How to Scale Your Company Fast, with Brandon & Kaelin Poulin, Ep 167

10/08/20 • 61 min

Just The Tips, with James P. Friel and Dean Holland

In just a few short years, Brandon and Kaelin Poulin took LadyBoss Weight Loss from a startup to a company with 350,000 customers. In 2019, LadyBoss, which helps women lose weight, transform their health, and love themselves, was named number 4 on the Inc. 5000 list of the fastest-growing privately-held companies in the United States.

Tune into this episode for a behind-the-scenes, comprehensive look at what it takes to grow and scale a successful company like LadyBoss - the strategies, the mindsets, the vision, the customer relationships, all of it - in a few years instead of a few decades.

Network marketing’s most valuable lessons

Before they ever met, Brandon and Kaelin started in network marketing, and found their way into weight loss, health, and fitness. They learned succeeding in network marketing requires developing and maintaining relationships. It requires listening to people, and finding out what they really want. And it requires facing rejection, over and over and over. Network marketing also taught them about personal development, something they know is critical to both their early success and their ongoing success. Everything you do starts with you, and if you’re tripping over the same issues within yourself, it’ll trip up everything you try to do.

Dig in and make something happen

After five years with another company, Brandon and Kaelin were ready to start their own company. They were two months behind on rent, on their car payment - basically everything, and in danger of sinking even further. With their backs against the wall, they locked themselves away from the outside world for two months and worked around the clock to launch their company. It didn’t take fairy dust or unicorns - just the commitment to dig in and do it.

Get off the shiny penny highway

With the abundance of tools, trainings and strategies out there, Brandon and Kaelin often found themselves tempted by the shiny penny highway. Oh, another cool software! Oh, another marketing strategy to try! The barrage of things to try was constant. To avoid getting trapped on the shiny penny highway, Brandon and Kaelin always brought it back to what their customers and their company needed at that time. If what they were looking at didn’t fit with their vision, it wasn’t right for their business. It meant saying no to a lot of things. It also allowed them to simplify, while simultaneously (and quickly) growing their company and better serving their customers.

Don’t shut out your customers

A lot of companies think being aloof with and too cool for their customers is the right way to be. Brandon and Kaelin see it differently. They know, from years of experience, how crucial the customer relationship is to their success. Rather than shut their customers out, they welcome communication with their customers. They’ll take customers by the hand, so to speak, and help them walk to that next level. It’s a powerful reminder that your customers are your best asset. Without them, you don’t have a business. Don’t shut them out.

You always have the power

Brandon and Kaelin point out something a lot of successful people come to realize: That once you get to a certain level, your success is all other people see. But they’ve been kicked in the teeth, made mistakes, and had to find different ways of doing things. And they know it’s likely to continue on that way, because that’s just the nature of business. The reason Brandon and Kaelin have been so successful isn’t because they haven’t faced challenges, it’s because they know they have the power, always, to overcome them. Believing and accepting that no matter what comes your way, you have the power to deal with it and find another way forward, is a must-have mindset for all business owners.

Outline of This Episode

Backs against the wall [05:29]
Trial by fire [12:40]
Get off the shiny penny highway [20:56]
Remember who you’re serving [29:36]
Stop pushing your customers aside [34:01]
The secret to aligning as a team [38:48]
What to do when the hits keep coming [46:15]

Resources & People Mentioned

LadyBoss Weight Loss: https://ladyboss.com/
https://www.instagram.com/ladyboss/
https://www.facebook.com/LadyBossKaelin
https://www.youtube.com/c/LadyBossWeightLoss

Music for “Just The Tips” is titled, “Happy Happy Game Show” by Kevin MacLeod (http://incompetech.com) Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0 License

Connect With James and Dean

James P. Friel:

CEO Quickstart: https://jamespfriel.com/ceo-quickstart/
Facebook Group: https://www.facebook.com/groups/hustledetox/
Fac...

Network marketing’s most valuable lessons

Dig in and make something happen

Get off the shiny penny highway

Don’t shut out your customers

You always have the power

Outline of This Episode

Backs against the wall [05:29]
Trial by fire [12:40]
Get off the shiny penny highway [20:56]
Remember who you’re serving [29:36]
Stop pushing your customers aside [34:01]
The secret to aligning as a team [38:48]
What to do when the hits keep coming [46:15]

Resources & People Mentioned

LadyBoss Weight Loss: https://ladyboss.com/
https://www.instagram.com/ladyboss/
https://www.facebook.com/LadyBossKaelin
https://www.youtube.com/c/LadyBossWeightLoss

Music for “Just The Tips” is titled, “Happy Happy Game Show” by Kevin MacLeod (http://incompetech.com) Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0 License

Connect With James and Dean

James P. Friel:

CEO Quickstart: https://jamespfriel.com/ceo-quickstart/
Facebook Group: https://www.facebook.com/groups/hustledetox/
Fac...

Previous Episode

Strengthen The Offer Until They Can’t Say No

Next Episode

How to Identify a Real Opportunity in the Market with Jeremy Parker, Ep 168

Success in business comes to those who can identify and follow through on profitable opportunities. The people who struggle most are both the ones who wouldn’t know an opportunity if it punched them in the face, and the ones who see opportunities everywhere, but struggle to identify and act on the profitable ones. Either they freeze, or they go down so many rabbit holes, they never get traction.

Jeremy Parker, CEO and Co-Founder of promotional product website Swag.com, has been identifying and capitalizing on profitable opportunities for over a decade, including during the Great Recession back in 2007.

Even with the pandemic happening, and companies cutting back on promotional product purchases, Swag.com had its best three months EVER. And it’s all because Jeremy understands how to identify and follow through on profitable opportunities. Tune into this episode to learn from Jeremy how you can do the same, because this is a skill that can ensure you succeed no matter how bad things seem.

The rise of Swag.com

Originally Jeremy wanted to be a filmmaker. But after realizing how difficult it was to make a living doing that, and discovering he wasn’t all that passionate about it, Jeremy started a t-shirt business. It seemed like an easy way to begin. Turns out it wasn’t as easy as he thought, but still, Jeremy was enjoying some success. Then the Great Recession hit, and stores he’d built relationships with stopped buying what he was offering. Instead of folding, Jeremy asked, where’s the opportunity with this? One of his ideas--which he describes “as gimmicky” got noticed by Mark Cuban, which paved the way for the rise of swag.com.

Success during the pandemic

The promotional industry is in shambles right now. Companies are letting people go instead of bringing them on, which means there’s far less need for branded company products. Yet Swag.com just enjoyed its best three months EVER. That is the power of identifying and following through with profitable opportunities. There are always problems that need solving, including some that are still coming down the pipeline. That is and always will be the case, no matter what’s going on in the world.

Beware idea attachment

Marrying your ideas is one of the worst mistakes you can make. Remove your ego from the situation, because it’s not about you. It’s about what the market needs. You cannot make them need or want something they don’t need or want. Get your minimum viable product together and get it into the world quickly. See how the market responds, and adjust accordingly. If the minimum viable product doesn’t get traction, you’ve just saved yourself vast sums of time, money, and energy.

You’ve just got to start

Where you start is rarely where you end up, which is why the most successful entrepreneurs in the world start fast. Another of the worst things you can do is drag out getting started. Whether you succeed or fail, you’ll learn from it. Very often, failing has more to teach us than success. No matter how good you are at identifying opportunities, you will not strike gold every single time. Get your ideas into the world quickly, get feedback, and learn and adapt. It may take several attempts to find your next (or first) big winner. But the only way you’ll ever find it is to just start.

The right way to network

Networking is a proven way to connect with the people and resources you need to grow your business. It’s also something people tend to overthink. Jeremy’s best advice to get the most out of your networking efforts is pretty simple: Put yourself out there. Get your lines in the water and see who bites. The first few people you meet may not be who you need, but they may be connected to the right people for you. Since you can’t know for sure, get as many lines in the water as you can. The more lines you have, the better your chances of getting the right bites.

Remember the mission (and remind your team)

A motivated, effective team can not only help you bring opportunities to life, they can help you identify more. And a team that believes in your company’s mission and vision is proven to perform better at even their day to day role. Reminding your team of your company’s mission is key to strong motivation, especially in tough times. Remember to stoke that fire.

Outline of This Episode