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Scaling in your business as an entrepreneur requires you to be more productive with your time. However, productivity isn’t just about crossing to-dos off of your list. It is about more than that. If you have pondered the idea of starting a group coaching program as a way to scale your business, then not only will being more effective and efficient with your time play a big role in the implementation process, but there are a few tips to help you ease into it with confidence and comfortability, especially as an introvert.
Our guest on the podcast today is Business Strategist and Contract COO, Jordan Schanda King. She is a serial entrepreneur and expert at business optimization. Since starting her first business in 2013, she has published a book, founded and co-founded multiple businesses, developed and led group programs in three industries, filed copyrights on multiple products, and successfully sold a business.
Now Jordan runs a Contract COO agency, Easy Scaling, specializing in full business management for women who are scaling their service-based businesses. With an all-female team of VAs, OBMs, Copywriters, Marketers, Social Media Managers, and Tech Gurus, they help female founders scale without burning out so that they can build a sustainable business that they love. She’s had to learn the hard way how to run a business that she actually enjoys and is excited to share her expertise with other women on this entrepreneurial journey!
In this episode, Jordan and I dive into:
- Her entrepreneurial journey and how it began
- Being more productive in your business
- Creating an agency that focuses on entrepreneurs who are ready to scale
- Tips for creating your very first group program
- …and much more
How One Serial Entrepreneur Began Her Journey
The very first business that Jordan started was a college and scholarship preparatory service with her mother. It was by total accident, as well as several other businesses she has started. Many entrepreneurs have started their businesses this way. They see a need, create the product or service, and then run with it. That’s the fun part of it, right? She learned so much with her first business because she previously hadn’t known anything about the online world. Adding to that, Jordan didn’t know what an entrepreneur was, but she learned about entrepreneurship the hard way, especially with her first business, which she believes was the more fun way to do it. When you take the time to figure things out, pivot, and change things up, you learn valuable lessons along the way.
Being Effective and Efficient For Productivity in Your Business
I love scaling, and I love how Jordan has been able to really show how scaling requires productivity. When people think about being productive, they think it’s making an extensive to-do list and just checking it off. However, if those things on your list aren’t strategic things that move your business forward, then it’s just busywork. This can lead to being consumed by the hustle culture trap, which won’t give you the impact you’re looking to make. A lot of times, what it comes down to is being effective.
Something that Jordan has noticed lately is that everyone is talking about systems. She was talking to someone recently that had hired someone to build systems for them, but then the entrepreneur didn’t know how to use them. This is the perfect example, Jordan says, of trying to be more efficient, but implementing the systems wasn’t effective. If something doesn’t work for you, you have wasted time and money. It’s as simple as creating a system that you know how to use, and sometimes that is just by using a Google document. This is the majority of the work that Jordan and her team do with clients by helping them become more effective with the things they do well and allowing her and her team to do the rest.
One-Stop-Shop: Creating an Agency Focused on Scaling for Entrepreneurs
After co-founding two businesses, Jordan decided in the beginning of 2021 that she wanted to start something solely her own. After running businesses for a decade, it just made sense to her to find her own thing. She found out pretty quickly that being a coach wasn’t something that she did well in a sense. She found herself wanting to tell her clients how to do things and do it for them instead of holding space for and letting them make their own conclusions. There is something good and bad to be said about that Jordan says, so knowing those things about herself as a coach led her to the role of a COO or chief operating officer. This allows her to be more of a partner to CEOs as they create things inside their business, rather than just reflecting their own ideas back to them and actually doing the implementation process for them. However, there are limits to this because she can only do so much.
After getting her first client, which happened very quickly, she realized that she needed other people to help her with the little things that people needed help with. Everything from sending a one-off email to updating a graphic or creating a zoom link all the way up to building out a whole funnel. It evolved based on what she saw CEOs needing consistently in their business and the fact that to be effective at doing those things and efficient at the same time, you need a lot of expertise. Not everyone wants to go and hire 10 people to be on their team, but they really do need about 10 people on their team doing different things, so it just presented itself as the solution to something that wasn’t commonly being offered.
Tips for Creating Your First Group Coaching Program
When you are initially creating your first group program, Jordan believes that the best thing to do is to just go for it. Not only is it a powerful way to support your clients, but it is also a great way to scale your business at the same time as working with your clients. A group program is the quickest way to get your clients their transformation because of these factors:
peer accountability
they still have your support,
a bit more affordable for them
This allows you to be more efficient with your time as the leader facilitating the group. Once you’ve gotten your feet under you with one-on-one and working with private clients, however that looks for you, Jordan thinks it’s a no-brainer to then do a group program.
The one thing that deters people from going for it is that they get overwhelmed by it. They think they have to have a perfectly designed curriculum and modules recorded, but you don’t because that’s a course. If you want to do a course long-term, a group program is a great way to create that. With your first group program, you do not have to have your content fully polished and ready to go. Jordan suggests not to do it that way because when you do a group program, you’re going to learn a lot about exactly what your clients need in that type of setting, which will inform you on what your curriculum should be long-term.
Getting Over Imposter Syndrome as an Introvert When Starting a Group Coaching Program
When starting your first group program, especially as an introvert, imposter syndrome can hit hard. As an introvert herself, Jordan didn’t want to do it alone, so she got a partner to do it with her. They were both facing imposter syndrome because they had never done it before and wondered why anyone would pay them to talk. One thing they did was heavily rely on guest experts. They found that to be such a great entry point for them to get comfortable with being seen as the experts or the facilitators of the group. It allowed them to customize everything they planned for the group based on what the group wanted to learn and what they needed to know while not always delivering the content. This allowed the group to vote on topics, so they could bring someone on to present on that topic, then Jordan and her partner would facilitate discussion. It gave them both that little bit of confidence and comfortability that they needed to be seen in that role. This is Jordan’s best recommendation for others, especially introverts, who don’t want to be on the spot for every call that is being done.
Effectively Outsourcing in Your Business for Success
Have you ever outsourced for your business before, and it didn’t work out? Whether you have or haven’t, there is a way to make this process more effective. A lot of what’s in Jordan’s free workbook on outsourcing effectively is more about tapping into how you are spending your time and how you should be spending your time in your business. This doesn’t sound fun, but it’s necessary. You need to be tracking your time, but not all the time. You don’t need to be doing a timesheet for yourself, but periodically tracking your time can be super helpful and provide insight on the things that you do, things that you’re not doing, what you aren’t good at, and the tasks that aren’t moving the needle forward. Even using something like the Rescue Time Chrome extension and letting it run in the background can be an easy way to achieve this. Tracking your time allows you to do things that are more aligned and do the things you do well and that only you can do. These are the things you need to be outsourcing. Jordan finds that many people need to outsource but don’t know what things or tasks to outsource. It gives you some insight into things like that, even if you do not want to outsource because it can be beneficial.
Jordan gave so many powerful tips and insights on her entrepreneurial journey by learning the hard way of running a business and how being productive requires you to be more effective and efficient with your time as a CEO. She also shared how she created her agency by finding a one-stop-shop solution for entrepreneurs wanting to scale. The best advice for entrepreneurs who want to create their first group program. And even how to get over imposter syndrome as an introverted entrepreneur when creating a group program and how to effectively outsource in your business by taking a closer look at your schedule.
Don’t forget to follow Jordan on Instagram and grab her free resources for more valuable tips on being more effective and productive in your business, along with all things related to group programs. If you’re interested in working with Jordan and her team, then you can see which services on her website best fit your needs.
If you were to start your first group coaching program as an introverted entrepreneur, what tips would you implement to make it feel more comfortable for you as the leader of the program?
a breakdown of this episode
[1:47] The start of Jordan’s entrepreneurial journey and what her very first business looked like
[2:51] Scaling requires you to be more productive with your time; efficiency and effectiveness will become your best friends in business
[5:43] Creating an agency that focuses on helping entrepreneurs scale their business without hiring loads of people, but rather have a one-stop-shop approach
[10:10] Advice for anyone who wants to create their first group coaching program
[12:32] Imposter syndrome as an introverted entrepreneur who’s thinking about running a group program
[16:03] Effectively outsourcing in your business, even if it didn’t work out in previous experiences
[18:22] Having an all-female team and being able to support other female-owned businesses
[20:15] Jordan’s favorite marketing platforms/methods
If you enjoyed this episode, I invite you to take a screenshot and tag me on your Instagram stories @introvertcoach and tell me your biggest takeaway!
resources mentioned this episode:
- Thetarareid.com
- Join the Introvertpreneur Club
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- Done For You Content Kits
- New Course: Content to Clients
- Sign up for the waitlist for the 2022 Introvertpreneur Virtual Summit
- One-Time Special Offer: 2021 Introvertpreneur Summit Presentations for $37
- Jordan’s Instagram
- Jordan’s Website
- COO + Team Services
- Free Workbook: How to Outsource Effectively
- Free Masterclass: Scale With a Group Program
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