Episode 1

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Published on:

9th Sep 2025

Build vs Growth vs Scale: Your Guide to Understanding the Stages of Business

In this kickoff episode of Scale Your Vision, Adriane maps the plain-English difference between building, growing, and scaling — and why chasing scale too soon quietly slows you down. You’ll learn the five phases (Development, Startup, Growth, Expansion, Maturity), the Four S’s (Starting, Scaling, Skating, Structuring), and a simple input/output lens that tells you exactly what to prioritize at each revenue level.

🌟 Have a specific question you want me to workshop on the show?

I set up this voice-note line so you can send context-rich questions I can answer for everyone’s benefit — and I can’t wait to hear what you’re building!

What’s inside this episode

  • The 70% rule that quietly accelerates momentum and how it forces your work hours to actually support your business growth
  • All my frameworks: my 5 phases of growth that supports you through $1m+/year, the 4S's of growth, and the 7 pillars of scaling
  • The input/output test that sorts whether you're actually scaling or if you're in a phase of growth
  • How to know when it's time for more market presence or if it's time to pivot into true market differentiation... or to just stay in your lane and focus on sales
  • The operational “house” analogy that reinforces your foundation before you add the next "story" (and why skipping this usually costs big headaches)
  • When “scale” finally becomes the right goal (hint: it's might be further away than you think) — and what readiness actually looks like behind the scenes

Connect with Adriane and Visionaries!

Transcript
Speaker:

Welcome to the brand new

Scale Your Vision podcast.

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I am delighted to finally be

doing this and to get this

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project out into the world.

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So what I sort of wanna start with is kind

of a foundational episode that explains,

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like when I talk about build versus

growth versus scale, what do I mean?

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What are the different phases that you

go through as you start your business and

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then continue on and what it means to be

at different revenue levels as far as like

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what that means operationally for you.

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So yeah, I just want this to sort of be

an episode that I can point people back

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to so that you always have a foundational

understanding of what growth means based

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on where you're actually at, because

something that I have seen over and

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over and over and over again, like over

and over and over and over and over and

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over again is, I cannot overstate that

enough, is that it is really common

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for business owners to want to take on

things in their business that they're

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really not ready for, that are, you

know, it's just a little too soon.

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So I will often say to people

like, you're not wrong.

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You're just not ready because it sounds

great to go after these big, lofty things.

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And sometimes there is a, there

is a reason to go after something

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that feels really big, but from an

operational standpoint, and I love

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operational strategy from an operational

standpoint, it does not make sense

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for most people to try and go after

things that are going to stretch their

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operational capacity in such a way that

is actually going to slow them down.

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So, there's that, so very quickly.

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Why I started this show.

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Uh, I wanted a place.

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I have another podcast.

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I am in the process of

starting a third podcast.

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I'm a multiple podcast host.

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I love podcasting.

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I love the medium of podcasting.

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It is my favorite medium in,

in which to create and consume.

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And so my first podcast that I have,

the visionary files where we have.

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More than 120 episodes at this point.

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It's globally ranked in the top 10.

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I'm really, really proud of it.

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We've taken a little bit of a, the

last year or so has been weird, like

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I got through the first 100 episodes

and published so consistently, and

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then I took, intentionally took time

off because I was thinking about

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going into business with someone else.

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That completely fell apart.

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That person was a really big

part of the podcast and I

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was like, what am I gonna do?

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What am I gonna do next?

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Where am I at?

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Where am I going?

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Um, because a lot of what I

was doing was like, I'm gonna

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do my stuff behind the scenes.

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And then a lot of what I was publicly,

publicly building involved a different

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person and it completely fell apart.

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And when I say completely fell apart,

like nothing bad happened, just sort of.

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It drifted.

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Drifted away and just like went away and

then was like, oh, this is not happening.

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This is definitely not

gonna happen anymore.

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Now what do we do?

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So anyhow, it's been very inconsistent

for the last two years probably, and part

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of the reason that that's happened, just

for full disclosure, I think that part

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of the reason that I wanted to start this

podcast is because I wanted a place to be

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able to talk about things that happened

to us in our business and normalize them.

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And you know, I think what happened

with that podcast was I sort of lost

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sight of where I was going with it.

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And I knew that I wanted it to

be a podcast for case studies.

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It's called The Visionary Files.

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And that's the whole idea.

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Like I'm asking people questions

about how they did really cool

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stuff within their business and.

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You know, like the whole, the tagline

of it is, you know, did you ever see

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a, a business owner or a business

that did something really incredible?

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And you were like, how do they do that?

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Me too.

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And I'm gonna ask them the questions

so that you have the answers on

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like, how that actually happened.

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And the more I started down that

road, the more I was like, I don't

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like the format because I have so

many other things that I wanna talk

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about, but it doesn't make sense.

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I don't wanna lose this as a format.

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And so the fix for me.

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That's the really long-winded way of

saying why I wanted to start this is

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because I wanted a place to be able to

put all of the other things that I wanted

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to talk about, which is predominantly

through the lens of solo episodes of me

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just getting, you know, hitting record and

sharing my thoughts and sharing strategy.

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I wanted a completely free and

completely accessible place

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for people to get strategy.

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I'm finding I'm getting

more and more people who are

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asking for strategic advice.

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And for me, it doesn't feel great to

offer strategic advice when people

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are paying me for strategic advice.

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You know what I mean?

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And so it used to be where I was like.

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You get one, I'll answer

one question for you.

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And then after that, like, it just

doesn't make sense for me to, you

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know, it's, it's not honoring the

agreement that I have with other people.

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It doesn't feel good in that

way, but also like I don't

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have the time to do it anymore.

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So this podcast also serves that purpose

because you can, you can literally write

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me a voice note or send me a voice,

not write, you don't write voice notes.

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You can send me a voice note and

I will play it on the podcast.

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You can shout your business out so you

get a little bit of a plug, and I will

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play your voice note and I will develop

an entire strategy for you on this

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podcast that's linked in the show notes

if you want to submit a voice note to me.

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And if you do that, I would just

ask that you give a lot of context.

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Because the more that I understand about

your specific situation, the more I can

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tailor it to your specific situation

because re realistically, like there for

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any given question that someone could ask,

there are probably a thousand different

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ways that I could answer that question.

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So anyway, I can give strategic

advice, I can give more.

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Specific strategic advice, the more you

gimme context, and then I can sort of

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weave in ways as we go on, you know, how

to think if this is not really applicable

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to your business, like this is how

you might wanna be thinking about it.

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So anyway, that's why I started this show.

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You can expect more, you

know, solo based episodes.

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I don't have any expect, I don't have any

plans to have guests on at this point.

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And the show really is designed more for

people who are already generating revenue.

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It's called.

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Scale your vision.

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It is not called build your vision.

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And that is a perfect segue into

what I actually want to talk about

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today because I have found that.

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So many people, I, when I,

I'll ask them the question of

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like, well, what do you want?

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What's your goal in your business?

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And they'll say, I

wanna scale my business.

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And I'll say, great, what are you doing?

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And they're like, well, I'm trying to

figure out how to make my first sale.

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And I'm like, well, that's definitely not,

you're not scaling your business then.

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You know what I mean?

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Um, they don't know what I mean, which

is the whole point of why I wanted to, to

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develop this episode as a foundation for.

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What it means to build versus grow versus

scale, and to go through like all of

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the different phases of growth to get to

the point where you actually can scale.

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So let's get to that.

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Yeah.

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Everybody wants more growth, right?

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Every, every once in a while I'll,

I'll meet someone who's like,

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no, I don't want more growth.

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But I, I think for the, by and

large, most people are like,

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yes, I want more business growth.

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So what does that actually mean?

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For you.

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So as I said, this is not build your

vision, this is scale your vision.

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Those two words mean two different things.

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So I want you to understand

what scaling actually means.

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You cannot scale what does not exist first

and foremost, like let's understand that

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anything times zero is still zero and.

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Really even anything, times

one doesn't get you any further

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than where you're already at.

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So if you haven't made money yet, or if

you're still at that place, that's like

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you would consider yourself sort of that

entry level, level one business owner.

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Scale is not your goal.

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Even if you think it is, your

goal is just building So.

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You know, where if you were looking

at really proper business terms

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according to like F funding and if you

were going after capital and things

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like that, they classify funding,

uh, funding rounds as pre-seed, seed

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series A, series B, series C, and

then you can continue on and whatever.

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But those rounds are

like, they're really big.

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So pre-seed is where your pre-revenue,

essentially seed is your, you have

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proof of concept for whatever it is.

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Like there's no hard line for

like, you're making this much

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per month or this much per year.

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Once you get into series A and series B,

it's pretty, um, it's not like solidly

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defined, but in general, a series A

raise is going to typically happen when

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a business has a million or two per year

in annual revenue and a series B raise is

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gonna happen when a business has more like

five to 10 million per year in revenue.

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So that's for a lot of you listening, I

know you're like, well, that's far away.

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Like, I'm not at a million a year.

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I know that my list does have,

um, probably three or 4% of

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my email list because I track.

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So many things.

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Um, I track a lot of data.

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Probably three or 4% of my email list

is over a million dollars per year.

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So that means by and large,

my audience is going, hang on.

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Like I'm not anywhere near that.

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So when you look at pre-seed

and seed, like what?

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What does that mean in terms

of where I'm at revenue wise?

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So I've developed and like, does that

mean I'm building, growing or scaling?

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So I've developed my own system because

I have worked with so many people who

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are under the million dollar per year.

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Mark my consulting, the people that I've

worked with one-on-one have almost all

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either been over a million dollars per

year or we've worked together to get

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them over a million dollars per year,

but the vast majority of people that

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I've worked with in this coaching program

or that program, or the people who are

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in the collective, in the Visionaries

Collective, things like that, like

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they're not, at that point, they're

not over a million dollars per year.

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So I've developed a assist.

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I've developed two different systems that

I wanna talk about first, the difference

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between building, growing and scaling,

which I talk about through phases.

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And that is going to,

um, I've staged this in.

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Five different, five different

stages that your business can be in.

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So development, startup growth,

expansion, and maturity.

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These are.

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Okay.

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They're my concepts, but

they're not my concepts.

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Like this is not one of

my proprietary frameworks.

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This is, I went out into the world

and looked at what would make the

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most sense, but there's no harder

or fast answer for like, oh, if I'm

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making this much per month, what

does that or this much per year?

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What does, what phase

am I in in my business?

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There's not like one.

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One defined consensus.

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Maybe if you look in one specific

textbook, it's gonna say this thing, if

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you look on this specific article, it's

gonna say a different different thing.

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So the terms are loosely what would

be out in the world in use, but I've

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developed a system where I'm like, this

is the way that I talk about it so that

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I have a streamlined approach to it.

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And then I will talk about also my

four, uh, my four C's of growth.

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Or my four S's of growth rather.

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I have so many C's, I have four C's

according to people where you've got like

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CEO, you've got CEO, uh, culture, clients,

community, like that's one four C's.

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My four C's are my four C.

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Operational structure

is a different thing.

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I have so many different

acronyms for different things.

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I've also got four S's of

growth, which is starting.

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Um, starting scaling,

skating and structuring.

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So I'm gonna talk about these things

sort of an intertwined way between

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the different phases, development,

startup growth, expansion and

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maturity, and interweaving that

with the four S's around starting,

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scaling, skating, and structuring.

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If you wanna take notes for this, you

can, but this is not intended to be

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anything particularly academic, just.

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I think that it will be insightful

on like where you're at and what

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this means for you and your business

and what you're ready for and what

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you might wanna be focusing on.

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So when you are starting those

four S's, when you are starting

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that really correlates in as

far as the stages of growth.

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It correlates with

development and startup.

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So when you are in a more development

stage of your business, your

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revenue is either non-existent

or it's really inconsistent.

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And really the only thing that

you are going after here is

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consistency and proof of concept.

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So development, you can be pre-revenue

or you can be, you can be revenue

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generating, but not to the point

with any, any level of consistency.

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And really that's all you're trying to go

for here, when people are at this place.

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When people are in this sort of starting

place in their business, the thing that

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I cannot stress enough is that your

only job is to figure out how to market,

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how to sell, and how to get your brain

on board with your ability to do both.

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That like how many times I

have said that in my life?

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Learn to market, learn to sell,

and get your brain on board

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with your ability to do both.

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Because if it's not something that you've

ever done before, and even if you have

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done it before, if you've never done it

for your own business, it's a different,

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it's a different ballgame to like sell

your own product, especially if you're

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something like a coach or a consultant

where you're kind of selling yourself.

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It feels really different than selling.

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Uh, what else?

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What could you be selling, uh,

selling cars at a dealership?

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Let's just say it's, it's very different.

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It feels really personal.

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And so like you want to get your braid

on board with your ability to do those

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things simultaneously, to like getting

out there and proverbially pounding

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the pave, you know what I mean?

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So, and I also tell people that it doesn't

really matter where your business is at.

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You are probably going to direct

70% of all of your business' overall

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energy toward marketing and sales.

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And in the beginning that means

you're spending 70% of your

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time, energy, resources, et

cetera, on marketing and selling.

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So like, stop making another Google Doc.

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Stop playing around in Canva.

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Stop whatever.

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Like we, we distract ourselves with

so many things of like, this feels

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productive, but there's a difference

between being productive and just like.

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Staying busy, you know what I mean?

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And so you really wanna direct 70%

of your efforts toward marketing

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and selling once you get bigger.

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Then you have more money that you can

hire people and other people can help

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with it, and it's no longer you one human

being directing 70% of your time, energy,

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and efforts into marketing and sales.

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But realistically, if you're working

40 hours a week and you are not, you

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don't have a team and you don't have

any other type of support out of those

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40 hours a week that you're working,

let's just say, 'cause that is.

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A nice round average number.

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Like that means 30 hours of those

40 hours per week should be on

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marketing and sales activities.

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You know what I mean?

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So that's development where you are

just looking for proof of concept

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and everything that you are doing is

going into figuring out what people

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want and how to get them to make a

purchase because you have been able to

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identify and articulate in such a way

what it is that you have to offer them

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such that they will make a purchase.

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So your market presence objectives

in the development stage is really

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pretty simply like, how does

my concept fill a market need?

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Whether that's, you know, I am developing

some type of, um, consumer good if I'm

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developing some type of food product,

if I'm developing a coaching program,

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if I'm developing, uh, a service of some

sort, like it doesn't matter what it

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is, you have to figure out how does my

concept fill a market need from there.

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And you go into the startup phase, and

according to my four Ss, this would

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still be starting is your revenue is

no longer consistent, but you're still

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probably below like $8,000 per month.

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I say eight th $8,000 per month because

that is what puts you 83, 8,333, and 33.3,

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3, 3, 3, 3, 3, 3, 3 3 cents per

month would get you to a hundred

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thousand dollars per year.

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So that, you know, it's,

it's consistent now.

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Thankfully that's helpful when

you have consistent revenue, but

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you're under that $8,000 per month.

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You, um, are around a thousand dollars.

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You're, you are just under a

hundred thousand dollars per year.

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So you're working toward getting

to that six figure mark, and

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you're really working on getting a.

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Cash and client base.

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So you are trying to

build a solid foundation.

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Your revenue is more consistent now,

but you are now working on really

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solidifying your foundation for

receiving cash and generating clients.

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So lead acquisition.

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Uh, lead acquisition, turning into

client acquisition, establishing your

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visibility channels, and that's really

your market presence Objective here

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is how can I establish market presence

because I don't, I personally don't

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think you need any kind of established

market presence when you are.

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Still trying to figure out how to

generate sales and and revenue.

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And you could say like, well, what

comes first, the chicken or the egg?

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Like how can I make sales if I don't

have some type of market presence?

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I mean like really

established market presence.

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Like I'm a firm believer you don't

really need a website and that might.

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Set some of the, the web designers

off hearing that, but like

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realistically, it's more important

for you to figure out how to make

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sales than to have a pretty website.

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And you might be in a, now if

you're a website designer, yeah,

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you probably need a website in order

to sell websites to other people.

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That is no argument for me there.

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But realistically, unless

you are in a market where.

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People are just going to be extremely

distrusting of what it is that you

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have to offer because you do not

have a website, I'm gonna go ahead

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and argue that you don't need one.

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There are so many, so many, or you at

least don't need a super pretty one.

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You know what I mean?

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Like it might look nice, but

that's probably not gonna

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get you consistent revenue.

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You have other stuff to figure out.

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You have to figure out your messaging.

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You have to figure out all these things.

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So once you're making that consistent

revenue, you are in a much better place,

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and I would argue a much more logical

place to figure out where am I starting

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to establish market presence, building out

the website, building out more consistent

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social media presence, like wherever

you choose to build market presence.

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We're gonna talk about this

in a, in a later episode.

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Market presence really

comes down to visibility.

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And there are, I've got all the

acronyms for all the things.

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There are four Bs of visibility.

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I've got four S's, I've got four C's, I've

got four B's, I've got all the things.

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So the four B's of visibility are, you

can, you can borrow it, you can buy it,

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you can build it, and you can, this is

where it becomes a very me framework.

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You can also bedazzle it, which is

where you have returning clients.

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So you get, um, you get.

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Retention, uh, and referrals from

those clients that you've already had.

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So those are the only four

ways to generate visibility,

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like the only four ways.

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Stay tuned.

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We're gonna talk about that in

a future episode, but that's

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really what you're trying to do.

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And once you get to that point where

you can get yourself to a recurring.

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You know, somewhere between six, seven

and $10,000 per month in revenue, and

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you've got a pretty consistent base for

cash and for generating clients, and

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:

you've got a handle on like, how are

you putting yourself out into the world?

351

:

What does your market presence look like?

352

:

Whether it's, it's mostly

online, not really online at all.

353

:

Mostly in person.

354

:

Not really in person at all.

355

:

Like what?

356

:

Whatever the mix of that looks like,

however that exists on a spectrum.

357

:

That's the startup phase.

358

:

And when you are looking at my four

S's, starting scaling, skating,

359

:

structuring, that's the starting place.

360

:

So you are not even remotely

thinking about starting.

361

:

Or you are remotely not, you

are not even remotely thinking

362

:

about scaling at that point.

363

:

Once you move out of startup and you

go into a growth phase, and this is

364

:

really fun, personally for me, this is

really fun to work with people at this

365

:

place because it's like, this is working

now what do I do to make this bigger?

366

:

And this is where people really

get into, okay, I'm ready to

367

:

scale and I don't wanna burst your

bubble, but you are in fact not.

368

:

So the difference between

growth and scale is.

369

:

So I want you to think about things

in terms of input and output.

370

:

Input into your business means revenue.

371

:

You are getting more leads,

you are getting more dollars,

372

:

you are generating more sales.

373

:

That's input you are receiving.

374

:

More output means you

are expending resources.

375

:

So you are spending time, you are

spending energy, you are paying your team.

376

:

Your team is spending hours.

377

:

They are.

378

:

They're expending their resources

within, you know, through the lens

379

:

of, of your business operations.

380

:

So input output, the, the most simple way

that I can talk about growth versus scale

381

:

is that growth is where you are increasing

both your input and your output.

382

:

And realistically, when you are.

383

:

Between in the, so I, I classify

as the growth phase, as you're

384

:

probably gonna be somewhere between

eight and $10,000 per month up to

385

:

like maybe 25, $30,000 per month.

386

:

Um, this really goes, but this

is like you're at a hundred

387

:

thousand to $300,000 per year.

388

:

And this is where these are where your

bottlenecks tend to happen when you

389

:

get close, when your service providers,

this can happen earlier because when

390

:

you are, like in a true freelance

model, you can start to, things can

391

:

start to break before you get to a

hundred thousand dollars, but typically

392

:

it's where you're somewhere between, I

don't know, 70 and a hundred thousand.

393

:

Everything starts to

feel like it's breaking.

394

:

It happens again around 300,000.

395

:

It can happen depending on your model.

396

:

Again, around 500,000 happens again,

around a million, happens again around 3

397

:

million, and then it can go from there.

398

:

Not really like they're good sort

of benchmarks or goalposts for

399

:

understanding which phase that you're in.

400

:

So that growth phase, if you're around a

hundred to $300,000, uh, per month in, in

401

:

revenue or per year in revenue, rather, a

hundred to a hundred to 300,000 per year

402

:

in revenue, that's totally different.

403

:

A hundred to 300,000 per year in revenue

is totally different per month is you

404

:

are really at a place where you are

probably not looking to start decreasing

405

:

your output in order to increase more.

406

:

And if you try to do that,

things are gonna start to break.

407

:

That does not mean that you can't have

more, uh, more robust profit margins,

408

:

but the rest of it is probably you

are going to need to expend more in

409

:

order to receive more at this point.

410

:

So that's to get to my point

of growth versus scale.

411

:

Growth is where you are increasing

both input and output at the same time.

412

:

So to get more money, to get more clients,

to get a larger audience, those things,

413

:

you are also going to have to expend

more of your resources to make it happen.

414

:

Versus scale is you are increasing

your input, so you're making more

415

:

money, generating more leads, building

LA, larger audience, et cetera,

416

:

while also decreasing your output.

417

:

So you are having to expend

less of your resources.

418

:

Things are starting to take less time.

419

:

Things are starting to take less money.

420

:

You are looking at profit margins a little

bit more closely, et cetera, et cetera.

421

:

So that growth stage, while you

absolutely can be looking at like,

422

:

how do I, how do I make my, my

profit margin a little juicier?

423

:

It's like you are still expending

resources in other areas of your business.

424

:

If you want to make more, now

it is different, and here's

425

:

where you start to get into.

426

:

Okay, so there's scaling,

skating and structuring.

427

:

Scaling I talk about as

one, as the same thing.

428

:

Because that's the way the rest

of the world is sort of thinking

429

:

about it for the most part.

430

:

But that can be scale or growth, whether

you're ready for scale or growth, like

431

:

we're gonna call that scaling skating

though, is if you're like, I don't

432

:

necessarily want to make more, but I

want to expend less of my resources,

433

:

so I don't need to increase my input,

but I do want to decrease my output.

434

:

You can start to do this in the growth

phase if this is where, if you're like,

435

:

I'm not trying to scale to the moon,

I'm really happy with, I mean, making

436

:

a hundred thousand dollars per year is

pretty solid, especially when you have

437

:

a partner who's potentially making, you

know, close to the same or more than that.

438

:

Like that's a, that's a pretty decent

little revenue for most households.

439

:

So you might say, I'm completely okay with

this, but I would love to work less hours

440

:

in my business, or I would love to do it

with much more robust profit margins, or

441

:

whatever that looks like that is skating.

442

:

Yeah, that is the of the four S's, that's

the skating, because it's really like

443

:

everything's kind of gravy right now.

444

:

I'm skating along, things are great, but

like how can I do this in a more effective

445

:

and efficient way where I can get my time

back, where I can, et cetera, et cetera.

446

:

So.

447

:

That skating structuring is where you've

pushed, pushed, pushed, pushed, pushed,

448

:

and you've maybe ignored the signs and

maybe things are not going the way that

449

:

they, you really would like them to go.

450

:

And things are maybe feeling

a little bit clunky and tense.

451

:

And this can definitely happen in

the growth phase if you tried to grow

452

:

too far too fast, too soon and you

maybe did things that like had you

453

:

thought about them a little bit longer.

454

:

You maybe wouldn't have done them.

455

:

I typically see this happen

beyond the growth phase.

456

:

I see this more in like expansion or

maturity, but it can start to happen

457

:

in the growth phase where you're

like, this doesn't really feel like

458

:

the business I was really wanting to

build, or like, based on where I'm

459

:

at, you know, like I'm really swamped

with one-on-one work, or I'm really

460

:

swamped with done, done for you work.

461

:

Or I'm really swamped with like, I'm, I'm

the manual system for like, I'm creating

462

:

every t-shirt in the press myself.

463

:

And like this is no longer sustainable.

464

:

You have to structure, that's the

structuring part of the four S's where

465

:

you, where you almost say, okay, I'm

okay with decreasing my input and

466

:

potentially increasing my output.

467

:

So I'm going to maybe make less,

maybe slow things down and also

468

:

increase, um, the amount of time I'm

spending and increase the resources

469

:

that, that I'm using in this.

470

:

So that's scaling,

skating and structuring.

471

:

So in growth phase, wherever you're

at with this, typically you are either

472

:

wanting to stay where you're at or you

are building toward having a more like

473

:

robust mid six figure per year revenue.

474

:

And this is really about developing.

475

:

Um, a, a more solid understanding

of cash flow and getting your profit

476

:

margins a little bit more under control.

477

:

Now, if you are really looking at where,

in the beginning when I talked about,

478

:

or not in the beginning beginning,

but earlier when I talked about the

479

:

different rounds of funding, if you're

looking for funding rounds, like

480

:

profit is probably not even gonna

be like necessarily on your radar.

481

:

A lot of people who are going

after funding rounds of like.

482

:

Series A funding.

483

:

It's not necessarily that you're going to

have a profit margin when you get further

484

:

along, they wanna see more profit margin,

but realistically, if like that's not

485

:

what you're working toward and you're more

of, you know, more of a mom and pop shop.

486

:

And that doesn't mean that you

can't have, you know, multiple seven

487

:

figures in revenue, but you're more

of like an independently owned, you're

488

:

not really looking to be acquired.

489

:

You're not necessarily looking to,

well, if you're looking to be acquired,

490

:

you definitely want some good profit

margins, but you're not necessarily

491

:

looking to, you know, bring in

venture capital or anything like that.

492

:

You're really looking at like, how

can I increase my profit margins?

493

:

How can I streamline my.

494

:

My systems for revenue

and for all these things.

495

:

And at this point for market

presence, you're really looking at

496

:

how do I start to establish market

differentiation, and this is one of

497

:

my favorite things to talk about.

498

:

Or for someone who's at that like

two or $300,000 per year mark of what

499

:

is market differentiation for you?

500

:

How can you start to poke holes

in what you're doing in order

501

:

to establish a more known brand.

502

:

So how can you start to establish.

503

:

You know, what is the

identity behind your brand?

504

:

Where are you starting to acquire

a larger share of the market?

505

:

And typically, when you are acquiring

a larger share of the market, if you

506

:

don't differentiate yourself, like

you're never gonna be able to do that

507

:

because you are like, I've heard this

so many times from people who are

508

:

doing like a hundred, $200,000 per

year in revenue where they're like.

509

:

Everywhere that I look, everyone is saying

the exact same thing as me and like I

510

:

just feel like I'm screaming into a void.

511

:

And I feel like the people that

are my ideal customers, my ideal

512

:

clients are, they're probably

getting hit with all this noise too.

513

:

Now that's a story that you're

telling yourself if you have

514

:

told yourself that story.

515

:

Like it really just is a story.

516

:

And it's probably, it's one of

those things where like if you are

517

:

thinking about going and buying a

blue, um, a blue, a blue Explorer.

518

:

Blue Ford Explorer, you are probably

going to start seeing Blue Ford

519

:

explorers literally everywhere.

520

:

It's one of those things where like,

because you're thinking about it,

521

:

your brain is subconsciously looking

for it and you start to see it more.

522

:

So it's really just a story, but

also you do want to differentiate.

523

:

What is your message?

524

:

What makes what you do so

unique, et cetera, et cetera.

525

:

So that's, that's growth and that's

really, you know, like I said in the

526

:

earlier is like 70% of your resources are

going to go toward marketing and sales.

527

:

So when you're looking at marketing

presence, that's really the thing

528

:

that's going to get you to the next

level is how you're thinking about

529

:

the way in which you're marketing and

selling at the same time, starting

530

:

to really build systems in for.

531

:

Cash and building in systems for

your operational capacity, because

532

:

as you grow, as every level that you

go through, you know where I said

533

:

earlier, you know, like this is where

your bottlenecks tend to happen.

534

:

You're gonna have a, you're gonna

hit a bottleneck around a hundred

535

:

thousand dollars a year, another

one around $300,000 per year.

536

:

I want you to think of each of those,

like your building a house and.

537

:

I know I sort of am skipping around all

here, there and yonder, but like, think

538

:

about it like you're building a house

and there is 0% possibility that you

539

:

would have built a one story house and

then at some point gone, you know what?

540

:

My family's gotten bigger.

541

:

Um, we've our, our.

542

:

What are the what?

543

:

What?

544

:

Why can't I think of the

words like our furniture?

545

:

I could not think of the word furniture.

546

:

We've gotten so much furniture and our

stuff has accumulated to the point where

547

:

we now want to have a two story home.

548

:

There's no way you would add

on a second story to your house

549

:

without reinforcing the foundation.

550

:

Right?

551

:

Like at least not if you wanted

your kids to sleep upstairs or your

552

:

mom and dad to sleep upstairs or

whatever, like you would never do it.

553

:

And likewise, if you then.

554

:

Turned around later on and wanted to

build a third story or a fourth story.

555

:

Like every time you added a story

to your house, you would need

556

:

to reinforce the foundation.

557

:

Like, that's just basic, sort

of a logical concept, right?

558

:

It's the same thing with your business

and that's your operational structure.

559

:

So when you are in a growth phase

and you're, you know, a hundred to

560

:

$300,000 per year-ish, and you're really

looking at how can I establish market

561

:

differentiation, how can I really start

to establish like what makes me more

562

:

unique within my market and how can

I start to acquire a larger portion

563

:

of the market based on, you know,

having a bit more of a differentiated

564

:

message and having something that's

a little bit more unique to offer.

565

:

And really like establishing who I am

and what I do within the marketplace.

566

:

You are at the same time starting to build

out, you know, you're reestablishing your

567

:

foundation so that you have the internal

capacity and the internal supports so

568

:

that your operations don't come like

crashing down, like you built a house

569

:

on a pile of sand sort of a thing.

570

:

And then from there.

571

:

You go into an expansion phase, so this

is where you're more around the like

572

:

300,000 to a million $300,000 per year

to about a million dollars per year.

573

:

So at this point, while you're in

the expansion phase, you are building

574

:

toward seven figures per year.

575

:

Now, you might not be building

towards seven figures per year because

576

:

this is an extraordinary business.

577

:

You can.

578

:

Make a nice little living without

ever having a seven figure business.

579

:

So you can be like, no, I wanna skate,

or No, I wanna restructure the way

580

:

that things are and then go from there.

581

:

Or, I'm really looking for more.

582

:

I would also argue that when you

are in the expansion phase, this is

583

:

probably your first opportunity when

you get closer to seven figures.

584

:

So if you are like.

585

:

Over $500,000 per year.

586

:

This is probably the first time

where I would say we are ready to

587

:

talk about scale, not just growth.

588

:

So this concept where we go, oh, the thing

that I really want, I just wanna scale.

589

:

We've gotten all the way through all

these different phases, all of that

590

:

to say until you hit about, give or

take, it's not a hard or fast rule,

591

:

about $500,000 per year in revenue.

592

:

I'm gonna say we're really not

even thinking about scaling yet.

593

:

Like if you are thinking

about the word scale, I wanna

594

:

scale, it's probably growth.

595

:

You're looking for growth.

596

:

You're either looking for growth or you're

looking for the skate that's, that's

597

:

skate phase or restructuring things.

598

:

So anyhow, that was, that

was my side note there.

599

:

So you're working toward, it's,

again, it's that operational capacity.

600

:

Like there are, I have

frameworks for everything.

601

:

There are seven pillars of scaling.

602

:

I don't have these in front of

me, so I'm gonna see if I can

603

:

like really rattle these off.

604

:

The seven pillars of scaling

are marketing, sales, mindset,

605

:

team operations, finance.

606

:

Oh, what's the last one?

607

:

I'm like counting them off.

608

:

Marketing, marketing, selling

mindset, team operations.

609

:

Finance.

610

:

Oh, it's delivery.

611

:

The seventh pillar is delivery.

612

:

So marketing, sales, mindset, team,

operations, finance, and delivery.

613

:

Anyhow.

614

:

So really like that's what

you, to get two, seven figures.

615

:

That's when you're really

paying attention to all seven.

616

:

Like you don't really need, even though

very, very early on when you're at the

617

:

very early stages of your business, when

you start, you know, you're shipping

618

:

your product to people's homes, you

are delivering your website services

619

:

or your copywriting services, or you

are working with clients, whatever that

620

:

looks like for you, you could argue,

well, that's delivery, but I meet,

621

:

like, when you get closer to seven

figures, delivery at scale is a totally,

622

:

totally, totally 100% different animal.

623

:

So really focusing on delivery

systems, uh, so that you're

624

:

operational infrastructure.

625

:

I've seen this so many times where

people are like, oh, I really

626

:

want to scale my business fast,

and they have a huge launch.

627

:

I, I ran an operations agency.

628

:

It was, it was a marketing agency.

629

:

It was really an operations agency,

but I'd called it a marketing agency

630

:

because people understood it better.

631

:

I was doing, you know, doing

Done for You work, and I saw so

632

:

many people who were like, oh, I

wanna have a much bigger launch.

633

:

And someone actually went, this is just

one example that I can pull off the

634

:

top of my head, where someone had done

a a hundred thousand dollars launch.

635

:

The last time, and then this next

time they wound up doing a $700,000

636

:

launch, which sounds really attractive

and like, ooh, I'd want that.

637

:

How can I, how can I go from, uh, a

hundred thousand dollars to $700,000 in

638

:

the span of like one launch to the next?

639

:

But so many things broke because then this

person had to figure out, well, how do

640

:

I now deliver this product to that many

people where I'm now needing to rely on,

641

:

like, I need to bring other people in.

642

:

Are they going to do as good

of a job as I was doing?

643

:

And if I bring other people in, are my

my clients, my students going to feel as

644

:

supported as they had been, et cetera.

645

:

There's just a lot to think about.

646

:

So the delivery systems are.

647

:

Once you get to a certain point, your

delivery systems drastically start to

648

:

change because you want to figure out

how to replicate a client experience that

649

:

feels like you're only delivering to a

very small number of people, but you're

650

:

actually delivering it to a large number

of people, and that's where your client

651

:

experience becomes really phenomenal

when you can do it at scale in that way.

652

:

So anyhow.

653

:

At this point, you are also really

primarily looking at market expansion

654

:

and you know, you've already figured

out how to differentiate your message

655

:

and now you're really looking at how can

I take what I'm doing and start to do

656

:

this on with more visibility mechanisms?

657

:

How can I increase the,

the channels that I am?

658

:

You know, on, on which I am producing

content and things like that.

659

:

So you're really looking at like, how can

I start to do a multichannel approach?

660

:

How can I start to develop

omnipresence, et cetera, et cetera.

661

:

And I think that that is really important

for people to hear who are not yet

662

:

doing, you know, this level of revenue

in their, in their business that.

663

:

You know, you really don't need to

be in all the places doing all the

664

:

things I'm a firm believer in: you just

learned to do one thing really well.

665

:

Like pick one social channel

and do your email list.

666

:

And if you want, then you can

have, again, this is a different

667

:

subject for a different day.

668

:

We're gonna talk about this in a future

episode, but like you can start looking

669

:

at how can I start to develop some type

of market presence that maybe is going

670

:

to work a little bit more passively For

me, I talk about visibility channels

671

:

as being either active or passive.

672

:

And so if you want.

673

:

Of visibility channel that's going to

work for you longer term without you

674

:

having to continue to put work into it.

675

:

You know, something like Pinterest

or SEO or you can do blogging and

676

:

you know, you wind up seeing return

on that for a really long time, but

677

:

you only have to do the thing once.

678

:

And so it's a lot more work

upfront, but then you have longer

679

:

returns for it in the long run.

680

:

Like you can start to look at that sort

of thing, but you don't need to be in

681

:

all the places doing all the things, and

you certainly do not need omnipresence.

682

:

But as your business gets bigger

and you start to get closer to the

683

:

seven figure mark and you now want

to, you know, you're in that sort of

684

:

expansion place in your business, you

really can start looking at how can

685

:

I start to develop more omnipresence?

686

:

Maybe not, maybe you're not

fully omnipresence, but where

687

:

you, where you start to develop.

688

:

More of a market presence.

689

:

And then last but not least is when

you go into maturity, and this is

690

:

where your business is doing more

than a million dollars per year, and

691

:

of course this differentiates as you

continue to get bigger and bigger.

692

:

Doing, doing seven figures versus

doing multi seven figures is a

693

:

different thing, and what you've

got in place and all those things.

694

:

But when you get into a more maturity

phase, without getting too far into the

695

:

details around this, it really starts

to become about like, what are you

696

:

exiting versus what are you replicating?

697

:

So on a very macro level, are

you looking at continuing to

698

:

grow and or scale your business?

699

:

Or are you going to start

looking at exiting your business?

700

:

So you're looking for someone to

acquire it and make a sale and you

701

:

are going to continue on within

your business differently at this

702

:

point if you are looking to hold

control of it versus if you are

703

:

going to look at starting to exit it.

704

:

Also, you're gonna look at that more on a

micro level of where are you doing things

705

:

that are no longer worth your time, so

you are going to exit them essentially.

706

:

Versus where are you going

to start to replicate your

707

:

efforts and make things better?

708

:

Where are you going to start to

pick up even more market share?

709

:

Where are you going to pick up even more?

710

:

Market market expansion where you are

going to develop more omnipresence,

711

:

where you are going to initiate,

you know, a larger structure for

712

:

relationships and being able to grow out

your lead space and all those things.

713

:

And so that's the general idea of

all of the different stages and

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:

phases and where you could be and

what you're really thinking about.

715

:

And I know I didn't talk very long on

like, once you get to the million dollar

716

:

per year mark, I would love it if.

717

:

If anyone listening to this is like,

I'm already over a million dollars per

718

:

year and I have specific questions, I

would love it if you send sent them in.

719

:

I would love to answer those questions

because I feel like that's part of

720

:

where I'm the most useful to people is

when you get to $500,000 per year, a

721

:

million dollars per year, $2 million

per year, and you're trying to figure

722

:

out like, okay, where am I going next?

723

:

So I'd love to answer those questions for

you, but given how much of my audience is.

724

:

Under the $1 million mark.

725

:

I'm not gonna spend a whole lot,

whole lot more time there right now.

726

:

So to sort of wrap this all up,

I hope it was helpful for you.

727

:

I would love it if you wanted to

use, it's linked in the show notes

728

:

if you wanted to use the little voice

note tool and send me your specific

729

:

questions about your unique scenario

or your unique situation in business.

730

:

Give me as much context

as humanly possible.

731

:

I would love to answer your questions.

732

:

If this was helpful for you.

733

:

I would love it if you took a minute

to do one really quick thing and

734

:

one maybe slightly longer thing.

735

:

If you only have time to

do one, do the quick thing.

736

:

So the one very quick thing is please,

please, please with cherry on top please.

737

:

Uh, hit the, the follow or the subscribe

button in whatever podcast player of

738

:

your choice, whatever your podcast

player of choice is, wherever you're

739

:

listening to this, so that you get

all of our latest episodes immediately

740

:

downloaded when they become available.

741

:

That also helps us drastically

to have the more, um, the more

742

:

subscribers that you have to a

podcast is helpful to its overall.

743

:

Like how it gets distributed

and especially on Apple.

744

:

So that's really helpful.

745

:

And if you have a little bit of

extra time, if you also would not

746

:

mind leaving a written review.

747

:

So not just the, well, depending on

where you're listening to this, I know

748

:

there are certain platforms that don't

allow written reviews, but if you could

749

:

le, if it was very helpful, a five

star written review would be fantastic.

750

:

Just so that other, this is a brand

new show, so to let other people

751

:

know that this is worth listening to.

752

:

So again, I hope this was

really helpful for you.

753

:

Leave me any questions that you have.

754

:

I cannot wait to hear from you.

755

:

I would love to hear your biggest

takeaways or anything like that, and

756

:

I will catch you in the next one.

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About the Podcast

Scale Your Vision
Scale Your Vision is dedicated to women founders, entrepreneurs, and business owners who have a big vision and want to scale it in a way that is operationally sound with human-first leadership, first class customer experience, and robust profit margins.

About your host

Profile picture for Adriane Galea

Adriane Galea

Adriane Galea is a nonprofit founder turned business and scaling strategist, creative entrepreneur, speaker, and multi podcast host. She launched her first business at age 12, transforming it from a spare bedroom in her grandparents' house into an internationally recognized performing arts school and professional theatre company with multiple locations and hundreds of students. During the pandemic, Adriane began helping other business owners scale their operations, specializing in messaging, funnels, and operational strategy for 6- to 8-figure service businesses. In 2024, she founded Visionaries, an education, events, and media company on a mission to help passionate, purpose-driven founders and entrepreneurs scale their vision while working smarter, playing always, resting often, dreaming bigger, and making bank.