I am a serial entrepreneur. Which means before I had the Lean Out Method and before Criscara I had other businesses, including my most successful endeavor (an idea that I turned into a multi six figure business in less than two weeks) and my least successful business (a jewelry business where I lost multi six figures in a few years).
The Success
Have you ever had that experience where your friends know your strengths and come to you to solve their problems? Maybe you’re an interior designer and you get that FaceTime call every time a friend wants to rearrange their living room. Maybe you’re a marketing agent and you get a call every time a friend has a new idea they want to launch into the world. I know business. Specifically, I’m an expert at helping businesses simplify to scale.
Before the Lean Out Method I did a lot of project management consulting/program management for large corporations. I led and built large project management organizations and at one time had hundreds of project managers reporting to me in multiple countries, so when friends were having a difficult time with projects at their jobs, I was the one they would come to.
Over dinner one night a friend had said, “if you could just come in, I know that would fix everything.”
Our conversation sparked an idea and that idea turned into a business with its own website and its first multi-6-figure deal in less than two weeks.
The Loss
Common Sense Enterprise Program Management (CSEPM), the company I mentioned above, succeeded because I kept things simple; I was really in tune with my target audience, I kept things super niche, I understood the need and I fully understood the opportunity.
Before, Criscara, the jewelry company I own today, I had another jewelry company, where I made a mistake that many creative entrepreneurs make: rather than leading with business I led with passion; I thought like an artist rather than like a business woman.
I spent a lot of time on details that my customer either didn’t notice or didn’t care about. The added details increased cost and ultimately priced my pieces out of a price point that my customers wanted to pay.
I wasn’t thinking about what my ideal customer wanted or needed. I was too focused on what I wanted and as a result I was left with a basement full of jewelry and thousands of dollars or debt.
In Episode 30 of The Lean Out Your Business Podcast I take you behind the scenes of both of these businesses, to show you what I did right and what I did wrong.
In today’s episode, you'll learn:
- How to recognize untapped opportunities in your market
- How I turned an idea into a multi-6-figure consulting business in under 2 weeks
- How I accumulated multi-6-figures of debt in my first jewelry business
- The #1 mistake passion-fueled entrepreneurs make that slows down their results
- The big difference between my most and least successful businesses
- How to leverage simplicity to accelerate results
- 2 key questions to ask yourself before your next launch
Tune into Episode 30 of the Lean Out Your Business Podcast
"Repeat what worked well for your business in the past, and avoid what didn't work well." -Crista Grasso Click To Tweet
by Crista Grasso
Crista Grasso is the Founder of Lean Scaling Co and Strategic Ops Institute and the host of the Simplify to Scale Show.
She developed the Lean Scaling System™ to make scaling simple and sustainable for service-based businesses in the messy middle of $1M - $10M. She specializes in elevating the founder out of daily operations and into visionary leadership and in certifying fractionals and consultants to be able to effectively and strategically scale the businesses they partner with.
