In this episode, Jessie and Angela discuss five key strategies for businesses transitioning from the startup to the growth phase. The focus areas include setting purposeful goals for a balanced work-family life, improving products or services based on customer feedback, streamlining operations for efficiency, building a strong team either through hiring or freelancers, and leveraging technology to enhance productivity and customer experience. The episode emphasizes the importance of these strategies for maintaining business growth while also focusing on personal and family time.
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It's coffee time!
Jessie & Angela
00:01.00
Angela
Hey everyone thanks for joining us today. We are going to be talking about 5 things to do after the startup phase.
00:41.90
Angela
So If you are one of those business owners that is ready to slow your growth a little bit focus on some other things you want to make sure your business doesn't grow exponentially right off a cliff. And crash and burn like so many other businesses. Do. What do you do when you're done with the startup phase because you've spent so long focusing on growth and acquisition and clients and now you're ready to just focus on your family and enjoy the business you've built So What do you do.
01:13.75
jessievalle
Yeah I mean it's not that this isn't still a phase of growth like it can be growth but like you said it's more of a steady growth or a purposeful growth.
01:29.35
Angela
Yes.
01:31.32
jessievalle
And that's kind of our first one is setting purposeful goals if now that you have time to kind of slow down and actually think about your business you want to set purposeful goals also because if you're at that stage where you want to spend more time with your family and. Not have to wake up at 5 a m every day to do the hustle you want to be purposeful in what you do when you do sit down to work.
01:50.38
Angela
So.
02:01.80
Angela
So right? and this is a great time of year to do that. It is the time of year people are expecting some changes. It is a time of year. That's generally a little bit slower for some businesses depending on your industry. Um.
02:02.50
jessievalle
A.
02:17.94
Angela
So it's a really good time to take a minute and reflect on what you want out of your business and what goals will get you there. But of course they have to be good goals and not like good like.
02:24.29
jessievalle
A.
02:30.41
jessievalle
E.
02:35.97
Angela
You I can't believe you want to do that but like actual clear achievable goals that you can work toward in a meaningful way.
02:43.67
jessievalle
Yeah, we have plenty of past episodes on goal setting and using the smart method. But it's yeah, it's all about something that is realistic and attainable but also a little scary and we talked about that in an episode. Um, it What was it called if if goals are.
03:09.50
Angela
Um, oh yeah, your goals should scare you? yeah.
03:10.49
jessievalle
You know which one I'm talking about the one from and and the reason I'm hesitant is I don't want to say it wrong because it was from a book. Um, and so it had to be right? You know I'm like yeah look at me. Hey. I'm sorry I don't have all hundred and thirty seven episodes memorized. Ah.
03:33.77
Angela
How dare you.
03:36.85
jessievalle
How dare I Um I just know it was really good.
03:42.45
Angela
Well, while she is looking for that. Ah, one of the things that you should do when you're getting ready to set your goals is really look at your vision for your company where do you want it to go what kind of company. Do you want it to be if you're a service provider which I Think. Many of you are what kind of services. Do you want to provide who do you want to provide them to are your current clients and goals aligning with your vision and your values are you using your resources efficiently to. Get toward those goals to slow your growth to spend time with your family or is everything still a little pushing the envelope in that growth phase.
04:26.81
jessievalle
Yeah, and they're called worthy Goals. So is your goal worthy which means that it is thrilling important and daunting so it has to be important enough but it also has to be. Thrilling. You're excited to do it but it also has to be daunting if it's an easy goal then you know why have you not already done it. It has to be something that you're a little little afraid of but you know you can still reach and all that's from how to begin start.
04:56.60
Angela
Yes, yes.
05:04.35
jessievalle
Doing something that matters by Michael Bungay statener anyway that was episode 81 how to make her goal worthy. Yeah was um, but yeah, like Angela said you just it.
05:12.80
Angela
Oh that was a while back.
05:20.85
jessievalle
It's a time where you can actually slow down and think about what matters most and make sure that your purposeful goals align with that.
05:29.41
Angela
I Yeah I feel like when you're in that growth phase what matters most is getting clients and getting revenue and as you move out of that phase it starts to matter what kind of clients you're getting and where your revenue is coming from I know when I Made. Ah, shift in my business that was really scary. That was one of the things that I had firmly decided was like I'm not working with anymore of this sort of client because it absolutely drives me crazy. It stresses me Out. You know our values aren't aligned. Whatever.
05:58.20
jessievalle
A.
06:07.71
Angela
So I think there's definitely a shift in the way you're viewing your clients and your income and your business between that growth phase and that steady phase.
06:16.51
jessievalle
Yeah, for sure all right and number 2 would be improving your products or services. So This is a time where you can actually take the. Experience you have working with your clients and customers in the beginning and get some feedback. Do some research think about what happened once they became clients and customers and optimize your process. Or improve your product like let's say everybody wanted a certain thing that wasn't a part of your service package. Maybe you can add it.
07:01.93
Angela
Right? Yeah I Highly recommend if you are someone who does any kind of offboarding or requests reviews or testimonials throw a question in there and ask people what could have made this service better. What could have made this product Better. It's a great way to get feedback. People are usually very nice about it. It's a scary question to ask because nobody likes to hear Well you did this wrong or I didn't like this thing but it's a great way to get feedback on ways to improve or things to add.
07:23.41
jessievalle
Over.
07:37.68
Angela
That can add value to the services and products that you already provide.
07:39.38
jessievalle
Yeah, yeah, all right number 3 would be strengthening your operations. So This means actually looking at your processes and. Thinking about how you can streamline things how you can optimize it how you can make it better how you can maybe add some quality control in there. So to me this is where it's like okay let me take all the things I've done for a client and create. A standard operating procedure or sop on how to onboard a client how to offboard a client like how to so this is the time where you finally get to organize all the things that you have.
08:27.80
Angela
So Yeah, and I feel like this is where a lot of people get hung up, especially if you're a freelancer if you are you know the only person in your business. You don't have a team optimizing making s ops things like that feel kind of silly. They feel like they're taking time that you could be better spent somewhere else. But really it. It really does make a difference it to have. Even if it's not a super detailed Step-by-step S so having a process that you can put every client through or every customer through makes things so much simpler for you that you wouldn't even believe it. But this is the step that I see a lot of.
09:10.00
jessievalle
A.
09:18.88
Angela
Especially freelancers get hung up on where it's like every time you make your goals a client onboarding process is on there for like a year and a half because they just keep putting it off and putting it off and putting it off.
09:29.53
jessievalle
Because it doesn't seem like it's a moneymaking task and so you put it off but the truth is if you take the time to create those processes you can get through it faster which frees up your time.
09:34.51
Angela
Right? Yeah because it's not directly money making.
09:47.90
Angela
Um, yes.
09:48.85
jessievalle
To do more of the purposeful actions or moneymaking things.
09:53.14
Angela
Yeah, and that kind of goes back to what we were talking about last time about how it's scary to make that shift. It's scary to take time and do activities that are not directly money making activities because. That's what you've been focused on for so long like up until now that's what's gotten you where you're at and so that shift into okay I'm going to focus internally can be really scary.
10:23.59
jessievalle
Um, yeah, yeah man I could do an entire episode and maybe we will hear in the future about creating s O Ps and.
10:34.85
Angela
Um, yes, yeah.
10:36.73
jessievalle
Procedures and things like that because a lot of people are like yeah but I don't know where to start I could tell you a lot about creating these I've created many of them so well and you say here's the other thing is like I like creating step by step for myself.
10:47.76
Angela
Chessea is the master of us O keys.
10:55.92
jessievalle
Because if I there are sometimes there especially in what Angela and I do which is very technical. There are a lot of steps and you have to think you've got to use your brain. You've got to be focused. You got to think. And if I've taken the time to think and go through a process of something that took me a long time to think about and I know I'm gonna have to do this task again in three months I am going to create my so I have done this I create myself a video or create myself a step by step so that.
11:24.65
Angela
Um, yeah.
11:30.15
jessievalle
The next time I do it I can trust my past self knowing I put in the time and effort back then and I don't have to do it again. I'm going to trust myself and I'm just going to get it done I'm going to follow these steps and move on and so that is actually really huge for me too.
11:33.68
Angela
Yes.
11:41.62
Angela
Yeah I've done that a lot loom is great for that. You just make a loom screen record you could talk to yourself if you need to don't forget to do this thing. Tango is another one. It's a Chrome extension. It will actually take screenshots.
11:47.60
jessievalle
Are.
12:00.45
Angela
As you go It'll note everything you click it'll you know, whatever changes you make it makes it in like a step-by-step written instruction with screenshots along the way. So that's a really great. Yeah, it's awesome I Love it I use it for clients sometimes when I need to tell them how to do something.
12:10.38
jessievalle
Ooh I gotta try that I Love new tools.
12:19.27
Angela
Ah, because you can edit the pictures so I can like edit out personal information things like that but really good. So yeah, and super easy because you're just doing the thing that you would have to do anyway and then it keeps track for you So there are a lot of tools.
12:23.43
jessievalle
Oh that's cool.
12:35.63
jessievalle
Um, I'm correct. Yeah, there are a lot of tools and you know what I have a feeling we will be doing an episode on this and we'll be sure to to get a list of all those tools all right. The fourth thing you can do.
12:37.47
Angela
Help you do that.
12:43.32
Angela
Yes.
12:48.79
jessievalle
After that startup phase is building a strong team now this is something that if you want to stay small and you want to stay a company of one That's okay, it's okay if you just want to stay just yourself.
13:00.62
Angela
Yeah, this is not mandatory.
13:06.61
jessievalle
And you don't necessarily have to hire employees. But if you reach a point where you've created sops and those operating procedures and you have checklists and you have things that you realize don't have to be you, you might consider bringing on a part-time freelancer.
13:09.41
Angela
And.
13:25.62
jessievalle
Or just hiring a 1 ne-time person to you know do a bundle of tasks each month or it's a good time to bring on others to do the things that you don't have to do that free you up to either if you choose work on your business or for a lot of us marketing moms. Spend the time with our families.
13:46.27
Angela
Yes, yeah, that can be really and it's a good if you are the kind of person that likes to like give back pay it forward type thing. It's a really good opportunity to provide an opportunity to a new freelancer. Especially if you have all those sops written out because it's a lot easier for them either not kind of fumbling through it can give them good Experience. You can give them a good testimonial and they get an opportunity that they might not otherwise have questions.
14:13.65
jessievalle
Yeah, and a lot of times they aren't necessarily as expensive as the ones who have been doing it a long time and that's nice when you're just getting your feet wet because.
14:24.57
Angela
Yes, he.
14:30.68
jessievalle
I remember and I still have that feeling where it's like why am I going to pay someone to do this thing that I know how to do well because you have so much experience now that think about it if you were to do that same thing for another business. How much would you charge. That's how much your time is worth so as long as you find someone to pay the same or less then it's worth it. It's worth it for you.
14:48.59
Angela
Yeah.
14:57.88
Angela
So yeah, absolutely, especially for like really repetitive tasks.
15:04.91
jessievalle
Um, like posting to social media or you know, maybe you want to hire someone to go through customer service If you get a lot of those or if you you know, whatever.
15:08.52
Angela
Are.
15:14.82
Angela
Right.
15:18.69
jessievalle
I Don't know about your specific business. But I'm sure there is something all right? um.
15:21.29
Angela
Yeah, right? So last but not least leveraging technology so we have seen an explosion of technology in the last couple of years to help improve all kinds of things.
15:37.31
jessievalle
The.
15:40.35
Angela
Productivity customer service analytics everything there are a lot more options now for things like that Ai has taken like a really big role for a lot of people and helping them with things that they.
15:42.23
jessievalle
Who.
15:54.83
jessievalle
Ah.
15:58.21
Angela
You know had been putting off or didn't like to do or don't know where to start and there's just so many options out there and of course as's techies Jesse and I love to play with all of them. But but it can be a great way to help move into that more stable face.
16:07.11
jessievalle
Oh yeah, for sure.
16:16.62
Angela
Implement Some of those technologies that can help you be more productive so that you don't have to spend as much time in the weeds of your business or you know to automate a lot of things so that you know it's off of your plate.
16:22.10
jessievalle
A.
16:28.40
jessievalle
Yeah, and I feel like when you're in that initial startup phase of growth growth growth. Go go go hustle hustle hustle. It's hard to stop and even take the time to set up.
16:42.69
Angela
So yeah.
16:43.83
jessievalle
These technologies and these automations and or even do research into into them. But now that you're more stable and you're still a lot of ah websites will call this the growth stage like you're still growing but for us marketing moms this is when we don't want to rapidly grow.
16:48.98
Angela
Yeah.
16:56.92
Angela
Right.
17:02.74
Angela
Yes.
17:03.69
jessievalle
We have a stable customer Base. We have a bit of stability in our business we want to maintain that stability maybe grow a little bit but spend more time with our family and our kids while they're young and that's obviously a personal goal it really depends what you have as a goal in your life. But I know that. For a lot of us moms. That's why we started our businesses was to have more time for our family and then it didn't turn into that but that's that's what we're here for it is to tell you. It's okay to find that spot where you're finally like wait wait wait wait wait. You have this.
17:25.43
Angela
Yeah, so it could be with our kids and our family. No not even a little bit.
17:41.75
jessievalle
Stability in your business you can slow down and do what you wanted to do which is spend more time with your family.
17:47.26
Angela
Yeah, and it's a great place to be once you once you accept it and get over that initial. Oh my gosh. What am I gonna do? How is this gonna work. What's gonna happen. It can be a really good place to be because that initial startup.
17:54.10
jessievalle
Um.
18:04.10
jessievalle
Um, yeah, yeah, like it's exciting for sure at first because you're like I'm starting a new business I'm doing this thing I got this and then you're working so much and you're so exhausted and.
18:06.64
Angela
Phase is really stressful and scary me yup up growing. It's awesome.
18:20.90
jessievalle
You're just in survival mode for so long I remember and this is not necessarily for my business but I remember when I was working full time as a teacher. And I doubled up college classes to get through my master's in a year and then the last semester I found out I was pregnant so I had all those raging hormones.
18:41.43
Angela
Mean.
18:50.60
Angela
Woo. Yeah.
18:51.26
jessievalle
And I remember at at the end and especially in the college of education you have to write so many papers I think I wrote like 7 papers in a four-week span the moment I turned in the last one I was like sitting on the couch and I just started bawling like I was crying.
18:57.57
Angela
So many papers. Ah.
19:11.20
jessievalle
And my husband comes in and he's like is everything okay are you are you right? What's wrong and I'm just like I don't have any more schoolwork to do I'm done and he goes listen't that happy I'm like yes, but these are the pregnancy hormones like I just cried because it's like all that built up emotion.
19:12.80
Angela
Right? Because then it's like what do I do? ah.
19:30.83
jessievalle
Was released when I was finally done and that's kind of how I feel here I did feel that way a little bit when I reached that point in my business. It was like you were so stressed to get there and then once you're there. It's like wait I can slow down. It's like that deep sigh and your shoulders relax and.
19:31.47
Angela
Yeah.
19:38.10
Angela
Right.
19:45.83
Angela
Um, ah o.
19:49.42
jessievalle
Maybe the emotions and some tears come, but they're happy tears. It's a good thing.
19:53.13
Angela
Yes, it's a good thing.
19:59.41
jessievalle
And like I said last week I feel like I had that conversation with another person in that same position and it was nice to just kind of look at each other and be like I think we can slow down. Yeah because I think a lot of people online. Don't talk about that.
20:12.30
Angela
Um, yeah I think I think we made it to.
20:19.33
jessievalle
They don't talk about hey it's okay, it's slow down hey you've reached a point you can just kind of dial it back. Everybody's just like you've made it here. Let's go for the next goal and that can be overwhelming.
20:20.80
Angela
No from whom.
20:30.56
Angela
Let's keep going. Yeah, it can be especially when that's all you're hearing when that's all the marketing is pushing is grow grow grow.
20:37.97
jessievalle
Um, yeah, so it's kind of nice to talk about what you can do when you're not wanting to push so hard anymore you want to ride what you've built for a little bit and I'm not.
20:52.81
Angela
Let me.
20:56.89
jessievalle
Saying that a few years down the line when the kids are older and you have more time on your hands get back in grow it more change. It do something else sell the business and start something new I don't know whatever you want to do but for a lot of us. This is what we came for.
21:02.46
Angela
Um, yeah, grow some more. Yeah.
21:13.67
Angela
Yes.
21:16.10
jessievalle
We built this business for this moment. So let's actually once we're here take advantage of it.
21:26.20
Angela
So we would love to hear from you are you moving out of the startup phase. Are you you know ready to take in some slow growth. What kind of things are you doing to help implement that in your business. Any new technologies that we could play with. Do you need any help.
21:43.49
jessievalle
Honestly yeah I want to hear your stories like what happened the moment you realized your business had left the initial startup phase and entered this next phase.
21:45.70
Angela
With S O piece
21:59.46
jessievalle
So let us know we're over on Instagram at marketing mom's podcast and we'll see you next week
22:07.10
Angela
Um, bye.
