In a world where automation and AI dominate every conversation, the businesses that rise above the noise are the ones built on better mentorship.

In this episode, Tara explores why the future of online business depends on real human connection - not more bots, funnels, or content overload. She breaks down how mentorship creates scalable success by helping customers apply what they learn, overcome challenges, and stay focused in a distracted world.

You’ll hear why customers are no longer paying for information - they’re paying for transformation. Tara explains how to use systems and automation to enhance the mentored experience rather than replace it, creating a journey that feels deeply personal while remaining infinitely scalable.

If you’ve ever wondered how to balance automation with authenticity, this episode is your roadmap. It’s a conversation about moving from AI-driven delivery to mentor-guided growth - a reminder that connection is the ultimate competitive advantage.

⏱️ Chapters

00:00 — Why the future of business is mentored

01:20 — The problem with automation overload

03:10 — How AI has changed what customers value

05:00 — Why mentorship still matters more than ever

06:45 — Designing a mentored path for scalable growth

09:30 — Mapping obstacles and building support into your framework

13:20 — Creating personalization at scale through systems

15:30 — Better mentorship as the new business advantage

🤝 Connect with Tara

👍 LinkedIn 🎥 Youtube 📅Free Strategy Call

Mentioned in this episode:

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

Automation won't replace you, but it will amplify you.

2

For years, we were told

automate everything, make it

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evergreen, passive income.

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But in 2025, the pendulum has swung back.

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People are craving human connection.

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They want coaches who care,

mentors who guide, and programs

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that feel personal even at scale.

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So how do we do that when we are

trying to build a scalable business?

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Because the future isn't

just about more automation.

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It's about smarter,

personalized automation that

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supports real relationships.

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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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Welcome to episode 402, The

Future is Mentored, episode of

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The Scalable Expert Podcast.

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I am thrilled that you're here today.

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Hey, in this podcast I want a really dive

into what is working today in the online

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business space and what we need to shift.

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So here is the challenge that we

have, and I've alluded to this before,

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but when we're talking about The

Scalable Expert, we need to talk about

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how do we scale our expertise in a

way that doesn't max out our time.

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So how do we do that, right?

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How do we do that when people are starting

to crave more connection and relationships

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in a business than ever before.

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We are inundated with information,

with AI, with all of the things and

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so people don't want a just purchase

an automated or evergreen thing to

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be able to hope that they could get

a transformation based on what you're

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teaching them or what you're delivering.

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So how do we change that in our

business today and still be scalable?

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How do we take all of the automation

and systems and all of the things that

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we need to make our business run and

to leverage our time, but yet still

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create an awesome experience and

relationship for our clients so they

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stay and become customers for life.

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Because ultimately, at the end of the day,

you grow when your customers are happy

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and they're referring you and they stay,

and continue to engage with your brand.

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All right, so let's dive into that because

I think that, the, the, there's a big

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question out there right now, which is,

well, do I just need to have more events?

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Do I just need to have more one-on-one?

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Do I need to have more time

and delivery with my customers?

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Because people don't want more automation.

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They're maxed out by just being

blasted with AI automation or

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just, automation in general.

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And I would say that we've reached a

critical point in time where, for a

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long time, you know, people were, open

to learning and going through online

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evergreen experiences from people

that they trusted, from different

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industry leaders who had a system that

allowed them to put it out there in

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a way that people could consume it.

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But with the rise of AI, with the rise

of, I would say, information starting to

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become more and more distilled where it

was, for a while we didn't have access to

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the information and then we got access to

all the information even if we had no idea

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if the information was, valuable or not.

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Right.

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There was no way to look at it and

and look at it with a critical eye.

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Now, I would say AI allows us to do that

and so there's less of a need for kind

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of the secrets of how people have done

things in the past because we have access

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to really be able to get to those secrets

that we weren't able to get to before.

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So if you think about even some sales

messages that you had where it's like,

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you know, if you, join my thing, I'm gonna

give you my proprietary system and that's

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going to, you know, help you with these,

you know, private or secret things that,

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um, that you can't get out there in the

wild, and so you need to learn, social

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media from this expert because they have

some sort of secret formula that you

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need to buy their thing to figure out.

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That's not the case anymore, right?

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In most instances, you can actually

get that model that they are talking

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about in their program by using AI.

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And as business owners, as the ones who

are creating those proprietary systems,

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it's really becomes a question of okay,

so if they can get that through AI,

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where's the value that I'm providing?

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Where is the opportunity for me to

really still be able to guide and

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mentor my clients towards a result?

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And that is where the magic is because

here's the deal, is that you can get

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all the information, you can distill

all the information in AI, but AI

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is not gonna help you implement or

apply the information into whatever

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it is that you're trying to do.

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And, and if that were the case, everyone

would be doing all of the things.

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And so it doesn't help the

overwhelm, it doesn't help the

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mindset traps that people have.

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Or the false beliefs or even the

complexity of trying to implement

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something in their business.

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So there's still so much value in, how

do I take what I, what the information

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that I have, even if it's distilled

down from AI, and apply it into

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something that's meaningful, that

helps me go from point A to point B.

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And I'll argue that all day long.

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I don't care how many AI bots you

have, it's still necessary to help

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people bridge that gap from where they

are today to where they want a go.

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And that is, if you are paying attention

to what's going on in the industry,

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that is what people are asking for.

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That is still what people

want, is somebody to help them

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go from point A to point B.

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And and so when we look at that in

the Infinite Scale Method, what we're

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doing is we're defining what your

unique way that you help somebody

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go from point A to point B, right.

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That's your signature framework.

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How do you uniquely do that?

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And how do you consistently do

that for all of your customers?

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Instead of having random kind of

success paths for all of them, you

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build your business on your expert

framework or your signature framework.

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And then from there, how do you deliver

a personalized experience for your people

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so that they can apply it and get the

results, but it still feels personalized.

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So you are taking automation or systems

and creating personalized experiences.

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The best way to do this, honestly,

is to map it out ahead of time.

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How, how do you want your people to feel?

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How do you want them to go step by

step by step through your experience?

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How do you want to show up?

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To help them.

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How do you do that while still

maintaining your ability to be scalable?

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So you're using systems and automation to

support that journey, that personalized

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journey that you are creating for

them and each one of the different

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automation tools that you apply really

is for that goal and that goal alone.

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It's not just to blast people

with information or cookie cutter

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experiences that you're providing to

people as they're going through the

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journey that you've provided for them.

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It's really looking at how do you

give them the fastest path to results.

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And I've talked about this before,

but I can't say it enough that the

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biggest value that you provide, other

than providing them with the fastest

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path to results, giving them the

actual roadmap, the highest level of

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value that you can provide to them

is to help them get there, right?

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Help them overcome the obstacles,

overcome the hurdles, overcome their

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false beliefs or mindset traps.

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That is the magic that you provide

within your signature framework.

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That all can be created as an

orchestrated and automated experience

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that doesn't feel automated.

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And that's what people are craving

is the personal connection and

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the personalized experience.

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And, I'm telling you, if you put somebody

into your signature, roadmap that you've

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created for them and they feel completely

supported and they feel like they're

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having a personalized experience with

you, you can deliver that at scale.

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And everyone feels supported.

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Everyone is getting consistent

results, and everyone knows

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exactly where they are on the path.

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It provides so much clarity for you,

for your team, for your customers,

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and it creates consistency and where

people are getting stuck and so

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you can jump in, create a solution

for that particular obstacle or

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hurdle and keep them moving forward.

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And so much of this is just creating

that customer journey before

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somebody goes into it, right?

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So they know exactly how to go

through, you know, how to drive

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them through the process and you

end up getting consistent results.

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It will change the game for you

and it's not that difficult.

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One of the things is to just think through

how somebody steps through where they

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are today, like the problem that they

have to the solution they're looking for.

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You've mapped out your steps,

and then within those steps,

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where are they going to, where

are they gonna have some hiccups?

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Where are they going to kind

of fall off of the path?

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Some of this comes from your

experience that you've had in helping

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your customers, either one-on-one

customers or, or group or however

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you've been delivering in the past.

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And so you intuitively know

where people are gonna get stuck.

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As an example, if you take, I don't know,

take like a social media framework, right?

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Like how to create your

first ad for your business.

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And you map out, okay the problem is

you don't have any ads so you don't

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have any visibility in your business.

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The result you're wanting is to have

people consistently come in from

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social media and buy your thing.

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Okay, that's the path

that you are creating.

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So then your job as the expert in social

media is to say, okay, here's what you

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need to do first, and then do this,

and then do this, and then do this.

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However many steps you need

to lay out for them, that's

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becomes your signature framework.

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But then you lay out your framework

and you're like, step one is, and I'm

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totally making this up on the fly,

so it's not gonna be right, but like

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step one is to dial in your messaging.

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And, and so you're, that's what you're

teaching them to do in step one is like,

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okay, so you've, you've identified your

avatar and you've, you've identified, you

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know what it is you're selling, right?

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Like that's kind of pre-work.

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So now we have to nail down your messaging

so that you can put the right messaging

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out there to start attracting people.

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So that's the step, that's the goal.

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And you find that you're teaching

the mechanics of that, right?

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Like, you're like, okay, do this

and do that, and do this other

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thing, and da, da, da, da, da.

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But people aren't doing it because

they are like, well, I don't know

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what my messaging is, or, I have this

messaging for this person and this

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messaging for this person, but I don't

really know how to talk about this in

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a way that delivers a transformation.

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And then you're like, oh, okay,

this is a common problem that

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people are having in this step.

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Now you can create a piece of content or

you can create some sort of personalized,

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you know, interaction or something.

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A workbook page or an activity or

a touch point where you're getting

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on a coaching call with a group of

people or whatever it is, right?

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You can make up whate however you want

to tackle this challenge with your

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people, but you're like, oh, this is

a common challenge people are having.

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So you've created something that is

part of that customer journey because

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that's where they're gonna trip up.

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So you create something and then all of

a sudden they're not tripping up anymore.

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They're moving through it so

naturally because you've already

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solved that problem for them, that

you know that they're gonna have.

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Same thing in step two.

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Maybe step two is creating the visuals.

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And you're like, oh my gosh now they're

all like losing their minds 'cause

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they're not creative, they don't

know what kind of visuals to create.

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So you have created a whole page

of visuals for them or some sort

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of tool that they can use to

create their visuals in Canva.

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I don't know.

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But you've created something for them.

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Now all of a sudden that hurdle is

gone and they're able to move through

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without needing you or your team, or

some fancy pants something or else

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because you've created that for them.

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So you literally can go through

and do this for every single step.

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Where are they usually tripping up?

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Where do you anticipate

that they're gonna trip up.

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Create something for them to go

to get over that particular hurdle

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so then they keep moving through.

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Once you do that for your entire signature

framework, and you have figured out

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most of those tripping up places, your

time just got minimized because they're

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able to get through the experience

in whatever way you're planning to

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do it, without any of those random

emergency firefighting conversations

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that you usually have because

you've been able to eliminate that.

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So often one of the things that we have

as table stakes in the experiences that we

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help our clients create is you have your

signature path that you've created, your

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signature framework, you have created the

training, the foundational training for

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each of the steps, and then it's like,

okay, so then what's the next layer?

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What should they need?

230

How do they need to take action?

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How do they apply it to their business?

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So then you create that layer, whether

it's a workbook or it's some type

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of light implementation or tools and

templates and all sorts of other things.

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What does that look like?

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What do they need to be able to

implement into their business

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that fast tracks their process?

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Maybe it's, like I said, maybe

it's those visuals that can be

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customized to their brand, right?

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That is something that fast tracks

the process for them that they

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didn't even know that they needed

until they were on the path and

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they came up against, that issue.

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The other thing that we always say

is like add in an hour long call once

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a week or once a month, or however

you want a do it, where you like

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are literally just available for

people when they have questions or

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they want to, you know, work through

something that they're going through.

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Again, you showing up one hour a

week, every two weeks, every month,

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whatever that looks like for you

and your customers, helps them feel

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totally supported because they know

that you're having a call that they

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can jump on and ask their questions.

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You could have a Slack channel where they

could ask you questions as they come up

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in the flow of their work, and you are

able to easily answer those questions.

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I promise you that model is so scalable

because they're asking questions, one

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that you like to answer because they're

a little bit more complex because they

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have everything else that they need as

they're going through the experience, but

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you can streamline the amount of time that

you are there delivering a personalized

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experience because you have already

created that strong customer journey.

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So there you go, my friends.

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That is my tip for you today, but

I do feel like, when you look at

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re-imagining your business in 2025

and moving forward, that personalized

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connection at scale is where things

are going to continue to go through.

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People want to feel supported.

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They want a guide.

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They want a mentor.

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They want a know that they have

somebody that they can go to when

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they need support and when they

need, um, almost validation, right?

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Think about when you're trying to

implement something new in your

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business, sometimes you just need

somebody who can just remind you that

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you're on the right track, right?

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Or keep your focus.

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In an, in a completely overstimulated,

um, dopamine filled world sometimes we

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just need somebody to keep us on track.

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So think about that as you are,

reimagining your business as we go

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from more of the automation from the

sake of just, blasting information

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at people to using automation to

enhance that personalized experience

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that we're using to help our

customers actually get results.

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If you love this episode, I would love it

if you would give a rating, make sure that

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you subscribe both to the YouTube channel,

and to wherever you listen to podcasts.

278

Share this with a friend

if you find it valuable.

279

And hey, in the show notes

is my contact information.

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If you've got something out of this

episode or any of the other episodes

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in the 401 other episodes that we

have, I would love to hear about it.

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So send me a message and just let me

know what resonated with you, what would

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you love to hear, or what questions you

have for me that I could answer on some

284

of our future podcasts, so feel free

to reach out, I would love to connect.