Growth doesn't simply mean becoming bigger. There can be growth mentally, physically, and financially. You can't stop at just earning more — there is growing your impact and what you can give. To progress, you need effort and care to move beyond where you are right now and reach even higher heights. But there's more to growing a business than just doing more. Moving forward requires scaling the business. 

Together with Simon Severino, this episode discusses the importance of growth and scaling. He shares his own story of going beyond his fulfillment for the continued growth for him and his team. We learn how to start pursuing growth and see the best way to push past limbo for scaling a business. 

If you’re curious about why you should never stop growing, improving, and scaling your business, join Simon in this episode and listen to his message.

3 Reasons to Listen:

1. Find out why growth goes beyond just you and scaling the business and encompasses your whole community.
2. Learn three habits to start now to improve your work and process.
3. Discover your focus while expanding what you learn every day.

Resources

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• Learn more about Strategy Sprints.
• Take this eight-minute tester to find your game plan.
• Connect with Simon Severino on LinkedIn.
• Episode Details

Episode Highlights 

[02:26] Simon The Problem Solver

• Simon Severino works to help other people solve their problems.
• He specifically works with small and medium size  business owners with problems in growth and scaling business.
• Many business owners are passionate, but time and burnout limit what they can do.

[04:30] Natural Growth

• Simon believes in discipline and practicing, and focusing on what you enjoy.
• Plants, animals, and fellow humans grow naturally. They want to expand and explore the different aspects of their lives.
• The growth stage is only the beginning. The growth stage is when a business explores its unique place in the world.
• While in the growth stage, businesses find out how to increase conversion and what unique needs they can fill.
• You have to go from growing to scaling the business. After nurturing your business, there comes a time to let go.

[06:58] “When you start a business, it's this one thing you have to put it out there. You love it; you nurture it; you care about it every day; and at some point, you have to let go. This is when scaling starts, and that's actually the rewarding part of the business.” - Click Here to Tweet This

[08:17] Getting Lost in Limbo

• Some people don’t move from growing to scaling the business because they’re in limbo.
• Limbo is a state of noncommitment and staying undefined to avoid risk.
• This can be beneficial for a while. But in the long run, it can also lead to stagnation and a lack of learning.
• Learning comes from leaning into experiences that can be both comfortable and uncomfortable. 
• Children can be more open to learning because they lean into the moment.

[11:40] Growth in Leadership

• Simon himself is a leader who started his business to have more impact and freedom in the world. However, his work restrained him.
• He thought that he didn’t want growth.
• After reaching a revenue ceiling, he realized that he didn't want to get stuck in a miserable, work-focused life.
• A business coach encouraged him to create systems and share them with others. This allowed him to create a space for people to grow.

[15:19] “I fired myself from fulfillment two and a half years ago, and that wasn't that hard at all... Since then, I moved from star to galaxy. Now I'm not the dancer anymore, I'm the dance floor. I curate the space for every single dancer in the team to dance.” - Click Here to Tweet This

• He found that there’s always work to be done. He pushed past his fulfillment ceiling by finding new and balanced ways toward making an impact and scaling the business.

[17:03] Satisfying the Ego

• Many entrepreneurs think that they are the best at what they do.
• Simon's coach helped him realize that many others can do his job just as well or even better. He let others take his role by creating systems.
• By becoming a systems builder, he stays relevant and needed.
• There are still many who need you. You can still create meaning and do good work in the world.
• By serving your team, you enable them to serve clients.

[19:50] The Benefit of Working with Teams

• Many people can do a much better job than you. People have different talents and backgrounds that can help them be great in their niches.
• For Simon, he excelled in a few industries in his 17 years of work. But for other things, he needs other people.
• Together with a community of different people with different superpowers, you can take on big projects. For big projects, you need a small ecosystem and a committed community. Once you've got that, you can serve every day.

[20:34] “One person alone cannot do big projects. For big projects, you need a container made of a small ecosystem and community committed to holding a big complexity and to digest it and to serve every day and every week, whatever the weather is.” - Click Here to Tweet This

• As a beginner, you can have the help of a team that understands the process. Altogether, you can do great things. 
• Tune in to the full episode to hear how a team is helping Simon write his first book!

[24:27] Scaling the Business with Strategy Sprints

• Have a main specialization or practice to focus on that will never change. But start new hobbies and interests where you can learn something new.
• Simon's primary focus is to serve business owners on how to strategize and execute solutions.
• Entrepreneurs should fall in love with the problem and target group but not the solution. The challenge lies in understanding the problem and target group.
• Simon helps business owners plan their future while remaining stable. He discusses their modules and the core theme of building and refining the product in the full episode!
• The other challenge is to keep what you do fresh. Stay interested and keep learning from your focus. 

[27:51] What Strategy Sprints Does For Scaling the Business

• They implement three strategies to increase the price, frequency of sales, and conversion rate by 25%.
• This increase gives room and freedom to work on the systems for scaling the business. 
• Strategy Sprints' 274 modules are tactics for implementing the three strategies. At least one of these tactics can apply to any customer at any time.
• Their coaches focus on the business owners to find the right tactic to fit them. 
• Their cadence is to find out what works using two to three experiments in seven days.

[32:03] Keeping Things Fresh

• One of Simon’s habits is to ensure that his work is repeatable and fun. They break every work package into small things they can do immediately and get feedback.
• Immediate feedback can help encourage people to do better and reach higher.
• Sprint work focuses on breaking a project down into small parts and seeing how fast they can test it.
• Instead of market research, his team learns from what they do and turns the actions that had good results into daily practice.

[34:13] “We make work small. We make it repeatable. We don't overthink, we learn from the action. That keeps us childlike, and it keeps us real and quick. That keeps me on my toes.” - Click Here to Tweet This

• By learning from actions and not overthinking things, they remain childlike and quick in working. Listen to the full episode to hear Simon’s example using LinkedIn polls!

[36:03] Working Within 90 Days

• In Strategy Sprints, you eliminate everything in between without yearly planning. Instead, you develop a vision for three years in their method.
• There are 3 goals to accomplish over 90 days. These goals are broken down into three numbers.

[38:15] “When the whole team knows the vision has just three goals and one thing to do, you have a core-focused aligned team. You would be surprised how motivated and how smart and how fast and how creative people are when you give them just one thing to do that contributes to one vision.” - Click Here to Tweet This

• The numbers keep track of revenue and client satisfaction and measure the success of a business’ service or product.
• Every seven days, they learn from and analyze the feedback on these three numbers.
• The whole team establishes and focuses on a singular vision for the next week. Having one goal helps the team thrive.

[40:53] Working on Habits and Trusting the Process

• Simon and his team practice daily, weekly, and monthly habits.
• A daily habit monitors the tasks that need to be done. It helps them determine what they can do better, what to focus on, and what they can delegate instead.
• The weekly habit includes three reports on marketing, sales, and operations to be analyzed weekly. A small change offers much to learn.
• The monthly habit looks at the bigger picture and ensures that the team and their work are on track. If the team's confidence level is not at 100%, they stop and go deeper.

[46:14] Focusing on Growth

• For Simon, not practicing these habits leads to a reactive mode.
• Without these habits, unimportant things can draw your attention away from what should be your focus.
• The loud things are usually not the most important. They only get your attention.
• Everything needs attention in running a business. But Simon can focus on the most critical things by using his habits.

[49:09] Adapting to Changes

• The pandemic caused them to lose half of their business because they ran many physical events.
• Because of the systems and habits that Simon had in place, they were able to react quickly. Through this, they started their first Mastermind to help the community. 
• The Mastermind met the community’s needs of managing the COVID situation. This has now become an established community that continues to help each other.
• One thing that Simon learned is that things can change quickly. He always knew that things were dynamic; he just felt it now in higher intensity.
• Another lesson he learned is that despite having a smart company, you still depend on many other people. He realized that a Mastermind is a trustworthy community where people can help each other.

[54:56] Simon’s Routine

• Simon makes sure he has "me time" to nurture himself in the first hour of his day.
• Afterward, he caters to his family’s needs and preparations for the day.
• Then for three hours, he focuses on work and creation. In the afternoon, he ensures he’s available to his team.
• Lastly, he ends the day by winding down with his family and friends.
• His routine doesn’t feel like work because he integrates family, play, and nature into his daily routine.

[01:01:54] Seek, Go, or Create?

• Simon is happy to create. He spends time focusing on creating truly and deeply.
• If he weren’t able to create, despite accomplishing much, he would still feel miserable.

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To growing and becoming all we are created to be,

Tim