The Nitty-Gritty:

* How Speaking Your Brand founder Carol Cox realized she was at capacity and hungry for more* Why she chose to hire & train another speech coach instead of moving into online courses* The mindset work she needed to do to prepare herself for the transition into scale* How she found her first hire and got her started with clients

When it comes to small business, there are plenty of special snowflakes out there.

And before I inadvertently offend you, let me explain what I mean.

A special snowflake business is one that’s focused on the unique talents of the owner. It’s the “only you can do what you do” mantra so many fluffy business classes preach.

When you have a special snowflake business, customers buy to get a piece of you. They want what you can do for them.

Look, some people genuinely like it that way. Cool.

But special snowflake businesses don’t scale.

Oprah is truly special—but she didn’t create a culture-shifting television show, her own entertainment network, and O Magazine by being a special snowflake.

Oprah figured out her special sauce and channeled that into all sorts of ventures that grew the capacity of her work & impact beyond her own personal capacity.

Working out the recipe to your own special sauce is a key to crafting a company that scales.

When many small business owners start thinking about growth, they think about all the tasks they don’t like to do and outsource them. The dream is to be left with only the task of making the product or delivering the service that you love.

Regardless of whether you ever reach the point of living that dream, eventually, you’re at capacity and stuck at a ceiling—again.

If you want to really scale, you have to be willing to train other people to create value for you (and for your customers). You need to get others in on the game of making the product or delivering the service.

That’s the plan Carol Cox devised. Carol is the founder of Speaking Your Brand, a speech coaching agency that helps women entrepreneurs and executives craft their signature talks.

I wanted to ask Carol how she worked out the recipe to her own special sauce so she could start training the first speech coach she brought on board.

Carol and I talk about the time and energy she put into working with clients 1:1, paying attention to exactly how she worked her magic. We also chat about how she knew it was time to hire, what have been her biggest fears throughout the process, and how her mindset about the business she’s building has shifted.

Now, let’s find out what works for Carol Cox!

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