Louis Massaro explains that the strategy which achieves an initial level of success (e.g., $500K) usually will not scale to a much larger target (e.g., $5M). He diagnoses why owners get stuck—continuing early-stage tactics—and gives three practical steps to realign strategy for scale: define 1-, 3-, and 10-year targets; separate and document business fundamentals versus business development activities; and ensure quarterly objectives align with the three-year target. He emphasizes execution and course-correction but stresses that the correct strategy is essential to avoid long-term stagnation and operational breakdowns.
Chapters
What got you to your first level of success in your business is not what will get you to your next level of success. If you're trying to build a five million dollar business, you're not going to be able to get there with your $500,000 strategy. You know, oftentimes what happens is business owners get stuck in a position where they've had great growth, great momentum, good success in their business, and then they hit a wall. And the reason a lot of times that they hit that wall is because they're operating off the same strategy that they used to get their business off the ground and running. But there's a different level and a different strategy and a different approach to running your business that you need to take if you want to break through and get to that next level. And if you don't change up your strategy, you're going to end up, you know, 10 years from now in the same position, not really reaching that level of success that you're truly capable of. And your business will start to outgrow the processes and the people and, and you'll have breakdowns in service, breakdowns in your products, breakdowns in the way that you're able to handle your customers. And it's just gonna be a dreadful, you know, frustrating existence in order to really get to that next level, you know, and it causes a lot of people to kind of step back and stop pushing after what they really want and going after building that business that they are truly capable of, only because they've got the wrong strategy. If you're joining us for the first time, my name's Louis Massaro. I help small business owners optimize their increase profits and live a great quality of life along the way. You know, I was recently, I had a private client group here in my office, a small group that comes and I work with them to kind of, you know, look at where they're trying to go in their business. We develop a game plan and give them a strategy to be able to achieve that. And at the end of the first day, one of my clients, great guy, he said, you know, Louis, if you had to sum up the problems with my business in one sentence, what would it be? And I sat there for a second, I thought about it, I said, you know, you're trying to build a $5 million business with a $500,000 strategy, right? He was already at about $2 million, but wanted to go to 5. That was his goal. But his daily activities, the objectives that he had set up, what he had his team working on was all a strategy. That was still that $500,000 strategy. And yes, he got the 2 million, but he got the 2 million with such hard work and hours, stress, frustration, burnt out team. He did it because he's a smart guy and he's working hard, and he did the work. However, I said to him, look, your next journey from the 2 to the 5 won't have to be as hard. You won't have to put in as many hours. All we've got to do is adjust your strategy, give you that $5 million strategy so that you're on the right path, you're doing the right stuff, you could lead your team in the right direction, you know, and you might be thinking, louis, just because someone has a $5 million strategy doesn't mean they could build a $5 million business. And that's true. Right? You still got to have execution, and you've still got to be able to course correct along the way. Because for him, the journey from, you know, 2 million to 5 million, that's not an overnight thing. That's going to happen the same way he didn't build a $2 million business overnight. So along the way, as the environment changes, as regulations changes, as the economy changes, and, you know, the dynamic within your business and your people changes, you're going to need to be able to course correct. But it doesn't matter how well you course correct. It doesn't matter how well you execute. If you've got the wrong strategy, you know, if you've got the ladder on the wrong wall and you start climbing, you're going to end up in the wrong spot. So if you want to build a $5 million business or a $10 million business, or a $50 million business, make sure that your strategy aligns with where you want to go. Because what we need to be able to do is we need to be able to not only, you know, manage the business that we're in, we've got to be able to manage where we're going and where we're headed, or we get stuck. So I want to give you three tips to kind of help you realign to a new strategy that will get you to where you want to go. So the first thing you've got to do is you've got to set up your one, your three, and your ten year targets. Okay? Your one year, three, your ten year targets. Where is your business going to be one year from now? You know, three years from now and ten years from now? The ten years will give you that kind of long term view of saying, hey, we've got plenty of time to get there. You know, one year is more like urgent. This is, these are the objectives that we need to back into are based on hitting that one year and three years is like, okay, that's in the foreseeable future. That's something we could hit. We need to make sure that we're in line with where we want to go for that. Alright, the second thing you want to do is you want to make a list of your business fundamentals, the stuff that it takes to run your core business day to day, all right? Everything that it takes, if you wanted your business to be what I call a model business, to make it a machine that it just runs with or without you, okay, you've got to make a list of those fundamental activities, roles, tasks that need to happen on a daily, weekly, monthly basis for that to run. Then you need another list of business development activities. This is the stuff that you're taking, you know, your fundamentals and you're trying to improve upon it. You're trying to grow, you're trying to enhance a division, you're trying to open up another location, whatever it might be. You've got to be able to separate these two in your mind. I know it sounds really simple, but when you separate the fundamentals versus the business development, development, you could get really clear on the activities that you're working on and almost treat it like you've got two jobs. You know, you've got to run the business that you have because if it's working and it's successful and you know, maybe it just needs some optimization. Great. Make sure that that's handled first and foremost and then on top of that, you do the business development right, but you got to take care of the core. If you don't take care of the core, it's going to, you know, it's not sustainable. But if you're not looking at what you're becoming, that's how you get stuck and you don't break through that at next level. All right? So once you've got that now, you've got your one year, three, your 10 year targets, you've got your list of business fundamentals, your list of business development. What you want to do is you want to take a look at your objectives, your quarterly objectives and break those down and make sure they are in alignment with your three year target. Too often companies are just trying to align with their one year target without even really thinking about the three year target. Three years is very very it comes quick. You know if you've been in business for a while or just anything that's gone on in your life, you look back. Three years comes quick. Let the ten year be kind of that guiding light of where you're headed but with so many circumstances changing it's really hard to dial in exact plan to get to 10 years. You've got your one year target but but make sure that your quarterly objectives are in line with your three year target. Put that in place, let me know how that works. And until I see you next time, go out there every single day. Profit in your business, thrive in your life. I'll talk to you soon. Hey my friend, before you go, you've got to hurry and watch these next few videos over here. They will absolutely help you take your moving company to the next level. Go watch them now and I'll see you over there.
