The First “Law of Scale” (part 1)

Hi {NAME}, I have a confession to make…I nearly bankrupted my first company. Yep. I still can’t pinpoint exactly when it happened. All I know is that after years of rapid growth and healthy profits, things took a turn. Sales stalled. Profits dried up. Morale plummeted. And everything that used to work just stopped working…seemingly overnight. It didn’t make any sense! We were selling the SAME products to the SAME market leveraging the SAME playbooks that had always worked, and then one day…POOF! Everything just stopped working. (Maybe you can relate.) But wait, it gets worse… In the face of this adversity, I let my imposter syndrome get the better of me and… …I panicked. That’s right, I completely panicked. I’ll tell you what I did that was so horrendously stupid in the next email, but for now, all you need to know is that I made a series of very unfortunate decisions that culminated in me firing myself from my own business and hiring a CEO that drove the company to the bleeding edge of bankruptcy. Not fun. But the lesson I learned (the lesson I’m going to share with you right now) almost made up for the whole miserable ordeal. And what was that lesson, you ask? This brings me to the First Law of Scale, which states… LAW OF SCALE #1 Everything that made you great during the startup phase becomes a liability at scale. Here’s the deal… Starting a business may not be easy, but it is fairly simple. All you need is… - Something to sell (a product or service) - A way to sell it (basic sales and marketing), and… - A little help (early employees and contractors) And for most entrepreneurs, this is all it takes to go from $0 to 7-figures in revenue. We call this the “First Mountain”… Again, ascending the First Mountain is NOT easy. The vast, vast majority of would-be entrepreneurs never even make one single sale, much less the hundreds of thousands and even millions in sales “first mountain entrepreneurs” make. The problem is, scaling from the low 7-figures to 8-figures+ is NOT just about doing more of what you have been doing. It’s cliche, but the old adage, “What got you here won’t get you there,” is undeniably true. And that’s because the playbook you need to SCALE a business is a fundamentally different playbook than the one you need to START a business. Said another way, scale isn’t about ascending higher and higher up the same mountain. Scale is about climbing a completely different mountain than the first one you climbed when you launched your business and grew it to 7-figures. We call this [the “Second Mountain”]( Where the First Mountain was all about marketing, sales, fulfillment, and a little bit of hiring, the Second Mountain is all about: - Sales and marketing SYSTEMS (not just one-off sales and random acts of marketing) - Leadership and management (not just hiring “helpers”) - Finance (not just basic cash accounting) - Tax - Legal - Entity Structure - M&A …you get the idea! Again, it’s a fundamentally different playbook because it’s a fundamentally different mountain! And not only do we have to learn this new playbook, we have to tear up the old one!! Because remember the “First Law of Scale”... Everything that made you great during the startup phase becomes a liability at scale. So if you’re feeling stuck, frustrated, and even a little burned out, don’t despair. Your business isn’t broken. YOU aren’t broken. You just started climbing a new mountain, and no one told you (until now) that you needed a new map. In the emails that follow, I’ll be sharing this new “map” with you along with the other two “Laws of Scale.” The next lesson will hit your inbox tomorrow, but while you wait, here’s a short video I made for a friend that breaks down “Second Mountain” framework and what it actually takes to scale beyond 7-figures: [( To becoming climbing the “second mountain,” Ryan Deiss Co-Founder and CEO, The Scalable Company P.S. Whenever you’re ready, here are 3 ways we can help you systemize your business, triple your sales and profit, and achieve your “ideal exit”… - Watch the Science of Scale Master Class. It’s the ultimate playbook on how to scale your company without sacrificing your soul, and it’s free. - [Click here to view it now]( - Apply for Founders Board. Founders Board is a mentorship and peer advisory mastermind for successful 7, 8, and 9-figure entrepreneurs (and their operators) looking to systemize their business, hit their “number,” and achieve their “ideal exit.” [Click here to learn more and apply…]( - Work privately with me and my team. If you’d like direct, 1:1 support systemizing and scaling your business…just reply to this email with “PRIVATE” in the subject line and include a little about your business and what you’d like to accomplish, and we’ll get you the details! [ryan-deiss-signature]   Sent to: {EMAIL} The Scalable Company, 4330 Gaines Ranch Loop, Ste 120, Austin, Texas 78735, United States Don't want future emails? [Unsubscribe](