305: Why Your Business Must be Team Managed in Midlife with Allison Maslan

Hi, I'm Natalie Jill and I help women in their 40s, 50s and beyond redefine, rebrand and laugh with aging. Welcome to Midlife Conversations. On this podcast, I do what I do best. Taking complicated information that is relevant in this point of our lives now and break it down simply with actionable steps you can implement to level up your life. I also regularly interview some of the most inspiring people living their best midlife years. Now on this show I cover topics about our shifting hormones, weight struggles, our mood and focus changes, raising teenagers, our relationships, career changes, beauty and more. If you are new here, I encourage you go back and listen from episode one when this podcast was previously called Listen up for the full transformative experience.

Today I'm so excited on Midlife Conversations to interview my one of my best friends, Allison Maslin. So not only is she one of my best friends, so one of my favorite people, but she has built 10, yep, 10 of her own companies, super successful companies. By the way, she has been recognized as one of the top 10 women entrepreneurs to watch in 2023 by Forbes. She is the CEO and founder of Pinnacle Global Network where she helps helps countless seven, eight and nine figure entrepreneurs, founders, CEOs level up their businesses to the next level. She is a wealth of knowledge on how you can scale your business, take it to the next next level and have a team run company. I just love being around her and I've been dying to get her on this, this show because we are all about midlife conversations and I can talk hormones all day. I can interview people about the health stuff and the appearance, but this is honestly one of those secret weapons. She has learned how to live in the working world thriving so she can enjoy her life. So thank you so much for being here today, Allison.

Thanks Natalie. Excited to be here.

So I have a very specific thing I want to start with with you because I think it sets the tone for everything. And for those of you watching her on video, Allison has recently turned 60. She's 60s. The nearing, they're nearing. I don't know what time you're listening to this, but she's either just turned it or she's near turning 60. She looks like she's 30. Okay. And she acts like she's 30. Truth be told, I was just at her house visiting. There's like 150 stairs outside. She walks them 10 times a day. Super fit and healthy. And I think a lot of her life and her dream marriage, her dream house, all of that started with the idea of vision. Can you speak into that some.

Yeah, 100%. You know, I think the first thing for me was realizing that everything that was happening in my life was because of the choices that I was making. And once I took responsibility for that, for me, that was my ticket to freedom. Because that also meant, Natalie, that I could create anything that I wanted to create. Now, it doesn't meant mean that it was easy all along the way. I was a single mom for 12 years. I went through divorce, you know, all of the things. But once I made that shift to say, wow, life is this massive, you know, empty canvas, what do I want to create in my life? And I just started with that and, and began to step into that, and I can talk further into that.

Yeah. So when people hear vision, they either say, yes, I get it, or they go, that's woo, woo. What do you mean? You can't just visualize something and it happens. So I would love if you can explain more even what vision means to you, because I think there's a lot of misinformation about that and people really interpret it different. But specifically, since you've made so much success operating that way, help us understand what that means to you.

Yeah, I mean, you can look at the esoteric version of vision or just the real strategic, really. I mean, vision is a target. If you, It's. It's a destination. Where are you going? If you get into the Uber and you don't have. They don't know where you're going, then you're not going to get anywhere. So it's just having that clarity and, and clarity is power. And so for me, I have a vision how I want to live my day. I have a vision how I want to, you know, where. How I want my business to unfold. I have a vision for my relationship with my husband. Now I don't have control of all of the pieces along the way, nor do I want that, because that's the fun part of how it all comes together. But vision really is the destination. And then what's behind the vision to fuel it is your why and your purpose and your mission. But to me, vision at the deepest level is a feeling. It's a feeling that I get when I can see and feel exactly what I'm creating. My life, if it's the next level of my business, if it's somebody that I want to meet or result that I want to happen. I see it in my mind's eye and I really bring it into the core of, of my being and I walk towards it every Day.

So I want to. Let's talk about. Because this will make sense to everyone listening, and I know everyone listening has a dream, and some people are starting to step into the dream, and some people are feeling bad that they haven't even gotten close to their dream. So I want to. I'm going to ask you questions about business, but before I do that, I want to talk about the house you just bought. Because Alison, I just came back from a trip visiting her to her second home, which is her dream home. And it was only an idea to her. She had no idea how she was going to get it, how it was going to make sense, how she would create a double life. Double life. Basically living there half the time here, other time. Can you walk us through that process, like how that even come to. Came to fruition? Because it's really wild, that story. And then I want to take that back into business so people can see how to actually do that through that.

Yeah, I mean, I have to go way back for that one. So, I mean, we can go.

We can go way back.

I just.

I'm okay.

Such an amazing folding.

Yeah, it's.

Yeah. Holding. And I think when you look at your life and you at all the things that you've realized in your life, the beautiful things, and then think back, that it's. This happened and this led you to this, into this. And that's just the fun part, because we often think that we're going off track, but you're really not. It's. Those things are leading you to where you are. I got engaged in a beautiful little fishing village in Mexico called Zihuataneo on Laropa beach with my husband. And we kept coming back here over the years, and it's just an absolutely beautiful place. Has an amazing energy to it. And there's something about the energy here that when I'm here, I just feel. Feel this incredible abundance. But going back a little bit, as my businesses started to grow and evolve, we actually bought our dream home in San Diego, California. And that was at that time, was a real stretch for my husband and I. And I just remember really wanting that home so badly. And as you know, I have a trapeze in the backyard. And so we had to.

Yes. You know, we have to say trapeze. By the way, at 60, she does trapeze. Yes. You're going to slide right over that.

Yeah. Yes, I do. The flying trapeze. That's. That's a whole other thing we can talk about because that's vision, too. But I, you know, we hustled to get that house, and we loved it. And we. We, you know, love that. That part of our life. And my business is operated there. But, you know, as we were traveling around the world, we were like, wow, this is the place we love when we are getting away from the day to day. And so we were here during the pandemic. We came several times. And, you know, I was doing my visualization that I do every single morning. And I just kept seeing ourselves here. I just kept saying, wow, what would it be like? I would get into a place of wonder. I wonder what it would be like living here. And for part of the year, having the home in San Diego, having the home here, and how that would fill me up. What, you know, the amazing breakthrough ideas that I get from my business because I have the space to breathe knowing that my team has got it handled. And so, you know, these things weren't happening yet, but I just kept visualizing, I kept seeing it, I kept talking about it. I would talk to you about it, Natalie. And then we. Then we just made the decision, you know, what if we buy a place here? And then I thought, oh, that's so crazy. We're not ready for that. And then I had this. I called an inspired thought. And, you know, of course, I am turning 60 in a few months. And I thought, what am I waiting for? Like, what am I really waiting for? Am I waiting till 70? I'm waiting till 80. Like, come on. Like, get to it. And so we just put it out there. We weren't quite sure how we were going to pay for it and, you know, all of that. But, you know, then the things just started happening. We found the realtor, and, you know, one thing led to another, and the place that we ended up getting wasn't even on the market. It was total happenstance of, you know, having a conversation with someone. The property, the gentleman that owned it was 97 years old, so he was finally ready to let it go. But I truly believe we brought that. We brought this into. To our existence and, you know, everything just fell into place. But the first thing that had to happen was I had to believe that, number one, we deserved it, and number two, that it absolutely was going to happen. Yes. And so, you know, that's just really. Yeah. Now you came here and it's. It's really magical.

It is magical there now. Part of that, somebody would say, listening to you as well, I would do that if I had more time to go there or if I had the money. Which leads me to the next question. Because you have done a phenomenal job growing businesses over the years, leading with vision for sure. And the business that you currently are thriving in, founder and CEO of Pinnacle Global Network, is just, is just crushing it and helping so many people break free and be able to do the same thing about their vision. So can you talk to a little bit about that method? Because you have a very specific method. You teach your scale up method. And this has changed the lives of so many founders and business owners. And I think if you're listening and that fits who you are, you're going to want to hear some of this. Can you speak a little into those steps?

Yes. And I just want to say, though there were so many circumstances where I didn't have the money, like the obstacles were there. If you looked at it on paper, you said, allison, how are you going to do this deal? How are you going to, you know, lead this or, you know, build this new building or whatever? The money wasn't necessarily there, but because I held the vision, the people came into, you know, my.

So how did you do that? Alice, if, if you really don't have it at some point and you know, I'm holding the vision, I need this. How did you stop your mind from going there and actually find a solution? Because I think so many times we get so stuck in the circumstance and you're looking at the logistics while the bank account says this. And I feel like my vision says this. But how. What was the conversation you would navigate there?

Yeah, I would just say, and you know, some people listening to this are going to think I'm nuts and it's bad advice. But I would just say stop looking at your bank account because it's, you know, and look, I'm a responsible business owner. I do cashflow meetings and all of that. But if I, if you keep looking at what's not working, you will create more of what's not working. It's not that I'm not. You're not aware. Okay. You know, that's there, but you're not going to keep obsessing about it. Now. You're got to go, okay, who do I need to meet that knows that next person that can introduce me to that next client or find that next hire or have that opportunity again. If you are living in vision, you will, and you talk about it all the time. You're going to start attracting those people that want to get behind what you're doing. And that's really. There are two things that we help People do with the scale. It method number one is build a team managed company. So if you live in vision and you're talking about it all the time, you're talking about it in your meetings, you're talking about it when you interview people, all that you're going to start attracting these amazing people that want to come and support you moving forward. You have a team managed company. That means you have a business that can run without you there and it will grow faster because you're not in the way. And the second thing we help people do is to shift to a more scalable model. If you're trading time for dollars, meaning if you're still the one that's delivering your product or service, you cannot scale. There's not enough time in the day.

Say that again slowly and loudly because I think people did okay. I don't want them to miss that one. That's important.

Yes, it is. If you are still delivering your product or service and all of your finances are dependent on that, you will never scale. So if you are a reality, yeah, if you're the CPA and you're the, the only way you're getting cash is by sitting with your clients or if you are the attorney and the only way that you are getting money is by trading time for dollars or whatever your widget is. If it's dependent only on you, it cannot scale. So you need to build a team of CPAs or a team of attorneys or a subscription program that doesn't depend on you, that can reach more people or franchise. You know, this is scaling. It's a one to many model and it is truly life changing. You can actually help a lot more people because you've multiplied now you make a bigger impact. And then of course then you make a lot more money.

Alison, do you recommend people start this from the beginning? So I know you work for instance with people that are seven figures and higher. You know, they already have a team. But if somebody's like in a, they're in the 500 or, or they're in the 200 or they're more startup, would you tell them that same advice to start setting it up that way or would you say build it that way first till we get there and then scale.

I, if I were to go back and before I knew this in my first business where I imploded because I was that person doing everything, even though I had a small team, I was a control freak, I would say start from the beginning. In fact, they have done studies that show if you hire an Assistant. In the first six months of your business, you will get to seven figures in half the time.

Wow.

And so, yes, I would start doing that right away. And again, I had no money starting this out. But you get the people. The business starts growing faster.

Gosh.

Okay, so I know people listening have probably a million questions, so I'm going to tell you this. If you. Okay, first of all, if you are somebody that isn't at seven figure or higher, I think you should apply and talk to Pinnacle, because I'm a huge fan. Not just because she's my friend, but because I see her walking her walk and living what it is that she does. So first and foremost, can we say that, like, how does someone. How does one apply to be part of Pinnacle Global Network and get the mentoring? Where do they go?

Well, the first thing I would say is you can look at our website@pinnacleglobalnetwork.com and read all about what we do. But if you want to, you have to apply because it's a private and an exclusive membership. To get the support, you go to myscalesession.com myscalesession.com and if someone is like, I love this.

I want to learn more. I'm not there yet. Where do they get your book?

The book is called Scale or Fail. It's a Wall Street Journal bestseller, and you can get it anywhere. I mean, Amazon is probably at any level.

Any level person would benefit from reading your book. I will say that it's a great. It's great.

It really is the manual on scaling your business. And so good. Yeah. So, okay.

So thank you, Alison, so much. This is so informative. So what I took away from it is lead with vision. Uh, lead with vision, everything. Don't let the circumstances get in your way, even though they're really present in there. You've gotta. You've gotta force yourself to lead with vision. And if you are in that hustle of your business, it is critical, like, mission critical to figure out, how do you. How do you get that support? How do you replace yourself in there? Don't let the circumstance become the reason you're not. Just like we said, there's a book that will help you get that, and it's the key. Um, I watch you living so well in midlife. I mean, my gosh, I can't wait to see what you continue on with. Thank you so much for being here today.

Thanks, Natalie. I appreciate you.

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