control where your focus goes. You need to stay committed to wanting that.”

This may involve delegating more tasks, becoming more selective about the projects and clients you take on, and learning to say “no” to requests that don’t align with your strategic priorities. By establishing clear boundaries and safeguarding your focus, you’ll create the mental and physical space needed to tackle higher-level initiatives and drive sustained growth.

Recognise and Relish in Your Growth

One of the common pitfalls Leanne has observed in scaling entrepreneurs is a tendency to feel guilty or uncomfortable about their success. As you reach new heights, it’s crucial to recognise and celebrate the value you’ve created, rather than second-guessing your worth or pricing.

“There is a reason you’ve gotten to where you are now. You obviously have something good to give the planet, and people resonate with that. People want it, and they want more of it. And you are totally worth that higher price now. You’re totally valid in having less availability.”

By embracing your growth and the impact you’ve made, you empower yourself to make strategic decisions – such as adjusting your pricing or limiting one-on-one offerings, that will enable you to scale your influence and income even further. Celebrate your achievements and have the confidence to charge what you’re worth.

Delegate with Determination

One of the most commonly cited challenges in scaling a business is the art of delegation. Many entrepreneurs struggle to let go of control, fearing that no one can handle tasks as well as they can. However, Leanne cautions that this approach is ultimately self-limiting.

“It’s not faster for you to do it yourself. It’s not helping anyone for you to do it yourself. All it does when you do that, when you jump in and help, or when you go ‘I’m just going to do this part of the process because I’m here right now.’ All it does is take away your team’s confidence.”

To scale effectively, you must learn to delegate with determination, even when the process is messy or doesn’t go as smoothly as you’d like. By trusting your team, providing clear guidance, and allowing them to learn and grow, you’ll not only free up your own time and energy but also empower your employees to take ownership and make sound decisions.

The Bottom Line:

As an ambitious empire builder, you’ve already accomplished the remarkable feat of building a seven-figure business. Now, it’s time to unlock your scaling superpowers and take your impact, influence and income to new heights.

By embracing the seven secrets revealed in this post – from silencing your inner critic to delegating with determination – you’ll position your enterprise for sustainable, strategic growth. Remember, you’ve already proven your mettle; now it’s time to unleash your true potential.

If you’re ready to break through the seven-figure ceiling and reach new levels of success, the insights shared in this article are just the beginning. The real transformative power lies in putting these strategies into action and surrounding yourself with the right support system to guide you on your scaling journey.

So, which of these seven secrets resonates most with you and your business right now? Where do you feel you need to focus your efforts to unlock the next phase of growth? I encourage you to reflect deeply on these questions and make a plan to implement the changes needed to take your empire to the next level.

Over to you

The path to multi-million-dollar success is not without its challenges, but with the right mindset, strategies and support, the possibilities are endless. Are you ready to silence your inner critic, embrace change, and make the bold decisions needed to scale your business to new heights? The choice is yours.

9 problems with relying on one person for all your business support

As ambitious empire builders, we’re constantly seeking ways to streamline our operations, scale our businesses, and amplify our impact. It’s tempting to search for the elusive “unicorn” – that one Online Business Manager (OBM) who can swoop in and handle everything, from content creation to client management, with seamless efficiency.

But is this really the best strategy for sustainable growth? In a recent episode of The Audacious Empires Podcast, our host delved into the nine critical problems that arise when you rely on a single person to shoulder the entirety of your business support. By unpacking this issue, we can gain a deeper understanding of how to build a balanced, thriving team that will propel your enterprise to new heights.

What this post covers:

• Legal ramifications and limitations of relying on a single contractor.
• The high effort required to find the “perfect” OBM who can do everything.
• The risk of putting your entire business operations in the hands of one person.
• The challenges of maintaining specialised skills across a broad range of tasks.
• The difficulty of keeping up with the rapid pace of change in the online space.
• The capacity caps and potential for burnout when an OBM is overloaded.
• The impact on the quality of work when an OBM is stretched too thin.
• The budget pressures and lack of financial efficiency in this approach.
• The benefits of building a balanced team with specialised skills.
• The importance of strategic delegation and leveraging the right expertise.

Listen now:

Legal Ramifications and Limitations

As OBMs are typically contractors rather than employees, there are specific legal guidelines and boundaries that must be observed. Relying on one person to handle everything can blur these lines, potentially exposing both you and your OBM to legal and financial risks. It’s crucial to understand the distinction between contractors and employees to ensure compliance and protect the integrity of your business.

“There are different legal expectations based on each one. I’m not going to go into all of the legal expectations or the laws around that because I’m not a lawyer, but I do know that if you’re putting all of your hopes and dreams of the support of your business into one person, the level of support that you’re going to need from that one person is going to be higher than if there were multiple people or it was spread across multiple people.”

The Herculean Effort of Finding the “Perfect” OBM

Searching for a single individual who possesses the breadth of skills and expertise required to oversee the entirety of your business operations is an immense challenge. The more you narrow down the role, the harder it becomes to find the right fit. Instead, consider building a team of specialists who can each contribute their unique talents to your enterprise.

“If I only hire one person, if I only bring one team member on, I only have to do this once. But, to find the right person, the right person who can cover the breadth of things that comes with everything that needs doing in a business, that person is going to be a lot harder to find.”

The Risk of Putting All Your Eggs in One Basket

When you entrust your entire business support system to one person, you’re essentially placing all your eggs in a single basket. Should that person unexpectedly depart or become unavailable for any reason, your operations could grind to a halt, leaving you scrambling to pick up the pieces. Diversifying your team mitigates this risk and ensures the continuity of your business.

  “We are investing our whole business operations. And everything that happens within our business in just one person. All of the knowledge, all of the training, our relationships, everything is going into one human and that is a dangerous place to be.”

The Challenge of Maintaining Specialised Skills

While OBMs are versatile professionals, the expectation of mastering a wide range of skills, from content creation to financial management, is simply unrealistic. Specialisation is the key to delivering high-quality, impactful work. By acknowledging the limits of a single person’s expertise, you can build a team that collectively possesses the specialised skills required to drive your business forward.

“If you have an OBM who’s promising all of those things, they might be able to do it, but they are going to be able to do it to a surface level. They are not going to be able to do every single component of those things to a deeper level. And that will have impact.”

Keeping Pace with the Rapid Pace of Change

The digital landscape is constantly evolving, with new technologies, platforms, and best practices emerging at a dizzying pace. Expecting one person to stay ahead of the curve across multiple domains is an exercise in futility. A team of specialists, each focused on their area of expertise, is better equipped to adapt to these rapid changes and ensure your business remains agile and competitive.

Capacity Caps and the Looming Risk of Burnout

Human beings, even the most dedicated and capable, have inherent limits on their time and energy. Asking a single OBM to shoulder the entire weight of your business support can quickly lead to burnout, diminishing the quality of their work and potentially jeopardising the long-term health of your enterprise. Diversifying your team allows you to leverage each individual’s strengths while respecting their boundaries.

“Human beings, even the most dedicated and capable, have inherent limits on their time and energy. Asking a single OBM to shoulder the entire weight of your business support can quickly lead to burnout, diminishing the quality of their work and potentially jeopardising the long-term health of your enterprise. Diversifying your team allows you to leverage each individual’s strengths while respecting their boundaries.”

The Impact on Work Quality

When an OBM is stretched thin, trying to juggle an overwhelming array of tasks, the inevitable result is a decline in the quality of their work. Specialised skills and focused attention are essential for delivering the level of excellence your clients and brand deserve. By building a team of experts, you can ensure consistently high-calibre outcomes.

Budget Pressures and Financial Inefficiencies

While the perceived simplicity of a single OBM managing your entire business may seem appealing from a budgetary standpoint, this approach often falls short in terms of cost-effectiveness. Paying a premium rate for an OBM to handle tasks that could be more efficiently and cost-effectively delegated to other team members is a recipe for financial strain. Optimising your team structure can unlock significant cost savings and ROI.

“If we’re being good stewards of our business? We want to make the best budgetary and financial decisions that we can. So even though it seems easier to go, yeah, this person is a great OBM. They’ve got a great reputation. I’m happy to pay them. It doesn’t mean they need to do everything, get them to do what they’re great at, and then get other people that are the right people for the roles that you need, doing their pieces.”

 The Path to Sustainable Growth: Embrace a Balanced Team Approach

Rather than clinging to the notion of the “all-in-one” OBM, the key to unlocking your business’s true potential lies in embracing a balanced, strategic approach to your support system. By assembling a team of specialised professionals, each contributing their unique expertise, you can unlock a level of efficiency, quality, and scalability that simply isn’t possible with a single point of failure.

This approach may require a shift in mindset and a willingness to let go of the desire for a “one-stop-shop” solution. But the benefits are undeniable: improved work quality, increased capacity for growth, reduced risk of burnout, and a more streamlined, cost-effective operation.

The Bottom Line:

The path to sustainable, scalable success lies in building a diverse, specialised team that can collectively propel your business forward. By understanding the limitations and risks of the “one-person-does-it-all” mindset, you can make informed decisions that will set your organisation up for long-term prosperity.

Over to you

Tell us – what’s holding you back from building the dream team that will take your business to new heights? Share your thoughts and challenges in the comments below, and let’s work together to find the solutions that will unleash your full potential.

Tune in to The Audacious Empires Podcast to explore this topic further and discover the strategies and insights that will empower you to build a thriving, well-structured team. Your business’s future is waiting, and the key to unlocking its full potential lies in embracing a balanced, strategic approach to your support system.

As a driven, ambitious empire builder, you’re constantly seeking ways to optimise your business operations, create a more significant impact, and free up your time to focus on what truly matters.

In the quest to streamline processes and eliminate bottlenecks, it’s tempting to search for an Online Business Manager (OBM) who can handle everything – a seemingly perfect solution to all your business challenges. However, the reality is that an all-in-one OBM may not be the key to unlocking your business’s true potential.

What this post covers:

• Your OBM’s primary role is to help you find the right resources and team members to get the job done, not to do everything themselves.
• Having an OBM manage your team means you don’t have to communicate with multiple people directly.
• There is no set rule or benchmark that dictates the size of your business based on the number of team members you have.
• The number of team members doesn’t necessarily correlate with the size of your business; focus on the outcomes you want and get the right people to achieve them.
• With highly skilled team members, you shouldn’t have to worry about the quality of work, as it is their responsibility to ensure quality output.
• Your OBM’s job is to manage the work pipeline and ensure smooth coordination among team members, not yours.
• Empowering your OBM to be your eyes, ears, and hands, and to coordinate and innovate, is where you’ll get the best value for your money and a happier team.
• Having an OBM who does everything may not give you the best outcome and can limit your business’s potential for growth.
• Building a team of experts led by a strategic OBM creates a solid foundation for sustainable growth and long-term success.
• Embrace the power of delegation, trust in your OBM’s expertise, and watch your empire soar to new heights.

Listen now:

The True Role of an OBM: Finding the Right Resources

One common misconception is that an OBM should be able to do everything themselves. In reality, their primary role is to help you find the right resources and team members to get the job done efficiently. A skilled OBM leverages their expertise and network to identify the best talent to support your business’s specific needs, ensuring that each task is handled by a specialist who can deliver high-quality results.

“Your OBM’s primary role is to help you find the right resources and team members to get the job done, not to do everything themselves.”

Effective Team Management: Streamlining Communication

Another concern that often leads entrepreneurs to seek an all-in-one OBM is the fear of having to communicate with multiple people directly.

“Having an OBM manage your team means you don’t have to communicate with multiple people directly.”

However, a crucial aspect of an OBM’s role is to manage your team effectively, acting as a single point of contact between you and your team members. This streamlined communication allows you to focus on your visionary role while your OBM ensures that everyone is aligned and working towards the same goals.

Business Size and Team Structure: Focusing on Outcomes

Many entrepreneurs believe that their business isn’t big enough to warrant having a team or that the number of team members directly correlates with the size of their business. In reality, there is no set rule or benchmark that dictates the size of your business based on the number of people you employ. Instead, focus on the outcomes you want to achieve and allow your OBM to help you build the right team to reach those goals, regardless of the number of individuals involved.

  “There is no set rule or benchmark that dictates the size of your business based on the number of team members you have.”

Ensuring Quality Work with Skilled Team Members

When expanding your team, it’s natural to worry about maintaining control over the quality of work produced. However, by investing in highly skilled team members, you can trust in their ability to deliver exceptional results. Your OBM’s role is to ensure that each team member is briefed effectively and that the work produced meets your standards, allowing you to step back from micromanaging and focus on the bigger picture.

“With highly skilled team members, you shouldn’t have to worry about the quality of work, as it is their responsibility to ensure quality output.”

Empowering Your OBM for Optimal Results

To truly leverage the power of an OBM, it’s essential to empower them to be your eyes, ears, and hands within the business.

“Your OBM’s job is to manage the work pipeline and ensure smooth coordination among team members, not yours.”

By entrusting them with the responsibility of managing the work pipeline and ensuring smooth coordination among team members, you create space for yourself to think creatively, explore growth opportunities, and develop innovative strategies.

“Empowering your OBM to be your eyes, ears, and hands, and to coordinate and innovate, is where you’ll get the best value for your money and a happier team.”

When your OBM is empowered to coordinate and innovate, you’ll experience the best value for your investment and cultivate a happier, more productive team.

The Pitfalls of an All-in-One OBM

While the idea of having an OBM who does everything may seem appealing, it can actually limit your business’s potential for growth. By spreading your OBM too thin across multiple roles, you risk burnout, decreased productivity, and a lack of specialisation. Instead, by building a team of experts led by a strategic OBM, you create a solid foundation for sustainable growth and long-term success.

The Bottom Line:

Embracing a strategic, team-based approach led by an empowered OBM is the key to unlocking your business’s true potential and achieving the freedom, joy, and choice you desire as an ambitious empire builder. By debunking the myth of the all-in-one OBM and focusing on building the right team to support your vision, you can create a thriving, impactful business that allows you to live life to the fullest.

Remember, your OBM’s role is to help you find the right resources, manage your team effectively, and empower you to focus on being the visionary leader your empire needs.

Over to you

We’d love to hear from you: What strategies have you found most effective for building and managing a high-performing team in your business? Share your experiences and insights in the comments below.

To dive deeper into this topic and learn more about how to build a high-performing team led by a strategic OBM, be sure to listen to the full podcast episode. Embrace the power of delegation, trust in your OBM’s expertise, and watch your empire soar to new heights.