Rapid growth of your business is the wet dream of any CEO, right!?
Yet it can be painful when it involves the wrong people – or people who do it all wrong.
It doesn’t have to be this way! With the right lube, business can be satisfying – orgasmic even!
What is this lube we speak of? Operations. Yes, we said it. Operations. It is the lubricant of any well-oiled machine. When the “how” of your business is built for efficiency and scalability – in ways that meet the unique needs of your business – growth becomes pleasurable AND sustainable.
Meg and Megan are perfect examples.
Meet Love at First Search
Love at First Search is a company dedicated to helping small businesses get found on Google. When we met the CEO, Meg Casebolt, Love at First Search was growing rapidly, but in a clunky, painful way.
Meg is a visionary and was leading the charge with a stream of new ideas. Her team did their best to keep up! She knew her company needed a more streamlined operations system so she hired a fractional COO who came in and made a lot of changes.
Meg soon realized she wanted someone familiar with the company who could focus more fully on running the operations in ways that made the most sense within the context of her unique company. (You might say she desired a more committed lover!)
Meet Megan Condello
Although she has a background in marketing and a master’s degree, after many years out of the workforce to focus on raising her children, Megan Condello was newly back in the workforce.
Love at First Search hired her as a “jill of all trades,” taking care of any odd job that leadership didn’t have time for. Unfortunately, Megan spent a lot of time looking for things she needed to do her job, with tasks to prioritize often unclear.
Megan's challenge
Megan noticed that all of the right elements were there, but the company lacked a smooth system to find what they needed when they needed it. A lot of time and energy was wasted in the process. But everyone was too busy to have time to truly address it.
Meg, the CEO, could see the potential for leadership in Megan. Given the right tools, she had no doubt Megan could step into the role of Operations Director, and create the exact systems to best serve Love at First Search.
That’s exactly why they enrolled in The Accelerator, our program that works with both the CEO and operations specialist to produce system-wide solutions through collaboration and leadership development.
From Plugging Holes in a Bucket to Building a Brand-New One
With the templates, tools, and personalized support provided within The Accelerator, Megan was able to tap into her inner “Dom” and whip Operations into shape!
She streamlined processes at every level, including:
- Hiring and onboarding.
- Client service.
- Systems to support Meg’s big ideas and visions for the company.
A highlight of efficiency that has greatly expanded its capacity as a company is simplifying its programs. Six months ago they had four different offers with four different systems to support them. Now they have one main offer with multiple tiers that overlap onboarding and feedback processes. Talk about a time saver!
Because of Megan’s work and increased confidence in taking charge, Meg was able to focus on expanding the business – making those new connections, and finally having the time and space to have those big (wet) dreams for the future.
For the first time, Meg was able to take a vacation – and know that the company would run smoothly in her absence!
Within eight months, Megan went from virtual assistant to Director of Operations.
The Future Looks Bright
Now that they have a hiring and onboarding process in place, Love at First Search is set up to scale much more in the coming months.
Their hiring and onboarding processes mean they’ll have a solid team serving clients, taking care of day-to-day operations, and easily filling in for each other as needed.
Meg has been freed up to make new connections while Megan keeps the operations humming along in the background.
In other words, they are set up to successfully support more clients without sacrificing any quality or burning out anyone on the team! (That sounds pretty pleasurable to us!)
Conclusion
Megan, the new Director of Operations for Love at First Search, has done a fantastic job. She did not come in with all the skills and tools she needed for leadership. She told us “I didn’t even know a position like this existed.”
But she had the drive, commitment, and experience needed to be the best candidate for the company she was already working for. And The Accelerator filled in the gaps so she was set up for success.
By promoting within her existing team, Meg was able to cultivate leadership that is:
- Already invested.
- Familiar with the company and its assets.
- Focused on the needs of her company (vs. forcing ideas from the five other companies a fractional Director of Operations is working with simultaneously).
Meg and Megan both told us they chose us because we would help them make use of existing resources – and bring pleasure and ease into the process!
The Accelerator is here to help you find your G(rowth) Spot by creating the right operational systems for your unique business, AND train your operations person in strategy so you can be freed up to be the visionary you are!
Book a call with us to see if working 1:1 or having your operations specialist go through The Accelerator is the right choice. http://www.businesslaidbare.com/consult/
