You know where you want to go. You’ve got a strategy. You can feel that your business is ready for more. And yet… something keeps getting in the way. AKA… you’ve got a business growth bottleneck. (Womp womp!)
In Part 1 of my seven-figure series, I shared what it looked like to grow Visionaries into a seven-figure brand inside one year. In Part 2, I’m sharing how I actually solved for that growth – the exact assessment I use on my own business and give to my Visionmind members.
Listen to the full episode:
Growth and scale are two different things
Before we get into the assessment, let’s get clear on what we’re solving for.
Growth is when more comes into your business – more revenue, more audience, more community members – while more also goes out. You spend more time, hire more people and take on more cost to create that increase.
Scale is when the incoming numbers keep climbing while the outgoing numbers hold steady or even decrease. You make more without needing proportionally more time, people or money to do it.
Visionaries was ready for growth. Scale is our focus for 2027. But to grow intentionally, I first had to find what was standing in the way.
What a Vision Anchor is (and why it’s a good thing)
Think about a road trip. Where you are right now is Point A. Where you want to be is Point B. Your strategy is the destination you plug into your GPS.
At some point, there’s almost always a roadblock. Heavy traffic. Construction. Something that slows you down or stops you completely.
Your Vision Anchor is the thing that removes that roadblock. It’s the thing that solves the problem that’s holding you back from growth.
At each stage of business, the Vision Anchor looks a little different:
- When you’re just starting out: your Vision Anchor is always market validation. You’re figuring out your messaging and marketing often enough that people see what you have, understand why they should buy it and actually buy it.
- Once you’ve validated: your Vision Anchor becomes making sales consistently and predictably.
- Once you’ve got consistent sales: this is where the full assessment comes in.
If you’re under six figures, there’s a really good chance you only need one of those first two. The exception is the first two questions of the assessment – those apply to everyone.
Start here: the first questions to find your growth bottleneck
Before you look at anything else, answer these:
- Are you charging enough?
- Are you trying to do too many things?
If either answer is yes, solve that first. Do not pass go.
Are you charging enough?
When I asked myself this, the answer was a clear no – specifically for our community. The data showed that people joining at the old monthly price weren’t staying. Most never even created their account to get inside. They weren’t bought in, because the price didn’t ask much of them.
So I switched from a cancel-anytime membership to a 12-month commitment, at roughly 2.5x the old annual price.
I changed nothing else. Same sales page. Same emails. I barely talk about the community at all. And it completely solved the problem. New members join every week without any active effort on my end.
Are you trying to do too many things?
When I first ran this assessment, I’d have said no. I like having a lot going on.
Then I (mostly) moved to LA, hosted our first in-person event (Visionary Live) and went weeks without swimming – which is where I clear my head and get my best ideas. The first time I got back in the pool, it was obvious. I’m doing too many things.
I could keep everything going if it were just me. But I’ve hired brilliant people, and they need room to get really good at their roles without me constantly adding new things to their plates.
This is a problem at every stage of business, whether you’re at zero or eight figures. I always say simple scales, complicated fails. And the opposite of hard isn’t easy – the opposite of hard is simple.
One common version of this: early-stage businesses selling two offers to two different buyers. A web designer selling done-for-you sites and selling templates is talking to two completely different people. The person paying someone to handle it all is a different buyer than the person shopping for a template. Trying to validate and sell to both at once splits your effort and slows everything down.
If you’re holding onto something because you’ve already invested so much in it, that’s sunk cost fallacy. It’s okay to put it down. You can always pick it back up.
The Seven Pillars of Scaling
The rest of the assessment is built around seven pillars that every business has to look at operationally:
- Marketing
- Sales
- Mindset
- Team
- Operations
- Delivery
- Finance
Answer every question through the lens of what you actually want.
The 7 Pillars of Scaling: Marketing and sales
The marketing questions:
- Is your marketing consistent enough?
- Is it sustainable?
- Do you like the way it’s happening?
The sales questions mirror them:
- Are your sales consistent enough?
- Is the way you’re selling sustainable?
- Do you like the way you’re making sales?
That last one matters. If selling feels icky to you, it probably won’t be sustainable, and at some point it’ll stop working.
For me, both were fine. We get 20,000 to 50,000 website visitors a month with very little effort, and almost 20% of that comes from AI-driven search. I’ve made a sale every single day since February 2025. If anything, I was holding back on sales because the rest of the business couldn’t keep up.
So marketing and sales weren’t my roadblock. If yours are, you might need a strategist – or, if you’re already a strategist, someone to execute on your plan.
The 7 Pillars of Scaling: Mindset
Rate each of these from 1 to 10:
- Do you believe it’s possible to achieve what you want?
- Do you trust yourself to do it?
- Does it feel safe to have?
Here’s how I read the scores:
- 8–10: great
- 6–7: worth addressing
- 3–5: orange flag – correct it before you move on
- 1–2: red flag – a big roadblock
My first two answers were 10s (honestly, 12s). I’ve built a seven-figure company before and helped plenty of others get there. The third question landed at an 8. There’s a small “yeah, but” voice in the background. That tells me there’s a little work to do, and I’m happy with an 8.
The 7 Pillars of Scaling: Team
- To get where you want to go, would you need a bigger team?
- Once you’re there, would you be doing too much work?
- Do you have the right team?
These lit up for me. Would I need a bigger team? Good Lord, YES. Would I be doing too much work? Definitely. Both were 10 out of 10.
I could have run a seven-figure grant program by myself, but that didn’t feel in integrity – and honestly, it sounded boring. I want to build something bigger than that.
The 7 Pillars of Scaling: Operations
- Does everything already feel like it’s starting to break?
- Does everything feel disorganized and duct-taped together?
- Will it be hard to get there because you won’t have enough time?
My operational foundation was strong. Nothing specific was breaking – the business as a whole was just hitting capacity. But I didn’t have enough SOPs (standard operating procedures) to bring on the team I needed. And it felt like a dumpster fire to me, mostly because I hold things to a very high standard. Think the Tin Man getting a little creaky. Still moving, just needing some oil.
If you’ve ever wished your team could read your mind, there’s a way: write an SOP. Record yourself doing the task, hand the recording to ChatGPT or Claude and let it build the SOP for you.
Time wasn’t an issue for me. I genuinely love working, and if I need to put in longer hours for a season, I’m good with that.
The 7 Pillars of Scaling: Delivery
- Would you need a lot more clients or customers, with no way to serve them using what you have now?
- Is the work too custom for each buyer?
My delivery has been built intentionally, so this wasn’t my roadblock. Where we’ll grow most is sponsorship and the media side of Visionaries. (More on that in Part 3.)
If you’re a service provider, though, ask yourself: if I served 10x the clients next month, would my business break? If the answer is yes, it’s time to tighten your delivery systems.
The 7 Pillars of Scaling: Finance
This section flips the framing. Instead of asking what’s a problem, ask what would finally be great:
- Would I finally get to pay myself properly?
- Would I finally keep more of what I make?
- Would I finally be able to pay my team better?
- Would I finally make my money work better for me?
My margins aren’t where I want them yet, and that’s intentional – I’ve been reinvesting in grants, in my team and in paying people well from day one. In 2027 I want to grow those margins, partly so I can offer profit sharing to my employees.
A quick reminder: what you pay yourself is an operating expense. Your profit margin is what’s left after you pay yourself, your team and everything else.
And watch out for what I call goldfish finance syndrome. Goldfish grow to the size of their environment. My music teacher growing up bought a tiny feeder fish named Finny and kept moving him into bigger tanks, until he looked like a giant tropical fish. Business finances do the same thing. The more you bring in, the more you spend, until you’re spending everything you make.
What my assessment told me
After going through every question, the answer was obvious. My entire bottleneck was team. Start, middle and end.
I had to wait until the business could support hiring the way I wanted to. That’s done now – I have three full-time employees in addition to me, and I’m extremely proud of it. Building an in-house team instead of relying on contractors was a very intentional choice for the company I’m building.
And it’s set us up for some really great growth.
Take the assessment for yourself
Here’s what to take with you:
- Growth and scale are different goals – know which one you’re solving for
- Your Vision Anchor is the thing that clears your roadblock
- Answer the two gatekeeper questions first: are you charging enough, and are you trying to do too many things?
- Work through all seven pillars and pay attention to your highest scores
- Remember: simple scales, complicated fails
In Part 3, I’ll share where Visionaries is headed next and how we’re setting up for scale!
