If you’re an expert who feels maxed out - but also resistant to the idea of “stepping away” from your work to scale - this episode explains why.

Most traditional business models were never designed for experts. They were built for operators: models that assume growth means removing yourself from delivery, building large teams, and distancing yourself from the work you actually love.

In this episode, Tara kicks off a new year of The Scalable Expert Podcast by breaking down why that advice creates burnout for experts - and why trying to force yourself into a traditional model often makes scaling feel heavier instead of freeing.

You’ll hear why hiring around yourself rarely creates true leverage, the identity conflict experts face when they’re told to “work on the business instead of in it,” and how the Scalable Expert model offers a different path forward - one that allows you to grow impact and income without sacrificing your time, attention, or zone of genius.

This episode sets the foundation for the entire season and reframes what it really means to scale as an expert.

⏱️ EPISODE CHAPTERS / TIMESTAMPS

00:00 – Welcome to the Scalable Expert Podcast & season overview

00:45 – Why this season focuses on the journey from maxed-out expert to Scalable Expert

02:04 – The traditional business model (and who it was actually built for)

03:10 – Why experts struggle when they try to scale like operators

03:57 – The identity tension: loving your expertise vs. owning a business

04:36 – Hiring around yourself and why it doesn’t create real scale

05:25 – The moment experts realize they’re still the bottleneck

06:22 – Tara’s personal experience stepping back - and what changed

07:01 – Introducing the Scalable Expert business model

07:56 – How leverage replaces time and attention in expert-led businesses

08:29 – What this season will unpack for maxed-out experts

08:51 – Take the Scalable Expert Quiz & what it reveals about your business

🎯 Curious where you are on the Scalable Expert path?

Take the Scalable Expert Quiz to get clarity on how your business is currently operating - and what to focus on next to scale without maxing out your calendar.

👉 https://bit.ly/scalablebusinessexpertassessment

About Me:

Hey, it’s your host, Tara Bryan. And I am on a mission to help more business owners learn to infinitely scale their businesses by leveraging the power of online without sacrificing the customer experience or results.

I like to geek out on all things business strategy, marketing, interactive digital and user experience. This podcast is all about what is working, lessons learned and actionable tips to create and grow a thriving online business.

Join us each week as we dive into different strategies, tactics and tips you can apply immediately to your business.

To learn more:

Find us at https://www.taralbryan.com

Here are two ways we can help you create, grow and scale your business:

1. Want to package your expertise or become a Scalable Expert? Take our free quick assessment to see how close you are to creating a scalable business.

The Scalable Expert Assessment

2. ALREADY HAVE AN ONLINE BUSINESS & READY TO INFINITELY SCALE?

Schedule a 30 minute call with Tara to talk about our offers that will help you master the game.

Thanks for listening!

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Mentioned in this episode:

https://taralbryan.com/step/15-learn-to-scale-call

Hey everybody.

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Welcome to season three of the

Scalable Expert™ Podcast, the show

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for established expert business owners

who are maxed out on time and ready to

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find the scalable impact of their work.

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I'm your host, Tara Bryan, founder

of The Scalable Expert™, and creator

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of the Infinite Scale Method™.

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If you've built a business around

your expertise, but feel stuck

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in the time-for-money trap, this

podcast is your path forward.

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Each week, I'll share stories and

strategies and shifts to help you

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step into a new, scalable business

model by declaring your authority,

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packaging your expert framework, and

streamlining your offers and systems

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to ultimately become a scalable

expert, because it's not about working

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harder, it's about building smarter.

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All you need is one signature

expert framework and you can

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deliver an infinite amount of ways

to be able to scale your business.

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Alright, let's get started.

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Hey everybody, welcome to this season

of the Scalable Expert Podcast,

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I am thrilled that you're here.

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Hey, if you're new here, we help

maxed out experts actually build

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a scalable business that grows

beyond their time and attention.

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And if you have been here

for a while, welcome back.

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Super thrilled that you're here.

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Hey, in this season I'm gonna talk a

lot about the insights that I've gained

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while writing The Scalable Expert book.

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And so you're going to hear a lot of,

sort of, that journey of each of the

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sort of, sections or steps of the book

and how somebody goes from being a

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max out expert to a Scalable Expert

as they grow and scale their business.

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And one of the things I wanted to

just start with, in this season, is

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really looking at you as an expert.

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So often if you are an expert, you're

a service provider, you have some

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sort of expertise that has led you to

want to monetize that into an income

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source and make a bigger impact in the

world, and so you start this business

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and you start looking at various

business models that are out there.

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And one of the biggest insights that

we've discovered over this time is

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that the traditional business model

was never actually meant for experts.

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And I'm gonna dive a little bit into

that and talk about like what is the

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business model that helps experts?

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Because here's the thing, so,

a traditional business model is

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talking about how do you step into

the business owner role and build

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a business that actually can grow

and scale without you, right?

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Without your time and attention.

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You hire a big team, you, um, you

know, have various services and

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products that you are selling to

customers and the goal is, as you

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grow and scale, is to get yourself

out of the business itself, right?

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So you've heard probably, like, work on

the business and not in the business.

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And, um, and so a traditional

business model is really around how

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do you put together that traditional

infrastructure, the organizational chart?

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How do you have, you know, lots of,

um, team and staff who actually help

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to deliver on the promise that you're

making from a business perspective?

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And that's amazing and that's awesome.

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And sometimes if you are an expert, and

you start a business, you actually, that's

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your goal is to become the owner of the

business and not the doer of the business.

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But most of the time, when you are an

expert, you love what you, what you do.

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You love your expertise.

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You have a passion for

whatever the topic is.

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You have a way that you do things

that you have grown over time, right?

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So if you're an expert, typically what

happens is you love your, your expertise.

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You love to learn more, you love

to be the thought leader, you love

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to be involved in what's happening.

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So take, like, if you're a physician,

for example, and you have gone to medical

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school and you have done patient care

and you have done all the research,

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maybe you're in the leading, leading

research for whatever it is, you're,

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you, uh, specializing in as a physician.

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When you start a business around that,

right, so if you are speaking or you

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have books or you have some sort of

leadership, around your expertise, when

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you monetize that, you have to focus

on actually building the infrastructure

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around the business, not really

owning and, and continuing to, dive

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into the expertise around it, right?

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So there's sort of this back

and forth that's happening.

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Same thing with, you know, being

a service provider and you are

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providing a service for your customer.

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You love what you do.

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You love working with customers.

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You love keeping, kind of, on the

forefront of what's happening in the field

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and so the day that you're told, well,

okay, great, now you have to let that

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go, hire people to do that, and then just

step into the business ownership role...

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most experts are like, well, that's

not exactly what I wanna be doing,

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but that's what I need to do to

grow and to not be burnt out because

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I'm trying to do all of the things.

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And so there's this rub that's happening

uh, um, for the expert business owner.

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And, and so what we tend to do is that we

hire people around, around us to support

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us in the work that we're doing, right?

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So if you are used to working with

customers and, you know, whether it's

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a service, a one-on-one, whatever

it is, you work with the customers

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and then you kind of hire people to

take care of all of the behind the

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scenes things that are happening.

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And what happens with that model, and

if you're in it, you know what I'm

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talking about is that you are the still

in the, in the middle of the business

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and you have people around you, but

you have to manage all those people.

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You have to, um, you are still directing

their work because everything is happening

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around you who's actually serving the

customers, and, and that's not scalable.

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So you take that traditional

business model and you, you kind of

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try and, and put yourself into it.

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And, and it took me a really long time

to figure out that as a business owner.

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I also wanted to be the expert, right?

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I was super interested

in what was happening.

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I'll never forget the day when my

team, 'cause at that time I had a

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large team and they looked at me and

they're like, you can't do this work

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because the more you do this work,

the less that we can do this work.

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And so we need you to step back.

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And I was like, okay, great.

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So I stepped back.

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And then I was like, well, wait a minute.

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Like I'm not doing what I love anymore.

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Right?

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So the business changed.

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So while it was successful,

it changed for me.

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So then I started to do,

other sort of things to help.

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And, um, and again, if you are an expert

in a business, just trying to scale and

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you know what I'm talking about, like

I was helping, which I really wasn't.

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So I had a look at like, why?

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Was I struggling with this?

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And, and how do I grow a successful,

scalable business that really allows me

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to still do what I love, show up in the

way that makes me still be able to offer

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the value and the wonderful things that

I was doing, and also control my time and

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my attention because that is the, the rub,

right, is doing all of the things, trying

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to run the business and be the expert and

grow and, and, and, and, and, excuse me.

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So this, the, business model of the

Scalable Expert is slightly different.

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And what it is; instead of trying to grow

this team, that ultimately isn't gonna

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help you make a bigger impact in income

around your expertise, it helps you build

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the foundation of your expertise and

then you get to show up and provide value

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and help your customers in a way that is

not driven by your time and attention.

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And that is where things start to shift.

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That's where your, where your

zone of genius starts to take off

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exponentially, and you create leverage

in your business instead of trying to

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create something that ultimately isn't

gonna get you where you want to go.

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So as we dive into this, this season

of the Scalable Expert Podcast, I'm

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gonna unpack what that looks like, how

you do that, and the business model

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that's gonna help you to be successful

as an expert that allows you to grow a

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business in a way that doesn't require

your time and attention in the same way

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that it does today, so you don't burn

out, so you don't end up in a situation

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where you're actually not operating in

the business the way that you want to.

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So stay with me.

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Excited to share all of the different

insights around the Scalable Expert brand

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and how we can help you get to that next

place, stop being maxed out, burnt out,

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and really look at how do you deliver

what you do best in a different way.

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So, that is what this

season is gonna be about.

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If you are ready to really look at

where are you today, how are you

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operating as an expert, and start to

look at the shift to how you can show up

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differently and still control your time

and attention I would love to welcome

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you in to taking a Scalable Expert quiz.

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In the show notes or on the

YouTube notes, go and look at the

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link to the Scalable Expert quiz.

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I would love for you to take that, start

to get a little bit of insight as to where

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you are in your scalable business journey,

and and that will start to help you focus

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on the right things in this upcoming year.

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Alright, until next time.