A bi-weekly roundup of lessons learned
December 9 - December 22

Looking Back, Looking Forward

To prepare for 2024, I'm looking back in the year to understand what the heck I did for 365 days. Did you know that it's December? Blew my mind last week.

Specifically, I've been doing mini debriefs of every Learn to Scale client to see if there are some macro trends that Learn to Scale should capitalize on in 2024. Here's a peek at some of my retrospectives:

Client A

🤷‍♂️ Perceived problem: Wanted to grow their business and needed to prepare to hire more staff.

🎯 Real problem: Felt as though growth was the only business strategy.

📈 After Learn to Scale: Client decided to retire and focus on a passion project instead.

Client B

🤷‍♂️ Perceived problem: Wanted to grow their business and needed more hands on deck to execute.

🎯 Real problem: Needed to formalize business procedures and chart a strategic growth journey, versus a tactical one.

📈 After Learn to Scale: A strategic plan, a foundation of procedures & systems, and data-driven goals.

Client C

🤷‍♂️ Perceived problem: Wanted to grow their business but there were cultural differences on the team that inhibited growth.

🎯 Real problem: Team members felt gun shy about providing feedback.

📈 After Learn to Scale: Instituted biweekly Retrospective meetings specifically around feedback.

Client D

🤷‍♂️ Perceived problem: Wanted to grow their business and didn't know what to do.

🎯 Real problem: Didn't have any structure for go-to-market activities (sales process, tracking leads, ideal client profile, etc.)

📈 After Learn to Scale: A simple sales process, a clarified featured offering, and renewed confidence.

As I sit back and look at these vignettes, I'm first humbled that I had the opportunity to work with people from so many different backgrounds, challenges, and industries. I got to work with a personal hero, a long-time friend, a total stranger who opened their heart to me, and a powerhouse of an entire ecosystem. SO COOL.

I also thoroughly enjoyed every one of my clients. A lot of entrepreneurs have that horror story of the Terrible Client: in 2023, Learn to Scale had none of them. Maybe I'm lucky or maybe dirtbag clients aren't really interested in learning and personal growth. Fine with me.

As I look into 2024, the theme of transformation seems particularly relevant:

~ How can a business, led by real people who are often too deep inside their own heads, discover new potential and then strategically reach it?

~ How can I convince people that everyone can learn and change and getting it wrong a few times is totally ok?

~ What if that change was fun, instead of painful?

Eating my own dog food is on the docket, too. I plan to seek out transformation. Hell, I'm always transforming, but 2024 will keep the streak going strong: trying new things, failing hard, and being more honest than is probably professional.

I wanted to thank all of you for tuning into the TL;DR this year. When I started in 2019, I committed to writing a newsletter every other week. It helped me through a pandemic, it sat sidecar through many MANY failures, and I loved spending too much time finding a dumb video to link at the end of each issue. I'm not counting, but this is somewhere near or past the 100th TL;DR. Wow.

Thank you for being on the other end of these emails. You're more valuable than you think, both to me and I bet, yourself.

Let's transform in 2024.

A TL;DR from the CRO

Finding a partner who can pull you in new directions is a good partner to have.

-Roman Noodles, Chief Ruff Officer

I let Roman win sometimes so he can feel good about himself.

-Punim, Executive Coach to the CRO

New Blog Post- A Deep Dive Into The Strategic Thinking Domain of CliftonStrengths

Ready to find a better way? The Strategic Thinking domain is where the magic of planning, analyzing, and visioning happens. Explore the leadership techniques and software that will give your Futuristic, Input, and Learner strengths something to think about.

ROCK TUMBLING UPDATE

Thanks to everyone who submitted names for my new rock tumbling barrels in the last TL;DR. There were some zingers and stinkers, but I'm happy to see that there was significant interest in coming up with names for my dumb hobby's equipment.

Runner Up: Jerry and Elaine (Hello, Newman!)

Winner: Rock Hudson and Rock Lobster