Allison Maslan outlines a multi-phase "journey" for scaling businesses. In this chunk she defines phases 1–3: Phase 1 (Seeker) — the startup stage where the founder is crafting offers and the customer avatar; Phase 2 (Pioneer) — a small-team stage where owners often become bottlenecks due to fear of letting go; Phase 3 (Ringleader) — an expanding-team/circus stage where vague role expectations, burnout, and micromanagement trap companies (even seven- to nine-figure firms). She emphasizes the need for founders to shift from micromanaging boss to strategic leader who empowers teams and clarifies success metrics.
Chapters
Foreign. The five phases create such an awareness because most business owners, including myself back then, have no idea where they are in the scaling process. And so once you figure out where you are, then you can figure out what the gaps are to get to the next level. And so that's why I've developed this journey. So phase one, we call the seeker. This is the startup. Every business starts there and you're just putting your ideas out into the world. You're very passionate, you're figuring out your offerings and your customer journey, your avatar. There's not really much scaling that's going on because everything's dependent on you or you and a partner. As you start to build a small team team, you're going to move into phase two, which I call the pioneer. And the pioneer is when you're, you know, you're in the thick of your business, you're getting your hands dirty, you're out in the plains of the business and you have a few team members that you're delegating to. But one of the biggest stuck points and what keeps people stuck in phase two is that fear of letting go, just like what we were talking about, and feeling like you have to have your eyes on everything going in and out of the company. And so you become the bottleneck and really slowing things down. And this is where business owners start to feel that burnout and they're stuck in that story of it's, it has to be me. But if you begin to move beyond that and you're starting to build a bigger team or you've got departments within your company, let's say you have a marketing department, you have a sales department, you have a customer service department or area of the business, you're going to start moving into phase three, which I call the ringleader. And the reason I call it a ringleader is because it's a bit of circus. A circus in phase three. And this is where so many business owners get stuck for decades. And so a lot of times this is where the business dies. And you've got companies generally in the seven and eight figures, even some in the nine figures that are stuck here. And the, the challenge is that as you are building teams, you're bringing more people on. We're generally hiring because we're out of bandwidth. And you're putting people in these roles that are not always super clear on what success looks like for that role. And I mean down to the metric, what are they really reaching for? If this human being that you have put into this role were super successful, what would that look like? And so when you can dial that in and they know what they're reaching for, then you're going to be in alignment. But in most cases, it's very vague. And so you have this employee that wants to do well, but they're not really sure what they're reaching for or how to get there. And so that's where you. This frustration ensues. And, you know, you're up late at night talking to your significant other or your mother complaining about XYZ employee because they're, they're just not hitting their marks. You're frustrated and. And they are, too. And so then you jump back in to save the day. And it's just this. This is where that hamster wheel starts. And it just keeps happening over and over again, and you become buried in the business, stretched too thin, burnout, health issues, relationship issues and so forth. And the business is really running you. And so this is. This is a tough cycle. And so many business owners come to us right at this point, and so we can put a mirror on them to help them see that they are in their own way and that they have to shift from being a boss, you know, micromanaging to be a strategic leader and empowering the team into action, empowering them to own it, instead of always giving the answers to everything, to really encourage them to think for themselves.
