January 21, 2025 • 46 mins
Building and scaling a business isn't just about hard work, it’s also about smart strategy and self-awareness. In this episode of Hustle and Flowchart, I chatted with the amazing Allison Maslan. She's a successful entrepreneur who has built multiple companies and now helps others do the same through her organization, Pinnacle Global Network. We went through a wide range of topics, from trapeze in the backyard to scaling strategies for businesses. This episode is packed with invaluable insights. Let’s break it down.
The Power of a Passion
Allison shared an interesting tidbit that sets the stage for this episode: she has a massive trapeze in her backyard. Inspired by her background as a gymnast and a flying trapeze enthusiast, Allison uses trapeze as both a hobby and a metaphor for facing fears and achieving breakthroughs. Just like flying through the air, entrepreneurs need to take risks and focus on their goals.
Battling Business Burnout
Allison revealed that, even though she took on massive clients like Ben and Jerry’s and Supercuts at a young age, she ended up buried under an overwhelming workload. She warns that this is a common issue for many entrepreneurs who fail to delegate tasks. Instead of managing her team effectively, she felt the need to control every aspect, resulting in burnout.
The Wake-Up Call: A Life-Changing Moment
Allison faced a wake-up call in the form of a serious car accident, which made her reassess her life and business practices. She realized that continuing down the same path could lead to the same problems years later and decided it was time for a change.
Scaling Strategies: Breaking Through Growth Barriers
One major focus of our conversation was scaling. Allison emphasized that many entrepreneurs remain stuck because they don’t know how to scale effectively. She advises examining your company holistically to identify and eliminate bottlenecks.
Practical Advice:
- Divide your company into four key areas: operations, marketing, sales, and your specific revenue stream.
- Conduct a thorough analysis of where you are spending most of your time and delegate accordingly.
- Establish clear metrics and targets for every role within the organization to ensure everyone is aligned with the company's vision.
A Holistic Approach to Business
Allison's background in homeopathy has influenced her holistic approach to business. She believes in treating the whole business system rather than just focusing on individual symptoms. This means aligning vision, cash flow, team effort, and execution for overall health and growth.
Key Framework:
- Strategic Vision
- Cash Flow (Marketing and Sales)
- Team Alignment
- Leadership
- Execution
The Future: Leveraging AI and Market Trends
Allison and I also discussed the future, particularly the role of AI and other technological advancements. AI will replace some jobs but also create new opportunities. She advises leveraging AI to improve business processes and innovate, rather than viewing it as a threat.
Insightful Quote: “AI is going to replace a lot of companies. You need to figure out how you're going to differentiate yourself and how to utilize AI to fuel you and not disrupt you.”
Connect with Allison Maslan
- Pinnacle Global Network
- Check out the "Scale It Method"
- Grab a copy of Allison's book
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
(00:00):
Did he know that 97% ofbusiness owners never break
$1 million in revenue.
So today's guests.
I have Alison Maslan.
She has not only donethat, but has done it in 10
businesses that she owns.
And she's also helped 150,000 otherfounders to do the same exact thing.
(00:20):
Now, before all of this, though.
She was definitely at age19 buried in her work.
And she was, uh, in a situation.
It almost took her life.
Almost took everything from her.
She's going to talk allabout that and how that
switched things in her mind.
And now she finds herself flyingthrough life in her own way.
She'll talk about that as well.
So if you feel stuck at any reasonin your business and you're looking
(00:43):
to scale and you want to do it ina whole different way of thinking.
This is the episode for you.
So let's go jump inwith Alison Maslan.
We're here.
We're finally doing this, uh,recording, which is nice because
we share a mastermind togetherhere in San Diego, which, you
know, I feel like I've, uh, Ichatted with your husband last
(01:05):
time at the holiday party.
I love Mike.
That guy's so fun too.
Yeah, he is.
but you and I haven't chatted enoughand I'm like, man, I, I think this
is a nice focused time that we
Yeah, I'm excited.
Yeah, and, and I gotta thank youfor one for having us at your
house one of the nights becausefirst thing I noticed when I was
(01:25):
there, I was like, you have amassive trapeze in your backyard.
I'm like, what's up with that?
kind of hard to miss, isn't it?
tell me about that becauseI know it fits in here,
but let's just start there.
Like what's up with the trapeze?
What does it mean to you too?
well, my mom always jokes that whenI was born, the doctor literally
(01:46):
said that I belonged in a circus.
Yeah.
apparently I was prettyflexible as a baby, so who knew?
Uh, but I was a gymnast growing upand my gym teacher actually built me
a set of uneven bars in my backyardat made out of plastic tubing
(02:08):
Yeah, they bend, right?
So
yeah, it worked.
And I, I was out there swingingaround, you know, I used to do that
so much as a kid and I competed.
Um, professionally and in collegeand so I was always an athlete
and then in my 30s I discoveredthe flying trapeze and when I
(02:28):
was up there I, first of allI thought, I didn't even know
anyone could actually do this orlearn this, but I was so hooked.
And I think it kind of broughtme back to my childhood.
And so I've actually been trainingfor over 20 years and I found
a five generation, um, circusfamily that, uh, performed in
(02:50):
Ringling Brothers for 25 years.
that many of the Cirque duSoleil people train with and so
I Drove to LA every single weekand then when we moved into the
house We are now with more land.
I was like I am putting atrapeze here I didn't I think
my husband thought I was kindof joking But when he saw this
(03:11):
massive piece of equipment beingyou know built he's like wow
She's really serious about this.
So yeah, I'm I'm back thereflying all the time and
Doing flips and everything.
It's, it's really my happy place.
Yeah, I remember you mentioned thatbecause I think it was one of the
first things I asked you there, too.
(03:31):
I'm like, that's unique.
What's the story here?
And like, do you, howdo you use it now?
Like, are you, are you outthere training to be in the
next circus team or is itmore of like a practical?
no, well, first of all, Idon't fly by myself because
that would be dangerous.
And so you need to have a catcher.
You need to have somebodyup on the board with you.
(03:52):
And, uh, and then we often havesomebody on the ground as well.
And I, you know, I'm, I'm not goingto be running off with the circus at
this point in my life or Cirque duSoleil, uh, maybe next time around,
but I'm always aspiring to grow.
Uh, I've been working on my doubleback flip and some other big tricks.
(04:15):
And the greatest thing for me isthat I get to face my fear up there.
And have major breakthroughs,which then when I'm on the ground,
it just, you know, I end uphaving more breakthroughs here.
I face my fear and I stretch myself.
And so it really is the perfectalliance of me, you know,
(04:41):
going after my dreams up therein the air and I see myself
doing it on the ground as well.
I can, I could, I mean, never haveflown like that, but, uh, my sister
in law, I think had she, you know,there's some places you can go to
and kind of practice or try it out.
And that's what I've heardis like, you're in the air.
I mean, you're, you'reliterally flying.
I
You are literally flying.
(05:02):
There is nothing like it.
And you know, you're in the moment
because you know, when you'rein your, you're focused on
your business, you're thinkingabout all the things like your
brain is always going, I don'tknow if yours is, but mine is.
But when you're up there,you have to be focused.
You have to visualize, youhave to really lock it in.
You have to have your eyes open,your ears open, everything.
(05:24):
And so you're truly, it's likea moving meditation in a sense.
And I just feel so good andmy head feels so clear when
I, you know, when I'm done.
I think everyone, and I talkabout it often, you know, I took
up jujitsu six, seven monthsago and it's for similar reason.
I find it's like meditative becauseyou're going with the motions.
(05:46):
You have to thinkon the fly quickly.
It's physical.
Um, yeah, different,obviously, but similar.
And I feel like practices like that.
Just a quiet, the entrepreneurialmind that gets a little wonky.
Sometimes you need tolayer something in there,
You do.
Everybody needs that.
You know, my husband golfs andyou've got to be really focused.
(06:07):
It's such a mindset game and I thinkthose things are really healthy.
Plus to, you know, we operate fromour neck up in our business so much.
Yeah.
And so really to fully integrateit within our body and, and
use it because you're goingto lose it if you don't.
Absolutely.
(06:27):
Keep moving that body.
You only got one.
So Allison, I mean, you, you'velived a wildlife from the
research that I've gone down.
I did some deep dive in
Oh no.
skeleton to coming outnow, I'm just kidding.
But you're, you're scalingbusinesses left and right.
You have a full team, mentors.
(06:48):
Everything you're doing at Pinnacle,it's really cool in the mastermind.
I've heard, you know, otherways that you're scaling
and I'm just like, well, youknow, like this is true scale.
I mean, you wrote a book on it.
You did, you've done a lot.
Uh, what was like, but I'mcurious of the story before,
because you have a lot ofgreat strategies for scaling.
I want to get to, and you know,helping people break through
(07:09):
of maybe the doing themselves.
And maybe, you know, itdepends on the lay or the
size of the business, but.
What was your story starting out?
Because, what was it, 40 ish year?
Or you started at like19, I think, right?
Business for Yourself?
So, was it scale in mind then?
Or no?
You know, I, uh, grew up inan entrepreneurial family.
(07:30):
My father was very passionateabout his business.
My grandfather started, uh, awomen's clothing store in Kansas
city called Maslan's and then,uh, won a second store in a
poker game in Tulsa, Oklahoma.
Uh, where I was born.
(07:52):
And my grandfather and my fatherchecked out this store to see,
okay, what did we win here?
And is this worth even taking over?
And what they learned fromthe experience was it was a
great store, but it wasn't,they weren't selling the right
products for the right market.
And so, my dad ended up takingthat company, which is called
(08:14):
Stewarts, and scaling it acrossthe Midwest, uh, over 50 locations.
And so, as a young girl, I wouldgo with him from store to store,
and I just took in so much,just being around that energy.
And he was always soinnovative and courageous.
And so it, I reallydidn't know anything else.
(08:36):
And I couldn't hold a jobfor more than two weeks.
So I had to figure outthis entrepreneurial thing.
And so my first company, um, Istarted when I was 19 doing, uh,
brochures and greeting cards, andthat evolved to a full service
advertising a PR firm when I was 25.
Wow.
(08:57):
but I didn't know how to scale.
I had no idea.
And I was taking on big clientslike Ben and Jerry's and Supercuts
and Charlotte Roos and, andhelping them with their marketing
and building a small team.
But I ended up getting buried in thework like so many entrepreneurs do.
(09:18):
Uh, you know, I, one day I wokeup and I was like, you know, the
business is running me into theground instead of me running it.
And I was so burned out from thestress of it all and ended up
having a terrible car accidentthat just about took my life.
And so that was my massive wakeup call to go, Okay, well clearly
(09:42):
something isn't working here.
And so that became my, uh, justmy determination, my mission to
figure out, you know, how wasit that Ben and Jerry's or super
cuts, you know, my clients, youdidn't see the CEO standing over
everybody, uh, like an orchestraleader, you know, micromanaging,
(10:04):
they were out there buildinggreat strategic relationships,
partnerships, and, and buildingthe future of the company.
And so I began to study.
How this was working and that,uh, became the impetus for me
to go on and build nine morecompanies that haven't depended
on me to be founder independent.
(10:26):
And so that's really whatwe do day in and day out at
Pinnacle Global Network ishelping business owners build a
team managed scalable company.
I like it.
Founder independent too, becausethat makes all the sense.
And yeah, you look at these othercompanies that are actually scaling.
They're thinking of partnerships,the bigger picture, the
(10:47):
strategic moves or gaps inthe market product market fit.
Like you said, evenin the beginning.
When you're drowning in the work orthe inbound stuff or just hustling
in general, it's like, yeah, youlose track of a lot of this stuff.
take me back because there'salso, I know you have a whole
cool, unique way of partnershipsand, and, um, not, it's more
(11:08):
collaboration than than competition,which I want to touch on.
But take me to the car accidentbecause what I feel like there's
a bigger story or meaning oflike, because you said work was
burying you, like, what, I guesswhat was the tipping point there
from this grind mode to now?
It's like, Oh man, Igot to change things up.
(11:29):
Well, you know, it sneaks upon you, and most people are
living on autopilot, right?
And you're just thinking of what'sthe next thing I gotta do and
what's the next thing I gotta do.
You're not really examiningyour life and how you feel.
And my daughter at the time wasunder two years old, so I was also
managing taking care of her as well.
(11:50):
That's tough.
And so I, uh, I just felt thatI, I remember driving down,
um, by the beach in San Diegoand seeing all these people
hanging out at the beach.
And I remember thinking.
How do they even get to do that?
You know, and here I'm living inthis beautiful city and I wasn't
able to fully live my life.
(12:11):
I was working weekends.
I was working till two or three inthe morning, creating ad campaigns.
And I had a small team, butI was such a control freak.
Uh, I felt like I had to havemy eyes on everything going
in and out of the company.
And that's, you know, so manybusiness owners are like that.
You think you'redoing the right thing.
(12:32):
You think you're keeping thingsfrom falling apart and that
it's your responsibility.
But here I had these greatpeople and I was in their way.
And so, you know, just fromthe, the weight of it, but
it was, I was doing it tomyself, but I didn't know.
And so I was fearful.
I was exhausted.
I felt trapped, uh, in mycircumstances because I just
(12:56):
didn't really know what else to do.
And then I was embarrassed.
To ask for help and I thoughtsomething's wrong with me, right?
That's what we always do withsomething's wrong with me I
should be able to figure thisout and you're making money.
You should be grateful, youknow, like oh my gosh all these
different emotions so That's youknow, that's where I think the
(13:20):
universe was kind of like a littletired of dealing with me and just
said look Let's just let's wakeher up, you know, don't kill her.
But you know And that,that was my wake up call.
Wow.
Yeah.
And, uh, just the buildup to thatbecause, you know, there's a lot
of things that we just don't see.
Yeah, we're blind to sometimesthe obvious things around us.
(13:42):
Car accident.
I mean, there's a wholebunch of things that can
happen otherwise as well.
Um, I mean, that's,that's a wake up call.
I mean, what's the, 'cause I'mthinking, you mentioned so many
things, like people getting in theway of great people that you hire.
Delegation, of course, is a termthat everyone's said, but in
the moment when you're grinding,it ain't that obvious, right?
(14:04):
Like, you're not thinking of that.
You're just trying to get thestuff done, moving to the next
thing, trying to make more moneyto live in San Diego or whatever
you're trying to do, freedom.
So
for sure.
You know, and, uh, I had alot of people depending on me.
And looking up to me.
And, uh, I, you know, felt likeI needed to keep it together.
(14:26):
Outwardly.
Even though inwardlyI was crumbling.
And, you know, just tryingto hold it together.
And I think that wasprobably the hardest thing.
You know, I think business ownersput an enormous amount of pressure
on themselves to get it all right.
(14:46):
And I think if I would have justlightened up and asked for help
back then, I would have gotten it.
But, you know, I don't regretit because that's where some of
my biggest lessons came from.
And, you know, I, I do remembera, a very powerful moment back
then when I was in the hospitaland, uh, you know, it was a, it
(15:09):
was a pretty serious accident.
But once I kinda knew that Iwas, everything was gonna be
okay, my, the first thought thatcame to my mind was, what if
you're in the same place a yearfrom now or ten years from now?
Yeah.
that it literally was like somebodywas speaking to me and I knew
(15:34):
that if I didn't make a change,I would be in the same place.
And, and time just goes so fast.
And so that really lit this fireunder my feet to say that, you know,
if this is success, I don't want it.
Uh, I love business, butI need to do it a new way.
And so that was where I justbecame super determined.
(15:56):
to learn.
And, you know, because ofthat, it really was the best
experience because it set meup on my mission for my life.
Cause once I figured it out formyself, I also realized that
millions of business ownersstruggle with the same thing.
In fact, 97 percent of businessowners never even make it
(16:17):
past a million in revenue.
And this is really why,
because they're in their own way.
They're not thinking of, yeah,outside of them or even their,
their, maybe their small team,but they're in their way is
what they're just creatingfriction in all, all areas.
Right.
Yes,
And that's.
So before we get there, becauseI want to ask the question, maybe
(16:39):
I'll just seed it now is scalingbecause a lot of folks won't even
think of scale until some point.
I mean, who knows when, youknow, what is that tipping point?
And I guess that's foreveryone to ask themselves.
And for you, Allison, this, thiscar accident was a moment where for
whatever reason that that questioncame to your mind, like, what's it
going to look like in 5 to 10 years?
(17:01):
And, Like, do you, doyou see the people?
Cause you know, Pinnacle isobviously coaching, mentoring
a ton of business owners.
Is that a pretty recurring thingthat these, these moments happen?
And then like the questionneeds to happen or like,
yes.
how do you coachpeople through that?
And how do they identify maybe it'snot a car accident, but it could
(17:21):
Yeah.
Well, hopefully, yeah,they get to us before then.
we primarily mentor businessowners in the seven and
eight, multiple eight figures.
And by the time they've come to us,many of them have been stuck in that
same mode that I was in for decades.
And it's just become their life.
(17:42):
And, you know, it's affectedtheir health or relationships in,
you know, in one way or another.
And they can feel very lonelyat the top and feeling stuck.
And many of them have, have managedto grow even, you know, 50, 100
employees, but they're stillvery much buried in the weeds.
And so the first thing we haveto do is create awareness.
(18:05):
We have to put a mirror up forthem to see what they're doing
and how they're in their own way.
And we help them determinewhat phase that they're
in, in the scaling process.
And so once they know, and manyof them we call it, they're
in the third phase, which wecall the ring leader and the
(18:27):
ring leader is like a circus.
Uh, interestingly enough, becausewe were just talking about
that earlier in the circus.
Um, but they are, are growingand they're growing teams.
They might have a customer serviceteam, a sales team, a marketing
team, all of those things.
Uh, but they're notaligned with the vision.
And so the CEO of the company, thefounder, needs to be more of that
(18:50):
visionary CEO focused on the future.
And so often you have teamthat is a revolving door.
And generally it's happening becausewe're bringing team members on
before we're super clear about thatvision and what success looks like
for every single one of those roles.
You have to really understandwhat they're reaching for,
(19:13):
what those metrics are.
And if you know, then youcan communicate it to them.
If you don't know, they're notgoing to be able to reach it.
Then everybody gets frustratedand you know, then you jump
back in to save the day.
Right.
And this is that, this is wherethat hamster wheel starts.
And so so many business ownerscome to us right there and
(19:35):
they've been there for so long.
And once we, we kind of shinethe light on them and show
them what's happening and helpthem to back up, re strategize,
uh, you know, and restructurereally, It, they grow fast.
They get out of their own way.
They have more freedom thanthey have ever experienced.
(19:56):
You know, they were takingvacations without checking
their email 50 times a day.
And, uh, and, and nowthey have this great team.
Uh, and, and many of them,I get messages all the time.
Oh my gosh, I had my biggestmonth and I'm not even there.
So that's a great feelingfor an entrepreneur.
(20:17):
It is.
And so like, so for thinking scale,you said seven, eight figure folks.
I mean, you're still, yeah, youhave this PTSD of being in the
grind for probably just decades,you know, for a lot of folks.
And when would you recommendpeople to start thinking this way
with scale in mind, maybe, maybebeing realistic and knowing like,
(20:39):
hey, you know, you're not thatseven figure business yet, or
you're not that eight figure yet.
Yes.
What are, what would you suggestthey start thinking and doing?
Well, honestly, I wish I knew thisstuff way back then, because if
you know this from the beginning,then you know what you're reaching
for and you can plan for it.
Now, in the early days, you'rejust trying to figure out
(21:01):
your products and services.
You're trying to, uh, getyour customer journey.
lined up, um, and get moreclear on your target market.
All of those things haveto happen in the beginning.
There's really not a lot ofscaling, uh, or multiplying
what you're doing because you'rejust laying out the groundwork.
(21:21):
But once you do, and if you can getsupport early on and get out of the
way, you're going to scale faster.
Uh, they have, there's beena statistic that if you hire,
Uh, like even an assistant inthe first six months of your
business, you will get toseven figures in half the time.
(21:45):
If you really empower thatassistant to do those things
that are just taking up so muchof your time and keeping you,
you know, out of working on thebusiness and the business growth.
Yeah.
Would, do you recommend, cause I'veheard folks tracking their time or
activities or their energy level?
(22:05):
Like, is there a way that you wouldrecommend folks to have awareness?
Cause you mentioned that earlier.
It's just having awarenessof the, of the issue or
maybe potential issue.
Like, what are theresome practices you could
Oh, yeah, for sure.
And I'm sure there's a wayfor AI to even do this better.
This is something where youcould, you could recommend.
But, um, one of the things you wantto do is, first of all, divide up
(22:29):
the company into four quadrants.
So you want to look at yourbusiness from operations side, your
marketing side, your sales, and thenwhatever your revenue stream is,
you know, whatever your offering is.
So for us, it's mentoring.
And, uh, and then, so let's just sayyou take a piece of paper and you
(22:50):
divide it into these four quadrants.
Then in each of those areas,write down everything that you're
still doing in the business.
And it may take you a whilebecause so much of this you do
unconsciously, you don't evenrealize that you're doing it.
And just keep writing andwriting and writing down
everything that you do.
(23:11):
Another thing you can do, becausesome things you, you won't
remember, is over a three, fourday period, literally write down
everything that you're doing.
Mm hmm.
Mm
once you look at it, I likedividing it in the four quadrants
because it helps you think ofthe whole company holistically.
And then you'll see, okay,which area of the business.
(23:34):
is taking up most of my time.
Is it sales?
You know, is it operations?
And you want to divide thatby percentages and then you,
the, the one that's takingup the most time you work on
first to replace yourself.
And for some of the thingsthat if it's your special
(23:58):
delivery of what you do, that'sprobably going to take a little
longer to replace yourself.
So if you're an attorney or ifyou're an electrician or, you
know, you're a psychologist,but you're also the CEO of the
business, ultimately you needto replace yourself with other
attorneys so that you can befocused on building that vision
and being the CEO of the company,leading the team and so forth.
(24:23):
So, usually those are the areas thatyou can, you replace yourself last.
But still, you need to do it.
But once you have it all on paper,you do that big drain, brain dump,
then you can see, oh my gosh.
You know, if I, if I stop attendingthese meetings, okay, that's given
me back, alright, six hours a week.
(24:44):
And if I, if I, Uh, let go ofthis task in marketing, whether
it's, I don't know if it'scopywriting or it is doing some
work in admin, whatever it is,all of those things add up.
So your goal is to get yourhours back and have other people
(25:07):
that that is their expertise.
That's their superpower totake that off your plate.
I have a project managerthat that she literally
says that all the time.
She's like, I love doingthis kind of stuff.
I'm like, thank God.
Oh my God.
managers, right?
They're amazing at what they do.
(25:27):
So my form of project managingis, you know, wake up at three
in the morning going, Oh my God.
Oh, is it?
Yeah, that would be mine too.
And I think most founders, right?
Like, would you say most founderspeople start in the company?
I mean, of course you came froma family of entrepreneurs, which
maybe you have some insights.
Are most of us visionarieskind of, you know, maybe not
(25:50):
the best at organization.
I know we come in all flavors,but like, are there some
themes that you've noticed?
Well, I, I do think that if youhave that as your background
and you grew up in it, it is alittle easier to step into it.
Some people struggle though if,let's say, your parents lost their
business or went bankrupt or, youknow, they had some trauma there.
(26:13):
We have to be careful not to projectthat in our own life and always be
in this kind of poverty mindset.
That can be a challengeyou have to overcome.
I do think coming from a corporatebackground, we've, I've seen very
successful entrepreneurs comefrom the corporate background,
but I think it's harder
Yeah.
it's a different way of thinking.
(26:35):
And especially if you've beenrunning a department, for instance,
in the corporate business asa business owner, you know,
you're wearing many hats and youhave to learn to be strategic
and a big thinker and look atthe gaps within the company
and how to close those gaps.
(26:56):
And also, you know, you have tounderstand how to pivot quickly,
as we know, for what's happenedover the last several years.
And you know, you mentionedAI and as you're talking about
all this stuff, you know, I'mthinking of how would I do
this brain dump of operations,marketing, sales, revenue streams.
Like I would get AI, I would getout my phone and go on a walk
(27:18):
probably to start and just startrambling into something like otter.
ai.
And, you know, that can helpme then distill it down.
And then of course, I think thewriting, all the modalities, and
then, you know, AI is one exampleof how to take a lot of admin
off your plate these days withautomations and things coming.
So next couple of years,Alison will be wild.
(27:40):
I
I know it, it really is.
You know, we've been througha lot as entrepreneurs
the last several years.
The pandemic, um, uh, economicuncertainty, AI, an election,
you know, I think we're readyfor, uh, a bullish market.
(28:02):
But you've got to plan, youknow, you cannot wing it.
And what I love about scalingis that you get to be as
creative as you want to be.
And especially with AI, thereis literally no limit on what
you can create in your business.
Yeah, how do you, I want to, there'sa couple of things I want to go
(28:24):
back to, but for now, like juston foreseeing the next handful of
years in terms of scale, like, arethere any threats opportunities
that are just glaring to you, thingsthat you, you share with others?
Because I've read a bunch of AIreports, you know, which industries
will be shaken up the most.
But of course there's replacingjobs or positions, but it's going
(28:46):
to create a whole bunch of new ones.
And there's massive opportunity.
Like you said, a bull run.
I think that's going to happen.
Probably not across theboard though, for everyone.
You got to be prepared,like you said, and start
foreseeing this stuff.
Yeah, well, I mean, AI is goingto replace a lot of companies,
and so you need to figure outhow you're going to differentiate
(29:11):
yourself and in your industry,and how do you utilize AI.
to either build out new tools withinyour company or set yourself apart.
Use it to fuel you and notto stifle you or disrupt you.
(29:33):
So I think that's goingto be really critical.
I definitely believe that thereare some service businesses
that will probably go away.
But, you know, like for instance,I think community, If you
have a business that createsa community, that is extremely
valuable, because I think peopleare craving that connection.
(29:57):
And I think you can create communityaround many types of businesses.
So you want to be thinkingwhere is that people connection.
And where's the craftin your business.
I think people are really going topay, uh, you know, uh, higher amount
for things that are one of a kindthat are, you know, especially made.
(30:23):
So I think there's still so manyways to take the business that you
have and, and help it to evolve.
But just like anytime, youalways want to be thinking
of the customer first.
And what is it that the customerwants staying customer focused and
then work backwards from there.
(30:43):
Yeah, working backwardsis usually key.
And that's the, that's the part.
So you mentioned holistically,because that's something in when
I was doing research and notes andeven your background in homeopathy.
And I think that spurred from,you know, experience as well.
like, what does that mean forone, this whole holistic approach
(31:03):
to business and how, you know,I'm thinking the background
because one of your businesseswas basically centered on that.
It sounds like, um, so, and I'mjust thinking of the gaps and stuff.
So, yeah, give meyour thoughts there.
I discovered homeopathy whenI went through, uh, this
(31:23):
terrible car accident, andthen, which led to a divorce.
And I was kind of in adefinitely lost place in my life.
And at the time,somebody recommended this
homeopathic physician.
And I grew up in the Midwest.
I, I knew nothingabout holistic, okay?
(31:46):
And I remember going there, andthis was in my, uh, late twenties.
I remember walking to the door ofthis woman and almost, I stood there
for a minute before I knocked onthe door and I ended up, I ended
up staying, but I almost left,uh, because I was questioning
it all and the experienceended up changing my life.
(32:09):
And, you know, we don't needto get into a homeopathy lesson
here, but what homeopathy doesis it treats the whole person.
And for me back then, it justhelped me get my grounding.
It helped me to clear my head andbuild my confidence because, you
know, when everything fell apart,I started questioning everything
and my own capability and alsowhat I wanted in the future.
(32:34):
So it helped me to figure allof that out and deal with some
aches and pains and thingsthat I was going through.
And I became fascinated by it.
And I was trying to figureout what was my next move.
And so I went back to schooland studied to become a
homeopathic physician.
And I ended up runningthat practice for 20 years.
(32:57):
While I was building othercompanies as well, and I ended
up building the first homeopathiccollege in Southern California,
called the Homeopathic Academyof Southern California.
And, uh, it still runs todayand it, we built it as a
three year training program.
And in homeopathy, because you're,you are literally studying the
(33:21):
human being from the inside out.
You're getting to the coreof what their issues are,
even from the outside.
childhood and kind ofunraveling all of that.
And so when I moved on from,from that business, I still
use homeopathy in my everydaylife and, you know, help with
friends and so forth that Idon't have the practice anymore.
(33:44):
I still look at thebusiness owner the same way.
And I look at the business thesame way is that if you just coach
somebody and say, you know, Itold you, you need to go do that.
You know, this is thething you need to go after.
And if they're not doing it, thatmeans that there's some inner block.
And if you don't get to that,they're just going to keep repeating
(34:06):
that same pattern for the rest oftheir life, uh, in their personal
life and in their business.
And then when we're lookingat the business, same thing,
what are those stop gaps?
that we've got to removeand so that the business can
breathe and start to flourish.
And from a holisticperspective, what that means
(34:26):
is looking at the whole.
In traditional medicine,you're treating a symptom,
and you're taking a medicationfor that particular symptom.
But in holistic medicine,you're looking at the core,
the cause of that symptom.
If there's a fire burning inyour house, you don't take
a hammer and start banging.
(34:47):
Fire alarms to put out that fire.
No, you gotta get to the core ofwhat started the fire in the first
place so it doesn't keep repeating.
And that's the same thing for thebusiness owner and the business.
So all of that work that I did inhomeopathy has really helped me.
And then we went on to buildthis method called the Scale It
(35:08):
Method, and it deals with allfive pillars of the business
from a holistic perspective,which is the strategic vision.
The cash flow, which is marketingand sales, and the organization
of your finances, alliance of theteam, leadership, and execution.
So all industries need these fivepillars completely shored up within
(35:32):
these companies for them to scale.
You can't just focus on, I needmore leads, uh, or, you know,
I need this one team memberbecause I'm out of bandwidth.
You have to look at it fromthe holistic perspective.
Got it.
Yeah.
And I know you have a wholemethod there, the scale it method.
So, um, is there a good, cause Iknow, you know, in terms of time,
(35:54):
we won't be able to go throughthe whole thing here and break it
down, but is there a good spot orplace next step that people could
jump to, to, uh, to understandthat a little bit more from you.
Yeah, well, one thing is to get mybook, which is called Scale or Fail.
And, uh, you can, you know, getthat on Amazon and we really
(36:15):
break down, I break down thescale up method there and give
you all types of processes.
And, and really any levelof business, this works.
We've had, you know, companiesthat are in the nine figures
use that book startups.
So that's a great place to start.
And you can also just goto our website, which is,
(36:37):
uh, pinnacleglobalnetwork.
com.
And, uh, and then we, we puta little, uh, URL together for
those listening to your hustleand flow podcast for anybody
that wants to, uh, have a CEOstrategist really look at their
business and figure out, youknow, what phase are you in?
(36:59):
What is your biggest gapkeeping you from scaling to the
next level of your business?
And that is scaleit.
ceo forward slash hustle.
Nice.
Thank you.
Well, that's awesome.
Yeah.
And I'll make sure that's in theshow notes linked everywhere.
Super easy to find.
Um, Alison, this is great.
(37:20):
I have like so many otherquestions, but like, you know,
we'll, we'll, we'll see itwhere it goes in the future.
Maybe we'll do it again.
Um, but thank you for doingthis and sharing your story.
I think that's the biggest thing.
Uh, one of the biggesttakeaways for me is just
how everyone can relate to.
Your path, your journey, you know,maybe not all of us, you know,
got raised in an entrepreneurialfamily, but it doesn't matter.
(37:44):
We all have some background thatwe get to see in the mirror.
However, we looked at, youknow, we do that practice
you know, we're hereto evolve and grow.
Mm.
And I think that thosebumps and bruises, there are
research and development.
So, embrace them.
And just know that whatever you'regoing through in your business, in
(38:06):
your life right now is leading toyou to exactly where you want to be.
Yeah.
So instead of trying to dodgethem, embrace those moments
and those lessons because it'sbeautiful on the other side.
Awesome.
And we have the choice, right?
Just like opening the door to,uh, to the, to the location
(38:27):
and you chose to, to walkin and see the other side.
So we all have that choice.
Exactly.
much.
Ah, thank you so much for having
See you next time at the mastermind.
Yeah.
we'll see you there soon.
right.
Did he know that 97% ofbusiness owners never break
$1 million in revenue.
So today's guests.
I have Alison Maslan.
She has not only donethat, but has done it in 10
businesses that she owns.
And she's also helped 150,000 otherfounders to do the same exact thing.
(00:20):
Now, before all of this, though.
She was definitely at age19 buried in her work.
And she was, uh, in a situation.
It almost took her life.
Almost took everything from her.
She's going to talk allabout that and how that
switched things in her mind.
And now she finds herself flyingthrough life in her own way.
She'll talk about that as well.
So if you feel stuck at any reasonin your business and you're looking
(00:43):
to scale and you want to do it ina whole different way of thinking.
This is the episode for you.
So let's go jump inwith Alison Maslan.
We're here.
We're finally doing this, uh,recording, which is nice because
we share a mastermind togetherhere in San Diego, which, you
know, I feel like I've, uh, Ichatted with your husband last
(01:05):
time at the holiday party.
I love Mike.
That guy's so fun too.
Yeah, he is.
but you and I haven't chatted enoughand I'm like, man, I, I think this
is a nice focused time that we
Yeah, I'm excited.
Yeah, and, and I gotta thank youfor one for having us at your
house one of the nights becausefirst thing I noticed when I was
(01:25):
there, I was like, you have amassive trapeze in your backyard.
I'm like, what's up with that?
kind of hard to miss, isn't it?
tell me about that becauseI know it fits in here,
but let's just start there.
Like what's up with the trapeze?
What does it mean to you too?
well, my mom always jokes that whenI was born, the doctor literally
(01:46):
said that I belonged in a circus.
Yeah.
apparently I was prettyflexible as a baby, so who knew?
Uh, but I was a gymnast growing upand my gym teacher actually built me
a set of uneven bars in my backyardat made out of plastic tubing
(02:08):
Yeah, they bend, right?
So
yeah, it worked.
And I, I was out there swingingaround, you know, I used to do that
so much as a kid and I competed.
Um, professionally and in collegeand so I was always an athlete
and then in my 30s I discoveredthe flying trapeze and when I
(02:28):
was up there I, first of allI thought, I didn't even know
anyone could actually do this orlearn this, but I was so hooked.
And I think it kind of broughtme back to my childhood.
And so I've actually been trainingfor over 20 years and I found
a five generation, um, circusfamily that, uh, performed in
(02:50):
Ringling Brothers for 25 years.
that many of the Cirque duSoleil people train with and so
I Drove to LA every single weekand then when we moved into the
house We are now with more land.
I was like I am putting atrapeze here I didn't I think
my husband thought I was kindof joking But when he saw this
(03:11):
massive piece of equipment beingyou know built he's like wow
She's really serious about this.
So yeah, I'm I'm back thereflying all the time and
Doing flips and everything.
It's, it's really my happy place.
Yeah, I remember you mentioned thatbecause I think it was one of the
first things I asked you there, too.
(03:31):
I'm like, that's unique.
What's the story here?
And like, do you, howdo you use it now?
Like, are you, are you outthere training to be in the
next circus team or is itmore of like a practical?
no, well, first of all, Idon't fly by myself because
that would be dangerous.
And so you need to have a catcher.
You need to have somebodyup on the board with you.
(03:52):
And, uh, and then we often havesomebody on the ground as well.
And I, you know, I'm, I'm not goingto be running off with the circus at
this point in my life or Cirque duSoleil, uh, maybe next time around,
but I'm always aspiring to grow.
Uh, I've been working on my doubleback flip and some other big tricks.
(04:15):
And the greatest thing for me isthat I get to face my fear up there.
And have major breakthroughs,which then when I'm on the ground,
it just, you know, I end uphaving more breakthroughs here.
I face my fear and I stretch myself.
And so it really is the perfectalliance of me, you know,
(04:41):
going after my dreams up therein the air and I see myself
doing it on the ground as well.
I can, I could, I mean, never haveflown like that, but, uh, my sister
in law, I think had she, you know,there's some places you can go to
and kind of practice or try it out.
And that's what I've heardis like, you're in the air.
I mean, you're, you'reliterally flying.
I
You are literally flying.
(05:02):
There is nothing like it.
And you know, you're in the moment
because you know, when you'rein your, you're focused on
your business, you're thinkingabout all the things like your
brain is always going, I don'tknow if yours is, but mine is.
But when you're up there,you have to be focused.
You have to visualize, youhave to really lock it in.
You have to have your eyes open,your ears open, everything.
(05:24):
And so you're truly, it's likea moving meditation in a sense.
And I just feel so good andmy head feels so clear when
I, you know, when I'm done.
I think everyone, and I talkabout it often, you know, I took
up jujitsu six, seven monthsago and it's for similar reason.
I find it's like meditative becauseyou're going with the motions.
(05:46):
You have to thinkon the fly quickly.
It's physical.
Um, yeah, different,obviously, but similar.
And I feel like practices like that.
Just a quiet, the entrepreneurialmind that gets a little wonky.
Sometimes you need tolayer something in there,
You do.
Everybody needs that.
You know, my husband golfs andyou've got to be really focused.
(06:07):
It's such a mindset game and I thinkthose things are really healthy.
Plus to, you know, we operate fromour neck up in our business so much.
Yeah.
And so really to fully integrateit within our body and, and
use it because you're goingto lose it if you don't.
Absolutely.
(06:27):
Keep moving that body.
You only got one.
So Allison, I mean, you, you'velived a wildlife from the
research that I've gone down.
I did some deep dive in
Oh no.
skeleton to coming outnow, I'm just kidding.
But you're, you're scalingbusinesses left and right.
You have a full team, mentors.
(06:48):
Everything you're doing at Pinnacle,it's really cool in the mastermind.
I've heard, you know, otherways that you're scaling
and I'm just like, well, youknow, like this is true scale.
I mean, you wrote a book on it.
You did, you've done a lot.
Uh, what was like, but I'mcurious of the story before,
because you have a lot ofgreat strategies for scaling.
I want to get to, and you know,helping people break through
(07:09):
of maybe the doing themselves.
And maybe, you know, itdepends on the lay or the
size of the business, but.
What was your story starting out?
Because, what was it, 40 ish year?
Or you started at like19, I think, right?
Business for Yourself?
So, was it scale in mind then?
Or no?
You know, I, uh, grew up inan entrepreneurial family.
(07:30):
My father was very passionateabout his business.
My grandfather started, uh, awomen's clothing store in Kansas
city called Maslan's and then,uh, won a second store in a
poker game in Tulsa, Oklahoma.
Uh, where I was born.
(07:52):
And my grandfather and my fatherchecked out this store to see,
okay, what did we win here?
And is this worth even taking over?
And what they learned fromthe experience was it was a
great store, but it wasn't,they weren't selling the right
products for the right market.
And so, my dad ended up takingthat company, which is called
(08:14):
Stewarts, and scaling it acrossthe Midwest, uh, over 50 locations.
And so, as a young girl, I wouldgo with him from store to store,
and I just took in so much,just being around that energy.
And he was always soinnovative and courageous.
And so it, I reallydidn't know anything else.
(08:36):
And I couldn't hold a jobfor more than two weeks.
So I had to figure outthis entrepreneurial thing.
And so my first company, um, Istarted when I was 19 doing, uh,
brochures and greeting cards, andthat evolved to a full service
advertising a PR firm when I was 25.
Wow.
(08:57):
but I didn't know how to scale.
I had no idea.
And I was taking on big clientslike Ben and Jerry's and Supercuts
and Charlotte Roos and, andhelping them with their marketing
and building a small team.
But I ended up getting buried in thework like so many entrepreneurs do.
(09:18):
Uh, you know, I, one day I wokeup and I was like, you know, the
business is running me into theground instead of me running it.
And I was so burned out from thestress of it all and ended up
having a terrible car accidentthat just about took my life.
And so that was my massive wakeup call to go, Okay, well clearly
(09:42):
something isn't working here.
And so that became my, uh, justmy determination, my mission to
figure out, you know, how wasit that Ben and Jerry's or super
cuts, you know, my clients, youdidn't see the CEO standing over
everybody, uh, like an orchestraleader, you know, micromanaging,
(10:04):
they were out there buildinggreat strategic relationships,
partnerships, and, and buildingthe future of the company.
And so I began to study.
How this was working and that,uh, became the impetus for me
to go on and build nine morecompanies that haven't depended
on me to be founder independent.
(10:26):
And so that's really whatwe do day in and day out at
Pinnacle Global Network ishelping business owners build a
team managed scalable company.
I like it.
Founder independent too, becausethat makes all the sense.
And yeah, you look at these othercompanies that are actually scaling.
They're thinking of partnerships,the bigger picture, the
(10:47):
strategic moves or gaps inthe market product market fit.
Like you said, evenin the beginning.
When you're drowning in the work orthe inbound stuff or just hustling
in general, it's like, yeah, youlose track of a lot of this stuff.
take me back because there'salso, I know you have a whole
cool, unique way of partnershipsand, and, um, not, it's more
(11:08):
collaboration than than competition,which I want to touch on.
But take me to the car accidentbecause what I feel like there's
a bigger story or meaning oflike, because you said work was
burying you, like, what, I guesswhat was the tipping point there
from this grind mode to now?
It's like, Oh man, Igot to change things up.
(11:29):
Well, you know, it sneaks upon you, and most people are
living on autopilot, right?
And you're just thinking of what'sthe next thing I gotta do and
what's the next thing I gotta do.
You're not really examiningyour life and how you feel.
And my daughter at the time wasunder two years old, so I was also
managing taking care of her as well.
(11:50):
That's tough.
And so I, uh, I just felt thatI, I remember driving down,
um, by the beach in San Diegoand seeing all these people
hanging out at the beach.
And I remember thinking.
How do they even get to do that?
You know, and here I'm living inthis beautiful city and I wasn't
able to fully live my life.
(12:11):
I was working weekends.
I was working till two or three inthe morning, creating ad campaigns.
And I had a small team, butI was such a control freak.
Uh, I felt like I had to havemy eyes on everything going
in and out of the company.
And that's, you know, so manybusiness owners are like that.
You think you'redoing the right thing.
(12:32):
You think you're keeping thingsfrom falling apart and that
it's your responsibility.
But here I had these greatpeople and I was in their way.
And so, you know, just fromthe, the weight of it, but
it was, I was doing it tomyself, but I didn't know.
And so I was fearful.
I was exhausted.
I felt trapped, uh, in mycircumstances because I just
(12:56):
didn't really know what else to do.
And then I was embarrassed.
To ask for help and I thoughtsomething's wrong with me, right?
That's what we always do withsomething's wrong with me I
should be able to figure thisout and you're making money.
You should be grateful, youknow, like oh my gosh all these
different emotions so That's youknow, that's where I think the
(13:20):
universe was kind of like a littletired of dealing with me and just
said look Let's just let's wakeher up, you know, don't kill her.
But you know And that,that was my wake up call.
Wow.
Yeah.
And, uh, just the buildup to thatbecause, you know, there's a lot
of things that we just don't see.
Yeah, we're blind to sometimesthe obvious things around us.
(13:42):
Car accident.
I mean, there's a wholebunch of things that can
happen otherwise as well.
Um, I mean, that's,that's a wake up call.
I mean, what's the, 'cause I'mthinking, you mentioned so many
things, like people getting in theway of great people that you hire.
Delegation, of course, is a termthat everyone's said, but in
the moment when you're grinding,it ain't that obvious, right?
(14:04):
Like, you're not thinking of that.
You're just trying to get thestuff done, moving to the next
thing, trying to make more moneyto live in San Diego or whatever
you're trying to do, freedom.
So
for sure.
You know, and, uh, I had alot of people depending on me.
And looking up to me.
And, uh, I, you know, felt likeI needed to keep it together.
(14:26):
Outwardly.
Even though inwardlyI was crumbling.
And, you know, just tryingto hold it together.
And I think that wasprobably the hardest thing.
You know, I think business ownersput an enormous amount of pressure
on themselves to get it all right.
(14:46):
And I think if I would have justlightened up and asked for help
back then, I would have gotten it.
But, you know, I don't regretit because that's where some of
my biggest lessons came from.
And, you know, I, I do remembera, a very powerful moment back
then when I was in the hospitaland, uh, you know, it was a, it
(15:09):
was a pretty serious accident.
But once I kinda knew that Iwas, everything was gonna be
okay, my, the first thought thatcame to my mind was, what if
you're in the same place a yearfrom now or ten years from now?
Yeah.
that it literally was like somebodywas speaking to me and I knew
(15:34):
that if I didn't make a change,I would be in the same place.
And, and time just goes so fast.
And so that really lit this fireunder my feet to say that, you know,
if this is success, I don't want it.
Uh, I love business, butI need to do it a new way.
And so that was where I justbecame super determined.
(15:56):
to learn.
And, you know, because ofthat, it really was the best
experience because it set meup on my mission for my life.
Cause once I figured it out formyself, I also realized that
millions of business ownersstruggle with the same thing.
In fact, 97 percent of businessowners never even make it
(16:17):
past a million in revenue.
And this is really why,
because they're in their own way.
They're not thinking of, yeah,outside of them or even their,
their, maybe their small team,but they're in their way is
what they're just creatingfriction in all, all areas.
Right.
Yes,
And that's.
So before we get there, becauseI want to ask the question, maybe
(16:39):
I'll just seed it now is scalingbecause a lot of folks won't even
think of scale until some point.
I mean, who knows when, youknow, what is that tipping point?
And I guess that's foreveryone to ask themselves.
And for you, Allison, this, thiscar accident was a moment where for
whatever reason that that questioncame to your mind, like, what's it
going to look like in 5 to 10 years?
(17:01):
And, Like, do you, doyou see the people?
Cause you know, Pinnacle isobviously coaching, mentoring
a ton of business owners.
Is that a pretty recurring thingthat these, these moments happen?
And then like the questionneeds to happen or like,
yes.
how do you coachpeople through that?
And how do they identify maybe it'snot a car accident, but it could
(17:21):
Yeah.
Well, hopefully, yeah,they get to us before then.
we primarily mentor businessowners in the seven and
eight, multiple eight figures.
And by the time they've come to us,many of them have been stuck in that
same mode that I was in for decades.
And it's just become their life.
(17:42):
And, you know, it's affectedtheir health or relationships in,
you know, in one way or another.
And they can feel very lonelyat the top and feeling stuck.
And many of them have, have managedto grow even, you know, 50, 100
employees, but they're stillvery much buried in the weeds.
And so the first thing we haveto do is create awareness.
(18:05):
We have to put a mirror up forthem to see what they're doing
and how they're in their own way.
And we help them determinewhat phase that they're
in, in the scaling process.
And so once they know, and manyof them we call it, they're
in the third phase, which wecall the ring leader and the
(18:27):
ring leader is like a circus.
Uh, interestingly enough, becausewe were just talking about
that earlier in the circus.
Um, but they are, are growingand they're growing teams.
They might have a customer serviceteam, a sales team, a marketing
team, all of those things.
Uh, but they're notaligned with the vision.
And so the CEO of the company, thefounder, needs to be more of that
(18:50):
visionary CEO focused on the future.
And so often you have teamthat is a revolving door.
And generally it's happening becausewe're bringing team members on
before we're super clear about thatvision and what success looks like
for every single one of those roles.
You have to really understandwhat they're reaching for,
(19:13):
what those metrics are.
And if you know, then youcan communicate it to them.
If you don't know, they're notgoing to be able to reach it.
Then everybody gets frustratedand you know, then you jump
back in to save the day.
Right.
And this is that, this is wherethat hamster wheel starts.
And so so many business ownerscome to us right there and
(19:35):
they've been there for so long.
And once we, we kind of shinethe light on them and show
them what's happening and helpthem to back up, re strategize,
uh, you know, and restructurereally, It, they grow fast.
They get out of their own way.
They have more freedom thanthey have ever experienced.
(19:56):
You know, they were takingvacations without checking
their email 50 times a day.
And, uh, and, and nowthey have this great team.
Uh, and, and many of them,I get messages all the time.
Oh my gosh, I had my biggestmonth and I'm not even there.
So that's a great feelingfor an entrepreneur.
(20:17):
It is.
And so like, so for thinking scale,you said seven, eight figure folks.
I mean, you're still, yeah, youhave this PTSD of being in the
grind for probably just decades,you know, for a lot of folks.
And when would you recommendpeople to start thinking this way
with scale in mind, maybe, maybebeing realistic and knowing like,
(20:39):
hey, you know, you're not thatseven figure business yet, or
you're not that eight figure yet.
Yes.
What are, what would you suggestthey start thinking and doing?
Well, honestly, I wish I knew thisstuff way back then, because if
you know this from the beginning,then you know what you're reaching
for and you can plan for it.
Now, in the early days, you'rejust trying to figure out
(21:01):
your products and services.
You're trying to, uh, getyour customer journey.
lined up, um, and get moreclear on your target market.
All of those things haveto happen in the beginning.
There's really not a lot ofscaling, uh, or multiplying
what you're doing because you'rejust laying out the groundwork.
(21:21):
But once you do, and if you can getsupport early on and get out of the
way, you're going to scale faster.
Uh, they have, there's beena statistic that if you hire,
Uh, like even an assistant inthe first six months of your
business, you will get toseven figures in half the time.
(21:45):
If you really empower thatassistant to do those things
that are just taking up so muchof your time and keeping you,
you know, out of working on thebusiness and the business growth.
Yeah.
Would, do you recommend, cause I'veheard folks tracking their time or
activities or their energy level?
(22:05):
Like, is there a way that you wouldrecommend folks to have awareness?
Cause you mentioned that earlier.
It's just having awarenessof the, of the issue or
maybe potential issue.
Like, what are theresome practices you could
Oh, yeah, for sure.
And I'm sure there's a wayfor AI to even do this better.
This is something where youcould, you could recommend.
But, um, one of the things you wantto do is, first of all, divide up
(22:29):
the company into four quadrants.
So you want to look at yourbusiness from operations side, your
marketing side, your sales, and thenwhatever your revenue stream is,
you know, whatever your offering is.
So for us, it's mentoring.
And, uh, and then, so let's just sayyou take a piece of paper and you
(22:50):
divide it into these four quadrants.
Then in each of those areas,write down everything that you're
still doing in the business.
And it may take you a whilebecause so much of this you do
unconsciously, you don't evenrealize that you're doing it.
And just keep writing andwriting and writing down
everything that you do.
(23:11):
Another thing you can do, becausesome things you, you won't
remember, is over a three, fourday period, literally write down
everything that you're doing.
Mm hmm.
Mm
once you look at it, I likedividing it in the four quadrants
because it helps you think ofthe whole company holistically.
And then you'll see, okay,which area of the business.
(23:34):
is taking up most of my time.
Is it sales?
You know, is it operations?
And you want to divide thatby percentages and then you,
the, the one that's takingup the most time you work on
first to replace yourself.
And for some of the thingsthat if it's your special
(23:58):
delivery of what you do, that'sprobably going to take a little
longer to replace yourself.
So if you're an attorney or ifyou're an electrician or, you
know, you're a psychologist,but you're also the CEO of the
business, ultimately you needto replace yourself with other
attorneys so that you can befocused on building that vision
and being the CEO of the company,leading the team and so forth.
(24:23):
So, usually those are the areas thatyou can, you replace yourself last.
But still, you need to do it.
But once you have it all on paper,you do that big drain, brain dump,
then you can see, oh my gosh.
You know, if I, if I stop attendingthese meetings, okay, that's given
me back, alright, six hours a week.
(24:44):
And if I, if I, Uh, let go ofthis task in marketing, whether
it's, I don't know if it'scopywriting or it is doing some
work in admin, whatever it is,all of those things add up.
So your goal is to get yourhours back and have other people
(25:07):
that that is their expertise.
That's their superpower totake that off your plate.
I have a project managerthat that she literally
says that all the time.
She's like, I love doingthis kind of stuff.
I'm like, thank God.
Oh my God.
managers, right?
They're amazing at what they do.
(25:27):
So my form of project managingis, you know, wake up at three
in the morning going, Oh my God.
Oh, is it?
Yeah, that would be mine too.
And I think most founders, right?
Like, would you say most founderspeople start in the company?
I mean, of course you came froma family of entrepreneurs, which
maybe you have some insights.
Are most of us visionarieskind of, you know, maybe not
(25:50):
the best at organization.
I know we come in all flavors,but like, are there some
themes that you've noticed?
Well, I, I do think that if youhave that as your background
and you grew up in it, it is alittle easier to step into it.
Some people struggle though if,let's say, your parents lost their
business or went bankrupt or, youknow, they had some trauma there.
(26:13):
We have to be careful not to projectthat in our own life and always be
in this kind of poverty mindset.
That can be a challengeyou have to overcome.
I do think coming from a corporatebackground, we've, I've seen very
successful entrepreneurs comefrom the corporate background,
but I think it's harder
Yeah.
it's a different way of thinking.
(26:35):
And especially if you've beenrunning a department, for instance,
in the corporate business asa business owner, you know,
you're wearing many hats and youhave to learn to be strategic
and a big thinker and look atthe gaps within the company
and how to close those gaps.
(26:56):
And also, you know, you have tounderstand how to pivot quickly,
as we know, for what's happenedover the last several years.
And you know, you mentionedAI and as you're talking about
all this stuff, you know, I'mthinking of how would I do
this brain dump of operations,marketing, sales, revenue streams.
Like I would get AI, I would getout my phone and go on a walk
(27:18):
probably to start and just startrambling into something like otter.
ai.
And, you know, that can helpme then distill it down.
And then of course, I think thewriting, all the modalities, and
then, you know, AI is one exampleof how to take a lot of admin
off your plate these days withautomations and things coming.
So next couple of years,Alison will be wild.
(27:40):
I
I know it, it really is.
You know, we've been througha lot as entrepreneurs
the last several years.
The pandemic, um, uh, economicuncertainty, AI, an election,
you know, I think we're readyfor, uh, a bullish market.
(28:02):
But you've got to plan, youknow, you cannot wing it.
And what I love about scalingis that you get to be as
creative as you want to be.
And especially with AI, thereis literally no limit on what
you can create in your business.
Yeah, how do you, I want to, there'sa couple of things I want to go
(28:24):
back to, but for now, like juston foreseeing the next handful of
years in terms of scale, like, arethere any threats opportunities
that are just glaring to you, thingsthat you, you share with others?
Because I've read a bunch of AIreports, you know, which industries
will be shaken up the most.
But of course there's replacingjobs or positions, but it's going
(28:46):
to create a whole bunch of new ones.
And there's massive opportunity.
Like you said, a bull run.
I think that's going to happen.
Probably not across theboard though, for everyone.
You got to be prepared,like you said, and start
foreseeing this stuff.
Yeah, well, I mean, AI is goingto replace a lot of companies,
and so you need to figure outhow you're going to differentiate
(29:11):
yourself and in your industry,and how do you utilize AI.
to either build out new tools withinyour company or set yourself apart.
Use it to fuel you and notto stifle you or disrupt you.
(29:33):
So I think that's goingto be really critical.
I definitely believe that thereare some service businesses
that will probably go away.
But, you know, like for instance,I think community, If you
have a business that createsa community, that is extremely
valuable, because I think peopleare craving that connection.
(29:57):
And I think you can create communityaround many types of businesses.
So you want to be thinkingwhere is that people connection.
And where's the craftin your business.
I think people are really going topay, uh, you know, uh, higher amount
for things that are one of a kindthat are, you know, especially made.
(30:23):
So I think there's still so manyways to take the business that you
have and, and help it to evolve.
But just like anytime, youalways want to be thinking
of the customer first.
And what is it that the customerwants staying customer focused and
then work backwards from there.
(30:43):
Yeah, working backwardsis usually key.
And that's the, that's the part.
So you mentioned holistically,because that's something in when
I was doing research and notes andeven your background in homeopathy.
And I think that spurred from,you know, experience as well.
like, what does that mean forone, this whole holistic approach
(31:03):
to business and how, you know,I'm thinking the background
because one of your businesseswas basically centered on that.
It sounds like, um, so, and I'mjust thinking of the gaps and stuff.
So, yeah, give meyour thoughts there.
I discovered homeopathy whenI went through, uh, this
(31:23):
terrible car accident, andthen, which led to a divorce.
And I was kind of in adefinitely lost place in my life.
And at the time,somebody recommended this
homeopathic physician.
And I grew up in the Midwest.
I, I knew nothingabout holistic, okay?
(31:46):
And I remember going there, andthis was in my, uh, late twenties.
I remember walking to the door ofthis woman and almost, I stood there
for a minute before I knocked onthe door and I ended up, I ended
up staying, but I almost left,uh, because I was questioning
it all and the experienceended up changing my life.
(32:09):
And, you know, we don't needto get into a homeopathy lesson
here, but what homeopathy doesis it treats the whole person.
And for me back then, it justhelped me get my grounding.
It helped me to clear my head andbuild my confidence because, you
know, when everything fell apart,I started questioning everything
and my own capability and alsowhat I wanted in the future.
(32:34):
So it helped me to figure allof that out and deal with some
aches and pains and thingsthat I was going through.
And I became fascinated by it.
And I was trying to figureout what was my next move.
And so I went back to schooland studied to become a
homeopathic physician.
And I ended up runningthat practice for 20 years.
(32:57):
While I was building othercompanies as well, and I ended
up building the first homeopathiccollege in Southern California,
called the Homeopathic Academyof Southern California.
And, uh, it still runs todayand it, we built it as a
three year training program.
And in homeopathy, because you're,you are literally studying the
(33:21):
human being from the inside out.
You're getting to the coreof what their issues are,
even from the outside.
childhood and kind ofunraveling all of that.
And so when I moved on from,from that business, I still
use homeopathy in my everydaylife and, you know, help with
friends and so forth that Idon't have the practice anymore.
(33:44):
I still look at thebusiness owner the same way.
And I look at the business thesame way is that if you just coach
somebody and say, you know, Itold you, you need to go do that.
You know, this is thething you need to go after.
And if they're not doing it, thatmeans that there's some inner block.
And if you don't get to that,they're just going to keep repeating
(34:06):
that same pattern for the rest oftheir life, uh, in their personal
life and in their business.
And then when we're lookingat the business, same thing,
what are those stop gaps?
that we've got to removeand so that the business can
breathe and start to flourish.
And from a holisticperspective, what that means
(34:26):
is looking at the whole.
In traditional medicine,you're treating a symptom,
and you're taking a medicationfor that particular symptom.
But in holistic medicine,you're looking at the core,
the cause of that symptom.
If there's a fire burning inyour house, you don't take
a hammer and start banging.
(34:47):
Fire alarms to put out that fire.
No, you gotta get to the core ofwhat started the fire in the first
place so it doesn't keep repeating.
And that's the same thing for thebusiness owner and the business.
So all of that work that I did inhomeopathy has really helped me.
And then we went on to buildthis method called the Scale It
(35:08):
Method, and it deals with allfive pillars of the business
from a holistic perspective,which is the strategic vision.
The cash flow, which is marketingand sales, and the organization
of your finances, alliance of theteam, leadership, and execution.
So all industries need these fivepillars completely shored up within
(35:32):
these companies for them to scale.
You can't just focus on, I needmore leads, uh, or, you know,
I need this one team memberbecause I'm out of bandwidth.
You have to look at it fromthe holistic perspective.
Got it.
Yeah.
And I know you have a wholemethod there, the scale it method.
So, um, is there a good, cause Iknow, you know, in terms of time,
(35:54):
we won't be able to go throughthe whole thing here and break it
down, but is there a good spot orplace next step that people could
jump to, to, uh, to understandthat a little bit more from you.
Yeah, well, one thing is to get mybook, which is called Scale or Fail.
And, uh, you can, you know, getthat on Amazon and we really
(36:15):
break down, I break down thescale up method there and give
you all types of processes.
And, and really any levelof business, this works.
We've had, you know, companiesthat are in the nine figures
use that book startups.
So that's a great place to start.
And you can also just goto our website, which is,
(36:37):
uh, pinnacleglobalnetwork.
com.
And, uh, and then we, we puta little, uh, URL together for
those listening to your hustleand flow podcast for anybody
that wants to, uh, have a CEOstrategist really look at their
business and figure out, youknow, what phase are you in?
(36:59):
What is your biggest gapkeeping you from scaling to the
next level of your business?
And that is scaleit.
ceo forward slash hustle.
Nice.
Thank you.
Well, that's awesome.
Yeah.
And I'll make sure that's in theshow notes linked everywhere.
Super easy to find.
Um, Alison, this is great.
(37:20):
I have like so many otherquestions, but like, you know,
we'll, we'll, we'll see itwhere it goes in the future.
Maybe we'll do it again.
Um, but thank you for doingthis and sharing your story.
I think that's the biggest thing.
Uh, one of the biggesttakeaways for me is just
how everyone can relate to.
Your path, your journey, you know,maybe not all of us, you know,
got raised in an entrepreneurialfamily, but it doesn't matter.
(37:44):
We all have some background thatwe get to see in the mirror.
However, we looked at, youknow, we do that practice
you know, we're hereto evolve and grow.
Mm.
And I think that thosebumps and bruises, there are
research and development.
So, embrace them.
And just know that whatever you'regoing through in your business, in
(38:06):
your life right now is leading toyou to exactly where you want to be.
Yeah.
So instead of trying to dodgethem, embrace those moments
and those lessons because it'sbeautiful on the other side.
Awesome.
And we have the choice, right?
Just like opening the door to,uh, to the, to the location
(38:27):
and you chose to, to walkin and see the other side.
So we all have that choice.
Exactly.
much.
Ah, thank you so much for having
See you next time at the mastermind.
Yeah.
we'll see you there soon.
right.
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