Leadership Lessons For Scaling From 7 to 8-Figures

I’ve been managing a portfolio of 6 companies for the past year, and I’ve learned a thing or two about what it takes to grow a company from the ground up. 

Something that you’re doing right now!

Here’s the lowdown on what I’ve learned:

Leadership is key

Companies with strong leadership will ALWAYS scale farther & faster than their competitors. The rise or fall of a business in this recession was almost exclusively dependent on the strength of leadership.

Psst! That’s YOU. 

Corporate lessons matter

I know, I know… Entrepreneurialism & the corporate world are kind of at odds. 

But past corporate experiences play a crucial role in building and growing companies. 

The strategies I learned managing a portfolio in corporate are surprisingly applicable to my diverse range of businesses now.

SO – don’t quit everything about your day job, you can actually translate a LOT of those strategies into your new business. 

It’s about people 

Your team is your greatest asset. 

Understand their goals, aspirations, and dreams. Regularly cast the vision, reignite their passion, and connect their personal goals with the company’s success.

By fostering a culture of mentorship, focusing on team visibility, & consistently inspiring them with the company’s vision, you can turn your team’s expense into an investment.

Cultivate a spirit of mentorship

Stop looking at everything as transactional & start INSPIRING your people to work hard for you. 

Invest in your team’s skill set, mindset, and overall growth. A true spirit of mentorship can elevate performance and drive impactful results.

Daily focus on driving profits

Ensure a dollar-every-day mentality. 

You should communicate and instill a focus on daily contributions to the company’s revenue. Cultivate a culture where every team member understands their role in bringing dollars in the door.

Optimize your marketing-facing time 

Audit your team’s time management. 

Make sure a significant portion (85% or more) is spent on client-facing, market-facing, or prospect-facing activities.

Remember – this is YOUR business. 

YOU have the power to steer your ship. 

Lead effectively, and watch your team achieve extraordinary results.

You’ve got this.

How To Reverse Your Stagnant Income

We need to talk about something that not too many business gurus touch on – breaking free from income stagnation. Many of us have witnessed hardworking individuals who, despite their efforts, remain stuck in the same financial situation year after year. 

And here’s the truth: there’s more to success than just hard work. You can’t just implement a quick fix on a problem that is rooted SO DEEP in your business foundation. 

Several factors influence our ability to elevate our income and lifestyle. Let’s get into it:

Your habits will make or break you 

Our daily habits shape the trajectory of our lives. Whether it’s our eating habits, exercise routines, or even our self-talk, these small actions compound over time to determine our level of success. 

To break free from income stagnation, it’s essential to adopt habits that align with the life you desire.

Surround yourself with success 

The people we surround ourselves with have a profound impact on our mindset and aspirations. If you’re not surrounded by individuals who embody the level of success you aspire to achieve, it’s time to expand your circle. 

Seek out mentors and peers who have achieved what you strive for and immerse yourself in environments that foster growth.

Your mentor holds a lot of power – choose carefully 

When selecting mentors, it’s not just about their level of success — it’s about their values and approach to life. Ensure that your mentors align with your core values and priorities, including family, faith, and personal well-being. 

Success isn’t just about reaching financial milestones – it’s about living a fulfilling and purpose-driven life.

Stop skipping the inner work 

True success requires more than external accomplishments; it demands inner growth and self-awareness. Investing in personal development, healing, and self-discovery is essential for sustaining long-term success. 

By addressing your inner barriers and limiting beliefs, you can unlock your full potential and achieve greater heights of success.

Your Business Will NEVER Grow Exponentially If You Don’t Do This

So many people want to dive head-first into business. A ready-fire-aim approach, if you will. 

But that’s not you, right?

Of course not. 

Because you’ve been sticking around us for a while, so you get the jist of doing business right. 

Today, let’s talk about how YOU (yes, you) can make or break some serious growth in your business.

First things first, let’s lay down some ground rules. 

Rule #1: if you want to grow and thrive, you need 2 things — people & processes. 

Sounds simple, right? WRONG.

Finding the right people and getting them on board with YOUR vision and processes? That’s a whole journey in itself.

As business owners, we’re used to hustling — taking massive action, grinding it out day in and day out. 

But if we’re being honest, sometimes hustle isn’t enough. 

It’s about shifting gears from doing everything to focusing on what really moves the needle. 

Yep, we’re talking strategy.

Rule #2: delegation is your best friend. 

Sure, it’s easy to assign tasks and call it a day. But here’s the thing — true leadership is about empowering your team to own their work. 

It’s about giving them the reins and watching them thrive. 

It’s a game-changer. 

Rule #3: your business is nothing without a vision. 

Your vision isn’t just a lofty idea — it’s your literal key to success. 

It’s about inspiring your team, rallying them around a common goal, and painting a picture of what’s possible. 

Your energy and vision? 

They’re the driving force behind your team’s success.

Rule #4: your energy matters. 

Speaking of energy, let’s not underestimate its power. 

As leaders, how we show up sets the tone for the entire team. 

So bring your A-game, inspire those around you, and watch how your business begins to grow. 

Grow Your Business Quickly and Organically with the Miracle Hour

Obviously, it takes more than one hour a day to grow and run a business.

But – what if you could take 1 hour a day out of your busy day and focus SOLELY on growth activities – so that no matter what happened, you always took action towards your goals?

There is!

I call it The Miracle Hour

It’s one of my favorite business concepts of all time. The Miracle Hour will help you generate leads, close sales, and monetize yourself or your team members. In just one hour a day.

I have always believed that, if you commit to anything, for one hour a day, not only can you develop mastery, but you can transform any area of your life. It’s true! Years ago, this concept changed my business—and my life—forever.

It can do the same thing for you. 

First, let’s dial back the clock

The Miracle Hour has a long history in my entrepreneurial journey. I want to tell you how it all came about, so you can see the full picture of the impact it has had in my life. 

Then we’ll dive into how you can use the Miracle Hour—either yourself or with your team—to create explosive and predictable growth in your business. 

It all began back in my corporate days when I was the Senior VP of a Fortune 500 firm and working 50-60 hours a week. I was running a lot of branches, managing a large team, and had a heavy workload. 

So naturally I started my own business on the side. 

I truly built this business in pockets of spare time. This usually looked like an hour before work in the morning and an hour of work at night. The only time I had to build my business during the work day—when everyone was doing business—was on my lunch break. So I had to figure out how, in an hour a day, I was going to connect and convert sales to grow my business enough that I could leave my corporate job and become a full-time entrepreneur. 

My husband Billy and I have been together for 17 years. When we met, we were both working corporate jobs. As we started talking about our future and marriage, we decided that we didn’t want to put our child in daycare. We always wanted to have one of us home full-time. We didn’t know which one of us it would be, but we knew we wanted to prioritize present parenting and lifestyle freedom. 

Over time, my business grew, and I fell in love with it. I realized I wanted to do this with my life. I decided to continue my corporate job, growing my business on the side, and retire Billy. I needed to figure out how to grow my business during my lunch hour, while keeping my performance optimal in my job. My company was fine with me building my business—as long as I did my job well. 

I built my business using just an index card 

I developed this little thing called The Index Card Method and carried it around with me wherever I went. On this index card, I broke down activities I could do to build my business when I had 15 minutes, 10 minutes, 5 minutes. I literally wrote down every business-building activity I could think of—from posting on social media to recording a short video to sending an email and everything in between. 

This index card was really and truly how I built my business to over a million dollars while working my corporate job, then quickly pivoted to full-time entrepreneurship and took my business from 7 to 8 figures.

The difference between me and everyone else was that I only had a tiny bit of time each day to build my business, but I was absolutely ruthless with the time I did have. And this is one of the most important concepts for you to use for developing the culture of your team and company and to allow you to take back your time and build freedom in your business and your life. It’s also going to be key as you lead your teams to success.

It’s not about how much time you have. 

It’s not about how many hours you work. 

It’s about the impact of what you do with that time.

I only had an hour a day. And I was determined to maximize that hour to connect with as many people as humanly possible. I set my goal at 20 people. In one hour, I would connect with 20 people—past customers, current customers, future customers—and I would do it via texts, emails, and DMs. 

And it worked. I was closing sales consistently in just one hour a day. The Miracle Hour.

How I used the Miracle Hour to monetize my entire staff

Fast forward to me building my coaching company (the first of the six companies I have today). I was the first person in the online coaching space to bring together the hybrid model of large-scale coaching with one-to-one support. We built the first accountability-led coaching model which meant I had a very expensive staff. When I say expensive, I mean expensive. I’m talking to the tune of $3 million.

I had to make that investment because I was convinced that this model would provide superior results for our customers. I was right. It’s why we have the track record that we do. My clients get that high-touch customization guidance, support, and advice in an environment where they have the global support of our entire team and multiple brands. 

When I built this very expensive business model, I knew it would not be sustainable unless I built in something that would allow us to monetize the additional staff we were bringing in to serve our clients. So often, we think of the sales team as the people bringing in the revenue in our business, but that wasn’t going to cut it here. 

There had to be a way to monetize our entire staff, not just our sales team. 

So I took this index card and developed the Miracle Hour. It took us from 7 to 8 figures (obviously coinciding with the Live Launch Method). This allowed us to make sure we were:

  • generating leads and closing sales both inside and outside of launch
  • carrying people from launch to launch
  • consistently closing high ticket sales
  • monetizing all different roles in our company, not just sales

If you want a world-class service team, operations team, and marketing team—and you want to build a business that can run without you—you’ll need to invest in high-caliber talent. And that’s expensive. You can’t rely on dollars coming exclusively from your sales team. You can’t just generate sales. You have to understand the relationship between all aspects of your team and business. 

I designed the Miracle Hour to work for every single member of my team. 

The 5 simple components of the Miracle Hour

You can do the Miracle Hour live with your team on Zoom each day or independently, and there are so many applications and variations of it. I’ll break it down into five simple steps, then walk us through each one.

  1. Add value
  2. Engage 
  3. Connect
  4. Make offers
  5. Engage (again)

Step #1: Add value. You want to create value for your audience every day. The content you share with them is your value, your impact. I call this “making a deposit in the reciprocity bank.” I start every single day with this. When you wake up in the morning, be thinking of what you’ll share with the world that adds value for them. 

So many business owners want to make a withdrawal, but they don’t have enough money in the reciprocity bank. Whatever your huge dream is, you’ve got to make sure that the investment you’re making in your audience supersedes that. So when you go to make that withdrawal, it’s there waiting for you.

Add value.

Step #2: Engage on your own posts. This is where you take the time to reply to anyone who has read your post and left a comment. There is so much content out there that they could engage with, and they only have a limited amount of valuable time. This means they took the time to read your words and respond. Thank them for doing that. 

I generally engage with replies on my posts at two different times. I do it right after I post, which is when I see a lot of activity. And then I come back later in the day to do another sweep. It honestly doesn’t take that much time to say “Thank you. I appreciate you.”

Engage on your own posts.

Step #3: Connect with 20 people. You can do this in 30 minutes or less with a Facebook message, follow up email or phone call, DM, or text. You can also share a resource, extend an invitation, whatever. If you touch just 20 people a day that you would like to work with, you can  move those relationships forward. You can reach out to past customers, current customers, potential customers, referrals, etc. It’s all about relationship management.

This is why business owners go into feast or famine all the time. They’re inconsistent with relationship management. In 2024, this will be the most important key to your success in your business. People are sitting in an ecosystem longer, taking more time to get to the yes. You have to nurture and facilitate that decision.

Connect with 20 people.

Step #4: Make an offer. Do you want to know what I think is one of the wildest things I’ve seen in entrepreneurship? People will do all of this activity without ever making an offer. They will literally bend over backward and put in hundreds of hours of work, doing anything and everything except making that offer. 

You’ve got to get over that hesitation, that fear, of making an offer. Part of your Miracle Hour is making an offer. Every day. Publicly or privately. Remember: you have something people need. Why wouldn’t you want to let them in on that good news? Why would you withhold that life-changing information from them? 

Make an offer. 

Step #5: Engage on other people’s feeds. I’m not just talking about random people here. I’m talking about people you’d like to work with. The first step was engaging with the people who comment on your posts. This step is all about going out and finding people you want to work with and engaging on their posts. 

You’re doing these people a huge service when you do this. When you engage with people’s social media, you boost their posts in the algorithm. More people are going to see their content because you engaged with them. This is a huge way to add value.

You’re also creating top of mind awareness for yourself and your business. Engage on their social media feeds, then move the follow-up conversation to DMs.

Engage on other people’s feeds.

And that, my friends, is how you spend your Miracle Hour. Those five steps can literally all be done in one hour or less a day. Sadly, most entrepreneurs spend two or three hours a day—sometimes more—avoiding the one thing that could get them the result they want. 

Don’t go from A to Z, just to get from A to B.

This one hour a day can literally replace 10-20 hours of useless activities that aren’t getting you results. Results you could get in one hour by just doing the thing. You’re doing so much more work than you need to be doing to grow your business. 

Here’s proof that the Miracle Hour can work for anyone

You might be thinking to yourself: Of course the Miracle Hour works for you, Kelly. Everybody knows you. You already have so many clients and connections. It’s different for me.

Here’s what you need to know. I had the opportunity to test out the Miracle Hour on one of our new companies this year. It was wildly successful. We grew by 100% with: 

  • zero advertising
  • zero using my face or name to build the brand
  • zero day-to-day involvement from me. 

We built a team from the ground up. We promoted a leader from one of my existing companies over to the new company. We were able to use the Miracle Hour as the core driving force of the entire growth strategy without launching or paid advertising and without leveraging the brand reputation we’d already built. 

Why would I do this? Why would I not pay for advertising when I can obviously afford it? Why would I not take advantage of my brand reputation to get instant customers? I’ll tell you why. 

As a business mentor, I’m helping people build their companies from the ground up. They can’t start where I’m at, because I have over a decade of experience under my belt. To mentor my clients effectively, I have to ask myself, “What would I do if I was starting from scratch or starting a new brand or didn’t have funds for advertising or a 11-year track record of success behind me?”

I was able to prove, beyond a shadow of a doubt, that the Miracle Hour works for everyone.

What will YOU do with the Miracle Hour?

Now that you know the power of the Miracle Hour, what will you do with it? Will you put the Miracle Hour in place for you and your team? Will you step up to the plate as a leader? Will you claim that million-dollar breakthrough that you want and deserve? 

It is all there for the taking. 

There are billions of people on social media all day, every day, that are waiting for the right person to cross their path and help them get the results or transformation they desire. They want and need you. They just don’t know it yet. The Miracle Hour is the way that you’re going to create that intersection. 

To make it even easier for you, I’ve created the Miracle Hour Checklist you can use to train your team. Download it and get to work!

You can also have them read this post or watch a YouTube video I made about it. If you prefer listening to a podcast, I’ve got you covered there as well.

Don’t wait another minute wasting time on things that don’t get you the results you want and deserve. Claim your checklist, commit to the Miracle Hour, and let’s grow! 

3 Critical Hiring Mistakes Small Business Owners Should Avoid in 2024

I’ve been hiring for a really long time. You would think I’d be perfect at it by now.

I hired people when I worked in corporate, and I’ve been hiring people for the last 12 years as a business owner across multiple companies. I’ve been doing this for over 20 years

Yet, I’m here to confess—I still make hiring mistakes.

Now, don’t let this discourage you. Please don’t think, If Kelly can’t get this right, then what hope do I have? We’re not talking about perfection here. Perfection isn’t even the goal. The important thing—both in business and in life—is that you learn from your mistakes and try not to repeat them. 

Will I make other mistakes down the road? I’m sure I will. And I’ll learn from those as well. I’m going to share some hiring mistakes that I’ve made within the last five years—that I no longer make—so I can save you some trouble as you’re hiring for your small business.

I’m going to swallow my pride and share the three worst mistakes, because I think they’ll help you the most. You’re welcome. Let’s dive in!

Hiring mistake #1: ignoring “micro-expressions”

I’ll explain “micro-expressions” in a second, but ultimately? I saw some warning signs and ignored my gut.

Micro-expressions are tiny things that people do that are incongruent with what they say. For example, maybe you see a smirk on their face during a serious conversation. Or a flash of contempt when you’re nodding and smiling. Maybe you glimpse an almost-imperceptible eyeroll.

It grabs your attention, but it happens so fast, you wonder if you just imagined it. And it’s not like you’d feel comfortable asking, “Wait, was that a little smirk I just saw flash across your face?”

In the past, I’ve noticed these things and brushed them off and ignored them. Why? Because everything else with this person checked out. I’ve interviewed people who I knew would be amazing at getting the job done. Literally, nothing seemed off in the interview. They checked every box.

But my gut told me something was off because of the slightest incongruence. And I was afraid to tell anyone, because I thought they’d laugh at me and say I must have imagined it. So I hired them anyway. Unfortunately, every time I’ve ignored something like that, it has come back to bite me in the butt.

One time, I actually did follow my gut, and I’m so glad. Here’s what went down: I was interviewing a candidate and things were going really well. Everything looked good. Then I asked a simple question that related to the role directly. It was a telling question. The answer would directly impact this person’s ability to do well in the role.

He answered ideally. So, everything was great, right? Not quite.

While he was saying all the right things, I caught a flash of rage/anger in his eyes. I know it sounds crazy, but he was smiling and nodding, and as clear as day, I saw a “look.” This time, I didn’t explain it away. We didn’t hire him.

When my team told him that we had decided to go with a different candidate, this person lost it. Like completely lost it. He unleashed an incredible amount of rage on my team for sending a simple “thanks but we went a different direction” response to his application.

This time, I had listened to my gut, and it turned out to be right! So now I listen to it 100% of the time.

Hiring mistake #2: Not doing an in-depth reference check

Reference checks get a bad rap these days, but when you know how to do them right, you can find out everything you need to know.

All too often, people have things to hide. So they only give you the names of people they know will say the right things. But I like to check with their last two employers, not just their buddies. While I know a former boss probably won’t say something terribly bad, they can give you insight into how the person fit in with the culture, hit specific goals/metrics, and contributed to the company’s goals.

Recently my company president and I both missed this with a new hire, and it turned out to be a disaster. I want to save you from making the same mistake when you’re hiring for your small business. 

I know it seems like a formality, but make sure you do thorough reference checks. Check with more than one person. And listen to the things they say—and the things they don’t say.

Remember—people paint the best possible picture of themselves in an interview. Dig a little deeper, and it will save you a world of hurt.

Hiring mistake #3: letting the sizzle of talent outweigh everything else

By “everything else,” I’m specifically thinking of critical traits like: 

  • the humility of being coachable and 
  • willingness to integrate into the culture 

I cannot stress enough how important these two things are. I don’t care how talented someone is; if they aren’t coachable and a good culture fit, I don’t hire them.

Sometimes someone comes along with the perfect skill set and you just know they will crush it in terms of getting results. However, they struggle almost immediately because they can’t adjust to the culture of your company. On top of that, they aren’t coachable and they think their way is always better than the years of lessons you’ve learned while running your business.

Of course we want to bring in exceptionally talented people who are amazing at what they do. But, if they’re not coachable, humble, and willing to learn, they likely aren’t going to make it. 

I’ve learned this the hard way. I’ve hired someone based on their flashy skill set, and they turned out to be entirely different from what I expected. They weren’t coachable, and they definitely didn’t want to adapt to our culture. They brought morale down instead of up. 

At the end of the day, the damage someone can do when they are a wrong fit for your company is far worse than the struggle to find someone who is a great fit. So do yourself a favor, and don’t hire someone who doesn’t fit.

Bottom line? Hiring mistakes are easy to make, but you can avoid them if you’re careful. Look for the signs, trust your gut, and don’t move forward unless you are 100% at peace about your decision.

3 Ways to Increase Profitability In Your Small Business THIS Week

No matter what stage of business you are currently in, there are simple ways to drive profitability on a daily basis. I say “simple,” but what I’ve realized is that most people aren’t doing them.

None of my companies are new, and none of them are lacking clients, but we still do something every single day to increase profitability for each one of them. I call it a Profit Push. And it can mean the difference between your small business failing or thriving. 

Obviously there are a million ways to make your business more profitable, but I want to focus on three that you probably aren’t doing, even though they’ll really move the needle—immediately.

Are you ready?

#1: A weekly financial audit

Don’t roll your eyes at this one. I recently did three live sessions where I walked attendees through a Profit Push, and people were getting results before the sessions even ended. Some of them were saving hundreds of dollars a month within literal minutes of looking at their credit card statements. 

If this is so easy and simple, you might be thinking, then why aren’t more people doing it? You tell me. Why aren’t you doing it? For a lot of people, it comes down to two things: overwhelm and fear. And I’ll tell you what: actually knowing where all your money is going causes way less anxiety than avoiding a close look because you’re afraid or overwhelmed.

Before the week is over (and today if possible), I want you to go through all of your credit card and bank statements for the past three months and write down every single expense. All of them. Don’t skip a single thing. 

Then, for each expense, consider whether or not you can:

  • Negotiate a price (or rate) change 
  • Cancel because you don’t need it
  • Consolidate a few expenses into one (this is ideal for software)

Then get busy.

I’m telling you—you will be amazed at what you can cut! There are expenses on there that you haven’t thought about in months—or even years.

Now, as a word of warning, there are three things you should NOT cut:

  • Advertising
  • Coaching
  • Team

Those are the areas that are required if you want to grow your small business into something wildly successful.

But everything else? Is fair game. 

I pride myself on being really smart with my money in all of my businesses, and we still recently cut thousands of dollars in redundant or unnecessary expenses after an audit.

Do this weekly, and I guarantee you’ll increase profitability.

#2: Make a new offer to current or past clients

Who doesn’t love long-term loyal clients? I know I do. But are you serving them as well as you could be? And I’m not just talking about something that benefits them. I’m talking about ways to bring more money into your business just by getting creative with the people who have already bought from you. 

Reach out to past or current clients individually with a brand new offer. Maybe it’s a VIP day. Or an addition that makes sense for the current program they’re in. You could also come up with a great way to restart a relationship with a client who has moved on. 

Thoughtful personalization and customization is key here. Don’t just dream up random offers. You want to carefully select the offer for the person you’re extending it to. Make it even more personal by sending custom DMs or voice memos.

Making a new offer to a current or past client is always going to be easier than getting a new client to buy from you, so start there. But getting new clients is obviously also very important, which brings us to our final way to increase profitability this week.

#3: Make a list of EVERY person who has expressed interest in your services in the past six months, but hasn’t taken the leap.

Hopefully this is a list you’ve already compiled. Hopefully you’re keeping track of people who comment on your posts, send you DMs, and attend your free workshops. But if you’re not, you can still look back through your social media and find them.

Then I want you to reach out to every single one of them and see if they’re still looking to get the result they came to you for initially. Be friendly, be helpful, make it personal, and keep it short and to the point.

Hey, Carrie! Hope you’re doing well! I remember you had some questions about growing your email list. Is that still something you’re trying to figure out? I would love to help you if so!

If they say no (or don’t respond), you don’t need to bother them, but if they say yes, invite them to a call. You never know who is just sitting there with a problem you can solve, but they don’t think to ask you—or they’re afraid to. Make it easy on them by reaching out first!

It’s the simple things that make the biggest difference

Do these things seem basic? Were you hoping for something a little flashier, more novel? If you’ve been around here for long, you know that I’m all for creativity and innovation and trying new things, AND there are some foundational basics that just plain work.

Remember: things that are simple to do are also simple NOT to do. When was the last time you did each of these three things? If you have a sales team, when was the last time they did these three things?  

Sometimes we’re sitting on countless opportunities to move the needle in simple ways, because we’re off chasing complex and shiny new strategies. The basics always work. When you execute them consistently and effectively, they work. Period.

Take the time to incorporate these three simple strategies into your weekly routine, and watch your profits soar!

Want a simple strategy to bring in organic sales, every week? If you have ONE HOUR a day to spend nurture and converting leads, the Miracle Hour framework will help you scale simply.

I’ve put together a free download walking you through it here! Grab your copy HERE!