Using Software to Scale with ScaleSpark Founder, Susan Boles

11/05/19 • 38 min

Engineering Calmer Agencies & Consulting Firms: Calm is the New KPI

In this special podcast episode, the shoe is on the other foot - Susan herself is on the receiving end of the interview. And she’s talking to Tara McMullin (who you might remember from the first ever Break the Ceiling episode.)

Bottlenecks in a business workflow process and complicated workflows can combine to create huge business growth headaches, not to mention potentially impacting your quality of work, resulting in poor customer satisfaction, or worse, letting things slip through the gaps.

So Susan wanted to share this episode (first aired on Tara’s podcast, What Works) because she wants to discuss her experience of default decisions in software and technology.

“When you're starting out, you don't know what you don't know.”

In this episode, Susan and Tara talk about why and when you should review your software tools, and how you can really use software to help automate your operations and address some operational capacity issues. They also talk about the challenging work of implementing new software and how to make the change a little bit easier and more effective.

So tune in to hear all that and more.

On today’s podcast:

What Susan typically finds is standing between her clients and tripling their revenue
The basis for business default decisions
Why hiring more people won’t fix an operational capacity problem
Mistakes small business owners make when they try to use software to expand their capacity
Why software can be another bottleneck to workflow process rather than an aid
The audit process Susan carries out for each individual business to figure out what software could help them
How Susan makes software recommendations for each business
How to implement a new software system painlessly
Common mindset problems business owners face when switching software

Links:

Walk through of how to do a software audit
What Works podcast
Zapier - automation platform that connects SAAS tools
Xero - accounting tool
Scalespark Dollars + Decisions Roundtable
Twitter @ScaleSpark
LinkedIn @thesusanboles

Grab the Calm Service Design + Delivery Swipe File here

So Susan wanted to share this episode (first aired on Tara’s podcast, What Works) because she wants to discuss her experience of default decisions in software and technology.

“When you're starting out, you don't know what you don't know.”

So tune in to hear all that and more.

On today’s podcast:

What Susan typically finds is standing between her clients and tripling their revenue
The basis for business default decisions
Why hiring more people won’t fix an operational capacity problem
Mistakes small business owners make when they try to use software to expand their capacity
Why software can be another bottleneck to workflow process rather than an aid
The audit process Susan carries out for each individual business to figure out what software could help them
How Susan makes software recommendations for each business
How to implement a new software system painlessly
Common mindset problems business owners face when switching software

Links:

Walk through of how to do a software audit
What Works podcast
Zapier - automation platform that connects SAAS tools
Xero - accounting tool
Scalespark Dollars + Decisions Roundtable
Twitter @ScaleSpark
LinkedIn @thesusanboles

Grab the Calm Service Design + Delivery Swipe File here

Previous Episode

Breaking the Default Model: Building a Badass Business with Badass Your Brand Founder, Pia Silva

Are you looking to break the mold with your business model? Are you one of those business people that make very deliberate decisions and knows that default decisions just can’t apply to your business? Then you need to meet Pia Silva.

If you haven’t heard of the powerhouse that is Pia Silva, then you’re in for a treat. Pia is the founder of Badass Your Brand and Worst of All Design, and she made a very deliberate decision to step away from the default agency model. She knew she had to structure her business in a way that suited her preferred working style, while ensuring it remained wholly efficient to meet her needs and the needs of her clients.

“This model came about because a year prior, a business coach of mine had said to me, ‘you're selling $30,000 projects, you're looking for clients who have $30,000, but you're networking with people who think you're great, yet they don't have $30,000, they have $3,000. So maybe you don't want to keep saying, oh, sorry, you don't have $30,000, so forget you, and instead think of something to sell them. Just come up with something you would sell someone if they had $3,000.”

And in the space of just a couple of days Pia had pivoted her whole business from chasing big projects via a traditional agency model, to making more money with a smaller project model.

On today’s podcast:

Break the ceiling by breaking the default agency model
Why project management tools don’t work for every business
Using a lead product and a bullseye product
The freedom of transparent pricing
How to figure out your pricing strategy
Increase your price as you increase your value
Figure out a model that works for you and what you want out of life
Create a marketing structure that means you constantly have leads coming up
Why the big agency model can’t work for smaller businesses

Links:

Grab the Calm Service Design + Delivery Swipe File here

Next Episode

Defaulting to Simple with ScaleSpark Founder, Susan Boles

If you’re struggling to keep your head above water in your business and you can’t figure out how to break the ceiling and scale your business, then you should listen to this Break the Ceiling podcast with ScaleSpark Founder, Susan Boles.

In the first few episodes of this series, Susan has focused on tackling default decisions, those decisions that you might have made in your business without thinking about them or realising that you had another choice.

“Default decisions aren't necessarily good decisions or the right decision for your business.”

In the upcoming episodes however, Susan switches the focus from default decisions to opting out and why she advocates ‘Default to Simple’, the touchstone she uses when trying to figure out the solution to any problem in her own business, or her clients businesses.

Because often, the next thing you have to do in your business process is just really simple.

But before we go ahead and begin the next chapter, if you didn’t get the chance to listen to our series on default decisions, definitely go back and dig into them because they frame the upcoming episodes on opting out, and get you thinking about alternative options that you might not have considered in your business.

On today’s podcast:

Why the tech that promises to make your life easier can just be another complication
Why your business needs processes
Why writing a list allows you to keep it simple
How to simplify your process to get paid by opting out
Why opting out is such a powerful tool
Future guests on the podcast for the opting out theme

Links: