Building and scaling a business isn't just about hard work, it’s also about smart strategy and self-awareness. In this episode of Hustle and Flowchart, I chatted with the amazing Allison Maslan. She's a successful entrepreneur who has built multiple companies and now helps others do the same through her organization, Pinnacle Global Network. We went through a wide range of topics, from trapeze in the backyard to scaling strategies for businesses. This episode is packed with invaluable insights. Let’s break it down.

The Power of a Passion

Allison shared an interesting tidbit that sets the stage for this episode: she has a massive trapeze in her backyard. Inspired by her background as a gymnast and a flying trapeze enthusiast, Allison uses trapeze as both a hobby and a metaphor for facing fears and achieving breakthroughs. Just like flying through the air, entrepreneurs need to take risks and focus on their goals.

Battling Business Burnout

Allison revealed that, even though she took on massive clients like Ben and Jerry’s and Supercuts at a young age, she ended up buried under an overwhelming workload. She warns that this is a common issue for many entrepreneurs who fail to delegate tasks. Instead of managing her team effectively, she felt the need to control every aspect, resulting in burnout.

The Wake-Up Call: A Life-Changing Moment

Allison faced a wake-up call in the form of a serious car accident, which made her reassess her life and business practices. She realized that continuing down the same path could lead to the same problems years later and decided it was time for a change.

Scaling Strategies: Breaking Through Growth Barriers

One major focus of our conversation was scaling. Allison emphasized that many entrepreneurs remain stuck because they don’t know how to scale effectively. She advises examining your company holistically to identify and eliminate bottlenecks.

Practical Advice:

• Divide your company into four key areas: operations, marketing, sales, and your specific revenue stream.
• Conduct a thorough analysis of where you are spending most of your time and delegate accordingly.
• Establish clear metrics and targets for every role within the organization to ensure everyone is aligned with the company's vision.

A Holistic Approach to Business

Allison's background in homeopathy has influenced her holistic approach to business. She believes in treating the whole business system rather than just focusing on individual symptoms. This means aligning vision, cash flow, team effort, and execution for overall health and growth.

Key Framework:

• Strategic Vision
• Cash Flow (Marketing and Sales)
• Team Alignment
• Leadership
• Execution

The Future: Leveraging AI and Market Trends

Allison and I also discussed the future, particularly the role of AI and other technological advancements. AI will replace some jobs but also create new opportunities. She advises leveraging AI to improve business processes and innovate, rather than viewing it as a threat.

Insightful Quote: “AI is going to replace a lot of companies. You need to figure out how you're going to differentiate yourself and how to utilize AI to fuel you and not disrupt you.”

Connect with Allison Maslan

• Pinnacle Global Network
• Check out the "Scale It Method"
• Grab a copy of Allison's book "Scale or Fail"
• Instagram
• X/Twitter
• LinkedIn

Conclusion

This episode with Allison Maslan was a revelation about the entire process of growing a business. From understanding the importance of personal passions and overcoming burnout to tactical scaling and staying future-ready, her insights are incredibly valuable for entrepreneurs at any stage. Embrace the bumps and bruises – they are all part of the path to success.

Two Other Episodes You Should Check Out

• Scalable Success: Secrets for Scaling a Business with Ryan Deiss
• Roland Frasier: The Secret to Maximizing Business Efficiency with AI

Connect with Joe Fier

• What if you could have a FREE personal mentor on-demand?! With Joe's Hustle & Flowchart AI clone, you can tap into the knowledge from over 600 episodes any time! Whether you need advice on scaling, marketing, or productivity, my AI clone is here to help.
• Want us to build your clone for you? We’ll handle setup, testing, and integration so you can launch fast. Head to HustleandFlowchart.com/interest to get started!
• Hubspot has launched a whole new suite of AI Tools, check them on the Hubspot.com
• Check out other podcasts on the HubSpot Podcast Network
• We want to hear from you. Send us the One Thing you want to hear on the show.
• Connect with Joe on LinkedIn and Instagram
• Subscribe to the YouTube Channel
• Contact Joe: joe@hustleandflowchart.com

Thanks for tuning into this episode of the Hustle & Flowchart Podcast!

If the information in these conversations and interviews have helped you in your business journey, please head over to iTunes (or wherever you listen), subscribe to the show, and leave me an honest review.

Your reviews and feedback will not only help me continue to deliver great, helpful content, but it will also help me reach even more amazing entrepreneurs just like you!

Did he know that 97% of business owners never break

$1 million in revenue.

So today's guests.

I have Alison Maslan.

She has not only done that, but has done it in 10

businesses that she owns.

And she's also helped 150,000 other founders to do the same exact thing.

Now, before all of this, though.

She was definitely at age 19 buried in her work.

And she was, uh, in a situation.

It almost took her life.

Almost took everything from her.

She's going to talk all about that and how that

switched things in her mind.

And now she finds herself flying through life in her own way.

She'll talk about that as well.

So if you feel stuck at any reason in your business and you're looking

to scale and you want to do it in a whole different way of thinking.

This is the episode for you.

So let's go jump in with Alison Maslan.

We're here.

We're finally doing this, uh, recording, which is nice because

we share a mastermind together here in San Diego, which, you

know, I feel like I've, uh, I chatted with your husband last

time at the holiday party.

I love Mike.

That guy's so fun too.

Yeah, he is.

but you and I haven't chatted enough and I'm like, man, I, I think this

is a nice focused time that we

Yeah, I'm excited.

Yeah, and, and I gotta thank you for one for having us at your

house one of the nights because first thing I noticed when I was

there, I was like, you have a massive trapeze in your backyard.

I'm like, what's up with that?

kind of hard to miss, isn't it?

tell me about that because I know it fits in here,

but let's just start there.

Like what's up with the trapeze?

What does it mean to you too?

well, my mom always jokes that when I was born, the doctor literally

said that I belonged in a circus.

Yeah.

apparently I was pretty flexible as a baby, so who knew?

Uh, but I was a gymnast growing up and my gym teacher actually built me

a set of uneven bars in my backyard at made out of plastic tubing

Yeah, they bend, right?

So

yeah, it worked.

And I, I was out there swinging around, you know, I used to do that

so much as a kid and I competed.

Um, professionally and in college and so I was always an athlete

and then in my 30s I discovered the flying trapeze and when I

was up there I, first of all I thought, I didn't even know

anyone could actually do this or learn this, but I was so hooked.

And I think it kind of brought me back to my childhood.

And so I've actually been training for over 20 years and I found

a five generation, um, circus family that, uh, performed in

Ringling Brothers for 25 years.

that many of the Cirque du Soleil people train with and so

I Drove to LA every single week and then when we moved into the

house We are now with more land.

I was like I am putting a trapeze here I didn't I think

my husband thought I was kind of joking But when he saw this

massive piece of equipment being you know built he's like wow

She's really serious about this.

So yeah, I'm I'm back there flying all the time and

Doing flips and everything.

It's, it's really my happy place.

Yeah, I remember you mentioned that because I think it was one of the

first things I asked you there, too.

I'm like, that's unique.

What's the story here?

And like, do you, how do you use it now?

Like, are you, are you out there training to be in the

next circus team or is it more of like a practical?

no, well, first of all, I don't fly by myself because

that would be dangerous.

And so you need to have a catcher.

You need to have somebody up on the board with you.

And, uh, and then we often have somebody on the ground as well.

And I, you know, I'm, I'm not going to be running off with the circus at

this point in my life or Cirque du Soleil, uh, maybe next time around,

but I'm always aspiring to grow.

Uh, I've been working on my double back flip and some other big tricks.

And the greatest thing for me is that I get to face my fear up there.

And have major breakthroughs, which then when I'm on the ground,

it just, you know, I end up having more breakthroughs here.

I face my fear and I stretch myself.

And so it really is the perfect alliance of me, you know,

going after my dreams up there in the air and I see myself

doing it on the ground as well.

I can, I could, I mean, never have flown like that, but, uh, my sister

in law, I think had she, you know, there's some places you can go to

and kind of practice or try it out.

And that's what I've heard is like, you're in the air.

I mean, you're, you're literally flying.

I

You are literally flying.

There is nothing like it.

And you know, you're in the moment

because you know, when you're in your, you're focused on

your business, you're thinking about all the things like your

brain is always going, I don't know if yours is, but mine is.

But when you're up there, you have to be focused.

You have to visualize, you have to really lock it in.

You have to have your eyes open, your ears open, everything.

And so you're truly, it's like a moving meditation in a sense.

And I just feel so good and my head feels so clear when

I, you know, when I'm done.

I think everyone, and I talk about it often, you know, I took

up jujitsu six, seven months ago and it's for similar reason.

I find it's like meditative because you're going with the motions.

You have to think on the fly quickly.

It's physical.

Um, yeah, different, obviously, but similar.

And I feel like practices like that.

Just a quiet, the entrepreneurial mind that gets a little wonky.

Sometimes you need to layer something in there,

You do.

Everybody needs that.

You know, my husband golfs and you've got to be really focused.

It's such a mindset game and I think those things are really healthy.

Plus to, you know, we operate from our neck up in our business so much.

Yeah.

And so really to fully integrate it within our body and, and

use it because you're going to lose it if you don't.

Absolutely.

Keep moving that body.

You only got one.

So Allison, I mean, you, you've lived a wildlife from the

research that I've gone down.

I did some deep dive in

Oh no.

skeleton to coming out now, I'm just kidding.

But you're, you're scaling businesses left and right.

You have a full team, mentors.

Everything you're doing at Pinnacle, it's really cool in the mastermind.

I've heard, you know, other ways that you're scaling

and I'm just like, well, you know, like this is true scale.

I mean, you wrote a book on it.

You did, you've done a lot.

Uh, what was like, but I'm curious of the story before,

because you have a lot of great strategies for scaling.

I want to get to, and you know, helping people break through

of maybe the doing themselves.

And maybe, you know, it depends on the lay or the

size of the business, but.

What was your story starting out?

Because, what was it, 40 ish year?

Or you started at like 19, I think, right?

Business for Yourself?

So, was it scale in mind then?

Or no?

You know, I, uh, grew up in an entrepreneurial family.

My father was very passionate about his business.

My grandfather started, uh, a women's clothing store in Kansas

city called Maslan's and then, uh, won a second store in a

poker game in Tulsa, Oklahoma.

Uh, where I was born.

And my grandfather and my father checked out this store to see,

okay, what did we win here?

And is this worth even taking over?

And what they learned from the experience was it was a

great store, but it wasn't, they weren't selling the right

products for the right market.

And so, my dad ended up taking that company, which is called

Stewarts, and scaling it across the Midwest, uh, over 50 locations.

And so, as a young girl, I would go with him from store to store,

and I just took in so much, just being around that energy.

And he was always so innovative and courageous.

And so it, I really didn't know anything else.

And I couldn't hold a job for more than two weeks.

So I had to figure out this entrepreneurial thing.

And so my first company, um, I started when I was 19 doing, uh,

brochures and greeting cards, and that evolved to a full service

advertising a PR firm when I was 25.

Wow.

but I didn't know how to scale.

I had no idea.

And I was taking on big clients like Ben and Jerry's and Supercuts

and Charlotte Roos and, and helping them with their marketing

and building a small team.

But I ended up getting buried in the work like so many entrepreneurs do.

Uh, you know, I, one day I woke up and I was like, you know, the

business is running me into the ground instead of me running it.

And I was so burned out from the stress of it all and ended up

having a terrible car accident that just about took my life.

And so that was my massive wake up call to go, Okay, well clearly

something isn't working here.

And so that became my, uh, just my determination, my mission to

figure out, you know, how was it that Ben and Jerry's or super

cuts, you know, my clients, you didn't see the CEO standing over

everybody, uh, like an orchestra leader, you know, micromanaging,

they were out there building great strategic relationships,

partnerships, and, and building the future of the company.

And so I began to study.

How this was working and that, uh, became the impetus for me

to go on and build nine more companies that haven't depended

on me to be founder independent.

And so that's really what we do day in and day out at

Pinnacle Global Network is helping business owners build a

team managed scalable company.

I like it.

Founder independent too, because that makes all the sense.

And yeah, you look at these other companies that are actually scaling.

They're thinking of partnerships, the bigger picture, the

strategic moves or gaps in the market product market fit.

Like you said, even in the beginning.

When you're drowning in the work or the inbound stuff or just hustling

in general, it's like, yeah, you lose track of a lot of this stuff.

take me back because there's also, I know you have a whole

cool, unique way of partnerships and, and, um, not, it's more

collaboration than than competition, which I want to touch on.

But take me to the car accident because what I feel like there's

a bigger story or meaning of like, because you said work was

burying you, like, what, I guess what was the tipping point there

from this grind mode to now?

It's like, Oh man, I got to change things up.

Well, you know, it sneaks up on you, and most people are

living on autopilot, right?

And you're just thinking of what's the next thing I gotta do and

what's the next thing I gotta do.

You're not really examining your life and how you feel.

And my daughter at the time was under two years old, so I was also

managing taking care of her as well.

That's tough.

And so I, uh, I just felt that I, I remember driving down,

um, by the beach in San Diego and seeing all these people

hanging out at the beach.

And I remember thinking.

How do they even get to do that?

You know, and here I'm living in this beautiful city and I wasn't

able to fully live my life.

I was working weekends.

I was working till two or three in the morning, creating ad campaigns.

And I had a small team, but I was such a control freak.

Uh, I felt like I had to have my eyes on everything going

in and out of the company.

And that's, you know, so many business owners are like that.

You think you're doing the right thing.

You think you're keeping things from falling apart and that

it's your responsibility.

But here I had these great people and I was in their way.

And so, you know, just from the, the weight of it, but

it was, I was doing it to myself, but I didn't know.

And so I was fearful.

I was exhausted.

I felt trapped, uh, in my circumstances because I just

didn't really know what else to do.

And then I was embarrassed.

To ask for help and I thought something's wrong with me, right?

That's what we always do with something's wrong with me I

should be able to figure this out and you're making money.

You should be grateful, you know, like oh my gosh all these

different emotions so That's you know, that's where I think the

universe was kind of like a little tired of dealing with me and just

said look Let's just let's wake her up, you know, don't kill her.

But you know And that, that was my wake up call.

Wow.

Yeah.

And, uh, just the buildup to that because, you know, there's a lot

of things that we just don't see.

Yeah, we're blind to sometimes the obvious things around us.

Car accident.

I mean, there's a whole bunch of things that can

happen otherwise as well.

Um, I mean, that's, that's a wake up call.

I mean, what's the, 'cause I'm thinking, you mentioned so many

things, like people getting in the way of great people that you hire.

Delegation, of course, is a term that everyone's said, but in

the moment when you're grinding, it ain't that obvious, right?

Like, you're not thinking of that.

You're just trying to get the stuff done, moving to the next

thing, trying to make more money to live in San Diego or whatever

you're trying to do, freedom.

So

for sure.

You know, and, uh, I had a lot of people depending on me.

And looking up to me.

And, uh, I, you know, felt like I needed to keep it together.

Outwardly.

Even though inwardly I was crumbling.

And, you know, just trying to hold it together.

And I think that was probably the hardest thing.

You know, I think business owners put an enormous amount of pressure

on themselves to get it all right.

And I think if I would have just lightened up and asked for help

back then, I would have gotten it.

But, you know, I don't regret it because that's where some of

my biggest lessons came from.

And, you know, I, I do remember a, a very powerful moment back

then when I was in the hospital and, uh, you know, it was a, it

was a pretty serious accident.

But once I kinda knew that I was, everything was gonna be

okay, my, the first thought that came to my mind was, what if

you're in the same place a year from now or ten years from now?

Yeah.

that it literally was like somebody was speaking to me and I knew

that if I didn't make a change, I would be in the same place.

And, and time just goes so fast.

And so that really lit this fire under my feet to say that, you know,

if this is success, I don't want it.

Uh, I love business, but I need to do it a new way.

And so that was where I just became super determined.

to learn.

And, you know, because of that, it really was the best

experience because it set me up on my mission for my life.

Cause once I figured it out for myself, I also realized that

millions of business owners struggle with the same thing.

In fact, 97 percent of business owners never even make it

past a million in revenue.

And this is really why,

because they're in their own way.

They're not thinking of, yeah, outside of them or even their,

their, maybe their small team, but they're in their way is

what they're just creating friction in all, all areas.

Right.

Yes,

And that's.

So before we get there, because I want to ask the question, maybe

I'll just seed it now is scaling because a lot of folks won't even

think of scale until some point.

I mean, who knows when, you know, what is that tipping point?

And I guess that's for everyone to ask themselves.

And for you, Allison, this, this car accident was a moment where for

whatever reason that that question came to your mind, like, what's it

going to look like in 5 to 10 years?

And, Like, do you, do you see the people?

Cause you know, Pinnacle is obviously coaching, mentoring

a ton of business owners.

Is that a pretty recurring thing that these, these moments happen?

And then like the question needs to happen or like,

yes.

how do you coach people through that?

And how do they identify maybe it's not a car accident, but it could

Yeah.

Well, hopefully, yeah, they get to us before then.

we primarily mentor business owners in the seven and

eight, multiple eight figures.

And by the time they've come to us, many of them have been stuck in that

same mode that I was in for decades.

And it's just become their life.

And, you know, it's affected their health or relationships in,

you know, in one way or another.

And they can feel very lonely at the top and feeling stuck.

And many of them have, have managed to grow even, you know, 50, 100

employees, but they're still very much buried in the weeds.

And so the first thing we have to do is create awareness.

We have to put a mirror up for them to see what they're doing

and how they're in their own way.

And we help them determine what phase that they're

in, in the scaling process.

And so once they know, and many of them we call it, they're

in the third phase, which we call the ring leader and the

ring leader is like a circus.

Uh, interestingly enough, because we were just talking about

that earlier in the circus.

Um, but they are, are growing and they're growing teams.

They might have a customer service team, a sales team, a marketing

team, all of those things.

Uh, but they're not aligned with the vision.

And so the CEO of the company, the founder, needs to be more of that

visionary CEO focused on the future.

And so often you have team that is a revolving door.

And generally it's happening because we're bringing team members on

before we're super clear about that vision and what success looks like

for every single one of those roles.

You have to really understand what they're reaching for,

what those metrics are.

And if you know, then you can communicate it to them.

If you don't know, they're not going to be able to reach it.

Then everybody gets frustrated and you know, then you jump

back in to save the day.

Right.

And this is that, this is where that hamster wheel starts.

And so so many business owners come to us right there and

they've been there for so long.

And once we, we kind of shine the light on them and show

them what's happening and help them to back up, re strategize,

uh, you know, and restructure really, It, they grow fast.

They get out of their own way.

They have more freedom than they have ever experienced.

You know, they were taking vacations without checking

their email 50 times a day.

And, uh, and, and now they have this great team.

Uh, and, and many of them, I get messages all the time.

Oh my gosh, I had my biggest month and I'm not even there.

So that's a great feeling for an entrepreneur.

It is.

And so like, so for thinking scale, you said seven, eight figure folks.

I mean, you're still, yeah, you have this PTSD of being in the

grind for probably just decades, you know, for a lot of folks.

And when would you recommend people to start thinking this way

with scale in mind, maybe, maybe being realistic and knowing like,

hey, you know, you're not that seven figure business yet, or

you're not that eight figure yet.

Yes.

What are, what would you suggest they start thinking and doing?

Well, honestly, I wish I knew this stuff way back then, because if

you know this from the beginning, then you know what you're reaching

for and you can plan for it.

Now, in the early days, you're just trying to figure out

your products and services.

You're trying to, uh, get your customer journey.

lined up, um, and get more clear on your target market.

All of those things have to happen in the beginning.

There's really not a lot of scaling, uh, or multiplying

what you're doing because you're just laying out the groundwork.

But once you do, and if you can get support early on and get out of the

way, you're going to scale faster.

Uh, they have, there's been a statistic that if you hire,

Uh, like even an assistant in the first six months of your

business, you will get to seven figures in half the time.

If you really empower that assistant to do those things

that are just taking up so much of your time and keeping you,

you know, out of working on the business and the business growth.

Yeah.

Would, do you recommend, cause I've heard folks tracking their time or

activities or their energy level?

Like, is there a way that you would recommend folks to have awareness?

Cause you mentioned that earlier.

It's just having awareness of the, of the issue or

maybe potential issue.

Like, what are there some practices you could

Oh, yeah, for sure.

And I'm sure there's a way for AI to even do this better.

This is something where you could, you could recommend.

But, um, one of the things you want to do is, first of all, divide up

the company into four quadrants.

So you want to look at your business from operations side, your

marketing side, your sales, and then whatever your revenue stream is,

you know, whatever your offering is.

So for us, it's mentoring.

And, uh, and then, so let's just say you take a piece of paper and you

divide it into these four quadrants.

Then in each of those areas, write down everything that you're

still doing in the business.

And it may take you a while because so much of this you do

unconsciously, you don't even realize that you're doing it.

And just keep writing and writing and writing down

everything that you do.

Another thing you can do, because some things you, you won't

remember, is over a three, four day period, literally write down

everything that you're doing.

Mm hmm.

Mm

once you look at it, I like dividing it in the four quadrants

because it helps you think of the whole company holistically.

And then you'll see, okay, which area of the business.

is taking up most of my time.

Is it sales?

You know, is it operations?

And you want to divide that by percentages and then you,

the, the one that's taking up the most time you work on

first to replace yourself.

And for some of the things that if it's your special

delivery of what you do, that's probably going to take a little

longer to replace yourself.

So if you're an attorney or if you're an electrician or, you

know, you're a psychologist, but you're also the CEO of the

business, ultimately you need to replace yourself with other

attorneys so that you can be focused on building that vision

and being the CEO of the company, leading the team and so forth.

So, usually those are the areas that you can, you replace yourself last.

But still, you need to do it.

But once you have it all on paper, you do that big drain, brain dump,

then you can see, oh my gosh.

You know, if I, if I stop attending these meetings, okay, that's given

me back, alright, six hours a week.

And if I, if I, Uh, let go of this task in marketing, whether

it's, I don't know if it's copywriting or it is doing some

work in admin, whatever it is, all of those things add up.

So your goal is to get your hours back and have other people

that that is their expertise.

That's their superpower to take that off your plate.

I have a project manager that that she literally

says that all the time.

She's like, I love doing this kind of stuff.

I'm like, thank God.

Oh my God.

managers, right?

They're amazing at what they do.

So my form of project managing is, you know, wake up at three

in the morning going, Oh my God.

Oh, is it?

Yeah, that would be mine too.

And I think most founders, right?

Like, would you say most founders people start in the company?

I mean, of course you came from a family of entrepreneurs, which

maybe you have some insights.

Are most of us visionaries kind of, you know, maybe not

the best at organization.

I know we come in all flavors, but like, are there some

themes that you've noticed?

Well, I, I do think that if you have that as your background

and you grew up in it, it is a little easier to step into it.

Some people struggle though if, let's say, your parents lost their

business or went bankrupt or, you know, they had some trauma there.

We have to be careful not to project that in our own life and always be

in this kind of poverty mindset.

That can be a challenge you have to overcome.

I do think coming from a corporate background, we've, I've seen very

successful entrepreneurs come from the corporate background,

but I think it's harder

Yeah.

it's a different way of thinking.

And especially if you've been running a department, for instance,

in the corporate business as a business owner, you know,

you're wearing many hats and you have to learn to be strategic

and a big thinker and look at the gaps within the company

and how to close those gaps.

And also, you know, you have to understand how to pivot quickly,

as we know, for what's happened over the last several years.

And you know, you mentioned AI and as you're talking about

all this stuff, you know, I'm thinking of how would I do

this brain dump of operations, marketing, sales, revenue streams.

Like I would get AI, I would get out my phone and go on a walk

probably to start and just start rambling into something like otter.

ai.

And, you know, that can help me then distill it down.

And then of course, I think the writing, all the modalities, and

then, you know, AI is one example of how to take a lot of admin

off your plate these days with automations and things coming.

So next couple of years, Alison will be wild.

I

I know it, it really is.

You know, we've been through a lot as entrepreneurs

the last several years.

The pandemic, um, uh, economic uncertainty, AI, an election,

you know, I think we're ready for, uh, a bullish market.

But you've got to plan, you know, you cannot wing it.

And what I love about scaling is that you get to be as

creative as you want to be.

And especially with AI, there is literally no limit on what

you can create in your business.

Yeah, how do you, I want to, there's a couple of things I want to go

back to, but for now, like just on foreseeing the next handful of

years in terms of scale, like, are there any threats opportunities

that are just glaring to you, things that you, you share with others?

Because I've read a bunch of AI reports, you know, which industries

will be shaken up the most.

But of course there's replacing jobs or positions, but it's going

to create a whole bunch of new ones.

And there's massive opportunity.

Like you said, a bull run.

I think that's going to happen.

Probably not across the board though, for everyone.

You got to be prepared, like you said, and start

foreseeing this stuff.

Yeah, well, I mean, AI is going to replace a lot of companies,

and so you need to figure out how you're going to differentiate

yourself and in your industry, and how do you utilize AI.

to either build out new tools within your company or set yourself apart.

Use it to fuel you and not to stifle you or disrupt you.

So I think that's going to be really critical.

I definitely believe that there are some service businesses

that will probably go away.

But, you know, like for instance, I think community, If you

have a business that creates a community, that is extremely

valuable, because I think people are craving that connection.

And I think you can create community around many types of businesses.

So you want to be thinking where is that people connection.

And where's the craft in your business.

I think people are really going to pay, uh, you know, uh, higher amount

for things that are one of a kind that are, you know, especially made.

So I think there's still so many ways to take the business that you

have and, and help it to evolve.

But just like anytime, you always want to be thinking

of the customer first.

And what is it that the customer wants staying customer focused and

then work backwards from there.

Yeah, working backwards is usually key.

And that's the, that's the part.

So you mentioned holistically, because that's something in when

I was doing research and notes and even your background in homeopathy.

And I think that spurred from, you know, experience as well.

like, what does that mean for one, this whole holistic approach

to business and how, you know, I'm thinking the background

because one of your businesses was basically centered on that.

It sounds like, um, so, and I'm just thinking of the gaps and stuff.

So, yeah, give me your thoughts there.

I discovered homeopathy when I went through, uh, this

terrible car accident, and then, which led to a divorce.

And I was kind of in a definitely lost place in my life.

And at the time, somebody recommended this

homeopathic physician.

And I grew up in the Midwest.

I, I knew nothing about holistic, okay?

And I remember going there, and this was in my, uh, late twenties.

I remember walking to the door of this woman and almost, I stood there

for a minute before I knocked on the door and I ended up, I ended

up staying, but I almost left, uh, because I was questioning

it all and the experience ended up changing my life.

And, you know, we don't need to get into a homeopathy lesson

here, but what homeopathy does is it treats the whole person.

And for me back then, it just helped me get my grounding.

It helped me to clear my head and build my confidence because, you

know, when everything fell apart, I started questioning everything

and my own capability and also what I wanted in the future.

So it helped me to figure all of that out and deal with some

aches and pains and things that I was going through.

And I became fascinated by it.

And I was trying to figure out what was my next move.

And so I went back to school and studied to become a

homeopathic physician.

And I ended up running that practice for 20 years.

While I was building other companies as well, and I ended

up building the first homeopathic college in Southern California,

called the Homeopathic Academy of Southern California.

And, uh, it still runs today and it, we built it as a

three year training program.

And in homeopathy, because you're, you are literally studying the

human being from the inside out.

You're getting to the core of what their issues are,

even from the outside.

childhood and kind of unraveling all of that.

And so when I moved on from, from that business, I still

use homeopathy in my everyday life and, you know, help with

friends and so forth that I don't have the practice anymore.

I still look at the business owner the same way.

And I look at the business the same way is that if you just coach

somebody and say, you know, I told you, you need to go do that.

You know, this is the thing you need to go after.

And if they're not doing it, that means that there's some inner block.

And if you don't get to that, they're just going to keep repeating

that same pattern for the rest of their life, uh, in their personal

life and in their business.

And then when we're looking at the business, same thing,

what are those stop gaps?

that we've got to remove and so that the business can

breathe and start to flourish.

And from a holistic perspective, what that means

is looking at the whole.

In traditional medicine, you're treating a symptom,

and you're taking a medication for that particular symptom.

But in holistic medicine, you're looking at the core,

the cause of that symptom.

If there's a fire burning in your house, you don't take

a hammer and start banging.

Fire alarms to put out that fire.

No, you gotta get to the core of what started the fire in the first

place so it doesn't keep repeating.

And that's the same thing for the business owner and the business.

So all of that work that I did in homeopathy has really helped me.

And then we went on to build this method called the Scale It

Method, and it deals with all five pillars of the business

from a holistic perspective, which is the strategic vision.

The cash flow, which is marketing and sales, and the organization

of your finances, alliance of the team, leadership, and execution.

So all industries need these five pillars completely shored up within

these companies for them to scale.

You can't just focus on, I need more leads, uh, or, you know,

I need this one team member because I'm out of bandwidth.

You have to look at it from the holistic perspective.

Got it.

Yeah.

And I know you have a whole method there, the scale it method.

So, um, is there a good, cause I know, you know, in terms of time,

we won't be able to go through the whole thing here and break it

down, but is there a good spot or place next step that people could

jump to, to, uh, to understand that a little bit more from you.

Yeah, well, one thing is to get my book, which is called Scale or Fail.

And, uh, you can, you know, get that on Amazon and we really

break down, I break down the scale up method there and give

you all types of processes.

And, and really any level of business, this works.

We've had, you know, companies that are in the nine figures

use that book startups.

So that's a great place to start.

And you can also just go to our website, which is,

uh, pinnacleglobalnetwork.

com.

And, uh, and then we, we put a little, uh, URL together for

those listening to your hustle and flow podcast for anybody

that wants to, uh, have a CEO strategist really look at their

business and figure out, you know, what phase are you in?

What is your biggest gap keeping you from scaling to the

next level of your business?

And that is scaleit.

ceo forward slash hustle.

Nice.

Thank you.

Well, that's awesome.

Yeah.

And I'll make sure that's in the show notes linked everywhere.

Super easy to find.

Um, Alison, this is great.

I have like so many other questions, but like, you know,

we'll, we'll, we'll see it where it goes in the future.

Maybe we'll do it again.

Um, but thank you for doing this and sharing your story.

I think that's the biggest thing.

Uh, one of the biggest takeaways for me is just

how everyone can relate to.

Your path, your journey, you know, maybe not all of us, you know,

got raised in an entrepreneurial family, but it doesn't matter.

We all have some background that we get to see in the mirror.

However, we looked at, you know, we do that practice

you know, we're here to evolve and grow.

Mm.

And I think that those bumps and bruises, there are

research and development.

So, embrace them.

And just know that whatever you're going through in your business, in

your life right now is leading to you to exactly where you want to be.

Yeah.

So instead of trying to dodge them, embrace those moments

and those lessons because it's beautiful on the other side.

Awesome.

And we have the choice, right?

Just like opening the door to, uh, to the, to the location

and you chose to, to walk in and see the other side.

So we all have that choice.

Exactly.

much.

Ah, thank you so much for having

See you next time at the mastermind.

Yeah.

we'll see you there soon.

right.