Is Either-Or Syndrome Limiting Speed of Scale?

A friend asked me a question once that made me want to puke..

He asked, “What if you could get better results in twenty hours a week than you could working sixty?” At the time, I was appalled that he even spoke about working less.

My sixty hours soon turned into eighty, juggling sales, operations, marketing, fulfillment etc..

Yes, even with competent team members in place.

I just didn’t think it was possible, if I’m honest, and it almost killed me in 2021 when my son was born. Literally. I got sick and nearly died scaling a business and weathering a storm at home with a baby who had some complications.

Even though I worked and spoke like I was hellbent on scaling fast and removing myself from the day-to-day operations of my business, my actions got me the exact opposite result.

While simultaneously giving clients the keys to a new life where their client acquisition systems and teams scale the business with a lot less of my clients’ own time and effort.

I was reminded of this recently on a meeting with an advertising team.

They struggled to figure out how to drive enough calls and profit for one of their accounts.

They could not see past the Rubik's cube they stared at in the ad accounts and reporting.

This isn’t about a funnel strategy, though.

They had a funnel in place, multiple of them. 

They certainly worked hard, long hours doing lots of things.

Yet everyone involved has yet to find the path to balance and profitability.

Yes, I know people say “throw balance out the window!” and for some that’s true.

But for every one of those, I can show you many who get BOTH results and time. 

When I share stuff like this, people say it’s “ingenuine,” and to that, I say you’re a small thinker with a scarcity-driven operating system. To say someone can’t have both of something is either-or thinking.

These people think you can’t have lots of kids, get married, and get rich.

They say you can’t have both of a lot of things. 

I say to hell with that. 

When your value is ‘hard work,’ you get a team full of people who are biased toward setting things up so that they are sure to work hard instead of just getting results as fast as possible.

Some results are harder than others for sure.

What I could see with the way they were set up was: 

They weren’t putting time and attention into the right things.

They were letting their greatest assets rot.

They were working harder than they should be.

Stressing more than they should have.

Missing birthdays, holidays, family events, etc, when it wasn’t necessary. 

And showing up burnt to a crisp mentally and physically.

This could be you or your team, and it leads to costly mistakes and high turn over IME.

One of the funnels they were running had potential, but there were so many leaks that the numbers weren’t working. I identified these leaks right away, and they solved the problem.

I showed them how to lower their cost per call and get prospects to PAY THEM to fill out an application for a call. 

Not only did the prospect pay for this call, but they also shared their credit score, income, and many other things we all want to know about our prospects in a call funnel.

It worked right away.

It was only because I could see, and they couldn’t.

I can see because I don’t operate in the ‘either or’ realm. I operate in the ‘get results and do whatever I want (God allowing) realm.’ Part of that process is stepping away, increasing my energy, and being able to override limited programming to see simple possibilities beyond that.

You can have all the skill and experience in the world, but if you can’t see the right things at the right time, scaling and operating a business will be miserable.

We all have imaginary blinders put on by not only an old operating system but also unfamiliar realms if you’re a business owner looking at things you have less experience with, like traffic strategies.

The right hires can help.

The right strategy can help.

But the most important part of that is incorporating a way to uncover blind spots while decreasing your time and effort required in the execution of it all.

The other key is finding where you have ‘either-or’ thinking.

List out all of your problems with your client acquisition system, your ads, your funnels, your teams and find the limiters in your own thinking and vision.

If you think you’re too smart or big to do this..

Well,

Congratulations on finding your master governor throttling scale.

–Lance C. Greenberg