Profit by Design

394: The 5-Step Business Growth Strategy to Create a Sustainably Profitable Business

If your business is growing, but you’re more exhausted than ever–something is off. More revenue should mean more freedom. Instead, you’re stuck in the survival trap of being overworked, underpaid, and the bottleneck in your business. Stress has become your new normal. In this episode, Melissa Kay and Dr. Sabrina Starling walk you through the exact framework we use inside the Tap the Potential Solution™. You’ll learn the 5-step business growth strategy that changes everything. Sustainable profit doesn’t come from hustle; it comes from strategy. Ask yourself this question: “If nothing changes, what will it cost me?” Join us now to discover how different your life can be as the owner of a sustainably profitable business. Profit by Design is a Tap the Potential production. Show Highlights: 1. Are you “throwing spaghetti at the wall”? 2. Learn these 5 steps for owners of businesses that are established, past the startup phase, but still struggling against burnout: 3. Design your business to be sustainably profitable. (Every decision should direct profitability.) 4. Niche down with a clearly defined sweet spot. (A sweet spot is more defined than a niche. Think “slim down.”) 5. Innovate around the sweet spot of your business. (This is how you fall back in love with your business.) 6. Build your lean and mighty team of A-players. (This step is powerful for taking away your headaches and driving profitability.) 7. Focus on networking and attracting more A-players to your team. (This is when you have more freedom, more profit, and more owner’s pay.) 8. Melissa explains how we help our clients using this 5-step framework. 9. Our focus is on what really works! 10. Hear the exciting facts about what’s happening with our clients! 11. The results we expect when we show you how to increase your owner’s pay 12. Just imagine what’s possible for YOU! 13. Ready to take your life back from your business? Sign up for the Better Business Better Life https://www.tapthepotential.com/jumpstartJumpstart [https://www.tapthepotential.com/jumpstart] today! Resources: Join our https://www.tapthepotential.com/jumpstartJumpstart [https://www.tapthepotential.com/jumpstart] beginning April 7th! We will walk you through the step-by-step process to: 1. Free up 10 hours per week. 2. Pay yourself an additional $50K this year. 3. Take an extra week of vacation. Enroll now for https://www.tapthepotential.com/leadership-bootcampLeadership Bootcamp [https://www.tapthepotential.com/leadership-bootcamp]! The next session begins in April. Take our Better Business Better Life Assessment to determine your level of burnout and receive a complimentary call with the next steps you need to take in your business to support your life. https://www.tapthepotential.com/assessmentClick here! [https://www.tapthepotential.com/assessment] Mentioned in this episode: Jumpstart Your Business - Jumpstart Your Life! You’ve built a successful business—but it’s still running you. Join us to reclaim 10 hours a week and finally step into your role as the owner—register now. We get started April : http://tapthepotential.com/jumpstart

393: The Business Owner Dependency Trap (And How to Escape It)

Is your business completely dependent on you? If you take a vacation, will everything fall apart? If so, you are in the Business Owner Dependency Trap, and today’s episode reveals how to get out of it, change everything, and take your life back from your business. Business owners can escape survival mode by identifying the sweet spot of their business—the point at which profitability, freedom, and sustainability finally align. We have proven that working with fewer clients often increases profit, letting go of the wrong work creates growth, and systems (not hustle) create freedom. Melissa Kay and Dr. Sabrina Starling will teach you about the Business Owner Dependency Trap and help you build systems that enable your business to run without you. The truth is that working less and serving fewer clients often leads to greater profitability and sustainable growth. Join us to learn how to change everything and take your life back from your business! Profit by Design is a Tap the Potential production. Show Highlights: 1. “Work less with fewer clients to increase your profitability!” 2. The beautiful facts about what our clients are achieving in the Better Business Better Life program: 95% achieve more time off and more money in their bank account in the first 12 months! 3. Identifying the sweet spot of your business is essential. 4. One recent client more than quadrupled their profit in 12 months by identifying the sweet spot of their business. 5. Melissa explains the process for identifying the sweet spot of your business and building systems to support you. 6. Spending marketing dollars without a clearly defined sweet spot is “throwing spaghetti at the wall.” 7. Determine who your ideal clients are. 8. Melissa shares an example of a recent client call and how they worked together to reduce her work week to 15 hours! 9. Sign up for the Better Business Better Life https://www.tapthepotential.com/jumpstartJumpstart [https://www.tapthepotential.com/jumpstart] today! Resources: Join our https://www.tapthepotential.com/jumpstartJumpstart [https://www.tapthepotential.com/jumpstart] beginning April 7th! We will walk you through the step-by-step process to: 1. Free up 10 hours per week. 2. Pay yourself an additional $50K this year. 3. Take an extra week of vacation. Enroll now for https://www.tapthepotential.com/leadership-bootcampLeadership Bootcamp [https://www.tapthepotential.com/leadership-bootcamp]! The next session begins in April. Take our Better Business Better Life Assessment to determine your level of burnout and receive a complimentary call with the next steps you need to take in your business to support your life. https://www.tapthepotential.com/assessmentClick here! [https://www.tapthepotential.com/assessment] Mentioned in this episode: Jumpstart Your Business - Jumpstart Your Life! You’ve built a successful business—but it’s still running you. Join us to reclaim 10 hours a week and finally step into your role as the owner—register now. We get started April : http://tapthepotential.com/jumpstart

392: Why Most Small Businesses Plateau — And How to Start Growing Again

When you go into business, you work really hard to get things going, but as you achieve success, the business takes over your life, right? You want to keep growing your business, but you can’t work more. You’re already exhausted and stretched too thin. If you’re tired of being the fixer, the one with the fallback plan, and the one who holds it all together, you are not alone! If you’re like most business owners we work with, you have revenue coming in, but you are still not profitable. You struggle to make payroll and attract profitable clients that you enjoy working with. This is why we created the Tap the Potential solution: a step-by-step, simple framework to increase your profitability while working fewer hours so that you can take your life back from your business. On average, our clients experience a 716% increase in time off, a 215% increase in profit, and a 55% increase in owners’ pay—all within 12 months. In this episode, Melissa Kay and Dr. Sabrina Starling reveal why most small businesses hit a growth plateau, the hidden reason revenue increases don’t lead to profit, why entrepreneurs stay stuck in survival mode, how working less can actually increase profitability, and the simple framework successful business owners use to reclaim their time. If you’re ready to take your life back from your business, this episode will show you the path forward. Profit by Design is a Tap the Potential production. Show Highlights: 1. Reasons for a growth plateau in small businesses: trying to do it alone, hiring the wrong people, and mishandling the revenue needed to grow 2. Understanding the hidden costs in payroll for the wrong people 3. Design your business to be sustainably profitable. 4. The business owner’s blind spots contribute to growth plateaus. 5. Revenue doesn’t equal profitability. Apply the 80/20 rule. 6. Identify your PITA (“Pain in the assets”) clients. 7. Our Better Business Better Life https://www.tapthepotential.com/jumpstartJumpstart [https://www.tapthepotential.com/jumpstart] reveals the best profitability secrets! 8. We are not like typical business coaches! The Tap the Potential solution teaches you how to work fewer hours with a focused intention that frees up your time. 9. From Dr. Sabrina, the one action business owners can take today: “Do less. Ask, what’s the one thing I can do today that will have the greatest impact to make other things easier or unnecessary while driving the profitability of my business?” 10. Sign up for the Better Business Better Life https://www.tapthepotential.com/jumpstartJumpstart [https://www.tapthepotential.com/jumpstart] today! Resources: Join our https://www.tapthepotential.com/jumpstartJumpstart [https://www.tapthepotential.com/jumpstart] beginning April 7th! Learn how to: 1. Free up 10 hours per week. 2. Pay yourself an additional $50K this year. 3. Take an extra week of vacation. Enroll now for https://www.tapthepotential.com/leadership-bootcampLeadership Bootcamp [https://www.tapthepotential.com/leadership-bootcamp]! The next session begins in April. Take our Better Business Better Life Assessment to determine your level of burnout and receive a complimentary call with the next steps you need to take in your business to support your life. https://www.tapthepotential.com/assessmentClick here! [https://www.tapthepotential.com/assessment] Ready to take your life back from your business? Want more time for what matters most and more money in your bank account than ever? https://tapthepotential.com/Book a call [https://tapthepotential.com/] with us today! Mentioned in this episode: Jumpstart Your Business - Jumpstart Your Life! You’ve built a successful business—but it’s still running you. Join us to reclaim 10 hours a week and finally step into your role as the owner—register now. We get started April : http://tapthepotential.com/jumpstart

391: Emotional Burnout in Entrepreneurs: How to Build a Successful Business Without Losing Yourself with Robin Berning

Do you ever feel like anxiety is running your life and business? From the outside, your business may look successful, yet internally, you feel exhausted, stretched thin, and disconnected from yourself. Entrepreneurship doesn’t just demand strategy; it demands your energy, heart, capacity, and sometimes, your identity. In this deeply personal episode, Melissa Kay shares what the past year has taught her about recovering from emotional burnout and why self-care for entrepreneurs isn’t selfish, it’s strategic. Melissa is joined by her personal life coach, Robin Berning, who has helped her set boundaries with clarity and peace while staying aligned as a leader. You’ll learn the hidden cost of emotional burnout in entrepreneurship; how anxiety impacts leadership, decision-making, and profitability; why boundaries are a leadership skill, not a weakness; and how emotional health strengthens business growth and sustainability. If you’ve ever over-given to your team or clients, said yes when you meant no, carried everyone else’s emotional weight, or kept pushing when you felt exhausted, this conversation is for you! Robin Berning has over 30 years of experience in the wellness industry, serving as a life coach, speaker, and spiritual mentor recognized for creating spaces of deep clarity and safety. People always feel calm, heard, and understood in her presence. From her lived experience, passion, and grounded spiritual wisdom, she helps audiences reconnect to their authenticity, sovereignty, and inner power. Profit by Design is a Tap the Potential production. Show Highlights: 1. Melissa’s experience of facing emotional burnout and beginning her journey with Robin Berning about one year ago 2. Transformation is real and possible when you stop carrying others' emotional weight. 3. Living in authenticity vs. living in learned behaviors (survival skills) 4. Melissa’s perspective on experiencing peace and calm in every area of life 5. Most entrepreneurs today are living in a perpetual state of emotional burnout. 6. Delegation mode vs. codependency; empowering vs. enabling 7. Overcoming overthinking (Don’t live in “the tornado”!) 8. Tips to implement today: 9. Reframe self-care with intention. 10. Learn to “habit-stack.” (From https://www.amazon.com/Atomic-Habits-Proven-Build-Break/dp/0735211299Atomic Habits [https://www.amazon.com/Atomic-Habits-Proven-Build-Break/dp/0735211299] by James Clear) 11. Use boundaries to create more time, space, and reconnection with yourself. 12. Be fully present with yourself. 13. Need help in assessing your level of emotional burnout? Take the Tap the Potential [https://www.tapthepotential.com/assessment] Assessment [https://www.tapthepotential.com/assessment]today! Resources: Connect with Robin Berning: https://www.livingyourbliss.netWebsite for events, workshops, and coaching; [https://www.livingyourbliss.net] https://www.robinberning.netWebsite for speaking engagements [https://www.robinberning.net]; and Email. Enroll now for https://www.tapthepotential.com/leadership-bootcampLeadership Bootcamp [https://www.tapthepotential.com/leadership-bootcamp]! The next session begins in April. Take our Better Business Better Life Assessment to determine your level of burnout and receive a complimentary call with the next steps you need to take in your business to support your life. https://www.tapthepotential.com/assessmentClick here! [https://www.tapthepotential.com/assessment] Ready to take your life back from your business? Want more time for what matters most and more money in your bank account than ever? https://tapthepotential.com/Book a call [https://tapthepotential.com/] with us today! Mentioned in this episode: Jumpstart Your Business - Jumpstart Your Life! You’ve built a successful business—but it’s still running you. Join us to reclaim 10 hours a week and finally step into your role as the owner—register now. We get started April : http://tapthepotential.com/jumpstart

390: Stop Being the Bottleneck: How to Build a Self-Managing Business Model

Does your business slow down the moment you step away? If every decision, approval, or problem still funnels through you, you’re not alone, but YOU are the bottleneck. In this episode, Melissa Kay and Dr. Sabrina Starling break down how you can stop being the bottleneck and start building a self-managing business model that doesn’t depend on you for every decision. You’ll learn why capable teams still wait for the owner’s approval, the hidden ways business owners unintentionally create bottlenecks, what a self-managing business actually looks like, and practical leadership shifts that empower your team to take ownership. If you’re tired of being the single point of failure in your business and want growth without burnout, this episode will show you where to start. Profit by Design is a Tap the Potential production. Show Highlights: 1. Relief, flexibility, and freedom: Don’t you want more of these? 2. A-players want autonomy to take initiative; we need to empower them to do so. 3. The shift in asking your team, “What ideas do YOU have about this?” 4. Be careful not to shut out your A-players’ ideas; encourage them to bring those forward. 5. Melissa’s tips to empower your team: share your vision, give clear parameters for decision-making, look for measurable results (KPIs), and provide opportunities for autonomy 6. Tracking clear results through KPIs gives pride and ownership to A-players. (This is THE biggest A-player perk we can build into our businesses!) 7. Highlights of our clients’ recent wins 8. Relationships and work connections will help skyrocket A-player retention on your team. 9. Do you need to stop being the bottleneck in your business? Join the Better Business Better Life program by booking a call [https://tapthepotential.com/] with us today. Spaces are now available! (Melissa offers to write a custom-crafted vision statement and your immutable laws, a $7500 value!) Resources: Enroll now for https://www.tapthepotential.com/leadership-bootcampLeadership Bootcamp [https://www.tapthepotential.com/leadership-bootcamp]! The next session begins in April. Take our Better Business Better Life Assessment to determine your level of burnout and receive a complimentary call with the next steps you need to take in your business to support your life. https://www.tapthepotential.com/assessmentClick here! [https://www.tapthepotential.com/assessment] Ready to take your life back from your business? Want more time for what matters most and more money in your bank account than ever? https://tapthepotential.com/Book a call [https://tapthepotential.com/] with us today! Mentioned in this episode: Jumpstart Your Business - Jumpstart Your Life! You’ve built a successful business—but it’s still running you. Join us to reclaim 10 hours a week and finally step into your role as the owner—register now. We get started April : http://tapthepotential.com/jumpstart