Every year we set an intention or theme of the year. It is a simple word or phrase that communicates our vision, goals, and values going into the coming year - it's our take on choosing a word of the year.
We leverage it to guide the decisions and actions we take throughout the year and to represent what we want to achieve.
The intention we set in 2021 was Inspired Growth and not only was 2021 a year of massive growth for Lean Out Method, but we made some big bold business moves as well, all in alignment with our theme of Inspired Growth.
Tune into Episode 57 of the Lean Out Your Business Podcast or keep reading below.
Here's a peek behind the scenes at what that looked like:
We went from spending 80% of our time working with large scale Fortune 50 corporations and 20% with entrepreneurs and small business owners to working 100% with entrepreneurs and small-to-mid-sized companies.
I am often asked why I made that change, and I personally was getting much more fulfillment from the work I was doing with entrepreneurs and smaller businesses where I could be closer to the transformation and move at a speed that just isn't possible when transforming an organization with thousands of employees.
In the spirit of keeping things lean and not being in a constant state of overwork and overwhelm, I was turning down a lot of clients who I really wanted to work with because my corporate clients took up the majority of my time.
So I decided to follow who I was more inspired to work with and I wrapped up my corporate consulting engagements early and stepped into working exclusively with who I really wanted to work with. I share more about my decision in Episode 25 of the Lean Out Your Business Podcast.
Our target was to replace the recurring monthly retainers we had with new clients we absolutely loved to work with and where we could be closer to the impact and influence transformation in an accelerated way. And that is exactly what we achieved.
We grew our work with entrepreneurs significantly, enough so to fully replace the revenue we generated working with corporations. We not only grew but we grew by following our inspiration.
So if inspired growth was our theme for 2021, what theme is the right one to guide our decisions and actions in 2022?
Whereas last year was a year of new and reimagining, of creation and experimentation, this is a year of simplification, optimization, and amplification. This year will be one of scaling.
We will be upleveling our systems and our team. Doubling down on customer experience and customer journey and on our scalable signature offer suite. We are doing internally exactly what we advise our clients to do when they are ready to scale in a big way and what we do with them inside our Simplify to Scale Business Accelerator.
Our target is to double our revenue and the number of entrepreneurs and small businesses we are able to impact without doubling the time, money, and energy it takes to support that growth.
We are all about simple sustainable scaling so that is our theme for the year - 2022 is the year of Simple Sustainable Scaling.
"2022 is the year of Simple Sustainable Scaling." - Crista Grasso Click to Tweet.
Last year we invited our community to make 2021 a year of inspired growth for their businesses as well and we loved seeing how so many entrepreneurs grew their businesses in an inspired way.
This year we invite you to make 2022 a year of simple sustainable scaling for your business.
Let's break down what that would look like:
Simple:
- Unnecessary complexity is eliminated - this could mean simplifying your offers and going from having a lot of offers to having one scalable signature offer and eventually a scalable signature offer suite. Or it could mean simplifying how you package, price, position, launch and deliver your signature offer. This could mean simplifying your schedule, and how and where you invest your time. It could mean simplifying your business model so you can love what you do and who you do it with again. And it could mean simplifying your systems or processes. Or all of the above.
Sustainable:
- It can be done within the number of hours you want to allocate to your business and doesn't require heroics on a regular basis.
- It is in alignment with the next level for you and your business.
- You implement the systems and team required for sustainable success.
Scaling:
- You are able to increase revenue and impact without increasing the amount of resources required to support it. You are able to leverage your time, your systems, and your team and ultimately increase your profitability.
If this is the year where you embrace saying goodbye to complexity, activities that aren't in alignment with your next level, and overwork and overwhelm, then join us in making it a year of simple sustainable scaling.
What is your theme for 2022?
Book a scaling strategy call to explore how we can help you scale your business in simple sustainable ways.
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by Crista Grasso
Crista Grasso is the go-to strategic planning expert for leading global businesses and online entrepreneurs when they want to scale. Known as the "Business Optimizer", Crista has the ability to quickly cut through noise and focus on optimizing the core things that will make the biggest impact to scale a business simply and sustainably. She specializes in helping businesses gain clarity on the most important things that will drive maximum value for their clients and maximum profits for their business. She is the creator of the Lean Out Method, 90 Day Lean Out Planner, and host of the Lean Out Your Business Podcast.
