“One of the biggest mistakes I made at Leverage was premature scaling. We grew too quickly, and we didn’t have our internal processes and operations well dialed in. We didn’t have our product perfected, so enjoy being small as long as possible and use that time to build a solid foundation.” – Nick Sonnenberg
When it comes to scaling your business, there comes a time when you will need help from outside resources to get to that next level you wish to get to. Today’s Finding Brave guest gives a roadmap for how we can scale our businesses efficiently and effectively, and how we can avoid the “bigger is better” trap that many entrepreneurs fall into along the way.
Nick Sonnenberg is a serial entrepreneur with a passion for creating companies that disrupt the way people live. He is the co-founder of Leverage, founder and CEO of Efficient Frontier Solutions, Inc. as well as being a contributor and the co-author of the book Idea to Execution.
Before making the jump to the startup technology space, Nick spent more than eight years on Wall Street as a high-frequency algorithmic trader. His personal mission is to help busy entrepreneurs and executives optimize their lives in a meaningful way and help them go from idea to execution in as few steps as possible.
Nick is someone who is always looking for a better way to do things, and by using the lessons he’s learned about growing businesses, you can achieve what you define as “success” in the most pain-free and streamlined way possible for you, your team, and your clients.
Highlights from this Episode:
- The ways that Nick’s company helps the entrepreneurs they work with on a daily basis [4:27]
- His transition from a career on Wall Street to starting Leverage, and how he now uses those skills he developed [6:36]
- Nick’s ultimate dream and what he’s doing to define a new way for how the marketplace operates [13:48]
- What is holding many entrepreneurs back from scaling, delegating and creating business models that work for both them and their clients [18:45]
- A massive risk that a lot of companies are taking and how Nick avoided making this mistake in the past [22:56]
- What’s even more important that your “to-do” list [23:29]
- His strategies for scaling the right way [23:31]
- How to know it may be time to change the way you are doing business [28:26]
- What to focus on instead of just metrics such as revenue or the number of clients you have [31:58]
For More Information:
https://www.facebook.com/getleverageva/
https://www.linkedin.com/in/nicksonnenberg/
Resources Mentioned:
Nick’s Book, Idea to Execution: How to Optimize, Automate, and Outsource Everything in Your Business
His Leverage Podcast
Email Nick for Information on Upcoming Workshops
Slack, Process Street, Zapier & AskNicely
66: How To Build Your Thought Leadership and Get Known For Your Ideas, with Robin Farmanfarmaian
The E-Myth Revisited: Why Most Small Businesses Don’t Work and What to Do About It by Michael E. Gerber
QUOTES:
“I think that no matter what company you’re building, you always have to make sure you’re passionate about it and that it’s solving a problem.” [6:25]
“At that time I was 30 years old and no kids, no family and had some savings. I decided to throw myself into the deep end to be an entrepreneur.” [12:37]
“When you’re trying to figure out how to do something you don’t know how to do, you just need to know the ‘who.’ To figure out the ‘how,’ that’s kind of another way of thinking about what we try to achieve with Leverage. We try to be your ‘who,’ so you don’t need to figure out how to do it.” [23:54]
“It’s really lonely being an entrepreneur, and it’s so critical to have that support system.” [29:54]
“People like to brag about things like revenue or size of team, and it can be distracting. It was distracting for us, and it ultimately hurt us to celebrate those numbers.” [32:05]
“If the quality is so high that people can’t live without us, and our retention is super-high, the revenue is naturally going to come.”
Sponsor Highlight!
I’m thrilled to share that Audible.com is a sponsor of Finding Brave! Take advantage of their great special offer of one FREE book of your choice with a 30-day FREE membership trial! And feel free to keep the book even if you cancel the membership. Click here to sign up for your free book! http://www.audibletrial.com/FindingBrave
Watch the video of this episode!
Now you can experience each Finding Brave episode in both audio and video formats! Check out new and recent episodes on my Youtube channel at YouTube.com/kathycaprino. And please leave us a comment and a thumbs up if you like the show!
0 Comments