Brad Talks Shop on The Edges of Lean Podcast
I had a blast talking with Bella about some of the things I’m most passionate about, including answers to many of the questions people have asked me over the years.
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Traction. Profit. Throughput. Innovation.
These are the four ingredients you need to scale a business.
But here's the important bit. At any given time, you should be focused on one, and only one, of them. Do you know which one your business should be focused on?
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When I talk to people about what it is that I do, I often talk about that time in the growth trajectory of a business when everything that used to feel fun and simple becomes messy and complex.
But what if things get to a point where everything feels that way? When everything feels equally important and equally chaotic?
It's definitely time to systematize, right?
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I am NOT the right guy for you...
For better or worse, we like to draw analogies between businesses and rocket ships an awful lot. In most cases, having a business take off like a rocket is considered the pique of success.
But here's the thing.
Have you ever spoken with the leader of a company that's built like a rocket ship?
They're doing amazing things. But they're also stressed out, burnt out, and spending all their time in their business.
New Years is always a special time for BE Lean because it not only marks the beginning of a new year, but it also marks the anniversary of when I started the company.
And this year, BE Lean hit its six year mark! 🎉
Last week, I got back from a truly incredible vacation through Asia.
Being able to experience different cultures and ways of life is such a gift. And travel has been an investment in my personal growth as well.
There's so much I'm still digesting about our trip, but here's one thing that really stood out to me.
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The thing I like best about travelling is the new perspectives that it offers.
Sometimes those perspectives come from the differences of a place or culture. Sometimes they simply come from not being at home.
And having just gotten back from vacation, here's what I'm reflecting on.
Fulfillment comes from accepting that you can't have everything you want.
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A couple of weeks ago, I was speaking to a networking contact when he said, "So Brad, So you're the scalability guy. How do you scale your business when it's just you?"
It wasn't just him. I get asked this question constantly.
I responded, "Well it's true that I help my clients scale their business, but what my clients want isn't necessarily the same as what I want."
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It's election season!
If you live in Maryland, early voting is open, and you have until July 19th to cast your vote in the primary.
But I didn't write this talk politics. Yes, you should vote. But in deciding who I want to vote for this year, I realized something.
I was expecting too much.
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How entrepreneurship gave me the confidence to be me
Nobody told me growing up that I needed to get straight A’s and a college degree.
Nobody told me that I needed to get a stable, well-paying job and climb the corporate ladder.
Nobody told me that I needed to find a nice girl, settle down, and start a family. (Ok maybe my Jewish grandmother did, but let’s roll with it).
But in upper-middle class suburbia where I grew up, when the dominant thing you see around you is one kind of path, you think that’s the path you’re supposed to follow too.
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Remember when you were young and life used to be simple and fun?
When your biggest worries were whether mom brought home the right flavor of cereal from the grocery store or if you'd be allowed to sleep over at your friend's house.
And then you grew up, and adulting happened…
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Have you ever had that suffocating feeling that the more your business grows, the further behind you fall?
Or maybe you’ve been burnt out one too many times, and you’re afraid to press on the gas pedal for fear that everything will fall apart if you’re not careful.
I’ve been hearing this kind of thing a lot from people lately. Business is booming, or they see opportunity ahead, and yet they find themselves unsure of how to manage it all.
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Think you want your business to grow?
You might want to think again...
I recently conducted a poll on LinkedIn where I asked people if they wanted their business to grow or to scale. Here were the results.
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How to scale your business by fixing the weakest link first
Recently, on a sunny Saturday afternoon, I was browsing Hulu when a flash of red hair and bright lips caught my eye. It was a timeless masterpiece and one of the most well-known shows of classic TV - an episode of I Love Lucy titled The Chocolate Factory.
Have you seen it?
In the episode, Lucy and Ethel are hired to work on the assembly line of a chocolate factory. Their task is simple - pick up each piece of chocolate that comes down the conveyor belt, wrap it, and place it back on the belt.
Sounds easy, right?
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How to improve your creation process so that you can actually attain your vision
“All things are created twice. There’s a mental or first creation, and a physical or second creation to all things.” - Stephen Covey
Stephen Covey’s book, The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People, has had a profound impact on me throughout my adult life. I always seem to be reminded of Covey’s wisdom and lessons at precisely the right times. And it’s particularly during this time of year that I’m reminded of one of those lessons - that all things are created twice.
I’m reminded of that lesson because it was during this time five years ago that I went through a pretty big turning point in my career. One that started with the sudden and devastating closure of my last business, but ultimately led to the creation of BE Lean.
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In 2011, the company I was working at was at the brink of bankruptcy. I didn’t know it at the time, but we were just one payroll away from having to close our doors.
A year later, we not only survived, but had earned over $5M and expanded our team by 5x.
As incredible as that turn of fate was, I’m not here to tell you about how we turned things around and went from near failure to unequivocal success. I’m here to tell you about what came next.
Just two years after our meteoric rise, our profits had vanished entirely, we were forced to lay off half of our staff, and we were on life support - again.
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Coming home from Cedar Point in Sandusky, Ohio, I was in sheer bliss.
I had just fulfilled a lifelong dream of going to the roller coaster capital of the world.
As the towering masses of steel shrank into the flat horizon of the Ohio landscape, I could still feel the ups, downs, twists, and turns. I closed my eyes wanting to hang on to the feeling as long as I could.
That feeling.
The feeling you get after riding a roller coaster is why they’re so often compared to the journey of entrepreneurship. The highs and lows. The intensity of the ride.
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It’s Tuesday morning at 8:30am and I’ve just posted on LinkedIn.
In what’s become a weekly routine, I go to the menu at the top right of my screen and pull up my history of posts and activities. It’s the posts I’m after.
As I scroll through the list, I jot down the most up to date number of views, likes, and comments for each post in a spreadsheet I use to keep track. I calculate my engagement rate too, a tip I picked up from a client of mine that runs an influencer marketing agency. I repeat this process each and every week, often having to update my numbers for the same posts over and over again as they continue to garner engagement.
Is there anything more mind numbing and tedious?!
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Six months ago, I set out to create an assessment tool in order to gain some insights that could help me help more businesses. I wanted to see what businesses were (and weren't) measuring, how they viewed the importance of process in their business, and how they made decisions about what to work on and improve.
Recently, I sat down to take a look at what the past six months of data showed. I was curious if there would be a pattern or narrative that emerged that would tell me something about how business owners grow and operate their businesses.
There was. And surprisingly enough, the pattern emerged in the first five questions…
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Here’s how to do it the right way
Imagine this.
You walk into a grocery store on a mission to hunt for a better breakfast. You’re looking for something healthy, affordable, and substantial enough to keep you going through your morning Zoom meetings.
But in this grocery store, every brand name is foreign to you. It’s like you’re grocery shopping for the very first time.
As you walk down the breakfast aisle, you’re overwhelmed by the dizzying array of options stacked on either side of you. There’s granola and grits. Muffins and muesli. Jams, jellies, and marmalades (what’s even the difference?). And more than two dozen peanut butters that come in every variety imaginable.
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