The First Commandment of Scaling: Thou Shalt Have Process

I've been doing quite a bit of research with small marketing agencies and after 25+ interviews, there's fascinating patterns starting to appear. Over the next TL;DRs, I'll be sharing bits and bobs from that research, but today I wanted to highlight one trend that's becoming clearer and clearer:

Businesses quickly hit a ceiling without processes but it won't feel like a ceiling: it'll feel like mud.

If you're an entrepreneur, this may sound familiar:

1. You start a business. You do the basic things like get a bank account, set up a website, get a few customers, and make a little money.
2. THEN:
   • Unless you're a marketer, you don't have a great process to get your name out there.
   • Unless you're a salesperson, you don't have a great process to win new business.
   • Unless you're a project-y person, you don't have a great process to deliver your services consistently with minimal dumpster fires along the way.
   • Unless you've been a manager, you don't have a great process to delegate, bring on new team members, manage them, and build a team culture.

Not having a process means lots of cognitive overhead: you worry a lot. You don't know what outcomes you'll get from your inputs. You can't plan three months out. Things keep you up at night. You're stressed.

I've been there and done that.

There's a LOT of potential process gaps in every business, with some gaps being more important than others. From the research, I've coded process gaps into four categories (you'll be seeing a LOT of these in future newsletters):

Business & Strategy

Communication & Culture

Leadership & Management

Operations & Scaling

Founders come to the table with a wide range of skills, so some process gaps can be bridged over with their prior skills and knowledge. As businesses survive, founders tend to learn new things, bridging over more process gaps and, ideally, making more money with less work.

Through these interviews, it's vividly clear that process gaps are the prerequisites to successful scaling. In their words,

The process gaps, to a founder, feels like this:

I've seen stories like this before and the solution isn't simply, "Well, then, give the people processes!" It's the right intent, but there's two big questions that need to be answered so the right processes get put into place:

1. Do you even want to grow: What's your vision?

If you got into business because you love the craft, the work, the clients, here's some bad news: growing the business means less of that over time. Being a CEO of a growing business increasingly becomes more people management, strategy, politics, and quenching dumpster fires. If you don't want that, you're gonna hate the next 5-10 years.

There's no shame in having a lifestyle business that brings in a consistent six-figure income. That's a life well-lived, if that's what you are happy with. You still need some processes, but if you get good at staying on top of things, you don't need to overcomplicate your life.

2. What's the Goldilocks Process for us today and what's the Goldilocks Process for us tomorrow?

Getting stuff done requires some process and some training. You and your team need just enough process to deliver excellent results. You and your team need just enough training to deliver excellent results. Overcycling on process can be just as bad as not having a process at all. Overtraining can also be bad (though I rarely see overtraining: it's more often ineffective training).

There's a sweet spot- a Goldilocks Process- and different founders and teams need to discover their sweet spot (and know they've nailed it).

A leader that wants to grow their business (see question one above) should also be looking over the hill to what kinds of systems and processes are needed to make it to the next stage. Not five hills over (this causes overcycling on process), but at least one hill to start planning for that next evolution.

If your crystal ball forecasts a new hire, a new Customer Support system, updating documentation to reflect new optimizations, etc. then you can make more efficient decisions today that's going to improve your ability to scale tomorrow...

...just don't get sucked into fantasizing on your five year plan. Five years ago nobody knew what the word COVID meant.

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I'll be distilling these marketing agency interviews into some fun resources for you to take back to your organization, so if you've got a colleague or connection that you suspect is winging it on process, invite them to subscribe to this newsletter by sending them here: https://go.learntoscale.us/tldr​

PS. Every business struggles with process gaps. I lost track of how many times I heard this:

A TL;DR from the CRO

Have you scheduled your QBRs with your renewal accounts yet?

-Roman Noodles, Chief Ruff Officer

Coming Soon: Startup Boston Week

When I'm not working with clients on their process gaps, I wear another hat as COO at Startup Boston. This organization is hosting a FREE hybrid conference September 9-13 with over 100 panels on how to be a successful startup, plus networking events, a Career Fair, onsite expert coaching, and more.

If you're in Boston, please do come in person and high-five me. If you're not, you can tune in virtually.

ROCK TUMBLING UPDATE

It's been a while- 7 editions ago, to be exact- since our last rock tumbling update. Fresh out from the Rock Hudson tumbler comes some dark smoky quartz after 14 weeks of rolling around:

I'm not too far down the woo-woo spectrum, but I'm endlessly entertained by blog posts that exclaim "Unlock the Power of Smoky Quartz" with section headers that breathlessly share "Practical Ways to Use Smoky Quartz in Daily Life."

The hot tip in there about Caring for Your Smoky Quartz includes valuable insights like, "using water and gentle soap."

Guys. Guys. If your rock is dirty, you can wash it.

Who let these people onto the internet?

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Don't forget to charge your crystals on August 19th in the full moon,

Dan from Learn to Scale​

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​PS. Thanks to AI, the Muppets can give Run-D.M.C a run for the money.​