Brilliant Ideas

#13: How to Master Unscalable Tasks that Grow Your Business Quickly

• Alyssa Bellisario • Season 1 • Episode 13

Share episode

Discover how to redefine success on your own terms as I sit down with Laura, a corporate finance veteran who became a trailblazing business strategist.

Laura's Business Breakthrough program is designed for mid-career women ready to leverage their corporate expertise and venture into successful independent businesses. Through her unique journey, Laura shares the strategies and insights that empower women to turn their professional experiences into personal fulfillment and financial independence.

Transitioning from a structured office environment to the unpredictability of entrepreneurship can be daunting, but fear not—Laura shares practical strategies to navigate the early hurdles of building a business. 

From acquiring the right clients to mastering social media and prioritizing tasks, she emphasizes starting with personal, unscalable interactions to truly understand and meet clients' needs.

Whether you're an aspiring solopreneur or a seasoned professional seeking new opportunities, this episode is packed with actionable advice to help you build a successful and marketable business.

Connect with Laura:

Laura Zavelson

YouTube

LinkedIn

Instagram

Download your FREE Gen X Escape Plan

Send me a text if you loved this episode!

Rate, Review, & Follow on Apple Podcasts

Your feedback helps me reach more solopreneurs like you.

It’s super easy—just click here, scroll to the bottom, tap those five stars, and hit “Write a Review.” I’d love to know what resonated most with you in this episode!

And don’t forget to hit that follow button if you haven’t already! There’s plenty more coming your way—practical tips, inspiring stories, and tools to help you grow a business that makes a real difference. You won’t want to miss out!

Let's Connect on Instagram
alyssabellisario.com
Search your favorite episodes HERE

This podcast is produced, mixed, and edited by Cardinal Studio. For more
information about how to start your own podcast, please visit www.cardinalstudio.co
or e-mail mike@cardinalstudio.co

Laura:

I would say that as an entrepreneur, you need to define success for yourself. So there's a lot of gurus and ninjas and gladiators out there and they're going to try to tell you that they're like it's some number of dollars a month and that if you're not there in six months you're doing it wrong and that you need to pay them a bunch of money so you can do things their way. Do not listen.

Alyssa:

Welcome to Brilliant Ideas, the podcast that takes you behind the scenes of some of the most inspiring digital products created by solopreneurs. Just like you, I'm your host, alyssa, a digital product strategist who helps subject matter experts grow their business with online courses, memberships, coaching programs and ebooks. If you're a solopreneur with dreams of packaging your expertise into a profitable digital product, then this is the podcast for you. Expect honest conversations of how they started, the obstacles they overcame, lessons learned the hard way and who face the same fears, doubts and challenges you're experiencing, from unexpected surprises to breakthrough moments and everything in between. Tune in, get inspired and let's spark your next big, brilliant idea. Hey everyone, welcome back to Brilliant Ideas. I'm thrilled to welcome Laura to the show. Laura is a corporate finance speak turn business strategist for Gen Xers and the creator of Business Breakthrough, a program designed to help you build a fulfilling client, getting business on your terms. If you're listening right now and you're just starting out with building a business, laura has insights you'll want to hear. Welcome to the show, laura. Thank you so much for being here. Thanks, alyssa, awesome.

Alyssa:

So, just like you, I'm a professor myself and I've been doing that for almost a decade, and then, before that I was working in an admin role for up until, I would say, about 2020. And then that's when I jumped into my own business. And for a lot of women who've been in corporate careers for many years sometimes I would say decades and they come with all this experience, skill set and just so much talent, but they don't really know what kind of business to create. And for myself, I remember that I've created, you know, I've made a lot of changes, pivots and mistakes in my business myself, and that's when I was looking at this business breakthrough program that you offer and I feel like it's so life changing for a lot of people who maybe or were like me in corporate careers or in traditional roles, and they're starting to think, you know, I could actually do a coaching business. And so what I really want to hear from you is kind of tell me a bit about your background behind the business breakthrough and what led you to doing this work.

Laura:

Well, thank you.

Laura:

Well, you know, I call myself a corporate finance escapee turned serial entrepreneur and, like you, I'm actually also a former professor of entrepreneurship and now I think of myself more as a business strategist and I help women capitalize on what they already know to build their own businesses, as a coach or a consultant or an independent expert.

Laura:

And I think the mission that really led me to doing what I'm doing now is that I used to work primarily with venture-backed startups, but around the time of the pandemic, I started noticing that so many mid-career women the exact same thing, you noticed women with tons of experience and expertise were either getting pushed out or pushed aside from their corporate jobs, or they were finally at a place where they had the time and the bandwidth to re-engage with meaningful work in a bigger way.

Laura:

So maybe they're empty nesters, maybe their kids have gotten a little older and the corporations just weren't interested. Like you know, I heard these stories of these incredible women sending out all these resumes and just hearing nothing back or going to the interview and then, like, getting down to it was like them and one other person and the corporation hires somebody who's like 15, 20 years younger, and it just seems to me that if I could help them consider entrepreneurship as a way to share all of that talent and innovation right, it not only helps, like all of their potential clients that are out there, but it creates the potential for more financial power for women, and that is just something I'm really passionate about helping make happen.

Alyssa:

Wow, that's such a refreshing way to look at it, and I love how you've taken kind of your own experience. You know, teaching entrepreneurship and then turning into something that you know helps people or women carve out what they are really meant to do as well, and I think it's so important, especially for those that are leaving the corporate world and trying to figure out kind of what is my next step. And this brings me to my next question, because let's be real, even with a solid skill set, building a business isn't always smooth sailing, and I know that you've worked with solopreneurs over the years, and so I want to know kind of what are the hurdles that you see very often that tend to shock people in those early stages of business.

Laura:

Well, I don't know if these are particularly shocking, but I will tell you. I think the challenges are, first of all, not having enough clients or not having the right clients, because if you don't have the client inflow, if you don't have people paying you, obviously your business is not going to be sustainable over the long term. The second thing is I think it's the time suck and just the straight up awkwardness associated with social media and sales. You know, I think people get in there and they're thinking you know, you know I'm going to be able to do this or I'm going to be able to figure it out, and it's just such a morass and it's getting more complicated, not less complicated, as sort of the channels fragment, right. And then, finally, I think, not having the clarity to prioritize the right things.

Laura:

Having the clarity to prioritize the right things and you know I don't say that in that you know people you don't always have the skill set. So I think people don't always realize that the skills that make you a great coach or consultant are completely different skill set than what it takes to build a great business. You know, and the good news is there's like straightforward fixes for everything I just said. Right, you can build a program that people want to buy, and there are ways to find out whether or not you're creating something that people want to buy. Right, you can create a revenue engine that gives you an authentic way to market and sell, and, if you know where you're going, you can create a path that will help you make sure you're prioritizing and working on the right things. That will help get you there, and so you're not spinning your wheels, and you can do that whether you're trying to make fifty thousand dollars or five hundred thousand dollars or five million dollars.

Alyssa:

Right, the process is the same I like what you said about that, with the right path and doing the right things. I think that there is this ultimate fear that's going on, you know, when you are working in corporate, because what you're used to, this structured corporate job, it's very predictable. Everything is mapped out for you, you're running your own bit and then and then you go to running your own business where, like now, you're making all the calls and it's suddenly become more complicated. It's a whole different vibe. I mean those two are one. It's from one end to the other end of the extreme. And so I know, for me, like corporate felt, this it's very predictable routine. You know that it's a nine to five. You know what you have to do. And then suddenly I felt like when I jumped into my own no-transcript, when I was starting out, I was the boss and I was just trying to figure out how to balance all of the tasks I was supposed to do getting clients, marketing, selling, and then, at the same time, also being vulnerable and relatable. And so I honestly I think one of the biggest questions that people hear all the time in the early stages is where do I even start?

Alyssa:

Because they have this business, they, they are. You know, say, I want to create, I want to be a coach, and so okay, should I be creating an online course? Should I be doing something more like hands on, a, you know, one-to-one program? You know there's so many things that you could be doing, and I know that they're afraid of doing the wrong thing, and then what do you do then? So it's like, so I would love to hear from you, like, what would you say is the most scalable right out of the gate? Is it the online course? Is it one-to-one? Is it a membership? Is it something else? What's your take on that?

Laura:

Well, scalable.

Laura:

Scalable, I think you know you're definitely talking about things where you have to work once and then you can sell it multiple times, right, so scalable.

Laura:

But I think when we start, we want to do things that are unscalable, because that is going to give us the greatest amount of learning.

Laura:

So my feeling is, if you haven't done this before, if you haven't worked deeply with your target audience before, then I would say one-on-one program, and here's why those conversations with your clients are going to form the foundation for your business and they are going to act as like a natural protection for you going out and spending a lot of time or money building something that nobody wants to buy. Because they're going to help you answer kind of these three fundamental questions, right, what problem are you solving, who are you solving it for and why does it matter to that client to get the problem solved? Like, what is the urgent thing for them? What's the thing behind the thing? What do they really want? Because once you know that, once you really get that, then you can use that information to inform your online course or your signature program. That is scalable, and so I think getting real clarity around those questions is actually what's going to make your online course that much more marketable and successful?

Alyssa:

I love that. I think so many of us can relate to that, to that feeling of uncertainty of what to start with first, but I like that you use the word unscalable I've never heard of that and I think I agree with it. So much is that you know that starting out with having those conversations and we do not do that enough we need to be having more conversations with our clients and finding out the root cause of their issues, and you can really only do that one-to-one at the start, and then, once you have a method or a framework in place, I can see how then you can turn that into a course or something that's more evergreen. And, yeah, I love that. And so, yeah, so for so many, you know, for solopreneurs, especially those just starting out, you know, the thought of putting themselves out there and asking for the sale can feel awkward, intimidating and downright scary.

Alyssa:

I mean, I've had to really teach myself the selling techniques and strategies that I prefer ethical strategies. To be honest, I am not about FOMO tactics or anything like that or forceful sales and I do think that there is this nagging worry with you know what if I come across as like too pushy or like what if no one buys and I know that. I know a lot of my listeners, you know they struggle with this a lot and I hear this all the time the fear of promoting themselves or their offers that will, you know, that feel forced and not authentic. So how do you think people can start to feel more comfortable with marketing and selling, especially when it doesn't come naturally to them at all?

Laura:

I agree with you and you know, I will tell you, it doesn't come naturally to me either, and this is just something I hear from women over and over again and I don't know, you know, if it's something about our conditioning or sort of. You know, I think you're right A lot of fears around sort of putting ourselves out there and really, when you're selling and when your product is, you right it really that is scary and I think we have to acknowledge that. But I'll say that I have a couple of thoughts Right now. What I'm recommending and it is a long game, but it's using content to showcase your thought leadership, and you do not have to be a world-renowned expert to make this work. What you do is you base your content on your expertise and the one thing that differentiates you that no AI can copy, and that's your experience. Because if you're constantly sharing your ideas and your unique approach to solving a problem and somebody finds you that has that problem, then you don't have to sell them. They're going to hire you. So I do want to offer a solution that people can do in the short term, like if you're in this now, right, and you wanted something that you could start doing tomorrow. I think the best thing you can do is kind of a reframing exercise that shifts your mindset from I'm selling people my thing to I'm helping this person solve a problem.

Laura:

And let me give you an example. So not long ago I had a problem A water pipe burst in my house. There was water pouring through the ceiling all over my downstairs bathroom. There was water all over the floor. It's seeping out under the door. This is not good, so I shut off the water. Okay, now what am I going to do? I texted a couple of friends. Does anybody know a plumber? Somebody sends me back the number of a plumber. Okay, I make the call.

Laura:

When I get this person on the phone, I am not haggling on price. I am not asking you to sell me, sell them to sell me. Like we're not having a big conversation about where did you go to school for plumbing, right, I just hired them because, first of all, their name came from somebody I trusted, right. And second, because I had a problem and they were the person who could help me get it solved. So if we break it down, the marketing part was just me knowing the plumber was out there and having a little bit of trust that they weren't gonna scam me. And the selling part was me reaching out and saying, hey, I need your help. And they said, yes, I can be over there. What time right? So I think in marketing and sales we get in our own heads because we've all had that slimy experience. But the thing is you know, you know inside you're not that person. So if you focus on the helping people part, I think that should definitely make it easier for talking to people about what you do.

Alyssa:

I love that analogy. Did everything go okay?

Laura:

Yes, yes, we got fixed and we mopped up all the water, but oh, what a mess.

Alyssa:

I love that analogy and I love how you reframe those challenges as opportunities to connect and serve, rather than something to dread. You know, if we think about reframing and helping, that makes us feel like we have solutions to the everyday problems that people are facing, and we should be marketing that because that is and we know that we are not the slimy salesman or the car salesman analogy that we hear about and I love that and I think we should always just you know, let us let ourselves know that that we have something to say. We are unique. We are, we don't do FOMO tactics, we don't do any of those things, and I think that our audience will appreciate that as well. And so, speaking of valuable insights, we've now come to my favorite part of the show.

Alyssa:

This is the brilliant bite of the week. I absolutely love this part because this is such a quick, actionable takeaway to kind of spark their own brilliant ideas, and it's really all about leaving our listeners with something they can put into practice right away. So this is like a piece of wisdom, a strategy. This could be like a mindset shift. It can help them kind of move forward in their business. So what would be one powerful tip or kind of piece of advice you'd like to share with our listeners this week.

Laura:

I would say that, as an entrepreneur, you need to define success for yourself. So there's a lot of gurus and ninjas and gladiators out there and they're going to try to tell you that it's some number of dollars a month and that if you're not there in six months, you're doing it wrong, and that you need to pay them a bunch of money so you can do things their way. Do not listen, I doing it wrong and that you need to pay them a bunch of money so you can do things their way. Do not listen. I believe that your business does need to support you financially. You absolutely deserve to make money and live well, and you need to give yourself permission to do that, and that you can also design your business to support things that are important to you besides money, like flexibility, like control over your time, like creating impact for people and issues that have meaning for you. So set up your vision for success around all of that and then intentionally design a business that gets you there.

Alyssa:

Amazing. That's so encouraging for our listeners to hear and to put into practice Now. I know my listeners will be curious to find out more about you. Where can they find you online?

Laura:

Thank you so much for asking. My website is laurazovilsoncom, and I'll spell that Laura L-A-U-R-A. Z as in zebra, a, v as in victory, e-l-s-o-ncom. And if you are at the point where you're wondering if starting a business is right for you, I recommend you download my Gen X escape plan. So it is a three-step roadmap that will help you get clarity around the problems that you could help people solve, test whether or not that idea can get you to that enough number that we've been talking about, and then figure out a plan to get started while avoiding a lot of the rabbit holes and the black holes that I see first timers get stuck in. And it's right there at the top of my homepage.

Alyssa:

Well, thank you so much, Laura, for sharing your wisdom today and expertise. This conversation has been such a gift and I know it's going to spark some incredible ideas for our listeners Now. Speaking of ideas, if you're listening right now and wondering if your next big, brilliant idea has the potential to take off, I've got something for you as well. I have a great chat, GPT prompt that tests your digital product ideas to see if it sparks curiosity, solves a problem and can deliver a result. You can find that in the show notes or on my website, AlyssaVeloceriocom. Thank you for listening and I will catch you next time on another brilliant idea. Thanks for tuning into this episode of Brilliant Ideas. If you love the show, be sure to leave a review and follow me on Instagram for even more insider tips and inspiration. Ready to bring your next big brilliant idea to life? Visit AlyssaVelsercom for resources, guidance and everything you need to start creating something amazing.