Hands-Off Growth

By Mandi Ellefson

Hands-Off Growth is for B2B service firm CEOs who are already winning, and ready to grow without the business depending on them.

If your revenue is climbing but the weight of running it is climbing wi... more

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FAQs about Hands-Off Growth:

How many episodes does Hands-Off Growth have?

The podcast currently has 143 episodes available.

Hands-Off Growth episodes:

December 15, 2022Most Ops Issues are Created in the Sales Process
There is a big misconception around operations, sales, and marketing and how they all intersect. Mandi Ellefson debunks some of these misconceptions and discusses how operations and sales impact scalability in a consulting agency.

Key Ideas:
Most approaches to scaling a consulting agency are actually more applicable to scaling a general company - they don’t account for the nuances of a consulting agency.
Many operational challenges in a consulting agency are actually sales challenges. The root problem is the abundance of variability in the services you offer due to how you generate clients. If you’re only relying on referrals, it can keep you in an entrapment growth model where you keep delivering whatever you get asked to do. You can’t build repeatable processes around that much variability.
To avoid getting stuck in the entrapment growth model, you need to curate a compelling offer with an equally compelling outcome. One of the first steps to doing this is identifying who your ideal client is.
When you help a client see a bigger vision for their company and services, they’re willing to pay more and invest sooner.
After creating your client map that clearly articulates your compelling offer, you should pass it on to your operations leader, who can now use it to operationalize your services so you can be more hands-off.

Resources
Mandi Ellefson on LinkedIn | Twitter | Facebook
Hands-Off CEO - Executive Briefing
...more
14min
December 08, 2022How to Get Your Team to OWN It! Delegating Ownership
Delegating ownership frees up time for CEOs so they can focus on the business. Mandi Ellefson talks about the right way to let go of your business and hand the reins over to capable leaders, and how this helps you actually work on growing the business.

Key Ideas:
The challenge with delegating ownership is that if you don't scale the right way, you'll find that your client results start to decline, Mandi shares. Oftentimes, you can find yourself in a position where you need to be hands-on with the project in order to fulfill promises you make to clients. This is the entrapment cycle. [2:38]
“One of the things that we've noticed is that a company can have a really great operations leader, but if they don't have years of experience operationalizing a custom high ticket service, then they're going to really struggle to be able to make that work in the company,” Mandi explains. [5:11]
Hands-Off CEO helped one of their clients, Jack, reposition their business to a subset of the part of the business that they were already doing, and create a compelling offer. This enabled them to bring in multiple six figure types of clients. [9:06]
You don’t hire strategists - you train them. [11:07]
Many CEOs mistakenly believe that they manage people.
In fact, they manage agreements between people. This mindset makes it easier to define and communicate what success looks like and what expectations leaders have for their teams. [12:42]

Resources
Mandi Ellefson on LinkedIn | Twitter | Facebook
Hands-Off CEO - Executive Briefing
...more
20min
December 01, 2022Vulnerable Share About Success in Business and Your Family
What defining moments or milestones have happened to you along the way towards your current level of success? Mandi Ellefson shares her story as she discusses milestones that people typically experience in their business journey, and how to identify and address common challenges.

Key Ideas:
Very few business women ever reach 7 figures in their company.
“Whenever there's a certain goal that we are shooting for, the gap [between it and us] personifies itself as something external, but the biggest reason we don’t have it is because we are not being the person who can actually have that yet.” Mandi talks about how she used to allow the limiting belief that she couldn’t be successful professionally and have a happy marriage affect her personal life, and how she overcame it.
The build-up and breakthrough cycle in business shows up as recurring patterns of frustration or challenges you can’t seem to beat, but they’re actually lessons in disguise. As soon as you find the lesson and learn it, you shift into a different leader and gain access to doors that were previously closed to you.
How does the leader who works 30 to 40 hours a week show up? Mandi encourages listeners to reflect on their breakthroughs and figure out the patterns that will elevate them to becoming a hands-off CEO.

Resources
Mandi Ellefson on LinkedIn | Twitter | Facebook
Hands-Off CEO - Executive Briefing
...more
14min
November 17, 2022Growth Lessons from the Ice Bath and Retreat Breakdown
How can you succeed while doing less? Focusing on the present may allow you to create more value. Mandi Ellefson describes her Wim Hoff ice bath meditation experience as she shares tips on overcoming fear.

Key Ideas:
Taking deep breaths to center yourself grounds you in the present and helps you see past your fear. Mandi describes how she was able to shift from fight-or-flight to a place of calm. “I went from suffering to surrender,” she explains. This shift changed her perception of the experience, not the experience itself. [5:09]
As you scale, the challenges don’t become easier; they become larger. What changes is our ability to cope. We become so adept at managing them that they seem small as we continue to grow. [6:23]
People tend to react to fear in three ways: resistance, avoidance, or owning it. [7:35]
The word ‘responsible’ actually refers to the ability to respond. Being responsible allows us to create anything that we want and do it on our own terms, proactively. [10:19]

Resources
Mandi Ellefson on LinkedIn | Twitter | Facebook
Hands-Off CEO - Executive Briefing
...more
14min
November 03, 2022[Replay] The Integrity of Scale
This week we have a replay of one of Hands Off CEO's most popular episodes.

Mandi Ellefson is discussing why popular scaling advice is terrible for consulting agencies. She shares insights about marketing, systems, and what you should actually do to scale.

You’ll hear Mandi talk about:
“Do you really want to systematize and accelerate a process that's just getting okay and mediocre results?” Mandi shares a story about a company that grew from referrals, but was challenged when they attempted proactive marketing. [1:25]
“Your marketing could be telling stories to support the promises you make to clients,” Mandi says. “With a clear and compelling message, you can then build a solid go-to marketing strategy that can work even with the coldest of traffic.” [6:14]
“If you don’t have the cash flow and profit to pay people to replace yourself, that's what keeps you, as a CEO, stuck in your business.” In order to be sustainable, you have to have enough of the right systems. [8:57]
“Do you really want to go out and sell something if you're not sure it's going to work?” Mandi discusses the integrity of scaling when you’re not sure of your product. [11:30]

Resources
Mandi Ellefson on LinkedIn | Twitter | Facebook
Hands-Off CEO - Executive Briefing
...more
14min
October 27, 2022[Replay] How to Drive Rapid Hands-off Growth
Mandi Ellefson shares how leaders can drive rapid growth in their company beyond themselves in this solo episode of Hands-Off CEO.

You’ll hear Mandi talk about:
Convincing someone to do something: they have to want to do it, and money isn’t the most reliable incentive. [1:32]
The food chain of passion. “If you don’t have a lot of passion, then neither will your team.” [3:43]
The secret to growing your company beyond you. “What is the bigger reason for why you're scaling? What is the impact that you could potentially be making in the world?” [5:27]
How an inspired team affects performance and engagement. “I am here because I love [the company], I'm inspired by it, I'm excited, and I don't feel like I'm working.” [7:29]

Resources
Mandi Ellefson on LinkedIn | Twitter | Facebook
Hands-Off CEO - Executive Briefing
...more
10min
October 20, 2022Q4 Is the Buying Season
What do you need to put in place to generate cash flow? Are you ready to hire the right people to support your growth? Mandi Ellefson discusses how to take advantage of the buying season to increase business growth. She advises CEOs to get out from under day-to-day operations, freeing up time for more strategic planning.

Key Ideas:
Quarter 4 is when your clients and prospects are pulling out their budgets, Mandi says, and thinking about what they can do differently in the upcoming year. “Most consulting agencies are too busy to take full advantage of this buying season,” she claims. “They’re very reactive during this time… meanwhile your proactive competitors are reaching out to all [your] prospects.” [1:07]
Your job as the CEO is to proactively look ahead for ways to grow the business. If you’re too busy running it, you won’t have time to grow it. [2:39]
Hands-Off CEO helped a client create an irresistible offer for the most profitable clients in their business within 90 days. Their sales conversions went through the roof, allowing them to tap into their existing network and even some of their existing clients. Now, they’re able to bring in clients at $20,000 a month. All this came from the CEO having the time and focus to go after business, knowing and trusting that his team could follow through. [3:23]
According to Mandi, getting out of account and project management frees up about 20 hours per week, depending on the size of the company and how involved the CEO already is in the day-to-day of them. [6:29]
You need to ensure that you actually have the financial foundation in your company so that your profitability increases as you scale. [8:26]

Resources
Mandi Ellefson on LinkedIn | Twitter | Facebook
Hands-Off CEO - Executive Briefing
...more
11min
October 13, 2022How I Cut 20 Hours Off My Week with an Amazing Executive Assistant
The right executive assistant is the Chief Bottleneck Breaker of your company. This role should NOT be ignored. Mandi Ellefson discusses how an executive assistant can free up 20 hours per week, and why this role is especially relevant for CEOs.

Key Ideas:
Mandi’s own experience can attest to the benefits of an executive assistant, as hers was able to free up no less than 20 hours per week by doing a lot of the soul-sucking tasks that Mandi hated doing. CEOs should keep in mind, however, that it should be a long term position. An EA isn’t there to only get the little things off their plate [2:18]
One of the roles of a CEO is sourcing good talent. This doesn’t mean you have to be hypervigilant; it means your team can run a hiring process completely without you, and you can just show up in the last stages. [5:00]
A good EA should be able to protect you, your schedule, and your energy from all the outside influences trying to get at you, Mandi shares. [10:39]
If hiring a remote EA, consider hiring someone in the same timezone as you. Think about the longevity of the position; this is someone you’re going to want staying for 3+ years in the company. Would they stick around if your waking and working hours are bedtime in their timezone? [21:31]
Mandi recommends having candidates perform a Kolbe A assessment, which measures the instinctive ways you take action when you strive. Look for someone with a high Fact Finder score, especially one whose score is six or above. Ideally, you want someone whose score is at least a couple points higher than the CEO’s. [27:55]

Resources
Mandi Ellefson on LinkedIn | Twitter | Facebook
Hands-Off CEO - Executive Briefing

Kolbe A Index
...more
34min
October 06, 2022Hiring an Executive Assistant
Increase your productivity without the strain? Yes, please! Executive assistants can make it happen. Mandi Ellefson shares how she cut 20 hours off her work week by hiring an executive assistant, and why every CEO should have one.

Key Ideas:
Trends are changing in the staffing industry, Mandi claims. Recently, it hasn’t been as competitive as it has in the past. Through paid advertising, you’re likely to find some really good candidates on LinkedIn. [4:06]
If you could spend ten extra hours a week generating more sales, how much business could you bring in? Hint: it might be in the millions. Hiring an executive assistant to take care of the busy work frees up your energy and mental bandwidth so you can focus on tasks that are going to grow your company. [5:50]
As a CEO, you should have an experienced EA. This doesn’t necessarily mean someone with 2 decades under their belt, as they may not be up to speed with a lot of software or not excited to learn new things. You also need someone who fits your culture and values. [9:39]
Avoid hiring people who are fractional resources. “I encourage you to have this role be 30-40 hours per week, [more of a] full-time job,” Mandi advises. It’s not that they can’t have other side hustles, but as EA is a role that requires you to have 100% access to them when you need to, your hours should match. [14:45]
When screening EA candidates, you should ask specific questions and pay attention to the responses. Those that go into detail are usually more suitable; those that give vague answers are typically bluffing. [21:28]

Resources
Mandi Ellefson on LinkedIn | Twitter | Facebook
Hands-Off CEO - Executive Briefing

Hiring for Attitude by Mark Murphy
Topgrading by Bradford Smart
...more
31min
September 29, 2022Scale Your Agency with Ice Cold Leads
Reach your ideal prospects wherever they hang out - via LinkedIn or cold email or any other channel - and scale your consulting agency. Mandi Ellefson shares the five variables that make cold outreach work in this solo episode of Hands-Off CEO.

Key Ideas:
Use direct outreach to make money quickly if you’re in a bind and need to bring in more clients. It’s a good strategy to use as you build up your company, when you need to test new offers, or when you’re pivoting your company. [3:04]
“We want to move away from reliance on referrals.” Mandi says. Referrals are great, but they bring challenges that make it very difficult for your company to be sustainable if they are the only lead source that you have. “I would look at referrals as being a way to… target the right prospects and get them further up the funnel.” [4:40]
The five variables you need to make cold outreach work are targeting, an attention grabbing hook, a compelling, nurturing process to educate and build desire, an irresistible offer, and a qualification process that paints an expansive vision. [6:45]
Managing cold traffic goes through three phases: attracting, nurturing, and closing. [9:37]
Mandi describes the ideal executive briefing. “[It’s] an opportunity for you to help your prospects understand their problem at a deeper level than they could on their own and show them an alternative way to… generate much better results.” [14:26]

Resources
Mandi Ellefson on LinkedIn | Twitter | Facebook
Hands-Off CEO - Executive Briefing
...more
19min

FAQs about Hands-Off Growth:

How many episodes does Hands-Off Growth have?

The podcast currently has 143 episodes available.

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