All Episodes

September 12, 2025 17 mins

The primary focus of this podcast episode is the misconception that relentless hard work is the key to business growth. Tara Bryan shares her personal journey as an agency owner, illustrating the futility of merely increasing effort without reevaluating the underlying business model.

She delves into the significance of recognizing one's expertise and transitioning from a model reliant on direct effort to one that leverages authority and scalable methodologies. By examining the barriers that hinder growth, she emphasize the necessity of not just working harder but strategically innovating how expertise is delivered. Ultimately, she challenges the listener to reconsider their approach, enabling them to realize their potential as scalable experts capable of reaching a broader audience.

About Me:

Hey, it’s your host, Tara Bryan. And I am on a mission to help more business owners learn to infinitely scale their businesses by leveraging the power of online without sacrificing the customer experience or results. 

I like to geek out on all things business strategy, marketing, interactive digital and user experience. This podcast is all about what is working, lessons learned and actionable tips to create and grow a thriving online business. 

Join us each week as we dive into different strategies, tactics and tips you can apply immediately to your business.

To learn more:

Find us at https://www.taralbryan.com

Here are two ways we can help you create, grow and scale your business:

1. Want to package your expertise or become a Scalable Expert? Take our free quick assessment to see how close you are to creating a scalable business.

The Scalable Expert Assessment

2. ALREADY HAVE AN ONLINE BUSINESS & READY TO INFINITELY SCALE?

Schedule a 30 minute call with Tara to talk about our offers that will help you master the game.

Thanks for listening!

Thanks so much for listening to our podcast! If you enjoyed this episode and think that others could benefit from listening, please share it using the social media buttons on this page.

Do you have some feedback or questions about this episode? Leave a comment in the section below!

Subscribe to the podcast

If you would like to get automatic updates of new podcast episodes, you can subscribe to the podcast on Apple Podcasts or Stitcher. You can also subscribe in your favorite podcast app.

Leave us an Apple Podcasts review

Ratings and reviews from our listeners are extremely valuable to us and greatly appreciated. They help our podcast rank higher on Apple Podcasts, which exposes our show to more awesome listeners like you. If you have a minute, please leave an honest review on Apple Podcasts.

Takeaways:

  • The notion that working harder will lead to business growth is a misconception we must address.
  • Tara's experience with significant challenges in her childhood that shaped her determination and resilience in adulthood.
  • Recognizing when to pivot from a stagnant business model is critical for sustainable growth.
  • Our expertise must be packaged in innovative ways to effectively reach a broader audience.
  • Establishing authority in one's field is essential for creating scalable opportunities and serving more clients.
  • It is imperative to shift the mindset from working more hours to maximizing the impact of one’s expertise.

00:00 Introduction and Personal Story

03:16 The Trap of Working...

Mark as Played
Transcript

Episode Transcript

Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
(00:00):
Hey, everybody.
Welcome to today's episode ofthe Scalable Expert Podcast.
I am thrilled that you're here.
Hey.
One of the things that I wantto talk about today is how working
harder is not actually goingto help you grow your business.
And.
And this is a trap I fell intoover and over again as an agency

(00:23):
owner is like, I'm an overachiever.
I thought that if I justworked harder, if I was more tenacious
than everyone else, and I justdid more of the things that I was
going to get ahead, there was,like, no way that I wasn't going
to just power through and gether done.

(00:44):
One of the things that.
Which is, again, that's partof who I am, is I'm just determined,
right?
Like, I can get things done.
When I was a kid, I had allsorts of challenges with my feet,
and I couldn't actually run orjump or do sports or do any of the
other things that I wanted to do.
And if you know me at all,I'm, like, super athletic and super

(01:07):
interested in all thingsactive and doing things.
And it just drove me crazybecause I would run in gym class
and then my feet would swellup and I would just be miserable
because I would be in so much pain.
Or I remember that I had to dothe hurdles in gym class, and I literally
could not jump and do thehurdles because it just.

(01:29):
My.
My feet just wouldn't do it.
That was my childhood is.
I had lots of obstacles whenit came to being physical and being
able to do all the things thatI wanted to do.
Of course, I still did sports.
I still did all of the thingsbecause I was just so bound and determined
to do it.
But I would have a lot of pain.
I would just have to ice myfeet and all the things.

(01:51):
And then.
And then fast forward.
I had surgery on both of myfeet as I was.
I think it was like startinghigh school.
Like, my feet stopped growingand then I could have the surgery.
And the only thing I reallyremember around that was, like, I
was popular for the week, right?
Because everybody wanted toget out of class 10 minutes early
to drive me in my wheelchairto the elevator to so I could go

(02:14):
to my next class.
And, and.
And then that surgery actuallyultimately didn't work, and.
And so it didn't heal.
That, that.
That foot challenge that I had.
However, again, fast forward again.
And as a young adult, Istarted doing marathons and, and
training for marathons,running marathons, half marathons,

(02:34):
full marathons, all the thingsI still actually run.
And.
And so it's one of the thingsthat I love to do.
And so, again, like, I'm just tenacious.
Like, that's just how my brainis just more powerful than my body.
So I was like, I'm figuringthis out.
I'm gonna do it.
And now I can actually do itwithout that same level of pain that

(02:57):
I had as a kid.
And I tell you this story inthe abbreviated version of this story
just to prove to you that,again, like, I. I believe so strongly
that you can make anythinghappen that you want because you
just have to work harder thananyone else in order to have it done.
So you can imagine myfrustration when I was growing my

(03:21):
agency got to seven figuresand then just stopped, right?
Like, we just got to a certainpoint in the business and I couldn't
get any farther.
Didn't really matter what I did.
And.
And so I ended up, okay, I'mjust gonna keep working hard.
That's what I do.
That's worked for me in the past.
And I kept hitting that brickwall, and I kept getting more and

(03:45):
more burnt out trying to breakthrough that wall, right?
Trying to do somethingdifferent than what I was trying
to do, because it wasn't working.
I thought, oh, I just don'thave the magic key, right?
I just don't know exactly whatit is I'm supposed to be doing.
I didn't know the questions toask to get to the answer that I really
wanted.

(04:06):
And trust me, like, again,case in point was my story.
But, like, I. I triedeverything I could think of at the
time, but I wasn't getting there.
And because here's the problemis that I was in the wrong business
model.
And so when I.
Instead of just pushing andpushing and trying to get the answers
and trying to work harder andtrying to do all the things, I had

(04:28):
to stop and look at how tochange fundamentally the way that
I was growing the business andhow I wanted to show up and grow
the business.
Because here's the thing isthat when you are an expert and whatever
kind of expert you are, right?

(04:49):
Typically what happens isyou've developed your expertise by
helping people or by going toschool and going into your job and
doing the thing and beingsuccessful at it or doing the research
or whatever it is that you'redoing, right?
So you've done something, andin terms of Macklemore, right?
Like, you've done your 10,000hours, you become an expert at whatever

(05:11):
it is that you have developedover time.
And because of that, we'vedone the work we've put ourselves
in positions where we aretesting and we're putting in the
practice, and then somethingstarts to happen.
Like where I was, where I justgot stuck, right?
Like I got stuck because Icouldn't get past, past that.

(05:34):
That period of growth with myexpertise was not what was going
to lead me to that next placein the way that I thought it was
going to.
And, and so as an expert, theonly way to really get into a different
place with your expertise iswhen you own your expertise and when

(06:01):
you become an authority inyour expertise, whatever that looks
like.
So I'll just use a traditionalexample just to get us started in
the conversation.
But my brother is a physicianin a very specific niche of medicine.
And so he sought out a lotbecause of his expertise in being

(06:23):
in this small niche ofmedicine, right?
So people reach out and say,okay, you have an expertise in this
kind of medicine.
There's not a lot of peoplewho are an expert at this.
We would like you to publishan article.
We would like you to come andspeak to our audience.
We would like you to consulton this patient in, wherever they've

(06:45):
asked him to do that.
So because of his expertiseand the level of specialization that
he has, he is sought out as an expert.
That is one way to developyour expertise.
For me, I was an expert increating and launching scalable elearning

(07:06):
programs within organizations.
So I was able to go intocompanies and, and go through that
whole process and get themtangible results.
Every single time that, thatwe worked with a company, I was able
to develop that methodologyand I was able to use that methodology

(07:27):
to successfully create anagency where people, companies sought
us out in order to work onthose projects.
You are an expert in whateverit is in your, you're an expert in.
When you've developedsomething that's your proprietary
methodology and you've usedthat to help other people, right?

(07:49):
So people are seeking out your expertise.
Now what happens is you get toa certain place and as an expert,
people are, are asking for youto help them, right?
Because you're an expert.
So in my brother's case,people are seeking him out because
he is an expert in this specialization.

(08:10):
For me, companies were seekingus out as an agency because of the
work that we had done and thereferrals and all the other things
for you.
You could have an expertiseand you could decide to write a book
and then people are seekingyou out to speak on that book or
to help with whatever it isyou're doing.

(08:31):
That's your proprietary methodology.
So the shift that needs tohappen is instead of saying the here's
my expertise and here's how Iapply it to the work that I'm doing.
It's how do you look at yourexpertise and put it into some sort
of packaged format that allowspeople to access it without you being

(08:56):
present, without you taking upyour time to be there.
So again, if we go back to mybrother and that example like he
is, people hire him to speak.
So say he, he has all thesepeople who want him to speak and
he has to go and travel to allof these different locations.

(09:16):
He is maxed out in terms ofhow many locations he can speak at
when people are seeking himout, right?
So he has a full time job, hehas a family, he has all sorts of
other things going on.
So say he can only do twospeaking gigs a week, Mex.
What happens when he has 5, 6,8, 10 medical practices asking him

(09:43):
to come and speak?
Does he just work harder andspend more time traveling, spend
more time going and doing allof these things because he wants
to grow his expertise?
No, that's not possible.
Because at some point he'smaxing out his ability to travel,
maxing out his ability tospeak, maxing out his ability how

(10:04):
he balances work and familyand these speaking gigs or whatever
else he's doing, right?
So he's going to get to thatplace in the agency.
We got to that place when Iwas hiring other people at an exponential
rate.
But the business wasn'tgrowing at that same rate, Right.
So we had to figure out how dowe deliver our expertise, that framework,

(10:30):
in a different way so we cango from 10 to 20 to 50 to a thousand
companies that we're helpingand what does that look like?
So when you start looking atthat fundamental mental question,
and you may have a similar orjust slightly different fundamental
question that you are askingyourself as an expert, but the question
is really like, how do I gofrom what I'm doing today and expand

(10:56):
it so that when and when morepeople come to seek out my expertise,
I am able to serve them?
And, and so that's thequestion that you should be asking
yourself.
If you're not there yet, youwill be at some point, especially
as you grow your expertise, asyou get even better.

(11:17):
And if you're not, I'm justgoing to tell you it's because you're
hiding because you haven'tdeclared your authority and you're
not leading with yourauthority out in the marketplace.
So if you're leading with yourauthority out in the Marketplace
and you are not busy beyondyour capability, then keep working
on your messaging around yourproprietary methodology.

(11:41):
Because as an expert, you havewhat it takes for the people that
need your expertise to comeand be served by what you're doing.
So if that's not happeningyet, it's because you're not actually
declaring your expertise outof the market.
But if it is happening andyou're leading with your expertise
and you're looking at yourcalendar and you're like, how on

(12:04):
earth do I do this?
How do I move beyond one onone or where I am today and be able
to start thinking aboutexpanding beyond the current capacity
that you have.
Congratulations.
You are in a place where youare thinking about becoming a scalable
expert, which is a superexciting place to be, especially

(12:27):
if you're in my world.
Because I love talking about this.
Because here's the thing is,when we can apply the infinite scale
method to your business as ascalable expert, then what starts
to happen is you take yoursignature methodology, you take your,
your just your one frameworkthat you have created around your

(12:48):
expertise, and you can startdelivering it in an infinite number
of ways.
So you could have a book, youcan do speaking, you can have a program,
you could have a live event,you could have anything that you
can dream of, you can use todeliver your message in an infinite

(13:10):
number of ways.
And by the way, you can chargefor all of those different ways.
People will pay differentamounts for different ways to consume
your authority framework, yourexpert framework, because they're
going from where they aretoday to getting the result that
your framework is giving them.

(13:31):
And so start getting creative.
You could have a certificationprogram, you could write that book,
you could have a program, youcould have a mastermind, you could
have a live event, you couldhave a group of people who want to
learn from you, and you takethem through that particular cadence
of your framework together asa group.

(13:54):
There are lots and lots ofdifferent ways to start to scale
your ability to help peoplebeyond one on one, beyond where you
think that you could be todayin terms of your capacity.
And it takes a couple of things.
It takes one for you to clearyour authority in your framework.

(14:17):
Then it takes you creating andpackaging that signature framework
and then looking at what'sthis signature scale will offer.
First of all, like start withone and then how do you start to
maximize your ability to helppeople beyond hours, for dollars,
beyond custom proposals,beyond going into a company and saying,

(14:39):
yes, I can do this, I delivermy methodology, how much do you want
to pay me for that, you get toown what that looks like.
Because you're able to packageyour expertise in a completely different
way that will help you becomea scalable expert.
So do not get stuck thinkingthat you have to outwork your bad

(15:01):
business model that you havetoday or your ability to just look
at.
How do you look at yourcapacity different, right?
Because it's not about workingmore hours.
It's not about how do youtough it out.
It's not about how do you justkeep going until you can't go anymore.

(15:22):
It's about shifting the waythat you think about your expertise
and how you can package it andhow people can consume it.
Because as an expert, your jobis to give people the fastest path
to the result that they'relooking for.
Because you already have the answers.
You already know how to getthem from point A to point B because
you've done it.
You're the expert.
So they're looking to you toguide them down that road.

(15:46):
They're looking for you toguide them.
The faster that you can guidethem from where they are today to
where they want to go.
That is what's going to putyou in a position of being able to
build an infinitely scalablebusiness as a scalable expert.
So I challenge you to reallythink about where you are from a
capacity standpoint and whatthat looks like, and then identify

(16:10):
where.
Like what's either holding youback from becoming an authority in
your space or what's holdingyou back from really taking charge
of the capacity that you haveand just completely tipping it on
its head and.
And becoming infinitely scalable.
All right, until next time,really think about that.

(16:33):
And if you love this episode,give us a shout in the show.
Notes is my information.
I would love to hear yourinsights from this episode.
I'd also love for you to sharethis episode with other people and
give us a rating.
Like, again, like, all this ishelpful for me so I can continue
to create these episodes.

(16:54):
All right, we'll talk to younext week.
Advertise With Us

Popular Podcasts

24/7 News: The Latest
Dateline NBC

Dateline NBC

Current and classic episodes, featuring compelling true-crime mysteries, powerful documentaries and in-depth investigations. Follow now to get the latest episodes of Dateline NBC completely free, or subscribe to Dateline Premium for ad-free listening and exclusive bonus content: DatelinePremium.com

The Clay Travis and Buck Sexton Show

The Clay Travis and Buck Sexton Show

The Clay Travis and Buck Sexton Show. Clay Travis and Buck Sexton tackle the biggest stories in news, politics and current events with intelligence and humor. From the border crisis, to the madness of cancel culture and far-left missteps, Clay and Buck guide listeners through the latest headlines and hot topics with fun and entertaining conversations and opinions.

Music, radio and podcasts, all free. Listen online or download the iHeart App.

Connect

© 2025 iHeartMedia, Inc.