16 Building in Public: Climbing the Hill

Matt Tompkins -

GM and happy Wednesday!

Welcome to building in public where we often look like Shaq at the free-throw line.

Alright, today is a good one. I’m biassed, but I think what I’m discussing today is important for any business (key word: I think).

PS! As I shared last week, I revamped the Elevate Financial website - check it out here.

Okay, onward.

My new goal is quite simple: Elevate is going to be a true agency with systems, core offerings, and consistent price points. I believe this is the only way to get over the current ‘plateau’ I find myself on.

Yes, there are many advantages to this new strategy. But, this also means a bit of short-term pain… (AKA less take-home distributions $$$).

Plus, I’m gonna need to say no to things. No to clients that don’t fit the niche or the product offering, and the hardest part... No to some good (easy) money.

But it’s time. And I finally feel ready to build out a proper team, a systematized offering, and break-through the $20-25k bottle neck I find myself trapped in.

I can’t believe I didn’t see this earlier… live and learn?

Because once I started doing some of the math, margin calculations, and projections, it seemed like a no-brainer to expand.

Okay. Cool, so how am I gonna do it?

I think this will turn into a three-step process that occurs simultaneously. This is how I’m planning it out, and this is how I’m envisioning it 👇👇

FYI: This should be taken with a massive grain of Himalayan salt. Because as well all know:

1/ Getting the right people on the bus.

Even before we decide where we wanna go, we have to get the right people on the bus before we leave the station. This is stolen from Jim Collin’s legendary book: “Good to Great”. People are, and always will be, the most important aspect to any great company.

With that in mind, I’m focusing on adding two people immediately. First, I've been working with an awesome guy for around 8 months, but now I’m bringing him more into the fold. More engaged with clients, insight into processes, and onboarding with clients from day 1.

Second, I hired a virtual assistant. She will begin assisting with a lot of admin work on the day-to-day, but her most important role in the beginning stages is documenting all processes (okay, creating processes). I’m going to have her build out our first Standard Operating Systems (SOPs). My god, who am I?

This will be vital information for when I hire more people into various roles.

2/ Refine offerings.

The last 1.5 years I’d honestly just offer any service. If it was accounting or finance related, and paid well, then sign me up! However, now I’m moving away from this. I’m offering two services (albeit at varying levels of degree):

  • Fractional CFO services
  • Bookkeeping

So why these two? Fractional CFO services (think budgeting, forecasting, profitability analysis, liaison with external auditors, etc.) can be done by myself and partner. Plus, it’s fun and high value.

Bookkeeping is an interesting choice. But I decided to go with it because it provides an awesome entry for businesses. We can sell them here first, and then tack on the higher tick items. Plus, it’s easy to hire qualified bookkeepers, but not so much fractional CFOs (the margins here are also pretty good).

3/ Spending money on Marketing.

As mentioned last week, I haven’t spent a dime on marketing. However, this has now changed. I'm trying my hand at lead generation through LinkedIn Sales Navigator (via DoneMaker) and Google Ads. I revamped my landing page, and have what I believe to be a fairly high converting site. (time will tell).

The goal here is to be signing and bringing in more revenue than I’m spending per month. So I’m gonna need to also work on the pitch and closing process. Both of which I actually enjoy.

I'll attempt to document this strategy as we progress.

I’m pretty stoked on it, and believe I can turn Elevate Financial around, and get us climbing that proverbial mountain again.

Time will tell!